Not Even a Breath!

He clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking sharply as he walked step by step toward the demon sprawled on the ground. The smile on his face grew ever more "radiant."

"Ah, friend, don't worry. In a moment, when I start... I won't give you even a breath!"

For some time afterward, the demon's voice echoed across the entire plaza.

"...You lowly scum of the material realm! How dare you... Aagh! How dare you humiliate an emissary of the Changer of Ways like this!

Aaaah!

Not the face! My knowledge! My logic!"

Guilliman's fists fell like raindrops, every blow accompanied by the faint gleam of Smart Atoms as it struck solidly at the demon's very essence.

The demon's curses began to change pitch, mixed with sharp gasps of pain.

"Stop! Foolish primarch! You are profaning... profaning the great...

Urgh! It hurts! Stop! You barbaric... barbaric muscle monster!

Chaos... Chaos will devour everything in the end! Your resistance is meaning... meaningless!

Sp... spare me!"

The agony left it babbling incoherently, its threats and temptations tangled together.

"N-no... don't hit me anymore! Please! Great primarch!

This was never my intention! I am willing to submit! I am willing to make a pact! I can become your servant and peer into the secrets of the Warp for you!

Spare my life! Spare me!"

Its voice became shrill and miserable, filled with terror.

Seeing that Guilliman had no intention of stopping—and that the force behind his fists was only growing heavier, as though he meant to hammer apart the very structure of its existence—

The demon finally broke completely.

"I was wrong! I truly was wrong! I should not have profaned your majesty! I should not have tried to corrupt your sons! I am willing to repent!

I am willing to trade all my knowledge for... for a swift end!

Please! Do not make me feel this... this terrible 'sense of existence' anymore! Let me return to nothingness!

Just kill me! Use that sword! The Emperor's Sword! Give me a swift death! Please!!!"

It even began deliriously reciting scraps of words about loyalty and honor, stolen from who knew where, in an attempt to move Guilliman.

"For the Emperor! For... for Terra! Loyalty... urgh!... loyalty is an eternal fortress!

I... I surrender! Unconditional surrender! I will sign any treaty!

Just please, do not... do not 'hit' me anymore! I cannot take it!

This is more painful than being torn apart by Khorne's Bloodletters! More hopeless than being consumed by Nurgle's plagues!

Aaaah—!!"

In the end, its wails turned into meaningless, intermittent sobs and whimpers.

Like a broken bellows with all the air leaking out, it had only its most instinctive desire left: the desire for complete destruction.

It lay sprawled on the ground, without even the strength to twist its form, hoping only that this endless "physical persuasion" would end soon.

From its initial taunts laced with filthy language, to its impotent, furious curses in the middle, and then its later, heart-rending pleas.

Until, at last, all that remained were numb groans from a mind muddled by repeated torment...

Guilliman had proven, in the most simple and unadorned manner, the effectiveness of "Physical Transcendence" against Warp creatures.

The surrounding Ultramarines had gone from anger at the start to shock afterward.

And now... they looked at their father, whose entire body seemed to burn with golden energy as he hammered the demon like a god of the forge.

Their eyes held nothing but boundless fervor and worship!

(My dad... can make even Warp demons cry with his bare hands! What can't my dad do?!)

Looking at the remnants of the Tzeentch demon's spirit beneath his feet, nearly unconscious and capable only of instinctive spasms, Guilliman felt it was time to test the final question.

He summoned Chief Librarian Tigurius.

"My son."

Guilliman pointed at the demon. "Can you plant some sort of soul mark or tracking beacon on this thing?

Something that will let us precisely locate it and drag it back into the material realm again, even if it resurrects in the Warp."

At his words, the blue psychic flames in Chief Librarian Tigurius's eyes flickered slightly, carrying a trace of confusion.

"Father, I do not quite understand... We usually strive to purify or banish them completely.

Why deliberately summon it back?"

"Because I need to conduct an experiment—an experiment of vital importance."

Guilliman's gaze sharpened.

"To determine whether I—or rather, whether we—can find a way to kill them completely and fundamentally.

You should understand, my son, that the nature of Warp demons makes them exceedingly difficult to truly destroy.

Even if they are defeated for now, they will be reborn amid the tides of the Warp. It is merely a matter of time."

"I see... I understand, Father." Tigurius nodded and asked no further questions.

He stepped forward, tracing patterns through the air with both hands while chanting ancient, obscure psychic incantations.

Streams of intricate runes glowing with an eerie blue light flowed from his fingertips.

Like living chains, they slowly branded themselves onto the core of the Tzeentch demon's unstable, illusory body.

The demon seemed to have given up resisting—or rather, even its will to resist had been completely shattered by Guilliman's "physical persuasion."

It merely lay on the ground, making meaningless whimpering noises as the mark that would one day drag it back into nightmare carved itself deep into its soul.

"It is complete, Father."

The Chief Librarian withdrew his hands, and the psychic radiance gradually faded.

"When it coalesces once more in the Warp, I will be able to clearly sense its location.

With this mark and a suitable ritual, we have a strong chance of dragging it back from some corner of the Warp again."

"Well done, my son." Guilliman patted Tigurius's shoulder guard approvingly.

"It is my honor, Father." The Chief Librarian bowed in reply.

Guilliman turned his gaze back to the Tzeentch demon, his expression becoming cold and focused.

"It is time to verify the final hypothesis."

He extended his right hand, and his palm, covered in the faint gleam of Smart Atoms, slowly pressed down upon the demon's "head," which was formed from pure energy.

There was no violent explosion, nor any dazzling display of light. There was only a gentle squeeze.

"Pff..."

Like crushing a small gas-filled sac, the Tzeentch demon's spirit body instantly collapsed.

It turned into countless wisps of dense, viscous Warp-energy mist, radiating an eerie blue glow and the stench of knowledge.

They scattered in every direction, as though following some instinct to return to the Chaotic dimension that had birthed them.

Yet at that very instant, the dormant Vitruum Smart Atoms within Guilliman suddenly became more active than ever before.

They conveyed an incomparably clear feeling of craving and hunger!

As though they had seen the most delectable nourishment, they stirred frantically.

They wanted to devour this drifting blue mist—this purest Warp energy!