Snap!
Horus had not even seen the Savior move before he took a heavy slap across the face.
The vicious blow struck him like a warhammer, smashing hard into his cheek.
The Dark Emperor's savage face distorted in an instant, and his entire daemonic body lost its balance.
He crashed heavily to the ground.
"No!"
Horus reeled, dizzy and disoriented. He could not believe he had been knocked down so easily. A humiliation unlike anything he had ever known surged through him.
He had once been the Warmaster of the Imperium. He was now the Dark Emperor. Forget the Savior—even the Emperor had never disciplined him like this.
Worse, he had been knocked down in such a disgraceful manner in front of everyone.
"Savior, I will kill you!" Horus's gaze was venomous. He crushed the alloy wreckage beneath his hand and hurled himself at the Savior with utter abandon.
Right now, all he wanted was to tear this bastard who had dared humiliate him into pieces, without granting him the slightest mercy.
"Sorry, but you no longer have any chance of defeating me."
Eden did not care at all about the reeking gale or the terrifying daemonic body lunging toward him.
This so-called Dark Emperor's true strength was only somewhat greater than that of a Primarch.
Everything else was nothing but borrowed authority from the Chaos Gods, used to throw his weight around.
Now, according to his contract with the Chaos Gods, Eden had stripped Horus of those divine authorities and transferred them onto himself. There was no way Horus could cross the gap between their ranks and defeat him.
"What's the use of brute strength alone in this world? Faith and authority are what matter. All those skills of yours can't resist the tide of history!"
In Eden's eyes, Horus's attacks were so slow and powerless that even the finest technique could not touch him.
That was the terrifying gulf between ranks. He could dissolve every attack through natural and unnatural means, and he could even predict the trajectory of Horus's strikes in advance.
"Hell-Gold Mega Slap!"
Eden dodged Horus's attack with casual ease. With a sharp roar in his heart, dark-gold energy spread across both of his hands.
His technique was as plain and unadorned as it could be.
It was a mixture of several divine authorities, radiating an aura that made the heart tremble.
Then, with two more sharp, thunderous slaps, he sent Horus—who had lunged into empty air—crashing to the ground. A mouthful of fangs flew out.
Those powers of authority surged through the struck areas and savagely invaded his soul.
Horus was completely beaten down. His face was bruised and swollen, his skull fractured, and his consciousness had blurred. He sprawled on the ground, unable even to crawl.
"Good!" Guilliman and the other Primarchs could not help clenching their fists at the sight, stunned by the Savior's strength.
They had been deeply worried about this duel, yet the situation had reversed in a single moment. The Savior had crushed his opponent with overwhelming force.
Guilliman and the other Primarchs had not expected Brother Eden to possess even greater martial power, let alone to be fearless before the might of the gods and so easily defeat that loathsome arch-traitor, Horus, who had caused the deaths of countless lives.
What majesty!
In that instant, thunderous cheers erupted from the Imperial side. The elite warriors were now certain that the Imperium would win the final victory.
There would be no accident.
On the Chaos side, the Chaos Space Marines and daemons stopped roaring.
They stared at the scene unfolding at the heart of the battlefield and fell silent. None of them dared make a sound, afraid of drawing that being's attention.
The incomparably mighty Dark Emperor had been defeated by the Savior—and had fallen in the most wretched, humiliating fashion imaginable.
That meant there was no longer anyone in the Chaos coalition capable of defeating him. With the Savior's power, he could slaughter Chaos's high-ranking combatants however he pleased.
That being, honored as the Daemon-Eater and the Abhorred One, still struck terror into the hearts of daemons.
Even more terrifying, the phantom images of the gods were gathered around the Savior, which meant those supreme beings had already chosen to support him.
The Chaos coalition no longer had any possibility of continuing the fight.
They had lost.
"You lost, so stay down and behave!"
On the ruined battlefield, Eden treated the Dark Emperor like a convict in a labor camp and struck him hard again.
He used the authority of Hell to devour even more of Horus's power, shrinking that vast daemonic body by half and restoring him to his original size.
Under the pained gazes of the Chaos Gods, Eden happily absorbed the "advance payment" on Horus in full, converting it into his own strength.
Money in the pocket was money secured.
So much supreme authority was impossible to value. The Chaos Gods had still been thinking of using Horus first and then reclaiming it afterward.
Now all of it belonged to the Savior.
And they could do nothing. They dared do nothing, lest they interfere with the plan to stop the Dark King.
After absorbing the gods' authority, Eden used layer after layer of warp power to completely restrain Horus's ability to move.
