This is the bonus chapter for reaching 1500 Powerstones.
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Sanguinius's proposal received unanimous support. Nothing could stop a Primarch, let alone three of them at the same time.
"To be precise, it's actually four," the Lion interjected, glancing at the Poké Ball hanging at Zeke's waist.
Sanguinius and Guilliman simultaneously cast their gazes upon that inconspicuous little ball.
They hadn't personally experienced everything that transpired on Wyrmwood, so the Lion used a few brief sentences to explain the cause and effect of the situation.
He detailed Angron's purification, the removal of the Butcher's Nails, and the entire sequence of events that led their once most bloodthirsty brother to now stand on their side.
After the Lion finished speaking, the war council room fell into a brief silence.
Sanguinius and Guilliman exchanged a glance. A former enemy had now become an ally. Could ten thousand years of hatred and blood truly be dissolved with just a few words?
Their attitudes toward Angron both carried a certain degree of ambiguous reservation.
"Relax, I have the Poké Ball." Zeke rolled the sphere in his hand.
Sanguinius spoke up at the right moment. "It seems yet another of our brothers has returned to us. If that's the case, we have even greater certainty of success in this operation."
"However, Lion, there is one thing I hope you will take care of."
"What is it?"
"Vashtorr's arrival this time is absolutely not just to bolster Abaddon's forces." Sanguinius's tone turned solemn.
"He is searching for something. If we mobilize our full strength and empty our rear defenses, He will inevitably take advantage of our vulnerability to slip in and steal it."
"The Tuchulcha Engine," Zeke picked up the thread of the conversation.
This familiar name instantly dragged up Lion El'Jonson's memories.
The Tuchulcha Engine was one of the three great artifacts of Caliban. This ancient relic, manufactured by xenos, had been personally acquired by the Lion himself.
It had once displayed an unsettling level of intelligence, capable of complex communication, and seemed extremely eager to offer its bizarre assistance—which included acting as a navigation engine to achieve abnormally rapid and precise warp translations.
Before the Lion's disappearance, he had stored the Tuchulcha Engine in a secret chamber within the deepest levels of the Dark Angels' fortress-monastery, the Rock.
"I understand. I will dispatch the most elite Dark Angels to guard the Rock. Vashtorr will not succeed."
"I recall that the Rock is capable of moving." Guilliman swiped his fingers across the holographic projector, bringing up a structural schematic of the Rock.
"Why not just summon it here to join the fleet in attacking the Arks of Omen? That way, if anything happens, we can support each other."
"Or—" Zeke rubbed his thumb and middle finger together. "You could just give that Tuchulcha Engine to me. My backpack is the safest place in the entire universe."
"Lion," Sanguinius spoke. "Abaddon is so desperate to find this object. If this thing falls into his hands, the impact it will have on the Imperium will be irreversible."
"Indeed. I also agree with Zeke's proposal," Guilliman's voice immediately followed.
Even though Guilliman knew better than anyone else that once something ended up in Zeke's hands, getting it back was an absolute pipe dream.
Two against one.
Under the watchful eyes of his two brothers, the Lion agreed.
Following the command he issued, a massive shadow began to slowly move above Wyrmwood.
The Rock: one of the Imperium's most powerful space defense fortifications.
It was a landmass violently torn straight from the planet Caliban and converted into a combination of a spaceborne fortress-monastery and a colossal warship.
Its outer surface was a broad, flat plain littered with deep, ragged chasms.
Zeke boarded the fortress and set up a Nether Portal inside. After passing through layer upon layer of checkpoints and traversing countless corridors guarded by Terminators, he finally arrived at the absolute deepest level of the Rock.
During this process, he pulled out the Explorer's Compass three times to confirm his direction.
The needle consistently and firmly pointed in a single direction: the location of the Tuchulcha Engine.
I finally got my hands on it. A barely perceptible smile curved the corners of Zeke's mouth.
From the very beginning, this engine was the very thing he had wanted to trade the golden dandelion to the Lion for.
The chamber was located near the core of the Rock. Rows of optical lenses were installed on the surrounding walls, looking at first glance like glowing red flower buds.
Behind these lenses, Zeke saw a massive, ancient machine placed in the center of the chamber, like a prisoner locked in a cell.
A rotting human corpse stood beside the machine, physically connected to it via a thick cable.
The Tuchulcha Engine communicated through this human puppet.
The puppet looked at Zeke, who had just arrived, a trace of intrigued expression on its face.
Zeke reached out and touched the Tuchulcha Engine first.
[Mod: WorldEdit Unlocked]
WorldEdit. Zeke remembered this was a mod capable of modifying and generating terrain on a massive scale.
Zeke gave it a quick scan. This mod had merged with his Blueprints. He could use it directly through the Blueprints to adjust things like creating a Superflat world or changing the weather.
Unfortunately, Zeke was currently deep inside the Rock, so there was no good place for him to test out this new mod.
Putting away the Blueprints, Zeke looked at the engine and asked a curious question. "Are you an AI?"
In the Warhammer 40k universe, ever since the Cybernetic Revolt of the Men of Iron, human civilization hadn't dared to touch the realm of Artificial Intelligence.
Using dry, cracked lips that looked like parchment, the thing spoke a few words: "Yes, and no."
Zeke had a bit more conversation with this ancient machine built by the Old Ones, and then finally mined the entire engine and stuffed it into his inventory.
The physical Tuchulcha Engine was one of the three materials required to craft the Dissonance Engine. In other words, it was the very "Key" that Vashtorr so desperately coveted.
Everything was in place. Now, even if Vashtorr infiltrated the Rock, he would only find that the Tuchulcha Engine he sought had vanished.
Zeke felt the floor beneath his feet begin to rumble. The Lion had followed the arrangement and mobilized the fortress-monastery.
This mobile fortress sailed right into the very center of all the gathered ships. This way, it could perfectly protect itself while simultaneously serving as the general command and control center.
"All personnel, hear my command!" Under the orders of the Primarchs, the signal broadcasted across the entire fleet.
Bells chimed, prayers rose in the enginariums, engines roared to life, and all forces surged toward the battlefield.
During this time, enemy torpedoes occasionally broke through the interception screens.
Ultimately, they were either blasted into burning shrapnel by the crossfire of point-defense cannons or blocked by the flickering Void Shields.
However, the Arks of Omen—modified by Vashtorr—still inflicted severe damage upon the Space Marine fleet using methods that surpassed ordinary human comprehension.
Zeke watched with his own eyes as a bizarre Dark Mechanicum warship extended several glowing red tentacles from its thrusters, striking the Strike Cruiser Boundless Resolve.
Crimson energy instantly surged through the hull, causing the metallic superstructure to blister and swell, before melting away like hot wax.
Inside that Space Marine warship, the electrical currents that breached the hull transformed into shrieking lightning daemons. Any victim touched by them immediately had their soul shattered into nothingness.
There were also organic bioships covered in fleshy folds and wrinkles, launching transport pods equipped with writhing tentacles and razor-toothed maws.
"Board the ships. Prepare for the boarding action." As the fleet pushed deeper, Zeke could already see Abaddon's Vengeful Spirit.
Zeke shoved a golden dandelion into the Lion's hand, whispered a few sentences into his ear, and gave a rough outline of the instructions for this highly unusual boarding operation.
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