Mechanicum:The Horus Heresy Book 9 Part 7/7

Name: Mechanicum:The Horus Heresy Book 9 Part 7/7
Uploaded: 2024-08-24T19:56:46+00:00
Duration: 1 h 21 min 54 s
Channel: AUDIOLIBRARY
Description: Mechanicum:The Horus Heresy Book 9 Part 7/7

AUDIOLIBRARY

last month

Transcript

Display full video transcript

00:00:00pulverized dust as entire worker districts vanished, flattened in an instant by the monstrous

00:00:05weight of debris. A massive cloud of dust and ash billowed outwards from the collapsed

00:00:11tower like the blast wave of an atomic explosion. The ground shook with the force of the impacts,

00:00:16and Sigismund heard secondary detonations as enemy fire began to pound the outlying

00:00:21segments of the forge to destruction. A thunderous, booming hornblast echoed across the landing

00:00:27fields, and Sigismund looked up in time to see a host of towering silhouettes emerge

00:00:32from the red-lit smoke of the tower's destruction. Six warlord titans, their hulls blackened

00:00:38and scarified, roared in triumph, their weapon arms blazing with apocalyptic fire that reduced

00:00:44towering structures to rubble and entire swathes of infrastructure to little more than vaporized

00:00:49metal.

00:00:51Get to your ship, Kain!" ordered Sigismund.

00:00:53Now!

00:00:54My forge! cried Kain. We can't just abandon it.

00:00:58Sigismund grabbed Kain's arm and said,

00:01:00Your forge is already lost. Now get to your damned ship! Your skills will be needed in

00:01:05the days ahead.

00:01:06What do you mean?

00:01:08I mean that with Kelbor Hall's treachery, you are now the Fabricator General.

00:01:13But what about Zeth?

00:01:15Maximal! shouted Kain over the deafening crescendo of the advancing titans and the destruction

00:01:19of his forge.

00:01:20What of them?

00:01:21We can do nothing for them! shouted Sigismund. They must stand or fall on their own.

00:01:29Dahlia stood open-mouthed, staring numbly at the empty space where, not a moment before,

00:01:34Severine had been standing. She couldn't comprehend what had just happened, and her brain fought

00:01:40to process the knowledge that her friend was dead.

00:01:44She took a horrified lurch towards the edge of the promontory, but a powerful hand seized

00:01:48her arm.

00:01:49Romu 31 held her firm and said, Don't.

00:01:54Severine! wailed Dahlia, her legs turning to the consistency of wet paper and giving

00:01:59way beneath her.

00:02:01Romu 31 bore her gently to the ground as aching sobs burst from her. She held him tightly,

00:02:08burying her face in the fabric of his cloak as she wept for her lost friend.

00:02:12Why did she do it? asked Dahlia, looking up at Romu 31, when her sobs had subsided.

00:02:19I do not know, admitted Romu 31, as Zeus came up behind Dahlia and placed his hand upon

00:02:25her shoulder in an awkward gesture of comfort.

00:02:28I think our Severine was a girl who depended on certainties, mused Zeus. This place—well,

00:02:36it strips away the illusions that allow us to function and shows you that there's no

00:02:40such thing as certainties in this universe. Some minds can't handle that kind of truth.

00:02:46She's gone, whispered Dahlia.

00:02:49Yes, Dahlia, girl. She's gone, said Zeus. His voice choked with emotion.

00:02:56With all that's happened, I'm surprised any of us are still here.

00:03:02Caxton! cried Dahlia, suddenly remembering that when she had last seen him he had been

00:03:06insensible on the ground.

00:03:08I think he'll be fine, said Romu 31, as Dahlia disentangled herself from him and stood on

00:03:14unsteady legs. He blacked out when everything went—strange.

00:03:18Like a fuse or a circuit breaker, elaborated Zeus, making his way over to the lectern upon

00:03:25which sat Simeon's book. He should be fine when he wakes up.

00:03:30Dahlia saw Caxton lying in the recovery position, his chest rising and falling with rhythmic

00:03:35breaths. He was alive, and she could sense the bruised insides of his mind already beginning

00:03:40to heal. She wondered at how she could see such things, and then remembered the power

00:03:46that had flowed into her at Simeon's dissolution.

00:03:49Good, she said. I can't bear to think of this place claiming any more lives.

00:03:55Zeus lifted a handful of golden dust that was all that remained of adept Simeon and

00:03:59his battle-servitor.

00:04:01What happened here? he asked. They aged a thousand years in an instant.

00:04:07More, I think, said Dahlia. I think Simeon had been a guardian for a long, long time.

00:04:14So now what do we do? asked Zeus, his eyes scanning over the pages of Simeon's book.

00:04:21We found the dragon. So do we free it?

00:04:24No, absolutely not, said Dahlia. You were right after all, Zeus. Some things are meant

00:04:30to be left in darkness forever. We were never meant to come here to release it.

00:04:35Then why did you have to come at all? asked Rho-Mu 31.

00:04:40I think you know, said Dahlia, turning away from Zeus and facing Rho-Mu 31 as flecks of

00:04:46golden light simmered in her eyes, to make sure it stayed entombed. Simeon is dead, but

00:04:54there needs to be a guardian of the dragon.

00:04:56That's you? asked Rho-Mu 31.

00:04:59Yes.

00:05:00Nor Dahlia, said Zeus. Say that it's not so. You?

00:05:05Yes, said Dahlia. It was always me. But I won't be alone. Will I, Rho-Mu 31?

00:05:13Rho-Mu 31 stood tall and planted his weapon-stave in the ground. He knelt before Dahlia and

00:05:20said,

00:05:21For as long as I remain functional, I will protect you.

00:05:27But the power I have now, that may be a very long time, my friend.

00:05:31So be it, said Rho-Mu 31.

00:05:36Zeus and Rho-Mu 31 carried Caxton between them as they made their way back through the

00:05:41twisting maze of the dragon's caves. Dahlia led the way, guiding them unerringly along

00:05:47the path they had followed to get here. Their mood was subdued, for the death of Severin

00:05:52was heavy in their thoughts, and no one spoke as they passed through Semyon's abandoned

00:05:57laboratory. Once again they trudged through the glittering tunnels that led to the dark,

00:06:02shadow-cloaked crabbons of the Noctis Labyrinthus, before finally emerging into the chill air.

00:06:08I think I hate this place, said Zeus, as Rho-Mu 31 took the unconscious Caxton from him. The

00:06:16Protector shrugged Caxton onto his shoulder.

00:06:19I wouldn't blame you, said Dahlia. It's a place of despair. It always has been, and

00:06:24I think it's that, more than the dragon, that's kept people away.

00:06:28And you're sure you have to stay? asked Zeus, his eyes brimming with tears.

00:06:34I'm sure, said Dahlia, leaning down to embrace him. He put his arms around her and held her

00:06:41tightly, letting the tears fall without shame.

00:06:44I'll never see you again, will I? asked Zeus when she released him.

00:06:49She shook her head. No, you won't. And you can't ever tell anyone about me, or this place.

00:06:57If anyone asks, tell them I died when the cabin machine attacked us in the tunnel.

00:07:02And what about Caxton? asked Zeus, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his robe.

00:07:08Dahlia choked back a sob and said, Tell him. Tell him I think I could have loved him. And

00:07:15tell him I'm sorry I never got the chance to find out.

00:07:18I'll tell him that, right enough, nodded Zeus, turning to Rho-Mu 31.

00:07:25And you are staying too?

00:07:27I am, agreed Rho-Mu 31.

00:07:31It seems every guardian must have a Protector.

00:07:36Zeus shook hands with Rho-Mu 31 and looked over his shoulder at the lonely shape of the

00:07:40Cargo 5, which sat where they had left it beyond the cave mouth.

00:07:44Ah, a thought occurs, he said. How are we supposed to get home? Wasn't the 5's battery

00:07:52dead?

00:07:53Dahlia smiled and the golden energy passed to her by Adepts Semyon flashed in her eyes.

00:07:59I think I can make sure it has enough power for you to get back to the Magma City.

00:08:04Zeus shrugged as they set off towards the abandoned Cargo 5. I'm not even sure I want

00:08:09to know how you'll manage that, but I'm never one to question my good fortune. Not that

00:08:14I've ever had any to question, you understand.

00:08:17The Cargo 5 exploded with a thunderous booming detonation that echoed from the sheer sides

00:08:23of the Noctis Labyrinthus. The blast wave hurled them to the ground as twisted metal

00:08:28wreckage fell in a burning rain. Dahlia looked up, blinking away bright afterimages of the

00:08:34cavern.

00:08:35What happened? gasped Zeus.

00:08:37Dahlia groaned as she saw their attacker rolling forward on its heavy-gauge track unit.

00:08:42Oh no, she said. Oh Emperor, protect us, no! It was the cabin machine.

00:08:51High in the chamber of Vesta, Adept Coriel Zeth watched the images playing out over the

00:08:55burnished screens of her forge with a sense of utter disbelief and horror. The main screens

00:09:02displayed her own forge, a city on the verge of collapse. The outer hives and manufactories

00:09:07were in ruins, and everything she had built over the centuries had been flattened by the

00:09:11savage, unrelenting bombardment of the Dark Mechanicum.

00:09:16Epluvium Maximal fared no better, his promised relief pulling back in the face of unbreakable

00:09:20resistance from Kelbor Hal's freakish creations. Maximal's outer walls were breached in a dozen

00:09:26places and the fighting surged from weapon shop to ore refinery to librarium as the hordes

00:09:31of mutated servitors and abominable war machines poured in. Both Mondus Oculum and Mondus Gamma

00:09:39were burning. Vast swathes of machinery and manufacturing capacity destroyed in barely

00:09:44a few hours' worth of fighting. The loss of such irreplaceable technology and knowledge

00:09:50was like a knife in the guts, but worse than that—far worse than that—was the image

00:09:55on the central glass panel. Like comets launched from the surface of Mars, the Imperial ships

00:10:01were fleeing for the heavens. Hastartes and army vessels jostled in the sky in their haste

00:10:06to depart the Red Planet. When her surveyor systems had first registered their launch,

00:10:12Zeth had assumed they would arc over and swoop south towards the Magma City, but their fiery

00:10:17ascent had continued until it was obvious they were accelerating to escape velocity.

