Chapter 199: Arrival
The bell swayed to its apex, hung suspended for a heartbeat, then the clapper struck metal. The second chime rang out across the fleet.
"Order the Legions to prepare for battle," Guilliman commanded, his voice carrying the absolute authority.
His champions acknowledged with solemn nods before departing to marshal the Legion's might.
Aboard the Red Tears, the situation mirrored that of her sister vessel.
Sanguinius issued his own orders, and his warriors moved to comply with practiced efficiency.
Dong!
The third chime reverberated through every ship in the expeditionary fleet.
Including the transport vessel where Magnus had been placed.
For reasons of preservation, he occupied a position at the fleet's rearmost edge, a positioning that suited him more than he cared to admit.
Without the Primarch-exclusive Gene Engine implanted within his physiology, his capacity for survival remained... diminished. If he joined the battle, he would die like any other mortal.
A Primarch lacking the Gene Engine still remained formidable by mortal standards, a demigod walking among lesser beings. But against cosmic-level entities, such advantages meant nothing. He would be crushed as easily as any other oversized target.
Someone had been kind enough to explain these realities to him.
When he heard it, Magnus was not grateful; he was furious.
He believed his brothers looked down upon him. Why should they survive encounters with cosmic horrors while he could not? The implication was intolerable.
'Even without a Gene Engine, I surpass them all.'
Hearing the chime, Magnus understood the fleet had reached the target universe.
Ambition burned hot within his chest. He had waited so long for this opportunity, not for glory, not for conquest, but for vindication.
He would prove to his brothers that even without the Gene Engine, he remained superior in every way that mattered.
"[Transition to realspace is imminent. Prepare for protective measures."
The warning klaxon sounded throughout the fleet.
Red countdowns materialized on every screen and display.
Crew members secured themselves with restraint harnesses. Astartes activated their mag-locked boots, fixing themselves to the deck plating. Armed ratings returned to their shock frames while the Mechanicus chanted their litanies of safe passage.
Reality screamed as it was cut open. Paradoxical light, colors that should not exist, spilled through the wound.
Ship after ship surged through the breach, entering a vast and boundless starfield.
The transition was smooth. Unnaturally so.
It was as if the universe's governing consciousness did not exist, or chose not to interfere with these outsiders.
Following their pre-established protocols, the expeditionary fleet deployed Magos-class personnel to begin construction of an anchor device at the translation point: a Space-Time Gate.
The Gate served as the Bureau of Celestial Management's primary method of anchoring two universes together, maintaining stable cross-dimensional channels, and preventing catastrophic collapse.
The Mechanicus Ark that accompanied the fleet immediately went to work.
Servitors and unmanned machinery stripped resources from nearby asteroid belts, feeding raw materials into the Empire's colossal manufactories.
Mining equipment of truly staggering scale was deployed, entire asteroids were seized by gravity tethers and dragged into processing facilities.
Cutting beams dissociated them into manageable fragments. These pieces entered smelting facilities where complex separation equipment extracted individual elements at temperatures that could liquefy adamantium.
Within a surprisingly short span, void fortresses began to take shape, forming gigantic celestial constructs, orbital platforms, and continent-sized manufacturing complexes that formed an interconnected defensive network.
Each structure bristled with weapon towers, turret arrays, and lance batteries, creating overlapping fields of fire that could obliterate any approaching threat.
Shortly thereafter, Perturabo's Wrath arrived through the Gate.
The superweapon, newly completed and fresh from final testing protocols, had been explicitly transported for field trials. It desperately needed a battlefield to prove its devastating potential.
The expeditionary outpost neared completion.
Meanwhile, intelligence teams reported an unexpected discovery.
They had located a star system near the Imperial staging area that contained a planet with a complex biological species.
Upon receiving the news, Guilliman and Sanguinius led an investigation team that included Magnus and numerous Mechanicus Magi. They wanted to study this universe's native life.
The planet's inhabitants remained primitive, pre-tribal, struggling at the most rudimentary threshold of civilization.
What surprised the Primarchs, however, was that particular intelligent creatures on this world could "transform".
These beings lived ordinarily in bestial forms. When threatened, they shifted into semi-mechanical, semi-biological configurations capable of sophisticated combat.
Not all creatures possessed this ability; just a tiny fraction, merely a hundred or so individuals across the entire planet, could manage the "transformation".
