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Chapter 252: The Intervention of the Ynnari
🕑 Added 2025-08-28 15:22:24 +0000 UTCChapter 252: The Intervention of the Ynnari
The World Eaters Astartes who had already emerged from the warp followed their frenzied gene-father, launching assaults on the remaining Gorgon transports of the Mongorte Dynasty.
Angron's position was still far from the main engagement, so Lucan turned his attention to the two remaining warp rifts. The Stellar Pioneer jumped to a new position, and its main cannon began to charge. Its target was the rift representing Tzeentch; Fulgrim's priority was placed last. If he could prevent Magnus's arrival, it would be a major victory.
Under normal circumstances, a blast from the main cannon, powerful enough to evaporate the very fabric of the warp, should have been sufficient to at least sever the connection between the Chaos ritual and realspace, even if it couldn't destroy the ritual ship outright. This time, however, the cannon blast did not achieve its intended effect.
A torrential flood of psychic energy erupted from the rift, neutralizing the attack from the Stellar Pioneer. The warp energy that was vaporized by the blast was replenished at an incredible speed. It was obvious that Tzeentch himself was now lending his power to the effort. Only a Chaos God could so easily command the tides of the Sea of Souls.
Soon, a colossal, pyramid-shaped warship emerged slowly from the warp. Aboard it was none other than the Crimson King, Magnus the Red. Throughout the void, anyone with a shred of psychic talent could feel the malevolence radiating from the vessel.
Aboard his flagship, Tizca's Revenge, Magnus was personally presiding over his own ritual. It was through his immense psychic strength, amplified by his cabal of Thousand Sons sorcerers, that they had channeled the power of Tzeentch to thwart the Stellar Pioneer's attack. An unholy, deep purple psychic energy swirled around the massive warship.
As the Emperor's original intended candidate for the Golden Throne, Magnus's psychic potential had always been immense. After his ascension to daemonhood, blessed and empowered by Tzeentch, it had become something truly terrifying. However, even he had not emerged unscathed. The attack from the Stellar Pioneer had struck at the fundamental level of the warp, and not even Magnus could ignore the damage it had caused.
Countless psychic cannons on the pyramid-ship fired upon the Stellar Pioneer. As its void shields buckled under the strain, another wave of sorcery was unleashed. Legions of Rubric Marines were teleported by profane rites directly into the interior of the Stellar Pioneer. The sorcery of Chaos was always full of unexpected and unpleasant surprises.
Damon, commanding the Stellar Pioneer, was startled. This was a completely unreasonable form of attack. He had no choice but to abandon the offensive and pull back. There was no telling what they might teleport aboard next.
However, the teleporting Thousand Sons Sorcerers and Rubric Marines had exceptionally bad luck. They materialized directly in front of a contingent of Night Sentinels and the most elite veterans of the Raiders.
Damon had been bottling up his fury for some time. On Macragge, they had been brutally suppressed by massive Daemon Engines. Now, these man-shaped psykers wanted to test their mettle.
Sorcerers? I love killing sorcerers!
In Damon's eyes, the Rubric Marines, every one of whom had once been a powerful psyker, were nothing more than walking power batteries. The common daemons of Tzeentch were even better, like crunchy, bite-sized snacks. Before the Night Sentinels, the Rubric Marines would lose their ability to resurrect. Once their armor was shattered, the dust within could never be recontained. All their souls would become nourishment for the Sentinels.
Seeing the Stellar Pioneer withdraw, Magnus paid it no further attention. He had achieved his goal; the ritual was complete, and he and his fleet had successfully entered realspace. He had no doubt that the humans aboard that ship could not possibly withstand the assault of his Thousand Sons sorcerers and Rubric Marines. He knew all too well the crushing advantage psychic power held over Imperial soldiers.
The guidance of the Lord of Change told him what he needed to know: his brother, and the "variable" that Tzeentch so desired, were currently aboard that unique xenos warship.