00:10:23Confirmation, if confirmation were needed, came in the form of a terse, encrypted data

00:10:28squirt from the fabricator Locum, who, it seemed, was also leaving Mars. Imperial forces

00:10:34withdrawing from Mars, save what you can, destroy the rest.

00:10:40The human part of her screamed at this betrayal, but the dominant, analytical part of her brain

00:10:45could see the sense in this retreat. The Hastartes had no doubt secured a great deal of the new

00:10:50marks of armour in preparation for the campaign against the legions of Horus Lupical, and

00:10:55to lose them all in a futile last stand made no logical sense. Knowing that didn't make

00:11:01it any easier to swallow. Zeth opened up her new spheric link to Epluvium Maximal, Princeps

00:11:06Cavalerio of Legio Tempestus, and Lords Catarix and Verticorder of the Knights of Taranis.

00:11:13"'I presume you have all seen this,' she said as their holographic images appeared on the

00:11:18glass panels above her.

00:11:20"'I have,' said Cavalerio, projecting the image of the man he had been before his internment

00:11:25in the amniotic casket.

00:11:27"'Yes,' confirmed Maximal. "'I cannot believe it. The knowledge that will be lost.'

00:11:34Lord Catarix shook his head. "'That it should come to this! Abandoned by terror!'

00:11:39Lord Verticorder shook his head. "'Never,' he said. "'The Emperor would never abandon

00:11:44us.'

00:11:46"'Maybe not,' said Zeth. 'But it appears we can expect no more help from the Legions.'

00:11:50"'So what are your orders, Adept Zeth?' asked Princeps Cavalerio.

00:11:55"'You heard Cain's transmission?' Their grim silence was all the answer she needed.

00:12:01"'I won't let Kelbor Howl have my reactors,' declared Maximal at last.

00:12:06"'Nor will he have the Akashic Reader,' said Zeth, sadly.

00:12:11"'I had such high hopes for Dahlia being able to make it work. But maybe it's for the best.

00:12:18Perhaps no one should ever know everything. After all, when there is nothing left to discover,

00:12:24what is the point in life?'

00:12:25"'Then there is only one order left to give,' said Lord Verticorder.

00:12:33Dahlia saw the lethal machine roll towards them, crushing boulders beneath its weight,

00:12:37its weapon arms locking up, ready to shoot. The barrels on an enormous rotary cannon whirred

00:12:43as they spooled up to fire once more, and hissing gases vented from the plasma cannon

00:12:47mounted at its shoulder. She could feel its anger towards her in the seething yellow glow

00:12:53of its sensor orbs, and with a swift flick of her mind, Dahlia knew she wouldn't be able

00:12:57to fool it again.

00:12:59"'How did it find us?' shouted Zeush.

00:13:03"'It must have read our biometrics in the tunnel,' she cried.

00:13:06"'It realized its mistake eventually, and it followed us here.'

00:13:09"'Who cares how it found us?' shouted Rho-Mu-31, firing up his weapon stave and hauling Dahlia

00:13:15back the way they had come.

00:13:17"'Run! Get back to the cave! It won't be able to follow us in!'

00:13:21Dahlia nodded, taking Zeush's hand and sprinting for the cave mouth.

00:13:25"'Do what you did before!' cried Zeush.

00:13:28"'Make it think we're not here!'

00:13:29"'I can't!' gasped Dahlia as they ran.

00:13:32"'It's learned what I did, and its mental architecture has evolved to stop me doing

00:13:36it again!'

00:13:37Dahlia looked over her shoulder and saw the metallic tentacles on its back whip up.

00:13:42"'Get down!' yelled Rho-Mu-31, dragging her and Zeush to the ground.

00:13:47They landed hard and rolled, dropping into a shallow trench cut by some ancient stream,

00:13:52as roaring sheets of wickering laser fire gouged glowing channels into the valley floor.

00:13:58Zeush screamed as a sharp fragment of rock sliced his cheek.

00:14:02Dahlia wept bitter tears, expecting another barrage to finish them off at any second.

00:14:07She flinched, curling into a tight ball of terror as a deafening,

00:14:11roaring blast of sawing gunfire echoed from the canyon walls.

00:14:15Another thunderous cascade of fire erupted, and Dahlia blinked in surprise

00:14:20as she realized the shots weren't directed at them.

00:14:23"'I don't believe it!' cried Rho-Mu-31.

00:14:27Dahlia looked over and saw that the glowing green of his eyes behind his bronze mask

00:14:31were alight with surprise.

00:14:34Dahlia propped herself up on one elbow and risked a glance over the torn,

00:14:38smoking lip of their fragile cover.

00:14:41The cabin machine was still there, though its form was wreathed in flaring bursts of

00:14:46energy discharges as its voids screamed and fought to hold their integrity.

00:14:51Riding towards it were two glorious war machines in midnight blue armor,

00:14:55bearing the symbol of a wheel and lightning bolt upon their shoulder guards.

00:15:00"'The Knights of Taranis!' shouted Rho-Mu-31."

00:15:06Maven's heart surged with savage, primal joy to see the enemy machine reel from the impacts

00:15:11of his weapons.

00:15:13Cronus had also struck true, and Equitas Bellum's manifold shone with the knowledge

00:15:18that they had finally found their quarry.

00:15:20His autoloaders thundered as they fed more shells into the cannon mounted on his arm,

00:15:25and he felt the heat build as he unsheathed the four-meter war-blade in his right fist.

00:15:31The machine was just as he remembered it—squat and unlovely,

00:15:34a retuned engine of death and destruction, hiding behind a sleeting sheen of rippling voids.

00:15:40Through the shimmering fields of his auspex he could read its energy signatures,

00:15:44and was once again struck by the cold, alien intelligence that lurked behind

00:15:48the yellow orbs of its sensor blisters as it ceased fire and turned towards him.

00:15:54A small group of people sheltered from the machine's fire in a chewed-up ditch,

00:15:58a red-cloaked protector, and three others.

00:16:01Maven didn't know who they were, but that this machine wanted them dead

00:16:04was reason enough for him to defend them.

00:16:07"'Go right,' voxed Maven to Cronus.

00:16:10"'Let's take this thing like we planned.'

00:16:12Cronus was already moving, Pax Mortis loping across the rough,

00:16:16step-like terrain of the rocky valley, his carapace low to the ground,

00:16:20and his weapon-arms thrust out before him.

00:16:23Maven hauled his mount left and unleashed another rippling salvo of cannon-fire

00:16:27towards the machine.

00:16:29Once more its voids sang with the impacts, and Maven felt his mount's

00:16:33exhilaration as a surge of adrenaline shot through his body.

00:16:37Equitos Bellum relished a fight, but the sense of striking back at their

00:16:41nemesis was above and beyond anything Maven had experienced.

00:16:45He rode close to the ground, hard and fast for an outcrop of rock he had

00:16:49seen from further along the valley, feeling the heat of near-misses as

00:16:52the enemy machine opened fire on him.

00:16:55His instinctual awareness of the battle was complete, his gut feel for

00:16:59the tactical situation flawless, as he suddenly hauled back on the

00:17:02controls and skidded to a halt, one leg stretched out to the side,

00:17:06at the sudden course change.

00:17:09A barrage of shots hammered the outcrop, blasting it to splintered

00:17:13rubble and leaving a smoking crater in the aftermath of a thunderous

00:17:16explosion.

00:17:17Maven sidestepped and bounded forward, zigzagging at random across

00:17:21the ground, deliberately avoiding anything resembling a standard

00:17:24pattern evasion technique.

00:17:27Whipping bursts of laser fire and sawing lines of shells sliced the

00:17:31air where the machine expected him to be.

00:17:33Maven laughed, a wild roar of pleasure, as Equitos Bellum responded

00:17:37to his touch, its healed limbs and wounded heart working with him

00:17:41against their enemy.

00:17:43Once again, Maven changed direction at random, urging his mount

00:17:47forward into the teeth of the machine's weapons.

00:17:50Old Stater would have my guts on a plate if he could see this, he

00:17:53hissed, fighting against decades of training to keep from using the

00:17:57very drills that had made him such a formidable warrior.

00:18:01The machine opened fire, but once again Maven had outmanoeuvred

00:18:05it, his unpredictable motions and random jinx confusing whatever

00:18:09targeting wetware it employed.

00:18:11Maven watched it back away from him, its main gun swivelling in

00:18:14gimbal mounts as they tried to predict which way he would move.

00:18:19The guns mounted on the thick dendrite tentacles swivelled, firing

00:18:22towards the remains of the burning Cargo 5.

00:18:25Cronus rode his knight in a looping, jerking pattern of stops and

00:18:28starts, though Maven could see that his brother's mount had taken

00:18:32several hits from the strength of his shield returns.

00:18:35Mix it up more, Cronus, he yelled.

00:18:37Don't do anything it can predict.

00:18:40Shut up, snapped Cronus.

00:18:41You break the rules all the time.

00:18:43It's not so easy for me.

00:18:45Maven grinned, seeing the machine back away from him, spitting rock

00:18:49and gravel from beneath its tracks as it frantically reversed towards

00:18:52the wall of the canyon.

00:18:54Maven let rip with another blast of cannon fire.

00:18:57Chunks of smashed rock fell from the cliff as the machine swivelled

00:19:00on one track and his shots went wide.

00:19:03Hell, said Maven.

00:19:04It's learning.

00:19:06Maven reversed the direction of his advance and, too late, realised

00:19:09his mistake.

00:19:11A seething wall of laser fire hammered his frontal shields and the

00:19:14torso emitter blew out in a screaming wash of energy.

