"You fracking son of whores, you damned Fallen Angels!"
"Traitors, a bunch of traitors!"
"Luther, you damned bastard, why? Why did you betray me so?"
The blonde young woman clutched her head and began muttering to herself the moment she stood up.
Evidently, her memories were likely confined to the final battle of the 30k era, and even her consciousness was stuck in that moment.
At this time, Caleb deployed Lion El'Jonson to the lower levels of the hive city, this was the mission location, the place closest to the vanguard of the Chaos army.
"Strange, why has everything around me become so tall? Have the gates of the Imperium been forged so high nowadays?"
"The humans on the street are also much taller. Have people today undergone genetic modification?"
The Lion El'Jonson looked up at the surrounding crowd; clearly, he had not yet realized that it wasn't the people around him getting taller, but he himself getting shorter.
Holding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, she walked through the narrow streets of the hive city's lower level with a bewildered expression.
"Wait, something's wrong!"
Lion finally noticed something was amiss; it wasn't the surroundings getting taller, he had shrunk!
"Wait, what's going on? Why am I in a different body?"
"Did I turn into this because I fell into the Warp?"
"Luther, you damned bastard!"
"Give me back my body! Give me back my little brother!"
At this moment, a certain blonde young woman was fuming and huffing on the street, her Gothic-style skirt armor looked completely out of place here.
In her heart, she still believed she was the Emperor's eldest son, but if her father saw him like this, it was uncertain whether he would call her 'daughter' instead.
"Pfft!"
"Hahahahaha"
The culprit behind all this, Caleb, had already started laughing nearby.
His laughter now was even more piercing than Tzeentch's, his methods of amusement were practically more sophisticated than Slaanesh's.
Nurgle would have to pat his belly and applaud, and Khorne would have to give a thumbs-up in approval.
Of course, Khorne wouldn't be giving any thumbs-up next, because the utterly enraged Lion El'Jonson had already started taking out her anger on the nearby Cultists.
On the street, a homicidal maniac who was hacking people apart kept howling.
As he hacked, he chanted sacred texts praising Khorne!
"Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!"
"To hell with you!" Wearing her dark green Gothic skirt armor, Lion El'Jonson sent the cultist flying with a single flying kick.
The opponent's skull flew off instantly, and brain matter splattered everywhere.
The current Haji Lion El'Jonson could be said to detest these damned Chaos Cultists to the extreme.
Thus, she immediately began a slaughter in the lower levels of the Hive City!
[Your deployed unit, Lion El'Jonson, killed a cultist. Reward: 1 Point.]
[Your deployed unit, Lion El'Jonson, killed a Chaos Psyker. Reward: 100 Points.]
[Your deployed unit, Lion El'Jonson, tore a Bloodletter apart by hand. Reward: 10 Points.]
[Your deployed unit, Lion El'Jonson, slew 10 Flesh Hounds of Khorne. Reward: 100 Points.]
In less than half an hour, the huffing Lion El'Jonson was nearly in a killing frenzy below.
Even the Bloodletters felt fear; upon seeing this young woman in green armor, they actually went out of their way to avoid her.
She severed a demon's head with the sharp sword in her hand, and the demon dissipated into the air like dust.
The demon was banished, sent back to the Realm of Blood.
Even though his body had become that of a girly young woman, he was still a Primarch; Caleb's Designate ability had not weakened Lion's stats.
"Fraking traitors, die for me!"
"For the Emperor! For Caliban!"
"Wait, I think I remember my home exploded!"
"Ah, damned Chaos, damned Fallen Angels, you all must die!"
A brilliant golden light erupted from the young woman, even an Ecclesiarchy Priest was stunned by the sight.
The devout Ecclesiarchy Priest prostrated himself on the ground, reciting his prayers as if having an audience with a saint.
"Ah, what a holy maiden! Such a young soul who believes in the God-Emperor has clearly received the God-Emperor's blessing!"
