On this desecrated planet, two completely opposing forces confronted each other. Using the two Primarchs as vessels, a battle unfolded that would decide the fate of the galaxy.
Centered around the two Primarchs, an invisible yet suffocating absolute domain formed. Whether they were brave Imperial soldiers, cold and efficient soldiers of the Human Alliance, roaring daemons, or desperate traitors—they all quietly withdrew from the area. This created ample space for the great battle about to unfold between the two Primarchs.
Sicarius, Carken, and the others positioned themselves around the Primarchs, vigilantly monitoring the surroundings to ensure that daemons and traitors did not interfere with the duel.
Just a few minutes ago, they had witnessed Guilliman being struck down by Mortarion and injected with the plague toxin. At that moment, they had fallen into complete despair, nearly overwhelmed by panic and helplessness. They had fought with all their might to reach the Primarch, but the daemons and traitors had obstructed them by any means possible, laughing maniacally all the while.
Now, the situation was different. With the help of the Nameless Ones, Guilliman had received the blessings of the five Gods of Order, becoming an even more majestic existence than Mortarion. This time, it was their turn to stand guard and prevent any interference from daemons and traitors.
"Didn't you say you wouldn't accept the blessings of the gods?"
Mortarion threw the question at him, attempting to expose Guilliman's weakness. "What's the difference between you and me? We both borrow power from others. The only difference is who we borrow it from."
He couldn't understand it. He truly couldn't.
Before he had joined Chaos, he had been called the Joker—a useless Primarch mocked for being unable to unify even a single planet. He had voted for Chaos, yet he remained the Joker.
Why was Guilliman so lucky? When expelled from the Emperor's laboratory, others became homeless or slaves. This man had parents!
And now, this man who had finally received the blessings of the Four Gods had suddenly also received the blessings of the five Gods of Order. For now, it seemed they didn't need to pay any price.
He had become completely different from his former self, reduced to a slave of the four Chaos Gods. Comparison is a thief that steals joy. Even if the original was more powerful than the copy, there was still the possibility of enraging the original.
"The difference is that, win or lose, from today onward, you will become a slave of the Warp Gods."
Guilliman's glowing eyes stared at his brother with a mocking expression. "But I am still myself."
"I am not a slave—this power is under my control!" Mortarion roared, swinging his scythe wreathed in evil energy.
"Mortarion, you remain a pitiful jester forever. You wallow in self-pity and refuse to face reality. You couldn't even choose betrayal. You were manipulated and forced by others," Guilliman said. "To be honest, you are completely unfit for the position of Legion Commander. If there are no other options, you might as well become Typhus's squad leader."
Mortarion tried to retort, but a teleportation portal pulsing with green light suddenly appeared without warning beside Guilliman.
Datch, clad in the armor of the Lich King, rode a mechanical warhorse and burst out from the portal, brandishing the Moon Greatsword. He surveyed the battlefield, and his gaze immediately fixed on Mortarion. The grotesque figure was further accentuated by the power of the Four Gods.
"For the Emperor! For the Alliance!!!"
The moment he finished speaking, Datch raised his massive sword, mounted his mechanical warhorse, and charged. He became a blurred afterimage, rushing straight toward Mortarion.
Mortarion held his scythe, making no large movements. As if swatting a fly, he casually swung the huge scythe.
Whoosh!
The scythe, stained with rust, blood, eerie shadows, and an enchanting purple light, sliced through the air. Immediately after, a smooth cut appeared at Datch's waist. His upper body and lower body separated silently.
The lower body and warhorse continued advancing for a moment.
Datch's upper body was precisely pinned by the tip of Mortarion's scythe.
The opponent raised it high, as if a hunter displaying his prey.
"Look, Roboute."
Mortarion's voice, filled with cruel mockery and the smug boast of a victor, echoed across the battlefield. "This is the Nameless One you trusted so much and placed such great hope in. As fragile as an ordinary human—utterly ridiculous. Your hope is nothing but..."
