The crushing pressure grinding against Blazkowicz's frame suddenly vanished. The exposed, terrifying white bones were instantly re-sheathed in fresh, pulsing tissue as the Archon power armor re-sealed itself seamlessly around his towering form.
Lowering his gaze, he realized that the Rangdan Overlord had actively expanded its own psychic barrier to shield him from the neutron star's gravity field.
"Whatever you intend to do, do it quickly," the Creator uttered, its cerebral cortex writhing like thousands of tangled worms—a deeply distorted, horrific spectacle. "I am entirely powerless to stop you. Furthermore, you have earned my ultimate respect."
"Keep your filthy respect to yourself," Blazkowicz replied in a low, rumbling voice. Gripping the Rangdan Overlord securely with one hand, he retrieved the dark artifact and cast it forward.
The arrowheads of the eight-pointed star ignited with a brilliant radiance, spinning rapidly into a blur as a circular translocation gate manifested, exposing a pocket of pure, pitch-black space.
Before the Creator could analyze the mechanism, Blazkowicz tightly grasped its slick, massive brain and stepped through the threshold in a singular stride, vanishing completely from the surface of the neutron star.
Crossing the threshold of space, the environment shifted in a fraction of an instant. The dead, suffocating weight and the disruptive electromagnetic pulses of the neutron star vanished entirely, replaced by a climate that felt exceptionally fresh.
Clank! Clank!
Seeing the genetic Primarch step out of the warp gate, the Doom Marine let out a massive sigh of relief. Alongside the Dark Angels garrisoning the chamber, they immediately dropped to one knee before the towering silhouette.
A massive form leaped down from the Blackstone Throne, his voluminous golden hair swaying as an uncontainable elation filled his majestic features.
Blazkowicz reached behind his back, extending his hand into the closing rift to retrieve the dark artifact. He carelessly tossed the Rangdan Overlord onto the deck plates like a common piece of refuse, completely devoid of any concern.
The Space Marines immediately closed in to restrain the alien commander, while the Librarians cast localized warp chains, binding its dark green cerebral mass. The Creator offered no resistance, allowing the humans to secure its form. Its crimson eyes remained locked onto Blazkowicz, a brilliant glare flashing beneath its gaze as it contemplated something inscrutable.
"Brother!" The Lion strode forward, throwing his arms wide to embrace Blazkowicz. His deep voice resonated with immense admiration: "Yet another glorious victory for the history books!"
Blazkowicz carefully returned the embrace with a single arm, his senses still acclimating to the sudden shift in the gravitational constants.
"How do you wish to dispose of it?" Following the brief embrace, the Lion turned to face the Rangdan leader, his eyes narrowing with a clinical scrutiny. "Is this the ultimate nemesis of humanity?"
"Yes," Blazkowicz nodded, delivering the overview. "The Creator. Ranked eleventh among the Thirteen Overlords of the Rangdan. It serves as their primary director for scientific research and martial engineering."
"The Battle Moons and the World Engines—every world-class weapon system in their arsenal—were developed under its direct oversight."
Listening to his brother's explanation, the Lion extended his gauntlet to touch the Rangdan Overlord's brain, his fingers registering nothing but a foul, greasy texture. "Truly a grotesque species," he remarked with cold disdain, pulling his hand back to shake the viscous alien fluids from his ceramite.
"Heh..." The Creator let out a hollow, mocking sneer. Hovering back into the air, it raised its crimson eyes, responding with equal contempt: "In my eyes, you creatures are the true xenos—grotesque, primitive, and entirely ignorant."
Hearing the captive's insolent outburst, several Dark Angels stepped forward to deliver a harsh correction, but the genetic Primarch raised his hand to stay their weapons.
"Leave it," the Lion commanded his genetic sons, throwing a dismissive glance toward the alien. "It is nothing more than a cornered beast now. I will grant it special dispensation to bark a few times, if only to preserve whatever pathetic shred of dignity it has left."
"Take our 'honored guest' below and establish a maximum-security lockdown."
The Legion warriors leveled their bolters at the Rangdan Overlord as the Librarians yanked the warp chains, escorting the high-value asset toward the detention cells.
