Humm—
As Angron was engulfed and incinerated by sacred flames, the void gave birth to another abnormal fluctuation.
"They still won't give up. They're trying to reclaim Angron's soul?!" Eden's brow tightened.
The Chaos Gods had invested far too much into Angron, and They had forged him into the core of the Chaos ritual array.
Of course They were unwilling to abandon him. They wanted to recover and reuse what They could, or else it would be a massive loss.
"Too bad. You don't get a second chance."
Eden stared into the Warp-storm that no ordinary being could perceive and curled a cold smile.
He had been guarding against this exact move all along. That was the whole reason he had dragged Angron back into realspace.
With gears grinding, the weapon bay on the back of the Redemption Armour opened, releasing several pitch-black, heavy servo-skulls.
They were blackstone mechanical units. Once deployed, each measured roughly two metres in length.
They could suppress Warp energy in a limited area. The coverage was small—only a few dozen square metres—making them a compact interdiction device.
But it was enough.
All he needed was to cover the space around Angron, and the Chaos Gods would be unable to exert influence over Angron's soul.
Those blackstone machines booted in milliseconds.
Faint ripples spread from them, blanketing the surrounding area.
The Warp-storm and the turbulence of the void, the moment they entered the ripple-covered zone, quietly returned to stillness.
The Chaos Gods' method failed. They couldn't get their hooks into Angron's soul.
Inside the blackstone barrier, Eden felt the world become unnervingly silent. His psychic awareness could no longer hear the Warp's whispers and shrieks.
Nor could he sense the evil presence and pressure emanating from the Chaos Gods.
"This is… oddly uncomfortable. I'll need time to get used to it."
He felt a kind of withdrawal.
He was used to "seeing" everything around him with his psychic awareness, pre-empting danger.
Now that the Warp was cut off, the sudden severance hit hard.
Eden shifted outward a step.
The instant he left the blackstone barrier's coverage, he felt the Warp surge return.
The Chaos Gods were startled and furious. Anyone watching their precious property burn to ash would feel their blood pressure spike.
They were even more wary of this mechanical craft in the Saviour's hands.
After confirming the blackstone devices were working, Eden followed the disturbance and projected a message toward the Gods, adding insult to injury:
"Parasites. Today, no one is taking Angron's soul from me. I, the Saviour, the Emperor of the Imperium, said so."
Perturabo saw those blackstone constructs and couldn't hide his admiration.
"Terrifying technology.
"It can reduce Warp activity to 13%, and corruption is greatly diminished.
"If we could use this to build a large-scale field, it would protect humanity within far better than holy psychic power."
That was inevitable.
Holy psychic power purified corruption after it had already intruded.
It was like cleaning up after environmental pollution—still an interaction within the Warp ecosystem, using one type of Warp energy to suppress another. The side effects would remain.
Blackstone interdiction, however, sealed off the Warp directly, cutting influence at the source.
The Lion and the Khan, hearing this, also lit up with interest.
They all looked to the Saviour. If the Imperium could isolate itself from the Warp's corrupting influence, humanity would suffer at least half as much.
"I want to do it too. Unfortunately, current technology can't build a large field, and it's even harder to sustain it long-term.
"Brother, I'll likely need your help researching this. See if we can break through."
Eden looked to Perturabo.
As he spoke, the blackstone devices continued heating up. With his enhanced vision, Eden could see fine cracks forming inside the blackstone components.
According to the experimental data, they could last at most fifteen minutes.
Perturabo noticed the same flaw. His brow furrowed.
Using his clearance, he pulled up relevant files in the Saviour's database and assessed optimisation paths.
"I need a Blackstone Fortress to study the energy circulation pathways. If you can also get me an Aeldari Craftworld, even better.
"Beyond that, I need a group of tech-priests proficient in xenos technology, and heavy dismantling equipment."
The Lord of Iron opened his mouth like a lion, demanding resources beyond what ordinary minds could imagine.
He could tell the prototype of this technology originated with the Old Ones, and it also fused Aeldari-derived methods.
It simply wasn't mature enough yet.
Eden drew a sharp breath.
As expected, there was no upper bound on R&D investment—especially when a top-tier talent joined the project.
Perturabo's first step was asking for a Blackstone Fortress and a Craftworld to strip down for study.
Other than Eden, the Saviour, no one could realistically supply him with such things.