While mocking him, the Primarch took out a specially prepared plague toxin and injected it into the body of the Nameless One. As the toxin entered, Datch's body visibly decayed, and even the Lich King's armor began to rust.
Mortarion stared intently at Guilliman, trying to gauge his reaction. Anger? Despair? Or some other emotion...?
However, he was disappointed. Guilliman remained expressionless, silently watching. It was as if the scene had nothing to do with him.
"Do you not care whether he lives or dies?" Mortarion pressed.
"I told you, the power of the Nameless Ones far exceeds your imagination. Do you really think your and your master's insignificant skills can harm him?"
"I can only sympathize with your foolishness, Mortarion."
Mortarion flew into a rage. "No matter who it is, with the power of the Four Gods—"
Before the retort could finish, the Nameless One impaled on the scythe's tip suddenly underwent a strange change. His body turned to ash and vanished into the air filled with chaotic energy.
Immediately after, the nearby air rippled, and Datch reappeared once more.
Mortarion's eyes widened. His scythe was infused with the power of the Four Gods, and it had injected a plague toxin targeting him. Why was there no problem at all? This was impossible...
"Ah, I still don't have enough stamina."
Datch looked at Mortarion and abandoned the plan of charging again only to die. Mortarion, blessed by the Four Gods, indeed possessed terrifying power. He had charged, but was killed instantly. In this situation, attrition damage alone was estimated to be insufficient.
The only option was to rely on Guilliman, who had been granted the power of the five Gods, to fight him.
"Go! My robot special forces beast, let's teach that stinky monster a lesson!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
For a brief moment, an eerie silence fell over the battlefield.
On the Imperial side, from Sicarius to ordinary Astragalus soldiers, distorted expressions immediately appeared on their faces—a mix of wanting to laugh, feeling the situation was highly inappropriate, wanting to stay serious, and trying to suppress those feelings.
On the Chaos side, the bloodthirsty, frenzied roars of the daemons stuck in their throats. The traitors stared with wide eyes, as if they had heard blasphemous words.
Even the wills of the Four Chaos Gods watching from the depths of the Warp were momentarily speechless and stunned by this extremely unique and unconventional form of encouragement.
The Emperor, seated on the Golden Throne, felt utterly powerless. In this solemn moment that would decide the fate of the galaxy and mark the final battle between order and chaos, couldn't they act with a little more seriousness and decorum?
Or perhaps they simply weren't taking this matter seriously at all.
There was no roar, no declaration of war, not even a prelude.
Guilliman and Mortarion looked at each other. Then, suddenly, both charged toward one another at tremendous speed, moving so fast they left afterimages in the air, and finally collided.
The hatred and ideological differences accumulated over thousands of years transformed into pure killing intent in this moment. Only one thought remained in their minds—to completely destroy the opponent!
The battle instantly reached its climax!
Both Primarchs possessed power that transcended the limits of conventional physical laws. Every collision was not merely a contest of strength, but a fierce confrontation between order and chaos in the real world.
Boom! Clang! Thud! Bang——!!
The Emperor's Sword and the Reaper's Scythe clashed violently.
The terrifying sounds echoed across the battlefield, ear-piercing and filled with agony. Visible milky-white shockwave rings, formed by the combination of airflow and their forces, erupted violently one after another from the center of their battlefield, spreading outward like endless ripples of destruction!
The moment the two energies collided, the entire world of Ax let out a groan of pain. Unparalleled fierce energy flows swirled, forming massive, earth-shaking energy storms on Ax's surface. Wherever the storm passed, everything was mercilessly torn apart, shattered to pieces, purified, or corrupted.
Countless skulls, plague-ridden corpses, twisted metal, and magnificent yet blasphemous structures carved from Warp energy collapsed like sandcastles on a beach, shattering into dust. Huge walls hundreds of meters high crumbled, triggering a series of terrifying explosions. Burnt fragments mixed with filthy flesh and metal shards rained down in all directions.
The ground shook violently, deep valleys cracked open, and scorching magma or foul-smelling pus erupted!
