"By Olympia…" Atreus cursed as he watched the Warp abomination charge toward him at an abnormally high speed for a creature of its size.
A Juggernaut.
This creature is also known as the "Brass Behemoth," the "Soul Grinder," or the "Unstoppable Rage of Khorne."
It is one of the most terrifying daemon beasts of the Blood God, Khorne, an incarnation of his unleashed fury within the Immaterium.
Juggernauts possess colossal size, but that was not their most disturbing aspect.
Far from it.
Their true threat lay in their natural armor. Their skin resembled thick plates of bronze and infernal iron, forged in the depths of the Warp.
Few blades could hope to cut into them. They charged without the slightest hesitation, ignoring all concepts of defense, because almost nothing was capable of stopping their momentum.
To this was added monstrous strength, enough to impale a battle tank on their horns or ravage entire formations of mortals.
And that was precisely what was now hurtling toward Atreus.
"I can't let it pass… but…"
The Space Marine had no choice left.
He halted his assault against the champion of the Skull and Blood God, then raised his power axe with the intent of striking down the beast before it could reach its target.
The ground cracked beneath the monster's weight. Each impact of its hooves shook the earth, while its murderous intent focused entirely on the man who dared stand in the way of its master.
The entity of the Immaterium let out a roar so deep it seemed to make the air of the Materium tremble. A stench of coagulated blood, burned flesh, and rusted metal poured from its gaping maw.
Then…
The two colossi collided.
The power axe and the Juggernaut's horn clashed in an explosion of force that lifted a massive cloud of dust and made the ground tremble.
The earth collapsed beneath their feet.
It was a true clash of titans.
But the verdict came quickly.
One of the Juggernaut's horns shattered under the edge of the axe.
Yet…
The charge did not stop.
Not even for an instant.
As if pain did not exist for a creature born from incarnate rage.
Atreus was thrown through the forest like a shell.
His armored body pulverized tree after tree, ripping entire trunks apart and carving a long trail of destruction through the forest. The echoes of the impact resonated for several seconds, while a heavy silence fell over the battlefield.
"As expected of a being at the peak of its species…" he thought as he observed the demonic duo forming in the middle of the battlefield.
Bad news.
Standing before him now were Khul'Tyran and U'zuhl, bathed in an almost tangible aura of massacre.
The air seemed saturated with hatred at every movement they made, while the Warp whispered promises of carnage around them.
Yet…
The eyes behind Atreus' iron mask remained completely unwavering.
This simple reaction left the spectators speechless.
Even the most seasoned warriors felt a chilling shiver run down their spines in the face of the murderous aura emanating from Khul'Tyran and U'zuhl.
Some instinctively stepped back, unable to withstand the mere presence of the two servants of Khorne any longer.
But the veteran Space Marine showed not the slightest sign of panic.
He slowly rose from the trees shattered by the impact of his own body.
Broken trunks littered the ground, while splinters and scorched leaves still floated between the splintered trees.
Without saying a word, he increased the power of his energy axe.
The weapon emitted a dull growl before its energy field intensified violently.
A white, metallic, and icy light enveloped the edge of the Leviathan axe.
It was as if the weapon itself refused to tolerate the presence of daemons. Its glow tore through surrounding corruption like a promise of purification, while the air crackled under the violence of its energy field.
"A-Atreus… my master… desires you…"
The Sanguinary's voice echoed like a rasp from a mass grave, mixed with the grinding of bones and the putrid breath of the Warp.
Sitting atop the Juggernaut, the daemon revealed a mad smile filled with teeth stained in blackened blood. Its eyes burned with an endless thirst for carnage, a hunger even the Immaterium seemed incapable of quenching.
Yet, against all expectations, this creature of pure rage took the time to speak.
No… it was more than that.
The daemon was offering Atreus a deal.
An unusual act for a servant of Khorne.
"M-my master can feel your resentment… your rage… h-hahaha… your gene-father… Perturabo and his brother the Lion… they led Olympia to ruin, didn't they? Power… your power will never be enough, nor… 'that thing'."
The Sanguinary tilted its head slightly, casting a pointed glance toward Atreus' forearm.
In that fleeting moment, the Astartes sensed something different in the daemon's tone. A hatred older, deeper than the one directed at his existence.
But it vanished immediately.
Anyone else would have noticed nothing.
But Atreus had seen it.
"Trust… does Khorne know about this?" he thought as he slowly detached the shield from his back, giving no importance to the daemon's proposal.
He did not know where this daemon knew him from, but one hypothesis already formed in his mind.
The future.
The daemon had likely already encountered Atreus at another point in time. That was the only logical explanation.
In the Immaterium, time and space obeyed no stable rules. They twisted, broke, and echoed like origins-less reverberations.
The idea of encountering a being he might fight in the future was not absurd. Nor was the idea that such a being might know more about him than he himself yet knew.
"Stop overthinking, Atreus… you'll analyze this after you banish it," he told himself, setting those thoughts aside.
He had a war to fight.
"Daemon… there is no doubt that the Immaterium possesses considerable power and can serve my objectives," Atreus declared as he fixed his opponent.
An odd silence fell across the battlefield.
U'zuhl seemed satisfied by those words.
Even the daemons of Khorne seemed to pause their frenzy for an instant, as if the very necessity of battle had been questioned by an external force.
But the "joy" of Khorne's greater daemon was cut short by what followed.
"However… I refuse."
"W-what?!"
"Huh?"
"Lord Atreus…"
Several voices reacted differently to this unexpected declaration from the Iron Lord.
But Atreus paid them no attention.
Unconsciously, the image of a burned garden crossed his mind.
A consumed world.
Nurgle powerless.
Mortarion trembling.
As the Anathema brought the Plague War to an end.
Daemons fleeing before a being capable of "burning" them, even annihilating them.
Atreus then reached a conclusion, connecting these visions to the Emperor's words and the implicit truths about the Chaos Gods.
"You are not real… neither you nor your masters, and even less the Immaterium. You are incapable of offering me what I truly desire… However… I believe…"
He paused, scanning the battlefield.
Corpses.
Indigenous ones.
Soldiers.
Beasts.
All intertwined in a chaotic dance just moments before.
Why?
Because it was war.
"However, I believe in an eternal war!!!" Atreus roared, staring at the sky of Limnos III.
That image overlapped with Olympia, etched into his memory like a scar.
"I believe in humanity!"
"I believe in an era where the Materium will finally tip the balance your gods have corrupted!"
His blade never stopped crackling during the speech; it unleashed an electric aura vibrating around the axe, as if the weapon itself responded to his conviction.
Without Atreus realizing it, the "Trust" within his energy armor also began to vibrate, emitting an increasingly intense white metallic glow.
"I believe in my will!!! It is real!"
At that moment, a shockwave erupted from Atreus' body, spreading across the entire battlefield.
The Immaterium… seemed to be pushed back by something.
This was not a psychic attack.
Nor the effect of the Sisters of Silence.
And not an intervention from the Corpse-Emperor, who still remained immobile on his Golden Throne on Terra.
No.
It was something else.
A will.
A will capable of bending the Materium itself.
"Grr… h-he has already awakened part of that power… I must end this quickly… but how?" the daemon growled, watching the silhouette of the being who had already shaken the battlefield in that memory.
Atreus Silver.