Chapter 232: The Future Walking Omnissiah
Looking at Vashtorr, Lucan marveled at the incredible vitality of these warp beings. Even when nearly torn to pieces, he had not completely died. He really didn't know if the Doom Slayer had simply wanted him to experience more pain.
In Vashtorr's remaining eye, as he looked at Lucan walking toward him, there was only unwillingness and hatred, but it was also filled with a terror of death. His all-or-nothing gamble had ultimately changed nothing. He was still the loser. And the fate of a loser was to pay the price.
"You... you monster... you are not human! And those races in the void, they are not things that should exist in this world... You cannot destroy the warp! One day, the warp will devour the material universe."
Vashtorr's voice came in fits and starts.
"One day? Even Tzeentch wouldn't dare say that. I don't know if that day will come, but you certainly won't be around to see it. The warp is far from being as mysterious and powerful as you think. And it's not that it can't be destroyed, it's just that you don't know the method! You beings who call yourselves gods are just a special form of life! The warp can invade reality, and reality can also invade the warp."
But Lucan's words made Vashtorr laugh instead of getting angry.
"Gods? A special form of life? You humans can be so hypocritical sometimes. Look at your Corpse-Emperor sitting on his throne, and then look at you. You are all beneficiaries of faith... even that awakened gene-primarch, is he not the same? They themselves are a product of combining with the warp. You clearly accept its power, yet you belittle it... laughable. If you want to completely destroy the warp, kill yourselves first!"
Lucan did not continue to argue with Vashtorr. This was just the powerless rage of a slave to power. He did not deny that he was also a beneficiary of the power of faith now, but one was passive acceptance, the other was active pursuit. And the Vashtorr before him was nothing without this power, having completely become a slave to the goal of becoming a god.
Vashtorr let out a final, desperate roar. He struggled to get up, to pick up a weapon, as a final show of dignity as the Lord of the Soul Forges. But Lucan had already lifted his foot and stomped down on Vashtorr's head with all his might, driving it directly into the ground.
The ground under Lucan's foot also cracked, and Vashtorr's body began to dissipate. This time, his essence did not return to the warp. The power of devouring and purification was activated again.
Vashtorr's sinful soul was dragged before the Sarr-Naga's projection. For the first time, Vashtorr witnessed Lucan's warp projection with his own eyes. This was not something a human should possess. And the Sarr-Naga began to tear at Vashtorr's soul, until all traces of him were erased.
Although the death of this minor dark god, Vashtorr, was no loss to the warp itself, it was definitely a huge blow to the Chaos forces that had invaded the material universe. The biggest arms dealer in the warp was dead. This would certainly increase the difficulty for the Chaos traitors to obtain weapons and equipment. Although the Dimensional Smiths and the Dark Mechanicum hereteks still possessed the relevant technology, it would be difficult to find an existence comparable to him. The hereteks under him, who belonged to his Cogitator-Apostles cult, would certainly fall into chaos. They would fight among themselves to seize the legacy that originally belonged to Vashtorr.
The Cogitator-Apostles would continue to exist, and a new leader would eventually emerge. The internal strife would inevitably consume a large amount of Chaos's strength, but who knew how long it would take for its scale to return to its original level. By then, Lucan would already be able to steamroll the warp.
"This person has the same power as Father? That daemon's soul was completely destroyed?!"
Guilliman watched as Lucan completely killed Vashtorr. Now, he also began to believe that Lucan did indeed have the ability to purify the poison in his body. And the suddenly disappearing Doom Slayer also made him deeply curious. At first, he had thought that Lucan was an existence similar to himself, but whether it was his attitude or the things he displayed, it made Guilliman deny his own thoughts.
And Lucan, having killed Vashtorr, stood blankly on the spot. Vashtorr's power, combined with his psychic energy, had provided Lucan with over a million Psy-crystals. The beaten Vashtorr had already consumed most of his power in his fight with the Slayer.
But his gains were far more than that. The Psy-crystals were, in fact, the least important part. Vashtorr had wanted to kill Lucan to seize their shared divine portfolio. Then, Lucan killing Vashtorr could also obtain the portion that originally belonged to him.
The Sarr-Naga projection plundered this power, and Lucan immediately felt some new knowledge appearing in his brain.
"The power of the Soul Forge?! Attaching divine power to code, daemon-steel neuro-bundles?"
The method of using the Soul Forge, and Vashtorr's way of using the power of machinery, appeared in Lucan's mind. The power of the Soul Forge was not so important for beings in the material universe, and could even be said to be very dangerous. In this world, the essence of the soul was still a corner of the warp. In the warp, Vashtorr could enslave daemons to create daemon engines. He did not care whether these bound daemons were in pain or being tortured. But for people in the material universe, what was the difference between creating this kind of warp-engine and spreading Chaos corruption? Even if the souls of loyalists were thrown in, they could be turned into malicious beings through endless torture.
However, Lucan had already thought of how to use this newly acquired power. He did not want to create similar creations like daemon engines, but wanted to integrate this power into the Protoss's Purifier program. Karax had already made some breakthroughs in the use of wraithbone. The Soul Forge's understanding of the soul could allow Karax to find the right direction faster. And the Purifier program did not directly inject souls into mechanical bodies, but uploaded them in the form of data.
And although the individual with the uploaded data had the uploader's memories, they could no longer be considered the original individual. They could be regarded as a completely new being. Perhaps at first, you couldn't see anything unusual, but as time went on, the development and habits of these individuals would also be very different from the uploader. It was possible that they would be more outstanding than the uploader, but it was also possible that they would lose the uploader's original habits and characteristics. It was like the degraded Cawl that Cawl himself had created. They seemed to have Cawl's way of thinking and some of his memories, but they were not Cawl himself. They even had their own ambitions, such as instigating Guilliman to make them the Fabricator-General of Mars.
And with the power of the Soul Forge, Lucan could truly allow some individuals who existed in the form of souls to have a proper vessel in the material universe for a long time, achieving a true resurrection in another form, without any undesirable changes.
Coming back to his senses, Lucan looked at Guilliman and muttered, "Maybe in a while, you won't be so lonely. I can bring back another one of your brothers, it's just that his form of existence will be a bit... special."
And Lucan's authority over machinery suddenly grew by nearly a quarter. This made the effect of the Purity Seals seem even stronger. Now, the only ones sharing the mechanical portfolio with Lucan were the Emperor and the shard of the Void Dragon hidden on Mars. The Emperor avoided this power of faith and would not compete with Lucan for it. He would even take the initiative to give it up to reduce the pressure of his own ascension. And the Void Dragon shard had been shattered by the Emperor and had no autonomy or self-awareness. Only a very few tech-priests knew of its existence.
When he later loaded Stellaris and obtained the technology within, Lucan felt that he could completely monopolize this power. Lucan felt that he might become a walking Omnissiah.
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