Terra hung above the battlefield. Ancient, immense, and veiled in dark red Warp storms that could mean only one thing; no one wanted to think about it for now.
They had almost made it.
Gerhard stood amid the twisted wreckage of a shattered transport, watching purple fire crawl up the crater walls. At its centre, Magnus the Red raised his glaive.
Each child of the Emperor, each Primarch, had gained parts of what made the Emperor who he was. And Magnus stood for his immense psyker powers and potential. He was without a doubt one of the most powerful psykers in the entire galaxy.
And psykers were a pain to fight against, no matter the setting. Seeing not only Magnus the Red, but also Kairos Fateweaver here, would be very hard to fight. Thankfully, Gerhard was here and had something to say about that. But he wasn't delusional enough to think he could 'take' them just because he dropped some points into his stats.
The Warp was fucking busted and didn't follow conventional calculations. And what's worse, there was probably a secret plot or plan or trap here that no one knew about.
Purple flames spread across the Thousand Sons, turning the next volley from the Imperial lines into ash. Rubricae climbed the slope in formation, their bolters firing through the protection of their master.
Beside Guilliman, an Ultramarine launched backwards, his breastplate blown open. Further along the line, a Skitarius collapsed into twitching metal and freezing flesh.
"Fall back!" Guilliman ordered over the roar of battle. "Use the wrecks. Maintain your fields of fire."
Gerhard caught a wounded Ultramarine before he hit the grey dust and was corrupted.
[Heal]
[Remove Curse]
Blue light flared beneath the ruined chest plate, and strange Warp energy was expelled.
"Can you move?"
The warrior's gauntlet closed around his wrist.
"Yes. Thank you, Lord Gerhard."
"Then move."
Gerhard shoved him toward the retreating line and turned.
Magnus was rising from the crater. Three Dreadknights advanced to intercept him, their wards flaring brilliantly for a single heartbeat before the Daemon Primarch moved his lips.
One folded inward like a crushed tin can; another burst apart at the waist; the third dropped to its knees, molten metal pouring from joints that had been whole a second before.
Gerhard's narrowed his eyes. The Daemon Primarch reached toward a Land Raider, lifting the heavy tank effortlessly into the air.
"No."
Gerhard thrust out his hand, psychokinetic force catching the vehicle's flank. For a fraction of a second, the enormous weight was suspended between them. He tried to push back against Magnus's power.
The Daemon Primarch glanced at him. He sneered. Then, the pressure spiked. Gerhard's boots carved deep trenches through the lunar dust as massive pressure settled on him. Magnus pushed against the Land Raider, forcing it into him instead of pulling it away.
Warning symbols flashed in a frantic crimson cascade across his visor. He severed the connection just before the back-pressure tore his arm from its socket. The Land Raider hurtled sideways, crashing into a column of Skitarii.
Magnus smiled. He lifted his hand, and space and time twisted for a fraction of a moment.
Then Guilliman arrived.
The Primarch smashed through the advancing Rubricae, his powerful armour grinding under the Hand of Dominion's thumping shots, and launched himself from the crater's edge.
The Emperor's Sword burned against the void's darkness and their situation. Magnus ignored Gerhard and turned to meet his brother. He swung his glaive with full force, and their weapons clashed, sending a psychic shockwave rippling through the vicinity.
The brothers disappeared together into the corroding hull of a downed frigate as an avalanche of twisted metal crashed down around them. They were storms in that moment, each of them attempting to kill the other and pushing themselves to their absolute limits of what their physical bodies were capable of.
And then more.
Gerhard looked back. Alaya fought beside Lencillus behind a broken transport, her armour scarred by the long fight, her blade gripped tight as she unleashed all her rage. Lencillus's replacement limbs held him steady as he returned fire and kept her relatively safe, if that was even possible.
Alaya caught his glance. Her fingers flicked a sharp gesture.
'Go! We have this.'
Gerhard nodded. He activated [Flight]. Cyan colour flickered around from his damaged armour as he launched himself into the void, rising above the wreckage to follow the Primarchs. He knew this was the vital battle thanks to [Battle Plan].
.
