"Took him long enough!" Rogal Dorn breathed a long sigh of relief.
He was more aware than anyone of the sheer combat power Axis possessed. His arrival alone was enough to alter the course of the entire battle.
The descent of the magnificent warship was like a powerful stimulant injected directly into the dying heart of the Imperium.
On the battlefield, every combatant instinctively looked up toward the brilliant celestial light. The loyalist Space Marines fighting and bleeding on the line, the beleaguered mortal soldiers of the Imperialis Auxilia, even Vulkan, who was being suppressed by Angron, and Ferrus Manus and Jaghatai Khan, who were locked in combat with Mortarion and the Eleventh Primarch, all raised their heads.
Besides Solus Prime, the Golden King had also torn its way into the Sol system's orbit under the command of Kratos. The vast cannons of its celestial-class weaponry were already deploying.
A deep hum resonated through the void.
The enormous Aquila at the prow of Solus Prime suddenly blazed with light. A pillar of golden energy, a veritable spear of divine judgment, tore across the atmosphere, instantly sweeping over a cluster of daemonic beasts that had been furiously assaulting the main gates of the Imperial Palace.
The beasts caught in the beam did not even have time to scream before they were vaporized in the torrent of pure energy, leaving not a trace of wreckage behind.
Where the pillar of light passed, it carved a molten trench into the ground that steamed with acrid smoke.
This was only the beginning.
The side armor plates of Solus Prime peeled open layer by layer like the petals of a flower, revealing dense arrays of weapon emplacements that glittered with deadly light.
In the next moment, countless beams of incandescent white energy poured down upon the battlefield like a torrential storm.
These beams precisely avoided the loyalist positions, striking hard into the densest formations of the charging Chaos Space Marines, the clusters of daemonic beasts, and the areas where the Sorcerers of Tzeentch were opening their foul, fleshy portals to the Warp.
A continuous series of explosions erupted, playing out like a grand symphony of destruction.
The power armour of the Chaos Space Marines was like paper before the beams, and the daemonic beasts were blasted into burning scrap metal. The Tzeentchian Sorcerers, along with their warp portals, were utterly evaporated. In an instant, the pressure on the loyalist front lines was greatly relieved.
"My sons, warriors of the Golden Legion, advance! For the Imperium of Man, protect Holy Terra!" Axis declared, standing upon the command bridge of Solus Prime.
He gave the order to attack, and his legionaries responded with a mighty roar.
Clad in power armour, they brandished their chainswords, bolters, and energy weapons as they stepped into their deployment craft.
"For our Great Father!"
"We shall not dishonor the blood of gold!"
"Destroy the enemies of the Imperium!"
"Eradicate these shameful traitors!"
Nearly every member of Axis's Golden Legion was now equipped with a phase-teleportation bracelet. With their fleet in low orbit over Holy Terra, teleportation range was no longer a concern. They did not even need to use their drop pods, instead initiating a direct phase-teleportation assault. They dissolved into streaks of blue light, vanishing in an instant, only to reappear on the battlefield below.
Forming into three-man combat squads, the members of the Golden Legion began their merciless assault upon the enemies of the Imperium. Countless warriors, their bodies wreathed in golden auras, their hair and eyes shifting to a brilliant gold, charged into the fray with their Golden Transformation fully unleashed. These transformed warriors were an unstoppable force, carving through the enemy ranks as if they were not there.
Countless more motes of fine blue light began to twinkle like stars across the hull of Solus Prime.
In the next second, these points of light abruptly vanished. Simultaneously, on the surface of Holy Terra, within the densest front lines of the Chaos Space Marine assault, at the very heart of the daemonic beast clusters, and even behind the fleshy warp portals maintained by the Tzeentchian Sorcerers, a new terror appeared.
A series of sharp, resonant hums cut through the din of battle.
Dazzling pillars of blue light stabbed out of the void without warning. The moment the light faded, figures clad in gleaming golden power armour appeared from thin air, their bodies wreathed in a fierce, golden aura.
Their hair stood on end as if it were a burning golden fire, and their eyes had turned the color of molten, pure gold.
The Golden Transformation, the ultimate power that Axis had bestowed upon his sons, was now unleashed without reservation.
The Golden King followed close behind Solus Prime and commenced its own strike against the traitor forces.
Its hull shone like the sun, and its prow was also adorned with a majestic golden Aquila. On its command bridge, a towering figure was clearly visible.
It was Kratos, Warmaster of the Imperium's left flank, Son of Axis, and Grandson of the Emperor. He was clad in golden power armour that radiated a divine light, and in his hands, he held a massive greatblade wreathed in crimson-gold flames. He looked like a god of war given form.
"This is the first battle our legion has fought since its founding! This is the first battle for the Sons of Axis! Failure is not an option. I have only one demand of you: attack, attack, and attack again! Annihilate all enemies of the Emperor!" Kratos stood upon the command deck of the Golden King, his voice filled with unparalleled fighting spirit and an unshakeable belief in victory as he delivered his final war cry to his legionaries.
