"Neos, how could it be you?"
Lox stood frozen in place, instinctively rubbing his fingers together to get the blood stiffened by shock flowing again.
Before climbing those steps, he had prepared himself for the worst—during a conversation with Guilliman on Macragge, Guilliman had suggested that the Chief might be the same person as the Emperor.
Though Lox had fiercely refuted that absurd claim, the shadow of it had never left his mind. Honestly, who could completely deny that possibility?
After repeatedly wrestling with the thought, Lox had even decided that the possibility was not entirely unacceptable. Though he did not know why the nearly flawless sage in his heart had become someone who repeatedly made baffling decisions, seeing the Chief again would still be a good thing.
But when he saw the true face of the Lord of Humanity, he realized that his guess had been wrong—but not entirely wrong.
Because the man before him really was connected to the Chief.
Lox knew the man beneath the Lord of Humanity's halo.
"Is Neos your real name, or merely one among your endless names?" Lox demanded, desperate for an answer.
"You are the Emperor, the Lord of Humanity, Neos, the Omnissiah—who else are you?!"
Lox's heart pounded wildly. If someone suddenly discovered that a friend's true identity was the Lord of Humanity, they would probably react the same way.
"You may regard it as my true name, my friend," said the man on the throne.
"After ten thousand years, we meet again."
The Emperor's voice appeared directly in Lox's mind. He exerted every effort to restrain his psychic power, lest the leaking force blow Lox's head apart.
Even Malcador could not endure the Lord of Humanity's psychic power for long, much less a psychic null like Lox.
Looking at Neos's