Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 16 Fate Frozen in Time

The Imperial Guard knew those buried fragments of history. He pressed down hard on his halberd, stared into the Iron Man's bloodshot eyes, and said in a low voice, "Just a clumsy excuse to cover up your betrayal!"

"Boring argument." In the instant the shield overloaded, the Iron Man stretched out his arm and gently grasped the halberd that the Imperial Guard had slashed down, squeezing it like a giant pincer.

"And now? You attack humans again!" the Imperial Guard roared, pulling the trigger and firing a bomb. As the Iron Man tilted his head to dodge, he swung his halberd back in front of him.

"Right and wrong are buried in the changes of history. As the remaining intelligent machines that helped mankind achieve victory, we have completed our duties."

"Now we are loyal to Lady Erda as you are to your master, regardless of right or wrong, only based on our position!"

Having said that, the Iron Man raised his arm and made a grasping motion towards the Imperial Guards, and an invisible force emanated from his arm.

The Imperial Guard tensed their bodies to avoid vital points, suppressing their senses and using their shoulder armor to receive the energy impact. Instead of the expected scorching energy flow, the Imperial Guard felt a lightness in their bodies, and instead, a sense of weightlessness washed over them.

Gravity weapon!

Even the mighty Imperial Guard couldn't help but feel a sense of powerlessness. They created micro-singularities to collapse gravity and distort space, using the force of gravity to either increase or decrease it and kill their enemies.

The Imperial Guards had no choice but to accept their inevitable fate.

Possessing the strongest weapons and equipment bestowed by the Emperor, and extraordinary physical qualities honed through bio-alchemy, the Imperial Guard could rival any creature in the physical universe.

However, the Iron Man was a creation made by humankind during a glorious era, designed to rule the galaxy, and there is still a gap between the two.

Iron Man did not kill them. His mechanical voice hissed in the ears of the Imperial Guard: "I have the utmost respect for humanity. They conquered the galaxy with wisdom and technology. The stars trembled under the will of mankind, and the universe bowed down. But I see blindness and worship in you."

The Imperial Guard remained silent, his body suspended in the gravitational field, without any point of leverage, unable to launch a counterattack.

The mechanical voice grew even colder, and the Iron Man's killing intent rose: "Killing you, there is not a trace of guilt in my soul circuits, only pity and mockery."

The arm, made of an unknown material, shimmered even more brightly. The Iron Man's five fingers tightened, and within the gravity field, the Imperial Guard's body was twisted by gravity, his muscles were torn apart, and his bones were broken inch by inch.

The superhuman internal organs inside him gradually failed, the adamantine armor deformed, the flesh and blood gradually collapsed, and blood gushed out of the wound as if being squeezed.

The Imperial Guards' extraordinary physiques, which they were so proud of, were powerless to resist under the manipulation of the Iron Man. The ever-compressing gravity field caused their flesh and blood to be kneaded into a ball of flesh.

On his deathbed, he saw out of the corner of his eye that all his comrades had died in battle. The Thunder Warriors and the mortal troops were no match for the Extinction Relic and were slaughtered like lambs.

Before he lost consciousness, he saw a golden light descend from the sky in the distance, and his remaining vocal cords cried out in a weak voice: "For the Emperor!"

Deep within the Imperial Laboratory, the Emperor's loyal servants are bleeding.

Protected by Iron Man and the Extinction Machine, Erda was safe and sound. On her way to the laboratory, any armed individuals who stood in her way were ruthlessly eliminated by Iron Man.

The corridors and passageways were filled with a horrific scene!
The stench of blood was so intense it was almost unbearable; warm, bright red blood flowed through the cold corridor, and human corpses and body parts were scribbled on the walls.

Erda closed her eyes, unable to bear the sight of the dead. She had never imagined that such casualties would occur, and she dared not look directly at the horrific scene.

Scientists took up arms to fight against the weapons of the Golden Age, resulting in a one-sided massacre. Knowing they couldn't stop it for even a second, they still didn't hesitate, using courage to suppress their fear and relentlessly firing at the Iron Man.

"Please forgive me, but I must do this to resist an even darker future." Erda dared not look into the hateful eyes of the dead, the blood soaking the soles of her shoes, warm and scorching like lava.

A strange, subspace light rose in her eyes. Under the influence of the chaotic power, she was already delirious, hysterically whispering and constantly apologizing for the dead.

Little did she know that to outsiders, her face was contorted and grotesque, her lips curled up in a bizarre expression.

As the last guard fell, Erda stepped through the slick blood to the incubation chamber, gently stroking each genetic prototype with her palm, her eyes regaining their clarity.

With tears in her eyes and a gentle, loving expression on her face, she leaned against the incubation chamber, listening to the powerful heartbeats of each Primarch.

