Chapter 495: Your Name

Ssiiihhhaa

The scars on Bilarak's body began healing at an astonishing rate, fueled by devouring Airebas, or rather, devouring the Chaos Daemon Wrestler-Eagleman on Airebas's body; within moments, most of his wounds were healed, and his consciousness regained coherence.

Though he still felt dizzy, nauseous, and his mind fragmented, at least he was no longer completely insane, no longer reduced to mere instinctual movement as he had been just moments ago.

But Bilarak felt something strange in his abdomen—a twitching in his belly, an itch in his buttocks, as if something were about to burst forth.

Yet the sensation was faint, intermittent—perhaps it was just his imagination? It must be.

"You bastard! Are you trying to kill me?!"

Fate took a bizarre turn: the Wrestler-Eagleman replaced Airebas and was swallowed by Bilarak, while Airebas crawled out from beneath Bilarak's legs, cursing bitterly as he glared at him.

Only then did Bilarak notice that Airebas's bird tattoos had been reduced to just two.

In other words, Airebas had already lost seven lives.

"Waste." Bilarak couldn't help but curse this pig of a teammate.

Had it not been for the need to break free from the gods' bindings, Bilarak would have abandoned Airebas outright and defected to Saint Doraemon.

But that Saint Doraemon still refused to ascend to godhood; as long as He remained unascended, Bilarak's bindings could not be undone.

Airebas's face darkened at Bilarak's words.

In Airebas's view, losing seven lives was entirely Bilarak's fault.

After all, if it weren't for Bilarak's incompetence, how could it possibly be Airebas's fault?

For a moment, Airebas found himself missing Lu Se.

Lu Se was mad, gloomy, and strange.

But at least Lu Se was an honest man—moral, principled, disciplined—never betraying his teammates like Bilarak.

"You hold him off. I'll open the door." Bilarak shouted at Airebas.

Titus was slaughtering demons between himself and Airebas like a god of war incarnate.

Lower demons—bloodletters, steel bulls, fire daemons, pink-blue daemons—could not withstand his horrifying chainsword.

And yet Bilarak expected Airebas to stop this monster?!

Airebas froze, stunned by Bilarak's sheer audacity.

"I only have two lives left!" Airebas snapped.

"So you can still die twice more?" Bilarak shot back instantly.

Airebas stared, then gritted his teeth: "If you guarantee my safety with all your strength, I'll prepare the sacrifice you'll need for your ascension."

Airebas had once promised to help Bilarak ascend as Lord of the Unbound Twisting Realm, becoming the Eighth Chaos God.

Ascension requires a sacrifice: a powerful race, of galactic hegemon scale, no weaker than the ancient Eldar Empire.

In today's galaxy, the Eldar are fallen, humanity is the Emperor's sacrifice, the Tau are weak, the Dwarfs are as insignificant as their stature.

But Airebas knew of one other sacrifice.

The Old Ones.

Once so powerful, even the massive warp surge from their demise had propelled three gods to ascension—and still had not been exhausted; theoretically, it could lift one more god into being.

By using the Three Artifacts of the Old Ones to tear open time and space, locate their ancient vault, unlock the "lock," and retrieve the "weapon," one could use the Old Ones as sacrifice to achieve ascension.

Few knew of this—only the gods, and a handful of others: Airebas, Vashthor, and a few more.

Bilarak grinned. This reward struck right at his deepest desire. Indeed, one must pressure one's teammates to unlock their true potential.

Seeing the smile on Bilarak's lips, Airebas snorted.

He had no intention of ever giving the sacrifice to Bilarak—it was meant for himself.

In truth, he never intended to leave the Unbound Twisting Throne to Bilarak either.

The Unbound Twisting Throne—the Eighth Seat—was reserved for Airebas alone.

Airebas turned and sprinted toward the nearest door; Bilarak violently spread his wings.

As the iron chains and skulls on his black leathery wings clattered, shadows poured forth like wisps of smoke, instantly forming a black wall that shielded Airebas behind him.

Simultaneously, the shadows writhed, and figures emerged from within.

Demons loyal to the Four Gods, enslaved by Bilarak, and Chaos Space Marines who served him burst forth, chanting Bilarak's name as they charged toward the Flesh Eaters and Ultramarines, attempting to halt Titus.

They were Bilarak's disciples—but these were not all his accumulated forces.

Bilarak also commanded a Chaos Knight family.

But he dared not summon them, fearing that using Knights against Saint Doraemon—who controlled part of the Malevolent Arts Domain—would backfire and destroy him.

Otherwise, the Knights' massive frames could have easily crushed this band of Astartes.

Titus swung his Innocent One like a whirlwind, cleaving through a Chaos Space Marine's body, then surged toward Bilarak, drenched in blood.

As Bilarak expected, his disciples could not stop Titus.

The Shadow Blade whipped up a swirl of dark sparks and slashed vertically toward Titus.

Titus had anticipated it—he raised his chainsword effortlessly, deflecting Bilarak's Shadow Blade.

Blades clashed: though Titus could seize the initiative through precognition, Bilarak's blade was faster, fiercer, stronger—and for a moment, Titus was forced onto the defensive.

"You've merely acquired a fraction of Konrad Curze's power."

Bilarak sneered:

"If Konrad Curze himself were here, I might hesitate."

Though still severely wounded and not fully healed, Bilarak now stood among the top tier below the Primarchs—even facing a Primarch, he would not be utterly defeated.

On this ship, Bilarak was the strongest!!!

Meanwhile, Airebas reached the nearest door.

The lock trembled, then popped out a question.

The question was short. Simple.

"Answer: What is your name?"

Airebas blinked, then beamed with sudden joy.

Such a simple question? Of course—his recent misfortunes were mere coincidences, accidents, illusions.

He, Airebas, was still the one favored by fate.

Suppressing his elation, Airebas answered cleanly:

"Airebas——————"

(End of Chapter)