Ignoring the chaotic battle and slaughter in the city below, the figures of Leticia and her party appeared directly atop the magnificent golden pyramid of Tizca.
The moment they stepped onto the platform, a mental pressure so immense it could crush a mortal soul in an instant crashed into them like a tangible tsunami.
This pressure did not stem from malice.
It was more terrifying than any malicious attack.
It was pure sorrow, regret concentrated to the extreme, and a bottomless despair capable of extinguishing a star.
Angronia's amber pupils contracted instantly, and the fire of her Battle Intent flickered slightly under the scouring of this pure negative emotion.
Sanguinia's snow-white wings instinctively folded, wrapping around her; her sky-blue eyes reflected the hellish scene before her, filled with unbearable pain and sorrow.
For the first time, the perfect face of Fogremia lost its customary elegance, replaced by a visceral disgust and coldness, as if facing a completely ruined, irreparable work of art.
At the edge of the platform, space itself was wailing.
Rifts torn open by chaotic psychic energy, like bleeding wounds on this planet, covered the sky in a hideous display.
Through those rifts, one could vaguely see the unpredictable, mocking, and deceitful realm of Chaos God Tzeentch within the Subspace.
Countless impossible colors flowed there, and countless false futures were born and extinguished.
And at the center of all this chaos and pain...
was the center of the platform.
A massive, one-eyed giant with a physique like red mountain rock was kneeling there powerlessly.
He was Magnus.
the crimson king.
The Primarch of the Thousand Sons.
With hands capable of crushing adamantium, he clutched his head in agony, as if trying to crush his own skull.
Out-of-control, storm-like psychic energy was erupting wildly from him as the center.
That power was so immense and chaotic that the surrounding laws of reality were thoroughly twisted; the solid platform floor melted like wax, only to re-solidify into grotesque and bizarre shapes the next second.
Howls that sounded like an injured beast, not human, were squeezed from the depths of his throat, echoing across this burning world.
"Father..."
His voice was broken, hoarse, and filled with a child-like confusion and incomprehension.
"I just... just wanted to warn you..."
"I just wanted to tell you... Horus has betrayed us... I just wanted to fulfill my duty as a son..."
He had not noticed the arrival of Leticia and the others at all.
He was completely, hopelessly immersed in his own hell named "reality," built from his good intentions and ideals.
Before his eyes, images of Prospero being burned by orbital bombardment flashed repeatedly.
In his ears, the desperate cries of his sons under the blades of the Space Wolves echoed constantly.
He thought he had glimpsed the truth.
He thought he could prevent the tragedy.
He paid the price for breaking the Edict of Nikaea, he endured the pain of tearing the Webway, all because he just wanted to save the father he revered so much and the Human Empire he loved so deeply.
But why...
Why was the price he paid the destruction of his home?
Why was the price he paid the blades of his brothers?
Why was the price he paid his father's cold judgment, devoid of even a shred of trust?
"Why!!"
Magnus roared at the sky, a sound filled with endless pain and unwillingness.
From his only remaining, massive eye, what flowed out were no longer tears, but scalding, golden liquid composed of pure psychic energy.
At the very moment his mind completely collapsed and his soul was about to be torn to shreds by his own regret and pain.
In the sky, within that largest Subspace rift, a sudden change occurred.
Countless colorful tentacles, woven from lies, schemes, and false Hope, silently reached out from the rift.
Like sharks smelling blood, they exuded seductive, whispering murmurs of corruption, slowly and gently wrapping around Magnus's massive, trembling body.
"Come now... my pathetic child..."
A voice composed of millions of overlapping sounds, filled with temptation and false compassion, resonated directly in the depths of his soul.
"Look at what your father has done to you? Look at what your brothers have done to you?"
"They have betrayed you, they have destroyed everything you have."
"Your loyalty has only earned you slaughter. Your good intentions have only earned you destruction."
"Give up... abandon that useless loyalty, abandon that ridiculous persistence..."
"Come to me, my child..."
"Into my embrace, I will grant you the power of vengeance, I will grant you the power to rebuild your home, I will grant you... the power to save everything..."
Those tentacles exuded an irresistible warmth and sweetness.
They gently, soothingly wrapped around Magnus's arms, his chest, and his shattered heart.
Magnus's face, twisted by extreme pain, slowly began to calm down under this "warm" soothing.
The flames of madness in his single eye gradually extinguished.
Replaced by a hollow numbness of someone about to give up everything.
Yes.
He is right.
Father doesn't want me anymore.
My brothers want to kill me.
My home... is already gone.
My sons... are all dead too.
Persistence... what is the point of it anymore?
Let it be destroyed.
Just like this, let it all be destroyed together...
Just at the moment Magnus was about to completely give up resistance and let those tentacles drag his soul into the endless abyss.
A voice rang out.
It was a cold, calm voice, devoid of the slightest emotional fluctuation.
But this voice contained a supreme divinity, as if it came from the very beginning of the universe's birth.
Like the first ray of dawn tearing through the eternal night, it instantly overpowered the millions of overlapping seductive whispers, overpowered the earth-shaking wails and cries, and clearly echoed in every corner atop the pyramid.
"He is not your child."
The moment the words fell.
Those colorful tentacles that were about to completely devour Magnus, like snow under the scorching sun, let out a silent shriek and violently retracted back into the Subspace rift!
As if they had encountered something more terrifying and of a higher dimension than themselves!
This sudden turn of events gave Magnus, who was on the verge of sinking, a violent jolt.
He slowly, with great difficulty, lifted his head, which was as heavy as a mountain.
He used his single eye, which was flowing with golden psychic energy, to look in the direction the voice came from.
And then, he saw it.
He saw a woman with a perfect figure, dressed in pure black divine robes, walking slowly toward him through the psychic storm capable of twisting reality.
She walked very slowly, but with every step, it was as if she were treading on the nodes of cosmic laws, causing the surrounding violent energy to calm down and submit to her.
Behind her followed three other women, equally beautiful in figure, but with entirely different auras.
One was burning with red Battle Intent, like a volcano about to erupt.
One was dressed in gorgeous purple, as proud as an empress inspecting her territory.
One had huge white wings on her back, as holy as an angel from mythology.
They just walked quietly to his front.
Walked to him, this shattered giant abandoned by the entire universe.
When Magnus's single eye, which had just fallen into numbness, saw clearly the flawless face of Leticia, radiating a faint divine light, his pupil contracted to the extreme.
His beast-like wailing, which had lasted for so long, came to an abrupt halt at this moment due to extreme shock.
The next second.
A rage, even more insane than before and like a volcanic eruption, spewed out from his single eye!
He took this incomprehensible scene before him as the most malicious mockery from that God of Trickery!
"You..."
Magnus's voice was as hoarse as two rusty iron plates rubbing against each other.
"...who are you?"
"Is this another illusion sent by Chaos God Tzeentch to mock me?"
------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the fanfiction has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 or more chapters in advance over on my patreon: patreon.com/FTLGenBen
Also every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone, Thanks.