Hours later, on the bridge of the Gabbro, Alex looked out through the bridge's viewport, gazing at the planet below, which was already a sea of fire.
"Returning to the battlefield in the true sense, how do you feel?" Alex heard footsteps behind him but didn't turn around.
"War, it never changes." Hathor responded to Alex's question, walking to his side and standing shoulder to shoulder with him: "I never thought that after ten thousand years, the Imperium of Man, its wars, and its enemies would have become like this."
Hathor had by then resumed her administrative secretary attire, and her words were filled with emotion and a hint of regret.
She asked Alex with some emotion, "If he had made a different choice ten thousand years ago, would the Imperium of Man be different today?"
Although Hathor was not Horus himself, seeing the Imperium of Man in such a state after ten thousand years, especially the existence of those fallen Space Marines, made her feel particularly sad and regretful.
She regretted the fall and betrayal ten thousand years ago, which ultimately led to all of this.
This made her wonder if the Imperium of Man would have been different if Horus had made a different choice ten thousand years ago.
"No, because this is the destiny of humanity." However, Alex shook his head, denying Hathor's conjecture.
"What did you say?" Hathor's eyes widened instantly; Alex's words struck her like lightning.
To Hathor, she had always believed that the Imperium of Man had become this way entirely because of Horus's fall and betrayal.
That's why she wondered if the Imperium of Man would be different if Horus hadn't betrayed humanity and the Emperor, yet she never expected Alex to say that this was the destiny of humanity.
This made her unable to imagine; if this was the destiny of humanity, then what was everything they did ten thousand years ago for?
Alex glanced at Hathor, then raised a soundproof barrier on the bridge, and then he used a psychic spell to seal off the surroundings, making it impossible for anyone to peer in, before he began to explain the reason to Hathor: "Eight of the most powerful gods will be born in the Warp, each representing eight different domains. The Four Chaos Gods are just four of them. The Great Rebellion ten thousand years ago was actually a ritual, a ritual destined to give birth to the fifth god, an ascension ritual."
What Alex spoke of was the most core aspect of this world, and the secrets involved were probably known to few in this galaxy: "And the birth of these eight true gods transcends the concept of time and space, meaning that the moment they are born, they will be born on all timelines in the past, future, and present.
To give a simple example, Slaanesh was born at the time of the fall of the Aeldari Empire, but he also witnessed the War in Heaven between the Old Ones and the C'tan tens of millions of years ago when the Aeldari first emerged.
Similarly, after the Great Rebellion ten thousand years ago, the Dark King was already destined to be born, only the Emperor postponed his birth at the cost of sitting on the Golden Throne.
That war ten thousand years ago was an ascension ritual; between the Emperor and Horus, one was destined to ascend to become the Dark King.
Initially it was Horus, until the Emperor also chose to embark on this path, a path that was already fated for him."
"You mean that no matter what choice Horus made ten thousand years ago, a Dark King would inevitably be born between him and the Emperor?" Hathor seemed to not quite understand Alex's meaning.
"It's not that a Dark King would be born between Horus and the Emperor, but that the ritual ten thousand years ago would give birth to a Dark King. If not Horus, if not the Emperor, it would have been someone else." Alex shook his head and explained: "The birth of the Dark King is destined; it's just that who ultimately becomes him and when he is born can be influenced.
The Emperor originated from the sacrifice of humanity's first immortal shamans. Some say he is the aggregate of those shamans' souls in the Warp, others say he comes from a higher dimensional existence, but no matter what, he was destined to stand out in humanity's Old Night era, leading humanity out of the gloom of the Old Night and reunifying the galaxy.
But by destiny, the Emperor was destined to experience the betrayal of his sons. If not Horus, it would have been someone else, perhaps Guilliman, perhaps Sanguinius, or perhaps Rogal Dorn, or even those two brothers who have disappeared from your memory."
At this point, Alex added, "Even on some timelines, the Gene-Seed Primarch and the Emperor might not necessarily be male.
Malcador once suggested when the Emperor was creating the Gene-Seed Primarch, that he set the gender of some of the Primarchs as female, but the Emperor thought he was just joking."
"...This joke is not funny." To Hathor, who was now a woman, this was no joke.
"Indeed, this is certainly not a joke, neither for Malcador nor for the Primarchs." Alex did not delve deeper into this topic. He merely concluded: "In short, the Great Rebellion ten thousand years ago was inevitable. The Four Chaos Gods have already taken their places, and they need to seize more in the real world.
And the resurgence of humanity was undoubtedly a huge cake for them.
Horus's fall and betrayal were merely the result of the Four Chaos Gods' deliberate temptation. If he hadn't made such a choice, other Gene-Seed Primarchs would have been tempted by them. The Great Rebellion itself was unavoidable."
Hearing this, Hathor could only sigh. She remembered clearly the conduct of her brothers.
Although their fall might not have caused such extensive destruction, Hathor had no doubt that they would fall.
"Alas..." Hathor sighed, seemingly lamenting the Great Rebellion ten thousand years ago, and perhaps also lamenting the destiny of humanity.
However, at this moment, she suddenly thought of something and asked Alex, "Ten thousand years ago, humanity's destiny was swayed by the Four Chaos Gods. And now, the Imperium of Man has no leadership from the Emperor and the Gene-Seed Primarch. Do we truly have hope of resisting the Four Chaos Gods?"
This was Hathor's most pressing concern now.
Although she knew her brothers would return in twenty years, ten thousand years ago, all eighteen of her brothers and the Emperor were present, yet they could not resist the Four Chaos Gods, ultimately leading to the Great Rebellion. Could they truly resist the threat of Chaos now?
However, facing this question, Alex seemed to have heard a joke. After laughing heartily, he said to Hathor in a joking tone, "Ten thousand years ago, the Emperor walked the world, and at that time, he was not a God.
And today, ten thousand years later, the Emperor sits upon the Golden Throne, and he says he is not a God."
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"