As the Emperor was traveling through the Warp in search of lesser deities to serve as the souls of his Primarchs he was thrown off course by an unexpected surge in the Warp that he could not have predicted and had no time to brace himself against. As a result he ended up in a realm within the warp very near to the Eye of Terror itself. Immediately he was surprised to see it being beset on all sides by seemingly endless hordes of daemons of all different types. Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch were all sending a surprisingly vast amount of force in an attempt to crush whatever deity resided here. As far as the eye could see, there were entire seas and oceans of daemons, including Greater Daemons and daemons the size of entire planets and solar systems.
And the overwhelming sense of mind shatteringly immense rage and hatred that buffeted the Emperor was almost a tangible force in and of itself. If the Emperor didn't know better he would have thought he had ended up in the realm of the Blood God due to the sheer anger and hatred he sensed.
The seemingly endless tides of horrifyingly powerful daemons was almost enough to deter him from seeking whatever was here. Almost. Mostly because it would take so much time and energy that it was almost just not worth the effort. However, if the Chaos Gods truly wanted to destroy whatever was here this badly, then he wanted whatever it was so he could turn it against them. Whether it was an artifact or an entity or some combination thereof did not matter to him in the least.
Plunging into the ocean of daemons, the Emperor began burning his way through them. It took him well over half a century due to just how dense the sea of daemons was and just how powerful some of them were, but he eventually reached the epicenter and what he found was not at all what he had been expecting. He thought he would find some sort of horrific Warp entity or a hyper dangerous artifact. But no. What he found was what for all intents and purposes looked like an average human man in a strange green suit of armor wielding a strange sword with a blade made of some sort of blood red energy. And the Emperor could tell the creature was not just banishing the daemons back to their masters' realms but was rather completely destroying them, giving them true deaths much in the same way as the Emperor himself could do. Though not in the same way as the Emperor. No, he seemed to consume their very essence upon killing them, thus destroying them. Though it seemed incapable of bending the Warp to its will in the same way as other Warp entities which the Emperor found extremely odd.
That being said, the Emperor could immediately tell that this entity was anything but a simple human man. It was, in fact, a warp god. And an extremely powerful one at that. In fact, the Emperor would have gone so far as to say it was more powerful than all of the Chaos Gods combined by far. And being closer to it now, he could tell exactly where the entity's infinitely vast anger and hatred was directed. It was directed towards the Chaos Gods themselves and the daemons all around him, as apparently this entity saw the Chaos Gods and their daemons as seperate beings for some reason. The Emperor knew they were in fact not separate in the least but he would not begrudge the entity for this misconception.
Regardless, it was no wonder the four Chaos Gods were so desperate to destroy it. Or more accurately to keep it trapped in one spot forever since they were incapable of destroying it but the fact it was incapable of bending the Warp to its will meant it was incapable of destroying all of the daemons they were sending to keep it contained either. It was even more dangerous to them than the Emperor himself and its one and only goal seemed to be to destroy them all.
The Emperor already knew all of the deities that he wanted to use for his Primarch Project. He had it all planned out already. At least, to an extent. There were some things he was incapable of planning for and he knew it. He wanted to make primarchs in multiples of fives as he did not want to give the Chaos gods power by making them in multiples of six, seven, eight, or nine. So he couldn't exactly just make a twenty first primarch.
So he mentally debated what to do for a while. Eventually he decided that he couldn't come to a decision with what little information he currently had. So he unleashed a massive wave of psychic energy and vaporized every daemon within the general vicinity before creating a massive psychic barrier to keep them out. He then approached the entity very cautiously, ready to teleport himself away at the slightest sign of hostility.
"Greetings." The Emperor stated.
The entity said nothing but lowered its sword, but held onto it. It was apparently just as on guard as the Emperor himself, if not moreso.
"I am Revelation. Would you care to tell me what you are called?" The Emperor inquired.
"Doom… Why have you come?" The entity demanded, the force of its voice shaking the very fabric of the Warp around them.
"Originally I was thrown off course and ended up here purely by chance. But seeing the daemons assaulting something, I decided to investigate. I have a few questions for you, and depending on how you answer I may have a request. If you don't mind, of course." The Emperor explained.
"Speak." The entity ordered.
"I can tell you hate the Chaos Gods. Is destroying them your only goal?" The Emperor inquired.
"Yes." The entity stated.
"What will you do once they're destroyed?" The Emperor inquired.
A stone sarcophagus suddenly appeared next to the entity. "Sleep. Until more demons appear." The sarcophagus disappeared again.
"I see. How do you plan to achieve this goal?"
"Rip and tear… Until it is done…" The entity growled furiously, glaring at the daemons on the other side of the Emperor's barrier
Realizing he was likely about to lose the entity's attention when its favored prey was so close, the Emperor decided he knew enough. He could tell the entity had not been lying in the least. This entity was a lot better than some of the other gods the Emperor had planned to use. So the Emperor decided to use this one instead of the god the Emperor had deemed the most dangerous and unreliable.
"Very well. Then my offer is this. Your plan will not work as you currently are. However, I want the exact same thing that you do. I want to destroy the Chaos Gods. And I have a much better plan to do so. It would take a while to explain but we have time before my barrier falls. Do you mind?" The Emperor inquired.
"Explain. Keep it brief." The entity ordered.
The Emperor proceeded to explain his plan and his Primarch Project.
By the time the Emperor was finished, the entity deactivated his energy sword and held out the inactive hilt to the Emperor. "Take it. It contains my soul. And…" Another much more demonic looking sword hilt appeared in the entity's other hand. "This contains the soul of my opposite. Davoth. Do not let the demons have it. Ever. Destroy it, if possible. I've tried but can't. If not then keep it sealed away in the material realm where the demons can't ever get it. If Davoth is released, then so too will be Hell."
The Emperor took both swords. "I see… Is the Warp itself not already Hell?" The Emperor inquired.
