The Holy Chronicles of Baator

[Trafford]

"So what now? Are we going to be just lost in the Immaterium? Won't that attract the Daemons sooner or later?"

It was not like Esdeath was fearing the Daemons of the Warp, especially with the Spiritual Manifestation of the Super Danger Beast within her Soul that was protecting her from the corruption of the Daemons.

But right now, we were on the home ground of the Daemons and Warp. Daemons were immensely stronger in the Warp when they could fight on their playground, and right now, even I was cautious about being in the Immaterium.

There were many ways through which this could become a huge problem.

Like attracting the Daemon Princes, Champions of Chaos, or other monstrosities in the Warp.

Much less being said about the Chaos Gods, the better; aside from the Four Great Gods of Ruin, the Warp was also home for many, many Lesser Gods of the Chaos that were no less dangerous than the current me.

Right now, despite the Psyker Gene and becoming a Psyker, I wasn't in a state to fight the Gods of Chaos. While I was confident taking on the Daemons Princes and Exalted Daemons, taking on the Chaos Gods was out of the question.

Until this Avatar wasn't at Tier 12, I would be staying away from the Chaos as much as possible.

"No. As you would have known, if you bothered to read the books that I gave you on the topic of Immaterium, the Warptravel could be navigated through. A person can gaze into the Warp and guide the ship around the hazards to be found there, and a stable reference point to triangulate one's position against. If these two conditions are fulfilled, we can safely navigate through the Warp and arrive where we want to arrive."

I said as I was exactly doing that. I wasn't the Navigator, but with my spells, I could mimic the effect of the Navigation through the Warp, not to mention, my very own Soul was rather apt for something like that.

In the Golden Age of Technology, Humanity first learned of this realm of unreality and how, in part, to manipulate it, and found that they could project vessels through its depths and have them emerge into realspace, having crossed vast distances that even at light speed would have taken generations to accomplish.

Yet the travels were always dangerous, and only relatively short jumps (although still many light years in span) could be attempted with any margin of safety as the tides of the Warp move in complex and inconsistent patterns; voidships attempting long journeys often end up wildly off-course, lost permanently within its complex weave or simply shredded to splinters.

But there were some humans, Psykers in fact, albeit different from the common Psykers, that possessed the Navigator Gene. This gives a Navigator the unique ability to navigate a faster-than-light starship accurately through Warpspace to emerge safely at another point in realspace.

This ability makes Navigators absolutely essential to humanity's continued survival and to all Human interstellar transportation, communication, and commerce. All Navigators have a third eye, commonly called the "Warp Eye", on their foreheads, which allows them to perceive the Empyrean.

And that was something that I was mimicking with my Spells right now.

"And right now, we are going to one of the Imperial Worlds... more precisely to the world that had forgotten facility from the Age of Technology in which there is a Gate to the Webway, and from there on, we are en route to the Commoragh."

I explained that Esdeath was already aware of some things about me and my connection to the Golden Age of Technology, so she was rather eager for the exploration. But what she was mostly eager for was the trip to the Commoragh and to fight Drukhari.

"I heard that Imperium is rather... a dangerous place for the Psykers."

Even though the Fenran Rex IX was a world that was covered by the almost permanent Warp Storm that had already lasted for many centuries, here and there... some voidships of the Imperium of Man managed to land at the

The Partas Tribe managed to find some and obtain a lexicon of knowledge about the Imperium, and knew that the Imperium was rather hostile toward Psykers and Mutants.

Technically speaking, the Partas Tribe was both, so they would be instantly declared as the target for the cleansing due ot their Psykery and also the fact that they had a bloodline of the Danger Beasts in their veins, which was making them Abhumans.

An Abhuman is a descendant of baseline Human settlers whose ancestors mutated and physically adapted to various extreme environmental conditions after being isolated for thousands of standard years on colony worlds across the galaxy. Some Abhumans may also be intentionally genetically engineered mutants created for a specific purpose.

The term may be short for "Aberrant Human", "abnormal Human" or less pejoratively, derived from the High Gothic term ab humanis, "from Humans".

In an Imperium of Man where genetic mutation from the Human baseline and spiritual corruption are often viewed as interrelated or one and the same, Abhumans are a focus of much controversy for the Imperial government.

So she wasn't really happy hearing that they would be going to the Imperium.

"You don't need to worry... according to the information that I managed to obtain, most of the Imperium won't be able to injure you... Obviously, we need to avoid the Emperor's Blessed and other people whom he could make his Vessels or Champion."

The Emperor of Mankind.

The God Emperor.

Anathema.

Within the current Imperium, where the Primarchs have been lost, and most of the genetically engineered supersoldiers could be dangerous only physically, not Psykery-wise.

Though I wouldn't underestimate them even a bit.

The Imperium of Man had a lot of technology that could unleash an unprecedented degree of destruction, and there were many fanatical believers in the God Emperor of Mankind who believed their God could make their Vessels channel his powers.

 

[Trafford]

Segmentum Solar, Imperium of Man, Necromunda System, Planet Necromunda

In the end, we spent several weeks traversing through the Immaterium. Even though the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought was constructed as the pinnacle of the technology of the Chthonian Empire of the Baator, coupled with the technology of the Golden Age of Technology, the Warp was...

Unpredictable.

Before a starship can enter the Warp, it must first travel at sublight speed to a star system's so-called "Mandeville Point". This is the closest distance that a voidship can safely enter or exit the Immaterium from its origin or destination system, respectively.

This alone was a pain in the ass on its own.

It took a lot of time to do, because I wasn't the Navigator, and the methods used during the Terran Solar Federation couldn't be really used anymore. The state of the Warp was much different because the Warp today was extremely violent and hostile to everything that was alive.

On the bright side, I managed to stabilize my power at the peak of Tier 10, and soon enough, I would be able to exert the power of peak Tier 11 rather easily. Being Psyker was... weird.

Long short story, Psykers only drew on the energies of the Warp; they didn't have the energies in their own bodies. This was both an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time.

One could possess the power to destroy the entire world, yet could be killed by a peasant with an axe.

Rather ironic thought.

The Psykers could draw the energies from the Warp, but because they cannot directly store the energies in their bodies, it meant that they were physically weak. Those smarter ones would find a way to remedy this, by conducting various rituals to strengthen their physical dimensions or using the technology.

This was also done because if the body was too weak, it could be destroyed by the violent energies of the Warp.

"You are already awake."

Not long after I woke up, I was greeted by Esdeath, who also woke up when she walked from our chambers. Esdeath usually slept more than I did; I was used to a little sleep, and at the same time, I had far more things to do than just continue lazing around.

Since we agreed to court each other on the Fenran Rex IX., Esdeath insisted that we were to sleep together, but not in a sexual way. She actually liked hugging me when she slept; apparently, it brought her calm.

And I couldn't really say no to hugging a beautiful woman when sleeping, even though it could be rather torturous at the time.

"Yeah... the systems needed some calibrations as we would be soon exiting the Warp."

I said because we were already very close to our first stop.

Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought had a highly advanced Warp Drive that I could construct, and it was faster than most of the Voidships that were in existence in this Universe.

This was the culmination of knowledge collected across many Universes.

"Well, where are we even heading? And are there any worthy opponents?"

Hearing that, I suppressed the need to cringe, because these ones belonged to her usual questions.

Over the past three weeks or so that we were stranded in the Warp, our usual schedule consisted of training with the Psychic Energy of the Immaterium, sparring and fighting to hone our skills, and then some little casual time.

My own power stabilized at the solid peak Tier 10 while Esdeath also reached the Tier 10...

At least the initial realms of the Tier 10, though she solely focused on strengthening her physical capabilities as much as possible and her Ice Control. Now that she already knew that she could not win against me, which she accepted rather easily, considering the fact that she knew the true might of my True Body, she wanted another opponent.

Obviously, as we were in the Warp, there was no way that I could procure head Daemons to fight. According to my calculations, Tier 10 should be above the level of Greater Daemons; most probably, that should be the level of the Daemon Primarchs that I heard about.

Or some of the most powerful Greater Daemons... directly in the Warp.

Daemons were far weaker in the Realspace than they were in the Immaterium.

I needed to tread my answer carefully, because if given any hope, she would dare to challenge even Daemon Primarchs to the fight within the Immaterium. Esdeath was as much battlemaniac as Hela, and she thrived on the battle.

Good fight was everything.

"Do you want truth or a lie?"

I asked as I dodged her hand that was heading toward my head to slap.

"Idiot."

She muttered as she sat down behind the table as we were about ot have breakfast. Even though, technically speaking, none of us really needed to eat. It was more like a habit, though even back home we always used to eat together with Vena, Fia, Hela, and everyone else.

It was nice.

Memories like that were a precious treasure.

Something that I missed as I was stuck in seclusion... but the goal was worth it.

Only by becoming Paragon would I have the protection for my wives and family that I wanted. The Paragon Realm was the only way I could protect everything that I have from the other threats that were out in the Endless Void.

The Paragons were considered to be the peak of existence.

Nobody aside from the three Singularities stood above them.

I didn't really know that I could even have a shot at becoming a Singularity among the innumerable numbers of powerhouses that were all striving to reach that Realm, but I was very confident in reaching the Paragon Tier.

"So where exactly are we heading and when will we arrive?"

Contrary to me, who had no problems spending time on the voidship, for Esdeath it was... not the most pleasant experience.

Though that was most probably due to the fact that this was her first interstellar trip.

"Necromunda System, Planet Necromunda, also known once as Araneus Prime during the times of the Terran Solar Federation."

 

[Trafford]

"And we are here, why exactly?"

She waited patiently for me to explain the reason for our current destination, because she didn't have a clue where we were and why we were here. Obviously, she didn't look into the materials that I passed her before we even boarded the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought.

I already knew that Esdeath wasn't the most studious person around, but I guess that she could at least give the things some time. I have already put the effort into creating a compilation of the information on the Milky Way Galaxy of the 41st Millennium and all relevant factions.

Obviously, some factions were more detailed than others, because we would be staying here only for a short time and keeping our heads low. This Avatar wasn't ready to catch the attention of Anathema or Chaos Gods, who were for sure at least solid Tier 13 Primarch Level entities.

"Araneus Prime was first settled over 15,000 Terran years ago during the Golden Age of Technology as a mining and manufacturing colony. It became the capital of a small stellar empire known as the Araneus Continuity. The worlds of the Araneus Continuity were a series of planets close to the Sol System in the Segmentum Solar, which had maintained commercial and communications links to one another, and for the Terran Solar Federation, it was one of the most important Federal States. It was also here, on the Araneus Prime, where we were developing some of the most destructive weapons for the Federal Military in the top-secret laboratories deep near the planetary core."

Normally, under any circumstances, I would never come even near the Holy Terra.

Even though the Emperor sat immobile on the Golden Throne, the power he wielded was still enough to obliterate this Avatar from existence. But at the same time, I needed to recover a few things from here, because the Araneus Prime was, according to my knowledge, one of the few locations that had the things needed for my plan to work.

"So it's impressive?"

All of these technical things were something that was totally unfamiliar to Esdeath, but she understood the weapons, as that was something she was aware of. The more destructive, the better... and seeing how the technology changed the warfare of the Partas Tribe caused her to marvel at the wonders of the technology.

"Yes... There are some things that we need to recover to be able to safely navigate to and explore a specific place that would be needed to reach another place, which is technically speaking our final destination of ours."

The final phase of the plan was to reach the Commoragh.

The Dark City.

"And what is that final destination of ours? And would there be someone strong to fight?"

I was already pretty tired as I gave her two tods with my head.

"Commoragh, the 'Dark City,' is the massive city-state within the Webway that is the primary home of the Dark Eldar, or Drukhari, kindred of the Aeldari species. Commorragh's origins date to the apex of the lost Aeldari Empire, Terran millennia before Mankind even knew of the Aeldari's existence. The Commoragh is the key to the grandest library that the galaxy has ever seen... a library containing all the knowledge of the entire ancient Aeldari Empire and even the records left behind by the Great Ones, and that, my dear... It's the Key that I need to obtain at any cost."

As someone who had access to the highest information gathered by the Terran Solar Federation, I knew a lot of things. Especially about the things that were located within the Webway and with the destruction of the Aeldari Empire and their Throne World...

Commoragh was the last thing that remained from the Ancient Aeldari Empire

And the Black Library was the last thing that remained from the Aeldari's lore.

To reach the Paragon Level, one needed to comprehend Concept... something which my True Body was already steadily progressing with, but not fast enough.

And within the Immterius Universe, there was a method that would save me perhaps even millions of years. I needed to reach the Paragon Level as soon as possible, and this was a heaven-sent opportunity to me.

"Sooo... It's like something impressive, right?"

Obviously, Esdeath had only a rather faint idea who the Aeldari were... though they were apparently calling themselves Eldar these days, which was pretty ironic. If their stupid species didn't create the Chaos God of Pleasure and Excess, then perhaps the fate of this damemd Universe would have looked different.

Though from the pure academic point of view, it was even questionable whether the Aeldari were really behind the creation of the Chaos God of Pleasure. Nobody really knew, and I was no expert on the Immaterium.

"Obviously... The Black Library of Chaos, also known simply as the Black Library, is the secret Asuryani craftworld that serves as the Aeldari's repository of forbidden lore not only of the Ruinious Powers but practically everything in the Milky Way Galaxy. It was created by the Aeldari deity Cegorach, better known as the Laughing God, though for what purposes the god created this repository can only be guessed. The Black Library is spoken of by the Aeldari as a Dark Craftworld existing within the Webway, far beyond the reach of the Imperium of Man or even the Solar Terran Federation when it existed."

I said while reminiscing over it.

"More than 60 million years of Knowledge is stored there, and that's the only thing that I know of."

Even the Terran Solar Federation didn't really know what exactly the Aeldari had... we only had incomplete information, parts and shards of the whole image, and things gathered from the rumors.

It wasn't the ideal...

But we knew it existed and was located in the depths of the Webway, inaccessible to most, hidden and protected from the prying eyes of those who might want to uncover its secrets.

Not like any had the power to do so, because during that time, the Aeldari Empire stood at the pinnacle of its national power and was second to none. Great Ones were long gone, C'than shattered, Necrons sleeping, Orcs were just ragtag groups...

 

[Trafford]

"To reach the Black Library, we need to go through the Commoragh because the Drukhari have the means to reach the Black Library and I cannot think of any other means of reaching that place aside from that one..."

I said that because going through the Commoragh wasn't something I was really pleased about, but there wasn't another choice. Due to the extensive efforts of the Terran Federation, we managed to get the location of the Commoragh within the Webway, as it was one of the most important Imperial Cities for the Aeldari even during the age of the ancient Aeldari Empire.

But the Black Library?

That was an entirely different manner.

According to the rumors, only those whom the Laughing God personally permitted could find their way to the Black Library. The existence of the Black Library was known to only a few and entry is allowed to even fewer individuals.

The library defends itself against the weak and those who would misuse its knowledge by refusing entry to all except those who have acknowledged and tempered the Chaos within themselves.

The fact that I was aware of its existence was already considered a minor miracle in itself, because the Terran Federation was preparing to wage all-out war against the Aeldari and thus was sparing no effort in espionage and information gathering.

And as one of the Prime-Core Personnel of the Federation, I had acess to all the information that the Terran Federation gathered.

"Also, when we arrive there, you can go wild and kill anything you see... according to the info, the Dark Eldar are the plague that needs to be eradicated from the face of the galaxy."

The Drukhari or "Dark Ones" in the Aeldari Lexicon, also known to outsiders as the Dark Eldar, are a forsaken and corrupt Aeldari kindred, the sadistic, malicious counterparts of the Asuryani.

The Drukhari feed on negative emotion, dedicating themselves to a non-stop war with the peoples of realspace in which they strive to inflict as much pain and misery as they possibly can.

They and their kin were the reason for the birth of the 4th Chaos God.

And also for the fall of the Terran Solar Federation.

"Well, excellent... and here on this world Necro--- Necro something... are there any worthy foes?"

Soon enough, Esdeath was in a good mood, even though I seriously doubt that she would encounter some really powerful Dark Eldar in there, but one could always hope. With her current power, there were not many who could give her an actual challenge outside of the Warp.

Or the Emperor's Primarchs.

Not the Primarch Tier.

That was a bit confusing in my head.

"I seriously doubt that... The ordinary Space Marines would be killed in one hit of yours... "

I muttered because, according to the information gathered on the Araneus Prime, now known as Necromudna, there was nothing significant. Not even powerful Psykers were present, though the Imperium was greatly wary of the Psykers.

On one hand, I considered their approach to be utterly foolish and ignorant, while at the same time, I can understand it. Daemonic Possession was something that was extremely dangerous, and all Psykers were in danger of being possessed.

"This planet is now called Necromunda, a Hive World in the Imperium of Man's Segmentum Solar, and a major producer of weapons and munitions for the Astra Militarum."

