The power of the Anathema filled their minds—his mind—and they were blinded by it. He was blinded by it.
How ironic. He could see it now.
The threads that were lost were now showing themselves.
Time was slow, like it had stopped under the sheer power of the contraption that sealed them. Materium, Immaterium—it didn't matter. All was locked.
"That madman erased his own memory," he realized.
Of course. How can someone predict a man who doesn't know what he's doing? Not even he was capable of such things.
Where did everything go wrong? he thought. Well... who can know anyway?
They had played this game for forty thousand years. He was not a sore loser. He lost—so be it.
He thought about that mortal he had worked so hard for. Such a shame. She could have changed the playground. But... never mind.
He slowly felt his consciousness fading away.
He let out a last laugh. A last salute to the now-dead maniac.
Good game, old friend. Good game.
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The Emperor started a psychic battle between Slaanesh, Nurgle and Tzeentch while Noah engaged a battle of blades against Khorne with Horus and Abaddon aiding the Blood God.
The axe of the Blood God was heavy, much heavier than even the mightiest of his servants, as he struck in the most brutal fashion. He did not roar, nor did any war cry leave his thunderous mouth. He didn't need such things as every move of the Oldest was a declaration on its own. While their might was dim compared to Khorne, the Warmasters of Chaos were not a weak force.
Their blows destroyed Noah's body even when he blocked them, yet his trustworthy symbiotes healed him faster than they could maim him. The situation was in a stalemate but Noah knew he didn't have any more time on his hands. The prayers of the tech priests started to fill his vast mind as his personality slowly started to alter by their individual belief. It was minuscule, unnoticeable even, yet dangerous.
Thankfully this was also in his plans.
Nurgle froze in the middle of their battle, a fatal mistake that should not have been made when confronting Anathema himself, as The Emperor had not wasted such a precious opportunity. The golden flames consumed the God of Plague yet his attention was in his domain. He grimaced with fury as his prized dear was kidnapped. Isha was stolen from him. His Isha.
Simultaneously, the lightly injured Emperor and blood-soaked Noah rejuvenated with the power of the Aeldari goddess. The Demon Nurgle used as a vessel was destroyed, banishing the god using it. Nurgle was in deep sorrow and he was unlikely to leave his garden for a while. Grandfather was not a man of anger but acceptance.
The pressure on the Emperor lifted with Nurgle's retreat but they were still heavily outnumbered and Noah was reaching his limit. The effects of the divine energy were eroding his defences. Tzeentch also froze with Slaanesh as they felt an ancient and nearly forgotten presence in the borders of the Crystal Labyrinth. Laughter boomed while the domain of Tzeentch was demolished by the squads of Harlequins and their deadly dance.
Noah pulled an ancient sword at the same time. The sword was ancient and burning with furious flames. An older presence joined them too. Powerful, angry and most importantly whole and fused. Kaela Mensha Khaine was not scattered anymore. This shocked the Prince of Excess as she was certain she kept an eye on the scattered god yet here they were and suddenly their numbers were not that different anymore.
With the attacks on their domains they could not afford to neither descend or elevate any of their underlings including the Warmasters. It gave them great pain yet they had to scatter: Nurgle locking himself in his Garden cooking away his sorrow, Tzeentch clashed with Cegorach and his Harlequins since Noah and the Emperor decimated the majority of his greater demons and they were yet to reform, while the Emperor kept Slaanesh in line as Khaine and Isha duo clashed with Khorne. Seeing this great opportunity Malal the fifth god charged to the Garden challenging Nurgle.
With this prepared maneuver, the gods had to leave the battlefield, allowing Noah to release the divine energy he held in his body. He drastically weakened without his divine energy of faith yet he was still stronger than any of the now reentering traitor Primarchs. Magnus and Perturabo bombarded him with long range attacks as Mortarion, Angron and Curze charged for the close combat.
Noah dodged the incoming attacks with ease before clashing with the primarchs. Right before he could block their attacks his body slowed down as Lorgar spoke words of enuncia with great mastery. He wasn't idle in his ten millennia of solitude as his words bent the reality itself around Noah, allowing Mortarion's scythe and Angron's axe to hit and split him to pieces.
His body regenerated faster than a blink yet it was enough proof for them that he was no invincible phenomenon but a mere mortal who bleeds and therefore can be killed. "Oh I forgot you learned that you rascal. That caught me off guard for sure. How delightful that you guys are more than a mere punching bag." He was relaxed and teasing even when his body was slashed by their strikes just before.
