Zhou Ye could have closed the spatial rift himself. But even though he could, he wouldn't.
The reason was simple: the Chaos Gods were watching him. If he acted personally and they discovered the unique nature of his energy, who knew if they would keep raising the stakes. The last time he and Nurgle had an arms race, it had ended with the planet exploding. Letting Ahriman handle it was a method the Chaos Gods could understand.
Atop the high tower, an endless tide of Khornate daemons charged the ritual site, heedless of casualties, forming a crimson wave in the sky.
That wave then slammed into a wall of silver-white. The blood-red tide was bisected, its remnants falling like rain.
Zhou Ye's Demon Hunters displayed astonishing efficiency at this moment. Every strike annihilated several daemons. The attacks of the Khornate minions, in turn, struck their Aegis-pattern Terminator armor without making them budge an inch. They had formed a high wall before Ahriman and the psykers. Combined with the anti-air fire from the palace and the support of the Titan Legions, the daemons could not harm Ahriman or the psykers in the slightest.
"The Lord's sons are powerful indeed," the company captain of Zhou Ye's Imperial Fists contingent remarked, noticing the situation above.
In the Imperium, anyone who saw the Grey Knights was meant to be killed, but under Zhou Ye, it was situational. A private sighting was just a private sighting, nothing to make a fuss about.
What the Space Marine captain didn't notice, however, was that Inquisitor Greyfax, standing beside him, had frozen at his words. An incredulous look appeared on her face as she gazed at the Grey Knight-like figures on the high platform of the distant palace, fighting like gods of war.
The Grey Knights. The Emperor's final gift to mankind. One of the Inquisition's trump cards. The most loyal Chapter in the Imperium, without equal. In the ten thousand years since their founding, not a single one had turned traitor. Their battle record was glorious, with multiple instances of banishing Daemon Primarchs. Even the Custodes treated them differently from ordinary marines. But the origin of this Chapter's gene-seed remained a mystery. Many speculated it came directly from the Emperor, but now…
"Oh, Emperor… did you create the Grey Knights using this Primarch's genes?" Greyfax muttered to herself. The composition of Trailblaze's forces was abnormally complex. She had identified Dark Angels, Emperor's Children, Iron Warriors, Imperial Fists, Night Lords, Ultramarines, World Eaters, Luna Wolves, Death Guard, Blood Angels, Word Bearers, and even the Alpha Legion, plus a few who might be Custodes…
As for why there were Alphas, it was because Zhou Ye had encountered so many during his continuous immigration drives. Plus, he needed some specialists for clandestine operations. So, he had gone all in, harvested a few of their gene-seeds, brought them back, and tweaked them for his own use. These Alphas were now scattered across different planets, helping Zhou Ye gather intelligence. The commodity price lists from various planets stored in Prometheus, his Imaginary Computer, were compiled with their help. Zhou Ye's merchant fleet relied on this first-hand information to profit from price differences, and in doing so, he had unintentionally stabilized the economies of the hundreds of worlds under his influence.
It was her duty as an agent of the Golden Throne to be wary of every entity, but now, one in particular had become a thorn in her side. It was impossible for a Primarch not to have his own Legion. She had wanted to investigate, but seeing that these Space Marines were tight-lipped, she couldn't ask directly. If she asked the wrong questions, she might be silenced permanently.
Frankly, if the man hadn't taken off his helmet, Greyfax would have assumed he was Horus. Only Horus had ever commanded so many disparate Legions. But regardless of their original Legion, Greyfax could confirm that most of them were loyal. Yet, as her position demanded, she would trust nothing. This was the discipline of an agent of the Golden Throne, a lesson learned from the Imperium's great trauma.
A mysterious, unknown Primarch represented too many secrets, and secrets were not always a good thing. She needed to uncover them. Too much time had passed since her own era; everything now was foreign to her, necessitating caution. Her own death was not important, but if some blasphemy or treachery were concealed by her death, that would be a disaster.
But… What The Fuck.
How were there Grey Knights here?!
Greyfax was completely flabbergasted. The Grey Knights were one of the Inquisition's ultimate trump cards. Although they were not loyal to the Inquisition, their cooperation had always been extremely close. If this individual's identity got out, Greyfax could only imagine the storm it would cause. Of course, even without this, the existence of a previously unknown Primarch was shocking enough.
Now she worried whether Terra would even acknowledge him. To go to war with a Primarch who possessed such power and demonstrated such infallible planning would be an unacceptable disaster.
Yes, infallible. He had calculated the fluctuations in the Warp and had secretly positioned sufficient forces on nearby planets, not deploying them during the fight with Abaddon. He had waited for this opportunity to launch a pincer attack on Chaos. Otherwise, how could reinforcements have arrived in such overwhelming numbers right as the battle began? It wasn't as if he had called for aid, they had received the message, and then completed their preparations and deployed in less than an hour. Such efficiency was unattainable not just for the current Imperium, but even for the Imperium of the past.
…
"The lads are on the move. Looks like I need to draw a tiny bit of fire for them."
Zhou Ye sensed that someone had begun to mobilize forces along his lines of fate. It was clear the Demon Hunters were beginning their operation.
The eight Bloodthirsters before him were battered and panting. Normally, these creatures had infinite stamina. But Zhou Ye had stripped away a significant portion of their essential Warp-nature, and now they were actually showing signs of injury and exhaustion. Of course, Zhou Ye had also taken considerable damage. After all, he was holding back the entire time, fighting a slow battle, and it was eight against one.
