A/N1: Thanks again to Skyborne for reading this chapter beforehand.

A/N2: There are some terms that may require defining for this section. English reading comprehension levels will increase massively during the next few chapters.

Necessary evil: Something unpleasant that must be accepted in order to achieve a particular result. An answer to the problem of evil in the respect to god. Evil exists because it is necessary for some reason and life would be lesser without it.

Gratuitous evil: The opposite of a 'necessary evil' as its very existence is gratuitous (done for no reason). It is the problem of evil in the respect to god. Evil that can be removed without lessening life or causing a greater evil cannot exist with a loving god who is said to be all-knowing.

Axiological: Being of axiology. In other words, the school of thought where right or wrong have no intrinsic value, and must be investigated to understand their nature, available types, and criteria to assign a value determining whether it is worth it to be right or worth it to be wrong.

There is also a footnote to further provide some detail regarding one of the points associated with this term.

Deicide: the act of killing a divine being/symbolic substitute of such a being.

Corona: the outermost layer of the sun. It emits light, but because the surface of the sun emits more light, it is invisible under normal conditions and only appears during a solar eclipse.

Nihilism: In this context, it is the belief that there is no point conducting certain actions because they are ultimately meaningless.

Fatalism: In this context, it is the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable.

Placentals: A classification of mammals that create an organ that looks like a bloody meat-cushion inside the womb called the placenta that allows the baby to take in nutrients directly from the mother via an umbilical cord.

Monotreme: A classification of mammals that give birth via eggs. The Platypus and Echidna are part of this family of mammals.

Marsupials: A classification of mammals that give birth to worm-like fetuses that are then raised in pouches by having them attach to an oversized nipple as an alternative to the umbilical cord. Kangaroos, Koalas, and Possums all belong to this family.

A/N3: I've added some links to music and ambient sounds. These are just my personal opinions, so take them or leave them. Put the name in quotes ("") if searching on YouTube, otherwise you'll get a lot of unrelated search results.

1 Eiyuu Ou - Extended

2 31 - no way to back out~I ask you, my foe

3 All Evil of the World ~ Konoyo Subete no Aku この世全ての悪

4 10 - I kill and I give life


As the two struggled against each other, Isha slowly grimaced before throwing back the Emperor's blade and question with a single sentence.

"I DO NOT KNOW!"

Of course she didn't.

She was a goddess banned by her own choice for tens of thousands of years from speaking to her children. The very reason she had done so was to never answer the question of who to kill and who to save. The question that she had abandoned that led to the creation of Slaanesh, and the fulfillment of Lilieath's wish.

She was the Goddess of Life and the mother of the Aeldari, and she would never tell them how to live their lives or punish them for their sins.

Therefore, the answer to the God of Heroes' question did not lie within her anymore than the magic reassuring words she wanted to give to Kyrazis and the other survivors of the Fall.

Thus, her golden nails repelled the God of Heroes' completely, giving him back the answer he had already reached himself.

1

"That's right!" The Emperor cried out as a cruel grin crossed his face, even while his own Truth repulsed him. "God never tells man what to do! Man tells man what to do using god's voice! They lie and omit the truth for political power and material gain! They speak with the borrowed mantle of an imagined higher power, and impose their fake divine right to rule on the naive, stupid, and desperate! That is the relationship between gods and mortals! Gods suffer in silence in the Sea of Souls while mortals ignorantly opine about things they've never seen or heard in order to seem greater than their peers!"

With every word, the golden glow of his Truth grew brighter and brighter, as if shedding off the veneer of mortality. Smoke began to rise from the Goddess of Life where the light of the God of Heroes touched her skin, like dry ice exposed to an open flame. At the same time, streams of smoke burst out from the glowing form of the God of Heroes, like vented coolant from an open nuclear reactor core undergoing a catastrophic meltdown.

His sword crashed down upon Isha without skill or finesse; wielded more like a club than a divine weapon. However, Isha's nails met him head on. That question came from one god to another, and to avoid his blow would be to admit defeat to the God of Heroes' argument. Though they fought in the materium where the laws of physics constrained their argument, they were still gods engaged in a divine debate. As the instigator of this, she could not run from it until it was finished.

"Gods are the tools for those that imagine them, for it is mortals that make gods and not gods that make mortals!" The God of Heroes' grinned as Isha grimaced as the weight of his weapon caused her elbows to bend. "You are a slave to your people, to your children! Despite your great power over them, they are the one who hold your leash! Just like a lion in a circus, gods are the chattel of mortals despite having the power to eat any of them!"

Insane fire burned within the wide open brown eyes of the God of Heroes' as he drew even closer to Isha with a mad bared teeth grin, noses only a couple centimeters apart as both emitted smoke of different color; gold and green brown. Yet, despite the unnatural expression of glee that covered his visage and the copious amounts of smoke rising from both their forms, the divine glow radiating from his being and Truth continued to grow brighter, piercing through the obscuring haze from the both of them and blinding everything and everyone who could look down on the planet through the thick ash clouds above them.

"So, this is the fate of all gods you told me about." Isha said quietly as she let go of the blade with one set of her nails, causing the repulsive force between them to shoot her to the side and letting the golden blade of the God of Heroes' slam into the ground, effectively side-stepping both his blade and argument.

Gods were born from the thoughts and dreams of the species that worshiped them, and it was not the other way around, even though their legends may warp the very facts of reality to make it seem like the reverse was true. This fact applied to all gods, including the Phoenix King Asuryan who was what all the Aeldari stemmed from. The omniscient weapon of the Old Ones could not be perceived until after the Aeldari had been born. That was a fact Isha already knew, and could not refute. Thus, the only method to continue was to open a new line of thought.

