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Chapter 253: A Power Unusable
🕑 Added 2025-08-29 15:06:02 +0000 UTCChapter 253: A Power Unusable
When Eldrad Ulthran saw the Spear of Adun, he felt a deep sense of confusion.
"This... the psychic resonance from this warship's material, why is it so similar to Wraithbone?"
He quickly dismissed the thought. Wraithbone was a substance only the Eldar could create. As a master of the Eldar Paths, he was intimately familiar with the Path of the Bonesinger. While the Spear of Adun may have been converted from such a material, there were still fundamental differences. Furthermore, the ship's design bore no resemblance to any Eldar technology he knew. He had lived long enough to be certain this vessel was not from any period of Eldar history.
He could never have imagined that it was forged from the remains of Craftworld Kholor.
Lucan, for his part, was equally surprised. The very Eldar he had so thoroughly devastated were now actively helping humanity? Looking at the Eldar vessels, they didn't appear to be Drukhari, nor did they match the liveries of the major Craftworlds. That only left the Corsairs.
Just as Lucan was pondering their identity, a communication request came through from Yvraine herself. Since their goal was to build goodwill and establish a friendship, they naturally had to reveal their identities. How else would Lucan know who they were?
"Yvraine?"
Lucan glanced at Guilliman. He had assumed that since Guilliman's resurrection no longer required the power of the Eldar God of the Dead, he would have no further dealings with the Ynnari. After all, their ultimate goals were vastly different. But then again, the Ynnari, having forged their own path, were certainly capable of such an action.
"Do not attack those Eldar!" Guilliman ordered, his mind focused on the tactical situation. "Right now, we need every asset we can get!"
For the Primarch commanding the battle, the intervention of this Eldar fleet was a significant relief. The Ynnari fleet was small, but their high mobility allowed them to harass the Chaos armada, and their timely arrival had prevented the majority of Fulgrim's forces from entering realspace.
Yvraine might have her own agenda, but in the established timeline, she did indeed cooperate with humanity on numerous occasions. One could even say she was a relatively steadfast ally. She had also done her best to fulfill some of Guilliman's requests, which had earned her the informal moniker of "the Regent's Consort."
Of the four Daemon Primarchs, only Magnus's fleet was relatively intact, making him the single greatest threat. Angron and Fulgrim had only managed to bring a combined total of about twenty ships with them. Angron hadn't even managed to get his own flagship out of the warp. Nevertheless, the presence of the Daemon Primarchs served as a rallying point for the remaining Chaos warships. Once organized, their power was not to be underestimated.
The Tizca's Revenge led the charge. Their objective was clear: the Spear of Adun, where Lucan and the two loyalist Primarchs were located.
At that moment, the communication from the Ynnari was patched through to the Spear of Adun's bridge. Eldrad stood beside Yvraine. Looking at Guilliman and Lucan on the screen, his gaze instinctively settled on Lucan. This was the first time he had seen the man from his prophecies with his own eyes.
"Greetings, humans. We are representatives of the Eldar Ynnari. This is the Emissary of the God of the Dead, Yvraine, and you may call me Eldrad.
"Congratulations, Roboute Guilliman. Your resurrection will surely breathe new life into your Imperium.
"And you, Lucan Mongorte, the conflicts with Kholor and the Harlequins are of no concern to us. We come to you today with goodwill. Chaos is our common enemy. Long ago, I cooperated with another of your Primarchs, Vulkan! This totem he gave me is a testament to our friendship."
Eldrad gestured to a large drake-tooth hanging from his chest.
"I have even spoken with your Emperor. We discussed many things. I must say, he is a remarkable man, to have single-handedly shielded humanity for so many years. Lord Lucan, humanity has produced another great figure. I believe we will have many more opportunities to cooperate in the future!"
Eldrad had deliberately worn the tooth, hoping to use Vulkan's name to achieve his own goals. Guilliman recognized it; his brother Vulkan had indeed mentioned this matter, and the name Eldrad, to him before. Eldrad's ploy had, to some extent, succeeded. At the very least, the feeling of disgust in Guilliman's heart lessened slightly.
