Chapter 896 - 895: Horus: The Shadows of Order, With Only Three Chapters, Has Pushed into My Warzone

On the surface of the Murder, Yassin led his 2nd Company of the First Chapter, advancing on the Black Emperor's command.

"Honour Guard, with me. The rest, hold position. Do not advance until the white thorn-trees have been recovered."

After giving the order, he led his Saturnine-pattern Terminators onto the red sand, where no grass grew.

The Shieldstorm rumbled overhead, furious lightning lancing down.

Forked lightning crackled against their black armor, exploding in coronas of blue.

Crackle...

The Saturnine-pattern Terminator prototypes, protected by their thermal dispersion fields, pushed forward against the torrent of electricity.

Tick...

Thousands of flying spiders, their long, transparent wings shimmering, descended from the sky, their hooked claws reaching for the Shadows of Order.

The "Disciplinary Paladins" raised their right arms, intoning in Dunnic: "This place is forbidden to flight and levitation!"

Golden light shot skyward, engulfing the flying spiders.

Their beating wings froze. Their abdomens grew heavy. They plummeted.

Their hind legs scrabbled uselessly on the red sand, their forelegs hooking at the Shadows of Order.

The "Disciplinary Paladins" turned, raising their arms: "Imprisonment!"

Viscous, translucent liquid cascaded, forming enormous amber cocoons.

The surviving flying spiders banked, fleeing.

Yassin led his company in pursuit, their massive forms closing on the fleeing spiders.

Static hissed in their comms, then a stream of data scrolled across their visors.

He stopped, staring at a rising column of fire. 'Someone beat us to it.'

He was about to change direction when an urgent orange rune flickered on his tactical display.

He switched channels. The sound of heavy fire, and a calm, forceful voice: "Requesting assistance!"

Yassin pinpointed the source. "Support."

The flames subsided, revealing the wreckage of a giant tree.

Dozens of fleeing flying spiders weaved through the storm of fire, lunging at the pearl-white-armored warriors.

Yassin's eyes narrowed. He saw twenty-seven ultra-heavy Megarachnids, their four thick forelegs swinging, crashing into the Luna Wolves' line.

Bolt rounds hammered against them, deflected by their grey carapaces.

Their short necks were tucked into their chests, completely protected.

Diamond-hard shells struck their broad cephalothoraxes and ricocheted.

Their blades clashed with the Luna Wolves' weapons, sending them flying.

The massive spiders drove the Luna Wolves back, gouging deep furrows in the red sand.

Around the giant beasts, other individuals, their limb-tips replaced by shovel-like flat organs, swarmed.

Some crawled over the tree wreckage, clearing it with ant-like speed.

Others, using their forelegs to pull white material from spinnerets on their abdomens, carried the solidified fibers and mixed them with the wreckage, planting new thorn-tree roots.

A pearl-white figure darted among the builders. He swung his blade, cleaving a shovel-limb in two, spraying white, gelatinous mucus.

The mucus soaked into the red sand, quickly hardening and solidifying.

The Luna Wolf tried to pull free, but his boots and greaves were stuck fast.

Another Luna Wolf, after shattering a builder, shouted a warning. "Loken!"

A Weaver's massive body turned, its four blades spinning towards Loken.

Loken leaned back, his sword plunging into its broad abdomen.

Scrape!

A gaping wound opened, molten glue spewing, coating his pearl-white armor.

Loken strained to straighten up.

Hmm?

He felt impossibly heavy. He could only manage to tilt his head by about twenty degrees.

A line of text appeared on his tactical display: [Unknown substance adhering to armor. Mobility impaired.]

"Loken!"

Vespasian's voice again, more urgent.

Creak, creak...

Loken strained his neck, turning less than five degrees, when a massive shadow fell over him. A blade-limb descended towards his neck.

Bang!

Loken's eyes widened. The Megarachnid was hurled aside.

Boom!

A black boot slammed into the red sand, sending up a spray.

Crackle!

A beam of light seared past his face.

Creak, creak...

Loken, having survived by a hair's breadth, turned his neck like a puppet, looking.

Massive black armor. Saturnine-pattern Terminator prototype.

A glowing blue power fist.

'A Shadows of Order!'

'How? I'm still in the southern hemisphere!'

Loken glanced at his tactical display. With the thorn-trees destroyed, the augur arrays and comms were rapidly returning to normal.

[Southern Hemisphere, Sector 6-4-9. Linear distance to the equator: 613.73 kilometers.]

'When did the Shadows of Order cross the equator and push so deep into our warzone?'

As Loken stared, data stream after data stream scrolled across his display.

[3:28: Captain Taybalt Mal's 18th Company encountered the First Chapter's 1st Company in Southern Sector 9-4-2. They shot down 28 flying spiders, recovered 3 thorn-trees, and departed.]

[8:19: Captain Lev Gershon's 25th Company encountered the First Chapter's 3rd Company in Southern Sector 8-1-5. They routed over a thousand builders, recovered 5 reassembled thorn-trees, and departed.]

[11:37: Captain Virulan Moy's 19th Company encountered the First Chapter's 6th Company in Southern Sector 7-3-8. They broke through 16 Weavers' lines, recovered 4 reassembled thorn-trees, and departed.]

[...]

Loken scanned the scrolling tactical data, glancing at his chronometer.

[14:49.]

His mind, like his body, was frozen for three heartbeats.

'The Shadows of Order has advanced over six hundred kilometers in just over eleven hours. How? Sorcery?'

"Loken!"

Vespasian reached him, cutting away the hardened glue, freeing his captain.

Loken watched the Shadows of Order, carrying the reassembled thorn-trees, moving away at speed.

Their massive forms moved across the red sand faster than the Luna Wolves in Mark IV armor.

Loken identified the reinforcement's rune. "Yassin, I thank you for your aid."

"You are welcome." Yassin did not slow, leaving the friendlies behind, continuing the hunt for the Megarachnids and thorn-trees his Lord desired.

As Loken rallied his company, Horus Lupercal's sword shattered a thorn-tree.

He checked his rapidly restoring tactical network. His eyes widened.

'How?'

'The Shadows of Order, with only three Chapters, sixty or seventy thousand warriors, has pushed into the southern hemisphere? My warzone?'

His gaze shifted to another entry.

[Sector 6-9-3: A canyon filled with conical trees, ten meters tall, made of the same white geoni as the thorn-trees.\\A long, narrow body of water has stained the soil orange-yellow, completely different from the red sand.]

[A new species of xenos, black Megarachnids, faster and more vicious than the grey flying kind, has repelled the 13th Company's attacks. Luke Sedirae's two assaults have both been thrown back.]

'That must be a strategic key point.' Horus thought. Sedirae's combat record surpassed even the Mournival members, second only to Loken and Abaddon.

Horus's eyes gleamed. "Locate the nearest teleportation point to Sector 6-9-3."

'This time, I will be the one to claim the decapitation strike, ahead of Nareth.'

....

If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.

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