After exiting the purification chamber and passing through a narrow corridor, the scene before everyone's eyes suddenly opened up. An incredibly vast and wide cavern appeared before them. Numerous ancient ruins were intricately distributed within it, and around these ruins, there were many Adeptus Mechanicus exploration facilities. However, the Adeptus Mechanicus personnel who originally operated these exploration facilities had disappeared.
"The divining box shows a huge energy signature deep within the cavern; that should be where Leuze and the energy source are located."
Without delay, the group began to advance deeper into the cavern. Along the way, demons and heretics periodically rushed out from various parts of the cavern and ruins, attacking the group. After clearing out these scattered enemies, the four quickly reached an elevator.
"We need to go down; the Aurora Facility is even deeper."
The four stepped onto the elevator, which then began to slowly descend. The time spent descending far exceeded their previous estimates. The elevator descended for a full half-hour before reaching the bottom. Based on the descent speed, they were now located tens of kilometers beneath the surface.
Stepping out of the elevator, a larger scale of ruins appeared before everyone's eyes.
"My Terra, what is that?"
Even Gadriel was awestruck by these magnificent ruins.
"A Necrons Tomb World."
Titus recognized these ruins at a glance; they were predominantly black with an eerie green glow emanating from them, belonging to the Necrons. Chairon and Gadriel had not yet fought the Necrons, nor had they witnessed the undying mechanical tide.
"The target is to the west, still one kilometer from here."
Chairon said, checking the information on the divining box. The group continued to advance. Marcus, following at the rear of the group, could feel that his distance from the lictor was growing shorter and shorter. It seemed the other party had already found Leuze's location and had gone into hiding.
Just as the group had advanced a certain distance, an ethereal and eerie voice echoed through the cavern. "Your idiotic gene-seed primarch thought he could hide the existence of this place from us, but our eyes and ears are spread throughout every corner of the galaxy. I will crush the Aurora, and your pathetic gene-seed primarch's dream of victory..."
Marcus knew this was the voice of the Thousand Sons Sorcerer Lord, Imurah. But he still pretended not to know and asked, "Sergeant Titus, this is?"
"Guard your mind, Lieutenant, do not heed the whispers of the heretic sorcerer."
Titus looked at Marcus and said in a deep voice, "That is the culprit behind all of this, a filthy, disgusting heretic traitor sorcerer."
Marcus nodded, then said no more. Along the way, Imurah ceaselessly whispered in their ears. The content was nothing more than denigration of the Imperium and praise of Tzeentch. Imurah even imitated the voices of others, making blasphemous suggestions. Fortunately, before arriving at Demerium, everyone had prepared for their minds to be corrupted and for illusions to plague them, so they were not deceived by Imurah.
However, Marcus in the group was somewhat strange. According to his observations, Titus, Chairon, and Gadriel all seemed to be affected by illusions and auditory hallucinations specifically tailored to each of them. Only he was not affected by these targeted attacks. Marcus himself did not know why this was. It could be that Imurah was unable to influence him, or it could be that all of this was a prelude to some kind of conspiracy.
Marcus shook his head, then concentrated his mind. According to the display, they were getting closer and closer to the Aurora Facility. Moreover, due to the influence of the Aurora Facility, there had been no demons or mortal rebels attacking them for some time.
Soon, the group arrived at the base of a massive black stone spire. They approached the black stone spire. Along the way, many Red Sorcerers glowed green and were in a state of stasis. The few of them did not stop, destroying all these Red Word Warriors with their weapons.
Continuing forward, a green energy shield appeared before them. And Leuze was inside the shield, adjusting the complex machine in front of him. Titus and the others quickly approached the shield. Meanwhile, Marcus, walking behind, secretly looked up at a corner. He could feel that the lictor was hiding there.
Immediately after, Marcus looked at Leuze's location. Beside Leuze, a psychic disaster energy source, shimmering with blue light, was confined within a mechanical device, used to power the Aurora Facility.
"Leuze!"
"Ah, Sergeant Titus, praise the Omnissiah, in a few minutes, you will see..."
Titus interrupted Leuze's words. "You must stop, Leuze, outside the cavern, the entire Demerium is in chaos."
Leuze pointed to the static Red Sorcerers around him, saying with a hint of pleading, "Sir, please, I know you have your considerations, but look, this only demonstrates a small part of this device's utility."
Titus looked at the psychic disaster energy source and said in a deep voice, "That is the power of Chaos; I have seen the most terrifying uses of that thing! Now, stop that machine!"
"I refuse, my lord, time will eventually prove that my intentions were not malicious!"
Leuze's tone was firm, and he turned to continue adjusting the complex machine.
Seeing that Leuze wouldn't obey, Titus and the others wasted no words, raising their weapons and immediately opening fire. Bolter and plasma blasts struck the green shield, but only caused ripples, unable to penetrate.
"Forgive me, my lord, time will eventually prove that my original intention was not malicious."
Leuze said, while adjusting the machine.
Marcus, at the back of the group, had cold eyes. If he remembered correctly, next would be the appearance of the Thousand Sons Sorcerer Lord, Imurah.
As he expected.
Above the green shield, a Warp Rift suddenly opened.
"You insignificant specks of dust, for a moment, I thought you would do these things for me, but in the end, I must finish this myself."
A blasphemous voice rang out. The next second, standing on a Tzeentchian disc, holding a staff, with a magic book floating beside him, Imurah appeared from the rift.
"Witness true power!"
With that, Imurah raised his hand and unleashed a powerful psychic lightning bolt down towards the green shield below. But it did not break the shield.
"Heh heh, sorcerer, your wicked energy is useless before this machine!" Inside the shield, Leuze couldn't help but laugh loudly.
"Kill him!"
Titus shouted, then raised his weapon, aimed at Imurah floating in the air, and fired a volley of bolter rounds. It seemed that Imurah's expression turned somewhat exasperated, perhaps because he failed to penetrate the shield.
However, Marcus knew that this guy was just acting. It was all to mislead Leuze into mistakenly reversing the polarity of the black stone, to amplify the Warp power.
Marcus did not expose Imurah's lie. Only when Leuze reversed the polarity of the black stone would the green shield be broken. Only then could Marcus seize the opportunity to obtain the psychic disaster energy source.