Chapter 243: Your Majesty! Primordial Power!

"It's so cold—cold as the heart after Fugan beheaded Ferus."

A strange sigh suddenly rose in the snowstorm.

A wooden door, red with pink hues, appeared out of nowhere before Gloster, captain of the Raptors of the Black Legion.

The son of Konrad Curze recoiled sharply, staring in confusion as the wooden door slowly opened.

A frail human stepped out calmly, scanning the surroundings with keen interest.

"Chaos Raptors?"

The man raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Huh?!"

Gloster's combat instincts surged—he activated his mutated throat, emitting a high-pitched bat-like screech, his eyes blazing crimson as he triggered his jump pack to lunge at the human.

The other Raptors also moved instantly, raising their bolters to aim at the human.

But something unexpected happened—

Gloster felt a grinding, wailing noise from within his jump pack, as if its power had been instantly severed.

Not just the jump pack—his power armor suddenly grew heavy, as if filled with molten lead, turning into a prison.

As a Night Lord, Gloster had never felt his movements so sluggish.

Your Majesty! Primordial Power!

Faint, reverent chants of the machine spirits echoed in Gloster's ears.

He noticed the other Raptors moving with the same sluggishness—even worse than his own.

Their power armor had betrayed them! Their weapons had betrayed them!

Gloster let out a piercing roar, trying to crush the rebellious machine spirits with his will.

But just then, the human gently shook the pocket on his abdomen.

In Gloster's stunned gaze, a hundred Space Marines clad in crimson power armor instantly spilled out from that tiny pocket.

And even a fully black Dreadnought squeezed its way out.

Since being chosen as a Night Lord from the prisons of Nostramo, Gloster had never felt so lost and bewildered.

But before he could process it, the black Dreadnought charged straight toward him.

"Night Haunter! Bat! Taste Kasso's fist!!"

The Dreadnought roared as it raised a fist half the size of Gloster's body.

Gloster desperately tried to activate his jump pack.

But it emitted a dull thud—burnt wiring stench poured out, followed by a jet of black smoke.

BOOM!! The Dreadnought's fist slammed down.

Gloster felt as if he'd returned to Nostramo, back to being the street trash who got slapped by strangers.

Only this time, the slap came from the Dreadnought's power claw.

The Chaos Raptors were an assault unit of the Black Legion, deploying via jump packs from above to hunt their enemies.

The Night Haunters excelled at this—they used loudspeakers to emit terrifying sounds to terrify foes.

It was said they, like the World Eaters' Berserkers or the Death Guard's Plague Warriors, worshipped some Chaos deity—not Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, or Tzeentch, but another entity unknown to the Imperium.

Zhou Yun had encountered a Chaos Raptors squad under Abaddon's command, composed of Night Haunters.

But they posed little threat to Zhou Yun—eighty percent of the Raptors' combat power came from their jump packs.

Unless they were mutated to the point of fusion with their jump packs, Zhou Yun could easily manipulate the machine spirits within, severing their power.

In truth, most Astartes enemies didn't even need Zhou Yun to act himself.

He only needed to cut their power armor's energy, seize control of their weapon machine spirits, then unleash a thousand Blood Angels from his pocket to beat them senseless.

Only those deeply mutated, heavily corrupted, or possessing willpower strong enough to instantly overwhelm machine spirits required his direct intervention.

The Blood Angels emerging from Zhou Yun's fourth-dimensional pocket each dragged a Chaos Raptor corpse, orderly retreating back into the pocket.

The Death Company Dreadnought "Cursed Kasso" carried four corpses alone.

Once all had returned to Zhou Yun's fourth-dimensional pocket, he began surveying his surroundings.

A frozen world, low gravity, Black Legion—this must be Ice Moon Krasus.

Zhou Yun had left Baal via the Gate of Anywhere, guided by Saint Guilliman's prophecy, using planet after planet as stepping stones, repeatedly entering and exiting the Gate, until he finally arrived at this frigid world within the Cadia System.

According to Saint Guilliman's prophecy, the Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and his expedition were also trekking across this frozen world.

According to Zhou Yun's memory, it was the Living Saint Celestine who had guided them here, seeking the hope and salvation she had foreseen.

That hope and salvation was the Eldar Webway gate on Ice Moon Krasus.

