"Is this really necessary?"
Gabriel Angelos stared at Haarken Worldclaimer and the sea of Chaos Raptors behind him, sucking in a cold breath.
He had underestimated his own talent for provocation.
Back when the black market got raided, this guy alone had drawn in swarms of Imperial troops, and had even nearly been stomped to death by a Custodes Dreadnought.
Now, by his own lonesome, Gabriel had dragged over the bulk of the Raptors' forces.
Killing intent flooded the air.
Faced with that kind of spectacle, Gabriel turned around and ran.
No hesitation. No warrior's dignity whatsoever.
That was basic Blood Ravens professionalism. Otherwise, with their fine tradition of "borrowing" other people's treasures, they'd have been beaten to death a long time ago.
"Run, coward! Even if you crawl into the void, it won't save you! I'll drag you out and pierce your heart!"
Haarken roared, his gloomy voice stuffing every open channel.
He had never wanted to kill someone so badly. His blood-red, twisted gaze was already locked onto Gabriel.
Then he hurled the Helspear.
That hateful weapon moved as if it had eyes, stabbing toward its target at an unnatural speed.
It was Haarken's favorite move. Countless powerful warriors had died to that spear.
Once thrown, the Helspear would hunt its target on its own. There was almost nowhere to hide.
But at the instant the spear would have struck Gabriel, space rippled. His form vanished, then reappeared in a neighboring zone.
The killing blow skimmed past the Blood Ravens Chapter Master and slammed into the fortress wall ahead.
Runes on the spearhead flared with warp-tainted energy, and molten fissures spread through the masonry.
The wall dried, cracked, and collapsed. Scalding boulders rained down.
Dodging the falling stones, Gabriel's heart hammered.
"By the Savior, please don't let the relic gear fail now!"
Haarken's methods were vicious.
If Gabriel hadn't used the xenos displacement relic the Savior had granted him, that strike would have shattered his armor's field, and likely dealt a lethal wound.
If the relic malfunctioned, or anything else went wrong, then he'd be calling to the heavens with no answer, praying to the ground with no reply.
Before he could catch his breath, the Raptors' melta beams and sheets of flame washed over him.
Even with several life-saving relics, it was hard to endure.
Raptors came screaming in on jump packs, pinning and slowing him, gifting Haarken more and more openings.
In only a few minutes, Gabriel's relic field was breached. Scars and burns streaked his armor.
The situation teetered on collapse.
Ten minutes later, he had burned through most of his relics. His armor was in tatters, and half his helmet was gone.
His blond hair had been singed into a frizzy mess.
But he was still running.
That was the "gold content" of a Blood Ravens Chapter Master. Even under a Worldclaimer and an entire Raptor host, he could stay alive.
In fact, he'd even gone "salvaging" equipment and vehicles the Custodes and Grey Knights didn't want. That had been a near-death experience too.
And this still wasn't his limit.
Even so, the Raptors had too many bodies and too much mobility. Gabriel was quickly surrounded.
The Helspear carved past his head again and again, missing by hairbreadths, nearly taking his life.
"Brother Haarken, I'll admit I was a little rude just now."
Gabriel was genuinely panicking now, trying to smooth things over.
"But everyone misspeaks sometimes. Like when you used to brag you'd flatten Vigilus in eighty days."
He'd tried to start with diplomacy, but his hands moved faster than his brain and he slipped right back into his habitual mockery, which only poured fuel on the fire and brought on a frenzy of attacks.
"Die!"
Haarken's rage surged even higher.
"I'll nail you into the soil of Vigilus and let you die like a spine-broken dog!"
Fortress after fortress collapsed under the Helspear's strikes.
Lava streamed.
"Damn it. Have those idiots finished yet? If this keeps up, I'm going to end up dead on the Throne."
Gabriel shoved aside a slab of stone pinning him down, staring up at the shadow of Raptors circling overhead.
He was numb.
It was only because Vigilus had dense fortressworks and an uncountable underground network that he could keep going this long by clinging to cover.
But now he was pushed into a corner, with nowhere left to run.
Then, in the next instant, a roar from the distance drew everyone's attention.
It came from the Noctilith Crown's sector.
The Black Legion defensive line there had been breached.
A desperate call for help blared through the Raptors' vox: the Blood Ravens were closing on the Noctilith Crown!
"Liar!"
