This Is a War Between Gods

"There was nothing here but ignorance and stupidity."

Vulcan stood in low orbit.

He looked down upon the planet Cadia from on high.

As soon as he arrived, he dispatched an advance party and diplomatic envoys to land on Cadia’s surface.

They established contact with the local tribes and spread the Imperial Truth and the faith of the God of Fries and Ketchup.

After enduring the long Age of Darkness, Cadia’s natives had lost all civilization and knowledge.

They had regressed to the tribal age.

Faith occupied every corner of their lives.

Their bodies were covered in strange Warp symbols.

They had built temples and altars all across the planet.

Even their eyes were an eerie violet.

No other region of the Imperium had eyes of that color.

Cadia’s skies were equally bizarre.

Whether day or night, they were shrouded by a distorted Warp Storm.

Spirals of red and purple hung overhead like an unblinking eye watching the world below.

The Cadians’ eyes had turned violet because of that strange Warp Storm.

"Has the power of the Warp corrupted them?" Numen, captain of the Kindling Guard Company, asked.

Vulcan nodded. "The Dragon Engine within me has integrated and analyzed the Cadia data we obtained. It also read the information from the surrounding space-time. At present, one conclusion is certain: the local natives have already been corrupted."

"As for the extent of that corruption, more data will be needed before it can be calculated."

Numen looked at the floating projection of Cadia before turning to his Primarch.

"What should we do next? The Imperium’s mission for us is to build Warp suppressors here in order to seal the Eye of Terror. Their faith in daemons and gods runs too deep. They will never permit us to build them."

"I will try to persuade them and show them the Imperium’s mercy." Vulcan gazed down at the projection, like a god observing a mortal realm lost beyond the fold.

"And if that fails?"

Considering the locals’ superstition, Numen had no choice but to contemplate the worst outcome.

"Then they will be given the wrath of the Imperium." Vulcan’s voice suddenly turned cold.

A teleportation gate opened.

The mysterious space-time passage connected Cadia’s surface to the flagship of the 18th Legion, the Flame-Forged.

Surrounded by the Kindling Guard, Vulcan strode through the gate like a god descending into the mortal world.

The local natives watched him with reverence.

To them, the Imperium’s advanced technology was no different from divine power.

The leading man wore a faded peach-red cloak. He walked before Vulcan and dropped to one knee in salute.

Vulcan gave it a glance, and the Dragon Engine within him immediately analyzed the cloak’s material.

Human skin. The cloak had been woven from human skin, yet it was worn as a mark of honor.

Such ignorance.

Vulcan suppressed his disgust, nodded in return, and proclaimed the Imperium’s rule to them.

"In the name of the Imperium, I declare this world under Imperial rule."

"We are pleased that you have come," the leader said. "We have awaited you for a long time. The gods said you would come. They once gave us—"

Vulcan impatiently cut him off.

"I’m sorry, but I have nothing to do with your gods. And from this day forth, you may worship only one god: the great God of Fries and Ketchup."

The leader looked stunned.

"It should not be this way."

"This is exactly how it is," Vulcan said. "I came here and declared it. Then you obey. It is that simple."

"You should know the truth," the leader said. "The truth about yourselves, about who you are. Then you should correct this mistake and return everything to its proper course."

"What exists now is the correct truth," Vulcan said. "The things you worship are obsolete and belong in the trash heap."

"No. The gods represent eternal truth. They will never become obsolete." The leader struggled to explain, trying to make Vulcan understand.

"Nothing in this universe is eternal. Even the gods you speak of will one day die." Vulcan shook his head. "I have brought technology and truth. Perhaps you cannot understand them yet, but you need only obey."

"Never!" the leader shouted. "We will never betray our faith. We believe in the gods—"

Vulcan took a step forward and looked down at the leader. His terrifying presence forced the man to swallow the words he had yet to say.

"Tell me. What is a god?"

Seeing this, the leader’s guards drew their weapons.

Their faces were smeared with white paint, and ancient runes were painted across their powerful naked bodies.

Even knowing they could not win, they did not hesitate in the slightest.

