Eliminate the Four Gods of Chaos?
"Who? Me?"
Even for the well-traveled, sharp-witted Laughing God, he almost couldn't hold his composure at this moment.
Across his greasepaint-covered face, the carefully drawn curve of his smile twitched with visible strain.
Cegorach really wanted to ask: Are you kidding me right now?
Even if I'm a jester, that's just my job, not my identity—you can't disrespect my intelligence like this!
Yet when the Laughing God's eyes met Adam's unruffled, tranquil gaze, he forced every retort back down his throat.
This guy is actually serious?!
Cegorach felt a mix of frustration and amusement.
If I had a way to eliminate the Four Gods of Chaos, would I be wasting my breath with you here? I would have charged into the Warp ages ago, butchered those four bastards one by one, re-erected the Aeldari Pantheon, and made the Aeldari great again.
Why would I have spent twenty thousand years hiding inside the Black Library, living in daily terror, guarding against Slaanesh's demonic legions breaking in?
He looked at Adam, a thoroughly subtle expression surfacing on his comical clown face.
"I'm not joking with you. This is serious."
Adam's tone was exceptionally calm.
He tilted his head slightly, as if seeing right through the intricate thoughts whirling inside Cegorach, before raising a finger to cut off any excuses the Laughing God was about to make.
"However, you might have misunderstood my meaning."
The Laughing God paused slightly.
"Misunderstood? What misunderstanding could there be?"
Are you speaking some niche language I don't know?
He understood every single word individually, but putting them together left the Laughing God thoroughly baffled.
At this, Adam shook his head.
Let me think how to hint at my ability to this guy...
Ah, got it.
"I don't need you to bring out some concrete, actionable battle plan. I only need you, based on your understanding of the Warp, to point me in a direction. Even if it sounds completely absurd or utterly impossible, it doesn't matter."
Huh?
The Laughing God was confused; clearly, he still didn't get it.
"Let me put it another way then."
Adam stepped forward.
"Have you ever heard a famous joke from Ancient Terra—about how many steps it takes to put an elephant into a refrigerator?"
The Laughing God's brow furrowed.
Ancient Terra?
That was something from over forty thousand years ago.
However, being the master of the Black Library, he quickly recalled the original version of that cold joke.
"Three steps. Open the refrigerator door, put the elephant in, close the refrigerator door."
"Precisely."
Adam nodded. "There's no need to consider the underlying principles—just the steps are enough. That is all I'm asking for."
A brief silence descended upon the halls of the Black Library.
Across the Laughing God's painted face, the smile slowly faded away.
He didn't answer immediately; instead, his eyes narrowed slightly.
If a moment ago Cegorach still carried a touch of jester-like servility, those theatrical performances were now being replaced by much deeper reflection.
From Adam's words, he discerned a possibility that completely transcended his own scope of understanding.
Wait—even something like that can be done?
Could it be that for this guy, as long as he believes something can happen, that event will be completed according to the steps he envisioned?
There's actually such an absurd god in the world?
This feeling was far more absurd than those C'tan from his memories, which felt like physical laws incarnate.
This was reality distortion.
An overwhelming, absolute advantage in capability.
"Alright then."
The corners of the Laughing God's mouth curled back up.
"Every word I say next is a fact in the truest sense. Without a shred of falsehood—this is my complete understanding of the fundamental nature of the Four Gods of Chaos."
He paused, his voice suddenly turning solemn.
"Do you know what the true nature of the Four Gods of Chaos is?"
"I'm not entirely certain."
Adam shook his head candidly. "Perhaps... some massive entity condensed from the Warp's reflection of extreme emotions from the realspace universe?"
"That's far too broad a generalization."
The Laughing God chuckled aloud.
He suddenly took a step back, tapped his toes against the floor, and vaulted lightly like an agile monkey onto a nearby platform.
In the next breath, he spread his arms wide, resembling a host about to introduce a grand performance.
"Come! My children, perform a splendid play for our guest!"
At the Laughing God's call, one psychic light after another flared in the darkness surrounding the dais.
Those Aeldari of the Harlequin troupes who had been hiding in the corners of the Black Library quietly watching developments were summoned out of the shadows as if guided by invisible hands, filing out from every gap between the bookshelves.
A moment later, dozens of Harlequins dispersed swiftly and orderly, forming a perfect circle in the vast open area at the hall's center.
Adam didn't stand on ceremony.
He casually reached out into the air, reality-warping energy swirling at his fingertips, and in an instant created a high stool out of thin air.
Then, Adam seated himself gracefully, looking every bit the audience member ready to enjoy a show.
"Begin."
The Laughing God snapped his fingers.
