Horus paid no mind to the shouting match between his traitor brothers; he simply moved Fulgrim silently in front of himself to act as a shield.
Then, using his grand summoning spell, he prepared to bring forth another brother.
"Curse it, stop him quickly!"
"Damn it, how did this guy transition from a physical build to a magic user too?!"
Lion, the magical girl warrior—a true Pretty Cure who let her fists do the talking—finally unleashed her power.
Lion rushed forward in a hurry and delivered a flying kick. Missing didn't matter in the slightest; she simply threw her staff straight out, which was equally effective at hitting the target and interrupting the spell!
"Ah, what a pity!"
"Though I don't know who the next brother is either, missing one brother just feels like something is lacking!"
The corner of Fulgrim's mouth twitched violently. Was this still the Warmaster of the past? How could he sell out his teammates so hesitation-free?
Besides, Lion looked so small and soft; with Horus being such a massive hulking brute, how could he possibly fail to beat her?
"Fulgrim, face your death!"
Sanguinius pursued Fulgrim with a holy sword. All six of Fulgrim's arms were swinging so fast they almost left afterimages.
Yet he simply could not block the flames coming from his opponent.
The Archangel Sanguinius before his eyes unleashed blazing fire with every swing of his blade; it was truly getting impossible to hold out—
—Even if he had already ascended into a Daemon Primarch, he couldn't withstand this kind of true damage.
"Damn it, what an absolute bastard!"
"The artworks in my palace aren't even finished yet, and I get dragged out here to fight—what kind of ridiculous mess is this?!"
Fulgrim had originally wanted to complete his artistic masterpieces before coming back to trouble his former brothers.
Yet out of nowhere, someone had stepped up and conscripted him on the spot without saying a word. This whole situation was utterly repulsive.
"Fulgrim, I'll leave Sanguinius to you; I'll deal with Lion first!"
"Go take down Sanguinius!"
"Me?" One of Fulgrim's arms pointed at himself. He felt as if a certain Warmaster was pulling a massive prank.
He was supposed to take down Sanguinius?
What kind of joke was this? Why didn't Horus go fight him instead? Why force it onto him?
"What's wrong? Got an issue? I beat him in the past, now it's your turn!"
The corner of Sanguinius's mouth twitched as well. Good grief, the Chaos side was treating him like a boss raid instance to farm, weren't they?
With those words spoken, Horus began his performance once more.
The entire battle appeared evenly matched on the surface, but Sanguinius knew full well that Horus had been faking it all along.
[Caleb: Sanguinius-chan, hurry up and send this lovely big sister on her way!]
[As long as you stab Fulgrim to death, we might even be able to force Fulgrim to become an underground idol in the future.]
[Once we get the chance to purify Slaanesh, he might actually end up taking that job. When that time comes—you'll probably be more than happy to cheer him on, right?]
"Oh!" Upon hearing those words, Sanguinius's eyes lit up immediately. At that moment, both hands gripping the sword began chopping even faster.
Directly inflicting several more visibly deep wounds across Fulgrim's body.
[Sanguinius: Ehe, is it really that novel?!]
[An underground idol... I think that actually suits him remarkably well!]
[By the way, Father, when that time comes, you must make sure he's fully conscious while acting as an underground idol. Preferably still the brother I used to know!]
Despite still being mid-fight, Sanguinius had already begun smirking evilly.
The entire rhythm of the battle had fallen completely into Sanguinius's hands—though Fulgrim's hand speed was extremely fast, his raw strength was far beneath Sanguinius's.
Sanguinius delivered a heavy slash—whereupon those venom-coated daggers, along with arm after arm, all shattered into pieces.
At the same time, a heavy bolt heavy machine gun brimming with holy energy materialized in Sanguinius's hands.
Sanguinius silently pointed the muzzle straight at Fulgrim's forehead and pulled the trigger, giving Fulgrim a direct barrage to the face.
"Curse you, bastard, dog of the False Emperor!"
"Sanguinius, you are humiliating me!"
"Sooner or later, I will capture you and drag you into dark corruption!"
Rage burned within Fulgrim's eyes, to the point where he almost received Khorne's blessing on the spot.
Regrettably, Fulgrim's current combat capability truly allowed him to be kicked to death by Sanguinius like a dog on the side of the road.
The gap between their scales was immense, and the numerical gap was equally gargantuan.
