On the throne, a figure wearing a crown holds a scepter.
On the scepter, the spiritual energy symbolizing the deceiver fluctuated.
In his eyes, deep meaning flows.
+No… +
He spoke softly, and the farce in the garden before him did not seem to arouse the interest of those in power.
Those in power seem confident.
Out of control Mortarion, out of control Sanguinius, out of control...
+… it? +
+It's underestimated. +
All he needed was a little nudging, a little turning point... He didn't even need any guidance from the outside world... He would be able to wake up from the Star God's dream... He just needed a little adaptation... ...and this turning point had already been planted ten thousand years ago.
... He just needs to wake up from the Star God's dream... He has swallowed too much mess... Go and see his own kind... Let Him see his choice... Will he choose to wake up...
See if He can collect the interest.
The king smiled.
Beings that cannot be restrained by the laws of the subspace, masters of the laws of physics, the only thing that can restrain them is their fragile, vulnerable, yet extremely heavy self.
That existence... is also like this...
Deceiving oneself.
The emperor smiled contemptuously.
He recalled the man who had told Him that everything had come, in the dragon's cave.
Then He knew... that the tyrant was right.
… So, what would you choose, Hades
… … … … …
At the dining table, Pluto paused.
He blinked and peered past the fraudster, seeming to sense the doctored Mona Lisa smiling at him from across the table.
… … … … … …
The charred earth cracked and the whole world was shaking violently. Dark clouds pressed down, and in the pitch-black darkness, a violent electric dragon swung its tail.
The earth breathed fire, and striped patterns penetrated the darkness from bottom to top. Lava roiled, and the entire planet seemed to be torn apart by a huge force, revealing a hot, rolling core.
In front of the truly violent nature, in front of the physical laws that truly govern this universe, the vast and numerous Tyranids are now like ants...
No, every living creature is like an ant at this moment.
The miracle of a war machine is the size of an entire city, but if placed on the scale of a planet, it is just a drop in the ocean.
The plundering of the Great Devourer Tyranids and the extermination order of brutal humans only tore off a thin layer of the planet's surface.
The planets still revolve around the stars slowly and steadily, and have been doing so for thousands of years, or even tens of thousands of years. Perhaps only humans from past eras, or ancient tribes that have been sleeping for thousands of years, have the ability to completely destroy a planet.
Or it could be a planet in the subspace, composed of giant creatures.
Today's wars are still just minor skirmishes on the surface of the planet.
Planets, on the other hand, are still soulless and unconscious objects created by the laws of physics.
—The true darling of physical reality steps onto this scorched earth.
Among the Tyranids that were frantically trying to maintain their balance, among the collapsing ruins, the black stone structures that were shining with a gleaming green light made a hissing sound as if they were disintegrating.
Hot and bright tongues of fire ignited with insane rage, flames far brighter than the stars burned, and tremendous energy poured out.
In just a moment, billions of Tyranids were instantly buried in the vast sea of fire.
A giant of fire rose up.
A painful scream piercing through time and space sounded. He had been imprisoned long enough, so long that his consciousness was shattered. The desires within him were like fire. The Burner was known as the cruelest Star God.
He rejoices in the cessation of life in fire, burning-burning!!!
In the midst of the crimson, a fragment of golden silk flashed by. Using words, the Deceiver had already driven the Burner mad. This was a large fragment, a spear wrapped in flames in His hand.
The Deceiver had long wished to watch such a war, a fusion of Nightbringer and Void Dragon... and a little of Him, a battle of darkness and fire.
[You feel hungry.]
The fraudster said that this statement was addressed to both parties.
In the distance, darkness rolled like fog, and green thunder in the fog shuttled between the Tyranids from time to time. The space was twisted strangely, winding and greedy like a tentacle.
The Burner let out a broken roar, the flames roared, and His burning eyes looked into the darkness.
The Burner reaches out to the darkness beyond.
Fireworks billowed, the gravitational field fluctuated, time and space twisted, and in the lingering flames, the monsters lurking in the darkness were forced to reveal their true faces.
At the dining table, the Deceiver watched with satisfaction as the Great Devourer put down his cutlery.
There was no light in Hades' eyes, which reminded him of the Nightbringer, the eternally hungry god of death, never satisfied, never filled, feeding on pain and despair.
