Space Marines are unstoppable.
They embody violence incarnate, war machines forged by the Emperor to annihilate the enemies of Mankind. All who stand before them will be slaughtered without mercy.
On the front lines, led by their Primarchs, the Space Marines descend in crushing waves, the living nightmare of every xenos species in the galaxy. Nothing can halt their advance.
Space Marines brought only destruction. Plaza flagstones, shielded by psychic barriers from artillery bombardment, shattered beneath ceramite boots as they surged toward the writhing clusters of worm-creatures. Xenos structures disintegrated under the onslaught of power weapons, their defenders utterly obliterated.
Among the Morlocks Terminators strode a giant wielding a warhammer, his towering form reminiscent of ancient thunder gods.
Ferrus matched his pace to his Sons, maintaining the spearhead formation, yet his movements were lightning-swift despite his measured advance.
He was a Primarch, one of only twenty-one such beings in the entire galaxy, born at the apex of biological evolution, wielding power enough to shake the very stars.
Forgebreaker crackled with arcing lightning. This divine weapon, crafted by a brother Primarch's hand, screamed through the air as its hammerhead carved trajectories of death.
Even a cumbersome warhammer became a blur of impossible agility in a Primarch's grasp, moving faster than mortal comprehension.
The charging formation was a razor's edge, nothing could withstand its cut.
Ferrus's warhammer struck with devastating force, its disintegration field pitilessly atomizing everything it touched.
His speed defied belief. Space Marines possessed nanosecond neural reaction times, yet their physical movements still required milliseconds, even they couldn't track the Primarch's hammer as it carved through enemies.
To mortal eyes, Space Marines moved with blinding speed, executing a dozen lethal actions within a single heartbeat.
To Space Marine eyes, the Primarch moved faster still, their enhanced vision couldn't capture his strikes or predict his attack patterns.
The gulf between them was absolute. Though bound by genetics, they were fundamentally different orders of being.
Ferrus advanced steadily, his warhammer creating phantom after-images as it swung, churning the surrounding air into miniature whirlwinds that swept through the xenos ranks, leaving nothing alive.
Even amid this carnage, he spared attention for his left flank, where his brother led allied forces, ensuring synchronized speed to prevent fractured assaults.
This wasn't arrogance, the battle's current intensity barely served as a warm-up.
Though Blazkowicz's assault team numbered less than half of Ferrus's force, their killing efficiency far surpassed it.
The Custodes and Doom Slayers, resplendent in gleaming golden and silver power armor, moved through the battlefield with unhurried grace, displaying no hint of strain.
Spears blessed by the Emperor's own hand, wielded by warriors He personally shaped, sliced effortlessly through xenos flesh, delivering ultimate judgment in His name.
The golden-armored warriors moved so swiftly that by the time the worms' sensory nerves registered danger, death had already arrived.
The Custodes' power dwarfed that of Space Marines.
Legend claimed the biological alchemy that created them incorporated the Emperor's own genetic material, transforming mere humans into transcendent warriors.
Space Marines could perceive the Custodes' weapon movements, yet their bodies found such speed unattainable. This was an insurmountable chasm of capability.
Their battlefield performance demonstrated this supremacy. Their martial techniques were supremely elegant, precise, and lethal. Amid chaotic melee, their spears invariably found vital points, ending fights with brutal efficiency.
From the worms' perspective, human warriors charged forward, struck with their weapons before neural tentacles could respond, killed their targets, and glided away.
The worms experienced every moment, their nervous systems were highly developed, yet remained helpless, their bodies incapable of resistance.
Twenty Custodes, led by Shield-Captain Odysseus, became golden phantoms streaking through the worm guard, leaving only corpses.
For these golden warriors, the silk threads the worms spat were laughably slow, easily dodged with minimal effort. The acid volleys were even more pathetic, naturally avoided during the fluid dance of slaughter.
Between Custodian kills, beams of light occasionally lanced past, providing continuous ranged support that punched through worm formations and shattered transparent carapaces.
The Doom Slayers held the rear position. The black-armored warriors didn't advance but instead delivered withering fire support from behind the Custodian line.
Their composite shoulder cannons were devastatingly effective, compact, flexible, and shockingly powerful. Various weapons fired in rotating sequence, achieving extreme firing efficiency.
Powered by three cold fusion cores within their armor, a single Doom Slayer could unleash twenty precision shots per second, maintaining stable and devastating fire.
