The Chaos Gods saw across a vast field of vision. They could witness what was happening in far more regions of reality.
The warp itself was now howling as the Dark King's power tore through it, and countless warp-born lives trembled in terror.
Void whales ceased their wandering and gathered together, letting out mournful cries. Beastmen stared helplessly at the void swallowed by darkness.
Countless Chaos Daemons even fell to their knees, shouting the Anathema's divine name and begging for forgiveness.
These warp-born lives had sensed the arrival of a fatal crisis. Some prepared to hide from the disaster, while others plunged into total panic.
Even within the domains of the gods, chaos had erupted. Their divine realms looked as though they were on the verge of collapse.
Plenty of daemons and followers belonging to the gods simply grabbed what they could and fled.
Those Chaos entities knew that after the Dark King was born, the realms of the Chaos Gods would inevitably become the first targets of that abhorrent being's assault.
If they stayed in the domains of Chaos, they would very likely become food for the Dark King.
The scene was painfully ironic.
The warp, regarded as the most evil place in existence, was actually afraid of an even deeper darkness.
Those bloodthirsty, brutal Chaos beings were panicking like mortals caught in a natural disaster.
The Bloodlands, the Brass Palace.
Inside the palace, a thunderous sound rumbled. A massive Bloodthirster covered in runes of slaughter and brass armor slept upon a throne. With every breath, he exhaled scorching flame.
He was terrifying.
He was Ka'Bandha, the Exalted Bloodthirster.
This mightiest Greater Daemon of the Bloodlands was sleeping, recovering from the injuries left after his failed challenge, when the Blood God had beaten him half to death.
Back then, the Blood God had been issuing divine edicts from the Skull Throne when Ka'Bandha, for reasons no one understood, suddenly roared and charged straight at Him, launching a challenge.
He endured the Blood God's whip head-on, then brought his axe down and carved a savage crack into the Blood God's brass breastplate, even forcing Him back by a single step.
Then he was beaten half to death.
And yet no champion of the Blood God dared mock the battered Ka'Bandha. Instead, they respected this being who had dared challenge the Blood God all the more.
The Blood God had not killed or banished him either. He had even allowed Ka'Bandha to keep the title of foremost Greater Daemon, and called him a true warrior.
Afterward, Ka'Bandha had been sent to the Brass Palace to recover from his wounds, and there he had remained until now.
Roar!
Ka'Bandha was awakened by the commotion outside.
Irritated, he rose in a daze and strode out of the palace, leaving burning hoofprints behind him.
He stared at the dark rift in the void, deeply surprised.
"What is going on? Has the Savior fought his way in?"
The warp and the Bloodlands both looked as if they were about to collapse.
The Exalted Bloodthirster smelled the scent of the Anathema. It was powerful, and far deeper than before.
In his memory, only his lifelong enemy—the Daemon-Eater, the Savior—had the ability to wield the Anathema's power.
He simply had not expected the Savior's presence to be so terrifying that it would stir up power on this scale.
Ka'Bandha was confident he was not mistaken, because he had been struck by the Anathema's power several times before.
He casually grabbed a panicking Bloodletter, his fangs bared in a savage grimace.
"Tell me. What exactly happened? Where is the Savior?!"
"My lord, n-no… it is not the Savior. It is… it is the Dark King. He has awakened.
"He will descend upon the Bloodlands and devour every daemon. There is nowhere for us to run!"
The Bloodletter was so terrified he could barely speak Daemonic properly. His body shook like a sieve.
Right now, all he wanted was to escape this dangerous place.
When Ka'Bandha heard this, his pupils contracted, and he sobered instantly.
He had clearly been shaken by the news. Any Chaos entity would instinctively feel fear upon hearing it.
Deep within Ka'Bandha's soul, there was even an urge to flee. He did not have the slightest thought of resistance.
That was the Anathema, the Dark King. He was about to descend into the warp, unleashing terror, wrath, and judgment. No life could withstand Him.
For ten thousand years, fear of the Anathema had seeped into the marrow of daemons. And now there was the Dark King, something even more terrifying.
Even the Chaos Gods feared Him.
At this moment, numerous Greater Daemons and daemons gathered. Every gaze turned toward the Exalted Bloodthirster.
The Blood God was not present. This being was now the most prestigious warrior in the Bloodlands, and they wanted to hear his judgment.
Ka'Bandha had originally been wondering how to take emergency shelter, but when he noticed everyone's eyes on him, his body stiffened.
He could hardly run away in front of everyone. If he did, how could he live up to the title of the Bloodlands' foremost warrior, the Savior's lifelong enemy?
The Exalted Bloodthirster never backed down under the eyes of a crowd.
The next instant, Ka'Bandha recovered his usual majestic bearing.
He slammed the terrified Bloodletter into a brass pillar, turning it into paste.
The Exalted Bloodthirster looked utterly fearless. His aura surged to its peak.
The blood-flames spreading from him scorched the brass floor, making the surrounding Chaos Daemons feel as though the ground beneath their feet had grown too hot.