"Praise the Emperor! Quickly notify the nearby Battle Sisters; there is a sister here suspected to be a Living Saint!"
"Lol, lmao even!"
Caleb, who was still enjoying Lion El'Jonson's feast of slaughter, couldn't help but spit out his drink.
The iced cola in his hand almost spilled; if his deployment points weren't full, he probably would have 'deployed' this cup of iced cola onto the table.
Evidently, this crumbling hive city found some stability after the appearance of a young woman suspected to be a Living Saint.
The large numbers of cultists were suppressed by the young woman's violence, becoming too afraid to make a sound.
Who would have thought this golden-glowing young woman would kill so fiercely, and who would have thought that the Emperor's grace would appear on this unlucky planet?
[Points from eliminating Khorne pieces have reached 1000. Reward Unlocked: Second Heart.]
[Would you like to install it immediately?]
[This installation will not fail; this organ is a perfect match for your current body.]
"Oh? Upgrades?! Come to papi!"
Looking at the interface popping up on the game table, Caleb was curious. What changes would this Second Heart—one of the 19 gene-seed surgeries—bring him?
Could it be that it would make his 'functions' in certain areas stronger?
He hadn't chosen the other surgeries, so logically he shouldn't be sterilized, right?
"Install it directly!"
"It's just one of the modification surgeries anyway; there shouldn't be any major issues."
[System is installing for you. You have completed the 1st task. The 2nd strategic task can be opened in 5 hours.]
[Installation successful. The Second Heart has improved your blood circulation; you will be immune to most heart-related diseases.]
Caleb couldn't help but pinch his waist and found that his back felt much sturdier.
He had been a bit sleepy lately, but after the system installed this thing, he suddenly felt much more energetic.
"Holy crap, this is great! No wonder Astartes can charge so fiercely on the battlefield!"
"Just a Second Heart has made my body feel so much better!"
"If I keep modifying like this, I might actually become a Space Marine!"
Caleb was very satisfied with this reward from the system...
Even without further modifications, his physical fitness would be greatly improved.
Moreover, if he ever had an accident, this Second Heart could maintain his vital signs if his primary heart was damaged.
This was equivalent to having an extra life-saving measure, slightly increasing his margin for error compared to an ordinary person.
Of course, the system's rewards didn't stop there, Caleb found that after this battle, his deployment points had actually reached 2000!
[Your current deployment points are: 1000/2000]
[Each completed task will increase deployment points cap by 1000. Completing larger scale campaigns will grant extra points.]
[Please actively complete the game to unlock more rewards in the future.]
Looking at Lion El'Jonson, who was resting nearby in the Hive City after getting tired of killing,
Caleb was already thinking: should he get a batch of Inner Circle guards for Lion?
As everyone knows, the First Legion is all about secrets.
If he wanted the upcoming battles to go smoothly, deploying pieces from the First Legion was undoubtedly the best choice.
Looking left and right, Caleb suddenly realized he didn't have any First Legion pieces!
His current pieces were only Ultramarines, Space Wolves, Thousand Sons, Noise Marines, Angry Marines and so on.
Setting aside the two that were originally from the Chaos faction, even the other two Loyalists were actually ones Lion disliked and let's not talk about the Angry Marines.
If he had Blood Angels pieces, he could deploy them; Lion would probably take care of Sanguinius's children.
But Guilliman's brats and Leman Russ's Wolf Pups? That would be impossible.
Lion might even kill those two squads just to keep her current secret.
Lion was in a bit of a low mood right now; if Lion saw banners of other Chapters, she might have an immediate stress response and cut them down.
"Oh man, this won't work. If I deploy Ultramarines and Space Wolves, something will definitely go wrong!"
"The next task might not be completed. Should I borrow some pieces from those guys?"
With 5 hours left, Caleb immediately thought of a guy in the club who had First Legion pieces.
That guy was particularly interested in the history and background of the First Legion.
He wasn't a competitive player; he was a pure lore enthusiast.
