A look of utter disbelief washed over Ahriman's face. He glanced at Guilliman, then looked at the triumphant Eldar woman standing beside the Primarch.
Was he confused? Or was everything before him merely an illusion conjured by the Chaos Gods to deceive him?
"These are nothing but hallucinations. Phantoms," Ahriman shouted. "You will not confuse me."
It simply could not be real.
Everything he was seeing defied reality. First, the Primarch Roboute Guilliman was still in stasis on Macragge, the mother world of the Ultramarines, where he had slept for ten thousand years.
Second, even if Guilliman were to awaken, he would never take an Eldar woman as a consort, nor would he lead an army of Ultramarines into the Webway.
"Hahaha! This is too amusing. It seems he has a hard time accepting reality!" Yvraine laughed so hard she could barely stand straight.
Sometimes, she mused, humans were truly a pitiable, albeit cute, species.
"Tzeentch! Is this the illusion you have woven for me?" Ahriman sneered, believing he had deduced the truth. "These images are too fake. I can see through them at a glance."
Although the illusion appeared flawless, almost indistinguishable from reality, the content was simply too absurd. To Ahriman, the scenario was so unbelievable it shattered his suspension of disbelief entirely.
"Hahaha! This kid is a bit funny, Guilliman. He actually thinks we are fake," Axis couldn't help but laugh as well.
This version of "Professor Ahriman" was interesting. In Axis's own world, Professor Ahriman served as the loyal Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons and remained eternally faithful to the Imperium.
Guilliman let out a helpless sigh.
With speed as fast as lightning, he moved directly in front of Ahriman before the Chaos Space Marine could even react. The Primarch grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air.
Immediately following this, a heavy slap crashed against Ahriman's helmet. The blow was so forceful it knocked the helmet clean off and left half of the sorcerer's face instantly swollen.
"Come, open your eyes wide and see if I am fake," Guilliman said.
It reminded him that this was exactly how Axis had woken him up. He had to admit, hitting someone this way provided an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
"This... this is impossible. You... are you really Guilliman?" The Professor still seemed unwilling to accept reality.
But reality had just slapped him across the face. In the entire galaxy, he was among the top tier of psykers. Combined with the physiology of a Space Marine, he could traverse the galaxy largely unopposed.
He hadn't suffered a major setback in ten thousand years, but that applied only when facing other Space Marines or mortal armies. Against a Primarch, his advantages vanished instantly.
Any Space Marine facing a Primarch was like an infant fighting an adult. Even Lorgar, physically the weakest of the brothers, could kill a powerful Space Marine with a single strike.
In that brief instant, Ahriman clearly felt the overwhelming power of the blue giant before him. The Primarch's speed was blinding, his strength immense, and the psychic shields and defenses Ahriman had erected offered no resistance whatsoever.
As for using sorcery to fry a Primarch's brain or slow their movements? That was an impossible joke.
"Truly pathetic. A fallen traitor," Guilliman stated coldley.
The betrayal of Magnus the Red was indeed a tragedy, but the Emperor had given Magnus a chance back then. He simply hadn't cherished it.
"I am a traitor? Hahaha! Guilliman, if you have truly awakened from ten thousand years of slumber, you should look at what this Imperium has become," Ahriman retorted. "This is far from the perfect kingdom the Emperor promised us ten millennia ago. And you are no better than I. It seems you have engaged in some collusion with the Eldar."
In Ahriman's eyes, Guilliman's current behavior was absolute treason. He hadn't expected the first awakened Primarch to betray his father and become the next Horus.
He assumed the Chaos Gods would soon approach this awakened demigod to pull him into their camp.
"I remain eternally loyal to my father, the Emperor, and eternally loyal to the Imperium of Mankind. This is an alliance between the Imperium and the Eldar. I am to wed the High Prophet of the Eldar God of Death, and in return, the Eldar will grant humanity access to the Webway," Guilliman explained as his grip on Ahriman's throat tightened, looking as though he intended to end the sorcerer right there.
"Wait a moment, Guilliman. Don't kill him just yet," Axis suddenly interjected.
Hearing Axis, Guilliman nodded and dropped Ahriman to the ground.
The members of Ahriman's warband, the Prodigal Sons, were frozen in terror. Before a Primarch, they didn't even have the option to flee. God only knew what madness had possessed their warband leader to offend a living Primarch.
Furthermore, due to the stability of Guilliman's gene-seed, a vast number of Chaos Space Marines in the galaxy were actually of Ultramarine descent. As the numbers grew, so did the number of traitors.
Thus, some within Ahriman's ranks felt a genetic compulsion and connection to the blue giant before them.
Ahriman's forces consisted of "empty cans" and the living members of the Prodigal Sons. These weren't necessarily veterans of the Long War, but recruits Ahriman had gathered from across the cosmos.
As for the Rubric Marines who might have attempted a rescue, they were completely suppressed by the Godly Ki emanating from Axis, unable to move an inch.
"What do you intend to do with him? Axis, this guy is a traitor through and through," Guilliman asked.
"Actually, in his heart, he doesn't respect the four Chaos Gods at all. He appears to be a follower of Tzeentch, but ask him if he has any true faith in Tzeentch," Axis said.
