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

Chapter 891 The Fall of Vashtor
After Loshi made his stance clear, Vashtor understood that there was no longer any possibility of cooperation between them.

This human named Rosie is just like that smelly, stubborn Emperor.

Even though they had the opportunity to sit on the throne of chaos, and could ascend to godhood with just a nod or a flick of their fingers, they still looked down on it and even blocked other competitors from making any further progress.

A complex torrent of emotions, a mixture of extreme jealousy and humiliated anger, washed over Vastor's cold mind, which was composed of logic and ambition.

The ultimate goal that I have spent countless years painstakingly crawling through the technological ruins and war ashes of countless civilizations, striving so hard for, is seen by the other party as a burden that can be easily discarded.

Vashtor rationally analyzed Roche's warning and, based on objective considerations, felt that it made some sense.

But so what if we know that the throne might not be as wonderful as we imagine?
From its inception, Vashtor has been moving towards the path of "vicious arts".

He draws strength from the technological advancements and arms races of countless civilizations, constantly strengthening himself, which is how he became the Lord of the Furnace today.

Apart from the four Chaos Gods, He is practically the most top-tier God within the Warhammer universe's warp.

For an being like Him, the meaning of life is solely to fulfill His ultimate pursuit—to sit on the throne, complete His ascension, and ascend to godhood.

If this meaning is abandoned, even if Vashtor is a lesser god, he will collapse and die in an instant, because he himself denies himself. The warp itself is a place where the mind prevails over the material, and the collapse of the will will trigger a chain reaction.

What Roche said may be true, or it may be a mixture of truth and falsehood, but for Vashtor, it can only be wrong.

Even if the road ahead is a precipice, He can only follow His own inertia and launch a relentless charge forward.

Since Roxi refused to relinquish power or cooperate with him, and even made it clear that he would block any possibility of his promotion, there was only one option left.

war.

A war in which only one side survives.

Vashtor's true form has been forced to come to the Battle of Comoros by the Chaos Gods, which means that he no longer has the option of faking his death to escape.

Either He defeats Loxi, violently seizing the authority and power from her, and then directly completes Himself, becoming the only one on the path to godhood.

Either He was killed by Lothie, and there would be no more Lords of the Forge, and Vashtor would come to an end.

Without a doubt, today is the most important crossroads in Vashtor's long life.

Even someone as shrewd and calculating as Him could feel His own heart furnace beating at an even faster pace.

Fighting a powerful enemy head-on to the death...

Vashtor reviewed his memories and was astonished to find that the last time He personally took action was a very, very long time ago.

All along, He has been scheming, vying for benefits and opportunities little by little.

"Come on... Rosie, let's settle this once and for all."

"Let me see just how powerful you are, the god of all machines of mankind."

"Vashtor said softly, the Soul Forge Hammer in his hand emitting a dazzling black and red light."

From the once-dim core of the furnace of the Forge Hammer, a mighty torrent of energy, mixed with industrial waste heat and the shrieks of souls, surged forth.

The scepter twisted and expanded violently under the infusion of energy, with jagged serrations and energy conduits extending from its shaft, and the furnace at its top transformed into a miniature star burning with destructive flames.

The four scythe-shaped metal blade wings behind Him began to expand continuously, their surfaces flowing with arcs of destructive energy, like lightning, interwoven with eerie green and dark red.

Electric arcs leaped wildly between the four giant wings, emitting deafening explosions.

The polluted air in the Comoros was instantly ionized and decomposed, and the pungent ozone and the acrid smell of burning metal spread out, forming a visible band of foul smoke that was enough to distort one's vision.

Vashtor's body was rapidly expanding, its height even surpassing that of the largest Imperial Titan, transforming it into a colossal being.

Countless wildly spinning gears, pipes spewing high-pressure steam and energy slurry, and intricate mechanical structures gleaming with cold metallic luster appeared on the body of the Furnace Lord, standing on the battlefield like a mechanical demon god crawling out of an endless abyss.

The core of the Soul Furnace throbbed violently in His chest, each beat causing ripples that distorted the surrounding space.

This was the terrifying pressure of a sub-god of the subspace, enough to crush the bodies and souls of all mortals nearby.

Vashtor raised the Soul Forge Hammer high and slammed it down onto the battlefield below and the rift in the Gate of Cain.

The earth groaned, space tore apart, and countless enormous portals burning with hellfire forcibly opened on the ruins of Comoros.