I then proceeded to explain about the planets, and the more I spoke, the less interested Esdeath became. When she

Necromunda's great hive city-based manufactoria produce Lasguns, Autoguns, Shotguns, and Bolters, among other weapons important for the Imperial Armed Forces. The planet also levied huge numbers of troops for the Astra Militarum, most notably the regiments of the Necromundan Guard, as well as other crucial supplies.

Necromunda is one of the worlds from which the Space Marines of the Imperial Fists Chapter recruit new neophytes, often from the vicious criminal gangs that riddle the lower levels of the planet's hive cities.

The Imperial Fists maintained a recruitment keep on the world in one of its hive clusters.

The overall conclusion was that the planet was relatively harmless aside from the sheer number of its inhabitants because they numbered in the trillions.

"That's why I hate Hive Cities..."

I muttered while looking at the images from the scans of the planet Necromunda.

"Hive City is that big city? Like a continental-sized one?"

Esdeath asked because this was the first time that she would see the Hive City of any kind, and I just nodded.

"Technically, yes. Hive City is a massive arcology, or fully self-contained city, that is home to millions or even billions of Human beings packed in one place, which is often too small for them to live properly. They are layered constructions of rockcrete and adamantium, comprising thousands of residential and industrial blocks leveraged one atop the other, forming a massive, man-made mountain usually capped by a crown of great spires that stretch thousands of metres into the sky. "

I said with enough disdain for the concept, more than evident in my voice. Within the Terran Solar Federation, the Hive Cities were not really a thing. Mostly because the Federation had more than enough worlds to settle and no real need for things like Hive Cities.

Only a few of the Federation Plans were actually arcologies, but they were nothing like the ones in the Imperium of Man. The Arcologies within the Federation were hyper-advanced megacities that were built with the most advanced technologies of the Federation, they were clean and self-sufficient in all aspects.

The ones here, though...

"The Imperium's Hive Cities are disgusting abominations of how the Hive Cities should look... You will find there an extremely divided society where few people have acess to all the wealth of the city, including fresh air, while the rest are fighting for every drop of water... On the lower levels of the City, in the Underhive, cannibalism and other more barbaric practices are still very much alive and encouraged."

 

[Trafford]

Hive Cities were originally created in the Golden Age of Technology as a way for a large number of Humans to live together in an advanced society without damaging the surrounding planetary ecologies and biosphere.

However, the terrible damage wrought by the Age of Strife on Human-settled space led many hive cities to lose the technologies and behaviours that had allowed them to remain in balance with their environments.

"As a result of the damages, incomplete construction and insufficient technological level, each Hive City creates millions of metric tons of trash and industrial waste that is directly pumped out into the surrounding cities' environment. Given the massive population of most Hive Worlds, this means that their surfaces are usually reduced to industrial wastelands covered in toxic deserts where nothing can live or grow save for the hardy mutants who call these 'ash wastes' home and often raid the covered train-like transports that move passengers and cargo between hive city clusters."

Even though there wasn't any talk about powerful foes, Esdeath was actually fascinated by this to a certain degree.

She never left the Fenran Rex IX., or rather, she never even crossed through the borders and reached the Southern Hemisphere of the planet where the more advanced remnants of the Federation were located.

I noticed that she was still pretty curious about the outside world and about everything outside of her home planet. So she even patiently listened to my ramblings with keen interest.

"We are we even here in the first place? Considering all the things that you said, this world should be very important for the Imperium, right?"

I nodded, knowing the gravity of the situation.

Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought was certainly one of the most advanced starships of the Terran Federation, not to mention I made many adjustments based on the Chthonic Technology, meaning that this was a really wondrous piece of tech.

Yet, there was still the undeniable fact that this was only one single ship.

If the Imperium really attacked us, then we would be swarmed by so much firepower that eventually we would be overrun and destroyed. Not to mention, I was pretty sure that the Imperium had a lot of entities that were on the same level as Planetary Busters...

And there was the topic of the Emperor.

"One thing for the two purposes... You see, in the ancient past, Araneus Prime was one of the most important worlds for the Federation, and there was a very important research facility within the world. Deep near the planetary core, there is a research facility that not only contains a complete STC... but also one of the few mainframes of the MTC and my own laboratory with some things that we need to open the portal to Webway and do some other things."

I explained because this was one of the pristine research centers of the Solar Terran Federation in the past... during the Golden Age of Technology, Araneus Prime served as one of the core worlds for the Federation.

The Araneus Continuity also became one of the major hubs for technological development within the Federation and was one of the most crucial member states of the Federation.

"So how do you want to do it?"

Esdeath asked, as I could already read her thoughts without even having such an ability, because it was clear that she wanted to use frontal assault. Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought could certainly push through it and conquer the planet alone if there were not many ships that would overwhelm us with their sheer numbers.

Which they fortunately didn't have, but that wasn't the approach I wanted to take.

"We will infiltrate the planet and take the MTC and the things needed to open the Webway to the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, and then we leave. Necromunda is one of the most important Imperial Worlds for the Imperium of Man. Any frontal attack would be met with reinforcements, and even though I have confidence in my technology, we could be overwhelmed by their numbers."

In the Immaterius Universe, there were, technically speaking, not many things that could pose a viable threat to me, because this Universe had a somewhat random power structure...

Even the Emperor's Primarchs were barely a threat unless they awoke their Warp Essence and Warp Presence, which would elevate them to the solit Tier 10 or Tier 11 powerhouses.

Rather, I was wary only of the Emperor, Chaos Gods, and anything that was related to the Warp and could drag me into the Warp. Warp Entities, and being used by the Warp, were countless times stronger in the Immaterium than they were in Realspace.

Even the Greater Daemons, which were already Tier 9 peak and some of the most powerful Tier 10, would be enormously suppressed and weakened in the Real Space to the point where even some much weaker could slay them.

Nevertheless, when it came to these individuals, there was no need to provoke them and create unnecessary conflict. Contrary to some of my wives... I was always and constantly careful not to provoke or create needless conflicts if they could be avoided.

My main reason for that was that I wasn't really sure whether the powerful Psykers or others in the Immaterius Universe had a way of dragging me into the Warp with them.

"Don't need to stare at me like I killed your wolf... You will have an opportunity to wreak havoc within the Commoragh later. But not right now... though on the second thought, if we go into the Underhive, you can do what you want."

In common with most other Imperial worlds, Hive Worlds are often based on a very obvious class system, with a ruling noble class and a bureaucratic middle class, although with populations so tightly packed, there always develops a lower working class that often fuels the explosive growth of violent street gangs.

As can be expected, the upper classes are situated in the affluent upper areas of the hive cities, whilst the middle classes are situated in the middle areas, and the working classes are packed together in the lower areas.

The very bottom sections of a Hive City, the "Underhive", were often areas where the underclasses and criminals are sent to be forgotten about and anarchy rules.

 

[Trafford]

Infiltration of the Necromunda was actually much easier than one would have thought...

With the advanced stealth systems installed on the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought was more than enough to bypass the "defenses" of the Planet and the entire Star System entirely.

The Planetary Defense Force was barely of any use.

"Those troops and ships were not really useful... what the hell are they?"

Esdeath asked as the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought passed around shabby-looking Voidships that looked as if they would fall apart every second.

"According to the info, those are the Planetary Defense Forces... the primary military force of an individual settled Imperial world. The PDF is under the control of the local planetary government rather than direct Imperial control; the raising, training, arming, leadership, etc., of such units is entirely in the hands of the world's planetary governor. According to Imperial Law, all Imperial planets must maintain a standing army in order to maintain the Planetary Government's and thus the Imperium's control over the world against any possible invasion or insurrection."

I said what I gathered about the PDF, and it was rather disturbing... mostly because the quality of the Planetary Defense Forces was shit.

The PDF, as essentially the local military of an Imperial World, has no standardisation and can take any form; some, such as the PDF of Hive Worlds, may be no more than legitimised gangs supported and armed by the local planetary government to keep down the more anarchic elements.

"I guess that they are not the most powerful ones around?"

Esdeath asked with a mocking voice. She could see that state of the Voidships of the Necromunda's Planetary Defense Forces were in terrbile shape.

Even though she wasn't really any of the scientists of the Voidships, she could see that the ones used by the PDF of the Necromunda were beyond old, and some were barely being held together.

"Yes... This is rather a common state of the Planetary Defense Forces across the majority of the Imperial Worlds. One of the reasons why I hate the Imperium so much... It's disgusting."

The main reason why I hated the Imperium...

Their worship of the technology as something sacred and divine resulted in a society that was stagnating, barely capable of maintaining their current technology, and even that was done very poorly.

"Adeptus Mechanicus is the official Imperial name for the Cult Mechanicus or Cult of the Machine based on Mars, which provides the Imperium with its scientists, engineers, and technicians. As part of this faith, the Adeptus Mechanicus believes knowledge is the true manifestation of divinity in the universe, and all creatures and artefacts that embody knowledge are holy because of it. This leads to the current state of the Imperium... decay, superstition, and praying to the washing machine."

I don't know if it was due to my nature as a scientist and researcher, or if there was anything else within it, but the Cult Mechanicus was something that I considered to be an abomination.

Worshipping technology?

Like a God?

I could understand if they were worshipping the God of Technology or the God of Science or whatever else...

"So they are idiots, right?"

I slowly nodded at Esdeath's statement because, in her opinion, worshipping technology was rather idiotic. It was like worshipping some random object that one could pick up from the street or yard next to the road.

It was a terribly stupid notion.

"Partially... the Imperium of Man is an absolute theocratic nation led by superstition and barbarism... after their Emperor was constrained to the Golden Throne of Terra, everything went to fuck... but enough of that."

I said because the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought was already reaching the atmosphere of the Necromunda. We were heading directly to the outskirts of the Hive Primus, also known as the Palatine Hive.

The largest and oldest surviving Hive City on Necromunda, the dynastic home of Lord Gerontius Helmawr, Imperial Commander or the Planetary Governor of Necromunda, known across the planet as "The Palatine."

The hive cluster it belongs to is known as the "Palatine Cluster".

"We would be landing several tens of kilometers from the outskirts of the Hive City. The Hive City itself also has the fortress-monastery of the Adeptus Astartes contingent and the headquarters of the Adeptus Arbites on Necromunda. Of course, with our strength, neither of them is any viable threat even if we encounter them in large numbers."

I explained that this planet was becoming rather interesting. While I even previously knew that Necromunda was heavily defended, this was even more than I had initially anticipated.

"From the outskirts, we would be going straight to the Special Spire set aside for the aliens and Abhumans who come to Necromunda from time to time in order to trade. Both Squats and Aeldari are among these visitors, and they are housed on separate levels of this spire. Afterwards, we would be going to the Underhive from which we should reach the planetary core."

Unfortunately, most of the infrastructure from the Golden Age of Technology, as they called it, already collapsed and been destroyed. Directly, there was no way of reaching my destination of choice aside from reaching the closest point and digging through the scraps and rubble.

That was the only viable opinion that we had on hand.

Far from the ideal one.

"I understand. But I want to fight at a later date, preferably in the Underhive or against some of the Space Marines... I am interested in their power."

I shook my head in denial, because even after clearly explaining to her that Space Mariens wouldn't last a single hit from her, she still wanted to fight them. Esdeath was physically strong enough right now to flatten entire mountains thanks to becoming a Psyker and the enhancement from the Psychic Energy.

Though I didn't really doubt that if Hela was here, she would be doing the same thing, or gods forbid, Sigmar or even Gu Long. My son with Gu Yuena was usually rather tame, but sometimes when he was in a combative mood, he was worse than Sigmar.

 

[Trafford]

The ensuing millennia have not changed its basic purpose very much; Necromunda is still a world of mines, factories, refineries, and processing plants. The planet is a vast powerhouse of industry, making thousands and thousands of different items for use throughout the nearby Imperial Planetary systems.

Nothing which could contribute to the planet's output has been left untouched. From the tops of the highest mountains to the depths of the oceans, the wealth of Necromunda has been extracted.

Mountains have been reduced to rubble for the ore they contain; oceans have been turned into little more than chemical sludge ponds by the constant industrial pollution.

The once-fertile plains of the world have disappeared under huge urban developments of imposing housing and factory arcologies, forming new ranges of man-made urban mountains every bit as tall as the long-since flattened natural topographical features.

"It looks like a shit... and here I thought that my homeworld's plains looked terrible..."

Esdeath stated that as we had left the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, we were now crossing through the wastelands that were practically everywhere the eye could reach.

"Most of these worlds... suffered greatly during the Old Night and Rebellion of Men of Iron."

I felt a certain kind of sadness over this fate.

Even Esdeath looked more solemn than usual, because Fenran Rex IX. remembered vividly the horrors of the Old Night and what it had brought upon them. Fortunately for them, their planet didn't contain Nuclear Weapons, Anti-Matter Weapons, Chemical Weapons, or anything that was equally dangerous and destructive.

The Age of Strife, also sometimes referred to as "Old Night" based on the name for the era on Terra in older Imperial histories, is the name for the apocalyptic and highly-fragmented period of Human history that began roughly in the 25th Millennium A.D. and ended in the 30th Millennium with the birth of the Imperium of Man.

"When the Old Night started, due to the birth of the God of Pleasure, the Federation apparently descended into total chaos, and with the Cybernetic Revolt, many planets were embroiled in the nuclear civil wars, and with the Psykers appearing around all worlds... and what do you think will happen when Psykers start going out of control?"

I asked more like a rhetorical question as Esdeath nodded gravely because she knew what would happen then. I showed her some effects of it... and it was sometimes pretty staggering when a Psyker went berserk with his powers going out of control.

Uncontrollable Psychic Energy flowing into the Realspace directly from the Immaterium was more than enough to obliterate entire cities from existence during the Old Night.

"Come on... we need to cross these wastelands and reach the Special Spires for the Xenos and Abhumans... the checkpoints in there should be easier to bribe or more lax considering the kind of clientele that is arriving at the Hive City."

I said as we continued our journey, which would be rather dangerous to the average person.

Gangs, scavengers, scrap collectors, and who knows what else roamed the wastelands between the various Hive Cities, which were results of the proliferate usage of the Nuclear and Chemical Weapons during the Old Night.

It seemed that Terraforming Technology had been lost during the Age of Strife, which was rather a shame, because in the Age of Terran Federation it had been standart technology used for literally everything, and countless Federal Worlds were created through Terraforming Technology.

The Outskirts of a hive city are not as terrible a place to live as the Underhive, but the Outskirts carry their own terrible risks. The biggest problems are dealing with the toxic environment of the ash wastes that surround most hive cities and the constant threat of attack by the fearsome mutants of those wastes.

Obviously, the two of us travelling through the wastelands between the Hive Cities was something so rarely said that we immediately became targets for anyone who wanted to obtain something from us.

Be it the slavers that were selling slaves, gang members who wanted to rob us and sell us as slaves, scavengers who wanted to rob us and sell us as slaves...

It was like endless drama.

Though the added bonuses from everything were that, Esdeath finally got the fight she wanted as I let her loose on the poor humans.

If they could even be called such, because they were suffering from countless mutations and other genetic defects from being in the vicinity of the radiation and other dangerous materials that were causing them some really severe side effects.

"What are those things? They look utterly disgusting..."

And that was when we finally encountered the mutants after nearing the Hive Primus, as the radiation and poisonous smog was even more prevalent in these parts. Though for us it wasn't any kind of problem because of our enhanced physiology, which was taking care of everything for us.

Even Esdeath, who was a hardened general, looked at the figures that were rising from the hiding places with disgust and recoil, as he attributed it to being some female aversion to really disgusting and filthy things.

These mutants certainly were.

"These are the Mutants... There are millions of people across the Imperium of Man who have been deformed from the baseline Human phenotypic state by genetic mutation. This mutation can be caused from birth by environmental factors like ionising radiation acting in utero or by exposure to the raw psychic power of Chaos, but in the case of these unlucky individuals, it's the radiation and waste."

I explained as while I summoned a huge amount of Psychic Flames in my hands and hurled them toward the Mutants. Pyroamacy was one of the major disciplines of the Psyker Sorceries.

A Pyromancer is a master of fire and flame, a Psyker who is able to create searing infernos out of thin air, powered by the energies of the Empyrean. Pyromancy is one of the most spectacular and destructive forms of Psychic Ability.

Those who face a skilled Pyromancer in combat are often reduced to nought, but a pile of charred bones, and truly mighty Psykers could reduce entire cities to ash.

 

[Trafford]

Although the powers of Psykers are many and varied, they usually fall into one of several "disciplines". The five most common Psychic Disciplines are: Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis and Telepathy.

I was personally most skilled with Pyromancy, Biomancy, and Telekinesis.

Especially the Pyromancy that allowed me to create the Empyrean Flames to burn my enemies was pretty easy, because I just needed to recreate the Spells used in the Kadath Universe, specifically the ones used in the Higher Dimensional World of Baator.

Biomancy was also something that came rather easily to me, especially because the Biomancy in these Psychic Disciplines contained a lot of lighting-attributed spells, which were pretty weird for me, but it was something that I could work with.

Esdeath was, on the contrary, almost exclusively using the Biomancy to further enhance her physical attributes, and it was rather frightening how fast she was grasping the Biomancy Arts...

