The Warp suddenly erupted with a crimson hurricane.
It wasn't the flow of gas, but billions of blood-soaked razors rotating on the conceptual plane, forming a storm.
Then came the bellowing of brass horns and the howls of countless war-dead souls.
At that moment, a writhing mass of blood appeared in the hand of the Blood God Khorne, pulsing with endless slaughter.
It was a shard of His very essence, embodying unending carnage.
Such a terrifying fragment of power was precious even to a Chaos God—part of His own divinity.
Normally, the Blood God would never grant such a treasure to His servants. It was tantamount to selling His own blood.
But this time was different.
During the battle between the Savior and Ka'Bandha, Khorne had seen the Emperor lavish so many blessings and gifts upon His chosen.
It was as if two wealthy patrons were flaunting their fortune in front of all Warp onlookers.
There was no way Khorne could allow Himself to appear miserly.
He could not let His followers believe He was too harsh or stingy—nor could He allow them to doubt His might.
For any Warp God, the stability of faith is paramount.
Khorne had to show the galaxy and the Immaterium that the God of War was not lesser than the Cursed One, but wielded power just as great!
In short, the Blood God lost His temper.
He began swiping His cosmic credit card, hurling supercharged blessings to prove His worth against the "nouveau riche."
BOOM!
Khorne's vast brass hand broke through the barrier of the Cursed One's power, extending into infinite distance.
He hurled the writhing blood-mass toward the rift near the Black Throne's Webway.
Meanwhile, in the core of the Black Throne—
"Looks like old Ka' is finished…"
Eden looked at the near-dead Ka'Bandha and no longer pressed his attack.
There was no need. Even if he did nothing, the Exalted Bloodthirster would soon collapse from exhaustion.
If he was lucky, Ka'Bandha might leave a soul behind amidst the holy fire.
But his strength would plummet regardless.
Watching a long-time rival fall—even if that rival was a daemon lord—stirred a pang of reflection.
Perhaps never again in the Warp would there be such a loud rival to boast of his greatness.
Just as Eden mourned, a wave of danger prickled his senses.
He lifted his eyes toward the rift and saw a sight beyond comprehension:
On the other side, a brass hand larger than a planet descended with unstoppable might, as if it would tear through the Veil itself and crush the entire Webway.
Fortunately, the rules of the Warp-Veil held the monstrous hand back, preventing it from breaking through.
But it still cast down a crimson essence, streaking toward its target at incredible speed.
Nothing could stop it.
ROAR!
In an instant, the blood-red pillar enveloped Ka'Bandha.
Slaughter divine power surged into his body, reshaping his flesh into a brass-forged abomination.
He became a miniature incarnation of Khorne Himself.
"Savior, our battle is not yet over!"
Empowered by the divine essence, Ka'Bandha's will blazed anew—fueled by exultation and frenzy.
The Blood God had given him new strength.
At last, he could fight the Savior on equal terms.
"Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!"
The Khorne-daemons roared in unison, weapons raised high, their cries shaking the heavens.
Under their devotion, the shadow of the Blood God loomed over the battlefield.
The pure will of slaughter infected the daemons, driving them to rampage and kill indiscriminately.
Every act of slaughter fed more power to the Blood God.
"Psssh~ Did Khorne just give Ka' a loan recharge? This is insane…"
Eden's face paled at the sight of the transformed Exalted Bloodthirster.
That thing's strength now rivaled his own—and with Ka'Bandha's raw combat instinct, the fight would be brutal.
There was no avoiding it.
Though Eden wielded the Emperor's clone-body, his core power came from the Little Sun.
Only a small portion was mixed with the Emperor's holy essence.
Eden wanted to rely on his Little Sun's power as much as possible, to conserve the Emperor's strength for resisting the Chaos Gods.
To avoid unnecessary risks.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Ka'Bandha's daemon-form grew taller, a seven or eight-meter titan of brass, radiating searing heat.
His armor was like molten rock, seams dripping with blood.
Every step melted the ground into liquid brass.
His axe blazed like a forge, burning with the screams of countless souls.
"Savior, with my new power, you will never defeat me again!"
With a furious roar, Ka'Bandha lunged.
The sweep of his axe unleashed a storm of scorching blood-wind, ripping lesser daemons apart.
His strikes were so fast and ferocious they radiated slaughter-pressure like a world-ending force.
Eden crossed his flaming swords to block, the impact shuddering through his chest, leaving him reeling.
Even his twin blades now bore cracks.
Worse still, Ka'Bandha was endlessly drawing power from the slaughter around him. He would only grow stronger.
"What the hell did Khorne feed him…?"
Struggling against the axe, Eden caught the familiar taste of it and nearly cursed aloud.
"Don't tell me—that's Slaughter Authority?! He actually gave it away?!"
Eden had studied divine authorities before, enough to recognize their aura.
But he never imagined Khorne would hand a piece of His own slaughter-authority to Ka'Bandha.
Warp Gods treat their authority as their very lifeblood. They almost never share it.
To divide it is to risk another ascending toward godhood—an extreme gamble.
