Chapter 138: Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [138]

The aerial battle was stunningly magnificent, even excessively so. Purple energy bolts and golden energy bolts were exchanged from a distance, landing on the ground with explosions, as if the entire planet was being scoured clean. Two streaks of light had transformed into a golden and a purple sphere, colliding constantly in the sky. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! This was a clash of pure power. Massive shockwaves rippled outward from the sky, tearing apart the clouds. The air echoed with the sound of sonic booms as enormous golden and purple slashes clashed against each other. It felt like a real battle, a fight so beyond mortal comprehension that no ordinary being could intervene. Inside the battle barge, the Starseers, along with some of the servitors exclusive to the Grey Knights, were momentarily at a loss for what to do. Onboard the spaceship, Rhodes' mouth twitched involuntarily. "Hey! Hey! You two idiots, aren't you taking this too far? It's one thing to spar a little on the ground, but what's the point of taking the fight into the sky?" This was like an aerial battle straight out of the Ultraman series, a spectacle even these Warhammer World Space Marines couldn't have imagined witnessing. Such a scene could only be described as unforgettable, or perhaps as a battle between gods. The Grey Knights were already questioning their perception of reality. Through the surveillance system of the Pendan spaceship, Rhodes could clearly see the Grey Knights frozen in shock. "Oh God! T-this is the kind of battle only gods could engage in!" exclaimed one of the Grey Knights, a warrior whose mind had been thoroughly fortified, having undergone countless brainwashing sessions to purge all emotions. Even he couldn't help but voice his admiration. Under normal circumstances, the Grand Master of the Grey Knights would have immediately reprimanded this warrior harshly. If the offense were serious, the warrior might even be executed on the spot, for the faith of the Grey Knights must remain unshakable. Even the slightest lapse in faith, the smallest error in belief, could lead them to eternal damnation. The psychic power within them made them the best gateways for Warp daemons to enter the material universe. But at this moment, even the Grand Master of the Grey Knights felt his faith wavering. However, it wasn't a wavering that led to collapse. Instead, it deepened his trust, admiration, and devotion to the Emperor. This level of combat—so intense it seemed capable of destroying an entire planet! If someone had told him before that being this powerful existed in the galaxy, capable of using the entire planet's sky and ground as their battlefield, shaking the planet itself with their fight, he would have scoffed. What had the Grey Knights not seen? What Xenox horrors and chaos daemons had they not faced? Yet now, he was witnessing a scene beyond his wildest imagination. "Praise the Emperor! Glory to the Emperor!" "Oh great Emperor, annihilate this daemon, destroy this heretic!" "Praise the Emperor! Die, daemon!" Countless Grey Knights knelt on the ground, placing their hands over their chests and beginning to pray. Even the Grand Master of the Grey Knights no longer tried to stop them, as he knelt and began to pray. Earlier, they could still catch glimpses of the shadows of the battle. Now, the entire sky had been divided into purple and gold. Golden lightning and purple lightning rained down endlessly, filling the planet with crackling sounds as if the apocalypse had arrived. Meanwhile, the members of the Harlequin troupe accompanying Rhodes, thanks to his deliberate concealment, hadn't seen what was being transmitted from the Pendan ship. They had only witnessed the ground battle when the Chaos Daemon Slayer descended, but Rhodes had switched their feed to something else, ensuring they remained unaware of the larger fight. Even so, the Harlequins were already ecstatic. A large group of them gathered, excitedly drafting scripts for their next performance. They debated where to hold their touring performances—whether to stage it in one of the Craftworld Eldar's domains, or the territories of the Exodite Eldar. One Harlequin even proposed performing in human settlements. Rhodes shook his head helplessly and quietly enhanced the purple ace killer, increasing its height to 42 meters and its weight by 3000 tons, while also restoring its energy reserves. Those two were going overboard with their fight, and it was about time to wrap things up. Soon, the avatar of Slaanesh would need to make a grand entrance, so Rhodes had to make some preparations in advance. Finally, a subtle shift occurred in the sky-high battle. The golden and purple figures clashed once more, but this time, the purple sphere carried the golden one downward, slamming violently into the ground. Boom! Boom! The entire planet's surface began to quake, a towering mushroom cloud erupting into the sky. "Hahaha! You've lost, Emperor's Avatar. I have defeated you!" The purple avatar of Slaanesh laughed triumphantly, gripping the Chaos Daemon Slayer by the throat