The Lion turned back to Blazkowicz. "Brother, I have already ordered a grand victory banquet to be staged in your honor."
"Let us go," Blazkowicz replied. Having completed a diagnostic sweep of his Archon armor, he removed his helmet, a composed smile gracing his features. "It is time we departed this sector."
"Wait!" A hollow voice called out, arresting their progress just as they turned to leave.
Glancing back, they saw the Creator raising a singular tentacle, pointing directly at Blazkowicz. "I have certain matters that must be discussed with him alone."
A pensive look flashed across Blazkowicz's eyes. In truth, he was not entirely surprised by the request. Back inside the central control room, the Creator had clearly accepted its demise, ordering the AI to destroy the gravitational shield to ensure they both perished. Yet it had subsequently reversed its position, actively utilizing its own psychic reserves to ensure his survival. The contrast between its actions was far too severe to ignore.
Blazkowicz raised a hand to reassure the Lion, then strode back to stand before the Creator. Signaling the Librarians to lower their chains, he asked, "What is it you wish to say?"
The Creator did not speak. Instead, its dark green tentacles swept through the air, projecting a dense psychic barrier that isolated the immediate space.
With the bubble established, it still refrained from verbal communication for a long moment, its massive head hovering silently in the air as its crimson gaze bored into Blazkowicz.
After a protracted silence, the Creator's hollow voice let out a heavy, solemn sigh: "This cosmos is entirely insane."
Blazkowicz's brow furrowed, silently waiting for the Rangdan Overlord to expand on its thoughts.
"To utilize a concept from your human archives: all things possess a dual nature of light and shadow, and the universe is no exception. The Warp and the material universe are entangled like a Taiji diagram—one exists within the other, and the other within the one."
The moment the conversation touched upon the Warp, Blazkowicz's demeanor turned intensely grave, his eyes narrowing as he focused on the Creator. Outside the psychic bubble, the Lion and the Legion warriors could perceive their physical forms, but not a single sound could penetrate the barrier, leaving them to guess the nature of the exchange through body language alone.
"The Warp possesses deities," the Creator continued smoothly, waving a tentacle toward the dark artifact hanging at Blazkowicz's waist. "The existence of that instrument confirms that you, too, are aware of the fundamental truth of this universe. I shall not squander time on redundancy."
It hovered silently, its massive head turning toward the viewing bays of the fortress, staring out at the sweeping starlight. Its next words caused Blazkowicz's expression to turn completely dark.
The Creator swayed slightly, spitting out a phrase that sounded almost like a mocking chuckle: "A deity... Truly an absolute, ultimate temptation."
"What exactly do you know?" Blazkowicz demanded, his features locking into a tense glare. Clearly, this Rangdan Overlord understood far more of the primordial truth than he had anticipated.
"What do I know?" The Creator shook its head, raising a tentacle to loosely frame the brilliant neutron star outside. "Not too much, yet not too little."
"The existence of Chaos is something my species detected long ago. Our ability to give concrete form to those abstract entities was derived from the ancient archives of an Eldar Craftworld, recovered after we overran their vessel."
"To be precise, it was not a conventional conquest. The ancient species deliberately allowed us to breach them in a desperate, reckless gambit to sever their own ties to Slaanesh. Unfortunately for them, the Eldar miscalculated, and they were reduced to high-tier thralls beneath our authority."
"But following that acquisition—" The Creator's voice suddenly tightened, leaning closer to whisper directly into Blazkowicz's audio receptors: "I systematically reviewed every piece of Eldar lore. And I discovered that many aspects of our reality are deeply abnormal."
Its sudden aggressive posture caused the warriors outside the barrier to tense, their weapons shifting. Blazkowicz raised a reassuring hand to calm them, then asked, "What exactly is abnormal?"
"The Supreme Overlord—the ultimate authority of our species," the Creator whispered, its voice dropping to an absolute minimum. "I suspect It is a demigod derived entirely from the Warp!"
Blazkowicz snapped his head up, his gaze turning incredibly sharp. "A demigod?"
"Yes," the dark green head nodded slowly. "And an exceptionally powerful one at that."
"It systematically altered our species at a genetic level, elevating us into 'Overlords' and raising the Rangdan far above the standard biological evolutionary curve of the galaxy."
