The room was eerily quiet for a while, only the faint hum of the golden throne and what appeared to be the restful breaths of the Emperor's body breaking the silence. Finally, an acolyte of the Omnisiah returned from examining the Golden Throne, preparing to give his assessment to the Fabricator General in extreme coded machine code. He was as surprised as someone made almost of metal could be when he was stopped from doing so. The raspy metalic voice of the General resounded through the room.

"Give assessments in High Gothic for all to understand."

There was a second of pause to try to assimilate this new information, then his cogitators finally reminded him that this was a direct order from the highest living non-ascended being of the Omnisiah and it was his duty to comply.

"I have analyzed the Golden Throne and I find its function improved beyond our wildest expectations or possibilities of repairs. Parts previously almost decayed appear to now be as if they were replaced by completely new ones. Additionally I have been able to detect several parts that were never detected until now. These new parts exist in places where visual observation would not have been impeded. This servant of the Machine can only conclude that their presence, at least in this room and in this configuration, has started since the God-Emperor - blessed be his name - has begun his awakening. Though I am unclear as to their purpose, in correlation with the Throne's improved capacity from the miraculous renewal of barely-functioning parts, I can theorize that they are meant to give energy from unknown location to the Emperor, which, in a very optimistic scenario, may result in his body's eventual restoration. However, I am not certain any amount of this energy may restore the Emperor in body and mind to the same level of greatest ten thousand years prior. However, when considering the properties of the warp and the mostly unknown effects of the Throne upon He of Terra, this is, although based on the knowledge granted by the Omnisiah, still speculation."

"The Emperor will walk among us again..." One of the High Lords whispered in awe, all sense of caution removed. He composed himself a moment later, but they were all thinking the same. However it would end, it would be with the Emperor beside them. Not the worst way to end. Not the worst way indeed.

"In the most optimistic scenarios." Voiced, rather diplomatically, the Fabricator General. "In any case, steps must be taken to ensure the Omnissiah's will be done." He continued, gaining weary nods from the rest.

"Yes, the people must be told!" Said the Ecclasiarch, with a glint of fanaticism in his eyes.

"Yes, but what?" Answered one of the Lord Inquisitors placidly. "We must make sure we do not give false hope. In other times, it would have been the prudent action to take, but in this situation..." He trailed off. "We do not know how disseminating this information - whatever we decide to, at the very least - is going to affect the population."

"Nor," the other Lord said slowly "what the Emperor Himself wishes us to disseminate, if any."

"At least they should be told that the Emperor has talked to his subjects, directly!" Said the Ecclasiarch enthusiastically. "At least, that..." he deflated, remembering what else the Emperor had said. "It would give the faithful more hope for the future."

"Even false as it is." Sighed the first Lord Inquisitor.

"Even as it is." Said another.

"Very well, we should talk with the Ministorum Public Relations Department and get our..." trailed off the Lord Inquisitor. "...what was that ancient saying? "Get our stories together"? "Create a common front"? Something in that sense."

They all nodded and prepared to depart, although still aware that they were in the Emperor's inner sanctum, stealing furtive glances at the Golden Throne for perhaps the Emperor... waking up once more and adding anything to the conversation. Before they left though, the Ecclesiarch remembered something very important.

"Wait!" He almost yelled, putting his hands over his mouth at the fear of disturbing Him on the Throne. "What... what of the xenos? How do we... disseminate that?"

The Lord Inquisitor turned a crooked, subjectively speaking evil smile at him, as befit of his position. "With all due respect, Ecclesiarch, I do not remember Him asking us to... convert them. We will deal with them, it is in our bounds. And we will try to fulfill his Will in both letter and spirit of His words. But I doubt they will need one such as you to do... business with them."

"Although I did not suggest conversion for the filth to the Imperial Creed..." replied the Ecclesiarch deflated, "taking this in consideration, it may be a... way to control the vermin."

"Duly noted." Said the Lord Inquisitor curtly. "We shall announce you if we need of your services." And with this he left, followed by the other High Lord and Lord Inquisitors.

The Ecclesiarch stayed there for a short while, looking wearily at the Golden Throne. If he were told when he had waken up that this day the Emperor of Mankind would awaken and... absolve him and his predecessors of their sins in His name and the name of humanity, and also that he would be told that the end was nearer than imagined, and more permanent and horrifying than everyone would have liked to believe... he wouldn't have changed a thing. He wouldn't have changed his route that incidentally took him close to the Imperial Palace, where he was one of the few Lords of Terra to be called to witness this momentous occasion. Recordings and transcripts had obviously been made, and they would go to those who knew how to keep a secret with the price of their lives and souls.

