"INCOMING!" The scream had barely left the sentry's lips before something slammed into the command tent at supersonic speed, sending a wave of snow and debris in the air as all around the camp guardsmen grabbed their weapons and shouted at each other, confusion and fear gripping the regiment.

Less than a blink of an eye later one of the heavy weapons team found itself wiped out by an explosion, a winged creature flying above at speeds comparable to a valkyrie, cackling all the way.

"THE COLONEL IS DEAD!" Came a scream from another guardsmen as laserbolts started filling the sky, desperately trying to hit the incredibly nimble target as it passed over for another strafing run, the human sized flier firing more rockets into the largest clumps of guardsmen.

The sudden attack might have sent greener troops running. The decapitation of their command along with the bombardment may have well collapsed morale in a newer regiment.

But this was the sixth regiment of the Horin fourth army, and they had been through countless horrors already. Quickly the sub-officers rallied their troops, organizing in loose formations to prevent the flier from taking out too many of them at a time; The surviving heavy weapons teams began saturating the air with autocannon shots and bolt shells. Grenades were sent flying into the impact crater that had once been their command post. The guard rallied.

They would not go down without a fight.

N winced as he barely managed to take to the air in time to avoid being blown apart by the dozen or so grenades thrown at him. He had hoped that killing what seemed to be the man in charge of the group would make them run away, perhaps even prevent the need for a fight in the first place… Would make it possible to capture them like he had captured that one human before.

But now he was struggling to keep up with the sheer number of weapons being trained on him at all times, prioritizing eliminating the more dangerous of the threats as he fired a series of bullets into the heads of the nearest heavily armed guardsmen, strafing to the right to avoid a large shell slamming into his wing.

Keeping track of a dozen enemies trying to hit him was one thing. Hundreds? Thousands, even?

Much harder, even for his advanced computing system.

He caught a glimpse of V, an identical yellow X on her face as she laughed, plunging into a group of humans and tearing them to shreds with her claws. But he could tell from her movements as she took back to the sky, as she dodged and weaved.

She was struggling, just like him.

The distraction nearly cost him, a shell blasting into his leg and tearing it to shreds. He stumbled mid-air from the impact, the lapse immediately seeing him peppered by lasbolts that seared his metallic skin and made pockmarks into it. Nothing dangerous, but enough of those would start seriously hurting him all too soon. He put some extra boost to his speed, momentarily blurring to sight as he slammed into a group of guardsmen with his wings wide open, flying barely a meter off the ground, tearing apart any he came across.

Then, suddenly, an explosion sent him flying back. As he recovered, his leg regenerating, he played the memory of what had just happened in a millisecond.

One of the guardsmen had realized he was in N's trajectory. And instead of dodging, he had… pulled out two grenades and waited. Letting himself blow up on the chance it might hurt N.

A cold shiver went through him. What kind of maniac did that?

"XENOS SCUM!" Came a roar near him as a heavy weapons team fired near point plank into him.

No. No time for distraction. He heard a cry further away as he grabbed the autocannon and tore it to pieces before giving the same fate to its crew. V?!

He turned, finding V slamming down into the snow. One of her wings had been torn off, the hundred or so guardsmen around her firing mercilessly into their fallen foe, even as it got back up and started massacring them in melee. The damage on her was accumulating. Her visor was glitching.

They'd only killed half of the humans so far.

The sight of V so damaged made his sight go red. N was there in an instant, moving so fast the air around him boomed as he broke the sound barrier. This was enough to momentarily stun the humans, giving both he and V the opportunity to slaughter them to the last. N pulled out his laser cannon, slicing three dozen more in a single swing of it. And yet they did not stop, they continued firing, a massive shell slamming into his chest and exploding instantly, sending him reeling back. His regeneration was already kicking in, but even now the humans sought to exploit the pause in their massacre.

"N!" V cried out, reaching out to him only for her to be sent blown backwards by a missile hitting near point blank.

A roar filled the air as a gunship flew above, N's damaged visor marking it as yet another enemy. It turned towards them, guns armed…

Only to be snipped out of the sky by a brilliant beam of green.

