The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Thank you for your trouble."

Suddenly, Lee turned his head to look at Dalia, his voice softening.

"Many times."

Dalia simply replied softly.

"But the effects of these methods are becoming increasingly limited."

"Temporary, soon I won't need them anymore."

After the bandages were re-wrapped, Lee stretched his hands towards the hourglasses, and immediately the fine sand inside began to flow backwards, while wisps of light green energy floated out from the hourglasses, merging into Lee's withered body.

A moment later, Lee clenched his fists again.

"Have they arrived?"

"They have."

Lee walked out of the room and arrived at the bridge hall of his personal flagship, a mysterious giant ship never registered with the Imperial authorities.

As soon as he entered the bridge, Lee saw two mighty and robust figures standing in the main passage, their backs to him, seemingly chatting about something. They were wearing the oldest models of power armor in the Empire, with bolters chained to their waists.

Hearing the sound of the bridge door, the two turned around, revealing their ferocious and rugged faces. Both men looked battle-hardened, their faces and necks covered in scars, like shattered statues, yet they possessed the aura and valor of seasoned warriors.

One of the warriors, bald with a long scar over his right eye, let out a hearty laugh when he saw Lee, striding forward.

"Lee! Long time no see, I thought you'd forgotten about us!"

Lee walked over with a sincere smile.

"The entire galaxy has forgotten about us. If I forget about you too, who else will remember the past?"

The ancient power armor of the two warriors had almost no markings. The glory of the past had long faded with time. Now, they only had a symbol of a lightning bolt splitting a skull on their chests.

"As long as you're here, our existence still has meaning. We've been waiting for your call. After all, we sewer rats have little value left."

Hearing this, Lee raised his right hand.

"Babu, we are no longer rats. I swore we wouldn't be anymore. When I first met you abandoned Thunder Warriors in the underground, I told you that the world would be shocked by your return."

That's right, standing before Lee were the Thunder Warriors, the first generation of super-soldiers created by the Emperor during the Unification Wars, whose records had been almost completely erased.

These warriors were the most powerful force under the Emperor during the unification of Terra, but their inherent flaws made them unsuitable for the Emperor's future crusade plans. Therefore, after unifying Terra and creating the Astartes, the Emperor purged all the Thunder Warriors, with only a few escaping and going into hiding in Terra's underworld.

Arik Taranis and Guta were two of the surviving Thunder Warriors. After escaping into the underworld, Arik Taranis abandoned his past, using a new identity, Babu Dakar, and establishing a gang, the Dakar Gang, which operated in the underworld of the City of Beneficence, dealing in illegal drugs, arms, gambling, illegal food, and flesh. Guta was his second-in-command, and other Thunder Warriors also joined his group, forming a small Thunder Warrior collective.

Lee, as Terra's former "Cleaner Administrator," often operated in the underworld. In fact, these gangs were also within his "cleaning" scope, but Lee saw the many darknesses beneath the unification. He usually treated those exiles and refugees with sympathy, turning a blind eye unless things got out of hand. He even secretly provided food and medicine to the poor refugees who had to hide in the underworld because of taxes or debts.

This was perhaps based on a sense of atonement. His father had built the greatest empire, but slavery and oppression did not seem to have decreased much. Many of the former slave owners were still slave owners, and nobles could still arbitrarily execute and torture their subjects. The poor were still poor after unification.

In a chance operation, Lee encountered several Thunder Warriors and, after tracking them down, fell into Babu Dakar's trap. But thanks to his quick reactions and analytical skills, he escaped at the last moment.

However, he did not call for reinforcements. In fact, as one of the earliest gene-warriors, Lee had met many high-ranking Thunder Warrior commanders, and even knew a few of them. He also sympathized with these abandoned warriors and immediately revealed his identity.

At first, Babu Dakar did not trust him, but as time passed, he realized that Lee was not pursuing the matter and would often help the poor, so the two established contact and gradually became close friends.

After the Battle of Terra, Babu Dakar gathered all the remaining Thunder Warriors and, under Lee's cover, moved to a safer area, where he began to use the gene-seed he had obtained to research and solve the Thunder Warriors' genetic defects.

Babu Dakar never resented the Emperor for the purge. On the contrary, he understood from the beginning that he was just a tool to be used and discarded. As soon as a replacement appeared, he would inevitably become history. But the Horus Heresy made him see the Emperor's failure, which gave rise to a strong sense of mission—

The Empire was forged by the hands of Thunder Warriors, so when it was shattered, the Thunder Warriors would rebuild it!

More importantly, with Lee's help, he finally unlocked some of the secrets of the gene-seed and used related technologies to eliminate most of the Thunder Warriors' defects.

And Lee, as the Emperor's son, became their rightful follower. At the same time, Lee's wisdom and strategic abilities deeply impressed Babu Dakar. He saw in Lee the shadow of the Emperor of old, wielding power and influence. Perhaps his power was not so great, but the Emperor did not need to go to the battlefield often.

Babu Dakar firmly believed that Lee was the one who could revive the Empire, and that those Primarchs and their sons were just a bunch of monsters who almost destroyed the entire Empire. It was under these circumstances that the two formed a de facto subordinate relationship.

"How are those new technologies I gave you working out?"

"Not bad, much better than those unstable metal implants from before. It can effectively improve the condition and premature aging of newly converted warriors, but the side effect is... their aggressiveness has become stronger, especially towards the living. We've moved more than ten times. Each time it's because that world... has no living people left. Fortunately, this is the edge of the galaxy, with few Imperial eyes and ears, otherwise things might not be able to be covered up. Also, the problem of body metallization has not been solved, but it's much better than premature aging."

"Let me see the warriors."

Hearing Lee's words, Guta nodded, then opened the communicator. Next, the doors of the bridge opened one by one, and a group of soldiers wearing ancient black MKⅡ power armor, taller than ordinary Space Marines, walked in with neat steps. At a glance, there were more than a thousand of them. Even the temperature of the entire bridge began to plummet because of their appearance.

And the symbol on their chests was the ominous omen of a lightning bolt splitting a skull.

Looking at this murderous team, Lee hummed with satisfaction.

"Very good."

He turned to look at Babu Dakar.

"Do they have new names?"

"Not yet, aren't we waiting for you?"

"Then, since their mission is to reforged the Empire with thunder... let's call them the Thunderforged Warriors."

Babu Dakar recited it twice, then nodded in praise:

"Good, this name is good. From now on, we are the Thunderforged Warriors!"

"Then we shall depart."

"Where to?"

"Grisly Wyrd."

"Isn't that... a place teeming with xenos?"

"That's right. We're going to find a group of merchants to buy some weapons and equipment needed for the next operation. Also... we can get some helpers."

"Xenos?"

"The Stryxis, a group of xenos who hate the Eldar the most. I've already met their envoys from the Seer Council. They're willing to trade with us."

"Since you've already arranged it, then let's go."

Lee turned around and ordered the crew near the large console.

"Call all ships, jump to warp space in twenty minutes."