From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 576 "Contract"

Regional Domain, Level 5: Anger;
Anakin Skywalker's consciousness emerged from the chaos like a drowning man suddenly breaking through the water.

His slender fingers sank deeply into the scorched earth, and tiny drops of blood oozed out from between his fingers. The soil here was full of sulfur, and every grain of sand was like a tempered blade.

"This is where?"

The "young" Jedi Knight propped himself up, and tiny flames immediately appeared under the hem of his brown robe.

He instinctively slapped out the sparks, but this action caused the shackles on his wrists to rattle.

Anakin looked down and found that he could not use any Force power at all. He thought that these shackles must be a forbidden ring that bound the Force, and they were flashing dark red Chinese characters strangely.

As his vision gradually focused, the veins on Anna's forehead began to throb.

As far as the eye could see, the horizon was distorted by the heat wave, and the sky was like an inverted sea of ​​blood, rolling with disgusting scarlet cloud vortices.

Countless "sinners" rolled in the sea of ​​fire:
Some were dragged along with chains through their collarbones, leaving winding charcoal trails behind them;
Some were nailed to red-hot bronze pillars, their skin and flesh sizzling;
There were more crazy figures biting each other like wild beasts, digging into each other's eye sockets with their broken finger bones and tearing each other's festering intestines with their teeth.

"No!"

Anakin stumbled back, but his heel caught on something sticky.

Lower your head and turn your body.
! !
He saw half of a human face with a frozen expression of fear - it was a "criminal" who had been beheaded, and the other party's intestines were wriggling on the sand like living things, trying to entangle the Jedi Knight's ankles.

Boom, boom!

At this moment, a neat metallic "roar" suddenly came from the depths of the smoke.

Twelve giants wearing heavy black iron armor walked on fire. The surface of "their" power armor was etched with burning runes of judgment. Every step they took left footprints more than ten centimeters deep on the lava ground.

From beneath those helmets shaped like flaming skulls, a low, electronically-noised verdict was heard:
"Wimps, enter the furnace."

Hearing this, Anakin looked over and saw the giants using their iron fists to pick up those sinners who still had some sanity, and throwing them into the boiling lava river like rag dolls.

One guy clung to the Supervisor's arm armor tightly, but it expanded and burst the moment it came into contact with the lava, and the splattered fat ignited green ghost fire on the river surface.

After witnessing this scene, his muscle memory was faster than his mind. His right hand reached to his waist like lightning, and he spread his five fingers to make a familiar summoning gesture.

He had repeated this action tens of millions of times, and every time he could feel the familiar weight and temperature of the lightsaber.

But this time, his palm only held a ball of burning nothingness.

"."

Anakin's voice caught in his throat.

He clenched his fists repeatedly in disbelief, but couldn't even feel the most basic pulse of the Force.

It felt like being suddenly blinded, or like being thrown into a vacuum.

The power connections that had been as natural as breathing since his youth were now completely severed by some older, more essential terrifying existence, which made the veins on his forehead bulge, and the cold sweat that just seeped out of his skin was evaporated into salt frost by the heat wave of "Purgatory".

tread,

tread,

The heavy footsteps struck the lava ground like a death knell.

Anakin looked up suddenly and saw a towering figure in black and gold armor walking towards him under the burning sky.

The giant was over five meters and five centimeters tall, with rune chains on his shoulder armor that looked like living things. Every step he took caused ripples in the magma on the ground.

The most breathtaking thing is the pair of eyes, which are like two miniature stars imprisoned in the skull, and the golden light emitted leaves an afterimage in the air that burns the retina.

Anakin could even hear the subtle sound of his own eyes "dying" under the strong light.

"call--"

Anakin forced himself to take the deep breaths of Jedi meditation, but the sulfurous gas he inhaled immediately burned his lungs.

"cough cough"

He knelt on one knee and coughed, but still stared at the approaching giant.

Although the Force was silent, the intuition honed by years of battles was still screaming that the existence in front of him was the creator of this "hell" and the key to his inexplicable fall into this place.

The giant stopped ten steps away.

"welcome."

The giant's voice did not travel through the air, but resonated directly in Anakin's mind, "Anakin Skywalker."

When his name came out of the mouth of that terrifying being, Anakin felt that some web of fate beyond the Force was tightening.

