"Although it sounds impossible, Celerus Hive City has actually fallen."
"I don't know what the Iron Hands, the Brass Claws, and that damned, arrogant Tech-Priest are doing."
"Communications says the Genestealer Cult that seized the hive's missile launch center fired a Death Strike Missile at us!"
"Kardan and Iruvius, those two useless wastes! Imbeciles! I'll kill them! I'll rip their heads off!"
Lion lost control and roared over the communications channel.
In the underhive's church district, Justicar and the Ecclesiarchy priests were all terrified by the Primarch's fury.
The Rebel Army's leader, Justicar, merely listened to the Primarch's roar with a pale face and lowered head.
The priests, meanwhile, knelt on the ground, praying for the Emperor's son to calm his anger.
This fear had nothing to do with personal courage.
It was the dread that welled up from the depths of the soul when mortal flesh faced the fury of a being more transcendent and terrifying.
Over on Lu Jin's side.
The Death Strike Missile had obliterated everything above the underhive of Nameless Hive.
When the first human colonists arrived on Alert Star and built this hive city, they had poured an unimaginably thick layer of metal between the underhive and upper hive to serve as the foundation for the upper hive and its spires.
Now the foundation lay exposed, a steel plain stretching beyond sight.
The Savior's Humerus lay nearby, glowing faintly with golden light.
When he learned that Celerus Hive City, jointly defended by the Tech-Priest, the Iron Hands, and the Brass Claws, had fallen, Lu Jin had found it unbelievable and been just as furious as Lion. But he wasn't in Celerus, and he couldn't grab Kardan and rip off his helmet like the wrapper on a ready meal, demanding to know what he and the