One Terran hour later.
"Lord Adam, it is a pleasure to see you once again."
Within the long corridor of the tomb incident, Lucia—wings sprouting from her back, a halo atop her head, and her body radiating a faint golden light—nodded seriously and bowed in greeting to the master she followed.
The events prior had made her feel somewhat weak, even leading her to contemplate how she should perform penance afterward. When she had opened her eyes and found herself far from Adam's side, Lucia, as a Living Saint who had received the Emperor's Holy Decree, had even fallen into a momentary panic.
If, by some chance, Adam had met with an accident during that time, would she not have failed the Emperor's trust?
As soon as she thought of this, Lucia, filled with hatred and fury, vented all her anger upon the passing Necron Warriors.
Looking behind her, Adam could see the path they had come from was now pitted and shattered beyond recognition. Strewn across the ground was a large heap of completely broken Necron "Gundams" that were powerless to self-repair.
"There is no need for such formality."
He sighed and nodded to Lucia, signaling that he was unharmed.
On the other side, Belisarius Cawl approached the Primaris with a look of concern. This creation was his most valued masterpiece, and he began attempting to check the other for any serious injuries.
Meanwhile, Archmagos Quf looked at his old friend—who was completely indifferent to his own well-being—and fell into deep thought.
Truth be told, there wasn't much to say about Adam and his group's experience breaking through the Necron lines. Even though the Necrons had fought hard this time, deploying elite vehicle units that, despite their limited numbers, should have theoretically wiped out several times their number in Imperial armored vehicles due to their high-tech advantage...
It was simply no use.
Faced with a large number of "ProMax Enhanced" Domitar Robots and Adam's constant, pinpoint fire support from the rear, the Necrons were treated like stray dogs on the side of the road—simply kicked aside.
It was completely one-sided, like Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua.
"By the way, where are the others?"
The Primaris finally managed to shake off Archmagos Cawl's fussing and turned to speak to Adam.
"Lord Adam, should we set out immediately to regroup with the other personnel?"
"No need. Our next objective is to head directly into the depths of the Tomb World," Adam explained, shaking his head.
"The Cybernetica unit Archmagos Cawl brought earlier is currently wreaking havoc inside the Tomb World; there's no need to worry about it. Inquisitor Sibylla is on her way to meet up with Commissar Yarrick. Once they regroup, I can activate the Warp Teleport Beacon in my hand, and the Psykers will teleport directly to join us."
"However, as for Leonardo..."
At this point, Adam's expression turned slightly subtle.
"The situation is a bit special. I just saw the enemy he encountered. It shouldn't be life-threatening."
To be fair, this had taken Adam by surprise as well. He could never have imagined that while exploring an ordinary Necron Tomb World, a "Trazyn the Infinite" would suddenly and inexplicably spawn.
I don't think this is a Nihilakh Dynasty Tomb World, is it?
On the other side.
Leonardo was not having as easy a time as Adam suggested; he was locked in a bitter struggle.
Facing another Blade Champion, the two were virtually indistinguishable in terms of physical attributes, combat experience, and equipment.
For a time, the blades of their Guardian Spears clashed repeatedly. Their bodies, forged with the pinnacle of Imperial technology, turned into afterimages, raging through the corridor like a hurricane.
Perfect martial skill was displayed with ease—dodging, attacking, parrying, and counter-attacking flowed like water. Even the slightest opening would be seized by the opponent and turned into a winning opportunity.
With a slight tilt of his head, the whistle of a custom bolt shell streaked past his ear. Leonardo calmly calculated his next move after his instantaneous counter-attack was dodged by a hair's breadth.
Initially, he had been extremely furious at such a blasphemous scene, but the rigorous training he underwent before becoming a Custodian prevented him from acting on impulse. Instead, he analyzed the battlefield with startling efficiency.
Finally, he reached a conclusion.
"...I will win!"
Even if his companion's combat skills were indeed outstanding, Leonardo possessed a power the other did not: the power of Reality Warping.
Though his level was low, he could still issue simple commands to the Machine Spirit, putting his own weapon into a state of "Machine Spirit Jubilation."
In such a deadlock, any small disparity between the two sides could easily be amplified infinitely.
"It seems the battle is turning against me."
Trazyn watched pensively as the Blade Champion controlled by the Mindshackle Scarabs began to lose ground. Yet, the Necron Overlord remained unhurried.
As a Necron Overlord specializing in "collecting," he had many, many tricks up his sleeve.
After a moment's thought, Trazyn immediately pulled a silver spherical object from his Hyperphase Labyrinth. The object was engraved with many Necron runes, and a ghostly green light flowed slowly across it.
Then, he aimed it at the target he wished to capture. An arc of electricity flashed from it.
"What?"
In the next instant, the scene in Leonardo's vision was turned upside down.
Cold. Shaking.
He opened his eyes to find himself inside a ship's compartment.
Chaos, corruption, darkness, distortion, disorder, evil...
Countless negative words could not describe even a fraction of the scene here. The veil of reality had been torn asunder, the Warp and realspace were intermingled, and the mad laughter of Chaos echoed in his ears.
This was... the Vengeful Spirit.
Wait.
No! No! No!
Leonardo's eyes widened. He found his body was now out of his control, manipulated by an invisible force. Together with twenty-seven other Custodians beside him, he raised his weapon and aimed it at the holy figure clad in golden armor, radiating brilliant light.
That was... the Emperor.
In an instant, immense despair and terror nearly shattered the Custodian's supposedly indestructible psychological defenses. Leonardo fell into a state of daze and shock, unable to extricate himself for a long time.
Until Adam's voice rang in his ear.
"Wake up! This isn't real! That's a Necron relic—the Primal Fear Inducer! Wake up, now damn it!"
The illusion that had plunged Leonardo into total despair began to spread spiderweb-like cracks at the sound of this voice, eventually shattering completely.
Leonardo regained his senses.
But it was clearly too late. He had wasted too much time in his fear.
The last thing to appear in Leonardo's vision was a Hyperphase Labyrinth that had already reached the top of his head, thrown by Trazyn.
With a flash of white light, the gold-armored Custodian vanished from the spot instantly.
Trazyn walked forward and picked up the Hyperphase Labyrinth rolling on the floor with satisfaction.
"Excellent. It seems it wasn't that difficult after all."