Rhodes' refusal was so resolute that even the Emperor himself hadn't expected it.
However, what Rhodes said was true—Sanguinius was indeed exceptional, one of the Emperor's most beloved sons. But reviving him? That was beyond the Emperor's capability.
If he had the option, the Emperor would have weighed the pros and cons and chosen to abandon Horus in favor of reviving Sanguinius.
["It seems you know something about Sanguinius and his deeds. That child truly was the perfect angel.
But precisely because he was an angel, your method won't bring him back to life. His power was of pure light, while the power within your giant is of darkness.
Of all my sons, only Horus can be revived by such a force."] The Emperor spoke.
Sanguinius' power was imbued entirely with the light, to such an extent that even his offspring couldn't inherit his immense light. Instead, they transformed into something akin to ancient vampires—a grim irony since, in the oldest scriptures, vampires were said to have descended from angels.
Sanguinius was the manifestation of humanity's idealized worship of angels—a mythical god born from their fantasies. When the Emperor had brought him forth back then, he'd thought that Astartes created from his genes would form the perfect angelic legion. Instead, they turned into a band of crazed, corpse-eating ghouls.
"Are you saying… this resurrection method can only work on Horus?" Rhodes asked.
["Exactly. Horus was once tempted and corrupted by the combined efforts of the four Chaos Gods. When I killed him, I preserved part of his soul, the part that still shone with light.
He wielded the power of the Warp, and he wouldn't outright reject the darkness. That makes him suitable for this method of resurrection. But Sanguinius, with his absolute light, would utterly reject such dark forces.
You would never succeed in merging them—unless you had a giant of pure light,"] the Emperor replied.
The Emperor knew his angelic son far too well. Sanguinius would never accept any darkness.
A giant of light?
The system couldn't provide such a thing, but perhaps, in the future, there might be another way.
"And Horus—do you think the Empire could accept him now?
Do you believe the Empire's trillions of citizens could forgive such a sinner?" Rhodes pressed.
Even if I were willing to help you revive Horus, the real question is whether the Empire could accept him.
Could the countless citizens of the Empire forgive him? Your Custodians? The Sisters of Silence? The High Lords?
The Grey Knights? The Astartes? The Sisters of Battle? Who among them could accept him? Who could forgive him?"
Rhode's distrust of traitors was clear. What if Horus turned against him? Last time, he betrayed the Emperor; what if this time, he betrayed Rhodes?
["You don't know the truth of what happened back then,"] the Emperor responded solemnly. ["The reason Horus fell during that great rebellion was that I appointed him as the Warmaster, giving him command of all the Empire's military forces.
If I had chosen Sanguinius, Guilliman, or Johnson to be the Warmaster instead, they would have suffered the same fate as Horus—corrupted by Chaos.
The four Chaos Gods personally intervened to ensure Horus' fall. They did not take this lightly—they even corrupted Lorgar beforehand to pave the way.
Only then, through certain sorceries, could they jointly corrupt Horus.
Even so, Horus was never truly a servant of the four gods. What he wanted was to overthrow me and become the second Emperor. At his core, he merely collaborated with the Chaos Gods, not served them.
And no matter who stood as Warmaster, they would have faced the same doom.
The power of the Four Gods is no joke. Even if a dark personality ascended to become a fifth Chaos God, it could only contend with one of them at best.
When the Four act together to corrupt a Primarch, it is almost impossible to resist."]
"Fine. Even if I believe you, you still haven't answered my original question: who could accept his return?" Rhodes countered.
["Hahaha! Idiot, fool, moron! Even an outsider can see how stupid your plan is!"] sneered the dark personality, taking the opportunity to mock him.
The Emperor fell silent. He knew the truth—but did anyone else?
Horus had briefly regained his clarity during the rebellion. That moment of lucidity had led him to Terra, where he awaited his destined confrontation with the Emperor.
It was Horus who killed Sanguinius, forcing the Emperor to make the final decision to eliminate him. Horus knew the Emperor couldn't bring himself to do it otherwise.
But the question remained: who in the Empire could accept Horus' return?
Aside from the Emperor himself, it seemed that no one else could.
Everyone believed that if not for the rebellion initiated by Horus, the Great Crusade wouldn't have stopped.
The Imperium would now be better than ever, but only the Emperor himself knew that the Four Chaos Gods would inevitably interfere. Even without Horus' heresy, another son would have rebelled.
