This is the bonus chapter for reaching 600 Powerstones.
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Fulgrim stood in the center of the crumbling temple, tightly gripping the Blade of the Laer.
The sword trembled gently in his hand. The pink-purple light flowing across the blade resonated with him.
He looked up at the Imperial official who had just stumbled inside.
"Have you figured out who did this?"
His voice was still calm, but within his eyes—which were already beginning to glow with a pink-purple hue—lay a bone-piercing chill.
The Imperial official was shaking violently. He swallowed hard, his voice trembling just as much.
"It... it was some Imperial Auxilia..."
"They somehow got their hands on high-yield explosives and blew up thirty-two energy pillars simultaneously..."
Fulgrim's brow furrowed slightly.
"Imperial Auxilia?"
A look of genuine confusion surfaced on his flawless face.
Imperial Auxilia?
Those mortal cannon fodder he had never given a second glance?
Those expendable resources that died by the millions on the battlefield?
How dare they pull something like this right before his victory celebration?
He instinctively tightened his grip on the Blade of the Laer.
A thrill of pleasure vibrated from the blade, and a voice whispered directly into his mind:
Look at them... those ants dare to ruin your perfect victory celebration...
They deserve to die...
Everyone who questions your perfection deserves to die...
Deep within Fulgrim's pupils, that pink-purple light flared a fraction brighter.
But ultimately, he was still a Primarch.
A demigod forged by the Emperor's own hands.
Even though he was being eroded by Slaanesh's whispers, he still retained his baseline rationality.
Debris began to shower down from the temple dome.
The reliefs detailing the history of the Laer started to disintegrate, deep cracks spiderwebbing wildly across the walls.
Fulgrim looked up at the collapsing dome.
The entire floating coral platform was rapidly sinking.
His gaze swept over the Emperor's Children waiting for his orders: Kaesoron, Eidolon, Tarvitz.
Over the panicking Imperial officials and Auxilia commanders.
Over Vespasian, still kneeling a short distance away.
And finally, his gaze settled on the cracked, silver-grey figure.
Gabriel Santar.
First Captain of the Iron Hands.
Son of Ferrus.
Just moments ago, Gabriel had tried to stop him from taking the sword twice.
He even went as far as rushing the altar ahead of him.
Right now, his silver-grey Terminator armor was covered in fine cracks, shattered by the sheer force that erupted from the sword.
Deep within Fulgrim's pupils, the pink-purple light flickered faintly.
But for now, he ignored it.
Now wasn't the time.
"Evacuate everyone."
His voice was calm, carrying the unquestionable authority of a Primarch.
"Prepare the transports. We relocate to the Deep Blue Coral Platform."
"The victory celebration will proceed as planned."
"Execute the order immediately."
The moment the order was given, the entire temple sprang into action.
The Emperor's Children warriors rapidly organized an orderly evacuation, a purple tide surging toward the temple gates.
The Imperial officials stumbled along behind them, while the Auxilia commanders screamed themselves hoarse, directing their soldiers to fall back.
--
[Light of the Emperor Regional Chat]
[Worthy of Sanguinius's Blood]: "Inquisitor, what's the play now? Do we just sit back and watch Fulgrim evacuate?"
Vance was sprinting through the chaotic crowd right behind Darius Stanton.
He glanced at the Epic Quest progress on his system interface: 48%.
The Chaos faction's progress had ultimately stopped at 95%.
He took a deep breath and replied in the channel:
[The Imperium's Purest Inquisitor]: "We lost this one."
"There's no point in executing the final suicide bomber plan. Let's preserve our strength and our current identities!"
The channel fell quiet for a second.
[I Eat Tomatoes]: "Lost?"
[For the Regent Yellow Guilliman]: "Are we seriously just giving up like this?! We have Imperial Coins! We can still put up a fight."
[Sanguinius Is My Husband]: "[Paul Dawn] alone has more Imperial Coins than all of us combined, and even he couldn't stop Fulgrim's corruption. What exactly can we do?"
[The Imperium's Purest Inquisitor]: "That's exactly why I said we lost."
"We were too naive before."
"We thought that as players, we could just butterfly effect everything and change the whole timeline."
"But it turns out that in a shithole universe like Warhammer, you can't afford to be naive. We have to expect the absolute worst at all times."
"Even with [Paul Dawn], the number one player on the server, we still couldn't change Fulgrim's fated corruption."
"The Chaos Gods are just too strong. Even if every single one of us turned into suicide bombers, it wouldn't leave a scratch on Fulgrim."
He rapidly typed into the regional channel:
"But bros, there's no need to panic!"
"Through this campaign, both Crimson Dawn and the Chaos faction have showed us a completely new way to play this game."
"Roleplay!!"
"Whether it's Crimson Dawn or the Chaos faction, they all still have to pretend to be Imperial Loyalists. That just proves that our faction's underlying power is still the strongest."
"And we don't even need to pretend, because we actually are the Imperial faction. We have the absolute biggest backer in the galaxy: the Imperium of Man."
[Worthy of Sanguinius's Blood]: "The Inquisitor is right. It makes no sense to just sit back and let Crimson Dawn and Chaos wear our uniforms."
"It's only 000.M31!"
