A feeling of immense power coursed through Axis, and a hint of disbelief crossed his face.
The power of gods and mortals were two entirely different concepts.
Having ascended to godhood, his very perception of existence had changed, and his strength had been elevated to another dimension entirely.
Axis slowly descended, landing on the surface of the Heart of the Domain of Life. It had been more than three hundred years.
It had not been easy.
He had finally, through his own training, become a Super Saiyan God, and a perfect version at that.
This was not merely a transformation.
Unlike Son Goku or Vegeta, who had trained to access the Super Saiyan God form, Axis had fundamentally evolved his body to a divine level. His Super Saiyan God state was different.
Kakarot's first transformation had been a temporary change, achieved only by borrowing the ki of five kind-hearted Saiyans. Although he later mastered this form through training and even developed the more powerful Super Saiyan Blue, the angel Whis had considered it a detour from the true path.
Axis, however, had achieved godhood by understanding the divine aura of the Tree of Gods, comprehending the God Ki of a Supreme Kai who commanded life, and converting the Emperor's potent Warp energy.
It took three hundred years of accumulation for the divine Ki to completely purify his body, allowing him to truly ascend as a god.
Now, if Axis wished, he could remain in his Super Saiyan God form indefinitely, with no excess energy drain.
This state, one could say, was now his normal state.
"Axis, he has finally awakened." Sensing Axis's formidable presence, the goddess of life Isha and Kasha both flew toward him from their residence on the Planet of Life.
Axis gave them a completely different impression now.
Before, he had been a figure of sharp, unconcealed might, his entire being radiating an unimaginable power.
Now, his body seemed to have even slimmed down slightly. He projected an air of solemn peace, a change wrought by divine power.
Only now could Isha truly feel that Axis was one of her own kind. He had been powerful before, immensely so, but he had still been a mortal.
Axis nodded to the two women and expanded his senses across the Planet of Life.
It was strange.
The Harlequins and the regular Aeldari who had been living here were all gone. The entire planet was empty, save for himself, Isha, and Kasha.
"You've changed so much, Axis," Kasha said, circling him. "Does this transformation make your body smaller? Has your combat power increased or decreased?"
In his current state, Axis looked more like an ordinary citizen of the Imperium than a mighty Primarch.
Kasha even suspected that his power might have diminished.
This state was nothing like his previous berserk transformations, each of which had pulsed with raw, visible strength.
His Legendary Super Saiyan form, in particular, had been overwhelmingly oppressive. It was the complete opposite of his current state of balanced tranquillity, which radiated a divine aura.
"How to put it?" Axis began. "In terms of raw strength, I have reached the end of the Super Saiyan path. Before, I possessed the limit of power among the physical constraints, but I could never touch the power of a god. Therefore, I could not harm certain entities, nor could I even perceive their power."
In truth, Super Saiyan 4's combat power was not weak in the slightest. In some chronicles, the Super Saiyan 4 form could even rival Super Saiyan Blue, but the sagas of that universe were known for their contradictions.
When the Super Saiyan God form first appeared, its lore established it as vastly superior to any normal Super Saiyan form; the two could not be compared. As long as you were a mortal, you could never withstand the power of a Super Saiyan God, let alone face a God of Destruction.
But in later tales, forms like Super Saiyan Blue, Golden Frieza, Beast Form, Ultra Instinct, and even Evolved Blue had once again sent the Saiyans down the path of simply changing colors. The power scaling collapsed spectacularly after the appearance of the movie-version Broly, where an ordinary mutated Super Saiyan could suddenly overwhelm a Super Saiyan God.
But Goku was Goku.
There was still a vast difference in the innate aptitude of Saiyans. Axis had been remade by the Emperor. Though not born a Legendary Super Saiyan, he had become one through subsequent changes. And after years of evolution, his potential was in no way inferior to the original legendary Super Saiyan.
In fact, his survivability and potential for growth were even greater.
Axis had followed a path that emulated Goku's until this point. It was only by becoming a Super Saiyan God that he had finally forged a path of his own.
"So, can you still transform into the Legendary Super Saiyan and your other forms?" Kasha asked.
"Even now, I can transform into a Super Saiyan state," Axis explained, "By layering the Super Saiyan transformation on top of Super Saiyan God, I can achieve a form known as Super Saiyan Blue."
