The Emperor's Rusted Knight

Author's Note: Divergent from Thy Rusted Knight's Ch 2 and 3.

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THE WARP

"For the Emperor!"

"Hold the line!"

"The Emperor protects!"

"Keep faith and He shall see us through!"

"Incoming!"

"They're overwhelming us!"

"There's too many of them!"

"....Mommy, I'm scared."

"Hush, little one. He will-"

He wept.

He wept just as he had always done.

For more than ten thousand years, the Master of Mankind wept as hundreds of thousands of prayers were thrown towards him. Prayers for healing, bravery, courage, and salvation, prayers that he could not all answer.

Already, trillions cried out in agony as daemons invaded their worlds. His broken mind tried to keep up but even as pieces of him blessed certain warriors and granted miracles, it was not enough.

It was never enough.  

So he wept for the whole of Humanity.

He wept for his empire.

And in the deepest parts of his shattered mind, he wept for his sons.

It was only now that he was at his lowest did he see his folly.

So full of arrogance and hubris was he that he did not see how he himself casted the first stone that broke his empire.

Angron's plea came to mind, followed by Kurze's defeated glares, and then Lorgar's cry of pain as Monarchia burned.

Tens, hundreds, and thousands of instances, of moments where he could have been better, where he could have been a father, reminded him of his failings.

His own actions led to bitterness and hatred to fester within his sons and that was that was needed for Chaos to steal them from him.

And so again, the Emperor wept.

Guilliman rising might have been a ray of hope but it was akin to one ray of light fighting against the encroaching darkness.

And even now, he could see that the light was already flickering, demoralized by the Emperor's own words that were twisted by his shattering mind.

Instead of being inspired by words full of hope and instruction, Guilliman was weighed down by his words.

Of the weight of empire, humanity, and himself.

Five thousand years.

By his calculation, that's how long it would take before the Primaris are entirely spent and the Imperium was back to slowly being grinded by the dark.

Even now, he already wept for the fate of the hundreds of trillions of souls not reached by his light in Imperium Nihilus.

He had no doubt that daemons and xenos already preyed on his people not reached by the light.

Once, he was the dominant power in the galaxy. Able to move the tapestries of Fate and Destiny to the benefit of mankind.

Now?

Now he could not even move his own body much less help his people, unable to do anything but power the Astronomicon and hold back the tide for as long as he could.

And so he wept, immobile, unable to do anything but watch as his empire rotted away.

While his dream for Humanity was continuously distorted by those who profess to fight in his name.

For in the grim darkness of the 42nd Millenium, there was only war.

Until....

A blink.

It lasted for a moment. It lasted for eternity.

But it was as if a light flashed through the Immaterium, catching his attention like a moth to a flame.

Now flashes of light weren't anything new or strange but this had the weight of fate with it. It was like a ripple hiding behind the undercurrents of the Warp. A ripple that by all means should have been ignored.

Desperation lasting ten thousand years however, had pushed even a being such as the Emperor of Mankind scouring for every single ripple that might give his people a chance.

The flash might have only lasted briefly but he was already sending a shard of himself to peer at it.

What he saw however shocked him enough that the Astronomicon flickered, dooming almost a million souls navigating the Warp as he tried to move most of his attention.

It was slow, it was painful, but eventually, enough parts of his shattered mind focused on the source of the ripples to view it.

It was Warp and not Warp at the same time.

As if realspace had enveloped a portion of the Warp before being enveloped by the Warp itself.

Confusing to say the least.

Trying to make sense of it would have occupied his already shattered mind too much so he did not.

He satisfied himself with labelling it as reality within not reality that is within another reality and only allowed himself to look at the realm's manifestation.

It was a tree.

A giant tree to be exact.

A great tree, reminiscent of mankind's ages old depiction of Yggdrasil.

It spoke of power as if it was part of the Immaterium ruled by the Four Chaos Gods.

This part however was not so hostile and while the Emperor of Mankind would have loved to examine it in more detail, he could only dally for so long lest the Ruinous Powers notice his inattention.

He turned his focus towards the tree again and peered inside of it.

It felt like like parting a veil or a curtain and the next thing he knew, he was staring at four beings.

Three of those beings smelled like the Warp with one of them seemingly more potent than the others, an elder perhaps?

Nay.....

It was the great tree itself.

The Emperor's eyes narrowed at that.

It was not a Chaos God but just the fact that it could carve a part of the Immaterium as its own realm spoke of power.

It was definitely above a Daemon Prince that was for sure.

