"And we can no longer ignore the anomaly. I warned all of you."
"Oh, but I thought you wanted to reach it first? You wanted to twist it to your own designs."
"Oh, you know always knew that was what he wanted, it is what we all wanted – I can sense an infinite potential for my own domain if I could just get my hands on it. Such a delightful tease…"
"Yes, I betrayed our agreement, such a shock. But now we must move, lest we be once again relegated to the periphery."
"And what has been stopping you?"
"Let me guess, those false children of the Anathema? Your servants have been rather uncreative in their attempts to bridge the gap."
"The Anathema is doing exactly what I expected, just as planned, as it were. But I can no longer tolerate any procrastination or delays-"
"Then why are you talking? My force is already riding the tides created by the anomaly, they shall test its mettle and we will learn of the anomaly in the way that only warriors can."
"…sometimes, I forget how intelligent you are."
"It's kind of hot, not gonna lie."
"God of strategy, bitches."
-
Naruhito POV
I reappeared at the peak of the mountain with another crack of displaced air, the nanites in my body arresting my nauseous response to the abrupt change. The abrupt change to my position and my surroundings was not something humans were really meant to experience. but thanks to my alterations I easily powered through it and got to work.
I engaged the Transmutation sphere, creating a depression in the peak and flattening the base of the depression into a perfectly flat circle. Then I gave orders for the nanites in my body to create Shadow Clones of themselves within my body before forming into the necessary fuinjutsu seals and transmutation circles.
These would essentially act as stencils that the sphere can use to project a pattern into the flattened stone. There were about 100,000 kanji and 4,000 different transmutation circles total, all that I needed for my 'Naruhito Reality Seal' to work as intended.
WHAM…
It took a few seconds to carve the intricate seal with my projected earth shaping, turning the once smooth stone surface dark with the slight scratches and deformations. Then with another flex of my will I transmuted the stone into Thaumium, rendering it safe from the elements, and allowing the fuinjutsu to bond more readily to the substrate. I had to use some of my new chakra to power the metaphysical parts of the transmutation, but that was a small price to pay now that I had the power for it.
Actually, I had power to spare since I wasn't using my soul for everything. Come to think of it, just what did I count as? I wasn't a warp entity, since I still primarily existed within the material world, but I was channelling Warpstuff much more efficiently and safely than any psyker (save perhaps the Emperor), and I was using it in a way that I suspected was completely unique to me.
In the simplest possible terms, I was mixing the story of my existence (my soul) with the fact of my existence (my body), and generating something greater than either. I suppose that would characterise me as something like… a half Warp Entity, half C'tan thing. Even if I was infinitely fleshier than either of those things…
The moment I had the thought I made sure to order my nanites to destroy any dead cells that I might leave around, you never know when a Tyranid might eat a few skin cells and suddenly have access to your entire genome.
With a final flex of my will, I activated the NRS and held my breath as I felt reality harden and the boundary between the material and immaterial grow stronger. Unfortunately, that wasn't as big a win as I was hoping, as the total power of the incoming Warp Storm didn't actually go down in any way.
I was afraid of that, I had to make sure the whole planet was covered with no gaps in the coverage of my seals if I wanted to prevent any part of the storm from manifesting into reality. Otherwise, I would effectively be concentrating the power of the storm into the areas without coverage, effectively making it a more powerful Warp Storm, which given the nature of the Warp, would self-reinforcing and spread over the planet with even more force than if I had just done nothing to prevent it.
The solution was clearly to just make sure that I covered everything with no gaps. All I had to do was put down… given the radius of the effect and the size of Kor'ili, 127 more of these seals across Kor'ili. Some of them will need to be on the seafloor too, that'll be annoying to pull off, but I'll manage.
I spun up my point-to-point teleportation technique and moved on to the next point.
-
It was around the point of the 70th NRS that I started running into trouble. Not from the Tau, even the handful of times I had to enter a city to put down a Seal were nothing too notable, save for the sheer improbability of needing to put one in a city given how little of the planet's surface they covered.
