The moment Kratos's gaze locked upon the psychic moon, his body underwent a transformation.
A titanic crack, as if his very skeleton was shattering, overwhelmed the creaking of the warship. The golden lightning that had previously wreathed his body was replaced by a primal, savage torrent of energy filled with a destructive aura. Black fur burst through his skin, growing with frantic speed, while his muscles swelled like mountain ranges, cracking and shattering his power armour.
"ROAR!" An enraged howl echoed as if it could shake the heavens themselves. A black-furred ape, some twenty meters tall, materialized before Horus.
But the transformation was not yet complete. A golden power began to shine from within the beast, causing its dark fur to transmute into a brilliant gold. With a roar that seemed to shatter the void, a Golden Great Ape, wreathed in sacred golden flames and with eyes blazing with the Emperor's own psychic fire, tore through the energy storm and stood resolute upon the ruined hull.
Seeing this, Horus immediately charged.
He wielded the Talon of Horus, tearing through space to deliver a blow. The massive claw slammed viciously against the great ape's swelling chest.
The resulting sound was not the impact of flesh and blood, but a deafening boom, like the collision of two stellar cores.
The power of Chaos flowing through the weapon, a force sufficient to shatter stars and Horus's most prized asset, had merely managed to carve a few shallow wounds into the ape's chest, which was covered in dense golden fur. The Saiyan's golden coat had successfully repelled the disruption field of the Talon of Horus, along with its corrupting Chaos energies.
"ROOAARRR!" The Golden Great Ape let out a furious roar and began to beat its chest with its fists.
This was no mere bestial cry.
The roar carried Kratos's unyielding will, the burning fury of his Saiyan bloodline, and the majestic echo of the Emperor's own psychic might. Tangible golden soundwaves, like massive hammers striking a war drum, radiated from the transformed Kratos.
This terrifying psychic force crashed into Horus, causing the Chaos shield around him to ripple violently before he was sent flying backward, smashing through several layers of twisted metal wreckage.
In the Immaterium, the phantoms of the Four Gods whispered in astonishment.
"A Great Ape?! Axis displayed this transformation when he fought Slaanesh and Khorne in the warp!" The amorphous shape of Tzeentch, formed of countless eyes, flickered rapidly, attempting to analyze this energy form that defied all logic. "This is bad! This golden one is ten times stronger, and if he regains his senses, something terrible will happen."
The Great Ape form of Axis had been a beast of wild, green-gold flame. Kratos's, however, was a being of pure Golden Wrath, fused with the sacred power of the Emperor himself, radiating a pure golden luminescence.
"Power! Pure raw strength!" The Skull Throne of Khorne trembled with excitement, the Blood God's will craving this even more ferocious battle. "Horus! Tear it apart! Offer its skull to me!"
"Such power and wildness… what beautiful aesthetics… it's intoxicating," Slaanesh whispered with a sick sense of rapture.
"Such a tenacious life... worthy... of decay... and infection," Nurgle's pustulent form gurgled slowly.
Only Tzeentch remained silent, its sharp gaze fixed upon Kratos, the son of Axis.
However, the will of the Four Gods was no longer just to kill the beast, but to have Horus offer it to them.
Urged on by his patrons, Horus burst from the ruins. Four even more solid projections of the dark gods formed behind him, draping him in what seemed like a cloak woven from the very essence of the Immaterium.
He held Worldbreaker high, its profane green flames mingling with Khorne's blood-red lightning, Tzeentch's twisting runes, and Slaanesh's mesmerizing aura. The energies coalesced into a sphere of raw Chaos, a bomb potent enough to drive a small planet into its own core.
"Beast! Be reduced to the dust of the cosmos!" Horus bellowed, hurling the sphere of destructive might straight at the Golden Great Ape's head.
Faced with this world-ending strike, a flicker of Kratos's own ferocious yet precise combat intellect sparked within the ape's burning white bestial eyes.
It did not attempt to block the attack.
The massive body moved with a terrifying speed that completely belied its size. A turn of the torso, a twist of the waist, and it was a perfect dodge. The sphere of Chaos energy screamed past the Golden Great Ape's shoulder and struck a vast section of floating warship wreckage. A silent explosion instantly annihilated the kilometers-long metal structure, leaving only a roiling ripple in the warp.
A human-like smile touched the lips of the Golden Great Ape. If Horus thought he was without his wits in this state, he was gravely mistaken.
This Golden Great Ape form was a transformation he and his father, Axis, had specifically trained for. His father had taught him how to use his own energy to create a false moon.