This so-called Dark Emperor had fallen completely. He could no longer stir up any waves.
Eden looked at Horus and frowned slightly. Next came the question of how to deal with Horus, the Dark Emperor, in order to erase his lingering influence.
Eden turned and looked into the distance.
Within his vision, the flames of war across every region were gradually dying out.
The war on New Dragonwood had already stopped. The Chaos Space Marines and daemons were all obediently staying where they were. Forget continuing the attack—they did not even dare run.
After all, the oracles of the Chaos Gods had already descended, and the Savior's aura covered the entire planet, watching every Chaos entity.
Anyone who dared continue causing trouble or attempt to flee would face that being's thunderous wrath. More than a few daemons had already proven that with their lives.
It had been extremely brutal.
They could only remain in place and await final judgment.
"Move, abomination!"
"Out of the way! Move!"
Then, a surreal scene unfolded.
A squad of veteran Custodian Watchers moved through the mass of daemons, using the relic spears in their hands to shove the daemons on both sides aside. They even beat and kicked them to open a path.
Yet in the face of such humiliation, the daemons dared to be angry but not to speak. They could only lower their heads and obediently move aside.
Even a Great Unclean One of Nurgle stuck out its huge backside to make room for the veteran Custodians to pass, not daring to cause any conflict with them.
In the past, something like this would have been utterly impossible.
Yet here, on this battlefield, it was happening. The daemons who had been howling about slaughter earlier were now better behaved than the next.
Even when whipped by the veteran Custodians, they only clutched their wounds and obediently stepped aside.
"This is the Savior's authority," one hoarse-voiced veteran Custodian said with emotion. "Even the daemons have been completely cowed."
They had never seen daemons behave this obediently. Even when the Custodes had cooperated with the Sisters of Silence to encircle and destroy daemons in the past, they had never been able to vent their frustration like this.
As he spoke, that veteran Custodian snapped his whip twice more, driving away daemonic creatures blocking the road.
But once the daemons realized what was happening, they proactively opened a path for them from afar, which made the beating far less satisfying.
Of course, it was only a lesson. The Custodians did not kill any daemons. According to the Savior's orders, this war was already over.
If they continued killing daemons, it might trigger unrest. The cost would outweigh the gain.
Soon, this squad of veteran Custodians reached the center of the battlefield and saw the Savior, along with the restrained Dark Emperor.
After kneeling on one knee to salute the Savior, they immediately began their task.
"Traitor!"
Several veteran Custodians stepped forward roughly and hammered Horus with several hard blows. In front of everyone, they twisted his arms behind his back in a humiliating fashion and pinned him to the ground.
Then they shackled him with layer after layer of blackstone restraints.
The Dark Emperor, who had once set the galaxy ablaze, who had menacingly besieged Terra, and who had declared that he would kill the Savior and reign over the Imperium, was arrested on the spot, face-down on the ground.
Handling Horus, the Dark Emperor, in this manner worked even better than killing him outright. It completely shattered his prestige and influence.
The Dark Emperor now looked no different from one of those cultists in the hives who tried to rebel against the Imperium, only to be slammed into the ground by enforcers before they ever achieved anything.
Three strikes in a single second!
It was the ultimate humiliation. A complete public execution of his reputation.
The Chaos Space Marines and daemonic entities who saw this all felt uneasy and shaken. They understood even more deeply how terrifying and invincible the Savior was.
When Mortarion and the other Chaos Primarchs saw Horus's humiliating fate, even they could not help feeling a trace of fear—a chill born from seeing another fox mourn the death of the hare.
They did not dare imagine how humiliating it would be if they themselves were treated this way in public.
But then they thought about it again and calmed down.
"We are the Emperor's own sons, loyal Primarchs of the Imperium, and the chosen of the Lord of Hell. What is there to fear?
"We're on the Savior's side!"
"Kill me… Kill me…"
Horus's face was pressed into the ground, smeared with filth. His mouth was full of wreckage and debris, leaving him in an utterly wretched state.
His heart was dead. Hot tears streamed from his eyes.
"Savior, give me an honorable death. I am the Dark Emperor. I am a true warrior. I should die in a duel!"
The Dark Emperor would rather die than suffer such humiliation.
He realized that all the prestige he had accumulated had vanished like smoke. Even if he survived and escaped, he would become a laughingstock, unable to command an army ever again.
Those high-ranking beings would never follow a complete and utter failure.
All of Horus's ideals and ambitions had been crushed and destroyed by the Savior. There was no path left for him to rise again.
He was still alive, but there was little difference between that and death.
