Five-Second True God

Inside the grand hall of Hilling Star, Hua Wei stared at the suffocating dead end in the projection—the battered flagship, the two terrifying Greater Daemons glaring hungrily, the endless sea of demons, and the five Valkyries who were already showing fatigue yet still chose to remain. He felt like his hair was about to turn white from worry.

"Fuck! How the hell did Guilliman escape in the original story?! This is Hell Difficulty Plus Pro Max!" He irritably clawed at his scalp and raged helplessly at the air. "Six Adeptus Custodes-level combatants still can't fill this hole?! That makes no sense! Did the Emperor cheat in the original? Or did Guilliman's protagonist Halo suddenly kick in?"

He tugged anxiously at his hair, his gaze sweeping over the system interface:

[Available Emotion Points: 3,623,440]

The Valkyrie Squad's descent and reversal of the battle, especially the shocking scenes of purifying Carter, confronting Skarbrand head-on, and Glory suppressing the entire field, had harvested another wave of Emotion Points. Added to the previous balance, he now had more than 3.6 million.

3.6 million! It sounded like a lot, but against two Chaos Greater Daemons and an endless demon army, summoning three more five-star units? Hua Wei felt that would just be feeding them freebies! It would not even be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth!

"System! Shop! Hurry! Find me something! What can save us?! Recommend something! Recommend it now!" Hua Wei practically roared. Time was life! Guilliman was practically about to start his last words in the projection!

The system's cold prompt sounded:

[Searching... Based on the current situation (desperate circumstances, demand for high deterrence, demand for high faith guidance)... recommended item locked:]

[Item Name: Super Enhanced Version of "The Emperor's New Clothes" (Single-Use Projection Device)]

[Effect: Consume 1,000,000 Emotion Points to project a highest-grade "Emperor"-level will projection for 5 seconds. The projection has no tangible physical interference capability. Its "power" and "influence" depend entirely on the target group's "degree of belief." The projection's appearance and basic information may be customized.]

[Note: Clothes make the man, saddle makes the horse; showing off still depends on Halo. Believe and it exists; disbelieve and it does not. The ultimate secret of the con artist's world: a five-second true god!]

[Title unlocked: "Five-Second Real Man" (When equipped, slightly increases the success rate of boasting.)]

Hua Wei: "..."

He felt as though his brain's CPU had overloaded in an instant and was about to crash.

"F-Five-Second Real Man?! The Emperor's New Clothes?! Super Enhanced Version?! Its power depends on how much they believe?!" Hua Wei's expression twisted. There were so many things to complain about that he did not even know where to begin. "What the fuck... System, are you serious?! This thing can deal with two Greater Daemons with screws loose?! Who's going to listen to your bullshit?! All they want is to chop people up! You should just change your name already! Call yourself the Big Con System!!"

[Host suggestion received. System renaming procedure initiated...]

[Rename confirmed: Big Con System (Trial Version).]

"Con your head!" Hua Wei was so furious he nearly jumped up. "Stop screwing around with this useless crap! Buy it! Buy it now! Set up the projection!"

He practically shouted with his eyes closed. He had no choice but to treat a dead horse like it was still alive! One million Emotion Points vanished in an instant!

[1,000,000 Emotion Points consumed. Purchase successful: Super Enhanced Version of "The Emperor's New Clothes" (Single-Use Projection Device).]

[Please configure projection appearance and basic information...]

Hua Wei's mind was a mess, but one thought stood out with absolute clarity—presence! It had to be maxed out! He had to scare those bubble-brained demons senseless!

"Set it! Projection image: Uh... make it look like me. If you're showing off, you have to be handsome, but it also can't lack dignity! Holy! Beyond direct sight! Dress him in... the most magnificent, most ancient, most fucking incomprehensible imperial robes that still scream power at first glance! The robes need... the emblem of the Hilling Empire! That... Crystal Cross! Right! A huge, dazzling Crystal Cross crest containing endless mysteries! Presence! The key is that the presence has to be overwhelming! Information... the supreme Emperor of the Hilling Empire! Incarnation of eternal will! Creator and guardian of order throughout the multiverse! That's it! Hurry! Deploy it! The coordinates are the flagship bridge! Now! Immediately! Right this second! Don't waste time, it's only five fucking seconds."

Hua Wei spoke at breakneck speed, practically roaring through sheer thought.

Just as Kairos Fateweaver shrieked that the web of fate had tightened, and Skarbrand's blood axe was about to fall in that critical instant!

A sudden change erupted!

There was no earth-shattering surge of energy, no terrifying pressure tearing apart space.

Above the bridge, that foul void steeped in Tzeentchian runes and Khorne's bloody aura... froze without warning.

It was not a physical freezing, but rather as if the ripples on a pond after a stone had been tossed in were suddenly paused.

The churning Warp energy, the leaping psychic lightning, even those pinkish-purple runic chains woven by Tzeentchian sorcerers... everything, in an instant, fell into absolute, deathly stillness!

Then, a pure pillar of light whose color could not be described and whose scale could not be measured, as though it spanned the endless river of time and space, descended soundlessly!

At the center of the pillar, a majestic figure beyond the limits of mortal comprehension slowly coalesced.

His—or rather, Its—features were blurred, veiled by endless Glory and profound laws. He only vaguely resembled Hua Wei, yet bore an absolute majesty that overlooked eternity and held heaven and earth in its grasp.

