Alexander, wearing a Take-copter, stood in the void, relying on the effects of the adaptation lamp, observing the drifting fragments of steel.
How could such a large-scale disaster suddenly occur in the Steel Ring? It seemed as if a starship had lost control and crashed into the Steel Ring?
Malfunction? Accident? Or an attack?
And if it was an attack, who was it from? The Black Legion? The Chaos Gods? Some xenos? Or even from within the Imperium?
What was the purpose of this attack? To directly strike near Mars?
To interrupt the Unbowed Crusade's progress? These losses were indeed significant, but not enough to be crippling.
To attack Mars? To destroy Mars' production capacity? Or to release the Dragon of Mars? But this kind of attack was still lacking.
Or was it targeting Alexander himself? That would be too far-fetched; in the worst-case scenario, Alexander could just use the anywhere door to escape.
Alexander frowned, unable to comprehend the reason for their actions.
While contemplating, Alexander quickly pulled out a Seeker's Staff from his four-dimensional pocket.
With such a large-scale disaster, I hope my pet psyker Ogryn didn't get killed.
Although he was complaining in his mind, Alexander wasn't too worried about Reyna.
Reyna's psyker skills were indeed terrible, so terrible that even Kellam Purion, the Astra Telepathica's Administrator, one of Terra's strongest mortal psyker, and the head of the psyker Academy, couldn't teach Reyna, almost giving Kellam Purion a heart attack.
But Reyna's psyker power level was genuinely high. With high-efficiency pills and a Portable Pyramid, Reyna could take down a Greater Daemon with pure psyker power alone.
What's more, Alexander had previously given Reyna a bottle of Siegfried's Bath Liquid; as long as she used that item, Reyna would gain half an hour of invincibility.
The possibility of Reyna having an accident was low.
"Reyna," Alexander murmured softly, gently tossing the staff in his hand.
The Seeker's Staff spun in the void but didn't point anywhere.
Alexander's eye twitched slightly.
This meant that Reyna no longer existed in this world.
Either she was dead, or she had entered the Warp, Webway, or some other pocket dimension.
But it didn't matter. It didn't matter if Reyna was dead.
Alexander was the master of the domain of erosion and destruction.
As long as he found Reyna's body, and as long as Reyna's soul hadn't been dragged into the Warp, Alexander could revive Reyna with a mere flick of his hand.
It didn't even matter if Reyna was completely dead, with no soul left. As long as a bit of her body remained, Alexander could use the Time Cloth.
But Alexander's heart couldn't help but sink.
His expression turned a bit grim; he vaguely sensed something.
Alexander quickly took out the Truth and Falsehood Divination Machine from his four-dimensional pocket.
"Reyna is dead."
Alexander asked the Truth and Falsehood Divination Machine in a low voice.
A red circle jumped up, floating in mid-air, confirming Alexander's guess.
"The person who killed Reyna completely destroyed her body, leaving no trace."
The red circle jumped up again, once more confirming Alexander's guess.
Alexander felt a naked malice and targeting.
The person who killed Reyna clearly didn't want Alexander to revive Reyna; they wanted Reyna to be completely, irreversibly dead.
The veins on half of his face bulged, his teeth chattered from emotional fluctuations, and the blood vessels at the corners of his eyes protruded, looking terrifying.
Since coming to this galaxy, Alexander had never so clearly felt anger surging from within his soul.
When he first arrived in this galaxy, he made the best of a bad situation. Later, as his strength, status, and influence grew, and more and more items were exchanged, Alexander even somewhat forgot the true nature of this galaxy.
Now, a group of people hidden in the shadows had proven to Alexander, with naked targeting and naked provocation, that this galaxy was dark and full of vile malice.
Who? Who did it?
Alexander's face was terrifyingly distorted; he had already guessed the answer in his heart.
The prime culprit in the Emperor's prophecy.
Upon an altar covered with bloody corpses, Erebus closed his eyes in enjoyment, feeling the surge of anger continuously emanating from the Warp.
That one was enraged. That one realized the darkness and chaos of this galaxy, realized the impermanence and cruelty of fate.
The Warp responded to that one's emotions; fallen, twisted, and extreme emotions were continuously rising in the Warp.
Erebus had once again fulfilled his mission.
Just as he once pushed Khârn into chaos and darkness, Erebus successfully replicated his past success. By severing a small link between that one and the material universe, he caused that one to unleash more extreme, angry, and dark emotions, bringing that one closer to the Warp.
