Warhammer: Don't Call Me the God of All Machines

Chapter 875 Emperor: Where Does a Gambler Cry Every Day?
Asdubal Victor fell into deep confusion.

He never imagined things would turn out this way.

Comoros is not immune to invasions; in its long history, there are more than a dozen instances of it being invaded by warp demons.

However, relying on the natural aversion of the Warp to demons and the ancient foundation of the Dark Eldar, they were able to hold out until the very end each time, forcefully driving the Warp demons back to the High Heavens.

This time, however, the situation is completely different from before.

Victor swore to the Pantheon that he only wanted to use those human monkeys to eliminate some of his hated rivals, and had absolutely no intention of letting humans invade Comoros.

Comoros is the capital and homeland of the Dark Eldar, the most legitimate heir to the Eldar Empire.

It is because of the existence of the Comoros that the Dark Eldar can so brazenly mock the Ark Eldar as nothing more than a bunch of down-and-outs fleeing across the galaxy in dilapidated cargo ships; and ridicule the Savage Eldar as nothing more than primitive people playing in the mud on barren planets.

But what will they do after losing Comoros?

The Dark Eldar knew that even hiding in the Web of Depths wouldn't save them from the Slaanesh's covetousness, but they could mitigate the Slaanesh's influence by continuing to indulge in pleasure and debauchery, and by tormenting other beings.

Torture and pleasure are not only a noble tradition of the ancient Eldar empire, but also a way for these dark Eldar to prolong their lives.

Without the Comoros, how would they maintain a complete system of hunting, enslavement, and pleasure?
A civilization needs enough living space to sustain its existence.

While the internet is vast, places as large, stable, and secure as Comoros are extremely rare.

The Dark Eldar are not without enemies in the Networld. Other Eldar factions sometimes disapprove of the Dark Eldar's madness and indulgence, and occasionally they will scheme against them.

"The best outcome for our race is to become like those damned Ark Eldar, piloting giant arks, wandering the Web and the Milky Way, evading the threat of powerful enemies."

"The numerous conspiracies will no longer be openly and covertly fighting, because there is no longer a stage as large as Comoros that can provide space for so many conspiracies to survive and compete."

“Our race is finished. With the loss of Comoros, we have lost our future. Although we didn’t have much of a future to begin with, since every Dark Eldar who dies will be devoured by the Prince of Pleasure.”

Even the cunning and shrewd Victor felt a sense of despair at this moment.

If he could turn back time, he would never have told Ryan Zhuangsen about the natural disaster. These humans might have chosen to retreat long ago because they couldn't conquer the land.

However, Victor quickly overturned his assumption, because by the end the Emperor of Man had appeared in Comoros, which meant that even if the Primarchs had not conquered Comoros, the Dark Eldar would still be facing an enemy like the Emperor who was completely unstoppable.

If the Pantheon were still standing, it might have been able to keep the Emperor out of Comoros.

However, the Dark Eldar are now just a few remnants of the dead. The Pantheon is now only occupied by the elusive Laughing God, the shattered Bloodhand Cain, and Aisha, who was captured by Nurgle.

In terms of backstage influence, the Adarin are not even as good as the green-skinned orcs they have always looked down upon.

At least those barbarians who have nothing but "waaagh" in their heads have a real warp god like Brother Gao Mao backing them up.

Victor understood long ago that the world of martial arts is not about fighting and killing, but about human relationships and social interactions.

In this world, connections matter, and unfortunately for them, they're just small fry with no connections.

"Your Excellency, what should we do?"

Victor was still followed by a group of Dark Eldar. Some of them were indeed loyal to Victor, while others had long since lost their way and did not even know where they were going except to continue following the Archon.

Among these Dark Eldar were even newcomers who voluntarily submitted to Victor during the evacuation.

“Where the hell do I go? How the hell am I supposed to know where the hell do I go?” Victor swore, a rare occurrence for him.

"In short, we must escape the Comoros first. Those humans will definitely try to kill us all. Our only chance of survival is to escape."

"Secondly, contact Delazal and Candice and have them inform the Nightmare Order, the Witch Spirit Cult, and all the governors who are willing to leave Comoros that if the infighting continues, our race will truly be doomed."

Victor forced himself to calm down and let his brain make the most rational judgment.

While sending his men to contact various parties, he led his most trusted men onto the escape ark that the ruthless conspiracy group had prepared all along.