As one of the guard, Numen admired the natives’ courage in seeking death.

He gestured for his men to relax and put away their weapons.

He knew perfectly well that these mortals’ weapons could never harm a Primarch.

Not even with the aid of Warp sorcery.

Perhaps they could have in the past, but Raven and the Emperor had bestowed a new gift upon the Primarchs.

They had elevated the Primarchs into gods.

Vulcan waved his hand, and the barbarians’ swords turned into blooming flowers.

The sight filled the barbarians with terror, and they all fell to their knees.

The leader was dumbfounded as well.

The power and methods of the man before him exceeded everything he could imagine.

In his understanding, only a god could accomplish such a thing.

"Are you a god?"

Vulcan shook his head. "I am not a god. There is only one god in this universe: the great God of Fries and Ketchup."

"Everything you just saw was the power of technology. I redefined the concepts of those materials and replaced their information codes with flowers. It was that simple."

"Do not speak to me of your foolish gods again. They are worthless, nothing more than clumsy conjurers and frauds. You will enter a new age, an age that does not need gods."

The leader wanted to argue, but the blooming flowers were right there.

No matter what he wanted to say, it all seemed weak and hollow.

A god with supreme power had personally denied being a god. What right did he have to judge whether that being was right or wrong?

"Our debate ends here," Vulcan said. "We will rebuild this world and turn it into a paradise, so you will no longer suffer."

Just as Vulcan thought it was over, a faint unease rose within him.

Warning. Abnormal immaterial energy detected.

The next second, the leader before Vulcan suddenly began convulsing.

An invisible force tore him apart.

Blood poured from his mouth, eyes, and nose.

His flesh flowed like melting snow until only a skeleton remained.

Then even the skeleton shattered like broken glass, scattering across the ground.

From within the bloody remains, a strange creature crawled out.

It was hideous and revolting, impossible to describe in any language.

Twisted facial features had been embedded in its face in a blasphemous arrangement.

Its arms were a fusion of worms and serpents, constantly writhing in a nauseating manner.

"A daemon?" Vulcan frowned and activated his Warhammer.

Bright arcs of electricity coiled around his hammer.

"How dare you appear before me?"

"I mean no harm," the daemon said. "I merely have some things to tell you. Some very important truths, things concerning the essence of your souls."

"Your very existence is malicious." Vulcan remained unmoved.

"Everything the Emperor told you was a lie," the daemon said. "Do you truly believe he is a mortal? An ordinary perpetual?"

"The Emperor needed powerful offspring, so the gods granted him knowledge. They used sacred genes and powerful psychic power to create you."

"The gods are your true fathers. The Emperor is merely a clumsy fraud."

"See the truth, Vulcan. Only the gods can help you."

Vulcan swung his Warhammer.

He easily knocked the monster over and planted a foot on its body.

The daemon’s body was broken beyond recognition. Merely speaking had exhausted all his strength.

"Everything I said is the truth."

"I do not care," Vulcan replied coldly. "If I wished, I could give you a truth as well."

The daemon painfully turned his head, trying to say something else.

But Vulcan swung his Warhammer and smashed its head into pulp.

Erase all data relating to the target's existence.

Command accepted. Erasure in progress.

Erasure successful.

As the engine’s prompt sounded, the daemon’s body slowly dissipated like embers in a fire.

A terrifying immaterial storm erupted around Vulcan and swept outward in every direction.

The Eye of Terror above Cadia erupted as well.

Brilliant storms surged forth as though they intended to devour Cadia whole.

The gods had been enraged by Vulcan’s actions.

They could not tolerate such an insult.

"I spit on you." Vulcan raised his head and spoke each word with deliberate clarity.

As his words fell, the Warp Storm grew even fiercer.

The entire sky changed.

The barbarians trembled in terror.

This was a war between gods.

They mortals were like fallen leaves swept up by storms and towering waves, with no choice but to drift wherever the current carried them.

"Prepare yourselves. The horrors of Old Night are coming." Vulcan spoke to his sons. "It seems those bastards are unwilling to be driven entirely back into the Warp."