"'Usurpation, oblivion, or madness' was it?" Isha repeated the three fates that the Emperor had stated for all gods, back on the Bucephelus when he watched her children reject her.

"I am the only one that remains for humanity, and I still exist." The God of Heroes said as he slowly pulled his sword out of the ground before taking a step towards Isha with both arms spread, as if to welcome the natural conclusion Isha would be forced to reach.

Isha snorted, then smiled. She may be forced to continue with the line of logic the God of Heroes led her down, but she could always add her own cruel spin on things.

"What would all humanity think if they knew their vaunted savior had gone utterly insane a long long time ago?"

"A meaningless question." The God of Heroes' shrugged with a small smile on his face, then the ground cracked under his feet. "They would never think of that because nobody will tell them about it!" He leapt as the last words left his mouth, transforming into a golden blur that struck Isha, sending the both of them skidding across the ground as his sword was once again pinned between Isha's nails.

Insane.

That was what the God of Heroes had been this entire time.

It was only through the charismatic personas of millions of past heroes and his vast intellect that allowed him to appear the reserved and intelligent Emperor, but the God of Heroes had gone mad at some point in the ancient past during its endless slog through the black uncertain future.

"I was but a man once, Isha." The Emperor spoke as his divine glow dulled and his sword sparked against her nails as the ground rushed past the two of them; the sonic boom of their passing creating a dust trail that resembled a series of bomb blasts. "I was a man who lost the one being that was his equal, traveled across both the Sea of Souls and insane Warp only to find that there was no salvation for me or any other among the stars." The morose features of the Emperor morphed into the sardonic smile of the God of Heroes and the golden glow radiating from him flashed as he followed through with his strike, sending Isha hurtling away from him. "There is a limit to the amount of despair and grief one can take before everything just starts to seem like a cruel ironic joke."

"Twisted madman." Isha spat as she flew through the air, looking back at him with disgust. "You would get along well with Cegorach." Ghostly laughter echoed around them at the mere mention of the Laughing God's name. "The Mad God favors sadistic jests."

"Indeed he does." The God of Heroes nodded, chuckling as he stared blankly at some long forgotten memory. "I met him in the Webway among the bowels of his Cosmic Serpent with its three children; the Skyweaver, Starweaver, and Voidweaver." His blank stare focussed upon Isha and he gave an amused snort. "I guess he found it humorous to keep that fact hidden from the rest of you."

"The other method to answer the question of omniscience." Isha growled as she twirled in the air in preparation to land. "The answer to the question of why gratuitous evil exists and why a truly all-knowing god does nothing." Dirt was kicked up as her bare feet scraped against it, slowing her down until she came to a standing rest so far from the God of Heroes' that he was just a speck if she had mortal eyes. "Asuryan's answer was self-determination. It was a mercy for all for him to do only the bare minimum. Cegorach's answer was to be the insane and hidden god."

The First Fool was the creator of the Black Library of Chaos; the fabled vault of all knowledge containing even the true nature of the Star Gods. Its companion was Saim Hann, the Cosmic Serpent whose name was synonymous with enlightenment for the Aeldari.

To be associated in legend to such things meant that it was, like Asuryan, another omniscient god.

However, that resulted in a moral problem.

An omniscient being would know of all evil and how to stop it.

A god is defined to love and bless all those that dream of it.

Therefore, if a god does not prevent all evil for those it loves and blesses, then there are only four possibilities.

One: The god is powerless.

Two: The god cannot infringe on free will.

Three: The god itself or its love is evil.

Four: The god does not exist.

Most of the Aeldari gods and all except one of the human gods were not perceived to be omniscient; merely more experienced, intelligent, and possessing a perception of things through their Truth that provided a unique outlook that would seem all-knowing to a mortal. However, they still answered the question of evil with the first as they were relegated to only a certain set of functions and miracles that prevented them from saving those that believed in them from all evils.

Asuryan took the second, for he truly was omniscient and as the Phoenix King he could have ordered any of the other gods to save those who believed in him in his stead.

Cegorach was mostly the third and partially the fourth.

He was the Mad God whose cruel humor was unmatched, and the axiologically*1 benevolent god that remained hidden in the Webway so both theist and atheist had an answer to their moral quandary. Afterall, if a god remains completely hidden, there is no way to prove or disprove its existence; allowing both answers to be correct and incorrect at the same time.

In other words; a non-present god would act as a non-existent one, and a non-existent one could not be differentiated from a non-present god. Thus, all miracles and statistically unlikely coincidences viewed by both believer and non-believer would be satisfied.

"That was the Laughing God's Truth, and the metaphysical reason he could survive where Asuryan fell." Isha growled. "The one who knows everything but shares none of it except through unintelligible jests and jibes." Her silvery eyes reflected Cegorach's laughing face seen by the Emperor in the memories she took from him. "How funny it must have been for him to give you the answer you were looking for, only for them to be self-evident had you reflected on everything you knew about your species and learned about your own creation."

"Give?" The God of Heroes chuckled. "That god did not give me anything." He took a single step forwards, and appeared in front of Isha in an instant. "The gods of your pantheon that wandered the Webway are not known for their charity or their clarity."

The God of Heroes glow dimmed, and its amused expression gradually soured into the dour face of the Emperor.

"I lost my mind as a man the moment I learned the methods of legend crafting." He spat as he slashed at Isha with his sword, knocking her backwards a few meters as his blade collided with her nails. "The moment the raw knowledge forced itself into my brain, it broke every preconception I held of the divine." The Emperor's shoulders began to shake before the God of Heroes threw his head back emitting raucous baritone laughter as his golden glow returned. "The beings I had labeled as useless and infantile were revealed in their entirety to me, as well as my own fate as a god." Breathing heavily from having laughed so hard, the God of Heroes smirked at Isha. "If I hadn't reached apotheosis then, I would have died from the despair of the Old One's knowledge. But, unluckily for me and for you, I had already achieved godhood without intending it. The only reason I survived was thanks to the theories the psykers who formed me used; the theories of the Old Ones. Why wouldn't their knowledge be compatible with my divinity? My construction was inspired by them, after all."