The entity shook its head. "A tiny and insignificant fragment. It is not even a shadow of a ghost of the evil of true Hell. Its demons are as dust compared to true demons. The 'Chaos Gods' are like dust to Davoth and their evil is nothing compared to him. Our war spanned entire universes and resulted in their complete annihilation and creation. These 'Gods' cannot exist beyond a single galaxy. They are pathetic. But I cannot use my full power without Davoth free to fight against me. So I am trapped. Thus the reason I am entrusting you with my soul rather than destroying them myself."
"You say that as if you are not a warp entity yourself." The Emperor stated in a grim tone as he looked at the vile sword containing the soul of Davoth. He honestly doubted if he could destroy it, but if even a fraction of what the entity said was true then he would bring it back to the material realm and he would make absolutely sure nothing could ever get to it. Hell, he would keep it with him at all times if he could but he sincerely doubted that was a good idea.
"I am not." The entity stated.
"I see… Very well… Thank you, for your cooperation. I promise I will never let them get a hold of this sword. I will keep it locked away in the most well defended place I can with the most powerful arcane wards possible. The Chaos Gods will never be allowed to have it. Now I'm afraid I must go. Will you be able to fight all of these daemons on your own without your sword until the ritual is complete?" The Emperor inquired.
The entity cracked its knuckles before walking away.
"I suppose I'll take that as a yes." The Emperor said before turning and leaving to go finish collecting the remaining members of the other nineteen gods.
[Later]
The Emperor cursed furiously as he saw all of the pods containing the Primarchs were gone and he felt the touch of the Ruinous Powers infesting his lab. He had been betrayed.
He immediately began tearing the lab appart in search of the demonic sword that Doom had entrusted him with. He had stored it here with the Primarchs in a box with wards just as powerful as those he used to seal away his failed proto-primarch, the Angel, in his sarcophagus. This had mainly been to keep it from corrupting the developing Primarchs. The only reason he even kept it here in the first place was because this was the single most well protected location on Terra from the influence of the Warp. However, this had proven to be a serious mistake on his part.
Unable to find the box, he realized it had been taken as well. Thus he determined one of two things was about to happen. One, the Chaos Gods would release Davoth and he would have another significantly larger threat to contend with. Or two, assuming they didn't want another rival or master they would merge Davoth's soul with the second primarch's, thus resulting in something like either the ninth primarch or the twentieth primarchs. Either way he absolutely dreaded whatever was about to happen.
[Within the Warp]
After being thrown into the Warp the second Primarch was awoken as immense pain coursed through his body as the Chaos Gods forcibly merged his soul with Davoth's. Now awake and extremely angry, he roared furiously inside his pod and smashed his fists against it, trying to rip his way out so he could attack the daemons he saw outside. This proved unnecessary as a Bloodthirser ripped open his pod and tried to swing its ax at him. The moment he was free he immediately assaulted the Blood Thirster and tore a horn off its head. He then used this horn as his only weapon to kill the Blood Thirster and all other daemons he could find.
He spent what was several centuries inside the Warp but was only a few decades in the Materium slaughtering hordes of daemons. He would never pick up any of their weapons, sensing their corrupting power and would instead use their own bodies and body parts as weapons to kill them.
Eventually, however, his fight came to an end. An entire army of Argenta warriors wielding highly advanced weapons and armor flew into the Eye of Terror on a crusade. And as they were fighting the daemons, they found him. A giant among men, naked, and covered in the blood of the daemons he was slaughtering with nothing but his bare hands. After helping him kill all of the daemons they had one of their psychic warrior priests look him over. It was found that he was completely free of the taint of the Daemons. So, seeing a potentially valuable warrior to use against the monstrosities that had plagued them for so long, they brought him back to their home world. Argent D'Nur. A world whose solar system was half way into the Eye of Terror itself.
The solar system's unfortunate location resulted in many of the animals having turned into extremely powerful daemonic beasts, and the inhabitants having to fight off daemonic invasions constantly whenever their world crossed into the half of the solar system that went into the Eye of Terror. Thus the Argenta bred an intense hatred for the monsters they called "demons" and were forced to evolve and develop technology to better fight them. Thus the Argenta were significantly stronger, faster, and more durable than baseline humans and were almost immune to the corrupting powers of the Warp. Significantly more psykers of much greater power than usual were born amongst them as well, forcing them to develop academies for said psykers so they would not be a threat to the general populace. Thus the Argenta had some of the best and most stable psykers in the galaxy. These psykers were often employed against the daemons to great effect.
The second Primarch spoke no words as he knew no language. But they determined that he was not mute so they did teach him their language. A soldier, even an expendable non-Night Sentinel outlander like him, was of little use if they could not understand orders after all. At that point they may as well have left him in the Eye of Terror if they would. So once he could speak they sent him to the arena where he crushed all challengers and his motto "Rip and Tear" became quite famous. Determining him worthy of being sent to the front lines they gave him a bare minimum of training and equipment. He was a monster on the battlefield, crushing even the mightiest of daemons.
As the years went by he became a second warrior king to the Night Sentinels and Argenta and would become known as the Doom Slayer. Eventually he would come to be recognized as a protective god of war by the Argenta and was worshiped by them as an equal to the Elemental Wraiths. And as their technology developed further he eventually helped them expand their empire to other solar systems where they would not be so forever plagued by demonic attacks. Their empire spanned all the way around the Eye of Terror in a massive sphere. Any solar sytem within the immediate vicinity of the Eye of Terror belonged to the Argenta. There were some with human civilizations already on them, but they were all rapidly brought under the control of the Night Sentinels.
That was until their crusade finally reached the system Containing the planet Caliban and belonging to Lion El'Jonson Thus the First Legion came to blows with the Second Primarch and the Night Sentinels. This was how the Doom Slayer was found, him leading a war against the Imperium.
The Night Sentinels were no Space Marines, but they were by no means standard Humans either. They were somewhere in between. Still, with their weapons and armor utilizing the powers of the Elemental Wraiths, the guardian gods of their world, they were a very serious force to be reckoned with and it was uncertain which side would win. Even with the full might of the First Legion involved.
That was until the Doom Slayer took to the battlefield personally.