Kratos had then adapted the technique, successfully mastering a method to create a moon with his psychic power to trigger the transformation.
Under his father's supervision, while cultivating the fruits of the Tree of Might, Kratos had used this psychic moon numerous times. He would first transform into the black-furred Great Ape. In that state, following his father's guidance, he learned to use his psychic strength to master the beast and regain his own consciousness.
After succeeding, Axis taught him how to channel his Super Saiyan power while in ape form, allowing him to achieve this Golden Great Ape state.
The power Kratos now possessed was beyond mortal comprehension. It was a force capable of crushing anything in its path.
However, he had not been able to achieve the ultimate form his father spoke of, Super Saiyan Four, which fused the primal power of the ape with the advanced power of the Super Saiyan. Though he had inherited the power of the Super Saiyan and mastered the Great Ape, he was not a pure-blooded Saiyan and thus could not reach that final stage.
But the four Chaos Gods in the Immaterium knew nothing of this. Even Khorne believed Kratos could transform into the Super Saiyan Four, just as Axis had.
In the instant Kratos dodged, his giant paw, large enough to grasp a mountain, was already wreathed in reality-tearing golden lightning and the purifying holy flames of the Emperor's psychic power. With the force to sunder worlds, he brought it crashing down upon Horus. Before the claw even landed, the vacuum shockwave formed by its pure strength compressing space caused the Chaos energies around Horus to boil violently.
"You will not stop me! You will not defeat me!" Horus roared, crossing the Talon of Horus and Worldbreaker to block the attack.
The four phantoms of the gods behind him howled as they poured their power into him.
The point of impact erupted in a sphere of light brighter than a star.
The remaining superstructure of the Vengeful Spirit disintegrated like an eggshell crushed under the foot of a god, its massive sections vaporising as a whole. The tear in realspace was ripped open even wider, and the twisted energies of the Immaterium poured through like a waterfall, turning the battlefield into a psychedelic hellscape.
The core of Horus's flagship was all but destroyed, its entire hull deformed, but the power of the four gods twisted the space around them, stabilizing the area into a fitting arena that could withstand any punishment.
The two were locked in a furious struggle.
The deck plates beneath Horus's feet fractured and shattered. The violet-black energies of Chaos seethed like boiling oil, desperately holding back the crushing weight of Kratos's golden paw. He could clearly feel that the force from the claw was not just a physical one, but also contained a holy, purifying power that caused his very soul to ache with revulsion.
It was the Emperor's power, waging a fundamental war of annihilation against the boons of the Four Gods within him.
Damn it! How could the son of Axis possess such terrifying strength?
"ROAR!" The Golden Great Ape's other giant claw screamed through the air in a horizontal sweep. A blow that could shatter a moon into fragments.
Empowered by the Four Gods, Horus unleashed his absolute limit. With a mighty heave, his arms strained against the paw above him, forcing it up just enough to create a sliver of space.
He twisted his body at an impossible angle, smashing Worldbreaker and its profane green flames against the wrist of the incoming claw.
There was a thunderous clang and the sizzle of scorched fur. The Golden Great Ape leaped backward, nimbly dodging the strike.
The golden ape then launched a ferocious assault, driving Horus back and forcing him to consider activating his final gambit.
No, he thought, he had to save the power he now possessed for his true father. He could not waste it on this boy. The Four Gods would not mind, but his own body would not be able to withstand the strain.
Suddenly, Horus remembered something. He remembered the Kratos of old, who had trusted him completely. Kratos had once told him that if he ever lost control and transformed into the ape, Horus should attack his tail.
He had found his last resort. The tail. He had to cut off the tail.
Horus performed a slide, moving beneath the great ape's legs. He then sprang up, and with a swift, brutal slash, the Talon of Horus severed Kratos's tail.
The Golden Great Ape let out a pained shriek as its body began to shrink rapidly. Kratos reverted to his human form and collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath.
Damn it, he cursed silently. Horus knew about the weakness of the tail.
"You're out of tricks now, aren't you?" Horus sneered.
He kicked Kratos to the ground, raised Worldbreaker high, and prepared to deliver the final blow that would end the boy's life.
In that very instant, a giant golden sword blocked the mace.
With a deafening clang, the impact forced Horus several steps back.
A giant, five meters tall, clad in ornate golden power armour, stood before Kratos.
"Are you alright?" the figure asked.
"I am fine, Grandfather," Kratos replied, his voice heavy with exhaustion, "I have disappointed you. I failed to defeat Horus."
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ps?