"Then why are you a god even now?" Isha asked.

Just as the Emperor had told her she should have committed suicide if she felt guilt at her method of construction, the God of Heroes could have committed suicide to spare himself of the despair and suffering of his own existence. If he hated the divine to the point of wanting to commit deicide, the first one he should have killed was himself. Even if he did not have the power to do so then, he certainly had the power to do so now.

"What choice did I have?" The God of Heroes sighed, then chuckled. "I learned that there was no way to bring Enkidu back, and that the only way to survive my own species was to never act like him." His talons clenched into a fist, scraping against the armored palm of his own gauntlet sending sparks flying upwards across his chest and even towards his own face. "I would never be able to grant his wish for the salvation of all mankind in the way he envisioned it; walking and learning with it at its side. All I could do was what he convinced me to do. To protect humanity and all their souls from the alien and the unnatural."

The light coming from the God of Heroes dimmed, and the Emperor suddenly stumbled breathing heavily as he recuperated the strength he lost as his own Truth burned away his own divine form.

"That is why I cannot be a god!" He yelled out, glaring at Isha. "I am the Master of Mankind, and Emperor of the Imperium! That is why I can tell them my Imperial Truth! The Truth that the God they envision does not exist!"

That was the conclusion the Emperor had reached in the Sea of Souls, and the method by which he cheated his way back into the materium to create the Imperium of Man.

It was a circular piece of logic that allowed him to exist.

God never tells man what to do. Man tells man what to do using god's voice.

Therefore, the Imperial Truth preached by the Emperor was the word of a man, and thus the Emperor was not a god.

Even with the voice of god that the Emperor spoke with, the Imperial Truth preached that there was no god. Thus, the God of Heroes whose voice the Emperor borrowed did not exist, meaning that every utterance of the Imperial Truth was said only with the mortal Emperor's voice.

That was the atheistic mythology that the Emperor wrapped all his legendary deeds in. All of his inexplicable powers, obviously supernatural strength, and arcane knowledge were boiled down to enlightenment, effort, and science that no-one else could replicate due to his exceptionalism.

Any other method of remaining in the materium would not have worked as long.

As Isha said, every hero eventually ended at apotheosis as their legends focussed their species attention upon themselves; just as Gilgamesh's legend had ended with the apotheosis of the God of Heroes.

Only with this legend of non-belief could the Emperor exist as the Emperor, for even at this moment the endless concentration of thoughts, dreams, and prayers of the entirety of humanity he had unified under his banner concentrated upon his barely mortal form.

Isha eyed the Emperor wearily. He was flickering between his mortal hero and divine self; unsettled by her infusion of information, the reawakened emotional trauma of Enkidu, and their divine debate.

His violence was not a problem.

For divine beings such as them, where conflict of ideals meant conflict between their very essence, it was natural for any divergence in opinion to result in violence. Afterall, a single word of admission could mean a permanent change in their very being.

This was the way a divine debate was supposed to be conducted, but debating with the insane was never an easy or safe endeavor.

However, she was finally conversing with the god she had been meaning to speak to.

"So long as humanity does not know of you, the God of Heroes, you can dilute their effect upon your mind and body." Isha spoke as she waited for the God of Heroes to catch his breath.

"'The method to record all that information within the deity in question, to serve as a buffer to what it was and what it was not.' was it?" The God of Heroes smiled as he straightened his back. "Yes, I took in that portion of the Old One's knowledge as well. That's how I survived the adoration of all those who followed me before my Imperial Truth."

"And that is also why you exude your glow so brightly when you rise to the surface, God of Heroes." Isha nodded to herself as she waved an arm to gather the smoke that had begun to rise from her skin from the light of the God of Heroes and recycle it into herself. "We are inside a psychic Schrodinger's box, are we not? Everyone outside cannot see what goes on here thanks to you. Thus, everything that happens here happens only between us. You blind all to your nature with your own immaterial hating touch, and hide in that brilliance like the burning surface of the sun hides the cooler corona."

The Imperial Truth was based on the idea that no god existed. Therefore, the God of Heroes could not be seen, for its very existence refuted the Imperial Truth. Thus, if the God of Heroes appeared, it could not be seen by those who followed the Imperial Truth. That was the reason the God of Heroes let out the golden glow that burned itself far more than Isha just to appear.

"It is an ingenious way to write your own legend even when forced to reveal your own divinity, although the process is painful and expensive." Isha said as she tilted her head in approval. "I understand your insanity, your instability, your pain, and the reason you so staunchly deny your own divinity." Isha sighed. "You hate yourself, you hate humanity, and you hate the psykers who made you. As a divine being meant to protect against the unreal, your very existence is as antithetical and paradoxical as using weapons of mass destruction to guarantee world peace." There was a brief pause as Isha watched the God of Heroes return to the Emperor to catch his breath before gradually beginning to glow again. "Do you exist only to suffer?"

The God of Heroes emitted a short laugh at that before sneering at the Goddess of Life.

"Humankind is a creature of suffering. Onto itself, onto all others. But, do you have the right to ask me that question?" A spiteful smile warped the Emperor's lips and eyebrows. "You're talking to a mirror. Your choice to damn your children to their own devices. Your choice to doom your own divine family. Your story of being created from 3 billion weeping and wailing women. Your own existence is nothing but one long tale of suffering, sorrow, humiliation, and regret." The golden sword rose to point at Isha. "If you need a reminder, just imagine, what do you think the creature spawned by your choice and your children is doing to your daughter right now?"

