Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

Facts have proved that in most cases, hell is not unrecognizable: it is just that by the time you realize its existence, you are often already in the pit of hell.

For Conrad and Bayar now, this is the situation: the door to hell has already been opened to them in reality, and they have even walked a long distance inside, only to realize that those who are lingering around them On the other hand, it is a real nightmare.

And they have no choice but to face it.

One Terra standard hour after arriving at the top of the mountain, although Morgan and Alpharius never sent back the latest news, the various reconnaissance teams that were assigned loyally reported back what they had seen, and the champion swordsman listened. With these words mixed with fear and trembling, a hateful mural was woven in his mind.

Corpses, residues, experiments... products that transcend any moral bottom line and cognitive dimension of human beings are presented one by one in the report. Those blasphemous atrocities that are enough to be personally noticed by the Lord of Humanity and punished with excommunication are in Baya at this moment. It seems to me that there is some gentle breeze and drizzle.

He even understood the fearful expressions in the report.

In fact, according to common sense, Astartes will not feel fear, or in other words, there are very few things in the galaxy that can cause them fear. However, this time, the situation is obviously an exception. As each team The report flowed into Bayar's ears. This first batch of Dawnbreakers who had served in the legion for at least 260 years finally recalled the word that was too old for him.

fear.

Real fear.

"Bayar, it's me, can you hear me?"

The first person to send back the words was preacher Orlando, the old partner of the champion swordsman who had fought side by side for at least two hundred years. He was responsible for leading the team to explore the most remote and dangerous cave.

"Okay, Orlando, did you find anything there?"

"I'd rather not."

The preacher muttered and complained.

"But, what can I tell you: I did find a lot of things here. This place is truly unique. Although its entrance does not look big, there is an astonishingly complex underground network inside. I guess it might It was originally a transportation hub or warehouse, and... the stench was overwhelming."

"Then, what did you find? Don't tell me you were just doing geological surveying."

The champion swordsman held the communicator while holding his sword tightly. He looked at the warriors staying beside him and constantly calculated the shortest time to support each team.

"I did make some discoveries, but I'm not sure if you want to hear these... things I said."

"This is actually a modern tomb, or a corpse processing plant: behind every door we opened, there were piles of corpses. They were preserved by some unknown method, so I can't be sure. When did they die?"

"The corpses were of every kind imaginable: Eldar, Greenskins, Kroot, Kraphians, Osiris psykers, Hrudd, Randan, Wormmen, The Onkri, the Beastmen, the Ogryns and Lytlins, as well as the Skrulls, the Talups and the Basmemaniks: Damn it, I clearly remember that these guys should have been completely extinct. right!"

"Also: These guys are basically missing arms and legs. A large number of their limbs have been removed, and some of them have been intercepted from other alien corpses: but the number is seriously inconsistent. I don't know why."

"Are you sure you read that correctly?"

"I wish I was wrong, but in the past fifteen minutes, I have identified no less than two hundred species of alien creatures, and about one-tenth of them are species that were completely wiped out as early as the beginning of the Great Crusade. : I think you know what this means, Bayar?

"……certainly."

The champion swordsman blinked. He did not immediately muster up the courage to answer this sentence. Instead, Conrad on the side intervened, with a hint of understanding in his tone.

"I remember that my brother was one of the first Primarchs to return to the Empire, second only to Horus and Leman Russ, and he commanded the entire army in the early days of the Great Crusade?"

Bayar nodded.

"Yes, my lord, that man is the third Primarch to return. He and his Legion experienced the fifty Terran Standard Years of the most rapid expansion in the early years of the Great Crusade: if he had wanted to, his footsteps would have traversed the world. Across the galaxy and against every opponent we've ever faced."

"And the appearance of these things also shows that he has alien intentions..."

"It's so early."

Midnight Ghost added.

"That's really not good."

Conrad grinned, but there was no smile in his dark pupils.

On the other side, the exploration of the Orlando team continued, and trembling and cold breathing continued to come from the communicator. These elites of the Dawnbreakers boldly went deeper and deeper along the dark passage, And from time to time, they reported their new discoveries in a low voice.

Conrad was keenly aware of the changes in these discoveries: as the team went deeper and deeper, the things they found seemed to be more and more likely to be enslavers, or creatures such as mind-controlling species.

Until they groped for a place similar to the end of the road or the final storage place, Olan's voice suddenly stopped, and he fell into a long silence on the other side of the communicator until Bayar called out uneasily. After a cry. The preacher belatedly swallowed his saliva: when he opened his mouth again, his voice had turned into some kind of uncertain confusion.

