The Aeldari God of Death moved far faster than Axis had anticipated.
Nourished ceaselessly by the boundless life energy radiating from the Divine Fruit, Ynnead's aura grew ever more profound by the day, and his mastery over the dominion of death ascended to new heights.
His gratitude and reverence toward Axis had reached their absolute peak, which in turn drove him to rally the remnants of the Aeldari with extraordinary speed.
In a mere two months, the Craftworlds scattered across the galaxy, the Exodite tribes dwelling on wild frontier worlds, and the Harlequin troupes sworn to the God of the Dead all answered an invisible summons like birds returning to roost.
One by one, they traversed the Webway's labyrinthine corridors and converged near the Aeldari world where Axis resided.
Countless Aeldari vessels, each one elegant in form yet wildly varied in architectural style, lay at anchor in the void, forming a silent and sorrowful forest of ships. Among them were vessels in obvious states of disrepair, clearly ancient relics or hastily procured replacements. The Craftworld Aeldari possessed fleets aplenty, but the Exodites had no such luxury.
The assembled fleet was vast in scale, carrying a population of over fifty billion souls. If one were to include the scattered Aeldari Corsairs and Drukhari who had joined, the total number of Aeldari would surpass three hundred billion.
Yet even so, such numbers were negligible compared to humanity. The Aeldari had truly fallen into decline.
Moreover, only half the Exodites had come.
The other half refused to acknowledge their own gods any longer, choosing instead to remain in their worlds and live their primitive lives. Ynnead had not forced them. Every soul was entitled to their own choice.
"Lord Axis, all who are willing to follow me have assembled. The Laughing God has also arrived. He is willing to journey with us and has pledged to continue bringing laughter and hope to the Aeldari in the new world, even if that hope carries a bitter edge of irony." Ynnead turned and bowed deeply to Axis, who stood quietly to one side. Beside him stood the Laughing God, Cegorach.
The Aeldari deity, whose face bore an eternal and eerie smile, seemed to have tempered his usual irreverence. He offered Axis a measured nod of acknowledgment.
Axis returned the nod, his gaze sweeping across the enormous fleet visible through the viewport. "Well done, Ynnead. And Cegorach, you have both made a wise choice. There is no need for excessive formality in my presence.
"The Cegorach of our own world and I share a close bond. When I was still weak, the Laughing God provided me with tremendous support.
"A new world and a new Netherworld await their master's shaping hand. But remember your promise: safeguard the cycle of reincarnation and uphold the cosmic order."
"We are profoundly grateful for your shelter, great Lord Axis. I shall aid Ynnead in becoming the divine sovereign of the Netherworld," the Laughing God replied with his characteristic grin.
"I shall obey your decree to the letter!" Ynnead pledged solemnly.
At that very moment, a beam of golden light tore through space, and the figure of the Grand Supreme Kai, the Emperor, materialized at Axis's side.
"Father-in-law, you've finished already?" Axis asked. His tone was utterly casual, as if inquiring about some trivial errand.
"Mm." The Emperor gave a slight nod, his gaze sweeping over the vast Aeldari fleet beyond the viewport without lingering.
"A gaggle of witless metal skeletons, loud and lacking all reverence. They've been cleaned out." The God-Emperor spoke with the lightness of someone brushing dust from a sleeve.
But behind those two words, "cleaned out," lay the blood-soaked reality of an ancient race reduced to cosmic dust with a snap of the Emperor's fingers.
Ynnead and Cegorach listened with hearts hammering against their ribs. The Necrons had been one of the galaxy's most formidable powers, and they had just been annihilated, their entire civilization erased from existence.
How fortunate that the Aeldari had made the right choice. Otherwise, they would have met the same fate.
"Father-in-law, are we never returning to this reality?" Axis asked.
"No. We have done more than enough for this reality. The version of me that belongs here has recovered his strength. The Tyranids and whatever Orks remain are his concern now. I trust he will succeed." The Grand Supreme Kai nodded as he spoke.