Instead of being frightened, Eden smiled.
When researchers ask for budget, it's a good sign. It means they have a direction. The real fear is when they ask for nothing and open no projects.
How else would Imperial science advance?
Eden looked at Perturabo and approved the request.
"Fine. A Blackstone Fortress is available right now. I'll have it shipped to the Charadon region.
"As for an Aeldari Craftworld, that's harder. Once this war ends, I'll have the Redemption Fleet roam a bit more and see if we can get our hands on one."
Craftworld Aeldari were powerful, but not every splinter possessed strong war capability.
Some fallen Craftworlds had long since lost the ability to truly operate their world-ship, and maintaining it was beyond them.
They lived inside the galaxy's greatest fortress-vessel, yet lived like primitives. In that case, it might not be impossible to take one.
"Of course, you can't call it 'taking.' The Aeldari are still the Imperium's bargain-bin allies.
"Beat them once, then trade: offer the blessing of Isha, the Goddess of Life, plus bulk soul stones.
"Then relocate them somewhere decent. Isn't that better than drifting the galaxy in fear?"
That was Eden's thinking.
He had reason to believe that after the Prince of Pleasure suffered humiliation on the human side, it would likely seek compensation by striking the Aeldari even harder.
The Aeldari would face greater terror and pressure.
Besides Old Ones and Aeldari technology, he might also need to acquire more Necron technology.
Especially the Silent King's dead-zone technology—something capable of locking down whole star regions and cutting off the Warp.
That dead-zone tech was horrifying, but if it could be adapted into human technology, the Imperium would gain a true means of resisting the Warp.
It could seal Warp intrusion routes into Imperial space and protect key regions.
However, stealing such technology from the Silent King was, frankly, hell-difficulty.
That being was the one who had outlasted the Old Ones and betrayed and shattered the C'tan—an apex overlord among apex overlords, unfathomably deep.
Even if it had only recently reawakened and hadn't fully recovered its strength, it was not to be underestimated.
At present, Eden wasn't even thinking about raiding the Silent King.
He was more worried the Silent King would come looking for him.
Eden sighed.
"We'll have to take the long view. For now, I just hope that dead zone stops expanding.
"Best case: both sides leave each other alone, and I get through this critical development phase…"
While the Saviour and the Lord of Iron discussed these matters, the Chaos Gods—ignored and blocked outside the blackstone barrier—grew incandescent with rage.
They were invading, and the Saviour was treating Them with zero respect.
Yet that hateful barrier greatly weakened Warp energy, preventing Them from reclaiming Their jointly chosen champion—Angron's soul.
What worried Them even more was that the Saviour already possessed a nascent framework for suppressing the Warp.
They recalled that region of the galaxy controlled by the mechanical undead.
That region was like a dead black hole—no Warp energy at all, and nearly impossible to invade.
The Necron Silent King and the Saviour alike were massive threats to Chaos. Their technology and constructs had to be destroyed.
Eden didn't bother with the Chaos Gods. He focused on settling Angron's matter.
Granting release to the fallen primarch.
Once holy psychic power erased the Gods' imprints and the Warp-taint from that enormous daemonic body, Eden looked to the Lord of Iron.
"Brother. Your turn.
"Make sure you extract Angron's Warp essence."
The fallen primarch's essence could alleviate, even absorb, negative emotions. Its value was simply too great.
It had to be preserved through the Maugetar array.
Eden could feel it. The Chaos Gods were deeply wary of Angron's essence—otherwise They wouldn't have driven him mad and held him tightly, and They wouldn't now be desperately trying to claw his soul back.
According to records, Angron's Warp essence was already on the verge of awakening in infancy, influencing life around him.
And the moment he rolled out of his pram, he wiped out a squad of Aeldari warriors led by a seer.
Look at it that way.
If that big brute Angron hadn't cracked his skull when he fell onto his homeworld's surface as an infant, impairing his intellect—
Then with an almost-awakened Warp essence from the start plus his raw power, he would have been the complete package.
No matter your childhood trauma, psychological scars, or inner darkness, Angron would have had every primarch little brother neatly taken care of.
He'd have become the primarchs' warm-hearted big brother, their leader.
In that scenario, the Emperor could have retired on the spot.
With the Emperor's sharp-tongued temperament back then, the primarchs might have draped the yellow robe over Angron and made him commander of the galaxy's armies.