Whenever a stupid move occurred, he would say the First Legion had gained another secret.
Even if that guy transmigrated, he could probably summon First Legion Astartes in a second.
Caleb then picked up the phone and dialed the guy's number.
The other end of the phone rang for a bit before, a dull voice came through.
"Hello?"
"Old Otaku! Hashida!"
"Why are you calling me?"
"ᴵ ᵗᵒˡᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ᵗᵒ ᶜᵃˡˡ ᵐᵉ ᴴᵒᵘᵒᵘᶦⁿ ᴷʸᵒᵘᵐᵃᵎ ᴴᵒᵘᵒᵘᶦⁿ ᴷʸᵒᵘᵐᵃᵎ"
"Guys, I'm on the phone! Sorry, noisy flatmates amirite? Why are you calling? Didn't you say you were going to paint your Ultramarines pieces today? What's wrong? Did you mess up the painting and need to ask me for advice again?"
"I told you, that bright blue paint scheme is hard to do! You can't blame me!"
"You're just a newbie, right? You messed up! It happens man!"
"Heh!"
Caleb couldn't help but glance at the Ultramarines pieces on the table, although they were indeed a bit shabby compared to what a pro would paint, they were at least barely passable.
"Hey, hey, hey! Listen, buddy, don't be like that! I'm just calling to borrow some pieces!
You have a set of Deathwing Terminators, right? Let me use them; it's an emergency!"
"Huh? You know Deathwing Terminators don't grow on trees right?!"
The other end of the phone was clearly confused.
Logically, even if Caleb wanted to play First Legion pieces, he could just use Ultramarines to Designate them!
Besides, the club was very relaxed about 'Designate'—you could point at a Great Cleanser and say it's a Lord of Change. Borrowing pieces was actually quite rare.
"Come on man, do me solid!"
"Don't tell me you ran out of Ultramarines pieces and started putting your anime waifu figures on the table! Are you trying to annoy those Warhammer guys in the club to death? Let me guess, right now you're holding a Touhou figure of Remilia and insisting it's the Night Lords' Konrad Curze?"
"Heh heh heh!"
Hashida couldn't help but tease back over the phone.
"Well, it's not that serious, but it's close! I've already deployed a young woman Lion El'Jonson figure, and I'm really short on First Legion pieces right now!"
"Hahaha! Man, you're hopeless!"
The other end of the phone started laughing; a gender-bent Lion El'Jonson leading a squad of Ultramarines into battle.
If a battle was fought like that in the Warhammer 40k setting, then the First Legion really would have no secrets left.
"Fine, fine, but you have to come to my flat to get the pieces yourself! By the way, don't break my Deathwing Terminators! I spent a long time painting them. If you break them, you'll have to pay me back three times the pieces!"
"Sure thing man!"
Caleb agreed readily. After all, there were only 5 hours left; if he tried to paint a new set of pieces, there wouldn't be enough time.
Other armored units could be replaced with his existing pieces.
They were black and unpainted anyway; he could just slap on a bit of green paint and call them First Legion standard equipment, no big deal.
That guy's flat wasn't far from his... it might even be faster to just walk across the road.
He could reach the residential area directly after crossing the overpass...
Caleb simply gave a greeting to the security guard and went in.
He came and went so often that the guard already recognized his face.
Normally this jog might take about 10 minutes, but now, it only took 5 minutes of jogging for Caleb to arrive at the doorstep.
"Holy crap man, that was fast!"
The moment the doorbell rang, the guy opened the door instantly.
He was a bit shocked; this guy had 'teleported' to his flat less than 5 minutes after calling.
"Come in, come in! Look at you, all sweaty! You ran all the way here, didn't you? Your running speed is amazing; you got here in less than 5 minutes!"
"Hmph… such speed… This can only be the work of a secret organization! The divergence is shifting… I can feel it!"