[On Caliban]
The Doom Slayer cleaved one of the eight foot tall warriors in half with his blazing blue Crucible blade. He then charged his Ballista and cut down an entire squad with a single arc of crimson energy. Seeing another stunned after having been hit by a Sentinel Cannon the Slayer charged forwards, grabbed the large warrior and proceeded to rip one of his arms off before beating him to death with it, just as he would have done to a demon.
Suddenly he felt the teeth of a chain sword skittering harmlessly across his near indestructible Praetor Suit. Looking he saw yet another suicidal warrior futily attempting to harm him. Ripping the chainsword out of the warrior's hands he proceeded to eviscerate him with his own weapon before kicking the corpse away.
Suddenly he noticed a flash of light and narrowly dodged a blazing ball of plasma that was coming at him from the side. Turning to look, the Doom Slayer saw another much larger warrior. This one was every bit his equal in terms of stature.
"You will stop this invasion this instant, brother." The warrior said in the common tongue of the civilizations the Doom Slayer had been conquering. "I will not surrender Caliban to anyone."
"I am not your brother." The Doom Slayer growled before charging forwards with his crucible raised.
"Yes, you are." Said the other warrior blocking the Doom Slayer's crucible with his own sword which appeared to be made of metal but was wreathed in some form of blue energy. The Slayer would have thought it was Sentinel energy but the Wraiths only blessed their followers with such a gift. So he knew it had to be something else. "You may not know it, but we share the same father. We have been searching for you for a long time, but to think I would find you here! Invading my home!"
"The lies of a coward. You're too afraid to face his enemy head on so you resort to petty lies and tricks to make me lower my guard. You're no better than the demons I slaughter in the Gates of Hell." The Slayer growled.
The Lion snarled right back at him. "It is no lie, brother. But fine. If you truly want this fight, then I will not deny you!"
This was probably one of the hardest fights the Slayer had ever had. Even some Greater Demons paled in comparison. Not all, but some. This warrior was shockingly close to being the Doom Slayer's equal. He wasn't the Slayer's equal, not truly, but he was close. And he seemed to have this uncanny ability to change his attacks mid swing, which made fighting him extremely irritating. So he flexed his power and his Crucible was enveloped by Wraith Fire and thus with every attack his opponent was engulfed in waves upon waves of arcane fire.
"You're a psyker?!" The Lion shouted as he was engulfed by the flames.
The Doom Slayer did not respond but pressed the attack.
Their fight continued for a few hours and began growing in intensity until the very ground was cracking under the force of their attacks. Eventually though, the Slayer knocked the other warrior's weapon out of his hand and knocked him to the ground. Pointing the blade of his crucible straight at the other warrior's throat he said, "Yield. A warrior of your caliber I expect is a king. Join Argent D'Nur and I will let you live."
"Never! I would rather die!" Spat the other warrior.
The Doom Slayer said nothing but raised his crucible in preparation to decapitate the enemy warrior. As he was about to swing his sword he felt something grip his arm, preventing it from moving. Looking, he saw a massive golden hand gripping his arm. Looking at the owner of the arm he saw someone he immediately recognized as his father. He didn't know how he recognized the man, he had never seen him before in his life as far as he remembered, but recognize him he did.
"That is quite enough. You have more than proven your skill as a warrior. But this ends now." His father stated.
"Hmph… Perhaps he wasn't lying when he said he was my brother." The Doom Slayer stated, ripping his arm out of the Emperor's grip. Much to the Emperor's blatant surprise.
Surprised as he was, the Emperor recovered quickly and said, "Indeed. Call off you men, my son. We need not come to blows. You will be allowed to retain control of the solar systems that already belong to you. And you will be allowed to rule those systems however you see fit. Nothing of importance will change. Just stand down and join the Imperium."
"You say that, but no. I will not surrender my people to your rule so easily. Hm… A challenge then. You and I will fight. And whoever wins will submit to the other's rule. Do you accept these terms?" The Doom Slayer inquired.
"I do. Is there a specific location you have in mind, or will we fight here?" The Emperor inquired.
"No. We will fight in the Arena on Argent D'Nur. I will call off my armies until our duel is concluded… You are most unfortunate. Argent D'Nur is in the period of its orbit in which it is about to enter the Gates of Hell. We will encounter demons once we get there. Be ready. I would be ashamed if my own father was killed by a lowly Bloodthirster or the like before he could even face me in the arena." The Doom Slayer stated, deactivating his crucible sword.
The Emperor's face became grim. "The Gates of Hell? Are you referring to the Eye of Terror?"
The Doom Slayer pointed up at the ugly purple splotch in the sky. "That horrid massive portal you see above is the Gates of Hell. If you refer to it as the Eye of Terror, then so be it. If you have ever been to Hell you should know what is waiting for you… You fought well, brother. What is your name?" The Doom Slayer said, holding out a hand to his brother to help him to his feet.
"Lion El'Jonson. I would know the name of the man who defeated me." The Lion said, taking his hand and pulling himself up to his feet.
"I don't have one. However, the Night Sentinels refer to me as the Doom Slayer." The Doom Slayer stated.
"You didn't have a family? Adoptive parents?" The Emperor inquired.
"No. I spent the first century of my life in the depths of Hell. I was already a man when I was found by the Night Sentinels. Thus I have never had a need for a name until the demons gave me one. Then the Night Sentinels started calling me the same thing. The Night Sentinels turned the Demon's term of fear and dread into a badge of honor which I carry with pride." The Doom Slayer explained.
"I see… Well, I did have a name for you originally before you ended up lost in the Warp. Would you like to hear it?" The Emperor inquired.
"No. Whatever it was, it no longer matters. I am not who I would have been had I been raised by you." The Slayer explained. He then reached up to the side of his helmet and pressed a button. "This is the Slayer. All units are to pull back for now. I have found this civilization's king. I will be dueling him in the arena on Argent D'Nur for the right to rule."
