Sanguinius gave a slight nod.
A Primarch did not need to salute a Custodian like his gene-sons did.
"Praetor Titus." His voice was calm, carrying a trace of inquiry. "Why are you here?"
"By order of the Emperor, to inspect the domains of the Imperium." Paul's answer was brief. "A massive Warp invasion has erupted on this world. As I am under orders to inspect the Imperium's domains, I naturally could not stand idly by. The Warp entity in the Aru Industrial Zone has been purified. I have now come to reinforce Lord Sanguinius and purge the filth here."
A flash of understanding crossed Sanguinius's eyes.
So the corruption in the direction of Aru was purified by this Custodes Praetor. No wonder that massive putrid psychic energy had suddenly dissipated.
Covert Inquisition Praetor?
Sanguinius rapidly searched his memory. Was there such a position in the Custodes' structure?
He wasn't sure. The Emperor had too many secrets, and the organizational structure of the Custodes was the highest secret of them all.
But now was not the time to pry.
"Thank you for your reinforcement, Praetor. The Blood Angels Legion will remember this favor."
"There is no need for such formalities, Lord Sanguinius. Let us first purify these two Warp entities!"
Paul looked at the two Tzeentch Greater Daemons, who had temporarily halted their attacks due to his appearance.
"Lord Sanguinius, handle the Mist-Weaver. The Cinder-Burner is mine."
Sanguinius didn't hesitate. "Very well."
With a flap of his wings, the Blade Encarmine flared with pale golden light once more as he dove straight for Mist-Weaver Calidus.
And Paul turned to face Cinder-Burner Ignis.
Beneath the golden faceplate, the five-pointed star deep within his pupils began to spin. This time, it was the azure point representing Pioneering that lit up.
"Grey Knights Company," Paul ordered over the regional channel. "Do not utilize Mantras of Purification. Sanguinius is, after all, a psyker of the Imperium. Provide ranged support with your specialized psychic-round bolters."
"Understood!"
One hundred Grey Knights simultaneously raised their bolters, unleashing a frantic barrage at the two Tzeentch Greater Daemons.
Paul tightened his grip on the Watcher's Axe.
Azure psychic light wrapped around the axe blade—the materialized power of the Pioneering trait.
The Compassion trait he had used during the robbery wasn't suitable to display in front of Sanguinius. But now, facing this physically-oriented Cinder-Burner... the power of Pioneering was more than enough.
Hum!
The anti-grav suspensors of the Aquilon Terminator armor engaged in overdrive.
The jump pack burst a second time.
Paul shot toward Cinder-Burner Ignis like a golden bolt of lightning.
--
City of the Holy Anthem Upper and Mid-Hive, Ground Battlefield.
Tobias watched the four massive pillars of psychic light entangling in the sky: azure-gold, pale gold, blue-purple, and crimson-gold.
He turned to look at the Praetor's army that had already finished assembling behind him.
One thousand one hundred Astartes, one hundred Brothers of Silence, thirty Dreadnoughts.
"Brothers!" Tobias raised his chainsword high. "Our Primarch Father and the Imperial Custodes Praetor are fighting a bitter battle against the Warp entities! And we—" He pointed his sword at the Corrupted swarming toward them like a tide. "—are going to wipe these bastards out entirely! For the Emperor! In the name of Sanguinius!"
The roar of the Blood Angels was like thunder.
While the Crimson Dawn army began their advance in silence.
The Brothers of Silence Company deployed first.
One hundred matte-black warriors, in groups of twenty, advanced in a fan formation. Their anti-psychic fields acted like an invisible wall; wherever it passed, the blue-purple psychic veins on the skin of the Corrupted rapidly dimmed.
Those bodies, relying on Warp energy to sustain their mutations, began to disintegrate once their psychic power was stripped away. Muscles withered, bones became brittle, and deformed organs ceased functioning.
