Datch walked over, bent down, and picked up the two Master Balls that had sealed the brothers.
The deep-purple spheres trembled slightly. Inside them, Gork and Mork's WAAAGH! energy still swirled violently.
Each time something struck from within, a faint green light flared across the surface of the Master Balls.
"WAAAGH!"
The Bonebreaker, who had witnessed it all, let out an ear-splitting roar.
The instant Gork and Mork were subdued, pure, undiluted rage exploded from the chest of that gigantic body, raised by the Reality Stone to the peak of Krork power.
A terrible burst of WAAAGH! energy blew away the Ork metal that was still burning.
Gork and Mork, the great ones countless Orks had pursued all their lives, had been imprisoned by that human through despicable means.
"WAAAGH!"
Countless Orks followed suit, throwing back their heads and roaring battle-cries at the sky on pure instinct.
A terrible surge of WAAAGH! energy erupted and rushed instinctively towards Gork and Mork.
The C'tan each used their own abilities to stop it.
"To subdue the Ork race completely, nameless lord, those two green-skinned gods must be completely subdued as well."
Cegorach approached Datch and spoke.
The Laughing God still wore the form of a Harlequin in colourful motley. On his mask, smiling on one side and weeping on the other, the two faces flickered back and forth at a dizzying speed.
"Only by controlling those two green gods can the entire Ork race be dominated. They are the ultimate end of every Ork's genetic instinct, the core of the WAAAGH! field, and the control valve set by the Old Ones."
"So long as the brothers keep fighting inside the Master Balls, the Bonebreaker and his Ork army will not stop attacking until the universe itself perishes."
Datch, who had been deep in thought, threw the Master Balls and summoned the brothers.
The spheres cracked open in mid-air, and deep-purple light spilled out.
Two gigantic green figures appeared once more on Armageddon's scorched earth.
Endless WAAAGH! energy flowed into them, healing their wounds and restoring their broken weapons.
The pair were unbelievably short-tempered. The instant they were released, they pinpointed Datch's location.
They knew full well that this small human in strange clothes had arranged all of this.
Only by killing him can we win back our freedom.
Gork and Mork charged Datch side by side.
Their newly formed WAAAGH! battle-axes traced straight, fierce trails of green light through the void.
The next instant, an invisible force of the rules wrapped around them, seized control of their bodies and locked them in place.
The war-axes stopped several metres from Datch, and the green WAAAGH! energy spurting from their blades froze solid.
Unimaginable pain flooded the minds, flesh and souls of the two green gods, eating away at their will.
To them, time slowed to a crawl.
To every onlooker on the battlefield, it took less than ten seconds after their release for Gork and Mork to begin groaning in agony.
From standing to kneeling, from kneeling to crawling on the ground, from roaring to begging.
Yet to Gork and Mork, those seconds were an eternity.
They were tormented by the most terrible pain in the world.
Their souls and flesh were crushed again and again and forced to change shape.
Each time they were rebuilt, a new and fiercer pain was poured into wounds that had not yet fully healed.
The cycle repeated until they learned to prostrate themselves abjectly before the nameless existence. Only then did the suffering end.
Gork and Mork stopped resisting and submitted to the Nameless Ones.
The anger that the Bonebreaker and the entire Ork race had held towards the Nameless One vanished in an instant.
By giving orders to Gork and Mork, Datch could now control the greenskins.
After the confrontation with their gods, the Orks surrendered.
With that, every problem in the real universe had been cleared away.
The C'tan, the T'au goddess, and Gork and Mork had all been obtained.
The Necrons, the T'au and the Craftworld Eldar had all become vassals or allies of the Imperium of Man.
The only problem left was the Tyranids coming from beyond the galaxy.
But the Tyranids would have to wait.
As the old saying goes, to drive off an enemy from outside, one must first secure peace at home. Face an unknown foreign enemy rashly, without settling the conflicts at home, and one will end up with nothing.
First defeat the four Chaos Gods, seize the Warp and build a Pantheon for humanity, then gather the power of the entire galaxy to oppose the Tyranids.
By then it would no longer be the Imperium of Man alone fighting the swarm.
The Necrons, the Orks, the Eldar, the T'au, and every god of the Pantheon would fight shoulder to shoulder.
It would be an unprecedented war, every race united against invaders from beyond the stars.
Datch summoned the many returned Primarchs, the C'tan and the Eldar representatives to discuss how to fight the Warp, and whom to attack first.