00:19:18He cried out as the discharge whiplashed through him in a howling

00:19:21gale of feedback.

00:19:23Equitas Bellum faltered and Maven dropped his mount to one knee.

00:19:27Another blast struck the upper edges of his carapace armour and

00:19:30searing lances of pain shot through his shoulder.

00:19:33He tried to turn his mount to present a shielded section to the

00:19:36machine as more fire hammered him and Maven felt his mount's pain

00:19:40as his armour tore apart under the concentrated volley.

00:19:44The armoured glass of his cockpit shattered, exploding inwards and

00:19:47slicing his face with razor-sharp fragments.

00:19:50Cronus, yelled Maven, as another impact sent a bolt of agony through

00:19:54his body.

00:19:55Pax Mortis smashed through the flaming wreckage of the Cargo 5, both

00:19:59its arm weapons sheathed in fire.

00:20:01The enemy machine vanished in a blinding cascade of void flares,

00:20:05its shields buckling under the impacts.

00:20:07Whatever form of reactor sat at its heart was capable of soaking up

00:20:11the punishment and holding.

00:20:12It turned its guns on Pax Mortis and let rip with a barking roar of

00:20:17cannon fire that tore through the shields and the plating of Cronus'

00:20:20waist-mounting.

00:20:22The night staggered and Cronus bolted for the wall of obscuring

00:20:25smoke that billowed from the Cargo 5, but the machine had predicted

00:20:29such an obvious response and a searing bolt of plasma slammed into

00:20:32the upper carapace of Pax Mortis, almost driving it to its knees.

00:20:37Maven cried out as he saw his brother Knight stagger, but before

00:20:40the enemy machine could finish its work, Cronus surged forwards and

00:20:44darted into the smoke.

00:20:46Its voids are too tough, shouted Cronus, his pain obvious even over

00:20:50the Voxlink.

00:20:51Our weapons won't overload them!

00:20:54His comrade-in-arms had left himself dangerously exposed by coming

00:20:58to Maven's aid, but their two-pronged assault had forced the enemy

00:21:01to dance to their tune, and they would never get a better chance to

00:21:05take him down.

00:21:07Get ready, he replied.

00:21:08We've got it where we want it!

00:21:11Faced with two enemies, the machine had backed against the cliffs of

00:21:14the valley, seeking to minimise the directions from which it could be

00:21:17attacked.

00:21:18Just as Maven knew it would.

00:21:20It was a standard, textbook manoeuvre.

00:21:23Maven disengaged the auto-targeters and said,

00:21:26You know the drills, but you don't have the skills, and opened fire

00:21:29once more.

00:21:32Instead of aiming for the machine, his gunfire tore into the rock

00:21:35walls above it, and a torrent of gigantic boulders fell in a

00:21:38thunderous avalanche from the cliffs, smashing into the upper

00:21:42vectors of the machine's shields.

00:21:44Blooming explosions of light rippled from the machine, its voids

00:21:48screaming in protest, but still, impossibly, holding.

00:21:52Now, Cronus! shouted Maven, pushing his wounded mount to its feet,

00:21:57and charging his foe with a feral cry of battle lust.

00:22:00He opened up with his cannon, hammering the machine's upper

00:22:03shields.

00:22:04Even through the tumbling, roaring avalanche of rock and dust, the

00:22:07machine saw him coming, and turned its guns on Equitos Bellum, just

00:22:11as Pax Mortis loomed from the smoke and joined its fire with that

00:22:15of Maven's mount.

00:22:16Already struggling to withstand the rain of debris falling from the

00:22:19cliff, the machine's shield emitters finally gave way under the

00:22:22concentrated fire of the two knights.

00:22:25Its voids exploded outwards in a blinding blast wave, tearing the

00:22:28metallic weapon dendrites from its back and vaporizing its left arm

00:22:32in a thunderous detonation.

00:22:34Smoke and sparks of jetting energy spewed from the machine's ruptured

00:22:38flanks, and its sensor blisters flickered madly, as though unable

00:22:41to comprehend how it had been hurt.

00:22:44It rocked back, stunned and screaming in garbled bursts of binary

00:22:48that sliced over the manifold and blew several of the augmenters

00:22:51inside Maven's cockpit.

00:22:52Maven rode through the billowing clouds of rock dust, seeing the

00:22:56spherical form of his long-sought-for enemy ahead of him.

00:22:59It was mortally wounded, but still had some fight left in it.

00:23:03Maven didn't give it a chance and drove the full four meters of his

00:23:06energized warblade through its frontal section.

00:23:10Its death scream shrieked in a pitiful wail of agonized binary, but

00:23:14Maven twisted his blade in the wound until at last its cries ceased

00:23:19and the light of its sensor blisters was extinguished.

00:23:23Letting out a pent-up breath of battle fury and pain, Maven stepped

00:23:27back from the destroyed machine, feeling an overwhelming sense of

00:23:31closure as he stood over the shell of his defeated enemy.

00:23:35The pain from his psychostigmatic wounds diminished, and Maven

00:23:39smiled as he felt Equitas Bellum's satisfaction wash through him in a

00:23:43rush of approval.

00:23:46The essence of what made a knight such a fearsome war machine moved

00:23:50through his battered flesh to ease his suffering, filling his body and

00:23:54rushing along his aching limbs.

00:23:57Too late, Maven felt the soul of his mount surge to the fore, the

00:24:01soothing balm that eased his pain, wielding him as though he were the

00:24:05mount and it the rider.

00:24:07He felt the raw, ferocious heart of his machine, the terrifying power

00:24:11that lurked in the heart of the manifold, take control of his limbs

00:24:14and turn Equitas Bellum towards the scar in the earth where the

00:24:18targets of the enemy machine had taken cover.

00:24:21Through the blown-out cockpit glass, Maven saw a Mechanicum

00:24:24Protector leading a slightly built woman with eyes that shone with a

00:24:28golden light towards him.

00:24:30A red cloak billowed at the shoulders of the Protector, who carried a

00:24:33weapon stave hung with the number grid symbol of Coriel Zeth.

00:24:37Behind them was a short-robed man who knelt beside the prone form of

00:24:41what looked like a tonsured menial.

00:24:44Maven heard heavy footfalls as Pax Mortis moved alongside him and

00:24:48tried to speak to Cronus, but the elemental force of the manifold

00:24:51held him tightly in its grip.

00:24:54The woman approached the wounded knight, and before he knew what was

00:24:56happening, Equitas Bellum dropped to one knee and bowed its head to

00:25:00her.

00:25:01Without looking, he knew his battle-brother's knight had done

00:25:04likewise.

00:25:05She reached out, and Maven felt warmth infuse every molecule of his

00:25:09hybrid existence of flesh and steel with new-found purpose and

00:25:13vitality.

00:25:14He felt the warmth of the woman's touch through the shell of his mount,

00:25:18and gasped as trembling vibrations spread through its armoured frame

00:25:22of plasteel and ceramite.

00:25:24Machine, heal thyself, she said.

00:25:293.05

00:25:33Night was falling across the magma city, though darkness never really

00:25:37came to the glowing, orange-lit metropolis.

00:25:40Like a scene from the ancients' visions of the Underworld, Adept

00:25:43Zeth's forge was bathed in the fires of battle as the forces of the

00:25:46Dark Mechanicum pounded her walls with vortex missiles and collapsed

00:25:50the outer bastions with graviton cannons.

00:25:53The city was being torn apart with mechanistic precision, and within

00:25:57hours the forces under the command of Ambassador Melgator, who

00:26:01watched the unfolding destruction from beneath his dark pavilion at

00:26:04the end of the Typhon Causeway, would have seized their prize for the

00:26:07Fabricator General.

00:26:09The city was doomed, and there was only one order left to give.

00:26:15Deus Tempestus strode through the city, and the city was in a state

00:26:19of panic.

00:26:21Deus Tempestus strode through the twisted, blackened remains of what

00:26:24had once been an armaments factory.

00:26:27Fires and small explosions still popped and flamed beneath the

00:26:30Warlord's mighty tread, but Princep's Cavalerio paid them no mind.

00:26:35Such things were irrelevant to a being of his stature.

00:26:39Only Ishman's host of Tempestus Skitari, following behind his battle

00:26:43groups, needed to concern themselves with such matters.

00:26:46The full strength of Tempestus marched from the shelter of the

00:26:49Magma City.

00:26:50The cobalt blue of their armour and the fluttering honour banners,

00:26:54gloriously bright against the brooding skies and fire-blackened

00:26:57rubble, they marched through.

00:27:00Leading from the centre, Deus Tempestus took up position behind a

00:27:03tangle of twisted iron columns and girders that had once been the

00:27:07structure of the largest sheet metal fabrication plant in Tharsis,

00:27:10but which now resembled a mass of razor wire.

00:27:13On Cavalerio's right was Princep's Sharax battle group, Metallus

00:27:17Sabrenia leading the warhounds Astrus Lux and Raptoria into battle.

00:27:22Princeps Lamnos and Kassim marched their smaller engines to either

00:27:25side of the larger reaver, and Cavalerio raised his volcano cannon

00:27:29in salute of his brave warriors.

00:27:32To his immediate left towered the mighty Warlord Tharsis Hastartus

00:27:37under Princep's Suzak, while further out was Princep's Mordent's

00:27:41Reaver, Arcadia Fortis, with the dashing Princep's Basax Warhound

00:27:46Vulpus Rex in support.

00:27:48Once again Cavalerio acknowledged his warriors as they took up

00:27:52position in the ruins of the outer sub-hives.

00:27:54All Princeps, manifold conference, he said.

00:27:58One by one the flickering images of his brother Princeps appeared

00:28:01before Cavalerio, and he was gratified to see only the hunger for

00:28:05battle in their faces.

00:28:07Each was eager to take the fight to Mortis, despite there only

00:28:10being one possible outcome to the battle.

