Click! Click!
The shutter sounded thick and rapid. Nyx had cast aside all concerns of life and death. In this moment, his eyes saw only art — as for the consequences of exposure, he had long ceased to care.
(Slaanesh: Child, if that 'Accursed One' threatens you, blink twice.)
As the Loli and the 'Emperor' Queensister posed in various configurations, hundreds of high‑definition wild‑history photographs were frantically archived by Nyx. Just as his excitement reached its zenith — a thunderous roar erupted behind him:
"NYX! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
The instant the sound hit, Nyx's entire body went rigid. Cold sweat beaded on his head. His death flags fluttered before his eyes.
My life is over!
Just as Nyx braced himself to face 'exposure', he abruptly realised something was wrong — the Emperor should currently be occupied with sundry affairs in the throne room. When would he have time to mind him? Then the only one who could come was...
"Oh! It's Old Nag! Long time no see!"
Nyx spun around swiftly, his expression snapping back to its usual composure — so effortlessly that even Alpharius and Omegon behind him felt ashamed. Nyx greeted Malcador while covertly assessing the old man's field of vision. He took two steps sideways, firmly blocking the Regent's line of sight.
"We parted not so long ago... Incidentally, why are you drenched in cold sweat?"
Malcador's eyes were full of suspicion. The next moment, however, he seemed to grasp something and began scrutinising Nyx with a penetrating stare. It was precisely because he had sensed powerful psychic fluctuations that he had come to investigate.
The palace was heavily guarded inside and out — such disturbances should not occur. But if Nyx was the cause, then it made perfect sense.
"Ah, this... It's a bit hot, haha..."
As he spoke, Nyx made a show of fanning himself with his hand, his expression shifting to that of a man on the verge of heatstroke.
"...Hot? Nyx. As a Primarch, you perspire due to 'heat'?!"
"You're not a Primarch — how would you know?!"
Nyx defended himself desperately. He desperately wished Malcador would immediately go sit on the Golden Throne — though the thought was treasonous, this was an emergency!
Alpharius and Omegon could not revert now. The psychic fluctuations caused by their bodily transfiguration could never escape Malcador's perception. At this moment, they were barely concealed by Nyx's deployed electromagnetic field.
"Nyx. Your pulse is accelerating..."
Malcador wore a rare, playful smile. He knew Nyx was hiding something — and the more Nyx tried to conceal it, the more Malcador wanted to uncover it.
Aboard the Bucephelus, he had often been toyed with by Nyx. Now that he had caught a handle, he naturally intended to make full use of it.
"Let me see what's behind you!"
"NO!"
"Let. Me. See!"
Seeing Nyx still resisting in the negative corner, Malcador swung his sceptre. Surging psychic energy hurled Nyx against the wall like a heavy hammer.
The next moment — Malcador was silent.
This ancient man, who had lived for millennia, now had eyes wider than ever before.
—You gave birth to me before I was born; I gave birth to you, and you are old.
—A thousand times I sought you in the crowd...
At a single glance, it was as though Malcador had returned to his first meeting with the silver‑haired youth. Those vows entrusted to each other, that bond transcending friendship — for ten thousand years, he had never imagined such a possibility could exist.
He could become her. Between him and Neoth, such a possibility could exist...
"I once thought that so long as Erda could treat you sincerely, I would have no regrets."
"But that poisonous woman failed you... If it were I by your side, I would..."
"I would never let anyone hurt you again. Only I would stand beside you!"
*BOOM——! *
An even more violent surge of psychic power once again slammed Nyx against the wall.
Malcador, who had been in a daze, was now thoroughly 'flustered'. This villain Nyx — how dare he orchestrate the pure friendship between himself and the Emperor into this!
Indeed, all of the above lines were live‑dubbed by Nyx's squad. Yet even as he was suppressed by psychic energy, Nyx still struggled, insisting that he was merely speaking what was in Malcador's heart.
"You—!"
The old man, rarely losing his composure, had not cursed so crudely in ages.
In this moment, he simply wanted to annihilate Nyx on the spot — along with the two wicked beasts who had transfigured themselves into the Emperor's female aspect.
He had never imagined that after only half a day's contact with Nyx, the two Primarchs he had so carefully tutored would become like this. What face would he have left before the Emperor?
"How dare you employ such blasphemous postures... to defile... His Majesty..."
Malcador could not even finish the word 'defile'. Because in the depths of his heart, at this very moment, he truly... for an instant... had been stirred.
While Malcador was once again in a daze, Nyx's mind raced.
He knew: if the Emperor learned of this, he and the Alpha brothers would be beaten to within an inch of their lives — or have their very existences erased for revealing this truth.
Huang Pizza would definitely lock him in the black cell beneath the throne room and have him grinding Saint Eggs for the rest of his natural life!
Thus, he had to save himself. And the best way to save oneself was to drag everyone into the water.
"You two — EMBRACE MALCADOR!"
The instant the command was given, Alpharius and Omegon pounced upon Malcador. Having grown up on Terra, they knew all too well the consequences of the Emperor's wrath. Now, their only hope was to bet everything on Nyx.
"Ah... Just because you want to...!"
Malcador's sceptre was raised. Psychic energy was about to erupt — but this fell precisely into Nyx's calculations.
"Magnetic field rotation — 250,000 horsepower!"
"MAGNETIC FIELD HEAVEN‑CAPTURE!"
Nyx abruptly broke free from his psychic restraints. Golden current condensed into chains, coiling around Malcador's raised wrist. His vast psychic energy was momentarily blocked.
One second was enough.
Two Primarchs — one left, one right — held the old man fast.
Malcador's psychic energy stalled once more. The old man's cheeks flushed crimson at a speed visible to the naked eye — such stimulation he had not experienced in millennia.
*CLICK——! *
Oh no!
Malcador instantly understood Nyx's intention: he wanted to use photographs as blackmail.
This child was utterly ruthless!
Yet, as he met Nyx's smug grin, Malcador finally relented.
"...Enough. I concede. I shall speak nothing of this."
Nyx and the Alpha brothers exhaled in unison.
"But those you took earlier... You must leave them with me."
Malcador's voice dropped slightly. Nyx immediately stepped forward with an expression of 'I understand', unhesitatingly copied a set and handed it over.
"Nyx. You may go. Do not keep the XI Legion waiting."
With Malcador's blessing, Nyx rolled out faster than lightning.
After Nyx departed, Malcador's gaze slowly shifted to Alpharius and Omegon — who had reverted to their original forms and were attempting to slip away quietly.
"As for you two..."
He did not continue.
But that invisible sense of oppression spoke for itself — the consequences would likely be no less severe than being cast into the Eye of Terror on a perpetual penitent crusade.
Alpharius & Omegon: Brother! SAVE US!!