"Those pathetic Chaos gods are really pulling out all the stops just to keep me from getting through!"
Eden fought to control his body as he tumbled through the Chaos storm. The golden armor covering him was being corroded and torn apart at a visible rate.
Before long, both his armor and the black muscle-suit underneath were completely eaten away, leaving only his explosively powerful body exposed, hard as though cast from adamantium.
Fortunately, Eden's body was strong enough to withstand the storm's corruption. At the very least, he was not being torn to pieces or completely lost within it.
He extended his psychic senses as far as he could to observe the state of the Solar System, his mood turning grim.
"This is bad. The risk of failure is getting a little too high..."
Eden knew very well that this was a battle that absolutely could not be lost. Whether it was the Imperium or Chaos, both sides were willing to use any means necessary to secure victory.
Just looking at the Chaos Gods made that clear. Those lunatics had practically thrown even their own coffin lids into the pot just to win this war.
They did not care even if their domains were grievously damaged in the process.
If the battle dragged on to the very end, the Chaos Gods would very likely go mad and gamble everything in a desperate all-in struggle against him.
No one knew what kind of horrific consequences that would bring.
After all, even when the Emperor had clashed with the Chaos Gods in the Warp for so long before this, both sides had mostly held back.
At most, it had been, you destroy one of my important territories, and I go set your backyard on fire. It had never escalated to the point of a true fight to the death.
But now, with the situation developing as it was, there was already a growing sense that this had become a matter of either they died or he did. Everyone was fighting to kill.
In the past, the Imperium had been barefoot and unafraid of those wearing shoes. It could throw itself recklessly into battle against Chaos without caring about the cost.
But things were different now. He had already found a way to repair the Golden Throne, and humanity was beginning to prosper again.
Put simply, time was now on humanity's side. Going all-in against the Chaos Gods was no longer a worthwhile trade.
Eden kept gathering information and analyzing the current situation, hoping to find a way to break the deadlock.
The sheer volume of information and the complexity of the battlefield gave him a pounding headache.
He not only had to preserve the Emperor's life, but also prevent a mutual bloodbath between humanity and the Chaos Gods that would leave both sides ruined and humanity crippled.
If that happened, then after this battle humanity would once again sink into a recovery period lasting ten thousand years. That would be far too devastating.
Because humanity's enemies were not limited to the Chaos Gods.
There were also the many xenos powers.
For example, the Silent King was watching like a tiger stalking prey. He was a dangerous figure who had overthrown countless races and even the Old Ones.
Beyond that, there was the Great Devourer, greedy and ravenous, eyeing the Milky Way as a rich feeding ground.
More and more Tyranid tendrils were now entering the galaxy from the fringes. One could even observe the loathsome shadow of the Tyranid Great Devourer beyond the galactic rim, seemingly infinite and without end.
That was the problem facing Eden. He had to deal with both the Warp and the many xenos races. Humanity no longer had the luxury of time to grow stronger again.
Although he had recently thrown a thought-bomb into the Ghostwind Dead Zone and set the Crownless King Zhabok to work splitting the Necrons apart, it was still unclear what effect that would actually have.
But one thing was easy to predict. If the Silent King realized that humanity had been weakened, he would most likely seize the opportunity and launch a full-scale attack.
And after that would come the Tyranid Great Devourer, a threat on an entirely different level.
"Hah... looking at it this way, humanity's future really is pretty bleak."
Just thinking about all this filled Eden with a crushing pressure.
Right now, all he wanted to do was lie down and get some rest.
As the Savior and Emperor of the Imperium, he was carrying the burden of five great star regions and countless trillions of human lives.
The weight on his shoulders was simply too heavy.
So heavy it made it hard to breathe.
Eden let out a long sigh and lay down on the grass in a miniature garden, basking in the gentle sunlight.
A soft breeze stirred. Grass rustled quietly around him, and for the first time in a while, he felt himself relax.
"Now this feels good.
You really do need to balance work and rest if you want your energy back. Otherwise how could I possibly deal with a situation this complicated and bring the Imperium back to life?"
Eden slowly closed his eyes, savoring this rare moment of peace.
Then suddenly, he felt a pair of soft hands reach toward him and begin to massage him. It was astonishingly comfortable.
Naturally, he let himself sink into the other's embrace, feeling the lush softness beneath him and catching the faint scent of a captivating fragrance.
There was no doubt about it. This had to be one of the maids in his miniature garden, and her massage technique was first-rate.
It soothed both body and mind.
Time passed little by little, and Eden grew more and more relaxed, almost sinking into sleep.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt that something was wrong, yet he could not quite put his finger on it.
In a daze, through blurred vision, he finally saw what the other looked like.
Hm???
Eden jolted awake.
His scalp went numb, and an even deeper confusion seized him.
Where am I? What exactly am I doing?
In his field of vision stood a demi-human maid with fluffy ears, a fox tail, and a very generous chest. Her face seemed to be covered by a faint, shifting blur, as though censored.
Not only that, he could also vaguely make out the fine wrinkles on her body and the tentacles hidden beneath.
"Damn you!"
