The Dark Universe's Grand Emperor, Alien Empera, was exhilarated. The feeling of returning to reality from the Death World was simply magnificent!
The last time had been during his assault on the Land of Light. Back then the Land of Light was empty—his for the taking. All he needed to do was casually swing the Empera Blade in his hand.
He could cut down countless Ultramen—until that man appeared, wielding the Ultra Sword, awakening the Land of Light and the true power of the Ultra Warriors. Father of Ultra defeated him and left a scar that would never fade.
That wound troubled him for tens of thousands of years. In the end, when he attacked Earth again, he encountered an extraordinarily young Ultraman there—the other's age hadn't even reached ten thousand.
Faced with that young Ultraman, he was utterly contemptuous. What right did the other have to be compared with him, a being who strode across the cosmos?
So he stood unmoving, took all of the other's techniques head-on, and killed his companions.
But in the end, that fusion tactic of theirs, along with Zoffy's M78 Beam, plus a light-amplification device developed by humans on Earth,
succeeded in defeating him and completely purifying him with light. That defeat was due both to his arrogance and to the wound he bore at his waist.
Ever since Father of Ultra injured him tens of thousands of years ago, his wounds had never fully healed. He even forged a suit of dark armor, intending to use it to conquer the Land of Light.
But alas, the mighty Dark Universe Grand Emperor never had the chance to wear it again!
He thought he would die completely, to fall into darkness forever—but he hadn't expected his rebirth to come so quickly. He awakened from a despairing darkness, and was given a new mission.
In the past, he would never have bowed to anyone, not even someone stronger than himself. But now, under the interference of that inexplicable power, he had become the slave of the man before him—utterly and completely.
And he was more than willing. The other's will was his own mission. Even if it meant death, he would carry out the tasks entrusted to him.
He could also sense the terrifying enemy in the distance closing in on him—an opponent worthy of his full strength.
How many years had it been since he last felt his fighting spirit surge like this?
After his master resurrected him, his injuries were completely healed; his power had returned to its peak.
Unless it was a being like the King of Ultra, he would not put any enemy in his eyes.
"Very good. I believe in your strength, Grand Emperor of the Dark Universe. In this cosmos, you will shine brilliantly," Rhodes nodded with great satisfaction.
At that moment a black silhouette appeared before the human fleet—a terrifying colossal monster the size of a planet.
Its horrifying bulk made every human commander present shrink back in fear.
"By the Emperor—what evil, what a monster!"
"The Emperor will protect us! This evil aberration will be defeated!"
"We will surely claim final victory. The great Emperor watches over us." Many of the mortal Imperial Navy's commanders had begun to pray, hoping the great Emperor would protect them; some even cast questioning looks toward Rhodes.
These mortal officers had no right to step onto Rhodes's command bridge; they could only wait within their own squadrons for Lord Rhodes's orders.
"Notify all human crew, all hands: fall back. Withdraw to the system's center.
Clear the battlespace. What follows will be a fierce battle, not one mortals can take part in." Through a psychic broadcast, Rhodes issued the retreat order to all fleets. The coming fight was not one they could join.
"Great Warmaster, do you intend to face this terrifying enemy yourself?" A mortal naval commander immediately had the psyker aboard his destroyer send a psychic transmission to Rhodes.
Since the monster before them was so evil and terrifying, the Imperial Navy would not choose to flee—that would be an affront to the Emperor, an affront to all mankind.
"I see your loyalty to the Imperium. This battle is not something you can withstand. Just fall back.
Leave the rest to me—do not worry." Rhodes's powerful psychic might sent the message directly into the minds of all human commanders present.
"Fortune in war, great Primarch. We believe you will claim the final victory." The mortal commanders nodded to Rhodes, then each took their battle barges, destroyers, cruisers, and frigates toward the system's center,
clearing the system's periphery, opening up a space of several light-years in radius per Rhodes's instructions.
"Great master! The opponent before us is strong. The aura it emits is terrifying," Tartarus said as he came to Rhodes's side.
This so-called Great Devourer was anything but simple. Not only did it possess immense power in realspace, it was also an existence in the Warp on par with those four—perhaps even more ancient.
