Guilliman flexed his arms, and the chains shattered into foul-smelling ash.
Stepping from the alcove, the Primarch seemed to fill the massive detention block, his presence unmistakable even after suffering captivity and stripped of the Emperor's Sword.
"You coming?" Gerhard asked.
"That had been my intention," Guilliman rumbled.
There were hundreds of captive Astartes still locked in their cells. Gerhard could have walked the perimeter and shattered every ward by brute force, but Sylandri Veilwalker was already in motion. The Shadowseer slipped into the centre of the room and began an elaborate dance. Shimmering lights coiled around the dancing Harlequin and moved through the air. Wherever the light brushed a cell, the wards shot off and the chains dissolved.
Guilliman watched her, his expression hardening. He recognised the Eldar as the same one who had guided his fleet straight towards the eye of the Maelstrom, which turned out to be a Red Corsairs' ambush. Whether she had led him to salvation or deliberately arranged his imprisonment was a question for another time. He was pragmatic like that.
"Where are your weapons?" Gerhard asked.
The freed Astartes were still armoured but unarmed, so they had to reacquire their armour before they made their escape.
Veilwalker pointed her staff deeper into the obsidian halls of the Blackstone fortress.
"Sleeping with your saints, your iron priest, and all the other pieces Kairos stole from the board. Three vaults. Three locks. One death."
"What about the Emperor's Sword?" Guilliman asked.
"Untouched. None of them would dare try to touch it."
Guilliman turned to his freed sons and the Ultramarines who were now freed.
"We recover our people and equipment, then pull out."
The Astartes were about to fall into formation without a word. They had no bolters, no chainswords, and no way to attack or defend themselves, but it didn't matter to them. In their mind, several hundred warriors, even unarmed, were equal to an army, and besides, they still had the Harlequin, a Primarch, Cypher, Lencillus and Gerhard.
"Wait. We won't walk around unarmed. Take these," Gerhard said.
He opened his inventory, and from it hundreds of weapons fell out. Weapons he had created himself, better than anything they had used before. The situation was dire, a true clusterfuck; he wasn't going to be stingy now.
Veilwalker and the Harlequins led the loyalists out of the doorway through which they had entered the prison. Several hundred battle-hungry Ultramarines followed their lead, with Guilliman, Sicarius, Cypher and Gerhard at the front.
It was a capable force, and with the weapons that Gerhard had gifted them, they were truly dangerous. Speed was more important than stealth now because even with the battle raging all around, their escape would soon be noticed.
.
They broke into a stasis chamber and found Saint Selestine and her Geminae Superia. The second chamber reunited them with Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and his forces from the Adeptus Mechanicus. With Dunecrawlers moving behind them and ranks of Skitarii and Battle Servitors providing fire support, the loyalists quickly overwhelmed the Red Corsairs who were guarding the final stasis chamber.
Inside, they found not only Voldus and his Grey Knight brothers, along with their Dreadknights, but also all the other Space Marines from the crusade, as well as the many tanks and Dreadnought brothers that had been brought with them on their warships. And most importantly, the Emperor's Sword.
But the three surviving Sisters of Silence were missing.
"Where are Hestia and the others?" Gerhard asked.
He didn't want to talk about it until now, but seeing as they had broken into all the stasis chambers with the loyalists, he had to. Greyfax's face tightened.
"The Archenemy separated the Anathema Psykana from the rest of us. They dragged all three away before we were thrown in the cells."
"Three? Why?"
"Because their soulless presence disrupted the prison wards."
It was technically true, but not the complete truth, Gerhard could tell. He stared down the lightless corridor.
"Were they alive?"
"When I last saw them, yes."
"We will find them," Guilliman stated.
Gerhard didn't reply. He just tightened his grip on his Bonesword and took out the Anathame. He had been worried about Hestia and the others since he learned of the catastrophe. They were the most hated individuals in the Warp, without question. It was almost unthinkable what they would do to them.
Veilwalker and her Harlequins led the loyalists through labyrinthine passages that were so vast, you could fly a strike cruiser through them and still have space to spare. The geometry of the Blackstone Fortress was hostile and not built for a human mind to comfortably grasp.
