211: Chapter 211 The Emperor Ascends to Godhood

Han Zhe called up a top-secret projection just completed by the adjudicator:

"Our analysis indicates that your essence, the divinity forged over ten thousand years by the prayers of trillions of believers, if allowed to dissipate after your death, will trigger an unpredictable psychic tsunami. But if it can be guided, transformed, and integrated into the Human Federation's order..."

"You will no longer be the Emperor. You will become part of the Human Federation's order."

"A permanent, controllable divine module, utterly isolated from the Warp."

"When your essence merges with the Sea of Order, the Human Federation will possess a new ability: the ordered application of faith power. No longer passively enduring the prayers of trillions of believers, but actively converting that faith energy into a supplement for the abyss of order, into support for the Void Barrier, into the ultimate weapon against any existence that attempts to challenge the Human Federation."

The Emperor was silent for a long time.

A very, very long time.

So long that Han Zhe thought He had given up thinking.

But finally, those two flames reignited, carrying a sense of relief never before seen in eternity:

"Good."

"I am willing."

On the periphery of Terra, thirty thousand Nullifier Nodes activated simultaneously.

Dark golden light surged from each node, weaving together in the void into a massive, constantly pulsing net of order that covered the entire Segmentum Solar. At the center of this network was the Golden Throne, which had been carefully moved in its entirety into Terran orbit by the Human Federation's engineering fleet, suspended at the very heart of those thirty thousand nodes.

Upon the Throne, the Emperor's body was no longer desiccated.

His skin had regained fullness, his muscles their robustness. His eyes were no longer two flames, but two bottomless pools of order, burning with an interwoven light of gold and dark gold.

All the pipes and cables that had been connected to Him for ten thousand years behind Him had been severed. The ends of those pipes were now connected to the thirty thousand Nullifier Nodes, methodically and steadily channeling the faith power contained within the Emperor's essence, accumulated over millennia by trillions of believers, into the Sea of Order.

The Sea of Order was growing.

The dark golden light, which originally covered only half of the Eye of Terror, began to spread outward at an unprecedented speed the moment the Emperor's essence was infused. The remaining half of the Eye of Terror was completely engulfed, the Segmentum Obscurus was covered, the Taiping Star Domain was covered, the Ultima Segmentum was covered.

When the last wisp of faith power was absorbed by the Sea of Order, the entirety of the Milky Way was, in the same instant, enveloped by a faint, invisible to the naked eye but clearly perceptible to any Psyker, dark golden glow.

That was not defense.

That was a declaration.

That was a declaration to all existences in the universe:

The Milky Way, from this moment on, belongs to the Human Federation.

The Milky Way, from this moment on, belongs to order.

Upon the Golden Throne, the Emperor slowly opened His eyes.

His gaze was no longer weary, no longer pained, no longer lonely.

His gaze met Han Zhe's.

"It is done." His voice was no longer a whisper, but resonated directly in the consciousness of every Human Federation citizen—not an intrusion, but a declaration. "I, the Emperor, the Emperor of Mankind, the Watcher of ten thousand years, today, willingly merge with the Human Federation's order."

"Today, I become part of the Sea of Order."

"Today, I witness humanity's new era."

As the words fell, His body began to melt—not into death, but into transformation. His flesh turned to light, His bones to energy, His soul that had burned for ten thousand years transformed into a brilliant torrent of interwoven gold and dark gold, surging into the core of the Sea of Order.

When the last trace of light faded, the Golden Throne stood empty.

Only a faint, barely perceptible golden imprint remained, etched onto the throne's backrest—the only memento the Emperor left for future generations.

And deep within the Sea of Order, at the heart of the star region that once belonged to the Eye of Terror and was now permanently covered in dark gold, a new existence was slowly taking form.

It was an existence condensed from dark golden light, without fixed form, fused with the entire Sea of Order.

His name had already been inscribed into every Human Federation database, into the consciousness of every citizen:

The Order God-Emperor. He is not a god. He is part of the Human Federation's order.

When the news of the Order God-Emperor's birth spread throughout the galaxy, the last vestiges of the Imperium's will to resist completely collapsed.

Ultima Segmentum, Macragge System.

Guilliman stood on the bridge of his flagship, gazing at the dark golden torrent on the star chart converging towards Terra. Beside him were Lion, Corax, and the small group of loyalist Primarchs who had survived the Eye of Terror campaign.

No one spoke.

Finally, Guilliman lowered the Emperor's Sword in his hand.

"Issue the order," his voice rasped like sandpaper on stone, "all fleets, cease resistance."

"Regent!" a Ultramarines Captain exclaimed, "We still have the capacity to counterattack!"