Twenty shots represented the composite cannon's cooling limit, not the capability of the super-intelligence or the Marines themselves. Their dimensional spears added yet another weapon to their arsenal.
With Doom Slayer fire support, worm forces before the Custodes were either ignited by melta weapons, atomized by disintegration beams, pierced by thermal rays, or bisected by dimensional energy.
Watching xenos fall like scythed wheat before him, Shield-Captain Odysseus felt a flicker of dissatisfaction.
The Custodes fought at the front, hacking through enemies, their shining armor splattered with insect ichor, while their allies fired from the rear, maintaining spotless armor while achieving even higher kill counts.
"During initial contact, after expending bolter ammunition, Custodes engaged in melee due to the absence of reload servitors," Odysseus reflected.
He swept his guardian spear through another enemy, yet his mind pondered how to acquire high-power energy weapons from the Primarchs.
During the previous Battle Moon raid, the Primarch had magnanimously gifted advanced jump packs to the Custodes as reward for their combat prowess.
The Shield-Captain's power sword cleaved another worm into pieces, but he shook his head ruefully.
"The enemy is too weak," he murmured. The Shield-Captain realized he should curb his acquisitive thoughts and instead fulfill his sacred duty as a Custodian, upholding the Emperor's will.
"For the glory of the Emperor!"
His roar cast aside distracting thoughts. Gripping the Aquila battle standard in one hand and his guardian spear in the other, he fought with renewed fury.
Blazkowicz glanced at Captain Odysseus, confusion flickering across his features. Why the sudden battle cry?
The engagement progressed smoothly. There was no need for morale-boosting, nor was this a critical moment. Why did the Custodes Captain shout?
He shook his head, unable to fathom the Emperor's Custodians' logic, and refocused on the battle.
"Charge with me!" Blazkowicz roared, raising his shield and surging toward the Broodmother.
The massive insect had just completed its psychic barrier incantation and was beginning another spell, preparing to unleash further powers.
He didn't fear psychic abilities, but he had to consider his allies. Ferrus and the Morlocks possessed less psychic resistance than himself.
Hearing the Primarch's roar, the Doom Slayers tightened formation around their Gene-Father and charged alongside him.
"Custodes!" Odysseus bellowed, urging his warriors forward. "Follow the Primarch! Protect him!"
The black and gold teams converged instantly, forming a unified spearhead that drove toward the xenos leader.
"Iron Hands!" Ferrus glanced at the Broodfather before calling to his Sons. "With me!"
"For the Gene-Father!" The Morlocks swiftly assembled around their Primarch and surged toward the massive insect.
The Broodmother's composure faltered. She continued her incantation while neural tentacles along her flanks thrashed wildly, unleashing dozens of psychic lightning bolts at the advancing enemies.
Crackling energy filled the air.
The pale, dense lightning crashed into the charging formation, striking Custodes and Doom Slayers alike, creating a sea of electric fury.
What the Broodmother witnessed next deepened her panic, forcing her to interrupt her spell and begin gathering psychic power anew.
The human warriors emerged from the thunder-sea unharmed, fearless, led by the Sons of the Emperor.
The Broodmother's limited understanding couldn't comprehend it. Why were these warriors immune to psychic lightning, walking through the electric maelstrom untouched?
Psychic power was warp energy guided by will, manifested in realspace. Its effectiveness depended on both caster and recipient willpower.
The Custodes possessed iron wills, and their armor was forged from auramite.
Auramite was a precious material, psychically inert at the atomic level, capable of resisting or even nullifying warp-based abilities.
The Doom Slayers inherited Blazkowicz's power, even without auramite armor, they could resist psychic assault.
Blazkowicz was utterly unstoppable. Wreathed in crackling lightning, he charged straight to the Broodmother's face, raised his super shotgun, and fired.
BOOM
The muffled report echoed across the plaza. Golden light erupted from the shotgun's muzzle, punching through the Broodmother's mottled carapace and blasting a gaping hole through her distended abdomen.
"AAAHHHHH!"
Screams merged with shrieks. Pain and warp energy poured from her wound as her elongated body twisted and convulsed.
The projectile pierced clean through, golden light corroding the wound edges and suppressing the gushing warp power.
The mother worm wailed in exquisite agony, her thoughts fragmenting.
Too many unexpected events had occurred, someone had torn through her psychic barrier bare-handed, her abilities proved worthless, and now her own body was punctured by a firearm.
Every psychic technique she'd mastered seemed to fail, appearing as mockery before these enemies.