The golden flames unleashed from Guilliman's Emperor's Sword were more intense and pure than ever. It was as if he held a small star filled with orderly and powerful energy in his hand. It illuminated the dark and filthy world around Ax with dazzling light, constantly dispelling and purifying the chaotic mists.
Mortarion countered with the massive scythe in his hand.
The scythe bore the characteristics of the Four Gods. With every swing, it was accompanied by green fog that eroded reality, blood-like light that tore souls, blue light that distorted logic, and purple halos that confused the senses.
The energy flames collided with Guilliman's sword, producing dazzling yet extremely lethal energy explosions one after another!
Their combat styles had transcended the realm of mere technique. Every collision was a shocking event even on a conceptual level. Space was torn apart, leaving momentary black traces.
The flow of time around them became disordered.
The ground beneath their feet was either scorched into glass-like crystals by holy flames or transformed into writhing carpets of amorphous flesh by chaotic energy. This was a dual collapse on both the physical and conceptual levels.
It was unclear how long the fierce battle lasted. It might have been just an instant, or it might have felt like centuries had passed.
Finally—surpassing the speed of light, with Guilliman's full-powered strike—the tip of the Emperor's Sword precisely struck the weakest point of Mortarion's massive scythe!
Crack! Crack!
Heart-stopping, sharp cracking sounds rang out! Cracks began spreading across the joint between the blade and handle of the huge scythe that Mortarion had owned for many years and which had absorbed the power of the Four Gods.
Then, under Mortarion's incredulous gaze, the massive scythe flew from his hand, spinning in an arc. The scythe plunged deep into the distant ground amid the still-struggling flesh and blood.
The evil light on its blade rapidly dimmed.
The moment the weapon left his hand, Mortarion realized he had lost. He tried to continue fighting Guilliman with punches, but Guilliman easily knocked him down and stepped on him.
"It looks like I'm the one who will have the last laugh, not you."
Mortarion roared in rage, trembling, but could do nothing. Even with the blessings of the Four Gods, he could not escape from under Guilliman's foot and was firmly trampled.
Seeing Mortarion defeated and trampled by Guilliman, Datch immediately showed an excited expression. He took out a magical bubble bath machine, intending to give the stinky Mortarion a thorough wash.
However, this action terrified Nurgle and the other three Chaos Gods. They had all witnessed the power of the magical artifact in the hands of the Nameless One. If the Nameless Ones succeeded in converting Mortarion, the situation would become extremely serious.
Rumble, rumble...!!!
The entire planet of Ax, and even the surrounding void, was suddenly and forcibly enveloped by four enormous, unparalleled Warp domains—each completely different yet equally filled with malice!
The first to appear was the Garden of Resentment. It was not a complete entity, but an infinitely spreading terrifying illusion composed of decaying plants, swirling seas of pus, cloyingly sweet miasma, and never-withering deformed flowers. Deep within the garden, the outlines of ancient buildings emerged with surprising clarity.
That was Nurgle's dark mansion. It was incredibly ancient, as if it had existed since the birth of the universe. The architectural style was chaotic and disordered. Decayed, blackened wood and cracked walls were covered with poisonous vines dripping with slimy sap. Thick, adhesive moss like a blanket covered the entire mansion.
Immediately after, the domains of the other three Gods surged forward in competition.
Tzeentch's Crystal Labyrinth was an infinitely complex, logically flawed, ever-changing geometric nightmare. A single glance could plunge a human mind into a vicious cycle.
Khorne's Brass Fortress was a symbol of pure violence and bloodshed. It was a massive war fortress built from countless skeletons, rusted weapons, skulls of defeated warriors, and lava. Rivers of never-drying blood flowed along the city walls.
The eternal battle cries of millions of warriors engaged in mortal combat echoed in the sky. It emitted a violent, bloodthirsty aura that boiled the blood and drove one to destroy everything.