He then looked at the Emperor, sizing him up for a moment. "I look forward to our battle. And I warn you, I will not go easy on you. And you, Lion El'Jonson, are invited to watch the battle if you so desire. Assuming you can survive a demonic incursion on the way to the Arena. But I would expect no less from someone who shares my blood." With that the Doom slayer turned and began walking away.
[On Argent D'Nur]
The Slayer ripped the head off of a Lord of Change before looking back at the Emperor and his bodyguards who were battling their way along the path behind him. The Emperor seemed to be doing extremely well. In fact the demons seemed to fear him just as much as they feared the Slayer. His bodyguards were also doing quite well. The Lion was not attending to watch this battle.
"We're here." The Slayer stated motioning to the entrance. "My warriors will deal with the rest of the demons. Your bodyguards can follow the captain to the stands to watch the battle. They will not be participating." The Doom Slayer then turned and walked inside. The Emperor followed him while his bodyguards followed the Night Sentinel Captain to watch the battle.
As they reached the center of the arena, the Emperor looked around. "Hm… A bit smaller than I was expecting."
"It was built for average humans. Of course it's small for the likes of us. Regardless, it will serve its purpose. Now, on your guard. Our battle begins now." The Slayer said before charging forwards with his crucible raised.
The Emperor deflected his attack and swung at the Slayer with his power claws, only for the Slayer to dodge out of the way before scoring a hit with his crucible on the Emperor's armor. The Emperor grunted in surprise from the mild pain in his torso where the crucible cut into the surface of his flesh. "How…?"
The Slayer said nothing but pressed the assault. The Emperor was immediately forced to be on the defensive. But as time went on he slowly began to learn how the Slayer fought and began adjusting for it. At that point they were fighting on equal footing.
Their cataclysmic fight lasted for a week and it was a clash between gods, it could be described in no other way. As they were fighting, nearly deafeningly loud otherworldly shrieks began shaking the ground from their sheer force and volume. "What on Terra is that?" The Emperor demanded.
"The Elemental Wraiths. Argent D'Nur's guardian deities. As Argent D'Nur has fully entered the Gates of Hell they have awoken and have gone to war with the daemons. That shriek is them attacking the demons. Don't concern yourself with that, though. Focus on our fight, unless you plan to lose and hand your empire over to me." The Doom Slayer explained, not stopping his assault even for a second.
The battle went on for another three days after that and the Doom Slayer began winning again. The Emperor growled in frustration as he realized his back was now against the wall and he was genuinely about to lose. It seemed the Warp God he had selected had granted the Doom Slayer significantly more power than the Emperor had anticipated. But he was not about to give up his Imperium to anyone. Flexing his psychic might he blasted the Slayer with lightning and knocked him to the ground with telekinesis. He had been trying to avoid this, but if he hadn't done so he knew he would have lost within just a few short seconds had the fight continued on any longer.
Suddenly Night Sentinels came rushing into the arena with their spears raised. Seeing this the Emperor's bodyguards jumped down into the arena from the stands with their own weapons raised.
"HOLD!" The Slayer shouted, forcing himself up to his feet. "I went into this battle knowing my father was a psychic. I was confident in my own abilities to deal with it when he inevitably used his powers. All of you, stand down. It is my loss." He then kneeled before the Emperor and held out his crucible.
"You have won. I admit defeat. You are now the king of Argent D'Nur. Take your blade, father." The Slayer stated.
"I believe there has been a misunderstanding. I am not taking your place as king. Rather you will remain as king, but you will answer to me as your Emperor. I told you before, you will be allowed to continue to rule your kingdom as you see fit. It's merely that your kingdom is now a part of my Imperium. How large is your kingdom if I may ask? How many worlds are under your control?" The Emperor inquired.
"I see. Very well." The Doom Slayer said, deactivating his crucible sword and putting it away. "I control all worlds around the Gate of Hell. We have made an all encompassing net in a sphere around the gate, or as close to a sphere as we could manage with the galaxy being a disc. The only locations we do not control are the planets under the Lion's control."
Once again the Emperor seemed surprised. "That's… Well over forty thousand worlds. Many times the size of even the Realm of Ultramar. And that's at the bare minimum size, it may very well be much larger depending on how far away from the Eye you have expanded… Regardless, if you truly control that much then you will be allowed to keep your territory. So long as you do not attempt to encroach upon Lion El'Jonson's territory again."
"Fine. He had better be very good at fighting demons. Otherwise he will not last long around the Gates." The Slayer growled.
"That's another thing I wished to discuss with you. How much do you know about the daemons?" The Emperor inquired.
"Much. I know they are the spiritual manifestations of the thoughts and emotions of every living being in the galaxy. I know they serve four separate gods within Hell. I have personally been to each of those gods' realms and seen them first hand. Though I have yet to make it to the center of any of them. I also know I am completely immune to their corrupting effects. I don't know how to destroy the gods they serve yet but I am searching for a solution. My people know every bit as much as me and some know more. Specifically the priests. I am not the most academic individual so I have not studied with the priests any more than I needed to. If you wish to know more, I can lead you to them so you may ask them." The Slayer explained.
"Hm… That's what I was afraid of. Come. I am bringing you to my ship. We must speak in private." The Emperor told him.
"As you wish." The Doom Slayer said, standing up. He then followed the Emperor out of the arena and to a transport that would bring them to the Emperor's personal warship.
Once they were inside, in a private meeting room, they began to talk.
"Before we begin I wanted to ask you, why did you lie? You absolutely did not know I am a psyker before we fought. I intentionally concealed that fact from you. So why did you tell your soldiers that?" The Emperor inquired.
"I fight Lords of Change on a regular basis and win. I deal with tricks and illusions constantly. Even if you were concealing the fact from me, I should have seen it coming and been prepared for it. The fact I didn't means you would have killed me had this been a fight to the death. So I consider the win legitimate even if you did technically cheat. That being said, we can have a rematch if you want. Now that I know you are psychic I know exactly how to fight you in order to defeat you or even kill you if I had to. So if you want to give your empire to me, by all means let's have a rematch." The Doom Slayer explained.
