The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Just as Soshyan was experiencing Xerxes' desperate mood, a picture suddenly appeared in his mind: a withered god was frantically devouring the child in his hands—

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The Child-Eating God

He finally understood why the Mortal said it was the work Xerxes was most unwilling to face. The fear was not of the Emperor. In fact, the painting was likely from Xerxes' own hand, depicting a dark and cruel future possibility for Xerxes—overthrowing his father, only to succumb to complete bestiality in the struggle between divinity and humanity, forced to constantly devour the future to barely survive.

The Child-Eating God refers not to the Emperor, but to Xerxes himself!

"If you want to wear the crown, you must bear the weight. This saying is enlightening for him in the past and for you now."

The Tempter's words made Soshyan look up, but his eyes were still filled with confusion.

Not far away, Erda immediately reprimanded.

"Don't listen to this old dog rambling and defending himself! There are clearly other methods! He only thinks about his own great achievements! He has never truly thought about his own children! The wisdom and compassion taught to him by the Awakened One have been learned by a dog!"

The Tempter shook his head, holding his forehead with his hand. Even through the mask, one could feel his helplessness and speechlessness.

Soshyan blinked and turned to look at Erda.

"There are other...ways?"

"The condition of the Grey Pith can at least be alleviated."

"What?"

The Tempter sighed softly and took over the conversation.

"Souls, countless souls, can temporarily stabilize the Necron Starfall by temporarily filling its endless desires with souls."

"This...I do know."

"You don't know. Your current Grey Pith is different from Xerxes'. Back then, the Necron Starfall was more violent and more hungry."

"Even then—"

Halfway through his sentence, Soshyan stopped. He also realized a problem—how many souls would it take to stabilize the Necron Starfall?

The Tempter sensed his thoughts and nodded slightly.

"Countless, incalculable, possibly hundreds of billions, or even trillions, or even the entire star sector, the entire star region...of living people, or even half the population of the Imperium of Man."

"So what?"

Erda's words became particularly harsh at this time.

"Haven't you always regarded mortals as slaves and livestock? Why are you suddenly feeling sorry for them now? Mannilek is our child, he is more important than anything! Mortals are like weeds on the ground, they always grow and they always wither. You keep saying you want him to have a god-like heart, why are you suddenly being hypocritical again?"

Soshyan closed his eyes. He finally realized that the most abnormal person present was actually this Primarch Mother.

Seeing such an Emperor and Erda, Soshyan suddenly realized how lucky he was to have normal parents. If he were a Primarch and had to face these two, then he would really be out of luck.

The Tempter also seemed to be losing patience, rubbing his knuckles and said lightly:

"I don't want to argue with you about these issues. What you think is your business. I'm just stating the facts."

Soshyan opened his eyes and turned to Erda.

"Ms. Erda, I have some questions I would like to ask you."

Erda looked at him and nodded.

"Come with me."

Soshyan stood up and looked at the Tempter, who also nodded.

"Regarding Li's matter, it's more appropriate to ask her than to ask me."

Hearing the Tempter mention Li, Erda glared at him again, then opened the door, and Soshyan followed.

The moment he stepped out, he arrived in a dilapidated garden. All around were withered flowerbeds, dry fountains, and gray, broken statues entwined with wire-like, withered vines. The images of those statues were already very blurred and seemed to come from different eras. There were barbarians holding stone axes, warriors holding swords and shields, and Soshyan even saw a warrior wearing power armor.

He raised his head, and the sky was dark, with raindrops falling, turning into chilling rain threads.

Every drop of rain that fell on him seemed to cover his heart with a layer of resentment and sadness, as if weeping along with this endless rain.

Erda walked ahead, where the only building in the garden stood, a solitary square building.

The drizzle gradually stopped, and Soshyan followed Erda up the gray stone steps. Between two huge dark blue pillars, a door carved with unknown symbols slowly opened on its own.

What appeared before Soshyan was a wide glass corridor that stretched to the end of his vision, filled with dark gold and blue grids on both sides. Each grid was silently inserted with a slender wine bottle, endless and infinite.

"This is...a wine cellar?"

Soshyan slowly walked along the corridor, curiously looking around at everything he could see.

"Can I take a look?"

Hearing Soshyan's words, Erda stopped, but did not turn around.

"You may."

With some curiosity, Soshyan carefully reached out and pulled out one of the wine bottles, holding it in his hands to examine it closely.

As a result, what he saw reflected in it was first a trembling, wriggling blood red, followed by a flash of dazzling light, and before the light could fade and reveal the scenery, it fell into darkness and perished.

"This is..."

"This is what is seen by newborn infants who only gain a moment of life before unfortunately dying young. The wine brewed from their memories is most full of hope and joy, and its taste is also the most fleeting."

Erda's voice was calm and peaceful. When this goddess, her skirt fluttering, slowly turned around as if gently pushed by the waves of the gray sea, Soshyan could not see her face. On her face, the shadows of various different faces overlapped, old women, beautiful women, girls…

When Soshyan blinked, the other party returned to her original appearance, with only a faint smile on the corner of her mouth.

"So these are all memories of infants, or rather, children?"

"Yes, let's go."

Soshyan put the wine bottle back and followed Erda deeper, eventually arriving at a warm yet strange hall.

It was huge and warm. The lights hanging from the dome were shaped like beautiful stars and moons. There were also many baby cradles, and even the walls were pink. The floor was covered with a fluffy carpet, and there were many steps around, on which were placed baby cradles of various shapes. All the furnishings around looked like they would appear in a baby's room, including toys, puppets, building blocks, and even many plush toys walking around, holding golden trays filled with candy.

Similarly, there were wine racks everywhere here, filled with sparkling wine bottles.

"Sit down."

Erda sat directly on the carpet. Soshyan saw this and also sat on the ground, one leg crossed and the other with his knee raised, so that his hand had a support point.

Then he looked up, looking at the slightly childish decorations around him, and for some reason thought of Veronica and the child of his in her belly.