"Is that... High Gothic?"
What was going on? Their Orca dropship hadn't brought along any Gue'vesa Auxiliary units, had it?
However, before the T'au could react, he felt something moving at high speed sweep past him like a gale.
That golden light, whistling forward in a straight line, whipped up a storm in the air with terrifying velocity. It effortlessly smashed through every Tyranid organism in its path, hurtling toward the Zoanthropes ahead.
Fast!
Too fast!
Even for a veteran Fire Caste warrior with battlesuit sensors at full capacity, capturing that horrifying speed was impossible; their silhouettes were a mere blur.
If a Fire Caste warrior at such close range was this helpless, the enemy Zoanthropes stood even less of a chance. In that split second, they only had time to pool their psychic energy into a shield in a desperate attempt at self-preservation.
But the Custodes were already upon them.
Leonardo, clad in Allarus Terminator armor, said nothing. He instantly raised the Castellan Axe he had specifically brought to deal with the Tyranids.
The heavy axe fell with the force of a landslide.
Cutter!
Against such a weapon, the Zoanthropes' psychic shields offered no resistance. One Zoanthrope was cleanly cleaved in two from head to toe. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, and viscous ichor immediately sprayed into the air.
Death!
Having landed a successful blow, Leonardo did not stop. His face remained as calm as deep water as the heavy Castellan Axe swung back. He twisted his body, putting his full strength into a whirlwind of axe shadows that blanketed every target in the area.
Wherever the blade passed, it met no more resistance than if it were cutting air. A swarm of Termagants attempting to charge him were hacked into fragments, while another Zoanthrope was torn to shreds.
Sizzle—!
The sound of converging psychic energy rang out.
The last surviving Zoanthrope raised its crimson eyes. A massive amount of psychic energy began to coalesce into a bolt of lightning, about to erupt—
Erupt—
It couldn't erupt!
Before the creature could react, a multi-melta blast from a distance swallowed most of its body. Under millions of degrees of heat, the organic matter was instantly vaporized into free-floating particles.
Leonardo slowly turned his head to look at his companion.
At that moment, the companion strode forward to stand beside him.
What appeared in the Custodian's vision was a Ghostkeel battlesuit, clearly of T'au origin. However, it was obvious that the pilot of this elite stealth battlesuit was neither an ordinary human nor a Fire Caste warrior.
It was a Sister of Silence.
This martial sisterhood had a long history—an all-female order recruited entirely from Blanks. The Null Maiden field they projected could negate most forms of psychic attack. During the Great Crusade ten thousand years ago, they fought side-by-side with the Custodes, known collectively as the "Talons of the Emperor."
Of course, over these ten thousand years, due to the Custodes' isolation and the long-fading threat of Chaos, most of the Sisters of Silence—once legendary during the Great Crusade—had left Terra to survive on their own in the remote corners of the dark galaxy.
When Captain-General Trajann Valoris, attempting to assemble a mobile task force, went to find them, the reclusive Sisters—who had taken vows of silence—waved their hands and performed a rapid succession of hand signs.
They were swearing quite colorfully.
Even so, under the Emperor's will, they once again acted in concert with the Custodes.
Except—
"How does it feel? Looking at your current synchronization with this armor, it seems exceptionally high," Leonardo asked proactively, looking at the Sister of Silence approaching in the battlesuit.
The Ghostkeel, which was even bulkier than a Custodian, visibly stiffened.
The atmosphere grew awkward.
The Sister of Silence remained mute, attempting to lift her hands to communicate via sign language.
Naturally, she failed.
Clearly, because the Ghostkeel focused on long-range firepower, it was not equipped with mechanical arms capable of such sophisticated sign language gestures.
Ultimately, she gave up.
A blue-white screen manifested, projecting a holographic image via thought. A line of text appeared on the screen:
+This is indeed a very advanced mechanical suit. It allows the originally fragile to obtain significantly greater combat power.+
The Sister of Silence offered a fair assessment.
Leonardo nodded. He had seen the specific data on the Ghostkeel. As one of the T'au's most elite battlesuits, its sophistication and the terrifying firepower it carried were self-evident.
Furthermore, what Leonardo didn't know was that this vehicle was actually standard equipment for T'au hero units. In the future, a very unlucky Chapter Master of the Raven Guard would be sent to his grave by just two shots from such a suit.
Its firepower was imaginable.
Moreover, if anyone else were using this suit, they might worry about the Warp influence brought by psykers or Chaos. But the Sister of Silence's innate Null field shielded her from psychic threats, making this a match made in heaven.
Behind them, slight crackling sounds continued as ripples of psychic energy flashed in the air. One by one, more Custodes and Sisters of Silence entered the fray via Warp teleportation.
They were a forest of blades and spears, solemn in their military bearing and ready for action.
As the leading Leonardo swung his axe down, the group formed into a blade-like formation, pulling back the curtain on the true war.
And so—
A fragment of the War Within the Webway from ten thousand years ago was reenacted once more!
The Hive Mind fell silent.
Previously, it had been wondering why its opponent was so hasty in sending such a small force into its bio-ship; it seemed like a dessert delivered to its door. Though those soldiers had fierce firepower, the Hive Mind was confident it could devour them all after completing targeted evolutions.
But these new golden-armored guards were completely different.
Every swarm it sent out was easily annihilated, turned into scattered wreckage beneath melta muzzles and power blades. They were unstoppable, moving as if through uninhabited territory.
This was trouble.
In boarding actions, quantity was often the least important factor; quality determined everything. Frequently, a single Astartes in a critical core area could easily shatter the defensive lines of dozens or even hundreds of mortal cultists.
Now, the cramped terrain inside the cruiser made numerical advantages impossible to utilize. The swarms sent out in succession were merely a "piecemeal" tactic—dying one by one without achieving anything.
At this moment, on the other side...
According to the Law of Conservation of Smiles: when the Hive Mind stops smiling, the smile naturally transfers to the face of the other party.
Adam had produced a lounge chair from somewhere and was excitedly pulling a bucket of popcorn out of thin air. Using Leonardo's vision, he began to watch the show.
"Yes, just like that! Swing it harder! Hack away to your heart's content!
Fuck em UP!"