Chapter 154

The burning subtitles on the celestial screen had not yet faded,

The scene of hell had already come rushing forth.

That was in Holy Taila,

the cradle of humanity.

But now, the sky was no longer azure, but stained a dirty blood-red by the shadows of billions of rebel warships and the fire of orbital bombardment.

Once-glorious cities lay in ruins, every inch of land ablaze.

Helusi, upon learning that Taila had fallen into civil war due to Magenusi's folly,

without the slightest hesitation.

leading his rebel army composed of nine Space Marine Legions.

Like a poisoned blade, it plunged straight into the heart of the Solar System.

The scale of the war surpassed any living being's imagination.

The rebels' landing craft fell like locusts from the sky, the Emperor's palace complex,

that vast continental-scale architecture became the galaxy's largest meat grinder.

The Golden Armored Imperial Guard, the silent-as-shadow Sisters of Silence, and the loyal Imperial Fists, White Scars, and Blood Angels.

At every defensive line and every massive gate of the Imperial Palace, they engaged in the most brutal melee combat with their former brothers.

The roar of chainswords tearing through power armor,

the muffled blast of boltguns exploding in flesh,

and the heart‑rending screams of psykers losing control, mixing into this symphony named 'Betrayal'.

……

Land of Light.

The atmosphere before the Plasma Spark Tower was heavy to the point of freezing.

"This... this can no longer be called war."

Ultraman Father's voice was extremely hoarse,

"This is self‑destruction. More brutal than any civil war in our Land of Light's history, more brutal than any battle against monsters."

"They killed brothers who share the same blood as themselves!"

Saiwen's gaze was locked onto the scene,

a scene where an Imperial Fists Space Marine was hacked in half alive by a former comrade, now a World Eater Berserker.

He felt lingering fear, and a horrible thought flashed through his mind.

So far,

Among all the universes shown on the celestial screen, no war could compare to the Siege of Taila before our eyes.

It was not for survival, not for justice.

It was pure, mad, meaningless destruction.

……

Saibotan Planet.

Qingtianzhu's massive metallic body stood motionless, the light in his optical lenses dimmed to the extreme.

"What a pity... what a pity..."

He kept muttering,

"A civilization on the verge of true brilliance, thus at the darkest moment before dawn, had its hope's flame snuffed out by its own people's hands."

He gazed at the blazing Imperial Palace, as if seeing the past of Saibotan.

"Our civil war was for ideals. Their war... is hatred twisted by malice."

"Is there really... no way to deal with those evil gods?"

No one could answer that question.

……

The flagship of the United Stars People.

Grand Admiral Xideni slowly closed his eyes, unable to bear looking.

"The Emperor had plotted for ten thousand years, his Webway Project, his Imperial Truth... all of it turned to ash in this blaze."

She said softly, her voice filled with unprecedented fatigue.

"A civilization's future is not destroyed by aliens, not wiped out by natural disaster, but squandered by its own finest son in the most foolish way."

"This is the most vicious mockery of all rational civilizations."

……

Naruto World.

Yuzhibo Ban stood on the mountaintop, his black hair flowing wildly in the wind, his Rinnegan gazing indifferently at the celestial screen.

"Hmph, the curse of bloodlines?"

He snorted coldly,

The emperor believed he had created perfect offspring, unaware that the deepest bonds are also the easiest to turn into the sharpest blade.

On this point I see it more clearly than he does. Having abandoned the Uchiha clan and severed all tedious emotions, no one can threaten me with so-called 'kinship'.

His words were icy, yet they spoke a cruel reality.

……

Above the heavens, the battle situation had rotted to the extreme.

The rebel army's offensive surged like a tide, and the palace's outer wall defenses crumbled inch by inch under the heavy artillery of the Ironclad Warriors legion.

At the top of the space elevator, the original body of the white scar, Chagatai Khan,

He led his Storm Prophets and the Death Guard's Plague Warriors in relentless assaults, beneath his feet lay an abyss of ten thousand zhang.

And before the Eternal Gate of the Imperial Palace.

A figure,

like a golden angel,

descended onto the center of the battlefield.

Sheng Jilisi, Primarch of the Blood Angels Legion, the Emperor's most perfect and noblest son.

He, with his own strength, blocked the endless demon horde.

He even slew the greatest daemon of Terror and Cruelty, Ka'Bandha, beneath his sword.

He carved a bloody path and reached the front of Herusi's flagship, the Vengeful Spirit.

Everyone thought he would become the hope to turn the tide of battle.

However, the image on the screen suddenly darkened.

When it brightened again,

the myriad-world spectators only saw,

Sheng Jilisi's godlike handsome physique,

was casually snapped by Herusi, his golden armor covered in cracks, the light of life completely extinguished.

