Chapter 3 – Ashes of the Faithful
The cathedral was quiet now.
No more daemon shrieks. No crackling warpflame. Just the low hum of Gaius Maximor Thassor's power armor and the flickering glow of his HUD, the corners still marked with soft icons from the multiversal chat interface. He sat alone amidst the broken altar, bolter across his lap, the corpses of his fallen brothers cooling around him.
Then the vox crackled.
[VOX PRIORITY TRANSMISSION – COMMAND LEVEL SIGMA]"All surviving Astartes: immediate retrieval of gene-seed from fallen brothers. Rendezvous at evac point: Hive-Capital Soloneth. This world is designated non-recoverable. Purification through orbital exterminatus approved. Time to execution: 2 hours, 17 minutes."
The transmission ended. Silence fell again.
But not in the chat.
[Tony Stark]: Wait. Did he just say... "purification"?
[Saeko]: "Orbital exterminatus." That means planet-wide destruction.
[Naruto Uzumaki]: Huh?! Wait, like destroy destroy?! The whole place?!
Gaius stood. He said nothing. The movements were precise, practiced. There was no panic. No hesitation. The weight of the order pressed on no part of him. This was protocol. Duty.
He walked to the nearest fallen Primaris. Brother Harkon. The man had held the west entrance alone for twelve minutes. Gaius knelt, his gauntlets moving with sterile efficiency. A small drill and retrieval kit extended from his vambrace. The chest plate opened with a hiss.
A pause.
Then the careful extraction of the progenoid glands.
His HUD logged the entry. One vial sealed. Stored. Slotted into a recessed compartment along his belt, just beneath the ridge of his power pack.
[Saeko]: He's collecting their organs.
[Tony Stark]: Is there Any Need For it?
[Naruto Uzumaki]: Maybe it's Similar to The Hyuga Clan, Who Protect their Eyes, Not letting them Out.
[Saeko]: Yes, It might be a Irreplaceable.
Gaius moved to the next body. Brother Casian. Then Brother Jorrel. Three more times, the same motion. Kneel. Open armor. Extract. Seal. Store.
He worked quickly, but never rushed. There was no time for rites, no time for words. He gave each of them a moment of silence, a nod, and then moved on. By the time he had finished, he carried six vials of gene-seed.
[Saeko]: You honor them.
[Tony Stark]: This Feels quite sacred and grand.
Gaius paused, only for a moment, then turned toward a half-buried archway at the far side of the ruined cathedral. His voice, rarely used, sounded through the feed with quiet authority.
"Evacuation protocol activated. Path to Soloneth Cathedral Docks: 183 kilometers. Time limited. Motor unit: engaged."
He approached the debris. Massive chunks of stone and rebar blocked the way, but with a few heavy strikes from his servo-assisted gauntlet, he cleared the opening.
A vehicle waited within.
Massive. Angular. Sleek. It was a custom-built ride, plated in ceramite, twin exhausts glowing faintly, armor woven into its frame. It looked like a fusion of a Space Marine assault bike and a land speeder, all reinforced into a single, purpose-built machine.
[Tony Stark]: Holy hell. Is that yours?
[Saeko]: He must've had it made. It's too specialized for standard issue and too big for a normal size human.
[Naruto Uzumaki]: Looks fast. Like really fast.
Gaius mounted the machine. The engine whirred to life, the plasma cell inside vibrating with coiled energy. His HUD linked instantly. Machine spirit: responsive.
Acceleration parameters locked. Trajectory path set. Warpfield anomalies mapped.
He twisted the throttle.
The bike surged forward.
The ride was violent, but controlled.
Ash fields blurred past in streaks of gray and crimson. Shattered manufactorums loomed like broken teeth. Gaius swerved around fissures in the ground, past columns of smoke where warp-rent cultists still howled to gods that had already abandoned them.
His reactions were near-instant. One-handed steering. Power sword drawn in the other, slicing apart the occasional creature that strayed too close. He vaulted a crater. Accelerated down a collapsing overpass. Scanned a daemon nest and rerouted instantly.
[Saeko]: I've never seen anyone move like that.
[Tony Stark]: Yeah. Bike handles like a dream too. Suspension is insane.
[Naruto Uzumaki]: Whoa!! That jump, that was like a hundred feet!
The chat watched, each from their own world, as Gaius tore across the dying planet.
Soloneth rose from the haze like a corpse trying to breathe. The hive-capital was falling apart. Fire and ash poured from its spires. Warp energy pulsed at the edges of its walls. Evacuation lights blinked across landing pads, and above, ships hung in low orbit, engines flaring.
Gaius did not slow.
He cut through a broken gate, avoiding collapsed statues and daemonic wreckage. Cultists screamed and fired wild shots. He answered only with silence. Bolter rounds when needed. A quick slice when close. He didn't kill out of rage. Just necessity.
One final turn. He approached the pad.
A Stormbird-class gunship waited. Its ramp was open. The pilot inside saw him and gave a wordless salute.
Gaius rode directly into the hold, parked, dismounted. He sealed the gene-seed vials into a cryo-storage locker.
[VOX INTERIOR]: "Departure confirmed. Ascending. Hold secure."
Engines roared.
Through the rear doors, the capital shrank away. The world darkened. They breached the upper atmosphere.
And then, the countdown began.
[VOX ANNOUNCEMENT]: "Exterminatus authorization confirmed. Planetary purge in 3... 2..."
The chat went silent.
Through the viewport, the others watched.
Massive beams of energy, lances of solar-fired light, descended from orbit. The ground exploded. City blocks vanished. Temples melted. Warp-rifts screamed as they were torn apart.
The shrine world died.
[Tony Stark]: ...They weren't evacuating civilians.
[Saeko]: They might never intended to.
[Naruto Uzumaki]: I... I thought you were saving people. I thought...
He trailed off.
Gaius said nothing at first.
Then, in the silence, his voice echoed once more.
"The Imperium endures. Not all who live are meant to be saved."
The Live Feed dimmed slightly, but remained active.
The others didn't disconnect.
(Ps, it'll be slow, since I'll be switching each novel, each day, [As a grey Knight In Naruto] and this novel.)