Zhou Ye stared down at the domain of blackness below, his face impassive. Konrad Curze's abilities were terrifying; one only had to look at the methods of the Night Lords to understand that. This made Zhou Ye all the more interested to step inside and see for himself.
He plummeted from the sky, slamming into the center of the city. An icy chill immediately washed over him.
"Konrad Curze has also awakened a part of his Warp essence. He might not be on the Raven King's level, but this ability..."
Not rushing to act, Zhou Ye took a moment to feel out the nature of the domain, a strange look on his face. The man's Warp powers seemed to be related to nightmares, capable of dragging a person into their most feared visions. Of course, this required him to first find the nightmare buried deep within a person's soul via the Warp. The problem was, in the Warp, Zhou Ye was a nothing. A complete void. He produced no ripples whatsoever. So...
"How does it feel, my brother?" Curze's gloomy voice echoed in his ears, clearly oblivious to the situation.
"Come out and face me," Zhou Ye said calmly, looking around the pitch-black space. Since the man hadn't brought any real harm to his citizens, he would afford him this courtesy.
At that exact moment, behind him...
CLANG!
A crisp metallic sound rang out as Zhou Ye blocked a sudden strike.
"Hahaha! I cannot see! I see nothing at all! My brother, what did our filthy father use to create you? What is your nature, that I am completely blind to it? You know, I can even see the tragic future of Magnus himself!"
"First, I am not a Primarch. Second, I am just an ordinary human."
Zhou Ye was getting tired of this nonsense. Who had he provoked to be called a Primarch all the time? He really wasn't one. If they were going by seniority among the galaxy's Perpetuals, he was one of the older ones. Even Malcador the Sigillite was just a kid in his eyes. The only ones truly older than him were the Emperor, Elda, and Ollanius Persson.
"Hahahaha..." A wild laugh echoed in the darkness. "My brother, listen to the words you speak. No matter. Allow me to see your true nature for myself!"
In an instant, a flurry of attacks erupted from the darkness. Most of Konrad Curze's traps were based on his prophecies, but one should not mistake him for being helpless without them. After all, he was a Primarch. A storm of attacks, including melta blasts, rained down on Zhou Ye. While they didn't seem intended to cause collateral damage, their power was still substantial. Combined with Curze's intermittent sneak attacks, Zhou Ye felt a growing sense of frustration.
Damn it, he just wanted to stretch his muscles, but this guy's fighting style was so infuriating.
"My Lord!!!" Ashira's voice rang out in his mind. He had noticed that Zhou Ye was being suppressed and was about to lead his men in a charge, but Zhou Ye stopped him with a single thought before he could even take a step.
"Do not move!!!"
"Show me your nature, my brother! Fulgrim was just a puppet. You, who defeated Mortarion, cannot be without an essence of your own!"
"This domain of his is interesting. By awakening his Warp essence, he's able to create a screen of darkness that blocks perception. I'm starting to understand how the Lion and Guilliman must have felt."
Zhou Ye's brow furrowed as he weathered the attacks. He realized that in a pure melee, there was no easy way out of this. Damn it, he just wanted a workout, and this guy was going to make him fail like this?
If that was how it was going to be, then fine. Zhou Ye slowly closed his eyes.
In the next instant...
CRACK.
Everything around them changed. The very space of the area began to twist and overlap. The two of them vanished from their original location, and the curtain of darkness disappeared with them.
They reappeared on a sandy beach. Curze stared, stunned. "Tzeentchian sorcery? No, I felt no psychic fluctuation."
CLANG!!!
In that moment of hesitation, Zhou Ye charged. His golden sword swung with immense force toward Curze, who instantly brought up his twin lightning claws to block. The next moment, the sheer power of the impact caused the beach beneath their feet to collapse.
"You do not understand the nature of a Primarch's Warp essence, do you, my brother? Just because I cast a shadow over that city does not mean I can only cast a shadow over that city."
The moment Konrad Curze's words fell, an all-consuming darkness erupted from his body. In the blink of an eye, it enveloped everything in Zhou Ye's line of sight, an infinite blackness covering his entire field of vision.
"!!!"
But in that instant, a feeling of dread seized Zhou Ye's heart. It didn't come from the darkness itself, but from the ability Curze had just unleashed at full power.
A coordinate.
The full might of Curze's power had just stirred a tiny ripple in the Warp. It was minuscule, perhaps no more than a single leaf falling onto a still pond, but in the Empyrean, a ripple was a ripple. And every time the Warp stirred, it was a terrible sign in Zhou Ye's eyes. It was precisely this kind of thing that had forced him into two consecutive clusterfucks.
"It seems the plan needs to change. I can't play around with Curze anymore."
Zhou Ye's decision was immediate. To sever any possibility of another massive brawl, he was changing the plan. He had originally intended to humor Konrad Curze, to play with him for a bit. But things were different now. He had to be cautious and nip any potential changes in the bud.
So...
"Konrad Curze, have you ever seen the sun rise?"
"?"
Curze was momentarily confused by Zhou Ye's question. In the very next instant, a fierce wind buffeted him as Zhou Ye shot into the sky.
Energy surged through his body. With the expansion of his Star Rail network, Zhou Ye's own stamina and power reserves were constantly increasing. In the past, he would never have used this level of power.
He soared into low orbit, flames erupting around him as he activated the Authority of the Herrscher of Flame.
In the next moment...