00:28:13For a moment he wished he still fought as they did.

00:28:16Then he smiled at the foolishness of such a desire, for who could

00:28:20not wish to be as connected to such a mighty engine as Deus

00:28:24Tempestus in such a complete and total manner as he was?

00:28:29Brothers, this is the most dreadful and most glorious moment of

00:28:33our lives, he said.

00:28:35I am not normally given to sentiment, but if the day of our

00:28:39deaths doesn't warrant a little melodrama, then I don't know what

00:28:43does.

00:28:45Cavalerio saw a few wry smiles and said, The credo of Tempestus is

00:28:51that the manner of our deaths is at least as important as the

00:28:54manner of our lives.

00:28:56Today we will show these Mortis dogs what it means to feel the

00:29:00wrath of Arlygio.

00:29:03It has been an honor to fight alongside you all over the years,

00:29:07and it is a privilege to lead you in this last march.

00:29:12May the light of the Omnisire guide you.

00:29:16His brothers solemnly acknowledged his words with binaric glows of

00:29:20pride, but it was left to Princeps Cassim to give flesh voice to

00:29:23the feelings of the Legio.

00:29:26The honor is ours, Storm Lord, said Cassim.

00:29:31Cavalerio smiled as he saw the gleam of the gold skull and cog

00:29:35medallion he had given the man after the Epsiloid binary cluster

00:29:38wars.

00:29:40Good hunting, everyone, said Cavalerio, and closed the link.

00:29:46Despite their blooding in the initial fighting around the Magma

00:29:49City, Princeps Camulos could not ignore such a blatant challenge,

00:29:53and Cavalerio's auspex filled with returns as Legio Mortis marched

00:29:57through the smoke and fire to meet them.

00:30:00Swarming around each engine were thousands of Mortis Skitarii,

00:30:03fearsome, skull-visaged warriors of terrible reputation.

00:30:07The Tempesta Skitarii, led by the indomitable Zem Ischmon, the

00:30:12scarred hero of Nemzal Reach, marched out to meet them, outnumbered

00:30:16at least four to one.

00:30:19To go into an engine fight required great courage, but to march into

00:30:22battle beneath such a titanic conflict demanded fearlessness only

00:30:27such enhanced warriors could boast.

00:30:30Multiple engine signatures, said Sensori Pallas, and Cavalerio

00:30:34acknowledged the inload, putting Ischmon Skitarii from his mind.

00:30:38The gargantuan form of Aquila Ignis led the Mortis engines, a row of

00:30:43three twisted warlords marching in front of it like a skirmish

00:30:46scream.

00:30:47On both flanks, two reavers circled wide.

00:30:51They only outnumber us by one engine, said Cavalerio.

00:30:55That's not so bad, eh?

00:30:56Yes, my princeps, said Moderati Khypa.

00:31:00It's just a shame they outgun us so heavily.

00:31:04Watching the Mortis deployment, Cavalerio said,

00:31:07They're being cautious.

00:31:09None of them dare stray too far from their big brother.

00:31:12And who can blame them?

00:31:14They're afraid of us, said Cavalerio.

00:31:17They're still thinking of what we did to them in the opening ambush,

00:31:20and they're scared we've got another trick like that up our sleeves.

00:31:25I wish we did, Storm Lord, muttered Khypa.

00:31:28Cavalerio smiled in his amniotic tank, a stream of bubbles rising from his mouth.

00:31:33Who says I haven't? he asked.

00:31:36All princeps, marching speed!

00:31:41On the far side of the magma city, where screaming mobs of Skitarii and

00:31:44altered protectors threw themselves at the Vulcan gate, a blizzard of

00:31:48gunfire and artillery laid waste to the attackers closest to the entrance.

00:31:53Before Melgator's forces could regroup and resume their attack, the Vulcan gate opened,

00:31:58and beneath their azure lightning-wheel standard, the Knights of Taranis rode out.

00:32:04Lord Verticorda led his knights, the noble form of Arras Lictor resplendent,

00:32:09the wound in its chest repaired in time for this last ride to glory.

00:32:14Alongside Verticorda, Lord Catarax rode the majestic Gladius Fullman,

00:32:19his war engine proudly bearing the scars and ravages of battle on its burnished plates.

00:32:25Behind them came the last nine Knights of the Order,

00:32:28their armor polished and repaired such that they shone like new.

00:32:33This was to be their final charge, and the magma city's artificers

00:32:36had ensured that they would make a fine sight as they rode out.

00:32:41The knights formed a wedge, with Verticorda and Catarax as the tip of the spear,

00:32:45and plunged into the mass of enemy warriors, their guns spitting death with every shot.

00:32:51The combined shock of the artillery strike followed by the assault of the knights broke

00:32:55the front of the dark mechanicum line, and the knights smashed through the reeling survivors

00:32:59like giant scattering children before them.

00:33:03Roaring streams of turbolasers and blitzing storms of explosive shells

00:33:08tore through Scatari and weaponized servitors as the knights carved a path along the typhoon causeway.

00:33:14Hundreds of their enemies were dying every second,

00:33:17and their bodies were crushed underfoot as the knights rode ever onwards.

00:33:23The Knights of Terranis slaughtered their way along the causeway's length,

00:33:26Verticorda killing with methodical precision, Catarax with furious abandon.

00:33:32As sudden as the attack was, Melgator's forces rallied with commendable speed,

00:33:37and armored units raced to meet the charging knights.

00:33:40Heedless of their own warriors, enemy cannon opened fire on the causeway,

00:33:44blowing wide craters in the great road.

00:33:47The speed and ferocity of their charge carried the knights clear of the bulk of the fire,

00:33:51but two warriors, tangled up in the debris of their carnage,

00:33:54were caught by the full fury of a sustained salvo of high explosives and blown to pieces.

00:34:00Another knight took a direct hit from an experimental gun

00:34:03recovered from the ruins of Adept Alterimus' tomb beneath the Zephryotholos.

00:34:08Empowered with dark energies from the vaults of Morovec,

00:34:11a beam of black light punched straight through the knight's power field

00:34:15to wreathe the machine in dark fire that instantly melted through its armor.

00:34:20Verticorda could hear its agonized screams over the manifold,

00:34:23and watched as its dying rider swept a host of enemy warriors to their doom

00:34:28as it plunged from the causeway and into the magma.

00:34:32With every passing moment, the Knights of Terranis were fighting their way further and further,

00:34:37further and further from the magma city,

00:34:39killing and crushing Adept Zeth's enemies with consummate skill and grace.

00:34:45This was no undisciplined feral charge, but the exquisite skill of noble warriors

00:34:50exercising their killing art in the most sublime manner imaginable.

00:34:56Already they had traveled more than two kilometers from the gate,

00:34:59leaving a trail of dead and dying enemies in their wake.

00:35:02As another four hundred meters was won, another knight died.

00:35:06The machine's legs sawn off by Alterimus' dark weapon,

00:35:10and its carapace pounced upon by a cackling tide of mutant Skitarii.

00:35:15Lord Katarix turned his guns on the swarming Skitarii,

00:35:19clearing them from the downed knight in a series of devastating bursts of gunfire.

00:35:23The knight was already dead, and rather than allow the enemy to scavenge from its corpse,

00:35:29Katarix kept firing until its reactor core was breached,

00:35:32and it vanished in a seething wall of plasma fire.

00:35:36Only five knights remained with Verticorda and Katarix,

00:35:40and as devastating as their charge had proven, it was slowing.

00:35:44More and more enemy warriors were clogging the causeway with their bodies,

00:35:48and entire regiments of artillery and armor were concentrating their fire on stopping the knights.

00:35:54Verticorda and Katarix, warriors of wildly different temper,

00:35:58yet identical courage, kept pushing onwards,

00:36:02their ultimate goal in sight, the Black Pavilion of Ambassador Melgator.

00:36:08Princeps Cassim in Raptoria darted through the ruins of the Arsaya sub-silos

00:36:14to unleash a furious barrage into one of the flanking Reavers.

00:36:17The towering engine's shield soaked up the fire of the smaller war machine,

00:36:21turning its guns on the tumbled metallic ruins.

00:36:25A storm of shrapnel and explosions tore through the collapsed silo,

00:36:29but Raptoria was already on the move,

00:36:31surging through the jumbled mass of collapsed towers and fallen masonry to fire again.

00:36:37Using every inch of cover and his natural affinity for moving through close and dirty terrain,

00:36:41Cassim kept Raptoria one step ahead of his enemy's fire,

00:36:45loping randomly from cover to deliver stinging fire on the lumbering Reaver

00:36:50before vanishing back into the cover of the silo.

00:36:53With the Warlords and Imperator closing behind them,

00:36:56one of the Reavers turned into the collapsed and burning silos to flush Cassim out,

00:37:01unwilling to leave a snapping predator in their wake,

00:37:04even one as hopelessly outgunned as a Warhound.

00:37:07Its vast bulk smashed through steel archways that had once seen the passage of thousands of workers,

00:37:13trampling through machine shops which had produced weapons and ordnance

00:37:16that had pacified worlds on the other side of the galaxy.

00:37:20It towered over the twisted wreckage of melted machines

00:37:23and the charred skeletons of those who had died in the complex's collapse.

00:37:28Sparks and trailing squalls of energy backwash flared from its shields

00:37:32as it bludgeoned its way through the factory to reach its quarry.

00:37:36A screaming wail of scrap code bled from its external augmentors,

00:37:40and its Warhorns' booming howl echoed weirdly from those walls that still stood.

00:37:46Cassim broke from cover, the cobalt blue of his engine stark against an ashen wall.

00:37:52The Reaver caught sight of him and twisted its upper body to target his nimble engine.

00:37:57A torrent of weapons fire reduced the wall to pulverized dust and sparked from Raptorius' shields.

00:38:03No sooner had the Reaver opened fire than the vulpine form of Astrus Lux

00:38:08slipped from the shadows of a sagging Derek and bounded towards the Reaver's exposed back,

00:38:13her weapon arms blazing.