He died before the brother he once loved most.

Just as all the loyalists fell into their deepest despair.

Herusi made an arrogantly extreme decision.

He lowered the void shield of the Vengeful Spirit.

As if silently provoking.

"Father, I am here."

"Come."

Holy Terra, the innermost depths of the Imperial Palace, upon the Golden Throne.

The towering figure that had remained seated here since Magenusi breached the Webway, using his own might to suppress the Warp rift, slowly rose to his feet.

The Emperor's face showed no expression.

He knew this was the final moment.

He led the last of his personal guard and the champion of the Imperial Fist, Xijisimengde, activating the teleportation.

Target, the Vengeful Spirit.

Light flashed, and the scene shifted.

It was no longer the gilded Imperial Palace, but a bridge twisted by chaotic energy into resembling living flesh.

The air reeked of sulfur and decay, the walls covered with wailing faces.

At the center of the bridge, upon the throne.

Seated there was no longer Herusi Lupeier, but

It was a bloated, massive monster, infused with the power of the Four Gods until it ceased to resemble a human form.

He wore black power armor, its surface covered with evil symbols of the Chaos Eight‑pointed Star, his face bearing a twisted, cruel smile.

"Father."

The monster spoke, its voice hoarse and grating,

"You have finally come, slower than I expected."

The Emperor did not answer.

He merely gazed at the monster before him, seeing within it the fury of Terror and Cruelty, the deceit of Deceit and Change, the decay of Decay, and the depravity of Lust and Depravity.

In his eyes flickered a hint of sorrow that all beings of the myriad worlds could understand.

He still tried to find, upon that twisted visage, a trace of his son.

"Come back, Herusi."

The Emperor spoke, his voice calm yet carrying a barely perceptible tremor,

"It is not too late yet."

"Come back?"

Herusi, or rather that monster, burst into loud laughter, the sound making the entire bridge tremble,

"Where to return to? Return to your lies?"

"Look at you, Father! You sit upon the Golden Throne, enjoying the worship of myriad peoples, you have become a god! And what of us? We are but the stones crushed beneath your steps on the path to divinity!"

Before his words faded, he moved.

So fast it transcended physical law.

A duel of godlike magnitude thus began.

The Emperor wielded a psyker sword blazing with golden flames, while Herusi swung the power claw named World Breaker.

Each clash tore a rift to the Warp in the fabric of reality.

They fought from the bridge to the engine room, then from the hull out into the void.

But everyone could see.

The Emperor… was holding back.

He blocked again and again, again and again trying to cleanse Herusi's chaotic corruption with psychic energy.

He still clung to that one‑in‑ten‑thousand hope, wishing to awaken his own son.

And Horus took advantage of this hesitation.

His every move was lethal, each attack brimming with the most vicious killing intent.

"Weak!"

Horus roared, his claw tearing open the Emperor's chest armor,

"Your compassion is your greatest weakness!"

Suddenly,

He halted his attack, turning his gaze to the lone Imperial Guard wielding a halberd at the Emperor's side.

"Let me teach you, Father."

A flicker of amusement crossed Horus's eyes.

He ignored the Emperor, flickering into position before that Imperial Guard.

The golden-armored warrior roared, raising his halberd, but Horus easily seized his throat.

"Look at him, Father—a mere mortal daring to defy the gods."

In the Emperor's gaze, blazing with fury,

Pfft.

Horus did not kill him; instead, using Chaos Divine Power, he slowly, inch by inch, drew the Imperial Guard's soul out of his body, making him feel extreme pain as he wailed and turned into a wisp of green smoke.

"Do you see? This is what you wanted to protect—a mere ant."

"This is the end of your ridiculous 'humanity'!"

Horus laughed maniacally, tossing the empty golden armor to the ground.

At that moment.

The whole universe seemed to fall silent.

The Emperor halted in place.

He stared at the empty armor on the ground, then lifted his head to look at the laughing monster.

The last trace of sorrow and hesitation in his eyes vanished completely.

In its place came a coldness as extreme as a supernova explosion—utter resolve.

He finally understood.

What stood before him was no longer his son Horus.

It was merely a vessel wearing Horus's skin—a Chaos container, a cosmic cancer that must be utterly eradicated.

His lifelong dream, the future he had planned for humanity, everything he cherished—all were destroyed by that thing before him.

"You… are not my son."

The Emperor's voice, for the first time, became devoid of emotion, as if the universe itself were passing judgment.

He raised the sword in his hand.

This time, there was no golden flame.

Only pure psychic light, capable of obliterating every concept.

The smile on Horus's face froze; for the first time he saw true killing intent in his father's eyes—a will that could utterly consume even the soul.

He felt fear, frantically channeling the Four Gods' Power as he surged forward.

"No!"

