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

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Magnus smacked his lips, his gaze subtly drifting back to Mortarian's bottle.

He should probably just stay in the wolf's prison and wait to die. Nobody expects anything from him, and everyone is telling him to stop.

Even if he did nothing, the outcome would be the same for Magnus.

He became Tzeentch's puppet, spending millennia amidst the scorn of the masses.

However, Magnus realized that he couldn't... really do nothing.

Having faced the wisdom of emperors head-on, he knew what all of this meant.

The more lucid you are, the more desperate you feel.

It's really tough.

Magnus sighed.

You can't imagine how I felt then—it's indescribable. I felt as if I were back on the night Tizka was destroyed, standing in the chaotic night of Tizka, at the foot of the Great Library, trembling as I watched it burn.

And me...

Magnus stared at his palm.

[Realizing that there's not much more that can be done.]

He turned his hands over, as if discovering a new hobby, and looked at himself with his restored vision.

Magnus swallowed hard.

The future is predetermined, the past is predetermined, the prophecies I saw are true, and I am still being watched by them; all of this was even made to me by them.

These are truly difficult times.

Magnus spoke, but then his tone became light and high-pitched.

But you don't know—I deceived everyone! Everyone—including that self-proclaimed wise being!

He stood smugly, arms outstretched, loudly displaying his radiance, but few beings in this galaxy would notice him.

"At that very moment," Magnus said, "I was ready. It wasn't something I'd come up with on the spot—I saw its trajectory unfolding clearly, in those darkest days—I dissected everything, I chewed on everything—you have no idea how agonizing those days were!"

He himself was imprisoned, his legion was disbanded, and his children were imprisoned.

Finally, I did it!

Magnus spoke loudly, his voice torn apart by the darkness and vanished into the distance.

[I did it. I deceived God, at my own expense, with the last vestiges of goodwill in the warp. Nobody believed me—I knew that, of course, so I fooled them all!]

As Magnus spoke, he laughed, laughed maniacally.

No one believed in me—not even that chaotic being—and that was the foundation of my success.

Magnus laughed loudly and wildly, his arms outstretched. He laughed in the darkness, but his final tone turned into a sob.

I even sacrificed Fenris—

Magnus said brokenly, "In the end, I became the one who crushed hope—it was the only one who believed in me—it was so much like I used to be, I just... I just..."

Magnus cried out.

I betrayed it so easily, without the slightest hesitation—I didn't even hesitate for a moment on this matter!

He betrayed his former self.

Magnus let out a shattered scream.

[This is why there is no benevolence in the warp, I understand! I understand completely! I was wrong—you were right! I was wrong!]

He looked at Hades defiantly, but there was no reply, so the Crimson King deflated again.

But what's the use of that...?

Magnus said softly.

You never care about these things, right?

I figured it out a long time ago.

Magnus shouted, "Damn pragmatists!"

He lowered his head listlessly, feeling a bit bored. Then he saw the wine bottle, and Magnus picked it up without hesitation. He took a big gulp and then casually tossed the bottle away.

[Hiccup!] Magnus said, [Fine! I don't care anymore—my star will forever be tarnished, despised by billions, but I've done it, proven my worth to you damned pragmatists. Noble people can't survive in this filthy land; the noble must live wearing the mask of a clown—I've seen it all.]

Magnus took a deep breath of his own alcohol-scented scent.

I have already seen my fate. I, Magnus, the Crimson Sinner, will forever be a puppet of the gods, unable to escape for eternity.

He looked at Hades.

If you are truly Hades—then come and sever my destiny!

Magnus drank, his figure flickering like a dancing flame, and he vanished into the vast darkness, never to be seen again.

The darkness rustled softly.

The cold wind carried the final words.

【……Thanks.】

So the fire continued to burn.

That's it! Great!

Act Four: [Cardia Stands Tall!]

Act Four. Prologue [Cardia Stands Tall!]

Where gazes and destinies converge

Cause and effect flowed, and the gods fell silent.

Look ahead, look towards the place where the dark curtain falls, warriors, grip your swords tightly.

He is waiting for you.

Chapter 483 Uninvited Guest

【The Eye of Fear】

What exactly is that?

A hoarse whisper drifted down from the shadows, like a raven feather brushing against skin, rustling softly.

【monster,】

The Khan spoke calmly, sitting at the command table, his head propped up by his fingertips, his other hand casually resting on the map.

A series of mechanical, disgruntled clicking sounds emanated from the corner, like a silent protest. The Khan glanced at the mechanical sage, whose red robes were riddled with bullet holes, then calmly looked away.

Or perhaps the master of the Silent Order of the Empire.

A smile, neither clearly mocking nor bitter, appeared on the Khan's lips.

Or perhaps both—I think that's something an emperor can do.

From the shadows, a tall man with a pale face and a gloomy expression appeared. His long hair was draped over his shoulders, and his face bore a striking resemblance to Koz. His dark pupils were filled with sorrow and confusion.