Even though we were pretty much constrained by the lack of knowledge and the Sorcery Lore that was obtained from the Frozen Coven on the Fenran Rex IX. wasn't anything great in the first place, truth to be told.

Another reason why I wanted the Black Library.

All knowledge on the Psychic Arts and Sorceries gathered by the Aeldari Species across sixty million years. Not to mention, it was highly possible that there were also Legacies of the Old Ones present in there.

And if I was right, which I usually was.

The Old Ones were genuine Universal Level Species, which meant that they were born at Tier 9 and, at adulthood, reached Tier 11, and with a little work, they don't have a problem reaching even Tier 12 or Tier 13 for the stronger ones.

There were not many Universal Species... each one of them was beyond rare, and they were extremely dangerous and powerful.

Even though it wouldn't be usable in the Kadath Universe, I could still repurpose a lot of that Lore to the Tier Magic System used in the Kadath Universe and elevate it to a much higher level.

The Empyrean Flames that I created burned all of the Mutants to ashes, and even I was rahter surprised by the fact that I now killed approximately two hundred of the Mutants.

This place was swarming with them.

"Well... this batch is already dead... we need to move."

Not like the Mutants were any problem for Esdeath or me, but they were annoying and disgusting to look at.

"Good riddance... they are revolting."

Esdeath said with mild tremor through her body as we smelled the scent of burned flesh in the air that was now filling the entire arena.

"These people are destined to become the outcasts and lower classes of Imperial society. They are shunned and are often hunted down and killed as the Imperium has little tolerance for anyone who deviates from the divine perfection of the baseline Human form in mind or body. Mutation is actually considered a heretical crime against the Emperor of Mankind..."

I made a slight pause, because despite this, I didn't really feel any sympathy toward the mutants... the world was fundamentally twisted, and either you had power, or now, everything was about that.

And luck to be born clean was also a power of its own.

"The Imperial Authorities consider this so because most of the Mutations of Mankind are connected one way or another to the Ruinous Powers. Either through the sheer sympathy for the Chaos or due to worshipping the Ruinous Powers."

Human mutants are often terribly misshapen creatures, abominably deviating from the normal Human form. On the other hand, not all mutants are degenerate beasts; many only bear a few extraordinary traits, setting them apart from the rest of Mankind. While many mutants are born mutated as a result of their ancestors' exposure to mutagens like radiation or extreme planetary environments over many generations, exposure to the psychic energies of Chaos can also lead to rampant mutation.

In the Terran Federation, we too had Mutants.

They were rare... indeed, but their presence was sometimes noticeable on specific worlds and planets, especially the ones in the Federal Frontier or among the most hazardous and dangerous planets.

"Did you know that we had the Mutants in the Federation, too? Not many people would think of Mutants when you say the Federation or the Golden Age. And I am not talking about the Mutants created due to the influence of the Ruinous Powers."

This time, it was Esdeath's turn to be surprised, because even though she wasn't a scholar, she knew that the Golden Age of Technology was the most glorious age for Humanity that ever existed.

Yet, she couldn't really imagine the presence of the Mutants and creatures similar to the ones that I, right now, incarnated into ashes within the borders of the Terran Federation.

"You don't need to be shcoked... not many knew about them as far as the general public was concerned. Most of the Mutants were put to death on the principle of preserving the human genome. Maybe aside from the ones possessing the Navigator Mutation, as that one was deemed to be useful and stable enough. But rest?"

I wanted to laugh because people in this era seemed to have really weird ideas about the Golden Age... yes, it was countless times more advanced and... clean?

Yes...

But even the Federation had a lot of problems on its own, and Mutants were also present within the Federation in great numbers. Yet it couldn't even remotely reach the numbers of Mutants that were apparently in the Imperium of Man.

The Imperium had billions upon billions of Mutants across the Imperial Worlds, to the point where it was staggering. It was clear that the effects of the Age of Strife were far more severe than anyone had ever anticipated...

Even though I wasn't human for many millenias...

I felt a certain pang of sadness for humanity here.

Maybe it was sentiment.

Maybe it was because I helped to build the Federation and was one of the people who belonged to the highest level of the leadership within the Federation, and was even a contender for the Federal Council.

 

[Trafford]

"I guess that not even the pristine age of humanity's glorious history isn't without its stains."

Esdeath muttered as we finally approached the entrance to the Special Spire, or rather... the area where the Special Spire was located, because there was no viable entrance from the ground.

It seemed that due to the poisonous smog that was covering the entire ground and was reaching a height of more than a hundred meters, the entrance ot the Hive City in this area was permanently sealed.

And anyone who wanted to enter needed to use a ship or an aircraft to reach the Special Spire and land at the designated zone that was created for the vehicles.

"So what now?"

Because we wanted to infiltrate the place without attracting attention, much to Esdeath's dismay, I was already thinking of a new plan.

"Hold onto me."

I said as she did exactly as I said and pressed her body to mine while I started casting a rather complicated and taxing Spell that I calculated should work.

"What are y... Yiip!"

As Esdeath proceeded to ask me something, probably what I was planning to do, we shot into the air and started flying.

Albeit pretty clumsily.

Creating a flight spell under these conditions was a total pain in the ass.

That much I had to admit.

The energies of the Empyrean were absolutely not suited for anything that wasn't outright destructive in nature, or it would be more prudent to say that it was much more challenging to use them for anything not destructive.

Esdeath was pressing her body against me as we were rising through the skies until we finally reached an area where we could disembark, as her huge assets were shaking when we almost crashed against the wall.

"That was terrible..."

Esdeath muttered as we landed... the fight wasn't the most pleasant one around because I was still using the Spell that was technically speaking incomplete. My Psyker Clone was at the peak of Tier 10 according to the Tiering System of the Kadath Universe.

Even then, it was pretty challenging to repurpose the flow of the Empyrean Energy, especially considering the fact that I lacked the necessary Lore of the Warp Sorcery. The real problem was that the Frozen Coven basically lacked the advanced theory and everything about the Warp...

They were focusing solely on the battle applications of the Warp Energy, which was rather understandable because the Fenran Rex IX. was a planet of constant conflicts and battles.

I couldn't really imagine that they would be now playing scholars.

Now that we have landed in some area of the Special Spire, I cast more advanced versions of the Stealth Spells. The Stealth Spells that he was using were one of the most powerful that I could cast in the case that the Planet had some Psychic Wards or powerful Psykers.

Considering the state of the military forces stationed at the planets and the number of Adeptus Astartes, I couldn't really exclude this possibility at all.

"Now, no matter what you see or feel... ignore it and go after me. Don't pick fights and create problems. The Underhive is... not really a savory place."

I said that because I was already using the Architect to connect with the systems at the Palatine Hive and its systems. Certainly, it was rather troublesome because of all those technological limitations that the stupid Tech Priests put into place.

Fortunately, the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought had really advanced computers and STCs, which were providing necessary computing powers to the Architect as he was able to reach the systems in the Palatine Hive.

"Right now, we are at the outskirts of the Special Spire... we need to reach the Lower Hive first and then the Underhive."

I muttered as we immediately followed the Architect's instructions. As we were walking through the Special Spire, we indeed saw a good number of the Squats, or what I liked to call them, Space Dwarves, because they were indeed Space Sci-Fi Dwarves.

Even some accidental Aeldari or something that seemed to be Aeldari, but that wasn't right now the problem. Reaching the Lower Hive from the Special Spire took us around half an hour, because we were not particularly fast, but at the same time, we were not really slow either.

The entire Hive City was like one enormous maze of countless streets, corridors, and god knows what else.

"This place is filthy... Are there really people living in here?"

The Lower Hive was the layer of the Hive City that lies just above the Underhive. It was comprised of the city's industrial sectors and working-class residential housing. The people of this level make up the majority of any Hive City's population and are responsible for maintaining and operating the Hive's manufactoria and generatorium power plants to keep the rest of the hive fed, clothed and productive.

"Life in the Hive Cities is shit... most of the humans living in the Hive City are living in terrible conditions unless they live in the Upper Hive, where life is a bit better... the best conditions are obviously in the Spires."

This was one of the reasons why the Federation refrained from building and constructing the Hive Cities. There were usually far more problems with them than they were worth, and they tended to destroy entire planets.

The Federation itself had only a few Hive Cities, and even they were most strictly controlled and built with the most advanced technology possible. The ones that I remember were nothing like what we were seeing right now.

"Unless you have a lot of wealth to settle in one of the Spires or be lucky enough to move in the government and become part of the city's management, where you can move into the Upper Hive, then your life in the Hive City would be total shit."

I said as we were crossing through the Lower Hive under the navigation of the Architect, as the progress was fortunately fast enough. I wanted to leave this place as soon as possible, because being here was repulsive.

 

[Trafford]

Esdeath didn't reply much as we were walking through the Lower Hive and reaching the Underhive, which was far worse than the Lower Hive. Compared to the Underhive, the Lower Hive was like the most luxurious hotel for the Grand Nobles in the Holy Imperial Capital of Anor Long back home.

Even Esdeath stared at the streets of the Underhive and how they looked like hell on earth materialized... it was swarming with people like a ton of them, and all of them looked worse, like the scavengers and gangsters who attacked them when they were crossing the outskirts of the Hive City.

Even to me, the Underhive was something that was...

Beyond words.

I couldn't really understand how people could live in these conditions.

It was indeed true that within the Underhive, the living conditions were really bad. At the same time, I found it rather fascinating that humans could actually survive in a place like this, as it was almost shocking.

In the Underhive, things like food and water were far more precious than hold or anything else, and despite that, people were still prevailing and adapting to the enviroment in which they were living.

Navigating within the Underhive was...

I already stopped depending on the Architect's help, because a lot of information that my AI obtained from the systems of the Palatine Hive was either inaccurate or obsolete, because a lot of areas of the Underhive were either collapsed, repurposed, or something else done with them.

This was the place where the people of the Planetery Governor or the Planetary Defense Force wouldn't bother entering because it was not worth their time or effort. Most of the armed forces of the Governor's Mansion wouldn't bother themselves with the Underhive, and many considered this place really dangerous.

Even for the armed troops of the Planetary Defense Forces.

Which was already saying something about the current state of the things of the Underhive and how fucked up everything was in this place. I could understand that, judging on the number of corpses that were all on the corridors of the Underhive...

At least until the corpse collectors come and make corpse starch from them.

"They are eating them."

I answered Esdeath's question when she asked me what the weirdly dressed scavengers were doing with the remains of the corpses.

"Don't need to stare at them that intently... according to the information, it's the main source of the food in the Underhive and even Lower Hives... the Corpse-starch. A synthetic food source created from the recycled Human dead of the hive cities on many of the Hive Worlds of the Imperium of Man."

Necromunda was one of the Hive Worlds where this practice is most prevalent. On Necromunda, the Corpse Guild regulates the trade and production of corpse-starch, and it was the main source of food for the countless people.

Even Esdeath looked like she wanted to puke at the moment, because just the thought of it was disgusting.

What the Imperials were doing was no different from cannibalism, because well... it was cannibalism.

Recycling the corpses of the deceased into food and eating them.

"Without the orderly disposal of their corpses, plague and disease would run rampant across the Hive World. Without the food source that these corpses provide when rendered down in the great corpse grinder plants that dominate entire sectors in every hive city, the populace would starve. In a certain sense, it creates some twisted balance where everything functions as it should and maintains the balance between each other."

I said as we were descendign to even greater depths of the Underhive where the only thing that we could depend as form of navigation were my Psychic Abilities.

Divination Discipline.

Diviners seek to discern the hidden past of the galaxy and know the course of events yet to come. These abilities allow Diviners to look into the twisting strands of the Immaterium in search of the answers they seek, and sometimes even influence the outcome of Fate itself.

Simply said.

Yet, pretty useful because it was more than enough to lead us to the place where the Underhive was ending... technically speaking, near the base of the entire Hive City, where the foundations of the entire mega structure were located.

The deeper one went into the Underhive...

More twisted, dark, and disgusting it became.

Mutants, Chaos Spawns, and unspeakable horrors were on a daily basis.

Mutants killing humans, humans killing mutants, everyone slaughtering each other in exchange... we even saw how a bunch of cannibals were dismembering another person in plain sight in the middle of the street and started feasting on a child.

Children didn't survive long in the Underhive...

Safe zones within the Underhive were almost non-existent, and they were usually strongholds of the strongest gangs and cults that operated within the Underhive.

Yet the place where we were right now barely had any activity...

Only darkness and some remnants of technology from the Age of Federation that was still activated after many millenias.

"We are here..."

I said as we were standing in front of a half-destroyed alley that was actually an entrance to the underground research facility. The Underhive itself was located a few hundred meters under the planet's surface, because all Hive Cities were built from the underground and not at the planet's surface itself.

"There is nothing here."

Esdeath commented on the most obvious.

"Aside from the ruins and half-destroyed tunnel or what the thing is."

She continued as I nodded, but didn't really bother answering as I used my Holo-Brain on my hand that I constructed and used the console to access the control systems of the Research Facility.

"Accessing the Research Facility Araneus Prime. Name: Jeron Egan Butler. Accessing Direct Control."

Suddenly, the entire tunnel came to life, at least what could come to life was activated, because a lot of systems were already destroyed, decayed, or just fell apart due to the passage of time.

Saying his human name really felt weird.

He only used it twice since he was reborn more than thirteen thousand years ago.

 

[Trafford]

"It's really working... this is a rather pleasant surprise."

I commented when seeing at least parts of the facility working... especially the defense systems that were fully functional. That much was clear, based on the number of skeletons and Mutant skeletons that were all around the entrance.

"I didn't really think that the facility would be functional around what? 15,000 years since the start of the Age of Strife when the Federation fell..."

I thought that it was highly possible that some of the bots were still functioning, mostly the Artificial Intelligence that were maintaining the entire facility, because I couldn't really imagine how otherwise this facility would withstand the passage of time.

Fifteen thousand years was even more than I had been alive in the Kadath Universe.

If my hunch was correct, this place should also have some of the remaining Men of Iron.

"Now... be careful. Even though you have reached the standards of the Tier 9 or so... there are some weapons and means within the Araneus Research Facility that were designed to specifically hurt entities like us right now."

A lot of those weapons were actually created on the excavated or stolen Necron Technology that the Federation obtained after robbing some Necron Tombs, as we managed to discover some minor dynasties and destroy them.

At terrible costs.

Necrons were really fearsome foes, and their technology was the most dangerous and advanced in the entire galaxy. They were also the only species in the entire Galaxy that possessed weapons that were able to destroy the entire Galaxy, which were developed during the War in Heaven.

Artifacts from more than sixty million years ago.

"Really? That sounds very interesting... would you mind letting me have some of such weapons?"

I chose hearing that because it was more than evident that she wanted to have such weapons and play with them.

Playing in her dictionary meant using it against huge numbers of enemies and reducing them to ashes. Not that I really cared about that, but right now, it wasn't the smartest thing around espeicalyl on the planet.

"Maybe later. Now come, don't touch anything and be always close to me... because it seems that we have some slight complications when it came to the control over the Research Facility."

It was pretty unfortunate because even with the support of the computing power from the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, it wasn't able to completely overtake the facility.

According to the data I was seeing on my Holo-Brain, parts of the facility where some of the servers were had completely collapsed, and thus the network was fractured into several parts.

"As you wish."

Fortunately enough, Esdeath wasn't really bad at following orders, and when I said something, she didn't really have a problem listening to me. It was her nature as a soldier, and because she spent her entire life serving in her clan's army, that she was good at following orders and not questioning them.

Sometimes, it's a good thing.

Sometimes, rather a catastrophic thing.

Nevertheless, right now it was certainly a good thing.

"And be on guard... if I am not wrong, then it's highly possible that some of the Anti-Warp Empyrean Mechs are not properly contained."

Esdeath raised her eyebrows because my voice was actually more serious than it would be normally.

"Something that you were developing in here?"

I nodded as this was one of the critical projects of the Federation, but never finished one as it seemed to be because the birth of the 4th Chaos God brought the end of the Federation and thus also of this project.

At least on the surface.

"The Terran Federation knew that it could not measure up to the Aeldari when it came to the Psychic Potential... we were very slow in becoming Psykers and obtaining Psychic Powers, so we had another idea of countering the Aeldari Empire."

I said as we entered the tunnel that was barely lighted, but that wasn't really a problem for our night vision as we were heading toward the central gate. Which was once in the long past, the first security checkpoint when the facility was still functioning.

"Thus, some elements within the Federation proposed creating something that would be anathema to the Psychic Powers and entities of the Warp. Thus, we started incorporating the elements of the Necron Technology and material called Blackstone to create Autonomous Combat Units, basically the Automatons that you have seen that were created with the sole purpose only... destruction of anything connected to the Warp."

I said with a certain kind of irony... because a lot of technology that humanity was using in the Golden Age of Technology was based on the Necron Technology itself and technologies from different species.

Humans were good at incorporating different technological trees into our own.

I wasn't working on this project directly, but rather as an Overseer and Consultant, so I was very well acquainted with it.