A few days later, they had prepared as well as they could. Though they had argued and squabble for a while, the High Lords decided that those who witnessed such an event were the ones that should appear in public, blessed by Him on Terra as they were to be in the right time in the right place at the event. Some High Lords had been even in agreement with staying out of the spotlight, putting what they considered the public burden on the three.

And so, the Highest Lord Ecclesiarch, the Lord Inquisitor Garish and the Fabricator General of Mars appeared side by side, men whose names would be forgotten by all but the most staunch believers, but as both the representatives of their branches of humanity announced the edited version of the event. On how the Emperor had risen from his Holy Throne and forgiven His subjects for their transgressions, and their forefathers before them - something the Ecclesiarch strongly believed and had pushed to appear in this speech. How they had witnessed this event with their own eyes, and that they had to fight harder, for the horrors they would face would be numerous, but so would the benefits if they triumphed - which wasn't much of a stretch of the truth. How he had once again reaffirmed Mankind's rightful rule to the stars, but that xenos should merely be distrusted and not outright slaughtered if they'd fight by man's side, for they had been enlightened by the Emperor to do so. If these words had not come from the pillars of the Imperial Truth, they would have been most likely marked as heresy, but as it was, most worlds complied. Of course, there were riots, governments toppled, and worlds rebelling from the Imperium "in His name", but in the grand scheme of things, it was within acceptable parameters.

In these times of small upheavals, the Tau suddenly found themselves with a much longer leash. Trade with supposed Imperial worlds had become much more prevalent and an unprecedented openness between the leaders of these worlds and the Water Caste had begun. The Tau looked eagerly to the next world to take, having from what to actually choose. This prompted an Ethereal Conclave, as this smelled for many of them as a trap. And in some ways, it was. Although the colonies would accept Tau supplies and technology now quite willingly and openly - even eagerly, they might think - so too their demands had risen. For it appeared the Imperium was spinning this new Renascence and milking it for all it was worth, as human worlds outright demanded to be governed themselves, for humans, by humans, without Tau interference. What was worse, these infiltrators were agitating spirits in Tau-controlled but majority colonized by the gue'vesa. The idea that the Emperor had sanctioned their colluding with xenos but that he willed for man's right on ruling the Galaxy even if not necessarily under the leadership of the Imperium, gave many ideas and many protests started to pop up in previously untouched paradises and well working gears. The Tau were forced to concede more and more rights for humans to rule themselves in exchange for peace on those worlds, for now they saw that they had indeed fallen into a trap, one they thought humanity incapable of springing: renouncing or at least lessening its populus' xenophobic tendencies in exchange for a longer reach on human-controlled worlds.

So had the Tau physically secured the Damocles Gulf and beyond, but would always stay with Damocles' Sword over their heads from the territories they supposedly ruled. While the resources and tithes were still going to the Tau worlds, the truth of the matter was that they didn't have enough troops as there were gue'vesa living under their rule now. They had overstretched and they payed the price in loss of the major moral control they had had.

And then there was Farsight...

The Farsight issue was debated at length with the gue'vasa situation. Something had happened, that was certain, something on a Galactic scale that had changed attitudes and alliances. The Imperium situation was a reaction to it, and the only visible it was the darkening of what the gue'vasa called the Eye of Terror. Already, raiders had been captured claiming allegiance to one apparent Chaos Warlord Grimdark. They were curious in that they did not exhibit traits found on other warbands until now. They still wore the Imperial Skull as their symbol, and were much more, for want of a better word, stoical. They of course did as the rest, answering where it suited them, refusing to do so or to reveal the location of their Warlord Grimdark (that was at least a refreshing and frustrating similarity with the other followers of the Chaos, as they laughed just as when "berserkers" were asked to reveal the location of their warlord Khorne or special-abilities humans to reveal their master Tzeentch's location - who'd have thought finding the location of the other three warlords would be so hard?). But that was where the similarities ended. For these were as staunch and unreadable as captured Imperials, and stoic in their belief. They almost reminded them of followers of the Greater Good, although from a different perspective somehow. While the Tau had fought for the betterment of their people and the people of the Galaxy, these fought for... the sake of standing the line, as it appeared. Most were dressed in black, and their special-abilities users were not mad gibbering to their warlord that they claimed as their God, but stoic, resilient and strangely unmutated, or at least most of the mutations seemed comfortable and fitting on their forms in comparison to other aberrations they had seen coming from warp storms. They claimed they raided for materials for the weak of their homes, and that they had started worshiping this Grimdark it had promised that whatever threat would come to their world, he would stand together with them. A bold move, the Tau thought, as none but the Slaanesh they had killed earlier dared to show his slimy face to his enemies until then - though gue'vesa reportedly still worshiped this warlord even after the Tau had confirmed his death.

