Warhammer: I don't want to become a stinky can!

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Macado gave a mocking laugh.

"Are you outdated, my old friend?"

“I remember now,” Macado said. “I think… you didn’t experience a past where you passively felt these things.”

“Or…” Makado said slowly, “you don’t understand his current hunger and brutality.”

“At least in this respect,” Makado said, his expression unchanged, “the warp beings should unite; we are still on the same path in this regard.”

"I don't understand."

The emperor said, but the next moment—

He saw darkness.

The surging, rolling, leaping... the black tide.

……

He understood Macado.

...Perhaps he has devoted too much faith to Hades over the past ten thousand years.

No, this is a problem with the subspace, not his.

------------

silence……

Silence fell, broken only by the whistling wind and the hum of the engines idling. Hades casually squeezed out of the hatch, completely unconcerned about his appearance—because no one would be recording it.

At least here, everyone is sleeping soundly and peacefully.

It's dark in the Himalayas.

Don't worry, the Black Domain is under good control—none of them died, they just might vomit slightly when they wake up.

He offered a slight apology to those who had come to welcome him, as well as to the sons of Hades who had brought him there. Hades walked up to the still-standing Imperial Guard, the black domain sweeping over them and forming a hollow. Hades waved his hand.

"I'm sorry, are you alright?"

The Imperial Guards were taken aback, then slowly nodded.

“Let’s sweep the ground and plow the soil first,” Hades smiled apologetically. “I’ve avoided the locations of the Star Torch and the Lord of Man. Is that alright?”

The Imperial Guards nodded slowly.

"Then take me inside now? To see the Lord of Humanity?"

Hades asked tentatively, watching as the Imperial Guards stepped aside to make way for him.

In the distance, Samuel peered through the observation hole, looking at the fallen psionic troops and the paralyzed Hades army, and shook his head with a tsk-tsk.

“It seems that the real Hades has arrived,” the archbishop muttered to himself. “I’d better prepare my will.”

--------

"..."

Makado took a sip of tea, raised an eyebrow, and looked at the somewhat pale-faced Lord of Humanity.

"Looks like you've changed your mind?" Makado asked casually. "What, you're not welcoming him anymore?"

Yay, it's gone!

Terra has no sea, but the Himalayas have thick snow cover, which is mentioned more than once in the original book. Don't ask me why, I don't know either.

Chapter 609 Mutual Disgust

Makado took a sip of tea, then lowered his eyes, staring at the fading reflection in the teacup.

To be honest, he didn't like this image.

But there are always people who like to reminisce.

He looked up at the Human Lord, whose expression remained unchanged.

It's just a facade of calm.

Perhaps ordinary people cannot discern the emotions beneath Neos' mask, but Macardo can; he sees the undercurrents beneath the calm surface of the sea—

There is no subspace that can be calmly confronted; there is none.

Especially after it awakens again, the former ants have long since grown into giants driven by their appetite. Perhaps they could previously use the radiance they emit to mask their dislike...

but now……

Makado fell silent. He felt the body he controlled tense up, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the teacup. He heard footsteps approaching from afar…

Darkness entered cheerfully and easily.

Macardo recalled an afternoon tea 48646 years ago, when he was still young. He had been invited to a gathering of immortals, a small subculture, and witnessed people scrambling for rotting, mystical food. The restaurant was surrounded by the corpses of his own kind, and under the influence of psychic energy, his senses were amplified—he once thought it was the most disgusting thing he had ever experienced. Afterward, he wouldn't even feel pain at the half-dead, fermenting human bodies in the trenches, nor could he stand unmoved by the strange liquid food of the subculture, or a handful of viscous liquid in the stagnant, decaying world—but in reality—

—This is not even a fraction of the pain Hades inflicted upon him.

He felt nauseous.

He shouldn't have drunk so much tea.

Makado painfully realized that even in this body, the pain brought to him by the Black Tide was extrasensory, transcending all experience, a loathing based on but higher than the laws of the subspace.

For a moment, this aversion overwhelmed reason, and the emperor couldn't help but question whether His plan truly required such an existence—perhaps He should have entrusted this cushy task to the Lord of Change, rather than taking the stage himself.

Amidst the tide of negative emotions, he heard the footsteps stop. Instructed by the emotions of the Lord of Humanity, the Imperial Guard decisively stopped Hades.

This pain was not something he was suffering alone.

For a nanosecond, Macardo's gaze met the Emperor's, and Macardo was certain that the Emperor, too, was caught in a vortex of doubt and pain.

But reason will always prevail over reality.

The Imperial Guards withdrew, and that being began its ascent.

In his dizzying state, Macardo heard nonsensical words like, "Nyos, Macardo! Can I use the Dark Domain to scout ahead first?"