and lifting it high into the air, loudly proclaiming its victory. The golden armor of the Emperor's Avatar was riddled with cracks, and the Chaos Daemon Slayer's body bore deep wounds that exposed bone. Blood gushed out in torrents, splattering onto the ground. From the perspective of the Grey Knights, the golden avatar of the Emperor seemed gravely injured, on the verge of death. "No! How could this happen? How could this happen? The Emperor! The Emperor will never lose!" One of the Grey Knights, unable to accept the sight of the Emperor's avatar being lifted by the neck by a daemon, roared in anger. "Impossible! The Emperor—the Emperor will never lose! Even if it's just his avatar, he will never lose!" At the moment the golden-armored giant was defeated, the hearts of the Grey Knights trembled. It was a fear rooted in their very genes—the fear of seeing the giant before they fell. Now, they were certain: even if this being wasn't the Emperor himself, it was undoubtedly his avatar, their great genetic father. The rhythm resonating from their genes couldn't be wrong, as their genetic seeds originated from the Emperor himself. "Brothers, fight! Follow my command—support the Emperor's avatar with everything you've got!" The Grey Knight captain roared furiously, raising his enchanted boltgun and opening fire on the massive purple giant before him. "Take him down! Kill this despicable heretics!" "This heretic didn't win honorably! The Emperor's avatar cleared the entire planet of daemons, and only then did this scum manage to succeed with a sneak attack!" "Destroy the daemon! Kill him!" All the Grey Knights launched their furious assault, unleashing a torrent of firepower upon the purple giant. Yet, no matter how fierce their attacks, they were no more than an itch to the towering purple giant. His warp shield effortlessly deflected their onslaught. With the power of Slaanesh enhancing him, the demon or Slaanesh-empowered avatar could easily manipulate spatial energy to create a warp energy shield around himself, as if it were second nature. "Insects! You dare attack a god?" The purple giant roared, swinging his demonic sword. A deep purple blade of energy, over a hundred meters long, slashed toward the group of Grey Knights. "Scatter!" the captain shouted. All the Space Marines immediately scattered and jumped to evade, narrowly avoiding the enormous purple energy slash. The ground around them, however, was torn asunder, leaving a massive chasm that even split the Grey Knights' ranks in two. The Grey Knight Grand Master gritted his teeth, raised his staff, and unleashed a massive blue psychic blast that struck the purple giant. Despite his lingering hesitation, the situation had reached a point of no return—there was no choice but to fight. No matter what, this purple daemon was their enemy. They had to attack first and deal with the rest later! "Insects! Witness the power of a god!" The Slaanesh Avatar raised his demonic sword and unleashed over a dozen massive energy slashes at the Grey Knights. The psychic shield that the Grand Master and the remaining warriors had summoned together only managed to block two slashes before shattering. The surviving Grey Knights scrambled to evade, activating their jump packs. Yet dozens of them were still struck, sent flying through the air by the devastating slashes. Some were unlucky enough to enter a near-death state, their Sus-an Membrane activating as a last resort. And this was only because the Slaanesh Avatar was holding back; otherwise, more than half of the Grey Knights would have perished in an instant. "Vengeance!" the Grey Knight captain roared. The remaining Grey Knights rose to their feet and opened fire with their enchanted boltguns, unleashing a relentless barrage. Their attacks, however, did not affect the purple daemon before them. It was as if raindrops were hitting an immovable mountain. "Hmph! With just the flick of a finger, I could wipe you all out," the purple daemon sneered. His hand began to glow, and a massive purple energy sphere started to form. It seemed as though, in the next moment, the Grey Knights would meet their doom. Despair filled their faces. This enemy was too powerful! It felt like ants trying to bring down an elephant. The daemon remained unscathed, while a mere flick of his hand could annihilate them all. "Cough, cough! You won't get away with this!" The golden-armored giant roared, raising a fist and punching the purple daemon square in the face, breaking free of his restraints. "You still have the strength to resist? Then I'll make you watch as the world you love descends into hell!" The Slaanesh Avatar grabbed the Chaos Daemon Slayer by the neck and hurled him through the air. The Slayer flew hundreds of meters before crashing heavily into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust and debris. The Grey Knight Grand Master and captain struggled to maintain a psychic shield, while the other Grey Knights scattered, continuing their fruitless assault on the purple daemon. At that moment, the Grey Knights felt, for the first time, how truly powerless they were. They weren't even worthy of being cannon fodder.