"Before I achieved a proper understanding of the Warp, I believed this elevation was a benevolent blessing from our leader. Only after deep, clinical research did I realize that the immense power forged into our very souls is a condensed manifestation of Warp energy."
"As the Rangdan conquest expands across the stars, the Supreme Overlord grows exponentially stronger, ascending from one unthinkable echelon of power to the next."
"Surely you are aware of this," the Creator continued, its gaze dropping to look Blazkowicz dead in the eye as its hollow words flowed deliberately. "Within the sectors controlled by humanity, there exists a permanent Warp rift. How exactly did it manifest?"
Blazkowicz was fully aware. That particular scar across the material universe was the birth-cry of Slaanesh, a permanent tear that rent the veil between reality and the immaterium.
"The Supreme Overlord possesses an absolute psychic authority. During the initial rise of the Rangdan, It utilized the powers of Chaos on numerous occasions, always conducting the primary rituals while facing the absolute West."
"Do you comprehend what that position represents?"
"The absolute West?" Blazkowicz growled, actively suppressing the rising fury within his chest as he uttered the blasphemous title of that specific entity: "The Formless Distortion!"
The Creator laid out the truth methodically: "My species originated from the deep oceans; we possessed no remarkable cosmic traits of our own. Then, the Supreme Overlord materialized out of nowhere, twisting our fundamental concept and engraving the Formless Distortion into the very souls of our race."
"Since that day, every living species touched by the Rangdan has been conquered by raw tyranny, their consciousnesses decaying beneath our touch, leaving them to be toyed with and distorted at our whim."
"I myself do not specialize in that specific methodology," the Creator noted. Utilizing a sudden burst of psychic energy, it lifted a bolter from the grip of a nearby warrior outside the barrier. Before the astonished eyes of the onlookers, the firearm disintegrated at an atomic level, its molecular structure reweaving itself into an entirely different material composition.
"The Supreme Overlord can transmute matter at will—It can even breathe life into dead material."
"You can easily foresee the ultimate conclusion: if a day comes where my species successfully conquers the galaxy, embarking on an unprecedented golden age of dominion over all life... at that absolute zenith, the Supreme Overlord will recall every shred of power derived from It. It will strip the souls from every living entity, sacrificing the entire galaxy in a singular, cataclysmic ritual."
Blazkowicz's nostrils flared slightly, his expression remaining perfectly cold as he completed the thought: "And It will ascend into true godhood, claiming a definitive mantle of authority as an unconstrained Formless Distortion."
"Why are you revealing this to me?" He stared directly into the Creator's eyes, unable to comprehend why an alien Overlord would undergo such a massive shift in allegiance.
The Creator backed away a few steps, looking down at the man before it. "Compared to the living entities of the material universe, I despise Chaos far more."
"When the Supreme Overlord recalls It's power, It is destined to sacrifice the entire Rangdan species to fuel Its ascension."
"I am... entirely unwilling to accept that end." It raised a tentacle to point toward Blazkowicz's chest. "You have shown me the absolute, guaranteed failure of the Rangdan war effort against humanity. Furthermore, you possess a deep understanding of Chaos. I hold no reservations about giving you this intelligence."
"If humanity defeats the Rangdan, my species will be driven into exile, scattered across the stars; if the Rangdan conquer the universe, my species faces absolute, systemic extinction."
"No matter the species, there are always those who choose to drift with the current when powerless to resist. But the moment a solitary glimmer of hope manifests, they will exert every ounce of their being to grasp it."
The Creator let out a wistful sigh, its tentacle gesturing toward the sigil on Blazkowicz's chest. "I have foreseen the absolute doom of my race. You must execute the Supreme Overlord!"
"The material universe is vast beyond measure. A tactical defeat in a conventional war is infinitely better than total extinction. There will always be Rangdan who manage to slip away into the dark, continuing to breed and survive across the cosmos."
"After all..." It scanned Blazkowicz from head to toe one final time before concluding, "My Eldar thrall possessed an absolute freedom of thought. Yet the moment she cast her gaze back into the Warp and revealed that the master of your sigil is the ultimate Enemy of the Gods... I executed her without a single moment's hesitation."