"The warp-tide is much denser than before. This is getting troublesome…"
Eden looked at the twisted ground ahead and frowned slightly.
As soon as he spoke, the Titan battle group unleashed a rainstorm of artillery, wave after wave pounding into the daemon tide that crawled forward like marching ants, throwing up yellow-black geysers of gore and soil.
"Artillery alone can't stop those heretic abominations. At most, we're slowing them for two minutes before they break past the bombardment zone."
The Khan followed the battle carefully and quickly judged the situation.
The outlook was not encouraging.
With no other active fronts, their bombardment could only temporarily slow the daemon tide's advance.
The horde was still pushing forward. More and more daemons were forcing their way through the shelling zone, closing in on the Titan god-machines.
Boom—
The Imperial Emperor raised its four thick mechanical arms, spewing torrents of searing flame.
The fire became a blazing wall, continuously incinerating any daemon that drew near.
Even so, scattered daemons still used gaps in the fire pattern to slip past the wall, and their numbers were growing.
It was not just the ground; the sky was full of flying daemons as well, like a black, roiling storm front.
The Titans' guns could only prioritize those flying daemon engines; ordinary winged daemons were already starting to slip through the net.
These daemons on the ground and in the air were now capable of truly threatening the Imperial Emperor.
"Get ready to engage."
Eden accepted the helmet offered by one of the Household Troops, set it over his head, and locked it in place. The crimson lenses of the autosenses flared to life.
When it came to fighting, he still preferred to wear a helmet, unlike other Primarchs who liked to fight bareheaded.
Eden did this mainly for safety—he did not want some stray round or potshot blowing his head off.
He did not believe he had the kind of plot armor where bullets politely avoided the protagonist's skull.
This also saved him effort.
Keeping a psychic shield up over his head for an entire battle was exhausting.
Visibly, the first wave of daemons came swooping in from midair, their twisted faces just barely discernible.
The Primarchs, without needing to say a word, each picked a position to hold and used their ranged weapons to open fire.
Guilliman raised the Hand of Dominion, its integrated bolter systems roaring as it spewed streams of explosive shells, the chains of blasts sweeping across the sky and knocking daemons out of the air.
They dropped in a constant rain.
The Khan used his ancient-tech plasma gun, a weapon that could draw power directly from the planet's magnetic field, then fire blinding lances of superheated energy.
Each shot charred whichever daemon it hit, and the rate of fire climbed steadily.
The two of them were quietly competing, seeing who could shoot down more daemons.
"Hahahaha, this might be the first time we brothers have all fought together, right?"
Lion let out a hearty laugh, deliberately overlooking some of their earlier encounters.
He produced a nearly one-meter-long energy crystal rifle.
It was the Akotinaeus Flintlock, a weapon from Old Night Terra that fired devastating plasma blasts.
It counted as one of the Dark Angels' finest tech-relics.
Bzzzt—
The Lion squeezed the trigger and fired a shot.
A dark-red mass of plasma washed across a swathe of air nearly four or five meters wide, like a small plasma cannon blast, tearing through a huge crowd of daemons.
In an instant, he pulled far ahead.
Suddenly, Lion noticed the weapon in the Savior's hand and could not help commenting:
"Brother Eden, that weapon of yours might not cut it. Its firepower seems lacking. I have some relic-grade guns here.
Interested in switching?"
In the Savior's hand was a finely crafted, somewhat retro-looking ivory pocket pistol.
Given the size of a Primarch's hand, that ivory pistol looked like a tiny model in his grip.
It looked more like an artistic collectible than a weapon.
"No need. I'm used to this type of weapon. In practice, it hits quite hard."
Eden held the ivory pistol between his fingers and shook his head, declining the Lion's offer.
He snapped open the pistol's loading chamber and took a black mechanical bead from a force-field casket, snapping it into place.
The whole process took only a second.
Once it was loaded, Eden raised the pistol in one smooth motion and aimed at the incoming swarm of Khorne's Vengeance Beasts, which were blotting out a patch of sky.
Then he pulled the trigger.
Bang!
With the crack of the gunpowder, the black mechanical bead shot out, riding the expanding gases toward the daemon pack.
