"Give it to me! Don't move!"
Seducer's Whisper escaped from Reyna's mouth.
Reyna unleashed almost all her psychic power onto Namakor.
Facing Reyna's full power, Namakor paused slightly.
No power emanated from the notebook in her hand.
The Lord she had sought through decades of exploration did not respond to her.
She was abandoned.
Namakor realized in a daze.
She was useless to the Lord.
Only mockery echoed in her ears:
"As planned, everything is going according to plan!"
"Ga ha ha ha ha ha ho ho ho!"
The Lord's mockery resounded in her ears.
Then, flames, lightning, and a psychic warhammer fell upon her.
Namakor barely managed to let out a few wails before being incinerated into a charred corpse.
"Where is your Lord?!" Reyna gritted her teeth and said, "I have the Emperor's blessing, what do you have?"
Reyna savagely kicked the charred corpse, then turned to look at Alexander.
"Alexander, you..."
Reyna froze in place.
She had thought that killing Namakor would sever the corruption.
But Alexander was still clutching his head, leaning against the wall in pain, spiral-shaped numbers reflected in his eyes.
His entire being seemed to be slowly eroded by the blasphemous presence in the Warp.
Yet Reyna could vaguely sense that Alexander had not been completely corrupted; his will, a certain power within him, and his very self were resisting the corruption.
Reyna placed her hand on Alexander's forehead, projecting her consciousness into him as well.
"Alexander!!!" Reyna's voice rang out through layers of numbers.
She tried to transmit her consciousness deep into Alexander's mind, to pull him out of the swirling layers of numbers.
But the moment Reyna's psychic energy probed inward, it became entangled by the constantly changing numbers.
Her psychic energy disintegrated in an instant.
Reyna could only anxiously watch Alexander deep within the numerical vortex, separated by it.
She vaguely saw that Alexander's body was covered in a certain pure white light, and a round, blue figure was reflected in the Warp.
Just then, Reyna heard the sound of pages turning.
She turned her head to look behind her.
She saw Namakor's cheap black-covered notebook had silently opened.
Reyna was stunned.
This notebook was completely unharmed by her psychic bombardment.
She immediately realized that this notebook was the source of the corruption.
The notebook silently opened, and the numbers on it, like tiny black-to-blue insects, crawled out from the pages.
They slowly swirled in the air, forming a distorted, changing vortex.
Reyna heard a mocking, bird-like and human-like laughter coming from the other side of the vortex.
Some entity was about to squeeze into the material universe through the vortex opened by this notebook.
"The distance is too great, my psychic power cannot be transmitted immediately."
"If you were in a church, or if you had a squad of Blood Angels nearby, I could immediately expel this corruption."
Sanguinius said in a low voice, his pure white wings forming a barrier, trying to protect Alexander.
But perhaps because of the immense distance, his figure swayed like rootless duckweed in water.
"Where am I supposed to find you a squad of Blood Angels?"
"Wait, that notebook must be the source of the corruption, if I just destroy it..."
Alexander, enduring the dizziness from the depths of his soul, managed to lift his head.
He saw Namakor's black notebook had opened a vortex made of numbers.
Something seemed to be about to emerge from behind the vortex.
Reyna raised her hands, praising the Emperor, releasing psychic energy to try and close the vortex and destroy the black notebook.
But the notebook remained unharmed, and the vortex changed faster and faster.
"It cannot be destroyed. That notebook is both the source of corruption and sustained by the existence of those corrupted."
"Every person who has unraveled the mystery of that string of numbers and been corrupted by it is supporting the notebook's existence."
"Unless all corrupted individuals are purified, that notebook cannot be destroyed."
Sanguinius said, looking at the black notebook.
Destroying the notebook can remove the corruption, and destroying the notebook requires removing the corruption.
A clever closed loop formed a cage, trapping everyone within it.
Sanguinius looked at Alexander, who was painfully resisting the corruption.
In his eyes, Alexander's figure was becoming inhuman.
At times, layers of blue feathers appeared on his body.
At other times, they were replaced by a round, blue metallic shell.
Alexander's reflection in the Warp, his essence in the Warp, was contending with Tzeentch's corruption for control of his physical body in the material world.
But Alexander had not yet correctly realized his essence, nor had he clearly seen his position in the Warp.
The Warp is a realm of the mind; if you do not recognize the power you possess, that power itself will be as if it does not exist.
Alexander was currently only passively resisting Tzeentch's erosion and could not hold out much longer.
"Go to the church!"
Sanguinius shouted to Alexander:
"Go to the nearest church, a church with my holy icon. There, my power can be transmitted more effectively."
"..The nearest church is three blocks away from here."
Alexander said through gritted teeth:
"And that church also contains parts belonging to Tzeentch!"
Even if that church had no problems, Alexander's current state prevented him from getting there.
This was Tzeentch's plan.
It probably began decades ago when Namakor donated money to sponsor the church.
Namakor believed she had found the true god in mathematics, but in reality, she had only fallen into Tzeentch's scheme.
Year after year, she taught young children mathematics, sowing the seeds of corruption with the numbers representing Tzeentch hidden within.
Every nine days, she prayed to Tzeentch in the church, a place where the barrier between reality and the Warp was weakest.
Many corrupted children prayed day and night.
Finally, tonight, in the Ninth District, using those corrupted children as sacrifices, a numerical vortex leading to the Warp was opened.
What was beyond that vortex?
A Great daemon? A Lord of Change?
But to destroy that notebook, all corrupted individuals, including Alexander who was about to be corrupted, would have to be killed.
Or, using the simplest method, directly destroy the entire Ninth District.
"No."
Alexander looked up at Reyna, who was desperately channeling psychic energy to suppress the vortex.
His mind worked quickly, perhaps Tzeentch's corruption had enhanced his intellect.
An idea sprang into his mind.
"I... I..."
Alexander, enduring the dizziness and pain in his head, shouted to Reyna:
"Reyna!"
"I have an idea!"
"Huh?" Reyna turned her head, looking at Alexander with a bewildered expression.
"Throw that damned notebook to me!!!" Alexander roared.
Reyna nodded sharply.
She chose to trust Alexander's idea.
Although it couldn't be destroyed, moving the notebook didn't seem difficult.
Reyna directed her psychic energy, throwing the cheap black-covered notebook to Alexander.
Alexander reached out and caught the notebook, looking at the constantly spinning numerical vortex on it.
On the other side of the vortex, bird-like and human-like laughter continuously emanated.
"Laugh? What are you laughing at, you blue-haired freak!"
"See if this is in your plan!"
Alexander decided to gamble, betting that his golden finger was reliable enough.
He shoved the notebook into the four-dimensional pocket on his stomach.
"Item: Tome of Infinite Change"
[Origin: Nether Shield Star System - Ashford Star - Hive City Ninth District]
[Description: A notebook corrupted by the Lord of Change, filled with numbers.]
[Evaluation: A black notebook corrupted by the Lord of Change, filled with complex mathematical formulas.]
[Production Date: 998.M41]
[Condition: 99.9% New]
[Value: 1,800,000 credits]