The meeting of the two Emperors wrapped the place in a deathlike stillness.
Everyone's gaze fell on the Emperor who had emerged from the telephone box, then turned toward the other Emperor in the form of a black sun.
Their heads were chaos. They could not understand at all how such a thing had happened!
"Your existence is a fiction," the old-timeline Emperor told the Emperor of another world.
By now he had drawn infinitely close to becoming a god.
Ordinary people cannot communicate with him. Merely hearing his voice would make their brains explode and drive them mad.
Therefore, only Datch and the Emperor of the new timeline can hear his words.
To everyone else, it was only chaotic whispering noise that caused headaches.
"I am not a mistake. I am one possibility."
The new-timeline Emperor spoke quietly, his gaze still fixed on the black sphere.
"I come from an age in which an anonymous person interfered, and it is only because of that person's help that I can stand here."
"Previously, I wondered why he sent me here, but now I think I understand the reason."
"The other you is doing something wrong. You are pushing all humanity to the brink of ruin."
The old-timeline Emperor did not answer. He stared at the other self, lost in thought, carefully examining the other's words.
Then he opened his heart to the other party.
This is an invitation that lets both sides set everything aside and rapidly build a relationship of trust for deep communication.
The Emperor of the new timeline hesitated for an instant, then opened his heart.
The two Emperors' memories and thoughts fused in the void; they became able to understand everything each had experienced.
They were born from the same place, yet because of a Nameless One's intervention, their paths had diverged.
The Emperor of the old timeline is witnessing every event that occurs on the new timeline.
Magnus did not bargain with the energy of the sword. Both his eyes remained intact.
The Thousand Sons' mutations were healed by a mysterious medicine the Nameless One made. The Nameless One also made a spring so that all Thousand Sons could bathe in it and dissolve their mutations.
The nobles of Nuceria failed to implant the Butcher's Nails in Angron. His gladiator comrades survived and found happiness.
He saw Lorgar delivering a speech under Colchis's clear sun. He opened the ancient forbidden books to everyone and declared that people should learn not to worship gods but to walk with gods.
He also witnessed that his most beloved son Horus was neither wounded by a sworn enemy's blade nor had his soul entangled by Chaos vines in the Temple of Deven.
None of those terrible events occurred; every Primarch grew up happily.
Even without the Emperor, they sincerely wanted to support the development of human civilisation.
Because they are people born kind and responsible.
The Emperor in the new world also witnessed every event in the old world.
He had been imagining what the world would become if the Nameless One vanished.
Now a complete chronology appeared before his eyes.
He had once thought himself a good father, yet some worthless nobody had meanly taken that position first.
However, the Emperor of the old timeline did terrible work.
Horus fell; Mortarion hates him; Angron regards him as a slave-owner.
Lorgar worshipped him as a god and, after the burning of Monarchia, also regarded him as a threat that must be eliminated.
The perfect plan was ruined; he was finally forced to sit upon the Golden Throne.
Forehead…
I, who am not a nameless one, actually feel extremely miserable!!
How dare he have the courage to accuse him of stealing my sons!
"It seems my plan has indeed failed," the old-timeline Emperor said to the Emperor of another world. "But you have a chance to change all of this."
"If Horus is destroyed on this timeline, the new timeline will replace the old timeline."
"Thus humanity will be saved, and the ancient Four will be defeated and weakened. A perfect plan."
"Then abandon the present plan," the Emperor of the new timeline said. "If you win as you are, both humanity and you yourself will surely perish."
"But without this power, how can I defeat Horus?" the old-timeline Emperor asked. "Horus possesses power far beyond our imagination. Unless we obtain power equal to his, there is no hope of victory."
The new-age Emperor smiled and turned toward the Nameless One standing beside him. The man looked terribly bored.
"Then let us trust the great Nameless One. He will surely solve this problem."
The old-timeline Emperor fell silent. After thinking for a long time, he at last decided to follow the other party's advice.
"Understood. This time I will believe you."
