Chapter - 22

"Of course I have a retirement plan" She said calmly "I will return to my beloved Tatsumi and live with him"

"Tatsumi?" Anastasia asked tilting her head

"Oh yes, he's one of the others I told you about, he went to a planet called Helghan if I remember correctly, I haven't seen him since then but now that you're here this will not be a problem" Esdeath replied and Anastasia could have sworn that general blushed for a second

"Sooo this planet kind of suffered the same fate as our Krieg with the whole civil war and stuff that eventually turned the world into a Death world, this chick took control and started mass producing soldiers while purposely avoiding to defeat the Honkai on the planet for whatever reason and her purpose in life is to fight in the bloodiest of wars and then to retire to fuck some poor soul that now lives on another Death World?" Magnus summarized

"Seems like a totally reasonable person to me" The Emperor said

Anastasia was starting to have a headache "You still haven't told me why you didn't defeat the honkai here, I'm quite sure that most of the attention of the Honkai God is towards Terra, not this planet"

"How was I supposed to train the soldiers without a threat?" Esdeath asked with a smirk

"Can you explain the blood in your veins?" Anastasia asked

Esdeath blinked a few times probably surprised by the Empress' sudden statement and knowledge, she stretched out her arm towards the battlefield and a tower made of ice appeared out of nowhere "This is called Imperial arm or Teigu if you want, it's an ancient weapon of the First Emperor of the Empire that was here, mine was extracted from an ice demon, whoever tried to use it fell to madness but I...subdued it"

Anastasia remained silent as the ice tower was reduced in millions of pieces from her vectors, Esdeath was a strong, strong-willed, charismatic, smart and at the same time she was fearsome, terrifying and a bit crazy...but the Empress knew that the war she was fighting couldn't be won just with optimism and power of friendship, she needed people like Esdeath.

She looked at her hand before stretching out towards her "My father gave me the task of creating my sisters, Primarchs like me, you wanted to become stronger? Then become my sister"

Esdeath looked at the woman in front of her shocked a bit but not for long, she grabbed Anastasia's hand "It would be an honor, your majesty" she said with a smirk

The two women walked back where the others were.

"So how am I supposed to create my sisters?" Anastasia asked

"Tell to the tech-priests to initiate the Primarch Protocol, for the rest, it's already in your mind" the Master of Mankind said...

Earth, Schicksal Europe HQ

Theresa had just returned from another mission. Today, the last test subjects of the Yager project were kidnapped by Anastasia's soldiers no matter how hard she tried, their assault was always sudden and brutal. The overseer had finally decided to shut down the project as they couldn't afford to have more structures being raided...

The small valkyrie was returning home alone, Cecilia had to participate on a test so there was no one to keep her company...even though today was her birthday, the first one she ever passed truly alone, Otto was somewhere else but he didn't forget to send his present not that it could make up for the loneliness Theresa felt.

She unlocked the door of her apartment and got inside, it was strangely darker than she remembered and so after putting her Oath of Judah to its usual place she went to turn on the lights, only to discover that the electricity had been turned off. She narrowed her eyes and went to look for her weapon again but it had suddenly disappeared, she went to the entrance of the apartment but the door won't open.

Suddenly the lights turned on and Theresa widened her eyes in shock

Four Adeptus Astartes with black armor and red outlines were standing in front of her, one of them was holding the oath of Judah. The Valkyrie was about to scream in order to put the base in alarm but she then noticed that the whole home had been decorated with the decorations that Anastasia had bought before she went rogue.

"The Empress sent us here" one of the Space Marines said through his helmet

"W-What?" Theresa whispered in shock as the Astartes turned some sort of platform in front of him.

A hologram appeared from the platform portraying Anastasia. To the valkyrie, she looked way taller and more mature but there was also something that she never saw in her sister, she looked...fulfilled.

"Hello, Theresa" Anastasia said with a gentle tone "I'm sorry for the sudden intrusion but there wasn't another way...anyway Happy Birthday! I know that you might not want to hear it from me after what happened but I love you and I really miss the old times...I know that it's been hard and I know that-"

Theresa clenched her fists, gritted her teeth "You KNOW!? Do you know how I felt when I woke up in a hospital bed being told that MY SISTER has been tagged as an herrscher and that she went god knows where with these behemoths, who spent the following months and weeks raiding our bases!?" she replied with an angered tone

"Watch your tongue! You are speaking to the empress!" One of the Astartes said

"How about we talk about this?! EMPRESS?! What's that supposed to mean!? Empress of WHAT?!" the Valkyrie kept going let her anger and loneliness pour out

The Astartes tensed up as they placed their fingers on the trigger of their boltguns

Anastasia expression remained serious as Theresa spoke

"You left me here!" Theresa finally shouted as tears rolled down her eyes and fell on her knees, she slowly started sobbing before she felt something akin to a hug. Theresa widened her eyes and looked at Anastasia's figure, her hologram had her eyes closed but what truly shocked Theresa wasn't but the fact that another Anastasia was hugging her body seemed to be made of Honkai energy which didn't harm the valkyrie. After a few seconds, the second Anastasia disappeared and the hologram opened its eyes.

