Chapter 119: The Final Duel - Ascension
Deep within the wreckage of the Vengeful Spirit, the Emperor's golden light flickered like a candle flame swaying in the wind.
With each swing of His sword, the psychic blade trembled in His hand. He was desperately suppressing the surging power within Him, power that, once unleashed, would transform into an indiscriminate storm of destruction.
The Emperor was not unaware of the changes within His body.
The forces of the Warp were attempting to reshape His very existence. If He completely relinquished His psychic powers and abandoned His adherence to humanity, He would become something other than human...Something worse.
Just as the Emperor was distracted by this internal struggle, Horus seized the opportunity.
His Talon, imbued with the power of the Four and gleaming with an eerie dark light, slammed straight toward the Emperor's arm.
BANG!
With a thunderous impact, the Emperor's armor cracked open. Blood splattered. Golden psychic energy scattered like rain. He staggered and fell to one knee, His right arm hanging limply at His side.
Horus grinned savagely. His eyes flashed with ecstasy and bloodlust.
"It's over, EMPEROR!!!" he roared, raising the Talon high. He aimed it at the Emperor's back, preparing to strike the killing blow.
He seemed to have already seen the dawn of victory, a future where the galaxy would completely submit to him.
However, just as Horus's Talon was about to fall, a dazzling projectile came swiftly from afar. It tore through the chaos of the battlefield like a meteor.
It was a massive and sharp spear, completely encased in blackstone!
The spearhead sliced through the void like a bolt of lightning piercing the soul, shooting straight toward Horus. His eyes flashed with contempt and confidence as he suddenly swung his hand to block the projectile.
The blackstone casing around the spear gradually shattered away, revealing the Emperor's psychic-charged Spear of Russ hidden within!
It pierced through his palm in an instant.
BANG!
With a deafening crash, the Spear of Russ struck home with unerring accuracy. The powerful Imperial psychic energy broke through the corruption of Chaos and plunged straight into Horus's flesh. Blood gushed out immediately. Horus's hand was impaled, and the massive wound refused to close.
Horus abruptly withdrew his hand, a painful growl bursting from his throat. "Aaaaaah! What's happening?!"
The Emperor struggled to His feet. A complex expression appeared on His face upon seeing this scene. A moment's respite was enough. Time to recover.
What was supposed to be a spectacular, cosmic feast of Chaos was suddenly disrupted.
Above the void, four enormous presences appeared and disappeared, like shadowy titans in the immaterium, their forms barely containing the immensity of their power. Feeling that their carefully crafted "performance" had been thwarted, they felt an overwhelming surge of anger.
'This is a provocation! Our strength is the only rule!'
"Do you think you can defy the will of fate? Foolish mortals, allow us to teach you true fear!" The voice was Khorne's.
"You dare to blaspheme us, and you will pay the price!" Tzeentch's laughter echoed with infinite schemes.
"Your sorrow and suffering are my final feast!" Slaanesh's whisper was seductive poison.
The power of the Four erupted simultaneously. Four massive energy waves swept across the entire battlefield. The heavens seemed to tremble, and the blackstone fortress shook violently under the impact of the Four's wrath.
It was uprooted completely, torn from the ground like a toy.
"BY Golden Throne! This is catastrophic!" Francis looked up at the manifesting presences and felt a chill run down his spine. "What are these entities?!"
Leman Russ's voice trembled slightly, as if he had committed a grave transgression. "We have... we have done something terrible."
Just as the power of the Four continued to rush toward them, Sanguinius, who had been silent all along, suddenly stood up despite the oppressive force bearing down on him.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heartbeat was audible, each pulse carrying more weight than the last. But the tremor Sanguinius's soul felt was unlike anything he had experienced before; a power far beyond his comprehension was awakening within him.
A massive amount of chaotic energy was forcibly absorbed into Sanguinius's body. A vast and luminous sphere rose up behind him, burning with terrible light!
The sphere's surface was entirely composed of light and energy, surrounded by countless eye-like ribbons that slowly rotated, like countless eyes observing the universe simultaneously. They continuously collected endless energy and information, gradually pushing Sanguinius's power to its absolute limit.
Each blink of those eyes was a gathering and release of power. His soul resonated with the structure of the entire immaterium, as if an unstoppable current was surging within him, and he could not control it.
"What...what's happening to me?" Sanguinius's eyes were filled with confusion and mounting terror. His form was beginning to change, to warp under the influence of this alien power.
A dazzling light burst forth from Sanguinius's body. This light was incredibly powerful, instantly illuminating the chaotic barrier of the Vengeful Spirit. It pierced through the darkness and corruption, shaking the entire space.
The power composed of countless eye-shaped ribbons gradually unleashed itself, piercing through the barrier of Chaos!
"Sanguinius, no!" the Emperor witnessed all of this.
He felt the power within His body responding to this massive energy fluctuation. His psychic senses went wild as His power frantically absorbed the immaterium's energy, gradually distorting His body and soul.
His eyes gleamed with a golden and chaotic light. His body began to undergo dramatic changes. His originally tall and imposing form gradually swelled, as if being infused with endless energy, becoming even larger and more terrible.
The Emperor's aura seemed to change completely. It gradually transformed into a black halo that enveloped Him.
His form gradually blurred, losing its human characteristics. His body twisted as if composed of countless particles of dark matter....no longer flesh, but something approaching raw force.
At this moment, the Emperor transformed into a gigantic black sun, radiating suffocating power.
