Chapter 37: Wayne's Madness
Wayne understood a simple truth: humanity's sins belonged to humanity alone. No matter what choices humans made, they were the ones who had to bear the burden. Chaos was the cancer of all things, and yet—how could those without humanity stand on the moral high ground to judge him?
A group of beings without parents, without humanity, without morals- creatures merely shaped by gods and driven by pure egoism- how could they possibly understand what it meant to be human?
Only humans could judge humans. Only humans stand to carry out judgment.
This was the truth. Neither Chaos Daemons nor Eldar xenos nor any other ancient civilization was fit to criticize humanity. Humanity could only stand on trial in front of itself, and the sins of humanity could only be judged by humans. A galaxy without humanity was meaningless.
"No matter what sins humanity commits, it is not for non-human, degenerate beings like you to judge!"
The Daemon felt its magic falter. It had not met the activation standard for its prepared rituals. For some reason, the person before it generated a concept so fundamentally inhuman, or perhaps so perfectly human, that the Warp itself recoiled.
The girl disguised as the Owl widened her eyes. A tormented girl should have provoked pity, should have created wavering, the opening a Daemon needed.
Wayne just stared at her, his smile hidden in darkness, the false smile of one who had accepted death long ago.
"Do you think morality can criticize me? Human experimentation, mechanical modification, the fusion of biology and artificial intelligence, I've tried everything. I'm not a good person. Just as the Nostramo people say, I am a tyrant. A tyrant of humanity, not a slave to Chaos!"
The Daemon understood its mistake now. It had attempted to use a moral trap to provoke Wayne's inner weakness, then assault him with Chaos power. But how could an absolute humanist feel pain over moral questions? To Wayne, morality was a tool of humanity, not a weapon against it.
Energy flashed from Wayne's gauntlet, an evil light piercing the darkness. For a moment, the Daemon could not discern whether it was facing a human at all, or whether Wayne had transcended humanity entirely.
"You are not worthy to judge humanity!"
Wayen leaped, and a nanomachine storm gathered around him in a whirlwind of microscopic predators. Wayne appeared in a flash before Daemon punched him in the face, and red light consumed his existence.
The Owl convulsed and collapsed, howling in response: "You are the monster of humanity."
He had not anticipated that his ritual would fail, nor that a mortal could suppress his. Wayne's punch had simply blown the Daemon's head apart.
The Daemon was directly banished.
The Nature of the Trap
The Daemon had intended to suppress Wayne through the sins of his ancestors. But Wayne's madness transcended that of his ancestors; his preparation rituals and magic had no effect whatsoever.
If Wayne had been suppressed by his bloodline's sins, those sins would have materialized as chains binding him directly. Then the Chaos power born from those sins could have corrupted him further. Corrupting through bloodline connection would have significantly weakened Wayne's resistance to the Warp, giving the Owl, a Greater Daemon born from Wayne's bloodline specifically, room to maneuver.
But the Warp was an idealistic domain. If a Daemon's mind could not overcome a human's will, how could it enslave that human?
The Owl had lost to the dark, deranged thoughts within Wayne's mind. The sins she had prepared were, in Wayne's eyes, merely a grain of sand against a desert. Insignificant.
Yet even in his defeat, the Daemon glimpsed the madness that lay at Wayne's core: nanomachines composed of the Pariah gene. They were not designed to combat the Warp, but to transform humanity itself.
Wayne had analyzed the Pariah gene, identified the Warp-resistant elements, and used nanomachines to intensify those traits. His goal was singular: to transform himself into something with Pariah characteristics, merging machine and human directly. Humans would become biological nanomachines with extreme Warp resistance.
If two humans underwent the transformation, their genetic material would become part of the Bio-machine's inheritance. Those two machines could combine their genetics to cultivate the next generation of intelligent machines. Through iterative evolution, Wayne could create a mechanical civilization, a dark empire inheriting both human flesh and genetic legacy.
Wayne had used only a portion of the criminals for initial research before stopping. Konrad had come into this world and become his son, and that changed everything.
Yet the atrocities born from these thoughts and actions far surpassed the madness of his ancestors. Wayne did not care about humanity's future. He cared only for his own victory, absolute victory, eternal dominion.
The Owl had even hoped that the Emperor of Mankind would punish this man. After all, they were both equally mad, and only equally mad individuals could ever appreciate each other.
...
Wayne stood alone on the road, watching the Daemon dissipate, and smiled faintly. He understood: he had achieved victory, and the existence of the Daemon and its Warp presence here had scattered into nothing.
Wayne considered this invasion carefully. One Greater Daemon alone had manifested here. How else could he attract a higher-ranking entity?
As for Helena, Wayne had watched the Owl transform into a maiden and mock him. He had concluded that Helena herself must be a Daemon in disguise.
"This is all over," he said.
"Is it really?" Helena suddenly emerged from the darkness. The moment she appeared, she applauded him, remarking that it was just like him to overcome even the sin of his bloodline. "Is this truly over?"
"You're still here?" Wayne's eyes narrowed. "A Daemon?"
Helena's azure eyes stared at Wayne. Her dress, woven from feathers, distorted the air and matter itself. She was ancient, far older than she appeared.
Her mere presence was a cataclysm for this world. Even the Owl had not caused such extensive corruption.
Something was wrong. Wayne's fingers slowly approached his belt.
Then Konrad's voice came: "Father?"
Wayne's hand went cold as he realized with horror that his son had followed him here. Helena smiled, genuinely pleased with the development that she may or may not have had a part in.
Behind Wayne, the ancient graveyard crystallized under her power. The Warp domain where Nostramo resided solidified, directly jamming the Emperor's influence.
Tzeentch would not allow a god to disturb him, nor would he allow a mortal to interfere with his predetermined fate. Since the lord of fate had chosen Wayne's path, Wayne must advance along that chosen branch. How could a mere mortal oppose the will of the gods?
"No, you underestimated my use of human faith," Helena continued, her voice layered with something inhuman. "Even that damned Emperor knows how to use faith. How could I not?"
The Soul-Crushing Dead Zone could not obscure the power of faith. Tzeentch had relied on humanity's ancient fear of darkness and their desperate pursuit of religious sanctuary. Those hopes, those cries for faith, had become the source of Tzeentch's invasion.
By corrupting an ancient noble family, channeling their resources into Tzeentch's will, and combining it with the biotechnology of the Dark Age and Tzeentch's subtle guidance, they had created a perfect vessel to bring A chaos god in materium, the current Helena. She housed Tzeentch himself.
The black-dressed Helenas had been merely small avatars, as Astartes were to a Primarch. The blue-dressed Helena before Wayne was the materialized perfection.
Wayne understood now. The evil god before him was using technology of the Materium, something he had never anticipated.
"Are you invading this world using Primarch-class technology?" he asked.
"You guessed correctly, Wayne, though this vessel is way above what that emperor could ever come up with." Helena smiled. "How does it feel, Wayen? I, the architect of Fate, have come for you personally. And you still dare stand defiant?"
"What do you want?" Wayne retreated step by step toward the Primarch. "Or is this part of your design?"
The girl smiled gently, her blue pigtails falling to her chest. "Since you have seen Tzeentch manifest, why do you not bow?"
[End of Chapter]