Nyx evaded Gork's grasp and leaped into the air. He thought his opponent had underestimated him, daring to repeat the same old trick. But the next second, two colossal tusks loomed suddenly before him!
"WAAAGH! WE GOT YA!"
It turned out Mork had already leaped to intercept! Gork had never expected to succeed twice — his attack was a feint from the start, bait to lure the enemy, while Mork struck from the flank.
Nyx had forgotten that Gork's cunning was no less formidable than his brute strength. Yet instead of panic, his face bore a look of almost proud satisfaction.
"WAAAGH! GOLDEN BOY! WOT YOU GRINNIN' AT?!" Mork bellowed in confusion.
"I'M GRINNIN' AT HOW YOU DARE UNDERSESTIMATE ME, NYX!" Nyx's thunderous voice exploded in mid‑air. "YOU REALLY THINK I'M SO ARROGANT AND RASH THAT I CAN'T SEE THROUGH SUCH A SHALLOW TRICK?!"
"THEN YOU'LL PAY THE PRICE FOR THAT CONTEMPT!"
Before his words faded, a golden torrent erupted between Nyx and Mork! Nyx, having risen higher, now gazed down upon his target.
"MORK! EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE HAS ALREADY BEEN THOROUGHLY ANALYSED — BY THE EMPEROR I HAVE SUMMONED!"
Hearing this, Mork's eyes darted sideways. He saw the Imperial phantom still standing majestically in place, as though all was within His contemplation. But this was no time to be distracted!
"I TOLD YOU — DON'T LOOK AWAY!"
Golden current enveloped Nyx's body like armour. His right fist gathered a blazing light too fierce to behold.
"MAGNETIC FIELD ROTATION — 250,000 HORSEPOWER—"
"——BEAST‑SLAYING FIST!"
A golden meteor, wreathed in boundless battle‑lust, plummeted from on high! This strike slammed into Mork's head with devastating force, demanding immediate payment for that contempt.
*BOOM——! *
The colossal green form shot backward like a meteor, carving a radial crater deep into the arena floor. Countless greenskin Boyz around them instantly lost their voices — had they ever seen a 'tin‑can' this audacious?!
"NEXT — YOU, GORK!"
Nyx paused momentarily in mid‑air, struck a JoJo pose, and pointed his finger at Gork. His momentum undiminished, he transformed into a golden streak and charged again!
"WAAAGH! GOLDEN BOY! DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME BROTHER!"
Gork howled savagely. The power throughout his body began to swell wildly; furious green energy raced along his fist, condensed, and roared.
"GORK‑GOD‑FIST!"
Without the slightest retreat, Gork met Nyx's strike head‑on, grounded upon the earth.
"COME! LET'S SEE WHOSE FIST IS STRONGER!"
Nyx's Beast‑Slaying Fist and Gork's God‑Fist — like two colliding stars, they clashed without any finesse!
*BOOM————!!! *
From the point of impact erupted a terrifying roar, capable of rupturing eardrums. The collision of pure force compressed the air, forming a visible ring of gold‑green mixed shockwaves that swept violently through the audience, blurring the phantoms of tens of thousands of Ork Boyz in the front row and sending them staggering!
The golden current and the green WAAAGH! energy field frenziedly corroded and devoured each other, like two giant pythons locked in mortal combat. The arena floor around them collapsed layer by layer, forming an ever‑expanding web‑like crater!
"WAAAGH!" Gork roared — a sound mixing wrath and excitement. He felt the force emanating from his opponent's fist far exceeded his expectations; it was not merely a physical blow, but a burning assault upon the very essence of the Ork, making the green hide on his knuckles tingle and crack.
"THE SPACE KING'S POWER... IS NOTHING!" Nyx roared in turn, his arms straining, the golden lightning growing ever more dazzling. He felt within his fist the arrogant, primal, unreasoning force of the WAAAGH!, seeking to crush him and his will together.
Man and monster sustained their deadlock, push and counter‑push. For a moment, neither yielded.
But the next second, the golden current abruptly contracted inward — then exploded with even greater ferocity! The rotational force of 250,000 horsepower magnetic field, combined with Nyx's domineering will, forcibly rent the almost‑physical outer defence of the WAAAGH! energy field!
"WOT?!" Gork's pupils contracted.
*CRACK! SNAP! *
A sharp, dense snapping sound. Gork's colossal fist was slightly deformed — his knuckles bent backward!
Nyx's overwhelming force, laced with penetrating electrical current, savagely surged along Gork's arm and into his body!
"GET — BACK — HERE!"
He bellowed, and his fist thrust forward again, violently shoving Gork's mountainous frame into a backward slide! Gork's feet gouged two deep furrows in the arena floor, gravel spraying everywhere, until he skidded dozens of metres back and barely stabilised himself.
The audience was dead silent.