Guilliman clawed his way out of the collapsed frigate, his armour venting pale streams of atmosphere. He ignored the alarms ringing within his helmet. His armour was compromised; its primary air supply vented, and the cold of the void leaked in. Were it not for his god-like constitution,
and Gerhard's ridiculous technological marvel, Guilliman would likely have been dead. Even now, he could feel the main damage being slowly closed automatically and the emergency systems activating.
"Magnus! Come out! I know better than to think you died from that. Face me!"
Deep laughter reverberated around Guilliman, ignoring the fact that no air could carry sound. The sound was filled with ancient evil. As he watched, Magnus' form rose from the wreckage and the Crimson King passed through the solid iron as though it were smoke. Which it was, as he changed the atomic structure to a gas. The Daemon Primarch stood before his brother, huge and menacing.
"Very well, Roboute," Magnus laughed, and his words conjured crystalline showers that rained down on the pale ground. "Here I am, in the flesh. And... somehow... there you are."
Magnus cocked his head to one side and smirked.
"I don't remember you seeming so… insignificant."
"Ten millennia have made you no less arrogant, then?" Guilliman asked, circling his towering adversary warily.
Inside his helm, disgust twisted his aristocratic features as he regarded the Crimson King's monstrous form.
"Certainly those years have done you no other kindness. What would Fulgrim think?"
Magnus sighed.
"How you can have such grand plans and yet such short vision has always eluded me. This," the Daemon Primarch said, Warp energies stirring as they gathered around his levelled glaive, "is what true power looks like."
"I see no power here," said Guilliman, shaking his head. "I see corruption, and enslavement to monsters that are worshipped as gods."
"On that, Roboute," Magnus laughed, sparing a glance at the loyalists fighting nearby, "perhaps we can finally agree."
The cyclopean sorcerer's smile turned into a sneer when he noticed his brother glance up at the sky.
"Hoping to keep my sons and me occupied until the remnants of this palsied Imperium come to save you? I may not reach our father's throne room today, but I promise that you won't either. You will be dead long before help arrives. That alone will be worth all this trouble."
Magnus' single eye rested on Guilliman before shifting to the green-coloured figure of Gerhard, who landed beside him.
The amusement drained from the giant's face. For a moment, Gerhard felt Magnus examining him, an unpleasantly intimate sensation, like a planet-sized hand trying to pick the locks of a mind, leaning in to listen.
[Gamer's Mind]
The intrusion found nothing to grip and was pushed back. Magnus's eye narrowed.
"So... The little anomaly survived. Hehehe, even better, wouldn't you say?"
Gerhard stood beside Guilliman.
"Disappointed?"
"Disappointed? Oh, you unknowing speck of dust." Magnus's gaze crawled over his broken armour, lingering on the blue mana coating him. "This was all part of the plan."
With that, Magnus attacked.
The giant moved far faster than Guilliman could have believed, his glaive lashing out to split the Lord of Ultramar in two. Guilliman leapt backwards, pulling his midriff in as he did so, feeling that he would die if he were hit. Magnus' weapon drew sparks from his armour as it whistled past, and Guilliman landed atop the crumpled prow of a nearby frigate.
Gerhard's [Spatial Awareness] and [Danger Sense] caught the returning stroke a fraction before his eyes did.
[Spatial Barrier] + [Psionic Mana Shield]
The blade entered distorted space. Its course shifted and slowed slightly, its passage delayed just long enough for Gerhard to throw himself upward with [Flight].
The glaive still caught his trailing boot. Metal split and a warning flashed across his visor.
He accelerated above Magnus' shoulder and extended his free hand.
[Mana Bullet: Bolter]
Dozens of blue projectiles hammered the Daemon Primarch's flank. The first ranks burst against invisible wards, their detonations spreading bright ripples across the giant's outline. Gerhard kept firing, concentrating the stream upon the same patch of shielding.
Magnus turned his head, shook off the explosions, and raised wards, aligning his body.
Before Guilliman could take stock, Magnus was hurling balls of blue flame at him. Guilliman threw himself out of their path, sliding down the prow's rusted flank and dropping into a crouch at its feet. He broke into a charge, bursting from the drifting cloud of dust raised by his landing and weaving skilfully around his brother's sorcerous projectiles.
