Chapter 88 Big E: Lend a Brother a Hand!

Many people were continuously asking for mass release and some were even asking for like 10 chapters but obviously I can’t do that since we would run out of chapters.

—

“Forefather, we are rapidly approaching the entrance to the Imperial Dungeon.”

Guilliman’s voice echoed in his ear, yanking him right out of his power-trip daydreams.

“Ah… we’re here already?” Vane pushed down his racing thoughts and snapped his attention back to the present.

“Yes, but the situation is looking grim,” Guilliman warned. “There is a massive horde of demons prowling near the Webway Gate. The moment we get close, they will swarm us. Brace yourself; we are likely walking into an exceptionally brutal bloodbath.”

Hearing Guilliman’s grim warning, Vane’s eyes instantly lit up with excitement.

“So, we’re gearing up for another slaughter festival?”

Guilliman: “…”

“Out of everything I just said, the only word that registered in your head was ‘bloodbath,’ wasn’t it?”

Warships weren’t allowed to pass through the Webway gate of the Imperial Palace on Terra. Because of this, they had to cover the final stretch on foot.

The moment the pilgrimage vanguard approached the Webway gate, an endless tide of demons surged forward, desperate to tear them limb from limb. Each demon was a unique, grotesque horror, spawned from the most twisted and bizarre nightmares imaginable.

“Come on!” Vane roared with exhilaration as he threw himself headfirst into the demonic horde. “Offer up your blood and skulls! Entertain me to your heart’s content!”

“I am your end! I am your walking catastrophe! I am the Reaper!”

Custodian Tribune Navradaran’s mouth twitched as he watched Vane screaming with unhinged joy on the battlefield. He leaned over and whispered to the Living Saint Celestine beside him.

“Are we absolutely certain the Forefather isn’t a Champion of Khorne?”

“I’m pretty sure the Forefather looks down on that particular Chaos God,” Celestine replied smoothly.

—

The sudden eruption of combat at the far end of the Webway didn’t go unnoticed. The Custodes guarding the Throne Room immediately picked up the disturbance, and Captain-General Trajann Valoris hurried over the moment he got the report.

“A disturbance at the far end of the Webway?” Trajann muttered. “Cadia has fallen, the galaxy is torn in half… It seems our Archenemy is finally making a move on Terra itself.”

His expression was grim. Lately, Terra had been plagued by constant riots and unrest. Intel showed that the Warp storms brewing around the Throneworld were surging in violence, hinting at an imminent, full-scale demonic invasion. And now, with chaos erupting at the Webway gate, it had to be another insidious plot by the Ruinous Powers.

“We must hold the Webway gate. No matter what happens, absolutely none of those abominations are getting through.”

Trajann immediately scrambled every available detachment within the Imperial Palace, ordering them to reinforce the gate. They would hold the line at all costs.

However, Big E—currently strapped to the Golden Throne—had a completely different agenda.

Hurry up, hurry up! Let me get the door for you guys!

Watching Vane and his crew brawling with demons in the Webway, Big E was as giddy as a teenager sneaking out to see their crush. The moment they got anywhere near the gate, he planned to throw it wide open, terrified of wasting even a single second.

Oh man, it’s finally my turn!

I’m getting up! I am finally getting out of this chair! I’m going to take on those four Chaos assholes for another three hundred rounds, and this time, I absolutely won’t lose!

Spurred by Big E’s sheer willpower, the slowly failing Golden Throne suddenly spiked with violent activity. Under the horrified gazes of the Tech-Priests on maintenance duty, the energy readouts skyrocketed, smashing through unprecedented peaks.

The colossal archway, forged from Terran steel and alien stone, slowly ground open. Brilliant light cascaded through from the other side.

“No…” Trajann turned to stare at the Emperor upon the Golden Throne, who had been silent for ten millennia. “Why do this?”

“Have even you succumbed to despair? Are you giving up?”

The Throne remained silent, offering no answer, just as it had for the past ten thousand years.

With the portal open, the fog shrouding the Webway transformed into blinding light that flooded the Throne Room, washing over the Custodes’ faces. Piercing shrieks filled the air as an ocean of demons poured through the breach.

The Custodes instantly locked into formation, readying their weapons and preparing to sell their lives dearly.

Right at that moment, Guilliman, clad in his gold-and-blue power armor, carved a bloody path straight to the gate. He hoisted the Emperor’s Sword high into the air and bellowed at the top of his lungs.

“In the name of the Forefather and my Father, crawl back to hell!”

The second the words left his mouth, Guilliman violently drove the flaming blade into the ground. A raging inferno erupted from his position, expanding outward in all directions and reducing the demonic horde to screaming ash.

“I once stood alone at the Eternity Gate to bar you from my Father, and today, I will act as His ultimate shield once more!” Sanguinius declared. “As long as I draw breath, you will never touch my Father!”

The Great Angel planted himself in front of the gate, his sword and spear becoming a deadly blur as he executed any demon foolish enough to try and slip past him.

“Number Nine and Number Thirteen?” Trajann stared at the two Primarchs, his face caught in sheer disbelief. Wasn’t Number Nine supposed to be dead?

Before the Captain-General could even process the impossible sight, Vane led the pilgrimage vanguard right past Guilliman and Sanguinius, stepping directly into the Throne Room.

Once everyone was through, Sanguinius and Guilliman ‘slowly’ backed into the room as well. The heavy Webway gate slowly ground shut, locking the raging demons on the other side.

“Finally made it to Terra.” Vane stowed his weapons and took a look around the cavernous chamber. “We’re on a tight schedule with a massive to-do list. Let’s peel Big E off that chair first, then we can talk business.”

Vane’s gaze locked onto the Golden Throne. Big E sat upon it in total silence, radiating a blinding, majestic aura.

If a normal person looked up, all they would see was a blazing, miniature sun. But Vane was different. He saw Big E’s true, harrowing condition: a ruined, skeletal husk wrapped in shattered armor, half of his face and body completely rotting away. If that had been a regular mortal, they’d have died eight hundred times over by now.

“Gotta say, your old man barely looks any better than you did back then. I mean, look at him! The absolute state he’s in, all thanks to Horus, the undisputed Son of the Year.”

Vane aimed the comment at Sanguinius, but he didn’t bother lowering his voice at all. Every single person in the room heard him loud and clear.

Both Sanguinius and Guilliman’s mouths twitched.

Forefather, for the love of God, could you maybe not be so brutally honest about this?!

“Whatever, let’s just heal your dad first.” Vane whipped out a bucket of milk and an Enchanted Golden Apple.

In the base game, milk had the absurdly overpowered ability to instantly wipe any status effect. But with his ‘Buffed Milk’ mod installed, its cleansing properties were dialed up to absolutely ridiculous levels. Back when Vane was clearing apocalyptic worlds infected with flesh-mutations, he literally relied on buckets of milk to purge sanity-draining psychic corruption from Outer Gods and curses from vengeful spirits.

Big E had been beaten half to death by Horus, glued to the Golden Throne, and force-fed ten millennia of raw, unadulterated human worship. The guy’s debuff bar was completely maxed out. He needed to chug some milk to wipe his status ailments first, and then down a heavily enchanted Golden Apple to actually repair his decaying physical vessel.

Once his physical body was back in one piece, they could figure out how to deal with the whole Dark King situation.

“Hold it right there—” Trajann hefted his massive Watcher’s Axe and stepped directly into Vane’s path. “Before you attempt whatever it is you are planning, you had best explain exactly who you are, and why you are here…”

Taking their cue from the Captain-General, the rest of the Custodes immediately raised their weapons, aiming them squarely at Vane’s group.