Suddenly a spatial passage appeared, released dim light, and lit the gloomy study.
Malcador, who had only just finished the dream-call, saw the nameless man leap from the passage and stand before him.
Before he could open his mouth, the nameless man spoke first.
"Lord Malcador, is there a mission you wish to entrust to me?"
Hearing this, Malcador involuntarily raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
He had to say this was without doubt the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.
Thus the mission entrusted by an old friend was at last completed.
To the Nameless One, the four gods were a trivial existence.
The sacred mission that the Imperium of Man dominate the galaxy was about to be fulfilled by his hand.
Their grand ambition and ideal must be realised in this age.
"There is something I wish to ask of you," Malcador said with a smile. "From the Corus Expanse to the Eye of Terror, the Warp wounds that have afflicted the Imperium for thousands of years have been healed one by one by your hand, and star systems once regarded as hell have been placed under Imperial domination."
"But this war is not yet over. The only way to end this war completely is to destroy the ancient Chaos Gods."
"Please support us so that the Imperium of Man can completely destroy the Chaos Gods and restore order to Warp space."
The instant Malcador finished speaking, mission instructions displayed before Datch's eyes.
[Mission: Support the Imperium of Man, smash the Chaos forces led by the four Chaos Gods, and restore order to Warp space.]
[The birth of the four Chaos Gods transformed Warp space into a corrupt land filled with chaos and slaughter, and became a calamity for the universe.]
[If it is not removed, then as the tumour grows it will inevitably affect the entire universe and finally lead the entire universe into unavoidable decline.]
[Malcador hopes you will intervene, support the Imperium of Man, and completely eradicate this calamity.]
[Quest reward: 50,000 experience, 50,000 points, reputation 5,000, Pantheon ×1]
Datch's gaze turned unconsciously toward the reward item, the Pantheon.
When he thought, an information panel concerning this product opened.
Beside the item icon, thin golden letters displayed line by line.
The icon depicted an ancient temple wrapped in soft light; countless white jade pillars carved with runes supported it.
Several small stars, each representing a different concept of authority, floated slowly in the air.
[Item: Pantheon.
This temple can regulate Warp energy and integrate various inherent symbols and authorities. If an appropriate person is appointed to that station, they can exercise authority and ensure the Warp's stability.
Commentary: The old gods perish; new gods must rise.]
Datch glanced at the information panel and immediately understood the Pantheon's concrete purpose.
This temple's function was, in essence, a complete system for the allocation of authority in the Warp.
He could even yield Nurgle's station to that plump Pudge and have the masked dancer take over Slaanesh's domain.
He hoped the pets he kept in Monster Balls would completely replace the Chaos Gods and become the Warp's new guardians.
At the same time, it would enable humanity to control the Warp completely and return the Empyrean to the state of the paradise it once was.
This was without doubt a wonderful product.
Used properly, it could completely transform this corrupt world — the Warhammer world — into a beautiful science-fiction world.
Without doubt, it was the perfect final result of story development.
Taking that into account, Datch stopped talking, nodded, and accepted the mission.
The four Chaos Gods were the most important existence among the main-story quests of the latter half of the game and at the same time the most powerful bosses.
After these problems were solved, the remaining work was finishing and construction.
The four Chaos Gods' power must not be underestimated, yet Datch was no longer a novice who had only just entered the game.
With the powerful tools he possessed — the Infinity Gauntlet, the Saint-Slayer, the Heart of the Universe, and various transformation devices — dealing with them would not be difficult.
However, to remove them completely, a method must be chosen carefully; it must not be done blindly.
The four Chaos Gods were not good existences, yet their cunning and wisdom must not be underestimated.
Especially when they realised this was truly a catastrophe, they would without doubt set aside the numerous feuds and schemes of thousands of years and unite to fight him.
Therefore I must first strengthen my own forces, then dismantle the Chaos forces, and thereby ensure the four Chaos Gods are completely annihilated without any blunder.
After careful thought, Datch decided first to subdue every existing C'tan.
The star-gods were, after all, gods of the real universe and possessed power and authority humans could not even imagine.
By enslaving them, he would obtain a powerful trump card for dealing with the four Chaos Gods.
