A thunderous explosion ripped through the void.
The divine dragon's maw clamped down savagely upon the sickly green energy scythe. The struggle was nonexistent; the result was absolute devastation.
The colossal scythe, a construct of cosmic power, instantly vaporized beneath the searing heat of the golden-green draconic flames.
Its momentum unbroken, the dragon's massive head, charged with destructive kinetic energy, slammed viciously into the chest of the C'tan weapon, striking the very core region where the C'tan Shard was embedded.
The muscles on Axis's arms bulged with power, and the golden-green aura of ki clung to them like a physical shroud. The emerald dragon itself swelled once more, expanding into a behemoth tens of thousands of meters in length.
Axis had modeled this technique on the Dragon Fist of Goku. By now, his control over ki energy had become exceptionally masterful.
Axis clenched his left fist in the void. As if sensing its master's will, the massive golden-green dragon coiled around the C'tan-weapon's broken form, constricting like the mightiest chains in the universe.
The colossal dragon's head reared back. From its open maw, a torrent of golden-green energy, condensed to its absolute limit and vibrating with a power that could annihilate any material structure, burst forth like the light of creation itself. It lanced directly for the core shard in the C'tan-weapon's chest.
Pressing his advantage, Axis vanished in a flash of movement, reappearing instantly before the C'tan-weapon's head.
He brought his hands together and raised them high, instantly forming a golden orb of devastating energy.
"Let's see you eat this!"
"KAME…KAME…HAAAAA!!!!!"
The terrifying lance of golden-green energy instantly pierced and devoured the massive, pale mask, annihilating the chassis behind it. Axis let out a manic laugh, continuously forming more spheres of emerald energy and hurling them at the construct before him.
"No—!!!" The C'tan Shard unleashed a final, silent shriek, a scream that resonated on a purely physical level with raw astonishment and terror.
It could not understand. It could not comprehend this power.
This was not the chaotic energy of the Immaterium, nor was it the power of another C'tan. It certainly was not the psychic technology of the Old Ones.
This was something it had never encountered before. It was a perfect synthesis of material force and energy, born entirely from the material universe, yet transcending all its known principles. Its own defenses, which were built upon the manipulation of physical laws, were like paper dams against this unreasonable and savagely overwhelming force.
A brilliant explosion, like a silent firework, bloomed across the void. Sound could not travel in space, but the dazzling display was visible to every Imperial fleet vessel in the area.
The once-invincible C'tan weapon of the Rangda seemed utterly pale and helpless before Axis, fragile in the face of his Super Saiyan power.
Had he not been toying with it, Axis could have released his full power at the start of the battle and obliterated it instantly.
The Star Gods of the materium were indeed powerful, but only a complete C'tan was worthy of Axis's full attention. A mere shard, bound and enslaved as a weapon, was not something he took seriously.
The torrent of golden energy continued unabated, vaporizing several Rangda cruisers that had been attempting to provide support. In its wake, only a vast, empty pocket of space remained, along with the slowly fading afterglow of the C'tan Shard.
However, the shard itself could not be destroyed. Its energy depleted, it now hung motionless in the star-dusted blackness.
"One down!" Axis declared, shaking his hand casually as he glanced at the battles being waged by the other Primarchs. This C'tan-weapon had been a bit of a letdown; he was almost tempted to go and poach an opponent from one of his brothers.
But first, he decided to see if this C'tan Shard could truly be destroyed. If he could annihilate it, that would mean he could do the same to any other Star God he might encounter in the future.
Legend held that the C'tan shards were indestructible; not even the technologically advanced Necrons or the Emperor himself could truly erase them, for they were the physical incarnations of the laws of the material universe.
A golden-green energy flared in Axis's palm. He fired a terrifying blast at the shard, causing it to cry out in agony.
"Do not destroy me, powerful entity of the physical universe," a wave of energy pulsed from the shard, translating its intent into a form Axis could understand.
"I can feel it; the essence of your power originates in realspace. We are not enemies."
"You are sentient," Axis projected his thoughts with his own psychic abilities, his interest piqued. "Which of the C'tan are you? You attacked us first, yet now you claim we are not enemies."
"My name, or what it once was, is Llandu'gor, the Flayer, O powerful physical being. I held no desire to be your enemy. We are merely controlled, first by the Necrons and now by these ants.