They belonged to different species. They had organized themselves into two factions locked in perpetual conflict over the planet's unique energy crystals.
Several Imperial warships now held position in low orbit.
Magnus stood on a bridge observation deck, watching the surface below.
He witnessed a leopard transform into a semi-mechanical hunter. It used a bow to engage its enemy at range before closing for brutal melee combat, fists against armor, savage and direct.
"What a peculiar life form this is," Magnus murmured, genuine fascination momentarily overriding his wounded pride.
Magos Belisarius Cawl and the other Mechanicus savants studied the planet intensively, analyzing its fundamental physical laws and deriving principles that might govern the more wider universe.
They concluded quickly.
This universe possessed unique metaphysical laws. Any sufficiently intelligent creature could potentially acquire transformation elements, gaining the ability to shift between organic and mechanical states.
Once a species' civilization reached a certain developmental threshold, it unlocked mechanical metamorphosis as naturally as breathing.
In essence, the universe's laws themselves gave rise to Transformers—much like magic, cultivation arts, or chakra systems emerged from the fundamental nature of other realities.
"Fascinating," Guilliman remarked, reviewing the compiled investigation report. "I honestly never considered a universe could function in such a manner."
"Indeed," Sanguinius agreed, his noble features thoughtful. "The infinite variety of the multiverse never ceases to amaze me. That mechanical transformation unlocks automatically upon reaching sufficient intelligence, remarkable. Almost absurd if you ask me."
Magnus remained silent.
He recalled his earlier argument with Raven.
Fine...He would admit it, if only to himself: he had been a frog at the bottom of a well. The wonders of the multiverse indeed exceeded even his imagination.
"It's nothing special," Magnus said aloud, forcing his expression into careful neutrality.
Otherwise, he would surely become a laughing stock in Imperial history, to be extensively written about by those damned chroniclers.
Whenever new students enrolled, he would be criticized as a negative example of narrow-mindedness.
"It seems we were indeed ignorant," Sanguinius said. "Since Magnus is so knowledgeable, he must know the ins and outs of these creatures. Why don't we let you serve as an envoy, go to the surface to investigate the situation, and negotiate?"
"A small matter for someone of Magnus's talents," Guilliman added with perfect timing. "We'll naturally assign champions from our Legions as honor guards for your safety."
Magnus gripped his staff tightly, striking the floor heavily with a dull thud.
"I don't need your protection. I can easily handle it alone."
"I will prove this to you."
He turned and strode from the bridge without another word.
Guilliman glanced at Sanguinius. "Will he be all right?"
"Yes, of course," Sanguinius replied. "His power is immense, despite his... situation. Unless a cosmic-level entity appears, he'll be safe."
Magnus, to prove himself, led the diplomatic mission shortly after leaving the bridge.
He would negotiate with the semi-biological, semi-mechanical beings himself.
At that moment, the outpost's detection arrays registered an anomalous energy signature.
A group of powerful mechanical life forms was approaching the fortress.
Space-Time Gate Fortress.
The Imperial outpost dominated local space, enormous structures and magnificent warships establishing the Empire's first foothold in the Transformers Universe.
Elites from the Ninth and Thirteenth Legions held garrison duty alongside Mechanicus Magi and support personnel.
Additionally, several Ship Girls had taken up temporary residence.
After touring Terra and the Sol System, they had been scheduled to return to the Azur Lane Universe.
But hearing about the cross-universe expedition, they'd applied to visit the Transformers Universe instead. They wanted to see how it differed from their own reality at home.
The detection array scanned the approaching contacts and displayed them via hololithic projection.
Small spacecraft approached the Empire's outer fortifications. As they closed, they transformed mid-flight into gigantic mechanical beings.
Their maneuverability was exceptional; they dodged automated defensive fire with contemptuous ease, closing rapidly before tearing through the unmanned fortress with devastating efficiency.
"Are they Ship Girls too?" a destroyer-class girl asked, her eyes wide with confusion.
"Idiot," Taihou snapped, flicking her sharply on the forehead. "Didn't you read the briefing data? They're called Transformers, not Ship Girls."
"You didn't have to hit me!" the smaller girl protested, clutching her head with watering eyes.
"Cry and I'll do it again," Taihou threatened, raising her hand once more.
[End of Chapter]
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