The entire void trembled as Guilliman drew his blade from the slowly dissipating green core.
The enormous heart, which had been beating slowly, stopped at last.
The wreckage of the Ork warships it had been devouring lost its support on the surface and peeled away piece by piece, like a sandcastle slowly collapsing.
The churning motes of green light grew visibly dimmer and sparser, then faded away.
The entire star system lost its green light source the instant that beam went out. Only the dark red glow along the edges of the dark matter clouds continued to pulse slowly.
Magnus slowly emerged from his Warp projection, his single eye gradually lighting up in the void as it settled back into stillness.
That light spread in every direction, pushing the slowly dissipating remnants of psionic energy into more distant corners.
His voice was quiet, but every word struck fine cracks into the slowly churning void. "The core has dissipated. But it left something behind."
Guilliman turned, slowly drawing back his blade as his breathing gradually steadied.
His gaze passed through the void, which was slowly returning to stillness, and settled on the direction Magnus indicated.
Amid the ashes of the green core's remains, a dark green crystal floated, slowly rotating.
The crystal was small, no larger than a fist, but runes that were being repeatedly verified flowed slowly across its surface.
Those runes rearranged themselves in ways no prediction could account for.
Guilliman approached the crystal. His pace was unhurried, but every step left a slowly healing crack in the void as it settled back into stillness.
"What is this?" he asked quietly.
Magnus slowly drew closer from within the projection, his single eye gradually focusing on the slowly rotating crystal.
That light spread in every direction, slowly decoding the runes