Still, his attention did not linger long for the fourth being was a human.

His eyes blinked at that realization and then the human did something incredible.

The man bared his soul inside the Warp.

Now a human baring their soul inside the Warp? Nothing new.

Humans have been doing it for ages since the first psykers were born but everyone also knew that that was just a recipe for disaster.

More often than not, the Warp overwhelmed any fool baring the soul to them before they are ripped apart by the daemons inhabiting within.

That wasn't what was happening here however.

What shocked the Emperor the most this time however was that this human wasn't just baring his soul. He was linking it with the denizens of the Warp beside him!

More than that, he seemed to be enhancing them!

How?!

In his very very long life, the Master of Mankind thought he had seen it all. From the deepest and darkest secrets of magic to the highest peaks of power one can achieve.

He thought nothing else would be able to surprise him regardless of how novel they were as long as he used his knowledge and experience to comprehend them.

There was no explanation his shattered mind could think of now however to answer just how can one man not just link his soul to daemons but also enhance them!

It was supposed to be the other way around! A human's soul was akin to a candle in the night compared to the bonfire of what passes for a Warpborn's soul! A daemon's soul!

Yet here a human was, enhancing two of them.

And it didn't seem like he was tiring either!

In fact, it seemed like he was even enhancing himself!

Even in the esoteric arts of magic and the Warp, something must always come from something.

So, where was this man's strength of soul coming from?!

The Emperor watched, transfixed as the man seemed to breathe and before he knew it, he was raising a sword.

A sword glowing with so much light and soulfire that the Emperor would swear that he almost felt the heat touch his face but as the sword descended, he finally realized what the man was doing.

Those ripples he sensed from earlier? Attempts to break through the Warp.

This, however was not an attempt.

It was a feat.

The Warp sundered, tearing into itself as the space in front of the human opened like a tear in reality.

He felt it then.

Hope.

Everything stopped as time and space shattered and just as the human entered the Warp, he acted.

Burning hands grasped on quickly towards the human even as vines from the enormous tree shot out to block him.

The Emperor pushed on however, gritting his teeth as the effort almost shook his mind loose.

Eventually however, his psychic might broke through.

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IMPERIAL PALACE, TERRA, 011.M42

The world shook as the Astronomicon waned and the Golden Throne glowed and flickered.

All Brother Majorian could do at that moment in time however was to grip his spear tightly as he looked upon the Emperor's form.

None would blame him for not watching the doors to the Throne Room, for every single one of his brothers also looked upon their charge as for the first time in a very very long time, the Emperor twitched.

Majorian's enhanced heart skipped a beat as every single one of the Golden Host assigned to guard the Emperor in the Throne Room that particular day heard a crack.

Majorian watched and then he blinked as light enveloped the world.

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THE WARP / THE IMMATERIUM / THE GREAT VOID / THE UNKNOWN

Jaune Arc gasped as light streaked past his eyes and then a scream.

His ears rang and he snapped his eyes shut as pain immediately assaulted his mind.

That.....That sounded like the Blacksmith!

He immediately opened his eyes but instead of seeing the light earlier, darkness was all he saw before him.

He frowned. He was supposed to be moving. Travelling to the past with the Curious Cat and the Jabberwalker.

Right now however, he felt like he was frozen in space as both the Curious Cat and Jabberwalker were nowhere to be found.

Before he could think about it more however, everything exploded into light once again.

Instead of the streaks he saw earlier however, this time, fire materialized into the shape of a man.

He gritted his teeth, gripping Crocea Mors with both hands as he prepared to face down this obstacle.

The Blacksmith didn't tell him anything about this!

Just what the hell was happening?!

Just as he started to amplify himself with his Semblance however, everything shook.

"HELP ME, JAUNE ARC."

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Man looked at man as the burning figure of the Emperor floated in front of the human.

Jaune Arc, for that was the human's name from what the Emperor managed to glean from his mind, gasped as he held onto his sword tightly.

It took some effort to carve this portion of the Warp from every single daemon and pull Jaune Arc but it was worth it.

Even as the Emperor was sure fleets were already dying as a consequence of this particular stunt, he had no choice.

He reached out a hand because for the first time in more ten thousand years, he felt burning hope in his chest.

"HELP ME, JAUNE ARC." His voice reverberated against Immaterium as he watched the man's eyes widen. "YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE."

Jaune Arc, the man, the Huntsman, the Rusted Knight, was a kind of man the Emperor had never seen before.

