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Opening File: Daemon Knights

Daemon Knights, or Apostles, are some of the most powerful warriors in the Forces of Chaos, just under Daemon Princes. They had strength, speed, and endurance that rivals Space Marines and other powers unique to themselves. Daemon Knights have two forms, a base form and a true form. The base form resembles normal humans, although some can beheld features that will cause what is known as the Uncanny Valley effect.

Each Daemon Knight is unique in their true form – a spiritual reflection of themselves made flesh. Their appearance varies greatly, from warped versions of animals to demonic and hellish monstrosities, many of which bear remnants of their human features. Conversely, the features of an apostle's true form are often reflected in their human form. The true form can be called upon if needed, enabling them to turn the tide of a fight or battle.

Daemon Knights are created through a mortal interacting with a Seed of Chaos, a small egg shaped stone that carried vast immaterial power. Seeds will often react to the carrier's emotions, thoughts, and desires, deciding which of the Gods would they correspond with. The seed will activate once their carrier has fully embraced Chaos, and then it will propose an offer; sacrifice the ones they love in exchange for unimaginable daemonic power.

The Knights are nearly impossible to destroy except for extreme measures and specific anti-daemonic weapons.

Close File

December 31st

The Watchtower

The Emperor was nearly finished with the final part of his first plan. If they survived this, then he can move on to his second plan and fix the shitstorm that had become the multiverse. He just hoped Cadmus and the GDF were almost finished on their part as well. However, he knew that Chaos wasn't gonna just stand about in their hell infested realms and let him win.

But thankfully, he managed to come to a compromise with the Justice League; if they find those that haven't been corrupted as much as the other cultists, then they were to arrest them, not kill them. While he still thought it was ridiculous, it was a reasonable request. And though opportunities it may present, the Emperor decided that he needed to stay in the shadows until he had a chance to guide the world in the right direction. But just to give them a push in the right direction, he had Warren reveal the existence of Chaos to the public.

Surprisingly, things went pretty well. Sure, there were a few riots but you can't make make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Until then, the Emperor was content to just help from the shadows. Still, when it came his time to lead, he would seize it as he did when the Age of Strife was slowly coming to a close. And thankfully, the Pylons were completed just in time. All he needed to do was add the Touchstone to the final Pylon, engage the command drive and then the world would be able to weather the storm.

Just as he was finished with the command device for the Blackstone array, a call came on his phone. The Emperor raised an eyebrow, seeing that it was coming from Elitras, before answering and putting it on speaker. "Yeah, what is it, El? I'm busy."

"Um, my lord? Are you watching the news?" Elitras asked, sounding slightly concerned.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Because there is, and pardon my words, some major shit going down."

The Emperor blinked, "Shit of what variety, exactly?"

"The not-good kind."

The Emperor blinked again before he grabbed the remote for the nearby TV and turned it on to whatever channel was available. The newscast showed Kent Brockman who was reporting on yet another tragedy.

"Horror in Japan, India, Afghanistan, and China today as the four countries I have listed are currently under siege by multitudes of daemonic entities and corrupted individuals flood the streets while laying waste to everything in sight." Kent reported, having a stony expression as he talked, "Casualties range into the millions or billions. We go to our contact in Japan, Mikoto Kazama."

The cast then cut to a lavender haired anchorwoman in a lavender suit, whom was both horrified and shaken by what has happened, and in the background was a ruined Tokyo. She seemed to be trying to steel her nerves to describe the events that transcribe what was happening in her home country.

"A-Are you sure we should be out here? W-We're rolling? Okay, um," Mikoto composed herself and began her report, "Thank you, Kent. It's chaos here in Japan as several thousands have been either killed or defiled. Along with the takeover of the small town of Sharpwood in northern Michigan, Tokyo has been laid siege to by thousands of... what I can only describe as demons and cultists. The same can be said for India, Afghanistan, and China. We have yet to ascertain the number of causalities. Now, let's get out of here before any of those-"

Mikoto was cut off when an scream was hear, causing the camera to turn to see several Slaaneshi cultists racing towards them. The cameraman immediately dropped the camera, which landed to face the cultists, whom were dragged Mikoto away and ripping off her clothes with the woman screaming her lungs out while her cameraman was disemboweled by the others as they laughed in sadistic delight. The feed then cut to static.

It then cut back to a shocked Kent Brockman, whom opened and closed his mouth before a voice told him that they were rolling and he composed himself, clearing his throat, "India and Afghanistan was just declared lost by the GDF while uprisings in Washington DC, Moscow, Hong Kong, Luleå, Oslo, Edinburgh, Dublin, Helsinki, Paris, Madrid, Quebec, Copenhagen, Mexico City, Rome, Milan, Istanbul, Cairo, Alexandria, Baghdad, Jerusalem, São Paulo, Lima, Buenos Aires, Lagos, Mogadishu, Bombay, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Bangkok, Seoul, Shanghai and many more are beginning to take place. The GDF, Russia, China, North Korea, the EU, and the US have begun arming for war. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just entered World War 3."

The words that came out of the Emperor's mouth was one of utter fury, "Mandy... Zim... you clever bitches..." Attacking Earth with massive daemon and cultist army so he couldn't launch the Pylons. Clever, but he had his Ace in the Hole too.

Suddenly, there was a flash in the void. As the flash subsided, hundreds of thousands of ships appeared in the distance, approaching the planet. Lead by a massive fortress that seemed to be composed of various space hulks reforged into a structure of infernal might. It almost resembled a Blackstone Fortress but bulkier and more armed with thousands of infernally charged weapons and torpedoes.

"And we are now getting reports that thousands of alien ships have appeared and are approaching Earth." Kent reported just in the nick of time, "If this is the end, I just wanna say to all of you: good luck... and godspeed." Kent ended that broadcast by grabbing a shotgun from under the desk, cocking it while putting on a brave face before E turned off the TV.

Deciding to play his Ace in the Hole, E then sent a text to a very important groups of people before he ran off to inform the others. But when the Emperor got to the control deck, he saw that things were not any better.

The various tech-based heroes and several crewmembers were working on the controls to the teleportation deck while various other heroes were running to the hanger to use the Javelins to get down to the planet and defeat the daemon armies. Various crewmates were working to keep everything together while his Acolytes and the founding members of the League were talking to each other before they all saw him walking towards them.

"What the hell happened?" The Emperor asked them all.

"A malware program infected the controls to the deck!" A cyborg hero called... Cyborg yelled out as he and Steel were working on the panel for the controls to the deck, "We're trying to purge it but it's a fighter! I think it'll be about five minutes!"

"We don't have five minutes." Batman growled in an angry tone that shocked many of them, "If we don't act now, Earth will be overrun by Chaos!"

Lower floors

The crew of the Watchtower were in a frenzy to fix the damaged systems to the teleportation deck. So much so, that none of them noticed one of their own creeping into a dark hall, taking out a ritual knife. Unfortunately, one of the crew saw him.

"Darian, what are you doing?!" A female crewmember yelled out, causing others to lock in his direction. Darian merely ripped off his shirt, revealing his chest was covered in chaotic runes.

"FOR THE GODS!" Darian roared as he plunged the knife into his guts. Suddenly, the runes on his chest glowed brightly, nearly blinding everyone in their light. Clawed hands emerged from each slash, tearing his torso open as his body dissolved into webwork of tentacles that connected to the floor and walls. The people watching began to back away in horror before numerous daemons and cultists came flooding into the Watchtower, slaughtering the fleeing people on sight.

The walls were covered in slithering tentacles that thickened and fused together into a moss of meat that coated the interior of the hall as it spread through the corridors as the forces of Chaos scrambled in.

Thankfully for everyone, the Flash saw the event and dashed off to warn the others.

The Control Deck

"GUYS!" The Flash's voice echoes through the Control Deck as all eyes turned to him, "WE'VE GOT DAEMONS AND CULTISTS COMING OUR WAY!"

Before anyone could even voice their shock, something began banging against the doors that lead to the Control Deck. Realizing it was either fight or flight, the heroes all readied their powers while the crew either ran to the saferooms or grabbed weapons of their own to assist in the oncoming fight.

The vary second those doors opened, and the forces of Chaos flooded out, all hell broke loose.

The superheroes and crew members immediately as the Control Deck was flooded with daemons and cultists that were fighting with corrupted weapons and infernal power.

Superman was using his heat vision to burn away a frenzy of Nurglings that attempted to infect some fleeing crewmembers, Wonder Woman let out a roar as she clashed with several Bloodletters, Batman fought several Possessed with special Batarangs that banished the daemons back, Flash managed to bash a horde of Daemonettes back to the Warp before they could prey on the people, Green Lantern used his ring's power to block the breach in the control deck, Hawkgirl smashed several cultists' heads in with her Nth Metal mace, and Manhunter's eyes grew red as he telekinetically combusted the Blue and Pink Horrors.

Green Arrow shot down several winged daemons with silver arrow, Black Canary used her Canary Cry to blast several cultists to mush, Captain Marvel punches several daemons back to the Warp, Captain Atom blasted away a horde of cultists that were rushing in, Booster Gold uses his blasters to destroy some cultists that were coming near the controls, and Blue Devil impaled a Chaos Spawn through the head.

Fire and Ice were fighting back-to-back, burning and freezing whatever was in their line of sight. Justice was gunning down as many daemons as he could see while he was back-to-back with Shining Knight, who was striking down multitudes of daemons with his sword but with each one that he felled, ten more took its place. Atom Smasher rammed his fist through a horde of Bloodletters, banishing them back to the Warp. Doctor Light blasted away a corrupted Tech Priest into mush, Warhawk tore several cultists to ribbons, and Metamorpho shaped his form to impale a corrupted Ogryn through the chest.

While the heroes were surprisingly holding their own against the invasion, The Emperor decided to take advantage of this.

"Acolytes!" The Emperor commanded, causing them to stand at attention, "Find the portal and burn it to ash!" The six saluted before flashing off to wherever the rift was.

Tokyo

Screams rang through the city as multitudes of Daemonettes ravaged the civilians, either enslaving them or ripping them apart in blissful agony. Keepers of Secrets tore down buildings while snatching up civilians and crushing them into pulp before eating the liquified remains. Torrents of weaponized sound burst from the Noise Marines that reduced any civilians caught in its path to be reduced to slurry that they then drank through their feet.

Doomrider rampaged through the streets on his motorcycle with his Kusarigama while Shredder was on the back slashing through cars with his claws. Ember played one of her songs on Heartslaver, causing anybody to hear it to begin either killing or fucking each other. Madame Rouge merely captured whatever man or woman met her fancy and made them her playthings. Azula merely enslaved all the others around her to her twisted will, forcing them to venerate her and the Prince.

Dan Phantom let out a rapturous laugh as he blasted the city apart with his corrupted Ecto-Rays. He was now clad in armor composed of ebony curved horns that covered every part of his body with his white flaming hair now a burning violet. Two eye-like protrusions sat on his chest, burning pink, while his clawed hands were a blaze in violet flames.

Lila lured several people to an undestroyed building before enslaving them to Slaanesh's will. Her body was clad in a formfitting purple leather bodysuit accented with golden spikes; long straight black hair framed her face which was covered by a Japanese fox mask colored in purple with golden markings. A black whip with violet spikes sat at her side while several needles sat in holsters on her legs, filled with hundreds of agony inducing poisons.

Demenica used this opportunity mostly to pretend most of her victims were Black Hat and then fucked their brains out while sucking out their blood. Her skin was violet with a long ponytail that was a dark purple and her front bangs being hot pink, both of her eyes had black sclera but one of her eyes was a radiant pink and the other was a radiant gold, her ears had several black earrings, and her canines were sharped to a point. Her outfit consists of a black vest covered in golden spiked attached to a purple hood which it resembles a daemon, mismatched shoes, and long, purple and pink striped stockings, a black skirt, and an elbow length purple and pink striped fingerless glove on her right hand, as well as a black fingerless glove on her left hand. There was also a spiked choker on her neck and a spiked bracelet on her left wrist.

Wyald and his Black Dog knights howled in excitement as they rampaged through the city butchering whatever was in front of them while raping whatever women remained.

All the while, a Succubus, a daemon that resembled an attractive and scantily clad woman, feed on the people along with Rouge. Apart from her thigh-high leather boots and leather bracers, she basically wears only leather straps covering her private parts, and a pair of wings are attached to her bracers, though they were just for show as she could fly by on her own or by summoning her bats.* She heard her sisters feasting on the other morsels in this land.

"We need slaves! Supplies! Weapons! Ravage this city in the Prince's name!" Azula bellowed to the other Slaaneshi, rallying them to continue their orgy of blood and torture to the next city.

New Delhi

Plants and plagues ran rampant in the streets of New Delhi as the Nurglings and Beasts of Nurgle reduced several civilians and fleeing soldiers to slurry that then seeped into the earth and blooming into daemonic plants that spread through the buildings and roads. The Nurglites were more than happy to enlighten all of these people to the teachings of the Father of All. Great Unclean Ones troughed through the streets alongside the Conjurers of Pestilence and the Plague Marines, spreading the gifts of Nurgle to anyone and everyone.

Undergrowth and Poison Ivy conjured daemonic plants that feed on the slurry that used to be the civilians and birthed the Spore Carriers and Plaguebearers, who immediately joined the march. Ty-Lee breathed out a dark green blast of mist filled with the Destroyer Plague at a group of people that then dissolved into mulch, that was immediately fed on by the daemon plants. Scarecrow had captured several people and used them for his experiments, turning them into his pets while spreading his fear toxin to those few not infected.

Vexus merely let her Nurglings to all the work for her as she gazed at the beauty of seeing Nurgle's gifts being spread to this people, like how she was when she was overthrown as the leader of the Cluster. Conway walked through the streets without a care in the world, his appearance nothing more than a skeleton that was only held together by vine-like nerves with flaps of flesh and cloth hanging from his bones as swathing clouds of flies and plagues blazed from his sac-like innards.

Epidemius and Rotigus Rainfather both laughed jovially as they marched alongside several thousand equally jovial Plaguebearers and Spore Carriers, spreading the gifts of Nurgle to everyone around them.

As they reached the Taj Mahal though, something seemed to keep them back. Many of them looked at each other, noticing that none of the plagues or vegetation reached past a certain point, only to blink when they saw a massive golden dome shielding the Taj Mahal, along with several scared and awed civilians who were on their knees and praying for safety. In curiosity, Conway touched the golden dome, only to swiftly retract his hand with a high-pitched yelp when the aura burnt the appendage nearly to a crisp.

It seemed their march would have to wait a little bit.

Afghanistan

Vast swathes of fire burned through the desert as swarms of Bloodletters and Bloodthristers tore down entire cities in their blaze for fury. Buildings were torn down like wet tissue, civilians were reduced to burning husks by infernal blasts, blood ran down like a crimson flood as various people both corrupted and uncorrupted drowned in droves. Phalanxes of Wrath charged through the country, rending structures down to rubble and reducing the rubble to dust from their footsteps.

Ozai let out a bellowing laugh as he whipped the Hounds of Khorne that were chained to his bronze and bloodstained chariot, Soul Feaster raised high in the air and slashing at whatever was in front of him, that left a trail of white flames that scorched even the sand beneath his feat. The Merciless slashed a building in half while setting it on fire, taking the skulls of the hundreds of soldiers in the building. Gorrath fired upon the puny defender in his Titan, salvos of corrupted shells and beams of Warp-fueled fury blazing onto the cursed earth, reducing vast swathes of land to ash. Bane only needed his fists due to his size rivalling Tyberos of the Carcharodons, punching the ground so hand that spikes of earth, collapsed a city block into rubble and dust.

The one that whom replaced Hama was none other than Nosferatu Zodd, though the only thing that changed was his skin was now red and his eyes burning orange. A terrified soldier was cleaved in twain by a single strike while another was reduced to a bloody pulp by a single strike of his fist, bullets merely were stuck in his flesh like arrows only to pop out as his flesh mended itself and he sprinted off for the next fight.

Skarbrand roared out as he led his fellow Bloodthirsters to mass slaughter as they rampaged through the now blazing desert, rending the stonework city to ash and then blasting the ashes in nuclear fire with the World Eaters following behind.

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!" were heard from all out the land as they advanced down the flaming and bloodstained desert when abruptly the ground shook at some unseen force causing the Khornates to pause in confusion. Suddenly, numerous massive titans seemingly composed of silver plates in humanoid shape and heads that merely had a single vertical line that glowed blue came into the view of the now slack jawed Khornates, with the emblem of the Global Defense Force on where the left breast would be.

They were slack jawed not in fear but in glee at the prospect of fighting these metal giants. One of them extended their arm, its plates unlocking and reshaping into a massive arm cannon that fired a bright blue beam that scorched the thousands of corrupted and Bloodletters while the feet of the others opened to reveal several thousand GDF troopers that quickly began firing on the Khornate forces.

"GORRATH!" A yell echoed through the air gaining the Corrupted Glorft's attention. Suddenly, a massive mechsuit with blue paint job with a flaming eight-ball on the left arm and a flaming eyeball on the right and a red car acting as the head smashed down onto the desert ground, sending dust and ash into the air.

Gorrath merely chuckled, "Well, human; it seems that you have come back for one last fight."

"Yeah," The normally jovial goofball of a pilot that was Harold "Coop" Cooplinski was now angry and ready to throw down, "Let's finish what we started a long time ago!"

"TOGETHER!" The two yelled in synchrony as their two mechsuits then rocketed towards each other, cracking the earth around them as their fist collide and the earth shook.

Beijing

Flesh and magic swam through the air as the everchanging hordes of Tzeentch spread their ways through the streets of Beijing. Horrors driving the weak-minded to unending insanity while the Flamers reduced those unlucky enough to be in their way to slime, crystal, dust, or even husks of bone. Lords of Change raised their staffs that unleashed torrents of lighting while the poor saps ran from their wrath.

Then came the Weavers of Fate; massive gleaming and shimmering arachnids with carapaces of azure accented with gold that possessed mesmerizing patterns, their legs resembling the wings of the Lords of Change with sharp plates of gold on each joint, and a head that held eight sapphire eyes and a mouth of clawed fangs. They spat out thin clear lines of webbing that sliced through whatever it came in contact with, either causing people to twist and warp into mindless Chaos Spawn or for inert material to sprout tentacles, mouths, and eyes. Rubric Marines marched along silently, firing their Inferno Bolts at whatever was living thing was in front of them.

Zim was absent which had Luthor to lead the assault on the city, using his new sorcerous powers to dominate the weak willed. Mesogog used this opportunity to begin his experiments in turning people into his Saurian hybrids, while also testing out his new serums and inventions on the captured people. Dr. Flug merely hummed as he used his time to take whatever technology he could take to craft new inventions, unusually content for a Tzeentchian scientist to simply invent without higher ambition. Zaheer used the Winds of Change to make the bullets fired from the guns of the fleeting soldiers worthless before returning them to sender, killing them instantly before the Winds possessed the vehicles around them, molding and warping them into monsters of metal and flesh.

The Changeling before an assortment of soldier that were prepared to fire in it when it shifted into a form so unholy and sanity blasting, that the soldiers in front of him screamed in utter horror before turning their rifles on themselves. The Changeling shifted back into its favorite form, one covered in a blue cloak accented with gold and a single humanoid arm on one side that held an iridescent staff and three humanoid arms on the other, and began laughing hysterically, actually holding his 'gut', "Oh, that never gets old!"

Kairos Fateweaver and Aetaos'rau'keres unleashed the full might of their powers on a section of a city, that vanished in a blast of azure, symbols of Tzeentch racing around them.

Suddenly, as they were a few hundred miles from the capital; various parts of the building exploded in pillars of white smoke that left the Tzeentchians confused. Just as suddenly, gargantuan humanoid constructs emerged from the ground, the earth trembling beneath their feet as they stood tall among the cities.

They towered over the city, possessing a pointed head with lidless and gleaming emerald eyes and a lipless maw of long saber-like fangs, two golden shimmering spikes sat above the chest while six similar spikes sat on the back. They all had a brown muscular armor to them seemingly like a carapace, ungodly thin and nearly skeletal.

Before anything could intervene, one of them opened their maws. An inner extended outward and unfurled their fangs as a small green orb formed in front of it before unleashing a thin emerald beam that slashed vertically slashed across the landscape. A millisecond later, the slashed area burst into a green pyre that spanned for miles, bathing the city in nuclear fire.

The God Warriors roared as Chaos Titans made land fall, eager to destroy them for the glory of their country.

12 minutes earlier

The Watchtower

A daemon roared out only to be silenced by a bolt to the skull as Nero burned the portal away with his heat vision. The fleshy gateway squealed and flailed at the attack that assaulted it before the portal collapsed and it was nothing less than ash. With that done, the Acolytes quickly flashed back to the Control Deck.

The heroes all managed to survive albeit heavily wounded, with some unconscious from their wounds. Batman and the Founding Members of the Justice League seem exhausted. Many of the crew, however, were not so lucky.

"It was an admittedly genius plan; by attacking the Watchtower, you've all been exhausted and unable to help in the defense of the planet." The Emperor said, making all the superheroes look down in bitterness.

"Relax." The Emperor waved their feelings off, "I contacted all the world leaders the moment the fleet appeared. The GDF are already mobilizing to every infested area."

Washington DC

President Trump was busy signing papers in the Oval Office when a text suddenly appeared on his phone. He raised an eyebrow and looked at it, only for his eyes to bulge when he saw the message on the screen.

"IT'S TIME."

The President immediately jumped to his feet and yelled to the nearest Secret Service agent, "Inform the GDF, the National Guard, and the Military! IT'S GO TIME!" The agent nodded and rushed out the room while he got up from his chair and looked out the window up at the sky, that was infested with thousands of Chaos ships.

"Do you think it'll be enough, Donald?" Vice President Pence asked as he and Kayleigh looked out the window.

"If not Mike: then may God be with us all." Was all the President said as they saw the army begin its engagement of the enemy.

Beijing

The Prime Minister of China raced towards the window, seeing the thousands of ships sitting above the sky before a ping was heard on his phone. It was a text that merely had two words.

"IT'S TIME."

[DEPLOY THE GOD WARRIORS!] He shouted to his generals whom nodded and started yelling to the others to deploy their secret weapons. The Prime Minister merely leaned back into his chair and prayed to whatever god was out there that they would survive this war.

Moscow

Vladimir Putin had just finished ordering his cabinet to deploy the military for whatever was coming from the ships above the planet when suddenly a text appeared on his phone.

"IT'S TIME."

Putin exhaled and nodded in understanding, before he yelled out, [General! Prepare our secret weapon!] The general in question nodded and began typing out a password on a keypad.

The Watchtower

"That should buy you guys a minute to regain your energy." The Emperor said before he got up and stood at the Control Deck, giving a speech to rally them all, "Now, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it; a lot of you will probably die. But remember what I said the day we met? 'Will you run? Or will you fight?' Will you let all these reality tumors destroy the world you love? Will you let the people whom you vowed to serve down? Will you not give everything to save the people of this planet?! Even if you don't know their names, even if you have never met them, even if you didn't even know they existed?! What will you give to save them?! WHAT WILL YOU GIVE TO SAVE THIS WORLD!?"

His speech managed to rally the heroes, each of them standing up one by one with nothing but expressions of heroic resolve on their faces as Booster Gold said the word that gave the Emperor his answer.

"EVERYTHING!"

The Emperor gave a grin as he posed dramatically, "Then let's go to war!" The second those words left the Emperor's lips, they all raised their fist and gave a roaring cheer before the crewmates willing to fight joined in.

"Let's do this, baby!" The Flash yelled out as they all rushed out of the room. With the Emperor's encouragement, all people in the Watchtower marched to the docking bays and boarded the Javelins, heading out on what may be their final mission lead by their founding member.

Back at the Control Deck, the Emperor whispered to himself as he walked back to his lab with Batman and the Acolytes, "Meanwhile, I've got something to finish." He muttered as he began finishing the Black Touchstone.

Megaville

A beam of energy roared through a massive Daemon Engine as Dexter piloted his mech at the the outskirts of the city. He had made an army of robots and mechas that he had outwitted with Blackstone shielding with laminated adamantium, meaning they should last long enough against the Lost and Damned and the Space Marines for the Emperor to launch his plan.

One Heretic Astartes, perhaps fallen to Khorne, charged directly at one of the larger robots, only for it to fire a thin needle that pierced the helm. The Khornate merely stumbled before the needle began to broil and bulge as it glowed bright blue. The Astartes seemed to realize the needle's functions as he tried to remove it from his helm, but it was futile as it exploded, ripping him in half.

A Plague Marine was incinerated by a mechsuit that launched missiles filled with napalm, a Helbrute was destroyed by a blast from Dexter's massive energy cannon, and several other Heretic Astartes were killed by micro missiles similar to the Imperium's bolters that Dexter took inspiration from. The Lost and Damned were gunned down by the hundreds by his soldier bots, armed with miniguns that were connected to an ammo belt fed from 3-D printers and the frames composed of a self-repairing metamaterial.

While his robotic army was holding, Dexter knew they could only hold the line for so long before they faltered.

XXX

Jack cleaved a corrupted mutant in half while back-to-back with Agent Honeydew who was gunning down as many corrupted people and mutants that she could see with her pistol. Both looked worse for wear; Jack's coat and sweater were in tatters while his pants had several tears in them, his long hair was loose and flowing in the snow filled wind and his sword was covered in various shades of blood from all the monsters he'd slain. Honeydew's suit had various tears in their fabric and the tie was undone, her hair was frizzled, and smoke boiled from her gun from the heat of firing what felt like hundreds of high explosive bullets.

Both of them managed to get a break when a squad of Dexter's soldier bots came by and moved down the hordes of corrupted in front of them. The two breathed a long-held sigh of relief as they sat down next to each other, his sword soaked in various colors of blood while her gun was hot from the hundreds of bullets fired from the barrel as it's clip refilled itself. Jane leaned on Jack's shoulder, and he could understand why, they had been fighting for an hour, yet it seemed like a week and a half.

They could only hope that whatever the Emperor had planned would work.

XXX

Courage was holding on for dear life as Monkey rocketed across the skies, blasting whatever was in front of him as he got his friend to the dome to safety.

XXX

Professor Membrane laughed bombastically, "Oh, what a day! WHAT A LOVELY DAY!" He yelled this as he piloted a massive mechsuit that fired down upon the hordes of Chaos while his robotic army provided reinforcements to Dexter's. The professor drove the mech's fist through a dreadnought as it attempted to fire on a group of civilians.

XXX

Under his house, Dib hid in his father's lab, terrified of what was happening to the world. He had holed up here and watched on in horror through the various monitors around the lab at the world burning. Unable to do anything, he just sat there in fear, wishing he was braver.

