"You seem more pissed off than usual."
Once they reached the bunker, Thrax still had that frustrated, angry look plastered on his face.
Sanguinius could "sense" that he wasn't the target of the kid's chaotic emotions.
"…I… I lost, and I couldn't do a damn thing," Thrax muttered, stopping dead in his tracks in the hallway.
The angel cracked a smile at the kid's words.
'He's maturing fast, this demigod.'
"Huh?!" Caught off guard, Thrax let out a weird, surprised noise as he was suddenly pulled into a hug by Cortana's master.
Sanguinius didn't know it, but the kid saw him or placed him on the same level as his late grandfather.
Even though he only saw the guy once a week.
He'd always gotten an hour or two of interaction with him, and Sanguinius had never straight-up mistreated him.
Hell, he hadn't even judged Thrax for his hatred toward the gods and the new humans.
A risky move, but the kid was starting to break free from the chains of that hate.
"Listen, Thrax, you're still young, and chances are you'll blow past my expectations in no time. That includes Chiron or your biological dad," Sanguinius said, loosening his grip.
Golden eyes locked with crimson ones, diving into an atmosphere that felt… unfamiliar to Sanguinius.
No, not unfamiliar.
'How long has it been since my own dad encouraged me or held me like this?'
Sanguinius smiled, then said words that someone would come back to later.
"But you know, that's never really mattered to me or Cortana. Wanna know why?"
At the angel's question, the kid stayed quiet.
But his curiosity was plain as day.
"Because I'm proud of the *you* right now," Sanguinius said, grabbing Thrax's head and ruffling his hair.
Despite his complaints and insults, Thrax didn't seriously try to break free.
The weird vibe in the air fizzled out thanks to Sanguinius's little attack, but Thrax's crimson eyes were shining again.
'G… Grandpa… I've got a new home now.'
Reading the kid's thoughts, the angel gave an unconscious, tender smile.
A smile that rivaled the one he'd had when he found out he was gonna be a dad.
In both cases, he felt like crap afterward.
'Sorry, Thrax, this home… it might just be an illusion for you and Cortana.'
He liked Thrax a lot, and he appreciated the ever-ready-to-work AI, but they weren't his home.
As for Luna, Wiz, and Mittelt…
'Their cases are different… yeah, they're unique.'
…
"Cortana?"
Once he parted ways with the kid, who seemed to have found some motivation again, Sanguinius contacted the AI to explain what needed to be done with his body.
Yeah, Sanguinius was about to lose consciousness soon and slip into an insanely long sleep.
Normally, it would've lasted decades, maybe centuries.
But the very nature of his soul had shortened that time to just years.
Of course, the Trust ability helped a ton.
His perfect soul couldn't stay messed up for long, so it would push to heal itself under Trust's influence.
[You called, Lord?]
Sanguinius nodded, then spoke a password even Cortana didn't know.
It gave him access to some deep-level authority over the AI, and she'd forget this whole moment.
"You're gonna bury my body as deep as possible under the bunker, and you'll forget this ever happened."
A cruel choice for those close to him, but necessary and smart.
Nobody who knew about the bunker would think to look for him hidden *here*, especially when the place's guardian didn't even know.
He had total trust in his clones, but he'd rather keep this info from them too, along with Cortana.
As for the chat group members? He could still interact with them through his clones and the other him.
To them, he'd never be gone.
[Affirmative. I will cryogenize your body while ensuring an energy supply to your capsule without linking it to the bunker's systems.]
Once his talk with Cortana was done, Sanguinius used the Suspicions skill on himself.
'I don't hear those blood-and-battle-hungry voices anymore, but I can't keep this thing.'
Khorne's will was gone from him.
He confirmed it not with his limited knowledge but by tapping into Leylin Farlier's.
A guy who'd already fought and ripped out the will of the Serpent Matriarch from his own bloodline.
"Grrr…" Sanguinius held his breath as his essence got torn apart.
[Initiating Rank 7 or Divine Spell: Reincarnation in an Alternate World…]
A holographic diagram popped up in Sanguinius's vision, invisible to anyone else.
No, it wasn't Cortana .
But , it was the AI chip.
Thanks to the Suspicions skill's data, it flagged anything foreign in his soul.
Hours of agony dragged on.
Sanguinius ripped his true soul apart to purge the Warp's influence and create another him.
Not like the Proxy magic, but something way more complex.
If you put it on a scale, this was a world-level spell, while Proxy was just about his own existence.
The intense pain of tearing his soul made him pale, cold sweat pouring down.
Inside him, his true soul—a fusion of dragon and angel—trembled from the pain.
He let out incomprehensible, pitiful screams.
"Damn it! Split already!"
The draconic-angelic phantom inside Sanguinius stopped writhing in agony but let out faint whimpers of pain.
Two faint lights shot out from between his brows and appeared in his hand, flickering like fireflies.
One was a fragment of Sanguinius's soul; the other was the Warp energy, contained in a magical energy sphere.
'I… I can't keep this under control for long.'
The spell had to activate fast, or both would fade from prolonged exposure to the outside world.
He'd rather not find out what happens if Warp energy gets loose in the wild, and the little soul in his hands was fragile.
The DxD universe might just absorb that soul, tossing it into its natural cycle.
"C… chat group, I want a portal opened to the Warhammer 40k universe… and don't forget to block anything from coming through this side."
[Unusual dimensional travel procedure. Additional fees will apply.]
[Do you accept?]
"F… fine, damn it."
Normally, Sanguinius teleported straight to whatever universe he wanted.
But things were different now.
He glanced briefly at the two little fireflies in his hands before fully casting the spell.
His magical power surged through the portal in front of him, reaching the world on the other side.
The Warhammer 40k universe.
The physical world seemed to sense an energy that didn't belong, immediately shoving it into the Immaterium!
The interference of the world's laws hit Sanguinius like a shockwave.
When the magical energy and Warp energy collided, his exhausted face turned solemn.
"Just as I feared, the physical world of Warhammer 40k has laws that are too strict."
A situation like the god-ruled worlds in Leylin Farlier's universe.
Sanguinius was scared he'd get yeeted straight into the Warp if he set foot in Warhammer 40k.
After all, a certain Cadien kept calling him a Xeno, but his nature was more complicated.
He grabbed the glow in his hand—the Warp energy he'd pulled out of himself—and chucked it into the material world.
As he expected, the world's laws scattered it without hesitation.
He had to stay focused, because this magic was way too complex.
He was messing with the essence of the soul and the cycle of life itself!
"Rank 7 Spell: Reincarnation in an Alternate World!"
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
The soul fragment in Sanguinius's hands was wrapped in the glow of the *Reincarnation in an Alternate World* spell as it vanished into the fabric of the material world's reality.
"T… it's all up to you… or me? *Cough*"
After spitting out a mouthful of blood, Sanguinius passed out.
Cortana caught him to start the procedure she'd been ordered to follow.
She wouldn't remember cryogenizing and burying her creator alive.
The admin clone would show up, and later other clones, but they'd find nothing.
Sanguinius was officially gone.
[Error… Error…]
[The False Light of Baal can no longer be used as a nickname…]
[Updating…]
[The New Light of Baal…]