The instant those words were spoken, the black sphere trembled violently and released dazzling light.
Eventually, the sphere suddenly cracked; unparalleled white light erupted like a fierce wave and swept everything away.
Countless daemons raised cries of pain; their life-force weakened rapidly.
Meanwhile, the Imperium's loyalists gained momentum.
Soldiers wounded in combat were surprised that the pain vanished rapidly.
Terrible wounds healed; severed limbs regenerated.
Astartes exhausted by days of ceaseless combat suddenly felt warm force welling up from the depths of their bones and were filled with energy again.
The boltguns and chainswords in their hands shone as if just shipped from the factory.
Before relinquishing the status of Dark King, the Emperor unleashed all the devouring power and gave blessings to those who had continued to swear loyalty to him.
The black sphere shattered; a golden figure appeared — the old-timeline Emperor.
Even after casting away easily obtained divinity, he remains an existence that wields eternal power.
"Until now I have never trusted anyone. This time only — I hope I will absolutely not be betrayed."
"I am the Emperor of a timeline," he said, staring at Datch. That voice rang through everyone's hearts.
Datch did not reply, yet after persuading the Emperor of the old timeline to relinquish the Dark King's power,
under everyone's gaze, he took out Rick's portal gun.
He pointed the gun at the air before his eyes and pulled the trigger; from empty space, a slowly rotating green portal of light appeared.
When Datch entered, the teleport portal immediately closed and vanished.
The old-timeline Emperor stared blankly at the place where the portal had vanished.
"Leaving already? At least you should give some kind of reply."
The Emperor who had come from the new timeline walked over, lightly patted the other self's shoulder, and said in a helpless manner, "You just have to get used to it."
Is he always this distant? Or is he only like this toward me?
"He has always been like this."
"It's fine."
The old-timeline Emperor averted his gaze; in that voice, for an instant, a colour of relief almost unnoticed floated.
Isolating yourself only toward yourself is not a good idea!
"Now let us go. We must deal with Number Sixteen. The two of us should be able to win." The Emperor of the new timeline took his hand from the other self's pauldron and drew a longsword from his waist.
The old-timeline Emperor nodded and activated his own longsword. Flame erupted from its broad blade.
The two Emperors advanced side by side into the depths of the palace and confronted Horus, who had received complete blessing from the four gods and wielded tremendous Chaos power.
The others looked at one another, then left to carry out their respective missions.
Oll and John need to set landmark places so that their past selves can find this location and stop the Emperor.
The others also each have their own work.
Datch passed through the teleport portal and arrived in a desolate desert.
This is not the real universe; it is a prison the Blood God specially built for Rogal Dorn at the edge of his own domain.
There were no torture devices, no executioners, no time limit. Only an endlessly spreading yellow desert and mountains of Imperial Fists corpses.
After boarding the Vengeful Spirit together with the Emperor and Sanguinius,
Rogal Dorn was separated from his comrades and imprisoned here by Khorne.
Here there is neither enemy nor target to destroy.
All Rogal Dorn can do is watch his sons' remains slowly turn to dust.
The shining yellow power armour faded from vivid gold to a dull earth-yellow.
Then from the dull yellowish-brown, rust-spots appeared; from those rust-spots metal flakes peeled away.
Their remains decayed into skeletons, were reshaped again and again by wind and sand, and finally fused with the desert produced by Khorne's own will.
Rogal Dorn remained confined in this desert and continued counting corpses again and again.
Besides that, there was nothing he could do. He could neither avenge them nor vent his anger through battle.
All that is there is solitude and loneliness.
The Blood God plotted to drive this stubborn Imperial into madness, make him yield to eternal rage amid endless helplessness, and turn him into a blood-hungry beast that knows only slaughter.
Rogal Dorn held unshakable resolve and repeatedly recited the words of the tactical treatise he himself had compiled — words carved deep in his gene-seed — and opposed the terrible whispers flowing into his skull from every direction.
"War is the continuation of politics."
"War is a collision of wills."
"War is not slaughter. War is a means to make the enemy submit to our will."