Gerhard, Roboute and Lencillus took the vanguard, right after the Harlequins. The first Red Corsair patrols they encountered barely had time to register the breach before they were annihilated. Gerhard crashed into their lines with [Mana Reinforcement] activated.
He drove his shoulder into a traitor's chest, shattering ceramite and bone, took the head off a second with the Anathame, and materialised his shotgun to blow a third apart at point-blank range.
Lencillus was a streak of golden beside him. The Custodian's Legendary-grade Guardian Spear sliced through two traitors in a single, fluid movement, while his Adrathic Destructor fired, erasing a Chaos Terminator into nothing.
The Astartes, Grey Knights and all the others fell upon whatever the vanguard left breathing. Sicarius tore a chainaxe from a dying Berzerker and buried it in the face of his fellow traitor.
"We should drive for the docking spars," Sicarius urged over the roar of engines. "To retake the fleet."
Veilwalker shook her masked head.
"No crews. No Navigators. Only empty ships and waiting knives," she continued to transmit strange sentences.
Although the words were not really spoken, everyone understood their meaning. The mortal crews from the fleet had been slaughtered or used as sacrifices. The Navigators had been shipped off to Huron Blackheart. Even if the loyalists reached the ships, they would be stranded in the Maelstrom.
Guilliman absorbed the deaths of tens of thousands of his men and women without blinking. He couldn't afford to mourn them now, for he was the guiding light of this crusade. He was the reason they had all died, so he would have to reach his goal to avenge them later on.
"Then show us your alternative," the Primarch demanded.
Veilwalker pointed straight down. At the absolute core of the fortress lay an ancient passage into the Webway, which, as it turned out, was their only path back to Terra.
So, they descended into hell.
.
The fortress began fighting them. Gravity shifted wildly; corridors collapsed into bottomless shafts; Red Corsairs and Daemons began choking every intersection.
Gerhard stayed on the flanks, using his [Blank] skill like a weapon. He activated it fully to destroy endless Pink Horrors or Bloodletters into nothingness, then deactivated it so Voldus and Celestine could unleash their maximum powers.
The notifications flickered in his peripheral vision, showing the results of his butchery.
[Chaos Space Marine defeated: +230,000 EXP]
[Bloodletter defeated: +130,000 EXP]
...
[Level up]
...
He stopped reading them, as they were distracting him now.
As the loyalists pushed deeper, the ancient fortress threw everything it had at the escaping Imperials. Red Corsairs and screaming Warp-denizens choked the bridges and dark chasms, bleeding the Crusade for every inch of ground, surrounding them from absolutely every side and almost grinding them to a halt.
Or that's what would have happened.
[You are surrounded. Higher firepower will likely be necessary.]
The voice of Gerhard's AI said.
"Always helpful, Vega."
Gerhard reached into his inventory and took out a new weapon.
[Assault Rail-Cannon - Rank: Legendary]
BBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT-----!!!
Gerhard went nuts and swerved the assault rail-cannon around, mowing down the enemy by the thousands. He cast [Mana Shield], since he couldn't use the Warp in his [Blank] state and waltzed forward.
Then, the air temperature plummeted further, and it had nothing to do with Gerhard.
Spectral flames appeared directly inside the enemy lines. And from the flames stepped black-power-armoured Space Marines of the Legion of the Damned.
These dead-or-not spectres of Space Marines sent volleys of aetheric fire across the bridges to help clear them. Together with Gerhard's massive damage, they bought the Crusade the breathing room they desperately needed to finally make more progress.
With Sylandri Veilwalker leaping beside him, Guilliman raised his flaming sword and silently ordered their forces to sprint forward.
It was a harsh battle, and Gerhard had to be almost everywhere at once, together with the Primarch and Lencillus, but they finally breached the heart of the Blackstone Fortress.
And it was massive.
...
The central chamber defied human comprehension. It was an open, hollow cavity, easily a hundred miles across, with its ceiling and floor completely hidden by shadows from its vast size. Standing at the edge felt less like being inside a space station and more like looking into a bottomless void.
