The power of the daemon Primarch was terrifying to the extreme.
Wielding the staff in his hand, he wantonly unleashed his rampant psyker energy.
The land of the entire planet trembled violently under Magnus' terrifying authority.
The oceans churned, with thousand-meter high waves rolling towards the coastal hive cities, attempting to submerge them.
Spatial rifts appeared all over the planet, more stable than the previous ones.
Daemons once again poured into the human world.
This time, it was even more frenzied.
The Rubricae of the Thousand Sons Legion, led by their sorcerers, also attacked the Imperial forces.
The Rubricae are a very special existence, akin to magical mechanical puppets.
They were once normal warriors of the Thousand Sons, who were later transformed into Rubricae by sorcery.
The Fifteenth Legion, the Thousand Sons, was a legion composed entirely of psykers.
Their combat strength was formidable, but due to the instability of their gene-seed, these warriors suffered from a degree of mutation.
As time passed, the entire legion gradually fell into a terrifying and irreversible flesh mutation.
Magnus had once tried to stop the flesh mutation of the Thousand Sons Legion, so he discussed a deal with the Master of Change, the God of Schemes, also known as Tzeentch.
For this, Magnus paid the price of one eye in exchange for a solution.
However, the deal offered by Tzeentch only lasted until before the Horus Heresy.
Moreover, this guy had absolutely no after-sales service.
He ignored any problems that arose later.
Such advice was akin to that of a dishonest merchant.
After the Horus Heresy, the flesh mutation of the Thousand Sons Legion became even more uncontrollable.
A large number of Thousand Sons members turned into some kind of unspeakable monsters.
To help his brothers, the Great Sorcerer Ahriman, by studying the Book of Magnus, devised a super spell to stop the flesh mutation.
This spell freed a small number of Thousand Sons warriors from the flesh mutation, but it reduced the souls of most of the Thousand Sons warriors to ash, their will forever imprisoned in their armor.
Magnus was furious about this and banished Ahriman, whom he had once held in the highest regard.
Because they had no physical bodies, the Rubricae were immortal and indestructible; they could only be destroyed by completely shattering their armor.
It could be said that they were one of the most terrifying combat forces among the traitor legions.
The Imperial forces, who had been steadily winning and whose situation was excellent, were quickly reversed after the Rubricae entered the battlefield and were soon routed.
"Contract the defensive line, do not linger in combat, deserters will be executed on the spot," Leah shouted in the streets, desperately trying to maintain the collapsing Imperial army.
At this moment, a huge explosion sounded.
Countless debris flew out, and the explosion and the fragments with immense impact killed many Imperial soldiers on the spot.
An old model Leman Russ heavy tank was shattered by a Rubricae who emerged from a portal.
This scene made the already chaotic Imperial army even more disorganized.
The powerful sorcerers were also wantonly using sorcery, unleashing lightning and fierce winds upon the Imperial army, causing heavy casualties.
"All is dust."
"All is dust."
"All is dust."
The Rubricae repeated their cold words, devoid of any emotion, like the sound of cold machinery.
They raised their weapons and mechanically and numbly pulled the triggers.
The runic bullets they fired slaughtered every living person they saw.
Their muzzles were adorned with ornate runes, twisting and mutating with the flow of aetheric energy, opening and closing like the throats of unnatural creatures.
The bolter rounds fired by the Rubricae were filled with deadly sorcerous energy, released upon impact, tearing apart everything they hit.
Neither armor, nor flesh, nor soul were spared.
There were also some Rubricae wielding flamers, whose brilliant flames could easily melt even the armor of heavy tanks.
What was even more terrifying was that the melted things were not simply destroyed, but combined in a more distorted form, creating entirely new monsters.
Under immense psychological pressure and a completely unequal firepower offensive, the Imperial army suffered a complete rout.
Leah was protected by the Stormtroopers, but she was also surrounded by the Rubricae and daemons.
Watching her loyal subordinates die one after another under the enemy's siege.
A hint of despair welled up in Leah's heart.
She knew that she too would perish and return to the embrace of the Emperor.
At this critical moment, the psykers scattered across the planet felt the arrival of another terrifying psyker energy.
Just as they were terrified, wondering if a new Chaos force had joined the feast of devouring Pharos.
Ghostly whispers echoed in every corner.
All the Emperor's shrines were shaking.
Amidst the trembling prayers of the priests, figures burning with flames walked out of the void into the battlefield.
Clad in pitch-black armor, adorned with Hollow bone ornaments, and wreathed in aetheric fire, the Cursed Legion appeared at Pharos' most critical moment.
A thunderous hail of bullets swept through, crushing the terrifying forces of Chaos.
The Rubricae were reduced to dust under the bolter attacks wreathed in cursed fire.
Seeing this scene, Leah's face lit up with joy.