"Hmph… No. I don't think I'll be doing that. I have no intention of giving up my Imperium. Thank you for satisfying my curiosity, however. Now that it's been revealed I am a psyker your mind is like one of Rogal Dorn's fortresses. I can not read any of your thoughts so I genuinely had no idea why you did that. And the only reason I'm telling you this is because I'm absolutely certain you already realize it. Now, onto the real reason as to why I brought you here." The Emperor stated. He then proceeded to explain his plan and reasons for keeping the Chaos Gods a secret to the Doom Slayer.
"So. Do you understand now why telling your brothers or any of the worlds you will conquer for the Imperium that daemons and the four Chaos Gods exist is a horrible idea?" The Emperor inquired.
"I understand your reasoning, but I sincerely disagree. Letting them know so they can prepare for the threat would be the much wiser option. You said one of my brothers is psychic. Well, what do you think will happen to a psychic who is unaware of the dangers of Hell? My people know what happens better than anyone, and I guarantee it will only end in tragedy. Or what if one of my other brothers picks up a possessed weapon thinking to use it? They risk having their souls ripped out and having their bodies taken over by demons if they do not know what to look out for. Or what if they go to Hell and the demonic gods flood their minds with visions of horrors that would never come to pass in reality, convincing them that you are evil and they are good. And that by fighting you and helping them, whichever brother it is would be doing what's best for Humanity? They would have no idea the visions they were seeing were nothing but lies and may very well believe them. I'm sorry father, you are a fool if you think keeping this a secret is a good idea."
The Emperor did not look particularly happy to hear that. "So you are refusing to remain quiet then?"
"I never said that. You defeated me, thus by the laws of Argent D'Nur I must follow your will or forfeit my honor and all rights to be called an Argenta or Night Sentinel. So if you order me to remain silent on the matter I will… For most of my brothers. However, the psychic is in the most danger and thus absolutely has to know the truth no matter what. The same can be said for any other psychics amongst them you have yet to speak of. That is the only matter I will remain absolutely firm on. Is it really worth going to war with me over just to keep this secret from one single individual? And if you decide to try to kill me to keep this quiet then, if I do not kill you now while defending myself then I promise you it would indeed be war because I would tell my people the truth of the matter. The overwhelming majority would agree with my stance on the matter and I would not lose my position as king for going back on my word."
The Emperor appeared frustrated but shook his head. "No. It would not be worth it. Fine. I will inform Magnus and only Magnus of the truth. However, you had best keep your end of this del and not reveal any of this to your other brothers. Otherwise there will be consequences."
The Slayer rolled his eyes underneath the helmet of his Praetor Suit. "I am a man of my word. But I will be speaking with this Magnus individual. And if I feel he isn't properly informed, I will educate him myself. Or depending on how uneducated he is I may bring him to study with the priests for a proper psychic education. And you had better not be lying to me when you say I do not have any other truly psychic brothers. Otherwise we will be having another very long talk."
"All of you have some level of psychic ability. However, as far as I am currently aware Magnus is the only true psyker in the same way that I myself am." The Emperor explained.
"Are they at risk of speaking with demons and falling for their lies?" The Slayer inquired.
"No." The Emperor responded.
"Good. Then there are no issues."
"There is one other matter I wanted to discuss." The Emperor stated.
"And that is?" The Slayer inquired.
"The Imperial Truth." The Emperor said in a serious tone. He then explained the Imperial Truth to the Slayer and his reasoning behind wanting to get rid of all religion.
"Once again you are a fool, father. I do not believe your plan will starve the Chaos Gods like you think it will. In fact I believe this puts your citizens at an even greater risk of corruption. That being said, any planet I conquer will be conquered under the Imperial Truth if you so desire. Just as long as they are not part of the Argenta Kingdom. However, I will not be eliminating religion within my own realm. It would be impossible to do so anyway considering the people already know the truth." The Doom Slayer told him.
"Fine. As long as you don't spread your religion beyond your own borders I don't care… Now I am taking you to meet your sons. You see, all of my Primarchs have a legion of transhuman sons I have designed them to lead known as Astartes or Space Marines. Yours are known as the Swords of Vengeance. You may rename them and change whatever you wish about their colors, organization, and insignias. And you have the freedom to recruit more sons from any of the worlds under your control. I will say they are one of the largest and most effective legions under my command. They have been waiting to meet you for quite a while now." The Emperor explained.
"I have sons? Interesting. I thought I was infertile. There have been attempts for me to breed with strong women to produce powerful offspring but it has never worked." The Slayer explained.
"No. It wouldn't. Your genetics are far too dissimilar from a normal human to reproduce with them. Perhaps if there were female primarchs it may be possible, but with the way I made you the offspring would not be as powerful as a Primarch should be without my direct intervention. But there are no female primarchs and there never will be so for all intents and purposes you are indeed infertal. As are all your brothers. Your sons are made in a very different fashion to typical human reproduction. Allow me to explain the process." The Emperor stated before explaining the details of how Astartes were created.
After being reunited with his sons, the Slayer immediately renamed their Legion to the Doom Marines and changed their colors to match that of the Night Sentinels. Furthermore their insignia was changed to the Slayer's personal mark, and they became the only Legion to accept non-Astartes into their ranks. The Legion became completely merged with the normal armies of the Night Sentinels. The sons of the Slayer were merely considered highly ranking and more elite warriors than typical unaugmented Night Sentinels. His was also the fastest expanding Legion as he actively recruited as many aspirants from all of the worlds he reasonably could. Soon his Legion's numbers surpassed even the Ultramarines.
The Slayer's sons who were recruited from the Night Sentinels were stronger and more powerful than typical astartes due to the evolutionary differences between the Argenta and baseline humans. They also had higher rates of success with Astartes augmentations than baseline humans due to being significantly hardier. Furthermore, the Doom Slayer's legion was tied for the most ruthlessly violent Legion in combat next to the World Eaters or the Blood Angels.