The current Sanguinius was worth 5,000 points; how could a mere 1,000-point Fulgrim ever hope to compare with a fully buffed Sanguinius?
Sanguinius stepped on his head, using this exact method to humiliate him.
Her tone was filled with sighs, as though all of this were done entirely for his own good.
"Fulgrim, after all these years, not only have you failed to make any progress, but even your physique has grown so hideous. You truly disappoint me!"
"You!" Fulgrim raised one of his remaining hands and cursed furiously: "You know nothing of true perfection!"
"Perhaps my current form doesn't align with human aesthetics, but in terms of true essence, this is the most perfect state!"
Fulgrim even squirmed his snake-like lower body. Evidently, this was likely Slaanesh's aesthetic preference rather than Fulgrim's own.
Quite a few of Slaanesh's units favored snake-like forms, and the same held true for many mount-type combat units.
Seeing Fulgrim's utter refusal to realize his delusion, Sanguinius lost all desire to waste words with him.
He slashed straight through his opponent's centerline. In a single instant—Fulgrim's upper torso was completely severed from his lower body!
"How could it be this fast?!"
"Impossible... I am so perfect, why would I lose like this?"
As Fulgrim watched his own body dissolve into dust, his eyes were filled with shock, completely unable to comprehend why he had suffered such an absolute defeat.
[Hand of Sacred Number triggered. Acquiring Fulgrim.]
In a daze, the three Primarchs all seemed to glimpse a golden giant hand suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
This giant golden hand actually grabbed hold of Fulgrim's corpse and dragged it off in an unknown direction.
And this exact scene was witnessed by Slaanesh as well!
[Slaanesh: What? Even I can get cuckolded?!]
Watching this giant golden hand forcibly carry off her pawn, Slaanesh felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu for some reason.
Ah, right—when Fulgrim ascended into daemonhood back in the day, didn't he pull this exact same move? Good grief, Horus was reenacting the exact scene; what an absolute bastard!
Slaanesh reached out her hand wanting to retrieve her pawn, but the giant golden hand abandoned the pawn and delivered a slap straight across her face.
Poor victimized Slaanesh could only retreat into her royal palace and sob continuously.
He could only murmur like a helpless husband.
[Khorne: Hahaha, this guy finally suffered the exact same loss I did!]
[Back when Angron was yanked away, I was in this exact state. It's finally this guy's turn, how utterly cathartic!]
Seeing the giant golden hand deliver that slap—for some unknown reason, even as a fellow victim, Khorne felt infinitely better.
Not only because that brutal style felt so satisfying—but also because seeing his rival suffer made him thoroughly delighted.
Right now, the Chaos Gods were all competing for control over Horus; after all, he was the true SSR, and the number of SSRs in the hands of the Chaos Gods was growing smaller by the day.
"Lion, I'm here to help you!" Seeing Sanguinius charging toward him, Horus felt an odd sense of relief for some reason.
As the saying goes, a life for a life; right now, Horus was fully prepared to accept his fate.
The power swords of both individuals were inches apart, yet an unexpected anomaly erupted at this very moment.
The fortress, which had originally been as solid as an iron wall, suddenly broke out into an abnormal surge of energy fluctuations.
Immediately after, Horus sensed that his own offspring seemed to be engaged in combat with the Mechanicus!
First, the Black Legion advanced like a splitting bamboo, driving deep into the depths of the fortress.
Right afterward, a sudden influx of gigantic beast units drove every last one of these Sons of Horus straight back out.
That Tech-Priest continuously recited sacred binary code scriptures, while his mind and hands worked without pause to operate the Blackstone Obelisk.
As the influence of the Blackstone Obelisk expanded, those surrounding units corrupted by Chaos collapsed on the spot.
It was as though their souls had been drained away by something, leaving the realspace universe directly.
Yet it didn't seem like they were being banished; rather, they were being forcibly bound to something.
"It's here!"
In almost an instant, Horus dodged purely by instinct.
Horus could sense that someone was already attempting to snatch his control handles. Dying right now was no longer that simple for Horus.
At this moment, Horus could only try every possible way to hold back against his brothers, creating opportunities for them to kill him.
Yet for some reason, in a daze, he suddenly felt his dear sisters growing weaker and weaker.
First, the white flames on Lion's sword flickered out; following that, the intervals between his uses of warp instincts grew longer and longer.
His reaction speed slowed down significantly as well. In fact, if he didn't hold back, he might accidentally crush Lion to death with a single hammer blow.