Hundreds more curved upward toward Gerhard, about to hit him from all sides. But he was far too much of a cheat for any of them to land.
[Blank]
The Warp fell silent around him, and he sniffed out any psychic energy.
Blue fire puffed out of existence at the edge of his presence. Faces formed in the collapsing flames, their mouths stretched in silent screams, then vanished altogether.
Magnus' wards guttered along the side nearest him, enraging the Primarch.
"You dare use your anomalous nature against me!!"
Gerhard drove downwards, speeding up as much as he could. His Boneblade scraped across the Crimson King's ribs, opening a shallow line through red flesh before Magnus twisted away.
As he enhanced himself, the giant's wing struck Gerhard with full force.
[Mana Reinforcement]
*BOOOOOOOMMMMM*
Gerhard's spatial barrier softened the impact, but it could not stop the enormous limb from breaking through and throwing him across the battlefield.
Gerhard smashed through debris and even large chunks of Luna ground. He arrested his movement by stabbing the Bonesword into the ground. His boots scraped the ground, and he looked up in time to see Guilliman reach his brother.
The Hand of Dominion's ammunition was spent, but it was still a phenomenally powerful power fist. Sidestepping a downward cut from Magnus' glaive, Guilliman slid inside his brother's guard and delivered a thunderous uppercut.
*BOOOOMMM*
The impact lifted Magnus from his feet and sent him tumbling upward into the inky blackness. Gerhard launched himself from the hull.
[Flight]
He caught the rising giant from behind, his reinforced gauntlet driving into the exposed flesh beneath one wing.
[Divergent Fist]
....BAAANG--!!
The physical blow hit, and Magnus' body jerked.
BOOOOMMM--!!
Then the delayed mana impact detonated through the same point, tearing the shallow wound wider and throwing the Daemon Primarch back to the ground.
Gerhard immediately broke away. Drawing on millennia of battle experience and insane endurance, Magnus swept his glaive backwards through the space Gerhard had occupied, slicing a long strip of plating from the frigate below.
Fiery blood drifted in strings from Magnus' shattered jaw, causing kaleidoscopic fungi to sprout from where it spattered on Luna's surface. Those nearest Gerhard blackened beneath his null presence and turned into dust.
Roiling energy wrapped around Magnus, stopping his motion and righting him as he roared in anger. The Daemon Primarch stared hatefully down with his single eye, and Guilliman felt fresh sorrow as he realised how truly mad and lost his sibling had become.
"Arrogance," shouted Guilliman. "It was always your undoing, brother. You thought this would be an easy fight, that the gifts of your so-called gods would render me impotent. Perhaps those you serve are not all you believed them to be?"
Magnus' rage vanished in an eye-blink, and he laughed scornfully in response to Guilliman's jibe.
"You would like to believe that, wouldn't you?" Magnus replied. "That the dutiful Roboute Guilliman was justified in his loyalty? That, now the ramifications of our choices have become clear, you can look down on me as you always did?"
His eye flicked towards Gerhard. The wound beneath his wing was already closing. Now that he was farther from Gerhard, he could use his immense power and control over the Warp to heal himself fully.
Gerhard moved towards Guilliman, keeping [Blank] active. If he could bring the Primarch within its reach--
Magnus opened his free hand. A slab of the frigate's hull tore loose beyond Gerhard's null field and hurtled towards him.
[Psychokinesis]
Gerhard deflected its edge and hauled sideways. The slab rotated, missing his body by inches.
A second came behind it, then a third, and then more.
Gerhard could snuff out the sorcery around himself, but the tonnes of metal it had already set in motion kept coming, since they were physical and not conjured. He slashed his Bonesword through the air, cutting the large pieces into smaller ones and dodging aside.
A slab struck his shield and drove him backwards. Before he could recover, another struck him, crushing him against the frigate's flank.
His shield broke.
Armour fought against buckling iron and adamantium. Guilliman was already moving, wanting to engage his brother and force him to split his focus.