00:38:16Princeps Lamnos poured his shots into where the swirling energy discharges were greatest,

00:38:21battering down the Reaver's shields with a furious concentration of fire.

00:38:26The Reaver immediately realized its danger and tried to turn.

00:38:30But Princeps Lamnos was quicker,

00:38:32sidestepping his engine through the tangled mess of smashed machinery and fallen structure.

00:38:38Fighting to keep his aim true while maneuvering his engine over such rough terrain,

00:38:42Lamnos kept his fire steady for longer than was safe.

00:38:46His persistence paid off as the rear quarter of the Reaver's shields

00:38:50blew out in an enormous flaming bloom of light.

00:38:53The blaring challenge of the machine's warhorn changed in pitch to one of pain

00:38:57as Raptoria vaulted a broken berm of machinery and opened fire on the Reaver at point-blank range.

00:39:04Without the protection of its shields, the Reaver was horribly exposed

00:39:08and Cassim's fire wreaked fearful damage on the larger engine.

00:39:12Like Lamnos, Cassim kept his fire steady,

00:39:15raking a salvo of high-energy turbo-laser fire across the Reaver's hip.

00:39:20The joint streamed molten gobbets of armor before explosively giving way,

00:39:25and Raptoria and Astrus Lux bounded away from the mortally wounded engine.

00:39:30The Reaver toppled slowly, majestically onto its side,

00:39:34crushing what little remained of the silo beneath its enormous weight and breaking into pieces.

00:39:39Raptoria pushed onwards, hugging the ground and taking advantage of the billowing cloud

00:39:44of ash and smoke clouds thrown up by the Reaver's collapse.

00:39:48Astrus Lux pulled back through the silo, circling around the fallen engine,

00:39:52but Lamnos had exposed his warhound for too long,

00:39:56and the Reaver's companion had worked up a firing solution.

00:40:00A withering series of missile impacts slammed into the top of Astrus Lux

00:40:04and pounded her into the ground,

00:40:06hammering her shields until they broke open with a pounding concussive detonation.

00:40:11Like a wounded bird, Astrus Lux tried to crawl into cover,

00:40:15shieldless and with her legs shattered by the impacts.

00:40:19The second Reaver was taking no chances, however,

00:40:22and strode into the flaming ruin of the silo, crushing Astrus Lux beneath its bulk.

00:40:28First Blood to Tempestus

00:40:31On the left flank of the Tempestus battlegroups,

00:40:36far across the cratered wasteland of the landing fields,

00:40:39where Deus Tempestus and Tharsis Hastatus dueled with Aquila Ignis's skirmish screen of warlords,

00:40:45Princeps Mordent pushed forwards at Arcadia Fortis.

00:40:49Though he commanded a Reaver, Jan Mordent matched the pace of his warhound companion,

00:40:54Vulpus Rex, stride for stride.

00:40:57He and Princeps Bazzac strode to meet the two flanking Reavers,

00:41:01both enemy machines twisted and hateful with bloody banners

00:41:04and grisly adornments hanging from their weapons.

00:41:08Instead of marching straight towards the enemy Reavers,

00:41:11Arcadia Fortis followed a wide curving course

00:41:14that drew his opponents away from the easy shelter of the Imperator with every step.

00:41:19Wickering streams of weapons fire filled the air between the foes,

00:41:23both Tempestus Princeps directing all their fire

00:41:27upon the Reaver closest to the center of the battle line.

00:41:30Further out from the magma city there was none of the cover enjoyed by Raptoria,

00:41:34and Princeps Bazzac was forced to use all his savvy to avoid the worst of the incoming fire.

00:41:40The distance between the Mortis and Tempestus engines was shrinking,

00:41:44and with every stride the firestorm grew ever more ferocious.

00:41:49Given the disparity of weight and gun strength,

00:41:52it was only a matter of time until the brutal mathematics of war

00:41:55took their toll on the Tempestus engines.

00:41:58The Mortis engines knew this, and their discordant horns boomed in triumph.

00:42:03But in war, as in all things,

00:42:05there are variables that can upset even the most inevitable of functions.

00:42:10Both Vulpus Rex and Arcadia Fortis were commanded by men

00:42:15whose hearts were still those of aggressive hunters,

00:42:17and they were fighting to destroy as much of Mortis's strength as possible

00:42:21before their ending.

00:42:23The shields of the Reaver targeted by both Tempestus engines flickered out,

00:42:28worn down by the constant barrage and shut off before they blew out.

00:42:32An instant later, the warlord Tharsis Hastatus,

00:42:35which had been waiting for just that moment,

00:42:37unleashed a punishing volley from its volcano cannon.

00:42:41A searing beam of nuclear fire punched through the Reaver's cockpit

00:42:45and blew off its entire upper section in a spectacular explosion

00:42:49that hurled pieces of wreckage for over six kilometres.

00:42:53The thunderous death of the Reaver had been bought by a furious concentration of fire,

00:42:58but that in turn had allowed the second Reaver to close virtually unmolested.

00:43:03Its heavy guns had brought the shields of Arcadia Fortis to breaking point,

00:43:08and it was the work of moments to finish the job of overloading them.

00:43:12A lucky strike on one of the Carapace emitters blew out the relays

00:43:15connected to the neural network of the Tempestus engine,

00:43:18and the feedback agonies burned out the cerebral cortex of Princeps Mordant

00:43:23as surely as though he had taken a bolt round to the head.

00:43:27Arcadia Fortis died with him, the mighty engine grinding to a halt,

00:43:32helpless and utterly at the mercy of its foes.

00:43:36Bassac attempted to flee from the screaming Reaver,

00:43:39its weakened shields and depleted ammunition load no match for such a towering foe.

00:43:44Vulpus Rex moved with grace and speed,

00:43:46but in the face of an indiscriminate barrage of missiles it had no chance of evasion.

00:43:51Missiles slammed into the ground, tearing huge craters and hurling chunks of debris into the air.

00:43:58Her terrain-reading Auspex overloaded with screaming scrap-code interference.

00:44:03Vulpus Rex tumbled into a crater, one of its weapon arms snapping off

00:44:08and its legs buckling as it landed awkwardly.

00:44:11Trapped and with no escape, Princeps Bassac tried to eject,

00:44:15but a brutal volley from the Reaver tore his floundering engine to pieces,

00:44:19killing him and all his crew in a mercifully swift thunder of hard rounds.

00:44:26Then the sky broke open and the gathering darkness was banished

00:44:31as a bright sunset of atomic detonation painted the distant heavens with fire.

00:44:39Adept Coriel Zeth closed her eyes at the sight of the fire in the sky,

00:44:44knowing exactly what it represented and feeling the human portion of her body

00:44:48fill with sadness. She focused the chamber of Vesta's viewing screens to the north

00:44:53and increased the magnification to maximum, knowing what she would see, but dreading it all the same.

00:45:00All along Epluvian Maximal's reactor chain of Ulysses Fossae,

00:45:04a score of fiery mushroom clouds climbed skyward.

00:45:08A blast wave of unimaginable force flattened the landscape for hundreds of kilometres,

00:45:13bare of life, and the following firestorm would turn the Martian desert

00:45:18to irradiated glass for ten thousand years.

00:45:22Goodbye, Epluvian, said Zeth, before turning her attention to the unfolding

00:45:27conflict around her own forge, the burnished plates showing such ferocious scenes of battle

00:45:33that even she could scarce believe such slaughter was happening on Mars.

00:45:38The charge of the Knights of Taranis had cleaved a bloody path through the attackers on the causeway,

00:45:43but their numbers were dwindling fast. Another two knights had gone down,

00:45:47leaving only Verticorda, Catarix, and three warriors. Every second brought them closer

00:45:54to Melgator's pavilion, but she had no idea whether they would reach it alive.

00:45:59Even if they did, there would be no escape from the heart of the enemy army.

00:46:03Legio Tempestus were fighting a battle that would enter the annals of their histories

00:46:07as one of their most noble, were there any left alive to record it,

00:46:12and her own warriors had fought harder than she could ever have wished.

00:46:17Kelbor Hal's minions would suffer greatly to take the Magma City,

00:46:21and, unless Zeth acted now, they would take it, that was certain.

00:46:26And not just the Magma City, but the rest of Mars would soon be in the thrall of those

00:46:31loyal to the Fabricator General. The time had come to follow Epluvian Maximal's noble action.

00:46:39Zeth turned from the screens and walked towards the wide shaft that descended into the depths of

00:46:43her forge, bathing in the heat and waves of energy that rippled upwards from the magma far below.

00:46:50A primitive-looking servitor, swathed in a hooded robe, followed her,

00:46:54its crudity quite at odds with the sophistication of the chamber.

00:46:58The anonymous cyborg creature took up position alongside Zeth as a dozen slender silver columns

00:47:04rose from the floor around the shaft. Each of the columns was topped with an intricate

00:47:09arrangement of plugs, and Zeth stepped into the middle of them. She reached out and slipped her

00:47:15hands into the biometric readers atop two of the columns, extruding a series of mechadendrites from

00:47:20the length of her spine. These waved through the air and made contact with the remaining columns,

00:47:27and she began ex-loading a series of macro-instructions into the noospheric network

00:47:32of the magma city. A glowing schematic of her forge flickered into life before her,

00:47:38invisible to anyone not noospherically modified.

00:47:42I hope Kain managed to rescue at least a portion of his noospheric network from Mondus Oculum,

00:47:47she whispered to herself. It would be a shame for my technology to be forgotten in this

00:47:53sordid civil war.

00:47:56Even facing destruction, you are vain, said a voice behind her. Zeth turned, unsurprised to

00:48:03see the sinuous form of Melgator's tech-priest assassin slithering through the air behind her.

00:48:09I had a feeling I'd be seeing you again, said Zeth.

00:48:13The Cydonian Sisterhood do not forget those who insult us, said Remiari.