There were also some meaningless sentiments and words of condolence, but these simple notes all melted into the slowly rising black tide.

They tacitly agreed not to answer, tacitly acknowledging Hades' request.

Makado only reduced his power to a fraction of what he had used to control the body, and he felt the muscles beneath his robes begin to twitch involuntarily.

He watched helplessly as the tentacles emerged from the darkness, reaching out to them clumsily and unknowingly, yet with surprising speed.

In the instant the darkness crept in, Macado inappropriately thought of a lame joke—

This may be the closest the ruler of mankind has ever come to standing up.

Then...then...the darkness surged...

………………

Perhaps he shouldn't be so obsessed with success.

………………

"Nyos? And Makado?! Long time no see!"

Hades smiled as he looked at his two seemingly healthy old friends. He saw a tired middle-aged man sitting on the golden throne, but the good news was that Neos was not a skeleton.

It has a nose and eyes, blood and flesh, and skin.

Then there was Macado, sitting calmly drinking tea next to Neos. Hades saw a red-haired figure hidden under a hood and immediately recognized him—it was one of the few members of the Ministry of the Interior who wasn't on Buz's wanted list.

But Hades was certain that this was Macado.

because……

He was enveloped in a powerful psychic aura, which might be some kind of psychic possession. Hades didn't know, as he didn't understand psychic energy.

Hades slowly withdrew the probing dark aura, finally remembering where this familiar feeling had once come from... Makado...

Ten thousand years later, Makado's psionic energy was noisy, but also much stronger.

But why do those ships possess Makado's psychic powers?

Hades temporarily suppressed his doubts, focusing most of his willpower on self-control.

Don't swallow it all.

The brilliance of the emperor and the golden throne was too dazzling. To Hades, it was like an apple dripping with gold, but it was too hot. While emitting an enticing fragrance, it was also burning Hades.

Compared to the Emperor, Macado's aura was much more familiar and gentle.

It also requires more... self-control.

Hades suppressed the Dark Domain, feeling dizzy as another part of his body awakened. The Star God was greedy for souls, while the Dark Domain craved more spiritual energy—the two created a strange chemical reaction within him, reminding Hades of the curses the Deceiver had once hurled at him.

The reunion of his three old friends reminded him of their conversation on the tracks of the Perfect City, but now... he was no longer the same.

Fortunately, the remaining two are still unharmed.

Hades took a deep breath, steadied himself, regained his composure, and looked at his two old friends.

The Lord of Mankind sat calmly on his throne, as still as a statue.

Macardo maintained his mysterious tea-drinking posture, and Hades noticed that his hand holding the cup trembled slightly.

Hades remembered that he had already greeted them once.

But neither of them paid him any attention.

...?

"Nios?"

Hades tentatively called out, and the Emperor slowly blinked, his seemingly unfocused pupils looking at Hades.

"Long time no see, my... friend."

Hades laughed. The Emperor was still awake and unharmed, and his psionic energy didn't seem like it would transform into that of a god-emperor, except that Neos looked somewhat pale—perhaps a side effect of sitting on the toilet for too long.

"Long time no see, and Makado too,"

Hades looked at Makado, unable to describe his feelings. He remembered Makado from ten thousand years ago, in the illusion... He had desperately realized that because of his own actions, Makado might never exist again.

But now Macardo is sitting right in front of him, drinking tea.

Hades looked at Makado with suspicion as the old man coughed violently, gasping for breath.

Hades turned around, squatted down to pat the old man on the back, but Macado slapped his hand away.

Just as he turned around, Hades missed the fleeting look of relief and regret in the Emperor's eyes.

"No need... cough cough cough! Long time no see... Hardy..."

"Long time no see, Macado! I thought we'd never see each other again—"

"Stop!!!" Makado abruptly stopped coughing. "Change the title. Don't call me by that name anymore. Any code name will do. Just stop calling me that!"

"You don't seem as at ease as you think."

The Lord of Mankind's eerie voice came from behind Hades, addressing Macado.

Makado laughed. "Then you can tell us your real name, Great Emperor, I think—"

He hesitated, then Makado looked at Hades, who immediately spoke.

"A dead soul, a dead soul will do."

"I think the spirits of the dead would be happy to call you by your real name."

"There's no need for such trouble. I've already exchanged a name with him based on my past identity."

The emperor said, after a moment of silence, "Wandering soul, please take a seat."

Hades stood up silently, turned around, and found that on the empty platform before the Golden Throne, apart from the psionic chair where Makado sat and the golden toilet of the Lord of Man, there was no other place to sit.

"..."

Hades stretched out his hand, but the Emperor maintained his composed expression—as he always had.

"Please."

The emperor repeated it again.

Hades might have thought anyone else was there to cause trouble, but this was the Lord of Humanity.