Ka'Bandha swept his gaze across the Greater Daemons around him, his words carrying a trace of mockery.
"Hmph. The Dark King has not even appeared yet, and you are already frightened to this degree?
"The Blood God's warriors are not cowards. We do not flee in disgrace. If the Dark King appears, I, the Exalted Bloodthirster, shall be the first to swing my axe at Him!"
As Ka'Bandha roared his oath, the turmoil across the Brass Fortress fell silent. His courage stunned the daemons.
The Greater Daemons and lesser daemons looked toward him with even deeper respect.
This Exalted Bloodthirster not only dared challenge the Blood God, but even dared raise his axe against the Dark King?
What valor!
"For the Blood God! For the Exalted Bloodthirster!"
After a brief silence, Bhal, a Bloodthirster and one of Ka'Bandha's trusted followers, raised his axe and roared, perfectly setting the mood.
After that, whether Greater Daemon or lesser daemon, all of them roared their respect to the Blood God and the Exalted Bloodthirster.
As if doing so could ease the fear in their hearts.
"I shall await the Dark King's descent within the Brass Palace!"
Ka'Bandha spoke those words, then turned and strode back inside. The brass gates slammed shut behind him, leaving countless awed gazes outside.
Iron-willed. The Exalted Bloodthirster was far too iron-willed.
Because of the Exalted Bloodthirster's fearless bearing, many daemons of Khorne who had intended to flee stayed behind, unwilling to become the cowards he had spoken of.
For a time, the chaos within the Bloodlands actually showed signs of calming.
Yet at this very moment, inside the Brass Palace…
Ka'Bandha sat on his throne. He no longer had the fearless bearing he had shown before. In fact, he somewhat regretted his declaration against the Dark King.
He was obviously afraid.
"Blood God… the Dark King did not hear what I said, did He?"
Ka'Bandha muttered to himself, worried that he had angered the being about to be born.
Even so, the Exalted Bloodthirster still did not try to grab his things and run. He had decided to stay and face that terrifying existence.
Rumble—
Suddenly, the Brass Palace shook again. Even the endless Bloodlands trembled violently under the influence of the dark void.
Ka'Bandha's barely stabilized mindset started to collapse again.
He leaned back against the throne, his hands and feet trembling uncontrollably, almost curling up like chicken claws.
The terrifying aura of the Dark King coming from the void was like an invisible hand gripping his heart.
It was instinctive fear.
Impossible to suppress.
Outside the Brass Palace, across the Bloodlands, a hateful rift appeared amid the quake and spread into the endless distance.
"Ah! No! Save me!"
Some Chaos Daemons failed to dodge in time and fell into that abhorrent fissure.
They struggled to climb out, but there was nothing they could do.
At the center of the hateful rift was a pitch-black bottomless abyss. Every brass structure, volcanic flow, and Chaos Daemon that fell into it was devoured.
Nothing escaped.
That was a sign of the Dark King's birth, and an unspeakable declaration. The warp had never experienced such a violent disturbance before.
"Blood God, what should we do?"
The Chaos Daemons grew more afraid and more helpless. They could not imagine how anyone could stop that terrifying being.
The horrific power of the supreme Chaos God about to be born had already far surpassed the imagination of every Chaos entity.
Some Chaos beings vaguely remembered that when the Prince of Pleasure was born, His daemonic energy had indeed torn the galaxy apart, but it had not harmed the lives of the warp like this.
The Dark King was terrifying beyond measure.
As the abhorrent rift spread, the Chaos entities in this region once again sank into fear and disorder. More daemons and followers began fleeing from the area one after another.
The Bloodlands also suffered further damage because of the changes in the warp.
And it was not only Khorne's Bloodlands. The realms of the other Chaos Gods, and even the domains of lesser gods, all suffered varying degrees of destruction.
The entire warp feared the Dark King's resurrection.
"Darkness has descended. He will devour us…"
Many Chaos Daemons and followers curled up in terror. They did not want to face the horrifying Dark King.
They were as lost and helpless as mortals facing daemons.
Under normal circumstances, the birth of a new supreme god in the warp would never cause such a terrifying impact, nor would it easily threaten the other Chaos Gods.
But the Anathema, the Dark King, was different. He had gathered countless faiths, faith far surpassing that of the gods, and occupied the supreme destructive aspect of corrosion and annihilation.
Under the influence of the warp's thought-responsive nature, His power was still growing.
It was a path to godhood even more extreme than Khorne's mindless slaughter. It was the purest, darkest Chaos, a fear so deep that most life could not remain sane before it.
The Dark King yearned for destruction. He wanted all matter in the galaxy and the warp to reach its end, turn to dust, and be utterly forgotten.
He would advance ruthlessly under that nightmare desire until all things fell into final extinction.
More terrifying still, there was currently no existence capable of stopping Him from destroying everything. Even the four strongest supreme Chaos Gods of the warp were no match for Him.
That meant the Chaos entities within the warp could only be forced to endure the pain and torment that were about to arrive, with no hope in sight.
How tragic was that?
"Gods, stop that being! Stop Him from coming into this world!"
