After taking a hundred steps and truly standing before the eternal throne, Guilliman saw a sight completely different from what the Emperor had seen.
He saw that someone was already sitting upon the eternal throne.
That person was Zeke.
However, unlike the Zeke who had previously seemed so kind to him, this Zeke was filled with majesty, appearing almost beyond desecration.
An even heavier pressure descended upon Guilliman. From atop the throne, Zeke's voice reached Guilliman's ears.
"Tell me, Guilliman, tell me—who are you? What power do you possess?"
"What is your will!"
"I am Roboute Guilliman, Lord of Ultramar, Regent of the Imperium of Man."
Guilliman's voice was not loud; under Zeke's personal pressure, he couldn't raise it even if he wanted to.
"I have experienced the despair of the Horus Heresy and carried the burden of the Imperium for ten thousand years. Under your guidance, I have witnessed human civilization reborn from the ruins, moving toward a broader future."
"My strength comes not only from this body, but from everything I protect, from my faith in humanity's future, and from what my adoptive parents taught me: what is responsibility, what is protection, and what is... love."
"I love the human race, and I am willing to do everything in my power to lead it toward a golden age."
"Then tell me, Guilliman, what do Lady Yuton and Konor mean to you?" Zeke's voice echoed in Guilliman's ears once more.
"They are my parents—my mother and my father!" This time, Guilliman omitted the word 'adoptive'.
His voice was incredibly firm.
If one is born but not raised, a finger can be severed to repay the debt.
If one is not born to them but raised by them, a hundred lifetimes are not enough to repay it.
Possessing emotions, Guilliman knew deep down what his adoptive parents meant to him.
"Mhm—"
Zeke stood up, clearly satisfied with Guilliman's answer.
Zeke lightly tapped a finger toward Guilliman's forehead. A massive amount of energy and pure power rose from the eternal throne, then flowed along the direction of Zeke's finger, pouring into Guilliman's body.
The originally brilliant radiance of the eternal throne dimmed at this moment.
This was enough to show just how much energy had been drained from the eternal throne.
Even Zeke's own aura was declining, yet he did not pull his finger away, keeping it pressed against Guilliman.
Only now did the Emperor realize that a chasm had opened between him and Zeke.
The Emperor, who had already become the Dark King, felt the gap between himself and Zeke—a gap that could not be described in words.
Even though Zeke's aura was constantly weakening, the feeling he gave the Emperor was that his brother remained as formidable as ever.
Zeke kept his hand raised, finger touching Guilliman's forehead, until a long time had passed. As Guilliman's aura grew stronger and stronger, he withdrew his hand.
He drew a symbol on Guilliman's head.
～
"Go, Guilliman. My will shall accompany you as you carry out your revenge and become a new deity within the Chaos."
When that strange symbol, '～', which seemed to contain infinite possibilities and the will to protect, lit up on Guilliman's forehead and then faded into him, the entire void space shook violently!
In the next moment, an even more violent Warp Storm appeared within the Warp. Two Guillimans ascended to godhood almost simultaneously.
However, unlike the Dark King godhood ascended to by Original Annihilator Guilliman, it was unclear what the godhood Guilliman ascended to should be called.
But it made sense; with so many god-level existences in the Terran Dominion, how could one even come up with a name for yet another one like Guilliman?
At this moment, Guilliman had truly become a qualified member of the cabinet. Everything Zeke wanted to do was done. Once Little Grey arrived, Guilliman could take over Little Grey's position and preside over the development of the entire Terran Dominion.
Wasn't a beautiful retirement life just around the corner?
He could fight wars and manage administrative affairs; Guilliman was simply the perfect tool.
Within the Warp, the two Guillimans stood facing each other from a distance. It was only now that Original Annihilator Guilliman noticed the other Guilliman's appearance.
The Original Annihilator's gaze fell upon the Guilliman appearing before him, and he raised his weapon.
"Who are you? Why have you appeared before me, disguised as me?"
"Is it that damned Father, that traitorous fellow, who created you as a replacement for me?"
Even having reached this stage, the Original Annihilator, whose misunderstanding of the Emperor was ingrained in his very marrow, still spoke such words.
"No! I am not. On the contrary, have you gone mad?"
"Why would you strike at your parents? Why would you strike at Lady Yuton?"
"Why would you strike at Father Konor?"
Guilliman did not understand. He clearly knew that the life of the Guilliman in this galaxy should not have been much different from his own, so why could this person do such inhuman things?
