Nurgle, the Evil God known as "Grandfather," laughed heartily in his meticulously tended garden because his arch-rival's essence was damaged.
Innumerable mosquitoes, flies, and maggots fell from his rotting, diseased body, these vile things dropping into the cauldron before him, where countless diseases and pains were being stirred and brewed.
"Perhaps it should be a rare joy in the endless void?"
A seductive, gender-neutral voice, like a lover's soft whisper, murmured in the ear, stirring an unnameable desire deep within the listener's heart.
Accompanied by pink mist and an omnipresent fragrance, the Dark Prince, Slaanesh, the Lord of Pleasure, arrived.
The wills of Khorne, Nurgle, and Slaanesh gathered in Tzeentch's domain, mocking Tzeentch's momentary weakness.
The wills of the Gods gathered again, the Lord of Change gripped his claws tightly, his scepter creaking. The last time the Gods arrived, his master broke the Crystal Scepter; what would it be this time?
The Lord of Change was calm as an abyss, sitting cross-legged in the void, his gaze sweeping over the souls in his hand, weaving yet another plan.
He slowly spoke in a hoarse, mysterious tone: "A soul erupted from the Well of Eternity, and it harmed my body."
The Gods' gazes were drawn to the red, translucent soul in Tzeentch's hand, temporarily ceasing their mockery of his weakness, their expressions becoming extremely solemn.
Although the power of the Four Gods ebbed and flowed with major events in the real universe, their overall strength remained comparable. A soul capable of harming the Evil God Tzeentch could naturally harm them too, and thus deserved serious attention.
"Lies! Another trap." Nurgle said with contempt, believing Tzeentch had concocted another scheme, merely to amuse himself by toying with the Gods.
"Hand it over." Khorne felt the presence of endless rage within the soul, which perfectly aligned with his authority.
The deep crimson blood clouds outside Tzeentch's domain grew thicker, accumulating divine power, ready to make a move to snatch it.
Slaanesh said nothing, his will observing the pure, untainted soul with great interest.
His true form, far away in his divine realm, extended a long tongue to lightly lick his lips, eager to taste this seemingly delicious soul.
The Lord of Change remained outwardly composed, but inwardly, he almost burst out laughing at the Warp Gods' reactions. He shook his withered arm, throwing the soul into the unpredictable Warp, and simultaneously said, "It's yours."
The Warp churned, and as the soul flew out of Tzeentch's domain, it immediately drew the three Evil Gods into a struggle for it.
Their wills transformed into tentacles and nets, stirring the surging waves of the Sea of Souls, and sweeping towards that faint red light.
Perhaps it was the Lord of Change's deliberate arrangement, but the wills of the three Evil Gods almost simultaneously came into contact with that mysterious soul from an unknown place.
"Tzeentch! Do you want to ignite another war?" Khorne's furious roar was underlined by the pain of endurance.
The moment his will touched the soul, it felt as if it were being seared by flames. The God of War angrily questioned the God of Schemes.
Slaanesh and Nurgle were in no better state; the former indulged in his pain, emitting joyful moans, while the latter grunted, enduring the pain from the depths of his soul.
The Lord of Change secretly gloated, and his words were even more unsparing. The myriad mouths on his body slowly and lightly recounted the same sentence: "My words are sincere and evident, it is you who do not believe me, you reap what you sow, do not blame it on me."
"My God!"
The Lord of Change cheered excitedly; the God of Schemes had manipulated the Gods without even resorting to a scheme.
If all Four Gods were damaged, then none were damaged, returning to the same starting line, so no one could mock anyone else.
The games between Gods were always like this; any slight loss of face was worth spending endless time to dispute.
"Hmph." Having suffered a hidden loss, Khorne planned how to attack Tzeentch's divine realm next, but for now, there was something more important.
That pure soul, whose origin was unknown, grew larger after absorbing the Warp energy wrapped by the three Gods' wills.
The Gods' gazes could penetrate its soul, but could not see through its essence.