Every Ork Boy's eyes were wide, their jaws slack. Even the WAAAGH! went uncried. What were they witnessing? In a contest of pure strength... their god had been pushed back?!
Gork looked down at his faintly trembling fist. The knuckles were cracked. Then he raised his gaze to Nyx, who stood in the distance, his aura gradually subsiding yet his battle‑lust undiminished. Pain came, but upon his green face, a vast — almost grateful — grin slowly spread.
"WAAAGH! EXCELLENT! NOW DAT'S A FIST!" Gork flexed his hand as though the wound were unworthy of mention. The fire burning in his eyes blazed brighter than before. "GOLDEN BOY! YOU'Z WORTHY TO BE ME OPPONENT! DIS SCRAP IZ GETTIN' BETTER AN' BETTER!"
Nyx slowly withdrew his fists and stood at the centre of the shattered arena, golden electric serpents coiling around him. He gazed at Gork — and at Mork, who was clambering out of his pit, shaking his head in fury.
"WAAAGH! GOLDEN BOY! YOU'Z STRONG 'NUFF! YOU'Z WORTHY TO BE ME BROTHER MORK'S OPPONENT!"
"GIVE US YA NAME — SO EVERY BOY REMEMBERS IT!"
"CAUSE NEXT STRIKE — ME AN' ME BROTHER IZ GONNA KRUMP YA CLEAN OUTTA DA RING!"
Not a trace of playfulness remained in Gork and Mork's eyes. As the supreme gods of the Ork race, they could not be defeated. In the purest Ork sense — we are the brutalest and cunningest! How could they lose face before their own Boyz!
"CARLYLE NYX!"
"REMEMBER THIS NAME — I'LL TEACH YOU WHAT 'DEFEAT' MEANS!"
"Nyx... EXCELLENT!" Gork and Mork's voices overlapped, like muffled thunder. "WE'Z GONNA CARVE YA NAME — AN' YA BLOOD — INTO DIS RING!"
*WAAAAAAAAAGH!!!! *
Gork and Mork stood side by side. Together, they unleashed a roar that shook the entire Divine Realm! The WAAAGH! energy field of the whole Ork pantheon began to resonate and frenziedly merge into the bodies of the two gods. They did not exceed the agreed limits of power — but the infinite WAAAGH! energy, belonging to the entire race, became their most reliable support in this moment. To overwhelm an opponent with sheer force — that was the 'cunning' the Orks prized alongside 'brutality'!
"WAAAGH! FIELD ROTATION — 250,000 HORSEPOWER—"
"——GORK... MORK... GOD! SLAY! FIST!"
Both fists struck out together! Colossal, beast‑like phantoms, devouring heaven and earth, erupted from their fists from both sides. Space itself warped. The green flame was monstrous, crushing down upon Nyx with the purest, most savage annihilation!
"HMPH... JUST IN TIME!" Facing this combination capable of shattering stars, Nyx held his head high and laughed with tears. The golden light in his eyes blazed like the sun. "EMPEROR — YOU AND I SHALL FIGHT TOGETHER!"
Behind him, the Imperial phantom, who had remained silent throughout, suddenly opened His eyes! His majesty merged perfectly with Nyx's seething battle‑lust.
"MAGNETIC FIELD ROTATION!"
"PERFECT DOMAIN!"
"TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND HORSEPOWER—"
"DUAL EMPEROR... GOD! SLAY! FIST!"
Nyx and the Imperial Phantom struck simultaneously! Two blinding golden torrents erupted forth. The instant the fists launched — the phantom, whose eyes had been empty, suddenly blazed with significant golden flame. His form became more solid than ever before!
Nyx, who should have been overwhelmed in this clash, actually held his ground!
The Emperor, thousands of light‑years away, had poured His majestic power into the distant phantom in the Warp!
*BUZZ— *
The corona behind Nyx's head surged like a supernova, blooming! The Emperor's psychic energy transformed into a torrent of immense power, blessing his body.
But it was not enough. Within the raging WAAAGH! energy field of the Ork gods, the Emperor's power was rapidly dissipating. Nyx alone could not sustain this for long.
"I'LL HELP YA!"
A roar that seemed to make the entire cosmos wail — from the Brass Citadel!
Khorne, enthroned upon His skull‑mountain, could no longer contain Himself. His colossal palm swept toward the arena.
Pure, savage, sanguine blessing forcibly tore through the barrier of Gork and Mork's ring and crashed down upon Nyx's body like magma!
This was no longer the side of Nyx and the Emperor.
This was, by the Throne, Nyx blessed by TWO GODS!
The Emperor's psychic might and Khorne's blessing — these two terrifying forces, which should have been utterly incompatible — were, under Nyx's 'transcendent' hegemony, intertwined and fused within his fist, transforming into a light that defied all reason!
"GET—"
Nyx's roar drowned out the howl of all energies. His very body cracked from the overwhelming power.
"—LOST!!"