Chapter 196: Of Primarchs and Potato Chips
He was afraid that he was the fake one.
"You two shouldn't celebrate too soon." The Raven looked at Alpharius and Omegon. "Now, we need to discuss the matter of concealing information and failing to report it. Hiding things from the Big Guy is one thing, but how dare you hide it from me?"
Hearing the Raven's words, both Alpharius and Omegon showed expressions of shame.
"We were deeply concerned," Alpharius explained. "Father always spoke of twenty Primarchs, and given our circumstances, Omegon and I believed that either Father was lying, or one of us was false."
"We feared that once revealed, the entire Twentieth Legion would be viewed as a prime example of Chaos corruption and utterly purged by Father."
"Everyone understands Father's nature. He is the Master of Mankind; he loves humanity, but he is also a warlord. I know what Father originally planned for the Thunder Warriors."
"Had you, Master Raven, not appeared, the Thunder Warriors would never have received an honorable death on Luna. The Custodians would have simply eliminated them."
The Raven's gaze toward Alpharius and Omegon had been stern, but after hearing Alpharius's explanation, he sighed.
"Then why didn't you tell me? Did you really think I wouldn't help you?"
Alpharius lowered his head. "I didn't dare take that gamble, Mr. Raven. You are one of the supreme rulers of the Imperium, a time-traveler with infinite power."
"Astartes are demigods to ordinary humans, immortal angels of war. But I know that to you, Astartes are nothing. As long as you and Father are willing, you could create a new Twentieth Legion at any time."
"But for us, the Twentieth Legion is everything. Our sons cannot leave me, and I cannot abandon them. I cannot allow the Twentieth Legion to become a thing of the past, a footnote in the annals of annihilated history."
"You make me very sad." The Raven's expression turned sorrowful. "I will not abandon you, not any one of you. That is why I watch over you constantly, to prevent you from straying down darker paths."
"What if, one day, the existence of the Alpha Legion poses a grave threat to human civilization?" Alpharius asked.
"Then you would still have to be eliminated." The Raven set aside his sorrow and spoke with cold seriousness.
The sudden shift in tone left Konrad, Alpharius, who had been expecting the Raven to say he wouldn't, and Omegon completely thrown.
The script wasn't supposed to go like this!
Shouldn't he have firmly declared something like, 'I will never abandon you'?
"I know my answer disappoints you, but for the sake of human civilization, we are all expendable pieces." The Raven regarded the three Primarchs. "Every soldier of the Imperium, Astartes, Primarchs, Custodians, including me and the Big Guy, can be sacrificed."
"In this grand game, if we lack the courage to view ourselves as expendable, we will never achieve victory."
"But I can promise you this: unless we are pushed to absolute desperation, we will never abandon you. And if the decision to abandon you must be made, you will certainly be informed beforehand."
The three Primarchs looked at the Raven, all falling silent.
"I could choose to deceive you, but that would be meaningless. Lies breed confusion, confusion breeds unease, and unease breeds betrayal."
The Raven's voice was calm, his words measured.
"You possess power, which means you are destined to walk a difficult path, perhaps misunderstood, questioned, or even slandered by those who do not comprehend your purpose."
"If you feel you cannot accept this burden, you may choose to withdraw now. I, as a supreme ruler of the Imperium, guarantee that you will never be purged. Your Legions will not be disbanded; they will simply return to a state without a Primarch."
"There is only one condition: you must relinquish the power you possess to prevent irreparable harm to the Imperium in the future."
The Raven flapped his wings, stirring the air, his gaze fixed upon the three Primarchs.
"I have said enough. You don't need to listen to my rambling any longer. All that remains is my question: will you leave me?"
Alpharius and Omegon exchanged glances, instantly understanding each other's thoughts.
"We will not leave, Master Raven."
Konrad shrugged. "This matter had nothing to do with me in the first place, and from the moment I gained self-awareness, I was very clear about my identity as a tool of the Imperium."
