Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Space Wraith

It must be said that while the Fourth Regiment's method was rather unscrupulous, its effectiveness was undeniable. Every day, cultists would bring the heads of other Chaos cultists to the Fourth Regiment in exchange for food. The number of cultists in the Hive of West Sisyphus plummeted, dropping sharply from one million to just six hundred thousand.

Four hundred thousand Chaos cultists met their end at the hands of underhive residents and rival Chaos cults; the Fourth Regiment’s plan proved remarkably effective.

Notably, the Chaos cult that had declared itself returned to the Emperor’s light confronted its rivals in the name of the Emperor in every skirmish. During battles, their devotees would shout fervently, “For the Emperor!”—their zeal so intense that, to the uninitiated, they might seem like soldiers of the Imperial Planetary Defense Force clad in the robes of the state church.

While the great lottery of death among Chaos cultists played out in lively fashion within West Sisyphus Hive, Wang Xiaofa, stationed on the rocky wastes beside Thanatos Hive, began to engage the Necrons in combat.

Within that single month, the Necrons slumbering beneath Mors fully awakened and launched assaults on the positions of the First and Third Regiments of the Traversers and their mortal auxiliaries. Countless Necron forces surged from their tombs, advancing on the traversers’ defenses and colliding with the array of heavy firepower the traversers had meticulously prepared.

Because of the Necron awakening, Wang Ming personally led the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Regiments—fresh from clearing Thanatos Hive—to reinforce the battlefield on the rocky wastes.

On the imperial lines, volleys of bolt shells and las-beams rained upon the seemingly endless Necron tide advancing from the front. The deadly rays of the Necron gauss weapons ceaselessly struck the Imperial positions, disintegrating traversers and mortal auxiliaries alike at the atomic level.

“This scene seems awfully familiar,” Wang Ming murmured, gunning down a Necron with his boltgun. Suddenly, he recalled the dream he’d had aboard the “Imperial Truth” en route to Terra—was this some sort of psyker’s prophetic vision? He shook his head, forcibly banishing the unsettling thought.

“Brothers, bring out the gear!”

Just as Wang Ming pondered whether he possessed latent psyker abilities, Hu Jin’s booming shout reached him.

Wang Ming looked over to see Hu Jin leading the Second Regiment’s traversers, power swords drawn, charging out of their positions.

“For the Emperor!” The traversers of the Second Regiment roared their battle cry with unwavering resolve, charging straight at the Necrons. Watching this scene, identical to the one from his dream, Wang Ming’s left eyelid twitched uncontrollably.

“Is this part of your design too, Emperor?”

Hu Jin himself led the charge, plunging into the Necron ranks and laying two of them low with sweeping blows from his power sword. The fallen Necrons immediately activated their repair protocols—their living metal bodies swiftly mending, they rose once more.

The traversers of the Second Regiment clashed with the Necrons, the clang of power swords against living metal echoing without end. Slain Necrons continuously enacted their repair protocols, while fallen traversers likewise resurrected time and again. Both sides seemed locked in an endless cycle of revival; yet while the Necrons’ stores of living metal gradually depleted, the traversers could truly resurrect without limit.

“Necron scarabs!” As the Second Regiment reveled in close combat, Necron scarabs silently emerged beneath their feet, gnawing rapidly at the bodies of the traversers locked in melee.

“Fall back—meltas!” Wu Xuan entered the fray, his Dreadnought’s twin rotary bolters scything through the Necron ranks. The melta rockets on his Dreadnought’s back were primed and ready, waiting only for the traversers to retreat.

Hearing Wu Xuan’s signal, the traversers swiftly withdrew from the Necron swarm. Once they had reentered friendly lines, Wu Xuan unleashed the melta rockets.

A barrage of melta warheads crashed into the Necron ranks, searing through them. Necron bodies melted under the intense heat, and those suffering irreparable damage were instantly teleported back to their tombs for reconstruction.

“Rebuild the defenses!”

The Necron assault, blunted by the melta barrage, finally relented for a moment. During this brief respite, the officers of the mortal auxiliaries quickly coordinated their troops, repositioning heavy bolters and lascannons to restore the defensive network.

“That was brutal,” Hu Jin gasped, planting his power sword in the ground and tearing off his helmet to gulp down air.

“Have the ‘Imperial Truth’ fire on the Necron tombs,” Wang Ming said, surveying the battlefield.

This was the most grueling battle the traversers had ever faced—even their earlier clashes with the Khorne Daemon Army had not been so dire. Two undying armies clashed ceaselessly on the field, but while the traversers’ limitless resurrection allowed them to stand toe-to-toe, the Necrons were still the stronger force by conventional standards.

The order to have the “Imperial Truth” strike the Necron tombs was relayed without delay. Adjusting its position and angle in low orbit, the “Imperial Truth” activated its lance matrix, preparing to launch an orbital strike against the Necron tombs on Mors.

Soon, mighty lances of energy fired from the “Imperial Truth” pierced the heavens, raining down upon the Necron tombs in the rocky wastes.

Yet the Necrons responded swiftly to Wang Ming’s “when in doubt, call an orbital strike” tactic. Across the rocky wastes, a shimmering green barrier spread from the heart of the Necron tomb, blanketing the sky and intercepting the lance strikes. The powerful beams could only stir faint ripples upon this shield.

“Damn, I should have expected that,” Wang Ming muttered, gazing up at the green shield overhead.

“Skeleton tech—astounding as ever.”

“Looks like we have no choice but to fight it out on the ground,” Wang Xiaofa remarked, standing beside Wang Ming and likewise staring at the shielded sky.

Wang Xiaofa wielded a flamestorm gun, a weapon heavily used by the Astartes Legions during the Great Crusade. While it lacked the range of a bolter, it delivered far greater destructive power.

The traversers had discovered that the flamestorm gun was particularly effective against Necrons, so Wang Ming had equipped every traverser fighting the Necrons with one. When the traversers formed up and unleashed a volley with their flamestorm guns, they could drive back a whole wave of Necron attackers.