The moment he became a Super Saiyan God, Axis had automatically mastered this ability.
"Super Saiyan Blue?"
"It's just an abbreviation. You could call it the Super Saiyan transformation of a Super Saiyan God."
With a sharp cry, a blue aura erupted from Axis's body. His red hair turned a vibrant azure, and his height increased to two-point-two meters, giving him an appearance of immense physical power.
Having transformed into Super Saiyan Blue, Axis's presence surged, becoming far more oppressive than his Super Saiyan God form had been.
"This form," Kasha noted, "does resemble your previous Super Saiyan states."
"The total amount of God Ki hasn't increased, but my combat strength certainly has," Axis said, clenching his fists. "However, this feels more like a raw power enhancement rather than a qualitative change."
Super Saiyan Blue was, simply put, a Super Saiyan transformation built upon the foundation of a Super Saiyan God.
This form caused his muscles to swell, returning his physique to its previous size and even adding a bit to his height.
It was overflowing with power, but his control over the divine energy itself was less refined than in his Super Saiyan God form.
He could now easily transform into a Legendary Super Saiyan Blue, a form that was even more powerful but consumed a colossal amount of energy.
He could even stack Super Saiyan 4 on top for a further increase in strength, but these were all just quantitative changes. A qualitative leap would require more time.
For a brief moment, Axis felt a powerful urge to take out the God of Destruction energy he possessed, to try and feel it, perhaps even absorb it and see if he could master its unique power.
"Axis, now that you're awake, there are some important things we need to tell you," Kasha said, her tone growing serious.
"What is it? Tell me," Axis replied with a nod.
"Axis, for the 170 years since you entered your slumber, this planet has been sealed off by some kind of force," Kasha explained. "We cannot leave, and no one can enter."
Ever since Axis had sunk into a deep state of training to transition his body into a divine one, the planet had been shrouded in a mysterious mist. Kratos, who had visited every few decades, had not been seen in 170 years. The same was true for their Aeldari contacts.
"What? How is that possible?" Axis asked, alarmed. "What about Khorne? Is he still sending divine power? And what is the Emperor's situation? Has your father spoken with you?"
During his training, his body had continued to convert the Emperor's power, so that supply must not have been cut off.
"Khorne has also continued to funnel his power here," Isha said. "I only need to spend a little time each day converting it now. This Divine Tree has been growing for 300 years and can already absorb some of the Emperor's and Khorne's power on its own.
"But the strange thing is, while we can still nurture the tree, all contact with the outside galaxy has been completely severed."
"Your psychic powers are formidable," Axis asked. "Have you tried to send a psychic message through the Webway? That's also been cut off?"
"It's no use," Kasha replied. "Neither I nor Isha can send any message out. Everything here is sealed away. That's why we felt something major must have happened. I've asked my father about it, but he hasn't spoken to me in over a century."
This was the true cause of her anxiety. For 170 years, there had been no news from the outside world. She and Axis had been away from the Imperium for three hundred years now, with no idea of its current state.
"My love. I am not as I was before," Axis declared. "I will break through this mist."
Whatever enemy they faced, the newly ascended Super Saiyan God Axis felt no fear.
His current combat power was far greater than any of Goku's forms from the sagas.
Even against the Ultra Instinct state, absolute power would grant Axis victory. He would not even need to become Super Saiyan Blue.
Before he set upon the path of divinity, Axis had already pushed the power of a Super Saiyan to its absolute peak, his strength far surpassing that of Broly from the movies.
Just as Axis prepared to unleash his power and shatter the Warp-mist enveloping the Planet of Life, a golden ray of light pierced through it.
Sanguinius, radiating holy light, a Super Saiyan Kratos, and Magnus with the Eye of the Arcane blaring appeared on the planet's surface.
"We finally found you, Axis," Sanguinius said, a look of profound relief on his face. He had found him at long last.
"Father! Mother!"
Sanguinius and Kratos were both overcome with emotion. After enduring untold hardships, they had finally reached Axis.
"What's happened?" Axis asked, his brow furrowing. "You all seem… unwell."
The way the three of them looked at him was with a desperate intensity. Axis keenly sensed that something was terribly wrong.