Chapter 97
The soldiers of Cadia were already fighting with everything they had to hold back the invading Chaos Titans and Traitor Astartes.
But this was the Titan Phalanx. Multiple Chaos Space Marine warbands surged behind them. Even the defenders of Holy Terra would have struggled to perform better against such overwhelming force.
Cadia only had a handful of Space Marine Chapters present. Reinforcements from other Chapters would take far too long to arrive in this sector.
Still, Cadia had not yet fallen. They had a few Titans of their own, and the support of several knightly houses.
"For Cadia!"
"Glory to the Emperor!"
Knight suits strode out from the massive cathedral gates, clashing against smaller Chaos Knights and Warhound-class Titans. But they could do little against the larger god-machines.
"I am your nightmare!"
Among the knight-mechs, a towering Warlord Titan pushed forward. It was the largest war engine Cadia could muster.
"Lackey of the false Emperor—accept your doom!"
"Traitors! Face my wrath!"
Curses echoed back and forth from within the command thrones.
The Warlord strode bravely, but it was only one. The Chaos host had brought more than ten Warlord-class Titans of their own. The outcome was inevitable. The void shield generators would fall—it was only a matter of time.
And yet, both Cadia and Chaos were fighting against time itself.
So who wasn't short on time?
Godzilla, of course.
After crushing the Emperor-class Chaos Titan, the behemoth turned his massive body toward the void shield battlefield. His gait was ponderous, each step thunderous, but the sheer weight of his presence pressed down like a funeral bell tolling.
The Chaos war engines, which only moments ago had been trampling Cadians like vermin, began to quicken their pace in panic as the monster advanced.
"I'd rather fight the knights of the false Emperor to the death than face that beast again!"
"Break the front lines! Do it for the Dark Gods!"
On the Cadian side, the Imperial Knights pressed forward with all the valor of their lineage. Outnumbered and outclassed, they still threw themselves against the enemy with blades drawn.
"Now is the time to honor your oaths to the Emperor!"
"Strike them down!"
The Lizardmen auxiliaries did not join this clash. The Titan phalanx was too heavily guarded, and they lacked their great behemoths this time. To throw themselves against those war engines would have been pointless slaughter.
The Chaos Space Marines, however, were less fortunate.
Word Bearers, World Eaters, the Black Legion, and other warbands forced their way toward the void shield engines. In the narrow corridors, even a line of three or four Traitor Marines was nearly unstoppable.
The Cadian defenders fought with grit, but lasguns and bayonets could not make up for such a disparity.
"Enough. It's our turn."
Isis raised her hand. At once, the Lizardmen charged like a tide of scaled predators. The Imperial assassin in her retinue darted ahead, blades flashing.
Assassins were formidable—easily a match for a Space Marine captain in skill and lethality—but in the chaos of melee, survival was never guaranteed.
Isis watched, her tone calm.
"If she returns alive, perhaps I'll take her as a maid."
She herself did not enter the fray. Instead, she commanded the Lizardmen while keeping her gaze on the massive void shield generator—an immense machine the size of a mountain. She prayed it would endure. The Blackstone pylons interfered with her psychic powers. Without the void shield, nothing would stop the Planet Killer's shot.
"Strange… the Necrons should be here by now. I've seen that future clearly. And yet, not a single one has appeared."
For now, let us leave Cadia.
Across the galaxy, deep in a Necron sepulcher, Trazyn the Infinite awaited the summons of the Silent King within the Temple of the Triarch.
The Triarch—the Silent King and two surviving phaerons—ruled the Necron dynasties with absolute authority. Their judgment could erase even defiant phaerons, let alone overlords like Trazyn, who ranked below them.
And so, Trazyn waited. Patient, but cautious.
At last, the Triarch Praetorians arrived. Gleaming in living metal, halberds in hand, they proclaimed:
"The Silent King commands your presence."
Trazyn bowed his head. "As ordered."
Even he, collector of rare wonders across the galaxy, dared not show disrespect. The Silent King's power was said to rival the Emperor of Mankind in his prime, though the Emperor of the 41st Millennium had long since transcended mortal definition and become something akin to a god.
Trazyn entered the chamber. Behind him, suspended in a stasis field, floated a captured Lizardman. To Godzilla, the loss was trivial. But to Trazyn, it was a worthy offering.
Upon the throne sat Szarekh, the Silent King, one hand resting against his face like an ancient monarch carved from obsidian.
"What is this?"
The voice was calm, regal, suffused with authority.
Trazyn immediately knelt, head lowered.
"A tribute, my liege. I believe it may aid in restoring the bodies of our kind."
Szarekh's gaze swept over him, then down to the creature in stasis. After a long silence, he asked:
"On what grounds?"
"This creature absorbs radiation as energy, and thrives in such environments. It reminded me of the conditions of our lost worlds."
Trazyn dared not say more, allowing the Silent King to draw his own conclusions.
The King finally raised a hand. At the gesture, the Praetorians removed the stasis pod, carrying the specimen away.
"And your reward?"
Trazyn's voice trembled only slightly. "I would request access to the Celestial Map."
"Granted."
Relief washed over the collector. The Silent King's word was absolute. He had profited handsomely. And besides, his vaults held plenty of other Lizardmen.
But what Trazyn did not know was that his own collection would soon betray him.
In one of his stasis vaults rested a massive psychic bell. Shortly after the siege of Cadia began… the bell rang.
Yes, rang—despite being frozen in stasis.
*****
If you want to read more there's 15, 30, 50 chapters there of my written fanfictions and translated works in my Pat.Reon.
patreon.com/LordFisherman