"You wish. Stay alive and wait for a public trial."
Eden shook his head and waved for the veteran Custodians to take Horus away.
For a ringleader of traitors like this, a public trial was the best outcome. It would also bring a proper end to ten thousand years of suffering and humiliation for the Imperium.
Eden did not even glance at Horus again.
That man was no longer a threat.
Now, Eden had more important matters to handle.
He raised his head and looked into the void.
The void, which had already been faintly red, now bore several fine black scars. They were new Warp rifts caused by the Dark King.
They were even more terrifying than the previous Warp rifts, capable of threatening both the galaxy and the Warp at the same time.
Eden could feel the black sun's vibrations growing stronger and stronger. More dark warp power was also being transmitted into the Warp.
That dark warp power would soon spread into the galaxy and cause an even more terrifying disaster.
"This is the true extinction-level catastrophe. It's far worse than the threat of the Chaos Gods."
Eden sighed.
Those Warp-spawned gods merely wanted to turn humanity into slaves so they could harvest a steady stream of faith-based warp energy. But the Dark King wanted to devour humanity completely.
There was basically no possibility of compromise.
And the Dark King did not even intend to spare Chaos beings. Everyone was in danger.
The Chaos Gods were practically scared witless.
At that moment, they were drenched in cold sweat. While desperately gathering warp power, they were also urging Eden to organize his forces and suppress the Dark King as soon as possible.
They had to prevent its descent into the galaxy.
"Don't worry.
"At a critical moment like this, the more dangerous the situation becomes, the more we need to stay calm. Everything is going according to plan."
Eden sensed the Chaos Gods' anxious emotions and sent them a message.
He sounded utterly confident.
But those words only made the Chaos Gods even more nervous. The Changer of Ways in particular went numb all over after hearing that sentence.
It felt like an ominous sign. As if they were about to face destruction.
That big blue bird trembled so hard it shook like a sieve, shedding feathers formed of divine authority.
What did he mean, everything was going according to plan? After saying something like that, could anything still succeed?
Did the Changer of Ways not know?!
"I know you're worried, but don't be. Just follow my orders. Otherwise, you'll bear all consequences yourselves!"
After saying that, Eden cut off the communication and ignored the Chaos Gods.
He wanted them nervous and afraid. Otherwise, how could they obediently support his Golden Throne repair plan?
As Eden thought, he sent out one psychic message and communication order after another.
He ordered the Royal Court District to fully advance the relevant plan in order to stop the Dark King's descent.
The crisis in the Sol System had been resolved. It was time for the Imperium to move. This was an enormous project on a spectacular scale, involving both the galaxy and the Warp.
There was no helping it. According to the original plan, Eden only needed to repair the Golden Throne.
But now, the runaway power of the Emperor had already spread into too many places.
Worse, it was madly drawing power from the galaxy and the Warp, continuing to grow stronger.
As a result, the scale of the Golden Throne repair project had been forced to expand again and again. It required cooperation from all sides and demanded unimaginable amounts of resources and manpower.
Fortunately, the relevant departments had been cautious enough. They had anticipated this outcome and prepared backup plans in advance.
Eden had also reached an agreement with the Chaos Gods, ensuring their cooperation so things would not descend into chaos.
With that, the probability of repairing the Throne and preventing the Dark King's descent was still not low. Moreover, the Wandering Ark plan was also ready to launch.
If he failed to stop it, and if he could not resist the Dark King, then at worst, he would take the embers of humanity and flee the galaxy to seek a new home.
Then they would wait for a chance to fight their way back.
The ruler of the Necrons, the Silent King, had once fled into exile after his defeat. According to his experience, there were still plenty of territories and other living races beyond the Milky Way.
As long as they did not run headfirst into the Great Devourer, the problem would not be too severe.
Of course, that was only the last resort. Eden did not want things to reach that point.
It would mean that he, the Savior, had betrayed everyone's trust and failed completely.
It would also mean that quadrillions of humans would die in agony, their souls tortured forever.
Even if the escape succeeded, humanity would be reduced to lingering on its last breath. It would lose any possibility of ruling the galaxy, and no one knew how long it would take to recover.
After sending dozens of orders, Eden took a deep breath and turned toward the distant Chaos mechanical tower.
That was the region where the ancient artifact was located.
It was also an indispensable part of the Golden Throne repair plan.
This was one of the reasons Eden had to defeat Horus and occupy New Dragonwood.
Without that ancient artifact, his chances of suppressing the Dark King would be much lower.
He hoped it could still continue to exert its power…
(End of Chapter)
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