Chapter 480: God of Order and Reason! The Next Deity—Eywa!
The devout believers who worshiped Guilliman were the first to have their life and soul drained away by the warp. They had been kneeling in the temple, engaged in their daily prayers, when suddenly everything was taken from them, their existence turned into the fuel for Guilliman's ascension.
Countless forces of faith and emotion transformed into blazing flames that poured into the star-gate, guiding themselves into Guilliman's form.
The priests of Atlantis, the warriors wielding guns and swords, the scientists who learned the truth and tried to escape by spaceship—all of them, in but a fleeting instant, were reduced to ashes.
With Guilliman's aid, the Atlantean civilization had produced a number of outstanding psykers, yet in this moment they suffered agony beyond measure. The stronger the individual, the more unbearable the torment as life and power were reclaimed; Guilliman's divine punishment allowed them to feel with painful clarity how death crept closer with every step.
Tens of billions of psychic energies surged into the warp. Guilliman's projection there had already taken on its basic outline, and within a few short minutes the last remnants of the Atlanteans were annihilated.
The civilization that had once created countless dazzling cultures and technological marvels was gone in an instant, its vast splendor snuffed out. Only cold mechanical factories remained, working tirelessly without pause.
The sudden disappearance of the Atlanteans became a historical mystery upon this land. Only faint traces of their existence endured—yet no corpses were ever found.
By this time Guilliman's projection had manifested fully: a mechanical heart composed of countless fine gears, symbolizing order and reason.
Radiant blue light spread like tendrils across every corner of the warp, scattering sacred brilliance.
Tzeentch's logic and schemes twisted into a tangled knot beyond unraveling. Slaanesh awoke from its Infinity ecstasy, while Khorne roared in restless rage.
Nurgle, head still bowed over his cauldron of plagues, stirred on. A new principal deity had arrived; for the warp, perhaps this was not a bad thing. Nurgle chose to accept it calmly.
Meanwhile, the pale sun within the warp was making contact with Guilliman's mechanical heart. Their powers resonated, shaking the warp itself. The Emperor's projection would need to descend from the throne of principal deity, and Guilliman had to rise.
The entire chessboard of the Chaos Eight-Pointed Star trembled under these two mighty forces.
"Is the Emperor truly safe and sound, then? Does this mean humanity can survive forever beneath Guilliman's protection?"
David Martinez gazed at the awe-inspiring sight before him and could not help but ask Alt Cunningham.
But Alt only shook his head. "The Emperor merely has no need to ascend for now. We've altered the sequence. If we fail to find a substitute in his place…"
"Then, after many years, he will become the eighth in line to rise as a warp deity. How many years exactly depends on the warp's changes—perhaps a hundred thousand, a million, ten million…"
"No one can say for certain."
The executives of the Megacorp stared intently at this moment destined for the annals of history. Past, present, and future emotional forces surged Infinityly into Guilliman's body.
The other four Chaos Gods' powers weakened to varying degrees.
For Guilliman embodied order and reason—forces that would exist within every timeline of this universe.
This struck all four gods, but none more so than Slaanesh, whose power diminished the most.
Order and excess were virtually absolute opposites. Guilliman's ascension meant Slaanesh would lose countless believers and sources of emotion.
The process of rising from man to god was long, yet Guilliman felt time fly by.
In his mind flashed immeasurable streams of information. The wisdom, restraint, endurance, and rationality of all living beings filled him, making him ever stronger.
His sudden appearance caused the four Chaos Gods' power to wane rapidly. The undercurrent of order and reason grew denser still, until the four could no longer hold back.
If this continued, the faith and power they had amassed over tens of thousands of years would be undone in a single moment. Even if the chance was slim, they had to find a way to halt or disrupt Guilliman's ascension!
"Roar—!!"
Guided by Tzeentch, the enraged Khorne turned into raw emotional energy, surging forward as a tide of blood against the intricate mechanical heart.
Tzeentch and Slaanesh followed. After a moment's hesitation, even Nurgle laid aside his ladle and joined the assault. It did not fight with all its might, however—ready to abandon the attempt and flee at any time.