Blackpowder weapon?
The Lion froze as he realized what the Savior was using.
Blackpowder weapons were humanity's earliest and crudest kinetic arms, antiques among antiques, with almost no killing power worth mentioning.
That level of kinetic energy could not even punch through a Space Marine's muscle, let alone hurt daemons.
And it was only a single tiny projectile. How much damage could that do?
But before the Lion could process this properly, his vambrace registered a high-energy reaction, and his psychic senses flared with a spike of danger.
The source of it all was the slug the Savior had just fired.
He snapped his head up, tracking it, and saw a black speck in the air. That speck suddenly swelled, blooming into a structure like a black hole.
Hssss—
The pack of Vengeance Beasts sensed the threat and shrieked, scattering desperately, trying to flee from that terrible black-hole construct.
Too late.
In midair, the one-meter-wide black-hole structure tore space apart, fissures spiderwebbing out to a radius of nearly a hundred meters.
The horrifying gravitational pull caught the surrounding Vengeance Beasts and dragged them toward the unknown beyond the black-hole's event horizon.
The massive traction ripped every daemon within the affected radius to shreds, then swallowed the fragments into the black void, erasing them utterly.
The miniature black-hole construct lasted scarcely more than a second, but in that span it cleaned the entire airspace around the viewing tower, erasing the entire Vengeance Beast swarm.
"By the Emperor…"
The Primarchs all stopped firing, staring slack-jawed.
The Savior had already dealt with the attacking Vengeance Beasts—one shot had solved everyone's targets.
The destructive power was staggering.
???
"The punch behind that little pocket pistol… it's practically on par with heavy artillery or a tactical missile.
If anything, its destructive output might be worse than most conventional weapons!"
Seeing this, the Lion felt his scalp go numb. He had clearly underestimated the Savior.
How was this any different from carrying a heavy gun around as a sidearm? Even power armor and void shields might not be able to stop a direct hit.
Even a Primarch, if struck straight on, would be in mortal danger.
"Just an antimatter weapon. When the production lines ramp up in a few years, you can drop by my place and grab a few rounds."
Eden holstered the ivory pistol and spoke lightly.
He was being honest: he really was not used to other firearms.
Their firepower was too weak, not nearly impressive enough to be fun.
Beep-beep-beep—
At that moment, the tower's auspex suddenly reported multiple intruding entities, emitting a piercing alarm.
At the same time, Eden, Lion, and the other Primarchs—each with honed psychic senses—also picked up the cloying stench of warp-sorcery.
"That's the flavor of ecstatic power. Heavy, too."
Eden was very familiar with Slaaneshi power and recognized it at once.
"Most likely the Fallen Phoenix's spawn—the Emperor's Children. They've used sorcery to board us!"
The moment he said that, the Primarchs' expressions all hardened.
The Imperial Emperor's shielded force fields had almost certainly opened a gap somewhere, or those creatures would never have penetrated so easily.
Eden felt it even more keenly.
Ever since entering the Vostonia Subsector, he had noticed that the Changer of Ways was targeting him more and more often.
That was a very frightening development.
It likely had to do with how corrupted the subsector had become and the presence of a massive Chaos ritual array. That damned meddler had finally found a way to deal with him.
Being singled out by the Changer of Ways was far worse than a simple Chaos incursion; it meant you could be tricked into a trap without even realizing it.
And now the enemy had used warp sorcery to teleport onto the Imperial Emperor's hull and board the Fortress Titan from within.
That was extraordinarily dangerous.
The interior of a war engine was always fragile. If those creatures were allowed to rampage inside, sabotaging key engines and structural components…
The Imperial Emperor would be immobilized, and worse still, if anything happened to the ammunition vaults, he could get blown up along with it.
Incidents like that had happened before. The cost of this Fortress engine was astronomical. If it was destroyed, the loss would be beyond catastrophic.
"Fortunately, we prepared in advance. Otherwise, we'd be in real trouble."
Eeden watched the auspex continue to ping, then glanced over the structural integrity data for his various internal zones.
The integrity readings had barely shifted.
