Chapter 156: The Emperor refuses to become the Dark King, and all worlds are shaken!

On the heavenly curtain.

A layer of bottomless black covered the entire screen.

A line of icy golden characters appeared in the center of the darkness, drawing everyone's attention.

【The ultimate truth of the Horus Heresy: the unborn Fifth Chaos Evil God.】

【Dark King (TheDarkKing).】

A low narration echoed in every corner of the myriad worlds, each word emphasized.

【In the ancient prophecies of the Eldar and Humans in the Warhammer universe, an ultimate terror has always been passed down.】

【That is the birth of the fifth Chaos God.】

【This deity does not represent Nurgle's stagnant decay, nor Khorne's bloodthirsty rage, nor Tzeentch's scheming mutability, nor Slaanesh's extreme indulgence.】

【It represents primal destruction and the utter collapse of order.】

【And the true identity of the predestined 'Dark King' is none other than the founder of the Human Empire, the Emperor.】

The scene lit up.

This was the final stage of the Siege of Terra.

The Emperor stood on the bridge of the Spirit of Vengeance.

Endless Warp energy surged wildly into his body from all directions.

His golden armor cracked, his body swelled, and his eyes released a blinding light capable of searing mortals.

【To oppose Horus, who had gathered the blessings of the four gods, the Emperor was forced to absorb unprecedented Warp energy.】

【At that moment, he had already stepped onto the ladder to become a complete Chaos God.】

【The nature of the Dark King is not the chaos of disorder.】

【This is an extreme void born of ultimate rationality.】

【It contains merciless judgment, sublime wrath, and ruthless rationality.】

【It belongs to the 'Corrosive Destruction' among the eight Chaos domains.】

【If the Emperor finally dies on the Golden Throne, the human emotions and supreme psychic power suppressed for ten thousand years will be wholly released into the Warp.】

【Dark King, shall formally descend.】

The heavenly curtain displayed a simulated star map.

【Once the Emperor becomes the Dark King, he will instantly surpass the four Chaos Gods currently in the Warp.】

【Khorne's legions will be crushed by his wrath, Tzeentch's labyrinths will be seen through by his reason, Nurgle's gardens will be purified by his destruction, and Slaanesh's palaces will turn to ash under his judgment.】

【As for the galaxy‑spanning Tyranids and the Necrons that have slept for sixty million years.】

【Before the absolute might of the Fifth Chaos God, they will pose no threat whatsoever.】

【The Milky Way will be completely emptied.】

【But the Emperor refused.】

【He suppressed the Golden Throne with his broken body through endless pain and sacrifice.】

【With his remaining strength, he fiercely held back the birth of the Dark King.】

The myriad worlds boiled over. Countless civilizations' leaders rose to their feet, eyes filled with shock and bewilderment.

Super Gene Academy Universe.

Nether River Star System.

Death God Karl stood before the great clock.

On his usually calm face, a rare expression of fervent sorrow appeared.

"The ultimate form of the void! Isn't this exactly the ultimate void we've been striving for?"

Karl's hands swiftly traced signs in the air,

"Shed the flesh, embody pure destruction and rationality."

"He has touched the gate of truth; one of his feet has already stepped inside!"

"Why retreat? This is a betrayal of evolution!"

Marvel Universe.

Thanos stared fixedly at the heavenly curtain.

His right hand caressed the Infinity Gauntlet.

"Merciless rationality, merciless judgment."

Thanos softly repeated these two lines,

"This is the order the universe truly needs."

"Excessive breeding of life brings only pain and chaos."

"Becoming the Dark King would instantly erase everything and grant the universe a perfect balance."

Dragon Ball Universe.

God of Destruction Realm.

The God of Destruction Beerus awoke from his slumber.

He pushed aside Whis, walked to the edge of the temple, and gazed at the golden giant on the heavenly curtain.

"Primal destruction."

Beerus curled his lip,

"This duty sounds even more thorough than mine."

"Since you have such tremendous power, why not just destroy those disgusting bugs and skeletons outright?"

"Sitting on that broken chair for ten thousand years of suffering, has this human leader's brain gone mad?"

The doubts of all beings in myriad worlds gathered into a flood.

They could not understand,

In such a desperate universe,

They left invincible power unused, instead choosing the most tragic ending.

The image on the heavenly screen flickered slightly,

The cold golden characters faded, replaced by soft white text.

【The reason the Emperor refused to become the fifth Chaos God.】

【One. Blood is thicker than water: a father's love that cannot be severed.】

The scene jumped to the early days of the Great Crusade.

The Emperor, in ordinary attire, stood on the balcony of the Imperial Palace.

Beside him stood towering, mighty primarchs.

These were his twenty sons, each an extension of his ideals and power.

His gaze swept over Horus, Sanguinius, and Guilliman.

In that gaze there was no king's wariness toward his subjects, only overflowing pride and expectation.