00:48:19I'd ask how you got in here, but I have a feeling it won't matter.

00:48:25No, agreed Remiari, it will not.

00:48:29The assassin skimmed slowly over the floor of the chamber towards Zeth,

00:48:33drawing a pair of exquisite golden pistols from her thigh sheaths.

00:48:38My employer wishes this city captured intact, said Remiari,

00:48:43in-loading to the noospheric map floating before Zeth.

00:48:46So you need to stop what you are doing.

00:48:50I'm not going to do that, stated Zeth.

00:48:53I wasn't asking, said Remiari, and shot Zeth twice in the chest.

00:49:00Lord Commander Verticorder felt the pain of a dozen wounds through the manifold of Ares Lictor.

00:49:06His shields were gone, and his carapace was cracked in multiple locations.

00:49:10He could barely feel his left arm, and the knee joint that had been healed two centuries ago by

00:49:15the touch of the Emperor ached with psychostigmatic pain.

00:49:20All around him he could see the red-lit legions of his enemy surrounding him.

00:49:24Weapons fire spanked from his disintegrating carapace, and his fear was not that he was going

00:49:29to die, but that a machine touched by the hand of the Omnisire would fall into the hands of his

00:49:34enemies. To his left he saw a group of dark-robed skitarii on one of the causeway's overhanging

00:49:40platforms aim a battery of quad-barreled guns. He turned his right cannon on them,

00:49:46letting Ares Lictor target them. He felt the thrill of acquisition course down his arm,

00:49:51and opened fire, the hurricane of shells obliterating the platform and turning the

00:49:55guns and their operators into an expanding cloud of shredded meat and metal. Alongside him,

00:50:02cataracts crushed and sliced into the enemy host with his cannon and laser lance, his fury

00:50:08carrying him forward, where Verticorda lived by his preternatural skill. The other knights that

00:50:14still lived were the best of the order, the most sublime warriors he had fought alongside—Jelsic,

00:50:21Agamon, and Old Stater. Ahead, Verticorda saw the black pavilion where the architect of this

00:50:28confrontation watched the honourable knights of Taranis dying for his amusement. The standard of

00:50:34Melgator, a golden chain upon a crimson field, flew above the pavilion, and though a host of

00:50:40warriors and black machines stood between them, Verticorda vowed he would not be brought low

00:50:45while such an ignoble individual still lived. More gunfire hammered the knights, and Agamon was

00:50:51undone, the final strength of his shields torn away by the heedless sacrifice of scores of

00:50:57suicidal warriors rushing close and detonating explosive petards against his armour.

00:51:03Old Stater died next, the preceptor clearing a path for the masters of his order with a gloriously

00:51:09heroic dash towards the black pavilion. His twin blades extended to either side of him as he

00:51:15charged. Running low, the knight took a direct hit to the cockpit and crashed to the ground.

00:51:22The last three knights blazed through the path won by Stater's death, and Verticorda killed and

00:51:28killed as he drew upon the spirits of all the Lord Commanders who had ridden into battle within

00:51:34Arislichta. On one side, Catarix rode tall, though his mount was on the verge of destruction,

00:51:42while on the other, Jelsic, his companion from the day the Emperor first set foot on Olympus Mons,

00:51:48still carried the Taranis banner high.

00:51:51"'The bastard's running!' shouted Verticorda, seeing Melgator's golden chain banner moving.

00:51:58"'What did you expect?' retorted Catarix.

00:52:00"'He's no warrior! He's nothing but a coward! He won't escape us!' vowed Jelsic.

00:52:06"'No, he damn well won't!' agreed Catarix.

00:52:10Fresh impacts slammed into Arislichta, and Verticorda cried out,

00:52:14feeling the pain of his wounds surging bright and hot within his aged frame.

00:52:19Even as fresh wounds appeared on his body, he felt a sustaining power flow from the manifold

00:52:24to hold him together, a gestalt legacy of heroism and honor that stretched back to his mount's

00:52:30birth. The presence of Arislichta's former masters poured into Verticorda,

00:52:36eager to accompany him in its last moments.

00:52:40All he could see through the canopy window were enemies, their twisted visages demonic

00:52:44in the searing glow of the magma. This truly was a ride into hell, and these were its warped

00:52:51denizens.

00:52:52"'There he is!' bellowed Catarix, and Verticorda saw the shield palanquin of Melgator,

00:52:58surrounded by a cohort of brutal, ogre-like skitarii,

00:53:02armed with fearsome beam weapons and flame lances.

00:53:06The three knights smashed through the cordon of enemy warriors between them and Melgator's

00:53:10retinue, their armor torn, trailing fire and spraying vital fluids.

00:53:16None would ever ride again, but with their final breath of life they would slay this last foe.

00:53:23Verticorda shot down a dozen skitarii, and then felt the agony of sweeping beams of cutting light

00:53:29sawing through the armor of his right arm as though it was as insubstantial as smoke.

00:53:35He screamed in pain, his entire body spasming as the weapon arm was shorn from its mount.

00:53:41Blood filled his throat and his vision grayed, but once again he felt the ghostly presences

00:53:47of his predecessors. Their ancient fury and fire was undimmed by the passage of years,

00:53:53and their will gave him the strength to carry on.

00:53:57Yet, even with the sustaining power of the manifold, Verticorda could feel his life

00:54:02slipping away from him. Yelsik's machine took the full brunt of a volley of flame lance fire,

00:54:08his carapace wreathed in crackling purple flames from a dozen hits. Concussive impacts of grenades

00:54:15blew out his torso section, and the shorn halves of his stricken knight exploded as it skidded

00:54:20into the mass of skitarii.

00:54:22Into them! cried Catarix, seeing the gap Yelsik's death had created.

00:54:28Acting on centuries of instinct, Verticorda followed Catarix into the scattered mob of skitarii,

00:54:34seeing the fur-robed form of Melgator whipping his shield-bearers to carry him away from the

00:54:38rampaging knights. With the last of his energy, Verticorda shouted,

00:54:44I CAST THE LIGHTNING OF TARANIS AT THEE!

00:54:48And together, he and Catarix opened fire. Thunderous impacts strafed the ground and blazed

00:54:55a devastating path through the skitarii towards Melgator. A haze of shimmering blue light erupted

00:55:02around the ambassador, a personal void, but such a device was designed to protect its bearer for

00:55:07short periods of time and against the weapons of an assassin, not those carried by war machines

00:55:13as fearsome as knights. In seconds, the capacity of Melgator's voids was overloaded, and the

00:55:19resulting explosion hurled him through the air. The ambassador didn't even have time to hit the

00:55:24ground before the sustained fire of the knights obliterated his body in a fraction of a second.

00:55:31With Melgator's destruction, Verticorda felt the presence of his mount's former riders

00:55:36fade back into the manifold. The pain of his wounds returned tenfold,

00:55:41and he cried out as he felt yet more impacts on his armour. A missile exploded his knee,

00:55:47the one the Emperor had touched, and Ares Licta fell. The carapace slammed into the ground,

00:55:54and the glass of his cockpit shattered into fragments. Verticorda tasted blood,

00:56:00but felt no pain as he sensed the manifold open up before him.

00:56:06His last living memory was hearing Catarix's voice, shouting his defiance to the end.

00:56:13As Verticorda died, he was smiling, and the spirit of Ares Licta welcomed him.

00:56:243.06

00:56:28Blood and warnings filled the liquid before Cavallerio, telling him of shield ignition

00:56:33failures, reactor bleeds, and a hundred other signs that his engine was suffering. Red droplets

00:56:40flecked the amniotic jelly, oozing from psychostigmatic wounds on his shoulders and torso,

00:56:46and bleeding from his nose. He registered the deaths of three of his engines,

00:56:51but forced himself to concentrate on his own fight. Ahead of him, three warlords advanced

00:56:57before the might of the Imperator, Aquila Ignis. The soaring creation had not yet deigned to open

00:57:04fire. That's arrogance, canted Cavallerio. My princeps, asked Kuiper, bleeding from the

00:57:13side of his head, where a panel had blown out next to him, taking the secondary reactor monitors with

00:57:18it. Nothing, said Cavallerio. Do you have a solution to those warlords on the right?

00:57:24Yes, Storm Lord, confirmed Kuiper. All missiles locked in.

00:57:30Then you may fire at your discretion, Moderati Kuiper, ordered Cavallerio,

00:57:36before addressing his Sensori. Where's that reaver on our right?

00:57:41In the silos a kilometer north of us, reported Pallas.

00:57:45It's fighting Metallus Sabrenia, but it's the one to our left we need to worry about.

00:57:49Vulpes Rex and Arcadia Fortis are gone.

00:57:52Sharak can handle himself, said Cavallerio, and Tharsis Hastatus will deal with the bastard on

00:57:59our left. Princeps Susak also has a warlord to deal with, Kuiper reminded him.

00:58:06He's come through tougher fights, insisted Cavallerio.

00:58:10I shouldn't need to remind you all that we are Legio Tempestus. We fear nothing.

00:58:17Fear nothing!

00:58:19His bold words invigorated the crew, and he felt the delicious shudder of release as the

00:58:24missile pods on his carapace surged from their launchers. At the same time, a sustained barrage

00:58:31of turbo lasers hammered the warlord on the right, while repeated blasts from his volcano cannon

00:58:37punched the warlord in the center. His enemies were giving as good as they got,

00:58:42and each shot Deus Tempestus unleashed was answered with two in reply.

00:58:46But Cavallerio had an advantage the Mortis engines did not. He was linked through the

00:58:51amniotic suspension to the very heart of his machine, and though the immediacy of connection

00:58:56allowed him only a fractional advantage, for a Princeps of the Stormlord's skill,

00:59:01it was the only advantage he needed. The engine drivers of Mortis were good, for no one ever

00:59:07ascended to the Princeps chair of a warlord who had not proved himself a hundred times or more,

00:59:12but they were as fledglings compared to the skill of Indius Cavallerio.