"All units rally around me, any act of desertion abandoning comrades will receive the harshest punishment under Imperial law."
Seeing the Cursed Legion appear, commanders at all levels were overjoyed. They did not waste the advantage gained by these silent allies.
They hastily ordered all units to regroup and coordinate with the Cursed Legion to launch a counterattack.
No one knew where the Cursed Legion came from.
They only knew that they would respond to the Imperium's calls for aid at certain times, descending onto the battlefield from the void, and winning victories for the Imperium with overwhelming force.
Many Imperial scholars believed that the members of the Cursed Legion were the souls of loyalists gathered by the Emperor.
The Emperor used his supreme power to reshape those souls, allowing them to continue fighting for humanity.
At the fortress, Magnus, seeing the Cursed Legion appear, also realized that he did not have much time and needed to act quickly.
He raised his staff, preparing to completely destroy his brother's trump card.
Without the Astronomican, the Imperial fleet would be plagued by aetheric storms in the warp, unable to concentrate their forces to fight against Chaos.
The Human Imperium would become an empire with only half its territory.
In the fortress, the Grey Knight Grand Master - Kaldor Draigo, slew a twisted daemon.
His iron boots stepped on the daemon's corrupted corpse as he charged towards other enemies.
But there were simply too many enemies.
With the arrival of Magnus, the daemon's offensive became even more frenzied.
Having just slain one daemon, seven or eight more swarmed him.
Kaldor Draigo raised his bolter and pulled the trigger repeatedly.
The powerful recoil caused his Terminator power armor-clad body to tremble slightly.
The bolter rounds, blessed by sacred prayer rituals, pierced the daemons' bodies, easily banishing them back to the warp.
The sound of Valen's scream rang out.
Kaldor Draigo looked in the direction of the sound and found that several daemons had surrounded the Grey Knights responsible for guarding Valen.
Kaldor Draigo wanted to go and support them, but he was also helpless.
He was also surrounded by daemons.
By the time he dealt with those disgusting creatures with claws.
He walked over and found Valen lying on the ground, already on the verge of death.
His stomach had been ripped open, and his intestines were visible.
Kaldor Draigo quickly made an assessment; he was going to die, no mortal could survive such a terrible injury.
Valen, on the brink of death, had eyes filled with fear and regret.
Tears flowed down his well-maintained face.
He looked at Kaldor Draigo, who was looking down at him, "I'm sorry."
"I didn't want this, I just, I just wanted to continue serving the Emperor, continue serving the Primarch."
His tone was full of regret.
Valen reached out and touched Kaldor Draigo's armor, "I truly didn't betray, truly, if I had known the spell would have this consequence, I absolutely wouldn't have touched it, I'm sorry."
"You shouldn't have touched Chaos, their promises are always false, like a vicious trap, constantly luring people deeper into it. They often promise good things at the beginning, but in the end, it always ends with eternal torment."
"Nothing can free us from suffering, and there is no such thing as eternity. Once you deal with Chaos, everything you have will be stolen by those deceivers, your youth, your vitality, your health, your soul. The only blessing Chaos can give people is the habit of enduring pain."
Kaldor Draigo looked at the regretful Valen, "You made a great mistake, even if your intentions were good. You should not forget the teachings. I don't like the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition, but some of their actions are very correct.
Do not try to use the power of Chaos, even for the most beautiful wishes, otherwise, you will surely suffer backlash."
Valen died with regret.
He had persevered for two and a half centuries, diligently keeping himself vigilant against corruption and degradation.
He restrained his desire for material enjoyment, not allowing himself to be interfered with by external things.
But in the end, he still fell to the temptation of Chaos.
Chaos not only tempts others materially, but also from the heart and the spiritual level.
Using people's desire for good things and their loyalty to the Emperor, they lure people onto a terrible path.
"Let's go." Kaldor Draigo had no time to grieve for this soul who had gone astray.
The daemons were still raging, and their mission was not over.
daemons and traitors were rampaging throughout the fortress, the tide of madness crashing against the loyalists' defenses.
Eerie whispers echoed through the fortress, and twisted forms were everywhere.
The terrified wails of mortal servants mingled with the battle cries of the primaris space marines.
A disgusting, putrid smell permeated the air.
Large numbers of mortal soldiers were killed.
Their limbs were twisted and deformed by the supernatural hellfire from beyond, their torsos turning into translucent glass in a flash.
Twisted monsters pounced from the darkness, scattering a large number of severed limbs and broken bodies, like a human Shura field.
The primaris space marines desperately maintained the defensive line, trying to drive back the twisted and abominable monsters.
They formed formations, striving to ensure they were not scattered by the daemons and traitors.
With the fluctuation of psyker energy, the warriors of the Cursed Legion also appeared in the fortress.