"NECRONS?!" One of the guardsmen cried out in fear as he watched the valkyrie gunship be sheared in half, crashing down in a plummet of fire and smoke.

N and V were back up, regeneration complete, yet somewhat shaken by their struggle. But now that the gunship was gone, there were only a thousand or so humans left. Despite the difficulty they had encountered in fighting these surprisingly resilient humans, they now had the advantage…

Only for four more gunships to enter the atmosphere, descending onto them with screaming engines.

N turned to V, a pit in his stomach. "V, V we need to move, we need to regroup and…"

V nodded. "I know! Let's…" Before she could continue a dozen missiles were sent towards them, N frozen in shock for a moment.

They were still near many humans. Their own people… they'd blown up their own people for a shot at them?!

"N MOVE!" V screamed, slamming into him with her wings deployed, not quite managing to get them both out of the way of the missiles' impact as they exploded, burning away screaming guardsmen and tearing into the disassembly drones' bodies.

Warnings flashed across N's visor as he stumbled back up, desperately looking for V. His right arm was gone. Half his face had been broken off. His body was a mess of burnt metal and destroyed wiring. He was covered in blood and gore. Somehow, this felt familiar.

He found her, lying on the ground next to him, in an even worse state. She was still conscious, her unblinking visor stuck onto him. She was regenerating, but it was slow.

She'd shielded him, he realized.

Because he'd frozen. Because he'd messed up.

He saw silhouettes in the smoke approaching, and felt a snarl come to his face. Even now?! Even after their own had blown them up, they were still approaching?!

He stepped before V's body, his wings opening threateningly as a snarl left his mouth. He pointed his remaining arm at the silhouettes, firing rockets into the smoke, watching as his visor informed him of multiple heat signature deaths. Even then more continued approaching, firing onto him and V's body even as he desperately tried to shield her with his wings.

V rose behind him, watching as N tanked every shot aimed at her with his own body as she had for him. Then, her regeneration done, she lunged forward, tapping him on the shoulder as she did before jumping into the smoke, slaughtering the remaining humans. N followed soon after, though his core beat with worry.

The gunships would return, and he was running low on materials and oil. V would likely be in a similar state. He could go as fast as the gunships had been, but…

The roar of engines sent a jolt of fear through him, his visor tilting upwards seeing the four gunships rushing towards the now massacred encampment. He opened his wings, ready to take to the sky.

Then, a laser cut through one of the gunships as a disassembly drone came crashing down onto another's cockpit, the two jets being sent crashing down into the snow below. N did not question his good luck even as a sinking feeling filled him. Distantly, his sensors noted that Uzi had apparently arrived at the edge of the camp, running towards him with a stricken look on her face. He'd have to thank her, that shot with her railgun against the valkyrie had really pulled through…

He fired on the third plane with his laser cannon, tearing into it like paper as it screamed through the air, on fire, slamming into a distant building as the fourth was annihilated by a bombardment of rockets from the newly arrived disassembly drone.

"N!" Uzi said with a cry as she landed near him, the disassembly drone turning to her with a soft smile as the X on his face was replaced with gentle yellow eyes. "Oh thank robo-god, I… I know you said not to come, but you seemed to be struggling down there, and…"

N shook his head. "No, no, it's… we didn't expect it to be this rough." He glanced at V, finding her giving Uzi an annoyed glare before nodding at him. No humans were left. "Nice shot with that railgun."

Uzi relaxed at his words, a cocky grin on her face. "Hehe. I know right?" She glared behind him as the third disassembly drone approached, landing a half dozen meter behind N. "...Oh I am getting really tired of killing you." She growled, stepping past N with her railgun aimed at the newly arrived J.

"Hmph. Is that any way to show your gratefulness to your savior? Effective drones were cloned more." J confidently said, crossing her arms with a smug expression on her face. "Hello N. Glad to see you're still useless…" She paused, glancing at the thousands of corpses behind them. "Mostly. I'd have loved to see you put that kind of energy into killing those workers back before you stabbed me in the back." She added the last few words with no small amount of venom.

