Just as the Emperor, Lorgar, and Magnus remained locked in a stalemate, the Emperor's brow suddenly furrowed slightly.
At that moment, his gaze shifted away from Magnus toward an unseen point deep within the Warp. His perception spread like an invisible net through its dimensions, probing, scanning, and catching the energy and information flowing through the realm of Chaos.
Then his expression changed in an instant.
He sensed something wrong within the Warp.
A strange power had poured into it. This was no ordinary Chaos energy, neither the scheming power of Tzeentch nor the recognizable essence of the other three Chaos Gods.
It was an unfamiliar, twisted power, like the primordial chaos that had existed before the birth of the universe.
It resembled no known Warp entity, nothing that could be understood or classified.
It was pure, indescribable darkness, fathomless as an abyss, rushing toward them at terrifying speed.
The Emperor's pupils contracted slightly.
For once, a flicker of surprise crossed his face. Though it vanished almost immediately, those who knew the Emperor understood that anything capable of surprising the Master of Mankind was enough to shock the entire Galaxy.
His mind analyzed countless possibilities and calculated countless responses in an instant. But that power was too unfamiliar, too strange, for him to immediately find an effective countermeasure.
And in that single second of distraction, Tzeentch seized the opening.
The Lord of Change had been waiting for this opportunity.
His countless eyes gleamed with cunning in the darkness. His body of tentacles and wings trembled slightly in the void, and a delighted smile curled across his mouth, as though he were watching a meticulously orchestrated drama finally reach its climax.
The instant the Emperor became distracted, the instant that strange power drew the Master of Mankind's attention, Tzeentch struck.
Terrifying