Victor and his ruthless conspiracy group were not a powerful force in the Dark City and could be swallowed up and destroyed by a more powerful conspiracy group at any time. Therefore, he had already prepared more than one way out.

In any case, the worst-case scenario is being driven out of Comoros, leaving the protection of the Web, and going to the real universe to become an Eldar pirate.

The ark that Victor prepared was not as large as the one built by the Eldar.

The Ark, or Ark of the Eldar, was once a massive trading ship during the Eldar Empire era, capable of carrying large numbers of Eldar and providing them with a stable living environment.

Victor's Ark, on the other hand, was a small cruiser from the Eldar Empire era. Although it could not compare in size to a trade ship, it far surpassed the latter in terms of speed, stealth, defense, and offensive capabilities.

Victor found the ancient warship in an old cemetery on the edge of the Comoros.

According to the governor's assessment, the ship was likely damaged and lost during the Great Fall event, and buried along with other debris.

"Start the engine, ready to go."

"I won't linger for them for a second longer. No self-important fool is worthy of boarding my ark."

"Those conspiracies are probably still thinking about how to drive humans out of the Comoros. It's a pity that none of the Ida have a chance against the human emperor."

Victor placed his trusted men in various positions on the small ark, while he prepared to personally pilot the ship to escape the Comoros.

On this life-saving ship, the governor backed up most of the ancient documents about the Spirit Empire era that he had collected and deciphered. In his view, these were the most precious things.

Time was ticking away, and the deadline set by Victor was drawing ever closer, making the governor increasingly anxious.

Finally, before his patience completely ran out, his close associates, Delazal and Candice, arrived at the agreed location with some members of the Nightmare Order and the Witch Spirit Cult.

In addition, two other equally small conspiratorial governors also came to the area at Victor's invitation.

Victor glanced around and was somewhat surprised to find that there were more Dark Eldar who were willing to trust him than he had expected.

"Without further ado, since you're willing to trust me, then get on my ship."

"Let's discuss the remaining arrangements and plans on the ship."

After saying that, the remaining Dark Eldar did not waste any more words and boarded Victor's small ark, leaving Comoros' private spaceport and heading towards the Webway.

The atmosphere inside the ark was unusually silent, heavy as lead.

Candice broke the silence first.

"Do we really have to escape, forced by those human apes to leave the home we've lived in for generations?"

"Perhaps if we unite all the conspiracies, we can drive humanity out again."

Victor was not surprised by such questions; on the contrary, he had already anticipated that some people were still clinging to wishful thinking.

It's good that Candice voiced his questions; at least it lets others see his stance.

“There’s no point in staying here. You’re too stuck in your ways and don’t understand the outside world at all.”

"You have no idea how terrifying that emperor is. None of our Aidaling race has anyone who can stand against him."

"Even if the entire Comoros conspiracy group, along with all their trump cards, were to unite, it would only prolong the slaughter by humankind for a little longer."

Just as Victor was about to continue expressing his thoughts, the Comoros behind Ark suddenly shone with a light brighter than the sun.

The light was so bright that even the two stars hanging in the Comoros sky appeared incredibly dim.

The Ark's scanning system then revealed that the main urban area of ​​Comoros was rapidly crumbling and turning into ruins under the erosion of this light.

The psionic detector had already overloaded and crashed the moment the light appeared, triggering an automatic protection restart.

Candice and the other two conspirators, who had initially harbored some doubts and suspicions, immediately fell silent.

They knew very well that if they remained there, their only fate would be to die a painful death under the terrifying psionic damage.

Furthermore, the psionic light released by the Emperor had completely illuminated Comoros, exposing the souls of all Eldar in this hellish place to the gaze of Slaanesh.

As for whether Slaanesh would dare to devour the souls of the Dark Eldar right under the Emperor's nose, only the Phoenix King Asuyan would know.

Oh, it seems Asuyan is already inside Slaanesh's belly, so no one can know the answer.

“I don’t know if any other Dark Eldar have escaped from Comoros, but I expect Ida to have some, though not many.”

"The entire Eldar race in Comoros is mired in endless conspiracies and struggles. To give them a long-term perspective would be a death sentence."

"Who could have imagined that the Comoros would be destroyed so quickly?"

Victor sighed from the bottom of his heart, his gaze fixed on the net ahead, as if pondering where the future lay.

The one-armed De Lazar remained silent, but he seemed to intend to follow Victor for the time being.

After all, the judgment and vision demonstrated by this ruthless conspirator far surpass those of the other Dark Eldar.