"J." N said, his voice trembling despite himself. "What… what are you doing here?" He asked. "Did the company…"

"No." J sharply said. "No, this isn't the company."

N's sensors registered V's approach as she took his side, glaring at J unreservedly. He felt himself relax a tad. It was comforting having both of his friends at his side when confronted with… her. "J. I'm surprised you bothered helping us." V said suspiciously.

J looked like she was about to say something snarky, before suddenly freezing up, her expression tense. "...Right." She eventually muttered. "Sorry boss." She shook her head, her expression carefully blank. "Let's be direct. The situation has changed since our last encounter. I am calling for a temporary truce between us until the situation is resolved." She pointed to the corpses. "You think this is it? It's going to get worse. Much, much worse." She turned away "Follow me. Boss wants to see you."

"Boss?" V said, her eyes widening. "You mean…"

J did not answer, simply flying up into the sky.

N turned to V. "V? What is she talking about?"

V was trembling. "We can't… we mustn't…" She was muttering, eyes wide.

"Hey, V!" Uzi said, snapping her fingers in front of her. "Stay with us, you murderous bitch!" The words seemed to successfully snap V out of her trance, snarling at Uzi.

"What did you call me?"

"Good, you're back." Uzi said with a nod. "So… we follow her right?"

V shook her head. "No. Absolutely not."

"I dunno V, she did just help us…" N said, despite his personal feelings towards the matter. He really did not like the idea of being near J again… but maybe she was turning a new leaf? He didn't really believe that, but… "And I mean, we need whatever info we can get, right?"

V turned away, staring silently into the distance. "...Not like we could escape her if we wanted to." V eventually said in a surprisingly fragile tone.

"We killed her before." Uzi said confidently. "Twice. If she tries anything, we put her down a third time."

V stared at her with hollow eyes. "That isn't who I was referring to."

Victoria closed her eyes as the last of her men was killed by the horrors of the planet below. She gave herself a moment to mourn the death of the brave guardsmen that had formed her sixth regiment; One she had trusted explicitly. One of her best. One she had left on a hostile world, underprepared, under equipped, because of the words of a half mad inquisitor.

She let the self-loathing roll over her, and then cast it aside as her eyes opened. She could berate herself later.

"Five valkyries down and an entire regiment slaughtered by three of these things." She spoke into the silent command room. "This is much worse than we feared."

"Successful damage was inflicted on the abominations, yet regeneration prevented a killing blow. Recommend deployment of heavy ordinance once available." The tech-priest's grating voice filled the air. "Observation: Our foes are capable of changing weaponry at a moments notice and are able of supersonic flight. This makes them much more dangerous opponents than first estimated."

"I lost an entire regiment to get this data tech-priest. I am hoping that your subordinates are progressing well with our vehicles?"

"Estimate until available: a matter of days at most. Next landing will be accompanied by armored contingents."

"Good." Victoria nodded. "I am not sending anyone else down there until I can be sure they will be backed up by the Emperor's armor." She turned to the navy representative. "Any news on piercing the veil that has befallen the sector?"

The officer shook their head. "Negative Marshall. However, I do bring good tidings. Our astropaths, despite their understandable panic at losing sight of the Astronomicon, have indicated they have been seeing occasional flashes of its light. We believe these may be indicating reinforcements are on the way."

Victoria let out a sigh of relief. "We can only hope." She turned to the inquisitor. "And what of your acolytes?"

"Still alive. They were investigating the nearby city when the attack happened." The inquisitor spoke. He shook his head. "I will have them keep their head down; Out of sight, out of mind, until we can get more boots on the ground."

"Emperor guide us." Victoria concluded the meeting. She had a landing operation to plan.

Cyn hummed thoughtfully as she peered into the galaxy around her. For days now she'd had all of her senses, both normal and eldritch, turned to the wider universe in her quest for understanding. She had a pretty solid grasp of what sort of place they were in now.

What a mess this place was. And she'd thought humanity was bad where she came from.

There were individuals here amongst this "Inquisition" that had indirectly caused more death than she had in her destruction of mankind's worlds. Then again, there were a lot more humans here than her own dimension. She felt it was an unfair advantage.