Emperor, old man, take a seat. Stop getting in the way of Big Brother Angron's great cause.
"Following that line of thought…
"The Emperor's irrational behaviour back then was probably influenced by the Gods, just to cripple Angron completely."
That was Eden's conclusion.
Which only proved how important that Warp essence was—and how much it could help him.
Imagine if the Hope Sun could absorb and soothe negative emotions. It would be an enormous boon to the Imperium.
It would also amplify Eden's prestige. He'd be welcomed wherever he went.
Now Angron had been corrupted down to the marrow—worse than Horus ever was. He was beyond saving.
Better to keep his essence. Let it serve as penance for the slaughter he'd committed, and let it benefit the Imperium.
Bzzzt—
Countless gemstones rose into the air, reaching a full million pieces.
Each gemstone shared a similar structure, forming an ordered array. At the centre was a black-and-yellow stone radiating a peculiar sheen—the Maugetar Stone.
Perturabo's learning ability was absurd. With the Librarians' support, he reproduced the array capable of drawing out Warp essence in a very short time.
He stared at the formation in the void, confident.
"Brother Eden, the relic is operating smoothly. It can help you siphon Warp essence."
As for why the Lord of Iron was so certain—
Because he'd been hurt by this array before. He remembered the sensation vividly, and now that familiar feeling was back.
"It's locked."
Eden stood at the centre of the Maugetar array, clearly sensing his linkage to it.
Everything was ready.
Eden focused and adjusted his state. In the instant Angron's soul shattered, he dropped the blackstone barrier.
A beam fired from the Maugetar Stone, violently enveloping the broken soul, and then extended along some hidden connection deep into the Warp.
The beam was tugging, extracting something.
In a haze, Eden saw a warm, liquid-like mass of pure light within the Warp.
That was likely Angron's Warp essence—understanding, peace, and love.
"Who would have thought…
"The galaxy's and the Warp's most terrifying madman, butcher—Angron's essence is this gentle."
Eden let out a long sigh.
That was the source of Angron's ability to understand and absorb people's negative emotions. Its inclusiveness was astonishing.
But it also made sense.
The Chaos Gods also embody positive concepts—they simply excel at twisting those concepts into extremes.
They had likely pushed Angron toward the opposite of his own essence, turning understanding, peace, and love into confusion, madness, and hatred.
And so they forged a crazed beast filled with hatred.
They also stole this beautiful concept—this Warp essence—from the Imperium and the Emperor.
Perhaps the Master of Mankind never discovered it at all.
Fortunately, now Eden had taken it back from the Gods.
And Angron, who had suffered in agony for so long, would finally be free.
Gradually, that liquid-gentle Warp essence flowed through the channel constructed by the Maugetar beam and entered Eden's body.
Peace, and love.
In that process, Eden felt a tranquillity he'd never known before. A faint sanctity even settled over his features.
The Hope Sun's turbulent negative energies were soothed.
He was absorbing that Warp essence and converting it into his own essential power.
The Hope Sun's perfect compatibility allowed him to draw in and fuse more essential authorities.
That was the root of the Saviour's strength.
If any other primarch gained this Warp essence, it would be difficult to reach this step.
For example, the fallen Phoenician Fulgrim—when he drew on Perturabo's essence, he merely treated it as fuel for ascension, never using it effectively.
As the new Warp essence integrated, the Hope Sun's authority evolved further.
"The Hope Sun is becoming tougher, calmer. I can accommodate more faith and more shadow-side power…
"And I won't tip into corruption so quickly."
Eden felt the Hope Sun's transformation. His own Warp essence had become stronger.
It was a massive change.
It meant he could become more powerful—and the probability of "going dark and ending up on a toilet like the old man" dropped sharply.
As Eden familiarised himself with the Hope Sun's new authority, his surprise grew.
"More than that, I can now exert greater influence over humanity.
"Through faith, I can erase some negative emotions from believers.
"That will reduce human suffering and help them recover from hardship faster.
"It will also reduce negative emotions at the source, easing the Emperor's pain—and slowing his slide into darkness."
He didn't know how much time passed before Eden's consciousness returned from the Hope Sun.
The moment he opened his eyes, he received an urgent battle report—and he also discovered a remaining shard of soul.
(End of Chapter)
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