The thought of what he was about to do, easing these agonized souls without spending lives or precious resources, made Zelo laugh despite himself.
Amid the thunderous arcs of lightning, someone caught a glimpse of the faint smile on the Primarch’s lips.
It only made them fear Zelo even more, but before they could rush forward to stop him, Zelo had already vanished into the crackling arcs of psychic energy.
Crack!
Inside the Conqueror, in the fourth corridor below Angron’s quarters, a massive surge of psychic lightning erupted.
Frost spread from one corner, rapidly coating the entire corridor in a thick layer of white rime.
At the center of the crystalline frost, space split open, the Warp and reality twisting together at the breach.
Zelo exhaled white vapor and strode out of the Warp, his entire form blazing with brilliant light.
He looked up and scanned his surroundings.
The entire Conqueror was now on full alert.
A crimson glow bathed the ship’s interior in a bloody hue, seeping into every corner.
Ring!
Ring!
Ring!
Ring!
The alarm blared, its urgent, frantic noise echoing through every part of the Conqueror, except for the Primarch’s chambers, which demanded absolute quiet.
The coordinates were off, Zelo realized.
On Stoll Star, his psychic teleportation only had to land him in the right general area.
Pinpoint accuracy was another matter.
Because his psychic teleportation was self-taught.
For most Psykers, teleportation demanded extensive calculations, formulas, and a deep perception of the Warp, all requiring long periods of study.
But Zelo had never received a single day of such training.
Aboard a World Eaters vessel, with rooms and corridors packed as densely as capillaries, even a slight error in the coordinates could send him far off target.
On Stoll Star, he could have simply walked the rest of the way.
But aboard a ship, a vast, complex, multi-layered structure, Zelo could not exactly tear through the World Eaters’ ceiling to get where he needed to go.
The ceiling was packed with pipes.
Breaking them would waste resources.
He would have to try another psychic jump.
This time, he took longer to lock in the coordinates.
Light flared in Zelo’s eyes.
He fixed his gaze on Angron’s soul and began calculating in his mind.
But at the same time, a thunder of footsteps approached.
Zelo heard shouts, panicked and urgent.
“He’s here!” The World Eaters Third Company captain called out, panting heavily, as he saw the tall Primarch standing in the corridor with a faint smile, covered in frost, glowing softly under the scarlet emergency lights.
Hearing his shout, the Primarch turned and glanced at the Third Company captain.
Just one glance, and the captain trembled all over.
He felt a suffocating pressure, as if a mountain had crashed down on his head.
The aura of the Primarch crushed the air from his lungs.
“I’m leaving now, though.
You should look somewhere else.” Zelo spoke with a chuckle.
The next moment, his psychic power erupted.
Arcs of electricity coiled up from his feet like serpents, wildly lifting the hem of his clothes and his hair.
Zelo took a deep breath and ignored the warriors at the end of the corridor, men who had rushed to stop him and were now pinned by the psychic pressure rolling off him.
This time, I have to get it right.
Zelo thought to himself, light bursting from his hands as he took a step forward, tore the barrier between the Warp and the material world, and stepped once more into the Warp.
In the uppermost corridor of the World Eaters vessel, several Terminator squads from the First Company had assembled.
They had been ordered to deploy immediately to every key node aboard the Conqueror.
The Terminators advanced through the corridor as quickly as they could.
Their armor, far heavier than standard power armor, made them move like small mountains.
In shipboard combat, a Terminator was closer to a compact heavy assault platform, with heavy firepower, extreme protection, and enough mass to force a breach under interior fire.
But now, amid those urgently marching Terminators, ominous psychic crackling began to hiss.
Frost spread across the ceiling.
The warriors looked up sharply and saw a pair of great hands tearing open the void.
Boom!
The next moment, Zelo dropped from the ceiling.
To avoid crushing the poor soul who stood directly beneath his arrival point, the Primarch rolled in midair.
“Sorry.
Wrong place again.
Does anyone know the psychic coordinates for Angron’s quarters?” The answer to the Primarch came as enraged roars and massed bolter fire.
They were shooting at a Primarch.
It was insane.
But in recent days, a rumor had spread through the Legion that a new Primarch would replace Angron, and these warriors had gone mad.
They swore to guard Angron with their lives.
And so they gave no thought to consequences or cost.
“No need to waste ammunition like that,” Zelo said with genuine regret.
Light blazed in his eyes.
A faint psychic arc flickered within the weapons’ firing mechanisms.
The next moment, every weapon went silent.
Flames died.
Plasma ceased its hum.
The warriors’ roars and fury still burned, but the guns in their hands no longer obeyed.
And when the Terminators surged forward, swinging their chainaxes, Zelo dodged their attacks as easily as if he were teasing children.
A Legion that could tear open kingdoms and destroy entire worlds was now being toyed with by Zelo.
Like a bolt of lightning, a figure too fast to track wove through the crowded corridor.
“Excuse me, I don’t want to hurt anyone.
Keep your distance when I jump, or the Warp currents will tear you apart.” Zelo spoke, jumping again.
He hovered in the air above the Terminators as if flying, casually caught a spinning chainaxe one of them had thrown at him, and tossed the axe back.
Psychic light flared around him once more.
As swift as a bullet wrapped in thunder, he leaped back into the Warp.
Crack!
The Primarch vanished, leaving behind only the Terminators, seething with rage and no outlet.
The axe he had thrown back landed hilt-first in its owner’s hand, without a scratch.
No way he missed this time.
When Zelo stepped out of the Warp again, he saw Khârn, his face expressionless with fury, the senior World Eaters behind him, and every Librarian aboard the Conqueror except for the still-unconscious Chief Librarian.
Incidentally, there was also a silent Custodian standing in a corner, his weapon’s safety lock already disengaged.
After Zelo had disappeared from the hangar deck, Khârn had nearly gone mad.
He did not dare imagine what would happen if this Primarch actually teleported directly in front of Angron.
Fortunately, a Librarian’s words brought Khârn his last shred of reason.
Librarian Ascetir cried out, “He teleported!
Oh.
Oh!
He teleported to the wrong place!” Khârn spun around and roared at the Librarians, “Teleport me after him.
Then use your psychic powers to stop him!” (Translated by yourtl.app)