Perhaps because this battle fortress was not an original piece of Federation technology but a modified imitation, the potency of the Dark Matter Singularity Chain Reaction Device mounted upon it was significantly lower than the doomsday weapons equipped on Axion's Titan-class vessels, and its duration was considerably shorter.
More critically, due to the absence of the high-speed processing provided by the Men of Iron, the Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus had to rely on manual coordination. This resulted in the material singularities overlapping and interfering with one another, causing the gravitational anomalies to counteract their own destructive potential.
Nevertheless, these sudden micro-black holes inflicted catastrophic damage upon everything within their radius. In a heartbeat, sixty percent of the Necron fleet was torn asunder by absolute gravitational force.
Szarekh gazed upon the manifestation of the singularity strike with a sense of rare disbelief. These black holes were the absolute embodiment of physical law. Even for the Necrons, who stood at the apex of the material universe, not every ship was constructed to withstand the localized collapse of reality itself.
Crypteks immediately activated the esoteric relics aboard the ancient flagship, rapidly neutralizing the two nearest micro-black holes. Brilliant green beams of energy wreathed the Song of Oblivion. This Necron vessel, larger than a moon, loomed prominently amidst the remnants of the fleet.
Cawl commanded the Fortress of Enlightenment to bring another doomsday weapon to bear: the Oblivion Cannon.
This weapon was the ultimate evolution of the anti-matter beam, possessing the terrifying power to detonate a black hole. Its immense penetrative capability was designed to pierce through multiple planets in a single firing line; in the era of the Federation, it was the primary armament meant to eliminate rival Titan-class vessels.
A beam of dark radiance, saturated with death and erasure, lanced directly toward Szarekh's flagship.
The Crypteks aboard the Song of Oblivion activated the inertialess drive almost the instant the weapon discharged, executing a desperate maneuver while simultaneously firing the flagship's transcription beams, capable of atomizing entire worlds, at the Fortress of Enlightenment.
The dark beam shattered the Necron phase-shields and clipped the edge of the Song of Oblivion, triggering a sequence of violent explosions. Any matter touched by the anti-matter ray was annihilated, followed by a fierce secondary detonation.
The Fortress of Enlightenment was struck in turn by the Necron transcription beams. Though its colossal shields shuddered violently under the assault, the sheer scale of the station ensured the aegis held firm.
Szarekh, incensed by the near-destruction of his vessel, rose from his throne and activated a mass phase-teleport. Within seconds, the entire Necron fleet vanished as they translated out of the theater.
A Necron fleet caught off-guard could not triumph against such an over-specified vessel, especially with the persistent threat of Chaos Daemons nearby. Szarekh had to preserve his strength; Imotekh the Stormlord was already fomenting rebellion, and if the Silent King lost his entire fleet here, his cause would be beyond salvation.
Cawl wished to pursue the xenos, but the "Great Enemy" posed a more immediate headache. Though the Chaos fleet had suffered losses alongside the Necrons, the desecrated world of Wyrmwood appeared entirely unshielded and unaffected.
The weapons of the Fortress of Enlightenment would require several hours to recharge. Furthermore, the previous singularity strike seemed to have inflicted no harm upon Wyrmwood. The warping power of the Immaterium had subverted the physical laws of the material universe; a singularity strike had little purchase against a world saturated in the Warp.
Cawl watched the massive Warp-rift, which continued to vomit forth Chaos reinforcements, with a growing sense of unease. Soon, even worse news arrived.
The Fortress of Enlightenment was beginning to slip from his control.
Vashtorr watched the gargantuan battle-sphere with a delight he could scarcely conceal. It was a perfect catalyst for his ascension to godhood, a prize far more potent than those crude Arks of Omen.
…
As the Tech-Priests fought to regain control over the suddenly haywire ancient battle station, something inconceivable occurred.
Countless fragments of Chaos hulls began to drift out of the Warp-rift bordering Wyrmwood. Vashtorr, his focus entirely consumed by the Fortress of Enlightenment, failed to notice the shift.
"Beep—beep—beep~"
A sudden communication request interrupted Cawl as he struggled upon his mechanical throne. Having lost another layer of control over the station, Cawl answered in a fury.
"The support fleet has arrived. It has been quite some time, Archmagos Belisarius Cawl. The Iron Man Axion sends his regards."
The synthesized voice emanating from the wide-spectrum array caused Cawl to immediately pivot his sensors and scan the battlefield. The machine fleet made no attempt at stealth, using open-channel communications to announce their arrival to all present.
The Imperial expeditionary forces and other Mechanicus fleets, still reeling from the shock of Cawl's battle-sphere, finally snapped back to alertness.
A silver machine fleet poured relentlessly from the massive Warp-rift beside Wyrmwood. While these twenty fleets were not as numerically vast as the Imperial Crusade, the sheer displacement and scale of their individual ships made them no less imposing.
The silver fleet blotted out the stars as it emerged from the same rift that had birthed Wyrmwood. Like a rain of arrows on an ancient battlefield, thick lances of light from the machine fleet blanketed half the star system in an instant.
Daemon ships composed of iron, filth, and warp-twisted flesh, alongside the vessels of the Dark Mechanicum, renegade warbands, and Abaddon's Balefleets, were vaporized by the hundreds. Over half the Chaos presence was erased in a single volley.
The sudden reversal left even Vashtorr momentarily stunned on the surface of Wyrmwood. Gazing at the arrival of the massive machine fleet, he suddenly felt as though this were a play of destiny.
His nature as "The Arkifane" was the source of his confidence against any non-supernatural force. The same Chaos corruption used to subvert the blackstone began to billow toward the silver machine fleet.
Cawl watched this with mounting dread. If the Iron Man's fleet was subverted by Daemonic corruption, everyone present was as good as dead.
But Vashtorr had ultimately overestimated himself. He was a Daemon Demigod, often called "The Arkifane" or "The Forge-Master." But he was still only a demigod. The conceptual domain of "The Machine" was a power he was not yet capable of fully usurping.
The black, smoke-like Chaos corruption engulfed the entire machine fleet. Yet, moments later, the gleaming silver ships emerged from the darkness of the void, utterly unbothered.
Cawl watched the status of the machine fleet with relief while redoubling his efforts to seize control of the Fortress of Enlightenment. If the Iron Man's fleet truly went rogue, the fortress would be his only hope.
Faced with Vashtorr's frantic attempts to corrupt his vessels, Axion was unhurried. These Daemonic entities were indeed troublesome, but he happened to be in need of a test subject.
Ever since Guilliman had informed him of Cawl's plea and the emergence of an exceptionally powerful Chaos force in the Pariah Nexus, Axion had begun mobilizing the Void Sword.
The psychic weaponry had already been tested for physical destruction and biological lethality. Its efficacy in reaping souls had been confirmed. Now, he only needed a Chaos target of sufficient strength to test its final application.
While the support fleet had departed first from Segmentum Solar, the Void Sword, mobilized later from Segmentum Ultima, was calculating its arrival. According to Axion's projections, the Void Sword would arrive mere minutes after the support fleet.
This test would finally determine the ultimate fate of the weapons modified from those strange psychic crystals.