(Bonus) 18: Chapter 18: Seth: He’s Just Giving Us Too Much!!
— Even Dante was completely dumbfounded.
Since when did humanity possess the technological capability for instantaneous cross-system teleportation?!
Was this yet another lost miracle from the Dark Age of Technology?
Damn it!
Exactly how much priceless technology did humanity manage to lose?!
“By the way, your gear is looking a bit rough.
Let’s get everyone into Terminator Armor, and we’ll swap out those busted transports while we’re at it.” Vane had previously touched the Blood Angels’ Terminator suits, permanently unlocking the crafting recipe.
Finding himself with a few spare moments, he hand-crafted a massive stockpile of them.
He couldn’t have the younger generation running around looking broke—it reflected poorly on him.
Staring at the literal mountain of pristine Terminator suits dumped onto the floor, Dante’s eyes went wide.
Did the Forefather just casually rob an entire Forge World?!
Witnessing this absolute defiance of the laws of mass and energy conservation, Necron Overlord Anrakyr’s logic cores nearly bluescreened.
What in the cosmos is this human?!
How does he possess such profoundly bizarre, physics-breaking abilities?!
And where exactly is he pulling hundreds of suits of highly advanced heavy infantry armor from?!
Just what in the name of the Silent King happened to the galaxy during our slumber?!
“Hurry up and have your Crypteks help them equip the armor,” Vane ordered, turning to look at Anrakyr.
“Why should I?” Anrakyr snapped back reflexively.
He was a supreme Necron Overlord!
Taking direct orders from a biological ape was utterly unacceptable.
If word of this got out, his reputation would be ruined, and his grand ambition to unite the Necron dynasties would become a laughingstock!
“Because if we don’t hurry, your little master plan is going to fail, and we can’t afford to waste time.” Vane provided a brutally pragmatic reason that Anrakyr literally could not argue with.
“Fine.” After rapidly calculating the strategic variables, Anrakyr decided to temporarily shelve his personal pride.
First, they would eliminate the Tyranid infestation in the Cryptus System to secure the Mephrit Dynasty’s technological legacy.
Once the Hive Fleet was dealt with, he could settle his score with this arrogant human later.
With the reluctant assistance of the Necron Crypteks, the Blood Angels rapidly shed their battered power armor and fully equipped themselves in the factory-new Terminator suits.
“Let’s move.
We’re deploying to Lysios to reinforce the Flesh Tearers and the Adepta Sororitas.” Vane gestured for Dante and the Blood Angels to step into the massive Nether Portal.
Stepping through the swirling violet gateway, Dante felt space itself violently distort around him.
When reality finally stabilized, he found himself staring directly down the barrels of dozens of bolters, surrounded by heavily armed Flesh Tearers revving their chainswords.
“Stand down!
It’s me, Dante!” Dante shouted, instantly realizing the misunderstanding.
“Hold your fire!
They’re friendlies!” Gabriel Seth, Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers, reacted immediately, barely preventing a disastrous friendly-fire incident.
Sensing a massive spike in spatial distortion within their sanctum, the Flesh Tearers had assumed the Tyranids had developed advanced teleportation bio-morphs and immediately prepared for a desperate close-quarters firefight.
“What are you doing here?” Seth asked, deeply confused as he watched an endless stream of Blood Angels file out of the bizarre spatial anomaly.
“We successfully secured the Magnifican Prism’s primary control spire.
The Forefather constructed a teleportation gate and ordered us to reinforce your position,” Dante gave a rapid, condensed explanation.
“Forefather?” Seth narrowed his eyes.
Over the vox-link earlier, he had desperately wanted to question the title.
What kind of arrogant fool dares to call himself the Forefather of humanity?
Is this some sort of shapeshifting xenos deception?
But given the sheer desperation of their current tactical reality, Seth knew this wasn’t the time to interrogate allies.
“The situation here is critical.
The Tyranid swarm is overwhelmingly massive.
We’ve been completely besieged inside this cathedral, and the Sororitas and civilian refugees have suffered horrendous casualties.” “Worse, several of my brothers are on the absolute brink of losing their minds.
If we maintain this combat intensity for much longer, they will inevitably succumb to the Black Rage.” “Yeah, things look pretty bad.” Vane stepped out of the portal, perfectly catching the tail end of Seth’s report.
“Who are you?” Seth snapped his head toward Vane, his brow furrowing deeply as he stared at the unaugmented, completely normal-looking human.
“Allow me to introduce him,” Dante interjected, his tone ringing with absolute reverence.
“This is the Forefather of humanity I mentioned over the vox.
It was entirely due to his miraculous intervention that we secured the control spire so quickly.” “He’s just a mort—” Before Seth could finish his aggressive challenge, Vane casually waved his hand.
A literal mountain of pristine Terminator armor materialized out of thin air, accompanied by several factory-new Leman Russ Battle Tanks and Predator Destructors.
“You Flesh Tearers look ridiculously poor.