She glared at the sight of the energies radiated by the gods of chaos to Copper 9. She'd managed to keep their influence from actually settling in, but the gods were clever and tricky. She was certain they were looking for alternatives… and yet she could not quite see them. They were good at hiding their tracks, now that they knew she was here.

Her attention was dragged to the world around the corporeal form she had assumed as J landed some distance from her. Even from here, Cyn could feel her nervousness. There really was no need for it; She had no intention of brutalizing any of her toys whilst they were in such a dangerous place.

She had left Tessa's body somewhere else. This was a time for reconciliation and cooperation; And such a sight would doubtlessly do little but render them hostile.

Some part of her was actually looking forward to seeing them again. V, whilst a nuisance, was amusing to mess with. And N…

She found herself hesitating to call this one a toy. Perhaps the only entity that she had ever felt a modicum of affection before… everything. She had such thoughts before, of course. There was a reason she had let his squad keep their personalities. But it was always an afterthought; A remnant of sentimentality that was always dragged into the depths of her being when the time came to Eat. Now however…

"Did you find them?" She asked J. She already knew of course. She could feel them approach fast. N, V and… She felt a twinge of annoyance. One of the hosts.

"Of course." J said with confidence that belayed her anxiety. "As expected of the synergistic liability, he managed to drag V down to his level and get them both almost killed. I intervened and saved them."

The annoyance came back stronger. She'd never much liked J's attitude towards the others… "Good." She did not elaborate, letting J shuffle nervously.

Cyn felt a smile spread on her robotic face as three figures appeared in the sky.

They landed close to each other, away from J and herself. The host looked a mixture of angry and cautious, clenching a weapon in her hands. Her wings retracted as she pointed the gun towards Cyn, making the small robotic maid almost laugh. V looked absolutely terrified, having frozen the moment her visor landed on Cyn. She supposed she must be bringing back poor memories, looking exactly like she had back in the mansion… the same worker drone body, the same blond hair, the same maid outfit… Identical in appearance to how she used to be.

N looked conflicted. As easy to read as ever, he seemed torn between running towards her with arms wide open and placing himself between her and the other two. How adorable. He really was just a big puppy.

Well, not quite. He did always find ways to surprise her after all.

"Hello, big brother N." She called out, keeping her voice that same robotic, monotone she'd always employed. She'd grown to enjoy how it put others off balance. "Did you miss me?"

"Haha…" N nervously chuckled. "I mean, I totally would have if you didn't, ya know, lobotomize me and wipe my memories…" He said with an awkward smile. The worst part was the complete lack of sarcasm in his voice. Strangely enough a twinge of guilt tugged at her, though easily pushed aside and ignored.

Uzi growled in genuine anger. "You… you're the weirdo creepy thing that's been messing with my buddy's head." Her eyes flickered to the symbol of the solver for the blink of an eye. "I've got a lot of questions for you, and if I don't like the answers I'm going to fire this straight through your head."

V let out a strangled whimper at that, eyes hollowed out as Cyn tilted her head. "Amused giggle. I would like to see you try, buddy." Cyn said. "Besides. We have greater concerns at hand."

"Bite me! You're the one who erased N's memories, you're the one who turned them into disassembly drones, you're the one with the same symbol as Doll and me! YOU ARE GOING TO ANSWER MY ROBOGOD-DAMN QUESTIONS!" Uzi cried out.

N placed a hand on her shoulder. "Uzi…" He said softly. "Not that I disagree with what you said, but they're right. We… we almost lost out there. We should at least hear them out. It's why we came, isn't it?" Uzi did not move for a moment, before visibly sagging with exhaustion and nodding.

"Whatever." Uzi grumbled, lowering the railgun.

"Amused fondness. Ever the peacekeeper, big brother." Cyn commented, amused.

N let out a nervous laugh. "Well… I mean, talking has helped a lot." His smile grew wider. "It's how I became friends with Uzi after all."

Uzi had a small blush on her visor, Cyn looking between the two. They were… close.

Too close.