Suddenly, a pink shimmering rift opened behind him. Terrified, Dib turned to see what it was, only for his jaw to drop when he saw what was coming.

It was his sister Gaz, though she had changed significantly. She was now 21 and an insanely attractive woman with her neck length purple hair now tipped with pink, only clad in a black two-piece swimsuit and a tagged cloak with a hood, leaving little to the imagination. Her skin had a light purple hue and was covered in Slaaneshi runes, with the Mark of Slaanesh on her right arm. The only reason Dib knew she was his sister was the skull necklace around her neck.

Gaz smiled sadistically, forming an orb of darkness in her palm before speaking in a sultry tone, "Hello, brother." She then thrust her hand out and the orb unfurled into a torrent of purple flames that Dib barely managed to dodge as he scrambled out of the lab with his sadistic sister trailing behind.

XXX

After dodging a shell from a Helbrute, Jenny shifted her arm into a cannon before firing a beam of white at the monster of metal and Warp-flesh, piercing through its chest and ending its miserable existence. Sheldon was taking her mom, Brad, and Tuck to the safe zone where the GDF was evacuating civilians. So, to make sure that they still had time, Jenny fought off the invading forces as they swarmed through the city.

She fired blast after blast at the invading force, only for several more to that their place. The sheer numbers overwhelming her as they continued pressing on, leading her to slowly retreat to the safezone. However, a shot from a Lascannon severed her right arm, oil spewing out of the tear like a fountain.

Jenny screamed, feeling the nanomachines in her frame sealing the wound so she didn't lose more oil and managed to extend her arm to grab her severed limb before it was out of reach. Barely managing to dodge another Lascannon shot, she brought out her Tesla Cannon and fired as she retreated to the safe zone while reattaching her severed limb, her nanobots reconnecting the wires and tubes while deconstructing and reconstructing the metal.

She sped through the city, dodging laserfire and seeing the last of the people enter the dome-like structure, before cartwheeling in midair and speeding in at the last second, meeting her mom, Sheldon, Matt, and Tuck, all of whom saw her damaged state.

"Oh shit!" Sheldon yelled out in concern, as he and her mom knelt down as she fell to her knees, "Jenny, what happened?!"

All an ashamed Jenny said was, "I'm sorry. I wasn't enough." That was the only thing needed to be said as the doors to the Safe Zone closed behind her and the dome lowered into the ground.

XXX

Bell used her laser vision to cut down the horde of corrupted in front of her, bullets and lasfire barely affecting her as she escaped the cell in the GDF facility and been fighting her way around Megaville. She was clad in a black leather formfitting bodysuit that she stole from a GDF locker room while her feet were covered by knee length leather boots with numerous leather straps and her arms were covered by elbow length leather gloves with numerous leather straps. Her white hair was long and loose, flowing in the cold wind as she stared up into the sky at the fleet in the sky.

A thoughtful expression crossed her face as she gazed at the fleet, thinking back to when she had been on that planet as the Forces of Chaos invaded it. There she didn't have a choice but to help conquer the planet.

But now? Now she had a choice. Either let the world burn or do something to save it.

Thinking for a few moments, Bell gained a resolved expression as she flew off to stop Chaos.

Gotham City

As far as army encampments went, the one that Joker arrived in was par for the course when it came to Chaos cultists. That was to say, completely chaotic and devoid of rhyme and reason. Joker already felt quite at home, enough to even giggle a bit as he made his way to the center of the camp with Harley happily trailing behind. Already, a stage had been set with loudspeakers and microphones and the whole shebang.

The Joker was dressed in a pearl white dress coat over a black dress shirt and a red necktie, white dress pants, and white dress shoes. Where the flower on the breast of his coat should have been was a red glowing eight-pointed star of Chaos, his green hair was slicked back, grin wide as ever and his eyes held the same madness as ever.

Harley got a makeover from Slaanesh as she had a new formfitting leather outfit with the same diamond pattern but with the red parts replaced by purple, zipped down to show a lot of her chest, twin purple leather belts with golden spikes and buckles wrapped around her waist, and knee high black leather boots. Over the top half her body suit was a leather jacket with one half colored black and the other half colored purple and the same diamond pattern placed on random parts, her left hand having a black fingerless glove and her right hand having a purple fingerless glove. Her hair was let down while dyeing her locks black and purple, purple eyeliner, black lipstick, and a pink choker with golden spikes on her neck.

He caught Calendar Girl humming to herself as all those around her awestruck by her beauty, causing a smile to grace her perfect lips as they prostrated themselves for her. Finally, the imperfections that plagued her were gone, all that was left was her perfect self. The beautiful woman with long luxurious black hair was merely clad in a black catsuit with purple accents while in her hands was a white face mask with golden accents. Joker merely rolled his eyes and continued walking onwards.

"Ah, Joker. A great honor to have one of the Gods' favored among us," A priest greeted him amicably, and Joker already hated him. Nicely cleaned red robes, the smell of incense hanging around him, a fucking book chained to his belt, and the aura of a pompous prick. He reeked of ordered society.

"I'm sure, I'm sure. Now, why don't we go and have a nice little chat with all the wonderful psychos gathered here," Joker simply commented as he and Harley strolled past the priest. That seemed to take the wind right out of the fat fuck's sails.

"O-of course, my liege! Right this way!" Honestly, it was downright pathetic how he almost tripped over his own robes in his haste to get ahead of the Joker and Harley while trying to maintain his image of a powerful leader which did nothing to stop Joker and Harley from giggling at him. Then, they were up on the platform, with the army gathering around them.

"Disciples of the Dark Gods! Brothers and sisters in arms! Today, we take one more step towards paradise!" The fat priest began screeching, and already Joker felt like snoring.

'Really, that's how you open it?'

"Our masters have set a great task before us, one vital to the completion of the great plan!" The bleating continued, and Joker's bad mood turned even worse at that.

'I can see why the higher ups put this one in charge.'

"Now, steel your hearts! Give prayers to the Dark Gods and sharpen your blades! For now, we march upon-" And with that, Joker's patience ran out, signaled by the gunshot that splattered the priest's brain onto the front rows of cultists.

"That actually felt quite satisfying," Joker mused to himself, idly twirling his still smoking gun and completely ignoring the pandemonium that broke out around him as confused cultists either shouted at each other for an explanation or were waving an assortment of weapons at him. Humming a disjointed tune, Joker skipped over to the microphone and tapped it a few times.

"May I have your attention, please?" He asked of the mob, casually leaning against the podium as he waited until every eye and every gun was pointed straight at him except for Harley, who looked worried for him and Calendar Girl, who looked on in amusement.

'Ooooh, now this is the spirit I'm looking for.' Joker thought with a grin before clearing his throat and starting his performance.

"Ladies and gentlemen… what is Chaos?" His opening question had everyone looking at each other in confusion, some even scratching their heads in befuddlement.

"Is Chaos following a set of conducts? Is it obeying a strict set of laws? Is it serving some sort of grand plan? Hmmm, is it?" Joker continued, and he could hear murmuring among the crowd now.

"I'm sorry, what was that? You're gonna have to speak up a bit," He requested as he leaned forward with a hand cupped over his ear.

"No," The Jester of Genocide could barely hear it, but that one word was all the motivation Joker needed to keep on going.

"Louder, please. My ears are still ringing from the gunshot."

"NO!" Now the words were shouted for everyone to hear, and murmurs of assent quickly spread throughout the crowd.

"Then why are we doing all those things?!" He all but roared into the microphone, causing the front ranks to visibly recoil from his outburst. Breathing heavily, Joker needed a few moments to collect himself before he resumed as if the outburst never happened.

"We say we serve Chaos, but we don't really do Chaos. Just look at Erebus or Kor Phaeron," The Clown Prince could see many people grow uncertain at the master's name. "All they do is make plan after plan after plan. You see, they're not true agents of Chaos."

And there it was, the truth out in the open at long last, and the Joker forged on while the crowd was still frozen in shock. "They're schemers, schemers trying to control their little world. It's never been about true Chaos for them and their cronies, it's always been about control, all in the name of their great plan,"

Some looked angry at his words, idiots not deserving of being called servants of the Gods, but many more nodded in agreement with his words. The perfect audience.

"Just look at how this war is going. Millions of others like you are dying every day, yet the bosses up high don't give a fig. Why?" Now he was all but caressing the microphone with his lips, eyes wreathed in madness sweeping across the crowd as he slowly and carefully articulated each of the words that then came out of his mouth. "Because it's. All. Part. Of. The. Plan."

Then he was backing off and waving his pistol at the fat priest he previously shot, almost tripping over his carcass in the bargain. "But when someone like him dies? Then everyone panics, because that's not part of the plan!"

Now Joker was even working himself into a frenzy as he stalked up and down the stage, body twitching erratically. "This is not Chaos! This is not what we signed up for! This is just more of the same stuff we've seen in this society for years, except with a fresh coat of blood on our clothes and souls! And I will not stand for it any longer!"

Then he was at the podium gain and yanked the microphone off it before jumping into the crowd. People backed away from him, but none turn and ran, instead crowding around. Joker barely seemed to notice as he stalked back and forth, back and forth. He moved with no direction, no plan, or even a goal in mind. He just stalked, danced, hopped, walked and hobbled through the crowd.

"It's time to introduce some proper anarchy into the mix! It's time to upset the established order and completely smash whatever grand plan is in the work! Then, and only then, will everything become Chaos! And I mean true Chaos! Chaos without boundaries, without plans, without order, without rules, and without sides! And what about you lot? What do you want?!"

"Chaos!" The crowd roared back in chaotic fervor.

"Louder, dammit! We're not a church choir!" Joker shouted back with even more fervor.

"CHAOS!" The crowd was even louder now, and Joker was all but dancing now.

"LOUDER! LET THE BASTARDS IN SPACE HEAR WHAT WE WANT!"

"CHAOS!" The Joker could all but feel his bones vibrate from the force of that shout, and he broke out into a mad fit of laughter, so much so that it seemed to echo in the immaterial plane itself.

"Onward then! To Gotham City! And let's show these posers what real Chaos is like!" With a great cheer, Harley and the crowd surged forward, hoisted Joker up on their shoulders, and began a mad dash towards Gotham City. Engines roared to life, guns were discharged in the air, the horde whooped and hollered like a pack of madmen.

And throughout it all, Joker cackled away to his heart's content, while the denizens of the Warp looked on in silent approval.**

Central City

"Everyone, this way!" Captain Cold yelled as he and the Rouges lead several civilians to GDF trucks as multiple troopers fired upon the hordes of cultists that were flooding the streets.

Multiple supervillains that had gone into hiding since the opening of the rift were all out in full force against the tides of cultists that were swarming the streets, slaughtering any and all that were in their way, age or race be damned.

Captain Boomerang threw several of his boomerangs that beheaded or maimed several cultists while Captain Cold and Heatwave were firing their weapons into the horde, either freezing them to a point where they crumbled into chucks or set ablaze with their flesh melting off their bones. The Pied Piper played a series of tones that caused the cultists that heard it to turn their weapons on themselves, while Mirror Master used his abilities to return the projectiles to sender.

The Trickster fired a wad of special putty from one of his potato guns that exploded like an IED when it hit the head of a leading cultist, the Thinker relayed strategies to the others, and Weather Wizard used his rod to summon torrents of electricity that took down hundreds. But it was barely enough to stem the tide of meat shields coming their way.

"Everyone, head south!" Grodd yelled out to the survivors of the massacre as the villains got into the trucks when they had stemmed the tide long enough for them to get away, "We must get to our lair for protection!"

Australia

Like something out of Mad Max Fury Road, multiple warbands riding a massive ramshackle collection of motorcycles, vans, cars, and trucks modified with skulls, spikes, chaotic runes, and flags of sewn flesh with the Mark of Chaos displayed. The riders were all hollering like wild animals, discharging their guns with reckless abandon as they hunt down the slaves that escaped from their camp

Leading them were the Black Skulls.*** A group of six all clad in formfitting black leather bodysuits with each having a unique appearance that left little to no features exposed while they rode on black daemonic appearing motorcycles.

The first one had a black skull-like mask with metal clawed gloves, twin bladed handcannons hanging on his belt, and a silver weapon that resembled both an axe and a glaive that sat on his back. If one were to see under his mask, one would see that his face beheld violet eyes and thin black lips covering pearl white fangs. This is Skratch, the leader when Doomrider isn't around.

The second was the only female in the group with her bodysuit clinging tightly to her figure but her face was covered by a white mask resembling melted wax with black hollowed splotches for eyes and mouth. If one were two see her face, a beautiful woman with short black hair, chalk white skin, black painted lips, and lavish pink eyes. At her side, was a black bladed whip and a black bayonetted sawed-off shogun hanging on her back. This is Sis, the second most sadistic and perverted member of the Black Skulls.

The third had thick nails and other small objects driven into nearly every part of his bodysuit and banded leather mask. If one could see his face, they'd see a heavily scarred man with black void-like eyes as well as thin blackened lips and rotting teeth that were barely exposed. Hanging on his back was a silver Power Maul with spikes driven into it with crackling purple energy. This is Skabs, the most masochistic member of the Black Skulls.

The fourth was different as he had black armored plates all over his bodysuit and his mask resembling an SS helmet with a metal face mask. No one knows his face as he never takes off his suit. At his side, was a rectangular shaped machete with a daemonic hilt beside a severed wolf's tail. This is Rip, the most bloodthirsty member of the group yet also the most honorable.

The fifth was also different as he had black armor over his bodysuit like Rip, but his helmet had a mohawk of spikes and consisted of a black visor and a black metal facemask that cover the nose and mouth. Like Rip, no one has seen his face. In its holster on his side, was a spear gun while several short spears connected to short nooses lined with hair thin blades and around his left arm was a minigun-like gauntlet composed of shotguns. This is Grinder, the second most bloodthirsty of the group yet also the second most honorable.

The last one was a disgusting obese pig of a man, his bodysuit lacked sleeves that only left his arms to be covered by black armlets with nails driven in, revealing chalk white skin while beady black eyes were hidden by a black blindfold and two Glasgow smile scars on his cheeks. Sitting around his chest were several serrated knifes and cleavers, eager to spill blood. This is Fuck-Pig, the most sadistic and perverted member of the Black Skulls.

Suddenly, the Skulls and their caravan of maniacs all slowed down and stopped when Skratch raised his fist, and before any could form thoughts on why, he unfurled his pointer finger, and with utter joy, directed it at a small town in front of them.

"Alright!" Fuck-Pig cheered out in utter excitement at seeing the town for them to pillage, "Let's party!" The Black Skulls and their caravan all hollered in glee as they speed into the small town, the latter all firing their weapons into a crowd of people that then noticed the warband approaching them, before fleeing in terror. The maniacs all abandoned their vehicles and dove in to pillage the town into dust.

Skratch unsheathed his axe glaive and began chopping down whatever was in front of him while laughing like a maniac, also unholstering the handcannon on his left, shooting at anything that moved and with reckless abandon as his pistols had unlimited bullets. It was then that he heard someone running behind him with a gun in hand while screaming profanities at him due to his enhanced hearing. In response, Skratch aimed his handcannon over his right shoulder without even looking at the person in question and fired. The bullet hit the person in the shoulder, and as said person yelled out in pain, long black spines erupted from the bullet, piercing every part of the meatbag before they fell dead.

"Ha! Who ever said being a showoff wasn't fun?" Skratch mused to himself as he continued on.

Sis swung her whip at one unfortunate overweight man, wrapping around his midsection before she pulled taunt, ripping the pansy in half as blood, fat, and entrails sprayed all over the once clear pavement as his family screamed in terror only, as his wife and son were killed by her sawed-off shotgun, leaving only a catatonic yet attractive looking daughter alive. Taking an interest, Sis merely used her whip to bind the girl so she couldn't escape, "Oh, I'm going to enjoy playing with you~" She purred to the girl, only for two men with guns to fire at her. Smirking under her mask, Sis suddenly elongated her arm and grasped the head of one of the two, crushing it into pulp in her palm before leaping at the other before he could react, wrapping her legs around his head before wrenching it off, blood spraying and all as she landed on her feet.

"Oh, I love being me~" Sis grinned under her mask before walking back to her prize.

Skabs ripped several of the nails embedded in his sides and threw them at a crowd of horrified civilians, only for the nails to enlarge, impaling nearly all of them on their rusted surfaces as blood coated them and their surroundings. "Ah, I think impalement is my favorite way to kill someone." Skabs chuckled as the nails shrunk and embedded themselves back into his bodysuit, causing an orgasmic moan to escape his lips before he pulled out his Power Maul and began crushing whatever person that was unfortunate to cross his path. Suddenly, a large amount of people, likely driven insane by their presence, dogpiled Skabs to the ground, stabbing at him with knifes and other burgeoning weapons when the nails abruptly extended outwards, impaling all of the hapless people. Skabs shook all the bodies off as he stood up and grabbed his fallen Power Maul.

"Ah, impalement is my favorite way to kill a person." Skabs laughed out loud as he stocked on.

(Hobo With a Shotgun- The Plague theme)

Rip and Grinder busted through the doors of a hospital, taking in the reactions of the people that were in their way; ones of fear and shock before one became anger. It was a doctor who was giving a wheelchair to an old man, only to throw it in anger at seeing the two, "THAT'S IT!" A second later, he whipped out a revolver and began firing on the two, each shot punctuated with a gun shot, "I AM SICK! AND TIRED! OF YOU FUCKING! JUNKIES!" Each bullet merely bounced off their armor with neither of the two reacting to the shots.

Rip then began walking forward and unsheathing his blade before impaled the doctor through the chest, causing him to scream in agony while the patients and employees all yelled out in horror. Grinder turned to an employee who whipped out a rifle only for her head and upper torso to be reduced to slurry as her arms and lower body fell to the ground, courtesy of Grinder's shotgun gauntlet. Rip kicked the door leading to a hallway as two employees stumbled back and ran down the hall when they saw him, but Rip was too fast as he slashed the legs of the two one at a time, causing them to stumble to the ground while wailing in agony.

Just as Rip beat a female employee whom stumbled into the hall by chance down onto the ground, Grinder came in. He grabbed one of his nooses and wrapped it around the man's neck before loading the spear into his gun and firing it while pointing it at the ceiling. He did the same with the other employee and the female, hanging all of them from the ceiling as their throats were cut open by the thin blades that lined the rope.

Seeing their work, Rip and Grinder fist-bumped before they went on to the others.

Fuck-Pig merely hummed to himself as he stuffed his face full of McDonalds meals, drinks, and desserts while all the employees and customers either waited on him hand and foot or were on the floor in a dazed intoxicated, the majority of the latter being a lot of attractive females. The obedience was the result of a hyper addictive chemical similar to LSD and Scopolamine that he constantly secreted, causing anybody to do whatever he wants as their conscious minds are trapped in unending euphoria.

As Fuck-Pig finished his 60th order of 11 Quarter Pounders with large fries, 9 10-piece McNuggets with ranch, 7 spicy chicken sandwiches, 12 Egg McMuffins, 2 gallons of Coca-Cola, 7 M&M McFurries, and 8 chocolate milkshakes, he snorts like hog in satisfaction while rubbing his stomach and licking his lips with his long black tongue, "Now, that was a good meal." The pig of a man murmured, glad his stomach could digest all that food almost instantly and that all the fat and waste was converted into more of his chemicals. Now that his appetite for food has been sated, he can begin to sate his other appetite.

One of the women that were intoxicated by Fuck-Pig's chemical emissions crawled towards him, eyes clouded with desire and voice thick with lust, "I want you to spread me like the plague, baby." She moaned while practically ripping her clothes off. Fuck-Pig chuckled while attaching one of his duller blades to a piece on his crotch.

"Don't worry, babe." Fuck-Pig cooed in a soft tone as she spread her legs for him, "It only hurts for a second. After that, your life will never be the same." The sounds of pleasure and pain would ring out for hours.

A few hours later, the Black Skulls all came back, looking thoroughly pleased by their orgy of sex and murder as they arrived back at their motorcycles. Skratch merely hummed while holstering his axe and handcannons, Sis moaned in rapture while blood dripped off from her bodysuit, Skabs shook off the viscera and gunk off his nails, Rip simply wiped the blood off his blade while Grinder cleaned the blood of his nooses, and Fuck-Pig detached the blade off his codpiece and sheathed it.

"Well, that was fun." Sis purred out, "Where to next, Boss?"

Skratch simply raised his arm and pointed north, "Onwards, to Canberra!" The others roared in excitement, boarding their vehicles and speeding off to the north.

New York City

People had always asked him if he knew Tyler Durden.

"Three minutes." A voice rang out in the dark unfinished floor of the building, causing a man with short black hair to open his eyes and saw the barrel of a Colt Python sitting in his mouth, held by a man with shaved blonde hair who was standing in front of him, "This is it. Ground Zero. Would you like to say a few words to mark the occasion?"

Both men were disheveled, the black-haired man more than the blonde as the former had a bruised eye and bags on the other from nights of unrest as well as signs of tiredness and cuts. The black-haired man was dressed in grey suit with a black dress shirt with a red tie and black dress shoes while the blond was dressed in a heavily designed and garishly colored white beater, black pants, and red tennis shoes. The blond was Tyler Durden as for the black-haired man, his name is Jack Moore.

Jack then mumbled out some jumbled words before the blond pulled the gun away from his mouth, clearly amused, "Come again?"

With a gun barrel between your teeth, you can speak only in vowels.

The black-haired man, very disoriented, replied, "I can't think of anything." For a second, he forgot about Tyler's whole mass demolition thing and wondered how clean that gun was, running his tongue over his teeth, spitting out, and making sounds of disgust at the taste while Tyler walked away and watched the ships above the sky as they rained down upon the earth.

"Getting exciting, now." Tyler said as he leaned against the window to watch the show.

The two of them had front row seats for this theater of mass destruction; the demolitions committee of Project Mayhem wrapped the foundation columns of 3 dozen buildings with blasting gelatin. In two minutes, primary charges will detonate and blow base charges, and then a few square miles would be reduced to smoldering rubble. He knows this because Tyler knows this.

"Two and a half." Jack hears Tyler mutter as he checks his watch. As those 90 seconds ticked on, Jack wondered how he came to this point.

He was just an insomniac office worker, worked a desk job for a car company that made garbage cars; leather seats cured in third world countries with chemicals they know cause birth defects. Brake linings that fail after a thousand miles, and fuel injectors that burn people alive. The bits of yellow, red and hard black stuff sticking out of the shit leather seat? That's what's left of the poor bastard who bought this car. Caught fire with everyone stuck inside. The sad thing is, he couldn't do anything about it. If the amount of cars is less than the cost of the deaths, the cars kept coming.

Maybe it was guilt that kept him awake all those nights or maybe it was the sight of whatever was left of the poor bastards that bought the cars, or maybe it was the fact that he was constantly on business trips that landed him in different time zones but regardless, Jack could barely get an ounce of sleep. He went to a doctor, hoping to get something so he could sleep but the only thing the doc recommended was for him to just chew some Valerian root. He tried to convince the doc to give him something because he was in pain, but the doc retorted that he should go to a support group for patients with testicular cancer if he wanted to see pain.

Deciding that it was better than just sitting in his condo all night, Jack went to the group, meeting a former boxer named Bob who had just gotten treated for cancer due to his steroid abuse. Despite his size, Bob helped him out with his problems. Hell, the two even went to the same support group for when the Rift opened all those months back.

But it was when he was coming home on a plane from a business trip did, he meet Tyler Durden.

Tyler sat beside him on the window seat and introduced himself as a soap maker, showing Jack his products in a suitcase that was exactly the same as his own and commenting that he had a sick desperation in his laugh. Instead of just showing off his work, Tyler told Jack about how one could make napalm from gasoline and frozen orange juice or how he could make all kinds of explosives from household items. Jack found him interesting, so he kept a calling card that Tyler gave him.

But thing took a turn for the worst when it was reported that his luggage was vibrating so it was confiscated. As if that wasn't bad enough, Jack returned to his condo only to find it was destroyed by what the fire department thought was an electrical fault. With nowhere to go, he considered calling his ex but against his better judgement, he called Tyler. The two got to a bar and talked over some drinks but as they walked out of the bar, Tyler asked him something.

"I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

After doing just that and Tyler retaliating, the two got into a fistfight in the parking lot. A day later, Jack ended up moving into Tyler's home, a dilapidated house in a forgotten street. They fought each other every Sunday at that same bar, eventually attracting the attention of other people who joined in. It quickly got big enough to become a group on its own, a Fight Club if you will. Every Sunday when the bar closed, he and Tyler along with the members of Fight Club where Tyler would then recite the rules of Fight Club but the first two stuck out the most.

"First rule of Fight Club is; You do not talk about Fight Club. Second rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club."

Weeks passed, new members came every time, but trouble came when Jack absentmindedly faxed the rules of Fight Club to his boss which led to a series of events that resulted in him getting fired but after framing his boss by beating himself up, causing his freaked-out boss to give him a rather generous severance package. Due to that, they could have Fight Club every night of the week.

But then things began to shift when Jack noticed Tyler handing out 'homework assignments' to various members of Fight Club. At first, the assignments were harmless, mostly just mischief like feeding pigeons enough for them to crap on cars in a dealership or tamper with new cellphones. But when the Bombing of Detroit came, the assignments took a shift.

The most devoted members of Fight Club would stand outside Tyler's dilapidated house while he would verbally and physically assault them for three days without food or shelter. When that happened, they were allowed into the house and have with them two black shirts, two pairs of black pants, one pair of black boots, two pairs of black socks, and one black jacket. Eventually, more and more members joined in and formed Tyler's ultimate group.

Project Mayhem. Homemade explosives, vandalism, stolen gun caches, assaults on corporate coffee shops, and giving up your identity were the requirements, but the one thing that puzzled Jack was the emblem they chose: a red eight pointed star. The men and women of Project Mayhem would work around the house, working on the garden, fixing the house, or helping Tyler with his explosives.

However, odd events began occurring. It first happened when one of the members, nicknamed Angel Face because he was remarkably handsome, went to the others because of a pain in his eye. When another member whom used to be a doctor examined him, Jack and Tyler were called just a minute later. Angel Face's sclera had become a deep red while his iris and pupil were milky white. Jack looked bewildered while Tyler didn't seem fazed, the latter telling Angel Face that he'd get used to it.

Over the last month, Jack began noticing that a lot of the members of Project Mayhem were undergoing strange changes. One female member that had the hots for Tyler grinned at him with teeth that seemed more like fangs, Bob lost his bitch tits from his overused of steroids and much of the fat he gained while also healing from a gunshot wound to the head after an assignment went awry, one member had boney ridges growing from all over his body, another had small horns growing from her temples.

