Lucia opened her eyes.
Already thoroughly baptized by the power of reality-warping and promoted to a Level 3 reality-warper, her entire body was enveloped in a faint golden light. She calmly surveyed her surroundings.
What appeared before her eyes was yellow sand filling the sky. It was a boundless desert under a sky of a sickly dark red, as if soaked in blood and left to dry. Blood dripped continuously, soaking into the sand and staining the grains a nauseating dark brown. The air was thick with a murderous intent so concentrated that every breath felt like pouring liquid rage into the lungs.
Khorne's divine domain.
As if sensing the arrival of an uninvited guest, several sand dunes began to vibrate violently. Grains of sand slid away, and several twisted figures crawled out from inside the dunes. They were Bloodletters, the most basic servants of Khorne. Their skin was a dark red like clotted blood, their limbs long and powerful, and they carried Hellblades emitting waves of infernal heat.
They stared blankly at Lucia—at this interloper who had appeared inexplicably in a realm reachable only through slaughter and war. Then their blankness instantly transformed into fury.
"Cursed one—"
A sword burning with golden flames sliced through the air. The Bloodletter's roar was cut short as its ugly head was severed cleanly by the blade.
Lucia withdrew her longsword expressionlessly. She could feel the anger rising steadily within her heart. However, Lucia merely closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her pupils held only an icy calm.
"Blood for the God-Emperor!" she bellowed. Her voice exploded over the brass desert, stirring visible golden ripples. "Skulls for the Golden Throne!"
Behind her, the golden light expanded abruptly. A rift tore open in the void, and figures wreathed in black flames and golden light stepped out.
...
Sibyl opened her eyes.
The psychic energy surrounding her had completely crystallized, forming a golden-yellow transparent shield that enveloped her entire body. Holding her staff, she looked out. Her surroundings were filled with a hazy crystal mist.
It was a sight beyond description. Crystalline structures were piled together in a way that defied geometric logic, forming a boundless crystal labyrinth. Eerie light refracted, split, and recombined between the crystals, creating trails of light that would drive any viewer permanently insane.
Tzeentch's divine domain.
Behind Sibyl, the golden rift expanded continuously. One by one, psykers clad in long robes stepped forward. These were members of the Navigator families after a complete reorganization—the eyes that once guided Warp navigation on Imperial warships. There were also psykers from various star sectors.
Now, under the power of reality-warping, they all welcomed a new life. Sibyl raised her staff, and the crystal at its tip began to radiate a light entirely different from Tzeentch's labyrinth. Behind her, hundreds of psykers raised their hands simultaneously.
Belisarius Cawl stepped out from the golden rift. No, at this moment, it was difficult to define what appeared here with the simple name "Belisarius Cawl."
It was countless Cawls. The Archmagos had used reality-warping power to create numerous avatars, clones, and consciousness backups of himself, all summoned into this realm at once. Their forms varied—some were multi-legged mechanical bodies crawling like spiders, some were spherical thinking units floating in the air, and some retained a humanoid form similar to Cawl.
However, their core consciousness was one.
Near Cawl's ears, murmuring whispers began to appear. The voices were gentle, sweet, and intoxicating. An endless fragrant wind diffused everywhere. It was a scent capable of melting any iron will—not just a smell, but a promise of pleasure reaching the depths of the soul.
Grand music followed, the melody beautiful enough to make any living being forget all troubles instantly. Countless translucent figures danced within that purple palace of extreme beauty. Every movement possessed a sinister aesthetic, enough to hook the deepest desires of any being.
Slaanesh's divine domain.
However, Belisarius Cawl remained unmoved.
"Desire is perishable," one Cawl chanted.
"The Machine is eternal," thousands of Cawls responded in unison.
Behind them, the golden rift expanded to its limit. An endless stream of mechanical units emerged. Their numbers were so great they filled every inch of the purple palace, turning the once-magnificent structure into a cold mechanical fortress.
Inside a lush jungle garden.
Nurgle's divine domain. The deepest part of the Grandfather's garden.
A foot stepped onto the rotting earth. Commissar Yarrick stepped out from the golden rift. His face remained the same—unsmiling, with a gaze like iron. Behind him, rows of bulky heavy-armored units marched out from the rift.
More notably, the armor surfaces of those units were covered in a faint energy field.
A Waaagh! field.
This was the universal energy field of the Orks. Under the reality-warping power Yarrick had received, this strange energy field—usually generated only by the collective subconscious of Orks—was perfectly replicated on the Empire's heavy armor.
Commissar Yarrick looked up, his gaze sweeping across the decaying garden. He saw the Nurglings rising from the mud—round, pus-dripping little daemons rushing toward him with foolish, joyful expressions.
Commissar Yarrick raised his power claw expressionlessly. Behind him, the heavy mechs activated their weapon systems simultaneously. The light of cannon muzzles suddenly flared in the rotting jungle!
Within the Warp.
Adam withdrew his gaze.
Using the moment the four Chaos Gods turned their attention toward the veil of reality, and through that fleeting gap, he successfully sent his power—Imperial elites enhanced by reality-warping—into the interior of the divine domains.
The four Chaos Gods had projected their attention onto Adam and the veil of reality, causing a temporary vacuum in the defenses of their own domains. Adam seized this gap. He sent the right people to the right places.
"So, how will you solve this problem next?"
In the Warp, Adam's smile grew increasingly bright.