Noah left his weapons as they were too cumbersome to use without his God Mode. His bones crackled as he clenched his fists and stretched all of his body, mocking the demigods before him, not that many could be more furious than before. Before the trio could attack again Fulgrim, Horus, Alpharius and Omegon reached them surrounding the sole man in front of them.
Seven demigod fighters in the front while three different ones supporting from the rear. Possibly the most powerful squad in the history of the galaxy yet they tensed with anticipation as Noah finished stretching.
The moment he finished he disappeared only to strike Alpharius from behind, throwing him into incoming beams fired from Perturabo. Angron charged with his axe like the madman he is while roaring with all his might. He slipped past his axe and struck a flurry of blows so fast that his fists turned into a blur. Angron was thrown back, his back burst out with the attacks, but Curze and Mortarion filled his spot again.
Mortarion unlike his insane brother used his scythe masterfully, striking with fast and evasive moves and keeping his distance using his range, yet for a small moment Curze caused him to lose sight of his enemy and when his eyes found him again Noah fired a powerful beam of plasma hitting Mortarion point blank and incinerating his upper body. Unfortunately Mortarion started to regenerate immediately after yet that move gave Noah valuable milliseconds before Fulgrim could fill Mortarion's post allowing Noah to crush Curze with a powerful strike and scatter his pieces around.
Fulgrim held his place with his great mastery over his blade and his mighty power as a psyker, yet they were down three people in mere seconds, which was humiliating to the perfectionist primarch. Noah blocked Fulgrim's blade with his hands, creating sounds of metal clashing. While attacking with a dance of sword and magic, Fulgrim allowed his wonder to occupy his mind even if it was for a single thought. How? was the question he wondered. How had such a lowly born man reached such heights that were lofty even to him? Yet the only answer he got was a punch to his handsome face, crushing his symmetrical facebones.
As he was thrown out from the force behind the punch, Noah caught him from his snake-like lower body and started to swing him around with enough force to break both his target and the poor primarch he used as a whip. The humiliation hurt the primarch more than the wounds themselves. They were being played and mocked. Before his fury could burst as power, Noah hurled him to the charging, reformed Angron, causing both to collide with each other. Suddenly all of the primarchs felt a force pulling them somewhere.
Tzeentch's ritual was over and the time traveling primarchs were not allowed anymore. Realizing they were simply played until their time was out, all primarchs screamed with fury and agony yet there was nothing they could do as the power of time threw them to their home dimension.
Noah lowered his guard after being sure that they were gone. He stretched again with a deep sigh as his voice boomed with genuine laughter.
"WOOOOOOO! I WON baby! 10 demigods and still short against Mighty Pioneer of Humanity! Who is the best? I am the best! Who is the smartest? I am the smartest! Take this OG Emperor! I! AM! BETTER! THAN! YOU!"
All spectators around the Galaxy facepalmed at his famous antics yet there was nothing they could have done as Noah started his victory dance.
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While Noah and the Emperor defended against the gods and demigods, the Astartes and mortal soldiers of the black crusade found themselves against a legion of mighty God-Engines and a Golden Legion of the Custodians. The Doomslayers, the personal legion of the Pioneer, were absent as they were assigned with the mission of saving the Goddess Isha.
Chaos Space Marines were sure of their victory until realizing the Golden army and two people maybe more fearsome than the army itself.
A symbiote-assisted duo of Constantine Valdor and Sigismund. Both rejuvenated and their strength even more elevated, making them a terror to all heretics. The Warbands present were not an exception. Of course the Titans and the Custodians were the most famous of the defenses as there were also Knights from prestigious houses and numberless tanks, even a few hundred Mastodon super-heavy tanks.
The next moments were not really a battle, to be honest. Without the primarchs or Abaddon there was little they could have done against the Golden Legion. The Custodians slaughtered the horde of heretics as the experienced crew of the titans provided rear support with their mighty weaponry.
Their forces were quite an overkill showing the unmatched paranoia of Noah. With a final celebration from the mortals Custodians returned from their duty with the other forces there. Their job was done.
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AN: Hello my dear readers thank you for reading. With this chapter we finally finished the AU Siege and now we are straightly going to the DC. Sorry for the Late chapter though I havent considered the time I would spend on moving out. They kicked us out from the dorm because of the holiday.
Also I apperantly forgot my Lore tidbits in the beginning sorry about that they are back again.
Eid Mubarek everyone and take care of each other. I should be able to write a chapter tomorrow or the day after.