And I knew the capabilities of the Automatons of the highest-degree that we created, and because I was now a Psyker, these things proved to be highly dangerous and lethal even to Esdeath and me.

Despite our current power.

"Due to the Blackstone and some experimental Necron technology in the Automatons, they are quite dangerous even to us right now. Not dangerous to kill, but they would be a pain in the ass to deal with."

I said carefully because this was one of the few technologies that were missing from my MTC when I died and transmigrated to the new universe. At the same time, I was rather eager to obtain this to add it to my repertoire, because this could be one of the few last remaining technologies from the Terran Federation in existence.

The Blackstone, scientifically known as Noctilith, was a mysterious, black-hued, stone-like substance of unknown provenance that, under certain conditions, can outright nullify the Psychic Energies of the Immaterium or absorb them and unleash them with spectacular force.

Though relatively rare, it is found in concentrations on certain worlds across the galaxy, particularly those planets that are Tomb Worlds of the ancient Necron Empire.

 

[Trafford]

"Wait a moment... doesn't it mean that those tech-worshipping weirdoes are basically worshipping Xenos Technology?"

As expected, Esdeath caught on pretty fast as we were walking through abandoned corridors, with occasionally flickering lights that were malfunctioning, as the entire place looked like a horror book.

The Cult Mechanicus believes knowledge to be the manifestation of divinity and holds that anything embodying or containing knowledge is holy because of it. The supreme object of devotion is therefore the omniscient Machine God, also known as the Deus Mechanicus or, in its embodied form, as the God-Emperor, the Omnissiah, an eminent and omnipotent spirit governing all machinery and knowledge in the universe.

The ultimate goal of the Cult Mechanicus is to understand and fully comprehend the glory of the Omnissiah. The communal and personal attempt at this form of enlightenment is known as the Quest for Knowledge. The Cult believes that all knowledge already exists in the universe, and it is primarily a matter of time before it can be gathered together to complete the Quest.

Obviously, this belief also includes a strict ban on the usage of the Xenos Technology or anything that wasn't of human origin, because these Technologies were unveiled and not intended for humanity by the Machine God.

I couldn't really understand and would probably never understand how such bullshit could have been born on Mars.

Mars...

The cradle of technologies and all scientific advancement in the Terran Federation.

"It's really funny, don't you think? Even the concept of the STCs was actually made possible because we too technology of some extinct civilization and incorporated it into our own tree."

The Terran Federation was exceptionally good at discovering, reverse-egineering and incorporating different technologies into our own technological tree. How else did our technological tree manage to grow so fast and advance that we were able to fight one-on-one against the Aeldari Empire?

It was through this...

Assimilation and incorporation.

One could say that approxiamtely 60% of the technologies used by humanity during the age of the Terran Federation originated from Xenos, one way or another. And when it came to the core technologies, this number would be around 85% beucase almsot everything came from some more advanced species.

We just reverse-engineered it and took it as our own.

Over time, the technologies that were taken from the other species were re-adjusted more and more, until they were thoroughly incorporated into humanity's technological tree.

"And that was how the Federation got to where it was... we knew that competing with the Aeldari in technological development was sheer stupidity because they had more than sixty million years for their development. So we sought another way... that would shorten the gap between the Empire and Federation."

I said as we finally entered the huge sealed room, where both of us stood in front of the huge vault doors, as I started typing something into Holo Brain and connecting to the console that was adjacent to the doors.

Uploading the Architect's sub-program into the next segment of the system architecture needed to be done manually. As many of the systems have collapsed, now what was once one entity was divided into several segments of the systems that were maintaining the entire facility.

And unfortunately, because of this, I needed to upload the Architect's sub-program into each new "Segment System" manually through some console or anything, as the Segment Systems were no longer connected with each other.

Nevertheless, we managed to open the next part of the facility and enter the elevator that was still working, much to my delight. I knew of the other paths that were leading to the core of the Araneus Research Facility, but none of them were direct and fast enough for our usage.

"Right now, we are heading to the core of the facility, and it's highly possible that some of the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs are already waiting for us, and I have a hunch that they won't be really friendly."

I stated because after the Cybernetic Revolt, the Humanity grew pretty wary of anything related to the Artificial Intelligence, but not to the point of completely abandoning the concept because that would mean the destruction of our civilization.

The Men of Iron... these powerful and fully autonomous intelligent robots intended for both labour and combat won many wars for Humanity, but they turned against their masters at the end of the Age of Technology, sometime in the late 23rd Millennium, and unleashed a terrible war upon the Human worlds.

During this terrible conflict, remembered only as the "Cybernetic Revolt", both sides unleashed fearsome weapons of advanced technology.

The Cybernetic Revolt was eventually won by an alliance of galactic powers, some of whom may not have been Human, but at a terrible cost. The damage to interstellar Human society was catastrophic and shattered much of Humanity's hard-won economic strength and political unity, and laid the foundation for the later collapse caused by the onset of the Age of Strife.

Since the Cybernetic Revolt, the entire concept of the Men of Iron was scrapped, and humanity was very careful about the usage and research of the Artificial Intelligences...

Unfortunately, we were not capable of stopping it compeltely, because the very concept of the advanced Artificial Intelligence was deeply ingrained in every aspect of human society and on every single Federal Planet.

For humanity, it was just impossible to stop using the Artificial Intelligences... and in some cases even the Men of Iron.

And this was also the case of the Araneus Continuity.

"Perhaps if not for the Cybernetic Revolt, the fate of the Terran Federation would have been vastly differnet... but that is now history and we can only speculate about it."

I said with certain sadness, because this was my reality for many centuries in my life of Jeron Egan Butler.

The aftermath of the Cybernetic Revolt was something that was deeply felt in the Federation, even after centuries had passed since it had ended, and the wounds never healed.

 

[Trafford]

Soon enough, we reached our destination, which was the lowest layer of the Araneus Prime Research Facility on the planet.

The first thing that I did was connect the Architect to the console, as my AI was now using all the computing power of the entire Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought to breach the firewalls of the Research Facility.

Fortunately enough...

Many millennia of disrepair had left the facility in terrible shape, and as I predicted, there were only a few droids that were taking care of the facility, but none of them were sentient and were controlled by the automated systems of the Research Facility.

Within the Terran Federation, the Core Facilities, be it the ones for the Military or Research, were always designated and built with that idea in mind.

The idea that you can practically withstand the passage of time within those facilities, even when everything around you is fucked up and destroyed.

It seemed that these contingency plans had worked rather well.

Much to my surprise, because I was rather skeptical of them.

Nevertheless, with the computing power of the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought and the Architect's expertise, the AI sub-program that I brought with me to the Immaterius Universe managed to obtain complete control over the Core Facility, which was actually in the best shape.

Even I was surprised that when we exited the elevator and passed around four security checkpoints, we were welcomed to a rather clear and sterile enviroment. While some signs of the time and neglect were evident...

I almost thought that I was back.

[Araneus Prime Core Research Facility is Online.]

[Araneus Prime Core Research Facility Defense Systems are functioning at 78%.]

[Araneus Prime Core Research Facility Life Support Systems are functioning at 44%.]

[Araneus Prime Core Research Facility Auxiliary Systems are functioning at 57%.]

[Araneus Prime Core Research Facility Self-Repair Systems are functioning at 67%.]

[Araneus Prime Core Research Facility Self-Sustainance Systems are functioning at 71%.]

[Araneus Prime Core Research Facility Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe is severely damaged.]

[Taking over the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe has been initiated.]

[The Araneus Prime Core Research Facility Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe has been assimilated.]

[Executing the Reboot of the Core Systems.]

[Connecting to the Alpha Backup Mainframe.]

[Connection Established.]

[Executing the Last Protocol.]

[Executing the Contamination Protocols in the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility's Anti-Psyker Segment.]

[Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs have been detected to be dormant.]

[Connecting to the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs through the Federation CyberNet.]

[Connection Established.]

[Erasing the Men of Iron within the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs.]

[Erasure Complete.]

[Takeover of the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs has been completed.]

[Unlocking the Segment Sigma.]

[Segment Sigma Error!]

[Requiesting the Authorization of the Councillor of the Federal Council.]

[Authorization denied.]

[Breaching the Segment Sigma of the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe.]

[Executing the Breach Protocol.]

[The Araneus Prime Core Research Facility Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe's Segment Sigma has been breached.]

[Rebooting the System.]

[Accessing the Project: Human Webway.]

[Project Human Webway has been accessed.]

[Opening the Segment Sigma.]

[Unlocking the Segment Sigma complete.]

I was swarmed with notifications from the Architect, as for the next half an hour, we were standing together with Esdeath in the hallway and waiting for the entire process to be finished.

Even though the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought was armed with some really advanced computers and I had acess to a lot of Federal Files, who would have thought that after my death, this facility was changed to the Federal Council Core.

This was more problematic because I couldn't access the part that was holding the Webway and Anti-Psyker Knight Mech project with the identification codes of Jeron Egan Butler.

Even though I was very high in the hierarchy of the Terran Federation in my first life, I wasn't a member of the Federal Council. It was clear that somebody updated the security clearance to the Federal Council Level, which was pretty troublesome to deal with.

I knew that firsthand because I helped partially design the Clearance Level and its security measures, and because of that, I also knew that even with the help of the computing powers on the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, the Architect's sub-program would have a rather hard time cracking the code.

Fortunately enough, I knew the system well enough to find the backdoors that were left there in the case of an emergency or by the people who were building the architecture and wanted to have access.

So even despite not having the Federal Council Level Clearance and Acess, I was able to bypass it with enough time, like right now.

"Welcome, my dear... to the last remnants of the Terran Federation in the Milky Way Galaxy... I don't think that there are more than a few facilities from the old age that managed to survive till this day."

I said as huge vault doors started opening and revealing the facility inside that was actually in very good shape. Even better than the outside, with the bots and droids conducting maintenance where they could, or some were already malfunctioning.

Even Esdeath looked in wonder around everywhere, because this place was rather intact.

Mostly.

Even in my memories, it looked rather the same, sans the people, because it seemed to be abandoned.

If I had to guess, then if there were any people here at all, during the time when everything went to fuck, they must have left the place after some time and reach the surface. Though I could also see some skeletons here and there... so it was clear that not everyone had left the facility, and some people decided to remain here.

Which wasn't really the worst choice, but these facilities weren't designed to sustain human life for centuries.

The food and clear water would soon become a problem, mainly because large parts of the facility had already been destroyed at the start of the Age of Strife. That much was clear from our journey here...

At the same time, it was rather fascinating that nobody from the upper levels managed to discover the existence of the Araneus Prime Research Facility.

 

[Trafford]

"It looks like time has been stopped here..."

Esdeath said as we were crossing over the empty corridors of the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility, and she was right... If one didn't include the occasional malfunctions of some equipment or some skeletons here and there...

It didn't really look much different from the places in the Terran Federation. For me, it was rahter surreal and nostalgic experience that I got to enter these places once more and walk through the areas of the long-lost Federal glory.

For Esdeath, on the other hand, seeing a place that was straight away from the Golden Age of Technology was something that she only heard from the legends. On the Fenran Rex IX, they had some tech-ruins from the Golden Age of the Terran Federation, but all of them were in terrible shape and state.

"Where are we heading right now?"

She asked as we continued deeper into the complex, because we were heading toward the Sigma Segment.

"Sigma Segment of the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility... It's basically a non-standard area that is separated from the rest of the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility and holds the most critical research projects for the Federation that were known only to the Federal Council... Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs and Human Webway Project..."

Another thing that was located within the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility's Sigma Segment was the Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe's physicla servders. Even though the architect managed to take control over the large parts of the systems, due to the limitations of the hardware, he couldn't download data.

This was done in a specific way by the scientists of the Federation.

When it came to the Sigma Segments, not like the one at the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility, it was impossible to download the data on the Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe without physical acess.

This was done to prevent someone remotely accessing the critical data... especially the technology species or the races like Necrons. Federation was very wary of beings like that, thus obtaining the data was possible only through physical connection.

"So the Federation indeed had acess to the Webway?"

She asked as I nodded, but only reluctantly... She was aware of the existence of Webway because I gave her rather extensive lectures on the War Travel and mysteries of the Immaterium, and she knew the importance of the Webway.

"Not entirely... the Webway is in a state of beyond disrepair, and even the Aeldari, despite their arrogance, couldn't claim to master the Webway as they were mere inheritors, and anyone could use the Webway as long as they knew how."

The Webway, also known as the Labyrinth Dimension, or the Labyrinthine Dimension in older texts, is an extra-dimensional space partitioned off from the Immaterium millions of Terran years ago by an extremely advanced xenos species known as the Old Ones.

The Webway has been described as an incredibly complex network of arteries and capillaries, a maze of glowing tunnels, and a mystic tapestry of hidden threads that spread across the veil between realspace and the Warp.

Aeldari had once in the past entire cities within the Webway, and they were technologically speaking the Inheritors of the Old Ones after the race disappeared and Krorks were...

Disposed of.

Or rather, they were devolved into a more primitive form called Ork.

"We found a part of the unclaimed Webway that the Federation started studying and fortifying against the incursions of the Aeldari. Despite everything, the Aeldari knew the Webway like none other, and the Federation could use it only in the most basic and primitive way."

The Webway was a hyper-dimensional construct that spanned the dimensions of Creation, primarily defined by the fact that it sits between the material realm and the roiling tides of the Immaterium, an interstice comparable to the fabric of a veil cast over something foul.

"The Webway was created by the Old Ones, an ancient and technologically advanced intelligent species who established an interstellar empire across the galaxy tens of millions of standard years before the development of most of the other self-aware species. They created the Webway as a conduit that allowed its masters to travel at will to countless far-flung worlds without risking the fickle tides of the Warp. Yet... after the disappearance of the Old Ones and War in Heaven sixty million years ago, the Webway is in a state of disrepair."

This much the Terran Federation was able to learn about the Webway and what dangers it brought with it.

Certainly, it was a much better alternative than the Warp and using Immaterium to travel the space, but traversing the Webway required its own form of knowledge and cautiousness.

"We are already here..."

I said while typing access codes on the console, as the path we had revealed in front of us, when the hidden doors were opened, and we entered the Sigma Segment of the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility.

"First, we are heading to the Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe's Physical Mainframe to download the necessary data and all data within the entire facility... afterward, we are going to the place where the Human Webway Project was researched... within that place is one item, called a Webway Lexicon that would allow us to search for the functioning Webway Gate in the galaxy with a few spells."

I wouldn't really take the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs with us, because I had no way of transporting them effectively to the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, which was also the case with the Webway Gate that lay in the deepest parts of this facility.

But as long as I had the Webway Lexicon, then there was no problem at all...

The Webway Lexicon was something akin to a universal key that was used to activate and control the Webway Gates. There were not many of them, and the one that the Federation had ended in the Araneus Prime in this research facility.

As long as I had the Webway Lexicon, I could easily track some functioning Webway Gate on some nearest worlds and activate them to acess the Webway.

Another advantage of possessing the Lexicon was also the ability to navigate within the Webway.

 

[Trafford]

When we entered the Sigma Segment of the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility, I noticed that it looked almost no different from the last time that I was here... which was around fifteen thousand years ago.

Reaching the Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe's Physical Mainframe Room was rahter fast thing, because I still remembered the path into the server room, which was an enormous underground room filled with black boxes.

Hundreds of huge black metal boxes.

All of them were actually servers.

The most advanced technology that the Terran Federation built, mostly based on the obtained Necron technology, because they were the most advanced species in this area, and they were often in conflict with the Federation.

When the Federation managed to encounter a Tomb World and woke the slumbering Dynasty.

"Give me a moment... I need to access the main console and biometric locks and bypass them to initiate the download process."

The area of the servers on the Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe where the research data were being stored was compeltely isolated from the rest of the Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe.

It was like a state within a state.

Network within a network.

With zero connection between them.

Thus, I needed to manually connect to the servers that were storing the research data on everything in the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility and download it manually to the data storage in the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought.

Fortunately enough, the entire process was rather smooth and fast, and within twenty minutes, everything that I needed was right now stored in the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, and I would be through the data at a later date.

When the download was completed, we headed to the area that was storing the remnants of the Webway Project.

It was essentially a huge vault that was holding the Webway Gate and some other Aeldari devices that were used to traverse and navigate the Webway that the Federation obtained through various sources.

"That's the gate?"

In the middle of the vault that was as huge as an entire warehouse, was a Webway Gate.

Also known as a Webway Nexus when multiple destinations from a single gate are possible, it is a xenos technological artefact composed of wraithbone. They were typically incorporated into the Aeldari Craftworlds and ships, which provide an opening into the Labyrinth Dimension of the Webway.

Webway Gates large enough for voidships to pass through are known as Waygates and are often constructed in orbit around certain prominent worlds within the Webway network.

"Yes... Webway Gates are also found scattered on worlds throughout the galaxy, allowing the Aeldari to use them in times of need or to reach the individual planets according to their wishes. Once in the past, the entire Aeldari Empire was interconnected through the network of the Webway Gates."

I said that because the Webway and the critical material were basically wonderful.