The moment Haarken received the message, a chill crawled up his spine. He realized he'd made a mistake.
Without the slightest hesitation, he spun and bellowed, turning back to reinforce the line.
The other Raptors did the same. Compared to killing the Blood Ravens Chapter Master, the Noctilith Crown's security mattered far more.
It was the Despoiler's special facility, and the key to destroying Vigilus.
When the Raptors pulled away, Gabriel finally exhaled.
The Blood Ravens brats had executed the plan.
He just didn't know what kind of results they'd managed to squeeze out.
Truthfully, only a "professional" outfit like the Blood Ravens could burrow this deep behind enemy lines.
—
On the other side, Haarken returned to the defensive perimeter.
He found the Noctilith Crown intact, and his heart settled. He told himself he'd worried too much.
After all, the Noctilith Crown was the Black Legion's most vital asset right now, wrapped in multiple layers of protection.
Even if an entire legion attacked, it would be hard to do significant damage.
But then Haarken seized a Dark Mechanicum techno-savant and nearly tore his head off.
"What did you say? What do you mean our power infrastructure was stolen?!"
Only then did Haarken understand what the real problem was.
The Noctilith Crown itself was fine, but those Blood Ravens thieves had stripped his energy lines clean.
In other words, while he'd been off chasing Gabriel, the Blood Ravens had triggered an explosion, and during the brief chaos they'd stolen the daemonsteel neuro-cables.
It was the equivalent of the Blood Ravens cutting the high-voltage lines in broad daylight, right under the Raptors' noses, and then stealing them.
They'd even hauled off a power pylon, causing the Noctilith Crown's supply to fail.
No one knew how they'd done it.
The Raptors looked at the ground, as if it had been rummaged through and turned over, and at the missing daemonsteel neuro-cables.
Everyone went a little blank.
They had considered that the enemy might sabotage the power grid, which was why they had emergency repair protocols to restore lines quickly.
With defenses this tight, even if the enemy blew something up, how much could they really destroy?
What the Raptors hadn't expected was this: those Blood Ravens bastards didn't just break the cables.
They stole them.
How were you supposed to repair that?!
In this situation, the only option was to manufacture new lines and lay them again, which would take several times longer than a normal repair.
"Restore the lines immediately."
Haarken threw the Dark Mechanicum techno-savant to the ground and roared.
"You will complete everything before Lord Abaddon arrives!"
Fortunately, compared to the Noctilith Crown being destroyed, the power lines were a small problem. At least they could still be fixed.
Haarken forced his fury down, drove the Helspear back into the earth, and thin rivulets of lava crept outward.
He turned to the others.
"No matter what, the Reaver of Worlds will conquer this planet.
That lord is already on the road to ruin and annihilation.
Everything on this world, whether Ork vermin or Blood Ravens thieves, will be destroyed beneath the Noctilith Crown's might!"
Haarken's fervor reignited the Raptors' morale.
The Black Legion war cry thundered across the sector.
"We will return! Death to the False Emperor!"
Watching from afar, Gabriel felt the same old headache. Those Raptors were a nightmare to deal with.
He knew that cutting the "high-voltage lines" and stealing pylons wouldn't truly destroy the Noctilith Crown. The Dark Mechanicum would patch it up soon enough.
And right now, the Blood Ravens didn't have many tools left to stop it.
Just as Gabriel was worrying, he suddenly saw a flash of panic and helpless confusion bloom across Haarken's face.
As if something truly bad had happened.
"Impossible. Why has Lord Abaddon's fleet gone dark? Not a single fleet is responding!"
Haarken stared at the latest report, disbelieving.
He tried to comfort himself.
"Perhaps that lord and the Black Legion fleets are within a warp-storm belt, unable to establish contact…"
The Raptors were still roaring their chants, oblivious to their lord's tension.
But as their emotions peaked, a vox recording suddenly spread across Vigilus.
Aided by some brutal machine authority, the transmission forced itself into every open channel on the planet.
"In the name of the Golden Throne and the Emperor of the Imperium, I proclaim this."
The Savior, the Emperor—his uniquely commanding voice rang through every cogitator array, every vox-caster, every comms system, and echoed through the atmosphere itself.
"The Black Legion, that cancer formed by the traitors of old, has been completely uprooted.
All related fleets have been seized and destroyed by Imperial forces. They no longer exist.