When Datch passed through the green light-hole and arrived beside Rogal Dorn, the Primarch was still repeating his ceaseless chatter as usual.
"The essence of defence is… no, that's not it. I am Rogal Dorn. There are no gods in this world. There are no gods in this world. The essence of defence is… I am Rogal Dorn. There are no gods in this world."
"It is time to wake." When Datch raised his right hand, the Soul Stone of the Infinity Gauntlet released a soft emerald light and poured it over Rogal Dorn.
Expel the contaminating metal that laid waste the Imperium's inanimate rock.
The next instant, a terrible roar rang from the depths of the desert. It was the Blood God's own fierce roar.
That anonymous person's action was outrageous. They had completely ignored him.
Dorn raised his face and blinked blankly.
"Who are you?"
"Don't ask who I am!" Datch ignored Dorn's question.
When he waved his right hand, the entrance of the Room of Requirement appeared from nowhere before their eyes.
Then he seized Dorn's pauldron and forced him inside.
After closing the Room of Requirement's door, Datch clapped his hands, spat into the desert, and completely ignored the Blood God.
No need to worry about a mere boss. After we finish this key enemy, we will come back and challenge the Four.
Datch used the portal gun to open a portal and flew off just as he was.
In the abyssal Warp, the powerless, enraged Blood God roared like a madman and slammed the bronze throne without mercy. That terrible anger planted terror in countless daemons.
They openly rescued Dorn and showed their face not at all.
Trembling with anger will not stop. I am supposed to be a god, yet this attitude is far too arrogant!
Having rescued Dorn, Datch did not immediately return to the battlefield where the Emperor and Horus fought.
Instead he operated the TARDIS telephone box and headed for Terra in the Age of Strife.
At this time, the Emperor was shut alone in Terra's underground sanctuary, absorbed in research of a certain secret art.
The next instant, a TARDIS-type telephone box suddenly appeared.
Datch opened the door and, like a thief, dragged the still-unreacting Emperor into the telephone box together with the experimental apparatus in his hands.
Then, in the age of Terra's Unification, they kidnapped the Emperor who had been commanding the war.
Then the Great Crusade began. The Emperor who had only just seen off the return of his eldest son, before he could even soak in the afterglow of joy, was carried off by a suddenly appearing telephone box.
During the era of Ursh, the Rangdan Xenocides, and the dawn of the webway…
Datch travelled various historically important events and lured the Emperors of those ages into the telephone box.
The Emperors were all stunned that so many of their own figures could be seen.
However, Datch explained nothing to them and guided them directly to the stronghold of the final battle.
Meanwhile, deep in the palace of the Vengeful Spirit, the two Emperors had already met Horus.
Sanguinius had already fallen and lay at the feet of Horus the god.
The Great Angel's body was covered in blood; the golden power armour had been completely dented, smashed by a warhammer; the pure-white wings were broken here and there — a pitiful sight.
"He actually has two fathers?"
Chaos Horus stared at the two Emperors with a slightly surprised expression, yet showed not a shred of fear.
So long as the Emperor does not become the Dark King, his enemy cannot defeat him.
Even if there are two, the result is the same.
The two Emperors exchanged no words, suppressed their grief at the Great Angel's death, and drew swords to fight Chaos Horus.
They simultaneously launched attacks on Chaos Horus from two directions; the resulting shockwave shook the entire Vengeful Spirit.
Whether due to Datch's influence or some other reason is uncertain, but a considerable number of spectators gathered for this fight.
Abaddon, Erebus, and other traitors had come to the palace of the Vengeful Spirit for different reasons.
Turning a corner, they somehow stood at the entrance. When they entered, fierce combat was unfolding.
Furthermore, there were also those loyal to the Imperium such as Keyan and Piers.
They had all come here to become spectators, inexplicably, as if manipulated by some force.
"I had been feeling something about the atmosphere was odd."
Oll Persson and John had been heading out to set road signs, yet after going in circles, they arrived at the palace and saw the two Emperors cooperating to fight Chaos Horus.