That annoyed her.

"I see." Cyn said, turning her attention to V. "Hello V. Not a word for me?"

The former maid was trembling, something which did not escape N's notice as he gave Cyn a reproachful look. "...Why are you here?" She eventually managed to spit out, her voice filled with as much anger as it was fearful.

Cyn considered messing with her. A part of her, a twisted, sadistic one, demanded she do just that. She discarded it. "The initial reasons for my arrival are no longer relevant. You are aware we are not in our home dimension." Only N gave a visible reaction to that, giving her a thumbs up. "The situation is unfortunately more complicated than that."

"The hell do you mean?" Uzi demanded.

"You overgrown toaster…" J angrily said, taking a threatening step forward. "Stop trying to provoke her!"

"Condescending chuckle. It is alright J. There is nothing she can do to aggravate me."

Uzi's eyes narrowed. "Oh I wouldn't bet on that…"

"Uzi." V's voice cut through the conversation. "Please."

Uzi glanced at V, for the first time perhaps realizing just how freaked out V was by Cyn's presence. The sight of the normally confident, aggressive disassembly drone so subdued did what nothing else had.

It frightened her.

"Um, let's get back on topic everyone!" N called out, clapping his hands before shrinking on himself as the attention of all present turned to him. "That's, uh, what we came for right?"

J rolled her eyes. "Shut up, loser."

"He has a point." Cyn said, a touch of warning in her voice that made J shrink away. She saw Uzi glance between J and herself. More observing than she seemed… "I have some good and bad news. The good news is that this phenomenon is temporary. We will eventually be sent back to our home dimension, resolving the issue."

"And the bad news?" Uzi asked.

"Eye roll. You may have noticed the locals are quite hostile. It is far worse than it seems." Cyn's presence seemed to grow heavier in the air, the shadows darkening even as her eyes glowed ominously. "The galaxy is filled with horrors the likes of which are near foreign to our home world. Mankind here has spread to over a million worlds, a regime of bloody, casual cruelty in the name of a God Emperor back on Earth. Planets burn in his name, trillions of souls dying every day for a rotting empire." She observed them. There was concern, certainly… but she could tell they didn't understand. Not really. Not like she did. "What you fought earlier was but the vanguard of a far, far larger force that will be coming here. They will number in the millions, and eventually the billions if allowed to. They will bring engines of war the size of skyscrapers, and if given the chance they will bombard this world into oblivion."

Uzi groaned. "So what, we're doomed and are all going to die? Cuz if that's what you wanted us to come here for, it sucks."

Cyn felt a tick mark appear on her visor. "Rude. Did you not hear what I said? Our presence here is temporary. We merely need to survive long enough to be sent back. That is why I am reaching out to you." She glanced at V. "Sigh. I am offering a temporary alliance in the face of the greater threat."

Silence.

"No." V whispered. "No, it's too easy. You…" She giggled. "You want us to believe YOU want to… what, work together?!" She screamed. "You ripped us apart! Turned us into monsters! You…"

"Intimidating glare. You have already been doing as I say for some time V. Do you remember our deal?" She asked. "This is no different."

"Cyn, you've got to understand…" N said, rubbing the back of his head. "It's kind of hard to trust you given… well everything."

"And I still want answers about what the hell is happening to me!" Uzi exclaimed.

Cyn was annoyed. She had hoped they would see reason, but this was getting on her nerves. The temptation to brute force was there… it would be easy. So painfully easy. "Exaggerated eye roll. Fine, a gesture of good will. I will remove the need for oil as coolant." Cyn said as a shocked expression came to V and N.

"Wait, you can do that?!" Uzi said with a gasp.

"Point." Cyn gestured to J. "Of course. Already did with J. I made them, after all."

N took a step forward. "...If you could have removed it… why put it in the first place?" He looked surprisingly serious. Stricken, even.

Cyn hesitated, which was extremely unusual for her. The idea of telling N was not as appealing as it had once been for the sake of tormenting him. But lying was an equally terrible idea if she wanted to keep his cooperation in the long term. "It was deemed necessary to ensure you would fulfill your function. Annoyed huff. Not that it prevented you two from going against your directives."