"How?" The white-haired woman asked

"There are many things that I know that you don't but I don't have enough time to tell you" Anastasia replied with a distressed voice "One day I'll explain everything to you but for now Theresa...be patient" she said with a bittersweet smile "I left you a few presents along with a cake..."

"Wait don't go!" Theresa asked

"Sorry, We've been here for too long already, the alarm will go off soon if we don't go...Goodbye Theresa and Happy Birthday" The Empress said as her hologram disappeared.

The space marines picked up the platform used to project holograms and left from the balcony leaving Theresa all alone again. The Valkyrie made her way to the table where several presents were waiting for her along with a strange looking cake which had something written on it

'Happy Birthday from the Omnissiah'

Theresa raised an eyebrow at that and was quite skeptical to eat the grey cake before her but she took a spoon and eat it.

She widened her eyes when she realized that it was a cake made of bitter lemon. Theresa ate with a smile on her face as tears of happiness fell down from her eyes

Meanwhile, Eternal Protector

"Well done!" Magnus said as he clapped his hands at his sister "You projected yourself on Terra even though we are so far away from it!"

"I can do it without any problems but congrats" The Emperor said

"So can I! BUT! For someone who is learning to use her immense psychic power that's quite impressive nonetheless!" the red Primarch replied as Anastasia let out a sigh

"To celebrate this progress, I'll give you a present" The Emperor said with a suspicious chuckle as Anastasia raised an eyebrow at him "Go to the tech-priest in charge of this ship and ask him about the Anathema Protocol"

"What is that?" Anastasia asked

"You'll see" The Emperor said as Anastasia nodded and made her way to the engines of the Emperor-class ships.

The Empress saw the mechanicus making sure that the machine spirits and all of that were fine, she approached the one called Amaveren Groza, the tech-priest who was in charge of the other Adeptus Mechanicus on the ship.

The Mechanicus immediately felt her presence and turned towards her "Oh Omnissiah, how can I serve thee?"

"Greetings Groza, I seek the Anathema Protocol" The Empress replied

The Techpriest made a sound that sounded like he was quite excited but Anastasia couldn't tell. "If her Majesty would follow me" he said snickering

Anastasia was curious about this reaction and started following him "Do you know what this protocol is?" she asked

"It is a secret! Only the Omnissiah of the previous universe and I know of it, the fact that he told shows how much trust he has for you" the tech-priest said while walking through the massive corridors with gothic decorations of the ship

"I see..." She replied nodding "How is the Primarch Esdeath doing?"

"Thanks to the machine spirits you injected her, her body is adapting to its new form, we think that she'll wake up in a few weeks" he replied receiving another nod. The tech-priest reached Anastasia's private quarters

"Why are we here?" Anastasia asked

"The Protocol is kept in here" The Mechanicus replied as a secret door opened leading to some sort of armory.

Anastasia looked around and saw twenty power armors around them, each of them with a set of weapons.

"Here are preserved the armors made from the Emperor himself for his sons...well daughters...you get my point" The tech-priest said

"So which one is mine?" Anastasia asked

"Well...the armor shall reveal itself to its rightful owner" The tech-priest replied

Anastasia nodded and started walking in front of the twenty armors stopping in front of each of them...but none seemed to attract her. The Empress looked a bit distressed by the lack of response from the power armors until something caught her attention.

It was wall, there wasn't anything particular about it but for some reason, Anastasia felt dragged towards it. She walked to it and placed her hand on it causing a mechanical sound.

The wall opened and what appeared in front of her eyes caused the tech-priest to start praying as the Empress admired the objects in front of her.

She didn't notice that her father and Magnus appeared next to her.

"Father" Magnus said "WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT!?" he asked

"Her armor of course" The Emperor replied

"YES BUT WHY IT'S JUST LIKE YOURS?! AND WHY IT IS THE 21TH!?" Magnus inquired

"Do you think I didn't expect her to take the role of Empress?" The Emperor replied with a sigh "How can it be called Imperium if it has no Emperor or Empress?"

Magnus remained silent for a few moments "I guess that makes sense...but why you made it like yours?"

"Because she is the motherfucking Empress and must be recognizable as such from her glorious ultra-shiny gold armor" The Master of Mankind replied

Anastasia ignored them as she ran her fingers on the golden power armor which covered with many Imperial Aquilas and baroque ornaments along with many jewels. The armor had a clawed gauntlet and next to it rested a sword, its hilt, just like the armor, was golden with the same baroque style, its blade was glowing red.

"With that, the Honkai will tremble before you" The Emperor said looking at the sword "It's specially made to destroy the honkai and anything that comes out of the immaterium, no armor is able to hold back its blade" he said before putting his hands on her shoulders "This armor is a sign of my trust, remember that when you're wearing it, you are carrying the weight of all of humanity"

Magnus stared at his father, he knew that there was something behind those kind words but he doubted that his father would reveal it to him if asked.

Anastasia was speechless and just nodded, she started donning the mighty armor.