Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde

It was a planet as black as charcoal, having absorbed all radiation, now a cold stellar core.

After absorbing the power of a red giant, Rhodes's cosmic phantom beasts underwent changes. All of them grew to two thousand meters in size, with the cosmic bison reaching six thousand meters tall and a terrifying ten thousand meters in length.

The Warhammer universe truly had such deep waters! The power from just a single star had elevated the phantom beasts this much—how powerful must those star gods be, who had devoured countless stars and souls?

Not to mention the ancient Old Ones who could counter and even suppress the star gods, and the Necrons who shattered and imprisoned them all!

It was said that any random general among the ancient orks could rival a Primarch, and that was just a soldier created by the Old Ones. Imagine how terrifying the Old Ones themselves were at their peak!

"How do you feel? Has your strength increased greatly?" Rhodes asked.

"This feeling is beyond words, Master! We are stronger than ever before," the cosmic bull replied.

"Our bodies are filled with an indescribable power. Two thousand years of accelerated time allowed us to fully digest this energy."

"That's good!"

"Master, we discovered a small problem while devouring this red giant, which we must tell you," the chosmic beasts said after nodding to each other.

"What secret did you find?"

"Master, these so-called star gods have a problem. Their energy is extremely strange.

"At first, we didn't notice, but while absorbing the stellar energy, a dark power began to act up.

"Fortunately, we discovered it in time, sealed it, and expelled it," said the cosmic Azure Dragon.

They hadn't noticed it before, but as they absorbed vast amounts of stellar energy, they sensed an unknown dark force trying to devour what they had taken in. This was a remnant from the star god they had previously consumed.

It took much effort, but the cosmic beasts finally managed to digest and expel this dark power.

"Master, look—this is the negative, dark emotion we extracted. It emerged as we devoured the stellar energy, trying to influence our minds," the cosmic bull said, revealing a black energy sphere in its palm.

This darkness was unlike anything they had encountered before. It was not like the chaos of the Warp; it was a twisted power: evil, cruel, cold, cunning, treacherous, chaotic—traits seemingly etched into the bones of the star gods.

Were it not for their own orderly and positive cosmic energy, this power could have completely corrupted them, twisting their personalities and making them crave the devouring of mortal life.

According to their normal trajectory, the universe's star gods should have grown into benevolent deities, at least guardians of reality, not destroyers. Yet, they devoured stars, lifeforms, and even each other!

"This universe is filled with negative emotions. I think the main reason must be those four Chaos Gods in the Warp," Rhodes said.

The Chaos Gods had once schemed against the Emperor; surely the star gods could not escape their machinations. The depraved actions of the star gods might well be the work of these daemonic entities.

If the star gods were not eliminated, the Chaos Gods could not intervene in the material universe. Moreover, the star gods were natural counters to the Warp's power.

Isha, standing nearby, rolled her eyes. The star gods were indeed problematic, but Rhodes was being a bit unfair. The star gods had been rampaging long before she or even the Eldar gods were born.

Back when the star gods ruled, not even the other three Chaos Gods dared face them directly. These monsters were pure evil and cunning. If it weren't for the War in Heaven and the Necrons' betrayal, things may have ended differently.

The mutual devouring among the star gods could well have produced beings just as powerful as the Chaos Gods.

But the material universe was not as magical as the Warp; the star gods' end was collective demise.

This dark energy, besides warping the star gods' own nature, was also due to the resentment built up over sixty million years of imprisonment!

Before the War in Heaven, the star gods were demons rampaging across the cosmos, destroying civilizations and devouring the souls of mortals.

"Master, we have reached our limit for now and cannot devour another star for the time being," the cosmic bull reported.

Time acceleration had made two thousand years pass for the red giant, but only four days for Rhodes and his companions.

Even in their old universe, beings who could control time so freely were extremely rare. The only one they knew who could truly control time and space was the ultimate being, Absolute Tartarus.

"That's good enough for now. Take your time to digest your new power," Rhodes said.

"Master, what about this star god's dark energy?" asked the cosmic bull.

This dark energy, containing the evil will from the star god fragment, was far more terrifying than a red giant. If a single beast had devoured a whole star god fragment, it could have spelled disaster.

In the future, when the cosmic crane, the giant serpent, the frozen leopard, and the black tortoise needed to devour star god fragments, the others would have to assist.

"Leaving it alone isn't an option. Seal it away for now!" Rhodes said.

This twisted energy was a burden to most life, but a great boon to the dark giant. Unfortunately, Daram wasn't around, so it would have to be sealed for now.

The cosmic bull nodded, and all the beasts together compressed the dark energy into a sphere, handing it to Rhodes for safekeeping.

"This planet seems special," Rhodes mused, observing the thoroughly cooled black dwarf star.

It looked like charcoal, but inside was a hard black substance, harder than diamond after full carbonization—more like black steel.

"Yes, Master. By the universe's timeline, a star would only evolve like this after at least 20 billion years, or even longer. The materials condensed within this stellar core are extraordinarily hard," the cosmic bull said.

"Perhaps you can bring it back for your scientists to study how the Necrons produce living metal. No one knows how it's made, but the Necrons possess the power to compress stars and manipulate stellar energy. Perhaps, long ago, they drained a star entirely. This black metal could be raw material for living metal," Isha remarked.

It was possible. The secret of living metal was a core Necron mystery, but the core of a collapsed star might well be the base material.

"Isha, taking it back won't be easy—it's the size of a planet," Rhodes replied.

Unless he brought Mefilas over to help, then returned to his base to use teleportation.

"That's easy, Master! Our power is now great enough to wrap this stellar core and store it within the Cosmic Phantom Beast Martial Manual. We can release it whenever you need it," the cosmic bull said.

After absorbing the star god fragment and stellar energy, their level had grown massively. Now they could even bind a planet and drag it into their own dimension.

"Good! Then return to base and bring this core back for study," Rhodes instructed.

Ahriman had also merged with the cosmic boa, so he could return to base with the other monsters and have Mefilas establish a demon-harvesting area.

Once everything was settled, Rhodes boarded his ship and departed the now-lifeless star system.

Without its massive star, the system fell into darkness—a cold corner of the cosmos.

"Rhodes, can I go with you to the human Imperium this time?" Isha asked.

With two cosmic beasts at her side, even the Emperor would not be able to tell her true identity, only sensing a vast life force and orderly energy—traits unique to the Eldar gods.

"Relax—even without the beasts, the Emperor won't harm you. We're allies for now," Rhodes said.

Isha smiled in response.