Even around the house, Jack began noticing changes; when Bob punched a hole in the wall, Jack saw it slowly close up like a liquid. One time during a massive snowstorm, they never lost power, nor did it seem to get any colder. Some tears in the house seemed to be sealed up with wetworks of flesh and he saw that the ceiling to the attic was held together with tendrils of bones. Some tears even leaked saliva and lined with needle-like teeth.

However, nothing could prepare Jack for what would happen next.

An odd smell came from the basement, it wasn't unpleasant, but Tyler asked Jack and Bob to check it out, thinking that something was wrong with the radiator. But when they got to the basement door, the two noticed that doorframe seemed... warped for a lack of a better term so Bob had to force it open with his muscles. When they got down there though, neither of them were prepared for what they saw.

The water that usually flooded the basement was now gallons of blood and slime, networks of fleshy tentacles held up the ceiling while fused with the radiator and fuse box. Lumps of flesh came from the ground and moans bubbled from the gallons of blood. Disturbed, both he and Bob quickly left and boarded up the basement with planks and nails before telling the others not to go down there.

Steadily, Jack was starting to get freaked out but then one day, one member suddenly grew tentacles that he used to kill several innocent people before the police shot him up, thankfully, because he wasn't wearing the uniform, no connections were made. Some of the members of Project Mayhem were unsettled but Tyler reassured them that everything was alright.

But the next morning, Jack awoke to find that the house was empty, and all the members of Project Mayhem gone. He checked his phone to find if anybody had left him a message, only to find an absurd amount of calls had been made from around the country. He tried to call those people back but only to receive the same answer.

"First rule of Project Mayhem is that you do not ask questions."

And deciding that the house wasn't safe anymore, Jack decided to just rent a hotel room until he could think things over. Then yesterday, his ex-girlfriend called him, telling him that some guys and girls came over to her house and were now asking questions about him.

But what opened the floodgates was this question: "Why did they keep calling you Tyler?"

Jack almost immediately hung up after saying that it was just a nickname, calming himself down with a bottle of liquor before trying to think about what could be happening. And then Tyler reappeared in his room, now shaved and having a new outfit. And when Jack began demanding answers, it all began to click.

The formal ways people he never met spoke to him, how secretive they acted around him, the way how they laughed when he asked something so. Damn. Obvious.

In Tyler's own words, "All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look how you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I'm smart, I'm capable, and I'm free in all the ways you are not. I am Jack's unchecked aggression."

They were the same person. And little by little he was letting himself become Tyler Durden.

Then Jack blacked out. When he awoke, he found calls had been made on the hotel phone to various buildings. He managed to get his ex, Emily, onto a bus away from the city as he went to the police, only to find that the detectives with him were in on Project Mayhem but he managed to fight them off and steal the gun off one of them. After that, he sprinted through the streets, yelling and screaming his lungs out to scare away anybody around him before he managed to get to one of the buildings that were set to blow.

And then just twenty minutes ago, Tyler interfered, somehow beating the crap out of Jack after the latter managed to disarm the charges. He explained he could touch him because of 'Warp Fuckery', whatever the hell that meant.

He blacked out again and then back where we started; at the unfinished part of the building, the barrel of a Colt Python in his mouth and everything.

"Would you like to say a few words to mark the occasion?"

Jack mumbled again and Tyler pulled the gun out, asking in an amused tone, "I'm sorry?"

He repeated out in a disoriented tone, "I still can't think of anything."

Tyler chuckled in sarcastic amusement, "Ah, flashback humor." He then walked to the windows as the ships rained down pods at the larger populated areas with giants in armor slaughtering people left and right as Tyler checked his watch, "It's getting exciting, now. Two and a half."

The leader of Project Mayhem then walked back to Jack, who was still sitting in the chair despite the fact that he wasn't tied up, "Think of everything we've accomplished, man. Out these windows, we will view the collapse of society, one step closer to true equilibrium!" Tyler emphasized this by pushing Jack and the chair to the window that cushioned them from the impact yet made a loud crash.

Jack made a pained sound after the impact before he noticed something that turned him pale. It was a bus, the same one he sent Emily on pulling to the building before several members of Project Mayhem dragged her out into the streets with her kicking and screaming all the way. Jack then turned to Tyler and asked in a horrified tone, "What is she doing here?"

"Tying up loose ends." Was the casual and calm sentence that he responded with.

Every fiber of Jack's being began shaking with his intended emotion not known, desperate to convince him otherwise as futile as it may be, "I'm begging you, Tyler, please don't do this-"

"I'm not this. We're doing this." Tyler countered, not budging in the slightest, "This is what we want."

"No. No. I don't want this!" Jack motioned to the destruction around them. Sure, he hated his job, but this was too much!

"Right. Except you is meaningless now." Tyler countered again, still not budging from his goal, "We have to forget about you."

"Jesus..." Jack gritted his teeth and put a hand to his head in frustration, "You're a voice in my head!"

"You're a voice in mine!" Tyler shot back.

"YOU'RE A FUCKING HALLUCINATION! WHY CAN'T I GET RID OFF YOU?!" Jack screamed out at the top of his lungs in utter frustration.

"Because you need me." Tyler countered again, pacing around the floor near an unfinished stairway.

Jack looked at him beyond desperate to stop this, "No, I don't. I really don't anymore-

"Hey, you created me! I didn't create some loser alter ego to make myself feel better!" Tyler yelled out as he sat down on a set of stairs and lit a cigarette, "Take some responsibility!"

"I do!" Jack's voice cracked as his pleads reached a tipping point, "I am responsible for all of this, I accept that! So, please, I'm begging you! Please call this off!"

Tyler simply blew out some smoke out and glared at Jack, frustrated that he's not giving in, "Have I ever let us down? How far have you come because of me?!" He let his creator ponder that as he slid a hand through his shaved head before exhaling and continuing in a softer tone, "I will bring us through this. As always, I will carry you kicking and screaming, and in the end, you will thank me."

"Tyler-" Jack started before scooting the chair to move forward because of his injured leg from their fight, in one last attempt to get Tyler to call it off, motioning to the world under siege by the forces of hell, "Tyler, I'm grateful to you, for everything that you done for me. But... this is too much. I don't want this!"

His alter ego stood up, looking angry as he walked towards a set of barrels that had a timer on them, "So, what do you want!? Go back to working a shitty job at that car company!? Sit in a worthless condo, buying stuff we don't need while watching sit-coms all day!? Fuck you! I won't do it!" Tyler sets his gun down on the red barrels that were labeled with nitroglycerin.

"This can't be happening." Jack whispered in horror as Tyler pushed the barrels right in front of them, aiming the gun at them.

"It is, so shut up." Tyler pulled himself on the barrels before checking his watch, "60 seconds till CRI."

"Nononononononononono..." Jack muttered, trying to find a way to stop this, "I can figure this out. I can figure this out." He then closed his eyes, concentrating pass his own limits, "I can do this. The gun isn't in your hand. It's in mine." Suddenly, the Colt Python flew out of Tyler's hand and landed into Jack's like it was alive.

Jack stared at the gun in his hand, bewildered while Tyler just stared blankly, "Hey, good for you. You got Psyker powers. Doesn't change a thing." The former recall specialist looked on before a fearless look crossed his face before he pointed it to the bottom of his head, glaring back at his alter ego.

Tyler merely stared on, "Why do you wanna put a gun to your head?"

"Not my head, Tyler. Our head." Jack retorted before he cocked back the hammer for emphasis.

"Interesting." Tyler dryly remarked as he slid off the barrels, throwing down his cigarette and walked to where Jack was sitting, crossing his arms while having a disinterested look, "Where are you going with this IKEA boy?"

The two stared off as never gave another a shred of emotion before Tyler broke the silence, uncrossing his arms, "Hey... it's you and me. Friends?" Jack said nothing, just standing up despite the agony radiating from his broken leg.

"Tyler," Jack started, slowly pulling the gun away from the bottom of his jaw, "I want you to really listen to me."

"...Okay." Tyler shrugged it off uncaringly.

"My eyes are open." With that, Jack stuck the barrel into his mouth and pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced through his cheek and jaw while the discharge flames scorched the insides of his mouth and the recoil of the blast took him off his feet and landed in the chair with the empty casing sliding out of the chamber and clanging onto the floor, breaking the lasting silence as the impact of the gun hitting the floor caused the chamber to open and eject the empty casing.

Blood spilled out of the wound, flowing down his neck and staining his shirt while his mouth hung open, unable to close it from the white hot agony in his jaw and cheek. Jack's body was frozen in pain as he just sat there on the deck chair, only able to move his eyes to look at Tyler, who had not reacted in the slightest.

Suddenly, Tyler exhaled quite a lot of smoke from his mouth as his voice seemed to echo like in a tunnel, "What's that smell?" Was all that he could utter before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed onto his knees, turning around to reveal a massive gaping exit wound on the back of his skull. Tyler than collapsed onto the floor before his body disappear in just a second later.

A ghost of a chuckle escaped from Jack's burnt mouth as he swiveled the chair to gaze upon the city, only to see that the Justice League were managing to fight the legions of hell off, like they always did. But more so, despite it begin 60 seconds later, there were no explosions, no collapsing buildings, no further chaos. Maybe Tyler's scheme ran into some snags with the league arriving.

"Huh. Guess I did something worthwhile after all..." Jack chuckled as his eyes closed and he felt the world slipping away while the dark was all that remained.

Unseen or unhear were several members of Project Mayhem ascending the stair including Bob and Angel Face while struggling to keep Emily from breaking free from their grasp. Emily was quite attractive with long platinum hair but was currently embarrassed out of her skull that the members of Project Mayhem had stripped her to her black underwear with only one of them giving her a coat to cover her up.

When they got to the unfinished floor, Bob let go of Emily as did Angel Face as they approached Mr. Durden, whom from where they were standing was watching the city as the Justice League stepped in to save the city from those giants in metal.

"Mr. Durden," Angel Face spoke, dark veins spreading from his red right eye throughout his face, "The other teams had some problem with properly rigging the bombs, so the timers were set incorrectly. We have about 2 or 3 more minutes before the bombs go off." He desperately hoped that Mr. Durden wouldn't get mad at this setback but to the surprise of all of the Project Mayhem members, Mr. Durden didn't react.

Both Angel Face and Bob looked at each other in confusion before Bob asked, "Um, Tyler, a-are you upset?" Still, Mr. Durden didn't react. Emily, meanwhile, after hearing that name, finally broke out of the grip of the others before sprinting to Jack in the chair and slapped him hard across his head, much to the shock and anger of the other Project Mayhem members.

"Jack, you asshole! What kind of sick fucking game are you playing, putting me on a fucking bus-" Emily yelled in anger before her words died in her mouth when the force of her slap swiveled the chair around, revealing Jack and the gaping bullet wound in his cheek, putting her hands to her mouth in horror, "Oh my god..."

"Mr. Durden!" A lot of the several members of Project Mayhem yelled as they sprinted past Emily and got their leader out of the chair. Angel Face touched the side of his leader's head only to cringe when he saw the somewhat clotted blood that stained his hand.

"Get back!" Bob yelled as he pushed himself to the front before kneeling down and doing chest compressions on his leader, counting with each compression, "One! Two! Three! One! Two! Three! One! Two! Three! Breath, damnit!" Suddenly, Jack started coughing violently as he was ripped back into the realm of the living. When he managed to breath properly, Bob helped him to his feet as he struggled to stand.

"Jesus, Jack, what the hell got into you?!" Emily demanded as she put her hand on the bullet wound to stop the bleeding as he gave a pained smile.

"I'm fine. Really, I'm fine." Jack replied, his voice raspy from the shot and the blood coming down his throat, before he motioned to one of them, "One of you; get some gauze." A female member immediately bolted down the stairs to find a medical kit.

Jack then looked to the rest and said, "All of you, get your stuff. I'll meet you downstairs." With unsure nods, the other members of Project Mayhem walked to the elevator while he stayed behind with Emily who was still pressing her hand to the wound, even though the blood had clotted at this point.

"Can't believe he's still standing after that." Angel Face said to the others who nodded. Another muttering out as the elevator doors closed, "One tough son of a bitch."

Before Emily could ask what happened, Jack just puts his hands on her shoulders, "I'm fine, Em. Really, I'm-" He was interrupted when an explosion rocked the building. The two turned to see a building collapse from the bombs, followed by another and another just a second later.

Jack stared on before he felt Emily nuzzle close to him, staring on in fear at the screams of the people that were crushed by the buildings and even more by the rubble. Even as the world ended... she still felt nice. Jack turned before giving her an odd smile, "You met me at a very strange time in my life..."

Emily only blinked and blushed lightly before staring back at the chaos.

Jakarta

In a rundown apartment block, Kairo Rama was helping a wounded officer through a hallway. His strike team uniform was nearly in tattered while his hair and face were coated with blood and sweat. The man assisting him was 7.9 feet hulking man with numerous scars on his face and body, grey hair adorning his head with a sharp jawline. The man wore a pair of black pants, brown boots, a white beater under a white dress shirt and protective vest that was covered in blood and dust.

It was supposed to be a simple operation; just go in, arrest the cult leader, and suppress the cultists. But when they got deep into the building, the cultists began slaughtering them wholesale before he and a veteran from America, Marv, managed to escape, but now they're separated from the other cops. Unfortunately, Marv was shot in the leg, so he had to be assisted with walking by Rama.

"You sure you'll be fine?" Rama asked Marv who nodded.

"Relax, kid. I've had worse." The lieutenant assured as he limped on with Rama still assisting him through the hallway, "Let's just pray that the medic is still alive and can help us."

The younger officer nodded as the two continued their trek through level 29. But the silence permeating the air was broken when a machete wielding cultist charged at them from an apartment across from them, screaming like a manic. The thug attempted a downward slash only for his machete to meet Rama's tonfa. Before he could react, Kairo parried the machete, smacks the thug around with the blunt side of the bone tonfa, before slashing the latter's calve.

Another armed cultist emerged from the flat left of them in a frenzy, only to be met with a hard jab to the neck curtesy of Marv. Yet another cultist attacked from behind but was stopped by a kick to chest from Marv and a slash to the throat from Rama. Marv then clotheslined a headband wearing cultist before stomping on his neck, killing him instantly when another was stabbed in the throat by Rama before he could strike the pair with his axe.

Quickly realizing that they can't fight like this, Kairo had Marv rest against the wall while they both dealt against the thugs that were closing in.

Another machete wielding thug with wild hair came charging at Rama with a feral scream, swing wildly with the younger officer blocking or parrying every blow before he was floored by Marv punching him hard in the gut. The same with another thug, only this time he was thrown to the burly veteran who snapped the former's neck.

The thug that was sent to the floor got up to attack again only to meet Rama's tonfa and then knife through a stash in the neck. A short haired thug came screaming down the hallway towards them, only to be met with Marv's fist, smacking him upside the head.

Rama ducked when two more thugs came swinging before he parried their blows with a second bone tonfa. Pressuring the two, he stabbed the one on the right in the chest before the one on the left retaliated with wild swings. That cultist could barely get in a few blows when he was then stabbed in the leg, sending him to his knees before he was roundhouse kicked in the face by Rama. A cultist running from the south side of the corridor was intercepted by Marv who, with a loud growl, slammed the thug into the wall, turning his face into mush. Letting that one slide down the wall, another cultist came charging only for the burly man to punch him hard in the chest, caving his ribs in.

Meanwhile, a screaming berserker came around the corner and slashed at Kairo whom dodged before twirled around, sideswiping the cultist knocking him to the floor before he stabbed him in the heart. Another one came screaming with an axe, only for Rama to do the same song and dance ending with a jab to the waist and torso.

Marv grunted as his leg was still numb due to the nerves in his knee still struggling to function, yet he limbed towards his companion in an attempt to help. He then heard a moan and saw a thug trying to stab him, which Marv responded by slamming his foot down on the thug's head, crushing it to pulp. He wiped the brain matter off his boot before continuing to limb towards his friend.

Back with Rama, he front-kicked a thug in the chest twice before twirling around and snapped another thug's leg in half, backhanding him and stabbed him in the side of his neck. Before he could extract his bone tonfa, the other thug grabbed him from behind, snapping it off from his wrist. Rama cried in agony before both of them dragged themselves to another west part of the hallway before he elbow jabbed the thug in the stomach until he let go before grabbing the thug and throwing him to the floor, dislocating his arm and stomping on his jaw.

Yet again, two unarmed cultists came from behind. One punch connected to Rama's right arm before he spun away from a hand chop, the thug then spun back and attempted an elbow jab, but Rama caught before punching him in the ear, making him stumble for a sec. The other thug tried to right hook the trooper, but the latter caught it and kneed him in the stomach, sending him to the floor before the first one got back and tried to throw a punch, which was caught. Rama used this to force the cultist to the floor before he kneed the latter in the face, breaking his nose in the process.

The other cultist growled before delivering a series of intercepted blows against Rama before the latter kneed him in the thigh before he held the side of the crazed man's head and rammed it against a light, shattering it then slamming his head against lower tiles of the wall, making the man fall dead from a cracked skull and brain hemorrhaging.

Rama and Marv panted from the slaughter of all the cultists before the former assisted the latter with walking again. Hopefully, the both of them could find a place to regroup and lick their wounds.

São Paulo

Thousands of cultists of different Chaos Cults were killing each other on the streets of São Paulo with guns, blades, and IEDs, bringing down nearly the entire city as every single man, woman, and child were armed to the teeth and fighting for whatever cult had enticed them.

Some cults however were more organized and coordinated than the others, like the Cult of Blight that managed to bring down the Cult of the Brass Skulls by simply luring them into a trap or the Cult of Unending Delights who destroyed the Cult of the Crystal Labyrinth after giving the latter a self-contradicting riddle and simply kicking back as they destroyed themselves while trying to find out the answer.

A Nurglite cult detonated a series of Blight Grenades that reduced thousands of people to bile and slurry before a Khornate cultist fired an RPG that ignited the massive amounts of methane, which blasted an entire city block into rubble and killing thousands more. A Slaaneshi cultist unleashed a cloud of rapturous agony at several Tzeentchians only for one of them to fire back a Doombolt that destroyed the former's head.

Blasts of Warp sorcery blazed through the streets, occupants of buildings distorted into Chaos Spawn erupting from their homes, Warp entities seizing the bodies of hapless cultists to wreak their blasphemous woes onto the world, and the boiling blood of millions ran through the streets like a tidal wave of crimson that washed over the millions of spent casings and dead bodies as fire, smoke, and steam sulfated the air.

Fuel lines burst as flames boiled the blood tides away and reduced entire buildings to showers of stone, metal, and glass that impaled nearly half of the remaining cults, but there were still at least 6 million cultists left in the city. Poisonous gas filled the areas not ablaze as blood, oil, sludge, and chemicals mixed and boiled, the survivors used whatever they could to breath; be it gas masks or rebreathers, multiple power supplies detonated, destabilizing the city further as it was nearly reduced to a sea of rubble and fire.

Explosion rang around the city in random intervals as the last remaining structures were leveled by the cultist's fury, only for them to be eclipsed by the sounds of jets. For a single moment, all of the cultists stopped and looked skywards to see several thousands of GDF ships flying over them in a phalanx pattern.

"Deploying Scorch Blades." The pilots of the jets reported to each other as the payloads on their aircrafts, revealing several thousand long silver rods that fell from the air. The rods then straightened and glowed sky blue, while emitting a loud humming sound and white circuit-like markings appeared.

The moment the rods struck the ground, they detonated. Blinding white and blue flames erupted from the ground, enveloping whatever remained of São Paulo in tidal waves of plasma. No one even had a chance to scream as the white wave of death erased the city from the face of the earth, nothing remained but slag as the blasts of plasma, leaving where São Paulo once stood as nothing but superheated molten earth.

Jerusalem

Pope Francis uttered desperate prayers as his and his fellow Christians prayed for salvation in the halls of Church of All Nations, on their knees and praying to God for salvation and safety. The sounds of screams and gunfire rang through their ears as they felt tendrils of shadow closing in around them. Sweat raced down his forehead as his prayers became more and more desperate, feeling the scythe of whatever was darkness was beginning to rear back before it would swing down and reap them.

Suddenly, a sense of complete calmness washed over him before a vast and powerful voice came to him.

"Pope Francis, your faith is strong as it is unbending. Use your faith as a weapon against the nightmares and use your will to defy this world's end."

The pope's eyes suddenly glimmered with golden light as he suddenly got to his feet and walked towards the doors of the church, despite his fellow Christians seeing him and begging him to come back, but he did not listen. The pope opened the door and calmly walked out to see several hundred heretics standing at the entrance of the church.

"Death to the Pope!" The leader yelled as the hundreds of heretics fired their weapons, intending to turn the pope to slurry. However, of the bullets piercing his flesh, the projectiles all stopped an inch in front of him, coated in a golden aura before they dissolved into nothing. The heretics and civilians were all stunned at the sight before the pope then brandished his cross.

"BURN HERETICS!"

A storm of golden flames erupted from his cross that washed over the swarm of traitors, setting them ablaze as they died a screaming death, their flesh reduced to dust and their bones reduced to ash, darkness burning away as light once more broke through. The flames soon dispersed, revealing the survivors of France, stunned at what had just happened.

The pope then turned to the survivors around him, "All of you, grab whatever weapons you can find! We must prepare for the next wave of heretics!"

London

Gentlemen Jim Craddock or more commonly The Gentlemen Ghost laughed as he and his fellow thieves from the 19th century to pillage around the streets of London, stealing whatever valuable object they could grab onto while stashing them in bottomless white bags, riding on white spectral horses whose hooves, tails, and manes were composed of white flames. Behind him and his thieves was a massive army of hooligans, marauders, and pillagers that were fighting the last of the Police.

White spectral flames came from Craddock's cane as he swung it towards a barricade, igniting it before it was reduced to slag that consumed the people hiding behind as they died a screaming death, his fellow ghosts phased through the slag and slayed the survivors. Then many of the pillagers armed with flamethrowers dosed entire city blocks in napalm flames.

"Hehe! Maybe we should have a barbeque!" One of the pillagers joked causing a lot of them to break out into hysterical laughing.

"Onward, good fellows! To Gloucestershire!" The Gentleman Ghost rallied his warband whom cheered on as they charged towards their next destination.

Hong Kong

"FIRE!" The command came from the dying minister before several thousand nuclear rockets launched from hidden underground silos, dispersing or deploying all kinds of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons that rained down on the billion cultists that were rampaging through the now ruined city. Flesh eating viruses melted the skin off of the cultists, while either nuclear fire or chemical waste burned away whatever was left.

Hong Kong soon became a wasteland where only the truly unfortunate survived.

And watching it all was a fatally wounded Kim Jong Un, leaning against his desk with a gunshot wound to his stomach from his traitor guards that he killed after they shot him first. The dictator let out a single laugh before he slowly fell silent.

Washington DC

GDF forces were mowing down hordes of monsters, cultists, and possessed as several elite soldiers clad in the best gear in the GDF's armory were escorting the President and his family to safety. Millions of bullets were fired per second, hundreds on both sides fell in equal time.

The last of the president's family were aboard the transports before they took off as the last of the GDF foot soldiers that stayed behind were slaughtered by the rest of the cultists. The hordes fired on the helicopters only for a noise to pipe in their ears, causing them to pause and turn to where the sound was coming from, only to see a small device opened from in front of the White House.

In an instant, the city was enveloped in white fire that reduced all flesh to dust, leaving only bones behind from the horde that did not even have the chance to scream. Unknown to all was President Trump with his thumb depressing a detonator in his hand.

"Welcome to America, you sons of bitches." The President said venomously as the helicopters evacuated DC.

The Watchtower: The Emperor's Laboratory

The Emperor hummed to himself to cope with the stress as put the finishing touches on the Black Touchstone, sweat pouring down his forehead before he wiped it off and continued working. He just needed a few more seconds and he could enact his plan.

"How's it coming, E?!" Alistair yelled out, as he, Batman, and the rest of the Acolytes stared out the window, seeing the Wave approaching behind the fleet of Chaos ships, like the Reaper slowly raising his scythe to strike down on the earth.

"I'm almost done! How's the Wave?!" The Emperor yelled back, almost finished with his device.

"It's approaching, slowly but... But we're running out of time!" Alistair yelled back. They wanted to do something but the Emperor gave them the orders to guard him as he made the finishing touches on the Black Touchstone.

"Aaaaaaaaaaand... FINISHED!" The Master of Mankind cheered in glee as he saw all of the device's pieces lock into place, now resembling a diamond composed of onyx with a green diamond shaped button. He immediately grabbed it and raced out to the Dark Knight and the Acolytes, "All I need to do it plug it into the Control Deck and I can remotely launch the Pylons!"

"Alright, to the Control Deck!" Elitras yelled as they all dashed through the hallway. Thankfully, it was only a slight jog to the Control Deck as it was mostly empty and E set himself up near it in case of an emergency, which this was. But just as they reached the Control Deck, there was a loud boom from space. The eight all look at each other before seven go to the window while E sets up the Touchstone. The thing that made the boom was a sight that they had hopped they never had to see.

(Rok Nardin- The Devil)

It was Zim's flagship; the Massive. It was now a deep blue with its grey parts now a bright gold, blue fleshy tentacles with golden snake-like eyes swaying and lashing in the void, and the Mark of Tzeentch plastered on the front, changing and shifting at a whim.

"Oh, man." Alistair muttered as they all backed away in fear, before he yelled out, "ANYTIME, MY LORD!"

"Almost got it..." The Emperor muttered as he programmed the Black Touchstone to connect to all of the Pylons, when a small holographic screen appears that said, 'Connection established,' he cheered, "Got it!"

But just as he was about to activate the Touchstone, the wall to the left exploded. Decompression immediately followed as the vacuum of space caused whatever wasn't bolted down into space. Batman shot his grappling hook at the nearest intact walls, hooking it in and preventing him from being lost to the vacuum. The Emperor quickly made several spider legs made of Haloshard that anchored him to the floor, while the Acolytes managed to grab onto whatever they could grab on even if using their strength was enough to anchor them to the floor.

Alistair then saw the Black Touchstone was flying out through the tear in the Watchtower.

Acting quickly, Alistair rocketed from his spot and vanished in a streak of green towards the Touchstone with the Watchtower closing the tear behind him, sealing the blowout. Batman used the momentum from the lack of vacuum to swing back up to the Deck while the Acolytes merely flew to the Deck where the Emperor was nearly panicking, "OH SHIT! THE TOUCHSTONE!"