2

The entire planet shook and the winds began to howl as the Goddess of Life looked at the God of Heroes.

"A tit for tat. Very well." Isha spoke as she glowered at the God of Heroes. "If I forced you to remember your brother, it would only be fair that you brought up my daughter."

The God of Heroes laughed again. "I can see more of what you forced upon me. All those memories of the choices you made, Goddess of Li-"

There was a blur of motion, and the God of Heroes sword rose to block Isha's nails, only to find her hand had been pointing outwards, forcing the blade out of the way, allowing her hand with curled fingers to close into a fist that slammed into his chest.

There was an explosion, and the God of Heroes was sent streaking across the planet in a golden blur only to burrow into the ground as the straight line he was shot in met with the curvature of the planet.

"Do not speak of my titles as if you know what they mean you ignorant upstart godling." Isha muttered darkly, shaking her still smoking fist as she watched the dust trail and debris left by the God of Heroes fall back to the ground. "Goddess of Life. Mother of the Aeldari. You called me those things while you were still the Emperor. I gave you leniency while you spoke to me as a mortal, but do not utter those same words with the voice of a god."

Slowly, the God of Heroes walked out of the tunnel he had punched through the ground. His face was not amused, but slightly quizzical. He looked down at his armor and pauldrons where deep knuckle indentations had caved in the golden plates, as if a giant fist larger than his entire body had slammed into him instead of Isha's small effeminate hand.

"I see… That's not the size you're supposed to be." He muttered as the dents popped out and returned to the smooth sheen of auramite plating.

Of course it couldn't be. His entirety only amounted to a small layer of nail on the tips of her fingers, but he was physically far larger than her smaller feminine Aeldari form. The disappearing indentations on his divine form came from her own divine form, hidden behind her physical body.

"Is this some attempt to humble me, by pretending to stoop to my level?" He snorted, staring back at her.

"Do not think too much of it. I just lost my temper." Isha admitted sullenly. "Should I shed a sympathetic tear for your suffering as a means to make amends?"

"Don't make me vomit." The God of Heroes spat as he shot forwards, slashing upwards with his sword knocking both her hands upwards, opening her guard to reveal her midriff which was seized by his golden talons. "I haven't figured out what your miracle is, but any tear you shed is nothing but miserable salvation that arrives too late for those it's meant for." He lifted the goddess as his momentum carried them across the earth, and slammed her head first into the ground, dragging her through the rock as they traveled. "I have no need for such tears or such miracles. I will be my own salvation for myself and humanity." His talons ripped Isha out of the ground as friction slowed them to a stop, raising her above his head before slamming her down at the ground near his feet so that she rebounded off of it like a tennis ball. Then he slammed his sword into her as she brought up her nails to block him, causing her to shoot away off into the distance like a shooting star. "What purpose is there for a god after the total number of its followers goes down to 0? That's one of the requirements for your miracle, isn't it?"

"So, you wish to talk of salvation." Isha shook her head, face unblemished, casting off the dust and dirt that still clung to her skin and hair as she landed far away. The God of Heroes merely insulted her in retort to her insult against him when she struck him with her actual fist. The act was meaningless, and she shook off both physical and verbal insults without a care. "Fine, ultimately, that is what we both want."

"It is too late." The Emperor's voice rumbled as he pulled his divinity back into himself before slumping to one knee as the smoke that rose out of him gradually thinned and vanished. His own Truth rejected himself the longer he remained in the materium as the God of Heroes. He needed to recuperate his strength. This interaction with Isha had forced his madness to the forefront for some reason, as if he couldn't resist answering back from the bottom of his heart. An instinctual need to refute her claims and reinforce his own world view. "You and every other nonhuman race already have a place in my plans."

"I know." Isha spoke as she landed before him. "I know of that abominable plan of yours, God of Heroes."

The Emperor struggled to regain control, to hold back the writhing emotions that wanted to retort. Finally, the Emperor opened his mouth.

"If you know of my plans, then you should activate your miracle right now." These were the Emperor's plans and they would be carried out as the Emperor, therefore, he could speak regarding this matter without his divinity. "If you even can." He sneered finally, unable to resist adding a final jibe at the end, and the golden glow around him flickered briefly accompanied by a few trails of momentary golden smoke.

"It is as you say, as long as at some point in the future or present the number of my children decreases to 0, I can activate my miracle." Isha gave a single nod as she stared into the Emperor's eyes, waiting.

"Then it must be utterly useless or out of your reach if you do not use it against me now." The God of Heroes said with a smile, rising to both feet again, looming over her.

"I am the judge, jury, and executioner." Isha looked upwards, following the God of Heroes' eyes as his head rose above hers. "Even if the conditions are set, it is my will that decides when, where, and how to activate it."

"An empty bluff, or a threat." The God of Heroes listed the two possibilities of Isha's statement. "Which is it?"

"It is my insurance to ensure you do not run away…" Isha stared back at him, unblinking. "And my way of talking to you face to face, one on one."

The God of Heroes smirked in return. "Some miracle it must be for it to only threaten one ship."

Isha raised an eyebrow and snorted, crossing her arms. "You will not goad me into sharing more of myself with you. I have already given you everything you need to know about me, just as I have taken everything there is to know about you."

"Then you know of my plan, and my definition of salvation." The golden glow sputtered out, and the Emperor glared down at her. "Then there is only one path for you to take as there is only one path for me."

"There is only one path, but you are still blind to its nature." Isha turned her head and sighed before looking up at the Emperor again. "That plan is your only motivation and its logic is the reason for your xenophobia and hatred of all other species other than humanity."