Eden flew into a rage and pointed at the demi-human maid before him, rebuking her in righteous fury.
"Slaanesh, you old vulture, don't think you can tempt me with this. You expect this level of illusion to test me, the Savior?!"
This was practically an insult. These Chaos Gods were getting less professional by the day.
Eden had already realized that under some kind of subtle mental guidance, he had unknowingly fallen into a trap created by the Chaos Gods.
That was probably the Changer of Ways at work, sending his thoughts wandering until he drifted into this familiar illusionary realm.
The corrosive power of the Chaos storm was likely even stronger than he had imagined, enough for the Chaos Gods to project more of their power into it.
Aaaahhh!!!
The moment his words fell, the miniature garden shook violently, and countless screams rang out.
"Savior!"
The demi-human maid's chest heaved furiously, and her face shifted into one seemingly woven from every beautiful thing in the universe.
The only flaw was the faint wrinkle now visible on her face.
It was an imperfection too obvious to ignore, one that would only appeal to certain special groups who preferred a more mature type.
Upon hearing the Savior's blasphemous words, the Prince of Pleasure touched that flawed face and flushed with fury.
If not for the Savior, how could Slaanesh have lost so much authority over pleasure that maintaining a perfect form had become difficult?
"What are you even daydreaming about, sweetheart? Get lost!"
But before the Dark God of pleasure could even react, Eden's golden-glowing fist smashed forward.
That single punch sent the illusionary body flying, crashing into the garden pool in utter disarray.
Immediately after, the entire illusionary realm was pierced through by a burst of brilliant golden lightning and collapsed completely.
Eden was now a being close to the level of a supreme god.
The moment he regained awareness, this illusion jointly crafted by the Chaos Gods had already been doomed to destruction. There was simply no way it could hold him.
Once the illusion vanished, Eden's consciousness rapidly cleared, and he once again felt the freezing cold of the void and the thick stench of Chaos around him.
He was still inside the Chaos storm, and even farther from Holy Terra than before. Meanwhile, the dark rift had already spread to the Lion's Gate Spaceport.
The intense artillery fire in the distance looked so helpless. It had no way of affecting the rift-passage created by the Chaos Gods.
"Good thing I noticed it in time and broke free, or those bastards really would have screwed me over."
Cold sweat ran down Eden's back.
If he had actually fallen asleep inside that illusion while time raced ahead outside...
Then by the time he woke up, all he would be able to do was watch Horus and the Chaos traitors popping champagne inside the palace.
He forcibly restrained his thoughts, shook off the Changer of Ways' interference, and resumed analyzing the current situation.
The dark rifts were running rampant, daemons were pouring out endlessly, and the defenders inside the Iron Wall simply did not have the strength to exterminate them all.
Even worse, the Solar System was surrounded by the Chaos Gods. The massive reinforcement fleets outside, along with his primarch brothers, were having great difficulty getting in.
If this continued, it would become a frog slowly boiled alive. Not just Holy Terra, but the entire Solar System would fall into Chaos' hands.
That would be a catastrophic blow to humanity.
So he had to guide the reinforcements and his other primarch brothers into the Solar System.
"I need to light a lamp and illuminate the route for the reinforcements."
That was Eden's conclusion.
Right now, the Emperor's sacred sun was being blocked by that abhorrent planet, and even the Astronomican was being obscured by Chaos to a certain extent.
The only thing he could still make use of was the Sun of Hope, the Imperium's second great light bulb.
Buzz...
Eden began channeling the power of the Sun of Hope, slowly extending its influence into this region.
Under normal circumstances, this would have been virtually impossible.
But after the Chaos Gods had torn a hole in the veil between reality and the Warp, the Solar System had become highly connected to the Warp itself.
That connection made all of this possible.
Soon, an incarnated authority-avatar of the Sun of Hope would descend into the Solar System and become a new sun hanging in the void.
And in doing so, it would illuminate the path for the reinforcement fleets outside the Solar System, guiding them into the region.
The only problem was that the Sun of Hope was descending too slowly.
There was no longer enough time.
"I need more time. I have to delay Chaos' advance somehow."
Eden frowned deeply.
The dark rift was spreading too fast. Horus and the fallen primarchs would soon reach Holy Terra.
That enormous black planet-scale monstrosity was also closing in at high speed, apparently intending to ram straight into Holy Terra's backside.
If no one stopped them, then before the Sun of Hope could light up the Solar System, the Imperial Palace and the Golden Throne would already be finished.
"In a situation like this... maybe only the old man himself can do it..."
Eden thought of something and hesitated for a moment.
He wanted to force the Emperor awake and make the old man come out and hold the line for a while, but that was extremely risky and could lead to unpredictable consequences.
For example, it might worsen the damage to the Golden Throne.
"No matter what, I can only take the risk and make the old man get up and hold the line..."
Eden quickly made up his mind. Forcibly waking the Emperor might damage the Golden Throne further, but that was still better than letting Horus and the others destroy it outright.
And if they reached the Throne Room via the dark rift first, then he would lose even this chance.
When forced to choose between two evils, take the lesser one.
Eden made the decision on the spot.