The storms grew more violent with every wave.

The gods were in a fury.

The laws of physics were completely overturned.

They were the very laws the gods had sworn never to violate when they were first born.

Now, for their own survival, they shattered and abandoned them without hesitation.

If Vulcan built Warp suppressors on Cadia, the power of the immaterial realm would weaken, and its influence would diminish.

That was a future the gods could not tolerate.

Countless daemons surged in like a tide.

They filled the sky and covered the earth, endless and innumerable.

The Imperial forces reacted at once.

Dense artillery fire poured forth like a raging storm, blanketing the land.

In an instant, tower-like pillars of flame shot into the heavens. Brilliant mushroom clouds blossomed along the distant horizon, rapidly expanded, and finally faded away.

Terrifying explosions swept across the land like colossal waves.

Mountains collapsed, great rivers shattered, and everything was swallowed by raging flames and reduced to scorched earth.

"Get those innocent people out of here. Tell the Adeptus Mechanicus sages to accelerate construction of the Warp suppressors."

Vulcan issued his orders to his sons, then entered his combat form and became a giant wreathed in blazing fire.

Part of the Legion’s warriors escorted Cadia’s natives to safety.

The other Legion warriors fought alongside Vulcan, resisting the daemons pouring out of the Warp.

The teleportation gate still stood upon the surface.

A heavy sound rang out as the god-machines, the Titans, slowly strode through.

They carried weapons as large as buildings.

The beams they fired shone as brightly as the sun.

A single attack caused a distant hill to erupt into a mushroom cloud shrouded in blinding light.

A savage melee broke out between both sides.

The Warp daemons were endless.

They were born in the past, born in the future, born in every timeline that existed or did not exist.

No matter how hard humanity struggled, no matter how advanced its technology became, it could never eradicate them completely.

War against the Warp was an eternal war.

"Foolish eighteenth son."

A Plague Greater Daemon with a bloated body lumbered toward Vulcan on slow steps, its voice thick and sticky.

Its swollen, distended belly was encased in layers of rotting fat.

Pustules and boils bulged beneath its skin, ripe and ready to burst.

Its cloven feet and stunted legs were swallowed by rolls of wrinkled flesh.

Its head was short and thick, its multiple chins framing a rotten, grinning maw full of exposed teeth.

One clouded eye blinked, while the other had been sealed shut by oozing pus.

A hanging, rotting tongue drooped down to its chest.

It held a rusted greatsword in its hand.

"How can you refuse the Generous Father’s gift?"

"Repulsive." Facing such an extremely disgusting entity, Vulcan frowned and said.

The Plague Greater Daemon launched the first attack, but Vulcan parried it with his warhammer and smoothly smashed a blow right onto its forehead.

Rotting flesh splattered everywhere.

The Plague Greater Daemon staggered backward, letting out a painful sound.

"What a piece of trash, crawl back to your garden and play in the mud."

Another daemon with blood-red wings let out a mocking sound.

It crashed into the ground like a meteorite, the battle-axe in its hand burning with terrifying flames.

"My name is Khabanda, remember this name and have your progeny carve it on your tombstone."

Vulcan’s body shattered like a phantom, then reassembled not far away.

Although the rule modules of the Dragon Engine could not deal with these Warp Greater Daemons, they allowed him to move through the battlefield with ease.

"Telling me your name is meaningless, because I won’t bury your corpse, I’ll only throw it into a star."

Vulcan’s eyes burned with brilliant light as he leaped up, his warhammer smashing toward Khabanda.

Khabanda used its battle-axe to parry, but the heavy force made its knees go weak, causing it to drop to the ground like that.

"Aren’t you the exact same? Khabanda."

The Plague Greater Daemon returned the favor to Khabanda with equally sarcastic words.

It ran toward Vulcan, the rusted sword in its hand slashing at the Primarch.

At this moment, a daemon with bat wings and a serpentine, slender, smooth body also swooped down from the sky, launching an attack on Vulcan.

On the other side, a daemon shaped like a Two-headed Bird also drove Warp energy, unleashing spells toward Vulcan.