Isha and the Emperor stared at each other; unmoving, unblinking.

"It is the same reason you promised all Four of the Ruinous Powers every soul of humanity in exchange for the immaterial resources to craft the 20 tools you would need to defeat them."

The Emperor's lips were pulled back into a grimace, but the God of Heroes waited for Isha to finish.

"It is the ending of the legend of the God of Heroes who defeated all of Chaos for humanity and humanity alone."

The grimace on the Emperor's lips relaxed, then curved upwards into a smile as his brown eyes dilated.

Isha truly knew what the Emperor intended to do, but she was waiting for him to say it; to say his own plan in his own god's voice.

"The usurpation of Chaos by humanity…" The God of Heroes spoke in his deep masculine voice. "And the infliction of all its miseries on everything but humanity."

3

As soon as the words left his mouth, Isha's nails slammed into his sword that had been swung down upon her head.

"You are the legend of humanity and only humanity." Isha stated calmly as her nails sparked against his sword. "Thus, to save humanity from Chaos would save only humanity from Chaos."

"But, therein lies a catastrophic problem." The God of Heroes continued where Isha left off. "Chaos does not come solely from humanity. In fact, most of it comes from things other than humanity."

"Chaos is evil. Whether it is a necessary or gratuitous evil is besides the point. It is evil regardless of it being benevolent or malevolent." The goddess and god stared into each other's eyes, reflecting the other in their entirety as their sword and nails inched forwards and backwards between them. "It is spawned from all the miseries of existence and the pain of reality from every living being. As the god of only humanity's heroes, you cannot defeat Chaos for all races."

"If they were only daemons, they would remain dead once they are slain in my legend so long as humanity exists, for they cannot appear before any other race if that race has the chance of meeting humanity. If it did so, it would be both alive and dead at the same time, and that is impossible even for a being of the Warp. The only way to survive in that sense would be to transform into something unrecognizable to humanity, and thus its original self would be dead regardless. However, the Ruinous Powers have a Truth like any other god. As long as the suffering and despair of reality exists, evil exists and therefore the Truth of Chaos exists."

"The fact that Chaos has been defeated does not make sense when the source of their Truth remains, especially for every other race besides humanity. Thus, even if you destroyed Chaos from humanity's perspective, Chaos would either only be partially destroyed or eventually return."

"And as insane as they are, they grow and learn like any other creature." The God of Heroes laughed, before snatching at Isha with his talons. "If I do not destroy them completely on the first try, they will return and the same method of defeating them will not work."

The Goddess of Life jumped backwards, avoiding the grasping claws of the God of Heroes.

"Therefore…" Isha frowned as she continued the Emperor's logic. "Chaos would have to be defeated in a way that all the evils in the world can be explained."

"And so, usurpation is the only ending that protects humanity." The God of Heroes smiled at Isha, encouraging her to continue.

"The Ruinous Powers would no longer exist, and every evil committed by the Ruinous Powers would still exist because those evils would be committed by the usurper's hand instead." The ground cracked beneath the goddess's feet, and lava bubbled out as if the very ground could not stop itself from vomiting. "The question of why there is evil in the world will be answered by the name of one single species."

"Humanity." The God of Heroes nodded.

"Evil would exist because humanity exists." Isha said, voice emotionless. "Your species would be the source of all evil in the galaxy."

"To be human would be to be evil. Everything else, including any homo sapien that did not agree to that would be nonhuman or abhuman." The God of Heroes shrugged. "But it would be meaningless if humanity committed those same evils upon themselves." He continued as he stepped towards Isha. "There would be no telling the difference between the state of before and after defeating Chaos."

"So humanity and only humanity would be saved, and every other xenos race and their homo sapien sympathizers would be damned by humanity's hands." Isha bared her teeth at the God of Heroes as they completed his argument. "A continuation of your Great Crusade across the galaxy to dominate and subjugate every race, turning them into the scapegoats for all the sins of humanity."

"That is the salvation of humanity as defined by the Emperor." The God of Heroes smiled.

"And humanity would wage bloody war upon every race. All who would resist would be slaughtered or plagued with poxes which only you had the cure to, forcing all those useful enough to not be exterminated to be subjugated. Your race would allow squalor and rot to fester in the underhives of their cities where the lowest ranked aliens and abhumans would be forced into ghettos and slums to live sick decrepit lives filled with despair and hopelessness. Your people would drill down into the Warp and Webway in endless uninhibited quests for knowledge with alien slaves and alien servitors to walk in front of them to ensure the path was safe. Everyone else would be enslaved and tortured for the amusement of your high-lords while gladiatorial fighting pits would distract the working masses with the cathartic suffering of others. In the end, all humanity would live in golden halls adorned with golden ornaments and clothed in golden silks, while every other nonhuman and abhuman would be subjected to the Primordial Truth of human supremacy."

"Beautiful, is it not?" The God of Heroes gestured with his hands as if showing off a priceless painting; as if he could see the image described by Isha before him. "Humanity would be utterly in control of their own destiny. They would be free from all of the unnatural and divine, for they would be the unnatural and divine itself. Chaos would no longer have a hold over them, for all of their actions would be what created Chaos in the first place."

"Salvation." Isha muttered. "For humanity and humanity alone." She let out a slow sigh before turning her silver eyes to the golden form of the God of Heroes who was still enraptured in the imaginary image she had described for him. "That is the true reason for your hate of all other alien races; young and old. Why bother with them if that is the fate you have in store for them to begin with. They will all hate and loathe humanity as the source of all evil in the end, so there is no point treating them kindly now for you never intended to treat them kindly in the first place."