Lion and the other Primarchs seemed to realize something as well and let out quiet sighs of relief.
Then they waited patiently for the outcome.
…
Inside the Fortress-pattern Titan, in the engine section.
Scalding plasma fog drifted everywhere, the roaring core constantly venting heat.
This section could not be protected with force fields; only relatively primitive armor plating could be used as shielding.
Buzz—
On the platform, a purple-and-pink Emperor's Children warrior stepped out of a warp teleportation array, his shoulder-mounted sonic generator already emitting a rising pulse of sound.
"Death to the False Emperor!"
The Emperor's Children warrior's tentacles writhed as he grew visibly excited.
And then he realized something was wrong.
Right in front of him loomed a golden metal construct, its engravings exquisitely detailed and radiant with sanctity.
He looked up and saw the Custodian looking down at him, three meters of armored flesh radiating crushing pressure.
It was a Veteran Warden, one of the Custodian elite clad in Terminator-pattern Aquila armor.
"Damn—"
The Emperor's Children warrior tried to bring his weapon up, but a massive golden hand slapped across his face, smashing him flat to the deck.
Two more Custodians pounced, pinning his limbs and slapping the Savior's Dominion's Silent Shackles on him, locking both his movement and his warp power.
This section was extremely fragile, and the defenders wanted to avoid a firefight if at all possible. Ideally, no one would shoot at all.
"Pain and—"
Another Emperor's Children warrior stepped from the array next, opening his mouth to speak, then freezing mid-sentence.
He saw the Custodian detachment on the platform ahead—fully ten Veteran Wardens.
Seven of them stood in a shield wall guarding the engine, and three held the front line.
Worse, there was also a Warden on each flank.
That made twelve elite Custodian Guard in total.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten master-crafted weapons thrust toward him.
The Custodians' voices were glacially cold, implacable, radiating killing intent.
"Disarm."
"Crouch. Hands on your head."
One wrong move and he would be annihilated on the spot.
The Emperor's Children warrior recognized the situation immediately.
The instinctive awe in his soul toward the Custodes, combined with the imminent threat to his life, left him only one rational choice: obey, and live.
They forced him to the deck, arms wrenched behind his back, and clamped the shackles on.
Two more Emperor's Children arrived after that.
This time the Custodians did not bother speaking. They simply pointed to a corner.
The two Chaos Marines fell silent for a few seconds, then obediently went over to the wall and crouched down, hands on their heads, copying their battle-brothers.
They had no real choice.
The gap between them and the Custodian elites was simply too large.
If they tried to fight, they would almost certainly be executed before they could even squeeze their triggers.
And it was not just here. More sections were being held by Custodian elites as well.
They secured every weak point, capturing or executing every boarding Emperor's Children warrior.
"That should solve things."
On the viewing tower, Eden received the Custodians' reports and nodded in satisfaction.
The elite Household Troops had carried out their mission flawlessly. At most, the defended sections had suffered minor damage, nothing that would affect the Imperial Emperor's operation.
And the damage would be repaired quickly.
From the beginning, he had concealed the presence of this elite Custodian detachment, tricking the enemy into underestimating the number of Imperial guards on board.
So when the boarding started, they were caught completely off guard.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud—
Around the Imperial Emperor and the other Titans, more Custodians formed firing lines, clearing nearby threats.
Every bullet they fired hit a daemon directly in the head or heart.
Their master-crafted spears swung like reapers' scythes, cutting daemons down like wheat.
Beyond the Custodian cordons, the warp tide stretched to the limits of sight, an unending sea of Chaos.
The Custodians stood like reef and rock, meeting each crashing wave of Chaos with unyielding resolve.
"Drown them!"
Lucius the Eternal hissed through his long tongue.
Standing beneath the overlapping fields of two daemon engines, he directed the daemon hosts' attack.
His boarding plan had failed. All he could do now was hold the line.
The Slaaneshi champion's mission was to bleed the Savior and his allies as much as possible, then buy time for the Daemon Princes to arrive.
Then he sensed something, and his pupils contracted sharply.
Vmmm!!!
From the rear of the Savior's Fortress engine rose a massive pillar of light, bursting through the Chaos vortex and stabbing into the void.