The Raven said, "Don't try to hide anything from me again, Alpharius. Konrad, you too. You're already suffering headaches from the visions—you continue down this path, you'll likely go mad."
"Visions? Are they visions of the future?" Alpharius looked at Konrad with sudden interest. "Is it still that dark?"
Konrad nodded gravely.
"What's my ending in your visions?" Alpharius asked curiously.
Konrad was silent for a moment before slowly speaking. "There are many endings. There's a good one, where you create an organization called Hydra, dedicated to spreading the Imperium's faith and truth throughout the multiverse, controlling one universe after another."
"And the bad ending is being killed by some powerful creature in a remote universe, your armor shattered and your body incomplete."
Alpharius said, "The bad ending is quite grim, but the name Hydra is excellent. When I visited the Marvel Universe, I heard that there was a similar organization there. Perhaps I'll take control of it in the future."
'At that time, I'll trick Captain America into joining,' the Raven thought, mentally planning out the members of the Hydra organization for Alpharius.
Just imagining Captain America shouting "Hail Hydra" gave him an unexpected thrill. 'It was classic after all.'
By the way, how is the Marvel Universe doing now?
Have the Avengers thwarted the multi-pronged offensive launched by the Multiversalists, or has the war escalated?
It doesn't matter if the war expands; perhaps they could even cooperate with the One-Above-All to let the Imperium rule the Marvel Universe and open a new chapter.
"Let this incident serve as a warning. If it happens again, I'll drag you back to Terra to squat in the dark cells. Remember to discuss anything with me immediately, even if you tear a hole in the High Heavens themselves, I need to know so I can help you patch it up in time."
The Raven's warning made the three Primarchs nod vigorously, their heads bobbing like pecking chickens as they repeatedly promised it would never happen again.
The Astartes warriors standing at a distance occasionally glanced over. In the entire Imperium, only Mr. Raven could scold a Primarch like a wayward child.
After dealing with the Cabal, the Raven prepared to leave.
"Please accept these gifts, Master Raven."
Alpharius gestured, and legionaries brought forward crates filled with exotic snacks, new flavored potato chips, and artisan ketchup varieties the Alpha Legion had collected during their travels.
"Alpharius, are you attempting to bribe your superior officer?"
The Raven looked at the mountain of new flavored potato chips and ketchup, and that one sentence made Alpharius and Omegon's hearts leap to their throats.
"I have to say, you're a good judge of character. Keep up the good work next time."
Taking the Alpha Legion's acquisitions from this period, the Raven sent Konrad back to his Legion.
He also sent the Cabal members to the Night Lords' flagship, telling Konrad to entertain them well before sending them to Terra for proper interrogation.
After resolving these matters, the Raven went to check on Angron.
Negotiations between the Imperium and the Demiurg were still ongoing, with both sides repeatedly debating rights and obligations, but progress was being made.
In due time, the Demiurg would become part of the Imperium.
Raven did not reveal himself to Angron. After confirming that the peace talks were progressing well, he set off to return to Terra.
"Mr. Raven."
"Mr. Raven."
Upon his return, the Raven encountered the shipgirl group touring the Terran Palace.
The magnificent palace left them in awe.
The human civilization of the Azur Lane Universe was also an interstellar civilization, but it had far fewer wonders than the Human Imperium.
And it had never constructed such a grand and imposing palace.
"Hello, lovelies." The Raven, seizing his chance, rubbed his feathered head against each of them with shameless affection.
"Raven, you old pervert." A voice sounded in his mind.
A curvaceous woman enveloped in golden light walked past the shipgirls and approached the Raven.
She had a halo behind her head, like a goddess from the shipgirl world.
"Emperor's Grand Design!" The Raven recognized the shipgirl's identity at a glance. Wasn't she the Big Guy's flagship?
As the Big Guy sat on the Golden Throne and grew more powerful, she had also received an upgrade, becoming stronger than ordinary Astartes and Custodians.
The Raven suspected she could now fight Valdor to a standstill.
"Where have you been? I haven't seen you for days."