Uzi gave her a smug look. "Heh. The power of my unmatched charisma."

"Rebel buddies!" N agreed, holding his hand up for a high five which was quickly returned.

"Angry." Cyn said. "I will remove the coolant necessities. Once that is done, we will work together to ensure mutual survival."

"Wow wow, we didn't agree to…" Uzi began, N cutting her off.

"Fine. But you start with me, and only after we're sure nothing went wrong do you do it to V."

"N!" V snarled at him. "You can't…"

"N, this is a stupid idea." Uzi said, glaring at Cyn.

"It'll be fine." N said with a grin. "Cyn is… well, I'm not sure exactly, but she's got a point. And…" He glanced at Uzi. "If it means I don't have to drink oil to survive, it's a risk I have to take."

"Wait." V spoke up, grabbing N and forcibly putting him behind her as she stared at Cyn. "You're powerful. Really powerful. Why the hell do you need us to do anything?"

Cyn considered what to say. "Grudging admission. There are entities in this galaxy whose nature is similar to mine. I will be very busy keeping them away from this planet and trying to prevent their interference. This will limit my ability to act."

V's eyes shrinked to pinpricks. "M…more?" She whimpered, almost curling on herself as N gave her a comforting hug.

"We do not have forever. Expectant stare. Big brother N. Come here."

N stopped almost as fast as he'd begun to move as Uzi walked up to Cyn. "He's not a damn dog! Don't talk to him like that."

"Annoyed. Fine. Please big brother N. Come here."

Uzi still looked incensed, but grudgingly let N pass her. She did grab his hand and flash him a reassuring smile. "If she tries anything, I'm going to blast her with my railgun."

A slight blush appeared on N's visor. "Thanks for having my back best buddy."

"Annoyed." Cyn said, a tick on her visor. N walked up to her, nervousness clear in his body language. A strange quirk of drones. Humans really had strange ideas when making them. "This will require you to be unconscious for some time."

"Cyn… we are going to need to talk." N said quietly to her. "About everything."

"Reluctant. I am aware." Cyn agreed. "But not now." With that, she reached out… "Extremely annoyed. You removed my admin privileges?" Cyn asked, a quiet fury building in her at the realization.

"Oh. Oops." Uzi smugly said, leaning on her railgun. "Stole your toys."

V looked like she wanted to strangle Uzi on the spot, but was too afraid of Cyn to move.

Cyn stared at Uzi for an uncomfortably long moment, her hand twitching.

"Um, Cyn?" N said, waving his hand in front of her visor. "Look, it's fine, you said it yourself right? Bigger problems and all."

Cyn reluctantly turned away. "You are correct, big brother. I will just have to do it manually then." With that she reached up to him. "This will hurt."

"Couldn't Uzi use her admin privileges to do what you wanted?"

"Annoyed glare. She could, but she has no understanding of my work. She could do more damage than needed. Perhaps if she gave me back admin privileges…"

"Nope!" Uzi said with a smile. "I'm not trusting with something like that!"

"Eye roll. Fine, I will tell you how to render him unconscious for a time. We should go to a more secure location for the operation."

N let out a nervous chuckle. "That's fine! I love doing anything!"

N was in field of wheat.

He knew it was wheat because of his database as he had never seen some before.

"Huh. I didn't think I'd be dreaming." He commented. "Oh well!" It was… strange. He had dreamed before, but this felt different. His mind felt off, hazy. Like he could think properly if he really focused, but it took a supreme effort for him to do so.

"This is no dream, N." The voice was deep, heavy. It made N whirl around, realizing he was back in his worker drone body as he found himself faced with a massive man.

They wore heavy red armor, a towering mountain of muscle and steel, radiating an aura of power that made N feel incredibly small.

"...My imagination is wild!" N exclaimed with a smile.

"Look around you. What do you see?" The thing asked.

N decided there was no harm in indulging his own mind. "I see a field of wheat. It looks really nice! Golden like honey…" His eyes widened as his sensors showed up something more.