Blazkowicz neither knew nor cared what the creature thought. He hurled his shield, spinning it toward the xenos.
Engines screamed. The rapidly rotating saw blades, condensed from a Star God's hatred, cut through the mother worm's soul shield and buried themselves in her abdominal flesh.
BUZZ-BUZZ-BUZZ
The shield's internal engines roared rhythmically, like monstrous laughter. The saw blades spun at lethal velocity, carving through the mother worm's body from bottom to top.
The mother worm shrieked in unbearable torment. She felt sharp teeth rotating within her flesh, skin being flayed, abdominal muscles gouged away, organs and strength hemorrhaging from the wound.
She endured soul-tearing pain while extending tentacles, desperately trying to extract the weapon buried deep in her body.
"AAAHHH!"
Another agonized scream. The neural tentacles seared instantly upon touching the shield.
The shield, forged from Star God fragments and bearing Blazkowicz's mark, burned all malicious intent with Nyarlathotep's flames.
The mother worm's body was being continuously bisected while Star God fire eroded her flesh. Only her status as an Alpha-level psyker prevented complete incineration.
Her summoned offspring were intercepted by Custodians and Doom Slayers, unable to interfere in her duel with Blazkowicz.
Under multiple traumas, her mind began fragmenting, unable to maintain psychic manifestations. The protective shields on the worm guard shattered instantly.
The shield carved upward, sawing through the mother worm's abdomen until it completely bisected her massive form, finally erupting from beneath her lower jaw in a spray of flesh and bone before spinning skyward.
Blazkowicz raised his left arm and beckoned. The shield reversed direction mid-flight, returning to its master and reattaching to his left arm guard.
The mother worm's head snapped backward, abdomen split wide, organs tumbling free. Her deceptively benign face bore a shattered lower jaw, throat and tongue hanging limply from her mouthparts, swaying grotesquely.
The sight was truly horrific, her raised torso swaying unsteadily.
But her destroyer felt no pity, instead, he struck again while she was utterly defenseless.
Blazkowicz secured the shield to his left arm, holstered his super shotgun, and casually drew the sword hilt, igniting the Dimensional Blade.
This hilt was identical to the Crucible Sword's handle, inscribed with matching runes. Only the blade color differed.
The Crucible Sword's blade burned crimson, imbued with malevolent concepts and infinite rage, a god-slaying weapon surpassing even artifacts.
The blade Blazkowicz now wielded was crafted by artisans of Argent Nur in imitation, functionally equivalent to any dimensional weapon, used for routine purposes.
His form flickered, leaving after-images and creating sonic booms as he instantly appeared before the mother worm's massive body, raising the Dimensional Blade for a horizontal sweep.
The mother worm instinctively tried to resist, but had no time.
The waist-abdomen supporting her raised torso was swept by Blazkowicz's glowing blade, cleanly severing her serpentine body into two halves.
In a moment of silence, the mother worm's unsupported upper body crashed down. Her ten-meter length slammed against the ground. She lay powerless before the Primarch.
Through her haze, the mother worm felt coldness above her head. Opening her eyes, she saw the towering figure standing upon her skull, longsword aimed directly at her eyes.
Defeat had arrived inevitably. Only now did the mother worm achieve clarity, weakly asking, "Who are you?"
She'd asked this question before. She still wanted an answer.
Blazkowicz disdained to respond, silently standing atop the xenos leader, his gaze fixed on another battlefield.
He'd charged faster than his brother, dispatching the mother worm swiftly. Ferrus had only just engaged the Broodfather, their duel was beginning.
Ferrus struck like lightning, rushing before the father worm and raising Forgebreaker to attack the xenos patriarch.
The Primarch's guard deployed rapidly, Morlocks Terminators repelling worm defenders to secure their Gene-Father's dueling space.
"Scum!" The Primarch roared, blood surging through his veins. His silver necrodermis hands bulged with power as he struck the xenos-father with overwhelming force.
The father worm showed no weakness, lashing its massive tail to coil around Ferrus. With Alpha-level physical psychic enhancement, it barely matched the Primarch's speed.
Ferrus advanced instead of retreating. Noticing his brother had finished his battle, he needed speed, swiftly eliminating his opponent.
His steps were firm and thunderous. Forgebreaker swung toward the father worm's waist while weapons on his power pack deployed behind him, all targeting the coiling tail.