"With our abilities as players, as long as we grind for a while, we can basically join any Legion within the Imperium."
[The Imperium's Purest Inquisitor]: "Exactly."
"If we can't change Fulgrim, then we move on to the next one."
"Angron."
"Magnus."
"Mortarion."
"Even the Warmaster Horus..."
"We still have a chance."
"But we have to increase our own power first."
"At the very least, we need to have the same level of strength as Crimson Dawn..."
"Astartes augmentations, genuine elite-tier wargear, and a systematic progression path."
"Otherwise, we won't even have a seat at the table."
"We'll just be forced to watch others try to stop it, watch them fail, and then watch the tragedy happen anyway."
The channel fell into silence.
All the Imperial players stared at those lines of text.
They thought back to the scene that had just played out.
[Paul Dawn] stepped up to stop Fulgrim, only to be blasted back by the sheer force erupting from the sword, his Terminator armor cracking under the pressure.
If a monster capable of brutally thrashing Lucius had failed...
What could they, as ordinary players without even Astartes augmentations, possibly do?
Throw their lives away?
But in the Warhammer universe, lives are the absolute cheapest currency.
[Love Eating Grox Cans] spoke up slowly:
"The Inquisitor and Sanguinius are right."
"We really do need more power."
"Right now, we can't even beat the Solar Auxilia."
"What's the point of talking about stopping Chaos, or stopping the Horus Heresy?"
[I Eat Tomatoes]: "But how do we get stronger?"
"We don't have the foundation Crimson Dawn built up during the first closed beta."
[The Imperium's Purest Inquisitor]: "Actually, our foundation is the easiest to build up."
"Don't forget our current identity: Imperial Loyalists."
"An unkillable, immortal Loyalist force."
"In the 30K era, where the Legion of the Damned doesn't exist yet, we are an incredibly rare asset."
"The players who chose the Door of Dawn joined Crimson Dawn and got their first beta foundation."
"The players who chose the Door of Chaos joined the four Chaos Gods, so they're holding all the cards in the Horus Heresy storyline."
"But those of us who chose the Sacred Door have our own path."
"We can pledge our loyalty directly to the Emperor, or Roboute Guilliman, and use their resources to undergo direct Astartes augmentation."
"Even though we can't tell them the history of the future."
"As long as we prove how special we are and leverage their help, we can quickly become vastly stronger."
"Then we find an opening and intervene in the corruption of the next Primarch."
"If we fail once, we try twice. If we fail twice, we try a third time."
"One day, we will succeed."
[Worthy of Sanguinius's Blood]: "Well said, totally agree."
[I Eat Tomatoes]: "Agreed +1..."
[The Imperium's Purest Inquisitor]: "So don't get discouraged. Let's just focus on evacuating this platform first."
Over a thousand gold IDs replied: "Understood."
--
[Crimson Dawn Regional Chat]
[Have You Been Loyal Today?]: "Paul, are you alright?"
Paul watched the evacuating crowds, his silhouette as steady and immovable as iron.
He looked down at his Gorgon Terminator armor.
Just a moment ago, right as he was about to touch the Blade of the Laer, the power of Slaanesh hadn't just shattered his Terminator armor—it had actively tried to erode his physical body.
That was power personally blessed by the Prince of Pleasure.
It contained an absolute, ultimate allure.
The ultimate sensory stimulation.
The ultimate... corruption.
It had whispered directly into his ear: Why resist pleasure?
Submit...
Experience true perfection...
It is far more beautiful than hope... far warmer than compassion... far more enduring than resolve...
Thankfully, he was protected by his Champion traits.
The moment those whispers touched the five rotating stars deep within his soul, they were instantly purified.
The five star traits spun rapidly, erupting with a five-colored energy that formed an invisible barrier, completely shutting out Slaanesh's whispers.
Right now, he was using the power of Compassion as his primary force, combining it with surging psychic energy to meticulously purge the foul corruption that had invaded his body, drop by drop.
He replied in the channel: "I'm fine."
"Slaanesh's power, amplified by this temple, was influencing Fulgrim at every given second."
"Everything we did was within His calculations. It couldn't be stopped, and it couldn't be changed."
"Fulgrim was destined to fall."
"This was the fate he chose for himself."
"His perfectionism, his sickening, pathological pursuit of perfection, is the fundamental reason he fell."
"That sword was merely the catalyst."
"I could feel it. Even if I revealed my true form and went all-out to restrain Fulgrim just now, he still would have ended up with that sword."
"This isn't just Slaanesh's power."
"It also involves the power of the other Three."
"This is a specific canon event... watched over jointly by all four Chaos Gods."
"They would never allow this canon event to be changed."
"Because this event marks the very beginning of the Heresy."
"It seems... the Great Heresy is truly about to begin."
The channel fell silent for a second.
[Selling Flatbreads at the Terra Palace Gates]: "Fuck, does that mean we literally can't change any of these corrupted Primarchs?"
Deep within Paul's pupils, the five stars slowly rotated.
"It's not that we can't change them."
"Fulgrim chose to fall because of his own obsession with perfection; we could only try our best to stop it."
"As for the other three..."
"We just have to wait for the right moment."
"For now, let's just get out of here."
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