40 Thousand Reasons

Chapter 192: Arms

"Let's go help the Sisters too!" I urged the tired Princeps as soon as the last Greater Daemon fell and dissipated into purple gas.

A single sob of helplessness answered me, just as I snapped my fingers to move us in front of the main cathedral of the Order_of_the_Shattered_Glass, on Enceladus.

Thousands of Sisters of Battle, supported by Rhinos and flamer tanks were battling a large army of Chaos cultists and lesser demons, led by a towering blue bird with hundreds of eyes on its feathers.

Sadly for the sisters, these demons were mostly immune to flames, and the brave women were running out of stamina to wield melee weapons, while their bolter rounds had been expended hours ago.

A small twist with the tesseract, and the Sisters were regrouped behind the Psi-Titan and safe from the deadly psi-lance. A dark beam of Immaterium burst from the Titan's left arm, popping millions of demons like soap balloons, while the mighty Force claw on the right arm slashed at the Tzeentch's Greater Daemon.

However, the bird-like warp-spawn had its own tricks, and the Alpha psykers powering the Psi-Titan were nearly spent. The claw struck only vapor and illusion, while the demon re-appeared high above the battlefield, cackling with mirth.

I clenched my hand on the handle of my sword, and orange flames engulfed the holy flame. 'Flame on!' I whispered in my mind, and crossed the dimensional labyrinth in a millisecond, then struck the bird straight on its head.

The Emperor's Sword bounced off painfully and flew out from my hand, and landed at the feet of a teenage girl. 'Don't do it, silly girl.' I whispered to myself while vanishing from my compromised spot.

But of course, she did. Her slim hand could barely lift the mighty weapon, and stood no chance at blocking a Greater Daemon's strike. She didn't even have a light power armor, wearing only the robes of a Novice, and a Guardsman's flak helmet.

I could almost see the girl get shredded into strips of bloody meat by the incoming claws.

Then, a golden beam of blinding light erupted from that weapon, fractally splitting off into millions of smaller branches, all the way to the horizon and beyond.

The girl fell to her knees, still alive and murmuring a prayer. However, there were no more enemies to fight, on this moon or anywhere else in Saturn's orbit. From Mimas to Iapetus, the miracle had erased all trace of the Warp invaders.

I sighed inward and turned my tesseract's focus onto the Blackstone Fortress. The reception hall doors were now open, and the Emperor and Yvraine were discussing something over a paper-like map of the galaxy, swirls of energy painting new borders and tracing thin red lines of ellipses and tangents.

The Emperor glanced directly at me, then returned to his negotiations.

Well then. Let's hope he was still sane, my new Emperor-to-be.

I stepped beside the miraculous Sister, and helped her to her feet just as the gigantic Psi-Titan took a single step and parked itself next to us. "Are you alright?" I asked still holding her hand.

"Never felt better, my lord." she whispered in an awed voice.

I raised her chin to make sure, and found her eyes glowing with an inner violet light, just like Janice had. "Things have changed, Sister. You are not who you were before, and the universe is also much different. The Emperor has returned."

The girl glanced in surprise at her hand, then towards the Emperor's Sword, weapon still radiating a warm golden light, if much more subdued now. "I didn't know...did I really?" she whispered in confusion.

I laughed out loud and snatched back the miracle sword. "No. It wasn't you." I explained with a snort, and moved the three of us back on Terra, right in front of the Nepal entrance of the Imperial Palace, where Sister Stern and my daughter Janice were locked in a stand-off, among the burned ruins of the defense bunkers.

"I'm stronger than you." the Demonifuge argued with a cold tone, and a crackling sphere of white lightning formed around her.

"A grox is stronger than a man too." Janice replied with a surprised glance at my companions. Especially the giant Titan at my back.

So I brought out the Solitaire Harlequin, then stabbed the glowing sword into the ash-filled ground. "Janice, your boss needs you on the Black Lament." I spoke calmly, while the new miracle girl took a step back and found the Psi-Titan's foot blocking her retreat.

"This isn't over." Janice muttered and vanished in a purple flash.

Well, technically my daughter was correct, any and all Sisters of Battle were hers to command as Adepta Tertia. But it was also true, Ephrael Stern wasn't a Sister of Battle anymore, despite her uniform. She just didn't know it yet.

"There only one psyker still alive, and just barely." the Princeps muttered from his Psi-Titan, probably not to certain about his chances against the Demonifuge, without fully charged batteries.

The Solitaire turned to observe the God-Machine for a second, then stepped beside his angry student.

"We're going to join Pef Lancefire, for a while. Perhaps visit the Eastern Fringe and work on your temper, again." the Harlequin commanded in a level tone, and stepped through the deadly ball of lightning to pat the woman's head, in a gentle move.

A second later, Miss Stern turned off the death spell, and focused her glowing eyes on my hands, still holding the pommel of the holy artifact.

"So I didn't sense wrong. The Emperor is back." she asked in a curious voice, and came closer.

All around us, auramite-clad Custodes and blackstone-plated Silent Sisters all raised their weapons and held the Demonifuge under threat, not that they had much chance of survival if it came to blows.

Perhaps 10 Psi-Titans would be enough to hold her in check, but probably not. Maybe 20.

Or even better, me. "You did good, Miss Stern. You earned a hug." I offered in a gentle tone, opening my arms for embrace.

Hesitantly, the woman leaned into my arms, muscles still tense and slightly trembling. So I patted her back for a minute, until she got used to my touch and presence. "It isn't so bad, is it?" I wondered wryly. My hugs were still the best, it seemed.

"You said I'm pretty." Miss Stern answered in a softer voice.

I grabbed her ass in response, then slapped it gently. "You have a nice ass too."

A surprised growl emerged from her throat, then a shy voice followed. "There's never been a man, I mean..."

I ignored her naive claims and turned my eyes toward the snickering Harlequin. "You better behave, Eldar. Yvraine and the Emperor might be best friends right now, but I value my family above any alliance."

The Solitaire nodded cautiously and drew his hand away from the glowing sword in the stone. Probably reconsidering his next prank, now that the galaxy had changed.

Still holding Ephrael in my arms, I turned towards the other Sister of Battle. "What about you, glass Sister?"

"My name is Darcy!" the young girl declared in a high-pitch squeak.

It was a decent name for a side-kick, so she could keep it. "Great! But I was asking about your future. Wanna follow me, explore the Eastern Fringe and banish demons or xenos together?" I proposed in a curious voice.

The young novice blushed slightly, then nodded.

"I fell ignored and forgotten up here. Is it because I'm not a pretty girl?" the Princeps muttered in a morose voice, and leaned its huge Titan's head above me.

"You can join as well, big guy. Not sure about your walker. I'll have to ask the Emperor." I mused out loud. I could use a Psi-Titan. Maybe even two.

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