Chapter 114: Death Divination
Before setting out, Scyvilla went to the Astropathic Chamber within the warship. A blind assault would inevitably result in failure.
The hive city was too large; he couldn't possibly sweep every corner.
He needed the psykers to divine a clear objective for him.
At this moment, within the Astropathic Chamber, members of the Astropathic Choir were fixed upon the surrounding mechanical constructs, with numerous tubes piercing their brains and bodies.
Their eyes were covered.
Their psychic powers and consciousness were linked together through these instruments, and they chanted in unison.
And the Astropath Master of the Ruthless Flame sat in the very center, his eyes tightly shut.
Scyvilla walked before the seated Astropath Master and said to him in an unquestionable tone, "Perform the divination! I need you to show me the target of our attack."
The Astropath Master, who had kept his eyes tightly shut, opened his clouded eyes and looked at Scyvilla before him.
A clear tension could be seen on the Astropath Master's face. He possessed a certain degree of divinatory and precognitive ability.
But normally, this was a very dangerous act, let alone at this time when the surrounding Warp was so active. The Ruinous Powers had already cast their gaze here; any act of communicating with the Warp was dangerous and fatal.
And the more important the matter to be divined, the greater the price that needed to be paid, not to mention divining the fate of this planet that had almost completely fallen into a daemon world.
He already knew his own end. Regardless of whether the divination was successful or not, he and his choir would inevitably pay with their lives.
And he also knew that if he refused, the Inquisitor before him would surely execute him directly in the name of betraying the Imperium.
"Honored Lord Inquisitor, my choir and I are willing to give our lives for the Imperium. But the entity lurking behind this is simply too powerful. Relying on just myself and my choir, even if we give our lives, we cannot succeed. We need more powerful psykers!"
Hearing the Astropath Master's words, Scyvilla turned to look behind him. A man and a woman, both with psyker staves on their backs, stood there. They were even wearing Inquisitorial uniforms.
These two were not acolytes, but formal Inquisitors.
"Les, Quentin, assist the Astropath Master in completing his task!"
Scyvilla's words were equivalent to pronouncing the death sentence for these two Inquisitors.
But in his eyes, these sacrifices were necessary. He had raised these two since they were children; they could be considered Scyvilla's trusted confidants.
And the two had no intention of refusing Scyvilla's request. Having been indoctrinated with the ideals of humanity and the Imperium above all since childhood, they also believed this was a reasonable matter.
Everything was for the great God-Emperor, everything was to annihilate Chaos.
It had to be said that although the people of the Inquisition were fanatics, and many would fall to corruption, before they fell, their loyalty was still extremely reliable.
As long as the goal could be achieved, they would not hesitate to sacrifice even themselves.
As the three powerful psykers, with the help of the Astropathic Choir, began to perform their divination through the power of the Warp, the immense psychic energy caused the space within the chamber to warp.
Floating phantoms of malevolent spirits continuously appeared in the surroundings. These non-corporeal entities coveted the souls of these psykers.
One by one, the members of the Astropathic Choir had psychic flames burst from their eyes, driven mad by the whispers of the Warp as their souls were burned away.
The divination was nearing its end. The Astropath Master could no longer speak any words. He gaped, looking at the ceiling as if trying to find what he sought from the Empyrean.
Les and Quentin had also reached their limit. The veins all over their bodies stood out on the surface of their skin. Both of them seemed to have seen a great terror, making even them, as Inquisitors, unable to help but feel fear.
The psychic energy was destroying their souls and their bodies.
"The… Spire… District… the skull mound… must be fast! If we're not fast, it will be too late!"
The Astropath Master gritted his teeth and forced out the last few words.
After saying this, his eyes began to turn blood red, and in an instant, two horns sprouted from his skull.
The originally loyal Astropath suddenly shouted a prayer to Khorne and lunged directly at Scyvilla.
And with the sound of a boltgun shot, the Astropath Master's head exploded like a watermelon.
Looking at the corpses of his confidants and the Astropath Master, Scyvilla's heart remained unmoved. At least their deaths had value; he had obtained the information he wanted.