An endless torrent of demonic engines, twisted in shape and radiating blasphemous light, surged forth from behind the door.

Its size rivals that of a small mountain. The war engine, composed entirely of blasphemous demonic metal and screaming souls, surges forth with earth-shaking strides, its cannons spewing terrifying flames fueled by burning souls.

Swarms of suicide bombers, resembling metal locusts, flashed with malevolent red light and emitted a piercing buzz as they descended upon the battlefield.

Carrying a blasphemous turret, this giant steel scorpion, driven by countless gears and pistons, spews a blanket of acid rain and deadly soul bombs from its tail.

Each demon engine is bound to one or more warp demons whose sovereignty has been transferred to Vashtor. Until they repay their debt to the Lord of the Clean Forge, they must endure endless torment.

Ignoring terrain and casualties, Vashtor's blasphemous mechanical army launched an indiscriminate, destructive charge toward Loshi and any obstacle in Vashtor's path to ascension.

Vashtor invoked His authority as Lord of the Soul Forge, summoning His most loyal Legion from His domain and the Forge Graveyard of the Warp.

Faced with this raging tide of demonic engines that seemed to engulf mountains and fill the sea, Loxi's gaze remained unchanged. He did not retreat in the slightest, but simply raised his right hand slowly, his five fingers spread and his palm facing down, as if to press down on the restless earth beneath his feet.

"You think you can summon reinforcements? I can too."

Loxi's voice instantly filled the entire battlefield.

His response was a metallic roar that was even more orderly, colder, and more resolute than the torrent of demonic engines.

On the battlefield of Comoros, all the Iron Legion members belonging to the human empire, who had been fighting against the Khorne demons, froze for a moment.

On their smooth silver shells, the azure runes representing the will of Loxi glowed as if breathing.

The next second, all the Iron Men uniformly turned their guns and cannons around, ignoring the nearby Khorne Bloodletters, and unleashed their destructive firepower without reservation on the surging demonic engines.

The azure spheres of plasma cannon light, the distorting force field of gravity beams, and the disintegrating rays of Gauss weapons instantly tore countless gaps in the vanguard of the demon engine.

But this is just the beginning.

Deep within the Comoros, the Titans that served as reserves or guarded key nodes also began to enter a berserk state.

Their machine spirits require no blessings or prayers, automatically controlling the reactor engines to operate at unprecedented power.

These divine machines broke free from the commander's control, ignoring all prohibitions and agreements, and strode out of the ruins and bunkers with a gait that made the earth tremble.

Their void shields deployed at full power, forming moving energy barriers.

Volcano cannons, Gatling gun bombs, and plasma annihilators spewed out destructive torrents, crashing headlong into Vashtor's demonic engine legion like moving steel fortresses.

Titans and Iron Men, the fruits of human wisdom and technology, fight side by side with incredible efficiency and coordination under the command of Lothie's will.

They are no longer war machines fighting independently, but constitute an impenetrable steel catastrophe driven by cold logic and unwavering will.

Precise fire coverage, perfect coordinated defense, and efficient battlefield segmentation—all of this stands in stark contrast to the massive, chaotic, and destructive torrent of demonic engines in Vashtor.

The two mechanical armies collided like two towering waves of steel and fire on the shattered land of Comoros.

Bombs and energy beams flew everywhere, metal fragments rained down like a storm, and the continuous bursts of fire illuminated the entire battlefield like a furnace of hell.

Each impact sent tremors through the colossal city of Comoros.

At the heart of this clash of steel torrents, the two true masters, qualified to vie for the throne of [Vicious Arts], began their duel.

Vashtor swung his warhammer, the furnace of which spewed out thick, foul-smelling, eerie, and shimmering green smoke.

The smoke not only instantly obscured its massive form, but also contained deadly toxins capable of corroding even the most intricate mechanical components and interfering with energy transmission. The smoke spread rapidly, attempting to engulf Loxi within it.

Vastor made no attempt to dodge the hundreds of volcanic cannon beams, powerful enough to melt mountains, fired from the Titan machine beside Loshi.

The core of the furnace in His chest shone brightly, forming an invisible vortex force field.

Just moments before striking Him, those destructive energy beams seemed to be drawn by an invisible hand, their trajectories abruptly altered, and they were forcibly pulled into the core of the furnace.

The furnace core emitted a satisfied roar, and the minor damage to Vashtor's body caused by the previous battle was instantly repaired.

He then pointed his warhammer at the warlord-class Titan that had opened fire.