Rapid commands flowed. His power armor converted conscious signals into digital commands, instantly unleashing all firepower.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Forgebreaker struck the father worm's midsection. The disintegration field dissolved xenos flesh, carving away half its torso and creating a gaping cavity.
The power pack opened fire simultaneously, unleashing torrential firepower at the attacking tail.
The energy discharge was incredibly dense. The power pack, matching Titan-class firepower, pulverized the father worm's tail into mincemeat and vaporized its lower body within fractions of a second.
Ferrus advanced further, reversing his grip on Forgebreaker and striking upward from below, severing the father worm's midsection and sending its upper body crashing down.
Everything transpired in seconds. Both mother and father worm lasted mere moments against the Primarchs before suffering catastrophic defeat.
"I don't like looking up at xenos," Ferrus said, pressing Forgebreaker against the father worm's skull, his eyes filled with contempt. "Xenos belong on the ground."
He gradually increased the disintegration field's power, making the xenos experience agonizing decomposition.
The father worm trembled violently, mouthparts hissing, countless eyes across its body rolling, emanating waves of pure agony.
Ferrus looked toward his brother, offering Blazkowicz a slight smile, and raised two fingers, indicating he'd defeated the father worm with only two hammer strikes.
Blazkowicz, confirming his brother's safety, nodded slightly and aimed his Dimensional Blade at the mother worm beneath his boot. "Proceed as planned."
"Understood."
Ferrus nodded, gripping the hammer shaft with both hands and raising Forgebreaker. Simultaneously with his brother, he delivered the killing blow to the xenos leaders.
Blazkowicz beheaded the mother worm with one sword stroke. Ferrus obliterated the father worm's skull. Both massive creatures perished simultaneously.
This was tactical doctrine thoroughly considered before battle, preventing any unforeseen circumstances.
The universe held vast mysteries. For paired xenos like these, simultaneous elimination was optimal, preventing their powers from merging into something more terrifying.
With the Ganas Worm leaders fallen, the worm guard crumbled quickly and were annihilated.
Ferrus strode toward his brother, clasping Blazkowicz's arm. The Primarch surveyed their surroundings and released a thunderous, resonant roar: "VICTORY!"
"VICTORY!" The Morlocks stood in perfect ranks, raising arms and shouting triumph's name.
The Custodians and Doom Slayers didn't shout but instead beat their weapons against the ground in rhythmic celebration.
"That was truly an exhilarating assault," Ferrus said, slinging Forgebreaker over his shoulder, his necrodermis hands gesturing at the two massive worms, marveling at how swiftly the battle concluded.
Blazkowicz smiled, casually placing his shield into dimensional storage. "They were dangerous, yes, but lacked combat experience. Naturally, they couldn't withstand battle-hardened warriors, especially us."
Ferrus nodded, agreeing with his brother's assessment.
The worm leaders were indeed powerful, yet they lacked combat experience, reacting sluggishly in battles against equal-caliber opponents.
"Let's move. No battles here require our attention anymore. We can leave cleanup to the mortals."
Ferrus finished speaking and began moving, leading his Legion Warriors from the engagement zone. "The fleet battle approaches."
Blazkowicz nodded. Before departing, he glanced back at the giant worm remains, a disdainful smile crossing his features.
He said nothing, leading his troops behind Ferrus, preparing to discuss deployment for the imminent void battle.
Ground forces had breached the worm capital. Most Space Marines returned to orbit, leaving mortal forces to eliminate worm infectees and purify the entire world.
During this period, the Shaper Union fleet returning to reinforce their homeworld finally arrived at the star system's edge, only to collide with the Imperial Navy waiting in ambush.
"Brother, let the enemy navy be handled by the Iron Hands." Ferrus, aboard the Iron Fist, spoke to Blazkowicz via holographic communication, his words imbued with the heroic spirit of shouldering all responsibility.
"Naturally," Blazkowicz replied, nodding from his throne, expression relaxed, showing no intention of participating.
To rapidly reach the Shaper Union's other worlds, all Denurian ships had been dispatched, using high-speed engines to travel into the void and destroy xenos worlds.
Now, within the Ganas system, the remaining fleets were entirely Iron Hands vessels. Only the Royal Majesty belonged to Argent Nur.
"You may observe with pleasure. No enemy shall ever breach the Iron Hands fleet blockade."
Ferrus's expression turned grave. He made his vow and severed communication, departing to deploy his fleet for battle.
Blazkowicz, meanwhile, gazed through the all-around bridge at the world below. He too needed to take action.
The worm progenitors might be lurking in the shadows.