Ah... that is also the most easily persuaded star god, the most powerful star god, the most greedy star god, the monster that craves power the most, the god of death...
Firelight shone from a corner of the restaurant, accompanied by billowing smoke.
[I suppose you have never taken the initiative to taste delicacies, my friend?]
Brilliant green arcs rose up, and the Deceiver watched as Pluto hurriedly stood up. In his hands, the silvery-white living metal condensed into the shape of a scythe.
The Deceiver watched this scene with great interest. The authority of the Void Dragon and the authority of the Nightbringer interfered with each other, and finally this scene was presented. The Great Devourer used the metal of the Void Dragon to condense into the Nightbringer's scythe.
So where did His authority go
Fraud.
A glittering metallic sheen floated on the Deceiver's surface, and He realized with a smile this thing that amused Him, that He considered Himself a human being, and used His authority to deceive the alien race that was established ten thousand years ago to target the Star God.
The walls were covered with even more choking flames. The Trickster knocked on the table, and the entire virtual space began to distort according to His will.
The Great Illusion, this is not Pluto’s subconscious mind, but an illusion created by the deceiver based on Pluto’s dream.
And these simple buildings... It is thanks to that arrogant subspace creature that the deceiver can know what Pluto's dream looks like.
…arrogant, ignorant and unaware.
Flames rose, devouring, devouring, devouring the fragments that did not belong to Him.
This is a secret letter between star gods, a field that low-dimensional creatures cannot understand.
The Star Gods are the composition of reality, carrying energy, time and space. They are not material, but greed and arrogance make them choose to embark on a path of self-destruction.
In other words, even gods cannot curb their desires.
With the help of the Necrontyr, the Star Gods, who were originally energy bodies, acquired metal bodies, which also meant that they became visible and could be touched and destroyed.
But the star gods did not think too much. They were immersed in the deliciousness of souls, craving for supreme devouring.
Thus abandoning the dull and boring days of the past.
Devouring brings strength to the star gods, brings the integration of thousands of rules, and brings the hybrid of disordered laws.
The more it devours, the more chaotic it becomes.
When powers of different attributes merge into one, chaos and madness are inevitable. However, the star gods driven by appetite have not yet realized this before they have been shattered by their former slaves.
But as the first jackal god to teach his own kind to devour, the Deceiver is happy to witness all the chaos and madness.
In fact, the one who is devoured does not really disappear.
The afterimage after being devoured twisted and screamed beside the Star God. It was immortal and brought new madness to them day and night.
The more chaotic what is swallowed up, the easier it is to fall into the abyss of chaos due to incompatibility between powers.
It has already devoured three different kinds of Star God fragments.
One more, two more mixed ones... Unlike the other fragments whose autonomous consciousness has been completely worn away, the deceiver still retains a strong self.
Devour it... replace it... or... be devoured by it... slowly replace it.
The Ship of Theseus.
Compared to the gods of the Warp, the Star Gods, who are not affected by the laws of physics and are driven only by desire and malice, appear to be purer.
This fragment of the Deceiver intends to become the Great Devourer's eternal nightmare.
He will be swallowed up, turned into a speck of disorder and chaos, whispering in its ear, allowing His authority to overlay it, and forging it into a true monster of reality and the warp.
Replace it piece by piece.
Guide it in the gaps of consciousness…
Until the largest piece of the deceiver fragment plucks the heavy fruit.
Drive it mad, trap it in an eternal drive of desire, slowly penetrate it until it becomes weak from it.
… hunger …
But first, He will consume it. The Deceiver earnestly tempts the Burner. Whether it is war or the subsequent devouring, it will disrupt the already precarious balance.
The Great Devourer raised his scythe.
In front of the rolling darkness, flames swayed, strong winds blew, and magma rolling upward from the depths of the earth. Thick yellow steam rose, and a fire tornado swept through the sky and the earth, violently tearing apart the rolling clouds.
Darkness and flames divided the sky, and the planet itself turned into a battlefield and a weapon. Under the authority of the Star God, the planet was slowly bursting and melting, like a chocolate ball falling into hot soup.
The fire from the sky and the fire from the earth descended together, the gravitational field and the electromagnetic field were manipulated wantonly, the huge earth's crust cracked apart, the ocean boiled, slowly floated upwards, and turned into a corner of a black cloud. The ions leaped, and the thunder dragon lit up.