The Chaos lives stared at the tides of darkness surging through the void. In fear, they knelt and prayed, hoping that those powerful beings of the warp could stop the Dark King's birth.
These brutal, bloodthirsty beings began longing for the protection of something stronger, just as humanity longed for the Emperor's protection.
And yet they did not know who could protect them beneath this darkness.
Those prayers and that faith wandered through the warp. The entire Realm of Chaos was hoping that some being would stop the Dark King's descent and salvage all of this.
"No… my domain, my faith…"
Inside the Chaos planet, the gods became increasingly tense. The shockwaves before the Dark King's birth alone had already caused heavy losses within Their realms.
The faith that had once belonged to Them was weakening. Under the fear of Chaos life, faith-based daemonic energy began uncontrollably turning toward the Dark King.
The Chaos Gods could hardly imagine what kind of losses They would suffer once that being fully descended and began His corrosion.
Would They lose everything and be forced to hide everywhere like those lesser gods?
The Chaos Gods stopped all Their attacks and looked toward the Savior at the center of the planet—the Hell King. Their gazes were no longer quite so venomous.
These supreme beings knew that only with the Savior's cooperation could they stop that horrifying moment from arriving. Otherwise, once the Dark King let out His first cry…
Everything would be over!
"Hiss… is the old Emperor really that strong? This looks like he's about to wreck the whole galaxy and the warp…"
At this moment, Eden was already drenched in cold sweat.
He could feel the shockwaves coming from the warp. The galaxy had also suffered varying degrees of damage, and almost all routes of passage had plunged into extreme chaos.
Even the webway was creaking and shaking.
Some unlucky ships had been directly dragged into the warp or torn apart.
Fortunately, he had prepared a plan in advance and had halted as many Imperial routes as the Imperium could control, reducing the losses by a great deal.
Even though he had mentally prepared himself, Eden was still frightened by the scale of what the Emperor—or rather, the Dark King—had unleashed. The destructive power of the Chaos Gods simply did not compare before the old man.
If the Emperor's old ass broke the golden toilet and the Dark King fully awakened, then just as Eden had said before, he really would perish together with the Chaos Gods, dragging countless lives down with them.
"Savior, if you do not wish for humanity to die with you, stop all this. We still have one final chance. One chance in ten thousand…"
Tzeentch was screaming. He truly looked afraid. He could observe even more horrors in the future.
"If you refuse, slaughter will destroy you completely before the darkness descends!" Khorne threatened, His killing intent stronger than ever before.
"Savior, I am willing to make peace with you. The plagues will no longer run rampant…" Grandfather Nurgle's tone was unbelievably gentle, and He even forced out a hint of a smile.
Slaanesh said nothing, only sending over a secret message that was extremely… suggestive. He, too, hoped the Savior could stop the Dark King.
"That is not enough.
"What I need is your absolute obedience in this matter, and your full, unreserved investment. Otherwise, I would rather give up and welcome the final extinction."
Facing this dark and terrifying spectacle, as well as the softened attitudes of the Chaos Gods, Eden remained unmoved. He coldly watched the darkness spread.
The more critical the moment, the more he had to keep his composure.
This was essentially a negotiation now. The question was who could hold out until the end and seize control of the situation.
The Chaos Gods understood what this meant. But even facing a threat to Their lives, They remained so greedy, still clinging to luck.
It was like the eve of a dynasty's fall. Everyone knew the great edifice was about to collapse, but no one was willing to sacrifice their own interests to save it.
Eden knew that to stop the Dark King's descent, relying on himself and the Imperium alone would be far from enough. He needed more help, and an investment so vast it was almost impossible to imagine.
He had to make the Chaos Gods submit completely, seize the initiative, and force Them to accept all of his demands. Only then would there be a chance to resolve this crisis.
Otherwise, with the greed and scheming of these warp vermin, they would never handle this properly. They would very likely cause some new disaster and drag everyone into the abyss.
This was also one of the reasons Eden had sent that psychic message earlier, telling the old Emperor that there was no need to hold out until the very end and that He should trigger the descent of darkness ahead of time.
If it was going to explode in the end anyway, better to release the pressure early and use the opportunity to drag every supreme Chaos God into it.
And the old Emperor could preserve one final thread of will, giving them a higher chance of success.
Among every possible prediction, this path had the highest success rate.
Even so, this was still a tremendous gamble.
Eden had placed himself, the Emperor, the Chaos Gods, and countless lives in the galaxy and the warp onto the gambling table early, all for a single chance at survival.
Of course, he was extremely nervous. If the Chaos Gods were so greedy that even in the face of a fatal crisis, They were still unwilling to stake everything They had…
Then everyone would simply die together.
As the final moment drew closer, Eden made no other move. He only stared silently at the Chaos Gods and waited for the final result.
…
Not long before this, on New Dragon Forest.
"Traitor!"
Sanguinius, Lion El'Jonson, and the other Primarchs carried ten thousand years of accumulated fury as they launched their final attack against the Dark Emperor Horus.
(End of Chapter)
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