As for Abaddon himself, he has become a prisoner."
"This message will be carried to the galaxy's farthest edge, to tell every heretic still skulking in shadow: humanity's wrath has arrived.
Your only choice is to lay down your arms and surrender. Only then is there a sliver of life left.
Victory requires no explanation. The Imperium endures forever…"
The recording triggered a thousand shifts across Vigilus.
Humanity cheered.
Xenos and heretics hesitated, then trembled.
The transmission cut off.
In the Raptors' sector, only dead silence remained.
Their chanting choked in their throats.
They stared, unable to believe it.
"The Black Legion… is gone?!"
No one doubted the message's authenticity.
The Savior, the Emperor had issued an edict in the Emperor's name. To forge such a thing would only shatter his own authority.
For a moment, the Raptors couldn't process it. Some wailed in despair, others went glassy-eyed with shock.
They were still fighting, still planning to annihilate Vigilus and continue the Black Legion's grand crusade.
How could it be over, just like that?
Their gazes converged on Haarken.
No one had been more devoted to the Black Legion, more worshipful of Lord Abaddon, than him.
"No… it ends like this?"
Haarken's eyes went unfocused. He stood frozen, unable to accept it. More psychic flames erupted from him.
He seemed to lose all strength and dropped to one knee.
The Worldclaimer muttered to himself.
"Sixteen Black Crusades… thirteen 'to Terra' declarations… and you never even entered the Sol System. And it all turns to ash?
The Black Legion?
Those cowardly traitors ruined our great work!"
His grief burned off quickly, replaced by a blade-cold stare, as if he'd made up his mind.
"Now there is only Haarken Worldclaimer.
We are no longer shadows of revenge, but vultures of the hunt.
Dogs of the False Emperor, cheer as you like. Soon you will learn that without the Black Legion, you will face something even more insane!"
All the Raptors became solemn, eyes fixed on their lord, waiting for his decision.
Haarken's tears fell.
He looked at his Raptors, having decided to strike out on his own.
Even without Abaddon, the Raptors were still a brutally powerful force.
His gloomy voice carried across the channel.
"Bloodthirsty Raptors, Abaddon is dead. From this day on, my name will be the new curse.
—Haarken, the Black Legion's undertaker, the galaxy's next blood-red scar. We will…"
He turned and walked forward, intending to wrench the Helspear from the earth and swear the oath.
Then, in the next instant, he froze.
His voice jumped from solemn menace to a cracked, furious yelp.
"Where's my Helspear?!"
The ground was empty.
All that remained was a projection of the Helspear generated by a holo-device, along with the Blood Ravens' emblem.
Those damned Blood Ravens had stolen his Helspear!
Haarken felt like his veins were going to burst. His hatred spiked to its limit. The Raptors felt the same.
Blood Ravens truly deserved to die!
Not far away, a Raptor's disguise began to peel away, revealing red armor beneath as the aura changed.
It was Gabriel Angelos.
He was sprinting like mad, hauling the freshly stolen Helspear in his hands.
"By the Savior, this is a jackpot!"
Gabriel grinned to himself. The instant he'd spotted the opening, his occupational disease had flared up. He couldn't resist "liberating" Haarken's priceless treasure.
Suddenly, a thunderous bellow exploded behind him.
Haarken and the Raptors charged after him like madmen.
This time, it was to the death.
"Emperor preserve me!"
Gabriel realized just how serious the problem was and went into full-on, life-or-death sprinting.
Relentless bombardment tore through everything along his path.
Even the Heldrake packs converged.
He triggered the last relic on his person, becoming a streak of red light as he bolted toward the nearby basin battlefield where the greenskins were entrenched.
…
Not long before that.
Vigilus voidspace.
A colossal mass surged through the darkness toward the planet, every human salvo swallowed by a Chaos warding field.
It was a Blackstone Omen Ark.
It was about to reach Vigilus orbit, radiating a suffocating threat.
Hummm—
Within the ship's gloomy corridors, smeared with blood, flesh, and remnants, the light of a sorcerous teleportation circle flared.
Eden led an elite detachment of Custodes as they arrived aboard the Omen Ark, at the site of the Blackstone Oscillator.
He knew Horus and Erebus were most likely here.
Especially Erebus—that detestable wretch had been provoking him nonstop ever since acquiring the Blackstone Oscillator.
(End of Chapter)
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