"My brother," Magnus projected, his voice echoing in the minds of his foes, "it has been too long. I will offer you and that variable to the great Lord of Change as a gift!"
Tizca's Revenge now turned its attention to the Ultramarines warships that had broken through the Chaos lines. Magnus and his surrounding sorcerers began to chant. A surging tide of warp power, guided by their incantations, coiled around the loyalist ships. It did not spare the nearby Chaos vessels either.
A dozen warships were dragged, struggling, into the warp. No matter how hard they pushed their engines, massive tendrils of raw warp energy held them fast and pulled them into the Empyrean. Though they were not destroyed outright, it would be incredibly difficult for the already battered ships to escape the Sea of Souls. A damaged Gellar Field offered no protection from the countless horrors that dwelled within.
Guilliman's heart bled. Aboard those ships were not only mortal crew but many of his own sons.
If Angron was merely a berserker who knew only battle, Magnus's arrival raised the pressure on them all immensely. The influence of a master sorcerer on the battlefield was far greater than that of a butcher-king.
With Mortarion temporarily trapped in the warp, Angron arriving with only a few ships, and Magnus's entire fleet now present, Fulgrim also quickened his pace. Slaanesh had given him a direct and unavoidable command. Lucan had leeched a considerable amount of divine power from the Dark Prince, and while Slaanesh had found the experience somewhat novel, its pride was now stung. When had anyone ever taken from Slaanesh for free?
And so Fulgrim, who had rarely appeared in realspace since the Great Betrayal, content to indulge himself in the warp, now sailed forth in his profane warship, the mad sons of the Emperor's Children flocking to his side once more. Slaanesh had demanded he capture Lucan. The Prince of Pleasure would have revenge for being used! It would "torture" Lucan with every method at its disposal!
Lucan and Guilliman had no forces left to stop Fulgrim's arrival.
"Guilliman," Lucan said, "once Fulgrim's fleet arrives, the pressure on us will increase significantly. We must delay as much as possible. There's no need for a head-on confrontation that would cause excessive casualties. As long as Cawl can repair the Blackstone Pylons, their power to suppress the warp will help us deal with these freaks."
On Cadia's surface, though only a fraction of the Pylons were currently active, all the ones that had been destroyed had already been repaired by the SCVs. It could be said that there were more intact Blackstone Pylons on Cadia now than at any time in recent memory.
But then, an uninvited guest, one that not even Lucan had foreseen, arrived in the Cadian system. A psychic presence, belonging neither to Chaos nor to humanity, manifested in the void. The moment this power appeared, Fulgrim knew its source.
"Eldar?! You dare intervene in this war?!"
The newcomers were the Ynnari, led by Yvraine and Eldrad Ulthran.
Eldrad was unleashing his own formidable psychic power, interfering with the blasphemous ritual on the final Chaos vessel. His face was a mask of pain; it was an immensely challenging task. He could not stop the ritual completely, but by disrupting it, he could affect the stability of the rift. This interference slowed the arrival of Fulgrim and his fleet.
The decisive blow, however, came in the form of plasma torpedoes cloaked by holofields. The ritual warship had removed much of its internal equipment, including its augur arrays, to accommodate more sacrificial materials. This left it with no way of detecting the nearly invisible torpedoes.
The devastatingly powerful Eldar plasma torpedoes detonated. In a blaze of light, the Ynnari destroyed the final ritual warship.
"Eldrad, shall we commit to the battle?" Yvraine asked, watching the warships of Slaanesh prepare for combat. The two forces were mortal enemies, and she was ready to unleash the power of the Death God.
"Yvraine, remember," Eldrad counseled, "neither humanity nor Slaanesh are our friends. What we have done is enough. Let our fleet skirmish on the periphery, striking at Slaanesh's warships when the opportunity arises. Our true task is to wait for a victor to emerge. Only then can we proceed with the next phase of our plan."