The conference was held in the circular strategy hall in the innermost part of the Macragge Executive Council.
With a mere snap of his fingers, Datch gathered in one place people scattered across the galaxy.
Whatever they had been doing, they were teleported straight into the hall and left speechless.
The most speechless of all was Rogal Dorn, who had been asleep, hugging the blanket his grandfather had given him.
When he opened his eyes to a great crowd in front of him, he nearly had a heart attack.
On the dome of the hall an Imperial star-chart drawn by Guilliman himself had been carved, and on the walls hung the banners of every Legion that had returned to its home world.
A gigantic circular strategy platform rose from the centre of the floor, projecting a holographic chart of the entire galaxy.
Each theatre of war was marked with points of a different colour.
Guilliman, Vulkan, Jaghatai, Leman Russ, Rogal Dorn, Corax and the other Primarchs sat around the platform.
The C'tan stood quietly in a corner of the hall.
The Eldar representatives — Yvraine, Sylandri Veilwalker, Eldrad and others — sat on the opposite side.
This time His Majesty the Emperor attended the conference as well.
In spirit, at least. He was, of course, still seated on the Golden Throne, unable to appear in person or speak.
The one who spoke for him at the conference was Valdor, who had seen through the Yellow King's true form.
He was the first Captain-General of the Custodian Guard, the Legio Custodes, and had fought at the Emperor's side during the Unification of Terra.
He had led the Custodes at the forefront of the Great Crusade.
During the Siege of Terra, he had boarded the Vengeful Spirit together with the Emperor.
Alongside Malcador, he had helped the Emperor build the Imperium, and was one of those who represented the Emperor throughout it.
As for the other attendee, no explanation was needed. It was none other than the Emperor's close friend, Malcador.
When everyone had taken their seats, Datch had his subordinates switch on the hologram projector.
The strategy platform projected a real-time energy map of the Warp at its centre, and the image split automatically into four parts.
The blue region represented the Crystal Labyrinth of Tzeentch, lord of all change.
The deep-crimson region represented the Brass Throne of Khorne, the Blood God.
The purple region represented the Six Circles of Excess of Slaanesh, the Dark Prince.
The green region represented the Garden of Nurgle, the Plague Father.
Under ordinary circumstances, Nurgle was stronger than Slaanesh.
But Pudge's rise had done great harm to the dead fat nerd, turning the despair and decay that should have flowed into the rotten garden into pure hope and life.
As a result, Nurgle had weakened until he was the weakest of the four gods.
"Why I've summoned you here is obvious."
Datch looked over the Primarchs, faction representatives, C'tan, and other celestial beings.
Understanding showed in everyone's eyes.
Humanity and the Chaos Gods were about to clash in a battle of myth.
This war would be no smaller than the War in Heaven, and it would affect every race in the galaxy.
"Can we at last wipe out this cancer for good?" Malcador asked excitedly.
He and the Emperor had once worked on Terra on a plan to free humanity from the Warp.
Who would have imagined a day would come when we ourselves would willingly wage war on the Warp?
Their original plan had been to build a network that would free humanity from its dependence on the Warp.
Weaken Chaos step by step, then slowly starve the gods over thousands of years.
A direct confrontation — I never had the courage even to consider it.
The Imperium of Man waging war on the Chaos Gods — unbelievable!
"I propose we deal with the plague god first." Cegorach stood and pointed at the green region of the projection.
"He is the most weakened right now. Since Pudge corrupted it, the Plague Father's Garden of Decay has lost at least a third of its power and fallen to the bottom of the Four."
"If we join forces, concentrate all our strength and drive straight into the heart of the Garden of Decay, we will surely defeat him."
Cegorach paused for an instant, then moved his fingertip from the green area to the rotting mansion at the centre of the garden, forever shrouded in thick plague-fog.
"Our goddess of life, Isha, is imprisoned there too, in Nurgle's mansion."
At the Fall, every Eldar god had been devoured by the newly awakened Slaanesh.
Isha, witnessing the tragedy, wept bitterly. Nurgle heard her cries, rushed over, and snatched her from Slaanesh's fangs.
He confined her in his rotting mansion and made her drink plague-soup day and night, to test the power of his plagues.
"If we can rescue her, our fighting strength will improve as well." Cegorach looked around the assembly and spoke gravely.
"Or are you using this chance to save your goddess of life, and tricking our lord into this adventure for your own ends?" Tsara'noga, the Outsider, stepped forward at once to challenge him.