Sure enough, the diamond shaped device was nowhere in sight before the realization hit the Emperor harder than a Power Fist to the groin. "The blowout." Someone knew where to strike so the Touchstone would be out of the way.

Serena looked to where the tear in the Watchtower's hull, concerned for her male counterpart, "He went out there to get it." The other Acolytes looked to the view pane and the extended cannons from the Massive indicated who was responsible for the explosion.

(Music end)

The Massive: The Bridge

Zim grinned in victory, but it faded when he saw the green streak heading towards the Touchstone. If Alistair got the device back to the Anathema, then their plans would be ruined.

This requires drastic measures.

Barely keeping his utter loathing of the Emperor's sons in, Zim produced a hologram in front of him before speaking in his more menacing voice, "Primarchs, we must use the Spear of Arrakis."

The Hand of the Gods: The Bridge

"Agreed." For once, the six Daemon Primarchs were in agreement without devolving into their petty squabbles. If this version of Terra continued, then they would aid the Emperor with science on par with the Dark Age of Technology. It must be destroyed.

Their losses in the resulting act were replaceable and they would reap 10 billion souls to fuel their ships and built their armies.

"Warpsmiths! Prepare the Spear of Arrakis!" Perturabo yelled out to his Iron Warriors who stoically nodded and moved out to begin charging their secret weapon. The Dark Mechanicus remained on the bridge, uttering dark and blasphemous words as they prayed to placate the Machine Spirits that were thirsting for slaughter.

The Hand of the Gods rumbled as its drives churned with infernal power, the center of the underside unfurled into a series of ship-sized mechadendrites, the eight ends opened into hook-like claws as orbs of white-hot energy form, and a crimson orb slowly formed from waves emitted from the mechadendrites. The crimson orb churned under the weight of its own power and its light reached the surface of the planet, gaining the attention of everyone on earth.

Outer Space

Alistair's helmet formed over his face the moment he flew into the vacuum of space, though it was not needed as he could survive in the void. What was needed was the helmet's advanced scope that quickly located the Touchstone, which helped as he sped towards it at speeds rivalling light.

In just a second, Alistair reached the Touchstone and took it into his hands. Thankfully, it seemed to be undamaged, so he just needed to get it back to the Emperor and then they should be home-free.

Before he could however, the area was bathed in crimson light. He turned to see the Hand of the Gods charging what he rightfully assumed was their super weapons, but the conundrum wasn't that he couldn't dodge it; it was that it was aimed directly at the earth. And he doubted he could make it from the Watchtower, get the Touchstone to the Emperor, and the Pylons would launch in time before it fired.

Even if he did, the point would be moot as the planet would be destroyed and the Pylons with it.

(Dark Souls OST - Burnt Ivory King)

Alistair looked back at the planet and then back at the Hand of the Gods, sweating pouring down his forehead as he struggled to decide which path to take. Suddenly, he remembers that he still had that clock on him.

Pulling it out, he tried fiddling with it to see if it could do anything to help before he turned again to see that the crimson orb was now bigger than the fortress itself with the white orbs now diverting even more power to it. The composure that Alistair had acquired from years of Imperial conditioning was beginning to buckle from the strain as he tried to figure out what the clock could do to save his world.

'I don't know what you can do, you damn clock, but do something! Whatever you can do, save the people!' Alistair spoke in his head, begging the clock to do something as the stress was beginning to break him, 'I'm begging you please! Save my world!'

There was a pulse that caused him to turn to the Hand of the Gods. The streams from the white orbs had stopped, as the crimson orb began to unfurl into near planet sized beam of scarlet energy. Time seemed to stop as all beings on the planet gazed up to the skies at what would be their final moments in the mortal plane.

Tears would have run down Alistair's eyes if he had not resigned himself to his fate. It was too late. But at the very least, he helped his lord stem the tide of the Ruinous Powers.

Unseen to Alistair, the hands on the clock struck midnight.

The Hand of the Gods: The Bridge

Perturabo roared out in a joyous roar like a child playing with their favorite toy, "FIRE!"

Outer Space

The Spear of Arrakis tore through realspace towards the planet, reducing all in its way to nothingness as it was about to reach the Earth's exosphere in mere moments. Nobody could stop it; not the Emperor or the Acolytes as they watched with horror-stricken expressions from the Watchtower, not the Justice League whom all had a variety of either horrified or resigned expressions, not even the GDF if they even had an option.

Suddenly, a thin beam of blackness shot from the Clock of Ages, rocketing towards the Spear at faster than light speeds.

(0:58)

Just as the Spear closed the gap from the Hand of the Gods to the Earth, the blackness intercepted it. In an instant, the end of the black beam expanded into a gateway to the Void, drowning out the light from the near planet sized blast. The Spear was consumed utterly by the gateway, eclipsing the planet it was swallowed into the Void.

The solar system seemed to shake from the force of the actions, causing all those who were watching to have their jaws drop in shock, even those on Chaos' side. It continued for several minutes until the massive crimson beam was swallowed by the void, leaving only silence to flow above the earth.

Before anyone could process what had just happened, crimson light poured out from the gateway to the void. And just as Alistair uttered out, "What?", the Spear was fired back at the Hand of the Gods and the fleet approaching the Earth.

The Massive: The Bridge

"Oh, no." Zim muttered out as he saw what was happening before he yelled back to his crew, "EVASIVE ACTIONS!" His helmsmen immediately swerved the Massive away from the Spear of Arrakis as it was thrown back at the Hand of the Gods.

The Hand of the Gods: The Bridge

"REDIRECT ALL POWER TO THE VOID SHIELDS! QUICK!" Mortarion bellowed, causing the Warpsmiths and Dark Mechanicus to immediately raise the Fortress' void shield with what little seconds that they had.

In just seconds, the beam hit the Hand of the Gods. The entire fortress shook as many slaves and Marines were knocked off their feet, while the Primarchs managed to stay on their feet. None of them knew if the other ships survived the beam but at the moment, they didn't care. Despite the void shields holding, the Primarchs could see that they were barely holding out against the onslaught of energy. Several explosions rang throughout the fortress, sending fire and metal into the void only to be reduced to nothing by the Wrath beam, but the fortress still held.

"WE NEED MORE POWER!" Mortarion bellowed to the crew, seeing that the Hand of the Gods was barely holding together.

"I'M GIVING HER ALL SHE'S GOT, CAPTAIN! SHE CAN'T TAKE ANYMORE!" One of the Warpsmiths yelled out in a weirdly Scottish accent as he and all the other diverted as much power as they could to the shields. He then silently chuckled before whispering, "I've always wanted to say that!"

Magnus intervened before the shields collapsed, raising the Blade of Magnus to outside and readying a spell. A stream of blue shot from the tip of the blade, reaching the void shields and quickly surrounding the fortress in a protective shield. The Primarchs and the crew breathed a sigh of relief though Magnus was straining against the force of the blast, only able to hold out long enough until the tide from the Spear's effect passed.

"What is the damage?" Perturabo demanded of the crew, now that they had a slim moment of respite.

"Weapon systems are offline. It will require ten minutes for them to be reactivated but the frame has become unstable from the blast." One of the Warpsmiths reported while looking over his data slates, "Lord Perturabo, we may need to retreat for repairs!"

Before the Lord of Iron could respond, another explosion rocked the Hand of the Gods. The Primarchs and the crew all turned to see that the Spear had burst into a planet spanning explosion, wiping away nearly one third of the fleet that they had brought with them to this universe.

"Perhaps that is not the most unreasonable request." Perturabo admitted more to himself than the other Primarchs, though they still had their forces back on Earth to ravage it beyond repair.

The Watchtower: Control Deck

(Music end)

The Emperor, Batman, and Elitras just had a surprised look on their faces while the rest all had stunned expressions at what had just occurred. Alistair had just stopped the Spear of Arrakis from destroying the world, probably with help from some unknown force but regardless.

"I am gonna thank Alistair so hard for doing this." Nero whispered out loud in awe, with the other Acolytes nodding dumbly at what had just happened. The gateway to the Void unformed, returning to the nothingness that birthed it as the world reeled from the blast.

"Wait, where is Alistair?" Belicara asked as her enhanced vision couldn't find him anywhere around the exosphere. All of them blinked and sure enough, they couldn't find any trace of him despite the best of their abilities. Not even any trace of the Black Touchstone, so whatever sacrifice that he committed was almost for nothing as the Emperor had a backup plan but he wasn't gonna like it.

"He's gone." Those words sounded like a bolt piercing their stomachs. The Acolytes knew that there was a chance they were likely going to die in their mission to defeat Chaos, but it hurt, nonetheless.

"He saved us." Serena hollowly whispered as she silently prayed that wherever her male counterpart was, that he was in a better place. All was silent as the world looked on while Chaos reared its horrid eyes towards the earth.

?

A blasphemous shadow formed in a snow-filled wasteland, taking the shape of a misty orb before it unformed to reveal Alistair, laying down on the infertile ground. He stirred nay a moment later, letting a groan escape his lips as he forced himself to stand on his tired feet, dusting the snow off his armor and cape.

Alistair cracked his neck as his helmet receded back into his armor, leading his long black hair and neatly full beard to be exposed to the oddly cold air. Another groaning bubbling out his lips as he opened his eyes, "Ah, what the hell just..." The questioned words died in his throat when his abruptly widened eyes took in the sight before him.

(Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OST- Requiem for the Brigadier General. Start: 0:18)

The world around him was nothing less than a blasted wasteland. All things were either black from old soot, white with constantly layering snow, or gray with a less than uncommon mixture of the two. There laid no plants from the hidden blasted ground, gutted and ruined buildings spanned farther than his eyes could fathom, and whatever land that could be taken in by his scanning eyes all appeared lifeless and unhallowed. The sky was shrouded in lusterless black clouds with nary a beam of light peering through what could be assumed was the shroud that spanned the entire world, though peering white material resembling porcelain seemed to glow, creating enough light to him to see.

Peering in the ruined city, he saw several mechanical giants from the super science that this world possessed some time before this standing inactively amongst a snow-covered sea of bodies young and old, and multiple more humanoid weapons of mass destruction standing inactive to await their new masters to take their reigns and resume their actions. Pyres from nightmare factories churning out furnace heat that kept its crowded and suffering people alive from the dreaded cold that held tightened grip over the world, desperate survivors salvaging what little they could to survive merely another day or hour, and those that abandoned their humanity to enjoy a life of sexual sadism unbound by tethers of outdated morals.

Alistair gazed upon the world with a slackened jaw, not in fear and horror as he had experienced far worse in the Imperium of Man, but in shock and surprise because of the feeling of recognition and realization. The ruined city was one that he recognized from nay a day ago, it was Megaville.

"What the fuck happened?"

That was the question on his and anyone else's minds if they were in his position. It was as if the planet was ransacked by Chaos, the Dark Eldar, and the Tyranids all in one fell moment, only this time they had not lost most of their advanced weaponry and barely driven back. The endless tide of snow seemed to fall from the lusterless black sky, as multiple orange orbs of light rose from the city, though Alistair's enhanced vision revealed to him that they were merely paper lanterns rising through the heated air from the flames inside them.

To the east, his sight caught a warband of mortals traveling in great speed to the city, perhaps desperate for supplies or a place to call home. To the west, he saw only the ruins of a Battle Barge belonging to a Khornate Warband with fires blazing from the various tears and ruined engines, withered flesh of queer origin. And to the south, he merely gazed at the endless snowy wastes that spanned the entirety of the reach of his sight.

With nothing to do, Alistair decided that he might as well explore this wasteland.

Ruined Megaville: Outskirts

(Ultramarines movie OST- The Handy Work of Chaos)

The first thing that crossed his mind while entering the ruined city was the bodies had been carved and entire body parts were missing from the bodies, likely due to survivors trying to get meat so they can survive, equal to when the people of Necromunda did not receive their supply of Corpse Starch. Not only that, but there were also hordes of weapons still littered on the snow-covered ground, but likely unusable ones as survivors would likely take whatever they could to defend themselves against hostile survivors and whatever horrors lurked around the cold wastes. Whatever houses that were still standing on their rattily frames were gutted for whatever resources they had, rusted cars sitting in ruined driveways gutted of their engines, parts, and gasoline, and frost preserved bodies on the ground stripped of whatever items that had been on their person before death.

But as he pushed further into the ruined city, not much had changed except that the now cracked and barely standing buildings were as hollow and gutted as the houses on the outskirts of the city, a thicker sea of bodies filled the streets to where the pavement wasn't visible even without the near constant downfall of thick snow, and the still unmoving metal weapons of mass destruction that stood like statues of the recent past, waiting to be awakened.

Curiously, though, one of the newspaper boxes wasn't reduced to slag or crushed into a bizarre shape with its contents unreadable. Seeing this as a chance to learn about what in the Emperor's name had occurred to this world, he trudged over to it and extracted one out, unfolding it and reading the first page.

"WORLD WAR 3 HAS COME!" The title in red bold print said before his gaze moved to the smaller print below, "Fear and horror has gripped not only Megaville but the entire world as President Trump and many other world leaders declared martial law due to the immergence of several daemonic uprisings around the world. The GDF and Justice League has mobilized to subdue the uprisings while the National Guard have been deployed to protect civilians. China was declared lost after a series of nuclear strikes had rendered it a no-fly zone. Confirmation of survivors has yet to be..."

That was all that he could read as the rest was ash or obscured by it. The date that it was printed read: December 31st, 2022. Meaning that this was printed on the day of the invasion, but it looked rather old and covered in both ash and dust. The leading questions were simple then.

What happened to the world? And how long had he been gone?

The first question was easy: it was like a more condensed and single planet version of the Age of Strife. The second question was more complicated as he didn't have a lick of sense where or when he was.

It then that he remembered the object he had held before his displacement.

"Doh!" Alistair facepalmed at his own ignorance, "The Clock!" He reminded himself as he pulled out the queer object, only to gain a puzzled expression as he gazed upon it. The golden runes that it was covered in were now gleaming softly, and the gears inside it were discordantly turning in silence yet the clock hands remained still and were not radiant.

Suddenly, a holographic screen emitted from the center of its impossible mechanisms, blue in color and possessing a message in white that read: "ENERGY RESERVES EXPENDED. AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY RELOCATION PROTOCOL ACTIVATED. TIME UNTIL NEXT ENERGY USAGE: 3 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES, AND 30 SECONDS."

"Oh, great." Alistair moaned in absolute annoyance. He possessed a machine that could bend reality and it needed to cool down for 3 days after just one use. That said, given that it unleashed a massive portal that absorbed and redirected the planet destroying beam, he supposed he should give it the benefit of the doubt.

Regardless, it would seem prudent that he better get used to this place for the next few days. Just as well though, the stress of the recent events had left him in rather need of respite.

Searching for a place to rest, Alistair found a small brick building that was still standing on strong frames despite the winds of ruin continuously raining down. But he noticed a small room in the westward part of the building that he hadn't seen before. Flying silently over to it, he found that it was sealed by a bolted steel door that had bloody scratches and claw marks on it. Though it was easy to pry open with his strength, the fact that there was a doorknob made it easier to enter.

It was a small room like he saw above, no bigger than a bedroom but had thousands of papers and news articles pinned to the walls. There sat tables with presumably workable weaponry, cans filled with either food or supplies, or even more papers. On the papers pinned to the wall though, were titles that surprised him.

"Afghanistan Lost!" "Nuclear Strike in China Immanent!" "GDF In Shambles!" "Russia collapses in Civil War!" "Second US Civil War Immanent!" "AI Ban in Effect!" "WHO IS THE EMPEROR?" "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!"

"Huh." Was all Alistair commented on. It seemed his assessment on this being a planet bound version of the Age of Strife held a lot of weight.

1 day later

Ruined Megaville: Town Hall

Alistair couldn't tell what time it was that he woke up, but he hypothesized that it was either morning or afternoon, judging that the world wasn't completely enveloped in endless blackness. Strangely, it seemed to be even colder than yesterday but the snow-covered roads seemed to possess an oddness that he could not place or prospect upon.

A dubious profusion bubbled in his thoughts as the black-haired man scanned the desolated part of the City Hall of Megaville. Debris and rubble laid strewn around the ruined building as he scanned it of anything that he may use for his trek through the wastes that plagues his once beautiful world.

But as he trekked through the ruined city, Alistair came across a sight that raised alarm in his head; a gathering of people clad in brown ragged cloaks numbering in the hundreds around a ruined building that held another shocking sight. It was a massive humanoid robot, casing composed of a silver metamaterial, a face that consisted of two headlights capped with clear lenses. A weapon coined as a Colossus by the GDF****, though it was clothed in massive brown tattered cloths, sitting in the ruined structure akin to a throne of rebar and concrete.

Suddenly, a roar nearly ruptured his eardrums as he turned to see a more fear inducing sight. A Warband of Heretic Astartes were heading towards them at worrying speeds, Drop Pods already falling from rather small Battle Barges covered in strips of flesh, seemingly merely as a means of entertainment.

The people in brown tattered cloaks fled the moment they heard the roars of the Battle Barge engines, leaving the Colossus to Alistair. Deciding to not waste this opportunity, the black-haired man flew to the Colossus and carefully but forcefully opened the cockpit on the head, entering and closing the blue translucent polycarbonate windshield over him.

Working quickly, Alistair got into the pilot's seat and started fiddling with every button, switch, or dial he could see upon the control panel. During that time, a dark emerald aura spread through the machine, seeping into every servo, joint, and wire, mending any tear, reversing any rusting, and repairing every connection.

Not a second later, the headlights that was the Colossus' eyes were alit as its five fingered hand curled into fists and it rose from its makeshift throne, standing like a silver god with the brown rags fluttering in the snowy wind.

At seeing the Colossus move at his command, Alistair laughed in glee, "Awesome!" He yelled as he threw one of his fists up.

However, his grasp on the sensitive controls was not good as he caused the Colossus to drive its fist into a nearby building, cleaving it in half as the top part came flying off and crashing into the ground as the survivors felt in terror.

"Oh, shit!" Alistair yelped in both surprise and worry, cupping a hand and yelling out to the fleeing survivors, "Sorry! Still getting a hang on the controls!"

Shaking that off, he gripped the handles that controlled the arms and set his feet on the pedals that controlled the legs before taking a deep breath and letting a bloodthirsty grin across his face as he made the Colossus take a stance.

A Heretic Astartes fired his bolter at the Colossus only for it to break into a mad dash as it drove its tank-sized fist into his chest, crushing him to a pulp and collapsing the building he was standing on. A squad of Astartes fired upon the cockpit but the robot brought up its arm to block the bolts before a panel on the arm opened to reveal several missiles that immediately fired at them, hitting random body parts before spooling up and then bursting into blue flames, reducing the squad to slag. A Dreadnought tackled the Colossus to the ground, only for it to be impaled by an electrified blade that seemed to be vibrating at intense speeds, piercing the tomb of metal and severing the imprisoned Marine's head from his body.

The Colossus then scaled a building before jumping towards an approaching Battle Barge, gripping the front part and tearing it in half with its immense strength before throwing it at another Battle Barge. The torn off half collided with stern, causing the corrupted ship to be sent into the city, going up in a pillar of flames. A baneblade shell hit the Colossus' left leg, nearly severing it as its fist smashed it and several more Astartes into bloody pulp.

Lance fire rained down with the Colossus barely moving out of the way as it uprooted a building and threw it at the firing Battle Barge, sending it spiraling into the ground. The final Battle Barge fired its lance cannons that pierced through the metal giant, severing one of the coolant lines to the Colossus' reactor.

Acting quickly, Alistair vacated the machine before slamming his foot down on the switch that activated the thrusters on its feet. The jet on the remaining leg ignited, propelling it towards the last remaining Battle Barge, colliding headfirst with the corrupted ship even as its arms and torso were pierced by blasts from its lance cannons. The collision destroyed both machines, resulting in a blast of nuclear fire that lightened the dark sky for all the awed survivors to see.

The black-haired Acolyte landed on his feet, cracking the earth beneath him as his cape flared in the wind and his helmet forming around his head, the green lights emitting from the face plate creating an eerie effect. It was only seconds later that he found himself surrounded by Heretic Astartes, each having red armor with horns and boney ridges around their armor.

It was a small band from the Crimson Slaughter.

"I will have your head, filthy mortal!" One of the Chaos Space Marines frothed in thirsting glee, fingers twitching around his Power Sword for a fight.

"Then draw your blade and let us fight, heretic scum!" Alistair yelled as his Power Sword liquescently formed in his hand from his armor, pointing it at the one in front of him as its energy corona activated.

The Astartes in front of him immediately drew his blade and jumped into the air, descending with his blade poised in a downward strike. Alistair rolled out of the way as his opponent landed, sending snow and earth into the air before slashing the Astartes' left leg. The energy corona slashing through the corrupted Power Armor and searing through the suppurating flesh, Alistair then spun around again as he thrust his sword into the left side of the Marine's chest, piercing the bone plated ribcage and tearing into the twin hearts.

Before he even retracted his blade, those in the warband with Bolters in their arms fired upon him. Acting quickly, Alistair used the still living Astartes as a meat shield against the hail of bolts before throwing him into the air as the projectiles detonated, blasting the heathen transhuman into bloody pulp. Siezing the opportunity, Alistair flashed towards the nearest Crimson Slaughter and slashed at blinding speed, causing the traitor Astartes' head to come flying off his shoulders before he could so much as blink.

He flash stepped towards another, slashing diagonally as boiling blood came spewing out of the searing wound, barely reacting as the upper half slid off the lower and both falling to the snow-covered ground. Alistair disappeared in a green flash, reappearing behind three Crimson Slaughter before the latter were slashed to flesh and metal ribbons. One of the remaining of the warband fired a bolt at Alistair only for him to roll out of the way and throw his Power Sword, piercing the heathen's helmet.

A Crimson Slaughter raised his Power Axe just in time as Alistair appeared in front of him with his reclaimed sword and blocked a downward slash, before parrying several more slashes. The Astartes attempted a horizontal slash but Alistair backflipped away before clashing again. After a brief struggle, Alistair broke the struggle and thrusted his blade into the Crimson Slaughter's chest before forcing the blade upwards, slashing through the chest and head. Alistair then moved his head out of the way as another bolt flew pass where his head would have been a second ago before his bolter liquescently forming in his left hand and firing back at the perpetrator before the latter could react, piercing the head with the bolt detonating just a moment later, splattering blood, metal, and brain matter on the ground.

One of the three remaining Crimson Slaughter managed to rush at him from behind, but Alistair frontflipped out of the way and blocked the next strike from the enemy's Power Sword with his own before firing his Bolter into the Astartes' chest, killing the latter as the rounds detonated. Before he could even blink, a Power Fist covered arm rammed into Alistair's midsection, sending him crashing into a building as snow and ash into the air in such quantity that it nearly obscured the two Heretic's vision.

Moments passed and the two Heretic Astartes look at each other before they slowly advanced towards the collapsed building that Alistair was thrown into. That couldn't have killed him, both of the Crimson Slaughter knew that wouldn't kill a transhuman like him.

Suddenly, two beams of green shot out from the ruined building, leaving tire-sized holes in the chests of the Heretics as they fell dead.

Alistair emerged from the collapsed building, his helmet gone with his hair flowing in the wind and his eyes burning in green. When he crashed into the building, he retracted his helmet and didn't emerge as to lure the Crimson Slaughter to his position so he could strike at them. Thankfully, Khornates are completely illogical that they didn't think that he'd be luring them into a trap.

With that out of the way, Alistair can now get out of this ruined version of Megaville.

4 hours later

Ruins of Gotham

It was after 4 hours of flying that Alistair encountered another city in this wretched future, this one ever more ruined than Megaville; barely buildings in the double digits stood on the ground shrouded in endless snow and even then they were more like hollowed and rackety skeletons that actual buildings, blinding snowy winds sheathing the city in white and the forever night lathering it in twilight as thousands of survivors clad in haphazard outfits of hides, salvaged clothing, or whatever they could use to shelter themselves from the cold grip that held the planet.

The armed survivors were clad in an interchangeable mishmash of flak jackets, animal hides, riot suits, leather belts, synthetic combat jackets, plates, leather jackets, helmets, gas masks, night vision goggles, bandanas, motorcycle boots, and hiking boots. Their weapons were all kinds of slugthrowers, flamethrowers, laser rifles, laser pistols, plasma rifles, plasma pistols, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, bazooka, chemical bombs, mines, blades, spears, bayonettes, clubs, knives, bows and arrows, and crowbars. All of the firearms had been modified to certain extents, due to damage and lack of resources.

It was then that Alistair noticed that all of them possessed an emblem of that he was very familiar with, a black minimalist bat with spread wings.

Narrowing his eyes under his helmet, Alistair slowly landed in silence away from the crowd while ducking behind some rubble to observed them from afar. They simply marched forwards towards with the armed ones guiding them down a long and winding path that ended in what he could only describe as a porcelain cathedral with stain glass windows that held images of the Emperor and the Loyalist Primarchs.

He waited for them all to enter the old and weary cathedral only for one of the armed survivors, possessing eyes void of pupils and irises, stared at the spot where he laid hiding, speaking in a tone that felt empty yet bristling with reverence, "Please, enter Chosen of the Emperor. The Knight in the Dark is expecting you."

Alistair vacated his spot with an utterly surprised expression, slowly trudging through the long and winding path until he came to the near invincible church that laid in the ruins of Gotham. The blind survivor merely knelt down in reverence as Alistair passed him while entering the cathedral before following behind him and closing the doors.

(Fortress Monastery Soundtrack)

Inside was the cathedral were the survivors prostrating to the mosaics of the Emperor and the Primarchs, deep religious hymns piping stridently in High Gothic echoed through the sturdy walls, weapons laying at their sides, and their hands together and touching their lips with their eyes closed. The smell of incense proliferating the air as his footstep rang like sounds of beating drums that signaled the arrival of one of His holiest of angels.

Whispers of awe and disbelief came from those who saw him walking toward the massive figure kneeling in front of the shrine of skulls and burning candles. It was only when he was only a few feet away from the supposed leader of this cult that he saw whom it was.

It was an old Bruce Wayne. His ratty hair having long since turned grey and had grown past his shoulders, a long grey beard draped from his face to his chest, suggesting he had grown old and wise. His frame, well kept from years of fighting, clad in the pristine yet faded armor that the Emperor had bequiffed him of but now possessing a massive and heavy cape composed of animal hides and patchwork leather, so large that it would trail on the old gambrel floors of the cathedral, around his neck sat numerous necklaces with small baubles holding burning incense, his armor lined with makeshift reinforcements and imperial decorations.