With a sudden wave of his hand, Magnus jabbed downward with his glaive. Multicoloured flames exploded from its blade, engulfing Guilliman and the bedrock upon which he stood. Moon dust exploded upwards in crackling clouds. Roboute cried out as agony wracked his body.
Gerhard tore himself free.
He pushed off the wreck, pouring Mana into [Flight], but Magnus swept his glaive towards him without interrupting the torrent of fire.
Gerhard checked his advance. The weapon passed before his visor, close enough to fill it with images of cursed runes.
Crackling with raw power, Magnus had taken flight and now descended, still pouring Warp fire into his brother. Guilliman screamed again, dropping to one knee as his armour blazed with burning energy. Sparks burst from overloaded systems, and the smell of his own cooking flesh filled his nostrils.
Gerhard stopped using [Blank].
[Psyker]
[Psionic Mana Shield] x5
A brilliant blue dome formed around Guilliman.
Warp fire struck its surface. Gerhard reinforced the point of impact, drawing upon his enormous reserves as the barrier bent beneath Magnus' assault. A fraction of the incoming energy returned to him as Mana. The rest tore through the shield faster than he could repair it.
Cracks spread across the dome, so he cast another beneath it and then another.
For a moment, Guilliman's burning outline became visible through the flames.
"Move!" Gerhard shouted, but was interrupted.
Magnus' massive red hand grabbed his foot and, with immense power, threw him to the ground with full force.
Desperate and knowing that this was his chance, Guilliman drove himself backwards in a graceless leap. He flew in an arc to smash down amidst a tumbled heap of enginarium debris, with his armour still flickering in flames.
Both shields shattered behind him and the void where he stood imploded under the flames.
Magnus landed, chuckling cruelly. Located amidst the tangle of wreckage, Guilliman tried to push himself to his feet. The Primarch's body was a mass of pain, and his armour responded sluggishly; a number of its servomotors were burned out.
Gerhard stood as well, studying the two Primarchs carefully. He wanted to get close to Guilliman and heal him so they could do the most damage, but that wasn't to be.
Magnus stepped into his path. The glaive came down so fast it seemed to teleport. Gerhard sensed the danger and blocked it with his mana-coated Boneblade, using Psychokinesis to support the parry. The impact drove him to one knee far too easily. Pale dust burst from beneath his boots, and a fracture ran along the length of his weapon.
He couldn't hold it. Instead, he released the resistance on one side and twisted, letting the glaive slide past him into the ground and throw up a storm of dust.
His free hand came up beneath Magnus' wrist.
[Mana Bullet: Bolter]
A concentrated burst exploded against the giant's forearm. Magnus recoiled just far enough for Gerhard to retreat beneath the returning haft. But he wasn't fast enough to dodge the massive red fist that smashed into his Mana Shield, broke it and then into him.
"No, brother," said Magnus, looking past the flying figure of Gerhard towards Guilliman. "You stay where you are."
The Daemon Primarch gestured, and a spectral claw tore several hundred tons of machinery loose from a nearby wreck.
Gerhard turned around.
For an instant, his spatial awareness mapped the falling mass: turbines, armoured housings, severed conduits, an enormous capacitor buried amongst them, and so much metal.
[Psychokinesis]
He seized the nearest engine assembly. The object's weight and the force of Magnus' powers hit his mind like a hammer. But he pushed through.
He hauled sideways, trying to break the avalanche apart before it reached Guilliman. The metal groaned heavily. One turbine tore free and spun away across the dust.
Then Magnus closed his fingers.
The remaining machinery accelerated. Guilliman, the unit he was, had time to brace himself before the ungainly mass impacted like a comet, burying him completely beneath a crushing avalanche of metal.
Gerhard's outstretched hand remained suspended for a heartbeat. He breathed heavily as Mana drained and replenished faster than he could keep up. Magnus smiled down at him.
"Another one you could not save."
Thanks to [Gamer's Mind], Gerhard's thoughts stayed clear. It was impossible to make him lose his 'cool' or stop thinking logically. At least not when no music was playing.
"He's not dead."
"Not yet."