The C'tan's resentment of Cegorach was truly extraordinary.
Every time they saw the Laughing God's mask, half laughing and half weeping, they could not help remembering how his illusions had tricked them into devouring the memories of their own kin.
"This judgement is based on all the information we have. The plague god is the weakest right now, and targeting him will reduce casualties."
"Isha is only one of the potential benefits of this attack, not our only purpose," Cegorach insisted.
"I disagree," said the Deceiver, Mephet'ran, rising to object as well.
"The four Chaos Gods have survived countless ordeals. They have long since learned to stand together against outside forces."
"They have fought one another in the Warp for thousands of years, yet faced with a common threat from the material universe, they will never weaken one another as they did in the past."
"Once we attack the plague god's domain, the other three will not simply sit and wait for death. So who is strongest and who is weakest no longer matters."
"Whichever Chaos God we attack, we will face the combined forces of all four."
"Then all the more reason to target Nurgle first. If we rescue Isha, our position will be stronger," Cegorach insisted.
"In the end, all you want is to rescue your goddess of life, and you are using our lord as a tool. Are you not?" Tsara'noga stepped forward at once and denounced him.
"This is slander, pure slander. Your words are defamation, a deliberate plot to destroy the precious alliance between my people and the Nameless Ones!" Cegorach shot back, his jester's mask switching between smile and tears at a frightening speed.
"By confronting Khorne, we can free Khaine of the Bloody Hand and give the shattered war-god a chance to be reborn."
"If we defeat Slaanesh, my people will have the chance to gather the Crone's five swords and wake Ynnead, our god of the dead."
"And once the god of the dead wakes, he will become the strongest weapon against the Chaos Gods," Cegorach added. "For us, right now, dealing with the plague god is the best choice."
"Then why not deal first with the shapeshifter, the master of strategy and sorcery?" The Deceiver pointed at the blue region and challenged Cegorach.
"Forgive my bluntness, but you are not discussing how to deal with the Chaos Gods. You are simply targeting my people." The great seer Eldrad rose, unable to stop himself, and strode towards the strategy platform.
In the holographic glow, the hem of his wraithbone robe swayed gently, and uncontainable anger seeped into his voice.
"The Changer of Ways is currently the most powerful of the four Chaos Gods, and fighting him offers the least benefit."
"Fighting any of the other three would be far more worthwhile than fighting the Changer of Ways."
"If we defeat Nurgle, we can save Isha. If we defeat Khorne, we can free Khaine of the Bloody Hand. And if we defeat Slaanesh, we can obtain the Crone's swords and wake the god of the dead."
"Every god we add to our side strengthens our forces and reduces overall casualties. This is the simplest strategic arithmetic, and it has nothing to do with my people's selfish interests."
"..."
Watching the Eldar and the C'tan argue fiercely, Datch began to understand the ancient factional feuds.
On the surface, they were discussing strategy, yet in truth each side was quietly pursuing its own agenda.
The Laughing God wanted to save the goddess of life, while the Outsider and the Deceiver were watching for a chance to take revenge on him and settle old grudges.
Honestly, I feel completely powerless here.
This was daily life when managing an alliance of vast races, gods, and Primarchs. Fortunately, he held absolute power of decision.
"You aren't the ones who decide this battle. I only want your proposals," Datch snapped. The unmistakable authority in his voice silenced both sides at once.
He turned to the Primarchs and signalled for them to speak.
Guilliman stood and spoke first.
"I support Cegorach's strategy. Defeat the plague god first. He is the weakest and the easiest target."
"Even if the other three send reinforcements, his foundation is the weakest, and we have Pudge's help."
"And if we harass the other three gods at the same time, it will become much easier still."
The other Primarchs gave their opinions one by one. All leaned towards Cegorach's proposal.
"And you two?" Datch asked, looking at Malcador and Valdor.
"Our lord supports dealing with Nurgle first. He has stated clearly that he will confront the god of change himself," said Valdor.
"If the enemy tries to break out of the domain of change, he will lead the Legion of the Damned and charge."
"The lord of humanity's opinion is the same as mine," Malcador said.
"Then…" Datch thought for a moment, then looked around at everyone present.
"Then let's defeat the plague god first and finish off this fat nerd in one blow."
"Gentlemen, this time we will eradicate this cancer from the galaxy for good and restore peace to the stars."
....