Axis understood perfectly and asked no further questions. "Then let us prepare to depart."
He drew a deep breath, and the vast divine power within him surged forth. He spread his arms wide. The invisible laws of space trembled violently under his will, and a spatial corridor of unimaginable scale began to take shape in the void before the fleet.
It shimmered with pale blue light, like the gaping maw of some cosmic leviathan slowly opening. Within the passage swirled a deep, alien vista of shifting dimensional light, radiating spatial force potent enough to make one's heart clench.
This time, the tunnel Axis had opened was colossal beyond measure. Never before had he transported a fleet of this magnitude out of a universe.
Fortunately, he had already attained the level of a universal-tier individual, and this was merely a transit between parallel universes, so the strain remained within his capacity.
Once the spatial rift stabilized, the Aeldari fleet began filing through in formation. Hours passed, and the last Aeldari warship finally slipped inside the shimmering corridor.
"It's time for us to go as well." Axis turned to the Emperor and the two Kashas.
40k Kasha gazed toward the direction in which the fleet had vanished, her expression conflicted. There was hope for her people's future in her eyes, but also a thread of melancholy at leaving her homeland behind.
The Kasha from the 30th millennium took her hand in silence, offering wordless comfort.
The four of them exchanged nods, then stepped into the spatial corridor together.
Before departing, the Emperor cast forth a ray of divine light, transmitting a final message to his counterpart in this universe.
Somewhere across the galaxy, the Emperor of this world was leading humanity's counteroffensive.
He felt an aura vanish completely from existence, the presence of his counterpart from another reality, and at the same moment he received the final transmission.
The Necron race had been exterminated.
Humanity would never again face their threat. The Emperor's message also included intelligence about the Great Devourer. Together with the four Chaos Gods, these were this universe's primary remaining threats.
The Emperor of the 41st Millennium, Neoth, was in the midst of strategic deliberations with Guilliman and Rogal Dorn when he suddenly lifted his gaze to the depths of the void. A sharp glint flashed through his eyes, then softened into understanding and quiet acceptance.
"Father?" Guilliman noticed the change at once.
"They're gone. Departed for good." The 40K Emperor's voice carried an indescribable weight of emotion. "They've taken the last embers of the Aeldari race and returned to the world where they belong."
"So we've lost a powerful ally. They won't be coming back, will they?" Rogal Dorn looked up and asked.
"We owe them more than we can ever repay," Guilliman said with genuine sincerity.
"Indeed, they will not return. But they have already done more than enough for us. I am awake once more. I will find and retrieve every loyal Primarch, and then I shall lead you all into battle once again. The Necron threat has been eliminated, but a new danger will arrive within a few centuries. We must prepare." The Emperor's voice was iron.
Guilliman and Rogal Dorn exchanged a glance, each seeing the complex emotions reflected in the other's eyes.
Axis and that impossibly powerful "Father" from another universe had been like saviors streaking across a sky of absolute despair, delivering miracles beyond belief.
They had resurrected the Emperor, sealed and repaired the Webway, crippled and exterminated the Necrons, and removed the Aeldari, that perennial thorn in humanity's side.
Now the saviors were gone.
What remained was a scarred but newly hopeful Imperium of Man, its road ahead still thick with thorns yet no longer one to be walked with bowed heads.
"My sons." The 40K Emperor rose slowly and walked to the great viewport of his flagship.
"What they gave us was an opportunity. The chance to seize our destiny once more. But that destiny must ultimately be borne by our own hands. Issue the orders: Phase Two of the Indomitus Crusade.
"Objective: purge every remaining xenos threat in the galaxy. We march to revive the Lion. We will clear the battlefield for the 'visitors' yet to come!" His voice rang with the finality of a blade striking stone, brimming with renewed ambition and overwhelming power.
Guilliman and Rogal Dorn straightened their spines, their eyes blazing with the fires of war. "By your command, Father!"
Father was right. New hope had arrived. They had no business wallowing without fighting spirit.
