Aboard the Shadow's Sovereignty, in the Primarch's office.
Nareth leaned back against his throne, addressing Chief Librarian Thomas.
"To hell with the Edict of Nikaea."
"All Librarians are to join the combat roster. Use telepathy to ensure our communications remain open."
Thomas's eyes lit up. "Praise my Lord. You are, as always, wise."
His last doubts dispelled, the Chief Librarian left the Primarch's office with his head held high.
Nareth walked to his quarters and stepped into the Kingdom of Disorder.
Seated upon his great throne in the fourth layer, he extended his spirituality, touching the glowing orb of Dementieva.
"You will find an opportunity to depart for Potsdam and join Maria."
Dementieva, along with Maria Kournikova and other "Pleasures," "Witches," "Instigators," and "Assassins," were operating across dozens of worlds in the Akum-Sothos Cluster, following his commands.
Dementieva knelt, her hands clasped in an inverted hold, praying in response.
"By Your will."
A rain of black Dreadclaw shot from the Shadows of Order's fleet, blanketing the northern hemisphere.
At the same moment, the synchronized drop timer hit zero, and a torrent of pearl-white "Luna Wolves" drop pods, along with a smaller number of Emperor's Children and a few red Blood Angels pods, streaked through the atmosphere, plummeting towards the southern hemisphere.
The moment the Tenth Chapter's Dreadclaws, engraved with the Shadow Rose, entered the atmosphere, the previously calm clouds were activated, churning violently.
Layer upon layer of thick thunderclouds battered the Dreadclaws.
The black mechanical claws spun like whipped tops, but their guidance systems held true, locked onto their designated coordinates without deviation.
Crackle...
A series of explosions as the Dreadclaws slammed into the dry, withered trees.
Boom, boom, boom!
The shockwaves, wreathed in the flames of the friction-heated thunderclouds, spread rapidly across the red sand. The tall stalks at the edge of the grassland snapped and burned.
Ramsey landed, opening his comms.
Hearing only static, he turned to Chief Librarian Thomas. "I need the Librarians to keep communications open."
"Understood." Thomas, the "Constellations Master," replied loudly. He spread his spirituality, covering a three-hundred-meter radius around himself.
Using the "Secret Voice" he had mastered as a "Scrolls Professor," he established a covert channel, linking Ramsey and fifty of his Honour Guard, including Sasebo Tezuka .
As a "Scrolls Professor," when he had fully mastered the power granted by the Black Emperor, the maximum range of his channel was eighty-five meters, and could only connect nine individuals.
The telepath also ascended to the Second Level of the Magnus state, extending his consciousness.
Pfft, pfft, pfft...
Streams of psychic light shot towards him, converging on his position.
The nearest was Melon, a telekinetic Librarian of the Tenth Chapter, about five kilometers away.
Further out were the Librarians more skilled in telepathic communication.
Thomas's eyes were deep, distinguishing the two methods of covert communication within his isolated mind.
'Telepathy has a longer range and can connect more individuals. My Lord's "Secret Voice" is more secure, harder for other psykers to intercept, and the channel is more stable.'
As Thomas pondered, his superhuman mind coordinated both networks: the short-range, small-scale "Secret Voice" network and the network covering the Tenth Chapter's 35,400 combatants.
He processed the chaotic feeds, forming an ordered tactical picture for Ramsey.
Thirty-five dynamic images flashed through Ramsey's mind as he established contact with his various company commanders.
Static... Eighteen of the images showed the grasslands trembling.
Three-meter-tall, eight-legged Megarachnid-creatures leaped from the undergrowth.
Their four hind legs propelled them forward, their four front legs raised.
Ramsey's gaze focused on the 4th Company, which Melon was accompanying.
The ten Shadows of Order on the perimeter raised their Bedrock-pattern boltguns, aiming at the Megarachnids.
The diamond-hard shells angled past the xenos' armored chests, over the pectinate armor on their heads, striking the vulnerable necks between the cephalothorax and the limbs.
Boom, boom, boom...
The Megarachnids' heads exploded, white ichor spraying.
Their front legs flailed wildly, then they crashed to the ground.
During the voyage, the Shadows of Order of the three participating Chapters had studied the intelligence on the Megarachnids provided by their gene-father.
Their bodies were covered in a thick, mottled grey carapace that could withstand multiple bolter rounds.
They had no eyes; their cephalothorax could resist a power sword's disintegration field. Only their necks were vulnerable.
Hundreds of the xenos exploded, their legs scrabbling uselessly, crashing to the ground, their bodies slamming into the tall grass.
Thomas looked around, his ever-open "Eyes of Mystery Prying" peering into the depths of the undergrowth. He called out warnings.
"One o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock, six o'clock, eight o'clock, ten o'clock, eleven o'clock."
His voice echoed simultaneously in the minds of Ramsey and his fifty Honour Guard. They turned.
A chorus of ticking sounds, like a hundred clocks chiming at once.
Blurred forms shot towards them, far faster than the Tenth Chapter's Shadows of Order could move. They were only visible as vague blurs.
A Megarachnid lunged at a Honour Guard, its four front legs scything down.
Each joint bore meter-long blades, sheathed in hard metal, tearing through the Cataphractii-pattern Terminator armor like grass.
The Honour Guard was cut down, his flesh splayed.
Whoosh!
The scattered flesh flowed like wax, climbing the chitinous carapace, reaching the spider's cephalothorax.
Boom!
The flesh exploded, reforming in mid-air.
Drops of flesh, sizzling, struck the spider's chitinous body, rolling off.
The flesh re-solidified, reforming the Shadows of Order's form, sealing the wounds left by the blades.
The "Rose Bishop" stepped forward, raising a hand. An ethereal shadow-blade materialized.
It resembled the spider's joint-blades, but was slightly shorter.
Ramsey, the biomancer, raised his hand. A bolt of lightning struck the spider's cephalothorax.
Boom!
Its charred head exploded. The scattered flesh, as if alive, flew towards Ramsey, adhering to his Cataphractii Armor.
He exploded into a cloud of blood, the mass of flesh dragging his black armor as he lunged at another Megarachnid.
Thick shadows engulfed the spider, crushing its grey carapace, which even bolter rounds could barely scratch.
Its broad, wedge-shaped head shuddered, its mouthparts clicking in agitation.
Silently, the mottled carapace was melted by the "Shepherd's" shadows, absorbed into his being.
Ramsey's form slowly coalesced. He surveyed the battlefield. The trembling of the grasslands had ceased.
He turned his attention to the status of his thirty-five companies. His gaze sharpened.
"The 14th Company is under heavy attack. The 3rd Company is advancing to nine o'clock. The 6th Company is pushing towards one o'clock. Support them."
After issuing the order, Ramsey turned to his Honour Guard. "Five o'clock."
....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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