However, his legion had a terrible secret. Every last one of his sons, including the ones the Emperor recruited from Terra were all subject to a curse known as the Demonic Scourge. The more they killed the more they had to suppress their rage and bloodlust else they risk turning into demonic monstrosities known as Marauders. These demons fully retained their mental faculties. However they became ruthless, remorseless, and sadistic desiring nothing but to spread death, destruction, and pain. They would become evil to the point they were indistinguishable from the daemons of the Warp. Their only saving grace was that they were still loyal to the Doom Slayer even in this state, were much more powerful than their brothers who had not turned, and had an inhumanly vast hatred for the daemons. While this was enough to keep these marauders around, they were still the Legion's most closely guarded secret. Partially because it was a mutation and the Slayer wished to protect his sons from being purged. And partially because they became worse than even the Night Lords in that state and the Slayer was ashamed of that fact.
That being said, the Doom Slayer was perhaps the only Primarch to truly take Konrad Kurze's visions completely seriously. And he had the least issue with Konrad's methods, having personally employed very similar tactics against the demons of Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch. Though he took very different methods for the demons of Slaanesh as he knew they would enjoy any pain he inflicted on them so he went to great lengths to deny them such satisfaction. Regardless, he was perhaps the one and only primarch to truly befriend Konrad Kurze. He did try to dissuade Kurze from torturing innocent civilians, suggesting it may be better to focus only on soldiers. However his attempts fell on deaf ears. Regardless he was the only Primarch Kurz got along with to any extent whatsoever.
He also tried to get along with Angron to the best of his abilities. However, try as he might, Angron absolutely hated him.
After a few decades he did manage to mend his severely damaged relationship with Lion El'Jonson to an extent. The Lion never let go of the fact the Slayer invaded Caliban and defeated him but he was willing to work with the Slayer and his legion on a polite basis. Though they did have a rivalry.
He and Magnus were about as close as brothers could be. However Magnus' curiosity and recklessness towards the Warp did concern him greatly and he made this very clear to the Primarch. To be fair, Magnus had grown significantly more cautious after learning the truth from the Emperor and studying with the warrior priests on Argent D'Nur. However he was curious by nature so he couldn't help but retain a few of his old habits.
Due to his friendship with Magnus and his stance towards psykers he did not get along with the Primarchs who had particular hatred for psykers such as Leman Russ or Mortarion.
He disliked Perterabo and the feeling was mutual.
He got along very well with Sanguinius. In fact Sanguinius was the brother the Slayer got along with the best besides Magnus. He did eventually learn of the Red Thirst during a campaign in which his Legion was fighting alongside the Blood Angles but agreed to keep it a secret to protect Sanguinius and his sons. And he informed Sanguinius of his own Legion's curse and showed him several of the Marauders. Sanguinius agreed to keep his secret as well but did express his concerns about the marauders. The Slayer retorted by saying he could express the exact same concerns about Sanguinius' sons who were suffering from the effects of the Red Thirst.
Robute Guilliman seemed to resent him somewhat due to the fact the Realm of Argent D'Nur was significantly larger than the Realm of Ultramar and his Legion was larger. However they were still able to engage in polite discussion.
Eventually the Council of Nikaea came. The Doom Slayer voted against banning psykers stating half of his sons were psykers and his legion required psykers to function effectively. He also stated that if they were to censure Magnus they would also have to censure Leman Russ due to his Legion's use of Sorcery. He and Leman Russ physically came to blows over this as Leman Russ was furious at the accusation his chapter used sorcery. Thus the Doom Slayer went into great detail describing exactly what Sorcery was and what Leman Russ' "Rune Priests" did, stating the spirits they called upon were undeniably daemons. Magnus very vocally supported this perspective upon learning exactly what Leman Russ' psykers did.
Thus it was determined that both Leman Russ and Magnus were at fault for using sorcery. Thus it would be decided whether or not they would be censured after the vote.
With that determined, the Doom Slayer proposed setting up an official academy to give psykers proper training. The goal of this training would be to ensure they were not a danger to others. After he pointed out how this was how his kingdom dealt with psykers and his kingdom produced by far the most stable and safe psykers in the entire Imperium that it was also put to a vote.
It was determined they would continue to make use of psykers. Neither Magnus nor Leman Russ would be censured. However there would be greater restrictions placed upon Astartes psykers and Chaplains would be introduced to ensure these restrictions were enforced and to ensure no Legion ever made use of sorcery. And greater restrictions would be placed on normal human psykers, though a proper academy would be established to train them. They would take most of the curriculum from the Night Sentinels but some of it would be determined by the Emperor himself and Malcador the Sigillite.
Eventually Lorgar was corrupted by Erebus and the Horus Heresy began.
During a joint operation between their Legions the Doom Slayer met Fulgrim again and saw him holding a daemonic sword with the symbol of Slaanesh emblazoned on it. He immediately ripped the Laer Blade away from the Phonecian and broke it over his knee, killing the daemon trapped inside. He then apologized and lied to his brother and said something about the blade reminded him of some childhood trauma and that he merely reacted poorly to the memory. He then personally forged Fulgrim a crucible sword to replace the sword he broke. The Phonecian was still quite upset with him but decided to let the matter go. The Doom Slayer had planned to bring this matter up to the Emperor when he spoke to him again, fully planning on saying 'I told you so' but never got the chance before the Horus Heresy began.
Lorgar and Horus met him on the surface of a planet and attempted to sway him to the service of the Ruinous Powers and both of them very nearly got torn limb from limb for his troubles. However, as the Slayer was fighting Horus and Lorgar, Erebus was speaking to some of the Marauders thinking they would be easier to corrupt than the Slayer. He failed miserably in swaying them to the worship of the Ruinous powers and lost an arm and a leg as a result before he was forced to flee and his men were forced to carry him to safety. However he had succeeded in convincing the Marauders that the Imperium would do much better under the rule of the Night Sentinels rather than the Emperor. Though this was not intentional on Erebus' part. It was merely a side effect of him proving the Night Sentinels' greatest fear that the Emperor's foolish policies towards the warp and religion would result in unwitting individuals being corrupted by the demons.
