The Emperor looked upon the two infants.
He sensed the souls of the two children, held so preciously in the arms of the Custodian Guards.
As their genes mingled, their bodies and souls had come to resemble the soul from another world.
But.
Adriana's soul itself was pure even in the Emperor's eyes.
The union of a pure soul and one that was not of this world.
The Emperor saw.
He glimpsed the tremendous potential the two children would possess should they become Custodian Guards.
Even the Grey Knights, who had inherited his geneseed, could fall if the masses of emotion within the Warp intervened directly.
But these two would never fall.
"Radian is a blessing unto me."
The Emperor personally blessed the children, and the week-old infants became beings like their brothers.
The two children who had become Custodian Guards knelt before the Emperor and swore their loyalty.
The Emperor's form began to change.
Flesh began to cover the Emperor's face, which had resembled a skull.
As flesh covered it, the psychic power that had been difficult to control became ever more pure.
The former Custodian Guards serving as the Eyes of the Emperor wept as they beheld him.
His body, weakened by age—though he could still face an entire squad of Astartes on his own—grew robust.
As more than a thousand Eyes of the Emperor returned to active service, every large-scale crusade involving at least two Chapters and more than ten Astra Militarum regiments could now be accompanied by two Custodian Guards.
"Astartes. They are truly my hands and feet."
When the Emperor spoke those sacred words, the Astartes throughout the galaxy could no longer be corrupted by mere daemonic whispers.
Thousands of Astartes joined the defense of the Nachmund Gauntlet, the sole passage linking the Imperium divided by the Great Rift.
Greater Daemons tempted the Astartes, but their strengthened minds and wills rendered every temptation futile.
Some captured Astartes did eventually fall through dark rituals and torture.
But corrupting them required dozens of times the time and power it had previously taken.
Chaos faced an even greater problem: after falling, they became so weak that they could scarcely be called Astartes any longer.
The loyalist geneseed they had gone to such lengths to seize was so steeped in the Emperor's presence that merely carrying it caused the Heretic Astartes pain.
And the return of yet another Primarch further weakened the forces of the Heretic Astartes.
"I demand an accounting of your sins. Answer me."
The firstborn of the Primarchs who had awakened once more.
Lion El'Jonson personally interrogated the Fallen he had captured.
Empowered by the Emperor's presence, stronger than he had been in the 30th Millennium, and changed through repentance and reflection, the Primarch looked upon the sons who had opposed him alongside Luther.
Seeing their genetic father and feeling the holy presence, the Fallen shed tears.
Cypher spoke.
"I shall confess my sins.... My sins are..."
Cypher's confession lasted three hours.
Lion El'Jonson listened to Cypher's confession.
Weeping, Cypher offered Lion's broken sword and begged Lion to use it to cut off his head.
When Lion touched the broken Lion Sword, it returned to the form it had possessed before it broke.
At that sight, the Fallen wept and wailed all the more bitterly.
When Cypher's confession ended, the confessions of thousands of Fallen began.
They confessed their sins and promised the Primarch that they would atone.
The dark hand that had ruled the Fallen withdrew, and the veil that had covered their eyes was lifted.
The Emperor's light blessed them once more, and they became Astartes again.
"I speak in the name of Lion El'Jonson. I forgive your sins. Fulfill your duty once more as my sons."
Then Lion bestowed upon Cypher the Lion Sword, reforged through the power of himself and the Emperor.
"Henceforth, this blade shall be called [Tears of the Redeemed]. And with this blade, save my sons."
There was no path to salvation for the sons who had already wholly slipped beyond his reach under the name Death Angels.
"Be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor. Show your resolve again, my sons."
When Lion's brief address ended, the Dark Angels who had once been Fallen painted their power armor gray.
They adorned themselves with purity seals, symbols of salvation and repentance, and set out on crusade.
In the end, those who had abandoned their father.
The traitors would not be forgiven.
The Crusade of Salvation and Repentance had begun.
With them at its vanguard, The First, once again formed into a Legion with the Emperor's permission, embarked upon a crusade targeting the entire galaxy.
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