00:59:17With precise evasions and instinctual anticipation of his enemies' thoughts and tactics,

00:59:24Cavallerio had avoided a weight of fire that would have seen a lesser Princeps destroyed thrice over.

00:59:30Deus Tempestus was wounded, but she strode through the storm of enemy fire without fear,

00:59:36and with the banner of Legio Tempestus borne proudly aloft.

00:59:39"'Target's shield strength failing,' reported Pallas.

00:59:43"'The turbos have got him!'

00:59:45"'Multiple missile impacts scored!' shouted Khyper.

00:59:49"'She's burning!'

00:59:50"'Bring us about, Lachus!' cried Cavallerio.

00:59:54"'Volcano cannon on rightmost warlord. A three-pulse volley, if you please!'

01:00:00"'Yes, my Princeps,' replied his steersman, and Cavallerio felt the ancient machine respond,

01:00:06its vast and complex maneuvering systems reacting with the speed of a brand new engine.

01:00:12Cavallerio felt the heat build as the monstrously powerful cannon on his left arm powered up.

01:00:18He saw the stricken warlord slow, and relished the fear its Princeps must be feeling

01:00:23to be so achingly vulnerable. With no shields and his engine burning, his fight was over.

01:00:30"'No, that won't do you any good,' chuckled Cavallerio, as the volcano cannon fired

01:00:37and struck the warlord's shields dead on, battering the last of its protection away.

01:00:42The first blast was immediately followed by two more, and the warlord's upper carapace vanished

01:00:47in the thermonuclear blast as its reactor detonated.

01:00:52"'Center warlord's shields failing!' shouted Pallas.

01:00:55"'It was too close to the explosion!'

01:00:57"'All stop,' ordered Cavallerio.

01:01:00"'Reverse left step and bring us back about, Lachus.

01:01:04Divert all shield power to volcano cannon. I want to make this shot count!'

01:01:10His crew hastened to obey his commands, and Cavallerio felt the groaning strain of metal

01:01:15all around him as he pushed his engine to the limits of its endurance. A moment of doubt

01:01:20flickered across his mind as he remembered doing the same thing to Victorix Magna,

01:01:24but he pushed that thought aside.

01:01:27"'Quickly now,' canted Cavallerio,

01:01:29"'before his shields have a chance to replenish.'

01:01:32A flurry of impacts struck his torso and carapace, and Cavallerio grunted in pain,

01:01:38his flesh convulsing in sympathy with his wounded engine. He felt the damage to Deus

01:01:42Tempestus but shook off the pain. If his engine was paying the price for his tactics, then so

01:01:48too would he.

01:01:49"'Guns charged, my princeps,' reported Kuiper.

01:01:53"'Solution locked!'

01:01:55Cavallerio snatched control of the weapon from his engine's gun servitor.

01:01:59"'Firing!'

01:02:01Once again, the volcano cannon unleashed its deadly fire, the searing bolt of destruction

01:02:07enhanced with all the power Cavallerio could give it. The enemy warlord's shields absorbed

01:02:12the first microsecond of the impact but collapsed with an explosive detonation that tore the

01:02:17upper tiers of its armour away like paper in a storm. Cavallerio kept his aim steady

01:02:23as the fire built in his arm to a raging, searing sensation, and the enemy warlord

01:02:29vanished as his fire burned through its hull and sliced it almost in two.

01:02:34The crew of Deus Tempestus cheered as the warlord broke in two at the waist, its legs

01:02:40left standing as its torso and upper carapace crashed to the ground in a flaming arc of

01:02:46molten metal. Cavallerio let out a shudder of release as he watched the warlord die.

01:02:53It had been a terrible risk altering the shield's strength to empower the volcano cannon,

01:02:57but it had paid off, and now the odds were more even.

01:03:02Then the Aquila Ignis opened fire.

01:03:08Adeptseth tried to remain standing, but the pain in her chest was too great. Her legs

01:03:14gave way beneath her and she slumped to her knees, blood streaming down her chest and back

01:03:19from where Remiari's projectiles had pierced her armour and body. She looked down at her

01:03:25breastplate, seeing the void projector still intact on her chest, then looked up in surprise.

01:03:32Remiari smiled and spun the pistols to face her, relishing Zeth's look of confusion.

01:03:38I suppose you're wondering why your personal void didn't save you, said the assassin as she skimmed

01:03:44over the ground, circling the ring of steel columns that surrounded Zeth. These rounds

01:03:49are handcrafted in the Null-Shielded Forges of Adept Prenzlauer, and utilise technology

01:03:56similar to that found in the warp missiles used by Titans.

01:04:00Actually, said Zeth, coughing a wad of blood into her mask, I was wondering how long it would

01:04:08take for the noospheric drip code I've been broadcasting to affect you.

01:04:15Zeth saw Remiari's surprise in her biometrics and laughed.

01:04:19You think you are so clever, assassin, but I am a high adept of the Mechanicum.

01:04:26Nobody's cleverer than me.

01:04:30Remiari cocked her head to one side, analysing the connection between her and Zeth on the noosphere.

01:04:37No, she cried, seeing the exquisitely elegant code worked into the data packets passing into

01:04:42her augmetics, which was even now, silently and secretly, shutting them down.

01:04:49Too late, hissed Zeth, as Remiari's magno-gravitic thrusters

01:04:54cut out, and the assassin dropped to the floor of the chamber with a heavy thump.

01:04:59Remiari's knees buckled as she landed, unused to feeling herself on the ground with such a

01:05:03weight of useless dead metal on the ends of her legs.

01:05:08Right now, your enhanced metabolism is trying to reboot your systems,

01:05:14but it won't do you any good, said Zeth, using the extruded

01:05:18mechadendrites that were still hooked into the steel columns to haul herself to her feet.

01:05:23It's already too late for you.

01:05:26Zeth fought to control her breathing as her augmented nervous system assessed the damage

01:05:31to her body. One of Remiari's bullets had severed her spinal cord, and she could feel nothing below

01:05:37the waist, but her metallic limbs were more than capable of supporting her for long enough to

01:05:42finish what she had begun. Pain balms and stimulant drugs flooded her body to keep her conscious,

01:05:49and she smiled as the agony of her chest wounds faded.

01:05:52It was temporary, she knew, and her body was dying, even as it eased her pain.

01:05:58I'll kill you, hissed Remiari, fighting unsuccessfully to raise her pistols.

01:06:03No, you won't, said Zeth, before turning to address the primitive-looking servitor.

01:06:10Pulk. The servitor moved to stand before the assassin,

01:06:14and Remiari let out a gasp of recognition as it drew back its hood.

01:06:18You remember Pulk, don't you? asked Zeth. You made sure my apprentice's mind was damaged

01:06:26beyond repair, but even a damaged mind can be rendered into something useful.

01:06:31Oh, he's a crude and ugly thing, I know, but his very crudity is what's protecting him from

01:06:38the trip-code that's affecting you. The servitor that had once been Cantor Pulk

01:06:43bent down and lifted the limp form of the assassin from the ground,

01:06:47her struggles feeble as she tried to fight off Zeth's debilitating code streams.

01:06:53Pulk's crude, piston-augmented muscles held Remiari immobile, and Zeth read her terror

01:06:58and incomprehension of the situation in the flaring spikes of her bioelectric field.

01:07:05Dispels of her, ordered Zeth, pointing with a free hand to the shaft in the center of the chamber

01:07:10that dropped through the forge to the magma beneath, and held her tight all the way down.

01:07:18Zeth turned away, focusing her attentions on the steel control columns that linked her to

01:07:23the vast and complex structure of the magma city's core systems. She looked up at the

01:07:28glowing schematic of her forge, and with heavy heart, issued the last of her macro instructions.

01:07:34Tharsis Hastatus, an engine that had marched to victory on a hundred worlds,

01:07:40was obliterated in a single salvo. A punishing volley from Aquila Ignis's Hellstorm cannon

01:07:46stripped her of her shields in an instant, and a devastating impact from its plasma annihilator

01:07:51reduced it to smoking, white-hot debris. Cavallerio felt the death of his friend and comrade,

01:07:58Cavallerio felt the death of his friend and comrade, Princep Suzak, like a knife to the

01:08:03heart, and fought to control his anger and grief as they threatened to swamp him.

01:08:08The manifold held him in its grip, and his attention was firmly dragged back to the battle.

01:08:14Situation report, he barked. Who's still standing?

01:08:18Pallas sent out an active pulse of Allspec's energy to burn through the interference caused

01:08:23by so much powerful weapon discharge and reactor explosions.

01:08:27I'm only getting returns from Metallus Cyprenia and Raptoria, he said, his voice heavy with

01:08:33disbelief. Ishman's Skitarii are still fighting, but they're almost gone.

01:08:40So caught up in the furious combat was he. Cavallerio had quite forgotten that an equally

01:08:44bloody conflict had been raging beneath him on the ground. In an engine war of such ferocity,

01:08:50infantry was virtually an irrelevance, but it never paid to forget the courage of those who

01:08:55fought beneath the battling leviathans. Get our shields back to full strength, now,

01:09:01he canted, sorting through a morass of data feeds, replaying inloads from his brother Princeps to

01:09:06piece together the battle beyond his immediate concerns. Before his engine's horrifying

01:09:12destruction, Suzak had fought like the killer he was, dispatching a reaver and a warlord before

01:09:18the Imperator had slain him. On the right flank, Princeps Sharak and Metallus Cyprenia had,

01:09:24together with Princeps Kasim and Raptoria, taken down the last reaver which left only the Imperator,

01:09:31Aquila Ignis. The Mortis engines had come expecting an easy victory, and no matter what

01:09:37happened next, they would leave the bulk of their force burning on the Martian sands.

01:09:43Tempestus had earned themselves a legendary place in the history of Mars.

01:09:49It's firing, shouted Kuiper. Cavallerio opened a manifold link to his surviving warriors.

