The Emperor’s Angel of Death

“Are you all awake?”

Despite the absence of spoken words or any noise, Leman Russ's murmured question was answered. →

The sudden movements of these neatly arrayed Necron Warriors stirred the stagnant air. A commander wielding a phase halberd and draped in a gilded cloak emerged from his retinue of Lychguards. Leman Russ could see no hope or mercy on its sculpted face.

Only the cold promise of eternal annihilation.

No verbal communication was necessary between them, only the animosity to destroy each other remained.

At the same time, a large number of scarab swarms poured out. They began to devour the bodies that could no longer be recovered, re-weaving Necrodermis strands to repair the warriors who could still stand, while others dragged away the Necron wreckage partially crushed by boulders, preparing to perform the resurrection rituals.

Faced with the overwhelming army, Leman Russ simply twisted his neck, causing a series of cracking sounds.

“This slow pace is nothing like Corax’s style.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Leman Russ witnessed a bizarre scene. The green light that had been almost bursting out from the planet's crust disappeared, along with the light in the eyes of those metal skeletons. Even the obelisks fell to the ground, tilting to one side like toppled eggs—only a very few remained standing.

This Necron army had truly become a pile of corpses, real corpses.

The remaining active Necrons also fell into chaos, seemingly looking around in confusion, unsure of what had happened.

“Well done!! My brother!!!!!!”

Leman Russ let out a long roar, then his form surged, transforming back into a giant wolf, pouncing towards the bewildered Necron commander.

Half an hour later—

With a crash, the wall was directly smashed through. The giant wolf, carrying the still-sparking remains of the Necron Lord in its jaws, entered the depths of this alien tomb. Here was the most magnificent palace in the tomb, flanked by huge stasis coffins. And on the throne at the very top, a headless body lay askew. A dark, massive figure stood quietly beside it, a clawed hand clutching a metal head.

Spitting the shattered metal corpse aside, Leman Russ, now back in his human form, walked towards the throne platform.

“I thought you would be faster.”

“I encountered some obstacles. It took some time to issue the stop command under the intrusion control protocol.”

After speaking, Corax threw the skull in his hand to the ground and crushed it with his foot. The two brothers displayed a rather cold attitude when talking, after all, they had long been accustomed to this mode of communication.

Without saying anything more, the two walked into the depths of the tomb world.

Finally, their steps were blocked by a black door.

Corax stood silently in front of the door, shadows spreading from his feet, seeping into the walls and the door seams.

After a moment, the door opened, and the two entered.

“Oh, you goddamn bastards.”

As soon as he entered, Leman Russ uttered a curse of astonishment, and Corax's pale face also frowned.

They entered a hall surrounded by electrified mist, towering with pillars thicker than the two Primarchs. Above the hall was a disturbing multifaceted sphere. In the middle of the hall, a jagged pyramid rose from the floor, reaching its apex near the center of the sphere, within which was a bizarre alien machine, shaped like a giant spider, with countless cables spreading around. But this was not the reason for the two's astonishment.

What astonished them were the semi-transparent glass containers hanging on the surrounding walls. Within these insect-egg-like containers, floated strong bodies, all of which were familiar to them—

Astartes.

Nearly a hundred Astartes were imprisoned here, stripped of their power armor. Many had signs of damage and battle, and at the same time, they all had a similar characteristic: their bodies all showed a certain degree of metallization.

“Who in the hell did this?”

Leman Russ walked towards one of them, scrutinizing the motionless body almost face to face.

Suddenly, he noticed something and narrowed his eyes.

“There's something in his head.”

Corax, on the other hand, stared at the spider-shaped machine.

“Everyone here has it... It seems he was right. Someone has been targeting the bloodline of the Eleventh Legion. No wonder the known bloodlines of the Eleventh Legion are all with the Imperial Fists. I'm afraid the bloodlines on the Ultramarines' side have long been on the verge of extinction. When did this start? And who is secretly assisting the alien? The Enslaver never mentioned this before, did he not even know?”

“Who!?”

Leman Russ turned around suddenly, but Corax only shook his head.

“I don't know, perhaps only the Sage who revealed this information knows.”

“Why didn't they stop it!”

“I don't know, perhaps they wanted to cover up their real plan or had other arrangements——”

Before he finished speaking, Corax suddenly sensed something, and his eyes suddenly became sharp.

“Go, destroy this place, leave immediately.”

“Hmm?”

Leman Russ narrowed his eyes.

“Someone's coming? Or can we teach these ancient bastards a lesson?”

“Don't be reckless. The null matrix here just hasn't been activated. Once it is, we may not be able to gain any advantage against them. Do you want to waste the lives of your sons? The goal has been achieved, we can leave. We have other places to 'visit'.”

“What about them?”

The Wolf King's gaze swept over the warriors who seemed to have fallen asleep.

“Aren't you going to take them to Sotha?”

But Corax was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

“The Sage said they are beyond saving. Releasing them may have unpredictable consequences. I'll do it. If he blames me later, then blame me.”

After listening, Leman turned around without saying a word, took a step, jumped, leaped high, and smashed the machine with the sword in his hand.

In an instant, a huge amount of energy was released, sweeping through the entire underground tomb.

Not long after, a large, black fleet arrived at this world, but no one came to welcome them. The being commanding this fleet directly led the team to teleport to the surface, but all it saw were the tombs mostly destroyed by internal explosions and fragments of those metal corpses.

“Illuminor, Cryptguard Lord Alistair has fallen. He didn't even have time to awaken most of the army and deathmarks. The crypt was also completely destroyed, and not a single sample survived.”

When a Necron technician reported the bad news, the Technomancer, with its bizarre four-legged lower body and four arms, wielding a double-headed staff, scratched the ground with the weapon in its hand at the huge gully carved out by claws. The ghostly green monocular in the metal skull flickered.

“It seems some troublemaking freaks smelled this place... Then they will definitely attack another crypt.”

In the next second, in a flash of light, all the Necrons disappeared on the spot, and the fleet also quickly disappeared into orbit, leaving only this nameless, silent planet, continuing to rotate along its orbit.