As a melodious yet uncanny psychic composition echoed softly from the void, the bodies of those Harlequins began to move.
Their movements were breath-takingly elegant.
Silver flashes sprinkled down from the Harlequins, brilliant psychic light flowing across their fingertips and turning into radiant bands of color that wove flowing tapestries in midair.
This was an artistic medium transcending the boundaries of race and civilization.
Easily understood by any observer while retaining the elevated sophistication of art itself—a performance truly suited for refined and popular tastes alike.
And the Laughing God's voice, like a master narrator, flowed softly through the interludes of the performance.
"Yes, you weren't wrong. From the very moment the universe was birthed, the Four Gods of Chaos have existed in every corner of the timeline."
Cegorach raised a single finger, a cunning, meaningful smirk appearing on his painted face. "But the question is: does Khorne truly represent war itself? Does Nurgle truly represent life itself? Does Tzeentch truly represent change itself? Does Slaanesh truly represent desire itself?"
"You must understand, they are not traditional natural deities—they are personal gods with distinct self-awareness."
His voice turned sharp, as if exposing a long-buried truth.
"Tzeentch pursues change, but it will never actively throw itself into the Well of Eternity just for the sake of change. Nurgle governs life, but He will never snap His fingers to instantly heal every living soul across the entire galaxy. By the same token, Khorne is not undefeated."
Speaking up to this point, the Laughing God suddenly showed an expression of deep, utter revulsion.
It was a bone-deep expression—one that could not be set aside even after twenty thousand years.
"Speaking of Slaanesh... although I'd love to claim the Aeldari created Slaanesh, the truth isn't quite that."
"Due to the nature of the Warp, the Chaos Gods have always existed at all points in time. From the logic of the realspace universe, it was the corruption of the Aeldari that led to the birth of Slaanesh—there is no mistake about that."
"However, looking from the perspective of the Warp itself—Slaanesh had already existed long before. He was merely in a deep slumber. The downfall of the Aeldari essentially provided Him with an occasion to awaken from His sleep and formally descend upon the throne of Immaterium."
Adam watched the performance on stage attentively.
Clearly, this was an explanation from a deity with an immensely deep understanding of the Warp.
This guardian of the Black Library, an entity possessing the vast majority of secret knowledge in the universe, was unreservedly explaining the most profound concepts to him.
Adam knew very well that although the Emperor was also a grand power in the realm of the Warp, that Master of Mankind likely didn't possess a deeper insight into the Warp's true nature than this ancient god who had escaped Slaanesh's maw.
If nothing else, the mere fact that the Emperor back then sincerely believed the Webway Project could succeed—attempting to build a Webway engineering project right under the watchful eyes of the Four Chaos Gods—was abstract enough in itself.
"So, now we arrive at the main point."
Alongside the Laughing God's chant, the Harlequin troupe's formation shifted once more.
Those dancers who had been playing struggling mortals of realspace on stage backed away to both sides, clearing an open space in the center.
The Laughing God himself leaped down lightly from the platform, landing precisely at the center of the circle.
Every spotlight converged on him at this instant, painting his thin, slight clown figure like an ethereal avatar of supreme consciousness.
"In my assessment... if you want to destroy the Four Gods of Chaos, that is impossible to achieve."
The Laughing God's voice was calm and firm, every word carrying weight.
"Wanting to destroy the Four Gods of Chaos is equivalent to wanting to destroy Chaos itself, to destroy the entire Warp. That level of difficulty is on the exact same scale as directly destroying the entire universe."
He paused briefly. Across that greasepaint-covered face, a brilliant smile suddenly burst forth.
"However... while you cannot destroy Chaos itself, you can destroy the Four Gods."
A look of mild confusion appeared on Adam's face.
He understood the literal meaning of the words, but hadn't fully grasped the distinction between the two.
The Laughing God caught his confusion instantly and cheered with excitement almost in the same breath.
"Exactly! You might be confused by this, but I'll make an analogy and you'll understand right away—do you know the difference between computer hardware and software?"
Adam nodded, gesturing for him to continue.
"Chaos itself is like the computer hardware. They represent supreme, noble natural forces—the most fundamental collection of concepts in the entire Warp: War, Change, Life, Desire, and Destruction."
The Laughing God slowly raised two fingers, placing them side by side.
"So—if Chaos itself is hardware, then the Four Gods are software. These are two completely different concepts."
"They are deity-level entities with their own independent personalities. The Four Gods attach themselves to Chaos, but they themselves are not the entirety of that power. They are merely the willful avatars of that power."
