Puhlheim Sector, Puhlheim Prime.
William Wood produced a Sovereign coin. The "Clown's" gaze focused on it, his eyes rapidly deepening as he murmured in Dunnic:
"Now is the time to go to the battlefield of the Psi Titans and the Osseivores. Now is the time to go to the battlefield of the Psi Titans and the Osseivores..."
After murmuring it eleven times, the "Clown" flicked the coin upwards, then extended his gauntlet flat.
Slap! The coin landed, resting steadily in his palm.
Heads side up.
"This indicates the action will go smoothly."
After interpreting this, the "Clown" hit the throttle. The Land Speeder roared forward.
Suddenly, William felt a patch of nothingness ahead. He slammed on the brakes.
Inertia threw his body forward. Blood rushed to his head.
The "Clown" pressed a hand on the bike and nimbly lifted himself, standing steadily on the handlebars of the single-rider Land Speeder.
Any ordinary person seeing this would be stunned, a black-armored giant standing steadily on the handlebars.
Psykers might think it was telekinesis, but William was not involved in that aspect. He relied on the abilities granted by his Father.
William's face was pale. The presence of the Blanks made him feel unwell.
He then adjusted the high-power holographic imager embedded in his helmet for this mission, calming the feeling of nausea and vomiting.
Subsequently, he activated his Spirit Vision to observe the Psi Titans ahead.
William had received orders from his Chapter Master. He had two tasks for this mission.
One of them was to observe the Psi Titans, deployed for the first time on the battlefield.
A shadow like a black hole. Two pale, suffering souls.
William frowned slightly. As a psyker, he found the Psi Titans deeply repugnant.
They awakened vague memories from before he became a member of the Shadows of Order: the caste enslavement on Gardinaal.
The Ordo Sinister was the Emperor's private armory. He had sealed off all information regarding the Psi Titans. Even the Primarchs on the War Council and the Fabricator-General of Mars had no access to it.
But the Shadows of Order database contained information left by his Father, accessible to Court Barons and above.
Though William was not a Baron, he had temporary permission for this mission.
He knew that the psykers within the Psi Titans were not pilots like those in ordinary Titans. They were fuel. They were weapons.
They were simply not regarded as people.
The red light on them, representing physical health, was almost overwhelmed by black and grey.
They were controlled and driven by the Blanks.
'As Father said, Daemon-Titans is a more fitting name.'
William deactivated his Spirit Vision. After calming himself for a moment, he began to observe the Psi Titans' external form.
The internal scanning system displayed their height as 25.21 meters.
'Reaver-class.'
As William pondered, three Reaver-class Psi Titans abruptly accelerated.
William recalled the database record: Psi Titans were extremely fast, far surpassing equivalent Titans.
He quickly shifted his body and dropped back into his seat.
As the engine engaged, he sped down the slope, simultaneously spotting the tree-like Osseivores ahead.
Five of them.
As he discerned their numbers, he reactivated his Spirit Vision.
The psykers trapped within the crystal boxes were driven to burn.
As their psychic power was unleashed, boundless resentment and suffering manifested externally. Black mist drifted for kilometers. Frost covered the ground.
The six Psi Titans' ruination cannons focused on one Osseivore. Like vortex weapons, they tore open a Warp rift.
With a piercing shriek, the turbulent Warp energy instantly tore through the Osseivore's personal energy shield.
The spinning, ominous black hole sucked in the war-torn wreckage before vanishing with a reluctant howl.
Vanishing with it were the Osseivore and its long, terrified scream.
William's face was pale, but he kept his eyes fixed on the battlefield. The task given by his Chapter Master originated from his Father's orders.
Raining beams simultaneously struck the Psi Titans. The firepower of four Osseivores concentrated on the Titan at the center of the triangular formation.
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK...
The Reaver-class Psi Titans ran at full speed. Their burst speed exceeded even Warhound-class Titans.
The Osseivores' crests rustled. Their beams instantly split into needles.
Amidst a buzzing cacophony of explosions, the void shields of the central Reaver-class Psi Titan were instantly breached.
With a rustle, the needles condensed into beams of light, howling as they slammed into the Titan's body.
A hazy light suddenly flared, visible only to psykers with ætheric vision.
Shattered armor rewove itself. Destroyed mechanisms were restored as if new in an instant.
Simultaneously, the psykers' shrill cries echoed in the minds of William and the swiftly approaching xenos.
William instantly ascended to the third level of the Thelema state of mind. Only then did the terrifying shriek gradually fade.
In the "Clown's" Spirit Vision, the six dim figures trapped within the Titan grew even greyer.
William knew they had had years of their lives extracted to sustain the cages imprisoning them.
As the fourth terrible shriek faded, all the Osseivores were dead. In his Spirit Vision, the red light representing health on the two psykers in the central Titan had almost vanished.
'They are about to die.'
As William pondered, the ground suddenly shook violently.
He looked up. A forest of giant trees surged towards them.
Fourteen Osseivores.
William decided to immediately execute his second task. He looked around and selected a rugged, narrow mountain path.
He turned and headed towards the Osseivore closest to his escape route.
The Osseivores ignored the "little thing" on the ground. They madly attacked the Psi Titans.
