Capítulo 83: Chapter 11 Part 2
Chapter 11: Daemon's Bane
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Part 2
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Deimos Peninsula
Kronus
"We'll dine in hell?" Weber threw my earlier words back in my face. He might have been sarcastic, however, it was hard to tell through the distortion of his respirator.
There were glowing rivers of magma in the distance, thanks to a deorbited Ares platform that hit something sensitive in the planet's crust. As a consequence, our right flank was reasonably secure for now – a brand-new volcano was busy erupting over there, grounding most flights in the area and making a no-go zone for the majority of Heretics. Daemons and Traitor Astartes might be able to slip through, however, their regular ground forces would be stymied.
That was the consensus anyway. Nevertheless, two Infantry regiments were busy digging in at the outer edge of the zone covered by Eldar Walkers and a few Necron Drone Swarms. The expendable little horrors had little issue going into that particular slice of hell and mostly getting back.
That covered the fire and brimstone part of the hell comparison. The army of Daemons massing just behind the Chaos arcane defenses accounted for another check on the list. The Heretics were obviously the damned souls, who begged to be purged for good.
"We'll have to clean up the place a bit, first." I relented.
This place was our first forward operational base within Chaos infested territory, a location of vital importance for multiple reasons. First, it was on a rocky plateau, offering some defensive advantages and a great position to mass regimental artillery. Second, we needed a reasonably secure logistics and repair hub. Third, this would be a processing center for the wounded. Those well enough to pull back would board evacuation transports, while the poor bastards suffering any trace of corruption would either get lucky or receive the Emperor's mercy.
Fourth, this would be the first field test of the Necron Pylons and so far, they worked beautifully. When we arrived at the heels of blunted armored spearheads, the plateau was a slaughterhouse crawling with Necrons murdering every single heretic who didn't have the good grace to die already or run.
As soon as we arrived, the effect was spectacular, yet not precisely the one we expected. The ground, which had bleeding patches of mixed soil and flesh writhed, screamed, and died. Unnatural growths rapidly withered and turned to ash to be carried away by the wind. Profane symbols upon wrecked vehicles and equipment burst into fire and faded away. The half-melted remains of an auto-cannon screeched and tried to crawl away before collapsing into twisted metal.
A mutant shrieked and fell dead before a Wraith could dismember it.
More importantly, I could hear an angry and surprised cacophony produced by infuriated daemons who clawed at the borders of reality itself and suddenly found them strengthened. The fact this could startle me wasn't particularly surprising on second thought. Selene's presence had kept it all away until now.
I looked around, searching for the kid, who was supposed to stay at my side no matter what. She was near the front half of a traitor Chimera, looking inside.
"Charles, make sure Selene doesn't get away again," I told my Commissar friend. He looked around as well, then rapidly made his way to her.
Meanwhile, I examined the surrounding Warp. There was the familiar void where Selene was. I could vaguely perceive the literal hell that awaited us beyond the Pylon's effect. That prick Eliphas was trying to turn Kronus into a Daemon World and there were countless warp-spawned bastards gleefully trying to claim it for themselves.
Despite that, the Warp right around us was calm, clean, I guess? I never had experienced something like this. Those Pylons didn't just strengthen the borders of reality, they somehow pushed away all the things infesting the Immaterium, creating pockets of calm. That was the best way I could put it into words. Just standing here, being barely able to touch the Immaterium, much less being able to use its energies for anything, was refreshing.
With access to this, how in the Emperor's name did the Necrons lose the War in Heaven? Didn't they know what they had?! This was similar, yet different from what I felt under the effect of the Pylon they gave us. Was it because it was an older, less refined model? Or perhaps the number of Pylons active nearby?
I was at loss for words!
Selene's approaching presence restarted my brain, either that or the lack of the sudden and unexpected sensation of peace and relaxation I experienced.
The girl skipped happily to my side, or so it seemed. It was hard to be sure with Selene covered from head to toe in sealed armor of her own. To give credit where credit is due, Scipio's Cogboys and girls outdid themselves.
"You, young lady, are staying right beside me! Is that clear, Selene?" I demanded.
The little Blank looked up for a few seconds and eventually nodded.
"The kid needs a minder." Charles pointed out. "Perhaps more than one."
"Two minders are on the way." The Necron Lord's deep voice startled me.
Ever since we arrived, he had been standing nearby, staring in the distance and presumably coordinating his forces.
I was about to ask what the over-sized murder-bot had in mind when painfully familiar emerald lightning struck nearby. The optics of my helmet helped spare my sight. When I could see again, there were two rather short and slim Necrons standing behind Selene. They held smaller variants of the standard Gauss weapons loved by the aliens. Their heads swung around, scanning for threats.
"Human designation Selene, strategic status critical. We will ensure safety." One of the newcomers spoke in a typical Necron fashion.
"Well, they should have no problem being around her," Weber muttered. "No offense meant!" He hastily added when Selene turned her head to look at him.
"Let's carry on. We have a job to do."
"Affirmative." The odd duo chorused in stereo.
"Commissar, please check when the field HQ will be operational and ensure the Tech-Priests have everything they might need to expedite construction."
Charles saluted and promptly left. The rest of my bodyguard detail was less fortunate. I didn't need my Psyker abilities, or any training for that matter, to see that Corporal Santos and his Stormtrooper buddies were on edge, and not just because of our location.
The Ogryns, on the other hand, nonchalantly talked to each other. While sharp and alert for threats, they didn't show any visible unease from either Selene or the Necrons, bless their simple souls.
"The enemy is preparing to hit us hard before we can fortify this position." The Necron Lord announced. He swiped clawed fingers through the air, and a high-definition hologram appeared in front of us. It showed tall, twisted altars pulsing with Warp energy and surrounded by large pools of blood. Just beyond them, I could see a thick mass of purple, gray, and red flesh. There were all kinds of appendages which had no place being part of humanoid bodies. I didn't want to think about the countless ravenous maws filled with razor-sharp teeth.
"That's a lot of Daemons." And every single one of them wanted to skull-fuck us while eating our guts. Or much worse.
The image changed, showing three armored columns. Two made of Traitor PDF and Guard units, with the third, waiting farther back, consisting of Traitor Astartes and Daemon Engines. There was at least a company worth of those never sufficiently damned bastards ready to slam into our lines at the first sign of weakness. On a closer examination, most of those Traitors were more Daemon now, with all kinds of things sticking through their corrupted armors - spiky tentacles, additional arms, tongues with eyeballs, a screaming face...
Wisely, I decided not to look any closer unless one of them was trying to kill me.
Warp distortions and arcane defenses meant that indirect fire was all but useless. We confirmed that after half an hour bombardment, which failed to hit anything of value.
"Watch." The Necron focused my attention on a new image. We were looking at the twisted altars, which pulsed with energy from top to bottom, then discharged it in wide circular waves.
Unless protected by a sufficiently powerful Blank, or potentially a Pylon, anyone alive caught in such a blast would have their soul torn from its mortal coil and thrown into the Warp with predictable results.
Traitor artillery thundered and the horde of ravenous Daemons charged past the altars.
"Now it begins." The Necron declared. He sounded almost happy and soon I figured out why.
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder