They looked exactly like the legendary vampires, and due to the modifications of the Space Marines, their combat abilities were likely even stronger.
"Lord Rhodes, these are the brothers of the Death Company. They have completely lost their sanity. These two fell to madness during the recent battle in the Baal system," Dante explained.
Every time a brother joined the Death Company, it was a fresh heartbreak for him. In this Baal system war, all the brothers previously locked in the Tower of the Dead had perished in battle.
Yet, several dozen more Blood Angels, and even some from other successor chapters, had now succumbed and required Death Company service.
"Leave it to me! If there's a way to save them, I'll try," Rhodes said, patting Dante's shoulder.
"They're in your hands, Lord Rhodes. This is the last thing they can do for the Blood Angels," Dante nodded deeply in thanks, then took his leave.
Looking at these Blood Angels, now monstrous in form, Rhodes sighed and brought them to the laboratory of Yapool and Balt.
"Master! Who are these?" Yapool asked, staring at the now-vampiric Blood Angels lying in stasis fields.
Balt, equally fascinated, came over. Their master always brought strange things!
"It's like this. I want you to see if you can improve their brain core control, to help them suppress these transformations," Rhodes explained, detailing the Blood Angels' issue and Sanguinius's genetic curse to Yapool and Balt.
"The warp in this universe is truly wondrous—even more so than the alternate dimensions of our own race's origin," said Yapool.
"Master, if it's just a gene disorder, we could cure it. But as you described, if it's a psychic, warp-based affliction, that's beyond us. It doesn't act on the genes, but we might be able to help control it," Balt added, waving his hand.
Having been in this world for almost a year, Balt knew how terrifying the warp was.
He'd even secretly collected some warp matter on a previous journey for study. It was a dimension that transcended reality and physics—none of the normal universal rules applied. Conservation of energy, the laws of the cosmos—none of it mattered. If your imagination was wild enough, anything could happen. Some diseases leaking from the warp could wreak havoc on humanity, and their terror far exceeded human comprehension.
"Do your best. I think a special brain core should help suppress and control it. I'm not asking you to cure it completely," Rhodes said.
"Master, I can also study the effects of warp energy on them. After all, I am an extra-dimensional being," Yapool replied.
"Good! I'll leave it to you. By the way, do you have any plans for ultra-beast-modifying Baton's body?" Rhodes asked.
After defeating the Tyranids yesterday, Rhodes had given Baton's carcass to Yapool and Balt for ultra-beast fusion experiments.
"Master, we have a preliminary plan. Baton's volcanic monster bird carcass can be fused with Zetton. Zetton lacks flight, but Baton's flying ability could greatly enhance his combat power, while Zetton's physical qualities and teleportation could fill out Baton's weaknesses," Yapool explained.
He and Balt had discussed this plan for a long time; the ultra-beast modification of Zetton had always been a focus, and Baton's carcass was perfect.
"So, do you mean to modify the existing Zetton or create a new one?" Rhodes asked.
"Let's use your Zetton, Master! No need to create another," Balt replied.
"No problem, use my Zetton for the modification," Rhodes agreed, leaving his device containing Zetton behind.
Since acquiring Zetton, Rhodes had kept him in reserve, never sending him into combat. After all, Zetton wasn't summoned by his system but was instead artificially made and best controlled near Rhodes.
Ultra-beastifying Zetton would greatly boost his power. After fusing with Baton's abilities, Zetton's combat effectiveness would soar, perhaps even rivaling EX Zetton.
After a brief chat, Rhodes returned to his private training room, ready for another round of major upgrades.
Previously, he'd only let his body adapt to some of Baton's cosmic energy. Today was the day for complete fusion.
During the days hunting Tyranids, Baton entered the Cosmic Phantom Beast Martial Arts Compendium to restore his energy and interact with the other phantom beasts.
Rhodes needed to get into peak condition to fuse with him. In the war against the Tyranids, Rhodes had spent millions of system coins upgrading the intermediate power-up store, evolving a cosmic phantom beast, and maxing out another mothership. He'd also redeemed the six Mechanical Ultra Brothers and fully upgraded them, spending nearly 6 million system coins in total.
Even so, he still had over 5.5 million coins left, with 5 million set aside for the ultimate psychic power-up for Mefilas and a 50k coin monster power-up ticket.
Rhodes had realized that these monster power-up chances should be used quickly; otherwise, if he drew a free one later, the paid ones would go to waste, especially as they got more expensive.
After the ultimate telekinesis upgrade, Mefilas's power was terrifying—he could single-handedly defend the ork ranch. With high-level telekinesis, at a whim, he could instantly lock onto every ork on a planet and, with a snap of his fingers, wipe them all out. His psychic energy could cover an entire world.
"Master! My power now is so great, even I can barely believe it. If you need, I can drag an entire planet, even control its rotation," Mefilas said.
After maxing out his telekinesis, he could easily reshape a planet's environment—even crush one to pieces or drag it through space.
"In that case, why don't we move? You wrap the ork ranch planet in your telekinesis, and I'll recall you into the system space, then redeploy you in my current star system. That way, my forces aren't so far apart, and I can avoid the Trazyn threat," Rhodes mused.
He'd use his monster recall ability to bring Mefilas and the planet into his system, then redeploy them as needed.
"In theory, that works, Master!" Mefilas replied.
A star system is vast, but over 90% of its mass is in the star. The rest is mostly empty space. Moving one or even ten planets would be no problem. (Author's note: The Adeptus Mechanicus or Necrons have similar planet-moving tech, and someone told me that during the Fourth Tyrannic War, Cawl used such tech to move Terra because the Empire couldn't hold against the Tyranids.)
"I have three star systems; I'll pick a suitable one for you," Rhodes said.
"My abilities can also help you terraform planets—dragging those outside the habitable zone into it, adjusting orbits, and modifying temperatures," Mefilas added.
Even the satellites of gas giants could be moved and modified.
"That's great! I have many barren, uninhabitable worlds in my three systems, all needing terraforming," Rhodes replied.
Of the three systems Guilliman gave Rhodes, only four planets were habitable. Even they needed atmospheric, environmental, and orbital adjustments for human habitation.
The Mechanicus could also do this, but it would take decades or centuries, at enormous cost—sometimes more than simply annexing new Imperial worlds. That's why such tech was rarely used.
With Mefilas's psychic help, it would probably take less than a year to make all these planets livable. The hardest part would be moving them into the habitable zone; after that, atmospheric adjustments would be easy.
"Leave the planet modification to me, Master!"