Bringing their concerns to the Slayer the Marauders insisted the Slayer force his father to submit and surrender the Imperium to the Slayer and the Night Sentinels. The Slayer refused their demands, suggesting things could still be fixed. This caused a schism amongst the Night Sentinels and the Doom Marines. Though it was not perfectly cut and dry. Some of the Marauders remained strictly loyal to the Doom Slayer whereas some of the un-corrupted Astartes sided with the renegade faction seeking to overthrow the Imperium.
However hostilities between the factions were temporarily set aside so the Slayer's Legion and the Night Sentinels could participate in defending Terra from Horus and his forces. During the siege of Terra the Doom Slayer, the Doom Marines, and Night Sentinels all fought harder and with more righteous fury than any of them ever had before. Their anger and hatred brought to an all time high as they fought daemons in the Materium so far from the Gates of Hell and what in their minds amounted to foolish traitorous daemon cultists. As a result many of them turned into Marauders.
The Doom Slayer personally fought several traitor Primarchs. And in the process of fighting them his helmet's visor was smashed revealing portions of his face underneath. His normally sky blue eyes had turned a solid blood red, even the whites had not been left unaffected. Furthermore, he began radiating an aura of pure malice and fury so strong even the daemons in service to Tzeentch, Nurgle, and Slaanesh would flea in terror from him if they could. The daemons of Khorne did not care and charged straight to their permanent deaths at his hands. Unfortunately, try as he might, he had not succeeded in killing even a single one of the traitors. This was mainly due to the fact they would run away the moment they realized exactly how much danger they were in. He tried to chase them down like some sort of near rabid unchained predator, but the daemons and astartes managed to buy them all enough time to escape his wrath.
His traitorous brothers escaping only increased his rage further and thus he began falling to the effects of the Demonic Scourge himself. Though his symptoms showed in very different ways to his sons. The only major change to his physical form was his eyes turning blood red. The rest manifested in other ways entirely. His normally blue crucible blade had turned a deep crimson color, space and time seemed to start warping around him, lesser daemons started to die from being in his mere presence, his voice became deeper and more demonic, his normally hot and fiery rage had become an extremely cold and calculated fury but was every bit as intense if not even more so, every weapon he used seemed to become engulfed in pure hellfire, the screams of the damned seemed to echo from every direction simultaneously in his presence, and the essence of every demon and traitor he killed visibly flowed into him in the form of deep red energy as he consumed their very souls, similarly he seemed to just consume any psychic attacks against him in much the same way he consumed souls. Lastly, he seemed to acquire some level of psychic power as he was able to unleash waves of pure hellfire upon his enemies with but a single flick of his Crucible Sword.
He had become more of a demon on the battlefield than even the daemons themselves. It was to the point that some of the other loyalist legions may very well have mistaken him for a traitor if they did not see him and his legion ripping the traitors and demons to shreds with even more fanatic fervor than other Astartes. Even then they were all extremely nervous in his presence and for good reason.
When the Siege of Terra was over, Sanguinius was dead and the Emperor was placed upon the Golden Throne, dying from his wounds he sustained while fighting Horus. The Doom Slayer blamed himself for his brother's demise and the Emperor's current state. Had he known they were going to fight Horus on his ship, the Doom Slayer would have insisted upon joining them. And he would have killed Horus before either Sanguinius or the Emperor had to throw away their lives. This prolonged his curse but after a few weeks he slowly began to return to normal.
His legion had suffered immense casualties in the siege, but originally having over four hundred fifty thousand astartes and millions more Night Sentinels, their numbers were reduced to the size of a still quite large legion. Two hundred thousand astartes and a scant few million Night Sentinels. Had his legion been smaller, they would have been completely eradicated or very close to it. As it was they had still suffered immense losses. Unfortunately the losses would not end there as the faction who wanted to conquer the Imperium reared their head once more.
It wasn't exactly a clean split either. Some Marauders were on the side of the Doom Slayer whilst some un-cursed Doom Marines and Night Sentinels were on the side of the faction suggesting they usurp the Emperor and take over the Imperium for its own good. Two of the Elemental Wraiths even joined the faction who wanted to conquer the Imperium while only one sided with the Slayer. The argument became heated. And eventually the two sides came to blows. The Realm of Argent D'Nur became completely consumed by war as the two factions battled for dominance.
Eventually the Doom Slayer's faction won and chased the other faction deep into the Gates of Hell along with the rest of the traitors. However the Doom Slayer's Legion was now reduced to a hundred thousand from their initial four hundred thousand. It would take well over a century to fully recover from this.
When Robute Guilliman attempted to break the Slayer's Legion into chapters and forcefully implement his Codex Astartes, they went to war. Unlike Rogal Dorn, the Doom Slayer was not afraid to fight Robute in all out war over this matter. Eventually, Robute was forced to come speak to the Slayer directly as the Slayer began invading the Realm of Ultramar and was poised to exterminatus Macragge itself.
[In the Fortress of Doom]
"So. You really can not see the wisdom in splitting the Legions? You were there on Terra during the siege. You saw the damage the traitors caused first hand with the size of their legions! Just stop this madness and listen to me!" Robute demanded, pacing back and forth.
The Doom Slayer just stood there with his arms crossed, watching Robute pacing impatiently. He said nothing but just shook his head "no".
"Grr! Why are you so damn stubborn, brother?! Speak! Explain to me your reasoning so I may at least understand your perspective!" Robute exclaimed, extraordinarily frustrated.
The Slayer said nothing. Ever since the Siege of Terra he had become significantly quieter. He would occasionally speak if he had to give an order or something but it was now quite an uncommon occurrence.
At this point Robute sighed and shook his head. "So that's how it's going to be then… I don't understand why you won't speak, brother. Is it a vow of silence of some sort? Or is it something else? Either way it is incredibly frustrating. It has become completely impossible to have a conversation with you. Even on matters as important as this! But that's fine… How about this, then? I have heard how the Emperor brought you into the fold. You fought him in an arena on your homeworld and you lost. So I propose a duel. If you win, you get to keep your legion. But if I win, you must break it into chapters. Does this sound reasonable to you?"
