Chapter 363: The Four-Dimensional Pocket That Fell Into the Eternal Well

Light brighter than the two stars Belial had thrown nearby burst forth,

the flagship of the Daemon Primarch Magnus shattered under the intense psychic tide, its gold and silver components transmuted into pure energy by the might of the Empyrean, nine arcane foci brimming with immense psychic power exposed to the void,

instantly, a vast wave surged through the Sea of Souls, radiating outward from the arcane foci in all directions,

the mutant psykers aboard the Vengeance Soul assigned to detect warp currents screamed in terror, several of their heads exploding; after these sacrifices, Abaddon's flagship stabilized against the tide,

this fallen Glory Queen-class battleship had long navigated warp currents and possessed extensive experience handling the warp's treacherous flows, and Abaddon never hesitated to offer sacrifices to the Empyrean,

but the Maccragge's Glory, lacking such dark experience, struggled to control its hull against the sudden warp current, causing the Ultramarines' flagship to shudder,

Abaddon rejoiced at this turn,

the two ships had been circling each other along a series of circular paths, always presenting their broadsides,

to efficiently pierce warp currents beneath their Geller fields, most human warships were built with slender, blade-like profiles,

which meant that under normal conditions, a ship's broadside firepower vastly exceeded its bow, and ship-to-ship combat typically involved broadside duels,

meaning that if one side could maneuver to present its broadside against the enemy's bow—forming a T-shape—it gained a decisive advantage,

for then the enemy could only respond with its bow cannons or launch a desperate ramming charge,

Abaddon seized the moment the Maccragge's Glory's bow wobbled, swiftly tracing an arc to position himself directly ahead of it,

instantly, corrupted lances and macro-cannons brimming with Chaotic energies locked onto the Maccragge's Glory,

though defeat was already certain, inflicting heavy damage on the Maccragge's Glory before retreating would make this raid worthwhile——————

"Hm?"

just before Abaddon was about to give the firing order, their target, the Maccragge's Glory, suddenly vanished from the battlefield,

precisely speaking, it dissolved like liquid or silk, slipping into an almost imperceptible pinpoint in the midst of the battle,

Abaddon saw the figure,

Zhou Yun—or rather, Saint Doraemon—hovering midair, wearing a tiny propeller,

and the Maccragge's Glory had vanished into the pocket on his belly.

Abaddon clenched his command throne, eyes blazing with ecstatic triumph,

if destroying the Maccragge's Glory was an acceptable victory, killing Zhou Yun was a resounding triumph for Abaddon,

and now Zhou Yun stood exposed before the Vengeance Soul's fully charged batteries,

even a Primarch could not withstand the broadside fire of a Glory Queen-class battleship with nothing but flesh and bone,

Abaddon was about to order the cannons to fire,

had not Kharn's axe suddenly pressed against his throat.

"If you blow him up, how are we going to settle accounts with that son of a bitch Erebus?"

the demon possessing Kharn snarled:

"Besides, you're unlikely to kill him—he's a genuine Warp deity, a contender in the Triple Realm."

"Don't drag the brothers to their deaths."

Kharn gave no reply to the demon's words,

but in his view, the man who dared stand before the Vengeance Soul's ready firepower must have prepared a countermeasure,

and the Vengeance Soul was already crippled by the Nurglite flora; taking such a risk might cost them even their chance to retreat.

Zhou Yun clutched the Reflective Cloak, watching the Vengeance Soul vanish abruptly into the deeper warp, and shook his head lightly,

Abaddon was this cautious?

the Vengeance Soul had been severely damaged by the Nurglite flora; if Zhou Yun had used the Reflective Cloak to bounce back the macro-cannon and lance volleys, he might have crippled the blasphemous, evil Glory Queen entirely.

But Abaddon didn't take the bait. It seemed that after ten thousand years, he had grown far beyond his days in the Great Crusade—he no longer fell for such tricks.

Back then, Dorn had deliberately exposed a weakness during the Siege of Terra and trapped Abaddon badly, forcing him to bury a cadre of Horus Heresy elites himself.

But the gains now were sufficient,

Magnus's Warp essence had been corroded by the bacteria Zhou Yun released; vast amounts of knowledge had been digested and erased, and he would ultimately forget all knowledge—this damage struck at his very essence, nearly irreparable.

