The heavy bridge doors slid open, the sound of grinding iron slow and ponderous, lacking some of the previous hostility.
The Space Wolves had carved a bloody path all the way here, yet the Rangdan Overlord unhurriedly opened the threshold as if extending an invitation to an old friend. Inside the bridge, the scene was incredibly frantic; holographic displays projected the wider theater, showing the Space Wolves' fleet being rapidly depleted. Status updates rose and fell in quick succession as alien thralls reported the tactical situation to their sovereigns.
Russ gripped his weapons tightly, exuding a fiercely predatory aura as he strode inward, finding the bridge coordinates far vaster than anticipated. The iron bulkheads diffused a dull sheen, looking flawlessly pristine; the technological integration here was exceptionally well-executed. Judging purely by outward sensory impressions, the Rangdan Overlord's flagship was considerably more advanced than any human vessel.
The serrated edge of Russ's Mjalnar whirred into motion, its internal motor firing up as the chainsaw blade, fashioned from the teeth of a Fenrisian Kraken, spun at high velocity, making a blue blur ripple along the edge. This extraordinary weapon was snarling, impatient to bite into and gorge itself upon the flesh and blood of the enemy.
"Just these few?" Russ scanned the perimeter of the bridge, where two distinct cohorts of Rangdan Overlord guards stood waiting, brandishing plasma warblades. Curiously, there was no sign of the Shadow-Stalker Reapers or the frail Aeldari.
Finally, he raised his chainsword, pointing it directly at the command dais: "Let's make this quick. The wolf-pups are waiting for me to go home."
Behind the Primarch, the boarding party fanned out, preparing to engage the Overlord guards. Several hundred Varagyr Wolf Guard ignited their weapons, their eyes locking onto the Rangdan Overlords with savage intensity as warning growls rumbled in their throats. The Dreadnoughts locked their heavy armaments onto the dais; a single salvo from their high-energy weapons could instantly vaporize the xenos. The primal ferocity and lethal intent of the Space Wolves were completely bare; this brutal pack stood poised to tear its prey to shreds.
"Arrogant!"
The piercing shriek was exceptionally jarring, carrying an invisible psychic pressure that dulled the Wolves' killing intent. The hearts of the wolf-warriors shook, the sharp rebuke echoing so vividly in their ears that it caused their resilient minds to falter into a brief daze.
"Hmph!"
With a cold snort, Russ took a heavy stride forward. The sharp resonance of iron meeting the deck, coupled with the Primarch's voice, instantly dispelled the psychic pollution. Cold sweat poured down the legionaries' necks as they snapped back to reality, drenched within their power armor. Merely facing a Rangdan Overlord and enduring a simple barked insult carried enough psychic corruption to nearly shatter their composure. Sensing the immense dread, the legionaries silently commanded their power armor's life-support suites to inject neural stabilizers. They had to maintain absolute lucidity in this fight to protect their genetic father!
Following that furious bark, the other Rangdan Overlord upon the high dais abandoned his command interface, turning around to look down upon the Wolves. The two Rangdan Overlords stood side by side, exerting immense pressure on Russ.
Despair-Sky saw right through the Wolves' urgency and tension. Raising a tentacle directly at Russ, his words dripped with contempt: "I hope your bones are as hard as your mouth."
"Kneel and beg for mercy now, and I might grant you a dog collar so you can still bare your teeth and act tough."
Hearing their genetic father insulted, the legionaries' formation grew notably agitated, their throats rumbling with suppressed fury.
"Prepare for battle," the Rune Priest's voice transmitted through thought directly into the minds of his battle-brothers. Within the future he had glimpsed, the Great Wolf was about to unleash a devastating strike!
Sure enough, faced with such a humiliating insult, Russ remained as calm as a frozen lake, entirely uncharacteristic of his usual fiery temperament. His power armor clanked against the deck as the Wolf King took a few steps forward, looking up at the high dais from below.
Suddenly!
The vision of the Wolves and the Rangdan Overlord guards blurred simultaneously as that towering, frost-white silhouette vanished into thin air. Though they did not comprehend how Russ had disappeared, a single command erupted in all their minds—strike!
In the fraction of a second their thoughts took to register, Wolf King Russ had already leapt high into the air. His body arched like a drawn bow from raw, kinetic force, both hands raising sword and axe high, poised to cleave downward!
Crackle——!
A chaotic cacophony of discharging weapons erupted, detonating the suffocating atmosphere of the command bridge as the two factions locked into a frantic melee.
Howl! Howl! Howl!
The elite boarding party charged the Rangdan guards, running so hard they practically moved on all fours, their feral howls echoing endlessly.
As Russ slammed his downward strike home, he felt an immense weight in his arms; his body felt as though it had plunged into a mire, rendering his attack speed somewhat "sluggish." He wrenched his weapons from the iron deck, his sudden executing blow having been easily evaded by Despair-Sky.
"Hoh~ Hoh~ Hoh~" The Rangdan Overlord let out an exaggerated, mocking laugh, its form drifting through the air as its tentacles clapped together in excitement.
"A barbaric, mad dog. You truly believe you can best us?"
Despair-Sky barked a fierce interrogation, and an invisible force erupted instantly, morphing into a razor-sharp blade that sliced toward Russ.