And then there was the Imperium's communique about the Emperor's "rise". They assumed it was some new Emperor replacing the dying or possibly dead old one, but there was no record in all their relations with the Imperium that this had happened before, and that it would rise such fervor from the Imperial subjects. They had made inquiries, but the subject of the Emperor was so mythisised and religiosified that they couldn't tell myth from reality after so much time. All they knew was that what they supposed was the First Emperor had made the Space Marines and even stronger creatures that humanity still worshiped called Primarchs. Then one of these, apparently created from a tube by the Emperor, called son and loved by him (sometimes the Tau couldn't wrap their minds around the humans' sometimes inane beliefs, and even worse how they believed them), betrayed him and slew him. This is where things had gotten confused. Normally, a new Emperor must have taken the seat, apparently some Guilliman, now worshiped as a demi-god by the Ultramarines (though again there were discrepancies, as him ruling for millennia was preposterous!), but he was called regent. None after his death (several millennia after his birth, allegedly!) was recorded as taking the throne, though the First Emperor was still worshiped, and apparently, a group of very strange and different individuals that were often physically remote from the human form were ruling in the First Emperor's place and worshiping him. These were called the High Lords of Terra. The Tau now assumed that the Lords had finally realized their system was not working and that they had put another Emperor on this Golden Throne of theirs (next to the corpse of the old one? These gue'vesa were so confusing!), though their claimed the First Emperor had risen. Maybe they believed in reincarnation and put one of their noblemen's son there? But the images still depicted a dead, rotting carcas. Still, it was the only explanation they could have. Not even the gue'vesa were mad enough to believe a corpse had risen from that throne of their and gave a message to their people! Well, not the Imperials, anyway. And they had seen the dead reanimated by diseases confused with supposed demonic corruption. Still, the Imperials took steps against such things, or so the Tau believed.

But soon after, they would have the answer to one question. For they decided to unravel the mystery of at least Farsight by dangling in front of him what he liked to kill: an Ethereal. It was a risky ploy and they might get nothing, but at least they would see how he had progressed and if he had gone to this Chaos faction or if he could be reasoned with.

So the Tau sent a Water Caste to discuss a meeting between an Aun and Farsight, and to their surprise, the envoy returned with the unreluctant acceptance of Farsight. They had agreed to meet on a barren rock of a world close in the Tau borders but escapable through... warp rifts... this was not filling the Ethereals with confidence on Farsight's good will, but they sent one of their own anyway.

They were on the world first, only the Aun and Earth Caste specialists in transmitting the discussion to Tau space. Bringing Fire Warriors was not even taken into consideration, since it was technically a suicide mission, although maybe Farsight would recruit the Earth Caste or let them return to the Empire.

Then they looked at the sky and noted a rip in the fabric of space. This was however not the maddening show of lights and colors that usually accompanied such a transition, but a black, dark void lighted as the theoretical black holes the Tau were starting to research. What came out of it drew the curiosity and fear of the watchers, for it was not the slick and small ship of their race, but a bulky, cathedral-lined enormity that the Imperium sported. For a second, they had thought Farsight had betrayed them to the Imperium, but then dismissed it as illogical. Why do so when they could handle the Aun as they desired themselves?

The ship spewed just as black shuttles, bulky but sturdy, true to the Imperium's line. On the shuttle the symbol was now more similar to the Empire's one, but inverted in colors once again, small, feeble white lines that seemed to tremble before the darkness outlining the symbol of the Enclave. The red dot was also kept in the middle, but it otherwise looked like a mockery of even the Enclave's relatively pure sygil. Next to it was interestingly depicted a grim gue'vesa skull, half embroiled with mechanical features. It seemed that the alliance with some of the dark kin of the Imperium's engineers was stronger than they had imagined.