Even if Magnus tried to relearn the knowledge he had forgotten, the bacteria on the Book of Magnus would consume those newly infused insights,

henceforth, there would be no more Magnus, the Sorcerer-King of the Galaxy—only a red-eyed, one-eyed Ogryn.

And Belial—though Zhou Yun let him go, that didn't mean he gained nothing from Belial,

Belial had been exposed to the Tracking Mirror of Images; he could never escape Zhou Yun's gaze for all eternity,

whenever Zhou Yun wished, he could step through an Arbitrary Gate directly before Belial, then resurrect a few Red Corsairs and freely command the most powerful psyker beneath a Primarch.

Finally, the outcome against Guilliman:

Zhou Yun swiftly pulled an Arbitrary Gate from his fourth-dimensional pocket, stepped through the door, and arrived on Guilliman's battlefield.

"Eh!! Aaaahhhhh!!!"

As soon as he stepped through, Zhou Yun heard an abstract wailing cry,

he stared silently at Carlos and six other Greater Daemons spewing rainbow-colored viscous fluid onto the ground,

Guilliman had severed Carlos's limbs with the Emperor's Sword; the scorching Emperor's Fire prevented him from using psychic energy to repair his body,

though Zhou Yun also doubted Carlos still possessed sufficient intellect to attempt such a thing,

his two heads stretched unnaturally long, his body rolled incessantly, drenched entirely in that rainbow-colored viscous fluid.

The hell, how did the Father of Lies create such an abstract pathogen?

Shouldn't personality excretion be Slaanesh's domain?

Not only did Zhou Yun's face twitch in disgust, but Guilliman's face was equally grim,

he gazed at the Emperor's Sword in his hand with a melancholy look, as if the blade once belonging to the Master of Mankind had become unclean.

Though the method of capture was profoundly abstract, the value of the Weaver, Carlos, was the highest among the four Chief Greater Daemons, far surpassing Khorne's Angron,

the Chief Greater Daemons of the other three gods could be reselected or reshaped at will, their power theoretically not vastly different, unless their luck was truly abysmal and none of their new demons met standards,

but only Tzeentch's was irreplaceable—the Weaver, Carlos, was truly one-of-a-kind,

within the Warp existed a place called the Eternal Well,

the Eternal Well was the center of reality, the origin and endpoint of all time and space,

the Changer of Ways, Tzeentch, coveted its power, yearning to seize from the Eternal Well the ability to control all reality and the flow of fate,

yet He dared not enter it Himself, only hurling Greater Daemons inside to retrieve knowledge, prophecies, and revelations,

but among those daemons, only Carlos miraculously survived,

Carlos's form grew hunched, his wings shriveled, two mad, twitching heads sprouted, and he gained the ability to perceive both past and future simultaneously from the Eternal Well,

even Tzeentch could not replicate this miracle; thus Carlos became a unique being.

And now, Carlos:

"Knowledge… all knowledge… drained." Carlos spat out his tongue, chittering.

Zhou Yun couldn't help but show a look of revulsion,

Carlos was now utterly ruined, even more so than Magnus,

all his knowledge and consciousness had been expelled as that viscous rainbow fluid.

Zhou Yun forced back his nausea, stepped back, and waved to Mephiston beside him, signaling him to use psychic energy to lift Carlos from the sludge.

Mephiston nodded silently, extended his hand, projected psychic energy, and yanked the limbless Carlos from the viscous fluid, dragging him through the air to the edge of Zhou Yun's fourth-dimensional pocket,

while Carlos stared blankly, his body twitching unconsciously, as if he had lost all self-will,

Zhou Yun opened his fourth-dimensional pocket, gesturing for Mephiston to shove Carlos inside——————

"Gaaahhh!!"

"Aaaahhh!!"

but just as he was about to be shoved into the pocket, Carlos's body tensed violently, his two heads suddenly elongated, eyes bulging wide, fixed on the abyss-like fourth-dimensional pocket beneath him.

Instantly, Mephiston choked him with psychic energy, and Guilliman rose abruptly, placing the Emperor's Sword against Carlos's throat.

"I saw it!"

"I remember now!"

"At the end of time and space, at the apocalypse of reality and the Warp."

"On the day the Machine God, the Eternal Dragon, and the Dark King were born."

Carlos's two heads stared fixedly at the fourth-dimensional pocket, then spoke in unison:

"The Changer of Ways cast this pocket into the Eternal Well, into the chaotic tides of time, space, and fate."

"You failed! You failed! You failed! All was part of the plan!"

(End of Chapter)