Tzeentch Daemon

This servant of Tzeentch quietly began to cast its evil sorcery.

Invisible psychic tendrils spread like a spiderweb.

Carefully gathering, refining, and amplifying the despair, regret, and self-denial radiating from hundreds of Ultramarines...

This twisted, reinforced negative energy began, like a chisel, to slowly and laboriously pry at the fragile barrier between reality and the Warp.

This opportunity was once in a lifetime.

Under normal circumstances, even if these Ultramarines died in battle, their wills would remain unshakable. They would never believe they had been wrong in the slightest.

Yet at this very moment, before their deeply revered genetic father, they had cast aside all their defenses and sincerely repented.

That had instead become their most fatal weakness!

"Crack..."

A faint, nearly nonexistent sound of breaking rang out from the foundation of reality.

An extremely tiny Warp rift, almost impossible for ordinary instruments to detect, was forcibly pried open!

Though that Tzeentch daemon had exhausted all its strength, it could only open this insignificant slit.

But that was enough for it to project a strand of its essence like the most insidious virus and precisely locate a perfect host—

Landros, whose emotions were the most turbulent and whose inner defenses were the weakest!

An Ultramarines Chaplain filled with contradiction and Pain?

Was there any better breeding ground for sowing chaos and deception?

At this moment, Guilliman was immersed in comforting his children:

"...Yes, you were indeed at fault.

But, my children, if realizing your mistakes leaves you constantly shaken, even making you believe that everything you once were, including yourselves, was wrong, then that is simply cowardice!

You are the Emperor's angels, the sons of Guilliman!

You should follow me and conquer the Milky Way!

Even if you have erred, you must atone for it!

And once you have atoned, die gloriously in battle!"

A stirring smile spread across his face. His voice boomed like a great bell as he tried to raise his sons' spirits. "Follow me, my children!

Keep following me!

I will bear witness to your glory!

I will shoulder your transgressions!

There is only one person in this world who has no right to blame you, and that is me, your father!

No father truly blames his own children!"

His words were like blazing sunlight, instantly dispersing most of the gloom in the warriors' hearts.

Countless Ultramarines were moved to tears as they shouted fervently at Guilliman:

"Genetic father!"

"Father!"

Landros was the same. He felt as though his heart, once filled with guilt, had been infused with newfound strength—warm and full.

(Being Father's child is truly such a blessing!)

Yet at the very instant when his emotions were most turbulent and his guard most relaxed—

That invisible psychic mark from the Tzeentch daemon, filled with the essence of deceit.

Like a slick venomous snake, it silently burrowed deep into his soul and latched onto it!

Guilliman smiled as he felt his children's rekindled enthusiasm and adoration.

Just as he was about to say something more, his keen senses—enhanced by Viltrumite Smart Atoms and inheriting part of a Primarch's Warp essence—

Caught a trace of something exceedingly subtle, yet utterly foreign to the material universe.

The "flow" of space had become faintly disturbed. That sensation... it was as though Warp filth was trying to seep through!

(Though I don't know whether, after merging with it, I can still awaken the original Guilliman's complete Warp essence...)

Thoughts raced through Guilliman's mind.

*(But I should have inherited at least some of a Primarch's innate affinity for and resistance to the Warp.

And with Viltrumite Smart Atoms...)*

His gaze sharpened, sweeping the surroundings like an eagle's. In the end, his eyes settled almost tangibly upon Landros, who had been the most emotionally agitated just moments ago.

(Then next... it's time to find out.)

Guilliman sneered inwardly.

*(My Smart Atoms—power born from the pinnacle of the material universe's physical body, yet carrying a certain idealistic quality.

Can they... affect you Warp monsters?)*

He remembered clearly that in the universe of Invincible—

Viltrumites possessed exceptionally high resistance to Earth's mysterious sorcery as well!

Smart Atoms practically represented "all-encompassing" and "invincible," an idealistic existence capable of adapting to and overcoming all kinds of supernatural power!

A Viltrumite's combat power was even tied to mental factors such as emotions and will.

And the power of the Warp likewise came from the mind!

Landros felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.

Countless fragmented, twisted whispers rose beside his ears, as though innumerable icy needles were probing his consciousness.

He knew this feeling well. Back when he had first become a Space Marine, before his mind had been fully tempered into steel—

Warp fiends would often whisper temptations into his ears.

They, the Emperor's angels, were highly tempting and valuable prey to daemons.

But after becoming a Chaplain through unwavering faith, his will had long since become unbreakable.

Those whispers had gradually faded as his psychic power grew and his convictions solidified.

Yet today, at the moment when his mind was at its weakest and drowning in guilt—

Those nauseating whispers had returned, clearer and more vicious than ever before!

He felt an indescribable weakness, as though his soul were being corroded by something cold and viscous.

A vast shadow enveloped him—not a physical shadow, but an oppressive weight upon his spirit.

With great difficulty, he raised his head and saw the genetic father's face, now unusually stern.

He opened his mouth, wanting to warn his father about Warp corruption.

But Guilliman's large hand had already pressed down upon his head first, rubbing it firmly several times with an unquestionable warmth and strength.

That feeling... was like a distant memory from when he had still been an ordinary human child.

Like the touch of his biological father, whose face had long since blurred in his memory, comforting him by stroking his forehead when he was sick and miserable.

Strangely, Landros felt much of his dizziness ease.

The maddening whispers at his ears also seemed separated by a barrier, turning faint and distant.

"You dare tear open reality before me, and you still want to take over my son's body..."

Guilliman spoke in a low voice. It was not loud, yet it carried such fury that even space seemed to tremble:

"You've got some nerve!"