Out came Farsight's personal retinue, all renouncing their armor's colors for the same pitch black theme. They had mechanical similarities to their bone structures drawn in white-bone on some of their armor's limbs and the joined sign of the Enclave and Dark Mechanicus. They wore all fully-enclosed armor, and Farsight was no different as he also stepped out, although contrasted by the same joined sign, his armament and his unarmored hands, flanked by his personal bodyguards. He took clear steps towards the Tau delegation and stopped in front of the Aun.

"Aun." He said neutrally, and the Tau retinue flinched at Farsight's bluntness and lack of respect for the Aun by simply stating one part of a title, as if discussing with a seat of power and not an actual person. The Aun was not deterred however.

"Farsight." He replied, and Farsight's bodyguards didn't flinch as this, having heard rumors of the Ethereals' arrogance. The Aun had a million things to ask and discuss, but the contrasts taking his visual senses made him question this first. "I see you have made... interesting friends since you left." He said politely.

Farsight nodded and explained. "Yes. I am no longer the weak I used to be. My eyes have been opened to the greater universe. To the greater horrors. It pains me, and yet I am resolute in knowing more and defending our worlds from those that would destroy us. As for the Mechanicus, I understand you have reached a similar accord with the Imperium. We simply did it faster. This branch seem to consider our benefactor, Grimdark, their Omnissiah, a being of pure energy, thought and resoluteness unlike the other Chaos Gods. Coupled with their thirst for new knowledge and understanding of their machines, Grimdark was kind enough to direct them to our establishment. We have since joined forces."

The Aun nodded, intrigued. All this information would be forwarded to T'au itself, for better or worse. If what Farsight said was true, he could become either a great threat or a great asset, depending on the will of this new Chaos Warlord and how these talks would end.

"Nevertheless, I have come offering a hand in friendship from the Tau Empire." Said the Aun, stretching his hand for a clasp among men, among equals, among warriors. Farsight looked at the outstretched hand with resolution, and grasped it strongly. They sat there, for over half a Terran minute, looking in each others' eyes, hands clasped. At long last, Farsight breached the oppressing silence.

"So it is true then." He whispered. The Aun fought to keep the shock from his face. This should have worked. It was known that Farsight had killed all nearing Ethereals not necessarily out of spite, but out of necessity. Their abilities could bring even him under their rule once more, for the Greater Good. When the Aun had seen such an opportunity to transfer the pheromones directly into the skin, he had taken it without a thought. How had he did it though? Did he already know and made a counter? No, that last statement implied he was not even sure of their ability. Then how?

Farsight somehow released the grip the Aun was holding by simply letting his arm go limp by his side despite the Aun's wish to keep the hold. Maybe if he had more time... but probably not. He had no gods to pray to, so he merely hoped his actions did not give Farsight even more fuel to rampage with his Chaos Warlord over their peaceful worlds, dedicated to the Greater Good. Farsight's next words dissuaded him of that fact.

"You offer a hand in "friendship" laced with pheromones that would control my mind, make me your eternal slave? Grimdark will not allow it. I know more now of your biology than you do. We will stand resolute against anything. ANYTHING! Against treachery, against the control of others, against poisons, against lies, against magic and the mundane. You should not have underestimated us."

The Aun was preparing calmly for his death, yet as time passed, it did not came.

"And I had come here to make that friendship true." Sighed Farsight. The Aun blinked. Was this a trick? Something to send him to the afterlife with a guilty conscious? To torture him mentally before he was killed or during physical tortures? But no reprisal came, and Farsight continued.

"I will have an alliance and it will be on our terms or we will take your worlds. Between my own forces and the ones hunkering at the New Eye, it will be easy if I convince Grimdark that we should."

The Aun nodded fearfully now. This was indeed a scenario they had hoped to avoid. The Ethereals knew how precarious their position in the Galaxy was, and how the Imperium had weakened them further. They knew that if the Imperium was to go on an all-out war against them or if they were to take the brunt of a full Tyranid fleet, they would perish as a nation. And now Farsight claimed to have - and likely had - half the Imperium's forces at his disposal, ready to start an expansion based on the teachings of the Ethereal themselves accumulated with whatever foul knowledge this Grimdark gave him, would engulf the Tau Empire as fast as they had gotten their own worlds. Even if fronts would be established, the loss of life would be immeasurable and, maybe as bad, they would be open to the other threats. The manipulative Eldar, a sudden rise from some long forgotten Necron world that would literally eat that world's sun and move on... The Aun understood then the Imperium's problem and shuddered. The difference was, the Imperium had countless troops to throw at those problems and the tenacity to sacrifice billions of their own for a single solar system. Even if the Ethereals would develop such a tenacity, they wouldn't have the physical troops for it and would be overwhelmed. Albeit shaky, the alliance with the Imperium secured had more than doubled their territory, giving chance for more resource harvesting and more bodies between them and their enemies. But it would not be enough. It would not be nearly enough to stem the tides, every tide. A fact that, for all his claim on knowledge, Farsight did not seem to have a problem with.