Possessing the ability to use the soul was nothing novel but Jaune Arc had the capacity to amplify the power of one's soul past their limits as long as he willed it!

AS LONG AS HE WILLED IT!

And he could use it on others as well!

It was perhaps the most outrageous, unmatched, and unparalleled ability one could have!

The Emperor couldn't help but smile at that.

Jaune Arc however, only looked at him warily.

"Who....are you?" 

Now wasn't that a loaded question.

The answer was simple. The answer was also complicated.

In lieu of saying anything however, the Emperor stretched out a finger and immediately, Jaune Arc gasped in pain as thoughts and knowledge were passed into his mind.

Nothing mind breaking of course, just a brief summary of history, events, general knowledge of his universe, as well as a rudimentary understanding of the Warp.

"I HAVE BEEN KNOWN BY MANY NAMES BUT YOU CAN CALL ME EMPEROR."

"Pre...tentious, aren't we?" Jaune Arc gritted out and the Emperor couldn't help but have his eyes widen before a laugh boomed out of his lips as he looked upon Jaune Arc.

Blue eyes looked up at him in mirth even as tears of pain dribbled down his cheek.

It was a joke, one made in the good spirit of introduction as man looked at man.

The Emperor's mouth quirked at that.

How long has it been since he heard a joke thrown at him?

Since....Malcador perhaps?

Now that sent a bout of loneliness on him. He quickly managed to shake it off however as he saw Jaune Arc's kneeling form.

Stretching his burning hand out, the Emperor grasped Jaune's own hand before pulling him up and opening his mouth.

"MY REAL NAME MIGHT BE TOO HARD FOR YOU TO PRONOUNCE, BUT YOU MAY CALL ME REVELATION."

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"Revelation...How fitting." Jaune drawled, his eyes blinking dazedly as the face in front of him started to blur into thousands of different shapes and color before it burned into fire.

Jaune knew the truth though. It was a glamour borne from the millions of souls fed to the sad man in front of him.

He smiled sadly, tightening his grip over the burning one before opening his mouth.

"Nice to meet you, Revelation. The name is Jaune Arc, but you probably already knew that with you being able to read my mind and all."

Jaune saw Revelation smile wryly at him even as they both shook hands.

"SHORT, SWEET, AND ROLLS OF THE TONGUE?" Revelation drawled and Jaune could only groan at that even as he continued. "YES, I DID KNOW THAT BUT IT IS STILL NICE TO MEET YOUR ACQUIANTANCE."

They stood there in the cosmos or the Warp judging by Revelation's knowledge. To be honest, Jaune struggled to make sense out of everything that was just shoved into his mind so he stopped trying to.

What mattered was he knew the important bits and so he opened his mouth to answer Revelation's unasked question.

"What if I say no?"
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"What if I say no?"

The question surprised the Emperor.

Echoes from eternities past reminded him of a conversation taken so long long ago.

What if I refuse?

He smiled as Sanguinius form overlapped with Jaune Arc's face.

He could only answer one way with that.

"YOU WON'T."

Jaune smirked and then the Emperor was being amplified.

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IMPERIAL PALACE, TERRA, 011.M42

Brother Majorian knelt as he saw flesh knit itself back on the Emperor's body.

His singular heart thumped loudly in his chest.

It was happening. It was really really happening.

The Master of Mankind was returning.

More muscle fibers formed on top of each other but as they awaited their Master's recovery, an agonizing scream pierced their mind.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

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THE WARP

Jaune was supposed to accompany Revelation.

"No." Jaune muttered fearfully as his sword bit into a neck.

They were supposedly going to a portion of the Warp under the Emperor's protection.

"No, no, no." He repeated angrily as he heard a hiss behind him.

But just as he felt the world move, titanic forces pulled against his body.

Try as he might to hold onto Revelation, to amplify him, it only took a moment of carelessness from both their parts for everything to go wrong.

"NO!" He shouted furiously, kicking a roaring daemon away as he twisted to decapitate another behind him.

JAUNE ARC WAS PULLED!

INTO HELL!

INTO THE DOMAINS OF THE FOUR GODS OF CHAOS!

Fury overwhelmed Jaune's heart as he found more daemons flood into the coliseum he was thrown in.

Yet try as he might.

As much as his Semblance worked overtime.

As much as he glowed with power.

As much as he began to rip and tear.

It was futile.

Jaune Arc was trapped.

For in the grim darkness of the 42nd Millennium, there was naught to be found but war and the laughter of thirsting gods.

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