The ancient scroll slowly unfurled in Alexander's hands, covered in dense rows of text. Alexander looked down at the scroll, slowly raised his other hand, and gently opened his mouth...
"Hajimi."
"Hmm?" The Angel of Extinction froze for a split second. Then, blood sprayed from His left arm as the bone within the forearm shattered, as if pierced by an invisible blade.
"Mambo."
"Omagiri Mambo!"
The Angel of Extinction suddenly felt a sharp pain in His backside. Turning His head, He saw a foot manifest out of thin air, delivering a swift kick to His rear before vanishing instantly.
"Hajimi, Hajimi, you're a night owl-mi."
Two hands formed out of nowhere and delivered a slap to each side of the Angel's face, disappearing immediately afterward.
Sensing something was wrong, the Angel of Extinction beat His wings to put distance between Himself and Alexander , His gaze fixed on the book in Alexander's hands...
"The Encyclopedia of Magic?"
The Angel quickly retrieved the name of the item from His memory, along with its effects.
The item looked exactly like what Alexander held—a heavy, dictionary-like book, but every page was blank. Its effect: by writing magic effects, incantations, and corresponding movements into the book, one could cast the written magic by reciting the spell and performing the action.
A brutally simple yet powerful tool.
The Angel of Extinction couldn't help but smile. "If Tzeentch saw this, He'd be so envious He'd want to kneel and beg you for it."
"By the way, this isn't the complete version, is it? If it is, please tell me directly; I might consider kowtowing and surrendering right now."
The Angel was one of the few in the galaxy who understood the effects of Alexander's items. He knew Alexander's tools were 22nd-century children's toys and cheap goods. Alexander couldn't afford the truly expensive ones, so most had flaws or weaknesses that could be exploited.
However, since the effects and conditions written in the Encyclopedia of Magic were entirely up to Alexander's imagination, the Angel had no way to counter them.
No... not entirely.
"Hajimi!" The Angel mimicked Alexander's previous movements and shouted the incantation.
This was the Encyclopedia's weakness: the spells recorded weren't exclusive to the owner. Anyone who performed the correct actions and recited the correct words could use them.
But nothing happened.
With a flick of his finger, Alexander tore several pages out of the book. Once a page was removed, the spell recorded on it was automatically nullified.
"The wind is blowing! Look! Shocker!"
"The gale rages! Power! Shocker!"
Alexander suddenly thrust his hand toward the upper right. "Eeee~!"
At that exact moment, the heavy clouds were torn asunder by a raging gale. A pitch-black Warp storm surged down toward the snow-white earth. Within that storm, countless Mini-Doras wearing black skeleton-patterned bodysuits waved their round hands, riding the gale toward the Angel of Extinction.
"None shall stand in our way!"
"Deploy! Go! Dora Army!"
Alexander continued to recite nonsensical incantations. The Encyclopedia had one more flaw: reciting a spell backward would negate its effect. Alexander's solution was to write incredibly long strings of incantations and recite them continuously, giving the Angel no chance to reverse them.
The Angel of Extinction beat His wings, and a blade of searing heat formed from flowing blood carved a burning rift through the blizzard, slashing toward Alexander's face.
But the Mini-Doras were as fast as a hurricane. They appeared before Alexander, waving their round hands to intercept the Angel's blade by force.
Simultaneously, the mass of black Warp hurricane summoned by Alexander pressed down like a profound beast emerging from the heavens, opening its terrifying maw to swallow the Angel whole.
The burning blade in the Angel's hand vibrated violently, shaking off the Mini-Doras clinging to it. Crimson blood flowed from His body, and pale lilies bloomed from the blood, only to be swallowed by raging flames in an instant. This form—born from the blood of the Goddess of Life and the God of Death and Murder—was a cross between the cycles of life and death. His veins bulged like rivers of surging magma, and thick smoke seeped from His features, coiling above His skull to form a blurred crown.
He raised His sword toward the deep Warp storm and the millions of Mini-Doras. He could feel the malicious, extreme inspirations contained within that storm—collected by Alexander and released through the Encyclopedia.
A wild roar erupted from the Angel's mouth. A longing for death beat violently in His chest as He collided with the Warp storm. The void trembled, and the blizzard retreated; only blood, fire, storm, and Doras occupied the heavens.
All of this was reflected in Leman Russ's ice-gray eyes. The Russ wearing simple gray power armor looked away from the sky and turned to Lion El'Jonson with a near-perfect smile.
"What kind of ghost-thing are you?" Lion met Russ's gaze and spat.
"I am Leman Russ, but a Russ raised on Terra. A Russ not shaped by ice, fire, and monsters."
That Russ opened his arms slightly and said gently, "I am a civilized Russ."
"Civilized is a good word, and Russ is a good word," Lion said, staring him down. "Just as 'Baal' is a good word and 'Wine' is a good word."
"But put them together, and a 'Civilized Russ' is as nauseating as 'Baal Wine.' You house dog—bring out my brother Russ."
The false Russ smiled and said nothing. He raised his hand, and a spear appeared out of thin air. it was a plain, unadorned spear, but its golden tip radiated a dizzying, frenzied light.
"This is Gungnir. This is the spear my Father salvaged from ancient legends. The All-Father shaped it with the power of an old god, instilling it with the trait of never missing and eternally chasing the truth."
"It is the Spear of Truth, the Spear of Ruthlessness, the Spear of Dionysus."
"Lion, look. The All-Father gave the truth to me, not to you—the one full of secrets."
