Chapter 245: Another Conquest
"Dimensional Reduction."
Guilliman's voice rang clear across the battlefield.
Azure ceramite gleamed as ripples of folding spacetime radiated outward from his transhuman frame. Reality buckled and collapsed, three-dimensional space flattening like paper pressed against a pane of glass.
The dimensional collapse radiated brilliant light, beautiful and utterly unnatural. The black hole spawned by the dark planet Gran-Sphere caught within the effect's radius, its event horizon flattening as spacetime itself was forced into two dimensions.
Though the crushing gravity remained, it could not expand further. Three-dimensional physics and two-dimensional constraints were incompatible.
Gran-Sphere found itself trapped, unable to propagate its singularity avatar through the flattened plane of existence.
Guilliman activated spacetime shearing to sever the gravitational tethers the dark planet projected into realspace.
"No!" Gran-Sphere's roar tore across multiple dimensions as it thrashed against the cage the Primarch had constructed.
Its struggles accomplished nothing.
The Lord of Ultramar's warp essence manifested as a towering figure wreathed in retributive fire.
He raised his blade and brought it down in a single stroke, cleaving the imprisoned black hole in two. The Boss-class monster ceased to exist.
Two-dimensionality dissipated. Spacetime regained its natural flow. Gran-Sphere's physical corpse on the dark planet's surface transitioned back to three dimensions, but only as frozen fragments that scattered into the void like shattered glass.
…
Across the battlefield, the other Boss-class monsters fared no better.
The Root Destroyer, Zog, fell to Sanguinius's spear thrust, its massive body igniting in the void and burning to ash that dispersed among the stars.
Queen Monera met her end at the Lion's hands, her severed head drifting into darkness, features frozen in despair and hatred. Ryan claimed the first kill of his campaign in this universe.
The remaining Primarchs and their forces systematically dismantled every significant threat.
Faced with humanity's overwhelming power, the monster army broke and scattered. Those that fled were hunted mercilessly, pursued by warships, Giants of Light, Astartes, ship-girls, and countless others.
The slaughter was thorough.
…
Raven did not participate in the pursuit. Fighting had never interested him much.
Instead, he made his way to Time City to find Arena. With Arena's cooperation and the Emperor's assistance, Raven took control of the structure. The city's architecture spoke of unknown eras and vanished civilizations, utterly alien yet purposeful.
Throughout its halls and plazas, dozens of spacetime rifts lay, each a gateway to a parallel universe. With sufficient energy, those rifts could be deliberately torn open.
"If an ordinary person got their hands on this place, it'd be the ultimate cheat," Raven mused.
Then an idea struck him. Why not modify Time City into something like a Main God Space? Become one of those mysterious big shots that ignorant natives whisper about in awe?
With his abilities, transforming the city would be easy. Not just traveling to individual universes, but sending others to change predetermined fates and harvesting the rewards.
"Sigh~ Working yourself to death is so exhausting. Time to hire people to do it for me."
The most profitable business model? Building a platform.
Recruit a bunch of unlucky souls who'd already died, give them new bodies, and send them to various universes to alter fate. They'd generate excess energy; he'd keep 90% and give them 10%.
Passive income while lying down. Perfect.
Plus, whatever technology those transmigrators acquired could be used to strengthen the Empire.
If anyone objected to the 10/90 split? Too bad. Plenty of others would leap at the opportunity.
"I've really turned into an evil capitalist, He-He, as long as it's me who cares," Raven muttered, mourning his lost idealism.
He brought the plan to the Emperor to get his opinion.
"Perhaps we should reconsider," the Emperor said after a moment's hesitation. "Malcador already has more than enough work."
The man was already working around the clock. The Emperor couldn't bring himself to pile on additional burdens.
"Malcador doesn't need to handle this. I'll do it myself," Raven said confidently.
"HMm.." The Emperor looked skeptical.
Raven looked at the Emperor with a questioning look and retorted, "What? You don't believe I can do it."
Emperor calmly responded, "You said the exact same thing when you wanted to establish the Celestial Administration Bureau. Then you worked for less than three days before dumping everything on Belisarius Cawl and Malcador."
Raven bristled. "Big guy, what do you know? I was giving young people opportunities to develop! How else would Cawl have risen to his current position?"
"It's called Mentorship, brother. The Imperium of Man is growing larger every day, with more and more talented individuals. If we don't give them chances, that talent goes to waste."
He spoke with such conviction that the Emperor found himself unable to counter the argument, mainly because arguing would just upset him, which would cause him more headaches.
"Fine. Once Time City is set up, you'll find someone to manage it. Problem solved," Raven declared.
"Alright." Seeing his enthusiasm, the Emperor relented.
With the Emperor convinced, Raven turned to Arena.
"Do you have anywhere else to go?"
Arena shook her head. "My homeland was destroyed. My parents and people are dead. I don't know where I'd go."
"Then stay and help me. I'm planning to transform Time City completely. You've lived here longest, you know it best. You could definitely help."
Arena considered briefly, then nodded. "I can stay and help you, Mr. Raven."
Raven smiled. His body glowed, and a surge of primal power flowed into Arena's form. The girl could feel her body and strength growing in real time.
"Consider that an advance on your salary. Work hard, and the better you perform, the greater your rewards. Also, I'll find some people to keep you company so you won't be lonely here."
[End of Chapter]