Warhammer [443-445] (Patreon)

Chapter 443: Devouring the Void Dragon Shard, Evolved Gene-Seed

The Cosmic Azure Dragon, Cosmic Vermilion Bird, Cosmic White Tiger, Cosmic Great Water Buffalo, and Cosmic Fire Phoenix Baton all immediately flew out.

They formed a barrier of cosmic phantom beast energy around the Void Dragon C'tan, preventing this C'tan fragment from escaping and further suppressing its power.

Elena's Cosmic Frost Leopard, Guilliman's Cosmic Black Tortoise, the Cosmic Ice Beast Guigass, Cosmic Flame Golza, Cosmic Flying Crane, and two Cosmic Giant Pythons also revealed their true forms.

A total of seven cosmic phantom beasts surrounded the Void Dragon, beginning to absorb its C'tan power.

The Void Dragon was horrified to find that its proud cosmic law power—the ultimate energy of the real universe—was being slowly absorbed by these beings.

"This... This is impossible! You... You're actually able to absorb my power? What kind of monsters are you?" the Void Dragon roared in terror.

Even the Necrons, even the ancient Old Ones, could not truly kill the C'tan of this universe!

They are the darlings of reality, true incarnations of cosmic law—on par with the Chaos Gods of the Warp, theoretically immortal, though unlike the Chaos Gods, they are not pure concepts nor do they exist in the Empyrean.

That's why the Necrons could shatter their bodies with high-tech weapons and imprison them, but even when shattered, these C'tan possess nearly limitless cosmic energy!

Yet now, its most fundamental law power was being absorbed by these strange lifeforms!

Unlike the previously weak cosmic C'tan fragment Rhodes had subdued, this Void Dragon shard was exceptionally powerful—at least ten times stronger than the fragment from that minor dynasty.

"Master, this C'tan fragment is enormous. I doubt the others can absorb it all," said the Cosmic Great Water Buffalo.

As the strongest and eldest of the cosmic phantom beasts, he could see this fragment far exceeded the last in power.

"Alright, once they reach saturation, you can help out. Remember to be careful and extract its negative emotions. I suspect the Void Dragon's negative emotions are not weak," Rhodes instructed.

Once the cosmic C'tan was suppressed, its most dangerous element was its negative emotional energy.

Rhodes had kept this strange energy before, intending to give it to Daram to absorb. However, now that Daram has transformed into a Giant of Light, switching back to absorb this darkness might pollute his light, so Rhodes decided to wait.

"Don't worry, Master. Last time we were unprepared, but this time we'll be cautious," said the Cosmic Great Water Buffalo.

"Good. Caution is wise," Rhodes nodded.

As the Void Dragon's power was absorbed, it screamed in agony. This was a premeditated attack—Could these mortals really be the end of him, a true god?

He was the largest fragment of the Void Dragon. If destroyed, the Void Dragon could never reunite!

This would mean the powerful cosmic C'tan, the Void Dragon, would die completely; even if other fragments reassembled, true resurrection would be impossible.

The Void Dragon struggled madly, but more than a dozen cosmic phantom beasts—half of which had absorbed another C'tan's power and even devoured a star—were not something he could resist.

"No, don't kill me! I possess the ultimate knowledge of this universe, the pinnacle of science! I am the end point of science and of all machinery!

I can teach you my knowledge—spare me! I am the concept of science—if you kill me, you destroy the concept of science!" The Void Dragon, seeing no hope, began to beg Rhodes, realizing Rhodes, not the Emperor, was the leader here.

"Only now do you beg? Too late! Face reality; you're finished. As for your cosmic science knowledge...

Sorry! I don't need that—killing you won't erase the concept of science from the universe, and you know it," Rhodes sneered.

The Void Dragon did control the laws of science and machinery, but that didn't make him the law itself.

Killing him wouldn't erase the concept of science; on the contrary, the knowledge Rhodes brought from the Ultraman Universe would fill the Warhammer universe's gaps!

Destroying the Warhammer universe's science C'tan would benefit humanity and all races.

"No! Mortal!