Standing in the hallway, with a lab coat slightly wrinkled was a young man, he striking a pose as if Caleb's sprint had just confirmed a conspiracy.
"Okarin, you're being weird again," came a soft, cheerful voice peeked out from behind him, waving gently at Caleb. "But wow, you really ran fast! Are you okay?"
Caleb couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his face; he was also surprised that he ran so fast without feeling very tired.
But clearly, his body's perspiration system couldn't keep up with the rhythm of his heartbeat.
It wasn't until he reached the door that he realized he had sweated a lot.
"Heh, looks like my Second Heart is pretty powerful!"
"I feel like even Usain Bolt couldn't necessarily outrun me now!"
"Give me a break!" Hashida laughed; he was wearing a kitchen apron over his chest, which was covered in various paint colors.
His name was Hashida, he was a very professional nerd and a computer science graduate.
But painting was one of his means of livelihood; sometimes, he didn't just take commissions for Warhammer pieces, but also for other anime characters and custom requests.
He even had a small 3D printer in his apartment, usually, he would take private orders on Ebay to make other anime figures.
According to him, this earned much more than a regular job, and he really liked his way of making a living, since he enjoyed playing with all sorts of pieces and figures anyway.
In the background, the girl had already wandered toward a display shelf.
"Ooooh~ look at these little soldiers, so cute!" she said, carefully picking up a miniature. "But they look kinda scary too… tuturu~"
"Careful, Mayuri!" the tall man interjected dramatically. "Those are instruments of war from a grimdark future. One careless move could alter fate itself!"
"Oh, right, before we get into the game, let me introduce my flatmates. That overdramatic mad scientist is Rintaro Okabe—calls himself 'Hououin Kyouma,' don't ask, he'll explain anyway. And the one saying is Mayuri Shiina. She's the normal one here, somehow. We all went to uni together, and now we just kind of… coexist. Try not to take Okarin too seriously unless he starts talking about world lines and the 'Organization' again."
"I'll keep that in mind. Nice to meet you both, though I gotta say, I've never had a 'mad scientist' warning as part of an introduction before. This place is already more interesting than I expected."
Okabe immediately scoffed, sweeping his lab coat behind him as he struck a dramatic pose. "Fool! To reduce me to mere theatrics… I am Hououin Kyouma! The one who defies the very structure of causality! These 'world lines' you mock are the invisible threads that bind fate itself. And you—" he pointed sharply at Caleb, "—your sudden appearance and abnormal speed… you may already be entangled in their flow!"
"Tuturu~! Okarin's imagination is running again," Mayuri giggled. "Nice to meet you! Don't worry, he's not scary or anything… just a little dramatic."
"Say, Watson! I heard you ordered a game table a while back. Did you just get it and immediately challenge someone to a match? You're in such a hurry, I'm guessing there's some kind of bet on this game! The opponent probably saw they couldn't beat you and got all worked up, saying you can't use Designates, right?
Sometimes having an old brother who knew you too well was quite embarrassing.
He hadn't even opened his mouth, and the other guy had already filled in the blanks.
"Um, pretty much! Yeah!"
"The reward after victory is indeed very tempting! I'll tell you what, if I really win, maybe one day you'll see me become a super soldier with two hearts and three lungs! Although I'm currently one lung short of a super soldier, I'm telling you, it's just a matter of time!"
Mayuri blinked. "Eh? Two hearts? Like a superhero?"
Okabe pushed his glasses up, intrigued. "A human modification theory… fascinating. This may have ties to Organization experiments…"
"Give it a rest!" Hashida took out a whole set of First Legion pieces from the cabinet, which even included two Dreadnoughts, and several predator tanks.
"You heartless guy, always looking for someone to scam! And besides, that Designate behavior of yours is a bit too ridiculous! We should at least use Warhammer pieces for Designates; taking other anime characters into the game is really a bit much!
Take this set and go play! This is a complete list; it'll definitely shut up those gamblers who like to bet!"
"Thanks man! You really saved my butt!"