Slaanesh's Palace of Pleasure was filled with suffocatingly sweet scents and dazzling light. It was woven from the most perfect curves of flesh, the most luxurious gems, the most enchanting melodies, and the most decadent and sensual abstract concepts. Its form constantly changed—sometimes resembling a magnificent palace, sometimes the body of an alluring dancer—endlessly stirring the deepest forbidden desires of living beings.
The entire Ax was assimilated into the Warp.
"How dare a human do such a thing!"
Four terrifying wills spoke simultaneously. Their voices induced countless people to scream in pain, blood flowing from their mouths and noses. Even daemons could not endure it and continuously emitted ear-piercing horn sounds.
Four forces of different natures, each possessing world-destroying power—the torrent of decay, the vortex of conspiracy, the storm of slaughter, and the cry of ecstasy—transformed into a chaotic primordial torrent and surged toward Guilliman!
Guilliman's expression turned grim. He gripped the Emperor's Sword tightly with both hands, holding it horizontally in front of his chest in the most solid defensive stance!
Boom————!!!!!!!!
The collision between the Gods of Order and the Chaos Gods unleashed a thunderous roar that shook the entire Warp dimension. Guilliman groaned and was forced back two steps.
At that moment, the door to the mansion deep within Nurgle's Garden suddenly burst open with force. An invisible terrifying will ignored spatial distance and enveloped Mortarion.
"Father, please forgive me," Mortarion said, trembling in terror.
Nurgle's will dragged Mortarion into the filthy green light, through the illusory decaying garden, and carried him away to the black mansion. When Mortarion was dragged inside, the mansion's gates closed with a heavy sound.
"No...!"
After watching Mortarion being taken away, Datch knelt down, spread his arms wide, and struck a pose reminiscent of The Shawshank Redemption. It was truly sad that the owner of the stinky can had escaped.
Guilliman regained his footing and gazed at the four magnificent ancient structures that had appeared before him. An inexhaustible malice emanated from them. He understood well what they symbolized—the ultimate embodiment of the dark side of the universe, the cause of humanity's suffering for thousands of years.
He took a deep breath and raised the Emperor's Sword high above his head.
The blessing light of the five Gods of Order burst from his body, infusing into the sword and making it shine even brighter.
"You vile and insatiable Gods of Darkness!"
Guilliman's voice echoed in the ears of every living being on the battlefield.
The flames blazing on the Emperor's Sword soared high into the sky, transforming into a pillar of bright light that reached the heavens. The heat of the flames scorched the air, distorted light, and even burned away the surrounding chaotic spacetime structure.
"Listen to me!"
Guilliman's voice thundered like lightning. The heavy aura it emitted caused the countless daemons on the battlefield to let out desperate, instinctive, ear-piercing screams as if encountering their natural enemy.
The projections of the four ancient structures symbolizing the Four Gods trembled violently under the impact of the orderly burning flames and Guilliman's declaration.
The moss on the filthy mansion curled up and peeled off. Cracks appeared in the crystals of Tzeentch's labyrinth.
The skull walls of Khorne's fortress shook.
The light and shadows in Slaanesh's temple became disordered.
From the deepest parts of the four buildings, a thunderous roar mixed with anger, fear, and unease resounded.
Guilliman ignored them and continued speaking.
"The material universe and the Warp should maintain balance. But you have disrupted that balance for far too long."
"Never forget this day. Never forget this warning!"
Guilliman gripped the Emperor's Sword, which was about to burn out, tightly with both hands. Pouring all his strength and spirit into it, he swung it down toward the intersection of the four Gods' domains in the air!
"It is not only your subspace that can expand and erode."
"One day, when the anger and power of the material world reach their peak, a wave of backlash will come surging!"
"That will be the end of you distorted beings—the time of complete annihilation and purification!"
The sword strike, like blazing flames fusing the power of the Gods of Order and the Emperor, silently swept through the sky, devouring everything in its path. Demonic remnants, blasphemous structures, corrupted energy... All chaotic creations, upon touching the flames, transformed into the most basic disordered particles and returned to nothingness.
This terrifying flame finally collided violently with the projections of the Four Gods' domains!