After further thought, Datch resolved first to defeat the lesser Outsider, Tsara'noga.
During the War in Heaven, Tsara'noga had been deceived by strategy and illusion by the Eldar Laughing God Cegorach.
They had regarded the other star-gods as incarnations of the spirit-race's gods in the real universe and had devoured their unfortunate kin like fresh seafood.
After devouring the people's corpses, Tsara'noga's mind had been filled with the screams of the dead star-gods; by those screams the star-god had fallen into madness.
Desperate, Tsara'noga had confined himself inside a Dyson sphere outside the Milky Way.
He had hidden himself in solitude and madness for thousands of years.
Datch summoned Overlord Zarhulash, the Void Dragon, and the astromancer Orikan.
From their databases, Tsara'noga's exact coordinates became known.
The Dyson sphere in which that external existence dwelt was located in a folded dimensional space.
Without exact coordinates, even if one passed by, one would find no trace of that dimensional space at all.
Datch wasted no time and immediately used Rick's portal gun to open a teleport portal.
He led Orikan, Zarhulash, and the Void Dragon through the passage into the folded dimensional space where the Dyson sphere existed.
The Dyson sphere was of gigantic size and wrapped a blue giant.
The outer shell was composed of countless overlapping curved surfaces of living metal.
In the intense light of the overwhelming blue giant that wrapped it, layer upon layer of constantly changing silver-white halos appeared.
It converted the star's light and heat into the energy needed to maintain the stellar structure and to sustain the life of the already insane prisoner inside.
"This article is destined to be delivered to the Imperium of Man," Datch said with a sigh after a glance at it.
The lips of Orikan standing beside him twitched slightly.
If you want to steal it, just steal it directly. No need to make excuses, is there?
...
Energy fluctuation at Tsara'noga was extremely violent.
Though fallen into madness, the power of a complete star-god still worked by instinct.
From time to time, terrible waves of energy were released one after another from the Dyson sphere's centre outward.
Entering the magnificent Dyson sphere, Datch immediately used the flow of energy to pinpoint Tsara'noga's position.
They went against the energy flow, advanced still deeper into that region, and passed through living-metal corridors torn again and again and self-repaired every time Tsara'noga had a fit of frenzy.
At last they arrived at a hall so vast the entire Phalanx could navigate freely.
Tsara'noga was curled in the middle of the hall, sleeping soundly as if floating in mid-air.
The Void Dragon flew in, used its psychic power to attack the core of the other party's consciousness, and woke it.
Tsara'noga suddenly opened its eyes and raised a hysterical roar filled with madness and chaos.
By prolonged pain and mental confusion, this star-god had fallen completely into madness.
Without hesitation, it immediately launched the fiercest attack on the Void Dragon.
The two star-gods who noticed the anomaly, Zarhulash and Nomos, rushed to help the Void Dragon.
Tsara'noga was fallen into madness yet was a complete star-god of terrible power.
Even facing the combined power of the shattered Void Dragon, Zarhulash, and the still-young Nomos, it fought on equal terms.
Terrible energy shockwaves surged outward, tore the magnificent Dyson-sphere structure; from those cracks the blue giant's light jetted.
Seeing the intensity of the fight — that even the combined power of three star-gods could not restrain Tsara'noga — Datch…
If this state continued, the entire Dyson sphere would be torn to pieces.
Left with no other choice, he had no choice but to use the Infinity Gauntlet and lend a hand.
The gems' radiance overflowed and changed into chains that sealed space and time.
In a moment, this thing drove Tsara'noga to the brink of despair.
The Void Dragon, Zarhulash, and Nomos also seized this chance.
They used mental attacks and energy beams by turns, shaved away Tsara'noga's last will to resist, and at last slammed the frenzied star-god to the ground.
Datch threw a Master Ball. Its smooth surface drew a clean arc in the air, struck Tsara'noga's brow with exact aim, and captured him.
Subduing Tsara'noga was only the first step. To make him an ally, his mental instability must be resolved.
Datch used the Infinity Gauntlet and Ash's Golden Hammer to separate fragments from the other party's body, repaired the other party's disordered nerves, and restored consciousness.
