Kivior-2 stepped before Nimrod and spoke solemnly.
"On behalf of all altars of Vostroya, I accept your terms. The Mechanicum shall support your ascension as this world's sovereign."
"Please act immediately, cleanse the blasphemous heretics."
Rosicky and Wojciech exchanged shocked glances. It was unthinkable that the Magos would accept Nareth's terms.
After the initial shock, they calmed down and understood Kivior-2 had no other choice.
The Skitarii and many noble houses had suffered devastating losses fighting the xeno raiders, and now the mutants. Vostroya lacked the sacred Titan legions. Faced with a sudden heretic outbreak, there really was no better option.
Had they refused Nareth's conditions, Vostroya would have faced annihilation.
The Magos had considered more than just the current crisis. Piotek's corruption and Kapustka's fall had destroyed his faith in the ruling bloodlines.
His mechadendrites danced across data-slates, inscribing vows in Lingua Technis and Low Gothic before stamping them with electro-seals.
Nareth reviewed it and nodded in satisfaction.
"As you wish. I'll move immediately."
With that, Nareth strode out. Maria and the others hurried to follow.
Waiting outside, Rogninho quickly rallied his forces to follow the giant.
A few kilometers into the march, they encountered a horde of Beasts of Tzeentch.
Their squad numbered less than a hundred, while the monsters numbered in the thousands. Yet no one showed fear.
At the front, Nareth dove into the horde. With a single charge, he cleaved dozens of bird-shaped beasts in half; hundreds were flung away.
Rogninho shouted:
"Attack!"
He pulled the trigger on his newly equipped Vostroyan lasrifle. The beam pierced through a beast's right eye and shot out its skull.
'This gun's insane, way better than the junk we used to trade with sea folk.'
Piontek watched the unstoppable colossus from afar, his blade dripping with the blood of fleeing royal guards. The whispers from his ascension ritual echoed anew:
"Piontek Swidelski, I grant you enlightenment. This noble form bears my wisdom."
"You shall prove yourself with the power I bestow. Strike him down!"
The figure shown to him by the God of Wisdom overlapped with the image of Nareth.
Piontek trembled, recalling the god's command:
"Use the blade in your hand. Cut his flesh. Make him bleed!"
"Make him bleed, and you will ascend. You will forever serve by my side!"
His eyes lit up. He felt the call of the god and the touch of destiny.
Zhelinski's earlier words echoed in his mind:
"You've undergone the sacred transformation. From now on, you're tied to fate. You'll instinctively perceive strands of destiny, like beasts sniffing prey on the wind."
Unlike those who went mad from the god's enlightenment, Piontek remained aware.
He was special. He knew what he sensed would happen. Just like how he killed Kapustka with one strike... Just like now.
Zhelinski let out a shriek and charged at Nareth.
At the same time, Zhelinski also noticed Nareth slaughtering the Beasts of Tzeentch he had created through sacrificial rites, as if sweeping trash.
Zhelinski's gaze deepened.
'If I can subjugate such a being, I will complete my enlightenment.'
'And if I offer him up to my god... surely I will be blessed even further.'
He raised his staff and summoned the power granted by the God of Wisdom.
Waves of energy lifted him into the air. Twin wings burst from his back, tearing his blue robes apart.
Just after Nareth swung his halberd, he felt a javelin-like psychic will shoot toward him.
He sneered.
As a Primarch, his mind vastly outstripped mortals. "The Lawyer" and "The Barbarian" had both enhanced him—his will was iron. The thought that someone would try a mental attack on him was laughable.
He looked toward the attacker, Zhelinski, airborne.
The man's face still retained some human features, bruised and purple, before collapsing mid-air.
"Leave him to me."
With a casual wave, Marlena caused several Beasts of Tzeentch to convulse violently before exploding under her psyker power.
"Good."
Nareth turned to Piontek, who was charging toward him. Compared to the others, this beast was massive, second only to Fangjaw in size.
Mid-charge, Piontek suddenly veered right, then, after two steps, lunged left.
Destiny had shown him this was the way. Only then could he complete the god's mission, spill the giant's blood.
Just as his blade came within an arm's reach of Nareth's black armor, he saw a flash of dark light.
An instant later, pain exploded in his abdomen. He was sent flying, coughing blood.
"No! Destiny showed me—I will succeed! I will complete the task!"
Two laughs echoed in his mind, one was a whisper, a mocking laugh from the God of Wisdom.
The other belonged to the giant.
Nareth appeared before him in a blink and brought his halberd down, nailing him to the ground.
Nareth knew, even the most powerful seers couldn't glimpse all of fate's secrets. Beasts of Tzeentch, granted only a sliver of destiny-sensing instinct, had even less chance.
Worse yet, what they saw might be fake, an illusion for some demon's amusement.
He pulled his halberd free and noticed Rogninho's forces pressing the left flank, steadily advancing.
On the other side, Maria and her team were perfectly synchronized, injecting combat stimulants at just the right times.
Ahead, Marlena was crushing Zhelinski completely. The backlash from his failed psychic attack rendered him helpless.
Nareth thought: Even at his peak, he couldn't break Marlena's mind.
The shamaness had the strongest will he had ever seen.
'It's over.'
As that thought formed, Marlena raised her pale hand and pushed forward.
A bolt of lightning, thick as a finger, shot into Zhelinski's face.
With a scream, the Tzeentch cultist collapsed, his face charred beyond recognition.
With both Zhelinski and Piontek dead, the Beasts of Tzeentch lost all command and fell into savagery. They were swiftly annihilated.
Nareth ordered Rogninho to regroup the surviving Mikhailovsk forces and seize the unguarded Hive.
Nareth himself descended to the lower hive, where he hunted and killed a millipede serpent. He also captured five more and threw them into the second level of the Kingdom of Disorder, a simulated lower hive space he had built.
Returning to the upper hive, he entered the palace of the Spire to begin brewing the Assassin potion.