"Erda, don't leave."
The Emperor grabbed the woman's arm.
"Don't try to sweet-talk me. I'll never believe another word you say, Neoth. You're a liar, a scumbag. Bah!"
Erda cursed the Emperor, but her feet remained rooted to the spot.
"I'll stake my reputation on it, this woman likes the Emperor," Trazyn declared confidently. "Likes him to no end."
Even across species, he could spot the romantic tension between a man and a woman.
"Do you even understand love, you shut-in? You've probably never even touched a woman's hand," Orikan retorted unceremoniously.
No matter when or where, Trazyn had become his habit.
"No love? How many people were infatuated with me back then? They called me a Casanova! You think I'm like you, always buried in books, never even seen a woman?" Trazyn retorted without reservation to Orikan.
"Two pathetic souls with no luck with the opposite sex," Eldrad added, twisting the knife.
His words instantly made Trazyn and Orikan put aside their personal grievances and unite against a common foe.
"You're the one with no luck with women, a useless piece of trash no one would even lick if thrown into Ghomorra!"
"Even Slaanesh would reject you!"
Their offensive power was deadly.
Eldrad's face flushed and paled by turns.
He was about to unleash his psychic powers on those two.
The other Eldar seers also looked displeased, secretly accumulating psychic energy, showing a clear tendency to gang up and beat the two.
Senior General Tura and the Imperial heroes, on the other hand, watched with cold eyes.
They didn't care what happened to these xenos.
They only cared about the Emperor.
Seeing the two sides on the verge of conflict, Alex stepped forward to intervene, "Enough! Don't make me throw you all back."
The two groups finally stopped, but neither was willing to concede.
Everyone was a projection, unable to interfere with the past.
Because of this, they could only observe the unfolding of events.
"Before you go, can I ask you one thing?"
The Emperor looked at Erda, his tone sincere.
"Don't ask me to forgive you or anything like that. I won't accept it."
Erda had a haughty expression.
Though she spoke of refusal, the anticipation in her eyes betrayed her.
"No, I just want you to go to the city of Sodom, deal with those few demons, and buy me time to gather strength and unleash heavenly fire."
The Emperor was serious, completely oblivious to Erda's tightly clenched fists.
"You want me to deal with those demons? Do you know how powerful they are?"
"I know, but you are an immortal. Dying a few times will buy enough time."
"Go to hell, Neoth, you scumbag!"
Erda gave the Emperor a good beating.
But she still helped him, going to Sodom to hold off those demons. She couldn't defeat them and was killed several times.
However, the time she bought allowed the Emperor to accumulate enough psychic power.
He unleashed heavenly fire, destroying the wicked city of Sodom.
Clearly, the Emperor had played the roles of Yahweh and God in history.
The Bible describes how God, displeased with the fallen city of Sodom, sent his angels to destroy it.
After taking Abraham's family, the good people of the city, away, God unleashed heavenly fire, destroying that city of sin.
But the truth differed from the biblical account: Sodom was a city corrupted by demons, which is why it was destroyed by the Emperor.
After resurrecting, Erda found the Emperor, kicked him hard, and even swore an oath that she would never speak to him or help him again, otherwise, she would be killed by her own children in the future.
After that, Erda turned and left.
At this moment, the Emperor turned his head and looked at the location of Alex and his group.
"Seen enough, travelers from the future?"
"Pretty dramatic," Alex commented. "Erda calling you a scumbag is spot on. How could you ask a girl who likes you to do something like that?"
The Emperor:
"..."
"I thought you'd say something else, at least about demons or the Warp."
Alex waved his hand, "Those guys aren't going anywhere, what's the rush?"
"I'm more concerned about your emotional state."
The Emperor looked at the departing Erda, "My emotions are perfectly healthy."
"Doesn't look like it," Alex shook his head. "I only see a cold man. You know she likes you, and you're exploiting that emotion."
"Turning everything into a tool is a necessary condition for success," the Emperor said. "Emotions are no exception. To save humanity, such a price must be paid."
"But what kind of humanity do you want to save?" Alex said. "You must have heard the story of the beheaded queen, Marie Antoinette."