"For the great Father Axis! For Lord Kratos! We will be victorious!" a Legion Captain roared, raising his weapon high.
"We shall not dishonor the Golden Blood, nor the name of the Sons of Axis!"
"Very good. The children of Axis will now sally forth. Let these Imperial traitors know our strength," Kratos declared, giving the final command.
Because they were not equipped with phase-teleportation bracelets, the Sons of Axis had to rely on drop pods.
Countless landing craft shot down from orbit like a shower of golden rain. The Sons of Axis were also divided into three-man teams as they began their planetary assault.
The sight of these golden drop pods gave the Imperial defenders an immense boost in morale. Imperial Space Marines and mortal soldiers alike raised their weapons high and let out a resounding cheer. In their eyes, and especially in the eyes of the mortals, these warriors, shimmering with golden light, were representatives of the Emperor Himself.
A golden torrent poured down from the heavens.
Countless well-equipped and high-spirited Space Marines of the Golden Legion, alongside the elite warriors of the Sons of Axis, plunged without hesitation into the heart of the most brutal fighting below like a meteor shower of gold.
"For the Emperor! For humanity! Golden Legion! Sons of Axis! Charge!" A roar like thunder, broadcast through Solus Prime's powerful amplification system, reverberated across the entire battlefield.
Kratos, son of Axis, was the first to reach the field, leading his legionaries in a charge.
After six months of grueling training under his father, his combat power was now a world apart from what it had been. Specifically, by substituting psionic energy for the power of ki, the destructive force he could now unleash was not far behind that of Axis's first level of the legendary golden transformation aka Super Saiyan 1.
"Filthy daemon! Get away from my uncle!" Kratos let out a heaven-shaking roar. He stomped his feet, and the hardened ground instantly cracked.
His entire being transformed into a comet of crimson-gold flame. The greatblade in his hands, 'Godsfall', let out a shriek that seemed to tear at the fabric of space itself as he swung it with world-splitting force at Angron's back.
Sensing the fatal threat, Angron was forced to abandon his attack on Vulkan and spun around, raising his twin axes to block.
A terrifying clang of metal on metal echoed across the battlefield. A storm of violent energy erupted from the impact.
Angron's massive daemonic form was driven back several steps by the force of Kratos's furious blow, the ground shattering beneath his feet. The daemon was thrown onto his back and struggled for a moment before he could rise.
Kratos landed solidly, placing himself between the panting Vulkan and the fallen daemon. He pointed his greatblade at Angron, his golden aura flaring like a pillar of celestial fire.
"A creature like you… I will be finished with you within a minute," Kratos said with a cold snort.
The gap in their power was like the distance between sky and earth. Angron let out a furious roar and charged, only to be met by a single, golden strike. The fallen Daemon Primarch did not even have time to react before his body was sliced in two. The potent psionic energy of the Golden Transformation immediately incinerated Angron's flesh.
Observing from a distance, the godKhorne quickly snatched away the soul of his little pet before the boy could completely annihilate it. It had to be said, the bloodline of Axis was remarkably potent. The combat strength possessed by his son surpassed all mortal imagination. In just two exchanges, the great Champion of Chaos had been slain by Kratos's blade.
Atop the throne-like command bridge of Solus Prime, Axis stood, in power armour that had blended advanced technology of Solus prime. Kasha, clad in her own combat suit, appeared at his side.
"Axis, something is wrong with Sanguinius's condition," she observed.
"I see it. He must have awakened to his Warp essence. Like his sons, Sanguinius is both an angel and a vampire," Axis replied.
"I think it's because you had him eat so many of those Tree of Might Fruits. Otherwise, that part of his Warp nature might never have awoken," Kasha said.
If Sanguinius had not consumed so many of the fruits, his physical body would never have evolved to its absolute limit, a state which allowed it to perfectly contain his Warp essence.
"These are trials that must be overcome. You must have some faith in the Great Angel. He can suppress the thirst within him. Go and help him in a moment. I must see the Emperor alone," Axis said.
Kasha nodded in understanding. First, she used her psychic powers to teleport Axis directly into the Imperial Palace on Holy Terra. Then, she teleported herself to the side of Sanguinius, using her own psionic abilities to help the Primarch suppress his burgeoning bloodlust.
Within the Sanctum Imperialis, Axis finally stood face to face with the Emperor. Inside the vast hall, there were only three figures: the Emperor, who had risen from the Golden Throne; Magnus, who now sat upon it; and Malcador the Sigillite.
"Axis, you should not have come here," the Emperor said, his expression grim.
"I have my own convictions," Axis replied calmly, "I will not stand in the way of your ascension to the Golden Throne, but I must take part in this war."
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ps?