The arrival of the Custodes undoubtedly gave the Loyalist Faction a significant shock, especially those who had just been questioning the Dark Angels. Now, they had no choice but to properly face these divine warriors from Holy Terra.
The manner of their arrival was truly too strange, the giant golden hand behind them seemed to be declaring that the Emperor is God.
"Your Excellency, I wonder what mission the God-Emperor has given us?"
"Please rest assured, no matter how difficult the task, we will prove our loyalty with our lives!"
The Custodes, clad in golden armor, did not even look them in the eye.
Or rather, the Custodes had never truly looked at these Astartes with any regard.
In the eyes of the Custodes, every Astartes was a potential traitor.
Especially after the Horus Heresy, the Custodes' trust in the Astartes had dropped to the absolute minimum.
"Is that so? Since you have not heard the God-Emperor's decree, it proves the God-Emperor does not yet trust you!"
"I have come this time to prioritize executing the mission with those trusted by the God-Emperor. What you need to do is cooperate with our actions. As for the specific mission, you do not need to know!"
"Fuck!"
Listening to the Custodes' incredibly arrogant words, Caleb suddenly felt like he had let in a real handful.
He had originally thought these people's political talent might allow for some maneuvering, but he hadn't expected their arrogance to leave absolutely no room for negotiation.
At this moment, everyone was suppressing their anger, but given the other party's status, it was difficult to lash out.
The Space Wolves were particularly dissatisfied with this attitude.
Logan Grimnar chose this moment to step forward. Although the previous battles had indeed dealt a blow to his self-confidence, they had also caused him to restrain his temperament.
"Since Your Excellency has come to execute a task entrusted to you by the God-Emperor,"
"Then you should simply tell us how we are to cooperate with you!"
"We will prove our loyalty with our lives, we only hope you can tell us what we must do!"
Grimnar had remained silent until now; the series of failures had left him with no desire to argue with anyone.
Now, his mind was exceptionally calm, and he was even drinking less.
He understood that this battle could never be as simple as those in the past.
"Destroy the Gate of the Red Angel!"
"And it must be within three days!"
"The Emperor will strike at the necessary moment. You only need to launch a rapid assault to apply pressure to the heretics!"
The command given by the Custodes was very simple and direct.
However, the Imperium was currently on the defensive, and the rebel forces were several times larger than the Imperial side. Launching an attack now to 'apply pressure' to Chaos was practically the same as seeking death.
"Isn't this just suicide!"
Someone immediately raised an objection, and that person's head instantly blossomed, pierced through by a bolter round.
Many warriors didn't even have time to see the Custodes raise his hand before it was over.
The Golden Giant Corn just stood there, as if he had done nothing at all, and that person's head had naturally blossomed, ending their life.
"Loyalty sometimes requires no fear of sacrifice!"
"The orders conveyed by my Lord naturally have his own considerations. What we need to do is execute them, not question them!"
"Questioning is a form of disloyalty, and questioning Him is even more of a sacrilege!"
No one in the meeting room cared about the death of that sergeant, even though he had once been a loyal warrior with illustrious military service.
But that was the Imperium of Man; any act that shook or questioned the Emperor's authority was a dead end, and no one would plead for mercy.
The Custodes' methods were considered clean and efficient. If this had fallen into the hands of certain fanatics of the Ecclesiarchy, it would likely have been far more miserable.
"Fine, I understand. We, the Space Wolves, will serve as the vanguard, breaking into the enemy positions first and getting as close to the Gate of the Red Angel as possible!"
"We, the Black Templars, will do the same. Since our objective is the Gate of the Red Angel, there is no need to waste too much time on heretics!"
"Even though Chaos warships have blockaded our orbit, our ground vehicles can still launch an offensive against the enemy lines!"
The appearance of the Custodes was still useful, especially their authority, which carried great weight in the eyes of these Loyalist Faction warriors.
Now, no one questioned the battle plan; everyone was thinking about how to execute it.
Even though they were well aware that many strategic goals were practically suicidal.
They still went forward without hesitation, even if it sounded like suicide.
"Sigh!" Watching this scene, Caleb couldn't help but lament: "Let them handle it themselves for now!"
"Speaking of which, Hashida should have chess pieces from other Legions, right? Maybe I should order some from him to help with this urgent situation!"
Caleb's delivery hadn't arrived yet, and he was currently in desperate need of pieces.
Although he could deploy other Loyalist pieces, ordinary Astartes didn't have much of an impact on an Apocalypse-level battlefield anymore.
Caleb intended to go out and get another wave of aid from his good buddy Hashida.
But just as he was about to step out, his peripheral vision caught a certain figure on the counter.
