The Sacred Sun's all-encompassing dark-side power surged out across the entire region in an instant, so terrifying it blotted out everything.
This caused the Sun of Hope, which had activated its Devouring Authority, to suddenly swell several times in size. Its originally brilliant, gentle gold light was stained with far more black.
It now looked even more like a balloon that would pop with a single poke.
"Hiss~
The Emperor, that old man, really dares to lend, huh? Dumping this much at once, without even thinking it through?!"
Eden stared at this scene, feeling completely numb.
He had a vague feeling that the Emperor's accumulated dark-side power was greater and fiercer than that of the Chaos Gods themselves. No wonder those gods were so afraid of him.
Most of the Imperium of Man's negative emotions and faith had probably all converged upon the Emperor.
If the Chaos Gods ever saw that, wouldn't they drool themselves dry?
And now, that terrifying reservoir of dark-side faith energy that would make even the Chaos Gods slobber was being thrown out in great, heaping chunks.
Just in sheer volume, it was already surpassing what Grandfather Nurgle could store up by scheming for millennia through a single plague war.
In other words, Nurgle's great "blessing" operation, planned with so much effort over thousands of years, pouring in all kinds of costs and armies, and then getting beaten silly by everyone…
The evil power he finally harvested still wasn't as much as this one wave the Emperor was dumping right now.
But… this really was too much. Hard to handle!
"As expected, you really are the true final big boss behind the scenes, the real evil-power tycoon of the Warp…"
Eden sighed quietly, tossing out a jab.
It was actually a rather sad thing. The fact that the Emperor could accumulate such a huge amount of negative emotion and dark-side faith power was enough to prove how miserable humans really were.
Negative emotions outweighed positive emotions by far too much.
It might be called the Sacred Sun, but looking at all that hidden dark-side power behind it, calling it a Dark Sun wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Fortunately, his own Sun of Hope was somewhat special; it could help the Emperor share and burn off a bit of that load.
Not much, but better than nothing.
The Sun of Hope used its Devouring Authority to gulp down the surrounding dark-side power, striving to strengthen its own darkness.
The Diablo the Destroyer, Lord of Terror that symbolized his dark side grew ever more solid and powerful.
His concept was constantly being reinforced: the embodiment of terror, destruction, and peerless authority.
That might actually be a good thing.
After all, the Sun of Hope was, at its core, a big, round, gentle ball of light. A big chubby ball was suited for giving people hope and encouragement, but it was not good at fighting.
Just from its titles on the bright side alone, you could see its nature: Lord of Life, god of fecundity and birth, one of the Warp's super batteries (Father of the Machine-Goddess, eternal power source), and so on.
Those aspects had excellent supportive effects, but the downside was a lack of destructive power, and insufficient combat ability in and of itself.
On the conceptual level alone, it just didn't cut it. Too gentle.
If he tried to oppose the Chaos Gods on the bright side alone and fight a high-dimensional god-war, the likely outcome would be: "You've picked the wrong target; kicking me is like kicking a cotton pillow," and then getting kneaded and squeezed by the Chaos Gods however they liked.
That was also one of the reasons why, when the Goddess of Life Isha faced the Chaos Gods in the past, she could only cry and sob.
Her authority wasn't suited for combat. Unlike the other Eldar gods who could at least put up some resistance, she was even slower than the others when it came to running away.
Thankfully, he had realized this problem in time, and deliberately planned and raised his own Diablo the Destroyer, reinforcing his dark-side authority.
That was a power created specifically for battle, an authority that would let him in the Warp directly swing his fists and throw down with the Blood God Khorne, brutal and explosive beyond measure.
Of course, if he actually went to fight now, he could fight, but he probably wouldn't win.
Still, he wouldn't be squashed flat and rolled into a ball the way he had been before, and he would at least have the ability to run if the fight went badly.
That meant he had gained the basic ability to survive in the Warp, able to move beyond the Sacred Sun's shelter without immediately meeting his end.
