879.M30.
In the depths of Kraven's underground, following the Primarch's orders, the Third Chapter relieved the other three Chapters, tasked with the assault on the archives.
The gene-father hoped to obtain the Hrud's data as intact as possible.
Oleksandr, newly promoted "Nightmare" and 1st Company Captain, advanced through the tunnels.
In the darkness, the "Nightmare's" perception, surpassing that of ordinary Shadows of Order, aided by his armor, allowed him to see everything clearly. He could even perceive the distorted, blurred Hrud.
He looked around. The tunnel walls were uneven, yet their surfaces were smooth as glass.
'Not even Termite Tunnelers could excavate such tunnels.'
As the thought crossed his mind, a suffocating heat suddenly surged through the tunnel.
He knew the Hrud were coming. Time walked before them.
Their influence tore at the fabric of spacetime. The bizarre accelerated motion around them altered the atmosphere, making it dense.
The speed of light surpassed its natural limit. Tones subtly shifted towards the blue end of the spectrum.
The "Nightmare's" eyes turned pitch black. The Hrud, wielding plasma flintlocks and lightsabers, simultaneously halted.
Honor Guard members beside him raised archaeotech pistols. Energy beams, harvested from stars, lanced into Hrud forcibly pulled into dreams.
The darkness in the "Nightmare's" eyes faded. Oleksandr continued, passing through chamber after chamber, passage after passage.
Hrud architecture had no doors. Every passage and chamber connected to the next.
He followed a raised path towards a large room.
A group of Hrud, just emerging from the room, died in his dreams, never having a chance to attack.
Entering the large room, Oleksandr's gaze swept over hollow honeycomb shelves made of some resin.
Most shelves held sheets of solidified mycelium. Some mycelium scrolls lay on the floor, in strange, leaf-shaped containers.
Marlena watched as Catachan vines peeled away the multiple layers of dead skin covering a Hrud.
Her left hand pressed against the Hrud's body, keeping it in the moment of death.
She had witnessed a dead Hrud rapidly dissolve into foul-smelling liquid.
To study them, she had to use her bio-lightning to maintain the activity of every cell.
Simultaneously, she analyzed the Hrud's body structure.
Her right hand moved rapidly, recording. Vines, like hands, held a data-slate for the "Biologist":
[Unknown silicone compound present in skeletal structure.]
[Hypothesis: Organic linkage with protein chains?]
With a thought, she tossed her hand. A vine dropped, catching the falling pen.
She pressed her hand to the Hrud's left eye. Psychic energy spread.
Moments later, she withdrew her hand, took the pen, and continued recording:
[Two visual organs, similar to human eyes in structure, but much larger.]
[No apparent cone cells, but the retina is covered in numerous spiral-shaped unknown objects.]
[Conclusion: Hrud sensory organs are adapted for underground and nocturnal life.]
At the same moment the "Biologist" studied the Hrud, in the third layer of the Kingdom of Disorder, Nareth held the banner shaft in his left hand and the Dice of Prophecy in his right. The ritual design he had conceived flashed through his mind.
Geometric shapes flashed. Black mist from the Kingdom of Disorder, the "Red Priest's" uniqueness, and the Silent Cry' green teardrops appeared.
After reviewing the plan, he silently intoned.
'Methods to perfect the ritual.'
'...'
As he intoned, the dice trembled slightly.
Nareth noted this difference from past divinations. 'The divination involves a sefiroth, a uniqueness, and a C'tan shard?'
He hesitated for a moment, but finally tossed the triangular pyramid.
The pyramid seemed to move in slow motion, trembling as it rose to its apex.
It hovered for a minute. Just as Nareth thought the divination had failed, it began to spin like a windmill, faster than even a Primarch could follow.
An image flashed. The Primarch's transhuman mind etched it into memory.
He opened his hand, catching the falling dice.
It was now dull, without luster.
The "Baron of Corruption" placed the shaft on his back, activated his Spirit Vision, and looked at the dice.
'Hmm... its spiritual light is dim, but not extinguished.'
'The worst-case scenario hasn't occurred. It should still be usable.'
'Longer recovery time? Shorter range?'
He put the dice down.
Returning to the real world, he ordered the landing on the Hrud's capital world, Gurgan Prime.
Marlena, Arsena, and Diana, under the Black Emperor's direction, spent ten days completing the altar.
The altar was filled with the Legion's emblems and the Black Emperor's symbols.
Constructed of dual-numbered black gold, it was shaped like an abstract crown, its pillars curving into spikes, wings arching over the top.
Chaotic black runes, arcing lines, were etched everywhere.
The "Biologist" looked at the completed altar. It seemed to be shrouded in a great shadow.
She looked at the Black Emperor with awe. The blasphemous thoughts vanished.
The chaotic black arcs, then the surrounding wings, the spikes, and the abstract crown above.
As night fell, the stasis device activated.
Nareth stood atop the crown, gripping the "Red Priest's" uniqueness, chanting a new incantation in Dunnic.
"I, in my own name, bestow upon the 'Red Priest' the power of the 'Kingdom of Disorder,' so that this stasis field is not perceived by Hrud beyond Gurgan."
