"Impossible. Rage and slaughter were stopped…"
The phantom of Khorne's Blood God trembled in astonishment, unable to believe it.
Other than the Accursed One, no existence had ever been able to withstand His blood-axe.
Even though what had appeared in this mirage was only an authority-projection, it still possessed slaughtering power that lesser gods and high-tier beings could hardly resist.
It was not only the Blood God. The other gods were equally incredulous at the failure of their assault.
That Saviour had blocked their attacks alone.
"I… I'm this tough?" Eden, controlling the Hope Sun as a chubby, oversized sphere, stretched out two tiny hands and patted his round belly.
The belly of that spherical body jiggled like jelly with each pat.
Just moments ago, he had been ready to unleash the dark authority—Diablo—burning through the power he had stockpiled over the years to fight for his life.
Yet the Chaos Gods' attacks were weaker than he had imagined, and their conceptual authority could not corrode his own.
On the contrary, the devouring authority contained within the Hope Sun itself absorbed a fair portion of it.
"Wait… so the more I get hit, the stronger I become?!" Eden snapped to it, arriving at a startling conclusion.
All these years, he had stayed by the Sacred Sun, diligent and cautious, almost never fighting anyone in the Warp.
The only time was after he sensed his dark authority—he went out for a breath of air and beat up a giant Warp octopus that tried to swallow him.
So he had never realised just how absurdly strong his defence really was.
"I've probably been hanging around the Emperor the old man for too long, and I stopped noticing what the Warp's average level even looks like…"
Eden recognised the problem.
He had remained beside the Sacred Sun—the most overwhelmingly powerful lifeform in the Warp—constantly feeling that terrifying, crushing, top-end force.
And every so often, he would eat a monstrous psychic smack upside the head.
No matter how the Hope Sun grew, the Sacred Sun remained utterly dominant—one heavy slap and Eden would behave, too scared to go out and cause trouble.
As a result, he had become even more vigilant about the Warp's risks, convinced that the Chaos Gods and other Warp entities could just as easily crush him.
So he had kept reinforcing his defensive authority, never daring to relax.
While Eden was thinking, a sudden pang of foreboding stabbed through him.
Snap—
Mist from the Prince of Pleasure swept in, and a whip of agony cleaved through the fog, lashing the Hope Sun dead-on.
Concepts of joy, pain, and torment surged again, trying to erode him.
"War is the father of all things. Slaughter cannot be defeated!"
The Blood God's phantom flared violently and swelled further. This time, He did not use the blood-axe—He simply drove a fist into the Hope Sun, punching its "face" in so it caved.
Grandfather Nurgle and the Changer of Ways also attacked with their authority-projections, releasing even greater power.
The Pleasure Mirage shuddered under the gods' force like heaven and earth collapsing, catastrophes erupting everywhere.
"Ow!"
Eden's Hope Sun took another round of beatings. One chubby hand covered the red, throbbing "cheek" where the Blood God had punched him.
He was so close to tears.
Yet as the surging Chaos power dispersed, the Hope Sun still maintained a complete form.
It hurt, but he realised he had not actually taken much damage.
Eden was thrilled.
Confirmed. He really could tank the Chaos Gods' attacks!
"Impossible. That Saviour actually withstood the might of true gods!"
"Is he like the Accursed One—has he gained power that suppresses the gods?!"
In that instant, the galaxy and the Warp boiled over.
The Chaos Daemons were slack-jawed. They had not expected the daemon-eater to be this strong.
Not only the Chaos Gods and daemons—every other existence watching this war was shaken as well.
Through the Pleasure Mirage, they witnessed this unbelievable scene.
"My brother… resisted Warp evil gods with the body of a primarch?"
Inside the Throne Palace, Magnus murmured. Even the way he addressed the Saviour changed—he was beginning to acknowledge that brother as the strongest among the primarchs.
After all, not even Horus had managed to resist the loathsome corruption of the evil gods, yet the Saviour had done it.
"That kid Eden's authority-essence is tougher than anyone imagined.
If he's going to resist the gods for humanity in the future… perhaps I can finally take a proper rest."