A black-red energy shockwave, more violent and filthy than the energy absorbed before, and writhing with the wails of the soul, retaliated fiercely with several times the speed and power.

The warlord-level Titan's Void Shield shattered instantly, paving the way for Vashtor's next attack.

Vashtor's warhammer unleashed countless illogical shrieks, and an invisible virus of obfuscated code spread like a plague.

The fire control systems of several nearby Emperor Poison Blade firearms suddenly malfunctioned, and thick smoke and blinding sparks immediately billowed out from inside.

The Imperial Army's communication channels were filled with piercing noise and distorted, profane images. A Gauss weapon belonging to Iron Man suddenly went out of control, its muzzle turning to aim at its own comrade, instantly becoming a minion of Vashtor.

Faced with the terrifying energy impact reflected back from Vashtor, Loshi extended his right index finger and gently kneaded it, instantly compressing and folding the space in the path of the energy beam.

The raging black and red energy seemed to have crashed into an invisible, elastic wall that was constantly extending backward, and its speed immediately decreased.

The energy was forcibly dispersed, guided, and ultimately derailed during the spatial folding, blasting a giant crater in the desolate Comoros land in the distance.

At the same time, Loxi's gaze swept over the mechanical units infected by the obfuscated code, and an invisible will swept over them like a formatting command.

The out-of-control tank turrets froze instantly, the tampered machine spirits were forcibly overwritten and cleared, the out-of-control Iron Man's movements stopped, the red light in its eyes went out and then lit up again, returning to its cold blue light.

He can corrupt the machine soul, and Loxi can purify the machine soul, thus initiating a tug-of-war.

Facing Vashtor shrouded in psionic mist, Loshi wove a geometric labyrinth of constantly shifting space, enveloping Vashtor along with the spreading mist.

The walls of the maze are made up of folded spaces, the paths are constantly changing, and it is full of logical paradoxes and traps.

Vashtor's warhammer slammed against the labyrinth's walls, causing spatial ripples to spread and the power to be dispersed into different dimensions, completely dissipated.

He attempted to infect the labyrinth itself with the waste code, but found that his rate of contamination couldn't even keep up with the rate of Loshi's purification.

The battle between the two has transcended the physical energy clash and risen to the level of control over matter, energy, space, and information.

Vashtor took the offensive, forcibly twisting the rules with blasphemous fel energy and corrupting order with soul fire. Meanwhile, Lothie calmly took the defensive position, constantly deflecting Vashtor's attacks and corruption.

The Spark Source and the tunnel boring machine became his weapons. In every confrontation, Vashtor felt that his enemy was completely unmoved, and all his tricks were ineffective.

Vashtor knew that his power was inferior to the authority in Loshi's hands, but it wasn't until they clashed head-on that he realized the gap between them was so vast.

He has done his best, but what about Rosie?
Unfortunately, He couldn't see it.

In terms of artifacts alone, He had already lost too much. The Fire Source and the Network Shield Tunneling Machine were both powerful artifacts, and He lacked the help of these external forces.

This battle for the throne in Comoros had an impact like a stone thrown into a pond, the ripples of which quickly spread throughout the galaxy, especially to human territories that rely on sophisticated machinery and technology.

At the moment of the collision between Loshi and Vashtor, the navigation systems of countless orbital space stations on the Empire's planets suddenly experienced slight deviations.

The merchant ship that was being docked suddenly collided with the space station platform, causing a huge tragedy with numerous casualties.

Inside the giant shipyard of the Martian Forging World, the keels of several battleships under construction broke due to unexplained stress distortion, and piercing alarms immediately blared.

Deep within Terra Palace, a Thinker array used to monitor the operation of the artificial network suddenly overloaded and started smoking, emitting a burnt smell. This startled the mechanical priests on duty nearby, who immediately began repairs.

The most significant impact of this war was that all facilities associated with the Thinker supercomputer, the High Energy Particle Collider, and the Space Bridge Faster-than-Light System reported unprecedented data stream disturbances and logical errors.

This is not because there is a problem with the machinery, but rather as if the physical constants of the universe itself have experienced a subtle "tremor" at some point.

Not only in the real universe, but even in places like the Eye of Terror where the real universe and the warp meet, the forging worlds controlled by the Dark Mechanicus felt the most direct and intense impact.

Since escaping into the Eye of Terror, the priests of the Dark Mechanicus have been fanatically researching various forbidden Imperial black technologies, or cracking and integrating alien technological creations.