"My children are on this world."

Saint Guilliman's voice echoed suddenly in Zhou Yun's ear—he initiated a psychic communication from within the fourth-dimensional pocket:

"It's Calain. My First Captain."

Zhou Yun paused slightly, startled.

Calain, First Captain of the Blood Angels—he had met him at the Viceroy's palace in Asford, fought alongside him.

But before the Battle of Baal, Dante ordered Calain to lead half of the First Company's Terminators to reinforce Cadia.

In the original timeline, Captain Calain should have encountered Kain.

But due to Saint Guilliman's resurrection, Kain had been released by Khorne onto Baal—Calain likely reached Cadia unimpeded and joined forces with Archmagos Belisarius Cawl's expedition.

Zhou Yun pondered a moment, then pulled out his Seeker Staff from his fourth-dimensional pocket and whispered softly:

"Belisarius Cawl."

The Seeker Staff toppled over.

The blizzard still shielded the expedition; Leina's face was slightly pale.

Though she couldn't understand the whispering voices from the Warp, their constant murmur still weighed heavily on her mind.

The expedition had temporarily camped in a valley between snow-covered peaks, sheltered by rocks and fissures from the storm; Leina finally got a moment's rest, gazing at the expedition before her.

The largest contingent in the expedition was the Cadia 184th Regiment, left to Leina by General Drostron.

The entire regiment now consisted only of Asford-born warriors—the Cadia-born soldiers had chosen to hold the final defensive line of Cadia.

Fortunately, the remaining Asford-born warriors had received thorough training.

Krasus's cold had blackened their skin with frostbite, yet it had not dimmed their spirit.

Besides the Cadia 184th Regiment, the expedition had received knightly support from the Taranis family—those massive knights were the expedition's most powerful firepower.

Additionally, the expedition included Captain Calain of the Blood Angels' First Company and over forty elite Terminators, along with a squad of Battle Sisters from the Order of the Martyred Lady.

Marshal Amalrich of the Black Templars and his battle brothers had originally been part of the expedition.

But he chose to remain aboard the Iron Revenant to cover the retreat, challenging the Great Devourer Abaddon to buy time for the entire expedition.

May the Emperor guard his soul.

As she thought, Leina turned her gaze to the three figures at the center of the encampment:

The Living Saint Celestine, wings lowered, radiating light—Leina had only heard legends of her, never imagining she'd witness her in person.

The Inquisitor Gravex, bearing the Inquisitorial Seal and wearing psychic goggles, had once been captured by the Infinite Talarzin, freed by the Necrons during the Battle of Cadia, yet still carried Necron nanomachines within her flesh.

And the largest figure was Archmagos Belisarius Cawl—this legendary figure of the Great Crusade now guarded an unknown holy relic.

These three were the true core of the expedition.

The holy relic guarded by Belisarius Cawl was the expedition's sole objective.

And Saint Celestine had received an Imperial revelation, guiding the expedition to this frozen world to seek hope and salvation.

Yet Inquisitor Gravex had always doubted Celestine—she had fiercely opposed following Celestine's guidance.

But Belisarius Cawl had sensed the Necron nanomachines beneath her flesh—those machines could, to some degree, manipulate Gravex. Cawl used this to override her objections.

Leina sadly realized the expedition was far from unified.

The Taranis knights pledged loyalty to the Adeptus Mechanicus, obeying only the Archmagos.

The Battle Sisters trusted only Saint Celestine's guidance.

Leina and Captain Calain were caught in between.

Leina believed in the Living Saint Celestine's loyalty; Captain Calain seemed to view Celestine as akin to Saint Guilliman's Saint Gellino.

Yet both were also trusted by Inquisitor Gravex, making them her allies. As an Inquisitor, Gravex theoretically held command authority over Leina and Captain Calain.

This made Leina's scalp itch.

What troubled Leina most was that she knew almost nothing about the expedition's purpose.

She could not learn from Celestine what their hope and salvation was.

She could not learn from Belisarius Cawl where the holy relic was to be delivered.

She didn't even know what the holy relic was. Leina glanced toward the modified Triaros transport.

The troop carrier was even equipped with fortress-grade void shields—what kind of relic warranted such protection?

What was the "covenant" that Archmagos Belisarius Cawl had whispered?

(End of Chapter)