"What do we have left?" Guilliman interrupted him, his voice laden with an ancient weariness. "The Emperor is gone. Faith is lost. The galaxy belongs to the Human Federation. What do we have left?"

The Captain fell silent.

Guilliman slowly turned to face everyone:

"My allegiance was not to the Imperium. My allegiance is to humanity. Ten thousand years ago, my father founded the Imperium to protect humanity. If the Human Federation can do it better, I am willing to accept this fact."

He picked up the communicator and opened a channel to the public frequency of the Human Federation Fleet:

"I am Roboute Guilliman, Regent of the Imperium, Primarch of the Ultramarines."

"On behalf of all Imperial forces still loyal to the Emperor and to humanity, I announce our surrender. We are willing to accept the order of the Human Federation. We are willing—to become part of the new humanity."

When Guilliman led the last group of Imperial representatives up the steps of the Terra Imperial Palace, they were met not with the arrogance of victors nor the mockery of conquerors.

Only peace.

In the central plaza of the Terra Imperial Palace, the dark golden banner of the Human Federation and the double-headed eagle emblem of the Imperium were hung side by side for the final time. Beneath the double-headed eagle stood the empty Golden Throne.

Guilliman walked to the throne and gazed at the golden imprint.

He knelt.

Behind him, Lion, Corax, and all the Imperial representatives knelt simultaneously.

Ten thousand years of the Imperium ended with that kneel.

Han Zhe walked up to Guilliman.

"Stand up." His voice was calm as ever. "The Human Federation does not require kneeling."

Guilliman slowly rose and met his gaze.

"My father..." His voice carried a slight tremor. "Is He... well?"

"He is well." Han Zhe's reply was simple and sincere. "He is part of the Sea of Order. He is no longer in pain, no longer lonely, no longer needs to bear anything. He simply exists. With order."

For the first time in ten thousand years, tears welled in Guilliman's eyes.

"Thank you." His voice was almost inaudible. "Thank you for giving Him release."

Han Zhe did not reply.

He merely turned and looked at the two banners in the plaza—one the dark golden flag of the Human Federation, the other the Imperial double-headed eagle soon to be lowered forever.

"From this day forth," his voice spread across all of Terra, across the entire Segmentum Solar, across the entire Human Federation, "there will be no distinction between the Imperium and the Human Federation in the galaxy."

"The galaxy has only one civilization, one future."

He turned to face Guilliman, all the Imperial representatives, and the countless citizens of the former Imperial territories watching: "Welcome home."

"As of the end of Order Year 138, all former Imperial territories have been brought under Human Federation control." providence's voice resonated in the year-end meeting of the Command Center. "Reshaping Crucible modifications have covered ninety-three percent of the former Imperial population. Full ideological unification of the entire population is projected within ten years."

"Primarchs Guilliman, Lion, Corax, and others have accepted the Human Federation's order and voluntarily participate in the daily maintenance of the Sea of Order. Their combat experience and strategic thinking have been assessed by the adjudicator as extremely valuable and have been incorporated into the curriculum of the Human Federation Military Academy."

"The Emperor, now the Order God-Emperor, has stabilized His integration with the Sea of Order at 97%. The faith power contained within His essence is being gradually converted by the Human Federation into reinforcement energy for the Void Barrier, backup energy for Causality Weapons, and the core of the newly developed Divine Shield."

"Thus, the ten-thousand-year history of the Imperium of Man is officially concluded."

"Humanity's new era, the Order Era, has begun."

After listening to the report, Han Zhe slowly stood up.

He walked to the massive observation window. Outside was the starry sky of Terra—no, the starry sky of the entire human galaxy. That expanse once ruled by the Imperium, eroded by Chaos, coveted by The Swarm, was now covered by a faint, invisible to the naked eye but perceptible to any existence, dark golden glow.

That was the Sea of Order. That was the culmination of five hundred years of the Human Federation's struggle, the endpoint of the Emperor's ten-thousand-year vigil, and the starting point of humanity's new era.

"Five hundred years," he murmured to himself. "From a cobbled-together escape ship to master of the entire galaxy."

"How far we have come."

Behind him, the voice of Alpha-01 sounded: "Archon, what comes next?"

Han Zhe did not turn around.

"Next—"

His gaze went beyond the window, to the dark gold-covered starry sky, beyond that sky to the deeper Extragalactic Systems, to the depths of those Extragalactic Systems where the fleeing remnants of Slaanesh still lingered, and further still to the unknown realms where perhaps other cold observers still watched everything.

Next, we continue to advance. The galaxy is only the starting point. The universe is the destination. The Human Federation's era has only just begun.