To them, Vashtor was the true "god of all machines".

However, after entering the Eye of Fear, they did not experience a technological explosion as expected, once the restrictions and constraints imposed by the Emperor were lifted.

The members of the Dark Mechanicus were horrified to discover that their progress was not as fast as that of their colleagues who remained in the Empire, and that their most valuable asset was still the demonic engine that Vashtor had taught them.

As the impact arrived, all the running demon engines emitted a mournful wail, and the demonic flames at the core of the engines flickered violently, as if they might be extinguished at any moment.

The blasphemous runes on the surfaces of the enshrined Vashtor statues dimmed rapidly, and even tiny cracks appeared.

Countless priests of the Dark Mechanicus felt a tearing pain and weakness originating from their souls, as if the pillars of their faith were collapsing.

Panic spread like a plague, numerous raiding fleets fell into chaos, and even the most fervent prayers of the Dark Mechanicus priests to Vashtor went unanswered.

Deep within Mars, a labyrinth of eternal night.

This is a prison isolated from the real universe, imprisoning the largest and most complete fragment of the Star God Void Dragon.

Since Ezekiel's betrayal, which led Abaddon and other Chaos Space Marines into the Labyrinth of Night, this area has been under strict surveillance by the Martian Mechanicus.

The emperor had barely left his throne when he issued a direct order strictly forbidding anyone from exploring or researching the Labyrinth of Eternal Night.

At this moment, the Void Dragon, which had been sleeping in its cage, suddenly reacted.

The ancient star god unleashed a piercing shriek, directly shaking the transdimensional structure of the Eternal Night Labyrinth. Amidst the struggles of the Void Dragon fragments, the Eternal Night Labyrinth emitted strange, unsettling sounds.

The Void Dragon sensed two forces clashing fiercely, vying for the ultimate throne of [Vicious Arts].

One odor carried the stench of warp decay and blasphemy that it loathed, while the other carried a scent that reminded it of horribly terrible memories.

That damned human called the Emperor!
Whichever side wins, it will be a devastating blow to it.

If Vashtor wins and becomes the new master of malevolent arts, he will not miss the opportunity to devour fragments of the Star God to strengthen himself.

If the Void Dragon were still intact, it could have ignored the Chaos God, but now that it's broken, it's become a visible piece of meat.

A malevolent god who wields the power of [Vicious Arts] understands better than the four Chaos Gods how to utilize and digest the power of the Star God Fragments.

If Loxi wins, he may not greedily devour the power of the Void Dragon like the evil god, but he will likely regard the Void Dragon as a "high-risk source of pollution" and "unstable factor" that must be permanently imprisoned or even completely analyzed and eliminated.

If it falls into his hands, the outcome may be eternal imprisonment or complete disintegration.

"Freedom...completeness!!!"

The chaotic and primal will of the Void Dragon Fragment surged wildly within the cage, its body, composed of living metal from the Star God, relentlessly assaulting the dimensional labyrinth, attempting to tear open a crack.

It must escape; it cannot be devoured. It must regain its freedom, take revenge on those damned metal skeletons, and restore the former glory of the Star God!

Meanwhile, on the Comoros battlefield, the decisive battle has reached its climax.

Vashtor failed to break through the siege, and His demonic engine legion suffered heavy losses under the methodical onslaught of the Iron Men and Titan Machines.

What annoyed Him even more were the eighty-eight Khorne demon armies that had been forcibly bound by the will of the Blood God and turned to ashes in the aftermath of His battle with Loxi.

"Blood sacrifice to the blood god! Skull sacrifice to the skull throne!"

The bloodthirsty monsters roared, wielding their massive battle axes, and charged recklessly toward the core of the energy collision, attempting to disrupt the war with their flesh and blood.

However, amidst the spatial rifts, energy turbulence, and code pollution created by the collision between Loshi and Vashtor, these powerful archdemons were instantly torn apart and annihilated, twisted into unrecognizable metallic flesh and blood remains, like moths drawn to a flame.

"This is a pointless sacrifice!" A relatively lucid bloodthirsty demon roared angrily and painfully after witnessing dozens of its companions being silently swallowed by a spatial rift.

"This is not a battlefield of honor; we are throwing our lives away!"

Its roar was drowned out by the more frenzied battle cries and destructive roars, but a trace of resentment at the Blood God for wasting the lives of warriors quietly grew in the hearts of some of the Khorne archdemons.

