The brown-haired boy's insistence on letting Alexander make his own decision only deepened Alexander's suspicion.
Naturally, he couldn't fully trust the words of this weasel-like character.
"You're that kind? I thought you'd embody the style of humanity's greatest tyrant?" Alexander asked in a half-joking tone.
The brown-haired boy seemed to sense Alexander's suspicion. He smiled and explained:
"I won't force you, because what I want is for the Warp to become 2VS1VS1VS1VS1 after your ascension."
"This way, we can ensure an absolute advantage against any god in the Warp."
"If I forced you to become the Lord of Malicious Art, I imagine, given your temperament, you'd constantly attack me for no reason, making you even more annoying than the Four Gods."
"You're right. If you dare to force me to become a god, I guarantee the Gods will gain an ally in their fight against you," Alexander admitted with a smile.
The brown-haired boy gave a wry smile: "If you're still willing to protect humanity by then, I wouldn't mind."
"Don't think too badly of me. If you can be the tall one, I'd be happy to assist and follow you."
"I'll consider it," Alexander said, glancing at the Dragon's Dream before him.
The Emperor's plan indeed had its merits. If Alexander didn't have the four-dimensional pocket, it would truly be a good choice.
The Emperor would bear the pressure of ascension, and Alexander would become an existence infinitely close to the Lord of Malicious Art. With humanity having two gods, it would be enough to resist the other Four Gods, who were not a united front.
But the problem now was that even if Alexander agreed, he still lacked the necessary sacrifices for godhood, lacking the sacrifice of an entire civilization.
There were no civilizations in the galaxy that could rival the ancient Old Ones, Eldar, and humanity of old.
Alexander was also more inclined towards another plan.
The Emperor's prophecy mentioned that Angron would guide the future path, and there were those four individuals whose destinies were closely tied to the future of the galaxy.
Alexander hoped to find a way to save this galaxy through the four-dimensional pocket, rather than pinning his hopes on the Warp or on becoming a god.
"Walking on two legs, as they say," the brown-haired boy said softly. "I'll figure out a way for the sacrifices. Perhaps there's still a position that can be squeezed out of the Old Ones to facilitate the birth of a god."
"The Old Ones can still squeeze out a position?" Alexander was stunned, then said, "Are the Old Ones some kind of Warp bus?"
Theoretically, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Khorne were all born from the War in Heaven and the Old Ones.
Now, the Old Ones had been silent for tens of millions of years, yet the Emperor still believed they could facilitate the birth of another god.
"It's just a guess. Vashtorr believes he can do it and has been collecting relics left by the Old Ones. So perhaps the Old Ones left something that can serve as a sacrifice."
"They were too powerful back then. Perhaps in the future, there will be no race stronger than them in the galaxy. It was a pastoral era that can never be returned to."
"The Old Ones' gold coins are inexhaustible," Alexander couldn't help but exclaim.
"Compared to other races, humanity has extracted fewer Old One gold coins. Not to mention the Eldar, which of those messy xenos like the Orks, Necrons, and Tau haven't heavily extracted Old One gold coins?"
The brown-haired boy's face was full of regret at having extracted too few gold coins.
Just as Alexander was about to speak, a strong, painful wail suddenly reached his ears.
It was the wail of the machine spirit, coming from an incomparably powerful machine spirit, stronger than the machine spirits of hundreds of warships.
The expression of the brown-haired boy beside Alexander also darkened slightly.
Alexander quickly withdrew his consciousness from the dream and transferred it back into his body.
Then Alexander heard Oudia's terrified, angry, and disbelieving roar.
"My lord! By Saint Doraemon and the Omnissiah!"
Alexander ignored the panicked Oudia and quickly went to the window of the super hive city tower, looking up at the sky.
Fire, scorching flames were burning.
The Steel Ring, encircling the entire Mars, was burning, illuminating half of the sky.
A lion's roar echoed beside Reyna, and a flood of daemons surged from the shadows. Leading these daemons was a daemon Prince with two wings, wearing black power armor with red trim, and possessing a huge lion's head.
The daemon Prince was adorned with strangely styled patterns and elements: lions, wings, swords, and the Roman numeral 1.
But beyond these decorations, the daemon Prince was also covered in the marks of the Four Gods and the blasphemous eight-pointed star.
The beast let out a terrifying roar, single-handedly wielding a greatsword that normally required two hands, and heavily slashed towards Reyna.
Reyna abruptly activated her psyker power, transforming it into a savage psyker hammer that she swung out, crushing the daemons in its path and colliding with the lion-headed daemon Prince.
Instantly, psyker and sword clashed. The lion-headed monster violently cut through Reyna's psyker, flapping its wings and pouncing in front of Reyna.
