Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 17 Scattered in the Milky Way
The Emperor flashed forward, standing in front of the two to face the warp storm. His eyes shot out golden divine light as he faced the four gods, using his blood-connected senses to search for the Primarch in the warp.

"Erda?! Are you alright?" Makado lost his composure, quickly walked up to Erda, slowly squatted down to meet her gaze, his voice still gentle, yet utterly unfamiliar.

Macardo's gaunt face was no longer calm; the gloom in his eyes was almost tangible, and his eyes were filled with regret.

“I gave my children freedom; they will not become war machines.” Erda’s gaze was vacant, her eyes reflecting Macardo’s aged face. She asked him listlessly, “Macardo, would you hold a mother responsible for this?”

Even now, as the gods' smug laughter of triumph fades into the distance, Erda has no regrets about what she did.

“You are the mother of those children, not only their mother, but also the Emperor’s close friend and the chief steward of the newly established empire.”

Makado shook his head helplessly. His heart was filled with pain and resentment. How could he express it?
Erda threw the Emperor and himself, their vision for the future, their beautiful plans, and the important pieces of the puzzle for building a great enterprise, into the subspace.

With their eyes fixed on the rift in the subspace, how much could be salvaged now depended entirely on the man standing in front of them and the extent to which he had succeeded in his battle against the gods.

The Emperor finds the Primarch in the Warp, and his will penetrates deep into the Warp to engage in another level of battle with the Four Gods.

Macardo's face was lined with wrinkles, and his aged features were filled with regret. He painfully tilted his head back, tightly closing his sore eyes to prevent Erda from seeing the vulnerability on his face.

"Erdah, you have committed an irreparable mistake!" Rarely, Makado's usually calm voice trembled with grief and indignation as he rebuked Erda:
"As the emperor's closest friend, you betrayed him! You tore apart the path he had planned, using that selfishness called 'motherly love'."

I don't know what the subspace showed you, but as a mother, is it something a "mother" would do to send her child, pure as a blank sheet of paper, into a filthy galaxy?

Makado shook his head helplessly. Now that things had come to this, it was easy for him to figure out that Erda had been bewitched by the warp and had done something extremely stupid.

"at last……"

All accusations paled in comparison to what had happened. The old man, who had devoted himself to building the human empire, looked at Erda's pale face and sighed helplessly.
"The Primarch, one of humanity's most important assets. Because of the lies of the gods, it was scattered throughout the universe, completely out of the Emperor's control, and exposed to the greed of the dark powers."

"They are destined to return, but they will not return as the Emperor had hoped. As for how the gods deceive and shape them, what can you, their mother, do?"

The words of complaint and questioning in her ears, the bloody reality pierced Erda's soul. She lowered her head and listened intently, her body trembling violently.

“Property?” Erda didn’t answer, but when she heard the last part, she suddenly looked up, her lips trembling as she questioned Macado: “You’re comparing them to property?”

“Yes!” Makado uttered a cold word without expression, then continued, “Within the Human Empire, you are property, I am property, everyone is property!”

Then, from within his wide sleeves, he raised his thin hand and pointed to the Emperor who stood in front of the two, fighting against the warp: "He is too!"

The aged, deep voice wasn't describing anything; it was stating an undeniable fact.

He is too!
The three words exploded in Erda's ears with unwavering resolve, instantly jolting her groggy consciousness. A chill ran down her spine, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

Only now did Erda finally understand that her once dearest friend had completely changed for the sake of humanity's revival.

The two people before me are willing to make deals with the warp, use any means necessary, and abandon everything from the past, all for one goal: to revive humanity!

In this process, everything is calculated; all people and things are merely simple parts on a war machine called "Empire".

“I am not the property you speak of, nor are my children.”

Having seen everything clearly, Erda's pale face was as cold as frost. She slowly rose and said to Macardo, "You may judge me now, Macardo!"

"Trial?" Macardo's eyes reflected Erda's stubborn figure, filled with doubt.

Even now, Erda still doesn't realize what she's done.

In the grand scheme of things, her pity and feelings for a particular person or event seem so insignificant when viewed in the context of the human race as a whole.

But it is precisely this insignificant emotion that gives the gods an opportunity to exploit.

Emperor Bilda was even more loving, but his love was not superficial; rather, it was a silent and protective love.

The emperor loved all of humanity, not just one individual.

He is willing to sacrifice anyone's life to protect humanity. There is no limit to the scope of his sacrifice; he might even sacrifice himself if necessary.

To sacrifice greater love for personal gain, in terms of winning or losing alone, the gods won beautifully.

“You’re in the game, don’t you understand?” Makado let out a long sigh and met Erda’s beautiful eyes:
"You will be judged, but not me. The gods will eliminate pawns that have lost their value."

“Dear Ilda,” Macado looked at her with great pity, like an elder, “you will experience firsthand the absurdity of the evil god’s pranks and the consequences of your choices.”

Sensing the sincerity in her words, Erda dared not look directly into the concerned eyes, slowly turning her face away without uttering a word.

"Go now." Macado turned to the side, clearing a path for her to leave, and offered her his sincere blessing: "I hope you can escape your fate and live a good life."