Even Syll'esh the Doom of Secrets, Slaanesh's most favored Keeper, was only granted a cloak made of the god's flesh—a fragment, nothing more.
That was just scraps, not divine authority.
But Ka'Bandha was different.
He had received Khorne's actual slaughter-authority—closer than a son!
No other Bloodthirster had ever been granted such favor.
The result: Ka'Bandha's power was terrifying, growing more ferocious by the second.
Only his brain remained as dim as ever.
"Your attacks aren't fierce enough!"
Eden changed tactics—taunting while fleeing toward the thickest daemon tide.
The enraged Ka'Bandha followed, cleaving down with his axe, blasting out rivers of molten death for kilometers.
Chaos broke loose.
If Eden's strikes were precise and lethal, Ka'Bandha's were massive AoE annihilation. Nothing survived in his wake.
Lesser daemons and even greater daemons were swept away, reduced to ash or banished screaming.
The Savior and the Exalted Bloodthirster clashed amidst the tide of daemons.
Every roll, every collision claimed countless daemon lives, scattering the hordes in panic.
But fleeing was useless. Those two titans were faster still.
BOOM!
Holy flame and blood-wind collided again, the shockwave hurling daemons aside and shattering several Dark Eldar Ravager warships in its path.
Then—Eden's golden form was hurled through the air, smashing into a mechanical fortress.
"Savior, you are weakening. Soon your skull will be mine…"
Ka'Bandha rampaged, smashing Dark Eldar flesh-engines and obliterating heavy defenses, striding like a god of slaughter incarnate.
He pressed forward step by step, crushing Eden beneath a wave of dread.
Beneath rubble, Eden pushed himself upright, breathing hard.
It wasn't mere physical fatigue—his Little Sun's reserves of psychic energy were running dry.
He had already burned much of it cutting through the daemon tide before even facing Ka'Bandha.
Now, exhaustion set in.
This clone-body was not yet a vessel of infinite energy. It needed more to fully channel its potential.
Meanwhile, Ka'Bandha had been armed with Khorne's divine essence, tipping the scales further.
If things didn't change soon, Eden would lose this battle—and the consequences would be dire.
"...This can't go on."
Eden spat a mouthful of blood, snatched up the legendary power sword at his feet.
He snapped holy flame to life and leveled the blade at the sky.
"For... the Emperor!"
In that instant, greater tides of psyker force surged from him, rippling into the depths of the Warp.
He was praying for new power.
Truth be told, the words were just for show—the point was the psychic broadcast he hurled outward.
Roughly translated, it said:
"Grandsire Emperor, Khorne just dumped way too many points into Ka'Bandha—I'm getting pressed here. Please top me up, fast!"
In simple terms: time to swipe the Emperor's gold.
Ka'Bandha got a mega-top-up from the Blood God. As the Savior, Eden cashing in a bit himself was… only fair, right?
In a blink, a golden pillar speared down through the rent in the Veil, drowning Eden's position.
It, too, was an infusion of Authority.
Without hesitation, the Emperor cast down a heavy wave of divine might.
It was inevitable.
The Webway War ten millennia ago had already ended in defeat.
If the fighting over the Commorragh Webway failed again today, He'd be weeping on the Golden Throne—fit to drop dead from rage.
You could say the Emperor just went all-in.
Vmmmm—
The Little Sun at Eden's core drank in that Authority. Its once-gentle radiance turned searing hot.
The Emperor's clone-body he wore also refined toward perfection, closer to the Emperor's true flesh, the earlier sense of blockage gone.
"Yep—background wins battles."
Eden couldn't help a wry sigh.
Compared with Khorne, the Emperor's grant was a lot more generous.
This fight was no longer just him versus Ka'Bandha—it was the two top patrons, the Emperor and Khorne, flexing in the skies above.
"Blood for the Blood God!"
By now Ka'Bandha had become a screaming cyclone of gore, diving to tear the Savior apart and seize victory.
Too bad for him—Eden had already powered up.
He caught the blood-axe on his power sword, then curled his other hand into a fist, holy energy condensing—scorching, explosive.
Like clutching a miniature sun.
"Golden... Haymaker!"
Eden's punch detonated across the Exalted Bloodthirster's face, blasting him away in a bloom of blinding light.
That steaming brass hulk plowed through several defensive lines before crashing back into the daemon tide.
"Damn you!"
One of Ka'Bandha's horn-spikes snapped clean off.
He swatted nearby daemons aside, head buzzing, still a bit punch-drunk.
One thing the Exalted Bloodthirster understood: the Savior had grown stronger—much stronger.
And before he could climb to his feet—
"Ka'Bandha!"
Eden's golden form slammed down from on high and set to work, fists thundering.
Each strike rang like hammer on anvil.
"Savior!"
Ka'Bandha refused to yield, eating blows as he swung back.
In the end, true battles always come to this—a simple, ugly truth.
Two powers of the galaxy locked chest-to-chest, trading flesh for flesh, every move lethal.
But Ka'Bandha was still trailing. He was about to go down for good—
—when a new terror rolled in from beyond the Veil.