【He had once been a perfect father.】

【He entrusted the galaxy's future wholly into his sons' hands.】

The scene once again came to the battle of the Vengeful Spirit.

The Emperor had his spine broken and his eyes gouged out by Horus.

Yet he still used his remaining sight to look at the son before him, twisted by Chaos into a monster.

"You killed my child."

The Emperor's voice was hoarse, filled with endless sorrow.

【In these words lay hatred for the Chaos Gods, as well as deep sorrow and self-reproach.】

【At that moment, what he faced was not a monster that must be destroyed, but his beloved child.】

【To kill his son was, for him, essentially a soul‑cutting anguish.】

【If he chose to become the Dark King, it would mean he must utterly erase this lingering paternal love.】

【He would have to deny all meaning of being a father, becoming a machine that knows only destruction.】

【This was an emotional line he could not cross.】

【Two. The Emperor's repentance: refusing to become the very thing he most despised.】

The heavenly screen displayed the spread of the Imperial Truth.

Space Marines destroyed temples and burned scriptures.

Preachers spread science and reason among mortals.

Then,

The scene then shifted to the final days of the Eldar Empire.

Countless Eldar wailed in the midst of extreme indulgence,

Vast negative emotions gathered in the Warp,

and finally erupted, giving birth to Slaanesh.

The entire species fell instantly.

【The Emperor was the founder of the Imperial Truth.】

【He devoted his life to guiding humanity with reason, science, and humanism, denying all divinities.】

【Becoming the fifth Chaos God would mean he personally overturned the ideal he had struggled for all his life.】

【This amounted to announcing to the whole universe that his Imperial Truth was a complete error.】

【He had personally witnessed the Eldar, through indulging desire, create an evil god, leading to their species' extinction.】

【He knew well that the birth of a new god would inevitably bring the galaxy an irreparable disaster.】

【His refusal to become the Dark King was also a refusal to become a tyrant oppressing all things.】

【He would rather bear ten thousand years of torment than become that god who destroys everything, the End God.】

【Three. The tug of the soul: a feeling severed yet yearning to be made whole again.】

The scene returned to the eve of the battle's outbreak.

Deep beneath Holy Terra.

The Emperor stood alone before the Webway Gate.

He closed his eyes and formed a complex psychic sigil with his hands.

Accompanied by a heart‑rending silent roar, a sphere radiating soft white light was forcibly torn from his chest.

【To remain absolutely ruthless in his fight against Horus, the Emperor made an astonishing decision.】

【He forcibly severed almost all of his soul's 'humanity'—hope, pity, grace, loyalty, sympathy, and love.】

The Emperor looked at the sphere in his hand that represented his humanity, and a flicker of reluctance passed through his eyes.

He swung his hand fiercely, sending that sphere into the depths of the Warp.

【He clearly realized these emotions would become an obstacle to killing his son, letting self‑hatred and regret consume him.】

【But his severing of humanity was not meant to be a total abandonment.】

【On the contrary, he hoped to one day reclaim it and become a whole 'person' again.】

【Four. The power of mortals: the final redemption of friends and comrades.】

The scene returned to the bridge of the Vengeful Spirit.

The Emperor is on the verge of ascension. Powerful warp energy is reshaping his body.

A thin figure blocked his way.

That was Oulan Nios·Peiersong.

That was an immortal who had lived tens of thousands of years, an ordinary imperial veteran, and the Emperor's oldest mortal friend.

Oulan Nios·Peiersong stared at the Emperor undergoing apotheosis, raising the ordinary laser rifle in his hand.

"Don't do this."

Oulan Nios·Peiersong shouted, his voice extremely weak in the psychic storm,

"Give up this power! You promised me you would lead humanity to light, not drag them into another hell!"

On the other side,

Comrade John·Grammatikos used his special ability to interfere with the influx of warp energy, creating a moment of clarity for the Emperor.

The Emperor's eyes, radiating strong light, gradually regained their original depth.

He saw the plea in Oulan Nios·Peiersong's eyes.

He remembered his duty and original intention as a 'human'.

【These calls from mortals were the decisive force that let him finally choose to relinquish power and restore his humanity.】

【By refusing to become the 'Dark King,' the Emperor essentially made a difficult yet heartfelt choice between destructive power and fragile humanity.】

【He chose to remain trapped on the Golden Throne with his broken body, enduring eternal pain to preserve the last shred of his dignity and feeling as a 'human'.】

【This is the Emperor's ultimate tragedy.】

【For the sake of everything he loves, he must endure the pain of being forever unable to embrace them.】

The heavenly screen froze.

On the Golden Throne,

the withered corpse sat silently.

Ten thousand years of time and countless believers' fervent prayers had shaped him into a lofty deity.

But he himself knew,

deep within that desiccated corpse,

still lay a soul longing to return to being a father, to return to humanity.