Seated upon the Black Throne, the Emperor sipped red wine and nodded in satisfaction, carrying the air of a ruler holding the rear while watching the younger generation break the enemy—calm and unruffled.
Though the Master of Mankind remained steady, it was obvious he could barely keep the corners of his mouth from rising.
The Saviour's growth rate had exceeded even his expectations.
All these years, the Emperor had sheltered the Saviour with the Sacred Sun, occasionally delivering a psychic smack to keep that kid clear-headed and prevent him from falling.
He also periodically fed the Hope Sun holy psychic power to suppress the evil energy within.
But gradually, he discovered he needed to use greater and greater force just to "hit" the Hope Sun.
The Emperor never revealed this, maintaining a breezy composure—lest that kid become arrogant and intoxicated by his own strength.
In truth, every time he acted, it took enormous effort.
The most recent time, he had even tired himself out before he managed to wake the Saviour from the Pleasure Mirage.
If one spoke purely of toughness of authority, that kid's essential authority was already among the very top in the Warp.
"Perhaps it's because that kid is overly cautious—he wants to wrap himself in countless layers of armour, sealed tight from head to toe."
The Emperor thought so, and felt even more satisfied.
The Saviour had poured almost all his talent into defence.
This was exactly the kind of Emperor the human Imperium needed—so it would not repeat the tragedy of the primarchs, who had fallen into the Chaos Gods' traps.
Perhaps, in the end, that kid would solve the corruption problem and avoid ascending to godhood only to become a prisoner of the Warp.
The Emperor knew Eden had been searching for a solution.
"You two idiots. Learn something from the Saviour!"
The Emperor glanced at Magnus—looking timid—and Mortarion, locked in midair, and felt like slapping them both.
These two primarch sons were nowhere near the Saviour. They had stepped into the Chaos Gods' traps in the stupidest ways.
One had been bewitched by Tzeentch and destroyed his own Webway.
The other had been deceived by his gene-sons and suffered Nurgle's corruption.
The Saviour was different. He had never truly taken a loss under the Chaos Gods' hands.
That kid had not only brought the Imperium a greater Webway, he had made the Imperium flourish.
Hearing this, Mortarion lowered his head, silently accepting the remaking of holy psychic power, letting it scorch his warped body.
Magnus, watching the Emperor like this, felt bitter—like a child forced to listen while a parent praised someone else's kid to his face.
He knew the Saviour was a primarch, yet not one created from the Emperor's genes—he had seized essence on his own and become a primarch by his own path.
"That brother… didn't he also—"
Magnus wanted to say the Saviour had also stepped into the Chaos Gods' trap, but after thinking it over, he shut his mouth.
The Saviour had stepped into the trap and still blocked everything without taking real harm.
In the end, weakness was the original sin.
The Crimson King shuddered. He felt cold again, and for no reason at all, he wanted to wrap himself in a fur blanket.
Roar—
Aboard the hive ship of Hive Fleet Gaogros, the Supreme Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha saw the scene in the mirage and howled in exhilaration.
He released his might wildly, making the surrounding swarm even more afraid. Even the Hive Mind could not help but tremble.
The Hive Mind truly was starting to fear this insane beast, worried it would lose even more biomass.
War against daemons meant losses every moment.
"Hahahaha… he really is worthy of being my lifelong enemy…"
After witnessing the Saviour's strength, Ka'Bandha's confidence in challenging the Blood God swelled further, his slaughtering authority rising again.
If that lifelong enemy could do it, why couldn't he?!
In Ka'Bandha's mind, he also possessed slaughtering authority. Against the Saviour it was a fifty-fifty fight—so challenging the Blood God should not be a problem!
…
As more beings across the galaxy and the Warp witnessed the Saviour resisting the gods, more faith and worship poured into the Hope Sun.
It grew stronger.
They subconsciously believed the Saviour was already an existence who could stand alongside the gods.
Inside the Pleasure Mirage, Eden felt miserable.
He was still being battered by the Chaos Gods, with little ability to strike back.
And he did not want to reveal his ultimate trump card because of it.
Right now, he was only facing the authority-projections of the Chaos Gods. If he exposed his true strength, it would be trouble later when he was targeted.