The Imperium, Chaos, and now, Farsight, also had a weapon the Tau could not control - maybe could never control - long range warp travel. They tried to search for alternatives and failure after failure was their reward. Worse, this type of travel was not linear, and the mythology of the gue'vesa said that those in collusion with the entities of the warp could reach whatever destinations those entities would wish them to at minimal loss - of time, of rations, of will power. And those reports on the troops hunkering down at Cadia... they were beyond reason. If Farsight had access to one of those entities, if it was the same entity that had now control over Cadia, they could be over their worlds without notice, without warning. Their "skirting" the warp method of travel was fast and precise, but it wasn't that fast. And worse, Farsight knew their secret. All he had to do was to target Ethereals on a world and the population - maybe barring the Tau themselves - would bow down to their new rulers.

"I'm listening." The Aun answered with a calm he wasn't feeling.

Farsight put his hands behind his back and started pacing as he talked. "We don't attack each other, that much is clear." The Aun nodded. "The spike in desertions since Cadia fell to Chaos. Those you imprison and try to hold against their will will be considered prisoners of war as followers of Grimdark, and handed to the Enclave as we are the rightful representatives of his greatness in this part of the Galaxy."

The Aun thought about it for a moment, but it made sense. They had found they couldn't reeducate those that wanted to defect, and keeping alive was a waste of resources, yet the humane thing to do. And Farsight had a point, they were defectors yes, but technically, prisoners of war now that their rival nation had revealed itself. And if this would be the price for not having another front to fight, and possibly a steadfast ally at their back, so much the better.

"Acceptable." He answered curtly.

Farsight stopped and turned to face him once more. Here comes the punchline, the Aun thought. This may have been too good to be true if all it entitled was prisoners of war transfers.

"These occurrences will continue, so I expect the release of dissenters and Chaos worshipers to our territories to continue as well. Our race is starting to reach its psychic potential and it will be not a... pleasant transition. You have seen mutants, psychers and mad men in the Imperium. You should be warned this is a natural occurring event that you cannot stop and will happen to the Tau maybe lated, but to many of the races of the Empire sooner or later."

The Aun nodded sadly. It had been considered, though they hoped it would not come to this. It appeared that whatever creatures inhabited the warp, they had to work for the "corruption" to take place, as humans would call it, in one of their own and would be far harder to achieve and most often unsuccessful. But now, apparently this Grimdark's appearance had changed things, and he couldn't see how this could be for the Greater Good. There were implementations of those of psychic potentials in roles similar to those in the Imperium, though he would like to think that with less hate and discrimination employed. Still, it was a long road ahead of them, a road that humanity had 10 millennia or possibly more advances with, and the inhabitants of the warp possibly much longer.

"Also, you have one Kais, who has been battling the influence of Chaos for centuries. I wish him brought with them." One more cog lost from the machine, the Aun thought sadly. Kais was a rarity, how he had survived on life support for centuries was an enigma. He presented signs of warp taint, but he had never mutated and had continued to battle in his mind, or so the gue'vesa psychers had told. It was understandable why Farsight would want him.

"I see no issue why these terms should not be accepted by the Tau Empire. Of course, this is not definite and a council of Ethereals will have to confirm it, but as their representative, I see these as acceptable terms that will hopefully help both parties grow stronger together."

Farsight continued to look at him, talking as if he hadn't heard him. "In return, the Enclave will bring citizens and races to the Tau Empire for the integration into the Greater Good where we feel the necessity to do so." The Aun blinked. "Wait, isn't Chaos worship an... obligatory activity? From all that we know about such things, they would not release prisoners or undesirables to other factions and would... use them to the fullest extent." He said the last line thinking of the unspeakable horrors he had witnessed at the hands of Chaos worshippers towards those not like-minded.

"Grimdark's ways are different." Answered Farsight in a clipped tone, as if he was hiding something... disgust? Maybe this Grimdark was someone more like-minded than they'd hope. "The darkness of the void itself feeds him, thus he is the strongest of all. He does not require such hefty sacrifices but our own for our own... Greater Good."