Sanguinius beside him was in a similar state—though his condition was slightly better than Lion's.
The spear that originally carried warp essence had now lost its former power as well.
Those movements that were previously invisible to the naked eye had now become clearly visible.
"Is this a new power, or... the influence of the obelisk?"
Right now, Horus could feel that his body was already being operated by the Ruinous Powers, entering an auto-battle state.
Taking advantage of this, he sent both of his dear sisters flying with nothing more than a roundhouse kick and a single punch.
He hadn't even used much of his warp abilities, yet two simple, effortless moves had nearly stripped both Primarchs of their combat capability.
"What's going on?"
Lion climbed up with great difficulty. He could feel that many of his skills seemed to be sealed away.
His own stats seemed to have dropped significantly; his wrists lacked strength, reverting to how they used to be.
Of course, "how they used to be" still meant the combat stats of a Primarch, but a sudden massive drop in attributes naturally caused some discomfort.
Sanguinius leaned on his sword with one hand to stand up. Though his state was much better than Lion's, it was hardly comfortable either!
A rupture had just occurred between his soul and physical shell; had he not chosen to return to the shell at the critical moment, he would likely be nothing more than an empty husk right now.
That mysterious energy fluctuation originated from Cadia. With the appearance of the Blackstone Obelisk, the daemon army that had previously marched with terrifying momentum was actually suppressed.
"So it's this obelisk rod; so this obelisk possesses properties that counter daemons!"
"It's somewhat similar to Null Zone equipment, just with a different power output. Quite interesting!"
Caleb took a single glance and immediately understood what the device was for. This equipment was somewhat similar to Null Zone devices, carrying a specialized counter-effect against soul entities.
Those daemons invading the material realm were soul entities by nature; the moment they touched this type of domain, they would vanish instantly.
Caleb noticed that Blackstone technology actually leaned closer to the Old Ones' side of technology, without such a massive connection to the C'tan.
Perhaps the vassal races of the Old Ones had once used Blackstone to control warp break-outs.
It was just a pity that the final layer of insurance had been ripped away by traitors of the Imperium of Man as well.
As of now, it could be said that once this obelisk was destroyed—the entire galaxy would fall into the rift.
Coincidentally, the Emperor's side was already fully prepared to repair everything regarding the Webway.
In other words, once Cadia fell, the Emperor might take advantage of that opportunity to swiftly repair the Webway.
The fortress's planet-killing main cannon had finished gathering energy; the main cannon was fully preheated, having reached a state where cancellation was impossible.
Destructive warp energy was poised to unleash; yet the people of Cadia were forced to face the reality of the fortress's downfall.
"Cadia stands!"
Yet even at this final hour, the last remaining warriors sang a solemn and tragic song.
An army composed of mortals charged endlessly toward the core area of the fortress.
Those Astartes brethren threw themselves into battle without regard for their own safety, engaging in close-quarters slaughter with the warriors of the Black Legion.
From the very beginning, the situation shifted from an offensive-defensive siege into a meat grinder.
They had to seize control of the fortress taking advantage of this moment; they had to activate the planetary shield in the fortress's core area at the very last second.
Horus said nothing; he merely watched this tragic scene in silence.
In his memories, he had witnessed similar situations countless times. Yet, with his mind corrupted by the Chaos Gods, he held not a shred of sympathy for these mortals.
Indeed, what Horus cared about from beginning to end was his brothers and his offspring.
The reason he was tempted by the Chaos Gods into betrayal was that he truly could not imagine what purpose the Astartes would serve once the war ended.
That lingering fear and terror regarding the Thunder Warriors had driven him straight into the abyss.
"Sanguinius, you lost again!"
"But I won't kill you this time. I hope that next time, you can kill me fair and square!"
Horus turned around, then shouted directly toward Abaddon on the other end of the communicator.
"Abaddon, now is the time—launch the bombardment!"
"The mission of this crusade has been successfully completed. What comes next is for you to fulfill your own destiny!"
With those words spoken, the searing beam from the Blackstone Fortress descended straight from the sky.
The entire planet seemed to tremble for it; all of Cadia felt as though it were undergoing the baptism of the Blackstone Fortress.
Searing beams as sharp as needle tips tore this planet to shreds.
In an extremely brutal manner, it blasted the entire planet directly into several fragmented tectonic plates.