It was a Lord of Change with its head cut off. It was originally supposed to have two heads, but due to previous transport and storage issues, this Lord of Change had taken a fall and was forced into this state.
Its head had been replaced with the head of a Bloodthirster from another piece; it was missing one wing and had been forced together using remaining spare parts.
Since its lower body had been shattered into powder, it was forced to be patched onto the base of a similarly broken Khorne Daemon.
Gradually, this thing became a Khorne-Tzeentch hybrid that could be used on the table.
It could be a Bloodthirster today and a Lord of Change tomorrow; as long as there was a need for it on the gameboard, it could basically be used to substitute for something.
And so, Caleb planned to give the Blood God something big...
Didn't he still want to lock up Hulk?
If he dropped this down, he didn't know how Khorne would react.
No sooner said than done, while the Imperium was planning its strategic counter-offensive phase, Caleb, that invisible giant hand, directly deployed an incredibly powerful Chaos Daemon.
[Deploying Bloodthirster Lord. Dual skills granted: can use the special skills of the Blood God Realm and the Storm Realm.]
[The skill panel will use the Lord of Change's skills, while the physical attributes will use the Bloodthirster's stats.]
And so, a Chaos Daemon appeared on the battlefield, holding an axe in one hand and a scepter in the other.
One head was shouting that this was all part of the plan, while the other head was shouting, "Blood for the Blood God!"
The moment they descended, the two heads shared a deep, meaningful look.
Immediately, both demons showed expressions of utter disgust, and judging by their looks, they couldn't wait to kill each other!
"Oh no, this is not part of the change at all!"
"My plan wasn't like this!"
Just as the bird head on the right finished speaking, the Bloodthirster on the left started screaming.
"You bastard feathered bird, what the hell did you do!"
"I am the most valiant warrior under the Blood God! You animal, change me back right now!"
The two sides pecked and struck at each other, nearly depleting their own health bar.
This surging power immediately drew the attention of two gods.
And when Khorne, sitting upon the Brass Throne, and Tzeentch, within the Crystal Labyrinth, saw this scene,
Both gods were stunned.
Was it that the Bloodthirster had an affair, or the Lord of Change had stepped out?
Was it the distortion of Chaos, or the degradation of demonic nature?
In the palace filled with pleasure, Slaanesh also observed this fluctuation.
If it were just a Bloodthirster and a Lord of Change fighting, it wouldn't have caught her attention.
But since the two were fused together, she had to have a good gossip about whose brat this actually was!
[Slaanesh: Holy crap, are you two really this intense? Playing so big behind my back!]
[Who exactly was on top, and who was on the bottom!]
[Speak up, which one of you did the other?]
[Tzeentch: Fuck you both, why are you looking at me!]
[If I had that ability, both of you would be nothing but toys in my hands!]
[Hmm, clearly, this must be that Lord of Change I lost earlier. Although I don't know why it merged with some bloodthirsty and violent traits.]
[But looking at its aura, it's quite clear; its essence is still that of a Lord of Change!]
[Khorne: You bastard in the gutter, what are you saying!]
[This is clearly your scheme, turning my Bloodthirster into this state!]
[It's clearly your essence that usurped a part of my origin, this piece was definitely a Bloodthirster before, it's your filthy nature that polluted my warrior!]
[Tzeentch: It's a Lord of Change!]
[Khorne: It's a Bloodthirster!]
[Tzeentch: It must be a Lord of Change!]
[Khorne counter-argued: Nonsense, it must be a Bloodthirster!]
[Slaanesh: Is it possible he's the bastard child of one of my Daemonettes?]
[Such a pleasurable thing must have been done by one of my origins!]
[Tzeentch, Khorne: "You can get lost now!"]
As the saying goes, outsiders should not interfere in family matters.
Slaanesh's consciousness, which had come running over, was immediately kicked back.
Tzeentch and Khorne began a struggle over whose piece this was. Khorne sent out 8 to the power of 8 Bloodthirsters, while Tzeentch sent out his own 9 to the power of 9 Lords of Change.
The two Dark Gods checked their accounts and realized something was wrong!
Not a single one of the 8th-power Greater Daemons or 9th-power Lords of Change was missing on either side.
So what was this hybrid in the Warp domain all about?
Both sides searched the long river of cosmic time for traces of this piece.
However, this mysterious Chaos Daemon seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, mysteriously possessing a part of both their essences.
It was born from the most primordial chaos, as if it were something some Supreme Will had just added in on a whim!
Now this strange Chaos Daemon could use both Khorne's brute force and Tzeentch's magic.