"Additionally," he continued, "no Ethereal is allowed on territories controlled by the Enclave. Any such found will be escorted back immediately, and may be cause for ratifying the terms of this alliance. Any Ethereal that uses his power on our own to direct them against their peers will be considered a clear and present danger and will have an on-sight kill order on him."

The Aun nodded grimly. The Empire had tried several times to send Ethereals into Farsight controlled territories, the results had... not been pretty.

The Aun once again raised his hand to shake Farsight's, who looked at it with disdain, but grasped it anyway. Farsight was surprised to not feel any of the pheromones attempt to subvert his will, at first thinking it was due to the Ethereal having exhausted his secretion. But then he felt the Aun actually holding it back, from all the pores of his body. The Aun gave him a kind smile and said the words that sealed the deal. "Let us move forward, son, for the betterment of the Galaxy, and for every sentient's Greater Good."

Farsight nodded and released the hold, this time the Aun not trying to keep the grip either.

Farsight looked him in the eye and said. "You follow a wrong path, Aun, but I may follow one even worse. We indeed do so for the betterment of the Galaxy. I only hope it is worth it and we can achieve something together." He waited one more second, made a clipped about-face and walked back to his ship, his bodyguards following. The Aun's companions release a breath they didn't know they'd been holding, and looked at the departing shuttle towards the monstrosity in atmosphere.

How ironic that something so dark could be their potential salvation.

Author's Notes:

I blame BIBIOTOT for this chapter's Tau-prevalent content. It wasn't to spite him/her, it was just him/her ranting about the Tau gave me ideas on scenarios that would happen with them.

Relations:

Grimdark's relationship with the Emperor is... complicated to say the least. While Grimdark could possibly view him like a father, it's only tangential and I'm not going to insist on that note. In an obvious way, the Imperium and somewhat the Emperor birthed him, but in another, he/it is his own entity. He just views the rest of the self-called gods as inferior to him because they frolick too much, and ironically, he sees the god-hater - the hater of all that he is - as the closest one to his mentality.

That's not to say he'd like the Emperor to remain as he is. He'd like him to become a Greater Daemon of Grimdark if possible. That'd be an enormous blow to his rivals and the universe that spawned him in the first place, the light subdordonated to the darkness and not allied, having both powers under his thumb, but he'll settle for what he can get. For this reason, and because he respects him, he'll grant him certain favours from time to time, and see how it plays out.

As I may have underlined, Grimdark hates Slaanesh for his frolicking ways. But he also hates Tzeentch for his backhanded, fluid ways and not ever keeping the line. In theory, he's got a love-hate relationship with Khorne and Nurgle, since he admires Khorne's tenacity, but doesn't really like his "cares not from whence blood flows, only that is does" policy, while Nurgle's defeatism is close to his own. Now, here's where it gets complicated. It was supposed to be a three-on-three war now (Malal doesn't count, he hates everybody), because Grimdark and the Emperor are in theory opposites: dark and light. The Grimdark-Khorne-Nurgle axis should have overwhelmed the Slaanesh-Tzeentch-Emperor axis (because the Emperor would have been on their side, because he hated enough the grimdarkness the Galaxy had fallen into). But Grimdark was the spanner in the works. Instead of going to his "natural allies", he went to the Emperor beyond all reason. So now it's the top dog and the under-dog against four old, but not as strong as the top-dog deities. Anything can happen at this point, although Khorne and Nurgle will fight half-heartedly against Grimdark, since him being the top dog will not limit their endeavors by much.

Except now Slaanesh is falling to a lesser God status, as Grimdark gave him a crippling blow, including taking most of the Eldar from which Slaanesh initially fed. That leaves Tzeentch the only full-hearted enemy against Grimdark, because Grimdark doesn't want his side to change. And Khorne and Nurgle are taking pot-shots at both of them from the side-lines, though they both hate Tzeentch more and take pot-shots at Grimdark only because at the current moment he's the top dog. And this is where the Emperor comes in as Grimdark's ace in the hole. So Grimdark's both technically the top dog (though nobody's going to admit to it for a while, maybe a few millennia) and he's not even using the Emperor, who can spend this time resting and rebuilding and intervening more in the lives of his subjects.

Long story short, Grimdark's top dog of the gods, but otherwise it's still very murky between the others.