Warm sunlight streamed through the windows into the vast hall.
Everyone was overjoyed that the mother and son — Guilliman and Lady Tarasha Euten — had been reunited.
However, as Lady Tarasha Euten continued to grow younger, the atmosphere gradually became more subtle.
Just moments ago, Roboute Guilliman, the Regent of the Imperium, had announced that he would resign from his position as frontline commander to spend time with his adoptive mother and take on a rear-support role.
No matter how much those around him tried to dissuade him, he refused to listen and insisted on having his way.
And now, the Nameless One had intervened and restored Lady Tarasha Euten to her youthful appearance.
All the reasons Guilliman had given earlier had naturally become meaningless.
Malcador stood to the side, holding the Aquila scepter with its eternal flame.
He looked at the scene before him with mischievous eyes, cleared his throat, and spoke in a humorous tone.
"Lord Regent of the Imperium, Lord Roboute, it seems you will have to continue the expedition after all."
"Lady Tarasha Euten is still very young. It will likely be a long time before she reaches the end of her life."
Guilliman turned to look at Lady Tarasha Euten. She was excited about regaining her youth.
No woman disliked eternal youth.
Given the current situation, there would be no problem with Lady Tarasha Euten living another two or three hundred years.
The Primarch turned back to look at Malcador and the Nameless One, the corners of his lips twitching slightly.
Ugh… that Nameless One definitely did this on purpose.
Lady Tarasha Euten had clearly had plenty of time to regain her youth.
They only took action after expressing their inner feelings.
I am the Regent of the Imperium, a Primarch who holds the fate of the galaxy in my hands. Do they want to see me acting like an ordinary human swayed by emotions?
The Nameless One has changed. He has truly become evil!!
We were supposed to be the best of partners, yet this is the result.
Back then, you only had me to rely on, and I only had you.
Our relationship was so close, and we could trust each other unconditionally.
In the end, old people are replaced by new ones, and feelings fade.
Guilliman closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
When he opened them again, that emotional impulse had vanished without a trace.
His gaze regained its rationality, and his voice returned to its usual calm and dignified tone.
"Understood. I retract what I said earlier."
"I will continue to go to the front lines, take command, advance the Indomitus Crusade, and keep fighting those damn enemies."
The moment the Primarch's speech ended, Datch received a mission completion notification.
[Mission Complete! Congratulations on successfully helping Lady Tarasha Euten regain her vitality.]
[Quest Rewards: 2,500 EXP, 2,500 Points, +800 Reputation]
Another small side quest completed.
Not bad, not bad.
After resolving the concerns of the long-separated mother and son,
Datch ignored the enthusiastic gazes of the many NPCs and walked straight toward Malcador, starting the conversation according to the story's progression.
"Lord Chancellor Malcador."
Datch's voice was warm and sincere, a stark contrast to his usual coldness.
"You seem to be troubled by something?"
"If you're willing, perhaps you could tell me about it! I might be able to help!"
Malcador looked at the enthusiastic Nameless One and cursed him as a scumbag in his heart.
He knew the Nameless One's ways all too well.
Such a good attitude was only temporary.
Once the problem was solved, even if he shouted until his voice went hoarse, the other party wouldn't even turn around to look at him.
This guy's behavior was the very definition of a scumbag.
When he needed you, he would treat you very kindly, as if you were his closest friend or family.
When he no longer needed you, he would leave without the slightest hesitation — not even saying goodbye.
Datch waited a few seconds. Seeing that Malcador wasn't saying anything, he repeated himself.
"Lord Chancellor Malcador, you seem troubled. If you're willing, could you tell me what's on your mind? I might be able to help!"
"Recently, I've started communicating with our Lord in my dreams," Malcador said after thinking for a moment.
The Nameless One would keep repeating the same thing over and over until the target's mission forced a compromise.
"He told me a few things about the past…"
Although the Emperor had not risen from the Golden Throne, he continued to communicate with Malcador through dreams.
Recently, they had discussed an important topic — the fact that a certain Nameless One had been sent back to the past.
Although the past had been cut off by the Horus Heresy, the destruction caused by the Nameless Ones in the past was immense and still affected this timeline.
Malcador lightly waved his hand, and a holographic image appeared in the void.
