Burning heavenly fire fell from among the stars, igniting the entire sky above the Mechanical Spire, like a wildfire sweeping across an endless prairie.
Fragments of the hypercube maze scattered as metallic debris, revealing the burning flames within.
For a moment, Dante even thought it was the blasphemous binary stars of the Netherworld Star System erupting with scorching flares again.
But soon, the knowledge and wisdom accumulated over long years allowed Dante to recognize what the scorching fireball falling from the firmament was.
The fiery orb was cast out like the hydrogen layer of an aging star, its orange-yellow light engulfing the surrounding ruins.
Whether damaged buildings, machinery, or the Tyranid lurking within, all vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving only ashes to prove their former existence.
And slowly rising from within the fireball was a sublime figure, burning with the scorching fire of a solar disk, enveloped in the glow of a corona.
"A C'tan Shard!" Even Dante couldn't help but exclaim.
It was the remnant of an ancient material universe deity, a pure energy lifeform, a fragment of a shattered C'tan restrained by Necron.
In ancient times, the Necron were tricked by the C'tan and became their slaves, but the Necron took advantage of the C'tan's weakness after the War in Heaven to exact their revenge, ultimately shattering most of the C'tan.
Those C'tan Shards were restrained by the Necron in hypercube mazes, mostly used as energy sources, but in times of crisis, they could also be deployed as weapons.
Anrakyr the Traveller seemed very pleased with Dante's astonishment and couldn't help but let out a cackle.
C'tan Shards were extremely precious even among the Necron, and the one Anrakyr was releasing…
"This is a Shard of Yad-drathasa the Burning One! He is fire, He is combustion, He is the Lord of All Flames and the inferno that consumed the pride of the Old Ones!"
Anrakyr the Traveller declared, raising his voice:
"He burned through the gates of the Webway, allowing the Necron to step into the domains of the Old Ones and the Aeldari."
"He is fire, the fire that ignites and consumes all; He regards both the Empyrean and the material universe as kindling."
"However, the Silent King personally plunged a spear into the chest of Yad-drathasa the Burning One, and the fiery calamity of all things, the endless flames, finally extinguished."
"Be awestruck, mortal," Anrakyr the Traveller declared, "This is but an imperceptible spark of our might."
Although he said so, Anrakyr's already non-existent heart was bleeding, and at the same time, a fear that had existed since ancient times arose within him.
This was a Shard of Yad-drathasa, one of the most cruel and violent C'tan, who most enjoyed gloating when all things were consumed by fire.
In the ancient past, He created countless disasters, devoured countless Necron, and was the eternal nightmare of countless races.
This fear even passed down through genes, becoming the source of most races' innate fear of fire.
Even if a C'tan Shard was just a remnant of a C'tan's past, even if they only had fragmented minds, they were still extremely dangerous.
Currently, Anrakyr could barely control Him.
But if this C'tan Shard were to recall even a shred of their former glory and authority, Anrakyr and the entire Ashford would be burned to ashes.
Moreover, although Anrakyr could release Him, he had no confidence in capturing Him again.
If the hive mind hadn't inexplicably become frantic and hatched two Tyrants, Anrakyr truly wouldn't have wanted to release this Shard.
He secretly resolved that once the Burning One's mission was complete, he would immediately capture Him again with a hypercube maze to prevent Him from losing control.
"Finally, it's here," Alexander murmured, standing outside the anywhere door, gazing at the raging flames on the Mechanical Spire in the distance.
A remnant of an ancient C'tan had descended upon Ashford.
Two Tyrants roared, raising their claws and bio-cannons towards the burning C'tan Shard.
The highest-tier units evolved by the Tyranid hive went against the remnants of a material universe deity from ancient times.
All the living projectiles on the Tyrants' bodies were unleashed towards the Burning One's Shard, transforming into a dense rain of biological ammunition in the air.
The Burning One's Shard let out a silent roar, and the structure of the material world trembled in response.
A vortex of flame, reaching up to the stars and almost as towering as a Tyranid capillary tower, appeared in a manner that defied the laws of physics.
The scorching flames instantly engulfed all the biological projectiles, burning them to ashes.
The Burning One's Shard hunched its body, with ribbon-like coronas entanglement around it; the flame vortex rapidly compressed, shrank, and, in a completely illogical manner, compressed in the Burning One's hand, transforming into a constantly swirling flame spear.
The flame spear thrust out suddenly, and the two Tyrants hurriedly dodged.
The flame spear grazed the Tyrants' bodies, instantly burning through a layer of their psychic shields and incinerating everything it passed through to ashes.
Finally, it plunged straight into a thick capillary tower that pierced the clouds not far away.
