"Master, you were gone a total of 35 days," Tartarus said.
During that time, he had strictly followed his master's orders, constantly observing the planet's condition. For 10 of those days, the master appeared to be endlessly falling from the planet's sky, like a frozen frame slowly moving.
In the next 10 days, the master negotiated with the Space Wolves on the planet. After that, he spent another 10 days bringing them back up to the planet's orbit.
This planet is truly terrifying, possessing an absolute temporal power. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Tartarus would have thought this peculiar world beneath him was a black hole.
The situation was almost identical to theoretical predictions after entering a black hole. However, if you truly enter a black hole's event horizon, your time becomes permanently fixed at the second you move forward. From your perspective and that of the outside world, you would both be motionless.
"Thirty-five days? But I spent less than four minutes on that planet—more precisely, three minutes and some seconds. I only spent a minute on the surface; the remaining two minutes were the trip down and up," Rhodes said.
You can imagine how terrifying the time dilation is. If he had tarried any longer, the Emperor might have completed the stripping of the Chaos godhood, and the whole of Holy Terra would already have been swallowed by the Warp!
"Master, the Chaos godhood has been stripped by ninety percent. It should take about one more month.
By then the Emperor will be finished. If you haven't returned by that time, I'll use certain compulsory measures," Tartarus said.
That was the contingency he and his master had agreed on. If anything unexpected occurred, he would forcibly remove Rhodes using his spatial and temporal abilities.
He wouldn't hesitate to destroy this planet if necessary.
"This planet is really strange. Do you think the effect is related to the Tree of Life below? It has immense mass," Rhodes said, gazing at the gigantic green tree on the world below.
The Tree of Life radiated a powerful vitality, constantly releasing life energy. Such a vast life force also made the tree's mass grow without limit.
Huge mass brings gravitational wave effects, and stronger gravity can alter the flow of time.
But if gravity increases like that, Astartes bodies wouldn't withstand it—especially the Primaris Astartes.
They'd be doing well to endure several times normal pressure. Beyond 10 times, their bodies would collapse. Even a Primarch couldn't handle such terrifying pressure.
And with such pressure, the planet itself shouldn't hold together either. So this world is bizarre—too strange to explain with physical phenomena.
"I actually think this is normal, master. We're already within the Warp—this is the Eye of Terror. Chaos worlds are to be expected.
From what I know, Chaos can corrupt entire stars. The Tree of Life on this planet is something crafted by a Warp god-spirit. It doesn't belong to the material universe, so we can't apply conventional physics," Tartarus said.
"Mm! You're right. Let's leave. No matter what, this planet's too dangerous. I don't want to explore it for now," Rhodes said.
Now you know why Aisha didn't want to come here to capture the Wolf King? Whether sending a Daemon Prince or a Greater Daemon, never mind beating the Wolf King—there's no telling how long Leman Russ would be delayed on this world.
And all they'd get is a captured Primarch. To the Four Chaos Gods, a Primarch is just an amusing toy.
Once your power reaches a certain level, what is unimaginable to mortals is a trifling plaything to the Four.
"Master! Maybe we can try another angle—what if you destroy this planet?" Tartarus said, rubbing his chin.
"Destroy the planet? What's the point?" Rhodes asked, puzzled.
"Master, there are about fifty years left until you send me back. You must upgrade the system shop to the highest tier quickly and then redeem me.
Otherwise we can't complete the time loop, and a new timeline will branch. That would create two timelines."
"Don't worry. I'll gather the coins to max the system shop soon.
Once I have enough, I'll upgrade it immediately, then save up to purchase you out," Rhodes said.
He had considered the time loop carefully—the timing still worked.
"This planet beneath our feet contains tremendous life energy, especially that Tree of Life. The life energy it holds surpasses anything I've ever seen. And your system top-up coins are, to put it bluntly, a form of life energy. The Warp demons provide a special macro-life energy.
If you destroy this planet, I think we can harvest at least a hundred million coins—maybe more—saving you several years," Tartarus said.
That was why he suggested destroying the planet: to gain a sea of coins.
"Not a bad idea, but I currently don't have the power to destroy it," Rhodes said.
Besides, if the Tree of Life is that formidable, destroying it would be a waste!
