The Aquila Ignis, an Emperor-class Titan of the Legio Mortis, advanced with slow, heavy steps.
Beyond the traditional black, red, and silver livery, its steel armor bore the emblem of the Eye of Horus.
The comm channels were filled with terrible scrapcode. The machine-spirit howled, eager to unleash its killing intent.
Bang!
Its massive steel foot crushed a fuel pipe in the refinery. With a roar, the pipe exploded, black smoke scarring the sky.
Two Warhounds of the Legio Tempestus, their melta cannons blazing, turned their fire on the Legion's Auxiliaries.
Turbolasers, struck the Auxiliaries' steel vehicles, their beams melting through the hulls, turning the soldiers to gas.
Amidst the shrieking scrapcode, mechanical arms eagerly rose.
Though the Mortis and Tempestuss had fought alongside each other for a millennium, marching together against the techno-barbarians of the Fallen Plains, burning all tech-cannibals and the Old Night's ghosts, their territories and allies bordered in countless regions.
For territory and power, for the right to use the priceless ancient technology found in the Rust Dunes, they had fought countless bloody conflicts. The hatred between them was etched into the machine-spirit of every Titan.
The Emperor-class Titan raised its massive Bellicosa cannon, locking onto a Tempestus Warhound. A beam of destruction lanced out, felling its rival.
A mushroom cloud rose, expanding.
Destroying two Tempestus God-machines could not satisfy the circling scrapcode's bloodlust, nor could it vent the accumulated hatred.
Camulos gave his orders swiftly.
"Steersman, hunt the enemy!"
"Sensori, track the missiles!"
"Moderatus Minoris, lock onto the next target!"
The Moderatus Minoris answered quickly. "My Princeps, Defense 0-5-2, 490 meters."
The scrapcode raced, its information spreading rapidly among the crew, dyeing their eyes red.
With the updated situational awareness, Camulos locked onto his next prey.
"Moderatus Majoris, upload weapon fire commands. Missile salvo of three, two-second intervals."
Camulos felt the heavy guns move, as if they were part of his own body.
Three missiles shot from his shoulder mounts, their explosions collapsing the Reaver's void shield.
The Reaver staggered. One of its arms was blown to fragments, flames spilling out.
"The Tharsis Hastatus has been hit." The cold voice made the amniotic fluid churn. Scenes from the Great Crusade flashed through Indias Cavalerio's mind.
The scorching surface of Spire Zero, the long hunt for its xenos.
Following Guilliman's crusade, especially the desperate battle at the Psychean Binary Cluster.
Cavalerio knew he could not turn back to rescue the Reaver's Princeps, Susak. He had to leave Mars alive, to confirm Maximus Karania's loyalty.
"Sensori, I need an image." Cavalerio ordered.
"The image acquisition array is damaged. I can't get a complete picture."
"Give me what you can." Cavalerio said.
Static crackled. Snowy, shaking images appeared.
The Tharsis Hastatus, retreated, limping.
Its weapons roared, but its limited energy made its remaining shields even more fragile.
A missile struck the God-machine, shaking its engines.
The Deus Tempestus's machine-spirit howled. Its massive steel foot stopped.
"You know we can't go back." Cavalerio said, his voice pained. His body, suspended in amniotic fluid, seemed to wither in an instant.
"Storm Lord, I will buy you time." Arkhan Land's consciousness touched his.
"Order them to lock in an escape vector. From now on, you will have no communications, and you can't rely on any augur arrays."
"Arkhan? That's an Emperor-class." Cavalerio asked, confused.
He had heard that Arkhan had recently killed a Cydonia Sister. But a Titan was a war engine, a different kind of killer from a mechanised assassin.
"There's no time to explain. If you want to save your Tempestus God-machines, do as I say."
Without analyzing it with his war-engines, Cavalerio gave the order.
"Moderatus Primus, order all God-machines to lock onto the direction of the Legion fortress at Mount Askrales."
"All servitors, prepare to receive the God-machines. Withdraw to the Deus Tempestus."
Cavalerio, hoping, focused on the image.
A searing beam struck the Tharsis Hastatus's right arm.
A rain of fragments fell. The Reaver Titan lurched, almost toppling.
Cavalerio's vision blurred. He was about to order the spotter to boost the signal, but found all the images growing hazy.
Even the Deus Tempestus's primary view was rapidly losing clarity, plunging into darkness.
"What's happening?" he projected.
"Storm… magnetic… interference…"
The God-machine's open link seemed blocked.
'The darkness Arkhan created can even blind a Titan's augur arrays?' Cavalerio wondered.
The Warlord-Class Titan's augur arrays included radar scanners, echo locators, spectral sensors, electromagnetic detectors, and many others, painting a precise picture of the surrounding terrain and enemy positions.
The multi-layered augur arrays could detect heat signatures, ground movement, motor noise, even the sound of fallen bricks struck by enemies trying to flee the God-machine's fury.
But now, he could see nothing, hear nothing. It was as if he had been stripped from the noisy battlefield and thrown alone into a dark, desolate wilderness.
Just as Cavalerio found the right words for his situation, a surge of relief washed over him.
'Alone… wilderness…'
That meant the powerful Emperor-class Titan might also be unable to lock onto them. The Tempestus God-machines could escape along the pre-set defensive line.
He immediately understood Arkhan's earlier demand.
'Arkhan has no sanctified mechanization. How could his flesh-and-blood form unleash such a strange power?'
'Could it truly be the favor of the Omnissiah?'
Slowly, Cavalerio turned his attention to the Herald outside the amniotic tank.
"Order all systems to coordinate through the internal conduits."
Thump! Thump!
The Deus Tempestus's stride shortened by half. It moved clumsily, as if a Warhound crew had been suddenly promoted to a Warmaster.
He felt his way forward through the darkness, moving towards Mount Askrales.
His right foot passed over the forge temple, but he was unaware.
Arkhan stood at the temple's gate, watching the shadow pass overhead.
In the entire central sector of the forge-city, only the "Astronomer" could see the twin stars shining in the sky, and the light they swallowed.
With his spirituality, he traced the astronomical phenomenon he had observed at the Cradle of Serpents, following the Omnissiah's command, the alignment of Alpha and Beta Serpentis at a 3.3-degree angle.
The essence of this phenomenon was a duality of spirituality: the mutually interfering light of the twin stars swallowing all light and creating a mechanical-level electromagnetic interference.
The "Astronomer's" eyes blazed with a pure mechanical gold. The starlight slowly turned.
He looked at the sky. The illusory image appeared before his consciousness.
The Aquila Ignis moved like a blinded bear, stumbling and charging, blindly crashing into a reactor running at full power.
Rumble!
In the silent, endless darkness, the explosion tore apart a Mortis Warhound.
The Emperor-class Titan's massive left leg lurched. It staggered a dozen steps, almost toppling.
....
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