Aboard the Son of Vostroya, Pell's comm-bead on the bridge intermittently buzzed with beeping sounds.
To counter potential powerful enemies wielding Enuncia, as mentioned by the Black Emperor, Pell didn't enter the battlefield. He remained on the bridge, ready to teleport to the battlefield to eliminate threats.
Progress was smoother than he anticipated. Though Shadows of Order continuously fell, strikes against Yellow Clad Academy members advanced swiftly.
These psykers were indeed powerful, even by Librarian standards. But they were too scattered, each leading their own developed forces independently.
Coordinated strikes by several squads could swiftly take them down.
At that moment, a sharp beep sounded in Pell's comm-bead.
He answered. The Command Squad Captain's voice came through.
"Lord, we've locked onto a powerful target. On the Mitu device, he shines brighter than others."
"But we chased the signal twice, attacked his location, yet saw no one."
The Captain continued, Pellplexed:
"He disappeared before our eyes. Both times, over ten squad members had activated Warp Vision.
"But both times, no discovery, not even psychic fluctuations. He didn't use teleportation or sensory interference via telepathy."
'Could he be using Enuncia?' Pell thought of the ability mentioned by the Black Emperor. He asked: "Did you hear anything?"
The comm channel fell briefly silent. Moments later, the voice returned.
"Lord, I heard nothing. But there's a Court Members in the squad."
"He received the Father's gift. He is a 'Secrets Suppliant.' He seemed to hear some sounds."
"According to him, the sound resembled no known language, completely different from Aventinium's local tongue. More like supernatural power than language."
"Continue pursuit. Before catching the signal again, send me a teleport homer." Pell ordered.
"As you command, Lord." The Captain closed the comm. "Lock target location. Continue advance."
The Vostroyan-pattern Rhino command vehicle's engine roared. The psychic detection device mounted was the sole high-power unit deployed on Aventinium.
Techmarines had only developed generator power replacement a week prior, replacing flesh fuel.
The command vehicle sped ahead. Five Vostroyan-pattern Rhinos flanked and followed.
The armored convoy pursued the psychic signal. Ahead loomed the massive gate of the hive city.
Figures in brass armor from both sides fiercely exchanged fire in the gate area.
Both sides used identical weaponry, pouring bullets upon each other.
The Captain stared at the visual screen briefly, then ordered.
"Auxilia First Regiment, follow up. Disarm the Noble Council."
The Eleventh Chapter, from earlier contact, found the local Noble Council didn't strongly resist the Shadows of Order arrival.
After hearing the standard audio broadcast, they were willing to engage with the Legion.
The Chapter's current strike targets were Yellow Clad Sect members.
"Lukpov, eliminate the Yellow Clad Academy psyker."
Many Eleventh Chapter squads named themselves after places from their homeworld, Vostroya.
This was proof of their pride in guarding their homeworld.
"Right, Captain." The Vostroyan-pattern Rhino on the command vehicle's left detached from the convoy. Its cannon aimed at the psyker.
"Accelerate. Breakthrough!" The Captain ordered. Though unsure why the target left the hive city, pursuit must continue.
The Vostroyan-pattern Rhino command vehicle's engine roared. The machine-spirit roared powering into the steel war machine.
BOOM!
A loud crash. The ramming prow thundered, hurling the steel gate aside.
Beyond Hive Primus lay a vast wasteland.
Carbon slag and scorched materials everywhere. Shattered, encrusted wreckage mixed together.
The sky arched like a dome, filled with turbulent debris clouds.
The Captain checked the screen where the vehicle's psychic detection device operator marked the location. He looked toward the corresponding area on the visual screen.
Numerous ruined structures filled his view: collapsed towers, shattered spires, damaged massive fortresses.
As the Rhino advanced, crushed black earth splashed countless glass shards.
The rapidly charging steel vehicle swiftly closed the distance to the ruins and the target.
"Captain, five hundred meters."
The operator's tone was urgent. This was their third time catching up to the target.
The Captain suddenly understood. He shouted.
"Target intends to lose us using the ruins."
"Transmit teleport homer to flagship."
A figure in a yellow robe sprinted rapidly.
Boltgun fire shot toward his location, then passed through the intangible form.
A cold glint flashed in the yellow-robed figure's eyes. His muttered words were already somewhat slurred.
Though all attacks were nullified by Enuncia, he felt near his limit.
As a Cognitae member, he could maintain far longer than student, but there was a limit.
His throat was nearly half damaged. Lungs and elsewhere felt like burning inferno.
He knew even reaching his established base for timely repairs, his body couldn't fully recover.
The yellow-robed figure's potent psychic sense felt his psychically linked student dying one after another.
Among them, one he considered intellectually gifted enough to be a genius.
'Damn! How can they find my students?'
'You ruined my plan, killed my apprentices, inflicted unbearable damage upon me.'
The yellow-robed figure looked ahead. He already saw his tower.
That merely four-point-one-meter-tall tower was inconspicuous even among the wreckage.
But only he knew it was a tower crafted with Enuncia.
Activating it with Enuncia, the entire nearby hive city would become ruins, like the emerging city millennia ago during his experiment.
'Damn! This wasn't my plan!'
Thinking this, the yellow-robed figure's rage intensified.
He intended to seize control of Aventinium through this coup, accelerating the construction of a Chaos-channeling tower.
Though Enuncia was core to building the Chaos-chanelling tower, it still required materials.
Controlling Aventinium would expedite his plan.
After using Enuncia to activate the tower, he'd gain immense power, lurking in shadows, awaiting the Chaos Gods' minions to complete screening for him.
He only needed to appear at the appropriate time, recruit the final eugenically selected student, becoming a Cognitae mentor, establishing his Yellow Clad Academy as a full-fledge branch.
The Cognitae, since ancient Terra, had numerous internal branches. To grasp power, he needed his own.
Now, the black-armored warriors' appearance shattered his grand vision woven over millennia, screening billions, establishing the Yellow Clad Academy.
'You ruined my optimization plan. You shall accompany me in death!'
As the yellow-robed figure pondered, he muuttered maintaining the Enuncia enveloping his form.
Enuncia, obeying the will of an exceptional Cognitae graduate, altered reality's structure.
As if the yellow-robed figure didn't exist, dense boltgun fire passed through his form without hindrance.
The yellow-robed figure was one hundred meters from the ruins, two hundred fifty meters from his tower. Only two hundred more meters, he could invoke Enuncia.
'Damn it!'
The yellow-robed figure cursed inwardly again, making the burning spreading throughout his body somewhat bearable.
At that moment, dazzling light flared.
Pell, clad in Saturnine Terminator armor, appeared via teleport homer on Aventinium's surface.
.....
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