A sudden alarm flared in his instincts. Russ's reptilian pupils snapped shut, and he instinctively tilted his head. A violent tugging sensation rippled through him as the seal between his helm and gorget shrieked, accompanied by a shower of sparks and the snapping of mechanical latches. The tactical helm was sent flying into the air. Golden hair spilled out wildly, his braided sideburns tumbling down to reveal a face of majestic grandeur.
Fury surged across Russ's wild face. He could tell that the Rangdan Overlord's strike had been deliberately aimed at his helm. It was pure mockery and arrogance; the Rangdan Overlord was playing with him.
"I love this expression!" Despair-Sky crooned with twisted delight, its form shuddering, its voice thoroughly warped: "Anger, followed by absolute despair."
"My title is 'Despair-Sky,' the one who casts countless species into the abyss of hopelessness!"
"I take absolute pleasure in playing with lords and emperors, watching those rulers slide from the pinnacle of authority. From anger to resentment, to submission, and finally to numb despair. The entire process is utterly enchanting."
It boasted of its accomplishments, its crimson eyes radiating a fanatical glow as it scrutinized the human Primarch's expression for any signs of breaking. Unfortunately, the only response it received was the flashing arc of sword and axe.
Russ swung his weapons with immense force, his movements unnaturally slow by his standards, barely exceeding the speed of a standard Space Marine. His face displayed unbridled wrath, yet within his mind, the freezing winds of Fenris blew, leaving him terrifyingly calm. The Rangdan's mocking jests were nothing but noisy static; he ignored them completely, utilizing a chilling logic beneath his angry facade to analyze the layout of the chamber.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his wolf-pups pressing the assault with frantic speed, the Varagyr Guard hacking with blades and axes, tearing the Rangdan xenos apart with power claws. For now, with the coordination of the Dreadnoughts and Terminators, annihilating the Rangdan guard was merely a matter of time.
The only question lingering in Russ's mind was: where were the Shadow-Stalker Reapers?
Those lethal xenos were dedicated bodyguards; under normal circumstances, they should be inseparable from the Rangdan Overlords. Yet they had failed to appear, and he did not dwell on it for long. Based on the current layout, the later they appeared, the better; by the time the Rangdan Overlord warriors were wiped out by the Pack, the reapers would be too late.
Analyzing the situation in a microsecond, his chainsword swung out in a half-moon horizontal slash, which Despair-Sky easily avoided once more.
Russ's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. The real threats to look out for right now were the two Rangdan Overlords. They were powerful entities, adept at utilizing psychic force, and believing they held all the cards, they were merely toying with him. The invisible psychic pressure was like a swamp, compressing the space around him and forcing him to become slow and sluggish.
"Alien filth!" he roared, his Kraken's Tooth axe sweeping upward with fury, only for Despair-Sky to evade it effortlessly once again.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Despair-Sky let loose three boisterous laughs, declaring triumphantly: "Leman Russ, the unique gene-primarch. Your anger and despair shall become the most prized pieces of my collection."
The taunting was exceptionally grating, coupled with waves of psychic pollution that ignited a spark of genuine fury within Russ. He had never expected the twisted xenos to be this troublesome, which only reinforced his belief that this invisible force was by no means invincible. As his blades shifted, Russ expanded his senses to their absolute limit, scouring the battlefield for any scrap of information.
"How tedious."
Another elegant sigh interrupted Russ's search.
Wander-Sky, who had abstained from the combat until now, slightly raised a tentacle. The invisible force extended outward, sweeping down toward the embattled Wolves.
"Fiend!"
Seeing the Rangdan Overlord strike at his sons, Russ barked a thunderous roar. His fury manifested almost tangibly as he hurled his Kraken's Tooth axe with all his might. The axe blade spun, shredding the air and instantly piercing through the psychic shackles at blinding speed.
Despair-Sky's smile froze. Daring not to slacken, it concentrated its psychic power into a barrier to block the flying axe. The edge of the Kraken's Tooth erupted with sparks of pure nothingness as the air imploded, the shockwave compressing the atmosphere into an exploding white flash. The axe failed to breach the barrier, clattering uselessly onto the deck.
Boisterous laughter erupted once more, mocking Russ's impotent fury.
Wander-Sky's psychic blades slashed down mercilessly. A Dreadnought chassis was sheared apart, its adamantium skeleton unable to withstand the sheer force of the strike as the machine's two legs were violently torn clean off. It stumbled heavily to the deck, yet its power reactor refused to die; the ancient wolf encased within the life-support sarcophagus vented its fury at the xenos through a synthesized electronic roar.
The smoke of spent ammunition split once more as the silhouette of the invisible blade manifested, hacking into the alloy hull. The metallic chassis was peeled back layer by layer, cabling spilling out like entrails as the sarcophagus slammed into the deck, amniotic fluid trickling from the Dreadnought's exposed center.
The Legion ancient roared, yet no sound could escape his throat. His limbs had long been severed to connect him to the control linkages; a single eye socket was fitted with an electronic lens, sharing his field of vision with the Dreadnought chassis. Only the upper half of his torso remained, his lungs exposed to the open air, trembling and twitching as they gasped outside the amniotic fluid.
"A hideous and broken persistence!" the Rangdan Overlord sneered in utter disdain.