Kaido, as though he had long foreseen the phantom of Khorne's return, let out a string of laughter saturated with crazed satisfaction.
"Great Lord of Skulls, your humble servant begs you—take the power of this Bear God below, and pour it into Lord Roya's body! Fulfill his destiny to become the perfect vessel for my master's descent!"
His words struck Roya's heart like a stone cast into still water, sending ripples surging into towering waves.
"So that was the plan—to cultivate me into a vessel, ever ready for descent into the material realm!"
"Then Kaido's true master cannot possibly be Slaanesh—it must be Tzeentch!"
"So it was all part of His design after all!"
Roya struggled with all his strength, but his divine sense was locked tight by Ursun's psychic power. The Bear God's colossal jaws pulled at him with infinite suction, leaving him barely able to fend off the pull, let alone escape.
Meanwhile, the phantom of Khorne casually swatted aside Ursun's strike that would otherwise have crushed Kaido's life.
With open disdain, it growled:
"Your master?"
Disgust twisted the phantom's expression. With a snarl of contempt, it vented upon Ursun the rage it held for its brother who would make use of it as a mere tool.
The phantom solidified, becoming a crimson ribbon of bloodlight, and with brutal force it bored into Ursun's paw—right through the wound the Slaaneshi phantom had left torn open.
Instantly, Ursun's right paw swelled grotesquely.
In but a blink, it had doubled in size!
The god-blood in his veins seemed to boil, swelling his vessels to the brink of rupture. Beneath his radiant, jade-white fur, monstrous ridges bulged forth, grotesque and hideous.
So distended did the vessels become that their hue showed through the thinning hide, as though they would burst free of his body to forge a will of their own.
And once more, Ursun's divine blood surged, gushing unceasingly from his still-bleeding wound.
The sound of rending air approached swiftly—Bilak had finally arrived.
One look at the scene before him, and his face twisted into feral malice. He fixed Kaido with a murderous glare and bellowed:
"By the Skull Throne! I have hunted this prey for millennia! Great Lord of Skulls, grant him back to me!"
Khorne gave no direct reply. Instead, with clear impatience, the phantom unleashed a blast of psychic force, saturating the air for leagues around with a suffocating lust for bloodshed.
Kaido only sneered.
"Wretched, deluded fool! You would court the favor of all four gods at once—yet the only end for such arrogance is to be abandoned by them all!"
"Your era has long since passed! You are no longer the eternal Chosen Prince of Chaos—you are the eternally un-chosen, a piece of refuse fit only for the dungheap!"
"Your existence has never been anything more than gathering resources for Lord Roya! And now, your purpose fulfilled, it is time you faced your final destiny!"
As he spoke, Ursun—his body now invaded by the phantom of Khorne—finally released his crushing grip on Roya, turning all his strength against the intruding specter.
Roya seized the chance at last, wrenching himself free from the devouring maw.
But no sooner had he righted himself in the air than Belakor's wings flared wide, and with a single stroke his blade came crashing down toward Roya's skull.
Belakor's tongue writhed within the gaping maw of his skull-face as he laughed hatefully:
"Pathetic joke! I bear the blessings of all four gods—half-divine in my own right! What are you, that you dare contest my chance at godhood!?"
"Die!"
From the twisted skull in his sword's hilt, the blade lashed forth—splitting space itself. Its trajectory was ungraspable; even Roya's divine senses could discern nothing but inevitability. He would be struck. He would die. Escape was impossible.
"Not good!" Roya thought, forcing his will to rally what little divine sense remained—already half spent—and layering defenses against the oncoming strike.
It held for but a breath. Then the blade ripped through.
Belakor's half-divine blow was truly unstoppable!
Roya staggered under the impact, realizing in horror that his defense had bought him only the briefest reprieve. There was no withstanding this blow. He was cornered—behind him yawned Ursun's gaping maw. There was nowhere left to retreat!
Unless…
In that instant of life and death, Roya's thoughts flashed with sudden clarity.
"All of this lies within Tzeentch's design—even this hate-filled strike of Belakor's!"
"The true aim is to force me to accept the essence of Ursun's power!"
"Then if I fall into Ursun's jaws, no harm will come. That, too, is foreordained in Tzeentch's scheme!"
"The true difference lies not in whether it happens—but in whether I accept it willingly or am dragged into it!"
With that realization, all hesitation vanished.
Roya dispelled his failing defenses in a breath, concentrating every shred of divine sense into a single, tangible shield.
At that moment, Belakor's blade struck.
Steel met mind, and the impact roared.
Roya's body spun backwards, plummeting with astonishing speed—straight toward Ursun's howling maw!
Belakor's face froze, sudden realization dawning.
"Cursed wretch—how dare you!"
His wings snapped wide as he hurled himself forward, breaking into his utmost speed to catch Roya before he fell.
But too late.
At that instant, Ursun's tortured hide, unable to withstand the phantom's ravages any longer, burst apart with a thunderous crack.
The escaping divine power, mixed with a deluge of god-blood, turned the northern wastes into a sea of crimson rain.
"Great Lord of Skulls—does this sacrifice please you!?"
Kaido roared with maniacal laughter, his jaws gaping wide as he drank greedily of the divine blood that fell from the heavens.
Amid the downpour, the phantom of Khorne seized more than half of Ursun's divine ichor, shaping it into a piercing scarlet arrow. With unstoppable force, it shot straight for Ursun's chest.
Belakor's body trembled uncontrollably. Bathed in divine blood, the blessing of Khorne within him flared to frenzy. The temptation was unbearable.
No matter his iron will, his body refused his command. Rather than pursue Roya, he was rooted in place, wings spread as his fanged maw split wide—his whole body twisting into the shape of a winged, monstrous jaw that gorged itself upon the blood-rain.
Then thunder crashed.
Roya slammed into the walls of Ursun's maw!
Even shielded, he was battered senseless, his body flung about within the elastic flesh until he bounced, tumbling helplessly down toward the Bear God's throat.
But Roya did not panic. It was as he had foreseen.
The blood-formed arrow of the Khorne phantom struck true—straight into Ursun's heart!
The Bear God's hide, invincible against all else, yielded utterly before a weapon forged of his own divine blood.
One blow pierced his defense—striking to the very core!