He reestablished his connection to his clone body, using his own consciousness and the clone to temporarily ease the Golden Throne's horrifying pressure.
After doing so, Eden drew in a deep breath and dove headfirst into the Chaos storm once more.
There was another matter equally important that he had to handle.
But very soon, while controlling the clone body, he lost consciousness and began drifting within the Chaos storm.
Several seconds later, a few crimson daemons emerged from within the storm itself. With utmost reverence, they lifted the Savior and carried him toward a certain region.
That was the destination he had set in advance.
...
Imperial Palace, Terra.
Throne Room.
Accompanied by the hum of machinery, a small throne slowly descended, and upon it sat a tall figure connected by data-cables.
The body was powerful and perfectly proportioned.
Then the tall figure abruptly opened its eyes, and warm golden arcs of lightning swirled within them.
"Hah...
I can do this. I'm just sitting on the Emperor's golden toilet for a bit. I should be able to hold out."
Controlling the clone body, Eden took a deep breath.
He had gone through similar experiences several times before. He had sat on different kinds of thrones, and had even briefly sat upon the Golden Throne once.
But this time was the most dangerous of all. The Golden Throne was now damaged, and its psychic pressure was stronger than ever before.
That was one of the reasons the Emperor had fallen into slumber.
The old man could not withstand the Throne's overwhelming pressure while also suppressing the dark-side corruption of the sacred sun.
If Eden went up there and could not come back down, if his soul became trapped inside the Golden Throne just as the Emperor's had...
That would be a complete tragedy.
But no matter what, he had to take this risk. It might be the only way to stop Horus and the other Chaos entities.
Eden yanked the cables from his body and strode toward the Golden Throne.
Powerful psychic force rolled heavily around it. Every step he took put him under immense pressure.
Golden arcs crashed down like lightning against his body, leaving behind scorched black marks one after another.
The pain was indescribable, not merely physical but something that reached down into the soul itself.
Calling the Golden Throne the most horrifying torture device in the galaxy would not be an exaggeration.
But Eden endured it all without a sound. Even his posture did not falter.
The Emperor suffered this pain every single moment.
If he, the Savior, took part of that burden for the old man...
So what?!
He was no coward clinging to life. He too had the courage and resolve to give everything!
Hiss...
Eden reached the Throne, trembling from head to toe. His hands rubbed together from the agony as he endured the unbearable suffering.
"Old Emperor, it's your turn now. Ideally, you should keep every Chaos entity and every attack from those Dark Gods outside the Throne Room..."
As he spoke, he suddenly grabbed the Emperor's somewhat incomplete skeletal remains from the Golden Throne and yanked them down.
Then he plopped himself onto the Throne in their place.
Bzzzt!
In an instant, the Golden Throne shuddered violently, and even more arcs of electricity lashed wildly through the room like rampaging dragons.
For a moment, it looked as though it might explode at any second, which was enough to make anyone's heart seize in fear.
Fortunately, though the vibrations were violent, they ultimately stopped right at the brink of detonation, allowing Eden to breathe a sigh of relief.
He clenched his teeth and held on.
At that moment, the Emperor's skeletal remains on the floor suddenly twitched, and golden light ignited within their eyes.
He had received the Savior's psychic message and was beginning to awaken.
Then the entire skeleton was wrapped in even more psychic radiance, new matter layering itself over the bones.
It became a suit of golden armor, identical to the Emperor's epic image from legend, majestic and overwhelming.
This was the Master of Mankind.
The Emperor slowly rose in the form he had once possessed and looked deeply at the Savior seated upon the Throne.
His gaze was complicated, filled with mercy, gratitude, satisfaction, and profound trust.
The Savior had never once betrayed his expectations. This young man would become the new Master of Mankind.
Then the Emperor turned and strode outward, his eyes fixed on a certain direction, burning with rage.
He wanted to see just how those rebellious, fallen sons intended to face him.
Trailing behind the Emperor was still a long cable.
That was unavoidable. He could not completely leave the Throne, or his body would collapse immediately.
But at the Savior's suggestion, the Tech-Priest Archmagi had fitted him with a much longer cable.
That gave the Emperor a far greater range of movement in emergencies.
Such as right now.
He could rely on that cable to reach the doorway of the Throne Room and stand there protecting both the Golden Throne and the Savior seated upon it.
That would prevent Chaos artifacts from destroying humanity's most important installation.
Making the old man get up and personally protect the Golden Throne himself... probably only the Savior could come up with something like that.
At that moment, the skies above Holy Terra were already covered by the dark rifts, and one branch of them had extended straight into the palace.
Inside the dark rift:
"Father, we've come!"
Horus and the fallen primarchs advanced along the rift, their eyes blazing with vengeance.
They could not wait to destroy the False Emperor's Throne and bones, then use the artifact to bind him completely.
Roar!!!
The greater daemons howled so loudly that the heavens shook. They surged forward even faster toward the front, for this was a region Chaos had never before reached.
They were wildly excited, eager to cause even greater destruction and thus win the favor of the Chaos Gods.
These greater daemons charged ahead of the fallen primarchs and swarmed into the Throne Hall first...
(End of Chapter)
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