The Candice of the Witch Spirit Cult are the same; they are only good at wielding weapons and killing people. It would be too much to ask Ada to come up with any brilliant ideas or strategies from them.

Under the watchful eyes of the Nightmare Lord and the Witch Spirit Succubus, the remaining two conspirators' governors also knew when to back down.

"Lord Asdubal Victor, we are willing to pledge our allegiance to you."

“Our conspiracy can merge with the Black Heart Conspiracy now; our race can no longer afford internal strife.”

Victor lowered his hand slightly, signaling for silence and giving him time to think.

"I have backed up some important machines and equipment on my Ark, which can produce the weapons and equipment we need, as well as clone more Dark Eldar soldiers. We don't need to worry about running out of supplies for the time being."

"But now we face an important problem—"

First: How can we continue to escape the Dark Prince's pursuit? We've left Comoros, and there aren't so many slaves left to torture and pleasure.

Second: Now that we've left the Comoros, where should we go? Humans have gained the ability to enter the Webpath. Although we don't know if it was those hybrid Eldar from the Ark who gave humans this ability, the fact remains, and we can only accept it.

"If we stay in the net, we're very likely to run into humans, and then we'll have nowhere to escape."

Victor looked at his companions who claimed to follow him and gestured with his eyes for them to express their opinions.

However, De Lazak remained expressionless, wearing a mask and completely devoid of emotion, just like a dead man.

Candice was tending to the wounds Lucius had left on her body. The succubus from the Witchcraft Cult was almost naked, and the crimson scars only made her look more alluring.

The remaining two former leaders of the conspiracy group showed no intention of expressing their opinions whatsoever.

They had already pledged allegiance to Victor, so they naturally knew they should keep a low profile. If they stood out too much and made Victor wary, they would be courting death.

Victor was left with nowhere to vent his anger and could only start analyzing things to himself.

"With our current manpower, the risk of capturing a sufficient number of torture slaves is simply too great."

"The Milky Way has become the domain of humankind. If we expose our whereabouts, we are very likely to be completely targeted."

“Even if we want to plunder slaves, we must go to some more remote places with weak defenses.” “But without the protection of the Net, the risk of torturing slaves and extracting their lost souls is very high. Therefore, our best approach is to emulate the Ark Eldar and use Soul Stones to store our souls.”

“The Ark Eldar?” Candice frowned; she had never had a good impression of those Ark Eldar relatives.

They are too boring, too rigid, and full of dogmatic constraints—which they themselves call the "path."

"Even if the Ark Eldar have extra Soul Stones, would they share these precious Soul Stones with us?" Candice questioned.

“I have some connections with a few Ark Eldar prophets, so asking them for some Soulstones shouldn’t be a problem. Considering we’re all Eldar, they won’t just stand by and watch me die.”

"Victor said calmly."

"Of course, if they are unwilling to give it, then we will attack their ark and plunder the soul stones and slaves."

“Robbing humans will invite their revenge, but robbing the Ark Eldar is fine, right? That's not as much as humans being bored as taking revenge for the Ark Eldar.”

"Of course, we also have a second option."

"Among our many cousins, only the Clown Eldar truly need not worry about their psychic powers being corrupted by the Prince of Pleasure. They have the protection of the God of Laughter, and even after death, their souls will be taken away by the God of Laughter."

“We can seek refuge with the God of Laughter. Our clan once devoutly worshipped the Pantheon, which included the God of Laughter. For the sake of our ancestors, Xi Gaoqi should lend a helping hand.”

Candice's lips twitched. The Eldar did indeed once devoutly worship the Pantheon, but as the Eldar Empire completely dominated the entire galaxy, the Eldar gradually degenerated, indulging in pleasure, and fewer and fewer Eldar civilians maintained their devout faith.

The reason why Slaanesh grew so quickly after his birth that he was able to slaughter and devour the Pantheon was largely because the gods of the Pantheon were weakened to varying degrees after losing the sustenance of the Eldar's faith, while Slaanesh gained more power through indulgence and depravity.

As one side grows stronger and the other weakens, Slaanesh will become increasingly powerful.

“I know the God of Laughter might not accept us, but we have no other choice.” Victor saw the doubt in Candice’s eyes.

"Or if you have any brilliant ideas, I am willing to listen to them."

Everyone remained silent, but De Lazar, who had seemed like a dead man, suddenly came to life.

“We, the Aidaling people, need our own support and backing, we need our gods.”

