Chapter 52: The Weight of Truth
Terror consumed Karl, and in that consuming, he struck first, the desperate gambit of cornered prey.
His Gene Engine roared to life, systems cascading through activation sequences with mechanical precision:
"Initiating Void Engine. Constructing conceptual strike parameters."
"Establishing Time Corridor. Generating a spatio-temporal death spiral. Blocking dimensional egress."
"Activating Concept Strike. Erasing target biological matrices."
"Launching Dimensional Assault. Analyzing soul-data architecture. Executing termination protocols."
Reality bent around them as fundamental laws rewrote themselves according to Karl's will. Conceptual weapons that could unmake gods themselves struck the Emperor with force enough to shatter worlds.
Time fractured into infinite regression. Space folded upon itself in impossible geometries, creating loops within loops, trapping all within their confines.
Yet the Gene Engine's responses filled Karl with mounting dread:
"Warning: Insufficient computational capacity. Unable to parse target parameters."
"Alert: Concept Strike construction failure. Target data incomprehensible."
"Temporal manipulation interference detected. Time Corridor establishment impossible."
"Target demonstrates immunity to psychic assault. Cognitive rewriting protocols ineffective. Requesting additional computational support."
Emergency klaxons shrieked through Karl's consciousness as system after system failed catastrophically. Since joining the Super Gene Academy, since ascending to his current state of phantom existence, he had never known such helplessness, such absolute futility.
Every weapon in his arsenal, every technique perfected across millennia, proved useless against this golden figure who stood unmoved amidst the storm of impossible forces.
"What are you?" Karl's voice cracked with terror he had not felt since mortality.
The Emperor remained as serene as a statue carved from divine marble, untouched by the chaos raging around Him.
"You have spent eons yearning to usher in the Void Era," He spoke with the patience of one addressing a willfully ignorant child. "Yet you comprehend nothing of what you seek to unleash."
"You dwell within the material realm, grown comfortable with this mundane existence governed by natural law, physical constants, logic, order, and reason. You believe all things can be quantified, analyzed, controlled."
"But the Void you worship, what We call Chaos, shall forever remain beyond mortal dominion. Before those eternal terrors, the greatest horrors of the material plane are as dust before the storm."
"All physical laws, all rational principles, become meaningless delusion when Chaos stirs. Your power within this reality means nothing to forces that laugh at reality itself. Did you truly believe yourself the wisest? Did you imagine you could leash the Void to your will?"
"And look at yourself," Raven added with characteristic irreverence, "what are you, really?"
"Cease your theatrics!" Karl screamed, phantom form flickering with desperate energy. "If you cannot destroy me, then I cannot be killed!"
The Emperor's gaze remained cold as the void between stars. The longsword wreathed in golden flame rose with deliberate ceremony, then fell with the inevitability of divine judgment.
Fire that could unmake existence itself swept outward, passing through Karl's ethereal form like a cutting wind through mist.
"You cannot kill me," Karl repeated, though uncertainty crept into his voice. "I am merely a projection. My true essence resides in, "
The words died as golden cracks appeared across his being, spreading like spider webs through glass struck by hammer blows.
"Impossible!" Karl's scream echoed across dimensions as he felt his carefully constructed immortality crumbling.
"You know nothing of true power," Raven cackled with soul-deep amusement. "Even you, who style yourself the God of Death, in the eternal march of ages, even death itself shall perish!"
Karl's Gene Engine erupted in cascades of crimson warnings:
"CRITICAL ERROR: Fundamental data corruption detected. Core matrices dissolving."
"EMERGENCY PROTOCOL: Essential architecture compromised. Total systemic failure imminent."
Karl's phantom body collapsed, dissolving into motes of fading light. Even his soul, carefully preserved in higher-dimensional space, protected by layers upon layers of safeguards, unraveled along with the rest.
Angel Queen Yan witnessed the impossible sight: Karl's phantom form, which even Holy Kesha had deemed merely suppressible rather than destroyable, undone by a single stroke of the Emperor's blade.
The terror in the eyes of Hua Ye, Karl, and their followers before death claimed them spoke volumes about the despair of opposing such absolute power.
Karl was eliminated, at least, his phantom body and soul-construct were erased by the Emperor's will. Whether the cunning death god had prepared contingencies for resurrection remained unknown.
Given his paranoid nature, such precautions seemed likely.