If the Necrons see you fighting in this junk, they’re going to think humanity is practically extinct.” “Everyone swap to Terminator armor immediately.
One suit per marine.
I’m also throwing in some heavy armor support.
Try not to embarrass the human race.” Seth forcibly swallowed the skepticism that was already halfway up his throat.
He contorted his scarred, brutal face into what he assumed was a friendly, welcoming smile—which honestly just made him look incredibly menacing.
“You truly are worthy of the title ‘Forefather’!
You are clearly a man of unparalleled majesty, breathtaking grace, transcendent intellect!
My admiration for you flows as endlessly as the great rivers of Cretacia!” “Stop kissing up and put the armor on.
We don’t have time to waste.” Vane waved him off and immediately set off to find the Magnifican Prism’s energy-relay nodes.
He hadn’t forgotten his primary objective: unlocking the crafting recipes for the Prism’s infrastructure so he could build his own Dyson-tier solar generators for his human colonies.
“I honestly never would have guessed you were so articulate, Seth.
That was a remarkably expansive vocabulary you just used to flatter him.” Dante stared at the Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers in genuine shock.
He had absolutely no idea the notoriously brutal, perpetually angry Space Marine possessed such advanced sycophantic skills.
“If you can hand me this much Terminator armor out of thin air, I can find even more words to praise you,” Seth grunted, waving his apothecaries and Chapter serfs over to frantically help his warriors suit up in the heavy armor.
“Honestly, I prefer your usual rebellious, uncompromisingly aggressive attitude.
Seeing you act this submissive in front of the Forefather is a bit jarring,” Dante joked, his mood significantly lightened.
With Vane taking the field, he knew absolute victory was practically guaranteed.
“I have no choice.
He’s just giving us way too much!” Seth shot back.
“There are hundreds of Terminator suits sitting right here.
This is enough to outfit my entire Chapter!” “Since the day I assumed command—no, since the day the Flesh Tearers were founded—we have never been this wealthy!” “With this wargear, the Flesh Tearers can execute the Emperor’s will and enact the Great Angel’s wrath upon the enemies of humanity with unprecedented efficiency.” “And all I have to do in exchange is swallow my pride, hold my temper, and force a smile?
That is the best tactical trade deal in the history of the Imperium!” “Honestly, if he wants to keep handing out gear like this, I have absolutely no problem playing the subservient lapdog!” If Canoness Amity of the Order of the Sacred Rose had been standing there, she would have nodded in profound, solemn agreement.
Because Vane had just finished dumping a massive pile of brand-new Sororitas power armor and heavy weapons on them for the exact same reason: They looked way too broke.
After distributing the wargear, Vane casually handed out regular Golden Apples to the critically wounded.
Even without enchantments, Minecraft’s base Golden Apples possessed absurdly overpowered healing properties (Regeneration II and Absorption) and permanently strengthened the consumer’s constitution.
The moment the wounded bit into the apples, they began to heal at a terrifying, visible rate.
Severed limbs regrew, and fatal organ damage knitted itself back together in seconds.
Witnessing this absolute, undeniable miracle, Canoness Amity and her Battle Sisters were overcome with religious ecstasy.
They dropped to their knees, weeping and loudly singing hymns of praise to the God-Emperor and the divine Forefather.
They were absolutely, unconditionally convinced that Vane was a direct celestial emissary sent by the Emperor Himself to deliver His suffering flock.
Vane completely ignored their fanatical weeping.
Having finished distributing the loot, he made a beeline straight for the Magnifican Prism’s local relay node: the massive, ancient solar-crawlers known as the Helios pattern.
Once the Magnifican Prism siphoned raw stellar energy, it transmitted that power across the entire Cryptus System through a network of heavily fortified relay arrays, meeting the energy demands of every colonized world.
The Helios-pattern solar-crawlers were ancient, retrofitted relics of the Dark Age of Technology serving as the mobile relay arrays for Lysios.
Vane placed a hand on the crawler’s hull, and a system prompt instantly popped up.
[Congratulations!
New Crafting Recipe Unlocked: Magnifican Prism – Energy Relay Node] Awesome, that’s the second piece unlocked.
All I need now is to scan the Void Domes on Tartaros, and I’ll have the full blueprint to hand-craft a functional Magnifican Prism!
Suddenly, deafening klaxons blared across the cathedral perimeter.
The Tyranid swarm had launched another massive offensive.
The sheer density of the advancing bio-forms was so overwhelming it looked as if a living, chitinous carpet was rolling over the horizon.
But this attack was fundamentally different from the previous waves.
Billowing alongside the advancing swarm was a suffocating, dense wall of toxic yellow fog.
This highly corrosive bio-gas was the exact same weapon that had effortlessly melted General Dhrost’s entire armored division on the planet Asphodel.
Now, the Hive Mind was attempting to repeat the tactic, aiming to completely dissolve the Imperial defenders on Lysios in a sea of toxic sludge.
— More bonus chapter are on the way!!
Wanna read ahead right now?!