"There is clearly something wrong with this situation," John said with a bitter smile. "These events were certainly not part of the fate Eldrad showed me."
"Is this an entirely new change of fate?" said the witch Arkteia. "Two Emperors versus Chaos Horus."
"I cannot understand these things. If Malcador or Eldrad were here, they might know the reason for all this!" Ollanius Persson said.
Because the other self shared the burden, the Emperor did not feel as miserable as in the original work, yet the situation was by no means good.
Horus, granted complete power by the four gods, was unbelievably strong. Every swing of his Worldbreaker warhammer held terrifying Chaos energy and could inflict tremendous damage on the Emperor's immortal flesh.
Chaos-god Horus can recover rapidly from any wound through supernatural healing.
After fierce combat, both Emperors were wounded to differing degrees.
Horus was completely uninjured; his armour was also undamaged.
"Perhaps this is the only method that can resolve Horus."
Ollanius Persson, who had entered unexpectedly, stared at the ritual dagger in his hand.
He had carried it out of Calth and, after many twists and turns, had finally arrived here.
Perhaps the Emperor had intended to use this dagger to kill Chaos Horus.
After the two Emperors were defeated again, Horus raised a mad laugh.
"Even if there are two, you are no match for me. Trying to win by numbers is mere wishful thinking."
The instant those words were spoken, the spatial structure warped.
In a corner of the palace, a TARDIS-type telephone box suddenly appeared; that gigantic fluctuation drew the attention of everyone, including Chaos Horus and the two Emperors.
The hydraulic system hissed; the telephone-box door opened; dazzling light poured in.
"Now let's go. Get out of here quickly."
Datch leapt out first and shouted toward the room.
Through his efforts, Emperors of various ages rose.
Each Emperor wore golden armour and wielded a longsword wrapped in flame.
"What on earth is this?!" Abaddon's eyes widened.
The traitors including Erebus were completely stunned.
One, two, three, four…
A rough estimate is at least a hundred.
This is treating Emperors like ordinary soldiers and mass-producing them!
This is outrageous! This is cheating! Open, blatant cheating!
Is there no one who can do something about this situation?!
In the Warp the four gods were stunned by the Nameless One's action and could not understand it at all.
If you had honestly told us earlier that you were cheating, we four could have declared you the winner. Why did you go to such trouble?!
Inside the palace, Chaos-god Horus stared wide-eyed as a crowd of old fathers appeared.
Is today a gathering day for Emperors?
Why are there so many elderly fathers?!
The Emperors, seeing the sight before their eyes, were first confused, then shocked, and finally enraged.
In a mere few breaths they understood what had happened.
Those accursed Chaos Gods! They corrupted their beloved son Horus and made Magnus ruin the webway they had meticulously planned.
Furthermore, Ferrus and Sanguinius are both dead.
"If we defeat this one quickly, we can change history." Even the old-timeline Emperor was astonished, seeing so many figures identical to himself.
However, he immediately realised this was the Nameless One's doing and at once asked the Emperors for help.
Numerous Emperors raised holy swords wrapped in flame and slashed at Chaos-god Horus.
At first, Chaos-god Horus, thanks to the combined power of the gods, could fight them on equal terms.
However, even the four gods themselves would not have found it easy to face that many Emperors, still less an opponent who is a mere tool.
He was knocked to the ground in an instant.
He was surrounded by many Emperors, punched and kicked, and became a pitiful sight.
Roar...
Chaos Horus was being slammed into the ground without mercy. Driven by grief and anger, he roared, released a terrible shockwave, and forcefully blew many Emperors away.
"Enough!" Horus shouted as he stood. Empyrean power wrapped him; it was gigantic and unshakable.
"Foolish fathers, you are all cowards who do not even have the courage to wield Chaos power. But I have grasped the power of the Empyrean and accomplished what you dare not. I will lead humanity to unprecedented heights and build a new age of eternal hegemony."
"Fathers, kneel before me. Then I will forgive your folly."
...