It wore an indescribably magnificent imperial robe. The fabric seemed woven from solidified starlight and the cosmic membrane itself, and upon it shone a colossal cross-shaped crest made from pure crystals of order!

That Crystal Cross seemed to contain every secret of the universe's birth and end. Merely gazing upon its outline was enough to make souls tremble and reason collapse!

Its figure was not enormous, yet it seemed to fill the backdrop of the entire universe.

Its gaze calmly swept across the bridge, across the countless frozen demons, across the horrified Kairos and Skarbrand, before finally settling in Guilliman and the Valkyries' direction.

At that moment, time itself seemed to lose all meaning.

Kairos Fateweaver's compound eyes, composed of countless screaming faces, instantly widened to their limit!

Its chaotic, disorderly core of thought, filled with schemes and conspiracies, seemed to have been cast into an ice sea at absolute zero and froze completely!

An irresistible sense of terror and insignificance, born from the deepest depths of its soul, swallowed it like a tsunami!

The being before it... surpassed everything within its understanding! Tzeentch, the Lord of Change... before this pure, eternal, supreme incarnation of order, they were as insignificant as dust!

Its body of magical energy trembled violently. Even the golden flames at its severed arm seemed to dim as a mad thought grew uncontrollably: Could this... be the true... god?!

Its faith in Tzeentch collapsed like a sandcastle at that moment, splitting open with a fatal crack!

Skarbrand, however, was entirely different! Khorne's berserker had nothing in its heart but Destruction and battle!

Faced with this sudden being beyond its understanding, although it knew the being far exceeded the limits of its power, its single eye, burning with the endless fire of slaughter, did not show fear. Instead, an even fiercer, more violent fighting spirit erupted!

"ROAR—!!!" It let out an enraged howl that challenged a god. Without hesitation, it swung its massive blood axe, carrying all its strength and fury, viciously toward the figure in the pillar of light! Even if it was a god, it would chop it down!

However, at the instant the blood axe was about to touch that sacred radiance!

The figure within the pillar of light seemed to... shift Its gaze slightly.

There was no energy fluctuation, no psychic impact, not even the slightest movement.

It was merely the focus of a thought, a glance carrying the meaning of "regard," falling upon Skarbrand.

Poof—!

Like a balloon being punctured!

Skarbrand's mountain-sized, terrifying body, covered in heavy daemon armor and blazing with infernal fire, along with its blood-soaked giant axe, upon meeting that gaze, vanished like a pencil drawing erased by rubber—without warning, completely, silently... into Oblivion!

There was no explosion, no scream, no wreckage or trace of energy left behind.

It was as though it had never existed.

Khorne's mightiest vanguard, Blood God's Wrath, Skarbrand, had been completely erased by a single glance! All that remained was an eerie patch of absolutely pure Void!

Absolute silence!

The effect of frozen time vanished, but the chaos and slaughter on the bridge seemed to have been pressed permanently mute.

Every demon, whether Khorne's Bloodletters and berserkers or Tzeentch's Pink Horrors and sorcerers, froze in place as though bound by a paralysis spell.

Their eyes were filled with utmost terror, confusion, and incomprehension. They did not dare make even the slightest movement.

Kairos was even worse, as though every bone had been removed from its body. Its immense energy form sagged weakly, and its compound eyes contained nothing but endless terror and self-doubt.

Meanwhile—

"Y-Your Majesty!!!" Obi-Wan Kenobi was the first to react. He trembled with excitement, unprecedented fanatical light erupting in his eyes! Without hesitation, he dropped to one knee, pressed his right hand to his chest, and performed an ancient, solemn Jedi rite of highest respect before their supreme leader!

The Force within him seemed to be infused with an inexhaustible spring, instantly surging full and abundant. His wounds healed rapidly, and his drained mental strength was completely restored!

"Supreme Hilling Will! Incarnation of eternal order!" Prince of Wales, Glory, Prinz Eugen, Nimi, and Joan of Arc likewise instantly abandoned all combat stances and, in perfect unison, performed the most standard Hilling Military Salute, carrying iron will and boundless reverence!

The exhaustion in their bodies was swept away, and the radiance of their ship rigging seemed to shine even more brilliantly! They gazed fanatically at the figure in the pillar of light, like believers looking upon their one true god!

Guilliman was completely stunned.

The Emperor's Sword nearly slipped from his hand.

Everything happening before him utterly overturned his understanding of "power" and "existence"!

One glance—merely the glance of a projection—could erase a Greater Daemon!

What kind of power was that?!

He looked at the Crystal Cross crest and felt that pure, supreme aura of order. An indescribable sense of awe rose within him.

Almost by instinct, the Regent of the Imperium of Man slowly and incomparably solemnly performed an Aquila Salute toward the figure in the pillar of light!

The figure within the pillar, its blurred yet majestic face seeming to show only a hint of interest in something, cast a curious glance, then dissipated into the Void.

As though it had never appeared.

Yet the absolute silence upon the bridge, the patch of pure Void left behind after Skarbrand's complete erasure, and the lingering extreme terror in every demon's eyes all clearly proved that what had just happened was not an illusion!

The gaze of the Hilling Emperor had descended! Though it lasted only five seconds, it was enough to... remake heaven and earth!