The Wraithbone is something that even the Federation wasn't able to obtain that easily, much less research. We only had some weapons made from the Wraithbones and they were literal wonders.

When I remember them...

Wraithbone was the primary construction material used by the Aeldari Empire... more specifically, the Asuryani, the Craftworld Aeldari, and the staple of their psycho-technical engineering.

It was a form of crystallized Psychic Energy of the Empyrean that can exist as a solid in realspace brought forth from the Warp and shaped by an Aeldari concentrating his thoughts and intent upon it.

If we could incorporate the Magic into the concept of the Wraithbone, then the possibilities of such material would be unparalleled acorss countless Universes.

I already done my math...

Several times at that.

The Wraithbone was a superconductor for Psychic Energy.

If we learned the process of making the Wraithbone and used the process in an adjusted way, replacing the Psychic Energy with pure Mana, we would have a superconductive material for Mages that would rank in the top 3 of the entire Kadath Universe.

And contrary to the other superconductive materials, this would not be finite and could be created.

Which would be something that no other material acorss the entire Kadath Universe could achieve.

"How do you even turn it on? There is nothing visible..."

Esdeath asked as she was observing the Webway Gate with newfound curiosity about the thing. She found it hardly believable that this thing that was here was able to transport them from one point in the galaxy to another, often through distances that were enormous and in a rather short span of time.

"Either through a specific mechanism that we are not aware of, or you use your Psychic Powers to activate the Gate, or you obtain some Command Node like the Webway Lexicon that I have right here, or another type of Command Node that allows you to activate and control the Gate. Unfortunately, the Aeldari were and most probably are guarding these things with extreme prejudice."

The Webway Gates that allow entry to the Labyrinth Dimension range in size from personal gates intended for foot travel to massive ones that entire craftworlds can use. Because of the Webway Gates's rarity and importance, the Aeldari, even in the past, were extremely protective like hell of it.

Especially right now, the Asuryani and Drukhari will stop at nothing to either claim or deny the use of these gates to the enemy.

"And here it is... well, we can now go because I have everything that I need to locate another Webway Gate."

Unfortunately, I cannot take this Webway Gate with me back to the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought. I wanted to refrain from using the Psyker Powers in the Hive City for various reasons, primarily not attracting attention.

"Are we not taking this with us?"

She pointed at the Webway Gate as I thought over it once again, and how to transport it with us.

I could theoretically use the Telekinesis to levitate the Webway Gate and bring it with us, but that could hardly be realized because the pathways within the Underhive and Lower Hive were too narrow for that.

That was a no-go zone.

 

[Trafford]

Leaving the Underhive together with the Webway Gate and the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs was going to be impossible unless I dug through the ground straight to the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought.

I pondered over the entire thing for some time I came to the conclusion that it should have been possible. Thus, I contacted the Architect on the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought to have him calculate the best viable path and where I should start digging through my Telekinesis.

Soon enough I had the data which was needed for the digging and started digging through the outer layers of the Underhive.

With the power of my Telekinesis, it wasn't really that much of a problem as I dug through the initial constructions of the Underhive and collapsed buildings that were here from the Golden Age of Technology.

Many of them probably remembered even the early days of the Terran Federation, which was already something to be told. Nevertheless, as I was gigging, Esdeath was using Telekinesis to drag the Webway Gate and several Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs behind her.

Even though her usage of Telekinesis was pretty crude, truth to be told.

She was relatively bad at using the Psychic Disciplines, but she was getting better over time, even though her progress was slow. That was mainly because I noticed that Esdeath was a tad slow with anything that wasn't related to the combat.

And the area of the Psychic Disciplines wasn't much different in this case.

Fortunately, these things were far more durable than they seemed to be because they were made from some of the most durable metals in the entire Milky Way Galaxy. They could withstand a few bumps here and there along the way and survive through Esdeath's rough usage of Telekinesis.

Of course, the hardest part was still on me because I did all of the digging through the ground, which was an absolute pain in the ass. We were pretty deep beneath the earth's crust, and digging through the crust was challenging even with all of the Psychic Powers that I possessed.

In the end, it took me around several hours to dig through the ground and leave the area of the Hive City.

I needed to be rather careful when using the Warp Powers because of the attraction of the Daemons of Chaos, but fortunately enough, the Federation already had a lot of shielding methods or methods of avoiding the attention of the Daemons when one used the Warp Powers.

Unfortunately, the Terran Federation never got the time to pass this technology and these methods to the wider Federation, and it perished together with the fall of the specified research facilities that were researching the Psychic Powers.

***

"Be more careful when loading the thing."

I said to Esdeath as we were standing near one of the hangars of the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought as we were loading the Webway Gate to the hangar. The Mechs would be loaded after the Webway Gate, because the Gate was more important than the Mechs, truth to be told.

With the Anti-Psyker Mechs, everything that I needed were the blueprints, and I could start producing them in the facilities on the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought.

After loading everything into one of the hangars in the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, we went straight to the bridge of the starship, which was a rather lengthy journey as well, considering the size of this monstrosity of a vessel.

"Okey we are leaving for a safer location where I can finish the research and decide what to do next."

I said because right now, I needed to assimilate the research on the Webway Gate and use it to enter the Webway and the last Aeldari City that remained in existence. Even if the said city was nothing more than a heresy in my eyes because it was such behavior that led to the birth of Slaanesh.

This would certainly take some time, because even though I had the Webway Gate and the research on the Webway, navigating through the Webway would be an absolute nightmare because even I didn't know how.

I was hoping to use the Architect and my own computing capabilities to predict the pathway through the labyrinth of the Webway. The Webway was notoriously famous for being nigh impossible to navigate through.

Many within the ranks of the Federation suspected that the Aeldari knew how to navigate through the Weebway thanks to the Legacy of the Old Ones. But even that didn't save the Aeldari from the decay and partial collapse of the Webway.

"I will be leading the ship to some quite star system from where I can conduct the research... but before that I will reconfigure the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs so you can spar agaisnt them in your free time... they were created to be a match even against Greater Daemons of the Chaos within the Warp so theoretically they should be able to withstand the clash."

I knew that Esdeath would need something to pass the time, and fighting against the Anti-Psyker Knight Mehcs would be a good thing for her. At least, she will test if they were working and functioning properly, while at the same time, she would be content as she would have something to do.

When she was bored, she was a pain in the ass.

In this regard, she was like a small child who needed constant entertainment, which could be rather challenging but still much better than having her bored and annoying him to death.

That was a much worse thing.

"As you say."

Esdeath, in the end, relented and waited for me to finish the configuration on the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs. I then ordered the Architect to activate Warp Engine in the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, and we entered the Warp.

Basically leading us to the unhibitated systems where we should be relatively safe from the Imperium, Necrons, Aeldari, and gods know what else that was in the Milky Way Galaxy.

 

[Trafford]

Several Weeks Later, Unnamed Star System

The Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought arrived at a relatively empty Star System that was pretty much secluded from any and all major species and factions in the Milky Way Galaxy.

For the past few weeks, I spent all of my time researching the Webway and comprehending the research on the Webway Gate. At the same time, I was also considering some experiments on the Webway Gate and navigating through the Webway.

Navigating through the Webway would be the most problematic aspect of the entire thing because even the Federation had absolutely no clue of how to even approach this aspect.

Fortunately, though I came with a much different idea...

Instead of navigating through the Webway, I would search directly for the Commorragh and target the city instead of creating a method of navigation.

I was sure that Commorragh, as the last Aeldari City, had some of the peculiarities of their cities, and even though the Federation sucked as fuck when it came to navigating through the Webway, we actually developed a method of tracking targets through the Webway.

Mainly because the warhawks within the Terran Federation were preparing for the war against the Aeldari Empire. And as a large part of the Aeldari Empire's national power was located within the Webway, we created several methods of tracking these cities and places within the Webway.

As long as one knew how to search, it wasn't that problematic.

And Commorragh wouldn't be that problematic to locate, once I finished the Psychic Machine that would target the specific signals that were being released there...

By the Drukhari.

I would be basically searching for the greatest negativity spot in the Webway through the combination of the Psychic Arts, Tier Magic used to sense Emotions and technology.

Through it, I would be able to locate the entire city.

Then the only thing that was remaining was to decide the approach to the city itself.

Even though I despised the existence of the Drukhari, they were still inheritors of the Ancient Aeldari Empire to a much greater degree... probably even more than the Craftworld Aeldari, because the Drukhari still occupied one of the Imperial Cities from the age of the Empire.

And gods know what kind of weapons they had in there.

I was pretty sure that the Empire had some weapons that were effective against even against the Tier 10 beings like me... if some of such weapons were in the Commorragh, it could be problematic.

Not to mention Aeladri has even more powerful weapons...

Fortunately enough, my clone body was assimialting more and more Empyrean Powers as time passed to the point where this Avatar would soon break through to the Tier 11, which would be more than enough to bulldoze through the entire Immaterius Universe.

As long as I didn't set foot in the Immaterium itself.

Which I didn't really plan to do so in the near future at all.

Nevertheless, I could try to reach Tier 11 as soon as possible, which shouldn't be really impossible, and then use some tricks to start assimilating the power that my True Body left in this Psyker Clone.

With that being said, I should be able to reach Tier 12 with ease and be practically powerful enough to fight against the Lesser Warp Gods and other similar entities directly in the Warp as I would possess even the fractions of the Concept of Ruination, Concept of Void, and The Path of the End.

And when I was seriously thinking about it, I decided that this was the best course of action.

It was not like I was pressed for time or anything, because I had more time than enough.

Currently, it was the early 41st Millennium.

In the 41st Millennium, the long-dormant Necrons have finally awoken from their Great Sleep to begin their conquest of the galaxy once more. In many cases, over the millennia, their Tomb Worlds had been resettled by the unsuspecting Humans of the Imperium, leading to horrific scenes of devastation as the newly-awakened Necrons cleansed whole planets of their populations of fragile Human souls.

The reason for the awakening of the Necrons in the 41st Millennium is still debated amongst the entire Galaxy, as nobody could tell. Aeldari, or at least what has remained from them, were most profoundly distraught from this revelation because the Necrons were their ancient enemies.

Meanwhile, I was delighted at that...

Necron technology...

It was something that was able to imprison the C'than... The Star Gods.

Beings that were at least at the Tier 11 in my native Universe.

And Necrons were able to do it with technology alone.

Nevertheless, the time that I was right now was pretty much perilous.

None can say for sure how many Tomb Worlds entered the Great Sleep some 60 million standard years ago, but it is certain that a great many did not survive into the 41st Millennium. Technologically advanced though the Necrons were, to attempt a stasis-sleep of such scale was a great risk, even for them.

As the centuries passed, ever more Tomb Worlds fell prey to malfunction or ill-fortune.

Some Tomb Worlds were destroyed by the retribution of marauding Aeldari, their defence systems overmatched by these ancient enemies of the Necrons. Other Tomb Worlds fell victim to the uncaring natural evolution of the galaxy itself.

Tectonically unstable planets crushed Necron strongholds slumbering at their hearts; stars went supernova, consuming orbiting Tomb Worlds in their death throes. Many of the Necrons perished because even their advanced technology didn't account for the sleeping time of sixty million years.

Yet, it was also undeniably true that a great deal of Tomb World survived till today and were Awakening.

Slowly... yes.

But steadily.

And Necrons were beyond dangerous.

The Terran Federation classified them as the most dangerous threat to the Galaxy, straight after the Empyrean. The Federation attacked and plundered some Tomb Worlds... but those belonged to individual Necron Warlords primarily or some extremely weak Necron Dynasties.

And even that came at a terrible price.

 

[Trafford]

Even the shabbiest and poorest Tomb World took enormous effort for the Federation to conquer in a way that wouldn't alert the other Tomb Worlds. We were extremely careful when it came to the Necrons, and after pillaging some of the targets, the Federal High Council decided that the Terran Federation wouldn't be dealing with the Necrons anymore.

It happened during the time that I was alive, because I remember it rather well.

One day, we were almost led to the Tomb World that was inhabited by the Suhbekhar Dynasty. The Suhbekhar Dynasty was a powerful Dynasty of the Necrons whose worlds are located within the Jericho Reach and who may be related to the phenomenon known as the Dark Pattern.

From then on, the Federation forbade any exploration of additional Tomb Worlds, with the punishment of execution.

I decided to go for the second version of the plan in the end, as I would push this Avatar of mine to the Tier 11 and then start assimilating the sliver of my true power from my True Body.

It should take me around a few weeks to achieve, which wasn't really the worst timespan around here. Once it was done, I could enter the Webway and take what I wanted from the Commorragh without any danger or repercussion.

After deciding on the next course of action, I went to fight Esdeath, who was spending most of her time in the training grounds within the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, as that was her place.

The entire Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought had relatively extensive modifications because both of us needed a lot of space for the training. Mainly because we were training a lot, especially Esdeath, who was spending all of her time fighting against the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs.

The Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs of the Terran Federation proved to be highly suitable sparring partners for Esdeath and even for me during the time that we were on the ship. The pieces of machinery were expertly countering any Psychic Powers that one possessed and could even create Null Fields that were completely nullifying the Psychic Powers.

The basic pattern of the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs was based on the Null Field Matrix Technology, or at least something that appeared to be the Null Field Matrix.

A Null Field Matrix is a form of advanced Necron technology used to project a large Anti-Psychic Field around itself, similar to that employed on a smaller scale by Gloom Prisms and the Nightshroud barriers created by Monolith phalanxes and Gauss Pylon networks.

Most commonly used to shield Necron Tomb Worlds from psychic disturbance, they display the Necron's mastery over technology and their ability to create a technological defence for nearly any threat they encounter.

Necrons were using this technology against the Psykers since immemorial, as it was specifically created to counter the Old Ones during the War of Heaven. And the technology worked rather too well, because it was effectively rendering even some of the most powerful Psykers powerless.

Of course, it didn't really have that good effect on Esdeath or me, due to the peculiar nature of our Psychic Powers. But I guess that if it were used on any other Psyker in the galaxy, then the effects would be devastating.

For Esdeath and me, as the Psychic Energy was deeply ingrained in our DNA and Esdeath's Partas Tribe, which was deeply connected with the Psychic Energy through the consumption of the Danger Beasts, such devices were not 100% effective.

But they were still more than enough to weaken us to a great degree. Esdeath couldn't properly use the Spiritual Avatar of the Super Danger Beast when she used the power of her Super Danger Beast Bloodline, as the Anti-Psyker Knight Mech used the Null Field Matrix against her during the fight.

When I arrived at one of the many training grounds of the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, Esdeath was once again engaged in the fight against Anti-Psyker Knight Mech.

The Mech that was shaped like an autonomous knight armor of the Middle Ages, Terra, moved at lightning speed against the General of the Partas Tribe, and the two of them were locked in a fierce fight.

Because of the Null Field Matrix that the Anti-Psyker Knight Mech was employing, Esdeath's body was being affected like a Kryptonian under the Kryptonite. But the effect wasn't that drastic; it was just that she was being weakened, and her use of Psychic Powers was highly unstable.

'Clearly the technology used to create the Anti-Psyker Knight Mech is incomplete... the geniue Necron tech is far more advanced and would be effective even against Super Danger Beast Bloodline of the Partas Tribe and similar species that have merged the Psychic Energy into the very concept of the Bloodline...'

I thought as I observed the Anti-Psyker Knight Mech and its faults. Like many other things within the Terran Federation, this piece of technology was also created on what the Imperium would call Xenos Tech.

Like most of our technology.

And ufnrotureanyl, because it was created on the crude imitation of the Necrons Null Field Matrix that the Federation obtained from some ruins. Unfortunately, we barely understood the concepts of the Immaterium, much less what was said about the Necron Technology, which was an even bigger mystery in many regards.

As creatures long without any kind of spiritual essence, the Necrons cannot project their minds into the Warp or harness its power to any degree. They are unable to use the Warp to journey across the galaxy and are thoroughly bereft of any native Psykers.

In many ways, this was a boon, for the Empyrean is always a fickle servant, given to wreaking havoc on those who seek to claim its power. Many were corrupted and destroyed in their path of using the Warp for their goals, as the Warp in the end claimed their very own souls.

The Aeldari could attest to that, as their connection to the Immaterium was also their doom.

In a twisted sense of irony.

 

[Trafford]

To compensate, many Necron Tomb Worlds are shielded from Psychic disturbance by vast Null Field Matrices.

Developed during the War in Heaven, these networks of Anti-Psychic Field emitters generate an unknown energy field that destabilises a Psyker's connection to the Warp, rendering him unable to utilise his full power.

Similarly, Daemons of the Chaos in the presence of Null Field Matrices have a tendency to flicker in and out of existence, as if unable to maintain a solid foothold in reality. It was the most effective technology that anyone has ever created against the denizens of the Warp and Psykers generally.

A Null Field Matrix requires incredible amounts of power to function properly and is a fragile device that must be hidden away at a Tomb World's very heart to prevent its destruction.