Unless he got too cocky, dropped his guard, and blundered straight into an encirclement laid by the Chaos Gods.
"Tasty, yeah~"
Eden could clearly feel his dark-side authority growing more powerful, and he devoured that dark-side power even more voraciously.
From the perspective of his dark side, this dark-side power was unimaginably delicious, like the most exquisite food in the entire galactic Warp.
But as that dark-side power piled up, he gradually felt mounting pressure and a swelling urge.
He was in the middle of savoring the process of becoming a god, hoping to ascend to become one of the highest deities of the Warp.
To become a true god.
"This is bad. It feels like I've gone a bit overboard with the refill!"
Eden suddenly snapped back to himself and realized that the Sun of Hope had already grown to nearly half the size of the Sacred Sun. That was an extremely dangerous sign.
He was about to cross that black boundary line and tip over into the dark side, and might even induce a split of his own personality.
He hurriedly sent a message to the Emperor, begging the old man to stop the supply of dark-side power, lest something go wrong.
At that moment, the Emperor responded, his tone rather stern:
"Savior, you are being too cautious.
You are nowhere near your limit. You can take on more power. As the Emperor of the Imperium, you must bear more responsibility and more of the price.
For the Imperium, for the survival of mankind, we have to take greater risks, not shrink back in cowardice.
That will only bring humanity more defeats!"
"Old man, I'm begging you to wake up here. If this keeps going, I really might not be able to hold on much longer!"
After hearing the Emperor's reply, Eden's very liver was trembling. At such a critical moment, it turned out the Tyrant persona was the one holding the reins of the Sacred Sun.
Wasn't this just asking for it?!
Everyone knew that during the Tyrant period, the Emperor was at his most merciless and cold, treating almost everyone around him as tools, especially the Primarchs.
The Emperor in his Tyrant persona could sacrifice anything for the Imperium.
Including himself.
That was pretty hard to swallow. Even the Primarchs couldn't stand an Emperor with that kind of personality.
Like right now: who could guarantee that this Tyrant-version Emperor wouldn't be willing to throw the Sun of Hope into even greater danger just to bleed off the Imperium's dark-side energy?
That kind of unclear outlook, with sacrifice that could drop at any moment, was terrifying, and might not actually be good for the Imperium at all.
No wonder the Primarchs of that period basically all cursed the Emperor behind his back. It wasn't without reason.
"If I throw a big psychic bitch-slap over there right now, I should be able to wake the Emperor's true self up, right?"
Eden swallowed hard, hesitating, but also worried that doing so might enrage the Tyrant-Emperor and bring down even greater danger.
The Tyrant-version Emperor was a being far closer to the Dark King.
But as the dark-side power kept pouring out, he gradually stopped sending messages to the Emperor and instead ramped up the Devouring Authority's absorption of that dark-side power.
That was the impact of the dark-side power on his thoughts.
He subconsciously wanted more dark-side power, and he was getting a bit carried away. Even the way he looked at the Sacred Sun was starting to change.
Eden vaguely began to feel something like: "This is how a true man should be," and, "A great man born under heaven and earth cannot remain forever beneath others."
He wanted to climb the divine ladder, step by step up to ever higher tiers, becoming a being that surpassed both the four Chaos Gods of the Warp and the Emperor.
Those ideas refused to be suppressed, and they began to show in his actions as well.
"I am the highest existence.
I am terror and destruction itself. Primordial annihilation was born for my sake!"
Eden suddenly realized that his own heart was howling without his control.
At the same time, in the Warp.
The phantom of Diablo the Destroyer spewed out hellfire and roared at the Chaos Gods.
That violent roar stunned the Chaos Gods for a moment, then they glanced at each other and let out scornful laughter.
They laughed, setting off yet more shrill laughter throughout the Warp.