"Madam, a powerful psychic has broken in. The guards at the entrance have lost contact. If you need to do anything, you need to do it quickly."

A cold voice interrupted the loving scene. The Iron Man ordered the Extinction Remnants to form a defensive formation, activating their defensive force fields in preparation for a tough battle.

Iron Man activated his weapon against psionicists, lowered his body to be on guard, and directed the Extinction Relics to block the entrance.

Almost instantly, all the machines outside lost contact. The newcomer was extremely powerful, possessing spiritual energy that even surpassed computational logic. Erda dared not delay and carefully took out an ancient dagger from her bosom.

The only extraordinary feature is the golden light flowing along the blade, which originates from the same source as the Emperor's spiritual energy. This dagger was personally infused with spiritual energy by the Emperor himself tens of thousands of years ago and has been preserved to this day.

The Emperor's power is too great in the real universe. The warp evil cannot destroy the Emperor's barrier that stands in the real world. The only way is to defeat the Emperor's power with the power of the Emperor through the Ildar.

He hurried to the rocky base, where a golden crystal containing the Emperor's power was placed. All he had to do was destroy it, and a warp storm would sweep through the area, taking away all the Primarchs.

When Erda gripped the dagger tightly with both hands and raised it high, in that instant she could truly feel countless eyes watching her from the subspace outside the real universe.

The gods awaited her with great excitement, as if countless destinies were in her hands.

Whispers drifted in, whispering tales of a dark future, urging her to shatter the barrier as soon as possible. Pleading voices echoed in her ears, earnestly advising her not to do it.

Fate was frozen in time, and time was put on pause.

Past and future, reality and subspace, an invisible pressure, as heavy as the Milky Way, falls on Erda's shoulders.

She trembled all over, her mind in turmoil, holding the dagger high. Her remaining rationality trembled, and she hesitated with some doubt: Was releasing the Primarch really the right thing to do?
"Correct!" The urging voices answered in unison with unwavering determination, and countless hands pressed down on the daggers.

They couldn't wait for Erda to quickly plunge the dagger in and begin the conspiracy.

"Wrong!" Countless admonitions, chaotic and disordered, lingered on the edge of consciousness, desperately trying to salvage the situation.

They were pleading, as if from the past and the future, those unwilling souls stopping Erda.

Deep within Erda's soul, the power of chaos intertwined with reason, causing her heart to waver. The tip of her dagger trembled as she hesitated between choices.

"Boom!" The stone elevator plummeted to the ground with tremendous force.

The violent noise was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Under immense pressure, Erda's remaining rationality vanished, and all that remained in her mind was the Emperor and the Primarch killing each other.

A burning galaxy! A chaotic empire!
The immense pressure solidified into a tangible force, gradually crushing reason, and under the weight of choices and pressure, Erda's mind teetered on the brink of collapse.

"You can't order me around!" the woman, who held the reins of destiny in her hands, screamed shrilly, her mind in chaos, her hysteria erupting completely!
Erda screamed in the radiance, her body swelling to a massive size—a physique she only used in battle, but now she used it to resist the whispers and burdens.

The chaotic power was expelled by his powerful body, and his mind returned to normal instantly.

Erda's lips were pale and trembling violently; her mind had never been so clear.

She took one last, wistful look at the Primarch sleeping peacefully in the incubation chamber, then with all her might, she plunged the dagger down, piercing through the Emperor's psionic radiance.

This was not the result of chaos; it was a decision she made with her own will.

Without any chaotic influence or other reasons, a mother, with unwavering resolve, murmured softly, "Freedom..."

The moment the elevator doors opened, the Emperor saw the psionic barrier shattered. He, who had always been silent and rarely showed emotion, was now filled with immense regret, his voice heartbreaking: "No..."

A father's regret: his offspring will leave him and fall into the unknown.

It is the lament of the Lord of Mankind, whose closest friends have betrayed him one after another.

The psionic hand easily crushed the shield, turning the Iron Man from the Dark Ages into a lump of iron, which he casually tossed aside. The Emperor extended his right hand and unleashed psionic lightning, attempting to rebuild the barrier and recover some of the damage.

In that long instant, the evil god who had been hiding behind the veil of reality revealed himself and joined forces to unleash the power of the subspace to suppress the Emperor's power.

The psionic lightning slowly dissipated, and he watched helplessly as a warp storm raged in the laboratory, uprooting the cultivation chamber and dragging it into the warp.

When the warp storm subsided and the incubation chamber disappeared, only the sighs and laughter of the gods remained.

Erda stood there stunned, her hands falling to the ground, her body slumping limply. The dagger in her hand lost its power and slowly slid to the ground.

(End of this chapter)