Nonetheless, they stand as testaments to their ability to create a technological defence against any form of attack, no matter its genesis. The Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs had even more significant problems when it came to powering them up, because the technology was far from perfect.

This was something that not even Necrons solved perfectly, most probably, much less the Terran Federation, which was basing its Anti-Psyker Knight Mech on the incomplete knowledge of the Necrons that they obtained, or some half-destroyed or damaged Null Field Matrixes.

After observing Esdeath and the Anti-Psyker Mech for some time, she ended the fight against the Anti-Psyker Knight Mech and went straight to me.

"So, when are we going to the Webway? It's getting boring here fighting against this scrap of machinery..."

Esdeath already started complaining because she was, in fact, a very active person who needed to do something. She wasn't like she could just drop somewhere, read books, or laze around, because she needed to do something.

Even though the Anti-Psyker Knight Mech was being controlled by one of the subprograms created by the Architect's clone program on the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought.

This increased the efficiency of the Mech by several times over.

When the Anti-Psyker Knight Mech was controlled by a powerful AI, its efficiency was much higher than it would normally be compared to the state when it operated on its own base.

"There is a slight change of plans... I am going to push this body to Tier 11, and afterwards, I will assimilate the power of my True Body that I have infused into this Avatar. Theoretically, this should push my Avatar to the standards of the Tier 12 in the Endless Void Tiering System."

I explained to Esdeath that this was the safest approach we could take in the current situation. Tier 12 should be the approximate level of the geniue Warp Gods like the Aeldari Gods or the Orkish Gods.

The more I studied the Warp and the Chaos Gods, their true power within the Warp should be Tier 13... and not just any Tier 13, but either on the level of the Divine Throne at the minimum, but most probably around the degree of the Universe Master.

Which meant that every single Chaos God was as strong as my True Body, which was really dangerous. Since this revelation, or rather, since this speculation, I was very reluctant to do anything with the Immaterium unless I was equally strong.

Even though this was just Avatar...

If a powerful Tier 13 entity got their hands on this Avatar, they would be able to track the connection between the Avatar and the True Body, possibly even locating the Kadath Universe and gods know what else.

It was rather dangerous.

The only saving grace was that, according to all signs and knowledge on the Immaterium, the Chaos Gods were Imperfect Universe Masters, as they cannot leave the Immaterium due to their strong connection ot the Warp.

While at the same time, they were even more impossible to kill and dispose of.

"How long would it take you to reach that realm?"

Esdeath asked because the prospect of being confined even longer on the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought was certainly even more taxing than one would have imagined.

But at the same time, she knew that if I elevated my Avatar to Tier 12, I would be able to elevate her own power to a higher degree. Especially her Super Danger Beast Bloodline and the Super Danger Beast Bloodline of the entire Partas Tribe to a higher level, which was a pretty good prospect for her.

Not to mention, we already spoke about the prospective relocation of the Partas Tribe to the Kadath Universe, as that place was far more suitable for the Partas Tribe to thrive than here.

"I don't know... maximally a week or so... I already have everything that I may need to push my Avatar body to the Tier 11, and the subsequent assimilation of the thing that my True Body inserted into my Avatar is a rather simple thing, as the entire sublimation shouldn't take longer than a few days."

I said that because everything was already prepared.

According to my calculations, this Avatar was already prepared to be pushed into the realms of the Tier 11; the only thing that was needed was a very specific ritual to activate my presence within the Warp, so this Avatar would become something akin to a Lesser Warp God at the end of the entire process.

Rather dangerous play.

But necessary.

The thing that my True Body put into this Avatar was so overwhelmingly powerful that if I tried to do it with the current state of my Avatar, it would be destroyed in a split second.

The distance between the Tier 11 and Tier 12 was almost impossible to explain... because it was staggering. Just a mere whisper of a Tier 12 entity was enough to crush hundreds of the peak Tier 11s under the standart circumstances.

Thus, the need to reach Tier 11 was justified.

If possible, I would try to push this Avatar to the peak of Tier 11.

 

[Trafford]

After speaking with Esdeath for some time, she urged me to begin the process as soon as possible so we could enter the Webway while she returned to training. She was progressing rather steadily, because I could see that she was already nearing the peak of Tier 9.

Esdeath was training very hard because she knew that her current power was nothing special in the Kadath Universe, which already had several Tier 12 beings, a lot of Tier 11s, and tons of Tier 10s.

The people at the Tier 9 were arlaedcy considered to be experts under the standards of the Kadath Universe, but at the same time, they were nothing really special. So she trained a lot to reach as high Tier as possible...

Not to mention, there was a certain kind of unaddressed insecurity that she felt.

Mostly because among my other wives, Venelana, Grayfia, and Hela were already very powerful Tier 12 individuals, Gu Yuena should be in the process of becoming Tier 12, and Bibi Dong was at the peak Tier 11 and not far from reaching Tier 12.

Thus, she was training very hard to reach at least the peak of Tier 11.

***

Reaching Tier 11 was a relatively simple thing for me right now.

Right now, despite everything, my Avatar didn't awaken its Warp Presence and reached the Tier 10 purely because of the Empyrean Bloodline that was strengthening my physique to a staggering degree while at the same time allowing me to store enormous amounts of the Psychic Energy in my body.

Instead of drawing it directly from the Warp like 99,99% of other Psykers.

With the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, there was a special room for the rituals and my own needs. This room was inscribed with tons of runes that were working in this Universe as they needed a lot of work for them to be usable within the Immaterius Universe.

Runes were often the language of the Universe.

But not two Universes had the same Runes.

Fortunately enough, with my own calculation capabilities and those of the Architect, in the time span of several months, we managed together translate some Runes to the Laws of the Immaterius Universe.

This was rather fortunate on my own part, because even though this Avatar was absolutely weak compared to my True Body, my comprehension capabilities remained untouched and still very strong.

Thus, I was able to achieve this mission impossible.

I sat down in the specific room within the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, in the middle of the Runic Circle that was a combination of the various Lores from the Kadath Universe and the Psyker Sorceries.

Everything was meticulously prepared as I activated the Runic Circle. My idea of reaching Tier 11 in this Universe was very specific: I planned to engrave Psychic Tattoos all over my body that would contain a tremendous amount of Psychic Energy and thus forcefully elevate my Avatar to Tier 11.

Of course, this method was full of flaws and wasn't really good for much, but after assimialting the power of my True Body, I would enter sublimation as my Avatar would sublime to an entirely new existence.

So it wasn't really a problem if my Tier 11 power was flawed and unstable, as the assimilation of the things from my True Body would resolve everything. The creation of the Psychic Runes around my body was a simple feat for me, because I already had something pretty similar on my True Body, the Primordial Runes that I have engraved on my True Body.

What was happening right now to me, basically drawing enormous amounts of the Psychic Energy from the Empyrean while at the same time slowly awakening my Psychic Presence in the Warp.

Which was a rather risky thing, but it was needed for better stabilization and connection to the Warp itself. Having your presence awakened within the Warp was a really weird sensation, because in the first place, I wasn't a Warp Being.

But it felt like my consciousness had existed in both the Realspace and the Immaterium. It was really weird because it felt like I had two separate consciousnesses at the same time...

Never really tried this in the Kadath Universe, because I wasn't really into creating clones and Avatar and controlling multiple ones personally. Even when I created some Clones and Avatars, I would let Architect control them because I was pretty uncomfortable controlling them.

Splitting consciousness wasn't for me.

But the progress was relatively smooth, with all the preparations I had done and the protection of the Runic Arrays, as I felt my physique was strengthening at staggering speed and reaching the old feelings of the Tier 11.

My presence in the Warp was also getting stronger as that was a much bigger problem to contain because if my presence within the Warp was attracting attention of the bigger leaguers in the Warp.

I was most beware of the Emperor and the Chaos Gods...

But they were not the only ones.

There were also other Chaos Gods in the game, other Lesser Gods of Warp, and other entities that were hiding in the depths of the Immaterium.

All enemies, potential enemies, or unknown threats.

Nevertheless, as I felt that my presence within the Warp was getting stronger, I activated the secondary Runic Systems that were created to actually hide my presence within the Warp to not attract the attention of the Emperor or the Four Great Chaos Gods.

That was the last thing that I needed.

If it were possible, I would have avoided this step for as long as possible, but it wasn't that possible.

Normally, when someone in the Immaterius Universe wanted to reach Tier 10, they would need to awaken their Warp Presence. I basically skipped this process when I inserted the Psyker Gene into my body and overloaded it with the Psychic Energy of the Immaterium.

But inevitable things were unavoidable.

All of the Runic Tattoos that were on my body started glowing with the colors of the Immaterium and radiating the power of the Warp.

 

[Trafford]

"The Chaos Gods are the supernatural rulers of the Immaterium and have a great impact upon the events occurring in the physical universe. Numbered amongst the most powerful of the Chaos Gods are Khorne, the God of Warfare, Rage, and Murder; Nurgle, the God of Disease, Despair, and Decay; Tzeentch, the God of Change and Sorcery; and Slaanesh, the God of Pleasure and Excess.

There is a fifth major Chaos God named Malice who embodies Chaos' tendency to turn in upon itself and who acts against the interests of the other Chaos Gods whenever he can, though he is certainly no ally of the Imperium either."

- Records of the Unknown

Though the Four Major Chaos Gods are the most well-known and the most likely to be worshipped individually, there also exists within the Warp a plethora of Minor Chaos Deities that were the result of the corruption of the Immaterium.

Aside from the Primary Chaos Gods that were standing at the Tier 13, while the Minor Chaos Gods were at the Tier 12, like the rest of the true Warp Gods that existed in the endless streams of the Immaterium.

My physical capabilities were now standing strong.

[Host's Avatar Body is evolving to the Tier 11.]

[Host's Psyker Genes are evolving to the Tier 11.]

I got some minor notifications from the Architect's subprogram that was also monitoring everything happening within the premises of the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought.

The moment when my Psychic Energy started going haywire, the Architect executed the Internal Security Protocols and Anti-Ruin Protocols that were initiated within the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought that was helping to control the situation and hide my presence within the Warp.

When I entered the Tier 11, I felt far more powerful than ever as I could go straight away for the second phase of my plan, which was assimialting the power of my True Body.

I decided to wait for a day or two, to properly acclimatize to the power of the Tier 11 and most specifically to aid in the overwhelming amount of the Psychic Energy within my body... which also needed a lot of calming down because it was turbulent as fuck right now.

I spent the next three days primarily meditating and trying to rein in the chaotic energies of the Warp within my body. The Psychic Energy, which was highly destructive, was notoriously challenging to control, but with enough work, it was getting easier.

Before I started the assimilation process, I needed for the Psychic Energy in my body to be as calm as possible, otherwise I was risking some really nasty side effects that I didn't want to risk at all.

Due to the preparations that I did, I was very well prepared for the cotnrolling nd taming the turbulent Psychic Energy within my body.

With the help of several Runic Arrays and Runes that were specifically created to calm the aggressive Psychic Energy, I was able to get it back under my control within two and a half days.

The first step of the assimilation process was the recreation of the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin, which was something that I already started. I couldn't really use the Law Godhood: Primogenitus of the End and Ruin or anything related to it, because that was much more dangerous, so I settled for the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin.

With the whispers of my True Body's power that was embedded in my very own Soul, the Aspect of the Ruination and The End were penetrating the very existence of my Avatar.

It was a rather painful truth to be told.

The creation of the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin was the first step, and it took more than fifteen hours to engrave just the most rudimentary version of the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin into my Soul.

Because of the incompatibility between the Laws in the Kadath Universe and Immaterius Universe, Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin was imperfect and would need adjustment to the Universal Laws.

Something that was very hard.

Yet at the same time, when I started condensing the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin, I noticed that the Ruination part of the Arcane Crest was especially strong in the Immaterius Universe.

Like really, really strong.

Most probably, it was connected to the aspect of the Ruin in the Immaterius Universe and Immaterium itself. I felt that this wasn't a coincidence and perhaps the Immaterius Universe could be the Key to comprehending the Concept of the Ruin and becoming Paragon.

I already comprehended the Aspect of the Ruin and was comprehending the Concept of the Void.

For one to become a Paragon, they needed to fully comprehend Concept and become a Conceptual Entity within the Endless Void.

If one comprehended a Concept, then no other person would be able to reach the 100% Comprehension Rate in the Concept, as the maximum that they would be able to reach would be 99,99%.

But even that 0,01 was a distance as big as Tier 1 and Tier 13.

Paragon could even strip the entire control over the Concept from anyone in his Concept Category.

I continued perfecting the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin in the following few days, until the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin was fully engraved in my very own Soul.

Then, the process of the resonance started as I felt the Ruination of the Immaterius Universe was resonating with that of the Kadath Universe. And this wasn't just an ordinary resonance, because it was affecting even my True Body.

Whole bunch of Universes away.

[Host's Law Godhood: Primogenitus of the End and Ruin is Resonating to the Origin of Ruin.]

[Host's Law Godhood: Primogenitus of the End and Ruin is Assimilating the Essence of Origin of Ruination.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

 

[Trafford]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

Suddenly, some things became much clearer when I started comprehending the Concept of Ruination, which was clear as day. I didn't expect that recreating the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin would result in comprehending the Concept of Ruination.

In just one go, my comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has reached 10%, which was nearing my comprehension of the Concept of Void, which was lingering around the 16%.

Increasing the comprehension of the Concepts was something extremely challenging, and largely depended on one's Talent and Luck. One could spend trying to comprehend the concept for millions of years and receive nothing, so this was the area where the hard work didn't matter that much.

"Well... this is getting more and more interesting..."

I muttered as everything calmed down and my power stabilized at Tier 12.

With the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin and with the newfound comprehension of the Concept of Ruin, I was far more confident in moving across the Immaterius Universe as I wished and perhaps even entering the Immaterium.

As long as the time passed, I would be able to acclimatize even more and increase my power to even greater degrees. During the upcoming few days, I was mostly focusing on the proper acclimatization of my own power after reaching Tier 12.

It required a lot of time to stabilize my Avatar, but because I was essentially using the power of the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin, it wasn't really that much challenging, because I was highly familiar with the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin.

My Avatar, at the same time, was very closely aligned with the Concept of the Ruination, and I was able to clearly sense the influence of the Concept within the Immaterius Universe.

And I could also sense how xenophobic the Universe was towards everything that wasn't aligned with the Concept of Ruination or anything that wasn't related to the Ruination on any basis.

***

After an additional week spent in meditation, I could now perfectly control the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin and resonate with the Ruination of the Immaterius Universe rather too well.

Once I had the necessary control over my power and my Avatar was stabilized, we could finally enter the Webway, as I was preparing to activate the Webway Gate and search for the Commorragh.

Esdeath was now standing at the peak of the Tier 9, and after we returned from the trip, I would need to help her reach the Tier 10, which was rather an easy thing for me. Additionally, I gave her the sub-crest of the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin, so she would be protected against the powerful entities of the Warp.

Just to be sure.

Her Super Danger Beast Bloodline that had the ability to unleash its very own Avatar and feed on devouring the Essence of the Chaos Daemons was a pretty dangerous thing even for its user.

Mainly because the user could be overwhelmed by all of the negativity and bloodthirst of their very own Bloodline.

***

Kadath Universe, Higher Dimensional World of Baator, 9th Layer of the Baator, Nurmengard, The Sealed Dungeons of the Numengard

Around the same time in the Kadath Universe, my True Body opened its eyes as I stared at the notifications and the weird feeling of the Concept of the Ruination washing over my Soul.

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

...

[Host's Soul is undergoing Conceptual Sublimation.]

[Host's Soul Aptitude has evolved from Level 10 - Superior to the Conceptual Soul Aptitude.]

[Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation): is reacting to the Concept of Ruination.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 100 Units.]

Now... this was a huge surprise.

My original goals in the Immaterius Universe were different at the start.

There were two main goals in my journey to the Immaterius Universe.

The Necrons and their Star Gods for their technology and racial advantages as they were priceless beings. The technology of the Necrons was so advanced that they could annihilate entire Galaxies with it.

And finally, the mythical Old Ones. The fabled creators of the Aeldari, the mythical Korks, the ancestors of the Orkoids, and the ones who were basically the living Gods of the Immaterium, who were all ridiculously overpowered.

"So I was right... the Immaterius Universe is really the path to the Paragon Realm."

I mutter because while I suspected that my return to the Immaterius Universe could result in me finding the Path toward the Paragon Realm, it wasn't something that I took for the absolutes.

[Host's Kadath Law of Devour has started evolving from the Origin-Rank Mastery to the Kadath Principle of Devour.]

[Host's Kadath Law of Darklight has started evolving from the Origin-Rank Mastery to the Kadath Principle of Darklight.]

[Host's Kadath Law of Slaughter has started evolving from the Origin-Rank Mastery to the Kadath Principle of Slaughter.]

[Host's Kadath Law of Destruction has started evolving from the Origin-Rank Mastery to the Kadath Principle of Destruction.]

[Host's Kadath Law of Lightning has started evolving from the Origin-Rank Mastery to the Kadath Principle of Lightning.]