"I don't need the truth." Lion lowered his stance, one hand gripping the Emperor's Shield, the other the Fealty. "I have only loyalty."
"Then come! Wolf and Lion, Truth and Secret, Dionysus and Pan!"
The spear thrust out like a midnight meteor, colliding with the Emperor's Shield.
"I will help you as much as I can, no matter how long it takes." Sanguinius beat his wings amidst the wind and snow, his golden eyes looking at Horus with nothing but sorrow.
"That was the oath I once made to you." Horus's eyes dimmed slightly.
"That was also the oath I once made to you." Sanguinius slowly leveled his spear at Horus. "You killed one of my brothers."
"Who? Corax? He is lost in the Warp... but I didn't do that..." Horus frowned.
"I am talking about Horus Lupercal, the Warmaster."
The Spear of Telesto began to glow in Sanguinius's hand. "You killed a part of yourself. You actually murdered Sejanus, letting him die before your eyes."
"Horus, a quarter of your soul is dead. Do you feel no anger at all?"
"It was for Father," Horus struggled to say. "I betrayed him once; I cannot fail again..."
"He is not our father," Sanguinius said.
Horus fell silent. He didn't answer. He simply raised Drach'nyen. "If you stand in my way, I will have to... kill you again."
"The Blade of Murder is in my hand. Humanity's first murder was brother killing brother. I hope humanity's last murder will not be the same."
"I will not die here," Sanguinius's gaze was as bright as fire.
"Is that a prophecy?" Horus asked.
"It is hope," Sanguinius replied.
"Even with those tools, so what? This is Drach'nyen, the echo of the first murder. It can kill any human... even the Master of Mankind could be murdered by this blade."
Just then, a Mini-Dora appeared beside Sanguinius. It reached into its pocket and pulled out a Black Knight wearing a golden laurel.
"Sigismund?"
Horus frowned slightly. "No, it's the Black Sword... I see. Abaddon fell by your hand."
"A machine spirit can indeed bypass the power of Drach'nyen, but do you think he can match me?"
Sanguinius said nothing. He gripped his spear, swallowed the Doraemon gadgets hidden in his mouth, and turned into a golden streak of light, crashing into Horus. The Spear of Telesto and Drach'nyen clashed.
The Black Knight did not join the fray immediately. He calmed his heart, sensing the power flowing through his metallic body. An Engine of Daemons—the art of fusing Warp entities with machinery. Vashtorr was once the master of this path, but after Saint Doraemon ascended as the God of All Machines, it became part of his domain.
The Black Knight was now a Daemon Engine. Besides the machine spirit forged from the mental tempering of every Emperor's Champion since Sigismund, there was another daemon within him. Once, that daemon's name was Samus—born from the echo of the death of the last Luna Wolf. Now, he had been distilled by Alexander into something different. He called himself Cerberus, the name used by the last Luna Wolf as he wandered Isstvan III.
But just as Cerberus couldn't help but call him Sigismund, the Black Knight couldn't help but call him...
"Loken."
The last Luna Wolf answered the Black Knight's call.
Blue flames crackled in the air. The Angel (The Angel of Destruction) swung his flaming sword, his brown hair—balding in the center due to Mortarion's plagues—fluttering in the wind. A web of cat's-cradle strings wove into a net, entangling the Angel's arms, legs, and wings. However, with a beat of his wings, the Angel snapped Nobita's strings and slashed his searing blade at the boy.
Gian the Great Demon, wielding a bat burning with the Emperor's fire, protected Nobita. Bat and sword crossed. Gian's body bent slightly under the pressure, and visible cracks appeared on the bat. A sharp, ear-piercing violin sound rang out, the notes turning into blades stabbing at the Angel. The Angel snorted and dodged the notes with a graceful flap of his wings.
At that moment, an array of toy planes dove from the sky. A dense web of fire peppered the Angel's body, drawing blood. This crazed weapon, created by the Emperor to combat the Warp, let out a roar. The blue flames on his body intensified as his extreme hatred for the Warp materialized, shrieking as it drowned Suneo-Omissiah's toy planes.
The Angel was born from the extreme hatred of all living beings in the galaxy toward the Warp. Nothing was better suited to fighting Warp entities than him. The more one was entangled with the Warp, the stronger the Angel's hatred—and in the Warp, emotion is power. Attempting to use Warp power to defeat him was incredibly difficult, especially for Alexander's four Great Demons.
But Alexander had a strategy. In truth, one among Gian, Nobita, Suneo, and Shizuka was not entirely made of Warp power: Suneo. Only a fraction of him was a remnant of Vashtorr; the rest was the Dragon of Mars, once worshipped as the Omissiah. If he discarded the Warp portions and reverted to the Dragon of Mars, he would be a pure material existence, untouched by the Warp. Of course, a single C'tan shard wasn't enough to fight the Angel, but...
Suneo picked up the Time Kerchief, a smile appearing on his face.
The only problem was that once Suneo discarded his Warp side to become whole, he would no longer be Alexander's Great Demon. He would be an independent entity. Why would he then bow to Alexander or act in his interests? He would be the pinnacle of the material universe—the last and only complete, sane C'tan.
Suneo—or rather, the Dragon of Mars—recalled his conversation with Alexander before the battle. Alexander had said only one thing to him:
"In the world I want to create... you can surf the internet freely."
"Deal!" The Dragon of Mars tightened his grip on the Time Kerchief and draped it over himself.