A mere lesser god dared claim he would become the Primordial Destroyer, an existence even more mysterious than the other eight divine thrones combined. That was equivalent to stepping directly on their heads.
They had been competing against each other for uncountable ages, all for the sake of winning the Great Game and becoming the one and only.
But the newborn Diablo the Destroyer didn't even have the most basic divine rank yet. How could he qualify to join that competition? He was nothing but an arrogant upstart.
Just like Vashtorr: worth paying attention to, perhaps, but nowhere near qualified to join the Great Game.
This newborn Diablo the Destroyer was the same.
Sooner or later, under the combined pressure of the gods, he would bend the knee like Vashtorr had, becoming one more piece of the Chaos domain and living off the scraps the Chaos Gods left behind.
Yet it didn't take long for the Chaos Gods' gazes to change. They noticed that Diablo the Destroyer had gathered chaotic power far beyond what his current divine rank should allow.
That power was vast and staggering.
Eden himself had no time to care what the Chaos Gods thought. He was too busy panicking.
"The Sun of Hope can't absorb any more of this dark-side power. If this keeps up, it's going to blow completely and suffer even deeper corruption!"
He racked his brains, trying to figure out how to bleed off this power that exceeded his carrying capacity, and thus resolve the overload crisis of dark-side energy.
Fortunately, a solution had already existed for a long time.
A hundred-billion warp-power subsidy, blasting out blessings to his believers with everything he had, letting them feel Diablo the Destroyer's generosity.
And letting the Chaos Gods see how lavish he could be. It wasn't his own dark-side power anyway, so he didn't feel bad spending it.
The Emperor would be thrilled to see him burning it off like this. He might even secretly be delighted.
"Come on, pray. We're doing a mass blessing giveaway!"
Eden gathered up an enormous amount of dark-side power and sent it along the lines of faith into the Terror Legion's network, a red packet so big that everyone got a share.
After that, he projected large amounts of dark-side power into the region where the fleets were massed, beginning to squeeze out the Chaos Gods' power. Large volumes of evil power were neutralized as the two sides clashed.
Put simply, it was everyone burning power and throwing it all into the sea.
They would see whose faith-power reserves were larger and fiercer, and who could endure until the end.
"Praise Diablo the Destroyer, praise the God of Terror and Destruction!"
The Terror warriors received Eden's unconditional blessing of warp power and were moved to the verge of tears. If they weren't still in the middle of a battle, they would have dropped to their knees on the spot.
Especially the higher-tier beings among them. This massive infusion of evil power was enough to keep their exploding blood-point loans going.
They could hardly help but cry out the name of that existence, wishing they could call him "Father!!!"
Of course, the Terror warriors had no right to call Diablo the Destroyer that.
But they could call the Dark Prince that, because it was that existence, their lord, who had begged Diablo the Destroyer for this grace.
For both Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines, calling someone "dad" was the highest expression of closeness and reverence.
At that moment, all the clashes aboard the many Chaos warships came to a halt. Both the Terror Legion and their enemies, all those Chaos warriors, felt the surging, entangled tide of evil power.
Especially the power from Diablo the Destroyer, Lord of Terror!
They were jealous of the grace the Terror warriors had received. They were all working the same job, yet the neighboring god had just handed out a super red packet worth years of wages, and everyone there got a share.
Whereas on their side, all they'd gotten was a tiny bit, basically just overtime pay. Set side by side, the gap was glaring.
This was happening mainly because Eden was using a massive volume of his own faith-based dark power to force out and neutralize the Chaos Gods' projected power, seizing the initiative over this region.
Right now, in terms of stored faith-evil-power, there wasn't a single Chaos God who could match him, because he had the entire dark-side reservoir of the Sacred Sun to squander.
"Blood God, why is Diablo the Destroyer so generous?!"
Arno stared at the Terror warriors around him, fully armed to the teeth and in a state of wild festivity. Then he looked down at his own battered blood-axe and his patched-together, bargain-bin Terminator plate.
