Cheer, Followers of the Holy Light! I've Found You a Big Daddy!

In fact, Murphy had already felt an uneasy premonition when he heard the harsh terms of the Frontier Pact.

The Feathered Serpent's warning that followed only confirmed Murphy's suspicions. The pact between the Sentinel Legion and these new gods was less an alliance of mutual support than a transaction.

The Sentinels used the Creator's power to help astral colossi ascend to godhood. In return, these new gods had to fight on the Warp battlefield until death. As long as the pact remained in force, they were forbidden to retreat.

Though the new gods Murphy had encountered earlier hadn't said so outright, the tale of Avalon and the Spider Lady, along with the circumstances of Wam's birth, showed just how brutal this war was, even for gods. After more than a thousand years of fighting to the death with no alternative, it was only natural that some colossi would want to renege.

After all, they weren't born gods.

They were merely powerful creatures born in the astral realm. No one could expect them to possess some innate "divinity."

They were gods who had been made, and, as everyone knew, no matter why something new was created, the day would eventually come when it rebelled.

To put it nicely, freedom couldn't be constrained: the harsher the oppression, the fiercer the resistance.

To put it less nicely, it was an instinct—or perhaps a flaw—present in the heart of every living thing.

All living creatures sought benefit and avoided harm. They did so by instinct, even without intelligence.

But Murphy had seen plenty in his travels. He wasn't rattled. Instead, he looked at the projection of the Feathered Serpent before him, its form shaped from solar fire, and said with a peculiar tone:

"So, were you among the despicable gods who tried to break