The brass hand descended again, dropping a fresh charge of Authority into the Exalted Bloodthirster.
"Tch—another one?
Is Khorne trying to bankrupt himself with all these high-limit top-ups?!"
Eden leaned against a mechanized bulwark to catch his breath—halftime break.
Feeling the pressure spike, he glanced up—and went a bit numb.
This brass hand looked different than before... was that a tremor?
Anger?
In truth, after forcing down this latest grant, the Blood God's entire blood-shadow was shivering from the spend.
Even in His realm of rivers of blood and storms of fire, He felt a touch of chill.
He was reaching his limit. The swipes weren't clearing anymore.
He could only hope Ka'Bandha felled the Savior quickly and ended it.
Chaos gods had been around for eons, their Authority vast—far beyond the upstart "Cursed One."
"No…"
But when Khorne saw the Cursed One's raw extravagance—blessing the Savior without care even to His own harm—the Blood God squeezed His eyes shut in pain.
He had not expected a being only ten thousand years born to have such deep reserves.
Worse, the Cursed One seemed willing to injure Himself to pour boons into Eden.
Khorne glanced toward the other Ruinous Powers, hesitating—should He ask the other two for a loan?
"Phew—"
Eden pushed off the giant machine wall, legs still a bit shaky.
Before he could say a word, an even stronger gold beam dropped, filling him with new strength.
He exhaled, half amused.
The Emperor was swiping hard.
Eden didn't hesitate. He forged himself into a lance of gold and streaked straight for Ka'Bandha, giving him no time to breathe.
He had to finish this.
Otherwise, they'd be trading swipes and top-ups until the heat death of the universe.
His relentless assaults chewed whole districts to slag—buildings, gun-forts, and living things alike ground under.
"No... I will not fall!"
Ka'Bandha buckled to one knee again, his brass carapace riddled with holes, leaking.
Yet his will to fight clung on. Trembling, he prayed to the Blood God: "Lord of Blood, I can still—"
The Exalted Bloodthirster never finished the plea.
Blood-flame roared over him.
And he was gone—banished from the Webway war-zone.
After failing to borrow more power from the other gods, Khorne simply yanked him off the field, clamping a hand over his champion's mouth.
If the Bloodthirster kept swinging, the God Himself would "go broke" on the spot.
Besides, the one hit hardest by a ruined Webway would be the Prince of Pleasure; Khorne had no need to die on this hill.
There were other ways to prosecute a Webway war.
Thus ended the fated duel between the Savior and the Exalted Bloodthirster.
Ka'Bandha's patron couldn't keep footing the bill—and that decided the loss.
But the loser would suffer no censure. He'd receive guilt-gifts instead.
Because the fault wasn't the Blood God's champion's.
He'd had a real chance to win.
"It's finally over…"
Seeing old Ka' pulled back, Eden let out a long breath.
That guy's head was thick, his hide was thicker, and he shrugged holy fire like rain. Who knew how long it would have dragged on?
More importantly, Eden didn't have that kind of time.
All told, it was a win-win.
Ka'Bandha lost, yes—but he gained something other Greater Daemons could only dream of: a share of slaughter-authority.
And Eden? He not only received the Emperor's Authority—
as Ka'Bandha teetered on death, he skimmed a thread of Slaughter Authority for himself.
Spoils of war, consumed by the Little Sun.
A win within a win.
Used well, that sliver of Authority would sharpen the Little Sun's edge—
and empower his shadow-persona, Diablo the Destroyer, and his Terror Legionnaires as well.
With Ka'Bandha gone, the rest of the daemons fled this sector one after another.
No one wanted to die here.
Who besides the Exalted Bloodthirster could bar the Savior's path?
Afterward, Eden led his remnants to drive out every daemon and xenos presence and fully seize the Black Throne.
Convoys and armed task forces from the Savior's Domain streamed in—
—and began throwing up new defensive lines.
Once the zone's security was confirmed, fleets of the Adeptus Mechanicus arrived.
Those cog-boys would take over the Black Throne's maintenance and repairs.
Eden guided the clone-body back to the Throne and sat.
Exactly like the Emperor upon the Golden Throne.
"Bit ominous, maybe?"
Realizing the look, he shifted—propped his chin on one hand against the armrest instead, the picture of lazy indifference.
Everywhere in his sight were troops and installations of the Savior's Domain.
This would become Eden's fief.
He was pleased. Years of groundwork were finally bearing fruit.
"Easy—no popping champagne at halftime."
Eden kept a clear head. The Emperor and the Dark Gods had not yet settled their reckoning; the Black Throne was not fully ignited and stabilized.
It wasn't celebration time.
The daemon tide had battered the Black Throne's machineworks badly.
Repairs were needed before smooth operation.
Fortunately, they had the schematics and documentation—and a mass of Tech-priests—
so repair speed far outstripped that of the Kabal of the Blood Brides.
...
Meanwhile, in High Commorragh—
The dwellers of the Dark City looked up to find the sky filling with shadows, blotting the last light of the dying sun.
(End of Chapter)
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