Magnus raised his glaive high. Cursed flames burned along the blade's edge, and space-time warped as the powerful creature prepared to bring it down on him.
Gerhard activated [Blank] again and drove straight towards him.
Sorcerous light perished along the weapon's edge as it entered his null field, but the blade itself remained a powerful weapon nonetheless, and its wielder monstrously strong.
Gerhard slipped beneath the first stroke and struck Magnus' knee.
[Divergent Fist]
The delayed impact buckled the joint. Sadly, only slightly. But it was enough to interrupt the giant's next move.
Magnus snarled and brought the haft across Gerhard's chest.
*BOOOOOMM*
The blow once again hurled him against the mound of wreckage. His HP dropped dangerously low, then replenished moments later as he used [Burning Spirit Principle] on himself.
[Iron Will]
His regeneration surged momentarily. Gerhard drew a breath, pushed himself upright, and raised another shield as Magnus appeared in his face and smashed through it with his massive fist.
The Mana Shield broke again; all five of them, and he, suffered damage. But he was ready; his mind worked overtime, and he was no longer a weakling.
With a wave of Magnus' hand, he seemed to split the air in half, and it looked as if he were about to split Gerhard as well, but the trajectory was forcefully altered, and it missed his body.
[A new skill has been created through a special action.]
|Vector Control Lv. 1
| Allows manipulation of the direction and magnitude of the applied force.
Effects:
| Change the trajectory of objects mid-motion
| Redirect incoming attacks (limited)
| +25% control precision
---
Gerhard was learning as the fight went on.
.
Guilliman was entombed.
Alarms sounded in his ears, red warning signs flashing in his peripheral vision. The pain of lacerated organs, burnt skin and shattered bones dragged at him, and for a moment the Lord of Ultramar was tempted simply to give in.
Through the mangled vox, Gerhard's voice pulled him from his thoughts.
"Done sulking? I've got his attention. Get up."
An impact shuddered through the metal around him.
*BOOOOM*
Then another.
*BOOOOM*
Guilliman thought again of his long-suffering sons, fighting so hard for the ideals of an Imperium they had never even known. He would not betray them. He would not let one of his fallen and corrupted brothers keep him from his responsibilities... not again.
Outside, Gerhard took a heavy beating from Magnus' relentless blows.
He used [Flight] to change direction between strikes, keeping himself clear of the giant's feet and switching from close to long-range fighting. His spatial barrier bent the glaive's path by precious inches, and as time passed, he understood vectors better. When he had room, he sent volleys of mana bullets into Magnus' face, forcing the Daemon Primarch to shield his single eye or attack at the same time.
[Vector Control has levelled up]
Through [Parallel Processing], Gerhard worked at the buried machinery. A brace pulled loose and a conduit tore away. He could not lift the mountain, but he could remove the pieces wedged against the Primarch beneath it.
Magnus caught him in the act and lunged forward.
[Danger Sense] + [Spacial Sense]
Gerhard twisted aside as narrowly as he could, but the glaive opened his left pauldron and cut deep into his shoulder. Blood would have erupted from the wound if Gerhard were a normal human. But [Gamer's Body] didn't allow that to happen.
That didn't stop him from taking another fist to the face, which was followed by another hit from the glaive.
Then the wreckage behind Magnus began to move.
Muscles tensing, strength surging, Guilliman ripped his way up through the tumbled mountain of wreckage. He roared as he hurled aside a capacitor unit the size of a Land Raider, and stepped, bloodied but unbroken, into the light of Luna.
For a moment, Guilliman looked across at Magnus' towering form, then moved to Gerhard, who was picking himself up from the ground.
Gerhard flexed his arm. Blue light spread beneath the split armour as his body healed. Such insane MP regeneration was the ultimate cheat, and he was more than happy to have invested his points that way.
"Your brother talks too much."
Guilliman raised the Emperor's Sword.
"He always did."
Magnus arched an eyebrow at the sight, and gathered massive amounts of psychic energy to hurl another spell at them.
Gerhard pushed himself towards Guilliman, the power of his null field reaching ahead of him, just in time as the void ignited.
___________________
More incoming.