A sudden wave of bitterness washed over him, and he realized how much disparity there was in this universe. The Bloodbound warband was too poor; they simply couldn't provide more equipment.
More importantly, their god wasn't as generous as Diablo the Destroyer.
This champion of the Blood God thought far more about Diablo the Destroyer in his heart.
While he envied the Terror warriors, he felt a faint calling toward Diablo the Destroyer, though he hadn't yet reached the level of worship, nor become his follower.
Arno's will was rather firm.
Like most champions of the Blood God, he only let Diablo the Destroyer's name pass through his heart for a brief moment.
Under that influx of foreign power, it was something he simply couldn't avoid.
"Eh, who's calling me? Such a sweet mouth. How can I not send a red packet… Here you go!"
Eden's dark-side persona, Diablo the Destroyer, seemed to sense the call of the Chaos warriors and, without any hesitation, sent them another wave of blessings.
Though not as much as what he gave his Terror warriors, it was still a very generous share.
He broadened the scope of his blessings. Even if they weren't his believers, as long as they called his name, they got something!
This cross-faction blessing left the Chaos warriors completely stunned. They were in the middle of fighting the Terror warriors, and suddenly the enemy god had bestowed blessings on them?
It was like their own dark god had handed each of them a pack of cigarettes, stuffed them into a minivan, and driven them over with machetes in hand to go jump someone.
Then, when they arrived, they found their enemies all holding shotguns, and their enemy god was handing out wads of cash to his own underlings.
And casually tossing a few big bills to them, the opposing thugs, as well.
How were they supposed to keep fighting after that? What kind of psychological shock was that supposed to be?!
"Blood God, that Dark Lord Diablo the Destroyer actually answered me… answered a non-believer?"
Arno accepted Diablo the Destroyer's blessing and felt that terrifying power of terror and destruction. Tears sprang into his eyes.
He had never once received so much power in one go!
In the past, these champions of the Blood God could only use the evil power they themselves generated, after the god had taken his cut, slowly accumulating strength bit by bit.
It was like all their past wages had been a handful of copper coins, and now Diablo the Destroyer had suddenly shoved a stack of hundred-credit notes into their hands.
That would leave anyone completely dazed.
Especially now that the Chaos Gods' own projected power was being forced out.
Those Chaos warriors who had received Diablo the Destroyer's blessing could feel how powerful, rich, and generous he was.
Some even felt that this existence was stronger than the Blood God or their own patron god. Otherwise, how could he possess the authority to grant them so much power?!
"Great Diablo the Destroyer…"
Arno couldn't help but mutter in shock, actually speaking that existence's name out loud.
Bang!
His face immediately took a heavy punch.
The sudden attack from right beside him knocked him off balance, slamming him into a piece of nearby machinery amidst a shower of sparks.
It was another Chaos Terminator glaring at him in fury, accusing him of betrayal:
"Traitor! You disgraceful traitor, you are not worthy of being one of the Bloodbound!"
Roooaaar—
Arno roared back, ripping through the twisted metal and climbing to his feet.
The sharp-headed champion of the Blood God was truly rattled by the accusation.
He stammered, demanding, "Let me ask you this, answer me…"
It wasn't as if he had voluntarily chosen to worship Diablo the Destroyer. Was he supposed to refuse that blessing?
And could the Blood God ever give him this much? What other god could be as generous as Diablo the Destroyer?!
Yet before Arno could spit out all those questions, the other Chaos Terminator went quiet. He had also received Diablo the Destroyer's blessing.
And he hadn't refused it either. Or rather, he couldn't bring himself to refuse such a lavish grant of evil power.
Chaos warriors were all former Imperial warriors who'd turned their backs to go freelance, seeking nothing but unrestrained freedom and more power.
Now that Diablo the Destroyer was handing them evil power for free, how were they supposed to say no?