"After all, there are fewer and fewer of us immortal friends who have known each other for a long time."

Upon hearing this, Erda hesitated for a moment, then slowly moved. She took one last look at the golden figure that stood protectively against the warp storm, then staggered away from the laboratory.

Macardo watched her leave, finally letting out a long sigh as he turned his gaze to the Emperor.

The golden sun cast endless radiance across the warp, chasing the waves stirred up by the four gods, as the twenty-one incubation pods rapidly plummeted into the depths of the warp. Deep within the warp, the wills of the four gods clashed, their maniacal laughter and screams echoing through the space, each vying for every spoil. The void twisted into hands and tentacles, surging and vying for control of the incubation pods.

Khorne's bloody hand grabbed down, and a patch of dark thorns blocked his way. Magic wove a net, scooped up the incubation pod, and flew towards Tzeentch's domain, where it sank deep into the irreversible swamp of entropy.

The four gods restrain each other, and no deity can escape the endless chain of suspicion. When one side gains the upper hand, the other three gods will not hesitate to take action.

In the warp, there is no such thing as hostility or friendship; interests are eternal, and there is no trust between the four gods.

The Emperor quickly joined in to break the deadlock, taking advantage of the four gods' distraction while they were fighting each other, he aroused psionic energy to disperse the incubation chamber and send the Primarch into the deeper parts of the warp.

"Humans! How despicable!"

The four gods roared and cursed, for a human dared to offend all four gods at the same time.

This is not just an offense, but a blatant disregard for divine power!
The Emperor's goal was simple: the warp was the domain of the four gods, and it was impossible for him to gain an advantage against the four true gods. Acting as a spoiler would give him more initiative.

The optimal solution now is to thwart the four gods, disrupt their good plans, and make the game a winner-takes-all affair.

"You won't get them!"

Amidst hatred and scorn, the golden sun emitted psychic incantations.

Thirteen syllables echoed in the warp. As they fell, the warp waves carrying the Primarch accelerated once more, taking the incubation chamber out of the warp and scattering it throughout the galaxy.

The present moment is too fleeting to describe; in the blink of an eye, the four gods have already devised a plan.

The four gods ceased their infighting and, before the incubation pods left the warp, relinquished what they were about to obtain, each choosing a preferred incubation pod to send them out of the warp to a world that had already been prepared.

"Humans, go back to the real universe, this is not your territory!"

Under the operation of the Four Gods, the usually tolerant subspace is now driving away hostile guests from the real universe.

The Emperor felt that he could not anchor in the warp. Seeing that most of the cultivation chambers were leaving the warp, he did not resist and the golden sun slowly left.

In another instant, the Emperor, still not fully out of the subspace, unleashed a burst of spiritual energy.

He saw four arms appear in the void, all reaching out to grab incubation pod number twenty-one.

"What exactly is he?" The emperor was filled with questions, not understanding why the four gods had chosen him as their special soul.

A brief moment of doubt did not delay his actions; the Emperor was determined to stop what the Four Gods cared about!

"Look at this! My actions are justified!" The magnificent voice of the golden will echoed in the warp.

A parchment bearing the marks of the four gods was thrown out from the golden sun that the emperor had transformed into.

While the Warp is evil and unpredictable, it also has another side, emphasizing contracts and rituals.

The Emperor produced the contract, and its contents immediately took effect. The power of the subspace broke free from the control of the four gods and vanished in the radiance of the contract, no longer hindering him.

"No!" A divine wrath echoed from the depths of the subspace. Affected by the contract, the evil god's consciousness was banished back to its original form.

Khorne left the bronze throne, raised his sword and swept it horizontally, the sword's edge tearing through the warp and shooting straight at the golden sun.

The Emperor once again infused the contract with psionic energy, and the terms that bound the evil god from violating the contract were used as weapons to attack the evil god.

The mark of the evil god shone brightly, and chains shot out from the mouths of the skulls on Khorne's Skull Throne, binding Him and pulling Him back to the brass throne, where He was restrained.

The same applies to other evil gods, and they cannot resist it; these powers originate from themselves and are self-restrained.

“Evil God. Our deal is still valid; now is not the time to fulfill the contract.”

Seeing that the incubation chamber had safely left the warp, the Emperor left with a warning, ignoring the wrath of the four gods.

The soul returned to the laboratory, where only Macardo and the arriving Valdo were waiting; Erda had already left.

Without asking when Erda would leave, he closed his eyes in silence, sensing those lost children connected by blood in the real universe.

"They are alright. Although they are scattered throughout the Milky Way and their exact locations are difficult to pinpoint, it is certain that they are still alive."

Then, with some surprise, he said to Macado, "There's even one not far from us, right on Terra."

"My friend, we must hurry." Knowing that Terra was no less dangerous than the galaxy, the Emperor immediately set off with Macardo towards the location of the Lost Sons.

“New genetically modified warriors must be mass-produced immediately. The galaxy awaits humanity’s conquest. We must find my sons before the evil god finds them and completely transforms them.”

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(End of this chapter)