The war did not slow, with the arrival of the Archmagos, it got sharper
Archmagos Ferrum-Rho advanced into the conflict like a moving fortress, his 6ft form unfolding with mechanical precision.
Parts moving against its connector, locking into place on him. His body expands more and as he drops to the ground the last few pieces connect into place.
BOOM!!! With his body now in its full glory of a 20ft tall machine.
What had once been a priest of Mars now resembled something closer to a walking engine of war, layered adamantium plating, extended arm braced with industrial pistons, weapon systems integrated seamlessly into his frame.
Around him, Skitarii formations reconfigured in real time, their movements tightening into defensive spirals.
Ferrum-Rho was thinking, solving the attacks of the Drukhari on his forge world. They have been too precise in their attack.
They have a target in mind. Were they waiting for him? Were they trying to cripple his production?
Manufactorum chains severed in exact intervals. Data-vault access points struck but not destroyed. Relay spires disabled rather than annihilated. Even their assaults on Titan bays had been probing, not committed.
This is not a mere raiding group, they have come with too much fire power for that. They were searching, what for?
Ferrum-Rho's cognition engines roared.
He began correlating impact sites. Cross-referencing with classified data vaults. Running predictive overlays across centuries of archived schematics.
One location appeared again, and again, and again, nothing seemed to make sense apart from this
Deep beneath Forge Complex Theta-Prime. The vault built not even a solar rotation ago.
"[Analysis]: They are after the sacred template fragment," Ferrum-Rho transmitted across all command channels.
The words rippled through the noosphere like a shockwave. A Standard Template Construct, not a partial system, but a full system they had recently been given by the Omnissiah.
Rage boiled over within the noosphere. The gift from the Omnissiah that would push this forge world into prominence and this is what they have come for.
Its contents still under decryption, its potential… incalculable. The basic information already gleaned from it had already pushed Magos Biologis Theron's research into rejuvenat Treatments considerably
Ferrum-Rho's internal processors spiked, the Drukhari knew, and it could only be one person that informed them. A Farseer.
Immediately he began looking around for confirmation. Those sneaky xenos should be here. It was now that it dawned on him, why the Imperium lost the sacred template in the original timeline.
No one can prepare for this quickly for this level of conflict. But they had made one mistake, he Archmagos Ferrum-Rho is not regular
"[Directives]:Priority inversion, All forces redirect to Theta-Prime." he ordered instantly.
Across Mora-Tau, the war shifted.
Warhound Titans altered stride vectors mid-engagement, abandoning pursuit of raiding elements to converge on the forge's core. Skitarii cohorts disengaged with brutal efficiency, leaving behind kill-zones littered with bodies, human and xenos alike.
Even the Knight lance broke formation, turning their massive frames toward the central manufactorum spire.
The Drukhari responded immediately. They no longer had to maneuver the battle, it was time for them to launch a full assault.
The webway tear above Theta-Prime widened.
From it poured reinforcements sleeker, deadlier constructs. Razorwing fighters screamed overhead, their monoscythe missiles carving through Skitarii formations with surgical devastation.
Talos engines advanced in coordinated packs now, no longer scattered, their movements guided by a singular will.
Their Archon descended with them, for the first time his face visible. Archon Leprio
He landed lightly upon a shattered gantry, cloak writhing like a living thing. His helm turned toward Ferrum-Rho's approaching form.
Recognition of purpose.
Ferrum-Rho did not slow.
"[Directive]: Engage maximum suppression protocols."
The order translated instantly into violence.
Macro-defense batteries, repositioned around Theta-Prime, opened fire in overlapping arcs. The sky became a lattice of explosions and energy beams. Entire swathes of Drukhari forces were obliterated mid-advance. But there was no end to them
They were determined to win this war.
The first Reaver Titan entered the battle moments later.
A towering god-engine, its carapace bristling with weaponry, its reactor core burning like a captive sun.
Its volcano cannon discharged once just once and an entire Drukhari assault column vanished in a column of incandescent fury.
Shockwaves flattened structures for kilometers.
Haywire weaponry intensified, in response.
Specialized strike teams darted between cover, targeting the Titan's joints and sensor arrays. Void-shield disruptions flared as cascading energy pulses battered its defenses.
A Ravager skimmed low, too low and unleashed a concentrated lance strike into the Reaver's knee joint.
Its armor held, but Xerath-17 noted it, he calculated the degradation rates. Adjusted support vectors, before he sent the data to the Archmagos, who approved.
From the deepest vaults of Theta-Prime, something vast began to rise.
The Warmaster Titan Axiom Invictus awakened. Unlike the others using temporary systems and pilots, it had its Princeps. Princeps Kaelor Vhane is awakened to crush the enemy.
One, that was all that was needed to make a difference.
Its systems came online with terrifying coherence. Where other Titans moved with slight delay, machine spirit and absent command struggling for unity, Axiom Invictus moved as a singular being.
Its plasma annihilator charged with a rising whine that seemed to bend the air itself. Then it fired…
The beam carved through the battlefield, erasing everything in its path along with the Drukhari constructs, Skitarii wreckage, even terrain itself reduced to molten ruin.
For the first time, the Drukhari lines broke.
Ferrum-Rho finally reached Theta-Prime.
The vault spire loomed before him, its armored doors sealed, its defenses already under assault. Drukhari forces had reached it, the gates already close to benign breached.
Unacceptable.
He raised his weapon.
One crafted in the style of weapons from the Dark Age of Technology in response. Its machine sang in joy at the return to the battlefield, and answered his request.
VWORP
It did not fire like a conventional weapon, it unmade.
A beam of silent distortion lanced forward, striking a cluster of Kabalite warriors. They did not explode, they did not burn, they simply ceased to exist.
Ferrum-Rho advanced.
Each step accompanied by precise, annihilating force. Archon Leprio moved to meet him.
Grace against inevitability. Speed against certainty.
Their forces clashed around them, Magos Xerath-17 repositioning the skitarii firing with disciplined waves, Drukhari weaving through death with impossible agility.
Titans roared overhead, their weapons reshaping the battlefield with every discharge.
Three Warhounds were down.
One Reaver crippled.
Skitarii losses approaching nine thousand.
But the Drukhari had paid dearly, entire raiding wings obliterated, Talos engines reduced to scrap, their advance slowed at last.
The Archon smiled beneath his helm.
Ferrum-Rho calculated the expression.
Confident. Expectant.
The forces of the Drukhari surged harder toward the vault. This was all the confirmation the Archmagos needed of their actions.
"
[Data processing]
[Calculating]...all probabilities converged into one conclusion.
If the sacred template fell…
Loss is unacceptable."
"[Directive]: Total war protocol initiated," he declared.
Magos Dominus Xerath-17, Magos Reductor Kroll, and Magos Biologis Theron, began maneuvering into new positions in accordance to the new directive
As the world burned, titans dueled, and constant annihilation continued. Archmagos Ferrum-Rho committed everything to the battle.
The war had evolved from…
A raid to…
A battle to…
A war…
A now an annihilation conflict.