Abaddon's death was like a stone cast into a tranquil lake, sending ripples through the depths of the Warp.
Within the domains of the four Chaos Gods, four eternal wills that had never ceased battling and scheming against one another rarely halted their mutual conflict at this moment.
They turned their gaze toward the material universe, toward that shattered fortress.
Abaddon, this "Chosen of the Four Gods" whom they did not truly favor and merely used as a tool, should not have warranted much attention in death.
Yet at this moment, they saw a deeper threat in it.
The Imperium of Man was reviving.
Those Primarchs who had once swept across the galaxy were returning.
More terrifying still, the Imperium had received aid from an extragalactic power—those beings who called themselves Hilling possessed strength that even Chaos could not fully comprehend.
If the Imperium were allowed to continue developing, if the Emperor gathered his legions once more, if those extragalactic gods continued providing support... the galaxy would once again enter an age of the Great Crusade.
And this time, Chaos might no longer be the hunter, but the prey.
The four wills converged in the depths of the Warp and reached a brief consensus.
They would act in person. At the very least, they would seize Horus and the Lion King, issue a warning to those extragalactic forces, and let them know who the true masters of this universe were!
Four projections filled with endless Chaos and madness began to gather, preparing to breach the boundary between reality and illusion and descend upon The Rock.
However, just as their wills were about to touch the material universe—
A cold, orderly gaze, powerful enough to make even the Warp tremble, pierced through layer upon layer of dimensions and fell directly upon