The 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Chapters of the Shadows of Order, the Legio Astorum, and the Mordian Iron Guard were locked in brutal combat with the Rangdan hordes.
Ten Librarians were scattered across the hundred-kilometer-wide battlefield. Each channeled their psychic power into small crystalline devices that buzzed with metallic resonance as they came alive.
The crystals vibrated, releasing hundreds of fly-shaped constructs into the air.
These were ancient machines crafted by Jokaeros, mechanical spies that could transmit what they saw to visual screens within twenty kilometers.
Originally designed for two-way communication, the Librarians modified them through runic inscriptions, transforming them into one-way reconnaissance drones that would no longer project holograms.
The spy-flies soared over the battlefield, relaying images back to the scrying screens.
Before each Librarian floated a mosaic of tiny image tiles, hundreds of small, crowded pictures forming a vast compound eye of vision.
Through psychic resonance, they processed and identified the images in an instant, marking the Rangdan warlords with runic symbols and uploading them to the tactical network.
To ensure total coverage, all ten Librarians' areas overlapped slightly.
Within the transport ships, the data was processed and analyzed inside Simulus Chambers, providing constant real-time updates.
At the same time, Techmarines directed fifty golden Garuda to survey the battlefield from above, transmitting additional data to the Chambers.
Thierry and Saisak stared at the glowing displays before them and gave a single command. "Attack!"
The 8th Chapter of the Shadows of Order, alongside four regiments of Kasai auxiliary swordsmen, launched a full-scale assault against the xenos.
Pierre Wright, having passed Nareth's trials, had been elevsted to sequence 9, "Warrior".
Before the war on the Advex–Mors Prime broke out, he had returned from the Honor Guard to the 8th Company and was soon promoted to liutenant.
Leading fifty Shadows of Order, Pierre charged toward the nearest Rangdan overlord assigned as their target.
The Kasai-born warriors drew their psionic longswords, masterpieces forged by Kasai master smiths, and infused them with faint traces of psychic energy.
As their blades vibrated, they and their weapons became one.
Pierre and his five captains, all "Warriors", formed the spearhead, cutting swiftly into the enemy slave armies.
Their blades swept in a storm of light and death, cleaving swathes of foes in two.
While leading the charge, Pierre's helm displayed tactical runes and updates from the spy-flies and golden garuda's, which continuously tracked the Rangdan warlord.
Like arrows in flight, the six Warriors tore through the ranks and confronted their target.
The overlord let out an ear-piercing shriek, unleashing a psychic storm that made the Shadows of Order convulse in agony.
For an instant, their vision filled with blinding frost, as if trudging through a blizzard.
But Pierre and his captains ascended into the first mental layer of Thelema mind-state, and shattered the illusion conjured by the alien psyker.
Pierre, standing at the center, twitched his wrist, his psionic sword dancing.
He executed thethe Elvira Style, his blade weaving a figure-eight that deflected the emerald psychic bolts hurled by the warlord.
Seizing the moment as the xeno was blinded by the glare, the five Warriors flanked Pierre and surged forward, donning their War Masks.
Their fury over humanity's enslavement and their brothers' peril transformed into raw strength.
Their blades crashed down like thunder, striking the warlord's personal energy shield.
With a shattering burst, the shield gave way.
Pierre lunged, his sword thrusting forward, unleashing a killing blow.
The overlord barely had time to lift his hand before the blade pierced his rodent skull.
Pierre left the sword buried for a heartbeat, letting the energy crackle within the creature's brain, until the light in its eyes died out. Only then did he withdraw the blade.
Meanwhile, Saisak led the 1st Company through the Rangdan ranks, blood splattering his Mark I Thunder Armor.
A veteran of the Unification Wars, Saisak was one of the last living witnesses of the 11th Legion's glory, the Reapers.
He despised the new helm designs, secretly kept the medal given to him by Horus Lupercal, and often traced the Reaper insignia he had painted by hand.
Haunted by the past, Saisak fought best when he didn't have to think, when battle itself became his purpose.
When Howard Finde became Chapter Master, Saisak had felt both resentment and relief.
He no longer had to lead or plan, only to kill.
Through sheer will, he mastered the War Mask, allowing him to channel his rage without losing control.
Now, in battle, he could once again revel in the joy of slaughter while maintaining the cold clarity of a soldier.
Chainsword roaring, Saisak tore through waves of human slaves.
Blood splattered his visor, seeping through the grill into his nostrils.
He inhaled deeply, savoring the metallic tang, and his movements grew faster, more savage.
Veering slightly off course, he chose to wade deeper into the fray, to prolong the killing.
By the time his armor was stained crimson, he felt reborn, as if he were once again a Reaper of old.
With a roar of exhilaration, he urged his men onward.
The Shadows of Order, roused by his fury, howled as bloodlight kindled in their eyes.
Then suddenly, Saisak realized, there were fewer slaves around him.
Even through the haze of the War Mask, his tactical mind recognized the shift. Ahead, thousands of xenos were gathering around a towering figure.
It stood nearly four meters tall, a full meter above its kin, its body pale white and its head grotesquely large, almost a third of its total mass.
Its left arm was serpentine and long enough to drag across the ground, while its right hand wielded a gleaming crystal greatsword.
From his training, Saisak recalled the classification.
'Cerabvores!'
'One of the three major xeno race composing the Rangdan, as documented by the Gene-Father.'
'But are they supposed to be this big?'
He frowned, puzzled, but did not slow.
Within a kilometer, pain exploded in the heads of the advancing Shadows.
Their muscles spasmed, their throats burned dry, and their bodies weakened.
"Neurotoxin!" cried his adjutant, Dixon, over the comms.
"His size, it must be the Rangdan Warlord!"
The Gene-Father had warned them before the campaign.
if they encountered an abnormally powerful or large enemy, it was likely a Warlord, a supreme commander of a front.
Upon sighting one, they were to report immediately.
But Saisak, eyes blazing red, snarled through the vox.
"No, he's mine!"
Dixon watched helplessly as Saisak charged straight at the towering xeno, then relayed an emergency signal to the Gene-Father.
By the time Saisak reached the Cerabvores, the neurotoxin had taken a visible toll.
His transhuman flesh was desiccating, his skin wrinkling like parchment.
But he didn't stop. With a roar, he swung his chainsword.
The Cerabvores met the blow, crystal blade flashing.
Their weapons clashed with a shrieking crack.
Saisak's wrist went numb; he glanced in shock at the creature's thin arm, it shouldn't have such strength.
Then rage consumed him. Rational thought drowned beneath the killing urge.
The Warlord, amused, had been watching the slave horde grind down the black-armored warriors, but now, one had broken through to him, a berserker driven by fury rather than strategy.
He quickly realized it was no ambush, just madness.
The red neural line pulsing across his skull flared bright, and Saisak's mind was swallowed by crimson haze.
His frenzied strikes, chaotic and wild, fell exactly where the Warlord intended, each blow scattering force across the energy shield rather than breaking it.
In contrast, the Cerabvores's counters were surgical.
His crystal sword slashed through Saisak's arm, split his chestplate, and carved bloody furrows in his flesh.
Saisak, still roaring, landed a desperate blow that shattered the shield.
"Break!" he bellowed, but before he could swing again, his sword arm was severed.
The creature's limb coiled around his head.
Its jaws opened wide and bit down on Saisak's skull.
The red neural line blazed brighter as the Cerabvores tasted him, 'This one's mind was far more delicious than the slaves.'
He was about to devour him whole, when he froze.
A golden spark flickered at the edge of his sight.
Something immense and terrible was watching him.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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