Within ten seconds, the first batch of over three hundred Corrupted to step into the anti-psychic field collapsed to the ground like deboned, rotting meat.
Then, they were finished off by the bolter fire of the Astartes warriors following closely behind.
"This efficiency..." a sergeant beside Tobias muttered.
Previously, they had needed at least three to five bolter rounds to completely put down a single one of these Corrupted. But now, the Brothers of Silence stripped their psychic power, and the Astartes killed them with a single shot.
The kill efficiency had increased by at least five times!
"These men..." Tobias whispered. "They specialize in hunting Warp entities. And their efficiency is terrifyingly high."
Just then, the comms officer patched Amit's voice into his channel.
"Tobias! Guess what I'm looking at? Down here in the mid-hive, at least two thousand Astartes just showed up! Wearing the livery of at least fourteen different Legions! And Untouchable units! Male Untouchables! And... Vindicare Assassins from the Officio Assassinorum!"
Tobias froze.
A mixed formation from multiple Legions? Male Untouchables? Vindicare Assassins?
He looked at the golden figure engaged in a fierce battle with the Cinder-Burner in the sky. Then he looked back at the silent, highly efficient army on the ground, whose tactical system was flawlessly perfect to a sickening degree.
This suddenly appearing reinforcement force...
--
Deep in the Underhive of the City of the Holy Anthem, Tzeentch Altar, Beside the Warp Rift.
Sacken Alar stood at the edge of the altar.
The psychic wings on his back fluttered unconsciously.
But his attention right now was not on the Tzeentchian rift above the altar, which had already expanded to one hundred and eighty meters in diameter.
It was focused... on the upper hive.
Ever since the reinforcement made it here, Sacken had been feeling a strange call.
"Lord Aetaos..." Sacken couldn't help but speak up. "Do you feel it?"
Deep within the rift, Aetaos's three pairs of eyes blinked simultaneously. "Feel what?"
"A sort of... calling." Sacken pointed toward the upper hive. "Ever since that reinforcement army arrived, I've had this feeling constantly. Like something is... drawing me over there."
Aetaos fell silent for a moment.
The Lord of Change's mind was running rapid simulations.
Calling? Drawing?
For someone like Sacken, who had completely fallen into the embrace of Tzeentch and whose soul bore the mark of the Changer of Ways, the only things that could generate such an attraction...
Were either a more powerful Tzeentchian force...
Or...
Something resonating with his soul.
Aetaos remembered what Sacken had been obsessing over...
The bloodline of House Alar...
And while Aetaos was deep in thought, Sacken was already taking step after step outward, walking beyond the ruins of the altar.
"Sacken!" Aetaos's voice from deep within the rift carried a tone of anger. "Where do you think you are going?! The plan has not yet—"
"Shut up." Sacken turned his head, the purple tentacles on his left cheek writhing madly from emotional agitation. "Can't you hear it? That voice... it's calling me..."
He began to mutter to himself, "It's a feeling of intimacy, like... like family."
Aetaos's three pairs of eyes narrowed simultaneously.
The Lord of Change probed the calling deep within Sacken's soul, attempting to analyze its source, but it failed.
Watching Sacken continue to walk away, Aetaos's voice grew urgent. "Sacken, come back! It's a trap!"
But Sacken was no longer listening.
The psychic wings on his back unfurled completely, and his entire body transformed into a streak of purple light. He smashed through the dome of the ruined Great Hall and sped toward the upper hive.
"Damned psyker. I originally wanted to keep your soul, but it seems there is no need for that now. Since the variable has already been lured out, then this plan is effectively complete."
Deep within the rift, Aetaos's massive avian phantom slowly dissipated.
Its three pairs of eyes took one last look in the direction Sacken had vanished, countless complex calculations flashing within them.
Then, it let out a low screech mixed with fury.
--
Thanks for the powerstones guys, keep em coming!
Next bonus chapter at 1100 Powerstones after that every bonus chapter for every 100 Powerstones.