????
Faced with these questions, a bunch of question marks appeared over the Original Annihilator's head.
"What does that have to do with you? You fake, you replacement."
"What right do you have to call them parents? What right do you have to call my adoptive parents your parents in front of me?"
The Original Annihilator did not understand. He drew his weapon and extracted Lady Yuton and King Konor from it.
He toyed with his parents' souls, like a bratty child playing with a piece of modeling clay, kneading and crushing his parents' souls at will.
"Stop it!!!"
Seeing this scene, Guilliman felt an indescribable surge of rage and grief instantly shatter all his reason and restraint!
That was not just a desecration of souls; it was the ultimate trampling and insult to everything the name 'Guilliman' represented—responsibility, protection, love, and family!
He could no longer maintain his forced calm. A silver-white radiance erupted from him like a supernova.
The '～' symbol on his forehead burst forth with blinding light!
A pure, protective, and purifying will, mixed with heaven-shaking fury, transformed into a silver-white torrent that spanned the Warp, crashing toward Original Annihilator Guilliman!
His target was aimed directly at those two clusters of souls in the other's hand, which were being kneaded at will and were in agony!
"Give them back to me, you bastard! You aren't worthy of mentioning their names! Give them back to me!!!!"
Guilliman, known for his rationality, let out an angry roar at this moment. He no longer had any reason left to speak of.
In Guilliman's eyes, there were only the souls of his adoptive parents, even if they were not the ones from his own galaxy.
"Give them back! Give my parents back to me!"
"Give them back to you? Hehehe... Hahahaha!" Original Annihilator Guilliman let out a distorted and crazed laugh.
Instead of stopping, he rubbed the souls in his hands even harder. The two spheres of pure light representing Lady Yuton and Konor King twisted and deformed in his pitch-black hands, emitting silent, heartbreaking wails.
"Look at yourself, you fake! Losing your composure like this for two 'parents' who died long ago, whose souls I have already forged into blades?"
So... fragile?"
He sneered, his eyes filled with cold mockery.
"This is the difference between you and me! You are bound by these useless emotions, blinded by fake 'love'!"
"And I—"
"I have long since transcended all of it!"
After ascending to godhood, the Original Annihilator had completely lost all humanity. He spoke with disdain.
"Family, responsibility, protection... these are nothing more than excuses for the weak to comfort themselves.
They are stumbling blocks hindering 'Absolute Rationality' and 'Perfect Order'!
I cut them off with my own hands and used their power to forge the path to the ultimate!"
"You are nothing more than a replacement and a fake created by my foolish father. Do you really think of yourself as me!?"
"A fake shouldn't dream so much!"
He violently pressed the souls, which were rubbed nearly to the point of dissipating, back into the Black Flame Evil Sword. The wailing from the blade instantly became ten times more shrill!
He raised the evil sword high, pointing it at the Guilliman whose aura was fluctuating violently due to rage.
"You, worthy of calling yourself 'Guilliman'? Worthy of standing before me? Today, I will use this sword, which embodies my 'resolve', to thoroughly cut down and annihilate you, along with your pathetic 'convictions'!
Let everyone know who the true... Lord of Ending and Order is!"
"Only I can truly lead humanity back to the peak, only I can resist Father's tyranny, and only I can be the sole King of this galaxy!"
As his voice fell, he wasted no more words. His figure transformed into a bolt of destructive black lightning, carrying overwhelming black flames of the end and an extreme, cold killing intent as he charged straight at Guilliman!
Wherever the blade pointed, even the Warp itself seemed to retreat and annihilate in fear!
Facing this fatal strike born of fury, Guilliman, after his initial explosion of anger, instead fell into a strange state of calm.
It wasn't indifference, but a kind of internalizing, compressing, and tempering of all emotions—
Anger, sorrow, longing for his parents, hatred for his enemy, responsibility toward humanity, and the conviction to protect. All were forged into the calm of the purest, most steadfast core of will.
To any observer, this was an eerie calm, but at this moment, Guilliman was just that peaceful.
When the Original Annihilator's attack arrived, the mysterious symbols on the Primarch's forehead flickered. All the attacks dissipated into nothingness; the strike that was enough to make various energy currents in the Warp retreat simply vanished.
Gulsby, the commander of the Little Blue Demon fleet watching from the side, recognized at a glance whose symbol that mark on Guilliman's forehead represented.