William observed that the Psi Titans had greater attack and recovery power, but at the cost of burning the psykers.
The Osseivores had inferior firepower and personal energy shields compared to the Psi Titans, but they had numbers.
The crew, most of whose lives already burned, could no longer repair the machine. Its speed slowed. Driven by the Blanks, it unleashed its final radiance upon the enemy.
As an Osseivore toppled like a mountain, two pained screams echoed.
The Reaver Psi Titan's reactor exploded. Blinding light stole the xenos' vision. The energy shockwave tore through another Osseivore.
Gravel slammed into the Land Speeder. The black vehicle shuddered.
The "Clown" leaned right with the shockwave while raising his arm.
With a short crack, the exquisite weapon forged by Vulkan to hone his skills launched its five throwing blades.
SWISH, SWISH, SWISH...
The blades struck the Osseivore, now lacking its personal energy shield. The blue force field shrieked as it tore through patches of green.
The Osseivore let out a pained cry. The damage it received far exceeded the scope of five throwing blades.
With a rustle, it turned its arm, aiming at the detestable "little thing" on the ground.
Beams lanced towards the Land Speeder.
As the "Clown" attacked, his right hand deftly twisted. The Land Speeder, amidst the shockwave and gravel, executed a perfect, beautiful turn, changing direction.
The "Clown" hit the throttle. The Land Speeder's tail flames crackled like fireworks.
Simultaneously, he raised his left arm. The five throwing blades flew back, returning to their place.
Vulkan had used some technique allowing the thrown blades to automatically return.
It was not like the Dionysian Spear, gifted to his Father by the Emperor, which would return automatically no matter where it was thrown.
William preferred to compare it to the recorded Aeldari weapons, the Singing Spear and the Witchblades. Both were limited to a certain range.
The difference was that Vulkan's throwing blades were automatic, needing no psychic guidance.
The "Clown" didn't need to look back. The incoming beams formed an image in his mind.
Relying on "Danger Intuition," he could grasp the Osseivore's next attack.
Dozens of beams in a row failed to hit the detestable enemy.
The Osseivore charged. Its crest rustled. Its beams split into needles.
The "Clown" sensed the sky-filling needles. He sharply leaned and pulled the handlebars.
The Land Speeder almost scraped against the cliff wall. The light crackled, most of it slamming into the cliff.
The "Clown" sensed over a dozen beams heading straight for his back.
He pushed off with his hands, instantly springing up, spinning in mid-air to evade the points of light.
The "Clown" flipped down and immediately found his balance.
With no buffer, he directly twisted the handlebars. The Land Speeder made a sharp turn.
William was like a "Clown" at a Terran court banquet, leaping and dodging on a tightrope.
The Osseivore clumsily navigated the mountain path. Its beams, raining down, sent countless rocks tumbling. They failed to hit the target but obstructed its own path.
After spinning six times in the air, William opened his comms and sent the canyon's coordinate rune to the Techmarine.
Landing back on the Land Speeder, he felt the beams momentarily cease. He produced his coin and silently intoned.
"The Void Claw experiment is dangerous..."
After eleven repetitions, he flicked the coin. Seeing the numeral, he breathed a sigh of relief.
The numeral represented negation, no danger.
Outside the canyon exit, the Techmarine received the signal.
As an "Archaeologist," he felt honored.
An ancient human doomsday weapon, an experimental weapon, would be used in actual combat for the first time, under his control.
His hands flew rapidly. The range of twenty-five kilometers was quickly narrowed to a diameter of three kilometers.
Auspex, energy telemetry systems...
Runes danced on the viewscreen, finally resolving into two signals: one large, one small.
The "Archaeologist" forcefully pressed the rune on the panel and spoke on the comm channel.
"William, twelve seconds to launch preparation."
"I suggest you immediately increase your engine to maximum power."
"Countdown begins, twelve..."
The "Archaeologist's" hand rested on the control stick, his eyes fixed on the screen, on the runes already classified and marked as red and black.
The black rune rapidly moved away from the red one.
"One, zero."
The Techmarine yanked the control stick. With a short, violent tremor, the entire black box shuddered.
The blinding light from the reactor engulfed the entire black box. Waves of heat, capable of melting an ordinary person, washed over the Techmarine.
Amidst a cascade of flickering runes, a three-meter-long metal arm on the outside of the box's top opened its fist.
A black light shot forth, striking the Osseivore's crown four kilometers away.
A ligaht-devouring black hole formed.
Time seemed to freeze. The colossal Osseivore and the rocks within a one-kilometer radius were swept up by an invisible force.
The energy shockwave slammed into the Land Speeder. The vehicle was sent spinning through the air.
The "Clown" followed the momentum twisted his body and adjusted the handlebars.
The Land Speeder stopped in mid-air. The "Clown" looked up. The Osseivore had vanished.
William pondered for a few seconds, thinking to himself.
'Both the Psi Titans and the miniaturized Void Claw are killers of Osseivores.'
'The Psi Titans are more agile and have a faster rate of fire, but they consume psykers and Blanks.'
'The Void Claw has a longer preparation time and a longer interval between attacks, limiting its use cases.'
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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