Chapter 344: Flickering Darkness, Do You Like It?
As it turned out, aside from blood, saliva, and fragments of brain tissue, Angron couldn't expel anything else… much to Hades' disappointment, who had been hoping he would throw something up.
After repeated attempts, Hades decided not to force Angron any further, and instead settled down in the Great Rift region to await word from the Emperor.
Within the vast expanse of the Imperium, even with Warp travel, long-distance journeys took tremendous time. Patience was clearly essential.
Though Hades couldn't help imagining an unpleasant scenario—being stranded near the Great Rift, unable to enter the Warp, forced to sit and watch the Heresy unfold.
But even for the Four Gods, whipping up a storm across the entire galaxy wasn't exactly easy. Hades carefully recalled the state of the Imperium when he had departed the Perfect City, and concluded that the situation likely wouldn't spiral into the worst-case scenario he feared.
Still, with the phalanx bones lost, worrying would accomplish nothing. Better to seize the chance to develop. Both Forge World Salem and the World Eaters had suffered severe losses from the battle against Khorne and the C'tan—they urgently needed time to recover.
Hades personally led the Magos of Salem in clearing the ruined remnants left by the battle with the C'tan. The once vibrant crimson world had withered, turning into a rust-red husk. And at the center of the battlefield, a wide expanse of wasteland had been coated with a thin layer of metal.
That metal had been forged by Hades using the final, explosive howl of the Nightbringer—much of its material sourced from Necron exoskeletons.
First, Hades made absolutely sure that no dormant Necrons remained beneath the planet's surface, then confirmed that there were no lingering traces of Chaos corruption.
He stood in the icy wind, the biting gusts cracking sharply against his armor. But instead of blood mist, the wind carried tiny fragments of metal.
In the distance, the faint silhouettes of countless Titans stood in silence.
The drifting debris was the remains of machines.
Hades slowly turned and looked toward Hysen and the others waiting behind him.
"Salem may forge this planet into your own Forge World."
He watched as Archmagos Hysen bowed with feigned steadiness, and through the howling wind Hades saw the distant crowds erupt into cheers.
While inspecting the planet, Hades had sensed the expectations of those people whose "rank was insufficient."
The cautious gazes of the Skitarii, the Magos who thought they were following him discreetly—people trailing after him, as though merely being near him made everything right.
Suddenly, a voice rang out sharply from the far side of the crowd:
"Great Omnissiah! Please grant this land a name!"
The shout had clearly come from some low-ranking Magos committing an offense. Hades saw Hysen jolt, preparing to apologize on their behalf—
But Hades raised a hand, stopping him. He asked quietly:
"Hysen… would you all be willing to grant that Magos wish?"
Hades found amusement in the rapid blinking of Hysen's indicator lights. The final answer was, of course, yes.
Hades smiled, and raised his voice against the wind.
"My brave seekers of truth!"
His words tore through the cold air.
"You have shown me your resolve and your will. In this chaotic Great Rift region, you are the light. Let the light of human reason shine once more upon this world—Faos. This planet shall be called Faos!"
"FAOS!!!"
The crowd erupted into thunderous celebration.
Faos—the first day of Genesis.
The day the divine brought forth light.
The day the rescue beam of the faithful pierced through the endless clouds.
Hades smiled. He would never forget the day he looked up and saw the first Titan cast its beam of light across the horizon.
. . .
With Hades' permission, Salem began transforming the entire planet with astonishing efficiency.
Half of the Magos returned to the primary Forge World of Salem to mobilize large construction engines, while the other half remained with Hades to design the future of Faos.
The first issue they needed to address was the prison that held the Nightbringer shard.
Between the four pillars of blackstone, arcs of electricity snapped and crackled like the screams of a humanoid soul. Hades pondered what he should ultimately do with the C'tan. In the end, he decided to entrust the shard to Faos for safekeeping.
Assuming, of course, that the Emperor and Malcador didn't demand it from him.
His reasoning was simple: if he chose to take the shard with him and store it aboard his ship, he couldn't guarantee that warp travel wouldn't negatively affect the blackstone-based structure—and the ship itself was far from stable.
And at any rate, there was no real need for him to take the shard with him. The Necron multidimensional tesseract labyrinth currently had only two stable functions: one, releasing the Nightbringer shard for combat; two, generating a steady output of energy.
Considering that the labyrinth had sustained damage during his battle with the Nightbringer… he had no intention of releasing that thing again anytime soon.