Ordinary mortals could not possibly survive under such terrifying bombardment.
A small fraction of fortunate Astartes managed to survive atop certain floating landmasses.
Yet none of that mattered anymore, because what the Blackstone Fortress intended to destroy was not the planet of Cadia itself, but that Blackstone Obelisk obstructing the power of the warp.
The Chaos Gods had already stamped a cognitive steel seal into his mind; if he didn't hurry to destroy the obelisk, he wouldn't even be able to carry out his own affairs.
[One hour left!]
Looking at the gradually cracking Cadia, Horus felt no sense of guilt for some reason; instead, he felt a wave of relief.
Because he had finally found a window of time belonging to himself within the cracks, and all of his decisions had to be made within this single hour.
"Oh goodness!" Suddenly, a youthful, childlike voice shattered the tranquility.
That voice carried a hint of anxiety, yet the tone sounded somewhat like a certain ambitious fellow.
"Lion, Sanguinius, what happened to you two?!"
"Wait a minute, this guy is Horus!"
"Didn't this guy die? How could he possibly be alive again?!"
Loli Guilliman, holding the Emperor's Sword, arrived late to the scene. He had originally rushed over hoping to steal a few kills; instead, the moment he arrived, Cadia happened to blow up.
Not only that, but his two big sisters didn't seem able to beat Horus either.
Using his cheap wife to teleport over—did that count as feeding kills? Did that count as causing trouble for Father?
"The Emperor's Sword... it was in your hands all along!"
"You came just in time, Guilliman. I was just worrying about where to find you!"
When Horus saw the Emperor's Sword in Guilliman's hand, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
He was currently worrying about his inability to die; now something capable of killing him had conveniently arrived!
"Oh, right!"
Horus noticed the Centaur Ring on Lion's hand.
Even though Lion was currently wearing it as a bracelet, ever since meeting Mother Emperor, Horus understood that Mother's love for him had never changed.
And so, the resurrected Horus committed the most childish act possible.
Right in front of Lion's face, he snatched his bracelet away!
"You bastard!"
Lion, lying on the ground with no strength left, could only wail helplessly. Right now he was just an incompetent magical girl, capable of nothing beyond watching his beloved possession get stolen.
That ring was Father's affirmation toward him, yet it had actually been snatched back by this traitor Horus.
"Ah, this thing really is quite nice to look at!"
After snatching the ring back, Horus immediately slipped it onto his own hand.
Looking at this exquisite Centaur Ring, past events gradually surfaced in his mind.
Indulging in a wave of fantasy before death—Mother's love truly was wonderful.
Taking this ring back made dying completely worth it!
"Ahem—" Sanguinius coughed twice. On the surface, his injuries appeared severe, but in reality, there was no major issue.
Though disconnected from the warp, the recovery capabilities granted by the sacred blood remained exceptionally strong.
However, upon seeing Horus going crazy over the Centaur Ring, Sanguinius experienced a sudden epiphany!
So the Warmaster of the past was fundamentally a mother-obsessed fanatic all along. If they didn't kill him today, tomorrow Horus would be trying to do the Emperor right on the Golden Throne!
The expeditionary fleet, which was originally supposed to take a long time to arrive, actually warp-jumped directly onto the mission coordinates at this exact moment.
To be honest, even the Imperial defenders were caught completely off guard, because they didn't exit from a Mandeville point.
This method of emerging from a gate of light was strikingly similar to the ships of the Aeldari.
In other words, these ships weren't traveling through the Warp; they were traveling through the Webway.
"Guilliman, how did you get here so fast?!"
"These reinforcements... and all these ships!"
"Good grief, what on earth did you do?"
"Why are you able to use the Aeldari Webway?!"
Sanguinius hadn't expected something like this to happen at all. Although he knew the ultimate outcome of this battle, he was completely in the dark regarding the specific details.
Guilliman stood with hands on hips, looking quite pleased with himself.
After all, merely at the cost of his own pride, he had successfully gone through Yvraine's backdoor.
That's right—Guilliman could use the Webway purely because he went through Yvraine's backdoor.
The Ynnari of the Aeldari opened the Webway for him, and all it cost him was being teased a few times by that cheap wife of his!
"Haha—Sanguinius-chan, rest assured!"
"My expeditionary fleets will never be late ever again!"
"It's all thanks to Yvraine opening her backdoor for me this time, otherwise I probably wouldn't have made it in time!"