He subconsciously reached for the non-existent weapon at his waist, but heard the giant's deep laughter - that laughter caused the magma within a hundred meters radius to simultaneously erupt into ten-meter-high columns of fire.

"Who are you? Why should I—"

Anakin was cut off by the other party's thunderous voice before he could finish his question.

The giant, or the human emperor of the main universe, Sui Yang, suddenly burst into a golden flame that dimmed the magma.

He looked down at the kneeling Jedi Knight, every inch of his armor resounding the ancient war song in the sulfur wind.

"I am the ruler of the Imperium of Man." His voice did not vibrate through his vocal cords, but rather carved directly into the fabric of reality. "You may call me Emperor.

Of course -" those burning eyes narrowed slightly, "you don't have to address me."

Anakin felt his throat tighten.

The Emperor raised a giant hand wrapped in an energy field. Just this simple movement caused huge waves in the nearby lava river.

"You are in the fifth layer of Hell, Wrath." As the Emperor spoke, the blood clouds hovering in the sky condensed into countless distorted human faces. "In the years to come, you will serve your sentence here until all your sins are redeemed."

Sin?

The word pierced Anakin's heart like a lightsaber.

He subconsciously looked down at his hands.

Although it is empty now, it is stained with the blood of the Jedi Temple apprentices in memory, yes, as the crime of Darth Vader.
He admitted to the genocide of the Jedi Knights and aiding and abetting the Galactic Empire.

"I accept the judgment," Anakin said hoarsely, preparing himself for an eternity of torment.

But the emperor suddenly waved his right hand.

This simple action is like tearing open the curtain of time and space——

Anakin's temple throbbed as a flood of unfamiliar memories poured into his mind like magma.

He saw himself in another time and space, with red eyes, chaos runes branded on his skin, and slaughtering the civilians of Coruscant with lightsabers, the Force, and chaos psionic energy. Those screaming faces were so real that he could smell the rust of evaporated blood and hear the crisp sound of bones breaking in the force field.

The most terrifying thing is the rituals.

The chaotic man personally sacrificed babies to the whispering evil god. Every time he completed a massacre, new power and blessings came.

"No! This is impossible!"

Anakin fell to his knees, digging his nails into the lava ground.

The pain brought by these images far exceeded any physical harm, because he could clearly feel that it was him, who had become a chaotic puppet monster in another reality.

"Anakin"

Suddenly, a call came like the morning light penetrating the thick dark clouds, shocking Anakin, who was immersed in the abyss of self-blame.

He slowly raised his head, and in the chaos of sulfur smoke and hellfire, he saw that familiar figure.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was still wearing the weathered Jedi robe, but now his body was bathed in a soft golden halo, as if his entire body was woven from the light of heaven, and even his wrinkles were flowing with calmness.

"Master?"

Anakin's voice was hoarse, and he staggered forward, but suddenly froze in place.

Memories come flooding back -

Anakin clearly remembered how his hands, corroded by Chaos, pierced Obi-Wan's chest, and also remembered the final moments of his confrontation with Athena, the aftermath of which turned this elder, who was both his teacher and friend, into ashes.

"hehe."

Obi-Wan showed the warmest smile in Anakin's memory, and the wound on his chest was no longer hideous, but turned into a scar emitting golden light.

"I forgive you, my dear friend."

The old Jedi Master's voice was filled with a calmness that transcended life and death. "The Emperor gave me the opportunity to rest in peace in the sanctuary of heaven forever, and even allowed me to come back to see you one last time."

Anakin fell to his knees, his tears evaporating as they touched the hot ground. "I am not worthy of this. I have committed an unforgivable crime."

"No, Anakin."

Obi-Wan raised his hand slightly, and the infernal scene around him suddenly distorted and changed, revealing a deeper truth.

Four terrifying shadows were entangled on Anakin's fate like strings. They were the four Chaos Gods of the Warp, controlling his every move.

"Do you see clearly? You thought you made the choice yourself, but actually..."

The scene switched to the Coruscant massacre, and Anakin was horrified to find that his eyes were flashing with a purple-red light that did not belong to a human.

Obi-Wan's figure gradually became transparent, but his voice became clearer:
"The Emperor has brought you to this special purgatory not only as punishment, but to give you the opportunity to cleanse yourself of the taint of Chaos."

He pointed to the boiling lava river and said, "Jump in, as a baptism of rebirth."