"Codex?" The Slayer asked simply.
"The codex is just guidelines! I don't know how many times I have to tell you this! You don't have to obey it strictly! It's just a book of tactics and such for how to utilize such a small group of Astartes properly!" Robute growled, in frustration.
"Thirty thousand." The Slayer stated.
Robute narrowed his eyes at the Slayer furiously. "Ten!" He growled.
"Twenty." The slayer growled back.
"Fifteen and that's the absolute highest I am willing to go!" Robute all but shouted.
The Slayer nodded.
"So you're willing to agree to break your Legion into chapters as long as I adjust the numbers from a thousand to fifteen thousand?" Robute asked in an exhausted tone.
"If I lose." The Slayer responded. "Arena or Macragge?"
Robute was resting his face in the palm of his hand at this point. "Ugh… After all that negotiation… Macragge, then. We're already here and I really don't feel like fighting daemons in the Eye of Terror. Let's just get this over with so we can put an end to this ridiculous civil war."
The Doom Slayer nodded. This was by far the most he had spoken in one day in the years since the Siege of Terra. But he sort of had no choice but to speak at least somewhat in this situation.
Later the two of them fought on Macragge with a large audience of Astartes and Night Sentinels present to witness the battle. They fought for several weeks straight. Robute could tell the Slayer could have ended the battle at any time. He could tell he was horribly outmatched. But for some reason the Slayer did not. Robute sincerely hoped that meant the Slayer was considering what Robute had suggested. Or perhaps he always planned to let Robute win but had to put on a show of resistance for his Legion and Night Sentinels? Robute had no idea but he remained hopeful.
After the fifth day, a miracle happened. The Slayer's sword was knocked out of his hand. Robute pointed his power sword at the now disarmed Slayer's throat, signaling the end of the long and arduous duel.
"I yield." The slayer stated.
Robute sighed in relief and lowered his weapon. "Good. Then you will split your legion into chapters of fifteen thousand or less. No more than that. Is that clear, brother?"
The Slayer nodded before walking over and picking his weapon up off the ground. Without another word he deactivated his crucible before turning and leaving.
Robute had no idea why the Slayer had let him win, but he knew that was exactly what had happened. Had he wanted to, he knew his brother could have kept fighting indefinitely until Robute was forced to yield simply because he couldn't stay here fighting forever. Or he could have killed Robute on any number of occasions. Or he could have disarmed him as Robute had done to him. Or any number of other things. Had the Slayer been trying to win, Robute knew there was no way he could have actually won. He was actually forced to wonder if this was what it would be like to fight the Emperor himself. And if so, how powerful had Horus truly been to be able to mortally wound their father as he had. It was honestly a bit terrifying to think about.
After that the Doom Marines were forced to split up into six different chapters, another ten thousand of them having died during their war with the Ultramarines leaving only ninety thousand to split into groups of fifteen thousand. However, all of them and all future successor chapters maintained their homeworlds on planets surrounding the Eye of Terror and they all had extremely close relations and would work very closely together. They acted as the eternal guardians and jailers of the Eye of Terror, forever standing vigil over it in case the traitors ever emerged from it again.
Not long after that the Doom Slayer disappeared into the Eye of Terror where he would not be seen again for over ten thousand years. Or so it seemed. He was perhaps the only primarch who disappeared who made a point of remaining in contact with the Custodes who were guarding the rip in the Emperor's Webway. Specifically to receive updates on the current state of the Imperium. While he didn't speak many words to them, he made it very clear to the Custodes that he would return under two circumstances. First, if he successfully hunted down and killed all of the traitors in the Warp. Second, if the galaxy's state became so urgent that the Custodes or the Emperor himself deemed it absolutely necessary to call him back to lead his sons once more.
[List of Loyal and Traitor Legions]
(Loyalists)
Dark Angels: Lion El'Jonson: Alive, sleeping in the depths of the Rock
Doom Marines: Doom Slayer: Alive, hunting traitors in the Warp
Emperor's Children: Fulgrim: Deceased, killed by Ferrus Manus
White Scars: Jaghatai Khan: Unknown, hunting Dark Eldar in the webway(?)
Imperial Fists: Rogal Dorn: Unknown
Night Lords: Konrad Curze: Alive, alternating between hunting down traitors in the Warp and rouge elements of his own chapter
Blood Angels: Sanguinius: Deceased, killed by Horus Lupercal
Ultramarines: Roboute Guilliman: Mortally wounded, in stasis on Macragge
Thousand Sons: Magnus the Red: Alive, hunting for the Tree of Life in the Warp to resurrect the Emperor.
Salamanders: Vulkan: Unknown, died in an Ork machine(?)
(Traitors)
Iron Warriors: Perturabo: Alive, chaos undivided
Space Wolves: Leman Russ: Alive, chaos undivided leaning towards Khorne
Iron Hands: Ferrus Manus: Alive, Slaanesh
World Eaters: Angron: Alive, Khorne
Death Guard: Mortarion: Alive, Nurgle
Sons of Horus: Horus Lupercal: No longer existent, chaos undivided
Word Bearers: Lorgar: Alive, Chaos undivided
Corvus Corax: Corvus Corax: Alive, Chaos Undivided
Alpha Legion: Omegon: Deceased, killed by Rogal Dorn. Alpharius: Alive, Tzeentch
My Notes: It's been awhile since I posted anything here. Well I think I'll be adjusting my old format slightly. My notes will be on bottom while replies will be on top. Hopefully that will make things a bit easier to read.
So what do you guys think? Good chapter? Though I do have two questions. First, I'm not particularly happy with the Doom Marine's flaw. How do you think I could improve it if at all? I'm willing to go back and rewrite it. Second, how do you think I should continue this? Multiple stories from different characters in the Doom Marine chapter and their successors? Or something else? Or should this be a one off just setting up an alternate version of the setting?
Just so you know, I'm not sure how often I'll be updating this story. I'll try to be as frequent as I can but my life is pretty busy right now. I don't have a whole lot of time for my hobbies.