At the dead centre of this abyss rose a titanic column of black stone. Hypnotic, bioluminescent circuits in the eyes of humans crawled up and down its length like glowing arteries, casting a shifting, sickly, chaotic light across the distant walls, like a very cursed rave party.
Extending outward from that massive central pillar, akin to twisted branches of a dead, metallic tree, was a chaotic, tangled web of suspension bridges, stairways, and gantries.
All around the chamber's outer perimeter, colossal blast doors blasted open. These were no simple doors, however; those were portals built to the scale of giants, larger than Guilliman by several times, and what poured out of them was pure, quite literally, a nightmare.
"Do you have them?" Gerhard asked Vega.
[Negative. Your blank presence disrupts the auspex too much for a detailed scan of the area.]
"Fuck."
Endless hordes of Tzeentchian daemons flooded into the dark from one side. Their rainbowy Warp-fire contrasted brightly against the shadows. From others, endless tides of Khornate followers stormed onto the walkways, surging forward in blood-crazed, roaring masses across bridges that were wide enough for a Titan to cross.
Veilwalker pointed her staff forward. There, right in the central column, was the Webway portal.
Why was it there?
Because that's what this reality was all about. It was not going ot be easy. It was all about the process in the end.
The Webway portal was kilometres away from their position. And between the Imperial Crusade and this single exit lay a four-way apocalyptic war.
The Tzeentchian daemons clashed violently with hordes of Khornate Berzerkers and Bloodletters. High above the infantry clash, Red Corsairs poured heavy bolter fire from the upper tiers, content to indiscriminately slaughter daemons as long as they also killed loyalists.
"Advance!" Guilliman's voice boomed over the vox.
The Crusaders rushed forward onto the bridges. Gerhard hit the first daemonic wave with hundreds of [Mana bolter rounds].
[Danger Sense]
Gerhard reacted immediately.
[Mana Shield] x 10
A massive claw impacted with the shields and destroyed several of them before stopping.
A massive Daemon Engine, called a Soul Grinder, stood before him. This was a diabolical fusion of daemon and gigantic war machine, fuelled by dark malevolence and its own irrepressible desire to destroy. And as the most powerful Blank, Gerhard was its target.
It roared and swung its massive burning blade through the air.
[Spatial Barrier] x2
The massive blade smashed through both spatial barriers, though it was slowed down as it cut through the remaining mana shields as well. The blade cut through nothing but air, though, and not Gerhard.
...
BBBOOOOOMMM--!!
"RAAAAAARRRRRHHHH!!!"
Gerhard blew its optical sensor out with his Super Shotgun; the Meat Hook shot out underneath the shotgun barrels, embedded into the massive head and pulled Gerhard through the air.
Before the Soul Grinder had time to react to this barrage of attacks, Gerhard drove the Anathame through its brain and then jumped down, splitting the abomination in half and destroying it fully.
The Daemon engine disintegrated.
Then, a roar rang out through the air that was not just a sound in the physical sense, but an emotional shockwave of pure, unadulterated rage that even affected Gerhard. Not his mind or mental processing, but his emotions were heightened further than they already were.
Khornate energy washed over the battlefield. Imperial lines staggered, and even Black Templars broke formation, screaming lines of hatred as they threw themselves at the daemons, ignoring the escape entirely.
[Hostile mental influence detected]
[Gamer's Mind has resisted the effect]
Gerhard barely noticed the notification. Every vox-channel suddenly screamed with static, overridden by the twin voices of Kairos Fateweaver.
"FOUR LITTLE VOIDS CAME WITH THE AVENGING SON."
Gerhard froze as he heard that voice. He rushed forward and looked over. There, across the chasm, far away from the Primarch, the Lord of Change Kairos Fateweaver himself spread his wings.
"ONE DIED BENEATH THE WEIGHT OF HIS FOLLY. ONE TAUGHT ME HOW BEAUTIFULLY AN EMPTY SOUL CAN STILL SCREAM... AND TWO... STILL REMAIN."
Bloody red and bright blue lights flickered to life on an isolated platform high above, just in sight of Kairos. It was presented for Gerhard specifically.
And there, he saw them.
Alaya and Hestia.
... Fuck...