Chapter 54 Resurrecting Roboute Guilliman

Sanguinius’s sudden intervention caused the hearts of Eldrad, Yvraine, and the Aeldari delegation to completely plummet.

Their original strategic intent was to monopolize the resurrection of Roboute Guilliman, using Ynnead’s death-magic to forge a permanent, deeply indebted political alliance with the Imperium of Man.

Now, with the Great Angel interjecting, their entire geopolitical scheme was completely derailed.

“Who else possesses the capacity to resurrect a Primarch?” Archmagos Cawl asked, his mechanical optics whirring as he analyzed the situation.

Marneus Calgar and the Ultramarines immediately snapped their attention to Sanguinius, their eyes burning with desperate hope.

Sanguinius stepped back, sweeping his arm toward the purple portal with an elegant, highly dramatic flourish, formally presenting the entity standing just beyond the threshold.

“Behold! The Ancestor of Humanity! The absolute Master of Technological Supremacy! The Guiding Light and Savior of Civilization! The Bane of the Tyranid Hive Mind! The Savior of the Cryptus System! The Redeemer of Baal! The Supreme Architect of the Nether Highway! The living, breathing embodiment of absolute Miracles—!”

Sanguinius continuously, enthusiastically announced Vane’s rapidly expanding list of titles, his voice echoing with majestic, soaring resonance.

Everyone in the room stared in absolute, profound shock.

The Great Angel was a literal son of the Emperor! He was already one of the absolute most exalted beings in the entire Imperium, and now he undeniably possessed the raw power to fight actual gods!

Yet, a being of such unfathomable majesty was willingly, enthusiastically acting as a lowly herald, aggressively shouting titles to announce the arrival of someone else?!

What was even more terrifyingly bizarre was the absolute, stoic acceptance of Dante, Gabriel Seth, and the Blood Angels.

They stood at perfect attention on either side of the portal, looking completely unfazed, as if a literal demigod acting like a glorified hype-man was the most mathematically logical thing in the universe.

Just what kind of incomprehensible entity could command such absolute, unquestioning reverence from a Primarch and his entire Chapter?!

Under the intensely focused, awestruck gazes of everyone present, Vane casually stepped through the portal and entered the Fortress of Hera.

“…A baseline mortal?!”

Eldrad, Yvraine, and the Shadowseer stared at Vane in absolute, profound bewilderment.

No matter how intensely they analyzed him with their psychic senses, the ‘Supreme Entity’ that Sanguinius and Dante treated with such absolute reverence appeared to be nothing more than a completely average, completely unremarkable human civilian.

“This… this is the man?” Calgar looked Vane up and down, genuinely confused. “He appears to be an incredibly frail, baseline mortal. Does he truly possess the capability to heal a Primarch?”

Hearing Calgar’s blunt question, Sanguinius completely froze.

Are Roboute’s sons really this profoundly, aggressively dense?!

I am the Lord of the IX Legion! I am the Emperor’s biological son! I literally just put on a hyper-dramatic introduction specifically to highlight how ridiculously overpowered the Forefather is!

Roboute, my brother… I genuinely tried my best to hype him up for you. But your sons are absolutely, hopelessly un-carryable!

Dante, Seth, and the Blood Angels heard Calgar’s question and immediately, flawlessly synchronized their smug smirks.

Thinking about what was mathematically guaranteed to happen next, they genuinely had to struggle to suppress their laughter.

You actually dared to question the Forefather’s competence? Calgar, you are absolutely finished.

Vane looked at Calgar and slowly shook his head in deep, paternal disappointment.

“The younger generation of Astartes are becoming increasingly disrespectful.”

“I’ve made an executive decision. Resurrecting any other Primarch will cost a flat fee of fifty billion star systems. But resurrecting Roboute? The price is now one hundred billion star systems.”

WHAT?!

Calgar, Chief Librarian Tigurius, and First Captain Agemman felt their eyes violently bulge out of their skulls.

Eldrad, Yvraine, and the Aeldari delegation were equally stun-locked.

One hundred billion star systems?! Are you completely, clinically insane?!

Even during the absolute, undisputed apex of the ancient Aeldari Empire, our total territorial holdings didn’t even reach one hundred billion star systems!

This guy casually opened his mouth and demanded one hundred billion star systems! Even if you liquidated the entire Ultramarines Chapter and sold them on the black market, they couldn’t even afford the interest rate!

“Forefather, please. Let us prioritize the medical treatment of Roboute Guilliman before we finalize the financial contracts,” Sanguinius smoothly intervened, desperately trying to de-escalate the situation.

