In the first layer of the Kingdom of Disorder,
Nareth looked down as the Jokaero threw the potion ingredients into the furnace one by one.
The most terrifying of the Psychneuein, the Queen, fell into the Vosvoth.
The black liquor and the red body intertwined. A chemical reaction seemed to occur. The bloated red body rapidly dissolved.
Red specks, like stars, appeared in the black liquid.
The Hrud King, four times larger than its kin, from the Gurgan system, which had not fallen to silence, was thrown in.
Distorting mist rose. The surrounding black mist rippled.
From the Rangdan homeworld, two Slaughth Kings, both Primarch-level, were tossed by the Jokaero.
The "Baron of Corruption" channeled psychic energy into the Order's Hand and shouted in Dunnish.
"Release Imprisonment."
CRACK!
Clusters of worms rapidly dissolved. Green veins were faintly visible in the mist.
Finally, he dropped the Enslaver leader, whose body had covered half the hive city and which had mind-controlled Horus Lupercal and Mortarion.
With a gurgle, the distorting mist subsided.
The Enslaver's twelve tentacles rapidly dissolved. Its colorful body vanished like a burst balloon.
Nareth descended into the furnace. He saw a mass of translucent black liquid, shot through with colored light.
It was covered in dense green veins and red specks.
At every moment, every vein, every speck seemed to move according to some rule, yet there was a profound sense of wrongness.
The Primarch could sense the chaos and madness within.
He raised his hand. The black mass rose.
It was seamless. Not a drop clung to the furnace.
The black liquid flowed into a bottle he had prepared, made of dual-numbered black gold.
At the same moment Nareth obtained the "Mentor of Disorder" potion, on the basalt plaza before the palace in 'Terra's' High City, Catachan vines grew rapidly.
They wrapped around figures in magenta armor trimmed with silver, their bodies only a head shorter than an Astartes.
Before the palace gates, an automated mortar, dismantled by telekinesis, lay scattered.
At its muzzles, a blaze of psychic flames covered the twenty-meter area between it and the mortar.
The vines extended deep into the palace.
Marlena Skala and Arsena Dunn ascended the sixteen marble steps.
Before the "Biologist," as she climbed towards the stone door at the top of the stairs, two blinding beams of light suddenly flared from the mottled light under the portico.
CRASH!
The beams struck the flame shield surrounding Arsena, swallowed in a series of explosions.
Anticipating the beams, Marlena raised her hand. The runes on her Dominum Armor and the runes on her two COG drones lit up simultaneously.
Marlena raised her hand. Lightning leaped.
The psychic lightning tore through the invisible warrior's field. Two patches of black flame rose.
Ornate silver armor blackened. Red cloaks scattered.
After passing through the elegant portico, Arsena looked up at the palace spire. It was about a kilometer high, with a diameter of a hundred meters.
The moment he stepped onto the onyx platform surrounding the spire, several energy beams lanced towards him.
The flame shield shattered. Flames fell.
The beams then struck an invisible field. A protection orb shattered, its fragments falling.
Arsena, still wearing ten protection orbs, glanced at the wide windows of glass and unknown transparent material. The intense light of the battle and the flames shone through.
He raised his hand. A section of the onyx platform rose.
He, Marlena, and the four COG drones stepped onto it. As telekinesis surged beneath, the "Polymath's" eyes lit up.
"Light Suppliant" "Sunlight."
Inside the darkened spire, light like the midday sun blazed. The onyx platform rose rapidly.
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK...
Dense energy beams lanced towards them, but most flashed past the diffusing light.
The four COG drone raised their Bedrock-pattern bolters, firing at invisible warriors revealed by their hunter-killer modules.
Bolts thundered. Energy beams danced.
Puffs of blood mist rose. Vines climbed the carved stone walls.
As the platform rose, the panoramic view of the palace and the High City unfolded.
Blazing flames lit the entire city red.
CRASH!
As the light faded, a beam struck one of Arsena's COG drones.
Arsena immediately felt the black onyx platform beneath him grow heavy. He said to Marlena, "Jump!"
Black mist billowed from the "Polymath's" back, forming a pair of ethereal bat wings.
The "Biologist" produced a mutated bean pod seed, channeling psychic energy into it.
With a crack, several tendrils emerged from the pod.
Marlena leaped into the large pod. The tendrils pushed off the onyx step, and the pod sprang like a mantis.
The "bean pod" leaped. Blinding beams struck the steps, leaving pools of melted wax.
The last invisible warrior fired at the wispy black mist and the leaping pod.
CRACK!
The blackened pod slammed into the base of the uppermost circular platform's structure. Marlena leaped out.
A snake-like strand of her hair whipped into a ripple.
Black blood dripped onto the onyx step.
Marlena threw a punch, her fist passing through the heat haze of the invisible field.
CRASH!
Silver armor slammed into the wall.
The "Polymath's" muscles bulged. He threw a punch.
Metal fragments flew. A humanoid silhouette exploded.
The two entered the final circular platform.
A soaring dome of petal-like crystal panes. Curved steel beams converged at the apex into a slender mast.
Under the shifting light of the night sky, the structure creaked. The spire's top slowly rotated.
A gilded throne on three golden steps turned.
Arsena shook his head slightly. He looked out the window. A black-armored, golden-winged figure was approaching rapidly.
Nareth viewed the High City. The entire city was in flames. He knew it was time.
His wings beat. He crashed through the window.
"You are invaders, House Kournikova," the old man in the purple robe said bitterly, his voice lost in the rushing wind.
"I was deceived. The whole thing was a lie."
Nareth looked at the white-haired, gaunt figure, his youth unable to be preserved even by life-extension treatments.
"No."
"I planned and orchestrated the chaos on 'Terra.'"
The 'Emperor's' face twisted. He gripped the curled arms of his throne.
The secret device activated. The Golden Throne shuddered, unleashing an invisible force ten thousand times more powerful than an energy weapon.
Glass shards were swept into the energy storm, hurled at the black-armored figure like a hurricane.
The invisible force, like a giant wave, threw Arsena and Marlena aside.
At the storm's center, the Primarch stood firm. Light and shadow flickered in his eyes. Telekinesis surged.
BOOM!
The shockwave struck his force field. The entire spire shook.
Telekinesis enveloped the spire. The trembling platform instantly stilled.
Countless glass shards hung in the air, reflecting the black-armored figure.
Nareth's telekinetic hand caught Arsena and Marlena, tossing them onto the vines. He then stepped before the 'Emperor.'
He raised his left arm and swept it gently.
The withered body exploded. Blood mist filled the air. Nareth tilted his head back and drank the "Mentor of Disorder" potion.
.....
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