The failure of the Webway Project. The Emperor, forever bound to the Golden Throne.
From that day forth, humanity's sun vanished, and mankind entered an eternal long night. This is the everlasting sorrow of the Imperium of Man. The dreadful Warp travel and the even more atrocious communication systems have left the Imperium a scattered mess.
The truth is, the Imperium has wealth, and it has resources. In the materium, the Imperium of Man could simultaneously take on the four great piles of filth from the Warp, as well as the Tyranids, Orks, and Necrons, all at once. After all, the main Tyranid hive fleets were not in the galaxy, and Zhou Ye suspected they would never arrive. As for the Necrons, most were still slumbering, and Zhou Ye likewise felt they would probably never wake up.
In reality, the Imperium is fighting all of these enemies at the same time, and the fact that it can still hold its own is incredibly impressive. As it stands, almost no single faction in the universe could withstand a single heavy blow from the Imperium. But unfortunately, even with the return of Regent Guilliman, it would be difficult for the Imperium to land such a decisive strike.
And now, a technology that allowed for faster-than-light travel while ignoring the Warp unfolded right before Cawl's eyes.
"Oh, Emperor! Is this your ten-thousand-year Great Plan?!"
At this moment, even the stoic Cawl could not help but let tears stream down his face. He quickly sealed off the viewports of the Eldar fleet, preventing them from seeing what was happening outside. In truth, he didn't need to; the Hyperion and its escort ships had already done so. Of course, the hospitable Zhou Ye knew how to be a good host. After providing the pointy-ears with a large pile of fruit, the Eldar were now quietly feasting in their ship. It seemed that no matter the universe, elves loved these things. Fruit was a luxury for humanity, and while it was slightly better for the Eldar, it was still a rare treat.
Dozens of merchant fleets, carrying troops from other planets, now arrived to provide swift reinforcement. Along with them came the other forces Zhou Ye had dispersed. One by one, drop pods rained down, slamming into the periphery of the chaotic battlefield.
Although the battle was fierce, Zhou Ye's grand army had not yet lost control of the skies, so these troops landed safely. After a brief assembly, they received their orders and were dispatched to various fronts. This was a level of coordination only achievable with the assistance of a supercomputer.
Watching the warships warp in, deploy their support, and then leave again, Belisarius Cawl felt a wave of dizziness. If the Imperium had this kind of deployment and supply capability, then so many… no, more than 99.99% of all wars could have their tides turned. In this moment, Cawl could no longer remain calm.
He pulled out his vox system and frantically tried to contact Magos Omega, but to no avail.
"The Warp…"
Gazing down at the world shrouded in a blood-red light, Belisarius Cawl could only grit his teeth. In his understanding, the fluctuations in the Warp had obviously distorted the communication systems.
"You must not be too reckless. You must know how precious what you possess is. If the one on the Throne knew of this, he would be willing to sacrifice the entire Adeptus Custodes to ensure your safety," Belisarius Cawl muttered to himself, watching the ever-expanding battlefield.
But he soon fell silent. As long as this world was not an isolated island, as long as it could receive more reinforcements quickly and efficiently, then a conventional war could not be lost. The Imperium often fought bloody wars against Chaos for long periods even with their supply lines cut. Now, everything was flowing so smoothly.
…
Meanwhile, in the fortress to the west.
Ahriman stared with curiosity at the small thing before him. It was a tiny creature that didn't even reach his calf, but for some reason, he felt a sense of extreme danger from it.
This was Klee, whom Zhou Ye had sent to liaise with him. Another figure, cloaked in a black robe, followed behind her. The one in front was one thing, but the small, black-robed figure gave him a palpable sense of peril.
Of course, what he didn't know was that this Armed Puppet was created by Zhou Ye based on himself, a process that had consumed a massive amount of his energy. Its power was terrifying. It was just like the small Kevin puppet that Durandal encountered in the game; she had to use her strongest battlesuit at the time just to exhaust its energy. This one was a similar case, one of Zhou Ye's hidden trump cards.
There was only one such puppet. Under normal circumstances, it stayed by Klee's side and helped manage the strange things locked away in Zhou Ye's prison.
"Are you Ahriman?" Klee asked, swaying slightly as she looked at the Chaos Sorcerer.
"Are you alright…?"
Ahriman's mind raced. To his astonishment, he realized he had no information on this abhuman. It wasn't even recorded in Tzeentch's great library. This intrigued him, but he quickly composed himself. Looking at the swaying little green figure, he couldn't help but ask with some concern. Why did she look so drowsy, as if she could drop dead at any moment? Seeing her overworked appearance, he couldn't help but feel that while he might be a monster, that Primarch was definitely more of a slavedriver.
"It's nothing. Follow me." Klee shook her head and led Ahriman forward.
The small, black-robed figure at her side quickly captured Ahriman's attention. From it, he felt an aura that was extremely similar to Zhou Ye's, but far more dangerous. Frankly, even Zhou Ye wasn't sure of its full power, but he was certain that in a burst, it had enough combat strength to stall a Primarch. It probably couldn't win in a prolonged fight, as its stamina was lacking. And every time he had to recharge it, the energy cost made Zhou Ye's teeth ache. So, it was generally forbidden from fighting and was instead assigned the role of his jailer.
Under Klee's guidance, Ahriman passed through layer after layer of gates, soon entering the depths of the earth. Then…
K-CHAK.