But soon, Eden felt a change and delighted in it.
"More new income. Faith from the worship of beings across the galaxy and the Warp, and the stolen faith-evil energy from the hallucination scam… it's all gathering nonstop…"
He could feel it: the faith power stored within his Hope Sun was not being consumed at all.
It was increasing.
He was still advancing!
Buzz—
The Hope Sun gradually expanded. Its anger at being hit made it heat up and flush, turning a deep crimson.
Those two chubby hands became talons, and the sphere split open into a bloody maw—fangs sharp and fierce.
Even without exposing his trump card, after the Hope Sun's essence evolved further, it gained a trace of lethality under the influence of the dark authority.
The Saviour was charging power!
"Fate has shifted. Danger…"
The Changer of Ways was the first to notice the Saviour's change, quietly retreating.
He did not want his authority-projection to suffer losses. Compared to outputting authority, taking damage was far worse.
Better to let the other evil gods stop him.
???
However, in the next instant, the Changer of Ways realised the Saviour had locked onto him. That great round sphere of fangs and talons lunged straight at him.
"Trying to run?
You're the most underhanded of the lot!"
Eden drove the Hope Sun at the multicoloured flame that represented the Changer of Ways, attacking with everything he had.
Alone, it was hard for him to strike all four Chaos Gods at once.
But grabbing one and beating it to death—creating damage—was absolutely doable.
So Eden chose the Changer of Ways. That one had the weakest defence and the dirtiest, most vicious, most treacherous methods.
He had been holding it in for a long time.
The Hope Sun's talons shredded clump after clump of multicoloured flame. Authority-concepts invaded, devouring Tzeentch's authority.
The Changer of Ways let out a crow-like shriek, heartbroken over the loss of his authority.
He sent a plea for aid to the other Chaos Gods, hoping they would come help so he could seize the chance to break away and let the other gods absorb the pressure.
Yet the other three eternal gods did not respond—watching like spectators.
After realising their siege of the Saviour was ineffective, they were unwilling to invest more power, and were even happy to see the Changer of Ways take losses.
"As I thought." Eden controlled the Hope Sun as he attacked, thinking to himself.
This was the Chaos Gods.
They were utterly selfish, cherishing every shred of authority-power. Authority was life.
The Chaos Gods were eternal. They had endless time and countless chances to flip the table and exact revenge.
So they would not fight to the death lightly, nor would they invest without limit.
Now they were cutting their losses—especially while their believers were attacking each other under the hallucination scam's false visions.
For every second they delayed, their losses would be enormous.
Rumble—
The Chaos Gods' authority erupted like a volcano, but the attacks did not strike the Saviour.
Instead, they were destroying the Pleasure Mirage itself.
They abandoned the useless siege in order to halt the spread of blasphemous images and scam-visions.
The illusory world entered true annihilation. The sky burned, the earth collapsed under thorns and magma, and more matter warped and broke down under the corrosion of plague.
Caw—
Leaving behind a portion of authority-power, the Changer of Ways withdrew his authority-projection from the mirage.
"Fast runner," Eden muttered.
The Hope Sun planted its talons on its hips, striking an invincible pose, then turned toward the other evil gods—ready to seize the chance and harvest another round.
He had to scrape something off the Prince of Pleasure, at least.
But before he could move, those vast phantoms self-collapsed and vanished, leaving behind only deep fury and hatred.
This was not over.
Eden looked up at the collapsing world.
The firmament was falling. Countless void rifts opened, and through those rifts he could see Oleincis.
He was returning to reality.
He felt a pang of regret.
"Once this Pleasure Mirage is destroyed, I won't be able to use the Prince of Pleasure's 'server' next time…"
That kind of "live broadcast" and vision-projection aimed at the entire galaxy and the Warp was exhilarating—letting his authority's tendrils reach everywhere.
Unfortunately, he was not a true god yet. He did not have that ability.
"Still, I roughly understand the mirage's internal authority framework. Maybe I can use the Emperor the old man's power to build a 'server' that belongs to me."
Eden's mind began turning over the possibility.
If it worked, he would launch twenty-four-hour "illegal broadcasts" into the Warp—harassing and scamming the Chaos Daemons nonstop.