“Roboute’s condition is highly complex. Are you absolutely certain you can heal him?”

“Relax, it’s a minor bug. I’ll just forcefully trigger an Apotheosis protocol and ascend him to godhood just like I did with you,” Vane replied with absolute, casual confidence.

According to the original lore timeline, Guilliman was supposed to be resurrected via Cawl’s Armor of Fate and Yvraine’s death-magic.

However, that method introduced a massive security risk: it was impossible to prove that Ynnead’s death-magic didn’t leave a hidden, passive corrupting influence on Guilliman’s soul.

After all, that was exactly how Horus had fallen—he was ‘healed’ in a temple on Davin, only to be permanently corrupted by the Warp.

In the original script, Calgar’s absolute, paranoid refusal to trust Cawl and Yvraine’s resurrection method was entirely based on this fear. He was terrified his Gene-Father would walk the exact same path as Horus.

“Ascend him to godhood?!” Eldrad stared at Vane with profound suspicion.

We exhausted astronomical resources, sacrificed entire worlds, and permanently crippled our civilization just to barely awaken a fraction of Ynnead’s power!

And this human is casually talking about handing out Apotheosis like it’s cheap, mass-produced Ork scrap?!

“The resurrection and Apotheosis of Sanguinius… was that truly your doing?” Yvraine demanded, her voice tight.

“Yeah, that was me,” Vane didn’t bother denying it. “Honestly, Apotheosis really isn’t that complicated. It’s not a big deal.”

Hearing this, Eldrad, Yvraine, and the Aeldari nearly vomited blood out of sheer, localized frustration.

Not that complicated?! Not a big deal?!

Do you have any idea what we sacrificed just to slightly awaken the God of the Dead?! We literally fed the entire Craftworld of Biel-Tan to a Warp-rift!

And you’re standing there casually claiming that ascending a shattered soul to godhood is ‘not a big deal’?! If that’s mathematically true, the Harlequins need to hire us immediately, because we are the biggest clowns in the universe!

“Can you… can you truly save our Gene-Father?” Calgar stared at Vane, his voice trembling with desperate hope.

The Lord of Macragge had been in a coma for ten millennia. Countless generations of Ultramarines had scoured the entire galaxy searching for a cure, entirely in vain.

If this man truly possessed the reality-breaking power to drag Sanguinius back from true death, he absolutely possessed the capacity to heal Guilliman.

“One hundred and fifty billion,” Vane stated blankly.

“Wait, why is it one hundred and fifty billion now?!” Chief Librarian Tigurius demanded, deeply confused.

“That is the updated medical invoice for resurrecting your Primarch.”

“But it was literally just one hundred billion thirty seconds ago!”

“Every time you question my competence, the price increases by fifty billion.”

Hearing this, Tigurius and Agemman’s eyes widened in absolute horror.

That inflation rate is catastrophic!

Calgar opened his mouth to speak again, but the lightning-fast reflexes of the Chief Librarian and the First Captain kicked in. They violently clamped their hands over Calgar’s mouth and aggressively dragged him backward.

Chapter Master! Please, for the love of the Emperor, stop talking!

If you say another word, the price is going to jump again!

When the Primarch finally wakes up and sees a debt of several hundred billion star systems, he’s going to have a catastrophic aneurysm and instantly slip back into a coma!

“Does… does this Apotheosis not invite apocalyptic ruin?”

Grand Master Voldus of the Grey Knights, who had been completely silent while aggressively analyzing the situation, stepped past the Ultramarines and approached Vane.

As a Grand Master of the Grey Knights, Voldus carried a highly classified, absolute ‘Terminus’ protocol that the rest of the Imperium would never, ever understand.

This protocol was directly tied to the concept of Apotheosis.

If the Golden Throne ever failed, and the Emperor awakened and attempted to leave Terra, the Grey Knights were under absolute, binding orders to force Him back onto the Throne to prevent His Apotheosis at all costs.

If they failed to restrain Him, they were ordered to execute Him.

Why? Because in the grimdark reality of the Warhammer universe, Apotheosis always demanded an apocalyptic, civilization-ending price.

If the Emperor truly ascended into a Warp God, the souls of every single living human would be instantly, violently assimilated into His divine essence. Humanity as a physical species would completely cease to exist.

Voldus needed to know: what was the apocalyptic price humanity had paid for Sanguinius’s Apotheosis?

And what catastrophic price would they be forced to pay if Roboute Guilliman ascended as well?

—

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