No, the problem I was starting to encounter was actual resistance to the NRS's themselves. The magnitude of the Warp's encroaching presence was such that I was pumping more and more chakra into the seals just to get them started, and I was starting to wander if their power source would hold up.
I'd needed to come up with a creative solution to the problem of a chakra deficit in the atmosphere since I wasn't going to be the one powering them, which lead me to using the transmutation seals as a way to extract power from Kor'ili's churning core. In the long term I was probably going to use my World Singing to create plants like the God Tree to generate chakra and pump the planet full of the stuff.
I had no idea what that would do to this planet in the long run, but I do hope that creating an entire 'half-psyker' ecosystem won't have too many negative consequences. I'll permeate the planet with my nanites as well, just to be sure that I can maintain control. If things went off the rails, I could just reduce the surface of Kor'ili to sludge.
But that was a problem for future me, current me was dealing with the very real issue of trying to fight back a hurricane of psychic energies. I could feel myself weakening every time I was pumping these seals full of their initial burst of chakra, and while I might have a soul comparable to the Emperor's (at least in his youth) to provide me with Warp energies, my body wasn't holding up quite as well.
The only reason I was holding on at all was thanks to my Lorkhan blood and hyper optimised biology.
WHAM…
-*-
German Engineering
Everything you build seems just a bit more. More durable, more efficient, more precise. Call it a 10-20% difference across the board?
-*-
The greatest engineering in ZA WORLDO! Ah-hem, okay, that's a good perk to get at a time like this, I could probably pump out a few more seals without any problems. 10-20% in all three of those fields was quite the jump in effectiveness, since many of them compound.
I grinned, baring my teeth as I set down yet another seal, pumping it full with my chakra before moving on to the next point.
I was only slightly annoyed that I would need to hold my breath for this one, given that I was putting it down at the bottom of Kor'ili's single major ocean. There was this one crab-like creature that was particularly irritating. It kept trying to remove my seal, like a magpie attempting to steal a shiny object. It would have been funny to watch it try and fail to remove the plate that I'd fused with the ground, except for the fact that it was starting to lift the entire rock formation I'd set it on.
Oh, did I fail to mention this thing was about the size of a 16-wheeler? Perhaps I should have led with that detail.
Naturally, this meant the whole set up was no longer in the precise place I needed it to be. Needless to say, I grew annoyed, so I transmuted the water surrounding the creature into an air cavity, which collapsed with enough force to crush it instantly, the puny exoskeleton providing no defence against such an attack.
That was remarkably easy… did I even need the Kamiketsu any more? Probably not, now that I think about it. I'll give Hito some training and he can pilot it.
After forcing the stone back into place and ensuring the seal would still work as needed, I moved on, careful to ration my power as the storm drew in.
—
"Of course the last seal would be here." I muttered to myself as I once again found myself in Elan'Fio. I wasn't really paying attention to the exact positioning I had planned out for where I would need to put down the seals, I had just been designing and plotting them out based on Kor'ili's size, mass and rotation speed. And now because I wasn't really paying attention, I found that my path had lead me all the way back to my old home.
The incoming storm was now so strong I could see parts of it manifesting with the naked eye, the sky was turning a strange purplish-red colour and I could feel power crackle through the air. The Tau were mostly oblivious but the humans were clearly in a panic about it. They might not be psykers, but they were sensitive enough to feel what was coming.
I forced myself to ignore it while specifically avoiding my old apartment block, instead finding my way into the city's sewers and plumbing and quickly locating the perfect spot for the last seal.
It was out of the way, and geologically stable – thank you Earth Caste planners – with this last-
*THUD! CRUNCH!*
One moment I was preparing to activate the seal, and then the next my face was getting sucker-punched by an enormous red fist. It was about the size of my head, and I could make out the callouses and battle-scars that characterised it in the split second it was in my field of vision before I found myself ploughing through the concrete foundations of the city due to the sheer force of the punch.