I can't die here! I am a noble true god, the mightiest being in the universe! You ants!

How dare you harm my body?" The Void Dragon went berserk, struggling violently, but the cosmic phantom beasts increased their energy output, pinning him down.

Even Magnus and Ahriman joined forces to suppress the Void Dragon with psychic might.

As its energy was devoured, the Void Dragon's resistance weakened, its consciousness fading. At first, it cursed madly, then its curses turned to pitiful pleas, cycling between rage and begging, then falling silent.

A few hours later, the seven cosmic phantom beasts reached saturation, unable to absorb another bit of the C'tan fragment.

"Master, I'm stuffed—if I take in more, the C'tan's energy might overwhelm me," several phantom beasts told Rhodes telepathically.

"Alright, you can stop for now. Go absorb stellar energy! With the Void Dragon fragment, you should instinctively be able to consume star energy now," Rhodes said.

"We understand, Master! We're eager to devour stellar power," the beasts replied, transforming into their kilometer-tall forms and diving toward the red giant.

For now, they could only absorb energy from less dense stars like red giants or red dwarfs; other stars were still too violent for them.

"Incredible! According to the Eldar, the C'tan are called star vampires because they can consume stellar energy.

Unexpectedly, after absorbing a C'tan fragment, your phantom beasts can do this too," Guilliman marveled.

After fusing with the Cosmic Black Tortoise, he'd gained unimaginable benefits, feeling his power increase as the tortoise absorbed the C'tan's power.

As the phantom beasts absorbed stellar energy, the primarchs remained linked to them, sensing their constant evolution.

"They are truly miraculous, the perfect lifeforms of the real universe," Lion El'Jonson praised.

They could survive independently or fuse with other beings—these so-called cosmic phantom beasts were incredibly versatile.

"The power they absorb will also be shared with you all, greatly increasing everyone's strength. But we have other matters to attend to.

Sanguinius, Magnus—come help me!

We need to use psychic power to speed up the flow of time in this star system. Otherwise, it'd take them thousands of years to fully consume this red giant," Rhodes said.

"We can help too—our psychic power isn't as strong as Magnus or Sanguinius, but we can speed things up," Guilliman said.

The other primarchs nodded. Now that they'd awakened their demigod powers, accelerating time with psychic might was easy.

"Alright! Let's do it together—use our psychic power to manipulate this system's time," Rhodes said, combining his power with the primarchs to accelerate the entire system's timeflow.

The Warhammer universe is truly magical; here, you can toy with time and space—speeding it up or slowing it down—but not travel to the future or past, only accelerate or delay time's passage.

Or teleport something to a future moment, but all of this requires Warp power.

Without the Warp, human time technology could only freeze an individual's time or accelerate/rewind an area.

Warhammer's time tech is extremely broken, even more so than in the Ultraman Universe, which is direct mind over matter time travel.

Rhodes could even spend a million system coins to buy special monsters with time-travel abilities, like Goldra from the Dyna TV series, or other such monsters from the Showa Ultraman series.

…

Time flew by—outside, only a dozen days passed, but inside the star system, 1,500 years went by.

Rhodes and the primarchs stood outside the time barrier; inside, the phantom beasts devoured the entire star and the C'tan fragment.

The red giant had become a black dwarf; the star system was now pitch-black, with all planets turned into wandering worlds.

Rhodes ordered Tartarus to bring these wandering planets to his domain, to become new worlds in his star systems.

Nothing would be wasted; these could all be terraformed. As for the black dwarf, Rhodes took it too—excellent material for living metal.

"Master, it was a complete success. We've devoured all the C'tan fragments," the Cosmic Great Water Buffalo reported.

"What about the dark negative energy? Is it secured?" Rhodes asked.

This was his greatest concern—no mistakes allowed.

"Don't worry, Master! Look—this is the dark energy left behind by the C'tan fragment, and I've sealed it completely," the Great Water Buffalo said, spitting out a pearl that landed in Rhodes' hand.

The pearl was wrapped in phantom beast energy, while inside was a deep, venomous, cursed darkness.

"Good. I'll keep this."