This is not a war that low-level creatures can understand.
The surviving greenskins screamed in fear, falling into the cracks in the earth along with the rubble, or were pulled up by the chaotic gravitational field and thrown high into the sky.
But the subspace connection here was so thin that these greenskins soon fell into a deep sleep.
Densely packed together, and still struggling on the earth, are huge numbers of Tyranids.
On the collapsing planet, they are the real ants.
The uneven earth's crust tore the Insect Saint's body apart alive, and the huge Tyranid Titan was stuck in the gap between the mountains. Juice splashed out and quickly evaporated under the high temperature. The next moment, the active earth's crust swallowed up their corpses.
The chaotic gravitational field pulled at the earth, the ocean, and the sky. Above the atmosphere, the surviving Tyranid fleet began to scream, but was pulled back by the gravitational field in vain, falling into a battlefield of magma and darkness.
The moment they come into contact with darkness, they lose their lives.
Death is staring at them, death from the physical plane.
This is a battle between star gods.
Or... add some more premises.
The Deceiver hides in His illusion, a battle between a larger, more complete fragment of the Burning One, and a Great Devourer that has consumed several pieces of the C'tan.
After being smashed into pieces by slaves, the gods who fell from the altar lost too much.
Their powers are dispersed and their memories are shattered. They are like children who hold great power but cannot really use it.
The sickle in Pluto's hand flashed with cold light.
The flames revealed his face hidden in the darkness. In a trance, he recalled the long past when he once faced a star god... That time, something stood between him and the god of death.
At that time, he was still weak.
But now... everything is different.
strength.
He felt power - an inscrutable feeling with which he was not yet fully familiar, gravity like his arms and darkness like his breath.
This power... was also obtained by devouring.
He tried to manipulate them and use them as his scythe.
He had no intention of swinging his real scythe.
destroy…
… He expected to destroy, devour, and reap… He seemed to have made similar promises before.
Pluto's will broke free from the shackles of his race, and he began to try to compress gravity to its limit...
As gravity contracts, the rocks floating around Pluto begin to gather and are squeezed to a point by gravity.
He felt tired. Squeezing gravity required energy, and what he had previously consumed was far from enough.
When gravity is compressed to its limit, a singularity is formed, and then...
Black hole.
A charming black rose in this physical world.
Pluto's figure froze.
Something stopped his attempt. He looked at the fire giant. Darkness and fire were eroding each other and tearing the planet apart. However, due to Pluto's will, he was not willing to fight the Burner with his scythe like a real warrior.
The possibilities of war are endless.
But the Burner was clearly impatient, and the flames squeezed him.
Space twisted! Like a violent wind, the darkness of half the world was like a fluttering cloak, being pulled forward by a huge force.
Amidst the dark waves, a long sickle wrapped with an electric dragon pierced out!
Time seemed to slow down, the Burner roared and spewed out flames, and the metal close to Him seemed to be melted and softened like wet paper.
However, the electric arcs and black mist were not affected by the flames. The shell that originally wrapped the metal sickle was more like the real sickle itself at this moment. The pure energy penetrated the fire giant, and the flames were dispersed, but gathered more violently in an instant.
The Burner cried out in anger,
The next moment, countless spears of light rose from the ground and pierced through the darkness!
The blurry face in the darkness was illuminated, and Hades' sculpture-like face was reflected, expressionless and unconscious, with only the bottomless abyss between his black pupils.
The fragments of the star god started fighting.
In the Great Illusion, the Trickster seemed to be relieved. Black hole... ? After creating a black hole, is it sure to escape from it
Or was it just an unconscious attempt to test its newfound abilities
A scary monster.
The pure desire to annihilate its enemies, leaving no room for retreat... A terrifying attack method.
The once complete Star Gods might have had the ability to destroy galaxies in the blink of an eye, but as they were broken and sealed, their glory had long been forgotten, and the crazy fragments of the Star Gods could only use their abilities clumsily, imitating the attack methods they saw between other creatures.
Attacks like the Great Devourer's... are not common.
Horror... Horror...
This further stimulates the fraudsters' desire.
The giant mountain from which the magma spewed fell, and the mountains converged and smashed into the Hades in the shadow. Under the earth, the spewed out mineral veins were winding, and a giant metal python jumped out of the magma sea! Smashed the giant mountain!
