Rewind time just a little bit.
On the other side.
The blade fell.
It was like slicing through a piece of rotten fat.
The Great Unclean One's left arm was severed at the shoulder. Its heavy body crashed onto the floor, splashing a puddle of thick, black-green pus. As the liquid hit the ground, it hissed with corrosion, and acrid smoke instantly rose from the metal surface.
But before the severed arm could even twitch, it was engulfed by the dazzling white flames clinging to Adam's sword, turning into a wisp of blue smoke in an instant.
"AAAAAAAAARGH!"
A horrific wail echoed through the chamber. The Great Unclean One's massive frame stumbled backward, each step cracking the floor and leaving behind footprints emitting toxic smoke. It clutched the wound with its remaining right arm, but the flames at the cross-section were like maggots in the bone, frantically incinerating its very essence.
No. Not incinerating.
Annihilating.
Wherever those flames passed, its body simply ceased to be. It wasn't burned to ash; it disappeared entirely, leaving not a single trace behind.
"What kind of monster are you?!" the Great Unclean One screamed in panic.
Its voice no longer carried that suffocating viscosity; instead, it was replaced by a sharp trembling. Tears and snot streamed down its hideous face, and thick slime poured from every orifice, mixed with countless wriggling maggots, coating its entire countenance.
At this moment, the Great Unclean One, which had lived through countless ages, was like a two-hundred-pound Nurgling, crying and wailing as it scrambled backward.
But it was useless. Crying took time too!
The man stood there, having not moved a single step. He merely swung his sword calmly. Each strike was plain, even clumsy—simple slashes without any fancy techniques. Yet, despite such crude swordsmanship, the daemon could not dodge. Nor could it block.
Whoosh—
The blade swept by again. The Great Unclean One felt a chill at its waist, followed by overwhelming agony. It looked down to see a wound deep enough to show bone extending from its ribs to its abdomen. What poured out was not blood, but countless twisting, wriggling creations of pestilence.
The moment those things touched the air, they were burned away by the fire.
Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong!
The Great Unclean One retreated frantically, its mind a chaotic mess. How long had it lived? A few eons? Dozens of eons? So long it couldn't even remember. It had followed Grandfather into countless battles and faced innumerable enemies. But it had never encountered a situation like this.
It exhaled toxic mist capable of corroding an entire Legion in an instant. The moment the dark green fog left its mouth, it turned into hissing water vapor in mid-air and vanished. It released spores capable of devouring flesh, choice specimens cultivated in Nurgle's Garden for over ten thousand years. The moment those colorful particles dispersed, they popped in the air like harmless festive fireworks.
The Warp?
The Great Unclean One tried to sense it. Silence. The Warp in this area was like a pool of stagnant water. Its prideful plagues and its innate essence of decay were all severed on this side of the material universe.
It was only then that the Great Unclean One noticed a device that had appeared behind the man at some point. It was a strangely shaped object—resembling a metal archway, yet covered in eerie runes and complex cabling. It hovered silently in the air, emitting invisible waves, replacing the role of the previous psyker and completely severing the link between the Warp and reality.
The Great Unclean One's pupils snapped shut.
That was a Blackstone device. Or by another name: the Pariah Nexus. A famous weapon of the Necrons, a forbidden creation capable of isolating the Warp entirely. Such a thing should have disappeared millions of years ago with the slumber of the Necrons. Why was it here?
No. What was even more wrong—
If this device was running at full power, it should have been banished back to the Warp immediately! The core function of a Pariah Nexus was to expel all Warp entities. It should have been thrown back to Nurgle's Garden by now, rather than staying here to be slaughtered!
The Great Unclean One stared wide-eyed at Adam. The slender figure looked so tiny in front of its mountain-like body. But he kept walking forward. One step, two steps, three steps. With every swing of the sword, another bone-deep wound appeared on its body.
"You... what exactly are you?!" the Great Unclean One roared.
A Perpetual? A C'tan shard? An Enunciation? A psyker? A Daemon Prince in disguise? Or even... a Cursed One?
It had no time to think. Adam swung the longsword gently. The sword-light was like a bolt of silk, cutting through the daemon like rotten soil.
The Great Unclean One felt its legs go light, followed by its entire body crashing to the ground. Those two legs, thick as pillars, were severed several meters away, turning into nothingness within the dazzling white flames.
It lay on the ground, only able to use its remaining arm to prop itself up, desperately crawling backward. Thick pus dragged a long trail on the floor, and countless maggots rolled and wriggled in the sludge, making a fine rustling sound.
"Don't come any closer!" it cried out in agony.
Then, it met that gaze.
Adam stood before it, his longsword slightly raised. His eyes were terrifyingly calm, without ripples or emotion, looking down at the dying Greater Daemon.
But in that instant, Adam's gaze pierced through the Great Unclean One's body, through the layers of the Warp veil, and landed upon a far more gargantuan existence.
That dark center, bloated like an infinite tumor.
Nurgle.
The gaze of the Lord of Pestilence was looking through the Great Unclean One's eyes, across the endless void, meeting Adam's eyes.
There was no doubt. The Four Gods had noticed him.
If Adam had previously hidden behind the scenes, then after completing the hunt of Vashtorr, he had clearly drawn the attention of the Chaos Powers. Whether this was another attempt at self-salvation by a Cursed One, the process would remain the same: destroy his faith, shake his will, and eventually bring him into their grasp.
Whispers began to sound.
"Child, you know I am the Grandfather. I am loving to all things; all life is my child... If you wish, the immortality that all humanity craves is within your reach..."
"Heh." Adam laughed.
"Are you referring to the way you threatened Mortarion with the lives of his sons to make him kneel? Or the way you forced him to personally kill his favorite son?"
The atmosphere turned abruptly silent.
"Stop pretending. You Warp filth enjoy eating filth yourselves and then love spreading it everywhere, taking pride in your shame..."
Adam pointed his finger. "Believe it or not, if you keep blathering on, today, at this very moment, I'll set your Garden on fire!"
Boom—
The Warp boiled. The Warp, previously as calm as stagnant water, suddenly rose in a titanic wave. Endless surges erupted from that dark center, frantically battering the Pariah Nexus barrier, slamming against this isolated pocket of the material universe.
It was clear that Adam's sudden countermeasure would not hold for much longer. Facing such a dangerous situation, Adam didn't even blink.
He merely retracted his gaze calmly, looking at the Great Unclean One at his feet and the lingering disbelief and panic in its cloudy eyes.
Are you mad?
Adam simply smiled. Then, he swung his sword.
As the sword fell, coinciding with the simultaneous death of Vashtorr in the distance, a powerful and completely abnormal sense of presence surged and intensified within Adam's body.
Adam reflected silently. Having achieved his long-held wish, he surprisingly had no special thoughts.
Come then!