Since it possessed parts of both a Bloodthirster and a Lord of Change, the stats of this piece inherited the attribute values of a Khorne Greater Daemon and the mechanics of a Tzeentch Greater Daemon.
Just as Caleb, at the gameboard, thought these two would fight to the death and destroy each other,
The clever bird head spoke up first.
"I say, let's stop fighting. We are both part of the same origin now; if one dies, the other will too!"
"Why not listen to me? I'll scheme ruthlessly for you, letting it all become part of the plan!"
"And you just have to kill, kill, kill. I guarantee you will have eternal war!"
Because their origins were fused at this moment, the dual-god demon sharing one body had no way to deceive the other with words.
That is to say, the Bloodthirster's head could distinguish the truth of the other's words. The other's words were true, which was very rare for a Tzeentchian demon.
"Sounds good, it's a good idea!"
"But you must give the body to me during the fight; you can do as you please the rest of the time!"
"But I have one condition: I must participate in a battle every 8 days, otherwise, I'll come for you!"
"No problem at all!" The bird head on the other side nodded. "But in exchange, you must cooperate with me to complete a plan every 9 days!"
"Otherwise, I'll turn you into a pig's head and make you the weakest, most cowardly warrior!"
At this moment, both sides reached a bizarre balance, and thus a terrifying Greater Daemon was born, one that fought a battle every 8 days and calculated a grand scheme every 9 days.
This Chaos Daemon was both warlike and cunning, both cunning and warlike.
Its appearance drove the Chaos Gods on both sides crazy, because both Khorne and Tzeentch discovered that what this Chaos Daemon did seemed to meet both of their blessing conditions!
Looking at the bloody battlefield of Armageddon, these two demon heads had already found their own fun.
One head wanted to blend into the army to stir things up, while the other head, also wanted to become the strongest leader of this demonic army.
And so, while the two heads had different goals, they miraculously chose the same enemy.
That was the God-Exiled, Skarbrand.
Skarbrand had once sneak-attacked Khorne while he sat on the Brass Throne; he had wanted to win victory through such cunning means.
Once Khorne's chief Greater Daemon, his power was incredibly formidable. Now he was no longer favored by Khorne, and thus had fallen into limitless slaughter, wanting to prove himself once again.
"Hey, big guy, listen to me, I have a great idea!" Kooqi laughed insidiously, but the other head, Jarvis, didn't want to hear those so-called schemes anymore.
"Blood for the Blood God! I think I'm more awesome than him, I want to fight him!"
"You feathered bird, don't stop me from my next battle!"
Kooqi turned his head and said mockingly to the red demon head, "Do you want to win against him?"
"Listen to me!"
"I guarantee you can defeat him!"
"Now that we share one body and belong to one origin, my tactics are your tactics. I guarantee you'll be able to fight to your heart's content within 8 days, and then I can also have my fun scheming against him within 9 days!"
Jarvis, the Bloodthirster who had originally wanted to just rush in, suddenly realized something. He felt this was a good deal, so he agreed to this treacherous and cunning fellow!
In that instant, the Tzeentchian Greater Daemon Kooqi began to glow with faint blue light.
That's right, the moment the plan was put into action, he had already received a blessing from the Lord of Change!
In the endless labyrinth, Tzeentch, who was plucking the threads of fate, couldn't help but clap his hands.
No one knew which two hands he was using to clap; they only knew that at this moment, the gears of fate had quietly begun to turn.
[Tzeentch: Brilliant!]
[Khorne: What does this guy want to do? Why can't I understand it?]
He watched as the hybrid Greater Daemon before him turned into a Bloodletter.
To figure out what this demon head was actually thinking, he could only use his omnipotence to briefly observe the fellow's memories.
[Khorne:...]
[Good lad, here's a blessing for you. Now go and hack them apart~]
Khorne also applied a blessing to balance the power within this demon's body.
After Khorne learned of the thoughts of this hybrid, Kooqi Jarvis, he simply expressed: I'm investing in this project!
And so, Caleb saw an extremely abstract scene, two Chaos Gods were actually blessing the same piece of his at the same time.
However, this strange free-for-all hadn't ended yet, seeing that among the surging tide of demons, there was actually a friendly unit.
At this time, Lion, who was executing the next phase of the battle plan, fell silent.
[Lion El''Jonson: Why is there a teammate of mine in the middle of the enemy pile? This can't be a mistake, can it?]
Lion looked for a long time but just couldn't find that marked friendly unit.
He had originally wanted to ambush Skarbrand and personally slay this Khorne Greater Daemon.
But for fear of his movements being discovered, Lion King currently only dared to hide in the shadows and had not acted rashly.
[Caleb: Don't worry, you'll find out later!]