"At your command, Master! All the phantom beasts have absorbed the C'tan's power, and some remains undigested, which I've stored.

If any phantom beast needs it in the future, it's theirs. Your child has a Cosmic Ice-Fire Dragon—when the time comes, their phantom beast can absorb this C'tan energy," the Buffalo said.

"You've thought it through! But we'll get plenty more C'tan fragments in the future—the Warhammer universe has no shortage, and many have been shattered," Rhodes replied.

This is just the beginning; Warhammer's C'tan are numerous.

"C'tan are even more advanced than we are. If whole, they'd be unimaginably powerful, at least ultimate lifeforms—maybe even stronger. If we need to absorb more, we'll need more companions."

"Rest assured, your kind will grow," Rhodes nodded.

"Rhodes, I wonder—if we extract new gene-seed, would the Astartes become even stronger?" Guilliman asked.

By now the primarchs had re-fused with their phantom beasts, their power enhanced, able to ignore cosmic radiation.

Extracting new gene-seed now would grant their genetic sons space survival abilities.

This would be discussed with the Emperor. At least the legions of these primarchs must extract new gene-seed.

All the primarchs' physical attributes had doubled; not extracting this evolved gene-seed would be a waste.

"With your physical attributes now, you're on another level entirely—your gene-seed is now in a super-evolved form."

Chapter 444: Super-Evolved Gene-Seed, Power Beyond Mortals

Guilliman's idea was sound. All the primarchs had benefited greatly, but Rhodes's wife Elena most of all.

The Cosmic Frost Leopard had raised her soul to the level of a basic demigod, making her a true super lifeform.

As a super lifeform, her gene-seed had reached the mortal limit—true super-evolution.

"I agree, Guilliman, Rhodes. Now my gene-seed can make my sons even stronger," said Lion El'Jonson.

Primaris Space Marines were created with special technology, but gene-seed was always the foundation, forming the template for all augmented organs.

Elena nodded; now her Sisters of Battle rivaled the new Primaris Marines.

Matching the Primaris would still take much work.

But with her evolved gene-seed, extracting new seed would make her Sisters even more powerful.

"So the old gene-seed can be retired—we don't need it anymore," Sanguinius said.

With new gene-seed, the Astartes could be improved again, combining Primaris tech with the new gene-seed.

"It's not that simple. The super-evolved gene-seed can indeed be implanted in your sons, but can normal humans withstand it?

You're now super lifeforms, and at the top tier. Ordinary mortals can't handle your gene-seed."

That's a huge problem—mortals can't handle super lifeform gene-seed.

When Rhodes strengthened three monsters, his body was already at primarch level. After becoming a super lifeform, he dared not extract his own gene-seed for his children, as mortals would simply break down.

Giving them this gene-seed would cause total genetic collapse; the mortal limit is the primarch gene-seed.

"Besides, you've evolved, but what about Malcador, Leman Russ, Rogal Dorn, Jaghatai Khan, and Corvus Corax's legions?" Rhodes asked.

Those primarchs hadn't returned yet! Deathwatch was fine, as they recruited from all legions, but the remaining loyalist legions would be in an awkward spot.

"Primaris Marines are now much stronger than regular Astartes. Perhaps we could upgrade those who are already Space Marines with the new gene-seed," Horus suggested.

It was a compromise. Normal mortals couldn't take it, but what about those who weren't normal?

Astartes are already demigods, and those upgraded to the new standard are at Custodes level.

The other primarchs looked troubled—Rhodes was right, mortals just couldn't survive this power.

Would the evolved gene-seed go to waste, or would the old seed have to be used?

"That could work. Let's discuss it with the Emperor and have my scientists and Belisarius Cawl extract your gene-seed for testing," Rhodes said.

"But there's a problem—if it works, you'd have to strengthen them with the old gene-seed first, then switch to the new super-evolved gene-seed.

But then the old gene-seed can't be produced anymore, and cultivating gene-seed is hard. The safest way is to let the Astartes themselves cultivate it—one every five years.

If everyone uses the super gene-seed, no one will produce the old kind," Guilliman said.

