Chapter 245: Cawl: ? Celestine: ?

Between the shattered mountains, Krassus's Cold Wind was slowly weakening.

But this was not a good thing—the blizzard, though dangerous, had concealed their figures, shielding them from the claws of the Great Devourer Abaddon.

Leina's expression was far from good.

The whispering at her ears grew clearer, yet the psyker power she could draw upon was diminishing.

Lady Greffax was right: her use of psychic power was crude and wasteful.

Summoning such a vast blizzard to conceal the expeditionary force was an act of both precision and scale, placing immense strain on Leina's mind.

"You're starting to falter?" Lady Greffax turned to ask, walking ahead of Leina.

Leina shook her head dryly.

"I can maintain it for about half a day," Leina admitted honestly.

After that, her psychic power would be utterly drained, leaving her as vulnerable as an ordinary human.

Lady Greffax frowned slightly, clearly hesitating.

On one hand, Leina's storm created a safer path for the expeditionary force.

On the other, Leina was an exceedingly rare combat asset—the one person Lady Greffax trusted most in this group.

If that witch, that self-styled Celestine, had truly committed sacrilege, Lady Greffax would still need Leina.

Moreover, the blizzard could conceal them only for a time; Abaddon's hounds would inevitably find their trail.

"The Triple Will of Omnisiah blesses my logic system."

The Arch-Philosopher Belisarius Cawl suddenly spoke:

"After another half-terra-day, your probability of incapacitation is 79%, your probability of losing control is 13%. You are a liability to the expedition."

"My logic system calculates: conserving your psychic power is more advantageous for the coming actions."

Beneath his hood, the half of Arch-Philosopher Belisarius Cawl's face that remained gazed down at Leina, his eyes flickering with binary runes, constantly twisting and reorganizing the data before him.

"Does your logic system warn you to beware witches?" Lady Greffax countered.

Her gaze fell upon Celestine, the Living Saint toward whom the column advanced.

The so-called Living Saint radiated a glow saturated with warp-tainted energy, guiding the column forward.

Pah—witchcraft. Who knows which damned Chaos god she serves!

"The Living Saint is unquestionably the embodiment of Omnisiah's Triple Will. My logic system reminds me: she clearly knows my mission—the burden I have carried for ten thousand years."

"Celestine will guide me to fulfill the Covenant, ensure the fulfillment of Omnisiah's Will, and allow me to protect His Empire."

Arch-Philosopher Belisarius Cawl spoke calmly and steadily.

Lady Greffax's expression turned grim.

But Leina merely sighed softly.

"I will release my psychic hold on the storm," she said, looking at Arch-Philosopher Belisarius Cawl.

Arch-Philosopher Belisarius Cawl gave a slight nod, gripping his Axe of Omnisiah; the massive metallic beast-body beneath him lifted slightly, like a colossal metal insect.

No one would doubt this Arch-Philosopher was merely a scholar—he was enormous, even larger than the Tyranid Hive Tyrant Leina had once seen, nearly resembling a crude mechanical imitation of a human war machine.

The Arch-Philosopher murmured the sacred binary hymn of Omnisiah; Leina slowly released her taut mental grip.

Then, the blizzard subsided.

The roar of Hellstriders rose—vile flames ignited the blizzard; the triangular wings of these demonic engines tore through the clouds, exposing their dragon-like bodies to the expedition's view.

These blasphemous Hellstriders were forged by the hands of the Dark Mechanicum's artisans, composed of steel and brass born from the warp—both demon and machine, both organism and aircraft, piloted by humans fused into their frames.

From the sky they rained down blasphemous shells from the Plague Cannons, spewing searing, venomous flames from their maws; engines of agony and terror hissed and crackled.

The patrol knights guarding the flanks swiftly raised their plasma shields, their searing plasma light repelling the Hellstriders' barrage.

Under Belisarius Cawl's continuous chanting of binary prayers, these plasma shields operated at far greater efficiency than normal.

Likewise, the void shields mounted on the troop transports activated, enveloping the entire expedition in violet light.

The Hellstriders circling above soon realized bombardment was useless—they dove like hunting eagles toward the expedition.

Void shields could deflect kinetic energy and absorb lasers, but were powerless against direct physical penetration.

A brilliance like a blazing sun rose from the ground—Belisarius Cawl fired a searing coronal laser, instantly piercing through the body of one Hellstrider.

The surrounding knight-armor units also unleashed their arm-mounted thermal cannons, laser pulse weapons, and heavy meltaguns into the sky.