"What's going on over there, Orlando?"

"No, it's nothing, I just found a new enslaver. One far bigger than I imagined: tell me, Bayar, how big was the largest of those enslavers we encountered before? Come on...how old are these bastards?"

The champion swordsman raised his eyebrows. He did not think that his old man, who had served loyally for 200 years, would forget the external image of such an impressive opponent. But he responded verbally.

"Generally speaking, enslavers are subspace creatures with a height of two to four meters. Their tentacles are about 1.5 meters, but there is no shortage of larger individuals, and their spiritual power is often doubled. increase."

At this point, Bayar was sluggish for a moment. He wanted to give an example, but found that he couldn't think of any good example for a while, until Conrad reminded him.

"During the Battle of Akupirin Abyss 23 years ago, the Luna Wolf Legion once encountered an interstellar civilization controlled by enslavers. The leader of that group of enslavers was a giant man with a height of about 23 to 25 meters. The monster, Horus had to call his other brothers, and finally it was the cooperation of multiple Primarchs, including Magnus, to kill the monster."

Midnight Ghost narrated this history fluently, answering even the smallest numbers and details fluently. This made the captain of the second company look at him in surprise: before this, Bayar did not pay attention to his genes. The mother's brother's impression of Conrad has always been that he liked to wander around on battleships. There weren't many Primarchs of cultural level.

"23 meters to 25 meters?"

Before the champion swordsman could be surprised, Orlando was whispering over there, and the sound of him swallowing saliva and wiping sweat beads could be heard very clearly.

"...Answer me, Bayar."

"A 60-meter-tall enslaver. What does it mean?"

"..."

——————

"I guess I can't answer your question: absolutely no way."

Alpharius faced those cold and ruthless blue pupils and tried his best to express a "frank" expression on his face. This was not an easy thing for him. After all, he was used to using mysterious expressions. Deal with everything with code words, so that from the beginning, you don't know the meaning of sincerity.

"I have said it once just now, and I can say it again now: As you may think, I am indeed a Primarch hiding the news of my return, but this is not what I think, Emperor and Maka Duo is the person who directly issued this order."

"Secondly, Morgan, please believe: at least this time, I do come with the sincerity of cooperation and fighting side by side. That guy's emergency situation has overtaken my other tasks, and solving him is the top priority now. question."

"Finally, I really can't answer your answer: yes, I know more things than you, but on any question about warp space or divinity, believe me, except for the Emperor and Martian No one outside of Cardor knows more than you, not even Magnus."

"Your understanding and mastery of gods, psychic powers and subspace is astonishing. Maybe you don't realize this yourself, but it is indeed a fact. It is for this reason that the Emperor will take the initiative to talk to you more. The truth: The reason why you feel that you still know nothing is because you have too high a view on the real universe’s understanding of the Supreme Heaven. Except for those lunatics, admirers and ignorant people, any race that realizes the truth of subspace will not We will take the initiative to explore it, so the understanding of the Supreme Heaven in the real universe is pitiful."

“And there is even less understanding of what is called deity, divinity, and divine authority.”

"Even with everything I know, I can't explain what's happening before us."

As he spoke, Hydra stretched out one of his hands and shook it in the empty cold space in front of him: From the perspective of the real universe, he didn't catch anything, but in the perception of subspace , both Primarchs could clearly feel that Alpharius was holding some unknown debris, a shining creation.

They did not know what this detritus was, but they could sense the presence of the gods in it: there was no reason, no clue, when the two Primarchs first observed the detritus in the Warp. At that time, the concept of [god] naturally popped into their minds.

"A god."

[A god that does not exist in our knowledge. He is not those four. 】

Not Vash'tor, not me, not what I saw in the Emperor.

Morgan added in her mind that she did not plan to reveal such a thing to Alpharius, or in other words, she did not plan to reveal it to anyone: not even Jonson or Conrad.

Neither of the two Primarchs doubted their own judgment. They immediately took steps and moved forward with all their strength, almost ignoring all the surrounding scenes. As they opened another door, rows of experimental equipment and petri dishes appeared. Standing side by side on both sides of the road, there are things inside that can shock the stars, but neither Morgan nor Alpharius have the time to pay attention to these former priorities.