"I should thank you for freeing me from their bonds. We Star Gods wield the potent energies of the cosmos. These are powers born of the physical universe, making us the natural enemies of the Immaterium. It is possible… that you are one of us."
According to this C'tan Shard, Llandu'gor the Flayer, the power that Axis wielded looked very much like that of a Star God.
This statement stunned Axis. He was utterly baffled.
What was this thing talking about? Why would a C'tan think that he, a human, was one of them? Had he hit it so hard its mind had broken?
"I know you do not believe me and think this is a trick," the shard continued, "but please, allow me to explain. Each of us Star Gods is a unique individual, and the energies we command are all different. No two are alike. We each master a fundamental force or a specific rule of the material universe. The power you just used clearly does not come from the Immaterium. That power possesses incredible destructive force, and I have never before encountered a being that commands it. Therefore, you must be the Star God who commands this specific force."
In this, Llandu'gor was not lying.
"You're not just saying this to get on my good side, are you?" Axis asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
"Get on your good side? No, powerful being. You are already one of us. There is no need for such platitudes," Llandu'gor's message was steeped in frankness. "We C'tan do not require 'relationships'. We exist, we consume, we rule. We follow the most fundamental logic of the physical universe. Deceit and emotion, those are the ploys of the worms of the Immaterium and lesser creatures.
"I have observed the form of your energy. It is not the chaotic, blasphemous power of the Immaterium, nor is it the forced twisting of reality found in the psychic technologies left behind by the Old Ones. It is… pure material energy. Pure motion. It acts directly upon the material universe itself. It is powerful, efficient, and primal.
"The method by which you express your power is unique, but its foundation, the principle by which it drives the matter of the cosmos, is not fundamentally different from the Void Dragon's mastery over plasma, the Nightbringer's harvest of life, or even my own, the Flayer's, influence over the decay of material structure.
"We are all manifested administrators of 'force' and 'energy' in the physical universe. The only difference is that the 'rule' you have mastered is skewed toward ultimate kinetic outbursts and compressed energy release, while I favor the forced dissolution of material structure and the propagation of entropy."
Axis frowned. Llandu'gor's analysis was… well, logical. Ki, or the power system of the Saiyans, was indeed based on developing the physical body's potential to its absolute limit, leveraging the energy of the universe to fight.
It was rooted in the material universe and followed physical laws, though it often appeared to break them due to the sheer magnitude of the energies involved. The 'Hakai' of Beerus the Destroyer was a pure manifestation of a universal law, the power to erase existence, which indeed shared a conceptual origin with the C'tan's ability to manipulate physical reality.
Since arriving in the Warhammer universe, Axis had awakened a measure of psychic ability, but the power he could manifest through a psionic projection, while versatile, was weak and insignificant compared to his ki.
"Therefore," Llandu'gor's mental pulse conveyed a sense of logical conclusion, "you must be a newborn Star God whose name we have not yet learned. Perhaps you are a new entity, coalesced over long ages from the core rule of a long-dead C'tan?
"Or perhaps you are a new form of Star God, spontaneously birthed by the physical universe to counter the threat of the Immaterium? That would explain why you possess such incredible power, yet are so… 'young'. You have yet to devour a star, have you?"
This last question from the Flayer caught Axis's full attention.
The Star Gods had become so powerful because they had consumed vast numbers of stars in their infancy, sixty million years ago. Had their plans come to fruition, they might have even been able to seal away the Chaos Gods of the Immaterium entirely.
However, Axis knew this shard of a C'tan was a far cry from the gods of the warp. For one, it had completely failed to recognize that he was a transmigrator, not a native of this universe. Or perhaps it had realized and was now playing this angle purely out of self-preservation.
"Can you teach me how to absorb the power of a star," Axis decided to test the Flayer, "and become a Star God like you?"
"Absorbing the energy of stars is an instinct all C'tan possess from birth," the Flayer replied. "We did so before we even developed self-awareness. However, the most delectable food in the universe is, and always has been, the soul.
"That is the flavor we truly savor. The reason we wished to seal the Immaterium was to prevent the souls of the physical universe from flowing into it. We C'tan wish to keep that feast for ourselves."
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ps?