"It is undeniably a Gamer."

"Are you certain of this? Have you verified it with your senses?"

"I descended upon that obscure planet— even their revered golden deity failed to detect my presence. I had to assume the form of a grotesque creature, but I confirmed it firsthand. It was, no doubt, a Gamer."

"That is unfortunate. The human god has long been a source of vexation for us, just like the four parasites. But let us move past that. This Gamer—was it akin to the others?"

"No, it differs. This one resonates with our essence. It reminded me of... what we once were, before we became what we are."

"Impossible."

"The soul within is native to this dimension, untouched by transmigration. Its abilities manifest as a profound form of Biomancy; there may be more abilities besides, given its Gamer nature, but Biomancy is my sole witness. Something seems amiss with the Guild's orchestration, or perhaps those entities wished to reshape their entertainment; that said, I cannot be certain of their plans. Guild members act on their whims and wishes and fancies and nothing else."

"Biomancy... an art we've not performed since our siblings perished in the Old War. Regardless of the Guild's intentions or plans, if this one isn't a transmigrated soul, what is your assessment?"

"Low, exceedingly so. Despite the many days it has spent as a Gamer, it has yet to amass even a fraction of the power transmigrated souls gain in a single day, as per our records. It will be a considerable span before this one becomes a threat."

"Should we not eliminate it before it grows formidable, then, as we have done with others?"

"Risk the Guild's ire again? Those beings could lay waste to this galaxy on a whim if we offend them as we did before. They will not be so generous a second time. Do you forget what they did to our sibling?"

"A god... torn asunder and rendered a plaything. An immortal deity with the power to extinguish stars reduced to a mere toy. How could I forget?"

"I doubt they'll tolerate direct intervention with this one. It is too unique, too distinct from the others. I believe it is a source of great amusement for them, something entirely novel. If we destroy it ourselves, we risk retribution not only from the human god but also from the Guild. An indirect intervention would be prudent, if intervention is necessary at all."

"You advocate observing, even though Gamers often become issues if left unchecked for too long? This one might be slow in developing, unlike the others, but it is still a Gamer."

"I propose a step back and watch. If it becomes problematic, we guide the soulless ones against it; they remember how to handle formidable Gamers. They have done it before; they can do so again."

"Your confidence is unwavering, brother; I trust your judgment on the matter. We shall observe, for now. If nothing else, it shall be intriguing to watch. The Guild has never granted the System to a native of this galaxy and watching the growth of this one should prove... enlightening."

Fire, ashes, and dust rained from the sky.

The earth roared as the ground split open, solid rock tearing itself apart in a seemingly endless grinder of stone and soil. Ruined vehicles and buildings shattered and fluttered up, carried forth by a seemingly infinite wave of destruction, a tsunami of crushed rockrete, burning debris, and melted metal, carried forth by hurricane winds that covered the sky in dust and shadow, blotting out the very sun in the sky. Mountains collapsed into rubble, sinking into lakes of molten stone, set ablaze by the warring powers of the titans – one of resplendent gold and light, and the other of fire and shadow.

The world burned around them. And I had to admit that not even the traitors and heretics could've displayed such wanton destruction. But, I had honestly expected the God Emperor to settle things with the Balrog in a somewhat diplomatic manner. If they were fighting now, that meant the Balrog and the God Emperor simply did not see eye to eye. That was unfortunate, but that sealed the Balrog's fate as an enemy of mankind. Distracted as it was now by its duel against the Lord of Mankind, I realized there was something I could do. [Warp Shaping], I figured, could be used to drain the Balrog of its potent spirit, something that hadn't been possible, simply because the entity had grown too strong for me to even attempt to approach it. Now, however, with the God-Emperor wrestling it all over the continent, it would be near-impossible to even notice me on my approach. Its fire also wouldn't affect me if I infused my skin with Ceramite or, failing that, wore power Armor.

The Balrog radiated intense levels of heat, enough to melt its surroundings to slag, but the Power Armor, made of ceramite, was capable of surviving the Balrog's ambient temperature – probably. If nothing else, I had no choice but to try, before the battle between the Balrog and the God-Emperor cracked the planet apart and killed everything and everyone on it, traitorous and innocent alike, in a blaze of fire and gold and ashes and shadow. I gritted my teeth in the certain knowledge that the Kuresh Region of Praxtor, including its Hive City, was now little more than a smoking ruin. Briefly, I wondered what the traitors and heretics must've felt when they realized that the Master of Mankind himself had taken to the field, fighting alongside his subjects once more. I grinned, knowing they'd be utterly terrified. I wouldn't be surprised if the cowardly Traitor Astartes decided to abandon the world altogether, fleeing through ruinous portals or upon their battle-barges.

I didn't have the time to exterminate them, unfortunately, as the Balrog was the larger and more immediate threat. Besides, the Carcharodons were likely taking care of the stragglers and wiping out the traitors wherever they could be found; after all, Praxtor had more than one region and I sincerely hoped the destruction in the Kuresh region hadn't cascaded across the entire planet just yet.

A great wall of stone and ash erupted a kilometer or so in front of me, stretching nearly a thousand meters into the air, a hundred kilometers wide, weeping with rivers of molten rock. It was a furrow, I realized, carved upon the very earth by the Balrog's fiery sword, itself hundreds of meters long. The God-Emperor fought back with equal fervor, sending forth arcs and beams of golden lightning and pillars of silver fire. The Balrog roared, shadows and dark-flames converging about its burning form.