"So the old legions can't be abolished. If the experiment works, try it in small batches for now.

When the other mid-tier primarchs return, do it on a larger scale. New recruits can get the old gene-seed first.

Then after twenty or thirty years of service, they can switch. That should create a cycle," Rhodes said.

New recruits serve twenty to thirty years, producing five or six gene-seeds.

Then they can be upgraded, ensuring enough old gene-seed, and there's a gene-seed vault with plenty stored.

Even if no more were produced, the current stock would last a long time!

"Good plan. Let's return and report our victory to Father," Guilliman agreed.

This was a stable path: new recruits start with old seed, then upgrade after they mature.

…

After settling the gene-seed issue, Rhodes called Tartarus and teleported everyone back to Holy Terra.

By now, sixteen days had passed since they left.

The Mars rebellion had been crushed; over 70% of the Mechanicum was lost, and all rebels executed!

But the news was still sealed and hadn't spread to other worlds.

"You've returned? Looks like the plan was a great success—I can feel your strength has doubled," the Emperor said, very pleased.

Now the primarchs were just as he imagined—far superior to any other.

"Father, the task was completed smoothly. We also have a matter to report..." Guilliman explained the gene-seed evolution.

"No problem—your plan is the safest. Let Belisarius Cawl and the loyalist Mechanicum, along with Rhodes's scientists, extract your evolved gene-seed," the Emperor said.

The new Astartes were already strong; now the primarchs had evolved, and the gene-seed would be even more powerful!

After that, Guilliman asked about the Mechanicum.

"Father, what will you do about the Mechanicum?"

It was a huge issue: 70% had rebelled, all due to the Omnissiah. If the truth got out, a god worshipped by a quarter of the Imperium would be erased, causing chaos as bad as the Horus Heresy.

"I've considered that. I'll say Mars was hit by a meteor, killing many priests and Magi.

Those who survived will have their memories wiped, except for Cawl and Salome.

Then the Omnissiah's doctrine will be rewritten: the Omnissiah is only an avatar of the Emperor," the Emperor said.

The purge was secret; the Emperor had locked down communication. The Custodes and Dark Angels handled it with utmost secrecy.

So, with a little fabrication, the truth could be hidden, and the Omnissiah's doctrine gradually changed.

"This can be left to the Ecclesiarchy—they're experts at this. Say there was a meteor strike and Chaos incursion," Rhodes added.

If Logar were here, he'd handle it even better; he'd done religious purges before.

The Emperor nodded, agreeing that adding a Chaos incursion would make it more believable.

"The Ecclesiarchy doesn't need to know the truth—just have them preach to the forge worlds that the Omnissiah is the Emperor's avatar," Rhodes said.

The others nodded. These newly awakened primarchs didn't know much about the Imperial Creed—it seemed Logar's writings were not entirely without merit!

Soon, news spread across the Imperium: Mars was hit by a meteor and a Chaos incursion.

The Mechanicum headquarters suffered heavy casualties, over 70% lost, but the Imperium drove off the Chaos threat and saved Terra and Mars.

Chapter 445: Advanced Hundred-Pull Draw, Two Female Dark Giants?

The devastation of the Mechanicum cast a shadow across the Imperium, but this was quickly overshadowed by even greater news, making the Imperium rejoice.

Ancient myth was reviving—the Emperor's children, once mere legend, were returning to the Imperium.

Not just legendary primarchs, but newly born ones too: the Emperor's will, the future war god Khaine, was also revealed.

Khaine's identity was known only to the Emperor and the mid-tier primarchs; others thought he was a new creation.

Mankind entered a new golden age, with over ten primarchs—the most since the Great Crusade.

The news of new primarchs quickly outshone the disaster on Mars.

In fact, other forge worlds were glad Mars had suffered, as it gave them more power.

The Ecclesiarchy, prompted by Rhodes, Elena, and the Emperor, began spreading the doctrine that the Emperor is the Omnissiah, and the Omnissiah is merely an avatar of the Emperor.

With the Mars Mechanicum purged, all that remained was to gradually erase the old faith—a matter of decades or centuries. The Emperor had awakened from the Golden Throne.