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

Only a blinding white.

When the light faded, Horus… was gone.

Not death, not reduction to ash.

But a total erasure, wiped from existence on a conceptual level.

His body, his soul, every trace he had left in the Warp—all vanished into nothing beneath that blow.

The Chaos Evil Gods could no longer resurrect him.

However,

The Emperor also paid a price.

As he focused all his mind to unleash the final strike, Horus's deadly power claw also struck him.

He drifted silently in the void.

His limbs were severed at the roots.

One lung was completely torn apart.

Both eyes were melted by energy into two black holes.

His spine was broken into several segments.

He lay like shattered pottery in a pool of blood, only a faint glimmer of life flickering within his broken frame.

Soon after, Rogal Dorn, the Primarch of the Imperial Fist, led his warriors onto the bridge.

He saw the utterly erased Horus, and also… his father, fallen in a pool of blood, no longer recognizable.

"Father!"

That steel‑like Primarch let out a heart‑rending wail for the first time.

He rushed forward and lifted the Emperor's broken body.

He cradled the Emperor and teleported back to Terra, arriving before the massive, ancient life‑support device.

The Golden Throne.

This was the only way.

Use this machine to keep his father alive, and with his father's lingering power, eternally seal the gate to Hell deep beneath Terra, then with his psychic power turn it into the light of the star torch, continuing to guide lost humanity.

Under the anguished gaze of all loyal primarchs and the commanders of the Imperial Guard.

Rogal Dorn personally placed his father's shattered remains upon the cold Golden Throne.

Countless conduits were hooked into the Emperor's body.

Hum.

At the moment the machine activated, the Emperor's lingering consciousness was forever imprisoned within this cold cage.

He could not speak, could not move, and could not even die.

He became a living corpse,

a god sustained only by devouring the souls of a thousand psykers each day…

The image on the celestial canopy,

coincided with the scene from the beginning when humanity's empire was first tallied.

The desiccated corpse that had sat in meditation for ten thousand years,

those hollow eye sockets,

seemed to silently recount this tragedy spanning ten thousand years.

…

The myriad worlds, a silence of death.

All previous criticisms, speculations, and mockery of the Emperor now seemed pale and ridiculous.

Three-Body First Fleet.

The Führer's thought form had completely solidified.

"Wrong…… we were all wrong……" its thought signal filled with shock and guilt, "He is no charlatan…… he…… he ought to have been the leader guiding humanity toward true light……"

"He made every correct decision, he planned the most perfect future…… but he lost to betrayal, he lost to folly, he lost to the ugliest aspect of human nature."

"He did not become a god willingly; he was forced into godhood, a god of the living corpse he himself despised most."

Wandering Earth Universe.

Liu Peiqiang leaned back in his chair and exhaled a long breath, as if he had expended all his strength.

"So…… that's how it is……"

He muttered to himself,

"So this is the truth."

"For the survival of civilization, he gave everything he had, including his life, his dreams, and even his dignity after death."

Makarov silently downed an entire bottle of vodka, his eyes showing no trace of intoxication, only endless sorrow.

"To the hero." he said.

Cybertron.

Optimus Prime gazed at the remains on the throne, his massive metal head slowly lowering.

"He bore the sins and penalties of all civilization, sitting alone in the dark, burning himself to light the path for those who come after…… this sacrifice surpasses anything we can comprehend."

Even Megatron, who had always been arrogant and unruly, fell silent at this moment.

He looked at the desiccated bones, as if seeing another possible version of himself.

a…… failed tyrant.

Stellar Peoples Union flagship.

Grand Marshal Sidney stood at attention before the celestial canopy and rendered a standard military salute.

"I retract all my previous assessments of him."

Her voice was solemn and reverent,

"The Emperor…… is humanity's true guardian."

"Even if his empire grows darker and more ignorant, as long as he continues to burn upon the throne, humanity…… has not yet lost."

Land of Light.

Ultraman Father closed his eyes, as if unable to bear looking any further.

"He is worthy of standing beside the gods, yet bearing the gods' dignity, he endured pain unimaginable to mortals."

"His light, though not born of a plasma spark, similarly…… illuminated a corner of the universe."

Upon the celestial canopy, the image gradually faded.

The ancient and mournful hymn rose again,

no longer blind worship, but filled with endless sorrow.

A new line of subtitles slowly emerged, painting a bloody period at the end of this era.

【The Horus Heresy has ended.】

【The Emperor's dream also died with it.】

【Imperial Truth was abandoned, science and reason deemed heretical. In their place came fanatical worship of the "God-Emperor," and endless war against aliens and heretics.】

【Humanity has entered a darkest age.】

【In the grim darkness of the forty-first millennium, there is only…… war.】

【Dark Imperium, Eternal War!】