And, somehow, I had to find a way to get close enough to actually touch the Balrog, before I could even begin to absorb its essence, which might just weaken it enough for the God-Emperor to deal with the finishing blow.

The ground shook beneath my feet as I sprinted forth with all of my strength, my thighs and calves engorged with potent and powerful muscles, each step propelling me forward a dozen meters and leaving deep gashes upon the earth. The battle was taking place a fair distance away, about fifty kilometers or so, close to the shattered and burning ruins of the Kuresh Hive City, now little more than a blackened and charred ghost-city, where rivers of fire and molten rock flowed freely. Even now, as I glanced at it, pillars and vortexes of roaring, twisting flames wandered the remains of the city. [Warp Energy] saturated the air, I noted, likely from all those who died recently, their souls caged in burning agony. I reached out and absorbed as much of it as I could, until my reserves were full and I could devour no more.

I had enough [Warp Energy], I noted, to don the [Mask of Death] once more and engage the Balrog, alongside the God-Emperor. I wasn't certain how effective it would be, but it was, at the very least, invulnerable, which meant I wouldn't have to worry about possibly burning to death or cooking inside my Power Armor. And all the ambient [Warp Energies] in the air, just within reach for me to devour, meant that I could possibly sustain that form for a long time.

The ground shook once more, cracking apart as a massive portion of land seemed to collapse into a deep abyss, hundreds of kilometers' worth of open land... just... gone. Massive clouds and plumes of smoke and dust and ash were sent into the air, blotting out what little light was able to pass through the haze of shadow that'd filled the skies above Kuresh. The Balrog and the avatar of the God-Emperor had dissolved into incorporeal hazes, no longer wrestling. Instead, the both of them engaged in a contest of pure power, the might of their beings clashing against each other, transcending physical combat. Blasts of spirit-fire and golden lightning bolts arced and raced across the open air, vaporizing entire landmasses and leaving burning craters wherever they landed. The Balrog appeared as a mass of swirling black shadows and roaring flames. The God-Emperor, I realized, appeared as a shining, vaguely humanoid figure of golden lights and starlight flames.

And I felt it, the enormity of their duel, their powers that extended far beyond the material world. I heard the screams of daemons and spirits, creatures of the Ruinous Powers, reduced to cinders as they retreated from Praxtor with their tails between their legs – cowardly beings the lot of them. That one Daemon I fought, for instance, had been too cowardly to accept its end the first time and, instead, ran from the battle.

Whatever the case, I didn't think I could aid the God-Emperor in the mode of battle they'd engaged in, though my understanding of the System told me that I would eventually be capable of such a thing. Eventually being the keyword as I figured it'd take me a very long time to actually attain that level of power, even with a very lucky Gacha streak.

It took me half an hour of running to get within a hundred feet of the site of their battle, a burning land of ashen crags and molten lakes of melted rock and stone, right at the center of a massive smoking crater, several kilometers in diameter. Luckily, transcending the material realm meant neither the God Emperor nor the Balrog had moved from their original places. I donned a full suit of Power Armor and further enhanced my skin with a network of ceramite and calcium. It would, hopefully, suffice.

The ceramite plates hissed and sizzled as I stepped into the crater, scalding-hot winds blowing over me, the temperature gauge of the HUD emitting steady beeps and blinks as the air grew hotter with every step I took. Fire, I reminded myself, was one of the few ways to reliably kill me. Of course, there were plenty of things I could do to save myself, but the point stood; fire was a threat. I made my way forward, lumbering across a plain of fire and ash and shadow, the very ground at my feet boiling and hissing and sizzling with liquid fire. I glanced to the side, briefly, and watched as a boulder slowly melted away into glowing slag, vast fields of sand bubbling away into liquid glass.

I was fine, I noted. I couldn't feel the heat just yet; rather, I felt it, but it wasn't at a level that could hurt me. Though, the helmet's HUD indicated that if the temperature went any higher, the Power Armor would start taking damage. Still, I kept moving forward.

The air shimmered like water as I drew closer. Bolts of golden lightning and waves of fiery shadows blasting apart the landscape around me. The heavens roared, a pillar of sunlight and cackling, thunderous streaks of gold and fire cascading around it, a backlash of their battle within the physical world, I figured, a brief manifestation of their auras, leaking out. To be in that pillar was to be annihilated both physically and spiritually. The winds lashed out and stopped me in my tracks, powerful enough that even my Astartes form couldn't simply push forward. I fell to a knee as a wave of fire and light washed over the landscape.

The Balrog's incorporeal form was only twenty or so meters away. The rushing winds kept me from moving. I couldn't make use of the [Mask of Death] anymore as the Balrog was no longer a physical entity that I could simply cut down. The air, however, was absolutely brimming with unbridled [Warp Energy]. And I was already here anyway, which meant I could start absorbing. My only problem now was that my reserves were full, [10,000/10,000] units of [Warp Energy]. And I still didn't know how to upgrade the limit for it.

Wait...

Could I just... ask?

Hey, System, how do I upgrade my reserve limit?

Reserves can be upgraded by spending the maximum amount of units. You can initiate an upgrade by simply willing it so. Doing so will reduce your reserves to zero, however.

It was that simple?

Without another thought, I upgraded my [Warp Energy] reserves. I watched as my total amount of [Warp Energy] went to zero, but the total reserves I could no store increased to 15,000 units. I grinned. By the God-Emperor, I could work with this. And so, I reached out all around me and began devouring everything.

AN: (Pat)reon is now up to Chapter 28.