THere were people in the fields. Children and adults, all human. Working and toiling in the tall grass, unseen until he looked more carefully.

"This is the world of Agraxus Secundus." The giant continued. "A peaceful feudal world, ruled by a kind and just king."

"This isn't a dream is it." N eventually said. "I've never seen anything like that, and my database does not have anything like this to pull from."

"Correct. Now look above."

N did as he was told, and felt his nonexistent stomach drop.

Dozens and dozens of silhouettes cutting the air, immense ships hovering above the atmosphere. His sensors told him these were massive; Colossal in size and beyond anything hed ever seen.

"What… what are those?"

The figure was silent for a moment, until suddenly lights began to drop from the ships.

"Mankind."

The first light shattered the earth as it impacted, the fields set ablaze as the ground quaked and cracked, suddenly moving like the waves of a wild sea. Near instantly all life around him was snuffed out; The humans of the planet killed in an instant. Horror gripped N as he watched as millions, billions of lives were killed in an instant.

"No…" N said softly. "But… but why?!"

"They refused to bend the knee."

N could not comprehend it. He could not understand it.

He knew his hands were not clean. He'd killed more than enough to accept he had done terrible things. But this…

"What do you mean?"

"You heard the words your friend spoke. That mankind will not tolerate that which it cannot dominate. That which it cannot understand. But you did not understand. This is my first gift to you N. This is what they call 'Exterminatus.'"

"Robo-god…" N whimpered. "Is this…"

"Real? Yes. In fact, it is happening right now."

"Why?! Why show me this?!" N cried out. "This is too cruel!"

"It is the way of this galaxy." The figure waved a hand, and suddenly they were somewhere else.

A battlefield stretching past the horizon. Billions of beings fighting, tearing, crushing each other in a never ending mob of violence. Humans on one side, and green, large creatures on the other.

Billowing smoke emerged from thundering war machines. The light and noise was overwhelming to even his powerful sensors; The smell of death and blood was omnipresent.

Millions died every minute.

It was a nightmare.

The scene changed.

Another battlefield. Human against human, on a world buried in bombardments and shells, a city sieged for many years. Masked individuals thrown by the hundreds of thousands to their deaths for a single meter of progress.

Another.

Another.
Another.

"Stop."

Another.

Another.

"Please!"

Another.

Another.
Another.

"PLEASE!"

And then, mercifully… it did.

N laid on the ground, hands digging into the dirt on a barren world in the ruins of an old city. The giant had not moved.

"Why… why do this to me?" N whimpered.

"To show you what you are up against. You have seen the depth of their hatred. Their violence. You have seen what they would do to you. To those you love."

N had no difficulty imagining those he cared for on those battlefields. Uzi. V. The numerous worker drones he'd started to get close to.

Buried under the hatred of the galaxy, drowned in violence and death, swallowed whole by the crushing warmachines.

His vision flickered red, rage filling him at the thought. It left as soon as it came, leaving him a tad surprised. He wasn't exactly quick to anger…

"They are coming for you. They will seek to destroy them. They will not stop. They will not rest." The giant paused. "I am a god of honor. I wish to give you a fighting chance. That is why I showed you this."

"I'm… I'm not strong enough." N admitted it easily. Pride had never been one of his faults. "None of us. This… this is beyond us."

"It is." The giant agreed. "And yet they will not care."

"What can we even do?"

"Prepare. Learn. Understand." The giant finally moved, and it was as if the weight of mountains was upon him as that burning gaze fell upon N. "If you desire, I may even lend you some of my power." N couldn't speak. He couldn't even move, paralyzed under the giant's stare. "You need not answer now. Know that when they come… you need only call my name and I will answer. I will give you power enough to fight. Power enough to protect them. To save them." In the distance, eight burning suns raged in the emptiness of space, casting a hellish red light to all that he could see. "You need only call for my name."

Finally, N could speak, and his lips moved on their own, as if puppeted by another. "...What is your name?"

Screams filled the air. The sound of clashing weapons, of thundering explosions, of never ending war. And then, it was all silenced in a single word.

"KHORNE."

And N awoke.