The Psychneuein swarm sensed the delicious human souls and brains.
A lot of them.
Just not far away, in the pyramid before their eyes.
Even if they were not psykers, as long as they were not untouchable humans, they all possessed souls that were connected to the Warp, residing in their brains.
And this soul was precisely the delicious meal that these Psychneuein craved.
Seemingly sensing the large number of brains and souls ahead, the flight speed of the Psychneuein swarm suddenly increased.
In almost an instant, they had covered the outer shell of the pyramid, which was made of pure white marble.
Kasjia wanted to give chase, but unfortunately, he could only rely on his own two feet to walk. His speed could simply not catch up with these flying units.
It's time to put jump packs on the agenda!
The anxious Kasjia thought to himself, and drove the ceramite boots of his power armor to run between the buildings of Tizca.
And what made Kasjia feel even worse was that there did not seem to be many Thousand Sons Astartes who could drive out the Psychneuein with him.
"Ahriman! How many men do we have left?"
"...But, Kasjia. But I never told you my name. How did you know—"
How did I know? Is there even a need to ask!
You're the dumbest-looking one in the entire Thousand Sons!
"That's not the point! Quick, tell me the numbers!"
"About... about two hundred Librarians. But soon, when the Primarch and the others have closed the Warp rift, they will immediately come back to support!"
The number of Thousand Sons who could come with him, Kasjia, to stop the Psychneuein was visibly small.
Although the proportion of Astartes with psionic power in the Thousand Sons was high, most of the Astartes in the legion were still non-psykers.
Otherwise, where would the Rubric Marines of the Thousand Sons come from?
And the Psychneuein, this strange creature that could briefly travel through the Warp, in Magnus's experience of fighting it, had to be dealt with by psykers for better results.
"It's taking him this long to close a portal rift?!"
"It can't be helped, friend! A swarm of this level will definitely have a queen bee!"
"Once a queen bee directs the actions of the swarm, even a Primarch will be entangled by them, let alone having to be distracted to close the Warp rift!"
The queen bee.
An extremely rare existence among the Psychneuein swarms.
It could command, strengthen, and coordinate the swarm, causing the threat to humans to increase exponentially.
Only extremely large Psychneuein swarms would give birth to a queen bee.
It seemed that the black, oppressive mass of Psychneuein before Kasjia was just their vanguard.
And the real main force was at this moment entangled with Magnus, making it impossible for him to be distracted to help everyone.
"Damn it!"
Perhaps because the actions of Kasjia and the others were too obvious, or because of the attraction of psykers to the Psychneuein...
...a part of the Psychneuein swarm broke away from the large pyramid of Tizca and flew towards Kasjia and his team.
"Just in time!"
But looking at it up close, the oppressive feeling brought by the huge size of this Psychneuein was really not small.
The adult's glittering, psionic stinger, which could pierce through any armor protection, was constantly brandishing itself in front of Kasjia.
It was a hair-raising sight.
But fortunately, Kasjia still had a universal solution for dealing with Warp creatures.
Fire!
The golden-red flame, upon encountering the Psychneuein, instantly burned it to ashes.
"It's getting better and better."
Seeing that the effect was good, Kasjia said to himself with a smile.
Ever since he had evolved in Gardiner last time, his control over this Warp flame was now a level deeper than before.
Even though he couldn't be proficient in all aspects like prognostication, biomancy, pyromancy, and telekinesis like a psionic master like Ahriman...
...but just with this one psionic flame to deal with Warp creatures, it was more than enough.
With the spreading of the golden-red flame in Kasjia's hand, and the assistance of the psionic lightning of the Thousand Sons behind him, the Psychneuein that dared to approach them by half a step were only left with pure ashes.
Soon, this small portion of the Psychneuein was quickly extinguished by everyone.
"It's far from enough."
Kasjia was still worried.
The speed at which they were extinguishing the Psychneuein was far from keeping up with the other's numbers.
Under their terrifyingly powerful poison stingers, the pyramid where the refugee crowd was gathered had already been riddled with holes by the black swarm.
"Quick! Quick!"
"Stop them!"