They were silent, using bolter rounds wreathed in cursed fire to help the Imperial loyalists purge the daemons.
The primaris space marines were able to catch their breath, quickly recovering their combat effectiveness with the powerful regeneration provided by the Heart of Guilliman.
They fought against these warp daemons in cooperation with the warriors of the Cursed Legion.
The large-caliber bolters roared continuously, harvesting the twisted flesh in swathes, gradually advancing and reclaiming the lost defensive lines.
Kaldor Draigo also rushed to various battlefields.
The Black Sword, which sealed daemons, chattered incessantly.
Still tempting Kaldor Draigo to use its power.
Unfortunately, Clovis ignored the Black Sword from beginning to end, burying himself in hunting daemons as usual.
Soon, with the assistance of the Cursed Legion warriors, Clovis and Amalrich, as well as other important figures from other chapters, were able to converge.
"The daemons are endless, we must go and solve the root cause," Clovis said, he could already see all the threads of fate heading in one direction.
That was the direction where Magnus was located.
Expelling him would solve everything.
"Where is the Saint?" Amalrich did not directly respond to Clovis, but instead inquired about the situation of Saint Celestine.
It was too strange that she had not been seen since such things happened in the fortress.
At these words, the gathered crowd exchanged glances, all indicating that they had not seen the Saint.
Thinking back carefully, it seemed they hadn't even seen the Battle Sisters.
"Logically speaking, there's absolutely no possibility of the Saint and the Battle Sisters betraying us, is there??" A captain from a chapter whispered, "Why aren't they coming out?"
If even the Saint could betray, the blow to the faith in the Emperor would be absolutely fatal.
However, since the Saint appeared in the history of the Imperium, there has never been a record of betrayal.
"Could it be that they left, or perhaps they were lured away by the enemy's scheme?" Another primaris space marine said.
The crowd exchanged ideas for a while but came to no conclusion.
No one knew where Celestine had gone??
"Forget it, don't worry about this matter. The most important thing now is to deal with Magnus," Clovis said.
Amalrich nodded, indicating his agreement, and did not ask about Celestine again.
Having determined their target, everyone advanced in unison towards Magnus' location.
Magnus had already descended upon the fortress.
He was attempting to prepare a massive spell, trying to completely erase the Pharos beacon.
Under the command of the High Marshal of the Black Templars and the Grand Master of the Grey Knights, numerous primaris space marines gathered towards this force.
Warriors in Terminator armor and massive Dreadnoughts walked in the front.
Using their heavy armor to absorb the pressure of numerous daemon attacks for their companions behind.
In the rear, numerous Primaris warriors and Cursed Legion warriors charged together, using various heavy weapons to destroy the swarming daemons and open a path forward.
And the daemons also realized what they were trying to do, launching an even more frenzied assault.
Even though the loyalists possessed unparalleled determination and unyielding faith, the situation was not optimistic.
The forces of Rubric Marines and twisted daemons emerging from the portals attacked with intense ferocity, attempting to prevent the loyalists' advance at all costs.
From time to time, warriors would be struck down, dragged into the darkness by those monstrous creatures.
Clovis constantly roared, his weapon slashing at Rubric Marines, Tzeentchian daemons, and twisted warp creatures.
High Marshal Amalrich remained cold and detached, having completely surrendered his soul to the Emperor, slaughtering cruelly like a cold killing machine.
The Librarians wielded their force staves, unleashing their psyker power to counter the renegade sorcerers.
They carved a bloody path through the insane daemons and traitors.
Large amounts of shattered debris and steaming putrid fluids were left behind them.
They were getting closer and closer to Magnus.
The surviving Librarians felt an unprecedented psyker pressure.
With each step closer to the daemon Primarch, the mental pressure they endured grew greater.
Many Librarians even cried out in pain.
Later, even the primaris space marines without psyker abilities began to feel the pressure.
The evil energy emanating from Magnus stung their minds like fine needles.
The power of the daemon Primarch was too terrifying, beyond human imagination.
As they approached Magnus, the loyalists discovered the horrifying scenes surrounding him.
These scenes were very ethereal, projected from another world.
Clearly, in order to enter the planet Pharos, the daemon Primarch had performed a vast sacrificial ritual.
An altar etched with Chaos runes, a group of sorcerers chanting prayers around him, making various gestures.
Large numbers of innocent civilians were dragged from iron cages by Magnus' followers, their throats slit to drain their blood, and their bodies piled on the altar.
The dead were countless, one could only see the blood pooling together, forming a massive flow.
Bodies were piled up like hills.
Beside the followers, blunted knives were piled up, dull from excessive killing.
"Poor fools, you are still fighting for the Corpse-Emperor, such ironic loyalty," Magnus said mockingly, his single eye gazing at the warriors who were still fighting in the daemon tide, trying to get close to him.