Next, even more major announcements!

Vulkan returned to Nocturne and began massive recruitment and rebuilding his legion, calling all youths to join the Space Marines.

The Blood Angels' primarch returned to Baal, welcomed by the people, and began reforms: increasing numbers, solving the Black Rage and Red Thirst,

pushing the Primaris upgrade, and adding a fourth superhuman organ made from living metal.

Lion El'Jonson led the Dark Angels and some Deathwatch, using the webway to address the Imperium's dark side.

It took a full year for this news to spread across the Imperium.

In that year, Rhodes's gene sons swelled to 800,000, just on Terra.

In his own star systems, Huron and Mefilas developed at least 300,000 more, and Rhodes controlled over ten star systems.

Each system was packed with planets—each with dozens of habitable worlds, making each of Rhodes's systems as populous as an entire sector.

With income from the Octarius region and demon harvests, Rhodes's system coins climbed again, now over 17 million.

Previously, he had reached 10 million, but spent it all—now he'd saved up again.

He spent 5 million on five Inpelaizer units, each producing 5,000 tons of regenerative metal monthly.

With six units, that's 30,000 tons per month—vital for making new Astartes organs.

He saved 2 million for emergencies, and the remaining 10 million coins—

Rhodes chose to do a hundred-pull draw, since upgrading to the advanced system store over two years ago, he'd never used the advanced lottery.

Now, for 1 million coins, one could buy any monster from the previous intermediate pool.

There were more options: Dark Giants, Spheres, Alien Beasts, Fusion Monsters, etc.

This time, Rhodes chose Dark Giants, as he needed one to absorb the negative energy left by the C'tan.

After the draw, he received 55 normal Dark Giant fragments and 60 advanced monster fragments.

He also got a mysterious gift box from the system for his first advanced hundred-pull.

The advanced monster fragments were from movie bosses or notable TV monsters, like Gatanothor and Angel Zog—both planet-destroying level.

With enough Gatanothor fragments, he could absorb the negative energy better than even a Dark Giant.

Such a monster would be a galactic-level disaster.

Angel Zog's first form, a female angel, was like a goddess, able to manipulate light and recharge giants.

Her second dragon form, though huge, Rhodes didn't care for.

If Angel Zog became a phantom beast, that'd be a good choice, but only one fragment each was drawn—not enough to synthesize.

The Dark Giant fragments included Darrgon, Hitora, Evil Tiga, Dark Faust, Dark Mephisto, Dark Original, and Dark Grigio.

Dark Grigio, Rhodes recalled, was a female Dark Giant made by the Ultra Killer, briefly appearing in Galaxy Fight: Destiny. Her power matched Grigio's normal form.

Rhodes remembered in one stage play, Dark Grigio appeared with Dark Geed and Dark X.

So, the first female giant he drew wasn't Camearra? 

A bit disappointing.

Grigio was just a little dark loli, and not too strong—mainly a support, the weakest Dark Giant.

The others were mid-tier.

Looking at the fragment numbers, none of the Dark Giants reached the eight needed for synthesis.

Rhodes was a bit frustrated, but decided to use another 3 million coins for three more ten-pulls, again choosing Dark Giants.

Now was the time—if he didn't get one, he'd explode from frustration.

This time, he got 17 more Dark Giant fragments and 16 normal monster fragments, including three Gatanothor and four Angel Zog.

At last, two Dark Giants reached synthesis level: Dark Faust and Dark Grigio. Dark Faust was the first Dark Giant in the Nexus TV series, a main antagonist.

She could match Nexus Ultraman's red youth form, release a dark field, interfere with his Meta field,

and control Alien Beasts—a true threat.

Her abilities included Dark Aura, Dark Swarm, Dark Particle Feathers, Dark Flash,

plus Dark Shield, spatial intrusion, teleportation, and light absorption.

After consideration, Rhodes selected 20 monster fragments, fused eight Dark Faust fragments, and summoned this Dark Giant!

[Dark Faust: Height 48 meters, weight 32,000 tons.]