Diedrech Torismund still had no idea just how much bizarre stuff the Emperor had stuffed into him during his creation, but one thing was certain: these Warp and physical concoctions absolutely violated the Imperial Truth.
As the first Waaagh! cry rang out, it was quickly followed by a chorus of Waaaagh! chants that filled the entire battlefield. Those Atlantians a bit farther away, seeing their brothers reveling in ecstasy, began joining in with their own howls.
In less than five minutes, the five thousand Atlantians delving into the hive city ruins were all glowing with green light, rampaging like a pack of wild dogs let off the leash.
The good news was that these black-armored giants were even more ferocious. The bad news was that the Second Legion was hurtling down the path of heresy with no turning back.
"Pfft! Heresy? Just silence all the witnesses, and our secret stays safe."
Rather than wallow in mental anguish, Diedrech chose to abandon all restraint. His mindset flipped a full 180 degrees, thinking he'd been overcomplicating things. Since he'd landed in this cesspool, he couldn't face it with a normal person's mentality.
With a casual punch, a mechanical sentinel trying to sneak up on him had its head blasted off. Amid his sons' cheers, Diedrech, like a fully insured semi-truck, launched into a headlong charge.
Walls blocking the path were smashed apart. Sentinels daring to fight back were hacked into scraps by his blade. If it was a wall, he demolished it; if it was an enemy, he killed it.
Even the soulless machines, which should have known no fear, began to turn and flee when faced with such a beast.
But Diedrech, now riding a high, wasn't about to let them escape. The memory of being crushed under a Titan's foot by these robots, only to be bombarded by his own sons afterward, fueled a growing, burning resentment. He wanted nothing more than to rip out their fuel lines.
"Trying to run? In your dreams!"
A dense web of emerald lightning surged around the golden-haired giant, casting half the hive in a verdant glow. Steel, normally unyielding, twisted and warped, transforming into spears that shot skyward before plunging back down to bombard the earth.
But it didn't end there. The spears piercing the enemies began to heat up, emitting an unsettling dull red glow, then exploded one after another.
Amid the relentless blasts, a grassy illusion flickered to life within the flames, and from it leaped a trench-coated, heavily armored greatsword warrior.
"Lightning~ Whirlwind Slash!"
Such an inhuman spectacle would have raised questions in any other legion, but to the Atlantians, it only showcased their Primarch's might.
"Gah—This must be Father's great power!"
Seeing their father so formidable, the Atlantians charged, each pulling out their signature moves. Some clutched bundles of grenades, acting like suicidal grenade kings. Others hoisted melta guns for face-melting boarding actions. There was even a Dreadnought, half its rear stuck in a tank, drifting wildly.
The entire hive became a chaotic dance of madness, leaving Gough, commanding from the rear, with a tingling scalp and twitching eyelids.
"Damn it, who's the idiot disobeying orders? I'll have them dragged out and shot!"
"Sir, that seems to be our father."
"…"
The adjutant's words silenced Gough. Glancing at the battle-brothers staring at him, Gough scratched his head before barking at the adjutant in a harsh tone:
"Why didn't you warn me sooner? What if Father gets a scratch? Get that dog Brian to support him! What's the Primarch's retinue doing? Move it!"
The adjutant wanted to point out that, given Father's current state, the retinue might not know who was protecting whom, but he knew saying it would earn him a beating.
Meanwhile, Diedrech, fully immersed in the thrill of battle, had completely let loose. No longer bound to melee slashing, he tossed aside his greatsword and hefted two aircraft-mounted heavy bolters.
With the Primarch's superhuman physique, he executed righteous backstabs, single-handedly suppressing the entire frontline.
Muzzle flashes flickered everywhere, illuminating Diedrech's maniacal laughter, now tinged with the frenzy of overwhelming firepower:
"Combat, glorious!"
Perhaps Diedrech and the Second Legion's performance was too spectacular, because it sent a certain behind-the-scenes big shot into ecstasy. Even in an era with thick dimensional barriers, this entity was willing to splurge on blessings.
"That's the one! I want him! No—both of them are mine!"
However, it was rare enough for the four vile entities to gather around a screen like this, and the other three absolutely wouldn't allow one to hog the table. All were deeply enamored with this peculiar chess piece.
"Get lost, you brainless hack-and-slash mutt. This piece is mine. Letting him follow you would waste his talents!"
The blue great coo-coo extended its tentacles, shedding its usual scheming charlatan persona, and *slapped* Khorne across the face.
"He can make Ogryns count to a hundred. Can you, you dimwit? Tell me!"
Khorne's tiger-like eyes bulged. In a battle of wits, eight hundred of him couldn't outtalk Tzeentch, but he knew one thing: it had been too long since he'd beaten this bird-man.
"Tzeentch, I'll kill you!"
"Come at me, you brute!"
Seeing his two colleagues brawl again, the fatherly one brewing plagues chuckled gleefully. But before Nurgle could finish laughing, his ladle was snatched and snapped by Khorne, and his thick soup was tainted by one of Tzeentch's feathers.
"What are you laughing at, you dead fatty? Laugh again, and I'll smash your pot!"
"Exactly, you stagnant, rotting fatty! What's so funny?"
This was too much for Nurgle to bear, but before he could erupt, Khorne turned on the purple serpent nearby.
"You honorless, filthy harlot, I'm warning you—this piece is mine. Don't try your little tricks!"
The youngest lady, dragged into the fray, didn't back down. Whoever claimed the prize would do so by their own skill—why was this dog barking?
Words failed, and with their inherent rivalries, the situation exploded.
Soon, a new round of Warp-spanning chaos erupted, stirring fresh waves in the already polluted Sea of Souls. Countless daemons were annihilated and reformed, fighting on for their great gods.
Meanwhile, the fifth player at the table smiled silently, thinking, As expected of me. Using the Second to draw the attention of these four wastes was surely his most cunning scheme.
What Warp deities? He'd fooled them once, and he could do it again. As long as his plan succeeded, he'd be the final winner.
The squabbles of Warp entities aside, for Diedrech, there were more pressing matters at hand.
After seven hours of relentless assault by the Second Legion, the entire hive had been swept clean. Anything that moved was gunned down, and any immobile robot was shot or beheaded for good measure. Finally, they reached the target the sentinels had been guarding.
Gazing at the dense pile of human remains before the metallic construct, Diedrech seemed to understand why the hive's destroyers had used nuclear bombs. They needed a massive electromagnetic pulse to disable the thing before him.
"Father, what is this?"
"An AI core! Or rather, a smart core for producing soldiers. Kids, we've struck gold!"
...
T/N: No additional chapter/s this week, you guys did not met the required number of stones.