"Don't worry. No matter how strong it is, the three of you together can absolutely annihilate it," said Rhodes.
"Great master, there's no need for the other two to act. I have just arrived in this world; I happen to need the blood of a strong foe to fly my banner." The Dark Universe's Grand Emperor finished speaking and turned into a streak of black light, leaving Rhodes's starship.
He flew straight toward the planet-sized avatar of the Great Devourer. He had seen monsters of such bulk before; in fact, in his world there was even an ape-like devourer that swallowed stars, and it had even devoured the Big Dipper itself.
At a mere 56 meters tall, the Grand Emperor of the Dark Universe was a speck before the planet-sized avatar of the Great Devourer—but the Dark Emperor was brimming with confidence!
He poured vast dark power into the Empera Blade in his hand, the blade lengthening to tens of thousands of meters, hovering in the void.
"Entertain me, Great Devourer!"
With that, he brought the tens-of-thousands-meters blade down in a sweeping cut, unleashing a terrifying wave of dark sword energy.
Alien Empera's dark energy surged through space; the Empera Blade, tens of thousands of meters long, carved a pitch-black scar. Wherever the sword-qi passed, space twisted and even starlight was swallowed—an absolute power of darkness.
That wave of darkness descended like heavenly wrath upon the Great Devourer's avatar, cleaving open its thick biocarapace in an instant. Purple-black Tyranid ichor geysered out like a waterfall, crystallizing into eerie formations in the vacuum.
With a single strike, the Grand Emperor had landed a solid blow.
The Great Devourer emitted a deafening psychic shriek; space across the entire star domain trembled, and countless hive ship wrecks were pulverized into dust by the shock.
The wound writhed rapidly, new tissue regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye. At the same time, countless psychic sigils surfaced on its carapace, forming a honeycombed psychic defense matrix.
Alien Empera's kilometer-blade tore the void; a slash condensed of dark-matter energy vaporized the asteroid belt along its path.
The avatar unleashed a high-frequency psychic screech. Its three pairs of scythe-like forelimbs crossed to parry; the honeycombed psychic matrix flared across its shell. The impact of the parried blow sent ripples that warped the surrounding space.
"Foolish organic, I will devour you. My body is invincible, undying." The Great Devourer launched a terrifying psychic assault, but it was neutralized by the Dark Emperor's power.
"Regeneration? Let's see how many times you can regenerate!" Alien Empera sneered, gripped the hilt with both hands, and gathered a storm of dark energy. The blade swelled again, becoming a jet-black greatsword spanning the star-river, and he cleaved once more at the foe before him.
"Dark World-Ender Slash!" This was no longer a simple physical cut, but an eruption of power fused with the law of darkness.
As the blade fell, even space itself was torn, opening a brief rift into the Warp.
The avatar of the Great Devourer was cleaved cleanly in two by this strike. Its massive body toppled to either side, countless Tyranid tissues rapidly rotting under the erosion of dark energy.
Yet even cut in half, the Tyranid avatar did not die. Its two halves twisted and deformed, and in mere seconds each split into an independent entity! Not only that, their carapaces grew heavier, their psychic fluctuations stronger—obviously evolving mid-battle.
"Foolish dark life—your attack only makes us stronger." The whisper of the Hive Mind rang directly in Alien Empera's head.
The two gigantic Tyranid avatars opened their maws simultaneously, spewing twin torrents of bioplasma, the heat enough to boil a planetary crust.
Interesting—this avatar of the Great Devourer could even divide and attack in concert.
Alien Empera was instantly engulfed in the cataclysmic flood of energy; his dark armor shrieked under the extreme heat as metal warped.
A surge of terrifying dark energy erupted as the Grand Emperor raised a colossal dark shield across his body, successfully blocking the attack.
"Hmph. Is that all? Is this the extent of your strength?" His voice rang out from within the storm of energy, and then he stepped forth unscathed, dark power forming an absolute barrier around him.
"If that was your all, this battle is far too dull. Warm-up's over—I'll get serious now."
The Grand Emperor pressed his hands together before his chest and unleashed a gigantic wave of dark energy toward the two avatars of the Great Devourer.