"Stay right there!!!" Reyna's savage roar was deafening, and the Seducer's Whisper, mixed with Reyna's psyker, pierced into the daemon Prince's will.
The daemon Prince let out a painful growl, its entire body freezing in place.
Reyna was almost in tears; her Seducer's Whisper had actually succeeded.
Because Reyna couldn't precisely control her psyker, the Seducer's Whisper she released would either explode on the spot because the opponent was too weak to withstand Reyna's psyker, or it would have no effect because the opponent was too strong.
She never expected, never expected, that this daemon Prince was just right—neither too strong nor too weak—perfectly positioned for Reyna's Seducer's Whisper to take effect.
"Who are you!" Reyna, having successfully used Seducer's Whisper for once, hastily released it again: "What is your purpose here?"
"I am the most Fallen of the Fallen Angels, I am the daemon Prince Marthus, blessed by the Four Gods," the daemon Prince, who called himself a Fallen Angel and Marthus, said instinctively.
What are Fallen Angels? Reyna was stunned.
Before Reyna could ponder further, daemon Prince Marthus continued: "As for our purpose, psyker, look with your psyker vision, look at the Steel Ring."
psyker vision? What is that? She didn't know how to do that!
Reyna felt annoyed.
"My lord!" Fortunately, at this moment, the female Tech-Priest received intelligence from outside and said in horror: "Large numbers of ships near the fourth section of the Steel Ring are out of control, crashing into the Steel Ring!"
Reyna's pupils instantly contracted.
For Guilliman's Unbowed Crusade, a large number of ships were gathered near the Steel Ring.
These damned daemons, by some unknown means, had teleported through that strange shadow into every ship, controlling them to crash into the Steel Ring.
"Is this your purpose? To hinder the Unbowed Crusade?" Reyna demanded.
"No, our purpose is..." daemon Prince Marthus shuddered, suddenly realizing he was affected by Reyna's Seducer's Whisper: "You, you mere mortal, how dare you..."
Marthus, enraged and humiliated, violently flapped his wings and pounced at Reyna again.
Then...
"Stay right there!!!" Reyna growled, and the Seducer's Whisper, which had finally worked, was released again.
Marthus felt dizzy and terrified, unable to understand how this mortal could possess such psyker power without being corrupted or having mental issues.
"What is your purpose!?" Reyna roared again, demanding an answer, her powerful psyker washing over Marthus' will.
Marthus' eyes were bloodshot, and he gritted his teeth, resisting Reyna's psyker impact.
"Our purpose is you, madam," a voice said from behind daemon Prince Marthus.
The shadows spread again, and a man in a black cloak slowly walked out of the shadows.
The moment he appeared, an psyker power even stronger than Reyna's swept over, shattering the Seducer's Whisper that Reyna was using to suppress Marthus.
"Me?" Reyna said, somewhat bewildered.
"For a greater purpose, we need your sacrifice."
"My partner told me a story: among the World Eaters, there was a warrior named Khârn. His destiny should have been filled with the rage of the Blood God's blessing, but his close friend, Angron, chained his soul, preventing him from falling completely."
"So my partner killed Angron, awakening his rage. What I'm doing is the same thing."
"That one existence is too attached to the material world. Perhaps a tragedy, a pain, the death of someone familiar, can awaken his rage and make him embrace his power."
"This is a necessary attempt."
They wanted to target Alexander?
Reyna quickly realized this.
She remembered Sanguinius had once privately told her that when dealing with Alexander, she should treat him like a human, as this would help Alexander maintain his perception of being human.
"Who is your partner?"
"And who are you?"
"What is this shadow?"
Reyna calmed herself and released the Seducer's Whisper again, trying to obtain more valuable information.
But the man in the black cloak was not affected by Reyna's psyker in the slightest.
"Madam, I do not wish to kill you."
"You fit my theory: Chaos itself does not corrupt people. The whispers of the Gods are not the true source of corruption."
"It is the longing in people's hearts, their own desires, their own dreams that corrupt people themselves."
"As long as one severs one's desires, one will not be corrupted by Chaos. One can master Chaos."
"You are a very good example. If it weren't for a greater goal, I truly would not want to kill you."
The black-cloaked figure said regretfully:
"To compensate you, I am willing to tell you who I am."
"I am the father of a child."
"I am the child of a father."
"I am the traitor of a knight."
"I am the knight of a traitor."
"I am the close friend of a brother."
"I am the brother of a close friend."
"I am the Fallen, I am the Fool, I am the unforgivable Fallen Angel."
The black cloak fluttered in the wind, revealing the Dark Angel Legion's power armor from ten thousand years ago underneath, and also revealing the Caliban Greatsword.
"I am merely a penitent who yearns to atone for my mistakes."