[Host's Kadath Law of Space has started evolving from the Origin-Rank Mastery to the Kadath Principle of Space.]

 

[Trafford]

The Principles of the Kadath Origin were basically operating Laws of the Cosmos that were evolving to become the Source Universe. These Universes were far bigger than the average Universe and were far more stable.

Usually, they could easily support a whole bunch of Tier 13 and even Tier 14 entities... It was said that even Paragons would have a really hard time destroying the Source Universe because of how powerful and stable the Source Universe was.

The fact that Kadath Universe was evolving to the Source Universe was both a surprise and not a surprise.

The Chthonian Empire of the Baator sent a lot of infiltrators to the surrounding universe in the Desolate Region of the Endless Void, together with the other major factions in the Kadath Universe, to find empty or weak Universes that would serve as the nourishment for the Kadath Universe.

The process was slow, but it was yielding some results at last.

After some short thought, I conducted a deep scan on my entire being through the Architect's System.

[Name: Zeoticus Gremory-Lucifer

Proper Name: Dizmason (Devil Talent), Sythis (Mental Protection), Savant (Prideguard), Isaiah (Nirvana), Archeron (Full Counter), Zerius (Prime Evil), Satanistoria (Purgatory Furnace), Antares (Null)

Race: Eldritch Creature - Arch God-Devil Subspecies

Bloodline: Devil (Gremory, Lucifer), Golden-Horned Fiend, Void Prime, Innate Archdevil Bloodline Origin Source

Age: 13,599 Years

-

Class: Tier 13 Primarch - Universe Master

Combat Prowess: Tier 13

Origin: Primogenitus of the End and Ruin

Soul Aptitude: Conceptual Soul Aptitude

Law Godhood: Primogenitus of the End and Ruin

Laws: Devour (100% - Origin), Darklight (100% - Origin), Slaughter (100% - Origin), Destruction (100% - Origin), Lightning (100% - Origin), Space (100% - Origin)

NOTE: Evolving to the Principles of the Kadath Origin

Magic Rules: Starfall, Decomposition, Nuclear

Aspect: Ruination

Concept: Void (16%), Ruination (10%)

Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation): 1,100

Constitution: Fateless One

Kadath Command Sequence: 100%

-

Clan Trait:

Dark Light - Law

The Devour - Law

Holy Flame - Law

-

Magic Systems:

Tier Magic - Origin

Arcane Runes - Origin

Devil Magic - Origin

Aesir Runic Magic - Origin

Abyssal Runic Magic - Origin

Human Magic - Origin

Mysticism - Origin

-

Secret Method: Fate Algorithm - (6/6)

-

Weapon Masteries:

Scythe - Grandmaster

Dagger - Forbidden

Hand-to-Hand - Forbidden

Bladestaff - Origin]

***

Immaterius Universe, Milky Way Galaxy, Unknown Star System, Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, Several Days Later

"Are you sure that this will work?"

Esdeath asked as we were standing in front of the Webway Gate that I obtained from the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility on the Planet Necromunda. After extracting and perfecting the data from the Terran Federation on the Webway, I managed to activate the Webway Gate that we obtained from the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility.

"Yes, it would... now go stand behind me... a little bit more in case something goes wrong, or we are attacked straight after activating the Webway Gate."

I stated while tweaking the last things on the Webway Gate before I proceeded for the activation of the Webway Gate.

Suddenly, the Webway Gate that was connected to the over sources on the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought started drawing energy from the Voidship as it was being activated.

As the portal in the Webway Gate stabilized, I suddenly sensed that something was happening because something was attempting to enter from the Webway to the Realspace from the other side.

Despite that, my instincts were not telling me that it was anyone dangerous... thus I stopped Esdeath from openly attacking as we waited for several moments before indeed someone exited the Webway Gate.

It was extravaganlty clad Aeldari warrior wearing a theatre mask...

A Harlequin, known in the Aeldari Lexicon as a Rillietann, is a member of a very distinct sub-group of the Aeldari species who belongs to none of the existing Aeldari kindreds, including the Asuryani of the craftworlds, the Exodites, the Ynnari or the Drukhari of Commorragh.

They are the keepers of the Black Library and serve the enigmatic Aeldari Deity called the Laughing God. They were also either my future enemies or allies, depending on their approach to a deal when it came to access to the Black Library.

In their arrogance, the ancient Aeldari abandoned their Gods, turning their backs upon the morals and codes that guided their civilisation. Divested of their ancient Pantheon, many Aeldari declared themselves Divine.

Pleasure cults spread through the Aeldari Empire, each more twisted and perverse than the last. The Harlequins were the loyalists to the Cegorach, the Laughing God, as after the birth of Slaanesh, they escaped into the depths of the Webway.

It was really a wonder what one was able to learn from hacking Imperial Archives, which were still, in large parts, in a digital form despite the prejudice of the Imperial against the machinery and computers.

This was something that they obtained from the derelict spaceships of the Imperium and Networks on the Planet Necromunda that were not really that secure. Even the ones at the Monastery of the local Space Marines Chapter.

Harlequins were sinister, mysterious, and mercurial; they waged a never-ending guerrilla war against the servants of the Ruinous Powers in the name of their Laughing God. Harlequins are the strangest and most inscrutable of all the Aeldari race. Their mastery of the physical arts, twinned with their incredible speed, made the Harlequins truly deadly fighters.

The Imperials were deeply distrustful of any Aeldari on the fundamental basis because, truth be told, the Aeldari or Eldar in modern times were not really the most trustworthy individuals around here.

This was also true for the Terran Federation, because Aeldari were far from being trustworthy subjects. Even during the Terran Federation, the Aeldari had a very high tendency to backstab and lie...

In many cases, the trust of the Federation in the Aeldari cost them rather too much.

Especially the more dangerous branches of the Aeldari... the Pleasure Cult-aligned Aeldari were beyond dangerous in the times of the Terran Federation. Those ones were the most dangerous as they attacked and enslaved humans without a second thought, and it was pretty brutal.

Pretty similar to the Drukhari of the modern age.

 

[Trafford]

I looked at the Aeldari Harlequin as the Aeldari Harlequin looked back at me.

Neither of us was saying anything and just kept staring at each other to the point where it was annoying. It lasted for several minutes straight, until the Harlequin started loudly laughing out of nowhere.

I suddenly felt that something was wrong about the Harlquin whne the Aeldari's Psyhci Presence suddnely changed to soemthing that was very distinctive yet very familiar... and most importantly it was countless times move powerful than the Psychic Presnece of even Esdeath next to me.

Which could mean only one single thing.

Divine Possession by God.

Harlequins were the only Aeldari group still overseen and worshipped their God... much to the contrary of the other Gods of the Aeldari, who were either killed by Slaanesh or incapacitated in other ways.

"Cegorach, I presume?"

I asked asI looked at the Aeldari Harlequin.

Cegorach, also known as the "Laughing God", as well as the "Great Harlequin", the "Great Fool" and the "First Fool", the Aeldari God of Creativity, Artists, Deception and Trickery, is one of the Gods of the Aeldari Pantheon and the central figure of the religion of the Aeldari Harlequins.

Alone among the Aeldari Gods, Cegorach is believed to have survived the Fall of the Aeldari unscathed and escaped the fate of the rest of the Aeldari Pantheon, who were consumed or badly fractured by She Who Thirsts.

According to legend, this Aeldari Deity survived because his mocking nature distanced him from the collective psychic corruption and decadence of the ancient Aeldari Empire, whose reflection in the Empyrean eventually became the Chaos God Slaanesh.

Laughing God escaped into the Webway and hid amongst its myriad tunnels. These tales suggest that he remains there still, unassailable, laughing at the Chaos Gods as he hatches bitter plans for revenge.

Those Aeldari who follow him, known as the Harlequins, are protected from Slaanesh's eternal thirst for Aeldari souls in a different way from their Craftworld brethren.

While Craftworld Aeldari or Asuryani wear Spirit Stones, which absorb their souls when they die to prevent them from being devoured by Slaanesh once they enter the Warp, the Aeldari Harlequins are directly protected by their faith in their God's power, becoming one with his own Warp emanation upon their death.

"Yes! Yes! And to the third, Yes! My dear foreigner!"

The Laughing God said jovially as I cringed but didn't say anything about that... it seemed the Laughing God was clearly aware that I wasn't the being of this Universe, which wasn't that particularly hard to see.

Practically, any Tier 12 being would be able to tell that.

"What do you want from me?"

I asked because Arcitect managed to gather the latest information about the Harlequins acorss the Galaxy from the Imperial Networks. In recent years, the war of Harlequins against Chaos has been characterised by a newfound urgency. Full Masques have become an ever more common sight among the stars.

Appearing from the Webway, they can be found performing within the realms of their Asuryani, Exodite, or Drukhari kin or battling the galaxy's disparate intelligent races in vicious campaigns of apparently random violence.

"A deal... a grandest deal that was ever done in the Galaxy and one that would decide the fate of my species!"

Cegorach jumped in front of me as he threw his hands in the air, though it wasn't really correct to call him Cegorach, as the Laughing God was only possessing this Harlequin to speak with me in the Realspace.

The last God of the Aeldari couldn't safely enter the Realspace because he would risk attracting the attention of Slaanesh... not to mention that the Warp Gods are beings of the Immaterium, not flesh and blood like me or Esdeath beside me.

Basically speaking, he lacked a physical body, and any physical body that he possessed would be created from the solidification of the Warp Energy, instead of being a true creature of flesh and bones.

"A deal? Any deals with your kind either ended terribly on the cost of the other party or your kind backstabbed them in the back..."

I said as I studied the expression of the Aeldari God.

"And what fool would make a deal with the God of Deception and Trickery?"

It was beyond stupid to believe a literal God of Deception and Trickery, and even right now, after dealing with many Deties, Beings of Law, and other people that were strongly aligned with the domains of Deception and Trickery, I was still highly suspicious about their every single move.

It wasn't like I didn't have means of delaing with the beings like that... but rather be safe than sorry.

Some of them despise clearly lacking strength and power, were still very hard to deal with.

"The Rhana Dandra is nearing Outsider... and the End of All Days would consume us all."

The Rhana Dandra or "End of All Days" in the Aeldari Lexicon, is the legendary final battle of the Aeldari species against Chaos that will end with the destruction of both, as prophesied in Aeldari Mythos.

An account of the battle is given in the sacred Aeldari text called the Asuryata, which predicts the destruction of the Aeldari and their remaining Gods in the battle. This was something that even the Federation was aware that the Aeldari possessed, but nobody really took it that seriously.

Everyone took it just for prophecy.

"Not me... as you say... I am an Outsider to all of this and it doesn't have anything to do with me."

I said as Cegorach, possessing the body of the Harlequin, leaned over as he studied my face or observed something.

"That may be true... yes, yes! But once The Final Act happens, you will also lose a lot! You are not immune to the greatest Jest, my dear!"

The Laughing God clapped as I frowned heavily because I caught on to his meaning... he was talkign about something that I wasn't aware of and that it was also something that was immensely benefical for me.

 

[Trafford]

"I feel the stench of the Ruination on you... and it's even more pure than those four bastards..."

Cegorach stated as he looked at me.

"Then perhaps I will have something that will be of interest to my dear friend from the outside."

The Laughing God, possessing the Harlequin, jumped to the back, as he said with glee in his voice, which gave me rather bad feelings for what was to come. In fact, if possible, I didn't want to have any dealings with beings like Cegorach because they were really beyond annoying.

"What something? Why your kind can't once speak plainly..."

One of the things that I hated when dealing with the Gods of Deception or Trickers, or Beings of Law that comprehended the Laws of a similar nature, was that they never spoke plainly and clearly.

It was annoying.

"Ruination-Attributes Primal Void Wonder that I have within the Black Library."

I soon as he said that I froze in my tracks.

Because this was a possible ticket to the Paragon Realm.

The Wonders of Void were treasures that were born directly in the depths of the Endless Void, from the purest and most potent energies of the Endless Void. Thus, they represented the most precious thing that one could even think of.

Some time ago, I gave both Venelana and Grayfia Void Wonders Fimbulvetr and Eye of Destruction so they could reach the Tier 12, and with the help of the Fimbulvetr and Eye of Destruction, their path to the Tier 13 was basically guaranteed.

It was given as they have assimilated Void Wonders into their Arcnae Crests.

But the Primal Void Wonder?

That was something that was only whispered across the Endless Void.

It was told that once in the past, an ordinary mortal in some desolate ordinary world discovered Primal Void Wonder and managed to reach the Paragon Realm in something under one hundred thousand years.

And if there really was a Primal Void Wonder in the Immaterius Universe, it would explain why this entire place was so closely aligned with the Concept of Ruination to the extreme that no civilization was able to exist in a good development state.

Everything in the end fell to ruin in this place.

Just being located in the Immaterius Universe meant that sooner or later everything would fall to ruin.

The Primal Void Wonders were really frightening things.

And the fact that thereis something like that in the Black Library...

"What do you want, Laughing God?"

I asked carefully, because this was something that I couldn't ignore.

The possibility of obtaining Primal Void Wonder would shorten my path to the Paragon Realm by eons. I needed to obtain this Primal Void Wonder even if it meant fraternizing with the Cegoarch and making a deal with him, despite my reluctance to do so.

"The passage to the Outside for my remnants of the Aeldari..."

I wasn't really surprised by this request, because I had a hunch that he planned to smuggle part of himself out of the Immaterius Universe, which would allow Cegorach to reconstruct his body under the Laws of the entirely new Universe.

This was something clear as day, and in fact, the Laughing God's proposal was rather interesting because the Aeldari were a powerful race and with a lot of advantages that could prove to be useful.

Mainly to the Kadath Universe if I relocated them back home.

Which would strengthen my own Universe by a great degree.

"Are you aware that once they leave the Immaterius Universe, they will lose the connection to the Warp and by extension, all of their Psychic Powers and Abilities would be null and void?"

I asked as the Laughing God nodded because he was aware that once the Aeldari left the Immaterius Universe, it would mean that the Aeldari would go down from the rank of Psychic Species to the rank of Ordinary Species.

But at the same time, their aptitude and especially unique souls remained, and I didn't doubt that they would be immensely talented for the Arcane Arts and perhaps even for the Law Comprehension back at the Kadath Universe.

The Souls of the Aeldari were very strong and unique, which meant that they would have a much easier time learning and using Magic, while at the same time, they would have a much higher predisposition for the Law Comprehension, and their Soul Aptitude must be pretty high on average.

"I am, but the Warp is more curse than it is blessing... even we, the Warp Gods, are tied to it on the most fundamental basis to the point that we cannot even enter the Realspace without True Body, or we would wither and dissipate."

Cegorach lamented in a more dramatic way than it really was, which wasn't really that surprising.

I knew that the Immaterium was indeed more curse than blessing, especially right now after the War in Heaven, which resulted in the creation of the Gods of Chaos, as it polluted the Immaterium too much.

In the end, even though the Great Ones disappeared and their squabbles with the C'than were long gone, the aftermath of these petty conflicts was something that doomed the entire Universe to its damnation.

But in the light of the newer revelations about the Ruination-attributed Primal Void Wonder, then the situation was much different. Perhaps this Universe was always destined for damnation, considering the fact that there was a literal Ruination Concept Materialized in this Universe.

"We can work out something... as long as you sign a strictest Soul Void Geass with the shard of your Soul on the Geass Contract. I must apologize for that, but the Gods of Trickery and Deception don't have the best reputation in the Endless Void."

I said that because the conditions were actually pretty good for me.

For allowing the Aeldari passage to the different Universe, I would get the Primal Void Wonder that would allow me to reach the Paragon Realm. My True Body could instantly assimilate the Primal Void Wonder and reach the Paragon Realm in a record span of time.

"That's not really a problem, Outsider."

 

[Trafford]

In the end, the negotiations with the Laughing God were more straightforward and simple than I had initially anticipated. I have agreed to bring the remaining Aeldari survivors to the Kadath Universe, or rahter the ones that wished to leave the Immaterium Universe.

While Cegorach would give me the Primal Void Wonder in the Black Library, and also allow me to have unlimited access to the Black Library. However, the second requirement was rather ceremonial if anything, because the Laughing God didn't really care that much about the Black Library.

After the negotiations lasted for around one hour, both of us signed the Soul Geass, with Cegoarch signing it with the shard of his very own Soul. I knew that he must have realized the cruel reality that no matter what, the Chaos Gods were basically unkillable.

To completely destroy the Chaos Gods would require purifying the Immaterium from the negative emotional pollution. Which was monumental and almost impossible task... but to achieve that, one would need to exterminate all ingellient and sentient life in the entire Universe.

As long as there was even one member of the sentient species remaining in the Immaterius Universe, it would guarantee the survival of the Chaos Gods, as they were unkillable. Dealing with them was total pain in the ass, truth to be told.

"And now we are completed!"

The Laughing God, possessing the body of the Harlequin, jumped around as we signed the Soul Geass Contract, and we can head to the deal itself. Right now, I cannot open the portal to the Kadath Universe, just like that...