He was on his knees, hands together with a necklace that held a small golden Aquila, eyes closed and muttering religious hymns. In front of him was a pearl white skull mask that would have sheathed the head, only having two eyeholes with black lenses and a crown of straight blade-like horns of porcelain, sitting in the shadow of the stain glass portrait of the Emperor.

By his side was Robin, now grown up. His long and ratty black hair reaching his neck, his now more angular face was covered by a golden mask that merely possess two eyeholes with white lenses, religious seals and the name "Nightwing" graphed into the soft metal of his mask. His stronger and taller frame was now clad in black nanotech armor like the Acolytes, the groin covered by a black loincloth while a long trenchcoat-like robe composed of animal hides was worn over his armor and on the chest of his armor was a blue Aquila, wrapped around the arms were several baubles with burning incense. He was kneeling down beside his mentor, head down while his hands were wrapped around a Power Maul.

"By my will I deny thee, by my heart I spurn thee, by my hand I destroy thee, by my teeth I spit my last breath at thee; fiend of emptiness, to the void I cast thy blackened soul..." Alistair heard the prayers against the fiends in the Warp exit Wayne's lips, his voice now old and gravelly*****, before he took notice of who was behind him. A look of surprise waxed on his face before it waned into a stoic expression before he stood back on his feet, the incense baubles tinkling in tandem with metallic stomps as his metal covered feet pressed on the stone platform of the shrine. Nightwing raised his head at the sound, before he turned to see the Acolyte behind him, raising to his feet.

It was then that surprise grasped Alistair. Batman seemed to have, for lack of a better term, grown, nearly to the size of an Astartes perhaps a head taller. His armor having shifted to accommodate for his new height and musculature, his emblem over the illustration of a ribcage on the chest plate, and it was then that Alistiar saw that a Crozius Arcanum was in his right hand, the weapon of an Astartes Chaplain.

"It has been quite a long time, Alistair." The Batman uttered out, with the Acolyte aware that the people inside the cathedral had all their eyes on him. Bruce's expression still one of stoicism, but there were the faintest traces of a small smile on his lips.

"In... deed it has, Batman." Alistair replied, quashing the barest traces of nervousness inside him as the shock was equal with his fear. The Dark Knight seemed to have become even more intimidating somehow. "So... What exactly happened?"

The Dark Knight seemed to gain an ever-deeper frown at the question while Nightwing gripped his Power Maul even tighter, some of the older survivors took their children or loved ones into their arms as they began to cry at the resurfacing memories on that fated day. Batman merely replied in a rather quiet tone, "I cannot reveal it, Alistair, only the Emperor can."

Alistair understood the message as he nodded.

(Dawn of War- Ambient Theme)

Suddenly, there was a deep quake that rocked the cathedral as blasphemous chanting grew from the distance. The Dark Knight and his followers immediately recognized the deep and horrid chanting, grabbing their weapons bereft of fear as their leader stepped down from the shrine and sheathed his head with the pearl skull helmet that replaced his cowl, the ebony lenses now hiding the gaze of fury that flared in his eyes.

"Raise your arms, sons and daughters of the Emperor! The heretics come with their filthy existence to plague this holy land! So, raise your arms and end their miserable lives!" The Dark Knight roared out, raising his Crozius Arcanum high of above his head as he rallied his thousand followers to his side in the oncoming battle for their home, "AVE IMPERATOR!"

"AVE IMPERATOR!" Nightwing and the thousand cried back with their fists raised, quickly flooding out to the city with their weapons ready to spill blood for the Emperor of Mankind.

The enemy was an army of 3000 with several mutants and beasts in plate armor and rusted chains, using them as mounds or carrier of heavy weapons. They got to the wooden held trenches and aimed their firearms at the oncoming horde like a tidal wave of warped and crazed bodies.

"Exūrite eos, novit enim Imperator qui sunt eius!" Batman yelled in High Gothic, banishing his Arcanum at the heretics.

"BRING IT ON, HERETICS!" Nightwing and some of the survivors yelled as they unchained their fury upon the heretics.

The gap between the two armies was closed by bullet, plasma, and laser fire from both ends, blood bursting in droves as dozens on each side fell dead in just the first seconds. Grenades and rockets flew from their launchers and impacting the plates and flesh of the enemy, exploding on contact as napalm flames scorched hundreds in a massive pyre of flames from which only screams of agony and blasts of black smoke.

With Alistair, he merely appeared disinterested as he gunned down heretic after heretic with his bolter. Same song and dance as a normal day's work for him.

Suddenly, the enemy began falling back but it was for not as Nightwing and the followers vaulted over cover and chasing after the heretics, blasting them down with bullet and laserfire as a mere 800 and falling were left while the Sons of Batman still held 934. Laughter followed as they raced down the snow-covered hills and fired upon the surviving heretics until they reached a trench that held a dozen or so containers.

They were silver with daemonic carvings, bound together by chains covered in runes that burned brightly like the stars of the universe. It was only when the Sons of Batman got closer that the cages started rustling, the heretics breaking chains apart as the massive doors fell open...

And out came several dozens of Chaos Spawn that immediately grabbed whatever of Batman's followers were near in their horrid grasp, with their captives firing upon them or eaten by the Spawn. They ranged from daemonic beasts to masses of limbs and mouthes, or given just a mass of mewling eyeballs that cried blasts of acid.

"OH, SHIT! PULL BACK!" Nightwing yelled out to those that had followed him to the trenches, thankfully the dozens of Chaos Spawn were also attacking the rest of the heretics so that gave them time. The Sons with flamethrowers fired at the numerous approaching Spawn while their brothers fled back to the cathedral where their savior was still standing.

Nightwing and the rest of them dived into the trenches on their brothers as the ones with flamethrowers ran back to them, the leading one yelling out, "My lord! We cannot keep the abominations back!" Alistair prepared his eyebeams and the other prepared their weapons when suddenly, someone leapt into the air in front of them with a heavy stomp and snow flying from where they were.

It was Batman, high in the gelid air with his massive cape spread like mighty wings as the Spawn roared and reached their tentacles out to rend him to pulp only for him to banish his Arcanum before roaring down at the abominations below him.

"BURN HERETICS!"

From his Arcanum came a torrent of golden flames that flew towards the abominations in the shape of a massive screeching eagle that came flying towards them. The eagle dove straight into the horde of Chaos Spawn, igniting into an explosion of gold that seared the flesh of the creatures as they screamed and flailed in utter agony.

Nightwing and the others looked on in awe while Alistair only smirks in both nostalgia and amusement. The Emperor always did have a flare for the dramatic.

The Dark Knight landed on the snow as the Spawn were burned into ashes, turning to Nightwing and his Sons, raising his Arcanum and roaring out, "VICTORY FOR THE VALIANT!"

"VICTORY FOR THE VALIANT!" Nightwing and Alistair roared alongside the Sons of Batman as they raised their fists into the air, cheering at the heretic's purge.

5 hours later

Ruins of Metropolis

(John Carpenter's The Thing Soundtrack- Humanity Part 1)

"TIME UNTIL NEXT ENERGY USAGE: 2 DAYS, 13 HOURS, 45 MINUTES, AND 30 SECONDS."

Alistair merely grumbled incoherently as he pocketed the Clock of Ages. After leaving the ruins of Gotham, Alistair found himself at the City of Metropolis, or rather... whatever was left of the City of Metropolis.

Nary a building was left of the City of Tomorrow, barely even a concrete street to walk upon as whatever structure or advancement of science that laid in Metropolis were ground into dust and ash, while not even the bodies of those who once lived this city remained, either stolen to be made into Corpse Starch or burned to nothing by nuclear fire. One shudders to imagine what unnamable violence and profusion of the desperation to survive that left the once great city to little more than a forest of stone and metal to be left to the agony of time.

But as Alistair passed the still extant golden globe of the Daily Planet building that laid on the deceased form of Metallo and Parasite, Alistair noticed an oddly shaped trail in the snow. It merely composed of a single winding serpentine line with the prints of large prehensile paws resembling human hands armed with claws lined besides, oddly whatever flakes of snow that touched the trail crumbled into mist while the faint sounds of sizzling pipped in his ears. Following the trail, he saw that it ran through the westward parts of the city and ended at what he assumed was a small settlement that sat at a hilltop hopyard.

His curiosity overriding his wisdom, Alistair slowly followed the trail.

First thing that caught his gaze was droplets of blood lining the snow as the serpentine trail that led him up to the hilltops, where the small village sat. Strangely, he heard no sounds of people either working, talking, or soothing children from restless slumber with his enhanced hearing. But when he arrived at the haphazard wooden fence, it began to make an inkling of sense.

There was relatively no damage to the makeshift housing, but what alarmed the Acolyte was the empty piles of clothing that littered the ground with weapons and bullet casings laying nearby. Even queerer was an odd lavender ooze that drenched the garments, slightly viscous akin to saliva and oddly pleasant smelling yet seemed to be mixed with blood and dissolving viscera.

"Seems like something came here and feasted on the people." Alistair muttered to himself, as he scanned the area for whatever caused this, "And because there's obviously no cameras, I'm gonna have to figure this out the old-fashioned way."

Reaching down, he held up a shirt from the lavender puddle, still drenched as trails of the substance flowed of it causing Alistair to make a sound of disgust. It was obviously still wet, meaning it happened not that long ago, the shirt was what he could only describe as an old and stitched together, while his enhanced vision scanned for whatever killed its owner happened not long ago.

What revelation that his enhanced vision bequiffed him was the lavender substance dissolving the remaining cells through an oddly shaped self-replicating enzyme that acted like compliment proteins that reduced the cell to its basic parts before the organism would probably consume the remaining slurry.

An expression of revulsion crossed his face when he saw a makeshift crib with an empty cloth soaked in the same lavender fluid. Alistair then walked out of the tent that he found the crib in before looking down to see an abandoned long barrel pump action Remington. A dry fire confirmed that it was empty of shells but then he saw that there was a carving on the barrel; it was a single F before trailing off in a deep cut in the metal.

"Whoever had this must have died while carving it." Alistair spoke to himself as he examined the shotgun for any more clues. When it provided none, he examined all the piles of soaked clothing that littered the campsite for anymore answers but the only thing that he found was that the back of most of the shirts or jackets had a large puncture in the fabric and the fluid that soaked them was darker, perhaps from remaining tissue that had yet to be consumed.

"They're all still wet, so whatever happened here was just minutes ago." Alistair muttered to himself again, putting his hand on his chin in thought, "Still though, what massacred the people of this village?"

Suddenly, a voice singing an old rhyme rang through the air, its voice changing from a gentle whisper to frighteningly low at random intervals, "On candy stripe legs the Spiderman comes..." A movement of something dashed behind him, causing the Acolyte to turn around. "Softly through the shadow of the evenin' sun."

"Stealing past the windows of the blissfully dead..." Alistair scanned around, trying to find wherever the voice was coming from. "Looking for the victim shivering in bed."

"Searching out fear in the gathering gloom..." Unseen to him, the monster slithered towards him. "And suddenly a movement in the corner of the room."

"And there is nothing I can do when I realize with fright..." The voice was suddenly able to be pinpointed, causing him to turn around and see whom destroyed this village. "That the Spiderman is having me for dinner tonight."

The monstrous creature confronts Alistair while holding an innocent, unconscious man by his shirt. The monster was Fulgrim in his Daemon form in all his blasphemous royal purple and gold glory, speaking in a slithery, snake-like voice, "Hello... friend." He finished that sentence by exhaling creepily.

Alistair was too stunned to speak for several moments, staring off at the daemon prince before him until he managed to find his voice, "...What the hell is going on here?"

Fulgrim chuckled sinisterly, the sadistic grin on his face growing as he hissed out, "Let's answer your question... with another question." He narrowed his eyes after the pause for dramatic effect.

"Yeah?" Alistair asked uneasily, nervous as to what the question could be, "What's that-?"

"WANNA SEE ME FUCK THIS GUY?!"

Before the Acolyte could respond, the end of Fulgrim's tail then pierced the man's chest through his anus. The man screamed in agony before a lavender fluid bubbled out of his mouth, nostrils, ears, and eyes, silencing his cries. Alistair's composure cracked as he let out a shocked yelp but that was merely the beginning.

The impaled man began to twitch as pustules and ulcers appeared all over his body that began leaking blood and oily fluids as his eyes and tongue liquified and disappeared into his body, his skeleton breaking down and his skin becoming an ungodly white as his entrails were reduced to slurry. His head suddenly caved in as the skin of his limbs folded into itself and retracted into the sleeves, the empty shoes and socks fell to the ground below wet with the mixture of digestive fluid, blood and visceral slurry. The clothes fell way, revealing the man twisting and contorting into a spherical shape until whatever features vanished into his flesh. The fleshy sphere then grew thinner and thinner until the blades of Fulgrim's tail cut it in half and was absorbed into the holes along the blades, finishing the victim's suffering.

Alistair was left speechless at what had just occurred, only brought out of his shock by Fulgrim's next words. The Daemon Primarch purred in relish before he started in a pleasant tone, like nothing had just happened, "So, Alistair, was it? What chance did fate behold for you to come to my part of town."

"I..." For once, the black-haired Acolyte was at a loss for words, almost fumbling before he managed to get out, "I found a disturbance."

"Well, I am pretty disturbing!" Fulgrim laughed in amusement, "How about when I ate the man? That was bizarre."

Alistair could barely compose himself as the Illuminator dug deeper and deeper into his hatred of the Traitor Primarchs, "So... it was you who consumed all the people in this village?"

"Oh, no, no, that was another Daemon Prince." Fulgrim's voice was near drenched in sarcasm, rolling his eyes with that smirk still plastered on his lips, "His name was 'Shit Sherlock', first name 'No.'"

"Why?" The Acolyte grinded his teeth together, "Just why?!"

"Well, three reasons: first, I was away from the materium for, I would say, four years, and I am understandably famished. Two," Fulgrim's tone than turned into one of utter sadistic rapture, "There's nothing more satisfying than the rush I get from watching a mortal disappear into nothing." His tone than went back to an affable and jovial one, "And three, and I insist you pay attention on this one."

Suddenly, Fulgrim let out a yell as a violet aura burst from his being, raised into the sky as the faces of all his faces formed and unformed at random intervals, screaming into the planet as Alistair looked on in horrified silence, his eyes and mouth open in horror. Moments later, the aura condensed into a fist sized orb that Fulgrim immediately chomped on and swallowed after a second.

Uncaring for Alistair's horrified expression, Fulgrim shuttered in ravishment, "And three... That is how I nourish the perfect temple that is my being."

"YOU..." Alistair's eye crackled with green lighting with his barely contained fury, "YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

"Oh, I'm a monster!" Fulgrim replied in a mocking tone, "Like I haven't heard that one screamed at me today. Of all peop-," Fulgrim was cut off when he felt something come up his throat and he upchucks the thing out on the ground, only to see that it was a pacifier. The Daemon Primarch looked surprised for a moment before an annoyed expression crossed his face, "...Oh, that is just embarrassing! It's not even the right hole..."

Alistair managed to reign in his temper before he mutters out, "As much as it disgusts me to admit it, but we do have something in common." That certainly piqued Fulgrim's interest as he smirked.

"Oh?"

The Acolyte then roared as a massive aura of green flared outward, shaping the snow and wind into a facsimile of a wolf the size of a Valkyrie that rose its head and howled into the air. It disappeared as Fulgrim grinned in excitement.

"Impressive. This will be fun."

Abruptly, Fulgrim's form shifted. His lower arms hit the ground before shifting into a leg-like structure while coating in a black carapace as his frame shifted into a more bipedal form, his tail thinned and lengthened until it resembled a lengthy chain with a scimitar blade attached to the end, Fulgrim's face opened to reveal several insectoid mandibles, his physic thinning to inhuman degrees as his wings receded into his shoulder-blades,

Fulgrim's new form was a thin insectoid body with an onyx exoskeleton accented with gold and a long segmented tail ending in a gold curved blade. ******

The transformed Fulgrim vanished in a flash of violet before punching Alistair in the gut, causing him to upchuck spit as he was thrown into the air only for his opponent to appear behind him in another flash of violet and rammed his fist into Alistair's spine, sending the Acolyte to the ground. Reacting quickly, Alistair fired his eyebeams at where Fulgrim should have been only to turn his head when the newest flash of violet came into his peripheral vision, firing where Fulgrim appeared into the Illuminator to tilt his head slightly which caused his attack to miss.

Alistair growled before spearing towards Fulgrim at near light speeds, cocking his fist back for a punch only for the Third Primarch to catch it in his hand. The Acolyte fired his eye beams, which hit Fulgrim in the chest, but the Primarch barely reacted before his tail thrust forward. Alistair tilled his head back with in a nanosecond that only cause the bladed tail to leave a slight cut on his cheek bone.

The Acolyte responded with a kick to the chest, but Fulgrim laughed and sent him into the ground with a headbutt. His tail speared towards the Acolyte, but he disappeared in a flash of green before reappearing behind Fulgrim and slamming his foot into the back of his head, a blow that would have snapped the spine if he wasn't a Daemon Prince. It did, however, send Fulgrim into the ground as his opponent then fired his eyebeams at him only for him to once again disappear in a flash of violet.

Alistair looked around only to find that there was no Fulgrim in sight. "Where'd you go?"

His answer came when a blast of sonic waves, colored in pink burst from the ground. Alistair barely managed to move out of the way as the wave caught him by surprise giving him less time to react, with waves rending stone into sand and the air to distort from the blast. Fulgrim reappeared behind Alistair, but the latter reacted in time, catching the daemon's fist in his hand before firing his eyebeams into Fulgrim's chest, that only caused him to howl in agony and the kind he loved.

Fulgrim let out a demented cackled before he suddenly became at least ten times faster than before, delivering at least a thousand punches and kicks to Alistair in under a second, cracking several of his ribs and causing him to upchuck blood before he was sent crashing into the hills, sending stone, snow, and dirt into the air. A second passed and nothing responded, causing Fulgrim to raise an eyebrow and narrow his eyes at the sudden pause.

Suddenly, a green colored howl erupted from the ground, splintering the ground and the village as it struck Fulgrim hard, cracking his left arm and leg as he was sent into the ruins of Metropolis. Just after the Illuminator managed to stand back on his own two feet, Alistair burst from the ground, eyes and mouth frothing with green energy. The blackhaired Acolyte threw back his head, taking a deep breath of air before letting out a deafening howl akin to a Fenrisian wolf as the emerald waves tore through the ruins, taking the shape of a massive wolf that surged towards the Daemon Primarch.

"Oh, how cute. It's a massive- OH SHIT!" Fulgrim at first mocked before yelling out in fear as the sound waves collided with him. The resulting explosion shook the earth, as the waves of pressurized air flattened whatever was in the way, blowing away several tons of snow and ash into the air that shrouded the ruined City of Tomorrow from the world.

For several moments, Alistair panted in exhausted from all that energy usage before he managed to get on his feet and limp away, hoping that his shattered ribs would heal as he went off to parts unknown.

Unseen to him, was the reformed Fulgrim back in his 'normal form', hiding in a cave made by debris from the blast of Alistair's attack as he was gazing at the Acolyte, who was limping away from the ruins in quite a lot of pain.

"You'll be back..." Fulgrim grinned as he slithered into the cave while still facing the entrance, only his burning fuchsia eyes visible in the darkness, "And I'll be waiting."

1 Day Later

Snowbound Wastes

"TIME UNTIL NEXT ENERGY USAGE: 1 DAY, 11 HOURS, 5 MINUTES, AND 10 SECONDS."

The message was mocking him, he knew it. Alistair could only mutter as he trudged through the cold wastes, pocketing the Clock. His wounds were healing but slowly as he hadn't found any food or slept ever since he got in this damned future and that fact was getting to him so badly that he shoved handfuls of snow into his mouth so he wouldn't die of dehydration or fall asleep, and you do not even want to know how it tasted.

The main reason Alistair didn't die from frostbite was because his armor had a built-in temperature regulator that kept him warm from the constant onslaught of cold and snow that assaulted him each second, but still he was faltering without food or sleep.

Eventually, the fatigue got to him as he fell to his hands and knees, coughing up blood as his helmet receded into his armor before collapsing on to the hill that he was walking along, his cape acting as bedding while his dark green eyes stared off into the perpetually ebony sky as a near constant downpour of snow came down on him.

Maybe it was the fight with Fulgrim that caused this fatigue as he once fought for a week without sleep, then again, his ribs weren't shattered and he managed to stock up on rations that time, so it evened out. But that was barely mattered at the fact that he was here and close to passing out. Alistair slapped himself to keep himself awake, which despite the unlikeliness, managed to keep him conscious enough that he could walk again but this time, he noticed something.

It was a group of around thirty members, each clad in their own haphazard armors with all kinds of skulls or trinkets, armed with weapons and firearms covered in glowing runes. One of them walked up to him; a tall man with long black hair and full beard like Alistair, aviator sunglasses, and dressed in leather pants, black leather cowboy boots, his upper half covered by a black wife beater that had a red Oni design over a black long coat, along with what could be trophies or stolen items. And it was then that Alistair noticed the man had a silver prosthetic arm that replaced his left arm.

"Come with us, you're exhausted." The man offered a hand to the Acolyte, who took it without another word as he couldn't imagine himself going on without help. The other men brought him to a Valkyrie where others waited, but as Alistair crawled inside, he fleetingly spotted the others boarding their vehicles, be it motorcycles, trucks, Baneblades, or Valkyries. Alistair ponders this before he finally passes out.

XXX

A groan escaped his lips as he awoke, pulling himself up to reveal that they had settled at a pseudo camp site. Pseudo as it was merely just a lot of vehicles with the men either working, talking, moving either ammo or supplies, or just working on their weapons. Alistair groaned again as he stood up, finding that he still had his armor on and that his groan attracted the attention of the others.

"Huh. So, you survived." A muscular man with grey skin, his face covered by a black face mask, his head covered by a black bandana, with red tinted googles covering his eyes, the rest of his body covered in a black long coat, chest covered in bandages, black pants, and combat boots. What startled Alistair was that his right arm was red and seemingly composed of tentacles in the shape of a hand, "Didn't think you were tough enough."

"And to what do I owe the gracious of pleasures to?" Alistair inquired dryly, not at all amused at that crack at him. The man seemed equally unamused but another man with grey skin, wearing a black jacket over a white tanktop, black pants and combat boots, with a visor on his bandaged head, his hair brown and eyes red, put his hand on the former's shoulder, silently telling him that it wasn't worth it. It was then that Alistair noticed that the man had his hands covered in grey jagged rocks.

"We are the Undaunted." The man with the silver prosthetic arm offered his hand in greeting, "Name's Silverhand. Johnny Silverhand. And those two grey skins are Hank J. Wimbleton and Alex Deimos." He pointed to the one with the red googles and the one with the visor, Hank grunted while Deimos mock saluted. "What's your name?"

"Alistair." The Acolyte responded, crossing his arms in suspicion at the men around him.

"Okay, Alistair; let me show you some of our group." Johnny nodded and motioned for him to follow him. Having nothing to do at the moment, Alistair followed Silverhand around the camp as Hank and Deimos followed them. Silverhand pointed to another grey skinned man with a pair of black tea shades, having a shirtless but heavily bandaged torso under a heavy black coat, cargo pants, a black bandana, and combat boots, came up to him before shaking his hand, "That's Sanford. Harold Sanford. Hank, him, and Deimos were a merry band before the rift opened."

Sanford saluted him as they passed another man.

This one wore a leathery trench coat-like uniform void of sleeves with loose belt-like leather straps wrapped around the flaps and torso, showing lean yet muscular biceps, elbow length fingerless leather gloves wrapped in studded black leather straps covered his hands and arms, and tall black leather boots wrapped in the same studded leather straps. A blank chrome mask was hooked into his face that only showed shoulder-length unkept ebony hair waving listlessly through the gentle wind as he practiced his swings with twin crimson katanas that seemed to channel lightning.

"That's the Commander." Deimos pointed to the one in question, "He's fought Warbands, Lost and Damned, and even Daemons. Guy makes Space Marines freeze in terror."

Alistair make a simple grunt before they arrived around a campfire where others awaited. Four of them were anthropomorphic turtles had in the same haphazardly cobbled together outfits as the rest of the Undaunted, consisting of animal skins, sections of armor, and trophies from whatever hazards in the Warp they bested. The only thing that gave them identity was the distantly colored masks that they had with addition to scars on their faces. Another was a man that looked like Silverhand, hair and beard, but he was clad in the same haphazard uniform but his was over a white long coat with twin black long slide pistols that were resting in his lap, waiting to be used on heretics. *******

"Those guys are Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo, but we call them the Turtles." Johnny told Alistair before yelling to the Turtles, "What's going on, Turtles?" The four merely saluted him before Johnny motioned to his lookalike, "That's John, but because we have a lot of 'Johns', all of them are on a last name basis. So, that's John Wick."

Wick only gave a polite handshake to Alistair, who took it as he sat down with the other Undaunted around the campfire. Most of them had long hair, beards, and scars, their weapons a mixture of science and sorcery that sat at their sides as they all came to greet the man they found in the Wastes. There were others; including a group of nine in red, a man dressed like in grey but with dark green skin, burning red clown-like hair, and a face devoid of lips and cheeks covered by an iron slab mask, a long haired grey skinned man with a beard dressed in a white suit and long coat with sunglasses, a sword and .44 Magnum in their holster, a tall man in green armor that was covered in scratches and clothes, and a teenager in a black ninja suit with red accents, belt and scarf, with a katana in his hands.

"That's the RED team, they were a band of mercenaries before the Rift opened." Johnny told Alistair about the others around the campfire, "Those fuckheads are Tricky and Christoff. They're from the same universe as Hank, Sanford and Deimos. That's the Master Chief, super-soldier and juggernaut. And that's Randy, he's survived and killed Warp Sorcerers while in those red and black pajamas of his."

The RED team all greeted Alistair while Christoff shook his hand but Tricky laughed and Randy just had an annoyed look at Silverhand. The rest of the Undaunted Warband gathered around them at the pyre as they discussed the Acolyte being here.

"So, you're with the Emperor?" John Wick asked Alistair, who narrowed his eyes.

"So, what if I am?"

The former assassin shrugged, "Nothing. Just glad that the Emperor still hasn't given up on his quest." He said as he and Silverhand smoked in unison, causing Alistair to give the both of them a perplexed look while the others laughed.

"Yeah, that's great and all but still I have at least one more day until I can go home." Alistair muttered, causing everyone to stop laughing and look at him curiously, suspiciously, or incredulously. At their silent request at how he was going home, the Acolyte merely pulled out the Clock of Ages as it projected the timer for all to see.