This war of the gods within the warp did not overly affect the material universe. Still, humanity could glimpse at the edge of Mandeville Points the shifting colors and violent power fluctuations.
Until the war was over, no one would dare enter the warp for interstellar travel.
Facing the assault of the Chaos Four, Guilliman showed no fear. With the Emperor and the God-Emperor both present, striking back would not be difficult.
Soon, as the Emperor and God-Emperor joined the fray, the two pale suns blazed forth with intense light and flame, igniting the mechanical heart.
Guilliman's body then fully dissolved and vanished. His vision widened and soared, spanning every corner of Infinity time and space.
His consciousness flowed through countless intelligent beings. At one moment he was a newborn babe crying for milk, at another a soldier ant marching with head lowered.
Now he was a weary traveler on a desolate world, now a raging beast upon a hostile planet.
At one instant he was a butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou, the next he was Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly. Where immortals descending from heaven would find their tribulations no more than an illusory dream, Guilliman in this instant dreamed billions upon billions of lives.
Each dream lasted the entire lifetime of that being.
He nearly became lost in this cycle, unable to awaken.
Fortunately, the calls of the Emperor and God-Emperor made him recall his own name. After only a second or two of confusion, Guilliman continued down the final stretch of his ascension.
Under the shelter of the twin suns, Guilliman at last rose. When he opened his eyes, he had already shed mortal flesh. A single gaze could now encompass the entirety of the universe!
The God of Order and Reason—!
The warp, already chaotic and turbulent, now roared with an unprecedented storm stirred up by Guilliman, the Emperor, and the God-Emperor against the Four.
More and more demons were struck unwittingly, hurled into the material universe. No sooner did they appear than the vigilant Imperial armies swarmed upon them, destroying them on the spot.
The crimes these demons had once committed in the Imperial Palace of Terra were all repaid in full this day.
And now, fully ascended, Guilliman—taking the form of a vast and intricate mechanical heart—stood against the Four Chaos Gods. Seeing the situation lost, kindly Nurgle was the first to flee.
The matter was decided. From this moment on, Guilliman was one of them. Though not a Chaos God, he was now one point of the Chaos Eight-Pointed Star.
In a sense, Guilliman had become their colleague. In the power struggles to come, he would surely be a force among them.
Soon afterward, cunning Tzeentch also departed alongside Nurgle, and Khorne followed. Only Slaanesh, seething in frustration, lingered in indecision.
Though both Tzeentch and Khorne were at odds with Guilliman's reason, the conflict was not absolute. But between Slaanesh and Order and Reason, there could be no reconciliation.
The future power balance of the warp was plain to see. Nurgle, opposed to Khorne, would seek Guilliman's alliance. Slaanesh would court Khorne against Guilliman.
Tzeentch, ever the manipulator, would continue to play the middle, steering the game to harvest more power from change.
…
Main Universe, Multiversal Base.
"Success!"
With the retreat of the Chaos Four and Guilliman's ascension complete, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, then broke into a frenzy of celebration.
The joy in their hearts was no less than the day, a century ago, when they first captured the planetary consciousness of Pandora—Eywa.
A hundred years ago, Universal Megacorp established communication with a planetary consciousness for the first time, realizing that such a supernatural existence truly did exist. And now, they had mastered a method to elevate a god!
Such rapid progress was simply beyond belief.
In just a century, this generation of Megacorp staff had witnessed countless miracles.
If they could figure out a way to reduce the cost of god-making, then in the future the Megacorp could station guardian deities on planets, reducing the cost of rule.
To create mountain gods and earth spirits from Journey to the West, or Erlang Shen at Guanjiangkou, would no longer be a dream!
"Contact the Emperor and Guilliman as soon as possible, and confirm their current condition."
Li Ang did not let this victory make him lose his composure. Guilliman's successful ascension was only the beginning of the God-Making Project; there were far more thorny and troublesome matters still ahead.
To build a complete god-making industry chain, they would have to fully secure two sources.
The first was the Warp.