"Face reality, Emperor. Even if Horus has freed himself from Chaos corruption, he cannot return to the Imperium. Surely, you know this?" said Rhodes.
Reviving Horus and letting him return as Warmaster was nothing but the Emperor's wishful thinking.
["We could let him hide his identity and no longer use the name Horus. Let him serve as an ordinary warrior. I believe, with his abilities, he could once again become the Warmaster of the Imperium,"] the Emperor said.
"Anyone with the power of the Dark Giant can climb to the position of Warmaster. And without being resurrected as a Primarch, he is of no use to the Imperium at all," Rhodes replied.
"If that's the case, I might as well pick someone else. With the power of the Dark Giant, what can't they accomplish? But perhaps there's another way..." Rhodes thought to himself, a new idea forming in his mind.
"Since you love bestowing blessings so much, why not let Chaos have the honor instead?"
["Fine! Perhaps Horus truly isn't suited to return to the Imperium. But aside from Horus, your Dark Giant cannot resurrect any of the other Primarchs either,"] said the Emperor.
"The Imperium may not accept Horus, but Chaos certainly will," Rhodes said, suddenly changing his tone.
["What do you mean? Horus has just managed to escape the clutches of Chaos, and now you want to send him back?"] the Emperor asked.
"We need to give that Chaos Warmaster, Abaddon, something to do. Let the forces of Chaos tear themselves apart. To Abaddon, his father Horus is already dead. If, at this moment, a new Horus appeared, joined the Chaos faction, and started fighting for power, Abaddon would be the first to try and kill him," Rhodes explained.
The invincible Abaddon would not hesitate to eliminate his resurrected father—Horus, even if this Horus retained all of his original memories. In Abaddon's eyes, his father had already been killed by the Emperor.
["So you're saying that after resurrecting Horus, we should send him directly to fight for power with Abaddon, and even try to kill him?"] the Emperor asked.
Abaddon, the Chaos Warmaster, was indeed the greatest threat to the Imperium at the moment. If he could be eliminated, it would undoubtedly be a great boon.
"Exactly! Horus returning to the Imperium as a Primarch is impossible, and you know it. So let your son atone for his sins. If he truly wishes to redeem himself for his past mistakes, let him kill the Chaos Warmaster and strike a blow against the Chaos Gods," Rhodes said.
In terms of political skill, military buildup, and command ability, Guilliman wasn't necessarily inferior to Horus. Instead of letting the former Warmaster return, it would be better to send him to Chaos to stir up trouble—as a cloned version of Horus.
"Think about it. If your son truly regrets his actions, he would be deeply remorseful for his crimes and have no face to return to the Imperium. Even if you resurrect him, it's still just your wishful thinking. The best course of action is to send him to infiltrate Chaos. The Four Chaos Gods would never suspect that you didn't destroy Horus; they would simply assume he was a clone. That would give us the perfect opportunity to strike back at Chaos," Rhodes explained.
["If he's not infected by the power of Chaos, then even if Horus sides with Chaos, he won't be trusted,"] the Emperor replied.
"Who told you that? Leave this matter to me, and just wait and see. My Dark Giant can ensure that Horus won't be corrupted by Chaos again while still being able to wield Chaos' power," Rhodes said confidently.
The Slaanesh Killer had already been created, so it was time to start planning for the Nurgle Killer, the Khorne Killer, and the Tzeentch Killer. Giving Horus the power of Chaos while ensuring he wouldn't be corrupted by it was not a difficult task for Rhodes.
["Then let's proceed as you suggest. We'll infiltrate Horus into the Chaos faction, weaken their forces from within, and ideally, have him kill Warmaster Abaddon and Blackheart Huron. It would also be great to deal a heavy blow to the Four Chaos Gods and avenge myself,"] said the Emperor.
"It seems we've reached a consensus. Once Horus is resurrected, we'll send him to infiltrate the Chaos forces and cause havoc," Rhodes said.
["Foolishness! If you would release me, you wouldn't need to resort to such schemes,"] the Emperor's Dark Side interjected once again.
"You don't get a say here. Shut up!!" ×2
Rhodes and the Emperor rebuked the Dark Emperor in perfect unison.
["Curse you both, you conniving fools! You're going to fail again. Don't come crying to me when it happens,"] the Dark Emperor roared in fury.