Yet some Hellstriders still broke through the dense fire net—one escort knight was knocked to the ground, its pilot burned alive as venomous flame poured from the Hellstrider's maw.

Another plunged into the ranks of the Battle Sisters' Seraphim squad, tearing apart a Battle Sister with its claws, then lunging toward the transport carrying the holy relics—its claws nearly pierced the vehicle's armor.

Then, Arch-Philosopher Belisarius Cawl surged forward at a speed that stunned all—

His Axe of Omnisiah, as if infused with the wrath of the Machine God, smashed down like a sledgehammer, shattering the Hellstrider's steel-and-brass skull, exposing the pilot within—twisted, curled, fetal-like.

The Arch-Philosopher's heavy mechanical arm seized the pilot's body and wrenched him from the cockpit.

"1000110111010111000111101011!" A stream of complex binary language poured from the Arch-Philosopher's mouth.

He crushed the pilot's body in his grip.

Inquisitor Greffax channeled her psychic power, amplifying her mind through her psychic goggles, and hurled her consciousness into the Hellstrider pilot's mind.

In an instant, she felt the pilot's agony, rage, and ravenous lust for slaughter.

Greffax snorted, then violently twisted the pilot's skull into pulp—the Hellstrider lost control.

"Use psychic attacks on the pilot—" Greffax turned to Leina.

But she saw Leina's eyes blazing with searing psychic light; Leina thrust out her hand toward a Hellstrider in the sky.

Instantly, the Hellstrider was gripped by an invisible hand—its brass wings curled inward, its body writhing in agonized cries.

Then Leina extended her other hand, seizing another Hellstrider nearby, and slammed the two together with brutal force.

Under Leina's psychic control, the two demonic engines were crushed into a single ball of flesh, brass, and steel, crashing violently from midair.

"Lady Greffax, what did you just say?"

Leina turned, confused:

"I was concentrating on channeling psychic power—I didn't hear you."

Greffax fell silent for a moment, then shook her head. "Never mind. Keep fighting the enemies of Mankind."

"Oh!" Leina nodded, half-understanding, then turned her gaze back to the sky.

More Hellstrider swarms were pouring from above.

These demonic engines could nest within void ships, swarming the Chaos vessels orbiting Krassus—no one knew how many Hellstriders they harbored.

Beyond the Hellstriders, Chaos Raptors equipped with jump packs shrieked shrilly, diving from the sky in terror.

Greffax's face darkened—many loyal Imperial warriors would die here.

Yet at that moment, the dense squadrons of Raptors above let out piercing wails, their amplified voices echoing across the heavens.

In the expedition's bewildered stares, the Chaos Raptors fell from the sky like dumplings dropped from a pot.

Against their black paint, they looked like flies sprayed with insecticide.

Greffax stared, utterly baffled—she had no idea what was happening.

But Arch-Philosopher Belisarius Cawl sensed it immediately: the machine spirits on the Raptors' jump packs echoed, then their power abruptly cut out.

At that instant, a magnificent beam of light swept across the entire sky—several Hellstriders turned to ash in the laser's path; the beam did not stop, but plunged straight into the void, piercing the atmosphere.

Moments later, a Chaos void ship became a meteor streaking through the atmosphere.

Belisarius Cawl stared, bewildered.

That laser was clearly a fortress-mounted defense weapon—massive enough to strike vessels in orbit.

But how could such a high-grade defense laser exist on this frozen planet? Even the density of its beam matched only the upper limit of Cawl's own designs.

And the laser's design style—it looked… suspiciously like something from the Emperor's Primarch Perturabo's era of the Great Crusade? Even a masterpiece from his designs.

Then came something even more unsettling:

According to Cawl's ten-thousand-year knowledge, such a laser required long cooling and energy recharge after a single shot.

Yet now, it fired again every few minutes—piercing the void, striking down Chaos void ships and killing Hellstriders in the air.

And each shot came from a different location. This was absurd!

Could these nearby frozen mountains actually be a fortress built by Primarch Perturabo??

But that made no sense! That Iron Lord had long since betrayed the Imperium!

Most importantly, Cawl could feel the machine spirits nearby rejoicing since the mysterious aid appeared.

"Is this the hope and redemption you spoke of?" Cawl hesitated, gazing at the hovering Living Saint Celestine.

Celestine's gaze was equally bewildered.

This… this isn't right.

Celestine is seeking the Emperor's guidance. pg

(End of Chapter)