The Emperor had been worried that Rhodes's divine child would grow closer to the Eldar, drifting away from humanity, perhaps even seeing humans as inferior.
But now, he saw things differently. The Eldar were too arrogant—even more xenophobic than humans.
In their eyes, sacrificing an entire human world to save a single Eldar was a fair trade.
Their xenophobia was terrifying—only the Tau were less so. Although many humans had defected, the Emperor was sure the Tau would not get far in the galaxy.
In a few thousand years, they'd gone from primitives to a starfaring race—he'd never believe it wasn't Chaos pushing them along.
When Chaos demanded payment, the real tragedy would begin—just like it had for humanity.
As for Rhodes's divine child, it was too early to predict his future. Only once he was born and developed his own values could judgments be made.
After the Mother Goddess's promise, all the Eldar's previous gloom vanished, replaced by joy. It was as if nothing unpleasant had just happened. Rhodes shook his head at their hypocrisy.
The more contact he had with them, the clearer it became—even the Dark Eldar were more straightforward. The Craftworlders were just pretentious. Even the Exodites were better.
"My children! Now, hand over all the Avatars of Khaine you've gathered. I'll combine the fragments and resurrect the God of War!" Isha commanded.
"As you wish, great Mother Goddess!" The Eldars nodded, taking out their Avatars.
Each Avatar was the ultimate weapon of a Craftworld. Every time it was activated, it consumed a seer's soul as fuel.
Yet history had seen Avatars defeated. Now, nearly all the surviving Avatars were gathered here.
"Great Mother Goddess, is this all the Avatars we could collect? Some Craftworlds were destroyed, and their Avatars lost," Yvraine said.
"No matter! These fragments are enough for Khaine's revival. Each holds part of his memory. Missing a few pieces isn't a big deal," Isha replied.
It was better if Khaine wasn't revived perfectly—easier to control.
Isha spread her arms, emitting emerald divine power. The green light enveloped the Avatars, which shrank into soul fragments, then were gathered up by the Goddess of Life.
"Now, I must expend divine power to revive Khaine! But for a perfect resurrection, I'll need a strong Eldar warrior to offer their body as a vessel. Who among you will take on this responsibility?" Isha asked.
All the Eldar Ynnari took a step back. They were followers of Ynnead and the Mother Goddess, not of Khaine.
Most warriors weren't interested in Khaine anyway. In ancient myth, he was the villain—imprisoning their Mother and Father, nearly destroying their race. Only Slaanesh's birth had stopped him.
So, no one volunteered to be Khaine's vessel—after all, he would totally erase their mind and possess their body. Offering oneself to Khaine was suicide.
"Great Mother Goddess, we are followers of the Ynnead and yourself. We respect Khaine, but do not wish to surrender our bodies to him," one Eldar argued.
The others agreed.
"For the good of our people, Khaine must be revived. You must choose someone," Isha said sternly. She was no longer the gentle goddess of ten thousand years ago—now she knew when to be strict.
"If a warrior must bear Khaine's soul, then let's choose from the Dark Eldar! Some have tainted bloodlines from beast serum, and besides, the Dark Eldar are just clones grown in vats—hardly precious," an Asuryan seer said.
The Eldar had their own hierarchy: Craftworlders looked down on Exodites, who looked down on Corsairs, who looked down on Dark Eldar—and the Dark Eldar looked down on everyone!
Everyone claimed to be the true heirs of the ancient empire, but in truth, the Blood Brides of the Dark Eldar were the true inheritors.
"Agreed! Let a Dark Eldar beast-warrior bear this burden!" the seers chorused.
Hearing this, Yvraine, leader of the Ynnari, frowned. The Harlequins had the most Dark Eldar, then Corsairs and Exodites. Craftworlders were the fewest. Harlequins themselves were rare.
For Yvraine, the beast-warriors were not evil—in fact, some Dark Eldar had accepted the modifications willingly, to help everyone.
"We are the noble heirs of the empire! Commorragh was the jewel of the empire, while you are mere refugees!" a Dark Eldar snapped back.
"Shut up! You're just clones!"
"Damn refugees! Cowards!"
"Clones should sacrifice themselves! It's a noble sacrifice!"
Rhodes had no interest in Eldar internal affairs—he just watched their infighting with schadenfreude.
The Emperor and other Primarchs were equally amused. So this was the most united race in the galaxy?
Hilarious!
"Enough, you idiots. Some of our warriors became vegetative during battle—bring them here and let the Mother Goddess choose," Yvraine ordered, unable to stand it any longer.
So embarrassing! To be so undignified in front of humans!
"Seers, you're out of line. You're shaming the honor of the Eldar. Stop arguing and obey the orders of the High Seer," Eldrad said.
With Eldrad and Yvraine both speaking, the argument ended at once.
Soon, several warriors carried in vegetative wounded. They could have recovered with rest, but now they were sacrificial lambs—no one cared about their opinion.
Isha didn't waste words—she picked the strongest body, gave Rhodes a look, and returned to her palace.
"We'll take our leave. The Custodes will take you to your rooms. Don't wander the palace—consider that friendly advice," Rhodes said.
"The banquet is ready! Please follow me," Guilliman announced.
The Eldar, led by Eldrad, followed the Custodes to their rooms.
That night, the Emperor hosted a grand banquet for the Ynnari, with Guilliman, Rhodes, Ecclesiarchy dignitaries, and nobles all attending.
Guilliman and Rhodes just made an appearance, gave some speeches on alliance, toasted the seers, and then left.
They found banqueting with Eldar awkward.
"Please, continue. I have other Imperial business to attend to," Rhodes excused himself.
"Wait for me, Rhodes! We haven't seen each other in so long. I want to talk—especially about Lelith," Yvraine followed him.
"No problem, Yvraine! I missed you too," Rhodes put his arm around Yvraine's waist, taking her away under the searing gazes of the Eldar warriors.
"Enjoy the feast! Keep eating, keep dancing, keep drinking!"
Soon, the two returned to Rhodes's quarters. Yvraine kicked off her shoes and lay on Rhodes's sofa.
The past days of battle had exhausted her. Collecting Khaine's Avatars was no easy job—they'd even been attacked by Chaos Space Marines and Xenos.
But with her cosmic beast and Rhodes's monster warriors, nothing too dangerous had happened.
"To be honest, I can't stand those busybodies. Today was so embarrassing. What's going on with the Mother Goddess?" Yvraine asked.
Even she, the Death god Emissary, felt embarrassed. When the Goddess needed a host, everyone fought to volunteer; if not restricted to female Eldar, even the Asuryan would have jumped in. But when it came to Khaine, nobody wanted the job!
"The longer one lives, the more one fears death!" Rhodes chuckled.
"Anyway, is the body provided today really suitable for Khaine? He's just an ordinary Eldar warrior, and the beast serum came from Golza," Yvraine asked.
"After you provide the body, I'll modify it to hold Khaine's soul. No problem. But you must have another reason for coming today?" Rhodes asked.
With her personality, Yvraine would only come after the banquet. Coming early meant she had something important.
Isha was busy fusing Khaine's soul, and Elena was with her gene-daughter. So only Yvraine was in Rhodes's room.
"There is something. Rhodes, you need to help me break free from the Death God, Ynnead!" Yvraine said seriously.
"The Death God is your source of power! Why break free?" Rhodes asked.
"This is your fault, Rhodes. You gave me a cosmic beast and made me a super life-form. Now the Death God wants my body—he's even trying to persuade me to give it to him," Yvraine said.
A super life-form's body could house an Eldar god—so naturally, Ynnead wanted hers.