Between these two Chaos Terminators, an unspoken air of "smells pretty good, doesn't it" began to spread. And not just here; the faith of many Chaos warriors was shifting toward Diablo the Destroyer.
One thing was certain: once these Chaos warriors accepted Diablo the Destroyer's power, they would inevitably come under his influence, and might well offer up their faith.
After all, most Chaos warriors still retained their own minds and could choose what benefited them most.
At this moment, Eden, controlling Diablo the Destroyer's phantom, roared at the Chaos Gods once more.
He cast them a condescending gaze, the gaze of a being backed by a hundred-billion's worth of evil power: "Come on, try matching me in burning evil power!"
This was a naked provocation hurled at the Chaos Gods.
"Unforgivable. What outrageous arrogance and stupidity…"
On the Chaos Gods' side, their rage flared even higher.
Compared to Diablo the Destroyer's taunts, what bothered them more was the evil power they had already spent.
Usually, the Chaos Gods would go to war over the tiniest sliver of faith-power, fighting to the death. Even when granting blessings, they were extremely cautious.
Only believers who had passed trial after trial would be granted such grace.
Everything they invested had to bring back even greater returns, so that they themselves could grow stronger and gain more advantage in the Great Game.
Now, looking at all the evil power that had been erased in its clash with Diablo the Destroyer's power, their hearts ached.
Seeing Diablo the Destroyer not only blessing the Terror Legion but also granting power to their own Chaos followers, they simply couldn't understand. Such precious evil power, just given away like that?!
Their very livers hurt. This kind of waste was nothing short of idiotic.
Yet, very soon, the Chaos Gods noticed the side effects this was creating: their followers' faith was tilting toward Diablo the Destroyer!
None of them had ever dumped blessings on non-believers at this scale. Diablo the Destroyer had shattered that precedent and introduced too much change.
More importantly, Eden's Sun of Hope had truly unique properties.
His gentle authority allowed him to absorb and transmit far more power, practically acting as a universal stabilizer. That was the only reason he could pull this off.
These changes forced the Chaos Gods to respond.
"Something has shifted. Fate is changing. We must put in more power,
To turn this back."
The Changer of Ways' raven-black body kept twisting and reforming as he warned the others.
"We act together."
Khorne, the Blood God, reacted first, looking toward the other Chaos Gods.
His meaning was obvious.
They would all have to pour out evil power together, in equal amounts.
That way, no one would get the short end of the stick, and no one would be allowed to hold back and gain an edge in the Great Game.
In truth, the Chaos Gods were always watching one another, guarding against any of them secretly saving their strength.
After a brief convergence of wills, the Chaos Gods reached agreement. They would each cough up a hefty sum of evil power and crush Diablo the Destroyer's momentum in one stroke.
The chaotic power projected by the four gods, squeezed out through gritted teeth, was unimaginably terrible, a tidal wave towering into the heavens.
The Warp boiled and churned instantly. The sector where the fleets fought was flooded with more iridescent colors, and the gods' horrific phantoms manifested in full.
"At last, you're here…"
Watching this, Eden grew more and more excited.
He had already stored up a massive quantity of dark-side power and had been waiting for this very moment: "Hundred-billion subsidy! Tenfold leverage! Zero-interest lending! Benefits for all! Time for you lot to bleed dry!"
As the Chaos Gods projected their power, Eden hurled out his stockpiled dark-side power as well, kicking up an even fiercer storm.
This wave of dark-side projection from him covered an even broader area, and every single Chaos being got a share.
"Blessings. Bless them all.
Everyone gets a cut, or those old geezers in the Warp will think I can't hand out blessings!"
Eden burned through the Sacred Sun's accumulated dark-side power like water, scattering it around as if it cost nothing, with all the swagger of a god personally paying for the entire war's evil-power expenses.
The Emperor, that old man, was smiling so hard his face wrinkled, and this vast projection of dark-side power was already triggering even more changes…
(End of Chapter)
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