Following the confirmation of the psychic phenomena, the Imperial Inquisition, prodded by the Tetrarches of Ultramar, acted with immediate severity. A task force comprising several Inquisitorial Black Ships and Grey Knights Battle Barges translated into the void almost instantly. Accompanying them were two Successor Chapters of the Ultramarines. This was, after all, Segmentum Ultima, the domain of Roboute Guilliman; here, the sons of the XIII Legion were as ubiquitous as the stars themselves.
This fleet of over a dozen capital ships converged and set a course for the epicenter of the catastrophe.
However, no sooner had the fleet transitioned into the Immaterium than they were beset by a localized tempest of Neverborn. The daemons, having been denied their psychic feast by the mechanical fleet, and having been unceremoniously trampled by Titan-class vessels protected by impenetrable Geller Fields, were in a state of frustrated fury. The Imperial fleet, arriving precisely as this tide of malice was looking for a target, received a "welcome" of unprecedented violence.
A sea of daemonic entities fell upon the Imperial vessels without hesitation.
In the churning, chaotic reaches of the Empyrean, the Imperial ships fought to maintain their headings. Their adamantium hulls, bathed in the shifting, iridescent madness of the Warp, flickered like dying embers, lone sparks of order and righteousness holding out against the encroaching dark. The psychic tides surged violently, as if a great, unseen hand had stirred a black ocean, hurling countless warp-spawn against the hulls of the faithful.
The Warp repeatedly tested the integrity of the fleet's Geller Fields. Wherever a flicker of instability occurred, the reek of the empyrean flooded in like a breached dam. Daemonic entities manifested within the ships' corridors, surging through the decks like a rising tide. They were nightmares given form, their grotesque shapes twisting and shifting in the gloom.
Some were wreathed in baleful green fire, sporting great leathery wings and jagged fangs, their shrieks enough to freeze a mortal's blood. Others were bloated, vermiform horrors resembling gargantuan maggots, covered in thousands of lashing tentacles and weeping corrosive slime. Each movement of these massive entities sent tremors through the local warp-space as they pulled their bulk through the service ducts. Most terrifying were the jagged, scarlet-hued killers wreathed in red mist; they moved with supernatural speed, appearing and vanishing within the fog to butcher anyone in their path.
The cacophony of roars, bellows, and insane titters formed a horrific symphony that echoed through the bulkheads of every Imperial vessel. The scions of the Four Great Powers, alongside primal warp-predators and nameless things, bared their fangs as one.
Within the steel arteries of the ships, the lighting flickered under the strain of empyrean interference while klaxons wailed a continuous, shrill lament.
Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus, garbed in the austere vestments of witch-hunters and wielding bolters sanctified by the Ministorum and the Mechanicus, led squads of Storm Troopers and naval ratings to hold the intersections. When the daemons finally breached the defensive lines, they were met by a wall of fire, a torrential downpour of bolt shells and heavy stubber rounds. As specialists in the excision of the daemonic, the Inquisitors possessed rare and potent tools; some even carried magazines loaded with "Psyk-out" shells, ammunition laced with the powdered remains of Sisters of Silence. For the Neverborn, the sheer ferocity of this mortal resistance was a shock to their malformed senses.
Yet, some daemons were far unluckier than their kin.
Those who managed to materialize within the ships, roaring their arrogance in anticipation of a slaughter, found themselves facing the Grey Knights. The Emperor's Hammer did not hesitate. Brilliant arcs of psychic lightning danced across the silver-clad giants as they waded into the fray.
The legacy of Malcador the Sigillite, the Grey Knights are the Imperium's ultimate solution to the daemonic threat. Each brother is a potent psyker, possessing absolute loyalty and a faith that is as unyielding as the adamantium they wear. While conventional weapons, even those equipped with molecular disintegration fields, often fail to deliver a killing blow to warp-entities, the Grey Knights were forged for this singular purpose.
"With faith as our armor, piety as our shield, and will as our blade, we are armed with purity of purpose. The Emperor's will is made manifest through us. We are the warriors of the Grey Knights, the Daemonhunters. Chaos cannot break us; we are the Hammer in His hand!"
With a low, rhythmic chant, these warriors, clad in Aegis-pattern Terminator armor, ignited their Nemesis force halberds and swords. Their armor was a masterpiece of arcane science and mechanical craft, its shell a composite of adamantium and ceramite capable of shrugging off physical trauma, energy blasts, and psychic assaults alike. The surface was etched with a dense web of protective runes and sigils that flared with silver light upon contact with the Warp, forming an Aegis shield that repelled curses and mental subversion.
Arcs of psionic fire crackled along the blades, snapping in the air. The Grey Knights moved through the decks as efficient engines of exorcism. The ships' Machine Spirits assisted their efforts, cycling blast doors to funnel the daemons directly into the Knights' path. With casual gestures, they unleashed psychic lightning that rendered their wrist-mounted Storm Bolters almost redundant. Any entity strong enough to survive the lightning was instantly decapitated by a silver blade.
The Ultramarines, meanwhile, were far better equipped than many had expected.
Recognizing the psychic nature of the threat, the Tetrarches had outfitted these companies with newly forged anti-psionic shields. These bulwarks were inset with the pale, sanctified bones of the Sisters of Silence. This abundance of relics was made possible by a shipment of remains recently transferred from Terra to Ultramar. The artisans of Macragge, unaware of the grim origin of the bones, had merely remarked upon the scale of the "unnamed war" that must have claimed so many of the Emperor's Null-maidens.
Gripping these anti-psionic shields, the Ultramarines engaged the daemons in brutal close-quarters combat. Because the Geller Fields were still partially functional, the Neverborn were denied the full strength of the Warp. Pressed against the "null-resonance" of the Sisters' bones, the daemons withered, allowing the Astartes to systematically dismantle them with chainswords and power blades as if they were mere whelps.
Despite the prowess of the defenders, the daemonic tide was seemingly infinite. Led by the Grey Knights' Battle Barges, the fleet was forced to fight a grueling transit, weathering constant breaches and manifestations until they could finally find a stable warp-rift to translate back into the cold safety of real-space.
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