The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Amidst the roar of the Thunderhawks and Stormhawks, Space Marines landed one after another. Jacob grabbed his heavy melta gun, blasting a leaping Warrior bug into oblivion, then pointed it towards the Tyrant.

"Take it down!"

Several Neophytes wielding heavy bolters opened fire, the concentrated barrage of heavy bolter rounds slamming into the Tyrant, which collapsed in despair. For the third time.

Its hatred would deepen, its power would need to increase further in the future, but that depended on the Hive Mind's choice.

Bahram turned to face Hayes.

"Captain Hayes, what a coincidence. I heard there was a Hive Tyrant here, so I came. I didn't expect to run into you again."

"Is that Lord Bahram?"

Because he was wearing a helmet, Hayes wasn't entirely sure of the other man's identity. He hadn't finished his Space Marine identification course and couldn't immediately recognize him, but he vaguely remembered the voice.

"Yes, it is. Now, take your men and withdraw. However, you still have some tasks. Some refugees are waiting to be evacuated. They need to undergo a rapid inspection by the Adeptus Mechanicus. Your regiment will be responsible for maintaining order. It won't be an easy task."

"Yes, sir! Yes, sir!"

Suddenly, Hayes' voice lowered.

"Sir, is it everyone..."

Bahram glanced at the moaning and screaming militia wounded nearby. He knew about many things, but during wartime, there was indeed no time to attend to everything.

"It's everyone. You did well."

Hayes saluted and immediately went to gather others to find stretchers and carry away the seriously wounded.

Bahram checked the time, then said:

"Your regiment will evacuate this area completely in twenty minutes! Hurry!"

He urged them on because the marked "experimental area" was right here. If the soldiers saw something they shouldn't, it would be the same as killing them—the information from above was very clear: no one other than Zhao-Arkhad and Astral Knight personnel were allowed to see that thing. If any mortals saw it, they were to be dealt with immediately.

Not long after the soldiers withdrew, Bahram, who was leading over a hundred Neophytes in resisting the surging Tyranid tide, felt the ground tremble.

"Is it here?"

He walked to the highest building nearby and gazed into the distance, where a cloud of black mist shrouded the night, and he could vaguely see an immensely large outline.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning cut through the dark night, revealing the true form of that magnificent creation in a split second. Bahram's eyes widened as he captured that precious moment.

"This is..."

In that instant of white lightning, what remained in his mind was a massive war machine, completely black, with broad shoulders and a back, a forward-protruding head with a metal face that seemed to be roaring, layers of stacked armor below the head, uniquely shaped ranged weapons hanging from both arms, emitting a unique, ghostly light, and huge feet steadily supporting the massive body.

It had no markings, no banners, only lightning-like patterns on its black metal armor.

More importantly, if Bahram's judgment was correct, its height was likely above that of a Warhound!

"...What kind of Titan is it? Why is it so heavily guarded?"

"Sergeant, a large group of aliens is charging over again."

Bahram shifted his gaze from the distance to the immediate vicinity. Amidst the continuous barrage of fire, countless surging chitinous shells swept across the ground. The most conspicuous were the hundreds of Harpies, which crashed through buildings and crushed fortifications, like hundreds of bulldozers rumbling forward.

But even more alarming was the silhouette that emerged in the darkness behind them. At first, Bahram thought it was a Norn Emissary, but as more flares fell from the sky, its twisted form was revealed.

Its size was similar to that of a Norn Emissary, with slender limbs and a high, arched back, with huge thorns on its back, each curving backward like a porcupine. Its head was also larger than that of a Norn Emissary, and its open mouth contained a unique set of mandibles, seemingly a symbiotic weapon. The biggest difference compared to the Norn Emissary was its weapons. Its primary weapon was a long, folding claw similar to that of a Lictor, and there were also two weapons like huge cones below its head, meaning it had almost no obvious ranged weapons and was primarily focused on melee combat.

As for why the Tyranids would deploy this unique Titan, Bahram immediately knew the answer.

Amidst the heavy pounding of the ground, that strange bio-titan changed direction, not charging towards Bahram's position, but turning to the right.

Then, it began to accelerate. Thanks to its unique leg structure, it was able to achieve a "running" motion rather than the slow, unhurried steps of the Norn Emissaries.

Less than a minute after the bio-titan charged, a strange burst of color flashed, followed by a distorted rift appearing from the ground. Malevolent roars and surging warp energies erupted, instantly tripping the massive bio-titan. However, it immediately struggled, even surrounded by psychic arcs, but the ever-expanding warp rift continued to engulf many Tyranid creatures, and even the ground shattered, revealing a huge void.

Although countless daemons tried to break through the veil of reality to wreak havoc in the mortal realm, the Hive Mind quickly suppressed the expansion of the rift, and even that huge Titan showed signs of breaking free.

At this moment, streaks of grey light struck, immediately igniting waves of flame on the Titan. These flames burned fiercely on the chitinous armor, rapidly eroding the flesh beneath. The pained Titan roared, spraying streams of poisonous smoke and acidic blood from the gaps in its armor in an attempt to extinguish the flames, but the fire only intensified, becoming more violent.

The third strike came from a barrage of missiles, and the missile trails once again illuminated the attacker: the giant Titan that Bahram had seen.

In this situation, the bio-titan finally couldn't hold on, slipped, and was immediately swallowed by the rift, with most of its body disappearing. In its final struggle, the weapon in its mouth sprayed a stream of acid, arcing into the distance, but it failed to hit its target, and then its entire body disappeared into the closing rift.

The seemingly menacing, never-before-seen bio-titan was annihilated without even exerting its full power.

Instantly, a large area of the battlefield was cleared.

"Vortex... This Titan is equipped with a vortex weapon!?"

Bahram witnessed the entire process, his eyes wide with shock. In his memory, the Imperium's current vortex weapons were mostly deployment-based, such as vortex grenades and vortex torpedoes. There were almost no direct-fire types, except for that experimental main gun installed by Zhao-Arkhad on the Eternal Crusader...

Wait...

Zhao-Arkhad!

The name of this forge world flashed into Bahram's mind. Clearly, this unmarked Titan was from Zhao-Arkhad, and looking at its outline, Bahram tried to match it with the Titan data in his mind, and soon found something similar.

"A Warmaster Titan!?"

Thanks to Lord Commander Guilliman for the alliance leader!!!