Chương 13: A Clash in the Dark

I continued to stand under the protection of the field generated by Zerbe when another wave of psychic energy passed through us. It was an order of magnitude weaker than the previous one and had almost no effect on me. Zerbe, however, did not fare so well: he curled up in pain, clutching his head. Because of his mask, I couldn't tell exactly how bad it was, but it clearly wasn't good. He recovered quickly, but it was still a good indicator of the scale of our problems.

The Inquisitor likely read something on my face, prompting him to answer my unspoken question without delay.

"No, if the field had failed completely, we would already know. The Gellar Field was deactivated for a mere second, which is a short time even for daemons, so only a fraction of their forces made it through. Had it been open for even ten seconds, we would already be dead. But these waves of energy—that is the creatures attempting to break the shielding from the inside. They won't succeed, but they will certainly wear it down." Comforting news, but only slightly.

It was unpleasant to stand huddled in a corner, awaiting possible death, powerless to do anything about it. And I was not deceiving myself—I had only managed to defeat that daemon thanks to the light of the Astronomican, which was definitely not going to be visible in the middle of the Warp. Yes, it shone particularly brightly here, but the hordes of daemons surrounding the ship, to put it mildly, hindered that. And I could feel them: literal legions of creatures, waiting for the moment the shield breached.

And there was nothing I could do to stop them. At least, not yet. Looking at it objectively, I only had four tricks in my psychic arsenal. Warp sense, passive defense against telepathy and brainwashing, reflecting the light of the Astronomican through myself, and "sin sensing." A rather poor selection that was absolutely useless in this situation. Yes, if I wanted to and used my power to its fullest, it would definitely spell the end for the daemons, but most likely for me as well.

I definitely couldn't control all of my godlike power, which could lead to an even greater catastrophe. I couldn't help but notice the irony: right now, the spawn of the Empyrean were weak but cunning and skilled creatures, while I was a powerful but simple glass cannon. The need for training was clearer now than ever. I tried to figure out what to do, but I simply couldn't stop thinking about those damned daemons. I could feel them trying to influence my sanity, but all their attempts seemed to hit a brick wall.

Somehow, my mind was able to resist these creatures without any effort on my part whatsoever. Yet I still felt what seemed like a slight breeze swirling in my head, and it was highly irritating. Trying to distract myself from all this, I tried to study Zerbe and gauge how capable he was of protecting us, just in case. The Inquisitor did not look good. The waves of the Warp hadn't damaged his mind, as far as I could tell from the outside, but they had hit his body hard.

And then there were the psychophenomena, the resulting consequences of working with psychic energy. The Warp is an unpredictable force, and working with it is dangerous for any professional. The maddening energy is capable of anything, and the more chaotic it is, the more random that "anything" becomes. For example, Zerbe had created a barrier around us, investing a significant amount of his power, which caused a fraction of the energy to pass through his body.

He managed to suppress mutations and other curses, but he had to pay for it with blood. I hope my mental defense is less costly. Another wave of Warp energy rolled through the ship. This time it was much weaker, but still a fairly substantial force. Zerbe was handling it better—this time he merely twitched his hand slightly, after which the barrier began to shine even brighter. Runes unknown to me seemed to float across its surface, flaring up for seconds before vanishing....

Atreus felt the cursed Warp energy roll like a wave throughout the entire ship. It didn't even slow down the Praetorian and his reluctant ally, as both possessed an innate resistance to the Warp. The Golden Guard differed from the other Astartes Legions and Chapters in that there were no psykers or Librarians among them. They were designed by the Emperor as the ideal template of a human, the absolute pinnacle of perfection without the inclusion of psychic abilities.

And the psychic gift, regardless of what anyone said, was a mutation and a deviation from the baseline human form. No one besides the Master of Mankind could fully unlock that talent without posing a danger to those around them. Even the greatest were not without sin. The tale of Magnus was known to all of the Ten Thousand, but few knew that even Malcador, hailed as a hero by the Emperor Himself, was known to a very narrow circle of individuals as one of the greatest tyrants and murderers in human history.

He had orchestrated bloodbaths on an unimaginable scale, yet meeting Him changed everything. Not even Valdor or the Primarchs knew this truth, but Atreus was an exception. He was the blade that punished psykers, and he had to be ready to eliminate any target his master pointed to. Even if no one else would even consider it. After all, no one could have even imagined Horus's betrayal either. Atreus didn't need to converse with Khoron to know their next course of action.