Next, Erebus only needed to sneak to that one's side and gently persuade him with soft words, just as he once persuaded Abaddon to send Horus into the Serpent Temple, to embrace more of his power, and then he could—
Suddenly, Erebus noticed something was wrong.
The extreme emotions emanating from that one gradually took on a fixed form.
There was no despair, no darkness, no self-pity, only anger, pure anger.
And this anger was directed, as if that one knew exactly who had orchestrated all of this.
"Erebus," a low growl, filled with anger, echoed from the Warp.
That one's anger itself stirred ripples in the Warp; a portion of the Warp's currents consequently ran wild, directly surging towards Erebus, following that one's anger.
"Puh-ah!!!" Erebus hastily cut off the ritual, severing his deep connection with the Warp.
But he was still struck directly by the backlash of Warp energy, feeling as if his liver and guts were tearing apart, spitting out fresh blood.
If not for the blessings granted by the Four Gods in the past still protecting Erebus, Erebus might have just been directly burst by the Warp tides stirred up by that anger.
"Why? Why would that one know it was me who did it?"
Erebus clutched his aching body, wailing in near terror.
Alexander exhaled a deep breath, suppressing the continuously expanding anger in his heart.
This anger would not disappear; it would only accumulate within Alexander until it was unleashed upon that prime culprit.
How dare you kill my people? Lawless!
That prime culprit had shown Alexander the darkness of this galaxy in an extreme and malicious way.
However, although the galaxy was dark,
"But fortunately, I'm a comedic character."
Alexander reached into his four-dimensional pocket.
Reyna felt her soul bathed in a warm, gentle light.
She vaguely felt her will transcending time and space itself, traveling through all that would happen in the future and past, entering a perfect timeline that was about to close in a loop.
Along that timeline, Reyna's soul flowed to the extinction of the universe.
She first perceived a deep, dark, self-destructive emotion rising, a pitch-black sun slowly rising in the 30th millennium, with the Vengeful Spirit as its altar, the Dark King rising with Horus, the Emperor, and all humanity as sacrifices.
Then, in sequence, the mechanical chorus sounded, the great bell chimed twenty-two times, the Omnissiah, the God of Machines, and original power's triple will became one, billions of silver skulls cried out in birth, and the complete Omnissiah descended with their cries.
Finally, it was eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, endless eating. They continuously devoured endless chestnut buns to multiply themselves, only to be eaten by a dark and deep pocket, thus endlessly cycling, always eating, and so the eternal dragon bit its own tail.
Those visions were too transcendental, completely beyond Reyna's comprehension, and beyond the capacity of her soul to contain.
Reyna saw these visions, but she couldn't remember them.
Ultimately, she only remembered that everything was destroyed, that the galaxy ended in humanity's 30th millennium.
Then, that warm white light, after the end, enveloped Reyna, dragging her to another world of unparalleled radiance.
The 22nd century.
The 22nd century was right before her eyes.
Reyna instinctively reached out towards that beautiful world.
The white light gradually took shape; Reyna's body was also being molded bit by bit.
That dark, malicious galaxy had been left behind.
The bright, benevolent, beautiful 22nd century was right before her eyes.
"You are…" A kind, grandfatherly voice suddenly sounded before Reyna.
A chubby, round old man's figure suddenly appeared before Reyna: "It's you."
"It's not your time yet. Why are you in such a hurry to come?"
The grandfatherly, round figure said to Reyna:
"If you come now, history will have problems."
Reyna blinked in confusion.
Just then, a voice suddenly rang out,
"psyker Ogryn, open your eyes. I am Doraemon."
"Big silly Reyna, open your eyes. I am Alexander."
"Still sleeping?! Is your work done?"
Alexander's voice suddenly came from behind Reyna, from that dark, malicious galaxy.
She suddenly felt a sense of falling.
That radiant, beautiful 22nd century grew further and further away from her, until Reyna's eyes could no longer see it at all.
"No! No! No!"
Reyna suddenly reached out, and then…
Then she suddenly woke up on a bed in the Fabricator-General's residence in the Olympia hive city on Mars.
The disposable Time Cloth on her body transformed into flowing light and dissipated.
Alexander stood beside Reyna, smiling.
Reyna looked at her body in confusion. She vaguely remembered being killed by Luther.
And then, and then, and then she almost ascended to the 22nd century.
Reyna's expression was a bit blank.
She realized that Alexander must have revived her using some method.
But for some reason,
Reyna's heart was not filled with the joy of surviving a disaster.
Instead, it was filled with a sense of bewilderment,
A feeling like ascending to the Golden Throne halfway and being kicked back to work overtime by the Emperor.