The Golden Giant

Terra.

The end of the Unification Wars.

The battlefield on the Gallic Peninsula.

The Emperor, bathed in radiance, strode across the war-torn frozen plains, his face unreadable.

His golden armor repelled the biting wind, and a sheathed longsword hung at his waist.

The energy field was not yet active, the circuits covering the blade cold and silent.

Deep craters from artillery fire dotted the surroundings, and snow, tinged gray with radiation, fell from the sky.

Around the Emperor, the power armor of the Thunder Warriors hummed with a low thrum.

They moved with heavy steps, searching the battlefield.

Rescuing surviving comrades, executing enemies clinging to life.

The Emperor strode past the battlefield, past the soldiers groaning and crying out for his help.

Past the cold corpses.

Towards a circle surrounded by the Adeptus Custodes.

At its center was a gray-haired, solitary man.

He was clad in a tattered robe made from the fur of cloned creatures.

Shivering in the cold wind.

He clutched himself tightly, hunched over, covered in wounds.

The man's name was Morransen, the supreme ruler of the Morransen Federation, and a fervent worshiper of Chaos.

He commanded a fanatical religious army.

He was one of Terra's many warlords who sought to prevent the Emperor's unification.

Like the final fate of those warlords, he had ultimately fallen before the Emperor's mighty forces and become a captive.

"So, this is the end of everything?"

Morransen looked at the approaching Emperor, a desolate smile on his face.

The Emperor remained silent, his dark hair stirred by the wind, the sun, devoid of warmth, making his longsword gleam.

"Why?" Morransen looked up at the Emperor. "Why slaughter my people like this?"

"Your people will live, but you and your mad army have no right to."

"Master of Terra," Morransen uttered the title, word by word, and burst into maniacal laughter.

The Emperor shook his head. "Incorrect. Master of Mankind."

"Hahaha, all of Mankind. Even one planet isn't enough for your appetite? Are you not even going to spare the stars in the sky? Your arrogance is beyond redemption."

The Emperor did not argue further, slowly surveying the entire battlefield.

"Victory is mine."

"Tyrant, you butcher of civilized worlds."

"I have brought enlightenment, and I shall bring a new dawn. Mankind will rise again, and dominion over the galaxy will be our manifest destiny."

"You bring a curse. In the name of salvation, you have pushed humanity towards ruin. As long as I draw breath, I will curse you. One day, everything you have built will turn to dust."

The venomous curses drew the ire of the Adeptus Custodes.

One of the Custodians stepped forward and struck Morransen with the butt of his spear.

He did not intend to kill Morransen, but his strength was terrifying.

With a single blow, half of the man's face was shattered, flesh and bone pulverized, his eye reduced to a pulp of meat, and crimson blood flowed from the empty socket.

"Enough, Sagittarius."

The Emperor spoke the Custodian's name, halting further violence.

He remembered the name of every Custodian.

It was because each of them had been personally created by him.

Nurtured from childhood, each one a perfect product.

The Custodian showed a flicker of hesitation, then bowed his head in apology and returned to his place in the ranks.

The Emperor looked down at the screaming Morransen with pity.

He could see the essence of things through all falsehood.

In his vision, Morransen's soul was already rotten.

Beneath the seemingly human form hid a hideous Warp entity.

Obsidian-smooth claws writhed, grotesque mouths laughed, emitting blasphemous and maddening shrieks.

"Your soul has long been utterly corrupted by darkness, becoming sustenance for those abominations. I once advised you to stay away from your so-called gods."

"They don't care what you believe in, nor do they care if you are devout. They only want you to offer them one act of crazy violence and slaughter after another."

Morransen looked up and opened his mouth towards the Emperor, wanting to say something.

However, the Emperor did not listen to him further. Instead, he activated the power field of his longsword.

Flames wrapped around the blade along its engraved patterns.

The longsword swung down, and Morransen's head fell into the snow.

Numerous soldiers cheered.

At this moment, the voice of the Adeptus Custodes commander, Waldo, sounded in the Emperor's private channel.

"Your Majesty, there's something in the bunker you should see personally."

The bunker where Morransen hid was a mess.

There were crushed stones everywhere, along with mangled corpses and smoking weapons and equipment.

Military units composed of ordinary humans were clearing the fortress.

They used excavators to transport the broken bodies and scorched debris outside.

When the Emperor appeared, everyone bowed to him with looks of adoration and awe.

The Adeptus Custodes commander, Waldo, was alone in a room deep within the bunker.

The Adeptus Custodes at the door saluted the Emperor.

Upon entering, the Emperor saw what Waldo wanted him to see.

Atop a half-meter thick, one-meter tall cylinder of unknown material, sat a strange raven sculpture.

Waldo bowed to the Emperor, "I apologize, Your Majesty. I should have come out to greet you."

"It's just that this sculpture is quite peculiar. When one looks away, the memory of it vanishes from the viewer's mind. Only when they see it again does the relevant memory return."

"That's impossible," the Emperor objected instinctively. "You possess absolute memory. Anything you've seen will never be forgotten."

"I tried, Your Majesty. The moment I left, I forgot about it. Only when I turned back and saw it again did I recall its existence."

The Emperor tried to look away.

He discovered that his memory of the sculpture was silently fading.

First, its specific details, then its general outline.

Before the memory of the sculpture completely disappeared, he shifted his gaze back.

The memory of the sculpture reappeared clearly in his mind.

It was so bizarre that even he couldn't retain the memory of it after looking away.

"This thing can be touched, but when I tried to destroy it..."

Waldo suddenly thrust out his halberd. The halberd, covered in electrical arcs, passed through the sculpture strangely.

It was as if it wasn't a physical entity existing in this world, but an illusory projection from a higher dimension.

However, Waldo's other hand was still touching the sculpture's physical form.

The Emperor approached the raven sculpture and instinctively touched the strange artifact.

[Detecting protagonist of destiny, initiating revival program]

Streams of light surged, covering the cold sculpture.

A moment later, the raven came to life.

Its feathers were entirely black, and its eyes were exceptionally bright. It could defy gravity freely, drifting in the air.

"Do you wish to sign a contract, mortal? If you are willing, you can obtain supreme power, wealth, and authority."

The Emperor's expression was as calm as ever, showing no emotional fluctuation despite the raven sculpture coming to life.

"A creature from the Warp? Such crude deception techniques, truly lacking any novelty."

The raven sized up the person before it, who regarded it with disdain.

Black hair, black eyes, nearly four meters tall, clad in golden armor, enveloped in radiance, with a thorny crown on its head.

It then glanced at the Adeptus Custodes commander, clad in iridescent golden armor, holding a powered halberd with bright electrical arcs dancing at its tip.

"Shiny golden big guy, golden armor, halberd, power weapon, human, my search parameters are set to Earth, and psychic powers are terrifyingly strong."

The raven muttered, then its eyes widened as if it had realized something.

"Holy crap, are you the Emperor, big guy?"

The Emperor looked at the raven, which had uttered his name and was now staring in shock. He activated the longsword in his hand.

Golden flames surged along the sword's patterns.

The heavy blade pulsed with terrifying finality.

The raven flapped its wings and retreated a few steps.

"Big guy, don't attack, don't attack. I have connections across the heavens. The risks are a bit high, but the rewards are great. We can cooperate."

"I do not cooperate with demons." The Emperor's voice was chillingly cold.

"I am no demon. I am a traveler who traverses the heavens, fundamentally different from the demons of your universe."

The Raven's words made the Emperor pause.

"The heavens, your universe? Do you mean you come from another universe?"

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