Better to leave it here as an energy source for the Magos of Salem—and provide them with a more stable physical-side workspace.
Also, Hades knew the current chaos pervading the Great Rift provided perfect cover for the shard. But if he took it out into the wider galaxy… it would very likely draw the attention of other Necrons.
Though, to be fair, he was already a walking Necron magnet.
Hades rubbed his thumb against his forefinger, contemplating. A faint, almost imperceptible flicker of emerald static danced between them.
Since his battle with the Nightbringer, Hades had clearly felt… some new power awakening within him.
The first to return was the searing green lightning he used to coil around his black armor—the very same lightning he mostly used for dramatic effect.
Currently, his primary use of the ability was to dim the battlefield by opening his black domain, then light it up with green lightning to maximize theatrics.
No one could witness such a display and not be impressed by Hades' flair. Coupled with his Emperor-brand red glowing eyes, Hades—when activating both the black domain and lightning effects—was unquestionably the most stylishly over-the-top figure present.
Hades idly mused that he now had one more built-in flashy special effect than Mortarion, who came with his own environmental-modification aura.
—Ahem. If one insisted on evaluating actual combat utility, Hades had discovered that he could make the lightning appear on any mechanical, metallic, or blackstone object near him.
He could destroy these mechanisms—or temporarily control them.
The dancing arcs would also enchant weapons with an effect akin to extreme heat: metals would begin to soften and melt under the electrical sheath.
Hades poked his cheek with his fingertip—the only part of him not covered in armor. A thread of green lightning skittered across his skin like static electricity. Despite the molten effect it produced on metal, the lightning itself felt cold.
He even called others over to test it, and their reactions were unanimous: cold, not hot.
And after sustained exposure, metal would fully liquefy. Hades could then manipulate the liquid metal and shape it into whatever form he desired.
But after several attempts, Hades decisively gave up for the moment. A neat rectangular block was his absolute limit—he could only sculpt something that looked like a brick.
Hades held the metal brick in his hand, falling into deep thought.
…Well… it wasn't useless, was it?
The liquid metal could also automatically seal metal wounds. Hades tested several old vehicles, and observed the following: it could reconnect severed wires on its own, perform basic soldering on chips, and reinforce armor plates by wrapping and thickening them.
In addition, Hades could automatically sense the condition and structural state of every machine within his field of vision.
It was worth noting that machine spirits reacted to him in two very different ways.
Hades could sense that some machine spirits submitted to him completely, while others tried to run from him—during which his control over them weakened.
Hades theorized that although the Omnissiah was a Warp-like entity, he carried a fragment of the Void Dragon, a purely physical-side being. Thus, Warp-born machine spirits might instinctively harbor hostility toward him.
Whereas those that submitted were choosing to believe the Omnissiah's side of the truth.
Hades had no idea how machine spirits "thought"—but it didn't matter. A single sweep of the black domain could solve most problems.
However… if machine spirits could resist his control, then was it only machine spirits that could do so, or could any sufficiently self-aware machine resist him?
Without a test subject, Hades had no way to know.
He suddenly remembered the bad-tempered old vehicle he'd encountered on Mars, and wondered how that cantankerous machine would feel about him treating its kind like this.
In other words, Hades' newly awakened Void Dragon abilities amounted to a massive boost for friendly mechanical forces on the battlefield, while simultaneously disrupting enemy machines.
He could command or interfere with machines via lightning, and he could "heal" allied units using liquid metal.
In summary, he was basically a support-role specialist. But once enough liquid metal accumulated on the battlefield… Hades believed he could recreate the glory of his fight with the Nightbringer—though that time, he had essentially hidden between Angron and the Titans, delivering sneaky damage, only landing a single strike at the very end.
Still… that single strike seemed to have given him something.
Hades recalled the moment—when he had fallen into the state triggered by the Void Dragon fragment, he had been completely unable to sense life. He could only read the battlefield through the machinery attached to each warrior.
But after that one strike, Hades gained the ability to sense life again.
No… that wasn't the right way to describe it.
More accurately, Hades gained the ability to sense those who had not yet died.
What he perceived was death, not life.
And aside from that ability, nothing else seemed different. Hades did not notice that the darkness surrounding him had grown slightly deeper.
. . .
The Warp whispered: a being of the physical realm was rising.
Not merely "anti-Warp"—but the true, unaltered physical side.
The Path of Darkness had ended abruptly; the arrogant had destroyed their own way.
No mercy required.
Let them swallow the bitter fruit they cultivated themselves.
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