Bah... old fox... I'd be a fool to believe a word you say! Lucan thought to himself. He had heard of Eldrad. No good ever came from Eldar fortune-tellers. "Sacrifice the chariot to save the general" was Eldrad's favorite strategy, and the "chariots" he sacrificed rarely met a good end.
Both sides were fully aware of the other's hidden motives, but for now, cooperation was indeed possible. Lucan had no idea where the remaining Eldar Craftworlds were located. Even if he couldn't find active ones, the ruins of destroyed Craftworlds would be invaluable for upgrading the Spear of Adun. And a bit of Wraithbone would be nice, too. The Eldar would never reveal the locations of their healthy Craftworlds, but some had fallen to even the likes of Genestealers.
"Lord Lucan, you've had conflicts with these Eldar before?" Guilliman asked, having picked up on the fact that the Eldar were deliberately showing goodwill towards Lucan. These arrogant xenos almost never bowed their heads to humans.
"You could say that... I destroyed one of their Craftworlds..."
Hearing this, Guilliman was even more astounded. Destroying a Craftworld—was that any different from desecrating their ancestral tombs? And they were willing to forgive him for that?
"Eldrad," Guilliman said, cutting to the chase, "the Imperium accepts your aid! We can discuss other matters later! The enemy is closing in!"
As shells and torpedoes inscribed with psychic runes fired from Tizca's Revenge, the advantage the Imperium had just gained was once again lost.
It was then that Magnus finally sensed that something was wrong aboard the Stellar Pioneer. The Rubric Marines and warp daemons led by his Thousand Sons sorcerers were in retreat. What in the name of the warp was hiding inside that ship?
Meanwhile, Fulgrim's original Gloriana-class battleship, the Pride of the Emperor, had returned to realspace with him. Its once exquisite hull was now covered in countless forms of heretical and profane art. It was still magnificent, but in a way that inspired dread rather than awe. The ship's interior was even more unspeakable.
But the most absurd sight of all was Angron. The Daemon Primarch was physically clinging to the exterior of a warship, defying the laws of physics as he rode it into the charge.
The Pride of the Emperor and Angron made a beeline for the Spear of Adun, while Magnus remained on his Silver Tower, manipulating the energies of the warp. One Imperial warship after another was ensnared and dragged into the Empyrean. Only the Stellar Pioneer and the Spear of Adun could ignore Magnus's psychic pull. Even the mighty Macragge's Honour was not immune, and was only freed when the Stellar Pioneer blasted its restraints away.
But the Chaos forces were equally frustrated. The tenacity of those two ships was enough to make a Daemon Primarch's head spin. The Stellar Pioneer's ability to make short-range tactical jumps was tolerable. But its every cannon blast disrupted Magnus's rituals. And the Spear of Adun, that colossal, advanced Protoss arkship, could make multiple, consecutive jumps.
While Magnus and Fulgrim could manage their frustration, Angron was in an absolute rage. All the Daemon Primarchs felt a sense of having a strength they could not use. This level of rapid mobility was something that conventional warships in this galaxy had little counter for. One Chaos vessel after another was destroyed under the focused fire of the Solarite Beam. Lucan was kiting them.
"Fulgrim," Magnus projected, "we will never catch them like this! I have never seen such technology. We need to cooperate."
The two Daemon Primarchs, who had barely interacted for millennia, were once again discussing cooperation, just as they had during the Great Crusade ten thousand years ago.
"Magnus... what sort of cooperation do you have in mind?" Fulgrim replied. "And Angron, that mad dog, is incapable of it."
"Angron... I will use my sorcery to teleport him directly to the battlefield. We must change our objective. We will help Abaddon destroy Cadia. We will force them to abandon those ships and come down to the planet's surface, where they cannot escape!"
"I will not interfere with you or your psykers. I will allow you to teleport my forces, and mine, to the surface of Cadia."
"This one time, Magnus, I will trust you!"
But what these Daemon Primarchs didn't know was that this was exactly what Lucan wanted to see. He would never risk a boarding action against Magnus's flagship; to do so would be to be dragged into the warp and face a Chaos God directly, a fight he could not yet win.