"In other words... you must completely separate their 'power' from their 'will.' The two cannot be conflated at all. This is the most fundamental essence of the Four Gods of Chaos."
Like a bolt of lightning shattering dense fog, a mental barrier was completely smashed through, and Adam's eyes widened sharply.
"So that's how it is!"
His voice was laced with excitement, the light in his eyes growing brighter and brighter.
"So that's how it is! Yes... that's how it is!"
Looking at this newly risen god before him, a gratified smile appeared on the Laughing God's comical clown face.
He was clearly extremely pleased that Adam could grasp his meaning so quickly.
The Laughing God clapped his hands softly, and the Harlequin troupe's psychic score shifted key once again: "The Warp indeed offers many conveniences. Even now, I actually still encourage newly risen intelligent species to gradually explore the Warp. But this thing is simply far too convenient."
The Laughing God's expression slowly darkened. Across his painted face, the comical silliness faded like layers of peeling paint, revealing the true face beneath.
The dancers around him stopped all movement at the exact same moment.
The psychic score ceased abruptly.
The entire hall of the Black Library sank into a near-suffocating silence.
"Those originally harmless, neutral concepts—War, Change, Life, Desire—were all hijacked by malware condensed from the obsession and fear of countless souls. They gained their own consciousness and actively began expanding their domains, until things evolved into today's situation."
He raised his head, the eyes hidden behind the clown mask burning with a light brighter than any psychic flame.
"Now you understand, don't you—Chaos endures forever, but the Four Gods do not."
"Yes."
Adam nodded slowly.
"I am gradually understanding everything."
He raised his head, interweaving emotions churning within his eyes.
Countless ideas surged out from Adam's mind like a spouting spring.
At this moment, he thought of the Emperor.
He thought of that Master of Mankind who had sat upon the Golden Throne for ten thousand years.
That was it.
During the final battle against Horus, the Emperor had single-handedly dealt a devastating blow to the Four Chaos Gods—temporarily shattering their wills and forcing them into a millennia-long slumber to recover from their injuries.
Yet the threat of Chaos had not disappeared because of it.
The Black Crusades continued, and the plots of Chaos cultists still spread in the shadows.
Now Adam finally understood.
What the Emperor had severely damaged back then was merely the will of the Four Gods—the malicious software attached to the hardware.
Yet Chaos itself remains eternal and unyielding.
Concepts like war, change, life, and desire had never vanished from the universe.
After the first generation of the Four Gods' wills were crippled by the Emperor, new wills were re-nurtured from those exact same concepts.
In essence, those were already the second generation of the Four Chaos Gods.
"Yes, it's great that you can understand."
The Laughing God's words pulled Adam's thoughts back to reality.
"Precisely—that is the key point I wanted to tell you. You must thoroughly separate the Chaos Gods' will from their power. If you have a way to break the will of the Four Gods..."
"Then the Four Gods of Chaos will revert back to neutral concepts, and the remaining problems will naturally be handled by you with ease."
The Laughing God's tone was heavy, his eyes fixed firmly on Adam.
"However, to achieve this, the difficulty must be staggering—it might even be a complete dead end."
The Laughing God said earnestly: "Ten thousand years ago, the battle between the Master of Mankind and his offspring was an unrepeatable path and a miracle in itself..."
"Back then, the Four Gods united precisely to stop humanity. And the Master of Mankind at that time... no matter how he denied it, he was the brother of those Chaos deities—the concept of Destruction about to be born."
"To the Four Gods of Chaos, the Emperor's existence held a very special meaning. If the fall of the Aeldari was the condition for Slaanesh's revival, then the death of the Emperor—a leader carrying the hope and faith of all humanity—was the revival ritual for the Dark King."
"To achieve this, the Four Gods all descended into the fray to battle him. Unexpectedly, the Emperor seized that opportunity, causing the Four Gods to fall into a long slumber."
"A timing like that... you should be able to tell how impossible it is to come by, right?"
The Laughing God finally paused, his tone growing increasingly grave.
"Although right now, just like ten thousand years ago, the Four Gods of Chaos have united once again to stop an entity in the material universe—namely, yourself—you can also clearly see that they've obviously learned their lesson from last time. They will no longer pour their wills simultaneously into physical vessels in realspace."
"So... how do you plan to win?"
At this, Adam smiled.
Light burned within his eyes.
Uncounted ideas churned endlessly in his mind; uncounted concepts rapidly took shape before being torn down and rebuilt, finally condensing into an increasingly clear outline.
"That is indeed very challenging."
Adam raised his head slowly, the upward curve of his mouth growing ever more pronounced.
"You say this is an unrepeatable plan from a predecessor?"
He said, "—I think... not necessarily."