They broke through the rooms one after another, ignoring the monsters that were squirming, panting, and even alive around them. They used the most violent means to smash through the doors one after another that blocked the way, and continued for an hour. , a change clearly appeared in their hearts: although they could not determine where they were on the mountain, they could feel that the essence of reality was trembling around them, whether it was material or non-material existence, They all became fragile in front of the increasingly thinning curtain between the physical universe and the subspace. Hallucinations began to grow from the corners of the eyes of the original bodies, and continued to expand towards the center of the pupils. Their calm state of mind also Then there was a wavering, just like a giant tree whose roots were gradually decaying.

They all realized this: when passing through the thirty-third magnificent hall, the original bodies smashed the iron doors and stopped at the same time, breathing quietly and slightly rapidly. Among them, Morgan and Alpharius looked at each other, and they saw the same emotions in each other's pupils.

That's hatred.

It is an unreasonable hatred towards the other party, stemming from the most fundamental selfish hatred of living beings: although there is only a trace that cannot affect them, it is extremely pure.

…

The two Primarchs looked at each other like this, and the silence lasted for about a minute. Until Alpharius let out a sharp bitter smile: he first diverted his gaze to show that he had no ill intentions.

"I originally thought we would encounter a crazy undead army, but now it seems that the situation may be worse than I imagined: Jonson and Leman Russ may really have to face each other in places we can't see. To a god.”

【Not that fast. 】

The Spider Queen also turned her head. She suppressed the anger in her pupils and continued to move forward side by side with Alpharius. Only this time, their footsteps slowed down and they began to pay attention to what might appear from somewhere. Unknown dangers coming.

[The ceremony of a god is far more glorious and cruel than you imagine: even an apocalypse like the Ran Dan War is not enough to support the birth of a god, it is not even qualified to summon it. 】

"……you sure?"

[Please don’t doubt me on this issue. I have the most authoritative right to speak. 】

"Oh well."

Alpharius nodded. As expected, he did not continue to challenge Morgan's authority. He just remembered the words of the Spider Queen deeply in the depths of his pupils. After all, the hidden content contained in these words was too deep. .

[I’m actually more curious about another point. 】

Morgan leads by half a length.

[Judging from the influence we have received, if that person really touched the edge of the so-called god, then he is very likely to have usurped the power called [Hate]: Why is this, and does he have anything to do with it? ? 】

"If it's hatred in a broad sense, then there is."

Hydra's eyes shifted for the first time. He looked at the overly huge genetic petri dish next to him. In the titan-like glass column, there were piles of meat balls, which were not like any other. The flesh of a creature is a sickly gray-black color, but other than that, it can even be called pure in form, with nothing strange about it: even that is strange enough in itself.

There were many more meatballs like this. They were piled up in three or four halls. They all showed a gray and dead look caused by the failure of the experiment. But the deeper they went, the more this dead breath began to appear. The rarer and rarer they were, when they found the originals and entered a deeper hall, the meat balls inside looked like they were alive.

"Amazing experimental progress."

Alpharius looked serious.

"If this is not his final base, then I have to be more worried about the situation on Zhuangson's side. The unknown is always the most terrifying opponent, especially the unknown that is crazy enough."

[More than these, I am more curious about what that person found in the edge of the gods and what he took away: If he really has mastered that kind of power, then we'd better retreat immediately. Even if Zhuangson doesn't want to, we Everyone must be kidnapped. 】

Morgan's eyes have been looking further ahead, and her third eye is constantly catching these strange fragments in the re-energized subspace, although these fragments themselves have little power and value. But they still give the Spider Queen one. It felt familiar, and as they went deeper and deeper, there were more and more of these debris.

If the debris they encountered at the beginning were just sporadic products blowing in the wind, then now. They seemed to be getting closer to the center of the explosion.

When walking into the next room, the detritus almost filled the subspace area corresponding to the entire room. Morgan even wondered if she would see a dying half-life if she opened another door. God's body.

But the reality is different from what she imagined.

As soon as she neared the final iron door, a shrill scream from the warp drew all of Morgan's attention: to her third eye. The Primarch observed what was happening behind the door.

It was a large piece of pure white dazzling light, so pure that a color that could not exist in the world was so dazzling that even the original gene could not open her pupils. It was irregular and fixed, it was warm, and it was It is cold, as if it is constantly absorbing the chaos, distortion, and change around it, and then spits out square products one after another, just like a king holding a sword and a code of law, conquering pieces of chaos. lands, turning them into docile servants at the feet of his empire.

【……】

This seems to have little to do with hatred.

Morgan couldn't help but be confused.

In her ears, Alpharius promptly added his own opinions.

