Within that mud-like psychic energy, the Phoenix Lord could extract only greater malice: the cackling laughter of schemes and conspiracies, the shrieks of extreme indulgence, the fury of slaughter and hatred, festering decay dripping with pus, and the heavy, ignorant blind faith. This chaotic psychic energy caused the warlord even greater pain, making control over the Ark's psychic power difficult.
"This is it... the wail of the Aeldari Empire's destruction... the cries of our people as they died... make them pay..."
The whisper came to his ears once more. The warlord let out a pained shriek, his hands flying as he drew upon psychic energy to form the Mark of the Dead. In the next instant, the mark fused the dead souls with psychic energy and granted them the ability to fight. The army of spirits was illusory and ethereal, riding extinct void dragons as they launched an attack on the Executioner Fleet.
Doomsday Arks, floating stone towers, and Great Monuments carried Immortals and three-legged Destroyers into battle against the spectral legions. Shadowy psychic energy and Gauss beams intertwined across the battlefield. Spirits dissipated under torrents of energy, while Immortals collapsed beneath psychic attacks.
Cairn-class Tomb Ships and Scythe-class Harvest Ships activated within the pyramid, flashing onto the battlefield the next moment. These void-crafted vessels, considered unstoppable in the eyes of the Imperium of Man, became the pyramid's guards, responsible for preventing the warlord from approaching too closely.
The warlord used psychic energy to dart about at near-light speed. Faced with the bombardment of heavy Gauss beams, he either unleashed psychic lightning from his eyes to scatter them or created spatial rifts before himself, redirecting the Gauss beams onto the Executioners.
The battle within was world-shaking, yet outside, everything still seemed tranquil. At least, in the Pontiff's eyes, the fighting