Warhammer 40: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 353 The Surviving Golden Man

Now that the four gods have temporarily reached a strategic consensus, they have pooled some of their power together, which allows Tzeentch to better mobilize the power of the Well of Eternity and guide Comos to descend into the real universe for a longer period of time.

Besides Comos's own power, Tzeentch's plan goes beyond that; he needs the human empire to be in even greater chaos, only then will chaos have a chance to make a comeback.

External enemies would only make the empire more united, and in Tzeentch's eyes, the internal strife caused by the Navigator was not enough.

At this moment, the numerous seals placed on Comos by Tzeentch's evil magic were broken, and Tzeentch created a divine avatar that once again entered the interior of Comos.

Years of research have made Tianqi extremely familiar with this facility.

The interior of this once-powerful weapon belonging to humanity has long been ravaged by the erosion of the warp.

A large number of Tzeentch demons reside within it.

The remains of some incredibly powerful mechanical creations were scattered throughout the internal corridors, but their metallic bodies had long been covered by unknown flesh and blood.

The interior of Comos was riddled with holes, clearly indicating that a horrific battle had taken place there.

If the Dark Angels were here, they would definitely be able to see that these mechanical wreckages are very similar to the extinction remnants they control.

If the few Extinction Relics in the hands of the Dark Angels were degraded versions, then the wreckage here clearly shows that both the armor and weapons are significantly more complete.

These killing machines from the Golden Age, if judged solely on paper, are almost indistinguishable from a Primarch.

Its immense power even required humans in the Golden Age to install a kill switch on it, otherwise these mechanical beings, who have an extreme hatred for organic matter, would be a disaster for any living being.

These purely mechanical creations designed by the Iron Man have no soul and no will of their own.

They are not AI; they are pure weapons.

It was this killing switch that allowed the former Dark Angel to use it as a weapon only in the final moments.

As Tzeentch walked past the mechanical wreckage, he couldn't help but sigh.

The power of the real universe is no weaker than that of subspace.
When Komos entered the warp, his demon army launched an attack, but encountered fierce resistance from these extinction remnants.

Even his great demons were easily torn apart by the barrage of these remnant machines.

Not to mention the ordinary demons.

Their armor also has great resistance to psionic energy.

If it weren't for the fact that he was in the warp, his demons were endless, and he could mobilize his divine power at will, he might not have been able to conquer and take over Komos.

In the real universe, Tzeentch would have no way to deal with him either.

Passing through the wreckage of these mechanical structures, Tzeentch continued to venture deeper inside.
Until a cabin that was clearly different from the current environment appeared in front of Tzeentch.

This cabin contains ten well-preserved hibernation pods.

However, the ground of each hibernation pod was covered with incredibly complex and bizarre inscription arrays.

The same was true of the surrounding bulkheads and the glass.

Multiple Tzeentch archdemons, along with a large number of Tzeentch wizards, reside here, where they perform clandestine blasphemous rituals using magic circles drawn by the Tzeentch themselves.

Tzeentch walked up to the ten hibernation pods and examined their internal condition one by one.

Looking through the glass, each hibernation pod contained a human sleeping peacefully. There was no trace of mechanical modification on their bodies.

Their faces were contorted in pain, and they murmured incomprehensible words as their consciousness and souls were being eroded.

Each of them exudes an immense amount of psionic energy. If judged by the Empire's current rating system, any one of these ten individuals would be considered to have an Alpha Plus level of psionic energy, or even surpass it.

The Empire generally believes that the minds of normal humans are simply unable to withstand the negative effects of Alpha-level psionic energy, let alone Plus-level or higher psionic energy.

Once they reach Alpha-level psionic power, they can even cleave a Warrior-class Titan in two at will, or summon an entire demonic legion at will.

Almost every out-of-control Alpha-class psionicist is a disaster for the Empire. The Empire will execute any Alpha-class psionicist that it is not 100% confident in controlling.

Tzeentch also reached out and touched the glass of the hibernation pod in front of him.

In his eyes, reaching this level of psionic energy was already extremely rare; there were very few life forms in the current universe that could reach this level.

"What would happen if the former and current masters of the human empire met?! That would be very interesting!"

Tzeentch murmured as he looked at the human before him, a sound that even made him a little excited.

The changes were unpredictable. He even felt that his divine power had increased slightly.

Even the other three gods were unaware that there were living golden men inside Comos.

These ten humans were the Golden Men who had once controlled Comos and attempted to use its power for psychic ascension.

The Golden Men were not a single race, but rather a collective term for humanity during the Golden Age. Emperors once joined the ranks of the Golden Men, but not all of them reached such a powerful level.

When the group of golden men who built Comos began to explore the truth of the Warp and attempted to become its masters, they had already fallen into Tzeentch's trap.

Even among the Golden Men, the construction of the Comos weapon was a secret.

The construction of Comos was also guided by Tzeentch in secret. If we review the construction process of Comos, we will find that much of the knowledge about the warp and psionic energy was obtained by accident.

After breaking through Comos's defenses and killing the machines protecting it, Tzeentch imprisoned the ten golden figures inside Comos, using the power of the Well of Eternity and his own evil magic to constantly alter and manipulate their minds and memories.

Although it has not been fully successful yet, the current situation has led Tzeentch to prepare to release them from their confinement ahead of schedule.

Tzeentch felt a pang of regret looking at these humans with their powerful psychic abilities.
Iron Man's rebellion was sudden and swift; otherwise, if all those golden men had embarked on the path of psychic ascension, Tzeentch might have even felt that he might have truly taken control of this real universe.

If Iron Man were to truly gain control of the real universe, it would be of no benefit to the existence of the subspace.

Like the necromantic spirits of space, they cannot be corrupted or given power.

He knew that some of the Golden Men had escaped the galaxy while being pursued by the Iron Men, but even he couldn't sense whether any other Golden Men were still alive.

As Tzeentch began to dismantle the nearby magic arrays and seals, the self-awareness of the ten golden figures began to return to their bodies.

Tzeentch did not completely devour their souls. If he had, these golden figures would have turned into powerful demons under his command, but in that case, they would no longer be able to move freely in the real universe.

Tzeentch is altering their memories. In the memories Tzeentch has woven for them, they have successfully mastered the power of the Warp, and the current humans are the usurpers who seized power from what once belonged to their empire.

The Golden Men, who still retain their human bodies, can also use their human identities to divide the empire and seize power.

(End of this chapter)