“I once heard the name of a Spirit God—Aeneid, who is a great being in the Pantheon representing death.”

"When Prince Pleasure wreaked havoc on the Pantheon, Aeneid had not yet been born. Death will grow stronger with the death of the Eldar, and when all the Eldar are dead, Aeneid will be resurrected and avenge the entire Eldar."

Upon hearing this, everyone was speechless at De Lazar's statement.

If the death of all Eldar is necessary to awaken Death, then what is the point for them?
The Dark Eldar are inherently cruel, caring nothing for anything after I die. They would never do something as foolish as sacrificing themselves to avenge their enemies.

"What kind of fool would want to defeat an enemy by sacrificing their own eternal death?" Victor quipped.

"This is the solution I can offer. Back when I was still in the Ark World, my teacher Asurman mentioned Iniede."

"Perhaps the rumors are not entirely true—we don't need all the Eldar to die to awaken Death."

In any case, the vast majority of the Dark Eldar in the Comoros are already dead, and our race is already on the verge of extinction.

"Having a goal to achieve is better than wandering around aimlessly in the dark."

Upon hearing this, Victor agreed with Derazak's idea.

Doing something is better than staying put and waiting to die.

“In that case, let’s go find the world of Bel Tank’s Ark first. I have some connections with their prophet.”

As soon as Victor finished speaking, he began to steer his small ark toward the star system where the Bel Tank Ark world frequently operated.

……

"We didn't find Victor's body; he probably escaped and disappeared."

"Given Victor's cunning and caution, he would leave Comoros the moment he realized the situation was getting out of control, and never return."

When the Emperor used his psionic powers to illuminate the entire Comoros in the warp, the remaining Eldar, who were hiding in various concealed places and trying to gather their strength to fight back, were immediately doomed.

The Emperor's Light did not kill them, and it would have been difficult to eliminate those lurking Dark Eldar without destroying Comoros.

However, just because the emperor cannot do it does not mean that Slaanesh cannot.

The Dark Prince had long coveted the dark Eldar in Comoros. The reason He kept Comoros intact, besides the fact that they were indeed difficult to capture as they hid in the Web of Depths, was that Slaanesh also understood the importance of sustainable development and exploiting the resources of the land.

The dark Eldar in Comoros obtain the souls of slaves through torture and abuse to compensate for the portion of their souls that were consumed by Slaanesh.

For Slaanesh, this was like sucking on a soul jelly that could slowly regenerate.

He could sense that the terrified Dark Elves, in their anxiety, chose to numb their subtle emotional shifts with pleasure and indulgence.

This is also a special way of enjoying life for Bliss.

However, Comoros is now on the verge of destruction under the double blow of the Heart of Plague and the Emperor's Light, and this carefully crafted web-farming farm of Slaanesh can no longer be sustained.

While complaining that the Emperor had ruined His dining hall, Slaanesh was also eager to wipe out the remaining souls of the Dark Eldar.

His farm has become a promotional site for near-expiry food; if you don't eat it now, you won't have any left.

Through the cracked net, He frantically sucked on the souls of the black bean sprouts, swallowing them all into His belly and enjoying a delicious feast.

Throughout Comoros, from the high-ranking conspirators to the lowest slaves of the Dark Eldar, all had their souls extracted by the Dark Prince in the blink of an eye.

Their bodies remained frozen in place, solidified with the extreme fear and disbelief of their final moments before death, like twisted statues instantly petrified, scattered throughout this desolate, ruined city.

Apart from the Bloodlings who left with Fabius Beyer and the Dark Eldar who left with Genvikt, plus the pitifully small number of Dark Eldar who realized the Comoros was doomed and left beforehand, the tens of millions of Dark Eldar in the entire Comoros were almost completely wiped out.

This was a chilling and brutal massacre, a complete genocide.

Human worlds like Chogoris and Nocturne, which had suffered greatly from the attacks of the Dark Eldar, would no longer need to worry about those damned Dark Eldar leaping out of the Web again to burn, kill, and plunder on human lands.

This malignant tumor rooted in the network nodes has finally been purged and destroyed today.

The spire forest and arena, once teeming with endless sin and twisted pleasure, are now nothing but ruins.

The air was filled with the smell of ozone after an energy overload, the burnt smell of melting and cooling buildings, and... an indescribable emptiness.

This is not physical emptiness, but a complete annihilation at the level of the soul.

Beside the Emperor, the Heart of Plague was compressed by powerful spiritual energy into a sealed cage similar to the Poké Ball in Rosie's memory.