But just like Sirin in Honkai, who possessed the authority over life and death and was known as the ultimate damage sponge, Zhou Ye's own authority was even stronger. Any wounds he took healed instantly. These unlucky bastards, however, were not so fortunate.
"Are you with the Plague Lord or not?" the eight Bloodthirsters bellowed in a state of extreme frustration. They felt the Primarch before them fought less like a Primarch and more like one of those Great Unclean Ones. His regenerative ability was just too absurd.
"Khorne, the game is over," Zhou Ye said coolly, not to the eight Bloodthirsters, but toward the Blood God himself. Just as he could hear the echoes of the Warp, so too could Khorne hear his words.
But for some reason, Zhou Ye was surprised to find that after his will had departed, the entity seemed to have fallen silent. Even his towering rage had subsided considerably. This struck Zhou Ye as very strange. Whatever, not my problem. But his blessing was still intensifying, though it seemed to have changed slightly. Khorne had reined in his bloodlust and was focusing more on strategy.
But it was useless. These minions of his were already too far gone. Besides, Zhou Ye was planning to go all out anyway. He had toyed with them long enough. If he kept whittling them down with a small knife like this, they would realize something was wrong and might just throw a desperate axe at him. Then it would be a case of the chicken flying the coop and the eggs getting smashed. While he couldn't completely devour them, he could still absorb most of their power.
So… BOOM!!!
In the next instant, a searing light exploded from Zhou Ye's position. The golden greatsword in his hand shone with a blinding radiance, even managing to dispel a good portion of the Blood God's power in the sky.
"The Cursed One!!!"
Feeling the terrifying light and seeing the tangible radiance that had now completely overtaken Zhou Ye's pupils, the Khornate daemons showed looks of shock. Only now did they realize the problem. A significant portion of their Warp-essence had been beaten out of them. They had originally thought the wounds left by Zhou Ye's artifact were the cause, but now they understood the truth. This sword was not Guilliman's "account-deleting" blade, and Zhou Ye was not the Emperor. And because he had been bleeding them slowly, they had been too caught up in the fight to notice.
Now they remembered the unlucky fool from a while back. He had returned with only a wisp of a soul. They had thought he had been punished by the Blood God. Now it seemed he had only managed to escape with that tiny fragment, and the rest had been crushed by the Blood God himself. They would suffer a loss to their essence this time, but they wouldn't be reduced to a mere wisp. After all, Zhou Ye had hand-rolled that last one into a meatball before stuffing him in the converter. He didn't have that opportunity now. They would only be grievously wounded. Whether they could be reborn would depend on the Blood God's mood. Of course, even those killed by Guilliman's sword could be reborn. In this universe, nothing was absolute; it was all a matter of overwhelming force.
"You… are you a Daemon-Eater?" one of the Bloodthirsters, his mind suddenly clear, blurted out, having discovered the problem. Zhou Ye's power was not weakening, but growing stronger.
At his words, a chill ran through the frenzied minds of the other Bloodthirsters. They suddenly remembered something. Some of the Bloodletters under their command who had been slain had not been reborn. They had assumed they were still on their respawn timers. Now it seemed their very essence had likely been devoured by this man or his sons.
For a moment, the Bloodthirsters felt a flicker of fear. But in the next instant… urrrk.
They trembled, for they felt the icy gaze of the Blood God upon them. The last time they had seen that look was when the Blood God had banished his former chief Greater Daemon, Skarbrand.
Around the Brass Throne, all of the Khornate daemons were quivering. They sensed that the Blood God's unquenchable rage, which had not subsided for tens of thousands of years, had momentarily paused. He himself had entered a strange, Emo state.
The reason? It was all because of the human Primarch's words.
"Your minions are all cowards who fear death and only dare to swing their blades at the weak. Khorne, do you even know what honor is?"
Hearing this, everyone, with the exception of the completely brainless Angron, fell silent. Even Khorne's chief Greater Daemon, Ang'grath, dared not speak a word. The Blood God's rage was not what was terrifying. It was this state. The last time he had been like this was with Skarbrand. None of them wanted to experience what Skarbrand had. Khorne was at least somewhat fond of his assets and hadn't completely destroyed him. But they were not Skarbrand. And of course, none of them had the guts to take a swing at Khorne.
Now, Khorne seemed to want to prove something to Zhou Ye. That his minions were not all cowards.
So… "Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!!!"
The eight Bloodthirsters gritted their teeth and charged Zhou Ye once more. Seeing this, Zhou Ye's expression turned a bit strange. He had no projection in the Warp, so while he could sense the Blood God's grand maneuvers, he was oblivious to these small interactions with his vassals. All he saw were eight Bloodthirsters, acting like grots who had their toes stepped on. Their faces showed not a do-or-die resolve, but an expression as if their entire family had just died as they charged him. But wasn't their mother, in a sense, Khorne himself?
"What the hell?"
Though he was confused, the feeling he got from them was not one of heroic sacrifice, but rather of grots running while crying their eyes out. Their movements were full of openings.
So Zhou Ye simply raised his sword and brought it down.
Squelch.
In an instant, a Bloodthirster was decapitated.
"???"
Tilting his head, Zhou Ye confirmed the massive influx of energy into his account, then turned to look at the other Bloodthirsters, who were reacting in the exact same way.
---o---