Zeke, the 4th scourge of the Terran Dominion, the Lord of the Terran Dominion.
This master of the eternal throne had appeared in the galaxy. Even though they desperately wanted to reclaim the eternal throne, they were powerless in the face of Zeke's existence.
"Things here have gone beyond our control. We no longer need to cooperate with that Original Annihilator. Let's go eat now, while their attention is drawn elsewhere."
Since Zeke's appearance made it impossible for them to achieve their goals, the only path left was naturally to go and eat.
Within the Warp, the Little Blue Demon fleet began to slowly depart. They headed in other directions and split up to start their feast.
Their movements naturally caught the attention of the Chaos Gods of the Warp, but the war between the two Guillimans prevented them from leaving.
However, if left unchecked, these Higher-Dimensional Daemons were not to be trifled with. In desperation, Tzeentch had to look toward his three old rivals once again.
"Those damned things cannot be ignored. How about the four of us jointly construct a powerful Greater Daemon to hunt down those demons?"
The Lord of Change could only propose a makeshift solution: creating a powerful secondary god of the Warp to pursue them.
The Four Chaos Gods joining forces?
This proposal wasn't exactly unacceptable; after all, it wasn't like the four of them hadn't teamed up before. Wasn't Guilliman's fall into Chaos their handiwork?
It was just that this fellow had such a strong will that he escaped their control.
After Tzeentch's proposal, the other three of the Four Chaos Gods nodded.
The Higher-Dimensional Daemons could not be ignored; they were devouring the energy within the Warp and had to be dealt with.
While the duel between Guilliman and Guilliman unfolded, the Four Chaos Gods of the Warp once again constructed a powerful secondary god to give chase.
Their actions naturally fell entirely into the eyes of Zeke and the Emperor, who were observing from the shadows.
"Old Huang, I'll leave it to you. Go slay this secondary god of the Warp, but don't let the Four Chaos Gods of the Warp discover it.
We must let these Little Blue Demons grow and develop vigorously, otherwise our plan won't go so smoothly."
The appearance of the Dark King made Zeke, even though he still had enough ability to control everything, unable to resist pushing his plan forward. He prepared to personally lend the Little Blue Demons a hand.
"No problem. Keep an eye on Guilliman for me. If any danger arises, I'll count on you. I'll go deal with that thing and be back shortly."
This plan was formulated and agreed upon by the two of them. The Emperor said no more and vanished on the spot to handle this new secondary god of the Warp.
Zeke turned his gaze back to Guilliman. At this moment, the battle between the two Guillimans at the very center of the Warp had reached a white-hot stage.
Within their core combat zone, almost no living beings existed. Energy fluctuated according to the whims of the two, and powerful attacks constantly collided.
Their battle even caused vacuums to appear in the originally chaotic and disordered Warp!
The power of destruction and the power of the 4th scourge granted by Zeke—all incomprehensible forces—clashed together.
After several exchanges, Original Annihilator Guilliman actually felt himself being suppressed.
His divine power, which should have destroyed everything, suffered several setbacks under the attacks of the other Guilliman.
When the swords in their hands crossed again and Guilliman forcibly reclaimed the souls of his foster parents from his opponent's grasp, the Original Annihilator Guilliman finally shouted in rage.
"On what basis? On what basis do you? Why did you suddenly appear, possessing power that can rival mine? Father... he truly is a cursed existence!"
The Original Annihilator's mental state broke. He had put in so much effort, yet he was far inferior to the Guilliman before him. He could feel that the opponent was enough to contend with him, or even suppress him.
"On what grounds?" It was as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke; he threw his head back and laughed to the sky.
"You ask me on what grounds? Then I'll tell you exactly what I stand on."
Guilliman stepped forward until he stood before the Chaos Annihilator, raising the Emperor's Sword level in his hand.
"I am Roboute Guilliman, Regent of the Imperium of Man. On my shoulders rest the fate of several galaxies' worth of worlds; every kind of document awaits my approval. Under my governance the Imperium thrives and grows ever stronger."
"Behind me stand my father and Zeke—two mighty beings who watch over me and grant me strength."
"Uncle Zeke seated me upon the eternal throne; I have already ascended to godhood. And you—what do you have? You have brought mankind nothing but endless chaos!"
"Wherever your Daemon Hordes march, every human prison is obliterated."
"What right have you to speak as my equal? You are nothing but a wretch who happens to be called Guilliman; what gives you the right to bear the same name as I?"