The Chaos Gods didn't truly care if you believed in them sincerely; as long as your actions fed them, that was enough.
Professor Ahriman, for instance, didn't have a shred of faith in Tzeentch. His mind was filled with restoring his Legion or even ascending to godhood himself. But the poor child failed to realize that his complex scheming was exactly what the god above him desired.
Axis, however, planned to exploit this. His future plan to consume Khorne in this universe required more pawns to distract the other Chaos Gods.
Ahriman was a suitable candidate. Axis intended to place an idle piece on the board to see what variables it might create later.
"I only betrayed the False Emperor, but I never betrayed humanity. Besides, in a way, once the Great Crusade was completed, we Space Marines were destined to be purged, just like the Thunder Warriors before us," Ahriman argued.
He truly held no respect for the Chaos Gods, but he had no respect for the corpse on the Golden Throne either.
His mindset was similar to Fabius Bile; both wanted to ascend on their own terms, believing they were saving their species.
"Heh. You see? There is no need to save him, Axis," Guilliman scoffed.
Guilliman felt no pity for these traitors. The only mercy they deserved was total annihilation.
"Guilliman, you lack someone to do the dirty work. There are shady tasks that you simply cannot be seen doing. You need an agent in the shadows," Axis argued. "Moreover, among his Prodigal Sons, there are many of your own sons. You know that in this era, a large portion of Renegade Astartes were forced into rebellion."
Axis wasn't speaking without cause.
The oppressive and borderline psychotic regulations of the High Lords of Terra had driven many originally loyal Chapters to renegade status. The upcoming incident with the Brazen Drakes and the Custodes was a prime example of loyalists being pushed too far.
"So, you want Ahriman to handle my wet work? I cannot deny the need for such a force, but he is hardly suitable," Guilliman shook his head.
Control was the primary issue. How could one control such a powerful Chaos Sorcerer?
Guilliman could suppress him while present, but the moment he left, Ahriman would defect and likely spread rumors that Guilliman had hired him.
"Hahaha! Leave that to me," Axis smiled, walking over to Ahriman and patting him on the shoulder.
"As the saying goes, a wise man submits to circumstances. In the days to come, Guilliman and I need you to handle some tasks that cannot see the light of day. You must perform these tasks diligently and maintain absolute secrecy. Can you do that?" Axis asked.
"If you are willing to trust me, release me, and I will do as you command," Ahriman said.
He was lying, of course. Ahriman would submit to no one.
He intended to become a god; even the Four Powers could not command him. If he could just escape here, the edge of the universe was the limit. He would say whatever was necessary to survive.
"He is lying to you, Axis. This creature is not trustworthy," Guilliman said, seeing through Ahriman instantly.
"Hahaha! No one can betray me." Axis abruptly infused a portion of his Godly Ki directly into Ahriman's soul.
Ahriman felt a mysterious power invade his body, settling deep within his heart.
"I've injected a little something into you. It has a special function designed to prevent betrayal. If you do anything that displeases me, this will happen." Axis smiled pleasantly and triggered the energy.
The Ki transformed into countless fine threads swimming through Ahriman's internal systems.
Immediately, Ahriman felt an unbearable itch throughout his entire body. Every inch of skin and organ seemed to crawl. It was excruciating. He fell to the ground, rolling frantically.
He attempted to sever his neural connections or block the sensation with psychic energy, but the foreign power was unaffected. It continued to torment him, the sensation shifting from itching to a pain that pierced directly into his soul.
"Argh! Ahhh! What did you do to me? What did you do?" Ahriman screamed, thrashing in the dirt.
"I'm just giving you a preview of the price of betrayal. This is merely the lightest punishment. I have placed a unique energy within you. Normally, it will lie dormant and affect neither your combat nor your sorcery. But should you betray me, it will become your death sentence. I can cause your soul and body to detonate together like a firework in the cosmos."
This was a technique Axis had developed in his spare time. By utilizing the precise control of Ki and the versatile nature of Godly Ki, he had created a method of absolute control.
It tortured both body and soul, an agony impossible to ignore.
"You! You!" Ahriman never imagined that as a master of the warp, he would be controlled by such means.
"Let's turn it up so you remember the feeling." Axis increased the intensity. Ahriman felt his soul begin to bloat, and the energy in his body swell as if he were about to explode.
"No! Stop! Please stop! I'll do anything you say!" Ahriman cried out in terror, kneeling and begging for mercy.
"That's the spirit. Come here, take this." Axis smiled, retrieving a generic, second-generation Fruit of the Tree of Might and handing it to him.
The stick, followed by the carrot. Standard procedure.
"Eating this will significantly strengthen your body, making it several times more resilient than it is now. It will allow you to hold more psychic energy and unleash greater power. Consider it a meeting gift," Axis explained.
"Thank you... my master." Ahriman bowed his head, respectfully accepting the fruit with trembling hands.
"By the way, my psychic reach is vast. Even if you are ten thousand light-years away, I can trigger the Ki inside you. I can even use it to open a spatial communication channel," Axis added with a cheerful grin.
Even if the sorcerer ran beyond the galaxy, the Godly Ki would mark him clearly.
...
..
.
ps?