He was indeed weak, incomparably weak, unprecedentedly weak.
Compared to His past, His power was at most a false trace left on the retina after a magnificent radiance had extinguished.
But everything else in this material universe was still so minuscule compared to Him.
Though broken, He was still sublime and powerful.
Moreover, this particular planet before Him was one He had carefully chosen.
By reversing the polarity of the Blackstone, He summoned a storm from the sea, using this crude method to borrow the sea's power, and whisked Himself to the other side of time and space.
Relying on the information hidden within atoms and the continuously dissipating aftershocks of creation in the universe, He was confident that He had arrived tens of millions of years later, and that information about His traitor servants had almost vanished from the universe.
And He deliberately chose a planet in the Middle Ages.
Such a planet would neither be too backward, resulting in a sparse population unable to provide Him with enough test subjects,
nor would it be too advanced, posing a threat or causing Him trouble.
The most powerful weapons wielded by the creatures on this world were still clumsy trebuchets and lances charged on horseback.
What? Could a knight on horseback kill Him with a single lance charge?
If that were the case, why would His traitor servants forge god-slaying weapons?
Though broken and weak, He still wielded power capable of devouring stars, easily overturning an entire star system, and with a flick of His hand, could invert a planet's interior and exterior.
His body was still impregnable, forged from Necron living metal, and He had integrated melted Blackstone into it, making it indestructible while also isolating the sea's power.
The only weakness of this body was a wound beneath His left wing.
That was a wound left during the War in Heaven.
The lowly Aeldari smith god Vaul stole His Blackstone, forging it into a Blackstone fortress named the 'Vaul's Charm.'
Then, the Aeldari threw the Blackstone fortress at Him, wrapping it around His neck, and it broke through beneath His left wing, leaving an unhealable wound.
But on this planet, these species were born long after the War in Heaven; how could they know this secret?
So He was absolutely safe; He could safely conduct His experiments on this world.
Many long years ago, He had forged Blackstone, a unique substance.
This substance had polarity; it could both suppress and amplify the sea.
This made Him realize a possibility.
His kin had long ignored the power of the sea, only immersing themselves in the power of their own material universe.
But the sea's power was undeniable; those fragile creatures could use the sea to fight against them.
What if He could also borrow the sea's power? What if He could control the sea? He could even become the master of both the material and sea dimensions.
He began His experiments and plans, under the guise of isolating reality from the sea, driving His servants and kin to build Blackstone Pylons throughout the galaxy.
But this was actually so He could control the sea over a larger area through Blackstone.
When this plan was completed, He could, with a single thought, isolate the sea, or with a single thought, let the sea engulf reality.
Unfortunately, this plan was not completed before those traitors shattered Him.
Now, He had descended upon this medieval planet to restart His experiments in controlling the sea.
Hot, dry air drifted over the sandy ground, carrying the scent of spices from afar.
A dragon, like flowing mercury, coiled over the scars of the earth, grotesque and terrifying; the light of the stars He had devoured burned in His chest.
Alexander could sense through his dream that the dragon had been doing quite well recently.
He mostly hovered over this scorching land, occasionally leaving the planet to travel among nearby stars to devour stellar energy.
Those stars consequently became either dim or toxic, and incidentally, the nascent life on the planets near those stars was also devoured by Him.
After many long years, when the intelligent life on this planet flew to the stars, they would surely be puzzled by the absence of other intelligent life around them.
By devouring starlight and those lower-level life forms, He had slightly recovered some of His power.
But He had never extensively devoured the souls of the beings on this planet who called themselves humans, even though these souls were far sweeter than those of the Necron.
This race possessed a natural sensitivity to the sea; their emotions were so clear, their fear so sweet, making them excellent test subjects.
So He coiled beside a city-state called Cyrene on this planet, demanding that the people nearby offer a maiden every day.
This was to imitate the primitive legends on this planet, awakening various emotions in these humans, including fear.
Strong emotions could make souls delicious; whether fearful, despairing, or courageous, all souls were incredibly delicious.
More importantly, these emotions could stir the waves of the sea, allowing Him to study the sea.