"TIME UNTIL NEXT ENERGY USAGE: 21 HOURS, 5 MINUTES, AND 10 SECONDS." The Undaunted are all slack jawed by what they saw before the holographic message closed and Alistair pocketed the Clock in but a second later.

"Fuck me, you have a time machine?" Johnny asked in shock, though he and his lookalike kept their composure as did everyone else.

"Yep. The problem is that it has to recharge with every use." Alistair told them, leaving out the part where the Clock opened a gateway that reflected the effects of a planet destroying weapon, "That and I don't know what to do but travel around the wasteland until it recharges."

Raphael snorted, "Sounds inconvenient."

"It is but hey, beggars can't be choosers." Alistair shrugged, not caring about how others viewed his situation, "So, what're you guys doing in this wasteland?"

"We're here to salvage whatever we can from the GDF's weapons to keep them from the Tumor Gods' claws." A new voice came to them as they all turned to the source. It was a tall man with his skin completely covered in bandages, clothed in a SWAT vest over a white long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a black leather duster, tattered Demin pants and crocodile pointed boots, and two .45 Auto pistols in their holsters on his belt. "And given that the Emperor's up in the sky, trying to hold as many as the Forces of Chaos back as he can, someone has to get whatever they can."

Alistair blinked before narrowed, "What do mean by-"

"I mean that literally." The Bandaged Man interrupted dryly, walking until he was by the Acolyte's side, "The Emperor's still in the Watchtower, keeping the Pylons active so the planet stays stable." He then looked to the others, "I'm gonna take the follower of the Emperor, you all prepare for our next scavenge through Central City."

The other Undaunted even Silverhand and Tricky nodded before Alistair walked off with the Bandaged Man, who offered a hand, "My name is Joshua. Joshua Graham. I and Christoff are the closest things to Chaplains for the Undaunted. And you are Alistair of the Brothers Armoryn?"

"Indeed." The Acolyte responded stoically, "I am to assume you know of my Brothers and the Sisters?"

"I do." Joshua answered, "The Emperor's been waiting for you for 30 years, Alistair."

The millisecond those words registered in his ears, Alistair's stoic expression shattered into one of utter shock and disbelief, "T-Thirty years?!"

"Yes. And in that time, the Emperor himself told me that your presence would spell an end to this era." Graham told the black haired man, "And it would mark the beginning of Chaos' end."

"And what made you follow the Emperor's vision?"

"I followed the Emperor's vision the same as you did." Joshua replied before they both of them stare off into the endless night and suddenly he began monologuing in an apocryphal tone, "Every day we move one step closer to our judgment. We must do our best to walk in the footsteps of our Lord and teach others to do the same. For many of us, the road is a difficult one, but the path is always there for us to follow, no matter how many times we may fall."

Alistair is given a thoughtful pause before he replied, "...Do you ever 'fall?'"

Graham looked down and spoke in a soft tone, "Every day. Some days... are harder than others."

The black haired Acolyte merely grunted softly as they continued to stare at the black sky that churned out uncountable amounts of snow onto the earth. After a few minutes, Alistair told the Bandaged Man, "Now, if you'll excuse me; I'm going to meet my lord." With that, he took off into the skies, to the Watchtower.

Joshua Graham merely chuckled before he turned to the Undaunted, yelling out in a tone that commanded obedience, "Everyone, prepare for our departure! We must salvage whatever is in Central City and escape this timeline before the Day of Ending dawns!"

The Undaunted all nodded and immediately went to packing their stuff while Graham looked to the skies, "May the lost light grace this planet once more."

9 hours later

The Watchtower

After nearly half a day to find an opening in the veil shrouding the planet that had the least amounts of scorching radiation blasts, waves of devouring nanomachines, scouring Life Eater plagues that would destroy him in but a moment, Alistair managed to get to Mount Everest where the black composite clouds were at their thinnest, letting him pass through the blackness and into outer space.

The Watchtower was in good shape all things considered; the annexes were all feeding the main tower beams of green energy while miniature vortexes hovered above them that likely was the source of their power. It was then that he saw the line of green from where the binary fusion generator should have been and trailed it to see another shocking revelation.

Circling the planet were at least 50 pylons, composed of Blackstone with the Aquila imprinted in gold, emitting a subtle droning that stridently through the stratosphere like a protective shield against the horrors that plagued from beyond the material plane.

Thinking back to the Imperial Palace, Alistair quickly flew to the docking bay where thousands of black drone-like ships descended into the earth either for resources or for lost technology. But as he landed at the docking bay, a new sight awaited him.

Necrons, and tons of them; either on guard, moving supplies, or directing the working drones to their destinations. The instant he stepped foot on the docking bay, every Necron turned to where he was, but instead of drawing their weapons, one of the drones walked up to him with a hand extended started, "Hello, Acolyte of the Witch Emperor, your master awaits you."

Alistair, having the most puzzled expression that ever existed, merely took the Necron's hand awkwardly before the drones lead him through the Watchtower. It was there as they lead him to a circular platform that ascended through the tower that he say the extent of the Necron's presence; Crypteks of all disciplines were at work with modifying and repairing the space station, swarms of Nanoscarabs mending tears in the hull and various degrading mechanisms, and the drone-like ships arriving back at the docking bay while the drones were bequiffed of supplies and materials for the Watchtower.

Before he could even compose questions in his head, Alistair arrived at the control deck only to see the extent of the changes.

Genesmiths, Archeoengineers, and Cryteks were busy at work around a throne-like mechanism that was seemingly composed of both gold and Necrodermis with cables extending from it and imbedded into the floor, while the occupant of the throne had their face concealed by a myriad of holographic screens that contained various images at once. The one upon the throne was nearly a husk, grey stretched skin clinging to bones while clad in tattered yellow robes, the hands near claw-like with black pointed nails and having several cables and tubes imbedded in various points.

One of the Genesmiths produced a vial filled with a red fluid before connecting it to a port on the throne. The vial was quickly emptied as its contents flowed through one of the tubes and into the one on the throne. The Genesmith whispered to the one on the throne, intending comfort for the latter's obvious pain, "Is the pain more bearable, my lord?" He recognized the Genesmith's voice. It was Bell; but what he saw, she hadn't aged a day since he last saw her in Megaville all those years ago.

"It is. Thank you, Bell." Came a tired but familiar voice from the one's lips, causing Alistair's eyes to widen and for two words to escape hid lips.

"My lord?"

Alistair's voice caused the one on the throne to turn to him, the myriad of holograms disappearing to reveal his face, giving a tired smile to his acolyte, "Hello, at last, Alistair."

The Emperor had changed from when Alistair saw him last; his long brown hair was now white as bones while he had scarred and decayed skin on his cheeks, blackened lips, eyes red with blood and eyelids blackened.

"Hello to you too, my lord. But I'm surprised you're not cursing up a storm like that version of you with the text-to-speech device."

The Emperor laughed a painful laugh, "Well, the pain's not that bad... Not yet at least." He muttered that part out silently, "Anyway, because I've been preoccupied, I've had to call for help to keep the Watchtower intact."

"So, you resorted to help from the Necrons?" Alistair asked, skeptical that some dynasties would be so easily convinced.

"Relax, I've convinced them to help me ever since the Rift opened all those years ago. At least... a few dynasties, but what can I say?" The Emperor waved off before explaining the situation, "Look, joking aside, they've been invaluable to upkeeping the Watchtower and the Pylons since..." He trailed off before just saying it directly, "Well ever since the League was destroyed 25 years ago."

Alistair nodded, having figured that but to ask, "What about Elitras, Nero, Cyrene, Belicara, and Serena?"

The Emperor gained a rueful expression, looking down before shaking his head, silently giving his answer. Alistair looked down, clenching his fist before gaining a rueful expression as Bell patted his shoulder in sympathy.

"As for what happened to the world..." The Emperor suddenly turned to the workers and ordered out in a tone that left little room for argument, "Leave, all of you!"

As if on instinct, all of the Genesmiths, Archeoengineers, and Crypteks nodded in unison and left without nary a word, leaving their Scarabs behind to finish the repairs. With them out of the way, The Emperor bequiffed Alistair of the history of the world.

"What happened was Chaos' near domination of the planet." The Emperor started his recollection on the fate of his beloved planet, "After you disappeared, I enacted my backup plan; it was the prototype Utonium made before my arrival, but I've modified it akin to the Golden Throne, but this one siphons residual Warp energy instead of requiring the sacrifice of 1000 Psykers a day. I installed it into the Watchtower and used it to control the Pylons."

Alistair would have inquired on why the Emperor built the Black Touchstone when he had the other device, but the potential question was extinguished when he heard the similarity to the Golden Throne.

"Despite Chaos being pushed back, things only continued to decline." The Emperor continued on, staring at the earth ruefully, "The GDF was in shambles after the invasion and because I couldn't intervene with government affairs, distrust and paranoia to spread like wildfire. Worship of me as a God quickly spread, with many believing that I was the one who saved the world, not the Justice League. Which does hold a lot of water but regardless, the GDF and the UN than crumbled as World War 3 then continued, and this time even the League was forced to serve their home country in the war."

He continued but this time he turned to face the planet that he failed with an empty expression, "The war ended with no winner as every country unleashed all their nuclear weapons against each other. Civilization splintered as most of the supervillains both corrupted and not took over whatever territory they could, with several Warbands managing to sneak in and try to take Earth again, but the uniting factor of all the non-corrupted survivors was their worship of me as a god so it wasn't a complete cakewalk. That and most of the surviving superweapons are still functional. Suffice to say, that, combined with the general desire to survive, has caused this universe's Age of Strife. And like the Age of Strife, rampant supersciences were used to lay waste to the planet even further."

(Infinity Train Book 3 OST- Trapped)

"First were the Geneforges; churning out abominations made from human and xenoforms. Or things of even more anomalous origins."

From rectangular machines with it's insides bathed in emerald light and fluid, came a faceless entity, long and lean with its skin resembling a latex bodysuit, clawed hands, and feet resembling stilettos. It shook the culture fluid off its rubbery form as it exited the vats and saw various other entities emerging from similar vats and seeing more developing.

A naked woman with feline ears and tail, Genomorphs, a thing with too many eyes or mouths, chimeric things made from dark thoughts of craving scientists, and other such horrors.

"Then came the Nightmare Engines; souls of powerful Psykers bound in technoforms to enact their will."

A person sized canister that held a vaguely humanoid figure composed of white and blue essence that was then lowered into the chest of a massive mechanical construct. Screams rang from the canister before it was silenced as its essence flowed through the metal and circuitry, with its eye alighting in red and emissions of shadow poured from between its parts.

"The Machine City; made from nanometal that spread across Bejing, assimilating and subsuming all in its path. Only held back by the AI controlling it."

A city of glimmering silver, ever growing and changing to now resemble swaths of land with uncountable skyscraper-sized silver spines emerging from the ground as Chaos Space Marines and Dark Mechanicum attempted to seize its nanometal.

"...And many more techno horrors around the planet that I can't even begin to list." The Emperor finished, looking bitterly that he couldn't save this world from its own Age of Strife.

To say Alistair was shocked was akin to saying someone must breathe to live. "Damn, man, I..." The black haired man was for once at a loss for words, running a hand through his hair out of reflex, "I had no idea."

"You couldn't have known." The Emperor replied and then turned back to his sire, "Now, can I ask how you have reappeared after 30 years?"

"In just a second." Alistair said as he bequiffed his own question onto the Emperor, "How have you not been drained to a husk from the strain of the Throne?"

"Only a little bit is needed to keep the Pylons active. To activate them is whole other story." The Emperor answered casually before giving him a look that said, "Now answer my fucking question please."

Alistair nodded and pulled out the Clock of Ages, bequiffing it to the Emperor who examined it, "It was the clock I found in Normandy. That massive blackhole that swallowed that massive beam that would have destroyed the earth? It came from the clock."

The Emperor had a surprised look on his face as he examined the clock, "Hmmm. I know this. They called it the Clock of Ages. It was made from the remaining parts of something known as 'The Moment.' The Moment was from what I've heard is a weapon that can warp space, time, and reality to its whims, but it was destroyed alongside its creators in Age of Strife. While not as powerful as the Moment, it's no slouch."

Alistair whistled in impress as E handed him back the clock, before suddenly the holographic message appeared again, "TIME UNTIL NEXT ENERGY USAGE: 12 HOURS, 5 MINUTES, AND 10 SECONDS."

"12 hours, 5 minutes and 10 seconds, eh?" The Emperor said out loud, looking over the message before Alistair pocketed it when a thought abruptly occurred in his head, "Wait, did you grab the Touchstone before you warped through time?"

"Well, yeah. What about-" Alistair asked before the realization hit him, "Ohhh... shiiiiit..."

"You lost it didn't you?" E deadpanned.

"Well- Look... Here's what happened." Alistair explained to the Emperor, "I grabbed the Touchstone but when they fired the weapon and when the clock unleashed that massive blackhole, I was still holding onto it. I guess it must have been displaced somewhere."

The Emperor hummed before he pressed a few buttons on a keypad on one of the throne's armrests. Suddenly, a holographic projection of the Earth came as vigintillions lines of coding and data scrolled through every femtosecond and crosshairs travelling across the projection until locking onto the U.S. The projection then zoomed in to a ludicrous degree until it stopped at the ruins of Megaville before then zooming in further, settling on a random street where a shocking sight came to Alistair.

It was the Black Touchstone; pristine as ever, albeit partially covered in a blanket of snow and sitting in a bile of metal, rust, and shrapnel but still intact.

"There it is." The Emperor said out loud before pre-emptively explaining what this was to a surprised Alistair, "This is the All-Seeing Eye; an invention of the Necrons that lets me see and search the planet for anyone and anything. The thing is, it uses an assload of energy, so I have to use it sparingly."

"Ah." Was all Alistair said, "But what do you intend? I simply go down and get it, then wait for the Clock to finish recharging?"

"No. I'm going with you." The Emperor replied with no room for argument.

Alistair stared at the Emperor and barely managed to suppress his exasperated laughter, "My lord, forgive my mirth, but I doubt you can even stand, much less leave your throne."

The Emperor only snorted with an amused expression on his face, "Come, Alistair; have you forgotten about Dreadnoughts?" He then slammed his fist on a red button that appeared on the armrest. Suddenly, the floor that Alistair and the Emperor were on descended, revealing massive mechanisms and factorums around them and under the Control Deck, with Crypteks and Archeoengineers working on a variety of mechanisms and machinery that perhaps possessed unfathomable power.

Then a massive engine descended on many mechadendrites was then attached to the back of the throne and a cockpit like mechanism was attached to the front. The throne was then lifted into the air after disconnecting from the floor before a silvery outer casing and a pair of mechanical legs was attached to the front, back, and bottom of the throne respectively. An arm with a massive Lightning Claw was then attached to the left and an arm holding a massive broadsword was attached to the right. Finally, a facemask resembling the Emperor's face with a wreath descended and then attached itself to the opening where the Emperor's corpse-like visage was visible, locking in with the cables and servos.

Suddenly, a corona of energy spread from the mask to the entire silvery outer casing, turning it to a bright shimmering gold. The blade of the broadsword in the right hand then became various shades of molten orange with white cracks traveling from the center to the edges as it was wreathed with golden flames, the Lightning Claw on the left blazed with energy as its claws arced in hunger for the unclean. As for one last dramatic effect, gold flames in shape of long flowing hair came from the sides of the facemask, truly resembling the Emperor's in the Great Crusade.

The Emperor was basically entombed in a mechsuit that resembled a golden Comtemptor-class Dreadnought through it was more like an animate statue and Chapter Master Dante's armor than a mere Dreadnought. The cables, joints, and uncovered sections were still black yet seemed to gleam with the armor instead of against it, it also moved so fluidly that one could mistake it for a technorganic entity.

The Emperor than raised the mechanical arms before a powerful voice came from the interior with a metallic reverb yet his voice was not muffled in the slightest.

"HEAR ME, ALL WHO HAVE FALLEN!" The Emperor bellowed out as he rose his arms to the heavens above, "HEAR ME AND LET YOUR VOICES BE MINE! GIVE ME YOUR STRENGTH! GIVE ME THE MIGHT YOU HAD IN LIFE! GIVE ME THE WILL TO FIGHT! GIVE ME YOUR POWER AND I WILL GIVE US VENGEANCE ON THE TUMOR GODS AND THEIR TRAITOROUS FILTH! GIVE ME EVERYTHIIIIIING!"

Suddenly, all around the two appeared several sky-blue specters, all appearing to be composed of liquescent energy. It was then that he recognized most of them: Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, the fallen members of Justice League, his fellow Acolytes, all of them looking at him in sweet relief. Alistair felt tears trail down his cheeks as they disappeared and flowed into the Emperor's mechanical form.

White hot energy burned from the eyes of the mask as the Emperor let out a mighty yell as a blast of gold rocked the Watchtower.

Alistair watched on with widened eyes and a slackened jaw as the aura receded into the mechsuit and the Emperor lowered his arms, turning to the former, "Come, Alistair. The secondary generator will only last for a single day before I need to return to the Watchtower."

The Acolyte shook off his feelings before pulling out the Clock and viewed the timer, "We got exactly half a day before its fully recharged."

E grinned under his facemask, "That's more than enough time." Two massive wings of pure gold warp energy similar to Saint Sabbat's emerged from behind the mech's back. Alistair smirked as his helmet formed around his head, the accents lighting up as a gate opened and the two launched out of the Watchtower and rocketed towards the earth in streaks of gold and green.

1 hour later

Ruins of Megaville: Outskirts

The snowfall had increased in intensity since Alistair left 3 days ago, nearly burying the ruins in snow but heat from active generators and fires made by survivors desperate to survive the onslaught of cold that was gripping the world. Suddenly, a golden light came alongside a green streak that landed in the ruins, kicking up snow, dust, and ash.

It was the Emperor in his Dreadnought armor with Alistair standing on his right pauldron before the latter stepped down and softly hovered to the ground, snow gently flowing away as his feet hit the ground while he was looking around for the Touchstone.

"Alright, the Touchstone should be around here. Find it and then ride back to the past before the end of the world." The Emperor commanded Alistair to begin their search for the Black Touchstone, before the facemask retracted to reveal the Emperor's grinning face, "Speaking of which..."

"Oh, no..." Alistair moaned, realizing what was coming.

"I've been meaning to ask..."

"Knew it! I fucking knew it!"

"How did it feel ridin' my mech?!"

Alistair turned to his master with an incredulous expression, "Twenty-five years! Twenty-five years you've been holding on to that one!"

The Emperor kept that charming grin on his face, "You don't know the patience I have... You didn't answer my question, either."

"It was wild and exhausing." Alistair answered in a flat unamused tone and look.

E begins to laugh like a psycho, his voice echoing for miles before he eventually calmed down enough to regain his bearings, "Oh, that was so fucking worth it." He then sighed before getting serious, "Now, let's get going."

With that out of the way, Alistair looked around the ruins for the Touchstone with his enhanced vision. After a minute of searching, he found the diamond shaped device buried in a destroyed alleyway. It didn't seem damaged but then again, he wasn't the one who built it.

"My Lord! I've found it!" Alistair called out to The Emperor as he flew toward the latter's mechanical form. The Emperor had both an expression of relief and yet raised an eyebrow on his exposed face before tapping the green diamond shaped mark on the Touchstone with the pointer of the Lightning Claw. Green circuit-like markings then traveled all over the Touchstone as if it was scanning something before the markings turned red and then traveled back into the diamond.

"Okay, I've got good news and bad news." The Emperor informed his last remaining Acolyte, "The good news is that there's no damage to the Touchstone. The bad news is that the clouds are too thick for its signal to reach the Pylons. So, either we get back to the Watchtower and plug it in or we wait here for 11 hours until the Clock to finish charging."

"I prefer the former." Alistair answered bluntly.

"Good, so do I." But just the second that conversation ended, red lightning arced across the sky before distortions in space appeared all around them, opening to become Warp Rifts. "I just had to open my mouth..." The Emperor muttered as the facemask slid back down and the flaming sword roared with golden flames.

The wind grew violent and tremulous as the hundreds of Warp Rifts pulsed like heartbeats, thousands of black tendrils slithered out and descended to the ground, horrid demoniac laughter that echoes through the mind and soul rang out to those unfortunately to still draw breath.

"How are Warp rifts forming when the Pylons have been deployed?!" Alistair yelled out to the Emperor as the storms were intensifying to absurd degrees

"It's similar to the Cadian Pylons!" The Emperor yelled out, once more glad that he needed to inside a mech suit that protected him from the cold, "Warp Rifts could still form because the Pylons weren't engaged!"

(Devil May Cry 3 OST- Vergil Afterwards)

Suddenly, a massive rift formed from the streets in front of them, one that drank whatever light was left in the area, red smoke bellowing out and coating everything in crimson warpfrost while flashes of light came at random intervals. Discord choirs were heard in the gelid and everspiralling recesses of the immaterium, while splashes of blood overflowed onto the ground like a red path of glory. Then a feminine figure appeared through the smoke, sweet and terrible like a madman's lullaby.

The female figure emerged out of the smoke, black flames with red outlines erupted from her footprints as her identity was revealed.

Mandy.

She was glad in a stone-colored segmented armor that clung to her skin and figure, a glowing red Star of Chaos plastered on the chest of the armor, a bright red furred collar around her neck and shoulders, and a sword in her hand that with a stone-colored hilt, spiked guard, and flaming blood red blade. Her glowing red hair flowed in the wind, brushing against upward facing horns on her brow, and her blazing red eyes that would have pierced the soul of any lesser being.

"The Emperor of Mankind." Mandy uttered, her face stone but one could feel the excitement spilling into her tone, "So, you've finally left your ivory tower?"

"Oh, the Queen of Daemons." The Emperor dryly replied, showing absolutely no terror despite one of the Undivided, "You've finally left that shack of blood and screams that you call your palace?"

Mandy took the insult in stride, merely giving the Anathema a sadistic smirk, "Indeed, I have. And I brought company."

(Doom Eternal OST - The Only Thing They Fear Is You (old/new merged))

She snapped her fingers and suddenly, torrents of black viscous fluid came spewing from the rifts onto the ruins. The black fluid spattered onto the surface before it separated into thousands of globules that then took forms with various shapes and features, all beholding white skeletal markings and armor all over their forms.

Some resembled hunchbacks, others resembled saurians or humanoids, but most took more inhuman shapes with maws, wings, tentacles, claws, or other inhuman appendages. The only factor that bound them together was their black and white coloration, through some shared radiant eyes with red irises and yellow sclera that were hungrily focused on the Emperor and Alistair.

"Kill them, my Formless! ********" Mandy commanded her daemons, all launching themselves at the pair who were not intimidated in the slightest as they drew their weapons and prepared to slay these abominations.

Alistair fired his eyebeams at the Formless, burning through them like a 1000-degree knife through butter only for the Formless to reform and strike at him with their limbs deforming into bladed tendrils that would have skewered him had he not sidestepped away. Charging several exploding orbs around him, Alistair launched them at the Formless hordes in front of him, reducing them to mere droplets from the explosion but those droplets then combined into gestalt forms that fought on.

Each slash or punch only passed through like liquid, each hole created from a blast or bolt sealed up in an instant with the Formless barely slowing down. Though he managed to reduce a few of them to mere droplets, those droplets combined into gestalt Formless that proved to be stronger than the rest. So, even though he could destroy them, their remains combined into stronger monsters.

Trying to gain distance, Alistair took to the air and fired down green lightning down at them, reducing more of them to droplets that combined into more Gestalts that reached out with their black tendrils to impale him. Suddenly, all of them stopped and looked at him before they unformed into a massive pool of blackness with their white armor and markings dissolving into the dark.

In just a second later, the pool of darkness congealed into a massive viscous lump that then reshaped by some dark craftsman into a monstrous visage. The form was a massive human shaped mass of blackness with 2 glowing molten orange eyes and mouth on a sharp white skull-like face. The arms were clawed but constantly dripping ink that formed into what can only be described as spiders with black wings that held white membranes while their mouths were lined with a maw of saber-like fangs. A collection of large spine-like tendrils stuck out in various parts of the giant and wriggled in an unnatural way, twitching and seizing at the air.

Alistair stared at the monster that towered over him by a large margin before muttering out, "Oh, that's not fair..."

The Formless Titan roared and elongated its arm at Alistair, who flew out of the way as the tentacle shaped arm pierced the ground before several tendrils shot from the arm towards him, though he maneuvered out of the way of their lashes. Alistair let out a howl escape his throat that shook the earth as it collided with the Titan, causing it to bend backwards before snapping back and roaring at him as its spine tendrils snapped at him like the jaws of a wolf, almost crushing him in half.

Alistair yet out a roar of pain as he felt his ribs and organs squeeze together, nearly breaking or bursting, before his eyes suddenly glow green with energy. His eyebeams blasted out, leaving a semi-truck sized hole in the Formless Titan that closed in just a few seconds, but his attack had conveniently severed the spine tendrils that held him. Alistair shrugged off the spines, feeling the cracked bones and stressed organs quickly heal but as his guard was down for a moment, the Titan struck him into the ground, leaving a bar-sized crater on the earth with Alistair in the middle.

The black-haired Acolyte groaned as he tried to get up only for the Titan to ram its fist into him at blinding speed. It then rammed its other fist into the crater, deepening it before it then punched Alistair down a thousand time a second, the ground and ruins around collapsing from the force of its strikes with wind, snow, dust, and rubble flooding whatever was left in a storm of pure force.

Alistair felt his bones, armor, and flesh breaking and tearing against the force of the Titan's strikes, the nerves having been deadened from the pain and feeling the life leaving his body. He thought back to his fellow Acolytes and the times they spend in the Imperium, the Justice League and their staunch defense of the planet, Brisbaine and Weasel with how they brought them back from the brink.

"Alistair..."

Serena's voice rang through his mind, seeing her leaning over him with a rueful smile on her face. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, trailing down her cheeks as she whispered out in a soothing tone.

"It's not your time yet. We couldn't stop them in this time, but maybe you can."

A soft expression came on her as she embraced him.

"Go, Alistair. Go and live."

The vision of her faded and came back the agony of his broken form. With the single eye that wasn't reduced to pulp, Alistair saw that the Titan had stopped its strikes before he turned it the horizon to see the Emperor fighting Mandy but he couldn't tell who was winning. His lord was fighting. Despite his state, the Emperor was fighting against one of the most powerful Daemons of the Archenemy.

So, what was his excuse?

(Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition OST - Bury the Light)

With every fiber of his being, Alistair forced his healing body to move. His armor self-repairing due to its nanotechnological nature while his flesh and bones mended and repaired, his right leg bent as his foot dug into the ground from its movement before his left leg bent all the way to his hip. He clenched his fists when the bones in his hands healed before punching them into the ground, barely digging a few inches but enough for him to slowly lift himself. It was agonizingly painful as his ribs and spine were still healing but he moved slow enough for the agony to reach a bearable level as his healed legs supported the rest of his body weight and his fist dug themselves out of the ground.

The Formless Titan looked down as if amused by the mortal's determination but that turned to confusion when a dark green shimmering aura appeared around him, healing whatever wounds were left as the air pulsed around him. The Titan growled and swung its fist, only for its hand to burst apart on contact with Alistair unaffected in the slightest.

Suddenly, Alistair let out a mighty roar, uttering:

"VORTEX OF DOOOOOM!"

With a furious boom, Alistair's wrath opened a flickering dark violet vortex in the fabric of space-time, the force akin to a tactical nuke that shook the ruins of Megaville in a storm of wind, snow, and debris. Unlike other Vortexes conjured by Librarians, this one spanned a city block. The Formless Titan cried out, trying to form tendrils to anchor itself but it was for not as it was dragged back into the Warp by the Vortex's unbreakable grip. But not only the Formless Titan but several miles worth of snow, rubble, ruined structures, and corpses were dragged into the Warp before the Vortex faded from the strain on realspace.

Alistair falls to his knees, panting in exhaustion of the output of psychic energy that he just unleashed. "Fucking hell..." He took a few breathes before he managed to collect himself, "Probably should practice when I get back."

XXX

3 minutes earlier

The Emperor yell out as he swung his sword down at Mandy who warped out of the way, golden flames spewing from the blade that burn several rifts close from its presence alone. Reappearing in the air, Mandy remained stoic, sending a wave of crimson flames at the Anathema that he deflected with his Lighting Claw before he leapt into the air, slashing her midsection in half only for the two halves to pull themselves back together with ease.

Arcane portals formed around her before black and red tentacles speared towards him, only for the Emperor slash then to ribbons but Mandy ducked under a slash from his blade and slashed across the chest plate of his mechsuit, leaving a massive gash that quickly sealed up before the Emperor slammed his foot into her with a powerful kick, sending the Queen into the ground.

The Emperor knew that would not have been her end and his thought was confirmed when the dust settled to reveal her standing unscathed, giving a smirk to the Anathema, "I'm impressed, but I should expect nothing less than the Anathema. Perhaps it's time for a better suited form."

Suddenly, Mandy was enveloped by an explosion of bright red flames, with her shadowy and wispy figure visible in the center. The figure suddenly began extending in height, thickening and reshaping into a monstrous visage fit for the Queen of Daemons. The flames faded to reveal her new monstrous form to the Emperor.

Mandy's form had grown nearly to the size of the Emperor's mechsuit, her face covered by a stone colored mask with six burning red eyes and her hair now twin forward facing crimson horns. Her armor appeared to have become one with her form, her hands and feet possessing crimson dagger claws, while black wings with bright red membranes were resting on her shoulders. Her sword had enlarged to compensate for her new form while the fur collar was now a collar of bright red flames.

The Emperor was unintimidated as he raised his sword at her and charged, bringing down his sword before she blocked it with her blade, flaming raging against each other in a blaze of gold and red. Mandy let out a roar as she tried to overpower the Anathema only for him to break off the clash and slashed at her face, leaving a small scratch in the stonework of her mask that sealed quickly before he decked her across the face a femtosecond later.

The queen didn't roar but then fired thousands of red bolts of Warp lightning at the Emperor, hitting him faster than he could react before his mechanical wings returned fire with twin beams of gold that Mandy swerved out of the way of. Both of the juggernauts of the Warp got distance between each other before they let out a roar as they surged forwards, becoming streaks of gold and red before they collided in an explosion of light that lit the skies.

The two were nearly sent to the ground from the force of their blows but before they could continue, the ground shook and a storm of snow, dust, and rubble was kicked up. The Emperor and the Queen turned to see the Formless Titan beating its fists down on what they could only assume was Alistair into the ground, likely caving the ground in under the pressure of its strikes.

"Hmm." Mandy would have been grinning in amusement from this revelation, "It seems you've lost the last of your Acolytes, Anathema."

The Emperor then glared hatefully at her, the flames that resembled his hair intensifying greatly in his rage, "Then I'll pay his blood with yours!" He then slashed at her face with his Talon before striking her midsection with a powerful kick that would have broken Superman's spine, sending her into the ground before E then surged towards her and then drove his sword into her ribs causing Mandy to scream in pain as the sword's intense power burned her very essence.

In her pain, Mandy unleashed a crimson beam from her hand that severed the mechsuit's right arm from the shoulder. The Emperor cursed not in pain but in shock at the sudden loss of his armor's arm before Mandy shot up and flared her wings as she rammed her fist into the Emperor's chest, denting the armor and forcing him to the ground. With a single pull, the Queen of Daemons retched the sword out of her abdomen and threw the severed mechanical arm over her shoulder without a care.

"It's time the Gods end your reign, Anathema." The flames on Mandy's sword intensified for emphasis.

Instead of showing fear, The Emperor stood up while brandishing his Talon at her in unparalleled valor, "Bring it, Bitch Queen!"

The two were about to strike at each other when suddenly...

"VORTEX OF DOOOOOM!"

Alistair's voice boomed as a blast akin to a tactical nuke shook the earth. Suddenly, a dark violet flickering vortex appeared where the Formless Titan was, dragging it into its unbreakable grasp as the rest of the ruined city followed. The Emperor grabbed the severed arm before it could be swallowed by the Vortex and then reattached it to the empty socket, the living metal mending the circuits and joints back together with the sword still in the hand as he used it to anchor himself to the ground. Mandy did the same with her blade as the Vortex's pull intensified to where entire buildings were uprooted and devoured by the limitless hunger of the vortex on the horizon.

Just as quickly as it appeared, the vortex swallowed itself as the storm ceased to be.

The Emperor nearly collapsed from the strain of the Vortex's pull through he was impressed that Alistair could summon a Vortex that big. But before he could ponder that thought further, he noticed that Mandy had disappeared.

(Music Ends)

XXX

Now

Alistair managed to regain his breath as the last of his wounds healed, though he noticed in a piece of reflective material that he now had a scar going down his right eye. Before he could ponder how he got it, he felt a presence as he turned.

(Fortress Monastery- Soundtrack)

It was Mandy; back in the form she came through the rift with, her sword resting at her side with her arms crossed and an amused smirk.

"Impressive, Acolyte." The queen gave her praise to the one who defeated her Formless, "To defeat my Formless Legions. Such power is wasted with the Anathema."

Alistair cut her off before she could go any further, "If you think you can convince me to join Chaos, then take whatever offer you have, make like a Slaaneshi and shove it up your ass."

Mandy just gave a slight chuckle before shaking her head, "Worth a try. Through, Alistair; would you like to know how I came under the Gods' fold?"

"Oh, good lord." Alistair groaned, intentionally interrupting her monologue before it could begin as he laid out his disgust to her, "You're not gonna tell me a bedtime story, are you? I barely have any guts left to puke out."

After chuckling again, Mandy began her story regardless of his feelings for it, "It all began when I was a little girl. I came to the world of the supernatural when me and an old accomplice of mine summoned and bound an entity to our will. After years of enslaving it, I discovered the Gods and the endless offerings that they offered me. In that moment, I knew that my rise was inevitable." She continued on, circling him like a predator taking in its prey.

"I spent formative and adult years collecting all kinds of arcane artifacts and books before I found myself in the Imperium's shadow, lurking through planet after planet gathering knowledge and followers. To ensure that my quest would never end, I managed to steal technologies from the Cabal and rituals from forgotten times to give myself immortality. Years passed before I amassed a cult the size of a sector, gaining blessing after blessing until the day the Imperium began their counterattack against me."

"During that time, I was beginning my greatest accomplishment. What my followers never knew was that they were my offering to the Gods, 500 billion souls for the truest power that the Gods could offer: Daemonhood. In a single moment, 500 billion souls were ripped from their disintegrating forms and cast into the Warp, all of them reduced to a maelstrom of power that fueled my transformation." She let out a chuckled while closing her eyes, "You could not even imagine the feeling that besieged me in that moment. I felt my soul becoming a maelstrom that could rend worlds into dust while my body simply became fuel for the flames. Power that I could never imagine at my fingertips as the planet I was on was dragged into the Warp while all the others were destroyed by the Imperium before they joined mine."

Alistair merely raised an eyebrow, vaguely interested in what happened next, "So, you became a Daemon Prince and got your own Daemon World. What else could you have wanted?"

"More." Was all that she said, not even looking at him, "Now, do you realize? The Anathema will lose shard after shard of his soul until he is vanquished into the ether of time and then the Gods will reign over the multiverse till the end of eternity itself. So, why be afraid of the inevitable?"

"You're not fooling me with this crap..." Alistair replied, his dedication to the Emperor not wavering even slightly, "I know what you are."

Amused, Mandy raised an eyebrow in genuine interest, "What am I?"

"You're the same thing, only bigger." He answered in a firm and unwaveringly stubborn tone. "The same brand of cockroach. You're just the same deceptive, evil, belly-to-the-ground, balls to the wall, 'Abandon all hope, embrace all chaos' piece of crap that I've dedicated my whole life to purging. The only difference between them and you is the size of your ego."

Instead of being frustrated by his stubbornness, Mandy smirked as looked back at him, "I like you. I can see what the Emperor sees in you, Alistair." She then turns around and walks away, "Goodbye. We will meet again soon."

"You better kill me now!" He yelled at her, causing the queen to stop, "You better kill me now, cause I swear you will meet the Emperor's blade and you'll disappear back into the dark."

"Maybe I will. But I caused the downfall of the Imperium in two timelines. What makes you think you can do anything?" Mandy retorted but he heard the smirk in her voice, "See you back in 2023, Alistair." She then vanished in a flash of red, leaving Alistair alone in the cold.

The black-haired man merely scowled on as his long hair flowed in the wind before he heard the Emperor walking up behind him, whatever damage to his mech was repaired through its living metal. The helm lifted to reveal the Emperor's true face before he asked, "Are you okay, Alistair?"

"I'm fine, my lord." Alistair said in a tired and unenthusiastic tone before turning to the Emperor, "What now?"

The Emperor pulled out the Touchstone which was undamaged, "Well, I still have the Touchstone, so that's a plus. What about the Clock?"

Alistair pulled it about only for a shocking sight to befall him when the message appeared. "TIME UNTIL NEXT ENERGY USAGE: 2 MINUTES, AND 10 SECONDS."

"Wha-?" The Acolyte uttered as he and The Emperor looked at the message in surprise, "How'd this happen?! It was 11 hours and 55 minutes when I last checked!"

The Master of Mankind pondered on what could have happened before he theorized in his head, 'Could the Clock be able to consume Warp energy? That Vortex Alistair summoned disappeared in just a minute after he cast it. Granted, it was a rather large vortex but still.'

"Regardless of how, we have two minutes left until the Clock can be activated." The Emperor reminded his Acolyte, handing him the Black Touchstone, "Just wait for two minutes and then you can return to the past and-" He was cut of when the earth began quaking under the weight of something dark and powerful.

"Oh, what now?!" Alistair yelled out in exasperation.

All around the Earth, the skies began to burn red as blood. Molten orange cracks in the sky began appearing and congealing, spilling pale baleful light into the earth, a symphony of screams and cries for merciful death rang through the air before the cracks shattered. Darkness flowed forth like a flood of black, blotting out the red sky for what felt like an hour before it cleared, revealing a towering figure in the skies.

"Oh, damn it." The Emperor grit his teeth, recognizing the presence almost immediately.

On six wings of shadow was Lorgar Aurelian. He appeared slightly different than last time; his long parchments lined with chaotic scripture were now black as night with the scripture white as a gleaming snow white, six diaphanous wings of shadow resting on his back, his corrupted Power Armor seemed more like flesh than metal, and small bright red flames hovering above the tips of his horns.

"So," His deep and reverberating voice rang out, scowling at the follower of the False Emperor, "Alistair, you have the Black Touchstone. Give it to me and I will spare your life."

"I'D RATHER DIE A MILLION DEATHS, TRAITOR!" The Acolyte yelled out fearlessly. Lorgar's scowl deepened before he surged towards the Acolyte when suddenly the Emperor appeared in front of Alistair and blocked his traitor son's strike with his Talon. The earthshaking clash lasted for a second, sending up debris and snow before E broke it and sent Lorgar back with a strike to the chest.

Flaring out his wings, Lorgar halted his momentum and landed, scowling at Alistair before his expression slackened when he saw who had blocked his strike. The preacher of the Gods was for once left speechless as his father approached in his massive Dreadnought-like body, its footsteps as heavy as the machine itself as the two hands were up in a placating manner while the sword was planted to the ground by Alistair.

"Don't hurt the boy, Lorgar." The Emperor started, stopping as he was 50 feet away from the Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided, "It's me you're after, right? You had your followers burn this entire fucking planet to destroy me and yet here I am: standing like a golden statue." He posed with one foot in front of the other and with his Lightning Claw raised as if to troll his traitor son.

Lorgar's expression then deformed into an angry snarl, yelling out in petulant fury, "NOTHING EVER GOES MY WAY!"

"I have access to a time machine." The Emperor pointed his left hand behind him, "We can go back and fix all of this. Not just the apocalypse on this Earth, but... everything, Lorgar." Alistair knew what he was referring to: the Burning of Monarchia, where the seed that would bloom into the Horus Heresy was planted.

The Chosen of the Gods' resolve seemed to waver for but a second before it was quashed. "I'm sorry, Father. But I waited ten thousand godsdamned years for this moment! NOW, I WILL FLAY YOUR SOUL FOR THE GODS!" Lorgar's voice was filled with zeal, one unwavering and uncompromising.

The Emperor sighed in resignation, his expression one of expectance yet sadness, "Well, shit. I figured as much. Didn't hurt to try though." He then turned to Alistair, whom was still by the Black Touchstone, awaiting for the Clock to finish its cooldown, "Get out of here now, Alistair!"

"But, my Lord, what about you?" Alistair yelled back as he saw that the cooldown for the Clock of Ages was nearly 30 seconds away.

"This... is the end of my story." The Emperor replied, finishing that conversation as the helm closed, the golden flaming hair reappeared, his sword ripped out of the ground and was grasped into his right hand now resembling his sword in the Great Crusade. Lorgar remained stoic, raising his scepter maul to strike. The two stared off for several moments, daring one to make a move.

(Devil May Cry 5 OST - Bury the Light (Boss Theme Special Edition))

A second later, the Emperor swung downward, sending a trail of golden flames spearing at Lorgar whom moved out of the way before blocking a strike with his Illuminarum when the Emperor closed the gap and then materialized his Archeotech pistol, raising it to his father's head and pulling the trigger. The Emperor leaned away just enough for the ray to graze the helm that quickly faded before using his momentum to deliver a kick to Lorgar's head and then swinging his Talon to slash the pistol and the hand holding it to ribbons.

Lorgar yelled in pain before glaring and imbedding the Illuminarum into the armor's chest, almost caving it in but then the Emperor rammed his fist across his traitor son's face, causing the former to let go of his maul and then the latter thrusted his sword into Lorgar's shoulder and ripping it upwards, nearly severing his arm. The preacher cried out in pain before the Emperor ripped the maul out of his armor and then cracked him over the skull with it. The dent that Lorgar's strike buffed out before the Emperor then swung his sword down, nearly cleaving Lorgar's head in twain had the latter not moved back in just a moment.

Using his power, Lorgar's maul flew to his hand, giving him the opportunity to block another strike from the Emperor's Blade only for the latter to slash at the former's chest, causing molten orange energy to spill out of the wound. Holding in his screams, Lorgar kicked his father in the chest, pushing him back and giving him the chance to recover.

Lorgar glared on at his father as the wounds from his strikes weaved back together, closing and reforming him armor, the slashed apart pistol and hand to reattach piece by piece. The moment he was recovered Lorgar let out a booming roar as massive tendrils shadow erupted from the Warp, ensnaring the Emperor's limbs and wings before leveling his Archeotech pistol to fire. Suddenly, the Emperor's helm opened and then a massive golden beam speared from his face and then pierced the left side of Lorgar's chest, leaving a Power Fist sized hole. As Lorgar was distracted due to screaming in agony, the Emperor used his talon to slash the shadowy tendrils into pieces, freeing himself and then threw his blade, piercing his traitor son's heart.

Before his son could even have a chance to scream again, the Emperor flew towards Lorgar and grabbed his sword before then cleaving him in two. The two halfs merged back together in molten tendrils before Lorgar fired his Archeotech weapon, sending a searing kill-ray imbued with warp energy at the Emperor's face. The helm shattered against the blast only for a golden refractor field to deflect the blast into a nearby building. The lower half of the helm was destroyed only for the living metal to liquescently flow forth and replaced the damaged parts, making it seem like it was never damaged at all.

The moment Lorgar's wounds regenerated, he roared and swung down his Illuminarum into the ground. The earth shook for shadow things resembling titan ripped from the ground and roared to the hells between reality, bringing down their clawed hands to the Emperor, only for him to slash at the limbs off and their forms to ignite in an inferno of gold. The Emperor was then caught off guard when shadowy limbs erupted from the ground and ensnared him before Lorgar appeared in front of him and brought down his maul, though it only hit his pauldron as the Emperor moved enough for it to miss his head. Thinking quickly, the Emperor imbued his sword with more of his power, burning the shadowy limbs away before diagonally slashing Lorgar across the chest and then delivering a slash with his Talon across the face, sending Lorgar back as he yelled in pain and stumbled back.

"You always were a poor fighter." The Emperor scoffed, felling this fight was easier than his fight with Horus.

"Because I never wanted to be." Lorgar retorted to his father, "I wanted to be something more than just a bloodstained killer like Angron or Konrad. I could have been something better than just a soldier marching on! The Gods offered me what you never could!

"Oh, please." The Emperor fired back at the true Arch-Traitor, "Your actions always contradict your pretty little words. What was the opening passage from your book after you fell under the Gods' sway? 'All I ever wanted was the truth. Remember those words as you read the ones that follow. I never set out to topple my father's kingdom of lies from a sense of misplaced pride. I never wanted to bleed the species to its marrow, reaving half the galaxy clean of human life in this bitter crusade. I never desired any of this, though I know the reasons for which it must be done. But all I ever wanted was the truth.' Well, you got your truth, but you still don't believe it."

"What are you taking about?

"You hated me for making you a soldier when you wished to be a poet and a visionary, someone who wishes for a better tomorrow and yet here you are, marching along with daemons and nightmares. You said you never wanted this, yet you went along with it anyway. You were horrified by the things that came from those tumor gods, yet you never turned their away. You knew your actions were wrong, yet you never chose a different path. You looked on in horror at the daemon that possessed your brother, when you yourself laid the same fate to your sons."

"All you have done and all you ever did was attempt to justify your own actions. You were fully cognizant of your actions, knowing full well the suffering and anguish it would cause and yet still you choose to do so. All you wanted was just to have a being to believe in, no matter how horrible they were. It was not the Gods who caused the Horus Heresy, you did. By saying that you were doing the will of the Gods, you absolved yourself of responsibility and blame for your actions, the blood that you were drowning in, when really... you just used it as an excuse for being a spiteful and sadistic little shit."

Lorgar's rage than grew to astronomical heights as he roared, a black and shadowy aura flaring outwards in a blasphemous radiance of evil and horror in the shape of tendrils or inhuman limbs. Suddenly, Lorgar barreled towards the Emperor faster than the latter could react, sending him off his feet and sending both of them building after building before Lorgar threw him to the ground, sending massive amount of dust and snow into the air. Not giving his father a chance to recover, Lorgar warped down and ripped the armor's left arm before he started using both the torn off arm and his scepter maul to beat on the Emperor.

Hit after hit crashed against the frame of the armor, leaving tears and dents in the casing breaking the joints and servos of the mechanisms before he just resorted to using his foot to cave in the torso of the armor. When he was finished, Lorgar let out a howling and insane laugh. Finally, after all these years, he could get revenge for his humiliation and his reward to the Gods!

(Music ends)

"LOOOORRRRGAAAAAARR!"

Suddenly, a massive beam of green light shot from the horizon and struck Lorgar straight in the chest, causing a blinding flash to envelop the area.

The Emperor's sight returned, he saw his traitor son standing above him, still as a monument with the addition of a smoldering hole in the middle of his chest. Lorgar coughed up chunks of orange globules before his eyes widened as to the one responsible. E trailed his line of sight before he was slack jawed by the attacker.

It was Alistair, his eyes burning with emerald power and the Touchstone still in hand as he glared on at the True Arch-Traitor. Lorgar's anger than soared to untold heights as he roared out while the wound sealed in organ tendrils, "YOU IMPOTENT MORTAL!"

"YOU WILL NOT STRIKE DOWN MY LORD, TRAITOR!" Alistair bellowed at the top of his lungs; the loyalty imbued in him burning brighter than the star.

"AND YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN STAND AGAINST ME, MORTAL?! A SAINT OF THE GODS?!" Lorgar let out a bellowing laugh at this mortal's delusion.

"I'm not alone." Was all Alistair responded. Suddenly, Bell appeared beside him while adorned in armor like the other Acolytes, glaring at the Daemon Primarch. Behind him then came Batman in his armor and cape, holding his gleaming Arcanum that was thirsting for heretic blood. And then came the Undaunted, all armed and ready to fight the monster before them.

Lorgar's scowl depended before he let out a bellowing roar, shadow and legions of daemons manifesting around him in the thousands. All of the abominations roaring out for their blood and souls.

"UNDAUNTED," Alistair rose a fist before making a cutting motion, "CHAAAAAARGE!"

(Devil May Cry 5 OST - Bury the Light (Boss Theme Special Edition) restarts)

"BURN!" Batman roared as pulses of gold erupted from his Arcanum, burning away the oncoming shadows and setting the frontline of daemons ablaze before others were cut down by a barrage of blessed silver bullets and blasts of purifying fire from the Undaunted. Hank grappled a daemon and then crushed its head, sending iridescent blood everywhere. Sanford threw his meat hook that pierced a daemon's skull before he pulled the line connecting it, pulling the daemon towards him before he grabbed it and body slammed it as it's skull crushed on the ground. Deimos let out an excited yelled as he leapt into the air and rammed his fists into the earth, when several stone spikes burst from the ground, impaling several daemons through the head and chest.

Wick and Silverhand were practically in a competition to see who kill more daemons, the Turtles were hacking and slashing away at the daemons and shadow things, Tricky was laughing like a lunatic as he slashed whatever was in front of him with a carved STOP sign, Christoff was alternating between his Binary Sword and his handcannon, Randy was using every weapon available that the suit provided him to purge the daemons, Dante was slaughtering daemon with Rebellion in uncharacteristic silence, John 117 pulverized daemons with bullet and fist alike, and Joshua Graham fired silver bullets from his two .45s at the horde.

Lorgar roared in impotent rage, attempting to strike down the Emperor only for Alistair and Bell to block his fists and then Hank and Deimos slugged him across the face, Batman then cracked him over the skull with his Arcanum, blood spraying out of the Primarch's eyes, nose, and mouth as he reeled back. Alistair and Bell then backhanded him in the face at the same time, crushing his jaw before Lorgar swatted then all away.

Before he could strike against them, the Emperor then intervened; he rammed his most repaired leg into Lorgar's sternum, cracking it as the Anathema spun up to his feet and used the momentum to deeply slash his traitor son across the face. Lorgar screamed once more in pain, dropping the left arm before E impaled him in the heart with his flaming sword.

"What? You think I can't fight with one arm?" The Emperor mocked Lorgar before spin kicking him in the face as the mechanical wings slashed through his throat, letting orange viscous blood flow freely. Using his momentum, E skillfully grabbed the severed arm and reattached it to his armor before twirling around and slashing Lorgar's left arm clean off his shoulder in a bloody display.

Alistair, Bell, Batman, and the Undaunted as fired on Lorgar as his focus was broken, piercing through his unholy form with blessed silver, purifying fire, and beams of energy. Suddenly, Joshua Graham unhooked his silver cross from his neck that then began burning with white flames. In but a split moment, the cross enlarged and morphed until it was resembled a katana that was the size of his entire body while wreathed in white flames.

"BLESSED BLADE!" Graham bellowed as he launched himself at Lorgar, raising the silver cross blade before bringing it down on the traitor Primarch before the latter could even blink. The silver blade cut through Lorgar clean in half from head to crotch The Emperor then slashed his flaming blade, cleaving the daemon from the waist. The two then diagonally in unison before they began slashing again and again as pylons of gold and silver erupted from where they stood and Lorgar's screams of rage and fear rang through the air.

The two stopped for a moment of respite but Lorgar stood there panting and foaming at the mouth, his form held together by molten orange tendrils that barely kept the pieces that the two have reduced him too intact. For a moment, everything was still. Then...

"Still have no doubts about joining the Gods? Because you're about to meet them." The Emperor asked and then answered before Lorgar could even utter a breath.

Graham immediately leapt into the air; the silver blade raised as Lorgar futilely raised Illuminarum to block it. The silver blade cleaved cleanly through Lorgar's scepter maul before it pierced deeply into his chest as its wielder landed, then Graham let out a roar, forcing the blade down causing the wound to expand. The Arch-Traitor wailed in agony before the Emperor rammed his flaming blade into the wound, gold fire blazed from the blade and into Lorgar's innards, scorching them and boiling his blood.

Golden flame spewed from Lorgar's wounds, destroying the tendrils holding the pieces together and drowning out his screams, gold light blazed from his eyes and mouth. But a second later, the monster's material form burst apart into a sanguine colored cloud of lighting and mist, screaming and roaring in cries for vengeance as his pathetic self was dragged back to the immaterium.

"NOOOOOO!" Lorgar's face roared in the cloud of red, screaming out as he attempted to keep himself anchored to the material world, "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The Daemon Primarch final grip on the materium was lost before he vanished and was dragged into the Warp.

(Music ends)

Cheers erupted from Alistair, Bell, Batman, and the Undaunted as the red faded from the world, returning to the pitch black that covered the skies. Graham collapsed to his knees from exhaustion before his blade returned to its cross form and placed the necklace back on his neck, grabbing a claw from the Emperor's Talon and using it to stand up. The two walked back to the group with Batman got on his knees as did Alistair and Bell when the Emperor came up and the Undaunted assisting Joshua Graham with standing.

"Alistair," The Emperor said to the black-haired man bowing down to him, "Why didn't you leave?"