01:09:56All Tempestus engines, this is the Storm Lord. Princeps Cavallerio never got a chance to finish

01:10:03his order, as a thunderous series of impacts smashed into his engine. Searing pain, worse

01:10:09than the death of his beloved Victorix Magna, surged through his body as the weakened shields

01:10:14collapsed under the barrage of missiles from the Imperator's upper bastions.

01:10:19Deus Tempestus' shield emitters blew out in a cascading series of explosions, and the Storm

01:10:25Lord's body spasmed in its tank as the feedback blitzed through his mind, fusing his synapses

01:10:32with those of the manifold. In his last seconds of life, he saw the heroic march of Metallus

01:10:38Sobrenia and Raptoria as they advanced upon the red and silver monster. Their weapons' arms were

01:10:44wreathed in fire as they advanced, heedless of the impossibility of ever hurting the Imperator,

01:10:51though to call it such now that its masters had turned to the cause of treachery seemed perverse.

01:10:57Metallus Sobrenia was the first to die, her right leg blown off, and an almost scornful

01:11:03barrage of rockets finishing her off as she lay helpless in the ruins of a giant loading bay.

01:11:09Raptoria lasted only moments longer. Her shields were torn away by a sweeping blast of gatling

01:11:15cannon fire, and her speed was no protection from a volley of apocalypse missiles that flattened an

01:11:21area a kilometre square. Cavallerio felt their deaths and watched through the manifold as Deus

01:11:28Tempestus sensed them too. Blood poured from his ravaged flesh, and the liquid in his casket was

01:11:35almost opaque with it. He pushed himself to the front of the tank, feeling the fluids pouring

01:11:40from cracks in the glass, and seeing the smoking ruin that was all that was left of his cockpit

01:11:45section. Kuiper was dead, his body slumped and on fire in his moderati's chair, while across from

01:11:52him the steersman, Lachis, was little more than a mangled lump of torn flesh. Cavallerio couldn't

01:12:00see his censuri, now realising that the entire upper section of the cockpit was open to the sky.

01:12:07The engineer who had replaced Magos Argaia, an adept named Thunert, was still alive,

01:12:13only his lack of flesh saving him from the fires that swept the cockpit.

01:12:17Cavallerio fought down his anguish as he saw the triumphant Aquila Ignis stride towards him,

01:12:23its colossal tread shaking the ground. Its guns were silent, and Cavallerio knew why,

01:12:31feeling the spiking pain of Skitarii breaching charges detonating against his engine's leg armour.

01:12:37Mortis wants to capture us, he said. I can feel them crawling inside us already.

01:12:42With what remained of his connection to the manifold, the stormlord linked with the

01:12:46engineer's station. We can't let them take us, Thunert, can't it, Cavallerio?

01:12:54Do you know what we have to do? I do, agreed Thunert, though it goes against all my teachings.

01:13:02The alternative is worse. Then do it, ordered Cavallerio. Disengage all reactor safety systems,

01:13:11all reactor safeties. It is already done, stormlord.

01:13:16May the Omnissiah forgive us, whispered Indias Cavallerio.

01:13:21Seconds later, Deus Tempestus was utterly annihilated,

01:13:26as her plasma reactor went critical with the force of a miniature supernova.

01:13:32The death of Deus Tempestus was almost the last act in the Battle of the Magma City.

01:13:37Almost, but not quite. That honour was saved for the city itself.

01:13:45With the destruction of Legio Tempestus and the death of the Knights of Taranis,

01:13:49the last real opposition to the forces of the Dark Mechanicum were gone.

01:13:53Legio Mortis Scatari poured into the city through the smashed ruins of the sub-hives

01:13:58and landing fields, killing any soldiers they came across and capturing as many of the city's

01:14:03adepts as was possible at such a frantic, bloody time. The scattered remnants of Melgator's army

01:14:09rallied to the snake-headed banner of a Mechanicum warlord named Las Teol,

01:14:15and surged into the city through gates now virtually undefended. The slaughter was terrible,

01:14:21and such was the frenzy of destruction that the bulk of the Dark Mechanicum forces

01:14:25did not realise their peril until it was too late. Artillery fire continued to pound those

01:14:31few areas of the city that still resisted conquest. The ground rumbled and buildings

01:14:36shook with violent tremors, but it was no gunfire that caused these tremors.

01:14:41High on Etna's dam, the sluice gates of the Arsia Mons Caldera locked into the open position,

01:14:48allowing vast, overflowing streams of lava to pour down the aqueducts and into the lagoon.

01:14:54Normally this process was precisely regulated, but Adept Zeth had removed that control,

01:15:01and the Magma Lagoon began filling with lava straight from the heart of the volcano.

01:15:07Far below the street level of the city, the void-protected columns that plunged deep into

01:15:11the bedrock of Mars to support the island of the Great Forge were exposed to the molten heat of

01:15:16the Magma Lagoon. The power that continually replenished the voids had been cut, and the

01:15:22liquid rock began eating into the adamantium columns. The process began slowly at first,

01:15:28then accelerated as more of the inner core of each column was exposed. A groaning crack boomed

01:15:34like the thunder of the gods, and the despoilers of Zeth City paused in their debaucheries and

01:15:40looked to the skies in fear. The great silver road before Zeth's temple split apart, and vast

01:15:46geysers of lava spouted upwards as the southern tip of the city broke free. Towers and temples

01:15:53collapsed, their structures torn and twisted as the city heaved and buckled. The shriek of tortured

01:15:59metal and splitting rock were like the city's death scream, and its violators echoed it as they

01:16:04now guessed the danger. Glowing lava poured in mighty waterfalls from shattered aqueducts,

01:16:11and rivers of blazing rock oozed through the streets, consuming all in their path.

01:16:17Altered skitarii and warp-enhanced protectors perished as they were swept away by the searing

01:16:22tides of molten lava. Soon the city was ablaze from end to end, the magma incinerating anything

01:16:29flammable and melting anything that wasn't. In moments thousands were dead, attackers and

01:16:35inhabitants both, though such a death was a mercy for the denizens of the magma city.

01:16:40The Typhon Causeway cracked at its midpoint, a kilometre-long slab of rock shearing away from

01:16:46the city and tipping more than ten thousand men and war machines into the lava. Wrenched and torn

01:16:52by quakes wracking the city, the Vulcan Gate, which had guarded the entrance to the city for a

01:16:57millennium, fell and broke into a thousand pieces. In the age to come, these would prove to be the

01:17:04only things to survive the cataclysm. Thousands streamed from the city through the wreckage of

01:17:10the landing fields where Tempestus had made its last stand, but such was the overflow from the

01:17:15shattered aqueducts that no escape was possible. An ocean's worth of magma spilled outward,

01:17:21and the heat and fumes soon overtook those few who could outrun the lava.

01:17:27Only Aquila Ignis escaped total destruction, Princeps Camulos turning and marching at flank

01:17:33speed to avoid the tide of molten rock. Even he was not quick enough, the lava flowing around the

01:17:40Imperator's mighty legs and steadily burning through its shielded plates. Aquila Ignis waded

01:17:46through the lava for five steps until at last its armour failed and its ankles gave way.

01:17:54At last the towering engine was brought down by the fury of the planet,

01:17:58its immense bulk crashing to the ground, smashed to destruction on the hard rock of Mars.

01:18:04Its bastions crushed themselves, its cockpit decks were flattened by its unimaginable weight,

01:18:10and only its hellstorm cannon survived the Titan's fall. In time this would be salvaged

01:18:17and taken to another world, but for now it had no more death to deal. The destruction continued

01:18:24within the city as the lava eagerly rose up through the streets to claim what had been

01:18:28denied it for so long by the technological wiles of the Mechanicum. Within an hour nothing remained

01:18:34alive within the Magma City, every living soul burned to ash and every structure brought low.

01:18:41Three hours after Adept Coriel Zeth unleashed doom upon her forge, the Magma City finally

01:18:47sank beneath the great inland lake of lava. The last of its towers were cast down,

01:18:54Zeth's inner forge filled with lava, and all her great works were destroyed as thoroughly as though

01:19:00they had never existed. And with their destruction, all hope of lifting the Imperium into a golden age

01:19:06of scientific progress, not seen since humanity set forth from its birth rock, was lost forever.

01:19:12ADDENDA

01:19:20Far below the Martian plain, the last two Knights of Taranis made a cautious descent

01:19:25into the rocky depths of the Medusa Fossae, a trench system that straddled the border between

01:19:31the highlands and lowlands of Tharsis and Elysium. Both machines clambered down into the darkness

01:19:37while Mars above burned with war. They were each scarred with battle,

01:19:43yet both moved with smooth natural grace, as though fresh from a maintenance refit.

01:19:49Equitas Bellum led the way, with Pax Mortis guarding their rear as they sought an automated

01:19:54research facility of Coriel Zeth that Romu 31 had assured them they would find hidden in this

01:20:00deep canyon. Here the Knights and their two passengers would follow the instructions of

01:20:07the girl with the golden light, and await the end of hostilities to see what was left of their

01:20:11beloved world. Deep in the Noctis Labyrinthus, Dahlia Sithera and Romu 31 took up their

01:20:20stewardship of the dragon. A measure of the golden light that shone within Dahlia had now passed to

01:20:26her protector, and they were content in the knowledge that their friends were as far from

01:20:30the fighting as it was possible to be. Only much later, when Dahlia dared return to the Silver

01:20:37Cavern, did she see that the book containing the Grand Lie of Mars had been taken. Ten thousand

01:20:45years would pass before the next guardian was drawn to the Noctis Labyrinthus, but by then

01:20:52the damage had been done.

01:20:54Adenda ends.

01:20:59Mechanical, written by Graham McNeil, narrated by Toby Longworth.

01:21:21Copyrighted by Games Workshop 2014.

Mechanicum:The Horus Heresy Book 9 Part 7/7

Transcript

Recommended