…
When the massive Aeldari fleet crossed the barrier between universes and arrived in Axis's home reality, they found themselves in an entirely unknown star system.
It lay roughly tens of millions of light-years from the Milky Way, comparable in size to it. Other intelligent species existed here, but none that could claim dominance. The Aeldari could live in peace, enjoying absolute tranquility.
Ynnead was to accompany Axis to the Netherworld and ascend as its Supreme Kai, so the burden of leading the race fell temporarily upon the Laughing God's shoulders.
Standing on the bridge of the flagship, Ynnead felt the powerful resonance this universe had with the divine nature of death within him.
He could barely contain his excitement. With reverent care, he produced the Divine Fruit that had been nurturing him all this time.
The moment had arrived. He could consume the fruit and transcend the Chaos Gods, becoming a supreme deity with a physical body of his own. And not merely any god, but one second only to the Grand Supreme Kai himself.
"Go, Ynnead. Consume it. Here, at the core of this realm, establish your Supreme Kai Planet of the Netherworld and become the true Supreme Kai of this domain of the dead!" Axis declared.
Over the past two months, Ynnead had been absorbing the Divine Fruit's essence continuously, and Axis had also administered large quantities of first-generation Tree of Might Fruit. His divine power and the resilience of his godly body had now reached a level sufficient to withstand the fruit's impact.
Ynnead hesitated no longer. He swallowed the fruit that held the power of creation in a single gulp.
The explosion was instantaneous.
A radiance beyond description erupted from within him. The grey void of the Netherworld blazed as though a star had been hurled into it. The overwhelming force of life-creation merged and transformed in mysterious harmony with Ynnead's innate divinity of death.
Terrifying divine power rampaged through his body, reinforcing every bone, every cell, amplifying his very soul.
His form stretched taller and grew denser within the blinding light. The ancient image of the Aeldari God of Death began evolving toward a higher-dimensional existence, toward the rank of Supreme Kai.
At the core of the radiance, an enormous celestial body was taking shape. Deep, dark gold in hue, its surface coursed with arcane runes and exuded an aura of sovereign authority over the cycle of death and rebirth. The Supreme Kai Planet of the Netherworld was being born alongside the forging of Ynnead's divine body.
The moment it appeared, it became the absolute center of the entire Netherworld.
Countless new strands of cosmic law spread outward from it, laying a solid foundation of divine authority for this realm of the dead.
At the Netherworld's edge, the spectral image of Isha, the Life Goddess, flickered into view. She wore a gentle smile as she observed the birth of her new neighbor.
Both Life Goddesses channeled their own Supreme Kai power to help Ynnead better absorb the Divine Fruit and comprehend the might of a Supreme Kai.
The nascent forms of the Netherworld and the Demon Realm, the Abyss, finally each had their own sovereign.
In truth, the two Aeldari Life Goddesses had never been particularly fond of the lord of Hell. Ynnead, the Aeldari God of Death, was their true kindred.
Axis watched it all with satisfaction, feeling the rules of his universe grow ever more complete.
Now, at last, this universe was beginning to resemble something worthy of the name.
"Lord Axis, I thank you for your guidance and your grace. From this day forward, I, Ynnead, am the Supreme Kai under your command, charged with governing the Netherworld." Having ascended as the Supreme Kai of the Netherworld and created his own Supreme Kai Planet, Ynnead knelt before Axis on one knee.
The gift was beyond measure. His power now far surpassed the Chaos Gods. Were he to return to his original universe, he could annihilate Slaanesh on the spot.
Unlike the other gods, he might not be able to destroy the remaining three Chaos Gods, but Slaanesh was the one he was fated to slay. The two were locked in a relationship of absolute counter.
He could even sense Slaanesh's presence in this universe. However, the other three Chaos Gods here seemed to have fallen on hard times.
They had been completely sealed away. Was that Lord Axis's doing? The question rose in Ynnead's mind, but he did not dare voice it.
"Ynnead, the Netherworld needs your stewardship. You must establish a paradise, one that accepts only the most virtuous souls. Souls of merit shall be granted rebirth as members of the highest intelligent species.