Just as the Original Annihilator Guilliman loathed sharing a name with Guilliman…
…so too did Guilliman—now a deity—loathe sharing a name with the Original Annihilator.
That beast opposite him—what qualification had it to be called Guilliman? It was unworthy!!
It deserved only to be flayed alive, to die by a thousand cuts; it was nothing!!!
As he spoke, Guilliman grieved at the two souls cradled in his hands—those of his foster-father and foster-mother.
Gentle psychic light flowed from Guilliman's palm and into the bodies of his parents.
Yet even in his Apotheosis, the wounds dealt by the Original Annihilator were far from easy to heal.
Only after immense blessings and power had been poured in did Lady Yuton finally stir; she saw Guilliman before her.
"You've come back, Guilliman."
Lady Yuton opened her arms and embraced him—a mother's hug.
"You've had it hard, child. I know you are not my Guilliman, but still—thank you."
"Help me—set him free. He is my son, but I failed to raise him aright. Help me release him from Chaos's torment."
That recovery was barely enough for Lady Yuton to speak those two sentences.
One voiced joy at Guilliman's arrival; the next acknowledged he was not her son.
Even knowing what the Original Annihilator had done to her, Lady Yuton yet worried for her child.
She begged Guilliman to grant her son release.
Her words were the gentlest of daggers, piercing Guilliman's heart.
He looked at the mother in his arms—her soul's light faint yet still radiant with maternal love.
He saw in her eyes the unbreakable, anguished plea for the "son" who had committed monstrous crimes.
Guilliman felt an unseen hand clench his heart; he could scarcely breathe.
But the Original Annihilator merely laughed in contempt.
"Release? Release from what? I am already the mightiest being alive—who could possibly slay me?"
"Mother has lost her wits; she thinks I've been tainted or corrupted. How absurd! I am this galaxy's greatest and most powerful existence!!"
"Mankind shall reach the very pinnacle of this galaxy under my hand; humanity will stand unchallenged once more!"
He had heard every word Lady Yuton spoke—and scorned them all.
He was the galaxy's supreme being: the Dark King, Original Annihilator Guilliman; none could threaten or corrupt him.
He would bring ultimate end and ruin to all.
He would grant mankind supreme dominion over the galaxy, unmatched by any.
"And as for you—" The Original Annihilator laughed, leveling a Pitch-Black Blade at Guilliman.
"What can you possibly do? Don't imagine that trading a few blows makes you my foe; you're nothing but a shoddy counterfeit."
Though faintly sensing something amiss in the talk of "several galaxies," he brushed it aside; by now he was half-mad.
Guilliman said no more; he drew the Emperor's Sword and advanced, blades clashing once more.
Words were exhausted; only blade and flame could vent the fury in his breast. He would teach this wretch what true divine retribution meant.
Within the Warp, the Warp Storms raged even fiercer.
The battle between two supreme gods sent tempests surging through the Immaterium; even Terra's Astronomican was dimmed.
The carnage was not confined to the Warp.
In Realspace, at the galaxy's heart, renewed offensives by fleet after fleet turned the central war-zone into an inferno.
Loyalist armadas sought to scour away the festering counterfeits that had defiled every Legion.
Whether the deranged Imperial Fists Space Marines of the Chaos-tainted Black Legion or the corrupted Ultramarines, they hurled themselves forward like rabid dogs, stoking loyalist fury.
To see their brothers reduced to such a state filled every loyalist Space Marine with boundless rage.
As the two Guillimans clashed within the Warp, the war at the Mid-Reach escalated anew.
The Celestial Orrery stirred; Colossi marched once more, set to annihilate Daemon Worlds and shatter suns.
So too did the Necrons act. Silent King Szarekh arrived in the galaxy, issuing the Final Protocol: the Necrons roused from their Great Sleep and rearmed for war.
A united host of men and Necrons prepared to deliver the last assault upon Chaos!!
Without outside interference, the rebels would soon be crushed—so every loyalist believed. The Legions would butcher the traitors and wash away this galactic shame.
Yet as the Necron-human alliance poised for its final strike, the Original Annihilator Guilliman gained an unprecedented reinforcement.
The fleet that arrived was utterly unlike anything of Chaos—but the Necrons knew those vessels all too well.
The Old Ones… The Necrons' full awakening had drawn the attention of the surviving Old Ones.
Tens of millions of years had given the Old Ones time to recover; with the Necrons now on the move, they too had fully awakened.