Emperor's Grand Design reached out and took the Raven from Taihou's reluctant shoulder, placing him on her own.
"Show some respect, I am a ruler of the Imperium." The Raven raised his head indignantly.
Emperor's Grand Design pouted, her thoughts echoing in his mind. 'Perverted bird.'
The Raven felt annoyed, wanting to give her a beating. This one definitely inherited the Big Guy's sharp tongue.
Before he could complain, the Raven spotted two new shipgirls. One wore yellow armor, was curvaceous, and looked somewhat shy and timid.
The other wore iron-gray armor and also had an excellent figure, but her gaze was very aggressive, looking like she wanted to hit everyone with a club.
"Eternal Crusader? Iron Blood?"
The Raven accessed the information on the two new shipgirls, somewhat surprised.
Good heavens, are they planning to turn the entire Gloriana-class fleet into shipgirls?
"With the approval of Lord Perturabo and Lord Malcador, there is a plan to grant sentience to second-generation and above warships of the Imperium. Eternal Crusader and Iron Blood both meet this requirement, so Wisdom Cubes have been implanted in them."
"Not only warships, but they also plan to conduct in-depth analysis and modification of the Wisdom Cube, integrating technology from other universes, to grant intelligence and further the fusion of machinery and humanity."
Emperor's Grand Design explained Perturabo and Malcador's plan.
Perhaps witnessing the loyalty of ship-incarnations to humanity in the Azur Lane Universe had given them new ideas.
The Raven shrugged. "Whatever they like."
He had a feeling the Imperium's aesthetic was about to collapse soon.
Soon enough, a group of Astartes would be charging forward, shouting "For the Emperor, for the Imperium," followed by a group of shipgirls and mecha-girls firing away with "pew pew pew."
Maybe there will also be gun girls, vehicle girls, tank girls, who knows maybe even neko girls.
'Hehehe, not bad, not bad.' Just thinking about it felt surreal.
Bidding farewell to the touring shipgirl group, Raven went to find the Emperor.
He was still conducting experiments, preparing to perfect the Golden Throne further, and also planning to establish a Warp local area network exclusively for humanity.
It was equivalent to the Orks' WAAAGH! Field.
Previously, the results of reverse-engineering the Orks' WAAAGH! The field had been scarce, but now, with the support of the Laughing God, Cegorach, the Emperor had uncovered some secrets of the Old Ones' creations, learning the mechanisms of the WAAAGH! Field.
Coupled with the technology acquired earlier in the Marvel Universe and Ultraman Universe, he was ambitious enough to create a local area network to circumvent Chaos's influence.
This approach was equivalent to building a divine realm within the Warp, which would undoubtedly lead to attacks from numerous Warp entities, resulting in another brutal conflict.
After finishing his experiments, the Emperor asked the Raven about the progress of negotiations between Angron and the Demiurg, then immersed himself in his work again.
Most of the Imperium's political affairs fell on Malcador's shoulders.
Malcador had tried to get the Raven to share the workload.
"Sorry, I'm not suited for this!" Raven flatly refused.
When he first formed the Bureau of Celestial Management, he was only responsible for recruiting a few people, and he already found it troublesome.
Now, they wanted him to handle political affairs? Forget it.
'Let Malcador suffer first - I'll enjoy the benefits.'
As time passed, most of the galaxy fell under Imperial control. Rogue Traders began attempting to explore other galaxies.
The task of collecting the Black Library keys had been assigned to Lion El'Jonson.
Cooperation between the Imperium and the Azur Lane Universe deepened further. In addition to supporting various advanced technologies, they also provided substantial resources.
Of course, these came at a price.
The Imperium's reputation quickly spread throughout human society in Azur Lane.
Envoys began entering the command center, intervening in the war between the shipgirls and the Sirens.
With the Imperium's expansion, lost Primarchs were also found one by one and sent back to Terra.
[End of Chapters]
Check out more than 45+ chapters right now! 🔥
👉 patreon.com/cw/Mr_UmU
https://www.patreon.com/Mr_UmU