"enough!"

Loshi also realized just how many trump cards Vashtor had up his sleeve. This guy's strength was indeed not to be underestimated, but compared to himself, he was already outdated.

Vashtor's greatest strength lies in his ability to distort and corrupt most mechanical creations, imprinting them with his own mark.

But this is not a big problem for Rosi, whose advantage has been locked down, which is undoubtedly a loss for Vashtor.

Moreover, Roshi made an unexpected discovery: if relying solely on the authority and power of the Om Messiah, Vashtor might be able to struggle for even longer.

But he has always been more than just that.

The Leader Module and the AllSpark are not forces belonging to this universe, and when these variables are involved in the battle against Vashtor, they become key factors in breaking the balance.

With the newly acquired tunnel boring machine, Loxi is now able to draw power from the Infinite Tunnel.

Having mastered the tunnel boring machine, he was no different from the highest administrator of the network at this moment. With the home advantage, Vashtor had absolutely no chance of winning.

"I will end your suffering. You will no longer need to jump around, form alliances, and desperately seek a chance for promotion."

"You were born from unscrupulous and malicious technological advancements. You stole the Mechanicus's faith in the God of Machines. And when these errors in the real universe are corrected, you will lose your very foundation."

Vashtor did not answer, for He had no strength left.

He could feel his power crumbling and him gradually losing ground in the struggle.

He relentlessly drained power, and the Dark Mechanicus priests who worshipped Him in the Warp and the Eye of Terror suddenly felt an irresistible pull emanating from their souls.

Vashtor took everything from them—flesh and blood, soul and knowledge—and transformed it into his own power.

The traitorous forging general, Kelbo Hal, resisted fiercely, but after embracing Vashtor, he surrendered his most vulnerable soul essence to this warp god.

The colossal, mountain-like Keber Hal trembled incessantly, chanting incomprehensible binary code, while his body visibly decayed and dissolved.

"Wrong, this is a complete and utter mistake!"

Keiber Hall left behind a final message before turning into dust.

Everything he had was forcibly given to Vashtor. The Lord of the Forge no longer cared whether his belief system could survive, because if even He was defeated and perished, these belief systems would be of no use whatsoever.

Under such unrestrained expansion, Vashtor quickly grew and mutated into an indescribable giant monster.

He single-handedly sealed off the Kane Gate of Comoros, keeping out the malicious gaze of the Chaos Gods.

Loshi looked at Vashtor in front of him and couldn't help but shake his head.

This guy knows everything, but he still stubbornly chooses to stick to his own choice.

He was a steadfast seeker of the truth, but unfortunately, His path conflicted with the interests of humanity.

Vashtor has begun to lose control. At this moment, He is like an ancient god who is completely incomprehensible, rushing towards Loshi.

Loxi could sense that the core furnace within him was overloaded and could unleash a destructive force capable of annihilating everything at any moment.

As an adversary, the greatest respect one can show to Him is to utterly annihilate Him.

"You've always longed for the tunnel boring machine, so let me show you the power of this ancient artifact."

"Loshi said softly, then he mobilized the "reins" formed by the spark source, controlling the now fully restored tunnel boring machine to head towards Vastor.

Although named a tunnel boring machine, this ancient artifact does not resemble the "tunnel boring machine" in human imagination.

If we had to describe it in human terms, this machine would be a conversion engine that can perfectly fuse subspace energy and special materials, ultimately condensing them into the Infinite Network.

In other words, most subspace entities are just a delicious dessert for a complete network tunnel boring machine.

The tunnel boring machine collided violently with Vashur's body, and the Lord of the Furnace was instantly torn apart and compressed uncontrollably, as if he had been caught in a grinding mill.

The subspace energy within His body was devoured by this conversion engine and used directly as fuel, causing it to operate even more frantically.

Although Vashtor still wanted to resist, his power was completely ineffective against the ancient saint's artifact, and he could only watch helplessly as he was slowly crushed and devoured.

Vashtor didn't scream or curse resentfully; He simply stared intently at the tunnel boring machine, at the "key" He had been so desperately seeking.

Perhaps dying at the hands of the Key was a release from His obsession?

The concept that constituted Vastor was shattered by the tunnel boring machine, and His remains were directly used as material to fill the rift in the Gate of Kane.

With a deafening roar that echoed throughout the Comoros, the Gate of Kane, torn open by Khorne, finally closed completely.

(End of this chapter)