That capillary tower ignited in the blink of an eye, burning from the point where the flame spear struck, and dissipated into ashes under the raging inferno.
Even the biomass within it was evaporated and incinerated.
This made Alexander's heart ache.
"My biomass," he murmured involuntarily.
"Why are you feeling heartache? How did it become your biomass?" Sanguinius' mouth twitched slightly.
"The hive mind and I are like brothers; a family doesn't eat two kinds of biomass," Alexander said righteously.
As he spoke, Alexander glanced at Sanguinius; his body had become extremely thin, as if he was about to dissipate on the spot.
Alexander knew that on Tartarus, he had joined the battle in the Netherworld Star System.
Captain Kaelen and the warriors of the First Company around him held their ground before the magnificent prism control console on Tartarus.
His helmetless face was filled with exhaustion and pain.
After leaving Ashford, Dante had given the warriors of the First Company a new mission:
To accompany the Death Company warriors led by Chaplain Arofen to Tartarus and guard the magnificent prism, an ancient artifact.
Originally, this mission belonged to the Necron.
But Anrakyr the Traveller's Tech-priests had failed; upon arriving at Tartarus, he found that the entire Tartarus had been completely occupied by the Tyranid, and even with hundreds of Necron Warriors, he couldn't cope.
However, this arrogant Tech-priest was conceited and proud, unwilling to retreat and seek reinforcements. As a result, they were torn to shreds by the Tyranid Behemoths.
Fortunately, Dante did not fully trust Anrakyr the Traveller; he knew that such a dangerous artifact as the magnificent prism had to be in his own hands.
Chaplain Arofen and Captain Kaelen therefore received orders to travel to Tartarus aboard a strike cruiser to guard the magnificent prism.
However, the number of Behemoths was simply too great.
Executioners roared and bellowed, tearing at the bodies of the Death Company warriors and the First Company Terminators with their claws.
The death of each Behemoth often came at the cost of several Death Company warriors' lives.
The bodies of warriors in black power armor lay strewn across the ruins.
At least they died with honor in their final moments, Captain Kaelen thought.
He watched with his own eyes as a Death Company warrior emptied his magazine, then roared and wielded his bolter like a club, smashing the lesser Tyranid that dared to approach him.
But in the end, this brave warrior also fell... fell before an Executioner.
That Executioner was truly terrifying; it was the largest Executioner Kaelen had ever seen in his life.
It had a massive body, covered in grotesque scars, with only one eye, and part of its skull exposed, looking as if it had suffered many injuries.
But Captain Kaelen felt terror from it; a cold light flickered in the Behemoth's single eye, as if the hive mind itself was staring at him.
Chaplain Arofen, standing beside Captain Kaelen, let out a roar, running towards the Behemoth from the side while raising his weapon and unleashing a barrage of bullets, sending chitinous fragments flying into the air.
Captain Kaelen followed suit, wielding Baal's Wrath, charging the Executioner from the other side.
With a low growl, the Executioner almost slammed into Captain Kaelen; it raised its scythe-like claws and clashed with Baal's Wrath in Captain Kaelen's hand.
An energy field collided and splashed at the point of their confrontation, as Chaplain Arofen, raising his crozius arcanum, charged the Executioner from the side.
However, at this moment, the Executioner's body moved with a speed neither of them could keep up with, and its bio-cannon unleashed a dense volley of fire.
How was that possible?! It was so severely wounded, yet its movements were still so agile?!
Captain Kaelen was stunned for a moment, then realized that the scars on this Executioner's body didn't seem to be freshly inflicted.
Rather, they had been present since its birth; it had this appearance when it was corrupted by the hive mind, and those scars did not affect the Executioner's movements at all.
This bizarre situation caused his expression to twist involuntarily.
Had the hive mind become so cunning as to deliberately create deceptive and camouflaged scars on the Tyranid's carapace?
Then Captain Kaelen only saw Chaplain Arofen stumble out, and then a sharp pain shot through his chest.
A bio-projectile struck his chest, making him unable to open his eyes from the pain.
Then this bio-projectile exploded on Captain Kaelen's chest, and countless tentacles, like flames, shot out, stabbing towards his face.
The one-eyed Tyranid Behemoth almost instantly arrived before Captain Kaelen, its bio-bone blade raised high.
Calian was almost ready to welcome death.
Light, a bright bluish-white light suddenly shot out from mid-air, illuminating the entire ruin.
Captain Kaelen almost forgot the pain, staring blankly at the brilliant light projected onto the ground.
"By the blood of Sanguinius," Captain Kaelen heard Chaplain Arofen's exclamation.
A winged warrior descended from the light, his silver-white blade gleaming like snow in daylight.
Sanguileno descended upon Tartarus.