Chapter 352: A Weapon Originating from Humanity
The people of the Calixis Sector and the Koronus Expanse all regarded the Tyrant Star as a symbol of disaster.
They called it Komus, and described it as a darkness that would eventually devour the world of man. Before its appearance in the sky of a planet, many omens would occur. These abnormal occurrences, known as "Harbinger Events," could be a surge in violent incidents on the planet, or a sudden explosion in the number of psykers. People would go insane for unknown reasons. Even newborn infants would bear a bird-claw-shaped birthmark...
This birthmark was identical to the mark on Pacini's body.
Before the arrival of the Tyrant Star, people could see the celestial body, burning with black flames, in the reflection of water, in mirrors, and even in their drinking glasses.
In addition to these abnormalities that appeared in humans, it could also trigger geological disasters across an entire planet, and even release a toxic fog that could cover the world.
Although the Tyrant Star had only appeared a dozen or so times in Imperial space, each appearance could be considered a catastrophe for the Imperium.
The circumstances of Komus's appearance were different each time, but the pattern of its visits was usually the same. Without any warning, a ghostly star, seemingly radiating black flames and some unknown, mysterious radiation, would naturally materialize within a planetary system. After shining balefully for a few days, it would disappear just as mysteriously, without a trace.
The Imperium's investigation had confirmed that it had existed since at least the time of the Eldar Empire. Records of it had been found in the ruins of some Eldar civilizations. The Eldar inscriptions on those ruins were even still continuously sending a signal into the void, telling their kin to stay away from this sector. This was also the reason why the Aeldari were less active in the Calixis Sector.
Some had even glimpsed the past and future from within the Tyrant Star. And manuscripts of unknown age described it as a place from which no living being, not even a god, could return.
And if one were to combine this with the actions of Pacini... it was clear that he had a close link to Tzeentch.
"Ovid, let's take this gamble, shall we? We have no other choice," Clyde said to Ovid.
Ovid was merely silent. But Pacini and Clyde knew that his silence meant he had agreed. Ovid could not come up with a better plan. If they could cover their tracks, perhaps it would really work. He, too, did not want to leave the sector where his family had lived for thousands of years.
The three families had reached an agreement. They replied to Guilliman's invitation, but they also proposed their own condition: that the meeting place be set on Scintilla. The three families also began to send out a summons to the smaller Navigator houses that were their vassals.
Lucan and Guilliman did not yet know of the three families' plan.
At that moment, in the warp, the domains of the Four Gods had drawn closer than ever before. The gathering of the four incredibly powerful domains caused the sea of souls in this region to churn continuously. And at the relative center of the four domains... was the Tyrant Star, Komus.
Since their defeat at Cadia, although the influence of the Chaos forces in the material universe was growing weaker, the Chaos Gods had never given up. Pacini was a dark seed that Tzeentch had planted among the Navigators a long time ago. He had been born during an appearance of the Tyrant Star, and the continuous dilution of the Ortelius family's bloodline, making them unable to produce Navigators, was also the work of Tzeentch. Only when humans were unable to solve their problems, when they were in a state of desperation, would they be more likely to accept forbidden power.
Under Pacini's secret manipulation, this Navigator house, one of the largest in the Expanse, had unknowingly become a puppet of Tzeentch as they used forbidden knowledge to try and continue their family line.
If the Navigator houses had only guessed that Lucan had mastered a technology that did not require warp travel, then after the recent major battles, the Four Gods were almost certain of it. After all, when the warships belonging to Lucan were traveling long distances, the minions of the Four Gods in the warp had never discovered them. And in his entire domain, one could hardly see the projections of Astropaths or Navigators in the warp. They just didn't know what this technology was yet.
But whatever it was, Tzeentch had keenly observed the problem with the Navigators within the Imperium and the chaos it could cause. With the current state of the Imperium, the followers of the Four Gods had almost no chance of winning a large-scale war. And igniting the fuse of the Navigators was, at this stage, the most effective way to strike a painful blow against the Imperium.
And it wasn't just in the Koronus Expanse and the Calixis Sector; Tzeentch's actions were faster than Lucan and Guilliman could have imagined.
The stronger the material universe, humanity, and the Imperium became, the more united the Four Gods were. They had even temporarily set aside their Great Game. The appearance of the DOOM Slayer and Lucan, who stood on the side of humanity, had made them feel a true threat of death. Even now, Khorne had not fully recovered; the loss of his faith in the mortal realm was too severe.
At this moment, the power of the Four Gods was simultaneously being poured into the Tyrant Star, causing it to glow with an eerie light beneath its black exterior. The psychic power of this entire celestial body reached an incredibly terrifying level. One could imagine that if it were to appear in the material universe again, the disaster faced by the planet it influenced would be far greater than ever before.
At this moment, Tzeentch was in his labyrinth, looking at the Well of Eternity.
Glimpsing the past and future, a record that not even the gods could change... this perfectly corresponded to the Well of Eternity before him. And as Tzeentch looked into the Well, the black star that was the Tyrant Star was also reflected within.
The Tyrant Star was indeed a product of Tzeentch's creation, using the power of the Well of Eternity. But it was not a pure warp construct. By relying on the power of the warp alone, it was impossible to project a warp substance of this size into the material universe. The laws of the veil between reality and the warp would prevent it, just as they prevented the Four Gods from directly entering the material universe. And to release this amount of warp energy into realspace, a medium or a container was needed.
Under the infusion of the power of the Four Gods, the black flames around Komus would occasionally extinguish, revealing its dark and smooth surface. This meant that the Tyrant Star was not composed of pure psychic energy; it had a physical body.
And this physical body was not from some other xenos civilization. It came from humanity itself.
The origin of the Tyrant Star did indeed predate the current Imperium. This was because it came from the humans of the Golden Age of Technology. That was why some records of it existed even when the Eldar Empire was still extant.
The Men of Gold, who pursued psionic power and sought psychic ascension, had created it with the help of the Men of Stone and the Men of Iron. It was originally intended as a weapon, a planet-sized superweapon that could freely manipulate the great power of the warp. At that time, the psionically-gifted Eldar Empire was also one of humanity's enemies. The construction of this weapon was not only to allow the Men of Gold to utilize the vast power of the warp, but also to fight against the Eldar Empire of the time.
However, the moment these Men of Gold pursued psychic ascension, their doom was sealed. When Komus, under their control, entered the warp... Tzeentch made his move.
However, even Tzeentch could not fully control the power of the Well of Eternity. He could only use it. That was why the appearances of Komus were always brief. This was just another one of Tzeentch's attempts and experiments.