Inside the Noctis Labyrinth.
This was a vast, pitch-black void that completely defied the structural laws of real space. There were no boundaries, no directions, no distinction between up and down, and not a single ray of light, presenting a profound darkness similar to the background of the universe.
The powerful seal set by the Emperor—humanity's foremost psyker and a master of the Warp—evidently incorporated a great deal of "heavy-duty" Warp techniques. It even utilized certain Dark Speech powers, considered extreme even by the Warp's standards, as the final insurance. In the time since the completion of this seal, the Emperor had visited frequently, installing numerous relic technologies from humanity's Dark Age of Technology.
It was, in the truest sense, a combination of technology and ruthless power.
At this moment, within the dark void.
A giant dragon composed of stellar matter lay coiled in the depths of the void, its tail meeting its head. Its body possessed an indescribable beauty, with silver-white points of light flowing across its "scales" like solidified nebulae. Its back was arched, and its wings were tucked against its sides, the membranes shimmering with the colors of an aurora.
It was too large. At first glance, it gave the illusion of looking up at a star.
Unlike the distorted, unstable humanoid energy Adam had encountered in the Necron tomb, this remnant of the Void Dragon was remarkably well-preserved for a C'tan. Perhaps this was why the Dragon Guardian referred to the Emperor's great deed as "slaying the dragon," and why the Mechanicus Magi, who received fragments of knowledge from the Void Dragon in their dreams, called it the "Dragon of Mars."
Just then, it seemed to sense something.
The gargantuan body shifted slowly in the void, every movement triggering tremors in space. The coiled body began to unfurl, like a sleeping star finally waking up. The Void Dragon lifted its head.
Was this... an illusion? No, it was not.
A change that had not occurred in ten thousand years was taking place. The space, as boundless as the universe, began to warp and fluctuate. The seal once thought to be indestructible was slowly loosening and opening.
The Void Dragon's eyes widened. Could such a good thing truly be happening? Had that Dragon Guardian finally reached her limit? I knew the spirits of those vermin were fragile!
It felt a surge of ecstasy, wanting nothing more than to rush out and take its revenge immediately. Eons of accumulated rage and hatred churned within its body, and distorted energy erupted from its silver-white form like solar flares dancing on the surface of a star.
Through the gradually opening seal, it could already see the scene outside. Two figures stood silently. One was an existence it knew all too well—the latest Guardian, who had kept watch here for ten thousand years, an old acquaintance.
The other...
Looking at the figure holding the golden longsword and feeling the energy radiating from them, the Void Dragon's expression changed instantly. That tiny figure momentarily overlapped with a certain silhouette from tens of thousands of years ago.
The Void Dragon reacted immediately!
The roar it emitted was not sound but a string of spatial waves, sweeping out with ancient hatred and shaking the surrounding space.
"State your name, Dragonslayer!"
"Interesting. How do you know my intent?"
Adam was about to strike but paused slightly upon hearing this; it was clearly beyond his expectations.
"Hmph, are you mocking me?" The Void Dragon's words were full of derision. "Is the C'tan curse clinging to you a fake? To my eyes, it is clearly a 'medal' left behind after a part of my body was shattered by your kind."
Adam was stunned. Was there such a thing? He truly didn't know.
When he slew that shard of the Void Dragon, his mind had been entirely focused on exploring the wonders of his newly acquired spatial perception; he hadn't noticed anything else. He hadn't expected the Void Dragon shard to leave a curse on him as it fell.
Adam knew that the fall of a C'tan left a curse. For example, the Flayer Virus that had haunted the Necrons for countless ages was a prime example—a curse from the fall of the C'tan Llandu'gor, which caused the mechanical Necrons to develop an extreme hunger for flesh, driving them into eternal madness and a total loss of reason.
But why didn't I feel anything?
Adam thought for a moment and realized the crux of the matter. It was his reality-warping ability at work again. Because Adam himself had never noticed it, the curse was equivalent to non-existent, and thus it had caused no impact.
He couldn't help but feel a bit conflicted. Adam considered himself a person who valued rationality and liked to explore his abilities step by step, but this highly idealistic reality-warping power, while providing infinite convenience, certainly caused its share of blunders.
The moment he realized this, Adam felt it.
Heaviness.
His limbs and bones suddenly became incredibly heavy. His joints felt like rusted machinery; every tiny movement required massive effort. Something like a maggot on a bone was wrapping around him, trying to drag him into the abyss.
Heaviness.
His limbs and bones suddenly became incredibly heavy. His joints felt like rusted machinery; every tiny movement required massive effort. Something like a maggot on a bone was wrapping around him, trying to drag him into the abyss.
But in the next second, Adam shifted his thoughts. The curses wrapping around him vanished instantly, like pencil marks erased by a rubber. It was as clean as if it had never existed.
What a joke; he was now a Rank 4 Reality Warper!
The Void Dragon fell silent. Its massive head froze in mid-air, its two eyes—like burning stars—staring fixedly at Adam.
This wasn't right, was it? Was a C'tan's curse something so easily dispelled?
For a moment, the Void Dragon's mindset became quite strange. Was there something special about this species called humans? Forget about that Ape-God in the past who used spears and swords—which seemed primitive to a C'tan—to beat it into submission and drag it into the Labyrinth. What was the situation with this one?
Before it could recover from this absurdity, it saw Adam's eyes. It was—killing intent.
Adam moved.
The void exploded beneath his feet, and the golden flames trailed behind him like the straight wake of a meteor. The light was so intense that, in this space ruled by darkness for ten thousand years, it was thoroughly illuminated by true light for the first time.
The Void Dragon instinctively closed its eyes. Even from a great distance, it could feel the terrifying power contained within that light.
Wait, why do I find it blinding? I am a C'tan; no conventional weapon in the material universe can harm me. Furthermore, even if I take ten thousand steps back, I don't even have retinas!
Before the Void Dragon could fully understand this bizarre occurrence, Adam had already moved without a word. A streak of crimson-gold flame sliced through the sky like a falling star, the razor-sharp edge of the sword slashing directly toward the massive dragon head.
"I'm doing a damn jump-slash!"