The moment the "Baron of Corruption's" psychic energy was drained, the altar briefly granted him the status of master of the Kingdom of Disorder.
The sefiroth's power was leveraged. Rising black mist filled the altar.
A formless, colorless flame rose from the shaft. The "Red Priest's" uniqueness shone.
A flash of light flickered over Gurgan's night.
Hundreds of millions of Hrud, surging, scurried in panic.
Tunnels boomed. Caves trembled.
Then, they stopped, surging towards that detestable thing.
Deep underground, among the countless Hrud, an individual four times larger than others flashed like a shadow, bowling over Hrud in its path.
Behind it, Hrud like ants carried strange machine components forward.
After the Primarch's perception was filled with an ocean of Hrud, he waited until the distorted fields had compressed the stasis field by a third, then chanted.
"I, in my own name, command the Hrud: Silence!"
On the wings, eleven Silent Talismans on one side and thirty-three green teardrops on the other lit up first.
Then, on the thirty-three black spikes, eleven green teardrop talismans on each side glowed.
Finally, the crown beneath his feet, with thirty-three on the outer ring and eleven on the inner, lit up.
Eight hundred fourteen talismans blazed. A green teardrop rapidly formed, covering the entire planet.
All Hrud fell into silence, except one.
The Hrud King.
He, along with the Shadows of Order and Auxilia, was only still for an instant.
The next instant, he charged forward, limbs flailing.
Where he passed, silent Hrud stirred, following.
Four minutes later, Nareth, busy collecting potion materials, suddenly stopped.
The Primarch sensed a mass of Hrud rapidly approaching.
'There is a special individual.'
'Hmm... in a population of billions, evolution could produce such an individual.'
'The Hrud King?'
His golden wings beat, flying towards the Hrud.
As he closed the distance, his perception expanded. He saw an army of millions of Hrud, awakened, following their King.
Flames blazed on his golden wings. His speed suddenly increased. Like a meteor, he reached the Hrud in an instant.
Instantly, the Primarch felt a thousand years older. His body felt heavy.
The "Baron of Corruption" channeled all his spiritual energy into the Hand of Order and shouted in Dunnic:
"Decree: Here, the distortion of time is forbidden!"
Light and shadow flickered in the Primarch's eyes. He closed his hand, then swept it.
A great rift tore between reality and the Warp.
In the Empyrean, within the Impossible Fortress's crystal spires, a gaze fell upon Gurgan.
It saw a brilliant flame.
In reality, the "Vortex of Destruction" swept up tens of thousands of Hrud behind the King.
The distorted fields of tens of thousands of Hrud were shattered by immense telekinesis. Their bodies disintegrated, turning to a shower of light.
The "Baron of Corruption" channeled his newly restored spiritual energy into the Hand of Order, pushing it downward.
A viscous liquid descended from above, enveloping the Hrud King layer by layer.
In the Empyrean, Tzeentch shook its staff.
The flame vanished. It saw Nareth and the amber on the ground.
It watched as Nareth took flight, wings beating, the amber in tow. Then, its gaze returned to the most perfect Primarch, Magnus.
As Nareth rose into the air, he ordered the four Chapters to attack, cleansing the remaining Hrud.
A thousand years older, his spiritual energy drained twice during the ritual, and twice more during the battle, he felt abnormally weak and in pain.
His face was pale. It felt like a thousand steel needles were churning in his mind.
Only after ten minutes did he recover.
He sent the Hrud King to the Kingdom of Disorder, then began collecting potion materials, his thoughts churning.
'Hmm, I didn't know about the Hrud King when I performed the divination. I didn't account for it.'
'The Dice of Prophecy, when used for divinations involving a sefiroth, a uniqueness, and a C'tan shard, cannot fill in missing information.'
He thought of the first ritual on Golghis, when the Hrud had overwhelmed Perturabo's stasis device, aging Arsena and the others.
Of the second, on Kraven, when large numbers of Hrud had arrived late for unknown reasons.
And now, this third, with another unexpected event.
Once might be an accident. Three times meant something else.
He quickly understood the reason: he had used power beyond his own level.
'Indeed, power beyond one's own level is difficult to control.'
'I must use the "Red Priest's" uniqueness cautiously, lest it trigger unpredictable disasters.'
'Advancing to Sequence 4 should bring a qualitative change. I should be able to control the uniqueness better then.'
He examined himself, sweeping up Hrud with his arms and telekinesis.
'A thousand years older, but it's not a major issue.
'When I advance to "Mentor of Disorder," using the Hrud King instead of ordinary Hrud will provide a far greater boost than the power I've lost.'
'At least I'm not like the Lion ten millennia later, white-haired and with obviously diminished strength.'
Weighing gains and losses, he reached his conclusion:
He had obtained better potion materials than expected. His power was temporarily reduced, but the advancement would bring a greater increase.
He had achieved his strategic objective, seizing the Gurgan system.
Shadow of Order casualties were far lower than those of the Iron Warriors. He had achieved a true victory, not the hollow one Perturabo had attained.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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