The tactical picture was crystal clear: the Imperium of Man had completed its strategic encirclement of the Rangdan stronghold.
Once Planet VI fell, no obstacle would remain to bar the human fleet from driving straight into the heart of Rangdan space.
Inside the command center of the Rangdan home world, Solas rested exhaustedly against his throne, gazing absently at the holographic sandtable.
Four words seemed to loom before his eyes: Total and absolute defeat!
The strength of a single individual could never withstand the collective force of so many Gene-Sires. His brothers each possessed their own unique masteries, wielding their respective advantages to absolute perfection on the field of battle. Meanwhile, the fleet he had so painstakingly cultivated was locked in a stalemate—unable to serve as the decisive anchor against the tide of human victories.
Solas harbored no blame toward the Rangdan Overlords for their tactical shortcomings; he knew they had already pushed themselves to the absolute limit.
"Ah..."
As he looked down at the sandtable, a prolonged sigh echoed out from the void, laden with boundless exhaustion.
"Consolidate your forces. Prepare for the final confrontation with humanity."
The grand voice was vast beyond measure as the projection of the Supreme Overlord manifested beneath the command room's dome. Its crimson eyes were hollow and pitch-black, exuding a suffocating, overwhelming pressure.
"The failure of this war does not lie on your shoulders." The Supreme Overlord pointed a ethereal tentacle toward Solas, lowering its tone in cold comfort: "I could not overcome the Emperor; the power of the Warp could not be turned to our aid."
"My miscalculations regarding the Primarchs proved fatal as well."
"They bear a unique destiny. Conceptually speaking, the Rangdan Overlords lost to fate itself."
The Supreme Overlord could offer no further explanation, nor could it reveal that it was suffering set-back after set-back deep within the Warp. Even after consuming countless Rangdan souls, it had still fallen short in its duel against the Emperor. Thus, it did not blame Solas. In all truth, Solas's performance in this war had far exceeded that of any Rangdan Overlord; had a Rangdan Overlord taken command of the fleet, Ferrus would have shattered their void-line long ago, and the stalemate would never have held until today.
"I lack the power to withstand the combined assault of the Primarchs."
The black silhouette shook its head. Solas's voice was hollow and low, openly acknowledging that he could not overcome his brothers' joint offensive.
"Before the final battle—"
The Supreme Overlord's projection flickered violently, as if disrupted by severe interference: "The World... Engine... is... making its way here. It will prove a pow... erful boon."
"I... originally intended to keep it... as a final resort... to preserve the spark of our species... but now... it is no longer needed."
Layered upon themselves, the voices drifted away from the physical universe, retreating once more into the depths of the Warp.
Upon his command throne, Solas radiated an aura of confusion. What did the Supreme Overlord mean by its final declaration?
No longer needed?
Why was it no longer needed?
An asset intended as the ultimate insurance for the survival of the Rangdan species—one that should have been kept hidden during the final battle—had been brought onto the board by the Supreme Overlord itself?
Solas sat frozen in place, lost in deep thought, yet no answer presented itself.
He could not possibly know that deep within the Warp, the battle between two supreme entities was likewise reaching its ultimate climax.
---
The Sea of Souls exploded!
Volitional energy howled, surging like colossal, apocalyptic waves that ground against each other between two titanic wills.
A golden sun hung suspended in the void. Even in the Warp—where no fixed cardinal directions existed—it stood high above at the conceptual pinnacle of reality.
Beneath the blazing golden sun, an endless dark ocean raged and roared, violently twisting even the lawlessness of the Warp to its will.
"You stole the power of the Warp!"
The dark ocean boiled, instantly leaping from a flat plane into a three-dimensional space of pure shadow that swallowed the golden sun whole. From the black sea came a ideologically charged spit of contempt, despising the shamelessness of a false god: "The filthy Chaos Gods stood beside you as you robbed the divine will."
"How utterly shameless—the Master of Mankind drapes them in human flesh, calls these gods his 'sons,' and assigns them a mandate?"
The golden light vanished, seemingly consumed by the ocean of shadow as the Warp fell into an eternal dark.
Suddenly, fissures cracked across the surface of the black prison. Golden light burst through the dark shell, piercing the shadow like rays breaking through clouds, illuminating the boundless dark of the Warp once more.
"You created the Rangdan Overlords," the golden sun answered the dark sea, loosing a beam of pure light that shattered the twisted shadow-stuff: "Which serves only to prove your own utter impotence."
"Did you not stretch forth your filthy tentacles as well? Plotting against the Warp gods, attempting to manipulate those vast powers?"
The center of the dark sea churned; in the clash of supreme forces, countless pocket universes were born, only to be instantly snuffed into nothingness.
"I am the victor," the column of golden light descended once more, obliterating countless stars and universes: "They serve my purpose."