Humanity suffered endlessly from the Chaos Gods' illegal authority projections and corruption. People would see unspeakable things at the drop of a hat and fall to ruin.
If he had the chance, he would make the daemons taste that feeling too.
"Best of all, Khorne's Blood God opens His eyes and sees His own purple bikini, Bulgarian Blood God image!"
The Hope Sun stroked its chin with a talon as it imagined it.
The next moment, as the mirage collapsed, the great spherical essence dispersed. Eden broke free of some Warp trap, escaped the illusion, and returned to the material world.
—
Oleincis. The duelling arena.
Thud!
Eden, clad in True-One Armour, crashed down from the sky into the centre of the duelling arena. Dust slowly settled, and the armour gleamed with dazzling golden light.
His appearance instantly drew every gaze.
The Chaos Daemons saw an incomparably handsome existence, brimming with imposing presence. His aura could not be ignored.
They could not help feeling a trace of reverence.
That was the result of Charisma. Ever since Eden absorbed more of the Prince of Pleasure's authority, his outward image had improved again—anywhere could become a stage.
And he was the protagonist.
Still, Eden remained wary. The moment he landed, he erected a psychic barrier.
He was in the material world. If his body was destroyed, he could die.
From a certain perspective, he might be more fragile here than in the Warp.
"Hiss…
Did a disaster hit this place?!" Eden stared at the surroundings, more shocked than the Chaos entities themselves.
This duelling arena looked like it had been demolished—buildings collapsed in waves, rubble everywhere, and the ground was pocked with one enormous crater after another.
If you didn't know better, you'd think a Titan had trampled straight through.
Even more staggering, the wreckage was littered with the corpses and wounded of Chaos Daemons, wailing one after another.
Eden sensed a powerful force. Following it, he turned his head.
He saw a super-brawny brute wreathed in blue lightning, hammering a fallen phoenix with punch after punch.
That pitiful Daemon Primarch was unrecognisable—lying on the ground, convulsing, clearly about to give out.
???
"Old Guilliman went berserk and soloed the entire duelling arena?" Eden sucked in a cold breath, realising all of this was Guilliman's doing.
After awakening his Warp essence, that man was terrifyingly strong.
Eden walked over and raised a hand to pat Guilliman's shoulder, gently advising, "Old Guilliman, stop hitting him. If you keep going, he won't make it."
Eden still wanted to capture Fulgrim, the Fallen Phoenician, alive and seize the Maugetar Stone—only then could humanity truly have technology to resist the gods.
If he could use technology to aggressively siphon Chaos evil energy at the essence level, wouldn't that be a self-serve buffet? Just thinking about it made him drool.
But before Eden could even touch Guilliman, he sensed danger and immediately crossed his arms over his head.
Bang—
A fist wrapped in blue lightning smashed into his forearms. The immense force cracked the ground beneath his feet, and the air rippled with shockwaves.
"That hit from Guilliman had more raw force than this body of mine," Eden thought.
Of course, that was without using dark evil energy to reinforce himself—but it was still frightening.
And it still wasn't Guilliman's limit.
Just as Eden was about to respond, Guilliman's stormy eyes—burning with blue flame and brewing thunder—calmed.
He looked over, filled with delight. "Brother Eden, how are you here? I was about to come drag you out…"
"Good brother, I already got myself out!" Eden answered with a brilliant smile.
He felt relieved.
If he had waited for Old Guilliman to rescue him, then by the time Guilliman arrived, the grass on Eden's grave would be metres high.
If Guilliman made it to the grave to leave flowers, that would already count as a victory.
Eden did not bother with more pleasantries. Instead, he grew even more cautious and pulled out a blackstone sealing device as he walked toward Fulgrim.
To avoid complications, it was better to catch this one first.
"Hahahaha… hypocrite. I've finally been waiting for you."
Suddenly, the dying Fulgrim on the ground snapped his eyes open.
The prey had come to him.
Though weak, his gaze brimmed with uncontrollable hunger and delight, as if victory was already assured.
At the same time, a new change unfolded above the duelling arena—some kind of unavoidable, rule-like power manifested.
(End of Chapter)
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