"When her minister said the people had no bread, she asked him why they didn't eat cake."
"That story is false," the Emperor shook his head. "Because I wrote that story to ignite the people's anger and drive the revolution."
Alex: "..."
Goodness, you've played quite a few roles.
"The story is false, but the meaning it conveys is clear," Alex said. "Ordinary people need emotions to fill their emptiness. Only then can they find meaning in life."
"But it's ironic that those who try to save them cannot empathize with their emotions."
"Only people with sunshine in their hearts can bring sunshine to others. People with darkness in their hearts will only bring darkness to others."
"Are you here to debate me?" the Emperor said.
"No, I'm here to check if you're worth resurrecting," Alex shrugged. "I can't bring back an Emperor who is a dictator and doesn't care about the lives of his people to achieve his goals."
"The Emperor of the Imperium of Man isn't me anymore," the Emperor pouted.
Alex's eyes widened, "What do you mean? I'm kindly saving you, and you want to dump this mess on me, don't you?"
"How can you be so wicked!"
The Emperor ignored Alex and transformed into a glowing fragment, flying into Senior General Tura's hand.
Clearly, he knew that once he fell into Alex's hands, some bad things would definitely happen.
"Come out and explain yourself, you bastard!"
Alex shouted, but the fragment was unresponsive. What a scoundrel, he wouldn't really dump this mess on me, would he??
Wow, how can a person be so wicked??
Alex wanted the Emperor to come out and explain, but the other party's appearance made him feel very frustrated; this guy was playing dead.
Unable to get an answer, Alex could only continue to search for the Emperor's lost personality fragments at various points in time.
As the surrounding environment twisted,
This time, they arrived at a cave.
The Emperor was painting, depicting goats, hunters, and grass, with another person standing beside him.
He described his plan to that person.
Chasing the goat, throwing a spear when the goat fled into the grass, and finally hitting the goat.
Finally, he left his handprint on that crude painting, and the other person did too.
If Alex remembered correctly, this should be the Emperor trying to convince Malcador, who recalled this scene during the The Battle of Terra.
The Emperor's painting was a prophecy and also their plan, but unfortunately, everything was changed in the end.
"Is this the origin of the name 'Hand-Bearer'?"
Senior General Tura saw this scene and realized that this was Malcador, the Hand-Bearer, and the Emperor discussing a plan.
This time, the Emperor did not speak to them.
Instead, he directly transformed into a fragment and merged into Senior General Tura's hand.
Immediately after, Alex and the others arrived at another point in time.
At this point in time, the Emperor was participating in a crusade, fighting against a lord corrupted by Chaos.
This time, Erda was also by his side.
For some unknown reason, Erda, despite her solemn oath, decided to accompany him.
However, the Emperor remained unfeeling.
He once again tricked Erda into attracting the enemy's attention.
Then he led his men to ambush the lord's stronghold, breaking the city and winning the victory.
The result, as expected, was another kick.
Erda left angrily.
"Do you always treat people as tools? You're a heartless bastard."
Next, Alex and his group arrived at the time of the Tower of Babel.
At this point, the Emperor had already won the victory and was standing in front of the Tower of Babel with the Warmaster.
The Emperor looked at the Tower of Babel and had a different idea.
He wanted to materialize the power of incantations.
"No, we waged this war to prevent more deaths."
Oll, as Warmaster, shook his head, "The power of incantations is terrifying, we must seal it away."
"No—" the Emperor shook his head, "We can use it as a weapon, that way we can easily deal with the Warp."
"To deal with those monsters, mere strength is not enough," Oll objected. "If the person who wields incantations is corrupted, they will cause even more destruction."
"I am confident I can control them," the Emperor said with full confidence.
Seeing the Emperor like this, Oll showed disappointment.
While the Emperor was trying to harness the power of incantations,
He plunged the sword in his hand into the other's body.
"I cannot let you make this mistake. Once the power of incantations runs rampant, it will be a catastrophe for humanity."
Then, Oll set fire to the Tower of Babel and fled.
The recovered Emperor looked at the burning Tower of Babel in silence, eventually turning into a fragment and falling into Senior General Tura's hand.