I felt my bones grinding – both from the initial impact and the secondary forces of my brief journey through the bones of the earth. That was more than a little concerning since my bones weren't made of well… bone. It was an alloy of Thaumium and Auramite, and conventional attacks like punches shouldn't do nearly this much damage!
No, now wasn't the time to rage at my unbreakable bones slowly breaking, I had to assess the threat! Where the fuck did that fist even come from? I frame jacked my mind and focused in on the offending appendage, hoping to get some idea. The fist, and the arm it was attached to was coming from… nowhere. It was suspended in mid-air, no- there was a crack in the air that it sprung from and it was only thanks to my augmented soul that I wasn't driven insane by that brief glimpse into the Warp.
The fist opened, and pulled back, gripping the edge of the crack. In less than a second, the hole widened slightly, and then the hand was accompanied by another, and together the two huge crimson hands ripped the veil apart, and revealed the form they were attached to.
They were 15 feet tall, with crimson skin and cloven hooved feet. On their back there were a pair of enormous, blackened wings with red muscles attaching it to the enormous shoulders it was sporting. Its head was crowned by two sets of horns, one pair pointing straight forward and up in the classic anime-oni style, while the second pair curled around the sides of its remarkably human head.
At first glance I thought it was a classic Bloodthirster, except there were a few oddities. It was missing the iconic axe and whip, instead wielding an enormous Hellblade; longer than I was tall. Where I expected the typical hellforged plate that famously granted a 3+ armour save in the game, instead I saw it wearing a set of bikini armour, accompanied by a simple pair of armoured leg guards. The metal plates of the bra-section were held together by brass chains that looked like they could barely contain the tits that fought against them, each one larger than my head. Finishing the look were the chiselled abs that many a simp would like to lick.
The idea that some of Khorne's Bloodthirsters might be statuesque, amazonian goddesses doesn't surprise me nearly as much as it should.
Or maybe it's a Keeper of Secrets with a rebellious streek?
WHAM…
I didn't have much time to contemplate exactly what I was being attacked by before I lost sight of her in the falling debris that surrounded me after I hit the foundations of the city. I had been hit with so much momentum that I didn't even stop when I breached the surface in the middle of a street, drawing cries of alarm from the passers by.
I sailed through the air in an arc before hitting the ground about 50 feet from where I left it. I ignored the pain, literally shutting it off as I had my nanites repair my flesh wounds in record time. I took that moment to right myself and get back on my feet, and it was in that moment that my opponent smashed her own way out of the ground, rising to her full height and spreading her wings.
She slammed her sword down into the ground and flexed her shoulders, her eyes not leaving mine for an instant.
Not that I cared, I was at full speed now and I was anticipating the moment when a hoard of lesser Daemons accompanied this Greater one, erupting from the ground in a tidal wave of blood and violence.
The Tau were already running in terror, those not gripped by fear at the Bloodthirster's mere presence anyway. I ignored them, they were less than irrelevant right now.
"Are you just going to stand there, little demi-god? That had better not have knocked the fight out of you. It's been a long time since I battled a demigod after all."
Now that was unexpected. It-she was actually talking to me, rather than just bellowing in rage. Her voice was strong and deep, and that's before taking her size into account.
"No, I'm just waiting for your deamonic horde to erupt from the earth behind you."
She smirked, and then laughed. It was a surprisingly girly laugh, even if it was only brief. What the fuck is happening right now?
"Oh, they can't come through. Whatever you have been doing, little demi-god, it has prevented my lesser kin from breaching the veil. Even I have been weakened by it."
Huh, that's… odd. Usually, it would be the lesser daemons that could manifest since it required less power for them to appear, but apparently my NRS's are having the inverse effect? Instead only the most powerful daemons can manifest, since they can assert themselves into existence more potently than the lesser ones. Also, that punch was in her weakened state? I went through like 50 feet of reinforced concrete!
"You're rather well spoken for a Bloodthirster. You are a Bloodthirster right?" I had to gather as much information as possible, and if this Daemon was feeling talkative then why not get as much as I can out of her?