"Sigh..." Hearing their Primarch's awful choice of words, Calgar, Sicarius, and the others could barely stand to listen any longer.
When they first saw Horus, their blood was boiling, ready for a fierce, brutal fight.
Yet their Primarch went ahead and started chatting with his sisters lying on the ground first—and with such terribly misleading phrasing, no less—instantly deflating all their aggressive momentum.
"Lord Guilliman!"
Sicarius tried to advise Guilliman tactfully.
"I think you should rephrase your words. Quite clearly, your brother—er, sisters—have misunderstood what you meant. In this era, 'going through the backdoor' might not mean what you think it means. Sometimes it's best not to use terms like that!"
"Oh?"
Guilliman didn't think there was anything wrong with the term. After all, in the era he came from, didn't going through the backdoor simply mean making a private deal behind the scenes?
"It's just taking a backdoor, what's the big deal?"
Just as Guilliman finished speaking, he realized something was wrong, because his dear sisters were staring at him with extremely strange expressions!
Sanguinius's small mouth was slightly agape, wearing a look of shock, while Lion, who had barely managed to stand up nearby, was glaring at Guilliman with a face full of disgust.
Evidently, both of them had completely misunderstood Guilliman's meaning, having already imagined a very dirty PY transaction.
They were even lamenting how quickly their dear little sister had accepted the xenos.
"Looks like introducing Yvraine to you was truly a mistake. I didn't expect you to be so thirsty that you wouldn't even spare a backdoor!"
Sanguinius shook his head as well, unable to resist sighing: "Sigh, I hope you try to act like a decent person in the future. Otherwise, even as your good sister, I'll have no choice but to show no mercy!"
"Eh?"
Seeing this scene, Ultramarines Chapter Master Calgar and Second Company Captain Sicarius couldn't help but cover their faces.
Their Primarch seemed a bit groggy from waking up; she was so embarrassingly bad at making a fool of herself!
Whether certain things should be said or not, their Primarch really didn't have a single shred of self-awareness.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk—to think my brothers turned into dear sisters, and now they've all become like this!"
"Engaging in PY transactions with xenos... how disappointing!"
The moment Horus spoke, everyone's attention shifted back to the current big boss, Horus.
Even though Horus had been holding back the entire way, the battle power granted by the blessings of the Four Gods was simply too strong. He was a pure stat monster; a single slap could settle the matter.
Right now, Horus was actually starting to miss the satisfying feeling of the Emperor's blade stabbing into him—that feeling of pure numeric crushing versus being crushed was truly something else.
Fortunately, there were still 45 minutes left—as long as his dear sisters managed to kill him within those 45 minutes, his soul wouldn't be captured by the Chaos Gods.
"Guilliman, pick up your sword! Let me see what level you're at right now!"
Goaded by Horus like this, Guilliman actually raised the Emperor's Sword in his hand, happily planning to charge right over.
However, little Guilliman hadn't taken two steps before being caught from behind by Sicarius.
Sicarius was quite experienced by now; he scooped Guilliman straight up into a bear hug to prevent Guilliman from charging over in a moment of impulse!
"Sicarius, what are you doing?! I'm going to hack him to death, he's provoking me!"
"I'm a Primarch, hey! Don't look down on my combat capability!"
Sicarius held a solemn, helpless face as he said:
"Primarch, I am not looking down on you. But the problem is, both of your dear big sisters are down on the ground, so you definitely won't be able to beat him either!"
"Ah, well!" Guilliman's face fell, his watery little eyes looking as though he might burst into tears at any moment.
Seeing this scene, the leader of the Ynnari, Yvraine, couldn't help but feel a surge of maternal affection.
Since Guilliman had arrived, she had naturally followed along as well.
Yvraine stood with one hand on her hip, the Crone Sword in her tight grip emitting a faint glow.
Her aura carried the vibe of an overprotective mother, and even her tone softened by a few degrees.
"Sicarius, Guilliman is your genetic mother after all! How can you treat her with such an attitude?!"
"Even we Aeldari show three parts reverence whenever we see Isha. Our goddess of life doesn't possess much combat power, yet she still receives our deep veneration!"
"Eh?" Sensing the dangerous atmosphere around him, Sicarius was stunned in an instant.
'Holy shit, I'm being lectured by a xenos for lacking respect toward my Primarch?!'
'I can't carry this massive blame, I really can't!'