The myriad realms fell into a long silence.

Previous doubts, incomprehension, and mockery, at this moment, all turned into indescribable shock and reverence.

Shrouding the Heavens World.

Beidou Star Region.

The Void Emperor stood on the Ji clan's ancestral land.

He gazed at the Golden Throne on the heavenly screen, a golden tear sliding down the corner of his eye.

That tear struck the ground, turning into pure Dao law.

"I understand you."

The Void Emperor spoke softly.

He had spent his life fighting, opposing the Undying Mountain and all the great forbidden zones.

For humanity, he shed his last drop of blood.

He all too well understood the resolve to sacrifice everything, endure eternal condemnation and suffering, to protect the people behind him.

"You could have loomed high above, looking down on all beings, but you chose the hardest path. Fellow Daoist, I bow to you."

The Void Emperor clasped his hands, bowed deeply toward the heavenly screen.

Wandering Earth Universe.

"MOSS." Liu Peiqiang stared at the screen, "Can you now calculate his behavior?"

The red dot on the console blinked for a long time.

"Report, Colonel Liu Peiqiang. MOSS's logic matrix cannot process this data."

MOSS's voice lost its usual coldness,

"Choosing to abandon a 100% survival probability in favor of enduring eternal pain."

"This is absolutely wrong in mechanical logic."

"But this is precisely humanity's greatness."

Liu Peiqiang interrupted it,

"Hail the Emperor!"

The entire command center, everyone snapped to attention and rendered a military salute.

Naruto World.

Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara stood shoulder to shoulder.

Uchiha Madara lowered the arms crossed over his chest.

In his arrogant eyes, only deep reverence remained.

"I was wrong."

Madara spoke,

"I thought that severing emotions and pursuing ultimate power would bring true peace."

"But he proved that the greatest power is not destruction, but restraint."

"For the love in his heart, daring to reject godhood… he is a strong one."

Senju Hashirama nodded heavily.

This is true guardianship! This is the greatest will of fire!

He kept all the darkness for himself, and gave all hope to humanity!

Star People United Fleet.

Grand Marshal Sidney took off his military cap.

She looked at the words on the sky-screen, 'He refused to become a tyrant,' recalling her previous evaluation of the Emperor, feeling a deep sense of self-reproach.

We misjudged him. All of us misjudged him.

Grand Marshal Sidney glanced over the officers on the bridge,

He didn't want to control the empire with feudal superstition. What he least wanted to see was this very situation!

He, in desperation, used his own life to prop up a sky for humanity.

She raised her right hand and performed a standard military salute.

All rise! Pay respects to humanity's greatest guardian!

Warhammer Universe.

Holy Terra.

The deepest part of the Imperial Palace.

Primarch Robert Guilliman stood before the gate.

He looked at the image on the sky-screen,

watching the scene where his father shed his humanity,

watching the truth that his father chose to suffer rather than become a monster.

Guilliman's stone‑like defense line collapsed completely.

His knees gave way,

and he fell heavily onto the cold stone floor.

Tears burst forth, streaming down his scarred cheeks.

Father…… you have been suffering…… you have been suffering for us……

Guilliman covered his face with both hands, letting out a sob suppressed to the extreme.

He finally understood that those cold, ruthless words his father spoke to him in the throne room were not his true intention at all.

That was merely a husk that had lost its fragments of humanity, using the last vestiges of reason to settle his affairs.

The true father, the one who loved them, had locked himself away in hell to protect them.

Outside the Imperial Palace.

Tens of thousands of the Imperial Guard lowered their polearms.

They removed their helmets and knelt toward the Golden Throne.

Farther away, tens of billions of Terra's mortals, including high officials, priests, commoners, and beggars,

Everyone was watching the sky-screen, and everyone was tear‑streaked.

They finally learned the truth of their faith.

What they believed in was not a lofty god who enjoyed worship.

Rather, it was a father who, for their sake, gave up godhood and gave up everything.

For the Emperor!

No one knows who shouted the first line.

Immediately afterward, this cry spread like a prairie fire, instantly sweeping across Terra and then the entire galaxy.

For the Emperor!!!

For the Emperor!!!

A roar from the depths of the lungs pierced the warp storm and shook the entire universe.

This is no longer blind superstition, but the ultimate reverence for the greatest sacrifice.

The image on the sky‑screen gradually darkened.

The star map of the Warhammer universe appeared again,

a dark cosmos filled with war and torn apart by the great rift.

Here there is only endless despair.

But just as the image was about to go completely black, a line of subtitles flickering with faint yet tenacious light slowly emerged.

【The Warhammer universe is an extremely dark universe.】

【Here, there is only endless despair.】

【But in the universe's fundamental laws, where there is despair, hope also arises.】

【The deepest despair often brings the strongest hope.】

【Even in despair, there are miracles.】