"Senior Brother Skarbrand has given us a poor reputation. And yes, I am one of the 8^8 Bloodthirsters."
Some quick maths told me that was 16777216 Bloodthirsters. "Skarbrand is your older brother?"
"We are all the children of Bloodfather." She stated simply with a shrug. "Now enough talk, we are to do battle, so that I might test the mettle of the Anomaly."
Crap, that was it for stalling then, no wait! "Before we start, might I have your name? I would know who I am fighting, so that I might speak of this battle in the aeons to come." Khorne was basically supposed to be an evil version of Odin, at least in fantasy Lore, and the eternal battle of Valhalla was meant to be a place where legends were made. I wonder how much of that transferred over to 40k. I affected a look of wonder as I followed up my question with another, "Do I have the honour of battling Valkia?"
Mentioning that name gave seemed to give the Bloodthirster pause, she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes in an attempt to study me. "I am not the Bloody Valkyrie, though I have had the honour of meeting her on the Blood-soaked Fields. No, I was once a human Goddess of the War domain before Bloodfather absorbed me. I will not give you my true name, but you may refer to me by the name I went by back then. You may call me Ishtar."
Holy shit, she was Ishtar! No wonder she looks so hot! I was silently thankful that Khorne was the Chaos god to snap her up, as Slaanesh would have just turned her into some kind of turbo-slut Keep of Secrets.
"It is an honour to meet you in the field of battle, Ishtar." I bowed slightly as I said those words, my mind and body full of seals and transmutation circles, ready for the battle that was about to start. "You may call me…" many possible options flooded my mind. I wouldn't be giving my own real name, no need to make it too easy for the Daemons to find me in the future.
Kamiketsu? No, that was the name of a weapon, not a person. Lorkhan? It would fit, since I am him in a certain sense. But… I wasn't him, I simply bore his power and legacy within me. Well, that leaves one of my monikers, and it was one that already had the beginnings of a legend to it. "Sakuna, he with a second chance at destiny."
She gave a respectful bow of her own, "And now I know your name, Sakuna. Let's see if you can defend it."
In the blink of an eye she was closing the distance between us, not even bothering to retrieve her blade from where she had thrust it into the ground.
Holy shit she was fast! Even when I was frame jacked up as far as possible, she was still moving almost too fast for me to see. How the fuck- no time for that!
I dodged the first of her punches, a probing attack to gauge my response. Not that there was much I could do other than dodge it. She was able to hurt me even now that my body was enhanced beyond all reason, there was no way I was going to try to weather one of her hammer blows.
WHAM…
Just how was I… she was pulling back. "No, this just won't do…" she muttered, and then she started shrinking. I saw her physical body compress, but none of her metaphysical mass was lost. Instead, she densified, all of that power compacted down into a smaller frame, about the same height as me, though still just as daemonic. "Now I can test your true mettle."
Once again she charged at me, every bit as fast as she was before. No wait, she was even faster! There was no way I would outrun her, and given the way she casually breached the barrier between the Warp and the Real world, I suspect that she could follow any attempt to teleport away. Even if my teleports had precisely nothing to do with the Warp save for the fact that they were powered by my chakra.
There was no getting around this, so instead… I launched a counter charge of my own. She might be the reincarnation of a war goddess, with thousands, possibly millions of years of experience, but I was frame jacked, I can go through almost a month's worth of thought every real world second. I'd catch up in time.
Our steps seemed to synch up, my left foot hitting the ground just as her right did. All the sounds of the city around us ceased, and all we could perceive was the battle to come, and the foe in front of us.
'Round One… FIGHT!' I couldn't help but cry out in my own mind as we collided.
-
And there's chapter 18. It's a bit shorter than normal, but the battle was looking like it would take up a lot more writing time than I thought it would. So I'll give you this cliff to hang on, and a full battle in the next chapter.
And for those who want a little sneak preview:
I'll update the perk list tomorrow, and thanks for reading, I'll see you soon.