That power was like a black hole, devouring everything, sweeping across the entire battlefield, and dissolving all matter and energy into its event horizon.
The starlight of galaxies began to dim in the face of His presence. The rules of the entire universe seemed to be distorted by the power of this black sun.
The power of the Warp surged within Him, propelling Him to ascend continuously. He was gradually causing Him to lose His human form, becoming increasingly closer to a god.
Or something worse...something that transcended the distinction entirely.
At this moment, the Emperor waved His hand lightly, and powerful psychic energy instantly swept over Sanguinius. That overwhelming power instantly dimmed the light of Sanguinius's awakening, pulling him back from the brink of transformation.
Sanguinius collapsed, gasping, his form returning to something approximating his original state, though changed, marked by what he had briefly become.
"No! This can't be! I haven't lost yet!" Horus's eyes widened in shock upon seeing this. He raised the Talon to strike down upon the Emperor!
The Emperor stood there, His face cold and devoid of mercy. With a casual wave of His hand, He severed the connection between the Four and Horus, shattering their power into fragments.
The psychic cables binding the Warmaster to the Ruinous Powers snapped like broken chains.
Horus, having lost the empowerment of the Four, collapsed to the ground as if his body had been emptied out in an instant. He was nothing without them. Without their power flowing through his veins, he was merely the dying remnants of what he had been.
"You can no longer change any of this!" the Emperor declared, His voice now something other than human speech, a vibration in the fabric of reality itself.
"As you wished! I've ascended!" The Emperor ignored Horus entirely and gradually rose into the void, becoming level with the four presences. His form was no longer distinct. He was becoming part of the immaterium itself, a wound in reality that could think and act.
"You all forced me into this, so let's all perish together!"
The Emperor transformed into a burning black phantom and launched a fierce assault on the Four.
He wielded a black greatsword with both hands, a weapon that had no origin, that seemed to be carved from the void itself, and each of His attacks was as dazzling as a supernova explosion, unleashing the power to destroy galaxies.
He pounced on the Four like a raging storm, mercilessly turning justice and power into a destructive torrent.
"Your corruption and Chaos will end today!" the Emperor's voice boomed like thunder from the depths of the universe, echoing among countless galaxies.
Khorne's power transformed into a giant axe burning with chaotic flames, splitting time and space in two. His roar reverberated throughout the materium, causing countless star systems to crumble into dust.
The clash of sword and axe unleashed sparks capable of destroying stars, tearing apart surrounding celestial bodies like parchment. Each collision triggered a chain reaction: stars exploded, worlds turned into meteor showers, and the very fabric of reality crumbled under this force.
Space was twisted into an indescribable labyrinth by Tzeentch's power. The Emperor swept through the maze, shattering illusory barriers with every step and pulling reality back from the madness, but at terrible cost.
The Emperor's will was as unshakable as steel. Every sword strike shattered the embodiment of Slaanesh into fragments, and the dark desires turned to ash and scattered away like profane snow.
The Emperor's power was like a black flame, burning away all decay. His sword light pierced through the rotten form of Nurgle, evaporating its disgusting essence into nothingness.
This battle transcended the limits of matter. The entire universe became the price of their conflict. Each burst of energy destroyed hundreds of millions of star systems, tore nebulae apart, shattered black holes, and even distorted the laws of the universe due to their collision.
...
At the time, the entire galaxy was facing a massive crisis: darkness.
A deathly still blackness.
The light in the entire galaxy gradually faded. All the stars were being swallowed. The darkness of the universe grew ever deeper, consuming everything in its patient advance.
The entire galaxy gradually fell silent. The civilizations of the past were gone, and only darkness, Chaos, and destruction occupied every corner of the cosmos. Where darkness passed, all life vanished.
'What's happening?'
"I don't want to die!!" The cry came from a world about to be consumed.
"EMPEROR, save us!!!" The prayers of billions went unanswered.
"No!!!!" The screams of the dying echoed across the void.
"....."
Countless human bodies gradually turned to dust, their forms dissolving like ash in an eternal wind. The souls then became fuel for the Emperor's burning ascension, power extracted from the faithful's agony, turned into ammunition for His war against the gods themselves.
Those who remained alive could only kneel in place, blankly waiting for death to finally take them. One by one, planets turned into dead worlds in an instant, as if the entire universe was wailing at this catastrophe.
But here and there, some people were voluntarily embracing the darkness.
Accepting annihilation as their only salvation, a final mercy compared to watching everything they loved consumed.
Each of the Emperor's strikes carried earth-shattering power. Each sword strike tore time and space into countless fragments.
The roars of Khorne, the sly laughter of Tzeentch, the seductive whispers of Slaanesh, and the rotten sighs of Nurgle rose and fell throughout the universe, weaving a mad song of destruction. Reality itself was screaming as it was torn apart.
However.
At the very peak of this madness and destruction, a deep and familiar voice pierced through the chaotic clamor and gently drifted into the Emperor's ears.
"My Emperor, have you forgotten your original purpose?"
The voice was like the faint light of dawn, piercing through the endless darkness. It carried an indescribable warmth and composure, something that should have been impossible in this moment of apocalypse.
The Emperor's eyes still burned with endless flames, but His movements paused. The wildly swung sword stopped mid-strike, frozen in the void like a monument to rage suspended.
For the first time since His ascension began, the Emperor hesitated.
[End of Chapter]
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