The soul seemed to have completed a kind of evolution, slowly beginning to absorb the free-floating power in the Warp, yet its essence remained spotless, glowing red, pure and flawless.
The Lord of Change put away his smile, and the Gods' gazes once again focused on the soul; every God was waiting for an opportunity, eager to act.
It absorbed the energy of the Sea of Souls without paying any price and was not tainted by Warp power.
The soul's essence was certainly extraordinary; if its secret could be unraveled or it could be devoured, immense gains would surely be obtained.
The Gods were in a stalemate here, wanting to snatch it, but also having to guard against other Gods. The chain of suspicion was once again established among the Gods, and a rash move would lead to a collective attack.
"It now possesses the power of a low-level demon."
Nurgle's voice boomed, reminding the Gods to act quickly, as this situation was not sustainable.
The red soul could absorb energy, and no one knew its limit.
The longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be. If it had no limit and continuously absorbed energy, a "New God" might be born in the Warp.
"Put it in my domain, I will thoroughly enjoy those pains, and research it incidentally."
Slaanesh's voice was sweet and alluring, seemingly not yet recovered from the pleasure he had just experienced, his true form lying on a soft bed in his palace, limp and weak, the ecstasy too profound to express.
"Get lost!" Khorne barked concisely, rejecting his arch-rival's suggestion.
That indulgent harlot would surely desecrate the soul's essence.
Khorne and Slaanesh, they were naturally at odds.
One was a strict and disciplined warrior, the other a harlot with no bottom line for indulgence.
The Blood God Khorne's dream was to grasp Slaanesh's throat, personally strangle his unrestrained divine sibling, and completely eradicate the source of indulgence.
Khorne hesitated, pondering whether he could offer a price that would tempt the Gods; he was determined to have the red soul, as the endless fury it contained was too much to his liking.
"I have a suggestion." The mouths on the Lord of Change's body, which constantly recounted secrets, transformed into eyes that saw through all things, and his voice, originating from an unknown place, spoke leisurely.
"Alright."
"Alright."
"Speak your lie."
The last one among the Gods was very uncooperative, constantly mocking Tzeentch.
The Lord of Change glanced at Nurgle's location, full of disdain and contempt, yet he did not take it to heart.
"We currently have no way to unravel its essence, so why not let it develop, place it at the intersection of the four divine realms, and observe the changes? Any development, we will know immediately."
"I agree." After some thought, Khorne was the first to nod. For now, it was indeed a feasible plan, and it did not favor any single party.
"I also agree." Nurgle also accepted this plan; he liked stalemates, but not meaningless ones.
"Let me take it to the border of the domains." Slaanesh was impatient, wanting to touch the red soul and experience that extraordinary painful pleasure again.
"Get lost!" Khorne roared in anger. He already regarded the soul as his exclusive possession and would never allow that harlot to defile it.
He decisively stirred up a Warp storm, and without touching it, used the Warp tides to send the soul to the intersection of the Four Gods' domains.
After all this was done, Khorne's will was the first to leave, heading to the edge of the domain to observe the soul he favored.
After the matter was settled, the Gods departed one by one, and the Warp fell into a brief calm.
Among the Gods, strife never ceased; new schemes and wars were concealed beneath the calm.
As for Augusts, he was currently without thought or desire, completely unaware of the outside world.
He did not know that he had already been targeted by the Four Gods, and his soul, fused with the essence of a Destroyer Warrior, floated at the edge of the Four Gods' domains, jointly guarded by the Great Demons and Demon Armies dispatched by the Four Gods.
The Warp had fallen into a delicate balance due to his arrival; the Four Gods suspected and guarded against each other, continuously reinforcing their borders to avoid suffering losses at the first sign of conflict.
And the instigator of all this was absorbing Warp energy, constantly growing stronger.
Augusts and the system did not know that, due to the indeterminate nature of Warp time, they had not arrived in 40K.
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[100PS= 1Bonus chapter]
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