That night, after Rhodes left, the two goddesses couldn't wait to begin studying the mysterious extra-dimensional energy crystals.
Now, both goddesses could even split their consciousness: Aisha used Lilith's body, while the Goddess of Life, Isha, used the body of a life giant.
When they conversed, each goddess used her own chaos divinity and life order divinity to put the two cosmic phantasmal beasts inside them to sleep.
Aisha picked up one of the extra-dimensional energy crystals and began to examine it closely. Ever since she temporarily detached from her chaos divinity by sealing it, she'd rarely used her chaos power, relying mainly on her divinity of love and beauty.
Order divinity was much weaker than chaos, but analyzing an energy crystal like this was still no problem.
"This is a very mysterious crystal! Its energy level is almost as strong as Warp energy. Moreover, clearly it comes from another dimension—similar to the Warp—but it can exist in solid form.
It can even form an extremely hard metal. Really, this is an excellent energy source," said Aisha.
"Isn't it? Rhodes was generous this time—he sent over 2,000 kg at once. Aisha, what do you plan to do with all these crystals?" Isha inquired.
"I have an idea. These extra-dimensional energy crystals might become a new power source for us. Let's split them half and half, and each try to absorb them," Aisha replied.
"If you're interested, you go ahead and absorb them! For me, my life divinity is already sufficient, plus with this giant's body I'm not afraid of anyone in realspace. I don't want to risk meddling with weird energies," said Isha.
Now in a giant's body, her life form was almost perfect, able to move freely between realspace and the Warp.
Her power was many times greater than ten thousand years ago. So why risk engaging with unknown energies?
She and Aisha were different. Aisha was determined to give up her chaos divinity and needed a new power to strengthen herself.
The cosmic phantasmal beast's power could only convert part of her chaos divinity into order divinity.
Even if she shed her chaos godhood, Aisha's power would plummet, dropping her from the rank of the Four Chaos Gods—she wouldn't be much stronger than the Goddess of Life.
Aisha's only trump cards were her soon-to-be-born divine child and Rhodes as her backer.
Chaos divinity was indeed incomparably strong—the most powerful force in the universe—but extremely restrictive and corrupting.
"Alright! Since you're so generous, I won't be polite. I really do need a new power to strengthen myself. Much of my chaos divinity has already been purified by the cosmic beast's power.
The longer I'm separated from my chaos divinity, the clearer my mind becomes. Since my birth over ten thousand years ago,
I feel like I was never in control—it was always the chaos godhood, and after being born, the four highest chaos godhoods seemed to develop self-awareness," Aisha said.
Chaos divinity was terrifying!
To rid herself of this evil, even if she became much weaker, she'd gladly accept it. She was once a goddess of love and beauty, but was corrupted into something else entirely!
At first, when she met Rhodes, she even tried to corrupt him. But the cosmic beast and her sister's order divinity allowed her to break free.
"Now you have partly freed yourself from chaos corruption. Things will get better. Soon, the War God Khaine will be resurrected, but I don't plan to tell him your true identity," Isha said.
Khaine's revival was only to attract the attention of Chaos, to act as a decoy, not to restore the Eldar.
"Isha, there's another thing I'm worried about. After I completely shed Slaanesh's godhood, it will pick a new host—another Slaanesh will be born!" Aisha said.
Such things must be guarded against. The chaos godhoods were self-aware. She could already sense Slaanesh's godhood was rejecting her, even starting to despise her.
"That's not good news. I thought we could finally get rid of a Chaos God," Isha said.
"It's not that easy. The Four Chaos Gods are immortal. Even if I shed Slaanesh's godhood, it will find a new host. We must be prepared for that," Aisha replied.
"You worry too much, Aisha. We're goddesses, not fighters. You were the bottom of the Four Chaos Gods for over ten thousand years!
Don't overthink it—just shed the godhood. If Slaanesh's godhood leaves you and chooses a new host, just let Rhodes deal with it.
Have a little faith in our man and divine son. We've put so much into raising this child—even if Slaanesh is reborn, he'll protect us!" Isha said.
"Alright!" Aisha patted her belly. "It's all up to you, baby! Mommy is betting on you to beat up the new Slaanesh."
After their chat, Aisha began absorbing extra-dimensional energy, merging it with the cosmic beast's power and linking it to her order divinity.
She continued converting chaos power into order power. At least before losing Slaanesh's godhood, she planned to leech as much chaos power as possible.
…
A few days later, Elena's due date arrived. This time, the delivery room was set up right next to the Golden Throne, with the Emperor personally ensuring the child's safe birth.
All Custodian Guards were on duty, and Rhodes personally selected some Space Marines to stand guard.
The Grey Knights deployed a psychic defense around the Imperial Palace, securing it tightly against any Chaos interference.
Several older Hospitaller Sisters were helping Elena deliver.
Rhodes, Guilliman, Magnus, and Lelith all waited before the Golden Throne.
"Don't worry, Rhodes, I can sense Sister Elena's life signs—and the child's—are both very stable," Guilliman said.
"I'm still a bit nervous. After all, this is my firstborn!" Rhodes replied.
Elena was a super lifeform, and the cosmic beast's vast energy ensured the baby's safe birth, but Rhodes was still a little anxious!
After all these days of waiting—after two years in this world—his firstborn was finally arriving!
"Don't worry, every first-time father is nervous. Strictly speaking, you already have a bunch of offspring—your gene-sons," Magnus joked.
"Don't worry. With the Eldar Goddess of Life and my power, Elena will be 100% fine," the Emperor reassured.
This child was the hope of the Imperium—possibly the only one who could rival the Eldar-human hybrid. The Emperor would devote all his attention to this child!
"Let's talk about something else. I plan to create a new Legion," the Emperor said.
"A new Legion—for my son?" Rhodes asked.
The Emperor had mentioned forming a new Astartes Legion for his son.
So, the baby would soon have gene-sons of his own?
"Your son's legion will only be recruited when he's an adult, after we can extract a perfect gene-seed.
I'm talking about Deathwatch—a force specialized against Xenos," the Emperor explained.
Deathwatch was a unique force, established for 10,000 years, invaluable to the Imperium. Without them, many Xenos would threaten the Empire.
He and Guilliman previously considered disbanding Deathwatch, sending everyone back to their chapters.
But Deathwatch now numbered over 10,000, with gene-seed from all factions, including some of Rhodes' gene-sons.
After the discussion, he and Guilliman decided to keep Deathwatch as a training ground for all Astartes, to fight the enemies of the Empire.
Rhodes' son, unlike a gene-primarch, would only have stable genes upon adulthood.
So, unlike the primarchs, his gene-seed wouldn't be extracted in infancy to make his own Legion.
"That's fine by me. I agree," said Rhodes.
Deathwatch deserved its own legionary status.
Suddenly, cries of pain echoed from the delivery room beside the Golden Throne.
"Lady Elena! Please hang in there—you're about to give birth to humanity's hope!"
"He's almost here! Lady Elena, just a bit more!" the Hospitaller Sisters encouraged.
A loud baby's cry rang through the Imperial Palace.
All Space Marines, Custodians, and Grey Knights instantly knelt on one knee upon hearing the newborn's cry.
They celebrated the birth of the first naturally born gene-primarch in history.