The frantic whispers of the Great Old Ones were interrupted by a sudden voice. It wasn't loud, yet it pierced through the maddening soundwaves sweeping across the entire solar system.
The chaotic energy of the entire galaxy stagnated for a moment.
At the center of the storm in Jupiter's Great Red Spot, that massive amalgamation of countless eyeballs and writhing tentacles slowly extended its body.
Its will crossed the void, descending directly upon the bridge of the Unyielding Truth, issuing a soul-tearing question: "Insect... who are you... talking to?"
On the bridge's star map, the red dots representing the highest threat level had merged into a single mass, almost completely drowning out the entire solar system.
Lin Qiye looked at this apocalyptic scene, his expression more solemn than ever before.
He had imagined countless terrifying enemies, but the sight before him had already exceeded his imagination.
This was a cataclysm.
A cosmic cataclysm capable of swallowing an entire civilization.
"Father!" Lion El'Jonson's plea for battle rang out once more. He knelt on one knee, his voice sonorous and powerful, "No matter who the enemy is, the First Legion shall offer their heads to you!"
However, Ian simply waved his hand casually, signaling him to stay calm.
He turned his head, flashing a smile at the indescribable horror on Jupiter and all the wills of the Great Old Ones spying on this place.
"Don't misunderstand, I'm not targeting anyone in particular."
"I'm saying that everyone here... is trash."
After a moment of dead silence came a collective riot that spread across the entire solar system.
All the chaotic vortexes violently expanded at the exact same moment, and countless mutated, blasphemous monsters swarmed out of them at an unprecedented speed.
Their goal was no longer indiscriminate contamination; instead, they locked onto the flagship where Ian and The Emperor were located—the Unyielding Truth.
The fabric of space was squeezed and folded under the impact of this maddening torrent.
The Emperor furrowed his brow tightly. Golden psychic flames ignited around him as he prepared to personally intervene and stabilize this distorted reality.
A hand gently pressed down on his shoulder.
"Don't rush," Ian's smile grew increasingly playful. "The good show is just beginning."
He snapped his fingers with a crisp sound.
"Snap."
In an instant, behind the imperial fleet, at the very edge of the solar system, a golden rift appeared out of thin air.
It didn't tear through space; rather, it was more like smoothly unrolling the canvas of the universe.
Its initial faint glimmer immediately outshone the brilliance of the sun.
The rift rapidly expanded, transforming from a thin line into a massive maw capable of containing stars. Its scale quickly surpassed that of the entire solar system.
Golden light surged from within. That light contained no violent energy, yet it was brimming with supreme order and rules.
Before this golden light, the frantic whispers of the Great Old Ones stagnated and faded for the first time, like deafening noise crashing into an absolutely soundproof wall.
Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events.
Lin Qiye's mouth fell open. Even the battle-hardened Primarchs under The Emperor's command, who were accustomed to cosmic wonders, revealed expressions of disbelief.
Immediately after, the first battleship sailed out from that boundless golden rift.
Its style shared the same origin as The Emperor's fleet, yet it was far more ancient and massive. The aquila on its bow shimmered with an even purer golden light.
Then came the second, the tenth, the ten-thousandth...
An endless, colossal fleet poured out of the rift like a silent, orderly torrent of steel. Their numbers quickly surpassed the limits of human imagination.
The emerging fleets were not entirely identical.
Some fleets flew the totem of a sea serpent—they were from a parallel universe, a timeline where Alpharius had not betrayed them and instead led the Twentieth Legion to glory.
Some battleships were entirely blood-red, yet they radiated holy wrath rather than a bloodthirsty craving—they were from a timeline where Sanguinius led the Ninth Legion to become the Imperium of Man's most glorious protectors.
Countless parallel universes, countless possible fleets of the Imperium of Man, converged here at this very moment.
"For The Emperor!"
A battle cry spanning countless universes rang out simultaneously across the communication channels of all the fleets, merging into an iron will capable of shaking reality itself.
This invincible army, formed by the superposition of countless peaks of human prosperity, radiated a power of order simply by existing, causing the surrounding chaos of the Great Old Ones to naturally dissipate.
However, the terror of the Great Old Ones far exceeded imagination.
A Great Old One shaped like a colossal jellyfish, floating in Neptune's orbit, slowly opened its massive umbrella covered in billions of starlight spots.
A law of Madness that transcended causality spread outward.
The moment the frontline imperial fleets came into contact with this law, they rusted and decayed at a visible rate. Along with the countless loyal warriors inside the battleships, they were reduced to cold cosmic dust.
Conventional physical and energy attacks had very little effect on enemies at this conceptual level.
Right at that moment, the style of the golden rift abruptly changed.
Floating cities composed of countless magical runes slowly sailed out of the rift.
Massive statues of the Demacian Colossus rode side-by-side with ferocious Noxian War Fortresses.
Following closely, legions of angels clad in endless alloy armor and wielding God-Slaying Weapons formed an indestructible judgment sword array under the leadership of Holy Kesha.
The Justice Order they chanted could actually pinpoint and neutralize the laws of Madness, causing them to cancel each other out.
"Analyzing the enemy's divine body. Defined as 'Unknown'. Reconstructing weapons..."
Angel Yan led a squad of elite angels. The Knowledge Vaults behind them operated frantically, attempting to comprehend these indescribable enemies and develop countermeasures on the spot.
A powerful former dark mage who once hailed from Ionia simply waved his hand casually, casting a vast illusion that actually drove the Great Old One monsters in a certain area into a frenzy of mutual slaughter.
Immediately after, several terrifying auras, so powerful that they made the entire battlefield tremble, emanated from deeper within the golden rift.
Every single one of them far exceeded all the combat forces that had appeared previously.
A giant composed of countless blocks shimmering with seven-colored light stepped out of the rift with heavy strides.
He was the Infinity Golem Titan.
His eyes, which seemed to be made of stars, immediately locked onto the jellyfish that was rampantly spreading the law of Madness.
He curled his lips in disdain and casually threw a punch from hundreds of millions of kilometers away.
This punch had no visual effects or energy fluctuations; it possessed only pure, irresistible physical force.
That arrogant jellyfish, along with the laws it had spread, was completely obliterated by this punch, leaving not a single trace behind.
Following closely, more Titans appeared.
Wherever the Titan composed of Dark Matter passed, space collapsed in massive swathes, sucking countless monsters into nothingness.
With every movement, the Titan composed of Red Matter annihilated everything, reducing the chaotic flesh and blood into the purest energy.
The appearance of the Titans completely turned the tide of the battle.
Like true gods, they began hunting down those so-called Great Old Ones across this chaotic galaxy.