"Look, I have reason to believe that guy has something to do with hate,

"He may not resent anyone, and may not conflict with other people for anything, but this does not mean that he is speechless with the word hatred: on the contrary, our brother hates the real universe and the world almost equally. He despises every existence in the warp for the incompetence of every individual except himself, and accuses humanity of being inefficient and hopeless as a race. He even declared in a public occasion that without the Emperor, Human civilization will come to a complete end within a thousand years, and the galaxy will not usher in the next ruler, because everything will end in disorder, stupidity and madness."

"We always thought that these were just his angry words after being frustrated again and again, but now it seems that these are really his deepest thoughts: If he thinks so, then he has reason to hate, Of all the things in this world, humans are just one of them.”

[Hate derived from contempt? 】

"Yes, since he is the strong one, he has sufficient reasons and subjectivity to bully other weak people: hatred is just a more unique reason."

[But hatred alone cannot support the domain of a god: the throne of every god is extremely complex. Alpharius, one pillar cannot support those twisted and crazy ones, and look at his actions now Well, hatred can only be the driving force. There must be other factors that support his behavior. 】

"But we have no way of knowing."

Hydra gave a brief reply. They stood side by side in front of the thickest iron door, looking at each other in silence. A kind of fear of facing huge power briefly occupied the hearts of the two Primarchs, and was quickly replaced by Expelled completely.

Whether it is Morgan or Alpharius, perhaps their natures are despicable, vicious, and selfish, but deep in their hearts, they do not lack the courage to fight for their lives: no matter what the reason for these courage is, courage is courage.

So, at the next moment, the two Primarchs took a step forward at the same time and pushed open the damn door: just by opening a crack, countless rays of light completely engulfed them. Just like the newborn sun swallowing up vampires who had no time to hide in the shadows.

But these lights are harmless, or in other words, they cannot exert their own harm. They are a group of headless flies, a legion without a marshal. Their master has left, and there is no one to direct them to attack these newcomers. .

The Primarchs did not go deeper into the room, they just looked at the door: it no longer mattered what it looked like inside the room, because the endless light had obscured everything. Just standing at the door, they could see from these lights. In the subspace waves generated, the truth is perceived instinctively.

And this truth made them silent for a long time. They didn't know how to face it, or how to explain clearly the new knowledge in their minds. In the end, they could only answer each other's questions with dry questions and answers.

Alpharius spoke first: he was a little more anxious than Morgan.

"A god was once born here."

[It is not considered a birth, because the god did not actually appear. He was only briefly awakened, squinting his eyes while half asleep, casting a glance at the real universe, and shaping everything before our eyes. 】

"You mean, He fell asleep again?"

[Yes: a god who will be awakened in the future. He might have woken up in this place, or cast his shadow to pave the way for his formal awakening, but he did not do so in the end. That intention Or the person who accidentally awakened him was once very close to that throne, but chose to leave. 】

[Or: give up. 】

Morgan raised a hand, and from the perspective of her third eye, she saw those shimmering fragments belonging to the gods: There are so many of these fragments in this hall, if they are assembled If you get up. That would be a powerful existence that could easily obliterate any Primarch.

But now, He is dead. Or.

[He was given up. 】

"……give up?"

【Yes. 】

Morgan nodded. Although she had not yet completed everything, the situation in front of her had been solved by him.

[What I say next may sound dreamy: but you better believe it. 】

[That person, our brother, came here at an unknown moment. Through some means that we cannot know now, he went deep into the depths of the subspace, and intentionally or unintentionally touched the tower belonging to the gods. palace, and extremely close to one of the thrones. 】

[And these fragments in front of us are the great body he inadvertently formed when he touched the throne: once he sits on it, this body will become his new strength, helping him spend a long time using The greatest war, to awaken all your powers and become a true god. 】

[This is how it should be...]

[But for some reason, he finally left that throne and that palace, and this great body was completely broken because of insufficient support and sacrifice, turning into countless debris before our eyes: after that, That person may have left here and gone deep into the deepest reaches of the dead stars. 】

"..."

"..."

"you mean……"

[Yes, Alpharius: Just like you imagined. 】

[He once had the opportunity to become a god, or embark on the road to becoming a god, and he had extremely convenient treatment on this road. He was almost destined to reach the final point, and was destined to sit on that throne. 】

【But he didn't do that. 】

【He gave up all this. 】

[He gave up becoming a god: for reasons unknown to us. 】

【And this reason...】

At this point, Morgan's tone paused, and she felt extremely ridiculous for what she wanted to say next.

[This reason, this reason that supported him to give up the power of gods, should be...]

[Loyalty to the Emperor. 】