"Selective nihilism and fatalism." The God of Heroes turned back to Isha as he lowered his arms. "If they are to be humanity's enemy in the end, then there is no point engaging with them beyond utilitarianism and cost-benefit analysis."

Isha snorted. That was the same logic the God of Heroes had used when he bargained away all the souls of humanity to the Ruinous Powers for the resources to craft the 20 tools he would need.

If the God of Heroes was to fight against Chaos, Chaos would take an interest in humanity and steal their souls. Therefore, the souls of humanity would fall to Chaos whether he sold them to Chaos or not. That was even before the fact that humanity often fell to Chaos anyways without any bargain or deal with the Ruinous Powers.

Thus, to bargain away all the souls of humanity was to sell a car thief their target car before they could steal it.

Chaos would take the souls of humanity whether he fought them or avoided them. That was why the God of Heroes decided to take something in return for goods that would be raided whether he acted or not.

Only those who followed the Imperial Truth would be immortalized in his legend, saving their souls from Chaos.

And in the end, if Chaos was usurped by humanity, all those stolen and sold souls would be returned, for humanity would have simply taken and bought its own souls.

"And you would reign over all of this as the Emperor of Mankind who unified and saved all of humanity. A singular God who was not a God that reigned over everything while forgiving humanity for all their sins, allowing them to imbibe in their basest darkest desires."

"You have my priorities reversed." The God of Heroes chuckled. "I allow subjugation, enslavement, slaughter, and torture for the salvation of mankind. Mankind's salvation is predicated on all of that, and it is not to allow them to do that that I save them."

"My sincerest apologies." Isha replied sarcastically. "The end result was the same, so I felt it didn't matter what your intentions were."

"No need to be snide." The God of Heroes said as he smiled gently. "Your love for your children and all that is necessary for them is much closer to Cegorach's than my love is for my people." His gentle smile turned into a vengeful sneer. "At the very least, regardless of the end result or the methodology, the hero's intention is always to be the bringer of salvation to themselves and those around them."

"You call my love for my children and all that they need to live evil?" Isha's voice was cold as liquid nitrogen, and frost spread out across the lava at her feet, freezing it into spikes of jagged obsidian glass.

"Of course it is." The God of Heroes laughed. "Even though it may be necessary for you and your Truth to function, your love and your Truth is full of both necessary and gratuitous evils."

Life is harsh. Pathogens cause disease. Parasites infect and infest all creatures. Predators slaughter and kill; sometimes to survive, and sometimes to show their own dominance over territory or females or social status to increase their chances at passing on their genes; although even herbivores would fight to the death for those last three things.

Those were the necessary evils of life, but life contains gratuitous evils as well.

Cats torture mice that they have no intention of eating, all because their hunting instincts have evolved to enjoy the act of killing prey so it would make them better hunters.

Dolphins murder Tuna simply because they resemble baby dolphins, and they cannot tolerate offspring in their pod that is not theirs.

Certain amoebas and protozoa cause lethal neural diseases, not to reproduce, but simply because human neurons through some cosmic coincidence chemically 'smell' the same as their favored prey items. They would enter the nasal cavity of humans, devour their way up the olfactory nerves, and feed upon the living brain of their victim only to die as they cannot escape back into the pond water they originate from.

"All of the miseries of life are the match that lights the bonfire of Chaos." The God of Heroes continued as he chuckled. "Although the Four may be the extremes of every evil, the origin comes from the basic facts of life; the selective pressure of evolution and natural selection." He pointed his sword at Isha. "Even your Phoenix King told you, didn't he? 'The pain of life is nothing to its goddess, for it is she who allows it to torture all that walk within the cycle.' You justified my barbarism against your children by likening it to the microbial genocide conducted by yeast. Your very nature and existence is evil, even if it is a necessary evil for the function of all life."

Isha remained silent, for what the God of Heroes said was not incorrect. Unhappiness and unpleasantness was part of living. Even simple viruses which seemed to do nothing but replicate were necessary for evolution, as they functioned to transmit their own and other genetic information between hosts. Had ancient retro-viruses not infected one of the common ancestors of all placentals, all mammals would have been forced to give birth to eggs as monotremes or worm-like fetuses like marsupials.

"Even inter and intra species conflict is allowed and contained within your love and Truth." The God of Heroes continued as he lowered his weapon. "You justified my barbarism against your children back on the Bucephelus while you sung your accursed song by likening it to the microbial genocide conducted by yeast. Thus, your Truth is evil to all it encompasses, and your love is also evil for it allows the hardship within your Truth to persist."

Isha had done that after hearing of the Emperor's plan to cull the refugees from the core worlds. She had pardoned humanity's transgressions against her people by rationalizing it as another part of her cycle of life. Otherwise, she would have torn herself apart as the Mother of the Aeldari would be irreconcilable with the Goddess of Life.

"The only reason you stand against me now is because I am a god. If I were a mortal, you would be unable to do anything even as I enslave, slaughter, and consume every one of your children until the conditions for your miracle are fulfilled. Only when the number of Aeldari goes from 1 to 0 on the target for your miracle would you be able to act against the mortal Emperor."

That was the requirement of the Goddess of Life. A requirement that had been fulfilled in this region of space a few hours ago.

"You speak of only the evil of life, of only the suffering." Isha muttered bitterly as she stamped on the obsidian shards at her feet, shattering them into dust. "You are correct. My love and my Truth have evil within them, but at the same time that is not the only thing within my breast." Her hands balled into fists as she spat out the next words. "It isn't even the main reason for life, or motherhood. My love is love. That much is irrefutably true."