"After you finish stripping the Chaos godhood, you can empower the Alien Empera's essence and Angel Zog's power.
Then the three of you together should be able to smash this planet," Tartarus advised.
By his estimation, once his master absorbed the kaiju augmentations of the Alien Empera and the Angel Zog, the fusion of light and dark would push him to quasi-legendary. His life level would become an ultimate lifeform like Tartarus himself. Destroying a planet would be trivial. Tartarus could do it too—only his destruction wouldn't grant the master any rewards.
"We'll table this. Treat it as a reserve resource. If we truly can't gather enough coins to close the loop, we'll come back," Rhodes said.
Tartarus nodded, then waved open a passage to Holy Terra and left with Rhodes.
Only the silent, peculiar planet remained, its Tree of Life glowing emerald green.
…
On Holy Terra, more than a month had passed since Rhodes's departure. In that time, Jaghatai Khan and Corvus Corax had returned to their legion homeworlds.
They led their armies to declare war on Chaos. With two new Primarchs joining the battlefront, the shadow war's balance tilted once again toward the Imperium.
Overall, Chaos combat power was far inferior. Their high-end strength lagged: no Greater Daemon or Daemon Prince could face multiple Primarchs enhanced by cosmic beasts, and even some enlarged Custodians or Dreadnoughts were too much for them.
The war was one-sided. Even Chaos Champions and Lords who enlarged themselves weren't opponents for the genuine article.
In the Imperial Palace on Holy Terra, the Emperor sensed Rhodes's presence and exhaled in relief—the brat finally returned. If he didn't show up, the Emperor would have had to slow the process.
But slowing it was laborious: the Chaos godhood struggled constantly to escape his control.
If the process dragged on, its power might weaken, and even the Dark King might emerge prematurely.
Fortunately, Rhodes made it back in time.
Upon returning to Holy Terra, Rhodes dumped Leman Russ and some of his Wolf Guard at Guilliman's feet.
Wolf King Leman Russ and a pile of Wolves were thrown down, seeing stars.
"Guilliman, you were right. Your method is best—knock him out and haul him back.
If I used my way, it might have taken a year or two," Rhodes said, clapping his hands.
Before Guilliman could speak, Leman Russ staggered up with a roar and charged Rhodes with a raised fist.
That damned bastard had ambushed him and dropped him in one blow!
Unforgivable!
But Russ's punch struck a ochre barrier. No matter how hard he hit, it wouldn't break.
The bowl-like barrier pinned Russ inside.
The one who acted was Guilliman, using the power of the cosmic beast Black Tortoise to create a giant ward that imprisoned Russ.
Letting Russ fight Rhodes now was sending him to his death.
"Guilliman! You did this, didn't you? You bastard, I knew you had no good intentions!
You split the legions, then played schemes against me—I know it. You want to be Emperor.
When you made that 'Imperium Secundus,' I knew," Leman Russ cursed.
He'd overheard that his beatdown was entirely thanks to Guilliman.
The words "Imperium Secundus" made Guilliman's mouth twitch. The Imperium Secundus was a lasting pain and black mark for him, Sanguinius, and Lion El'Jonson.
The problem: everything about the Imperium Secundus had been erased from records. He hadn't even told Rhodes. How did Russ know?
"Rhodes, Russ's brain might be a bit fried. Spending too long there messed with him. Don't mind his nonsense," Guilliman said awkwardly.
"Quit that act. Your replacement for the Astronomican was xenos tech. It kept our ships from getting lost in the Warp but lured in another pack of predators," Rhodes said.
"You know that too! Wait—you said my beacon lured predators?" Guilliman stiffened.
"Right. Exactly what you're thinking. The Tyranids were attracted by your beacon. Granted, they'd have found the galaxy eventually, but your light showed the way," Rhodes said.
The Imperium Secundus's quasi-Astronomican equivalent was quite useful—just a bit too bright.
"You two think I'm invisible? Guilliman, you're running the Imperium now, right? How are the others?" Russ barked.
"Russ, the Imperium is and always has been ruled by Father. He has awakened from the Golden Throne.
And you haven't been gone a hundred years—you've been gone ten thousand," Guilliman said, taking a deep breath, facing Russ with the truth.