"Fulgrim, the moment you set foot on this field, the ending was fixed. The Imperium paid dearly and set so much in motion just to draw you out."
"Guilliman, you think I don't know this is a trap? And you think this is enough to take me down? How much do you really know about my power?
Ten thousand years ago, when you suffered a miserable defeat at my hands, weren't you just as confident as today? I still remember what you said when you boarded my ship!" Fulgrim said.
Back then, he had given Guilliman several chances to flee; Guilliman insisted on a duel and ended up finished.
Among all the Primarchs, his record was the proudest—he alone had slain two Primarchs. Granted, one had since returned.
From the start, Fulgrim knew this was a trap. The Emperor must have discovered he was about to gain a Chaos godhead and feared he would devour humanity's souls.
My father—do you truly grasp the strength I now possess? Unless you rise from the Golden Throne, there is no one in the Imperium who can match me.
Even with only half a Chaos godhead fused, he had been acknowledged by Chaos law. Becoming a Chaos God was only a matter of time.
Even knowing it was a trap, Fulgrim still came. That was the Phoenix's confidence.
Even if they cast a net of heaven and earth, he believed he could escape—and take what he wanted.
"You think gaining a Dark God's power lets you do as you please? That power will make you something no longer human. You already are." Guilliman said.
"I know you, too, have gained new power. You've even awakened your warp essence—accepted yourself, accepted your identity as a warp divinity," Fulgrim said.
He knew of those so-called Cosmic Beasts; in recent years, Primarchs had often wielded their power in battle. They were special lifeforms akin to the Necrons' star gods, able to manipulate various energies of realspace.
One such beast, fused with a normal human, could uplift that human into a superhuman—far beyond an Astartes. Seeds taken from their genes could even produce Astartes.
Guilliman's power focused on defense—very fitting for his character. Not everyone could take the hardest hits and live.
"New Slaanesh—you are doomed to die by my hand, and today is the day the prophecy is fulfilled. Here and now I will annihilate you," the Eldar Avatar of Khaine pointed his Sword of Death at Fulgrim and spoke.
He had waited too long for this day. If Slaanesh were still at full power, still in the stature of a Chaos God, he could never kill it—unless born anew with the sacrifice of the entire Aeldari race.
But now the chance had come. For reasons unknown, Slaanesh had indeed relinquished its godhead.
And this nascent Slaanesh—before he fully matured, before fully fusing the godhead—was vulnerable.
The Avatar of Khaine deemed this a once-in-a-millennium opportunity; hence he had come to Vigilus to fight alongside humanity.
"Eldar god of death? A mere jumping clown. Even if all your gods revived together, I could put you all down again," Fulgrim said.
Fulgrim was supremely arrogant. What Slaanesh had once done, he saw no reason he could not. He would surpass his predecessor.
He would prove to all that he was the strongest being in the universe; he had only lacked the opportunity before.
"Enough talk! Today, you will not escape," the Eldar god snorted and surged forward, Sword of Death blazing with the power of mortality.
Fulgrim sneered and unleashed a surge of violet-crimson Chaos power. The terrifying blast struck the Eldar god, hurling him away in an instant.
No one expected it—the god of death had uttered the boldest words and then took the harshest beating, defeated in a single exchange.
"Impossible—you haven't become a full Chaos God. How can you wield such power?" the Eldar god cried, aghast.
He could not believe it—the foe had merely lifted a hand and swatted him aside.
"How much do you understand of my power, little god? I am the first in this universe to be chosen by Chaos's divine power, by a Chaos godhead—the man about to become a Chaos God.
This has never happened before. I am the first. I have fused more than half the godhead!
Right now, if I will it, I can wield half of Slaanesh's power. And this half—through my body—can be perfectly expressed in realspace!
So did you truly think this trap could handle me? You—a tiny Eldar god?" Fulgrim laughed madly.
"I don't believe it!" the Eldar god roared, his sword blazing as he charged again.
The Sword of Death erupted with blinding pallid light. His form flickered between warp and realspace, each blink trailing ripples of mortal unmaking.
Fulgrim merely lifted a left hand adorned with amethyst, Chaos energy congealing into a twisted mirror.
"Pitiful ant. The gap between us is like that between an insect and a god."
The moment the Sword of Death touched the mirror, its blade warped like melting wax.
Eyes wide, the Eldar god leapt back, gathered all his divinity into the sword, and slashed for Fulgrim's head.
Fulgrim only tilted his head, lips curling in scorn. Violet-red Chaos power snaked from his fingertips, shaping into a warped barrier that stopped the god's strike cold.
"Your power of death is a child's toy before me."
The instant the sword pierced the barrier, its blade crumbled like rotted wood. The pale energy was devoured by the god's corruptive force.
The Eldar god's pupils tightened. An irresistible taint crept up the hilt; he felt unimaginable corruption invading his form.
"No—!" he howled, trying to break away.
Fulgrim traced a line with one finger. A lash of violet-black energy cracked across the god's chest, flinging him thousands of meters into the ruins of a shattered bastion.
"Death God!" Guilliman barked, his form streaking blue and gold as he sprinted to the ruins with incredible speed.
The Armor of Fate flickered with wards against the corrupting energies; the Emperor's Sword burned with pure warp-fire.
Fulgrim waved a hand, launching a storm of violet-red spikes from the ground to intercept. But Guilliman was ready—his Cosmic Beast Black Tortoise raised the "Firmament Shield," a brilliant ward that shattered the spikes.
The beasts' powers were highly suppressive against warp energies; even Slaanesh's divinity failed to penetrate.
Guilliman reached the Eldar god, seizing his battered form. The god's body was being eaten away by Chaos; purple lines crawled over pallid skin.
Startled, Guilliman poured the Black Tortoise's power into him to scour away the corruption.
Only then did the god's life stabilize. Otherwise, Fulgrim's power might have consumed him entirely.
They might both be called "true gods," but the Eldar deities were no match for the Chaos Powers.
Fulgrim stood alone at the center of the battlefield, Chaos energies roiling as his laughter echoed through the ruins.
"Father, do you see? This is the power you once refused… and now, it will be mine." A terrifying surge of warp energy erupted from him.
Violet-red power shrouded the entire Vigilus system, twisting both warp and reality.
"Hahaha! You think I'd come unprepared? You want to lure me into realspace—but why should I not drag you into the warp?" Fulgrim declared.
Having fused over half a Chaos God's power, Fulgrim could now do much—like ripping open a rift to realspace and dragging a planet into the Sea of Souls.
The Emperor's Avatar frowned at once, raised his golden blade, and unleashed sacred psychic light to push back Fulgrim's influence and pull Vigilus back into realspace.
A flash of gold—and twelve more Avatars of the Emperor appeared across the battlefield.
Together with the first, they raised their golden swords,
Forming a vast energy barrier that enshrouded the entire planet.
With that, the Emperor himself could, through his avatars, wield more direct influence over Vigilus.
A golden portal opened. Rhodes stepped through with Tartarus.
At their side came a black-armored swordsman—the Dark Emperor of the Otherverse: the Alien Empera.