As a great door opened, two knights in silver armor appeared before him.
"Grey Knights. I didn't expect him to have such trump cards left. And they're slightly different from normal Grey Knights." Ahriman said with some surprise, looking at the rows of Grey Knights lining the corridor. They were all staring at him with extremely dangerous expressions, clearly on high alert.
Ahriman wasn't surprised by this. These Grey Knights were Zhou Ye's failsafe. He hadn't sent them directly into the battle because he knew reinforcements would arrive soon. The forces on his planet were sufficient to suppress the Khornate host, but he had to be wary of that god pulling a fast one.
"Is that a Chaos tome?" Ahriman asked in surprise, noticing a book of Tzeentchian magic. He was shocked to see it locked away here. The energy field of the prison puzzled him.
Soon, he arrived in another massive chamber. Before them were rows upon rows of cells. Each cell was a small living facility, complete with a toilet and a bed. And in each cell lived a single person, though they were all currently engrossed in various books. This baffled Ahriman, but he quickly realized what they were.
Psykers.
These were the psykers tithed to Zhou Ye from his thirty worlds, all of them imprisoned here. Those with talent, stable minds, and large capacities had been made into his Grey Knights. But many remained. Zhou Ye had no Astronomican to burn them in as fuel, and psykers were born with original sin. He couldn't just let them go. So, he could only keep them in this chamber. He provided them with three meals a day and let them live their lives in these Imaginary Prisons. His original plan was to use stasis fields, but he later decided against it. These ones hadn't committed any crimes yet, so he would just keep them locked up. He had no intention of torturing them. If his Grey Knights suffered casualties, he could draw replacements from their ranks.
Looking at this group of psykers, Ahriman was a bit stunned. Was it really okay to keep them locked up like this? Weren't they afraid they'd open a Warp rift right here? A gathering of psykers was an extremely dangerous thing.
CLANG.
With a sharp rap, a Grey Knight walked over. He looked at the large group of psykers and slammed the butt of his Nemesis force halberd on the ground. Instantly, he had the attention of every psyker. They all immediately rushed to the front of their cells.
"You are all born of sin," the Grey Knight captain said coolly. "The merciful Lord of Trailblaze has taken you in, providing you with a superior life. Now is the time for you to devote yourselves to the Lord of Trailblaze and wash away your sins."
The world of Warhammer was truly insane. Psychological conditioning was incredibly effective. After a long period of imprisonment and indoctrination, these psykers had come to believe they were inherently sinful. After all, in the environments they came from, a psyker who awakened their powers would genuinely be beaten to death. Not every world had a Black Ship or something similar to collect the tithe, so the common response to a psyker was to kill them immediately. Most of these people were originally from various hive worlds or other chaotic planets. After boarding Zhou Ye's colony ships, they had settled on his worlds. After living there for a while, their powers awakened, and they were brought here.
So they had genuinely seen the darkness and despair of a hive world and the attitude towards psykers. They were very satisfied with their current lives. Coupled with the long-term conditioning from the Grey Knights, these people also felt they were born sinful, that their very existence was a mistake. Being locked in an Imaginary Prison, they couldn't hear the whispers of the Warp.
These Grey Knights were actually not too expensive to create, but their upkeep was extremely high. They were a separate unit, and Zhou Ye wouldn't let them go out casually. So, they moonlighted as jailers. It was not yet their time to enter the stage.
"We are willing to offer everything to the Lord of Trailblaze!!!!!"
Hearing the captain's words, the psykers were stunned for a moment. Then, one by one, they fell to their knees, weeping before the Grey Knights. After all, the ones kept here were the stable ones. The truly insane ones were locked away in stasis fields on the lowest level. Those were too dangerous, unfit even to be used as batteries for the ships. Their true purpose was for when Zhou Ye's energy was running dangerously low; he would throw them into his converter for an emergency energy boost. Just as he could devour the corpses of daemons to convert their Warp energy into Imaginary energy, psykers served a similar purpose. In some ways, they were even higher quality, especially the crazed ones who were more deeply stained with the colors of the Warp.
And what came next required their willing cooperation.
"Very good. Then offer your all. Ahriman, one hundred psykers will be provided to you to power your spell, to close the Great Rift and sever its connection to the Brass Throne."
Watching the chosen psykers weep with gratitude for being allowed to sacrifice themselves for the great being, and the unchosen ones who looked on with regret and anguish, Ahriman felt a sense of surrealism.
"No sacrifice is too great to accept, and no betrayal too small to forgive…" the Grey Knight captain said slowly, watching the psykers who were praying and thanking both the God-Emperor and the Lord of Trailblaze.
Soon, they were all loaded into special containers. Then, the entire contingent of Grey Knights followed Ahriman out of the dungeon. Their time was coming. Khorne would surely do everything in his power to stop the ritual. They were the final guard, meant to hold back the frenzied Khornate daemons. If they couldn't hold, then the puppet behind them would be next. And if the puppet had to act, Zhou Ye would immediately disengage from his own fight. At that point, the only way to face the Khornate host would be the most primitive and bloody method: buying time for Zhou Ye by throwing lives at the enemy.
As for why Zhou Ye wasn't doing it himself, the reason was simple. He wasn't a psyker from this universe. For him to directly mend the rift would be too costly in terms of energy. Ahriman, the so-called "Professor A," was much more suited for the task.