Konrad Curze shielded his eyes. A moment later...
VMMMM!!!
He stared at the sky, dumbfounded. A golden sun was slowly rising. Its dazzling light enveloped him completely, tearing through all shadows. The brilliant radiance shone directly onto Curze's gloomy face, and he instinctively raised a hand to block the light.
He was a blasphemer who walked in shadow, a being heavy with sin. Yet, deep within him was a primal longing for the light. Otherwise, he would never have repented before the Emperor's statue, nor would he have calmly faced his own assassination.
"Father..."
The word escaped Curze's lips instinctively. Then, to his astonishment, he saw the sun plummeting directly toward him.
BOOM!!!
A wave of searing heat swept across the deserted beach. Zhou Ye looked down at the unconscious form of Konrad Curze. The Primarch's powers were troublesome, but this was realspace, not the Warp. And Curze had not fully awakened his potential, much like Lion El'Jonson. Currently, the only Primarch in the Imperium who had fully awakened was the Raven King, Corvus Corax. So, regardless of who was stronger or weaker in the 30K era, in the current age—even counting the Daemon Primarchs—Corax was likely the strongest. The Emperor had given them all the best possible foundations when he created them; those Primarchs with incomplete essences were like clowns in comparison.
"Now then, time to collect your blood. I happen to need a special forces unit, and it would be a waste not to use your power."
Grabbing the self-delivering Konrad Curze, Zhou Ye teleported directly to the Hyperion in orbit above. Without any ceremony, he plunged a syringe into Curze's exposed neck and drew a vial of blood. Excellent. With this, he could create Night Lords gene-seed, and it would be far superior to the original. After all, this version of Konrad Curze had already awakened a portion of his Warp essence.
"Ugh..."
A low groan escaped Curze's lips, and he slowly opened his eyes. A moment ago, he had felt a familiarly massive slap knock him unconscious. Then, a sharp pain, and he was awake again. He was surprised to find himself completely restrained.
"So soon?"
Zhou Ye was slightly surprised, looking at the conscious Primarch. He was currently tapping away at his data-slate, locking onto the coordinates for Quintus Hive. He planned to toss Curze through the Star Rail network directly to Quintus. For an ordinary person, or even a standard Astartes, this would be a death sentence. But for a Primarch, it would be nothing. He was going to send this guy for a father-son reunion.
But now that he was awake, it was a bit more troublesome. If he struggled, who knew what might happen.
"Forget it. Maybe I'll just throw him into the void?" Zhou Ye thought, with no small amount of malice. Just then, the airlock door hissed open, revealing the starry expanse outside.
"Wait, are you Sanguinius?"
Looking at his immobile form and the familiar sight of open space, Konrad Curze felt the image of his unknown brother merge with another: that black-hearted Archangel who had once kicked him into the void.
"It's no big deal. I threw the Emperor onto Quintus before. He's probably still there. Go find him. Stop bothering me."
"WAIT!!!"
Curze began to panic. He actually liked it here. His prophecies were all jumbled and useless, which gave him an incredible sense of relief. With his visions gone, his mental state had improved dramatically, as he no longer had to experience those terrible futures. As for the mission the Emperor had given him—to bring Zhou Ye back—he had completely forgotten about it. To hell with the Emperor. These days free from the torment of prophecy were too comfortable. He had even held back, ensuring he didn't cause any deaths. He had already decided he was going to stay here permanently. Worse, if he left, it would be extremely difficult to get back.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Just then, alarms blared throughout the entire battleship. Zhou Ye paused his actions. A moment later, he fell silent, then released Konrad Curze.
He sensed something was wrong. In his perception, the Warp was churning with titanic waves. The barrier between reality and the Empyrean was fluctuating violently.
In the next moment…
CRACK.
A sound like tearing reality echoed through the void. A wound that stretched across the entire galaxy ripped open.
The Great Rift.
"So, it has finally come..." Zhou Ye murmured, staring at the colossal fissure.
The Great Rift could not be stopped. Behind it were the four Chaos Gods—or rather, five. One mustn't forget this was Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade. He was not yet strong enough to face all five of them at once. More importantly, his current location was in the Ultima Segmentum, far too distant from Cadia. He couldn't reach it unless he traveled through the Warp, and he would rather die than do that.
"What is that?" Curze stared, dumbfounded, at the Great Rift. He clearly had not foreseen this event. Or perhaps he had not come into contact with the key figures involved, rendering him blind to this particular future.
"Cadia has fallen. This great rift will split the Imperium in two. And unfortunately for us, our current location is in the Imperium's dark side."
"What are you doing?"
"Confirming our current position... we're not in the dark side. But a part of my network is. To punch through the Great Rift and link up directly, my current network isn't powerful enough."
Zhou Ye's expression was grim. The Warp was beginning to erode the materium. His own location was terrible; he was right next to the Great Rift. A portion of his Star Rails was lucky enough to connect to the new Imperium Nihilus, but the network was still too small. It couldn't punch through the Rift directly.
"I need a much more powerful rail, one that can hopefully span half the galaxy. That would provide much greater power. Hm?"
As Zhou Ye was thinking, a massive spatial tear ripped open before him, and an Ark Mechanicus came tumbling out.
SHIT!!!
Staring dumbfounded at the emerging vessel, and at the Vengeful Spirit in hot pursuit behind it, Zhou Ye knew.
The clusterfuck was here again.
---o---