If word got out, Sicarius wouldn't be able to show his face among the Ultramarines anymore!
Fortunately, Sicarius actually had a brain, and knowing a few secret details about the Aeldari, he wasn't completely clueless.
Though there wasn't much written about the Aeldari, he still knew a bit of Aeldari mythology.
"Alright, fine, fine! Then let me ask you: if your Aeldari goddess Isha insisted on 1v1ing Slaanesh, what would you do?!"
"Would you just let your own goddess charge in recklessly too?!"
In an instant, Sicarius could feel the hostile glares around him decrease significantly—there were quite a few Chapter Masters gathered around, after all.
Among them was Huron, the old Red Corsair who was supposed to ally with Abaddon in the original timeline.
Only, the current Red Corsair was a loyalist—extremely loyal, a pure and genuine loyalist.
Yvraine retorted: "We wouldn't!"
Immediately after, Yvraine provided a reason that made everyone's mouth twitch.
"Our goddess would run away! She wouldn't mindlessly charge in like little Guilliman-chan!"
"Forget it, just hand little Guilliman over to me. You people don't seem to know how to raise a child at all!"
"Hey!"
Seeing the scene spiraling out of control, Guilliman finally couldn't hold back anymore.
Come on, she was a Primarch after all, their loli mother!
How could there be a concept like children raising their mother? That sounded way too bizarre!
"Sicarius, I order you to put me down! Stop bickering with Yvraine! If you keep bickering, the two of you are going to strip away the last bit of my dignity!"
"Do you two think our Ultramarines haven't lost enough face already?!"
"Right now, three of my former siblings are right in front of me—stop embarrassing me!"
Although the entire process didn't last long, it was wildly entertaining.
Even the bystander Horus felt this was top-tier entertainment, to the point where he couldn't help but pause to watch a bit longer.
Khorne wanted to control Horus and charge straight up to start hacking away.
However, Slaanesh and Tzeentch pinned him down, refusing to let Horus charge.
What a joke—even though the Four Gods' influence over this material universe had weakened significantly right now, the Chaos Gods still retained their original instincts.
With such top-tier entertainment, Slaanesh and Tzeentch wouldn't let any outside force interrupt it for the world.
Not even with Nurgle added to the mix!
[Khorne: You bastards, aren't we teammates?! What are you doing!]
[Slaanesh, Tzeentch: Who's your teammate? We're competitors! What's wrong with the two of us teaming up temporarily, got an issue with that?]
Khorne was completely exhausted by these two. He was currently the strongest existence among the Chaos Gods, but even he couldn't handle a double-team beatdown.
In a 1v1, Khorne was invincible, but when gang-handled, even Khorne had to lie flat.
Just as Horus was about to finish enjoying his front-row view of the drama, Lion seized this exact opportunity—and snatched the Emperor's Sword straight from Guilliman's hand.
The current Warmaster of the Imperium Secundus wasn't about to pass up such a golden opportunity—he was never going to let this Arch-Traitor survive.
"Take this, you bastard Horus!"
Lion charged straight forward carrying the blazing sword—flames flared from the grass beneath his feet. Clearly, the power of this Emperor's Sword had reached an absurd level.
Pure attack power paired with pure speed equaled the purest stats.
Besides—Lion already possessed the Emperor's Shield in his other hand. Now lacking neither offense nor defense, Lion had turned into a stat monster as well.
"Sister, count me in!"
Having recovered his warp abilities, Sanguinius charged out as well.
The destruction of Cadia was a disaster for the Imperium of Man, but for these two Primarchs, it might actually be a good thing.
With the silence field gone, the two Primarchs could unleash their full strength without holding back.
However, the blessings of the Chaos Gods clearly hadn't recovered yet.
"Finally coming, are you!"
Seeing Lion in his complete form, as well as Sanguinius who had pulled himself back together, Horus—whose body had long been difficult to control on his own—could finally let loose.
He had already been stamped with a cognitive steel seal forcing him to battle his former brothers.
However, the Chaos Gods had only commanded him to fight; they hadn't specified how much water he had to hold back!
And so, Horus charged forward with pure stubborness—refusing every single direct blessing offered by the Chaos Gods.
He kept clicking cancel over and over, until Tzeentch swapped the positions of cancel and confirm, causing him to click confirm by accident once.
"Curse it, I floated up!"
Having accepted a portion of Tzeentch's power, Horus flew straight up riding atop a disk.