"Then you should understand that the only reason you see the Emperor's plan as evil is because you are not human." The God of Heroes shrugged. "Just as your love and Truth may only contain evil and not be evil itself, my plan and my salvation merely contain evil and are not evil in themselves. My goal is salvation, and not the conversion of humanity into the source of Chaos. It is only because that is the only logical method for salvation that I do this. And regardless…" He turned his brown eyes towards her, and golden flames burned in the blackness of each pupil. "I am the God of humanity's Heroes. By definition, any act I do is for humanity, and not for any other. Therefore, it is inevitable that any outside onlooker beyond humanity would by definition find whatever I do to be evil and wrong."

Humanity would be saved. That much was true of the Emperor's plans. Everything else did not matter. No matter what the cost, so long as it was not paid with human hands, it was not an issue.

No, even if it was paid with human blood and human souls, so long as the ending was achieved, any suffering, any price, any evil was worth the Emperor's definition of salvation.

That was the natural conclusion of the one who would pull the lever to change the tracks the train would run upon in order to kill the least amount of people every time; regardless of whatever sin or guilt they would be burdened with from that act.

3 END

"But you knew all of this." The God of Emperors tilted his head as his talons rose to pinch his chin. "You knew all of this from the moment your nails turned gold, otherwise you would not have taken in my Truth."

"I knew of it…" Isha said emotionlessly. "But I needed to hear it from your voice, God of Heroes."

"Oh?" The God of Heroes raised an amused eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"To make my final judgment." Isha's curled fingers relaxed, returning to the gentle natural curve of her smooth effeminate hands.

"And what is your verdict?" The God of Heroes changed his posture, bending his knees slightly and pulling back both his sword and talons in preparation to strike.

4

"I will do as you wish, Emperor of Mankind" Isha smiled at him. "I shall treat you as a mortal, Neoth." Her smile slowly pulled back, revealing pearly white incisors and canines. "It is as you said." The gold light from her nails died, and returned to their original pink and white color. "A god like you should never have existed in the first place."


*1 In this context, Cegorach is axiologically benevolent because being a hidden god means that it does not matter whether one believes in him or not because one cannot tell whether he exists or not because he is hidden. Thus, all those that believe in him gain all the benefits of believing in him that they imagine, and all those that do not believe in him gain all the benefits that they expect to receive from his non-existence.


WN I have an after story Writer's Note on the Space Battle Forums that I use to elaborate/explain certain concepts and references I have made. I'll add them retroactively to all chapters, and update chapters with these Writer's Notes once they're out on the SB Forum.

Thanks again to all who Favorited, Followed, and Reviewed!

Title: It's as it says. Also, as a side note, I really hate the fact that has a character limit for titles. The original title was "The Emperor's definition of salvation"

Main Part: I made a post on SB ages ago talking about how the true nature of the Emperor would horrify all loyalists Primarchs and be the most obvious thing ever to the traitors Primarchs. The God of Heroes has gone utterly insane, and sees everything as just one horrible cosmic joke. However, even in this state, he still functions to save as many human souls as he can.

This is also why the Emperor states he cannot be a god. He knows his divine self has gone utterly insane, and fears what he could do if he remained in that state. The God of Heroes is not as logical as the Emperor and is far more violent.

Does the Emperor have multiple personality disorder because the God of Heroes seems too different to him?

To be clear, the God of Heroes is not another personality or persona of the Emperor. It is merely the Emperor affected by insanity and drunk on madness. However, he can suppress those effects by remaining a mortal hero, so he prefers to remain 'human' as much as possible.

Did you reference that Chaos was evil incarnate anywhere else in the story?

Chaos and the problem of evil is explained mostly in this chapter, but it was alluded to in the prologue, in both parts of the Fall, and in 'Warped Perception'.

The Aeldari in their post-scarcity society and infinitely reincarnating lives were untouched by any necessary evil such as scarcity or intraspecies competition for resources, hence, they did not fuel the other three Chaos gods. That metaphysical manifestation could be interpreted as the Eternal War between Chaos and the Aeldari pantheon as all other races in the galaxy could only stare at this indomitable empire the Aeldari had created in envy.

Chaos is the disorganised attempt to rationalise an irrational world by the races of the galaxy in this story, so trying to defeat them means you have to take on every problem with existence.

Isn't the Emperor's plan too evil?

The Emperor's plan is evil, but it's as the Emperor said, "I allow subjugation, enslavement, slaughter, and torture for the salvation of mankind. Mankind's salvation is predicated on all of that, and it is not to allow them to do that that I save them." He doesn't want to cause so much destruction and suffering, but because humanity's salvation requires it he sees it as the only choice and path forwards.

Chaos isn't something you can just "kill". They are evil incarnate, and to destroy them means you have to deal with evil. The Aeldari were untouched by Chaos as portrayed in the prologue in the Eternal War. Their society developed to the point that they were a post-scarcity society, and hence had nothing to fear from war, famine, disease, and even death. However, even though they had 'defeated' Chaos in their empire, Slaanesh formed instead and destroyed everything from the inside out.

Even if the Emperor could by some miracle save every single alien (some of which already worship Chaos like the Laer) and created a post-scarcity society that dealt with every species different specific needs, there is a chance that all that would do would spawn another Chaos god.

Chaos is formed from the base evil of all existence, and there is no defeating Chaos without answering the question of evil.

In other words, the Emperor's solution is only as horrible as the creatures he is forced to fight.

This plan is also inspired by how Horus describes his motivations for rebelling against the Emperor, and why he believes the Emperor is trying to become a dictator god. Chaos was both lying and telling the truth at the time. However, they convinced Horus that their 'evil' was a simple fact of life, and the Emperor's attempt at usurping them would create a dictatorship where certain parts of humanity would be placed in eternal suffering as well. They're not entirely wrong, since any homo sapien that rejected the Emperor's truth would be classified as an abhuman, and be treated as badly as any alien. However, they rephrased the part where almost all of humanity would "live in golden halls adorned with golden ornaments and clothed in golden silks" as the Emperor effectively enslaving the people he saved with mind control and propaganda. In the Emperor's version, these people in gold would be cognizant of what they did, and they would do it knowing that to do otherwise would be to distribute random evil and wanton Chaos.