"Damn it, this is bad.
Tell our gene-sire to beg the gods for more daemons. As many as possible!"
Lucius tore a strip of flesh from his own body to keep his mind clear.
That was a psychic beacon. The Savior's reinforcements were coming, and they needed more daemons to meet them.
After that, the density of the Chaos tide climbed even further, to an unbelievable level.
"By the Emperor…"
From the viewing tower, Lion looked out at the distance. He could barely tell if he was looking at ground or daemons.
Their numbers far exceeded his imagination, to the point where he trembled.
Even if the enemy stood still and let them kill, it would be nearly impossible to cut them all down.
Fortunately, the Redeption Crusade Fleet's reinforcements were about to arrive.
"We might not have much space left to muster them. That will mean heavy casualties."
The Lion was still worried about one thing.
Right now, daemon-held ground filled every side of the Titan battle group. The Custodians were tied up guarding the Titans and could not spare the manpower to screen the landing zone.
They could not just drop or teleport reinforcements directly into the daemon horde, could they?
But as soon as he finished speaking, dozens of massive meteors wrapped in fire came shrieking down.
They were gigantic cylindrical machines, round, tall, with pointed noses.
Thud-thud-thud—
The cylinders slammed into the daemon sea in front of the Titans, forming row after row of pillars, like a fence driven into the ground around the Titan battle group.
Countless daemons were crushed to death instantly.
The surreal sight brought a brief, stunned silence to the battlefield.
No one knew what those things were. Even the Lion was momentarily baffled.
"That's our latest research product.
Remote battle-automata and servo-drones built with Men of Iron technology. Perfect for throwing up temporary defensive lines to hold back daemons."
Seeing the Lion's confusion, Eden explained.
"Such a vast number of abominable machines?!"
Lion now understood part of it, but not all.
In his field of view—
The hundred-meter-tall armored cylinders opened up, rows of blinding red lights appearing inside.
They were countless crimson optics.
With a chorus of mechanical whines, swarms of black clouds seethed forth, each mass packed with countless red eyes.
A terrifying shadow fell across every daemon below.
Whoooosh—
Lion's breath quickened, his ears ringing.
It was the shockwave of millions of explosions. Even the daemons' despairing shrieks were swallowed by the roar.
He could no longer see a single daemon.
In his dilated pupils, a wall of red fire swept outward toward the horizon.
A tide of flame surged forward, and all life in its path simply vanished.
Lion did not know how long it was before the Imperial Emperor began moving again.
He snapped out of his daze and forced his body to stop trembling.
But his soul was still quaking from the iron flood and annihilation he had just witnessed.
Nor was he alone. The other Primarchs all fell silent as well.
So this was the steel torrent the Savior had spoken of. So this was its true terror. Perhaps the Imperium of Man really did have the power to step out of the abyss now…
…
Inside the great hall.
Outside, the thunder of artillery made the warped tentacles all around writhe violently.
On his throne, the Fallen Phoenix, Fulgrim, sat in heavy silence.
Not long ago, one of his Chaos combined-arms forces had been wiped out, leaving almost no useful intel behind.
All anyone knew was that some accursed mechanical weapon had done it. When those things rose, the daemons saw a wall of annihilating flame.
And then nothing. The Chaos host was completely exterminated.
The daemons were now scared witless. They called the phenomenon the Savior's Curse, and some had begun calling him… the Cursed One.
"He's not worthy of that title!"
Fulgrim ground his teeth, jealousy twisting his features.
That name belonged to the true False Emperor, that corpse on the Golden Throne.
How could that hypocrite even be mentioned in the same breath?!
"Absolutely impossible."
The Fallen Phoenix drew a deep breath, forcing his rage back down.
He carefully smeared dark purple, constantly twisting toxin along the edge of his blade. It was lethal enough to fell any Primarch.
A gift prepared for his brothers.
Suddenly, a terrifying shockwave rolled out.
Fulgrim lifted his head, looking forward with a venomous smile.
The Savior had arrived with his Primarch brothers… and Fulgrim's own allies were here as well.
(End of Chapter)
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