Alistair swallowed his fear at disobeying his master before he managed to speak, "Because I couldn't stand idly while your traitor son threatened the planet, my lord. I know I disobeyed you, but I could not stand leaving when you were in peril. I'm sorry, my lord."

The helm retracted to reveal the Emperor's face, who was honestly more amused than anything, "You are forgiven, Alistair. If you had not intervened, my fight against Lorgar would have taken a greater amount of time. Regardless, it's time; the Clock is fully recharged, and you have the Touchstone. It's time for you to go."

"But my lord..." The Acolyte raised his head to his master, "What about you?"

The Emperor smirked at his follower, "Relax. Whether it's me now or me in the past; it'll still be me. Besides whom knows? Could work on multiverse theory for all I know."

"Alistair," The black-haired man felt Batman place a hand on his shoulder, "Sacrifice comes with all things but it is only when we have the strength to stand against the storm that those sacrifices carry on. I spent the last 30 years fighting the blasphemies in the Warp to protect the innocent. I would not have traded those years for anything."

"Neither would I." Bell placed a hand on his left shoulder, empathizing with his feelings, "The last 30 years shown me that I must not think that I'm not the only one who has suffered in this life. I understand, truly I do; but the will of billions outweighs the will of one. It's time to go."

Alistair merely looks down and exhales, giving himself the will to stand as he shrugged their hands off and looking to his master, "I guess I'll see you in the past, my lord."

The Emperor smiled at his loyal servant, "See you in the past, Alistair."

With no more doubts, Alistair pulled out the Clock of Ages, "PLEASE SAY YOUR DESTINATION." A synthetic voice rang out from the clock as he held it up to his face. And with a heavy sigh and a rueful gaze back to the others, Alistair muttered out his order to the Clock, "Take me back to December 31st, 2022."

In but the blink of an eye, Alistair vanished along with the Clock and the Touchstone.

(StarCraft 2 Legacy of the Void Soundtrack - Oblivion Awaits)

At this, the gathered all looked on as Joshua of the Undaunted said in a tone of resignation, "So, that's it then?" The others nod solemnly before a blue spiraling rift opened beside the Undaunted, a way for them to leave this timeline. Just before they entered, Joshua gave one last look to the Emperor, "Hey, E. See you next time around."

The Emperor gave a mock salute with his Talon and a smile before the Undaunted entered the rift, closing as the last of them entered. With them gone, he turned to Bell and Bruce with a commanding tone, "Get all of your followers and specialists to the Watchtower. I think it's time I started this Earth's version of the Unification Wars. With you two as my commanders."

Honored beyond words, Batman bowed in the highest of gratitude, "It is an honor, my lord."

However, Bell had a doubtful and wistful expression on her face, "But my lord, what if I'm not worthy?"

"Then do your best." The Emperor answered her.

"What if my best isn't good enough?" Bell looked down in shame at her self doubt.

The Emperor smiled at her, "It's good enough for me."

Bell looked to the Emperor with a touched expression before it melted into a tearful one, able to compose herself enough to bow her head as she and the Dark Knight departed to the Watchtower.

Now by his lonesome, the Emperor turned to the skies as the orange morning sun peered through an opening in the clouds, purple and orange colored the visible sky in a breathtaking material painting. Walking over to pile in the ruins of Megaville, The Emperor's armor knelt down before the chest opened and the tubes connecting him to the throne disconnected.

With all the strength his frail shell could muster, the Emperor forced his feeble legs to support his almost skeletal body, slowly standing up from his throne and walking out to the hill of junk. The gelid ground was barely felt on his feet because of the continuous agony that plagued him every waking moment but knowing that he saved at least one timeline from the Tumor Gods made it all the more bearable.

Suddenly, he felt a hand gently touch his shoulder.

Turning his head over his shoulder, the Emperor saw the souls of his Acolytes, the fallen Justice League and their loved ones, even the deceased members of the long destroyed GDF, all smiling gently at him. E allowed a chuckle to escape his throat and lips as they all stared on at the morning sky.

"I love this planet." The Emperor said to himself as he continued to stare on at the world, he called home.

December 31st, 2022

The Watchtower: Control Deck

"My lord, are you sure the Silver Throne is ready?" Elitras asked out loud as the Emperor typed something into a console in the control panel, worried as for what would happen to his master if he used the Silver Throne.

"Elitras, we don't have a choice. Without the Touchstone, I can't coordinate the Pylons and we need them to stem the Wave." The Emperor commanded as he inputted the final command to ready the Silver Throne, "And unless a miracle happens, and the Touchstone gets back-"

Suddenly, as if fate answered the Emperor's call, a disheveled Alistair reappeared in the corridor by them in a flash of light with the Touchstone in hand, looking like he had been through quite the ordeal. The Emperor and the others looked on in shock and disbelief at his sudden reappearance along with the Touchstone.

"Alistair, what-?"

"NO TIME! CATCH!" The Acolyte yelled before throwing the Touchstone to the Emperor who caught it.

Immediately, E disengaged the Silver Throne and swiftly plugged the Touchstone into its port on the control panel, connecting it remotely to missile silos across the planet before pressing the diamond shaped button. Green circuit-like markings then traveled all over the Touchstone as if it was scanning something before, they turned a sky blue and a message appeared in the same blue coloration on the front, "CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. ENGAGING PYLONS."

Tokyo

Azula laughed in sadistic glee as she led the other Slaaneshis out of the final remaining building after they tore down all the defenses and dragging the Prime Minister and the rest of the survivors to the streets. The old man was covered in cuts and bruises with his ruined suit was covered in blood while the other did whatever they wanted to the remaining survivors in the city.

"So, old man, up for a little game?" Azula mocked the frail minister that was on his knees in front of her, "How about 20 questions?" At his fearful nod, she started with a sadistic grin, "Alright then, first question: Are you about to die?"

"N-No." The Prime Minister responded as he tried to steel his nerves against these abominations.

"Ah-ah-ah~" Azula snapped her fingers causing Doomrider and Shredder to put their blades to his throat, "No lying." The Prime Minister swore under his breath before he steeled his nerves, refusing to give them the satisfaction of hearing him scream.

Suddenly, the ground shook in tectonic fury. The Slaaneshis and the survivors all stopped in confusion before a cloud of white smoke erupted in the distance and then a massive rocket launched from the ground and roared into the stratosphere, followed by a crackling sound. The rocket soon exited the mesosphere and entered the ionosphere before it opened to reveal a large building sized pylon composed of a onyx material that was then ejected into orbit.

"What? What is that missile? That's not a nuke. It's not a superweapon either. What is that?" Azula questioned to herself when then the missile opened to reveal the black pylon, "What... is... that?" She breathed before her head snapped to the Prime Minister, now speaking in a furious tone to demand answers from the old man, "What is that?!"

The Prime Minister gave a bloody grin as he smugly replied, "...Are we still playing twenty questions?"

Before she could growl in fury, Doomrider yelled out while pointing in the opposing distance, "Mistress, look!" Azula looked confused before she followed his line of sight and saw what he was gibbering on about.

In the sky, several more rockets were flying into outer space, leaving trails of white behind as they opened to reveal more pylons that then rested in orbit. A small humming sound then came through the air as more pylons entered orbit, taking a grid-like formation while black and green lightning began arcing with power.

Suddenly, a black and green wave scorched the skies, clouding the planet in black.

Just as suddenly, all the daemons including Azula began screaming in agony and not the kind they like. And in just a moment later, they had vanished like they were never there in the first place. The others like Doomrider and Shredder were writhing in invisible agony, managing to conjure a feeble portal to escape in with their combined might that collapsed as quickly as it formed.

Moments passed as the blackness raged across the planet before it faded, leaving no trace of the forces of Chaos behind.

The Prime Minister stared on at the now peaceful landscape that was his home before a faint chuckle escaped his lips that evolved into a cackle of sweet relief before it quieted down. A smile graced his lips, "Thank you, E."

New Delhi

Just as the barrier around the Taj Mahal flickered and faded away, the blackness consumed the city before the Nurglites could advance. They screamed in agony before they were ripped away from realspace and sent hurling back into the Warp, taking their corruption with them. Plagues and daemonic plants withered away crumbled to dust, as those who were killed or infected by the soul plagues crumbled away into dark grey ash flowing away in the wind.

As the blackness faded, the survivors of New Delhi stared on at the now empty streets of their home city in silence before cheers erupted, hugging their loved ones and cheering out in sweet relief.

Afghanistan

Coop roared and rammed Megas' fist into Gorrath's mech, grabbing the power core and ripped it out before he crushed it in his fist. Fire and oil spewed out of Gorrath's titan as its pilot roared out for vengeance when suddenly the blackness enveloped the planet.

The Khornates roared in boiling agony as their forms twisted and deformed before they were dragged back to the Warp. The blood staining the desert and flesh forming over the buildings evaporated into ash that was blown away into the distance. People and machines corrupted by Khorne's bloodlust calcified into grey before they crumbled into dust.

Soon, when the blackness receded, the Khornates were erased from the planet.

Coop let out a breath of relief and laid back in his seat, the fight was the most difficult that he had experienced with Gorrath in years. The GDF soldiers cheered beneath him and he himself felt a chuckle bubbling from his throat.

Beijing

"Oh crap!" Flug yelped as he used one of his inventions to leap into a Warp portal to avoid the Blackness that consumed the city, the Tzeentchians left behind screamed out discordantly as they devolved into masses of Warp energy that were banished into the immaterium. Mesogog held his ground but conjured a miniscule portal to escape into while the others were banished back to the Warp.

As the blackness receded, the people of China peered out to see the streets of their home liberated. And cheers replaced the silence.

The Watchtower: Control Deck

The blackness spiraled and churned the wave reeled back like a burnt limb as it dissolved into tendrils of pink, orange, violet, and red that receded into the maw. The fleet around them seemed to screech like frightened animals as they vanished into the Warp through their corrupted Warp drives while the Massive receded into a rift in space, disappearing from Earth's orbit.

The Hand of the Gods stressed against the blast of the Pylons, attempting to push back only for the blackness to retaliate with double the force. After what seemed like an eternity, the Hand of the Gods seemed to roar as it was dragged back by tendrils of immaterial, pulling it back into the Warp in discordant silence. As the Hand retreated, the blackness faded across the planet, now free of the abominations of the Warp.

The Emperor let out a breath as almost collapsed in relief while several of his Acolytes did, leaning against the walls or machines. "We did it." Cyrene breathed in relief, running her hands through her hair and a chuckle escaped her lips. Elitras breathed out a chuckle as he leaned against her.

"Yeah, I knew we would." Nero joked to the others, causing Belicara to playfully nudge him and the others to laugh while Batman gave a ghost of a smirk.

"Say, Alistair?" Serena asked her teammate in question, "What happened to you out there and how'd you get the Touchstone?"

Her male counterpart broke out into hysterical laughter at that inquiry. When he managed to quiet down, Alistair responded with a vague answer, "That's a long story." The others chuckled and listened in as Alistair recalled his tale from the future.

15 days later...

Channel 6 station

Kent let out a relieved breath as the crew prepared the broadcast, steeling his nerves and readying his voice. The studio was still in shambles from the War but at least, the Apocalypse was averted when it was by that black wave. His suit was still in tatters with the headband still on his head and the blood still staining it, but he didn't have any other suits to change into at the moment, so it had to do.

Straightening his bloodied tie, Kent Brockman cleared his throat as he began his report when the cameraman counted to zero, "...And now, the worst of the Third World War appears to be over. The 13-day war has left billions dead, and hundreds of millions homeless. All across the world, people are picking up the pieces."

Washington DC

"Washington DC has thankfully been repaired while New York, Los Angeles, Dark Meat City, and countless others are still undergoing repairs. Other countries, however, have not been so fortunate. GDF forces have been deployed across the globe to provide relief efforts to the millions of lost souls that are now plaguing the wastelands."

The lids were closed on the coffins for B'wana Beast, Hawk, Dove, Nemesis, Aztek, Commander Steel, Waverider, Blue Devil, and Rocket Red as the surviving heroes attended the mass funeral for the fallen, with President Trump himself giving a speech to honor the fallen.

Jerusalem

"Countries like Japan and China are heavily damaged, but still all right. However, India and Afghanistan, I'm afraid... have been destroyed beyond all recognition. São Paulo was utterly glassed by the GDF, Jakarta has been placed under martial law, Australia and Hong Kong is under reconstruction from the GDF and London was barely able to survive the war."

Pope Francis uttered his final prayers as he alit the pyre in tribute for the billions of dead across the planet, placing a cross at the table in front of him, "May you find peace in the God Emperor's light." A gentle breeze brushed against his cheek, causing him to look up and a quiet gasp to escape from him.

It was the souls of the departed, all flying into the light of the Emperor and resting in his gentle grasp. His gaze turned to the pope and giving a smile to him. Tears fell from Francis' eyes and then got on his knees, uttering prayers for the protection of others.

Outside of New York City

"Several of the surviving cultists have fled to the other dimension while others have gone into hiding, with law enforcement ordering all officers to shoot on sight if the perp possessed the Mark of Chaos. Any and all cultists are currently #1 on all wanted lists around the globe."

The sounds of wheels crunching snow came as several black vans and cars came on main street of a small rural town that was deserted during the war. From one of the vans, came out Jack Moore with Emily Harrison at his side.

Jack was dressed in a white suit with a black dress shirt and bright red tie, white dress pants, and black dress shoes, he also had Aviator shades covering his eyes. Emily had her platinum hair tied in a ponytail while she was clad in a black leather formfitting bodysuit, her feet were covered by knee length leather boots with numerous leather straps and her arms were covered by elbow length leather gloves with numerous leather straps.

All of the other members of Project Mayhem exited their vehicles, now numbering in the hundreds with all the males clad in black leather dusters over black suits and the females in black leather bodysuits. The group slowly began occupying the town and setting up their supplies and living arrangements, while Jack merely walked to the center of town nonplussed by even the falling snow.

"What do we do now, Mr. Durden?" Angel Face asked his master, his other eye now red and his hair and skin now white as the snow around them.

Jack looked back at the people that followed him, noticing that their mutations were progressing; Bob was back to his former physique as a bodybuilder, the woman with the fangs seemed to gain a serpentine grace to herself, the man with the bone ridges gained the ability to manipulate his bones, even Emily seemed to become even more beautiful and attractive than when he first met her. But Jack himself didn't even gain a single mutation for whatever reason.

Regardless, he still had work to do.

"Bring out the sacrifices." Jack ordered his men, who nodded and walked to the vans. Opening the back, they dragged out 4 men and women each, all bound and gagged while dressed in their tattered and disheveled clothing. The members of Project Mayhem dragged them to their leader's side as he raised his arms in reverence.

Suddenly, Jack then pulled out a violet ocarina with golden accents and played a melody.

For several moments, nothing happened was when a gunshot crack of thunder boomed from the storms beyond the town, a flash of violet, and then the sound of revving motorcycles slowly grew in volume. When then with a roar from their motorcycles, the Black Skulls, led by Doomrider, appeared in the town square; riding up to Jack and the sacrifices, the former barely reacting.

Doomrider looked to the leader of Project Mayhem before his gaze turned to the sacrifices, who reeled in fear at his presence, humming to himself as he then looks to Jack, "Why have you summoned us?"

"Aid." Jack offered them with Emily and his followers looking concerned, "These sacrifices for you a favor with our goals in the future."

The Skulls looked to the sacrifices and muttered in disagreement before Doomrider held up a fist, silencing them as he dismounted Unbound and walked to Jack who remained steady. "These will do but remember; blood for blood."

"Very well." Jack offered a hand that Doomrider took, signing their contract.

Megaville

"Experts say rebuilding will take months to years to rebuild from the damage caused by the war. The Director of GDF claims that although they had suffered heavy casualties during the war, they still can provide officials with the resources necessary to rebuild, claiming that advances in nano-reconstruction technology will reduce rebuilding time from years to months."

Dexter looked on sadly at the hordes of bodies that were being carried out of the city while Sensei Jack placed a hand on his shoulder and Agent Honeydew looking rueful at the fact that she couldn't save everyone. Dexter's robot army was being hauled away for repairs while the survivors came out of the domes to see what had happened to their home.

Dib and Professor Membrane were alright, but the former didn't have the heart to tell the latter what happened to Gaz, Courage and Monkey were fine if a little roughed up by the war, and Bell had gone to the Emperor.

Jenny flew to the group with her mother and Professor Utonium in tow, landing beside them and greeting them all, glad to have survived that nightmare of a war. But after a few minutes of talking, Jenny then decided to address the elephant in the room, "You think Bubbles and the others are okay?"

The group went silent for a moment, having never thought of that during the Invasion.

"Do not worry, they are strong. And with the Emperor, I'm sure they are fine." Jack reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder but it did little to console the teenage robot on what happened to the little girl that she called her friend.

"Yeah, but... all of them have changed so much ever since the Emperor came around. Hell... I barely recognize them." Jenny muttered, feeling as though the Emperor cheated them out of their lives.

"But if it wasn't for the Emperor, I doubt we would have survived this onslaught." Professor Utonium admits to her, not out of some unfounded dedication to the Emperor but simply out of fact, "Regret as I see it, he and the others are the reason we are still alive."

Jenny sighed and relented but still kept her opinion, "I guess. But who knows what the Emperor is planning now..."

That was a statement all could agree with.

The Watchtower

"Although, I have doubts about the future, I can only hope that this war can bring us all together instead of dividing us even further. To all who have survived this disaster, I say to good health and a good life. Thank you and good night."

Elitras finished a call as he came back to the Emperor's side where the other Acolytes and Bell now stood, all dressed in formal attire consisting of suits and dresses.

The Emperor was dressed in a black suit, a black dress shirt with a golden tie, black dress pants, and black dress shoes, with a golden watch on his right wrist. Cyrene was dressed in a white dress shirt with a tie under a pink vest, pink skirt, and a hot pink coat, with tall black socks and brown dress shoes. Serena was dressed in a black dress jacket, green dress shirt, a black skirt, and black heels. Belicara was dressed the same as Serena but with a blue dress shirt respectively instead of a green one. Bell merely wore a backless black dress with white sleeves and black stilettoes, her long white hair finely cleaned and combed.

Elitras was dressed in a black suit with a red dress shirt and black tie, black dress pants, black dress shoes, and black gloves. Alistair and Nero were dressed the same but with a dark green and dark blue dress shirt respectively instead of a red one.

"How'd it go?" The Emperor asked Elitras preemptively, sitting on a chair while facing the window that led to outer space.

"It went well all things considered." Elitras answered, walking up to the windows alongside the others, "The CIA and Cadmus claims that they will have everything set up, but they said that we must be discreet, or they won't be able to protect us. The GDF claim that their interest in your genetic experiments has peaked though, so there's that."

"Okay, good." The Emperor replied as he stood up and walked up to the window, staring down at Earth, "We'll need more time of course but we must be patient. And soon enough..." He then pressed a button on a remote in his hand, summoning several holographic screens that showed the Justice League and President Trump at the mass funeral, the GDF Director sighing papers, Professor Utonium speaking to his colleagues, Jenny with her friends and mother, Senator Stampingston reporting to the O5 council, and Lois Lane at the Daily Planet speaking with Jimmy Olson, "Everyone will see that my vision is the right one."

The Acolytes all nodded as did Bell, staring on as the Emperor banished away the screens and stared on at the planet that he loved.

It is the 41th millennium; For more than 100 centuries, The Emperor of Mankind has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the Gods, and master of a million worlds, by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass, writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the carrion lord of the vast Imperium of Man, to whom 1000 souls are sacrificed everyday so that he may never truly die…

Yet even in his deathless state, The Emperor continues his eternal vigilance.

Mighty battle fleets cross the demon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astromanican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds. Greatest among his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, The Space Marines, bio-engineered super warriors, their comrades in arms are legion. The Imperial Guard and countless planetary defense forces, the ever vigilant Inquisition, and the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few.

But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever present threat to humanity, from aliens, heretics, mutants, and far, far worse…

To be a man in such times, is to be one amongst untold billions, it is to live in the cruelest and bloodiest regimes imaginable.

These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned… Forget the promises of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future; there is only war...

There is no peace amongst the stars... only an eternity of carnage and slaughter… and the laughter of thirsting Gods.

But I say nay.

I refuse to have this be our future. I have to refuse, for I accept; then I give my soul and being to the Arch-Enemy. So, I spit upon the thirsting Gods and their hordes of daemonic blasphemies and deluded followers.

Let them come. Let them send their fury. Let them send their ambitions. Let them send their despair. Let them send their desires. For we will send them back screaming into their hellish realms as we stand undaunted against them. We stand untainted, we stand unmoved, we stand unwavered, and we stand unconvinced.

For in the grim dark future where there is only war... I will bring back hope.

(I am a nation, I am a million faces)

The sky breaks apart in a blast of white tat faded to reveal the Maw of Annihilation.

(Formed together, made for elevation)

A million orbs-like globuals flowed out with tendrils sprouting from the Maw as hordes travel down.

(I am a soldier, I won't surrender)

In front of it all, was the Powerpuff Girls and Rowdtruff Boys along with The Justice League, Sensei Jack, Dexter, Agent Honeydew, and Jenny watches.

(Faith is like a fire that never burns to embers)

The scene shifts to a chaotic snowcovered landscape of savage survivors and ruined cities.

((Who's gonna stand up, who's gonna fight?))

Storms of sand, stone, and fire blazing around the mass in shape wings and limbs.

(The voice of the unheard)

The huge gaping Maw opens to reveal a mass of malleable energy and nightmares.

((Who's gonna break these chains and lies?))

From the tendrils spawn multiple masses of tentacles and eyes.

(Love is the answer)

Broken and disheveled people holds each other's hands.

(I gotta speak it, believe it, that's how I feel inside)

Everyone looks up, watching as the tendrils slowly approach them.

((I) I (I), can't, can't sit here quiet)

Mortal eyes stare into the eyes of the monstrous entity.

(You can take my heart, you can take my breath)

The Chaos Gods surrounds the world in their vast and incomprehensible forms.

((When you pry it from my cold, dead chest))

The planet is suddenly basked in gold as the tendrils of corruption recede to reveal the Emperor of Mankind. The Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys are then engulfed in personal-colored flames to reveal their Acolyte selfs.

(This is how we rise up)

The battle begins, everyone leaping into battle.

(Heavy as a hurricane, louder than a freight train)

A heavy bloodied and enraged Jack is seen charging towards a behemoth sized humanoid, while the scene then shows a red robed figure twirling a scythe and strike a pose along with several other hooded figures.

(This is how we rise up)

Ozai, Undergrowth, Mesogog are seen fighting the Justice League, whom raged on against them.

(Heart is beating faster, feels like thunder)

Azula laughs arrogantly as she summons a massive hurricane, blowing away many superheroes away.

(Magic, static, call me a fanatic)

The scene shows a womanly figure pointing to the sky with lighting shooting out her finger, it then shows an insectiod male figure who's right arm turns into a multitude of bladed tentacles shifting around him while his left summons an orb of fire.

(It's our world, they can never have it)

A feminine figure is shown floating in the center of a circle of bright red flames surrounding her, with her red eyes visible and several other figures standing behind her.

(This is how we rise up)

The Chaos Gods roar, lashing out their tendrils at the planet only for the Emperor to slash them away with his mighty sword. The others run past him, charging at the Tumor Gods' hordes before he raises his holy blade. A bright light envelops the whole screen before the title comes in.

(It's our resistance, you can't resist us)

ABANDON ALL HOPE EMBRACE ALL CHAOS

(Opening Ends)

*Think of Elise from Madworld.

**For those that read Death Korps of Justice, you know this scene from chapter 43. Borrowed with Lord-of-Change's permission and with some changes of my own.

***These guys are the Black Skulls from Mandy and the Plague from Hobo with A Shotgun.

****Think of the Colossus mecha from Amulet.

*****Future Batman is voiced by John Hurt (RIP)

******Think of it like the Verdugos from Resident Evil 4 mixed with Fulgrim's hair and horns.

*******Imagine twin Jackals from Hellsing Ultimate that never run out of ammo.

********Yes, these are the same Formless from Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go, but with the ability to shapeshift.

Anyway, due to the Emperor coming to an agreement with the league, corrupted people are gonna be put down but uncorrupted aren't. The world came under siege by the Forces of Chaos but managed to survive thanks to Alistair/Butch getting the Touchstone back in time. Speaking of Time, we find out what the Clock of Ages could do and we saw what would happen if the Emperor lost the Touchstone.

Thankfully, the Pylons work and the world has been saved, and the Emperor is continuing his plan.

Off topic but the reason I had the Emperor come to this universe was because, one of the things I don't like about Death Korps of Justice is that it basically portrays the Justice League as incompetent against Chaos and worshiping of Thou Shall Not Kill. That's not to say I hate the fic and I get that it is a flawed ideology when applied to real life, but what annoys me is that the author portrays the League as part of the problem and not being able to understand that they are in the wrong for not ending the lives of various supervillains.

While I like Death Korps of Justice, I happen to be in the middle ground; I want Krieg to at least lessen his hatred but I also want the league to understand that their way isn't always the right way.

Is Batman at fault for letting Joker live? Yes, but last I checked, nobody at the GCPD or Arkham Asylum had made attempts on Joker's life for his actions in the past. The reason superheroes aren't allowed to kill is because they are meant to act as a police force when normal police can't do the job, and the police are meant to arrest criminals only to firing their weapons in self defense and only killing them if they absolutely have to.

And yes, you can tear apart how much people like the Justice League are flawed and unneeded to defeat Chaos but the main reason why I decided to have the Emperor himself come to the PPGD universe instead of literally any other person of the Imperium (besides maybe the Primarchs) is because he's pretty much the only one who can spell out the dangers of Chaos, hence why Earth has managed to weather the storm for now.

And as Kurt Busiek said, "It strikes me that the only reason to take apart a pocket watch, or a car engine, aside from the simple delight of disassembly, is to find out how it works. To understand it, so you can put it back together again better than before, or build a new one that goes beyond what the old one could do. We've been taking apart the superhero for ten years or more; it's time to put it back together and wind it up, time to take it out on the road and floor it, see what it'll do."

And Lord-of-Change, if you're reading this; this isn't me taking a piss on your story, it's just an opinion of mine.

As for the Emperor's "Reason You Suck" Speech to Lorgar, look at Arch's video on Lorgar's mindset. It's really worth a watch.

Anyway, if you want something to read while waiting, check out reeleffendeel's My Hero Academia: Unchained Predator and Darkscythe Drake's Assassin among Heroes. Those two have talent!

So, please make a reaction fic or a TV Tropes page please!

See ya!