Ahriman, who was experienced in dealing with these Psychneuein swarms, shouted loudly, "They are passing through the veil of the Warp to launch a surprise teleportation attack!"
Apart from normal high-speed flight, another more troublesome point of the Psychneuein was that they could pass through some obstacles through short-distance Warp travel and directly pierce the victim's brain.
Fortunately, to protect the pyramid from being blown up, a part of the material that suppressed psionics had been added to its middle layer, which greatly slowed down the speed of the Psychneuein swarm entering the interior of the pyramid.
But that did not mean that the pyramid was safe.
As more and more pitch-black holes appeared on the pure white surface of the pyramid, the closer everyone got, the more unbearable the sight became.
The Psychneuein swarm had already been able to enter the pyramid. The consequences...
...were unimaginable!
Inside the pyramid where the refugees were hiding.
[I still remember those thirty years]
[Those thirty years]
[Were my most peaceful days]
[Those thirty years]
[My ideal and his ideal were merged into one]
[Indistinguishable from each other]
Fulgrim stood in the center of the spotlight, and with her extremely charismatic tone, she slowly and carefully told all the refugees about the memories of her and Kasjia spending thirty years together on Chemos.
Very charismatic.
Even Euphrati Keeler, who had never liked to listen to this kind of thing, couldn't help but be deeply attracted by it.
"Wait—"
But it seemed that in front of such a wonderful scene, there was actually an inconsiderate audience member who tried to interrupt her thoughts.
"Don't disturb me! Tsk, what is it?"
"It seems... it seems there's a noise outside! It's the sound of insects!"
The person beside her, his voice was full of fear.
For the people of Prospero, the Psychneuein was no less than the most ferocious and merciless Grim Reaper.
"It's the Psychneuein! The Psychneuein are here! We're doomed, we're doomed!"
"Run!!!"
"What are you panicking for! The Primarch is still here, the Emperor's Children are all here! We are under their protection!"
A crew member from the 28th Expeditionary Fleet at the side found the overreaction of the people of Prospero ridiculous.
Isn't it just some insects?
Our Third Legion's Primarch and Space Marines are perfect!
No enemy can defeat us!
With his words, a few quiet cheers came from the other crew members at the side.
"No. You don't understand... the Psychneuein, they are—"
The screaming Prosperine's pupils dilated sharply with fear.
"They're here!!!"
Like a nightmare from the void, it descended.
The moment he screamed, a huge poison stinger, from somewhere, pierced into the back of his head.
"Psychneuein!!!"
Perhaps the voidship crew didn't know what these monsters were, but for the local residents of Prospero, they were all too familiar.
In the area where they were gathered, the residents instantly pushed and shoved in all directions in fear, running.
If it was not stopped, it was very likely that a stampede would also take the lives of these densely gathered residents in the pyramid.
Death either way.
"What's going on?"
"It's a psychic creature on Prospero, called the Psychneuein," the Emperor's Children who was guarding the area around the venue replied.
"Our firepower doesn't seem to have any effect on this psychic creature!"
"There are even a few scattered ones that have broken through our defensive line and have entered the venue! Lord Vespasian, the Primarch has not given any further instructions!"
"Where is the Primarch? Why hasn't the Primarch given any further instructions?"
The reason was also very simple. When she had thought that the situation was under the control of Magnus and Kasjia and that nothing could go wrong, she had left her communication device in the backstage.
Now, she was completely immersed in the stage art of performing The Sagittarius Golden Ring.
"I understand. Continue the fight."
Vespasian's expression became extremely grave.
The Primarch was not with them at this moment. The Emperor's Children had to rely on their own strength to deal with the attack of the xenos creatures.
What they should be doing now was to shoot down these damn Psychneuein, and at the same time, to appease the refugee crowd to prevent a more serious riot.
"Also! Quickly send someone over to interrupt the Primarch's performance!"
[He gave me a ring]
Fulgrim, who was in a state of immersive performance, had entered a very mystical state.
It seemed that at this moment, under the lights, she was emitting a faint golden glow.
Even though she was not affected in any way.
She held up the old golden ring on the little finger of her right hand.
Euphrati Keeler was in deep fear.