Yet the instant he took flight, Lion spotted an opening, executed a leaping chop, and thrust the Emperor's Sword straight into Horus's body!
"Sanguinius, the rest is up to you! Kill him quickly, time is running out!"
Sanguinius caught the opening as well, plunging the other long sword in his hand into Horus's body.
However, due to the twisting power of space, that long sword appeared to pierce through his body, yet didn't actually inflict true physical harm.
With Horus's current body, aside from the Emperor's Sword, no divine weapon could likely harm him anymore.
"Heh, so that's how it is!"
"Looks like I can still be killed by you, just like Father!"
Horus poured every ounce of his remaining strength onto the Emperor's Sword.
Blazing flames nearly engulfed Horus's entire body.
In a single instant—Horus could feel his very soul being incinerated.
"Sanguinius, this is wonderful, truly wonderful!"
"I'm going to see Mom, I'm going to see the Emperor!"
"I... can finally go back—ahahaha!"
At the same time, a certain lighthouse within the Warp began to flicker violently.
[Sexy and Voluptuous Purple-Haired Junior: Are you guys still investing? Looks like this project is going under.]
[Short-Tempered Red-Haired Senior: Forget it. Cadia is destroyed anyway, let's just open the Great Rift.]
[Looks like we won't be able to pull the Horus card. Let's think of something else!]
Almost at this exact instant, the Chaos Gods seemed to give up on Horus as well.
If Horus had dodged the surprise attack of the Emperor's Sword earlier, he might still have been saved. But now that he had been impaled by the Emperor's Sword—the Emperor could use that sword to log into his account directly!
Clearly, to the Chaos Gods, Horus was in an absolute dead-end scenario now, beyond saving even with their capabilities.
They might as well hurry up and carve out their territories first, then enjoy a nice round of card-gacha inside their domains!
Imperial Psykers: "Oh no, we're finished!"
A wail from the Warp suddenly erupted out from the Maelstrom.
The Eye of Terror shuddered as well, letting out a sharp, piercing detonation of noise.
Almost at this exact instant, countless Imperial Psykers fell into madness—the whispers of the Warp that were once soft and faint grew incomparably clear right now.
Unlucky psykers even turned instantly into Chaos Spawns under these terrifying Warp ripples.
And those who were lucky—might still turn into uncontrollable psyker entities, only to be executed by the Imperial Inquisition.
For the Imperium of Man, this was nothing short of a massive catastrophe—yet for other factions within the Imperium, it presented an opportunity instead.
Sitting upon the Golden Throne, the Emperor tilted his head toward Malcador.
Right now, the Emperor's eyes were lifeless, looking just like a puppet sitting atop a golden toilet.
"Malcador, it's about to begin!"
Malcador nodded slightly, then led a massive force of the Adeptus Custodes, charging straight into the Webway.
"Listen up! This is your final chance at loyalty! If we fail, the Emperor will fall into eternal damnation; if we succeed, the great Master of Mankind will have the chance to stand up once more!"
"For the Emperor! For the Master of Mankind!"
The Custodes erupted in a warcry, charging into the tide of daemons and engaging in a life-or-death battle against them.
Even though the Warp fluctuations had rendered these daemons exceptionally powerful—the Custodes, as the true elite forces, still held the line against this tidal wave of Chaos daemons.
The Webway War had begun anew, but this time it was not a war of despair, but a war of hope.
All Custodes had to hold out until the Webway was successfully repaired, otherwise nothing but extinction awaited the Imperium of Man.
The lighthouse went dark. For the Imperial psykers, they could no longer see that familiar, warm sun.
Many star sectors even assumed the Emperor was dead, because in ten thousand years of recorded history, there had never been a situation like this before.
[Campaign Mission Completed—]
[Successfully acquired ability: Warp Sculptor. Obtained legacy of the Old Ones—an extra bonus campaign can be unlocked.]
[Detected that the player successfully controlled the Blackstone Fortress. Added the Blackstone Fortress to available game pieces.]
[New Ability: Warp Sculptor—The host can shape the forms of the Chaos Gods—strengthening their realspace power while weakening their influence in the Warp.]
"Oh!"
Seeing this ability, Caleb felt like he had plenty of fun work to do in the near future.
Wasn't this exactly what he wanted to do most? Bringing the Chaos Gods onto the board as game pieces—that way, they might end up just as abstract as the Emperor.