Ullach Brandon, Iron Captain of the Iron Hands' 65th Company, jumped down from the Sicaran Punisher and surveyed his surroundings.
Machinery exploded at random, while magnetic shrieks swirled like dust.
Cavor Sarta's death machines crackled, and the psychic death throes of the entire Forge World echoed with terrified screams.
Pervasive torment reverberated, pounding out a dreadful rhythm as it stirred the red-hot core, which flickered with an evil scarlet glow.
He withdrew his gaze in disgust and gave the order.
"Search for Kryptos!"
The Iron Hands immediately dispersed and rushed into the underground vault.
Bolters roared, blasting every traitor they encountered into fragments.
Blank Data Slates interfaced with blasphemous devices, brazenly seizing Warp secrets that The Emperor had forbidden anyone to explore.
"My lord, the first squad has completed its search. Kryptos was not found."
Ullach listened to every report, then coldly issued his orders.
"Take all the data and destroy the blasphemous Temple."
Boom!
Smoke billowed into the sky.
As the Sicaran Tank rolled through the ruins toward Forge Temple Number Two, Nykona Sharrowkyn of the Raven Guard walked alone through the foundry, staring at the hybrid creatures of worm-flesh and steel forged beneath the shadows of collapsed smelting towers.
His friend, Sabik Wieland, Iron Father of the Iron Hands, had named those distorted creations Iron Worms.
He had named them so because those distorted creations swallowed scrap metal, then excreted it as external armor plating.
Iron Worms were the fastest of Cavor Sarta's many distorted creations, and also the most difficult to deal with.
The Iron Worm's upper body was heavily muscled, packed with cultured flesh and pistons.
Its pyramid-shaped head was covered in steel tumors. Missile pods upon its broad back fired strange warheads Nykona had never seen before, screaming through the air toward the charging World