They were both professionals, accustomed to working alone. They knew how not to interfere with one another, and for now, that was enough. It took them less than a minute to reach the site of the slaughter. He smashed through a door that had jammed and become covered in pink fungus without breaking stride, charging straight onto the battlefield. And the situation there was... Manageable.

The consequences of open exposure to the Warp have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands, but the chance of mission failure remains low. We only need to eliminate the creatures that broke through and check the status of the generator. Analyzing the situation took him mere moments. At the same time, he did not neglect his temporary allies, whose affairs were not going well.

Maria, who had already lost one arm up to the elbow—currently lying some distance away from her—was attacking her opponent with incredible ferocity. For some strange reason, she wasn't losing blood, which made her look more like an inhuman machine than a living being. While she fought, she did not utter a sound, focusing entirely on moving and attacking. With every swing, her blade severed another of the daemon's limbs, but new ones grew back in literally seconds.

As a result, the Sister of Battle was currently facing a massive chunk of dark-lilac flesh from which dozens of spiked tentacles erupted. The Celestian was trying to damage the monster's vitals, but the beast offered no opening to get close, as a meter-wide maw filled with a hundred fangs had split open in what had once been its chest. Aside from her, the sons of Sanguinius were still alive, though the situation for them was growing worse by the second.

Several of them had fallen to the floor as a lilac plague began to consume their armor. They were trying to resist the spread of the infection, but for now, they could only slow it down. A few Astartes corpses lay on the ground and were beginning to twitch suspiciously, but their remaining combat-capable brothers neutralized the threat with grenades. Only half of them remained alive and untainted by the curse of Chaos, but the number of enemies was also decreasing, not without special assistance.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. In the very center of the room stood a Blood Angel living up to his name. He was entirely covered in the blood of cultists, but he paid it no mind, continuing to orchestrate a slaughter. His movements blurred as he cleaved enemies into pieces. Every strike killed several mutants at once, leaving the entire floor carpeted in dead bodies.

He might have seemed like a savior to mortals, but Atreus recognized a new threat at a single glance. The Blood Angels, at first glance, were among the better defenders of the Emperor, but the Praetorian knew how unstable they were, which was why he disliked working with them. Their grace and nobility hid the nature of mad beasts, with nothing but the Black Rage before their eyes. Aaron was trying to destroy a massive daemon, over four meters tall, but it seemed to ignore his attacks.

The leader of the Blood Angels had destroyed the lyre in the creature's chest, silencing the cursed music, but this only made the beast more ferocious. With every passing second, the daemonette lost its humanoid features, becoming increasingly similar to a multi-armed, chitin-covered monstrosity.

It practically matched him in speed, but its attacks seemed significantly more dangerous: a pair of spear-like limbs had grown from its back, dripping with a black venom capable of dissolving Space Marine armor upon contact. Atreus stormed onto the battlefield like lightning. He headed straight for the largest daemon first, dealing with smaller opponents along the way. Without stopping, in just a few swings of his blade, he killed the Blood Angels lying on the floor, covered in the "gift" of the Prince of Pleasure.

He knew of this affliction, stemming from the fact that Slaanesh, more than any of the other gods, loved to copy his "relatives," finding a particular, twisted joy in doing so. And therefore, this disease did not cause agony like the spawn of Nurgle, but rather induced a ceaseless pleasure that chipped away at the will of even the most steadfast individuals. Atreus had encountered it before, and he knew how dangerous this disease was. It had to be eradicated at all costs.

The mutated cultists, whose numbers had already been severely thinned by the efforts of the maddened Blood Angel, completely ceased to be a threat when the Custodian finished off the rest. He reached the Astartes warrior in a second, who had just ripped a mutant's head off with his bare hand and was now bludgeoning two other cultists with the dead body. The Space Marine was distracted, but he practically managed to react to the old guard's attack. Practically.

Nikos passed through the crimson armor without issue, erupting from the crazed warrior's chest. The blade cleaved through the Astartes's torso and began to move upward until it split the former angel's head in two. Atreus's robe was completely covered in blood, but he merely pressed forward. The Custodian tossed the body aside and reached Aaron and his opponent in a few large strides. Atreus had to admit, the leader of the Blood Angels was quite decent.