"HA! HA! HA!" The black sea laughed as its tides surged into a pillar of water that reached for the heavens, clashing head-on against the golden stream.
"They simply do not know the truth," the Supreme Overlord sneered, swallowing the golden light into its depths: "I eagerly await the day they learn the truth—to see how they judge you and your species."
The golden sun trembled, and with it, the entire Warp shook.
An infinitely tall barrier contracted, compressing the dark sea's domain to prevent its escape from the Warp. Upon closer inspection, the spherical barrier had long since taken shape, trapping the black ocean within its boundaries.
"Are you panicking?" The dark ocean mocked, countless pasts and futures floating within its waves: "Afraid that I will reveal the truth?"
The Emperor's will offered no response; it simply accelerated the contraction of the golden barrier.
"I will not reveal fate," the Supreme Overlord continued to laugh, unbothered by its predicament: "Revealing another's fate has never been the act of a wise mind."
"I shall wait. I will wait for fate itself to unveil everything, to lay bare the consequences that humanity will find unbearable!"
The dark ocean surged, and the Emperor's barrier groaned, its divine force cracking open a fissure under the sheer weight of power. A jelly-like wave poured forth, breaking free from the Emperor's dimension to drift aimlessly through the Warp.
Wherever it passed, it acted like a dark cataclysm, assimilating all Warp entities in its path. Warp creatures fled in terror as their realms and fortresses crumbled; the twisted force converted the chaos of the Warp into something far more horrifying! Countless daemons—their physical forms resembling the Rangdan of the material universe—erupted from the black sea, pouring through the depths of the Warp.
The golden sun flared with blinding light, sending the grotesque abominations shrieking as they burned to ash.
The two wills pursued and clashed, their god-war triggering raging Warp storms and shattering space itself. They were walking harbiningers of cataclysm; at the epicenter of their duel, everything was crushed to feed an eternal Warp singularity. Even at the fringes, the mere careless overflow of their power laid waste to countless daemon worlds.
This was the Warp!
Where will was freed from all physical constraints, entities of godlike power could birth or destroy universes with a wave of their hands, shattering time and space with effortless ease. From the depths of the Warp came a non-human roar—a single bellow capable of shattering the firmament!
Their war expanded, gold and black intertwining. Within the Warp, a Great Daemon of Chaos needed only to steal a single glance before its body turned to ash, unable to endure the sheer weight of that power. Those qualified to witness the duel were only the highest entities—the Chaos Gods, the Warp Demigods, and the Aeldari Pantheon. Only these great beings bearing the title of "Gods" possessed the right to observe the continuation of this clash.
This war—devoid of the concept of time—had raged for an eternity, and it was finally drawing toward its conclusion. The two supreme beings were bound to utterly obliterate one another in this endless confrontation. What began as a mutual restraint had continually escalated into a duel to the death. The Warp Gods stretched their necks, quietly waiting for one side to fall so they could rush forward to feast!
Yet the gods shifted their gaze back to the physical universe—for the true tipping point of this battle lay in the material realm.
The stage was set, and the actors were taking their places.
---
At the edge of the J-11 system, mottled Warp tears manifested in the physical universe, announcing the arrival of the Space Wolves fleet.
Led by the Hrafnkel, the Wolf Fleet maneuvered around the rear of Planet VI, setting course to dock at the cosmic island fragment.
"Brother."
Behind the light-screen, Russ grinned savagely, baring his fangs as he spoke to Blazkowicz: "I have come for Solas—to fulfill my vow!"
Blazkowicz's expression grew solemn, looking directly at his brother's fierce face: "Are you certain you wish to do this?"
He asked the most critical question: "To claim the sin of kinslaying upon yourself?"
Moribas Solas. Once the human fleet completed its encirclement, he would inevitably face judgment. Yet no Primarch wished to stain their hands with the blood of a brother, even one guilty of high treason. In the hearts of many brothers, his ultimate fate should have been to face the Emperor's judgment, imprisoned within the dungeons of the Imperial Palace.
Yet Leman Russ had arrived, brimming with murderous intent.
"I have prepared everything," Russ replied without a moment's hesitation or doubt, raising the golden spear horizontally in his right hand.
Blazkowicz fell silent. Upon seeing the Spear of the Emperor, he understood why Russ had come. Crafted by the Emperor himself, Russ raising the spear meant he was acting upon their Father's direct will—sent specifically to execute Solas.
"The Space Wolves have never cared for the opinions of others." Russ flashed a cruel smile, his golden beast-eyes cold and unreadable: "It is merely becoming an infamous executioner, nothing more."
It was clear that the Great Wolf understood full well the consequences of slaying a brother.
From this day forth, what little remained of the Space Wolves' reputation would plummet entirely into the abyss.