The deceiver whispered, and illusions appeared in the sight of both sides from time to time. The battlefield was sometimes real and sometimes fake, and the fog and fire were distorted together.
The sickle fluttered in the wind like a phantom, and Hades began to use his most powerful weapon, agile and ethereal, with the sickle made of metal in his hand constantly changing.
The Burners began to lose ground.
The black fog slowly but steadily swallowed up the darkness. The earth was closed by a huge force. The rolling magma was obscured deep underground. The darkness fell again. Countless ions accumulated in the battle of gravity, making the thunder even more violent.
The Burner roared, his red and white eyes were filled with rage. The hunter who once enjoyed playing with his prey became a prisoner. Darkness and thunder pressed forward step by step, absorbing the energy released by the Burner.
He was hungry.
Continuously hungry.
Finally, on top of a mountain where the earth's crust arched, he caught Him.
The darkness was like a giant hand clenching, and the flames that originally blocked out the sky were imprisoned and condensed, struggling between his fingers like a leaping heart of fire.
clatter.
The helmet and boots floating in the air fell to the ground, and Hades stood on the top of the mountain, holding the heart of fire in his hand.
Darkness crawls at His feet and thunder subsides between His fingers.
The battle is over.
Hades looked around blankly.
The earth disturbed by the gravitational field was still shaking faintly, and hot and dim poisonous gas gushed out from the cracks in the crust that had just closed, and lines of flames burst above it.
The once glorious greenskin civilization had long since disappeared, and the army of billions of Tyranids had also turned to ashes. Everything was reduced to ashes, leaving only protruding rocks and cracked earth.
"What am I going to do?"
He was dazed, the existence dancing between his fingers tickled his palms, warm and making him hungry.
He felt hungry.
… devour…
He lowered his head and subconsciously touched the flames with the black domain.
Nothing happened.
After what I was going to do, Pluto had a second question.
“How do you eat this?”
He opened his mouth with a little hesitation, but inertia and memory held him back. He had never eaten like this before.
He seemed to recall the day underground on Mars—His memory reminded Him that he shouldn't eat this.
A faint humming sound was heard, and a shabby shuttle staggered down. Pluto smelled a familiar scent that he had once consumed.
He turned his head, hoping to see what it was... That was his former food, and he would probably devour it without hesitation... simply because he had done the same before.
The Black Domain was ready to move, but was suppressed by the black fog. Both the physical side and the subspace side were craving for food.
The golden silk rose up, and above the flaming heart, the aura of the deceiver emerged.
The figure of a metal giant appeared.
Hades blinked.
He sat by the fire, holding a kebab of grilled horse meat.
"Eat,"
Karas poked him, "Why don't you eat? If you don't eat, I'll eat it."
The psychic stretched out his hand to grab it, but Hades quickly raised the kebab in his hand and pushed Karas away with his elbow.
"Eat," Hades said, "Why shouldn't I eat?"
He raised the skewer in his hand and stared at it in confusion. He felt hungry, and the skewer was so tempting, there was no reason not to try it.
He opened his mouth hesitantly and took the first bite.
Strange, tastes weird.
This was His first thought, but it smelled so good.
Pluto chewed, slowly, preciously. He felt warm, a rare feeling of fullness... but something was wrong.
There was a loud crackling sound of flames in His ears, like a volcanic eruption.
Hades stopped urgently, he was sure that this taste was something he had never tasted before.
He frowned and raised the skewer, looking at it again and again.
[Don't you want to eat?]
"Don't you want to eat, Hades-senpai?"
In the mess hall of the Endurance, Pluto sat in the dark with a bowl of porridge in front of him.
Vox stared at Him in confusion, as if asking what was wrong with the senior in today's battle and why he was not actively eating.
"I... um..."
Pluto hesitantly stirred the porridge in his hand, and the nutritious porridge that once made him feel comforted began to feel strange.
[Not hungry?]
"You dislike my food?"
Herrera pouted in dissatisfaction, "Eat it if you want, Hades."
Hades lowered his head and held the overly hot bowl.
His consciousness began to disperse, and he fell into an endless fantasy. The only common theme was food, food, and food—poor and inedible white corn, white porridge that looked like water for washing pots, nutritious porridge on the Endurance, failed products from the Death Guard baking class, the waste barrel next to Mortarion's apothecary, the full banquet at the Primarch's assembly, the rich delicacies on Terra, and the specialty desserts of Macragge...