Numerous loyalists looked towards Magnus' location, and every warrior's eyes were filled with fury.
"You will pay the price, Red daemon," Clovis roared loudly, his eyes filled with hatred as he looked at Magnus.
On the fields of Fenris, on the fields of Prospero, because of this hateful daemon Primarch, he had lost a large number of comrades.
"Do you, an ant, also presume to stop me?" Magnus revealed a cold smile.
Clovis did not speak, but responded to the other party with a holy bolter round.
Other loyalists also launched attacks on the daemon Primarch.
However, Magnus was unconcerned by these attacks.
The bolter rounds could not reach him.
Sorcery protected the daemon Primarch, allowing him to ignore the attacks launched by numerous loyalists.
"A bunch of ants, also presuming to stop the giant wheel of fate, how ridiculous."
Magnus held his staff, looking at the loyalists with pity.
Clovis cleaved the body of the daemon in front of him with a sword and strode towards Magnus' position.
Amalrich followed closely.
The power of the daemon Primarch was irresistible.
But they would never have any thought of fear.
In their minds, there was only the unwavering will to swing their swords at the enemy.
But the power of the daemon Primarch was beyond their imagination.
Magnus merely swung his arm, using his vast psyker power to send Amalrich flying.
The High Marshal crashed into the ruins under the impact of the violent psyker blast.
Innumerable daemons swarmed over, biting at the weak points of Amalrich's armor, attempting to kill this hero of the Imperium.
Clovis' situation was just as bad.
Magnus' magical hand easily grabbed him, lifting him into the air.
In front of the giant daemon Primarch, he was as fragile as a mortal.
Clovis' skin felt a burning pain, and his throat felt as if it were filled with fire with every breath.
"What are you?? A little toy created by my foolish father, do you also presume to stop me??"
Magnus slowly tightened his grip, and the ceramite Terminator power armor groaned under the strain.
"I spit on you," Clovis said in a low voice.
"Go say that in hell, fool," Magnus suddenly exerted force, but found that Clovis, held tightly by the magical hand, had disappeared.
A strange force had taken him away.
This scene surprised everyone.
The loyalists were confused but also happy; it was always a good thing that Clovis had not been killed by Magnus.
"Well, well, Magnus, long time no see. Ten thousand years have passed, I hope Russ breaking your spine hasn't troubled you. I have some rather good physicians here who are quite skilled in treating the spine, if you need to contact me, you can reach out."
A giant projection of Guilliman appeared in the sky above the fortress, speaking towards Magnus' direction.
"Guilliman?" Magnus looked up at the giant holographic projection, his smug gaze showing surprise, followed by anger.
The Space Wolves Primarch, Russ, had shattered Magnus' spine with that over-the-shoulder knee strike, even shattering his soul as a result.
This event still troubled Magnus to this day.
Yet Guilliman dared to bring it up in public.
Magnus swore that Guilliman would pay an unimaginably terrible price for this action.
One day, he would also break Guilliman's waist in public, making him scream on the ground.
"You can't be here, you're still in the other sector, how can you be talking to me?" Magnus maintained his composure amidst his rage.
Clearly, before attacking Pharos, he had fully grasped the deployment of the Imperial forces.
He had even deliberately interfered with several worlds, keeping the Imperium busy, thereby ensuring his plan was foolproof.
Guilliman couldn't be here??
Then how did he know that he would descend?
A bad thought appeared in Magnus' mind.
"I know you must be very confused, but I want to tell you that your plan is about as good as a pile of dog shit. I suggest you go ask Angron for some advice when you have nothing to do, at least he wouldn't play such foolish schemes."
After saying this, Guilliman's projection flickered a few times and disappeared.
Magnus, who was already enraged by Guilliman bringing up the matter from ten thousand years ago, lost the little bit of composure he had managed to maintain after hearing the projection's words, becoming even more violent.
Angron was the most mindlessly brutal of the Primarchs.
His mind had been ruined by those damned nobles, and he only felt excited by slaughter and combat.
Therefore, Angron would never choose any option other than fighting.
He only ever charged in mindlessly.
And now, Guilliman was actually mocking his strategy as being worse than Angron's.
What a great humiliation.
Unforgivable.
"I'm going to kill you, Guilliman," Magnus roared, and lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the sky.
With his anger, the psyker storm surrounding him also became frenzied.
"You should first think about how you're going to survive, traitor."
The voice echoed throughout the battlefield.
With the help of other warriors, Amalrich, who had risen again, showed surprise.
This voice belonged to Celestine, who had not yet appeared.
A strange aura rippled out from the beacon as its center, immensely holy, as if the Emperor himself had arrived.
Golden light emerged from everywhere.
The enraged Magnus showed surprise, feeling a threat.