73. The Belated Judgment (31)

Fighting the Emperor was like picking up a stone and throwing it at a giant whose shoulders pierced the clouds. You might catch a fraction of his attention upon throwing your ten-thousandth stone, but that was all.

He would look down at you from the heavens, and you would be smaller than a speck of dust.

The Chaos sorcerer took a brief instant to assess the situation. He knew he was not the one throwing stones; he was not quite so insignificant. But the reality was not much better.

At this moment, when he looked at the Emperor, it was like looking at flowers through mist. He could see only a hazy outline, with no idea of His true form. If the Emperor had been the enemy he was meant to fight, then this would have been fatal.

But the Emperor was not.

The Chaos sorcerer had known from the start that He was not his enemy. The Emperor would kill him—that was certain—but the Emperor was not his enemy.

"You are wrong," said the Master of Mankind. His voice was calm, yet merciless.

The sorcerer looked at Him.

"I am not Dark Angel Seraphax's enemy, because he has no real understanding of the sins you have committed against him. He does not know what you have done, nor has he ever been twisted by the so-called knowledge you possess."

"Every second he has spent on Terra has been torment. The brutal gap between reality and the ideals of his imagination has never ceased to torment him—yet he remains loyal, sorcerer. Unlike you."

The sorcerer began to murmur silently in reply. He knew the Emperor could hear him.

*Loyalty is a broad concept. Self-righteous loyalty and foolish loyalty are far more terrifying than any evil. Those swept up in either