The Road Ahead, The Path to Power

"No Chaos God could create so many physical objects relying on such a meager amount of soul energy; otherwise, those restless bastards would have long since mass-produced answers and hurled them into Realspace."

Ramesses said this with great certainty.

Many people have misconceptions about the power of the Chaos Gods, but in truth, once you truly understand the worldview of Warhammer 40k, you realize the Chaos Gods aren't as terrifying or unsolvable as one might imagine.

What truly makes Warhammer feel desperate is the overall corruption of every civilization, the foulness of the Imperium in Realspace, the various heaven-defying, obsessive factions, and those four troublemakers in the Warp.

In fact, before the Great Rift opened, the way the Chaos Gods interfered with Realspace was by fostering cultists to perform sacrifices to open Warp portals for demonic invasions, or by relying on Abaddon to consolidate the scattered Chaos traitors for "every time is a victory" Black Crusades.

As the Chosen of the four Chaos Gods, Abaddon spent countless years plundering Realspace and signing a pile of unequal treaties with the Dark Mechanicum just to scrape together something like the Planet Killer in the Eye of Terror; expecting the Chaos Gods to casually spend a bit of soul energy to create Adamantium or Auramite is simply too difficult for them.

If the items available for exchange were priced at such terrifying levels—like fishing, baiting you to keep saving soul energy to gain power, only to feed you empty promises—then it would undoubtedly be a scheme of Chaos without a second thought.

But right now, the consumption is so low that it is essentially certain this transcends the scope of the Chaos Gods' authority.

"So, you all have a grasp on your own abilities now, right?"

Everyone nodded.

In layman's terms, they are currently like an STC, only the raw material for production is psychic energy.

"Next is the method of obtaining raw materials; theoretically, hunting any entity that possesses psychic energy will work."

Killing people certainly works, but the absurd operation of indiscriminate slaughter is basically not within everyone's consideration.

Ramesses opened a demonic portal, and a greedy-looking Tzeentch Blue Horror scurried out, only to be blasted into fragments by psychic lightning.

"My current approach is to set up a demonic summoning ritual to kill them; besides, since I swapped to psychic energy, I'm quite dazzling in the Warp."

A mob spawner, then.

"Won't there be danger?"

Arthur asked. This behavior of using oneself as bait seemed a bit like courting death.

"Demons can only see the projection of psychic energy, not me."

Ramesses explained:

"We use psychic energy more like a person using a tool; the demons can see the tool, but they cannot see the person using it."

One can only say that courting death has its benefits; Ramesses' understanding of his own abilities far exceeds the other three.

At the very least, if this were Arthur, given his caution, he would certainly not dare to attempt this while the suspicion was still valid, and naturally, he would never have discovered the principles behind their abilities.

"There is another way."

Seeing Ramesses finish his speech, Romulus added.

"Our direct interference in a predetermined event can also absorb a large amount of psychic energy, and it is far more than hunting individual psychic entities."

"For example?"

Ramesses became interested.

"In the process of recovering the Geller Field Generator, Arthur and I intervened in a Khorne Chaos Space Marine sacrificial ritual targeting the Deathwatch. After we killed the enemies, we obtained a massive amount of psychic energy."

Romulus began to recount his previous experience.

The reason he was able to burst out dozens of Astartes at once to assist in the defense of various nodes was also because of this windfall.

"Is that so?"

Ramesses rubbed his chin, revealing an expression of sudden realization.

"I was wondering where that inexplicable psychic energy came from; so that was the reason."

He continued:

"In fact, every action we take absorbs psychic energy, just very little. Why you and Arthur obtained so much is indeed worth studying; specifically, we still need more examples to verify it."

"Mm."

Romulus nodded, effectively ending the topic.

"That should be all for our current grasp of our abilities. Now, the most important question—"

He folded his hands, resting his chin upon them, his deep crimson eyes scanning everyone seriously. Even Karna, who had been pretending to be invisible, sat up straight.

"What should we do in the future?"

"Stay in a corner, or intervene?"

The four of them will likely stay in the Warhammer universe until they die; there must be a concrete plan for the future.

"If I were just an ordinary Fallen Angel, I would definitely find a way to hide in a Garden World; living one more day is a profit."

Arthur spoke first.

"But—"

Romulus looked at his childhood friend teasingly, taking the opportunity to provide a step down, "But with you all here, and with this power of unknown origin, I think we are destined not to be content."

Arthur spoke. He knew very well that no matter how much he doubted this power that could achieve Soul Materialization, this power had ultimately given them a new choice.

A choice they were forced to make.

"To intervene in those grand events, to explore the essence of our power, to slaughter the enemies who defy our values—we must pursue strength. After all, in this universe—"

Shifting his gaze away from Romulus, Arthur met the eyes of his companions one by one.

"Only strength is the truth!"

In this strange universe, whether it be the Imperium, Chaos, or Xenos, everything posed a threat to the transmigrators.

Weak things could not survive when faced with such threats.

Now, a path to becoming stronger lay wide open before them.

The transmigrators did not want to find themselves filled with regret one day, crushed by the collateral damage of a conflict between the Imperium and its enemies, wishing they had developed their powers or seized the opportunities to grow stronger from the cracks of those events.

Therefore, they needed to pursue power and seek more efficient ways to strengthen themselves.

Since they desired strength, it was impossible to remain on the sidelines forever.

And...

The four looked at one another; beyond the consensus on their choice, there was a faint glimmer of hope.

A hope to reshape this chaotic galaxy into the world familiar to their memories.

"My lords!"

A call from outside the door interrupted their "profound" exchange of glances.

It was the voice of Sister Arabella.

Once Ramesses raised his hand to clear away the artifacts that did not belong to this era, Romulus operated the Logis Engine to open the door.

"Sister Arabella."

Romulus invited the sister into the room.

"Is there something you need?"

"It concerns the warriors of the Broken Sword. They... they are mutating severely."

Arabella spoke, though she did not understand why she had chosen this moment to report such a trivial matter to the angels of Emperor.

Yet, a voice kept urging her to come here, insisting that the angels must know.