Empowered by Alexei's continuous reinforcement, the Hybrid Destroyer's raw power and psychic potential vastly surpassed its original limits.
Upon receiving Alexei's command, the Destroyer threw back its head and unleashed an earth-shattering howl. A torrential eruption of psychic energy burst forth. Sensing a presence every bit as formidable as his own, Magnus's expression turned grim.
Before the Crimson King could react, sharp, agonizing shrieks erupted behind him. He spun around to find his Chaos Sorcerers collapsing into decaying husks as their psychic reserves and life essence were instantly drained dry.
Without sorcerous energy to sustain them, the Rubric Marines battling along the spine avenue collapsed into hollow, empty armor across the deck.
"You..." Furious, the Crimson King whirled back to launch a counterattack, only to find his target gone from his line of sight. The next instant, a fierce gale whipped against his spine.
Swinging his blade behind him, Magnus blocked the incoming strike from the Destroyer, which had appeared behind him without a trace. His right arm trembled violently; the sheer strength surging through those double claws exceeded anything he had anticipated.
Channeling psychic energy into his left hand, Magnus released a massive blast with a sinister grin. Yet the attack hit empty air, tearing instead through the ship's distant armor plating—the creature had vanished from his vision once more without warning.
A searing pain in his flank signaled a direct hit. Roaring in fury, the Crimson King unleashed an explosive wave of psychic power from within, blasting away everything nearby—including the Lord of Change attempting to assist him.
A short distance away, several figures stood entirely unfazed by the psychic shockwave. Magnus turned his single crimson eye toward them, his gaze burning with unfiltered hatred. As blue blood trickled from his wound, the Destroyer floated calmly back beside Alexei.
Alexei nodded in satisfaction. It was well worth the immense resources he had poured into creating this ultimate living weapon; in a brief exchange lasting barely ten seconds, Magnus had been thoroughly outmatched.
Surrounded by a dense psychic field, the giant organism drifted gently above Alexei's head, the glowing ribbons at its back floating gracefully. It seemed as though no entity on the battlefield could halt its advance. In its talons, lethal orbs of psychic energy began to coalesce once more.
Guilliman watched the skirmish with a cold, analytical gaze. His mind raced as he pondered where this terrifying beast had come from, what link bound Alexei to it, and what kind of entity the Governor of Aiur truly was.
Magnus's roar snapped him out of his thoughts. Refocusing his icy gaze on his fallen brother, Guilliman pushed those questions aside. There would be time to speak with the Governor after he struck down the traitor with his own hands.
Reading Guilliman's intent, Alexei gestured slightly. The Destroyer hurled two psychic blasts at the Crimson King before vanishing again, while a vengeful Guilliman charged forward alongside it.
Magnus growled, struggling to parry the relentless storm of strikes. He roared at the Lord of Change hovering nearby, "Damned Kairos! What are you standing around for?!"
Kairos offered no reply. Raising the Staff of Tomorrow in his right hand while flipping through the Book of Fate in his left, both heads chanted profane incantations in unison, preparing to cast a horrific curse into realspace.
Before the spell could manifest, a swift slash sped directly toward his heads. Startled, Kairos barely managed to intercept the blow with the Staff of Tomorrow.
Alexei stared at the Lord of Change with a mocking expression. "Surprised? The insect in your eyes can end you with ease." Before his words faded, his master-crafted power sword enveloped the two-headed daemon in a torrential flurry of slashes.
As a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch, Kairos found himself completely unable to react to such speed. Screaming in rage and desperation, he stared at the mortal he had once dismissed as a minor pest, bitterly regretting his failure to destroy him at all costs when he had the chance.
"Right arm," Alexei said coldly. With a flash of sword-light, the daemon's arm holding the staff fell to the deck.
Agonized, Kairos lashed out with waves of psychic force. Yet his opponent possessed an absolute resistance to the Warp; the attacks dissolved into nothingness upon contact with his aura.
"Left arm." "Left leg." "Wings." "Right leg." Alexei methodically dismantled the giant avian daemon piece by piece until it collapsed into its own blood, its twin heads writhing in agony.
"What a shame. If you belonged to another Chaos God, I might have had a proper fight on my hands," Alexei murmured, staring at Kairos's mangled form. Suddenly, a terrifying surge of psychic force erupted behind him, accompanied by a howl of agony.
Turning, Alexei saw Magnus kneeling on one knee, clutching the stump of a severed arm. Half of his face had been sheared away, exposing burning bone, while his body was covered in deep claw marks. Guilliman stood before him, holding the Emperor's Sword high.
"It is over," the Primarch declared coldly, gazing at his suffering brother. He raised the burning blade, preparing to let the Emperor's power erase the fallen demigod entirely.
"It is over," Alexei echoed with a faint smile, turning back to the squirming Lord of Change. Gathering C'tan energy into his hand, he prepared to permanently erase the daemon's existence.
At that exact moment, the writhing Greater Daemon burst into laughter. "My Lord! My Lord!" A suffocating, indescribable pressure descended upon realspace as Magnus began to chuckle softly.
Alexei's expression changed instantly. "Guilliman, kill him!" At the same time, he unleashed his stored C'tan power directly into the hysterical Kairos. The Lord of Change disintegrated into ash under the sheer force of the Star God's power, yet in his final breath, he cried out, "My Lord! Your plan is absolute!"
Simultaneously, Guilliman's flaming blade swung toward Magnus's neck with thunderous force. But just as the edge made contact, the Crimson King threw his head back, unleashing a pillar of blue light from his eyes, nose, and mouth.
The force of the blast threw Guilliman backward, while the immense pressure forced even Alexei to take several steps back.
The Destroyer positioned beside Magnus attempted to strike the instant the pillar appeared. Yet before its claws could land, its body broke down into points of light amidst agonized shrieks, dissolving completely from view.
Guilliman's face darkened. Alexei observed the body radiating raw, divine energy and remarked dryly, "What a sore loser, stepping in directly to save a minion."
A blue rift tore open behind Magnus. His trembling head turned slowly toward the two before him, an unearthly voice echoing from nowhere: "I... will remember... this..."
"Ha," Alexei sneered dismissively. "We're truly honored."
Magnus's vessel made no further sound, vanishing completely into the rift. Across the 'Macragge's Honour', all remaining daemons instantly dissolved into ash.
It was a punishment: the Lord of Destiny had banished these failures directly, deeming them unworthy to return to the Crystal Labyrinth.
Alexei stood silently amidst the ruin of the spine avenue, his expression cold. The battle was undeniably a victory—Magnus was severely crippled, and Kairos Fateweaver had been permanently erased and absorbed at his core.
Yet the cost had been steep, consuming nearly all his accrued resources, and his Hybrid creation had been crushed by Tzeentch himself. Surprisingly, the Lord of Destiny had chosen not to strike at him or Guilliman directly.
'Hmph, another part of the 'grand plan,' no doubt,' Alexei thought with a silent sneer. Nearby, Guilliman was already issuing orders to clear the battlefield. Whatever the future held, they had survived the ordeal.