Yuki was left with only half a body. The results of his special training with the Lictor manifested now; even with such grievous injuries, he remained conscious. Inside him, genes and cells worked frantically to repair his frame.
Shalaxi was in no hurry to kill him. It had discovered that Yuki's soul existed in an extremely peculiar state. Simply destroying his physical shell would not allow the daemon to seize his soul. Shalaxi sensed that this man was a target of the Prince of Pleasure, and it wanted to use him to curry favor with its Master.
"Strictly speaking, you are indeed the human who has lasted the longest against me—much longer than those so-called Space Marines."
Shalaxi crouched down, looming like the towering daemons in medieval religious myths. "Come, enter the embrace of the Prince of Pleasure. He will grant you eternal joy and delight. When time fades and the universe dies, we shall dance upon the corpses of the gods."
Yuki remained motionless. Shalaxi found this boring. "Give me some reaction. Is your life static? Are you..."
Something appeared.
Shalaxi sensed it—a hound was approaching. That troublesome creature. That strong, fierce... dog.
"Blood for the Blood God!"
Taking advantage of the Warp rift opened by Slaanesh, a horde of Khornate daemons charged out. The conflict between the two Great Powers of the Warp spilled into the material world. Just as Slaanesh was about to claim its prey, Khorne reached out once more to strike down the arm Slaanesh had extended.
"Shalaxi! Continue our unfinished struggle!"
Skarbrand, the greatest of Khorne's daemons, brandished his twin axes and hurtled toward Shalaxi.
"Hehehehe... every moment you were gone, I thought of you, Skarbrand!"
In a tiny Hive City, two Greater Daemons and two Chaos factions clashed. This miniature war, hidden within the Shadow in the Warp, had reached a terrifying scale. For a moment, no one paid attention to the dying Yuki.
Or rather, almost no one.
The pool of blood on the ground began to move, ripples radiating outward from Yuki at the center. When the eighth ripple vanished at the edge, Yuki's heart beat eight times.
He woke up.
In a vast expanse of red sand, a brass throne that reached the heavens appeared in the distance. A red silhouette sat upon the throne, its gaze filled with amusement. It was Khorne.
Yuki stood up and stared at the God of Blood and Skulls.
"Transmigrator, come. Accept my power."
"Heh. And hand my soul over to you, right?" Yuki would never agree to such a deal, even if his soul wasn't technically in his own hands right now anyway.
"Hehehehe... not so. I am the most generous of the gods. Your soul is delicious, but it brings me far less joy than blood and skulls. I see infinite wars and countless sacrifices within you. How exquisite."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Offer one-eighth of your future slaughters to me in the name of the Champion of Khorne, and I will give you sufficient strength. How about it?"
Yuki hesitated. He needed power, but an eighth of his sacrifices seemed small yet would surely become a hindrance as they accumulated over time. Moreover, becoming Khorne's Chosen was no small matter; he had to discuss this with Yuno. His life had ceased to belong solely to himself after the Burning Chapel.
"I refuse, Khorne."
"Hmph. As I thought, you still have some spirit."
"Actually, I can understand," Yuki replied. "The Chosen of other gods seem quite reliable, but yours..."
"As the God of Blood and Skulls, do I not have even one truly reliable confidant? Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"
The red horizon surged with blood-mist as Khorne's rage spent itself. The god turned back to Yuki, appearing directly in front of him this time. Its face remained obscured, a massive and blurry red figure.
"Transmigrator, tell me, do you like fighting?"
"No, I don't. But this world forces me to fight."
"Hahahaha! In this universe, we must rise and fall with its breath. Even the Warp is no exception. You see unclearly, Yuki. Every man has his fate, and your fate is not to die here."
A hint of pleasure showed in Khorne's eyes. "Your existence brings war, even if you are not my Chosen. Let me help you."
Khorne reached out. Yuki felt his body begin to expand. Warp energy twisted his destiny, and an infinite thirst for blood erupted in his heart. Power flooded his entire being.
Space stretched. Without either moving, the red desert turned into the galaxy. Khorne sent Yuki to another distant place. The sensation was extraordinary—concepts of time and space were distorted, and celestial bodies were warped by massive Warp energies. Physical laws had no effect here; this was the cesspool constructed by the source of all evil in the Warhammer universe: the Warp.
In an instant, he saw a colossal palace, layered in high-dimensional structures with countless limbs writhing within. But these did not hold Yuki's attention. Almost the moment he saw the palace, he saw the two beings fighting in the Warp.
One was a purple moon. The other was a psychic black hole.
The form of the purple moon shifted constantly in Yuki's eyes—a young girl, an old crone, a youth, a handsome man. An ordinary psyker would have collapsed into inescapable madness just by witnessing such a battle. The black hole sat there quietly, continuously devouring psychic energy and creating massive spiral arms of power around itself.
Compared to these two, Yuki was tiny. Yet he knew what he had to do. This was exactly what Khorne wanted.
A faint red light broke into the space between the two combatants. Only then did the psychic illusions vanish before Yuki. They were replaced by two simple forms: a daemonette and a Warrior Bug locked in combat. The ultimate truth was simple.
Yuki slammed into the daemonette. Blood flowed from her, and though only a few drops landed on Yuki, it was enough to break Slaanesh's rhythm. The Warrior Bug struck Slaanesh's forehead, and a shattering sound echoed.
Within a few breaths, the struggle between Yuno and Slaanesh ended. Yuno revealed her beauty, grabbed Yuki, and immediately pulled them out of the Warp.
Back in the material world, the two daemon factions were still in a brutal struggle. Skarbrand and Shalaxi were nearly taking flight. They had to be dealt with before these idiots attracted the attention of the Imperium.
Yuki saw the final altar. This was the turning point. His body had fully recovered. Harnessing his maximum psychic potential, he drove his daggers forward and shattered it in a single blow!
The Warp shifted. The boundary between reality and the Warp became distinct again. Skarbrand, Shalaxi, and their respective daemons were pulled back into the Warp.
"Dammit, Shalaxi... next time, I'll banish you myself," Yuki muttered.
He stumbled, and Yuno quickly supported him. No words were needed; linked in mind, the two understood everything.
"Clean this place up..."
Passing that thought to Yuno, Yuki finally blacked out.