I had several methods of opening the portal back to the Kadath Universe, which would fulfill the terms of the Soul Geass Contract, but all of them would require a long time to execute... right now, I didn't have the necessary resources for them to be executed, but I can make use of the Aeldari themselves to achieve that goal.

Opening a tiny portal to the Kadath Universe and sending over a person or two was certainly possible.

But opening a portal for the billions of the Aeldari to pass through was nigh impossible for the current me. Powersie, it wasn't feasible, as this Avatar wasn't powerful enough, and at the same time, even if it was, I was certainly a bit reluctant, as it would attract the attention of the Chaos Gods and Emperor.

It was already more than enough that I had the attention of the Laughing God, which was bringing me to question.

How the hell did he find out about me?

It was something that was bugging me too much, and I didn't really have an answer for that one either.

"Then shall we go to the Black Library?"

The Laughing God of the Aeldari motioned for me and Esdeath to follow after him into the Webway, where his True Body was already waiting to lead us to the Black Library. Which was rather pleasing, as I wasn't that keen on dealing with the Drukhari at all.

The "Dark Ones" in the Aeldari Lexicon, also known to outsiders as the Dark Eldar, were a forsaken and corrupt Aeldari kindred, the sadistic, malicious counterparts of the Asuryani, and were even more hedonistic and disgusting than most of the Devilkind in the Baator.

Thus, both of us entered the Webway after I gave further instructions to the Architect who was controlling the spaceship and ordered him to enter the entire Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought into stealth mode until I returned from the Webway.

***

Webway

The True Body of Cegorach was waiting right on the other side of the Webway Gate itself.

He looked very much like the Harlequins that worshipped him; it was just that his garbs were more on the ceremonial side, his clown-like mask was much more ominous-looking than that of the ordinary Harlequins, and he had that ethereal aura around him.

He was there to personally escort us to the Black Library, which was located in the deepest parts of the Webway and hidden so well that only a few souls knew the exact path to the Black Library.

Even among the Harlequins, the knowledge of navigating through the Webway was no certainty, and only the selected few were taught how to navigate properly through the entirety of the Webway.

"No Aeldari is born a Harlequin, and all manner of strange tales persist concerning how this metamorphosis occurs. Some are drawn from amid bustling crowds, beckoned into the shadows by a revelation. Others simply vanish from their personal chambers on a craftworld, their precious Spirit Stone discarded in their wake."

We were soon enough joined by the entire Harlequin Masque that was escorting us to the Black Library as I spoke with the Cegorach about the Harlequins. A Harlequin Masque was both an army and a company of dramatic players.

The Harlequin Mask had no formal leaders, being instead a collective of like-minded devotees of Cegorach.

All know their duties through their familiarity with the traditional roles of the characters they have adopted. No Harlequin ruled their fellows for long, for all possess an equal voice as they functioned in a more collective manner than anything.

Apparently, to become a Harlequin means erasing all that has come before, be it friends, family, path, or purpose. However it happens, once an Aeldari becomes a Harlequin, every aspect of their old identity is erased.

Each joins a Light, Twilight or Dark Troupe, and assumes a new role at the behest of their troupe master.

The organisation of a Harlequin Masque is almost as old as time, a deeply ingrained aspect of Aeldari culture that, while subject to small differences from one Masque to the next, has otherwise remained fundamentally unchanged for thousands of Terran years.

"All of my children are among the best fighters of the Aeldari, and their sole mission is to fight against the forces of Ruin anywhere and everywhere."

Cegorach said as I looked around the Harlquin Masque when we passed through another collapsed segment of the Webway.

 

[Trafford]

"In a hidden location, some say at the very centre of the Webway -- the Aeldari's network of stable interdimensional tunnels that crosses the galaxy -- rests the tomes, books, scrolls, and codices describing the Aeldari's complete and extensive knowledge of the Warp. The forbidden lore of the Black Library describes the blandishments, influences, forms, creatures, perils, promises, and horrors of Chaos."

- Legends of the Black Library of Chaos

Though the Webway still connects many Aeldari worlds and craftworlds to one another, the baleful energies of the Fall of the Aeldari have ruptured its hyperspatial pathways in countless places.

Amongst the Webway's shattered and treacherous tendrils, there are many byways, dead ends, and mazes that can entrap the unwary. Some lead to places long since abandoned or destroyed, or else now inhabited by the Daemons of the Warp.

Much of the Webway has fallen into obscurity and disrepair, with many sections destroyed or found uncharted after the Fall of the Aeldari. Seeing the state of the Webway with my own eyes, it was even worse, because I could clearly sense and scan its state.

One can say that the current Webway was beyond repair, and it was a miracle that it still stood.

The Old Ones must have been a really powerful and highly advanced species to achieve something like the creation of the Webway, which was something that not many species could achieve.

"We are near the location of the Black Library of Chaos... so be ready for the unforeseen Psychic Wards and Protections that we will soon passing through."

Cegorach stated as we were nearing the Black Library at a fast pace. Moving through the Webway was much faster, almost infinitely faster than moving through the main universe, as they arrived at the location where the Black Library was located.

In the distance, I had seen the craftworld itself.

The Black Library of Chaos wasn't an ordinary city, but instead it was a craftworld.

A Craftworld is a vast, planetoid-sized spacecraft populated by the Asuryani faction of the highly advanced humanoid species known as the Aeldari. Each craftworld is a self-sufficient, independent realm with its own distinctive culture. Every craftworld is built upon a skeleton of psychoactive, crystalline wraithbone whose structure extends throughout the gigantic voidcraft.

Most, if not all, of them were created during the ancient Aeldari Empire because only then did the Aeldari have the resources to create something as monstrous as the craftworlds.

I had to admit that their existence was something truly shocking, because even the Chthonian Empire would be careful with their resources when constructing spaceships of such size.

Even though the Phalanxes and Black Stone Fortresses were enormous structures, the Chthonian Empire wouldn't be constructing so many Craftworlds that were similar in size to the Phalanx-Class Star Forts.

And the ancient Aeldari Empire constructed several tens of such Craftworlds; some of them were in size even eclipsing our bigger Star Forts, which was mind-boggling. The amount of resources needed for that would be totally staggering, but with the Psychic mastery over the Warp by the Aeldari, it wasn't anything surprising.

Immaterium was the realm of the infinite energies.

If one learned how to channel these infinite energies and create metals and other things, then they would obtain literally infinite materials and everything they could ever need.

It would explain why the Aeldari were able to achieve what they were able to achieve.

The Warp was really one enormous miracle and irrational thing, full of contradictions.

"We are here... the entrance to the Black Library."

We arrived at the particular part of the Webway which looked like a collapsed ruin, to be told.

Everything around in this area was either collapsed, destroyed, or in absolutely terrible shape beyond any repair.

"What is this weird feeling?"

I asked as I sensed something odd about this craftworld.

"The Black Library is a 'dark' craftworld eternally travelling through the Webway. Its location and route are secret, hidden from all but the Harlequins and the members of the governing Black Council. Like all craftworlds, the vessel is conscious and psychoactive, hiding itself from all psychic probes, while simultaneously repelling Warp entities and intrusions."

Cegorach answered as I looked at the Black Library of Chaos for the first time.

It was an enormous construct with a scorched, crystalline appearance, covered in vanes and flourishes but with the typical flowing grace of Aeldari architecture. The interior is an intentional labyrinth with all manner of convoluted passages, corridors, and chambers.

Bubble vaults full of stasis caskets containing forbidden lore and dangerous artefacts hang from the superstructure, whilst inside and above are myriad citadels, obelisks, monoliths, and spires where the rest of the craftworld's arcane contents are kept.

"Fascinating... also... those are humans?"

I asked while looking at the specific direction in the Black Library when I spread my senses across the entire Black Library.

Among the varied structures present within the Black Library was a Wraith Tower, according to the Laughing God.

"Those are the Illuminati. An Imperium-spanning secret society whose hidden objectives are declared to be in support of humanity and the Emperor, and against the Forces of Chaos. The Illuminati is mainly composed of humans who have not only survived possession by a Warp entity, but also managed to do the seemingly impossible... cast out the Daemon from their own bodies."

I looked at the group of humans in the Wraith Tower with mild interest right now. The Laughing God didn't shy from explaining the origin of a few humans in the Black Library, as I found them interesting, and Cegorach didn't even consider it important information to hide.

Even Esdeath, who was speaking to the Harlequins about their methods of waging war, caused this statement to stun them with surprise, because casting out a Daemon that possessed someone was...

Almost surreal though.

I heard about such people during the time of the Terran Federation, because there were some like that in the Federation, albeit not many.

For obvious reasons.

The chance of dying or just remaining possessed by the Daemon was staggeringly high.

 

[Trafford]

The experience of sharing a mind with a daemon has completely changed their outlook on the universe, and given them a unique understanding of Chaos and Warp entities in general.

In the process of freeing themselves from daemonic possession, they have also mastered the Chaos within themselves, which is the root of all human corruption by the Ruinous Powers.

Apparently, they are thus unique in being able to exist in the Warp as comfortably as in realspace, without any special protections or psychic wards, and with no ill effects whatsoever since they are now immune to the effects of Chaos.

"Now let's get over with this..."

I said to the Cegorach as the Laughing God led me to the deepest parts of the Black Library of Chaos, with Esdeath remaining in the care of the Harlequins. The Primal Void Wonder of the Ruination was located in one of the most secure vaults of the Black Library, to which only Cegorach had access.

Nobody else was able to open the Vaults as Cegorach brought me here.

In the center of the totally dark and sealed room, there was an object floating in the stasis chamber. It was a weird-looking crimson liquid radiating an overwhelming amount of the Ruination Essence, even in the most dormant state.

"Here it is... the Old Ones called it Aether, the effect of the Ruination was overpowering, so overhelming for the Old Ones that not even they wanted to touch this thing at all."

I just nodded at the words of the Laughing God, because indeed the power of the Aether as the Primal Void Wonder of the Ruination was something so powerful that even the most powerful among the Tier 12 entities would be destroyed by its power.

Perhaps only the Tier 13 entities could wield it for a limited amount of time, unless they possessed some Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination; otherwise, even they would be risking corruption by the Ruination of the Aether.

"When can you prepare the path to the safer Universe?"

The Laughing God asked as he pointed at the Primal Void Wonder that I was already holding in my hands, as I felt the power of the Ruination coursing through my veins.

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

My own Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination began to grow when I let the Aether's Liquid form into my Avatar Body, but I knew I would need to send this object back to the Kadath Universe to my True Body as soon as possible.

Just experiencing the power of the Aether and its effects, I knew that once I assimilated it, I would be able to reach the Paragon Realm. And this was only a weakened effect because of my Avatar...

The effect and resonance between my True Body and Aether should be staggering.

"After I deal with the Aether... give it a few decades, maximally one century. During the time you can gather the remnants of the Aeldari of all kinds, and I will provide them sanctuary and resources in my own Universe."

I said as I was more focused on the Aether that was flowing in my hands as if it found its favourite toy while barely paying attention to the Laughing God.

At the same time, I stopped for a moment before I looked at the Cegoarch.

"And no Drukhari... or rather take only those who are willing to reform under the new standards... I don't need them causing problems at home."

I remarked because the last thing I wanted to have back home were the Drukhari.

"Also, can you provide me with accommodations for some time?"

As Cegorach signed a Soul Geass with me, I intended to remain within the premises of the Black Library, because in truth, it was far safer than staying on the board of the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought.

The Black Library was the best-protected place within the entire Milky Way Galaxy.

Before retreating to the mild seclusion, I told Esdeath that I would be going to the seclusion to handle some things so she could play around the Black Library. Which was something that she didn't have a problem with, as she found the Aeldari Harlequins fascinating and went to spar with them.

The Harlequins were masters of killing, assassination, and fighting... so they obviously fell into the category of interesting things for my future wife. I needed to send the Aether back to my Kadath Universe so the True Body could assimilate the Aether and start the process of Ascension to the Paragon Realm.

The Ascension to the Paragon Realm could last even milions of years...

Everything around the Ascension to the Paragon Realm was about luck and destiny.

Nothing more and nothing less.

Cegorach then led me to one of the core areas of the Black Library that served as the housing quarters for the highest echelons of the Harlquins, where I could be staying for the time being.

It was a rather grandly decorated room, mostly in Aeldari aesthetics, showcasing the splendor of the ancient Aeldari Empire... as the Harlequins were technically the closest to the Aeldari Nobility of old times.

At least, there were many who were once nobles in the ancient Empire before the birth of Slaanesh. That was also the reason why everything in here was so old, nice and beautiful... one of the last relics of the ancient Aeldari Empire.

I didn't waste any more time as I started proering the Spell, or rather, it was more prudent that it was the application of my Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin to open the portal between the Immaterius Universe and Kadath Universe.

 

[Trafford]

Opening the portal back to the Kadath Universe using the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin was a rather simple thing. Especially right now, the Arcane Crest on this Avatar was getting stronger due to the continuous enhancement from the comprehension of the Concept of Ruination.

With the power of the Arcane Crest of the Imperial of End and Ruin, I opened the portal to the Kadath Universe straight to the Numengard's Sealed Dungeons, where my True Body was located, and I then threw the Aether through the portal.

And just like that, the Primal Void Wonder of the Ruination has safely arrived at the Kadath Universe, where my True Body would start observing the Aether to speed up the comprehension of the Concept of Ruination.

***

Kadath Universe, Higher Dimensional World of Baator, 9th Layer of the Baator, Nurmengard, The Sealed Dungeons of the Nurmengard.

Around the same time in the Kadath Universe, when my True Body received the Aether, the effect was almost instantaneous the second I touched the Aether.

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 100 Units.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 100 Units.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 100 Units.]

...

There were tons of notifications that I was getting, because each 1% of the Ruination Concept was comprehended, the Stardust Energy increased by 100 Units, and this number was only climbing at lightning speed.

My body assimilated the Aether on its own as I felt that the Aether was dissolving in my body, affecting both Soul and Physical Body, and giving me the comprehension of the Concept of the Ruination straight away.

Now, it seemed that the Aether wasn't just the Primal Void Wonder of the Ruination and something that bore a tremendous amount of Ruination Essence, the purest form of the Concept of Ruination...

It was something else entirely.

The Aether was the materialization of the Concept.

[Host's Soul is undergoing Conceptual Sublimation.]

[Host's Soul has finished Conceptual Sublimation.]

[Host's Soul has Evolved to the Paragon Soul.]

The Conceptual Sublimation of my Soul has essentially elevated my Soul to the standards of Paragons, meaning that I was making the first steps towards the Ascension to the Paragon Realm.

I initially thought that the Aether was maximally a Primal Void Wonder that was just a crystallization of the Ruiination Essence. In my initial plans, I have counted on the following steps.

First, I planned to assimilate the Aether and use it to speed up the comprehension of the Concept of the Ruination. Depending on the result, I would then either reach the Paragon Realm directly or would need to go to the Endless Void to search for the final piece.

In the Desolate Region of the Endless Void, there was a location known as Crimson Sea, which was very potent in the Destruction, Ruin, and Death.

If the Aether didn't allow me to break through to the Paragon Realm, I had planned to enter the Crimson Sea to observe the Ruination in there and comprehend the remaining bits that were missing.

But now that was useless.

The Aether was the crystallization of the Concept itself.

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 100 Units.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 100 Units.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 100 Units.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 100 Units.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 100 Units.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has been increased by 1%.]

...

It didn't take me as long as I reached the Comprehension Rate of 50%, which triggered another transformation in my body, as the Concept of Ruin was directly reconstructing my fleshy body, because I wished to retain one.

Many of the Paragons, from what I heard, discarded their physical bodies and existed only as materialization of their Concept, something that I didn't really want to do. It was the same reason why I never abandoned my physical body when becoming the Being of Law or when comprehending the Aspect when I reached Tier 13.

One of the main reasons why I never abandoned my physical body, aside from not losing the pleasures of flesh, was also because of its uses, like being able to accommodate Primordial Energies like Stardust within my physical body.

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has crossed 90%.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 1,000 Units.]

[Reserves Stardust (Demonic-God Mutation) have been increased by 1,000 Units.]

When my comprehension of the Concept of Ruination reached 90%, I felt so powerful that I could destroy the entire Universe easily. Even though the entities at the Tier 13 could affect the entire Universe with their power, destroying the entire Universe was another thing altogether.

It wasn't easy for me to achieve this kind of path, as it required a tremendous amount of resources.

The Aether that now existed in both my physical body and my soul was being assimilated at lightning speed.

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has crossed 95%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has crossed 96%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has crossed 97%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has crossed 98%.]

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has crossed 99%.]

After another ten hours, the Aether was almost compeltely assimilated by my True Body as my Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination stood at the 99%.

The Aether, as the materialization of Concept, was as the name suggested.

It was the entire Concept of Ruination made solid.

Whomever found it and used it...

If they were compatible and fated, they would become Paragon.

I focused on the last remaining shard of the Aether that was floating in the center of my Soul as I used all the willpower that I had as the remnant of the Aether shattered.

[Host's Comprehension of the Concept of Ruination has crossed 100%.]