At the same time, the dragon also began to try spreading faith through fear, attempting to study the relationship between faith and the sea.
For this, He even created a new name for Himself to be worshipped by these humans.
Omnissiah, this was His new name.
Omni came from the Necron unit of resistance, signifying His origin and His identity as the master of technology and technique.
Messiah was taken from the primitive religions of this planet, meaning the promised savior.
He would not destroy this race.
Once His experiment succeeded, He would need a group of believers with souls; this race was so suitable, He loved them so much.
Once He successfully mastered the power of the sea, He would bestow this race with unparalleled wisdom and technology, elevating them to a race worthy of being His servants and believers, leading them to once again rampage through the galaxy.
He was their promised Messiah, their destined Omnissiah.
His experiments were progressing smoothly.
This race was indeed an excellent test subject; through His research on Blackstone, He even created a brand new genetic sequence within the maidens offered as sacrifices to Him, a sequence that granted them natural immunity to the Warp and could even, to some extent, isolate the sea.
He also used these studies to reshape the Blackstone that formed His body, allowing Him to more flexibly isolate and summon the sea's power.
And those humans who worshipped Him or feared Him had also begun to have similar dreams as Him.
Soon, very soon, He would be able to break the barrier between reality and the sea, becoming the master of both dimensions.
By then, He would be whole again and incredibly powerful; He could even already perceive, through Blackstone, a suitable position for Him within the sea.
Just then, the crisp sound of hooves rang out.
A steed blacker than night appeared on the horizon, its crimson feathers fluttering in the spice-scented wind.
Golden armor shone dazzlingly in the bright, scorching sunlight, and a pure silver lance gleamed with a cold light.
A long banner was tied to the lance, depicting a thunderhawk clutching lightning.
"How nostalgic, back then I was a soldier under His Majesty Diocletian."
A voice with a Central Asian accent sounded in Alexander's ear, and the brown-haired boy appeared beside Alexander, watching the dragon's dream with him.
The Emperor's will entered Nobita's body, entering the dragon's dream after Alexander.
"So His goal is to break the barrier between the material and the Warp, to become a dual deity of both the material and the Warp."
"No wonder He is so different from the other C'tan fragments."
Listening to the brown-haired boy's words, Alexander couldn't help but turn his head and ask, "You didn't know?"
"Of course I didn't know. I was very naive back then; even earlier, I thought the Warp would be a gentle and beautiful world."
The brown-haired boy said with emotion:
"And my encounter with the dragon at that time was a complete coincidence. I was rushing to Libya to meet up with my comrades, and I just happened to encounter Him halfway."
The dragon in the dream let out a low growl and laughter.
A knight, another knight.
Many, many knights had tried to challenge Him, attempting to emulate the heroes who slew evil dragons in legends.
He savored the souls of these knights, He savored their courageous souls, He savored their noble souls, and He also savored their souls in their dying despair.
Time for some sweet human knight souls!
The dragon roared, louder than thunder.
The colossal body of the beast unfolded on the sandy ground, its mercury-like body constantly flowing, its scales arranged in a manner beyond the understanding of the material universe; mortals would fall into madness simply by gazing upon those non-Euclidean geometric scales.
Within His chest, the undigested stellar fire burned hot, so bright it was more dazzling than the sun.
Matter was warped, reality was disintegrated, and dimensions folded in the microscopic universe were unfolded.
Fluorescent green lightning surged across the entire wasteland, tearing open the surrounding earth layer by layer.
He displayed the most insignificant fraction of His power to intimidate the knight before Him.
Whether the knight was scared witless or mustered courage, it would make his soul delicious.
"I am the Dragon."
"I am a C'tan."
"I am the destined Omnissiah of your race."
His roar was deafening, and a powerful storm erupted from the sky.
However, the knight's expression remained unchanged; he merely slightly raised the shield in his hand, pointing the pure silver lance at the dragon's head.
"I am George, A common cavalryman under His Majesty Diocletian."
The knight slowly announced his name:
"Come on, you wretch, face me."