"Should we continue pursuing those fleeing Dark Eldar?"

“Even if they escape from Comoros now, they won’t get too far, and we still have a chance to catch them.”

Ryan Johnson showed absolutely no emotional reaction to the tragic fate of the Dark Eldar.

"No need." The emperor's voice was calm yet tinged with fervor, as if some extremely exciting and adventurous idea was churning in his heart.

Roger Dorn, commanding the Imperial Fist and the Iron Man engineering force, has begun clearing the ruins. He aims to restore Comoros to operation as quickly as possible, a daunting task.

Loxi keenly sensed something unusual from the subtle changes in the Emperor's aura.

He looked at Neos suspiciously, with a feeling that the other party seemed to want to continue playing big games.

With the Heart of the Plague already captured, the last uncontrolled piece of the Web Tunneling Machine back in place, and the important Web node of Comoros now in human hands, what else could possibly excite the Emperor so much?
For a moment, even Luo Xi couldn't quite figure out what the Emperor was thinking.

"My comrades." The Emperor's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"Now that Comoros is secured and the Heart of the Plague is in our hands, everything seems to have come to a perfect end, but opportunities always favor those who dare to take risks."

"Nurgle lost his most beloved Archmage, Krugas, and also lost the opportunity to seize the artifact. His attention was drawn to the vicinity of Comoros."

And Slaanesh… He has just finished a feast and is indulging in the pleasure of devouring the souls of the dark Eldar of Comoros.”

"Two of the four Chaos Gods are not in their own lair. This is an opportunity."

“Nurgle, in particular, is probably in a state of confusion, a mixture of grief and anger, because of the death of Kugas and the self-destruction of Typhon.”

“So,” the Emperor’s voice held the eager anticipation of a gambling addict, “we can take this opportunity to pull off a big heist!”

"While Nurgle's attention is drawn to the Heart of Plague and Slaanesh is greedily licking the remnants of the Comoros, we can storm into Nurgle's Plague Garden and rescue Eldar's Goddess of Life, Aisha!"

"While we're at it, we can also burn down Nurgle's Garden."

“I’m worried that the Elven Bone Singers are too slow. We human Bone Singers still need a long time to learn. If we want to speed up the process, we need some extra help.”

"What do you think about making Aisha a full-time Bone Singer? If a Spirit God were to dedicate himself to creating Spirit Bones, the efficiency would be astonishing."

The emperor's words immediately caused everyone present to instinctively swallow hard, and the sound of them swallowing in unison could be heard.

This, this, this is fucking too radical.

The Emperor's brilliant idea made Rosie's vision go black.

Wasn't Nurgle sending out his Archduke to try and steal the Heart of Plague from Comorore, which nearly caused Typhons to self-destruct and put three Primarchs, including Llane, in mortal danger?

Do you want to be so vindictive?
Oh no, the emperor never holds grudges; he settles scores on the spot.

All tactics changers, the Emperor just wants to poke Nagle's asshole and make His Plague Gardens lively.

"Aisha is still rotting in Nurgle's filthy, slow-moving plague garden. It's not just us who are interested in Aisha; Slaanesh also covets her. The goddess of life is an irresistible temptation for Him."

“If we intend to take action, Slaanesh will definitely intervene, but Nurgle will certainly resist to the death. The conflict between these two Chaos Gods will become our opportunity.”

"If we were to raid Nurgle's home base now and rescue Aisha, do you think Slaanesh would choose which side to take?"

A cold, calculating glint flashed in the emperor's eyes.

"Will Slaanesh stand with his brothers and sisters to help Nurgle retrieve Elsa, or will he choose to stall Nurgle and let us bring Elsa out?"

Rose's brain suddenly buzzed as she realized what was happening.

The Chaos Gods have never been allies; they are eternal enemies. Therefore, if Slaanesh were presented with these two options, he would most likely choose to sabotage Nurgle.

It doesn't matter whether He gets Elsa or not; as long as Nurgle doesn't get Elsa, it's a victory.

Moreover, if Elsa fell into human hands, Slaanesh would have a chance to take her back, but if Elsa were in Nurgle's Plague Gardens, there would be no chance at all.

“We must hurry. I’m taking Lothie, Ryan, Ruth, and Chagatai to Nurgle’s realm. The rest of us will stay in Comoros to work with Dorn and Perturabo to build a defense system.”

"It's time to tell those chaotic evil gods that if Kou can go, so can I!"

(End of this chapter)