Take a bite... Take a bite...
Blake stumbled and fell on the cracked ground. Mingzi saw a figure between the arched mountain peaks in the distance. A metal giant floated beside his father, with his eyes covered by golden silk.
"My Lord!"
Blake screamed, "MY FATHER!!! PLUTO!!!!"
The Deceiver looked at Black with dissatisfaction. No, no, no, they should appear when it has devoured the Burner and is at its weakest, and then be devoured and deal the final blow to its consciousness.
Gravity nailed Blake to the ground. Hades shouted in vain, hoping to awaken Hades' reason. He had heard stories about the death going out of control - rumors within the Death Guard said that it was Morag and seventy-seven mourners who sacrificed themselves to awaken the death.
He's going to do something similar.
Hades' voice was torn apart by the sound of the wind. Above the sky, a fleet that had hastily leapt out appeared, and the Sons of Hades' Regiment arrived late.
It's no use.
The fraudsters thought that their coming was useless and futile.
Even if they wanted to awaken its sanity... they should send someone more familiar with it. Perhaps only the commander of the Death Guard could do this... or the tyrant of the human empire.
The game is decided.
In the illusion that the Deceiver is confident in, the Great Devourer cannot escape. Its past is too deeply tied to eating. It cannot resist eating. This is absolutely impossible.
As long as it does not develop a strong resistance to food, the Deceiver will have enough time and energy to entangle with the Great Devourer's consciousness.
But in the Great Fantasy Realm, it will not be disgusted by food.
Just like those greenskins, just like those Tyranids, the gods cannot listen to the words of the insects, and their defeat is inevitable.
The deceiver has already thought it through. He will play with Hades' will, manipulate Hades' body, and return to the top with the help of those believers who surrender to him.
High in the sky, looking at the new planet that seemed to have just been formed, Buzz was silent, the gloom on his face was almost so heavy that it seemed to drip water.
On the screen, there was something obviously wrong with the Pluto detected by the survey array, as if he had fallen into an illusion.
The figure of the deceiver did not appear on the screen. People only saw the stiff Pluto. Kirkland shouted and tried to send out a fleet of shuttles to meet Pluto immediately.
Do I need to initiate the destruction command
Buzz was silent. He tried to contact Dark Blake on the ground, but all electromagnetic waves were cut off.
In front of a clear-minded fragment of a star god, it seems unrealistic to expect to reach the ground safely.
The deceiver smiles... Devour... Devour... Be buried in this boundless appetite...
… you have never resisted food… you are deeply attracted to food… food is your first priority in life… nothing is above it…
In the subspace, the figure sitting sideways on the throne sneered.
The restaurant is filled with a melodious fragrance.
Pluto held his chin and watched the food that whetted his appetite emerge from the bowl. For some reason, he was always familiar with this scene.
He stared blankly at the Mona Lisa behind the dining table.
He suddenly felt a nausea.
From deep within his spinal cord, his entire consciousness protested.
That was something he would rather die than swallow... What was that? What was that
What happened after that
Hades lowered his head tremblingly—
He saw the makhana in the bowl.
? ? ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Machado? ! ! ! !
Hades suddenly regained his sanity and immediately recalled everything. A repulsive force different from reality repelled him, and he instantly fell out of the darkness -
Bang!!!!
On the top of the mountain, Hades' hand tightly grasped the deceiver's throat, and the black mist wrapped around the deceiver's body like a chain.
Hot magma flowed from the corners of his clenched lips.
"eat?"
He stared at the Deceiver, and the Deceiver realized then that the knife that broke the impasse was provided by Him himself.
The Emperor... The Emperor... That Warp Creature? !!!
How could this happen? ! ! ! !
The trickster struggled to break free, but it was so weak that it had no power to fight back.
"Eat nm."
The darkness under Hades' feet leaped up!
The next moment, the fraudster's roar sounded like an explosion!!!
… …
On the other side, Black, who was locked by the Deceiver's gravity, collapsed to the ground. He ignored Magnus' screams and quickly opened the communication channel.
"Black, son of Pluto! Requesting support!"
Above the starry sky, Buzz was silent, and finally...
"Accept the request for assistance."
… … …
The figure on the throne raised his eyes and continued to look at the farce in the garden.
(End of this chapter)