They prepared to ally with the Original Annihilator and reenact the ancient War in Heaven.
Galactic Inferno 2.0: the War in Heaven began anew—only this time the C'tan were truly gone, and standing with the Necrons in their place stood humanity.
The galactic war is escalating, and so is the fighting inside the Warp, yet behind this madness some still find a moment's peace.
Zeke and the Emperor keep watching Little Blue Demon's movements, and once the Four Chaos Evil Gods of the Warp see Guilliman's decisive battle they throw themselves back into hunting the Little Wolf Demon.
That move instantly traps Little Blue Demon—who had wanted to contact Guilliman for a joint strike—in bitter fighting.
"Commander, those damned things are on our tail again!"
Inside the ship a group of Little Blue Demons watch the Warp Daemons pour in behind them and can't help cursing.
"Those beasts—we only nibbled a bit of their filthy energy."
"Their energy's so impure that us eating it is doing them a favor, yet they repay kindness with revenge!"
Gulsby's energy core pulses violently, showing his frustration and helplessness.
He had thought the sudden civil war between two 'Native Gods' would buy them precious time to breathe and relocate.
It might even let them fish in troubled waters and devour more high-grade energy.
But reality is the Four Chaos Gods have no intention of letting them go; the divine war only distracted everyone else, making the hunt fiercer and more efficient.
"Shut up! Complaining is useless!" Gulsby snarls.
His senses sweep the daemon tide clinging like maggots to the fleet's stern and the four cold, greedy god-minds behind it.
"Increase devour speed! Prioritize high-quality, easy-to-convert free energy!"
"Our time is short; we're only alive because the 4th scourge seems to be helping us in secret—but that help won't last forever."
Little Blue Demon's warships were built to fight the Terran Dominion after all.
So they can feel Zeke secretly lending a hand whenever they're in peril.
They don't know why the 4th scourge aids them, but counting on Zeke every time would be the height of stupidity; they must carve out their own escape.
"Now scatter every ship! Rush to every corner of the Warp and devour like mad—don't look back!"
"No one stops until the things behind us give up the chase!"
"The shame we suffer today will be washed away once we've eaten enough energy to build a dimensional-anchor fortress!"
The recently reunited Little Blue Demons decide to split forces again.
It scatters their strength, but with the 4th scourge no longer targeting them, their ships' extreme speed still gives them a chance to outrun the Warp Daemons.
Although this isn't the first time they've split up to flee, doing so in unknown space is hardly wise.
So when the order arrives, many Little Blue Demon captains protest once more.
"Commander, we can't split up—we don't know if the 4th scourge will aid every group. Since he seems to be helping us, we should stay together."
"the 4th scourge has secretly saved us many times; he must have his own plan. Until that plan is done he won't let us die easily in the Warp."
"Rather than split and risk his disgust, keep the fleet massed so it's easier for him to help."
Commander Gulsby doubts Zeke will keep helping, but several near-death experiences have taught the demons that Zeke must have an objective.
Zeke won't aid them forever, yet until his goal is met the Little Blue Demons know they should be safe.
A rift opens right there—
"Fools!" Gulsby's voice is thick with impatience.
"You pin your survival on the whim of a mighty being whose motives we can't even grasp?"
"He helps us maybe to observe, maybe to use us—or even to wipe us out at the end and devour every drop of energy and essence we've gathered!"
"Do you think the '4th Scourge' who fought us to a standstill is some soft-hearted philanthropist?!"
"Remember, we're still at war with the Terran Dominion he rules; the shooting hasn't stopped."
"What makes you think the 4th scourge will spare us?"
He may protect us once or twice, but is letting him achieve his goal necessarily good for us?"
Commander Gulsby rebukes his captains without mercy, ashamed of their foolish ideas.
How stupid must one be to suggest such a thing?
Chaos Daemons are on their tail, and Zeke's help gives them a sliver of hope.
But if the 4th scourge realizes his plan, it could spell doom for their entire civilization.
Gulsby declares righteously:
"We can die here, turn and fight those despicable things to the end, but we must never let the 4th scourge fulfill his scheme!"
Most of the Little Blue Demon fleet falls silent at his words.
If they truly want to stop the 4th scourge's plan, the best way is to perish at the claws of the Chaos Daemons.
Once this fleet is wiped out, whatever the 4th scourge intends will collapse—after all, they seem to be a vital vessel for it.
But is dying heroically really what they should do?