Though significantly inferior to the Praetorian, he still displayed a respectable level of skill. Aaron dodged all the daemon's attacks, managing to inflict serious wounds on the beast in return. But it seemed to ignore them, only growing stronger. However, everything changed when the Praetorian appeared behind it, cleaving the daemon in two with a single broad stroke.

The creature fell to the ground, screaming in agony and releasing waves of psychic energy, but Aaron reacted in time and severed the daemon's head from its shoulders. After that, the two of them proceeded to chop the monster into pieces until the dead body completely ceased to move. When Atreus turned to deal with the remaining creature, he saw only Khoron standing near the daemon's corpse. He was pulling a short, plain-looking blade from the pile of flesh, surveying his surroundings.

Maria was already fine, whispering a prayer as she collected her severed arm.

"Celestian and a portion of the Blood Angels—head to Zerbe's quarters and establish a defense. Check everyone for diseases and Warp curses. If you find anything—kill them on the spot. We cannot take risks right now, so there is no room for mercy." Aaron and Maria did not argue with Atreus, who had just recently demonstrated his level of skill, and simply nodded. He was significantly more experienced than them, giving his words the most weight.

"Khoron and the rest will follow me. We need to check the Gellar generator and set up a defense around it. After that, we will gather our forces and purge the ship of all unholy creatures." Atreus did not wait for the order to be carried out; he turned and headed toward the exit into the corridor.

"Execute." Aaron issued his order, and the Blood Angels immediately split into two groups: one followed the Praetorian, while the other headed in the direction he had come from. Maria remained silent the entire time, staring dispassionately at the wielder of the golden blade, but she also carried out his order.... It took them another half hour to reach the generator.

During that time, they managed to destroy hordes of mutated serfs and kill the rare daemons that had wandered into their path, eventually leaving the ship almost completely plunged into silence. Although Atreus moved faster than anyone, he didn't make a sound. No one saw Khoron nearby, and the Blood Angels were no strangers to stealth. That was precisely why they were able to notice the barely audible sound coming from a distant cabin. Atreus didn't issue commands to the Space Marines; he went to check it alone.

He blew the door off its hinges with a lightning-fast motion, already prepared to attack. But instead of daemons or cultists, he saw a tall figure wrapped in crimson robes standing amidst dozens of mutated corpses. He held a massive power axe radiating waves of energy, while all his laser weaponry was mounted on several mechanical mechadendrites. The Tech-Priest turned to the Custodian, and a synthesized voice emanated from him.

"I am glad to have encountered you on my path, Lord Atreus. During the execution of experiment Beta-16-gamma-157, I noted the deactivation of the Gellar Field, which led to mass mutations among the ship's crew and my test subjects. I have eliminated all those subjected to the Chaos contagion."

"For what reason should I believe that you have not gone insane and defected to the Ruinous Powers?"

"For this one. I ask that you make no sudden movements; I could not kill you even purely theoretically. Besides, you should be able to feel This." Saviy's mechadendrite brought a small vial close to his face, which could be felt even from a distance. It contained a strange grey liquid in which an unknown object floated. But the most unusual thing was that this object generated an anti-psychic field around itself, much like a Pariah.

"You seek my pity by confessing to heresy? Which does not even prove the absence of Chaos influence."

"I work with the Inquisition, and Lord Caidin personally approved my experiments. Yes, the Martian leadership would certainly disapprove, but do you truly care about their opinion? This technology does not contradict the Emperor's words and poses no danger to Him. If you are so interested, I can grant you access to the laboratory logs and explain everything personally. And logically speaking, I cannot be tainted by Warp influence, as I was constantly within the radius of its field.

Just think of how many lives could be saved with this technology! I am working on the mass replication of Blanks, which could lead to positive..." Atreus looked silently at the Tech-Priest for a moment, then, in a fraction of a second, appeared beside him and cleaved him in two with a single strike. Nikos shattered the vial of grey liquid, which turned red upon meeting the blade. The Custodian delivered a few more strikes, ensuring the Tech-Priest's death, and then calmly walked out.

He turned and saw Khoron standing before him, staring intently. But the Custodian didn't stop; he simply walked out of the room, tossing back a single phrase.

"Experiments on Blanks were forbidden by the Emperor, and that verdict remains absolute to this day. I do not care how many lives it could save; I have only one purpose in life. And anyone who breaks His word shall know my wrath."