She clearly saw that the ugly and huge, terrifying psychic insect, the moment it had pierced the man's brain, had cast him aside like garbage.
And then, it had turned to look at her.
"Run!!"
The crew around her fled with all their might, leaving her alone to face this terrifying xenos creature.
Run!
Keeler, why aren't you running?!
She also wanted to run away.
But fear had made her legs go limp, as if they were not her own, and she could not move an inch.
Gulp.
She swallowed.
[He gave me a ring]
And at that very moment, Euphrati Keeler felt a golden light.
In the center of the dim world, a light appeared.
A golden light.
That light came from the center of the stage, shining on and protecting all the beautiful things in the world.
She saw it.
Even though her seat was countless distances away from the stage;
Even though she was currently sitting underground, and her vision was blocked by the pushing and shoving, fleeing crowd, she could still see it.
She could see it!
It was a golden centaur, drawing its bow like a moon, and showing her a gentle smile.
A golden arrow was fired.
She could see it.
The arrow went towards the Psychneuein beside her.
It hit!
The beast let out a painful psychic shriek, and under the rain of arrows and the faint golden ripples, it turned into nothingness.
And when the faint golden ripples passed over her, they soothed her pain.
She was no longer afraid.
Nor was she confused.
Her gaze fell on the old golden ring on the little finger of Fulgrim's right hand, in the center of the stage.
"The Psychneuein are gone!"
"By the Emperor! How did you do that!?"
The crew around her gathered at this moment.
"It was the centaur, and the golden arrows and ripples... can't you see them?"
What?
A centaur? Golden arrows and ripples?
The crowd looked at each other in silence after hearing her words.
Compared to their previous, incomparable fear, they also, for some reason, felt a peace from the bottom of their hearts.
In their eyes, the Psychneuein had just suddenly let out a shriek for some reason when it was facing Keeler, and then had quickly turned to ashes.
Where were the golden ripples and flying arrows?
[He said, I am his Sagittarius]
At the moment Fulgrim spoke again, another golden ripple passed over everyone.
"So... you all can't see it?"
Keeler struggled to get up. Her eyes, at this moment, along with her golden, beautiful hair, were dyed a bright gold.
[Bzzzzzt]
She could hear that there were more Psychneuein outside the pyramid, preparing to enter and gnaw on their souls and brains.
And the solution also naturally appeared in her mind in the next second.
"Quick! With me, follow Lady Fulgrim and chant!"
Keeler's face was pious, as if she were praying to a god, and she said respectfully.
[I still remember, he said to me then]
With her words, another, smaller golden ripple, like a resonance of the same frequency, merged into the words of Fulgrim from the center of the field.
"It's working!"
"I feel calmer after chanting it!"
"That one over there! That Psychneuein over there also died after hearing it!"
The method from Euphrati Keeler was at this moment constantly spreading and expanding among the audience.
The previously noisy, on-the-verge-of-collapse refugee crowd, suddenly, as if they had received some kind of revelation...
...more and more audience members also joined in chanting the lines of The Sagittarius Golden Ring with Fulgrim.
[Fulgrim, you are always my [Sagittarius]]
Like a holy choir.
The neat and uniform lines echoed continuously in the magnificent pyramid.
As the words fell, the Psychneuein that had dared to break into the pyramid instantly screamed and disappeared from the world.
[Wherever you may ride in the future, I will be by your side.]
What is this?
Listening to the crowd in the field chanting along with her as if they were possessed, Fulgrim was a little baffled.
Although her performance was indeed very charismatic at times, it wasn't to the point of singing along with her, right?
But the confused her, in the end, did not interrupt the enthusiasm of the audience.
The spreading golden ripples, as everyone chanted word by word, turned more Psychneuein to ashes.
[This is—our, pact]
With the fall of the last, cadenced words, the strong, faint golden ripples, and even the golden rain of arrows from the centaur's hands, broke through the physical barriers of the pyramid.
It was directly transmitted to the outside, and shot down all the Psychneuein that were still fiercely pecking at the walls.
The Psychneuein died after listening.
But Kasjia...
...he couldn't laugh.
"This is—"
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!!!"
....
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