"Souls without particular merit shall be reincarnated as various intelligent beings across the cosmos. But souls burdened with sin must be reborn as beasts, as the weakest and most wretched forms of life. You are to build this system from the ground up.
"You will also need to appoint a Judge of the Dead on every inhabited world. Construct a complete Netherworld. But I expect you to govern with impartiality. The candidates for Judge of the Dead must be natives of their respective worlds, not selections from among the Aeldari. Is that clear?" Axis spoke with unmistakable meaning.
This was a matter that demanded vigilance.
Of the five Supreme Kais currently under his command, only the Grand Supreme Kai, the Emperor, was human. One was a former Chaos God. The remaining three were all Aeldari or, more precisely, Aeldari deities.
"You have my word, Lord Axis. I will not abuse my authority or show favoritism. I will govern with absolute impartiality, never deliberately favoring any one race." Ynnead spoke with the utmost gravity.
He understood the seriousness of this matter perfectly well. After all, with the two Life Goddesses and himself, three of the five Supreme Kais were of Aeldari origin.
"See that you do."
At that moment, the two Aeldari Life Goddesses and 40k Cegorach, the Laughing God of this universe, arrived to offer their congratulations to the newly ascended God of the Dead, or rather, the Supreme Kai of the Netherworld.
"Congratulations, God of the Dead."
"A correction, if you will. I am now the Supreme Kai of the Netherworld. With Lord Axis above me, I am no longer simply an Aeldari deity. I am a god of the cosmos, a sovereign over all the universe's domain of the dead." Ynnead declared with newfound authority.
"Ha! You're right. Supreme Kai of the Netherworld it is, then."
"Let us work together to nurture this universe in the ages to come."
Axis nodded with satisfaction.
With four Supreme Kais now in place, this universe had already far surpassed every other parallel Warhammer reality. The Supreme Kais could bring about evolution on a scale beyond imagination.
"The business here is concluded. Now, it is time to see this new world you spoke of," the Emperor said.
"We can leave at any time. But father-in-law, don't you want to visit the Imperium one more time?" Axis asked.
"Absolutely not. I've already entrusted the Imperium to Guilliman, Dorn, the Lion, Sanguinius, Russ, and the others. Unless humanity faces extinction itself, I will never involve myself again.
"Axis, I told you long ago: I am, at heart, a man who despises being in charge. I would much rather be a hands-off overseer like you. It was only that certain circumstances in those early days forced my hand. Otherwise, I would never have stepped forward." The true nature of Neoth had fully reasserted itself.
I am an explorer at heart. I prefer to remain in the background. Who in their right mind actually wants to be at the front?
Axis burst out laughing and clapped his father-in-law on the shoulder. He finally understood. This old man truly wanted nothing more than retirement.
Or perhaps he should find the Emperor a new companion.
That Erda woman could be forgotten about. Sometimes you had to let go of the old before the new could arrive.
"Then let us be off, father-in-law. This time, it'll be a journey of men. We'll leave the ahem, ladies behind." Axis smile was a sly one.
Exploring a new world carried a degree of uncertainty and danger.
He had no intention of bringing the two Kashas along. Besides, both of them needed to consume their own Divine Fruits and further strengthen their bodies. Remaining with the Life Goddesses was the better choice.
The Emperor nodded. Axis drew a deep breath and activated his spatial abilities. This time, it would be a random traversal.
The instant the spatial rift tore open, Axis and the Emperor dove through together, and Axis sealed the portal behind them.
They had barely set foot in this new universe, had not even caught their breath, when they realized the entire reality around them was collapsing. Disintegrating. Dying.
A towering figure clad in golden armor, a helm upon its head, was destroying this universe.
The power flowing from its body was unlike any god of destruction's energy. It was a strange, alien force of annihilation, and it was tearing the very fabric of reality apart.
"What the hell?!"
So much for a gentle start. They had walked straight into universal armageddon.
...
..
.