The image showed the figure of Horus, but it was constantly changing, distorting, and splitting, as if countless possibilities existed simultaneously.
"Our Lord said that Horus, one of the key figures in the Horus Heresy, has completely deviated from his original path of development."
Whether the past Erebus could drag him into the Chaos camp remained unknown for now.
Malcador paused for a moment, organizing his thoughts and words.
"Therefore, it is highly likely that an extremely important battle — one that far surpasses the final battle between Horus and the Emperor — will break out in the near future."
In the holographic projection, the distorted image became even clearer.
Countless timelines intertwined, split, and collided, like countless mad snakes tearing at each other.
"And this battle has a very high chance of reshaping the past and creating an entirely new future and past."
"Our Lord hopes that you will travel to the past and change the fate of the Primarchs."
Malcador raised his hand, and the Aquila scepter with its eternal flame paused slightly.
The flame at the tip of the scepter flickered, leaving golden trails in the void.
"In that case, if the Horus Heresy is altered, the storm of the past could tear apart the current timeline."
"This would deal an unimaginably devastating blow to the enemy."
The moment the demon-patterned Chancellor finished speaking, a familiar mission prompt appeared in Datch's vision.
[Mission: Change the fate of the traitor Primarchs and deliver a blow to the gods.]
[From a higher perspective, time was merely one of the dimensions supporting the universe and did not always move forward.]
[The past, present, and future coexisted and influenced each other.]
[The Emperor and Malcador hoped that you would travel to the past and change the fate of the Primarchs, thereby harming the Chaos Gods.]
[Quest Rewards: 5,000 EXP, 5,000 Points, +1,000 Reputation, Soul Stone ×1]
Datch's gaze stopped on the final line, and a surprised expression appeared on his face.
One of the Infinity Stones — the Soul Stone — had finally been revealed.
With this, he would have five Infinity Stones.
Once he collected all six Infinity Stones, he could snap his fingers like a certain purple potato.
With a snap of his fingers, he could restore everything and fulfill any wish.
"Understood. I will complete this mission."
Datch nodded and accepted the mission. He prepared to summon the TARDIS phone booth, head there, and give those traitor Primarchs a good lesson in labor re-education.
Suddenly, Datch noticed that the Stone Fortress icon on the minimap was flashing, with a golden exclamation mark displayed.
This indicated that the main story progression during this period had been taking place at the Stone Fortress.
Datch looked at the golden exclamation mark on the minimap and hesitated for a moment before decisively giving up on summoning the TARDIS phone booth. He decided to first finish the main story of this timeline before using the TARDIS to return to the past.
The Warhammer universe game spanned multiple timelines.
If the battle between Horus and the Emperor was changed, the original timeline would collapse.
A new timeline would be reconstructed through the final battle between the Emperor and the gods.
At that time, all quests on the current timeline would disappear.
They should do it once while they were still here to improve the gaming experience.
Datch took out his teleport gun, set the coordinates for the Stone Fortress, and pulled the trigger. A green teleport portal opened.
The moment he stepped inside, it disappeared without a trace.
Malcador, Guilliman, Lady Tarasha Euten, and the others watched the Nameless One leave, and silence fell over the hall.
After a while, the noise in the hall returned.
…
The massive Stone Fortress floated in the vast void. The sky was now chaotic.
In the void, the fleet defending the Stone Fortress was engaged in a fierce firefight with the Chaos fleet.
Dense energy beams and projectiles rained down across the airspace, with each explosion creating massive fireballs.
Warships burned, wreckage drifted, and countless soldiers silently perished in the vacuum.
The beams were so dense that they formed walls of light.
The trajectories of the projectiles intertwined, forming an impenetrable net of death that covered the entire battlefield.
The flames from secondary explosions rose and fell, illuminating the entire void and even dimming the light of the dying stars.
The fortress itself had also been drawn into the war.
The corridors, which had once carried a solemn atmosphere, had now become meat grinders.
Traitors poured in from all directions, clashing with the defensive forces.
Daemons emerged from dimensional rifts, frantically attacking every defensive position.
The Dark Angels warriors fought desperately. The roar of slug guns echoed through the corridors, and the growl of chainswords tore through the air.
Datch emerged from the hole of light riding his giant rooster and saw the Dark Angels engaged in fierce battle.
The leader of the Dark Angels was the repentant madman Asmodai.