Before completely dissipating, the old Jedi left behind his last gift -

A Kyber crystal emitting blue light slowly fell into Anakin's palm. It was the core of Obi-Wan's lightsaber, and it seemed to be beating warmly at this moment.

"Remember, a true Jedi will never be completely swallowed by darkness. Don't let chaos succeed this time, my dear apprentice."

As the words fell, the light of heaven gradually dissipated, but the crystal in Anakin's hand became more and more dazzling.

He gazed into the boiling river of magma and for the first time felt the inferno.
hope.

"Your offspring are still in the real universe."

Sui Yang's deep voice echoed in purgatory like an ancient bell.

With another wave of his hand, an image similar to holographic technology slowly unfolded before Anakin.

Luke Skywalker is "at this moment" in the deck corridor of the Valiant-class super heavy cruiser, with determination written all over his young face, and it seems that he is following the fleet to make an emergency jump.

Leia Organa was having a lively conversation with Dorn in the Senate Hall on Yavin 4, and her every move showed the wisdom of a politician.

Anakin's breathing hitched.

He stretched out his hand tremblingly, wanting to touch this incredible picture. He actually still had bloodline left in the world!
Not only did he have a pair of children, but even seeing that Owen was safe and sound, for the first time in many years, the fallen Jedi Knight felt his heart filled with warm hope.

"They have all grown up."

Anakin's voice choked, tears finally burst out.
Sui Yang waved again, and the scene began to flow.

Anakin sees the "future" Luke Skywalker, dressed in the white robes of a Jedi Master, mentoring a new generation of apprentices in a rebuilt Jedi Temple;
Leia, wearing the uniform of an Imperial official, was thinking in her office about how to enable the people under her rule to have a better life than in other galaxies.

"This is a possible future." The Emperor's voice was like a whisper of fate, "provided that you can complete the purification and atonement."

Anakin took a deep breath. The "sulfur" smell of hell made him feel more awake than ever before.

He looked down at the Kyber crystal that Obi-Wan had left behind and saw that it was resonating with the image of Luke and was glowing.

"What should I do?" Anakin looked up into the Emperor's burning eyes, his voice regaining the firmness of Skywalker in the past.

The Emperor did not answer, but simply cast his gaze toward the boiling river of magma.

But this time, what Anakin saw was not punishment, but the holy fountain of rebirth.

He grasped the Kyber Crystal tightly and walked towards the magma - not for the end, but for a new life that could protect his children and atone for his sins.

When the boiling magma completely engulfed Anakin's figure, the entire fifth layer of hell trembled.

Golden ripples appeared in the sea of ​​sulfur and fire, symbolizing that another powerful soul had reached an eternal "contract" with the Emperor's realm.

This former chosen one has now shed the contamination of Chaos in the fires of purgatory and started his new life as the "gatekeeper" of hell.

Sui Yang stared at the gradually calming lava lake, and a hint of satisfaction flashed in his burning eyes.

Unlike Fulgrim in the Warhammer 40k universe, the fallen primarch, in a sense, has his blood flowing in his veins after all, and can rely on the gradually repaired "father-son relationship" to make the other party atone and "work" in hell.

Anakin Skywalker requires more subtle guidance, but it is this hard-won submission that makes this soul particularly precious.

Deep in the magma, a silhouette emitting blue light can be vaguely seen being reshaped.

Anakin's new body will retain the talent of the Force while incorporating the characteristics of Hell. His eyes will be able to see through the sins of the soul, and the Sword of Judgment in his hand, reforged with Kyber crystal, will become a weapon to purify chaos.

At the same time, the soul of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was in the heavenly realm, also reached a more moderate pact with the Emperor.

When the final Chaos War comes, this master and apprentice will assist the "Cursed Warriors" of Heaven and Hell respectively to fight against the strongest line of defense of Chaos. Their powers are mutually reinforcing and restraining, but also perfectly complementary, just like the light side and dark side of the Force.

The emperor turned and left, his black and gold armor glowing bloody under the reflection of the magma.

Behind him, there was a faint sound of chains shaking. It was Anakin adapting to his new duties and beginning to judge the sinful souls who had fallen into this world.

In the heavenly realm, Obi-Wan's whispers of teaching the heroes seemed to float. The two souls who once fought for life and death have now become the pillars of protecting reality again in this form.
(End of this chapter)