"Burn this place clean."
Then, Scyvilla walked out of the Astropathic Chamber without looking back.
With a target now, one Valkyrie and transport aircraft after another, fully loaded with soldiers, headed towards the hive city.
And many of these soldiers were clad in CMC combat suits, all obtained through trade with the Mongorte Dynasty.
The Mechanicus's heavy transports carried entire batteries of artillery and Leman Russ tanks.
And the Adeptus Mechanicus's own Skitarii also joined the battle, and there were even entire maniples of battle-automata.
The Imperial Navy provided a dozen fighter squadrons for the landing force, beginning strategic bombing runs as they approached the hive city. However, the effect was not ideal.
High-altitude bombing was blocked by the void shield protecting the hive city, while low-altitude bombing runs would be hit by the mortal rebels.
And Thunderhawk Gunships carried the Deathwatch, as well as Scyvilla himself.
As a Lord Inquisitor, Scyvilla had not let his power make him neglect the improvement of his own strength. His personal suit of artificer power armor made his combat prowess not to be underestimated, and the master-crafted power maul in his hand was immensely powerful.
And among his Inquisitorial elite, there was no shortage of powerful psykers.
And on another cluster of transport ships were the gene-enhanced soldiers of the Kourda Dynasty, a Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus with his Legio Cybernetica, and even Ecclesiarchy priests carrying holy relics that resisted Warp encroachment.
There was no room for strategy, only the most direct combat.
Chaos daemons, renegade Astartes, and those mortal rebels – could they really be defeated by the forces they had now?
Scyvilla knew better than anyone the severity of the situation. The warship calling for reinforcements had already left. He could now only hope to destroy the center of that ritual.
He didn't need to win this battle immediately; as long as he could prevent this planet from being completely transformed, that would be enough.
To achieve this goal… even if all the Imperial forces below died, it would be worth it, including himself.
All the soldiers on this planet, including himself, were also sacrifices. And an unusual feeling arose in his heart.
That was, he actually found himself hoping that Lucan would arrive soon…
And the battle on the ground was brutal.
However, those Legio Cybernetica automata descending from the sky cleared the obstacles for the landing force with their powerful firepower.
One Infernus-pattern automaton after another, like drones, attacked the enemy from the air.
Even with sufficient piety to the God-Emperor, the power of the Warp still eroded every Imperial soldier on this planet.
For most of the soldiers here, this was likely the first time in their lives they had seen a real daemon.
Many didn't even know they existed.
These unnatural entities that transcended the physical world were not only far superior to mortals in their power; their very existence eroded the human will.
Soldiers watched as Bloodletters, still fighting after being hit by concentrated las-fire, tore their comrades to shreds.
This completely exceeded their understanding.
A large number of rebels and a small number of Bloodletters – even an Astartes wouldn't dare say he could definitely kill one of these Bloodletters.
And among these soldiers, the ones clad in combat suits held the line.
Melee was particularly effective against these Bloodletters, and the strength amplification provided by the combat suits also compensated for the weakness of mortal flesh.
But there were only ten thousand such soldiers. For every one that died, one was lost, and there were no Medics as backup. Compared to the entire hive city's battlefront, they were too few, while the daemons could keep on coming.
If not for the fact that the number of daemons was still small for now, the mortal forces would have completely collapsed.
The greatswords in the hands of the Bloodletters could even effortlessly tear through the armor of a Leman Russ tank.
The mortal forces paved a path with their lives. Priests shouted the God-Emperor's name to boost morale, and pilgrims even launched suicidal attacks to destroy the enemy.
But they soon encountered enemies who came to stop them.
The Astartes of the Skulltakers warband also arrived. When they joined the battle, the situation was no longer something that could be pushed forward by ordinary mortal troops.
Even one battle-automata after another was destroyed under their attack.
Loyalists and traitors began a bloody hunt for each other in the spire of the hive city.
And with the bloody battle raging across the entire planet, the skull mound also began to absorb more and more power. A terrifying presence was attempting to descend upon this world.
(End of Chapter)
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