Guilliman's essence came from the Warp, and it was no easy matter to cultivate a Great Daemon essence there.
Controlling just one or two Warp domains would never be enough to satisfy the Megacorp's needs. They would have to seize more Warp territories from parallel universes—perhaps even compel the Chaos Four themselves to serve the Megacorp, selecting suitable Great Daemon essences as reserves.
The second source was the Civilization Breeding Grounds.
At present, the Megacorp's breeding grounds were still too small in scale. Even though they already spanned an entire star sector, the capacity was still far from sufficient to support high-quality, high-volume development.
All things have spirit; the more intelligent and wise a species, the more faith and emotional energy it could provide.
Breeding only clumsy, brutish space beasts was of little practical value.
Thus, the annihilated Atlantean civilization was just the beginning. Next would be breeding units codenamed "Assyrian Civilization," "Minoan Civilization," and "Aztec Civilization."
They would become part of the sacrifices, destined to perish at the hands of gods before the Eternal Truth was found.
"Send word—proceed with opening the next Warhammer parallel universe, expand with more breeding civilizations, and find a way to drive down the costs."
Li Ang gave the order.
His mood was relatively good. With the Emperor having offered this token of loyalty, Li Ang could now entrust important tasks to this exceptional staff member without worry.
Once the Emperor returned, his position would be no lower than that of senior executives like V or Alt.
And the role the Emperor would assume in the future would be that of the Megacorp's unprecedented Chief Commander of God-Making!
Li Ang even intended to set up a department especially for him—Pangu.
"Boss, if we're going to foster another new god, who should we choose? Don't tell me it'll be Guilliman again…"
Alt Cunningham couldn't help but ask.
Guilliman, as the God of Order and Reason, was certainly excellent. But if they were all Guilliman, wouldn't that be a bit too monotonous? And besides, how many gods of reason could there even be?
"Don't worry. I already have a new candidate in mind. For now, it remains confidential."
Li Ang smiled. He had already decided who would be chosen in the Warhammer universe as the next new god.
It would not be himself, but the planetary consciousness of Pandora—Eywa.
Eywa had dwelled on Pandora for many years, honing the art of harmony between life and nature to perfection. The only reason it had never ascended was that Pandora itself was too small.
The limited number of Na'vi could never provide Eywa with enough faith to elevate it to a higher tier of divinity.
Moreover, in the Megacorp's early days Eywa had been used like a power generator—any faith energy it gained was immediately requisitioned by the Megacorp.
In recognition of Eywa's long years of service, elevating it now as the Warhammer universe's God of Nature and Harmony was more than fitting.
Li Ang believed that Eywa's natural, effortless way of governance would be no less effective than Guilliman's rational order.
"Very well, then. I'll contact the Emperor at once."
Alt Cunningham nodded and withdrew.
…
Warhammer 40K Universe, the Warp.
Of the two pale suns, one had already dimmed.
The God-Emperor had willingly merged into Guilliman, burning away the emotional impurities he had absorbed. The blazing Mechanical Heart shone in the Warp, dazzling and unique.
The Emperor and Guilliman stood face to face, feeling each other's presence.
Moments earlier, in order to shield Guilliman's ascension, the Emperor had almost single-handedly stood against the Chaos Four.
The God-Emperor was still gravely wounded, so the Emperor had not let him expend too much power; he needed to conserve strength to purge Guilliman's impurities, helping him maintain his reason.
Looking at Guilliman, now suffused with divinity and power, the Emperor felt a rare pang of emotion. Having become a god, there was no longer a trace of doubt or "flaw" to be seen in Guilliman's eyes.
All the weaknesses of mortality had vanished from him.
"Father, we have succeeded—or rather, humanity has succeeded."
Guilliman's tone carried no discernible emotion. It was not a celebration of his successful ascension, but simply the statement of a fact.
The Emperor's expression showed his surprise. He had prepared himself for the possibility that Guilliman would lose his humanity, forget his role as a Primarch of the Imperium, a son of the Emperor.
But from what he saw, Guilliman had not allowed godhood to erase his old temperament and memory. He still remembered what he once was.
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