Having solved Tsara'noga's problem, Datch decided to choose the next target.
He immediately discovered a problem.
Fragments of star-gods were scattered across the galaxy; even the learned Orikan did not know the location of every fragment.
"I know a man who surely knows the whereabouts of the star-god fragments," Orikan said, giving advice to the Nameless One in a manner that could not suppress his excitement.
Just imagining what was about to happen, Orikan involuntarily wanted to hum.
Heh heh heh. Old friend, your freedom will soon end.
You won't believe it, but this time I am the one who betrayed you.
"Who?" Datch asked with keen interest.
"Trazyn the Endless," Orikan said without hesitation and revealed his sworn enemy's name.
"Trazyn??" Datch muttered.
He had previously carried off Solemnace whole — the thing Trazyn had built with such hardship.
This time they needed to ascertain the whereabouts of the star-god fragments from his hands.
Always targeting a particular NPC for personal gain feels a little ethically problematic.
Besides, the other party might not want to talk.
After all, we previously occupied the other party's stronghold.
They must now be boiling with hatred. Such people cannot possibly cooperate.
The NPCs in this game are rather tough.
Orikan immediately saw through the nameless man's concern and gave advice with a smile.
"My lord, if you can capture Trazyn, I know a way to make him spit out everything he knows."
Hearing Orikan's words, Datch hesitated an instant, then at last nodded.
...
"Orikan, you cold-blooded bastard."
"Don't meet me again. Otherwise I will make you a specimen."
Trazyn stood on the desolate surface of a tomb-world, pouring out violent abuse while directing undying soldiers to move precious artworks and relics of special meaning.
"Stealing one or two things is one matter; they stole my entire planet."
"This thief, this scoundrel, this shameless thief."
"I will absolutely not let you go."
During this period, Trazyn had raced across the galaxy continually searching for Orikan's whereabouts.
However, that man seemed to have vanished without a trace; there was no way to find him.
Trazyn wasted a long time and obtained nothing.
However, even after the museum was stolen, Trazyn did not abandon his dream of collecting.
While those dynasties' rulers sided with the Stormlord and the Silent King in the civil war and led armies, he firmly led guards, infiltrated those dynasties' treasuries, and plundered every precious artwork and artefact stored inside.
He planned first to build a temporary museum to house these precious collections.
Once he found Orikan and recovered Solemnace, he could transfer these collections.
The instant Trazyn finished cursing, a wariness suddenly sprouted; he involuntarily looked the other way.
Ripples were observed appearing in space that had originally held nothing. Scan results showed this had been caused by distortion of spatial structure.
The next instant the ripples reached their peak; a shining passage appeared in the void.
Then Trazyn saw his long-sought sworn enemy Orikan emerge from the passage.
"Trazyn, my friend, it has truly been a long time."
"Orikan, you bastard — where is my Solemnace?" Seeing Orikan's figure, Trazyn roared in rage and immediately charged him.
From his expression and tone, it seemed as if he wanted to devour Orikan alive.
However, the charging Trazyn was finally blocked by an energy shield and produced only slight ripples.
"Even among old friends, don't get so excited and hug at once," Orikan said from behind the shield in a teasing tone.
"Orikan, I want to kill you!" Trazyn roared in rage, desperately slammed the energy shield, and made its surface vibrate constantly.
"Give Solemnace back, you accursed thief."
"Don't worry. You will see Solemnace soon." Orikan's tone remained calm. "Then let me introduce a very important person."
"A big shot?" Trazyn stopped his hands; a tone of curiosity seeped through.
At that time, Datch led the Void Dragon and the other star-gods out of the spatial passage.
Seeing this, Trazyn immediately widened his eyes, turned, and ran.
"Nameless One!!"
"Damnation, how did you get in contact with the Nameless One?!"
The Nameless One's fame had long since spread among the various dynasties of the Necrons.
The other party could reverse biotransference, return the undying of the universe to terrible living existence, and could also enslave star-gods.
Trazyn believed he had a certain degree of skill, yet well understood he was no match at all for the Nameless One.
Without doubt, his thought was correct.
After running several metres, he was manipulated by an invisible force; his whole body was hung upside down, and he could not move.
...