He had once been a high-ranking Inquisitor and was greatly feared by the Fallen Angels.
Asmodai was surrounded by fifty members of his think tank.
They combined their strength to unleash psychic powers and fought against the daemons and strange creatures pouring out of the Warp.
The number of daemons far exceeded their own, and under the relentless onslaught, the Dark Angels' information network had reached its limit. Team members fell one after another.
When the giant rooster saw the daemons, it attacked with its powerful beak and claws, tearing them apart like insects and devouring them.
When Datch saw the fallen think tank members, he dismounted from the rooster and headed toward them.
He took out the Golden Hammer from his game inventory.
With a light tap, a metallic sound rang out.
Golden light exploded and enveloped the fallen think tank members. Their wounds then healed at a visibly rapid speed, and color returned to their faces.
A few seconds later, those think tank members opened their eyes, brimming with energy, and stood up from the ground.
The same applied to the others. Datch could quickly activate them with a single tap and restore them to their previous healthy state.
The roaring daemons witnessed this unbelievable scene. Upon seeing Datch's face, they let out screams of terror.
"The King of Absurdity."
"He is here. He is here."
"Run! Run!"
The daemons, who had been in a frenzy just moments ago, retreated madly, desperately trying to force their way into the Warp rifts.
Today, an unspoken rule had been established in the highest heavens.
When encountering the King of Absurdity, it was reasonable to consider any means of escape permissible.
Even Khorne, the god of war and blood, tacitly approved of this unspoken rule among his subordinate daemons.
The Nameless Ones were not invincible. They could be killed and torn apart.
The problem was that this man would come back to life.
No matter how they killed him, he would revive.
Furthermore, the opponent could summon various powerful warriors.
Last time, the opponent had nearly broken through the Warp and humiliated the gods.
It was fine to bully ordinary humans, but those who provoked the god of absurdity would invite death.
The enemy would truly chase them all the way to the Warp and unleash a powerful lightning strike.
After the daemons fled back to the higher heavens, they hurriedly closed the dimensional rifts out of fear that the enemy would invade.
On the battlefield, the traitors who were still resisting saw the daemons fleeing and began to retreat in chaos.
They threw down their weapons and turned to flee, wishing they had two more legs out of fear of being caught.
The pressure on the Dark Angels suddenly eased, and they launched a counterattack against the fleeing enemies.
Asmodai stood panting amid the horrific scene of severed limbs.
His resolute face was covered in sweat and blood.
Looking up, he saw the Nameless One climbing onto his giant rooster. The corners of his lips twitched slightly.
The Nameless One is truly strong, and the abstract is truly abstract.
The opponent always appeared in such dizzyingly bad outfits.
"Thank you for your assistance, honored Nameless One."
Although Asmodai was dissatisfied, he politely lowered his head to express his gratitude.
The other Dark Angels think tank members also expressed their thanks to the Nameless One in the same manner.
Datch ignored the NPCs' salutes. Seeing the golden exclamation mark above Asmodai's head, he spoke.
"Asmodai, the madman who judges others, is there anything I can do for you?"
Asmodai: ...
What do you mean by "the madman who judges others"?
In the past, he had been passionate about judging the Fallen Angels, but in his long career, only two repentant Fallen Angels had appeared.
But that was all in the past.
Calling me the madman who judges others — are you trying to bring up the past?!
He was trembling with anger and cold. When would the Nameless Ones stop persecuting the Dark Angels?!
Asmodai took a deep breath and regained his composure.
"The Stone Fortress was attacked by Vashtorr. For some reason, he suddenly attacked our fortress, resulting in many casualties."
"If possible, please help us deal with those villains."
The moment he finished speaking, a new mission prompt appeared in Datch's vision.
[Mission: Support the Dark Angels and repel the invading Vashtorr.]
Vashtorr was a neutral NPC who ruled over the Soul Forge domain and specialized in forging Chaos artifacts and daemon weapons.
For unknown reasons, they had suddenly launched an attack on the Stone Fortress, resulting in numerous casualties.
Inquisitor Lord Asmodai was requesting your assistance to repel the enemy and protect the Stone Fortress, the monastery of the Dark Angels.
[Quest Rewards: 4,000 EXP, 4,000 Points, +800 Reputation, Canary Cookies ×10]