The Super God Universe harbored many secrets, and even the Emperor could not guarantee Karl's complete annihilation. But for now, the threat was neutralized.
Even should Karl return, he would emerge drastically weakened, incapable of challenging the New Empire during its crucial formative years.
Once the Empire achieved sufficient strength to contend with Void entities, even a fully restored Karl would pose no meaningful threat to their expansion.
Sno, Nusa, and Sumali were likewise purged, executed outright or stripped of their Gene Engines to become prisoners for interrogation. The Great Clock, Karl's most prized possession, became a trophy of war.
The Emperor graciously presented this divine artifact to the Super Gene Academy, returning it to the descendants of its creators, the Shenhe civilization.
With Raven's assistance, the Emperor claimed Karl's research archives: spatial displacement technology, phantom body techniques, and years of accumulated knowledge.
Karl's studies had encompassed space, time, gravitational manipulation, black hole engineering, soul mechanics, and conceptual rewriting. The Emperor claimed it all, intending to strengthen the Human Empire through integration of these discoveries.
With Karl and Hua Ye eliminated, only the Triangle Bodies remained as threats to the New Empire within known space.
The Great Clock's archives contained comprehensive data on their biology and weaknesses, sufficient intelligence to ensure their defeat when the time came.
Satisfied that the New Empire would endure and prosper, the Emperor prepared for departure. Though He yearned to uncover the dark secrets lurking within the Super God Universe's hidden depths, time pressed too urgently.
His absence from the primary reality had already stretched longer than wisdom advised. The unification of the Human Empire required His oversight, and only with sufficient accumulated power could He begin the great work of inter-dimensional integration.
Before departing, the Emperor summoned Han Sen, now the most powerful individual in known space, for private audience.
"Boss, you're leaving again?" The young man's disappointment was evident despite his best efforts at stoicism.
"Greater duties call," the Emperor replied with something approaching gentleness. "This universe is entrusted to your guardianship. Do not disappoint Us."
"I must share knowledge of the utmost importance with you. These truths may only be revealed to those willing to accept the Thought Steel Seal."
"What knowledge?" Han Sen asked.
"You shall glimpse the darkest reality," the Emperor warned, placing a gauntleted hand upon the young man's shoulder.
Despite Han Sen's enhanced mental resilience, his mind strengthened through the god-making project to withstand psychic assault, the visions shared by the Emperor filled him with existential terror.
He witnessed wars that consumed galaxies. Universes burned in the fires of unending conflict as planets became ash and stars shattered like glass.
Twisted entities from the Void poured into reality like a tide of living nightmare, bringing indescribable horror and wholesale slaughter.
Bloodshed and cruelty beyond imagination painted every world crimson. Pain, despair, and corruption spread like plague across creation. Everywhere he looked: cruel indulgence, rivers of blood, mountains of bone.
Death was not release but the beginning of eternal torment. Countless souls plunged into abyssal darkness, their screams echoing across eternity while immortal monstrosities enslaved universe after universe.
Every civilization met its end in unthinkable agony.
"What... what is this?" Han Sen's voice trembled with horror.
"The future," the Emperor replied with terrible calm. "The ultimate fear for which you have long sought answers. The Void entities are the source of all evil in creation."
"Humanity faces a simple choice: defeat these abominations and achieve final transcendence, or suffer the fate you have witnessed. There is no middle ground."
"Guard this New Empire well until the era of great fusion arrives. When that day comes, humanity from every universe shall unite against the true ultimate fear."
"I understand," Han Sen replied, steel entering his voice despite the tremor of terror. "I will not fail you."
After entrusting the New Empire to Han Sen's care and sharing the weight of cosmic truth, the Emperor had Raven open a spatio-temporal passage home.
Without temporal anchors to maintain synchronization, the flow of time between realities had begun to drift. Upon His return to the primary universe, two months had elapsed.
"My Lord," a Custodian Guard reported as the Emperor emerged from His sealed chambers, "Primarchs First, Sixth, Twelfth, and Sixteenth have all sought audience during your absence. The Sixteenth has inquired about your status every few days."
"Additionally, the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Primarchs have been located and are expected to rendezvous with our forces within a fortnight."
"Terra has transmitted priority documents requiring your immediate review and response, by order of the Sigillite."
The Great Crusade awaited its Master's return.
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