He appeared and walked up to the Khan.

【Can……】

"It's like a sigh," Korak said.

What exactly happened here... what exactly happened to the Empire?

The two hastily arrived legions managed to stabilize themselves near Cardia after enduring countless shocks from the warp turbulence.

Only here is the psionic turbulence in the vacuum not so chaotic.

As for why—looking out of the fleet's observation porthole, even someone who knows nothing about Eternal Heaven would know the reason: all the psionic energy near this planet is concentrated in one area, right there—at a point in Cardia.

A violent psionic storm, visible to the naked eye, gathered there; simply looking at it was enough to make one dizzy.

The endless, churning clouds resembled a calamity-ridden land in legend, where an evil god was sealed away.

The Khan frowned, his stern face revealing neither joy nor anger.

The first person to see a wolf will never know how sharp its fangs are, brother. We are the first witnesses—or perhaps the first person to see a wolf is already dead.

Koraks gave a wry smile. "I really want to leave here. This place makes me uncomfortable."

Chagatai remained silent, staring at the holographic map and the command console, where the last, fragmented message from Empire Terra was flickering incompletely.

By imperial decree, the legion must cooperate with the Lord of the Silent Order to confront the Empire's enemies.

But where is the Lord of the Silent Order?

While the two legions were aimlessly searching for the drifting ships, countless wrecked spaceships, ships of the Word Bearers, and ships of the Iron Warriors attacked them.

The former empire's light spears and cannons were aimed at their own kind, but fortunately, the eagle's eyes were still sharp, and almost at the same time as the attack, the White Scar's fleet immediately launched a counterattack.

No one can catch up with White Scar's engine, whether on the grasslands or in space.

Meanwhile, the Raven Guard fleet suffered some losses.

They faced not only those scattered, eerie fleets, but also the warp waves that constantly battered them, the ships' detection equipment malfunctioning intermittently, the crew's condition deteriorating, and even their descent into madness at critical moments.

To minimize the impact of the warp on the crew and warriors, the two legions, supporting each other, arrived above Kadia, guided by the prophet of the Whitescar Storm.

According to the Storm Prophet, here, enormous giants are wrestling with each other.

Therefore, the ants were ignored; all they had to worry about was not getting caught in the aftershocks of the giant's footsteps.

Meanwhile, in the skies above Cardia, an uninvited guest arrived aboard White Scar's fleet—

A broken ship belonging to the Silent Order.

They were a pitiful sight; each of them was in an extreme state, sometimes frenzied and insane, sometimes utterly exhausted. When not being attacked, they would almost fall asleep on the spot.

When the Great Khan himself stepped onto their ship, what he saw was a group of "corpses" lying haphazardly.

The Khan raised an eyebrow.

The group's temporary leader was a seemingly eccentric oil enthusiast—he wasn't even one of the original crew members of the fleet.

According to another seemingly more experienced soulless being, this mechanical sage was a believer from a nearby star system who received a plea for help from the Kirkland sage and, drawn by their shared faith, came alone to the aid of him.

It was the large amount of supplies he brought that allowed the Silent Order fleet, which was on the verge of total annihilation and was preparing to crash into the land of Cadia, to hold out a little longer.

The Primarch of the White Scars was at a loss for words regarding this.

Whether it was the mechanical sage who arrived solely on faith, or the Silent Order, whose leaders had almost all gone to Cadia and been wiped out, thus necessitating the appointment of an outsider as their leader.

It was an almost chaotic scene!

The Khan inwardly clenched his fist, but faced with those mortals who were utterly exhausted yet still held out until reinforcements arrived, the Primarch silently swallowed his rebuke.

They have done a very good job.

The Khan pounded on the table. The situation was absurd, the enemy absurd, the objective vague, and vultures were circling overhead.

Both Primarchs fell silent. Compared to the open Empire with Macador, or the dark side of the Empire that was directly attacked, the situation at the Eye of Terror was far more perplexing.

The Khan was deep in thought, and he vaguely sensed that something above Kadia was calling to him from afar.

Was the call real, or just his hallucination?

Seeing that the two Primarchs remained silent, the Great Sage stepped forward, and a lifelike mechanical voice sounded.

“My lords, no offense intended—but we need to save Hades, the Lord of the Order of Silence. This is of utmost importance and cannot be delayed in the slightest.”

The indicator lights on the sage's face were flashing. This sage had become highly mechanized, and the Khan suspected that his biomass might be less than one percent of his total body mass.

The Khan looked at the sage but remained silent.

Seeing that the Primarch did not interrupt him, the Sage continued his eloquent explanation.

“My psionic detectors tell me that the warp is undergoing drastic changes—other beings will be arriving soon, but in my humble opinion, they will not be friendly forces.”

"them……"

The sage paused, then raised his voice.