Of course, there was no way of effectively convincing Horus that these people in gold would have free will from him on the Vengful Spirit, and even after convincing Horus that Chaos had tricked him, there was no way to save Horus without destroying humanity's legend. So, the Father slew his son as a sacrifice for all humanity, to preserve its unity and its staunch opposition to Chaos. The Son accepted his Father's blade, and died completely to never ever return to serve as an eternal reminder of the folly of listening to Chaos.

The Emperor's salvation is effectively an ordering of Chaos. Humanity would be the arbiter of how it was dispensed, and suffering would be unleashed in a controlled method that would allow for the most number of souls to be saved with the least amount of suffering. Naturally humanity comes first, but it wouldn't be cost-effective to let more than the necessary amount of aliens and abhumans die, so the number of deaths would usually be less than if Chaos did the same thing.

Naturally, this plan is evil when viewed from outside humanity, but it seems like a pretty good bargain from humanity's perspective.


A/N: I've been receiving a lot of hate, so I've added this to the Author's Note. This story is on several other sites, and all of you are really making this hard to continue writing. It was originally going to be an apocrypha/Side Story, but I've received too much hate to really care about writing this apocrypha anymore. I'll leave it as an Author's Note because everyone thinks just because the Emperor's plan is evil it automatically makes him a 1-dimensional hitler/joker character. I've spellchecked and fixed a few grammar errors, but until I'm happy this is all you're going to get.

If the Emperor's plan of converting all humanity into the source of all evils ever failed, he would simply stop moving. This is what happened when he reunited with Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit, and saw that Horus had effectively become what he had planned to become. i.e. A god of Chaos Undivided.

In this story, (although I have no intention of just replicating the Horus Heresy), if Isha never escaped Nurgle, the Emperor eventually met his end at the hands of Horus, but the reason he didn't strike his son down was not out of love, but because he was losing the divine debate between Horus and himself. Horus showed the Emperor his own vision of a unified humanity, and made it clear that for most humanity, free will and autonomy aren't things they care about. As long as people have food in their stomachs and something to do after work hours, they don't really care whether it's a dictator or a democracy that's ruling them. Most don't even understand what those words mean.

Near the end, Horus made a wager between himself and the Emperor. A captured Custodes, Space Marine, and normal human soldier were brought out. Horus brought the Custodes out first, and told his father that they were going to see which version of itself humanity would choose.

He lopped off the head of the Custodes, and the Custodes soul went to the Emperor, as both of them expected.

He takes the Space Marine, and stabs him through the stomach, before throwing him at the Emperor's feet. The Space Marine, who has been forced to listen to Horus and the Emperor's debate, goes to Horus, for many of the Space Marines serve because they were chosen to serve. They never had a say in becoming Space Marines as they are all conscripted children.

As Horus is bringing out the last normal human soldier to complete the wager as to which Truth humanity will choose, Sanguinius bursts into the room and lops off the normal human's head in order to ensure the wager between the Emperor and Horus cannot be completed. Sanguinius then uses his own burning charisma and psychic powers to hold onto the normal human soul, and engages Horus in battle.

Horus fends off Sanguinius easily. Horus is a god, and Sanguinius is at best just a demi-god. The difference in existence between them is an insurmountable wall. Horus also sees the Red Thirst taking over Sanguinius. He tells Sanguinius that whatever he thinks he's done by interrupting his and the Emperor's wager, it is meaningless. By taking the soul of the last human, he has merely become the one who will decide which side humanity will choose, and the Red Thirst he hid from the Emperor out of fear of being exterminated like the 2nd and 11th Primarchs will ensure his soul falls to Khorne and therefore Horus.

Sanguinius says nothing during all of this. It is true that he hid the genetic defect called the Red Thirst from the Emperor out of fear. It is true that he still thinks that even if he were to defeat Horus and save the Emperor, his Father will never forgive him from hiding this flaw and will obliterate Sanguinius's memory and the Blood Angels. However, none of that matters to Sanguinius. As he said in his speech on Terra before teleporting to the Vengeful Spirit, he does not fight because he thinks he can win, but because he must.

The Emperor may have been a horrid father, he may have been a tyrant, he may be the most evil being in the galaxy, but his dream of a golden humanity where at least one species could be happy in this dark universe is something he is willing to give everything for.

Of course, all Horus and the Emperor see is a Sanguinius burning with hate and Warp fire, and seeming more like a flaming angel winged demon than anything else.

After ensuring Sanguinius's Red Thirst has proceeded past the point of no-return, Horus stabs his brother through the chest, confident that Sanguinius and the Blood Angels will fall to Khorne; making him the victor of the wager, and the divine debate between himself and the Emperor.

However, Sanguinius's soul and the soul of the normal human Horus had prepared both go to the Emperor, and as Horus looks on with shock and betrayal at the choice his brother made, the Emperor slams his essence into Horus (just like Isha did to him in Ch 18).

The Emperor and Horus have one final talk in a way only gods can, and Horus learns the full entirety of the Emperor's plans.

After that, Horus allows the Emperor to shatter his divine essence, and utterly destroy Horus's Truth. With this sacrifice, all humanity will now have the chance to resist Chaos, no matter how far they have fallen.

The rest of the boarding party arrive at the Throne room of the Vengeful Spirit after this. They find the Emperor dying, with both Sanguinius and Horus dead. A Custodes, Space Marine, and normal human are all corpses between the Emperor and Horus.