"Unlucky child," Alex said.
Subsequently, they went to other places, witnessing the Emperor's actions.
He played many roles.
King, knight, soldier, commoner, etc., the Emperor played every role.
He fought for Qin Wang, who swept across the six realms, served in Alexander the Great's expeditionary force, and witnessed the First Industrial Revolution.
During this time, Erda would always be with the Emperor.
But after a while, she would again be saddened by the Emperor's actions and choose to leave.
And after some time, she would come back to find the Emperor.
Alex found it to be a doomed relationship. The Emperor was truly a scumbag.
He perfectly embodied the principles of 'no refusal, no initiative, no responsibility.'
Of course, he wasn't just a scumbag to Erda, but to everyone—fickle, playing with people's hearts, taking what he wanted, and then running off.
He acted recklessly, relying on his charisma.
Honestly, Alex understood the immortals who parted ways with him.
Who could stand being treated as a tool forever??
Alex and the others' projections continuously traveled through the timeline because the Emperor's traces spanned the entire history of human development.
He secretly pushed for humanity's technological and cultural revolutions.
Leading humanity to the stars, to the universe, and establishing an interstellar civilization.
Humanity, as he planned, became the overlords of the universe.
Unfortunately, the AI crisis he always wanted to avoid ultimately erupted due to numerous coincidences.
After the AI crisis ended, humanity's strength plummeted.
Immediately after, the Warp Storm struck, causing the Age of Strife.
After a period of silence, the Emperor gathered several immortals to the planet Mordor. From there, he entered the Warp and stole ancient Chaos power.
Of course, this power was not the power of the Gods, but the power of the Old Ones.
The Old Ones created the eight-pointed star, attempting to condense nine deities to control the Warp.
But the plan was not implemented before they were exterminated.
The Emperor stole all the power of the eight-pointed star; as long as he did not become a god, the later gods would not appear.
Next, Alex and his group arrived at Terra during the Unification Wars.
Erda was once again with the Emperor, and this time she even gave him her own genes, allowing him to create the Primarchs.
Initially, Erda was quite happy, as this was, after all, their two children.
But the Emperor, as always, was unfeeling; after using Erda, he ignored her and forbade her from interfering with the Primarchs' affairs.
As one might expect, Erda, with the help of the Chaos Gods, blew up the laboratory and sent the Primarchs to different worlds.
Alex watched this scene.
During this time, he also saw Horus and Erebus and others; they had all reached this timeline and witnessed the unfolding of events.
"So, this is why Erda was willing to throw the Primarchs out: because of what you did to her, and she feared you would do the same to those children."
"Purely treating them as tools of conquest, and then mercilessly destroying them once they lose their value."
The Emperor watched the Warp rift devour all the Primarchs.
"Perhaps."
After answering, he turned into a fragment and merged into Senior General Tura's hand.
With the acquisition of the laboratory fragment,
All the fragments of the past had been collected.
Next, Alex and the others turned their gaze to the future.
Due to the existence of the Warp, the future of the galaxy was uncertain; it had many possible futures.
But only one future would truly come to pass.
Alex and his group first arrived at a future where the Emperor would become a god.
The galaxy had been burnt to ashes, with no living creatures, no Warp daemons; everything was incinerated.
Only a black sun sat alone in the center of the galaxy.
Alex and his group obtained a fragment here.
Next was the future where the Emperor died on the Golden Throne.
The Dark King, who destroys all things, was not born. The Chaos Gods invaded the real universe, and the Warp and the real universe perfectly merged.
After thousands of years of the Dark Age, the Age of Magic descended, where every creature could use the power of magic.
The eternal war continued, and Alex and his group also obtained a fragment.
The third was a future where the Emperor neither died nor became a god.
The Imperium of Man continued to fight the Chaos Gods, forming a balance.
The third future was—
Alex and his group traveled through time repeatedly, observing what would happen in the future.
In this way, they collected all of the Emperor's personality fragments, and then set off to return to the Imperial Palace on Reality, preparing to awaken the Emperor and discuss the next step of the plan.
Whether to let the Emperor rise from the Golden Throne or to continue sitting there for now.