Sanguinius and Horus exchanged a glance, then the two Primarchs stepped side by side into the dark entrance beneath the Blackstone Spire's base.
The passage was smooth and cold, its inner walls flowing with a dim green metallic sheen. It was clearly constructed from living metal.
Complex, cold geometric patterns etched across its surface gave off a faint glow, barely illuminating the road ahead.
The air was dry and frigid, carrying a strange blend of metal and dust that completely shut out the smoke and bloodshed of the outside world.
An invisible oppression permeated the air, like a heavy block of lead pressing upon their hearts—this was the exorcising dead zone released when the Blackstone Spire operated at full capacity, enough to smother the ripples of the Warp.
An ordinary person's mind would likely have collapsed long ago in such a place.
The passage wound downward, deep into the planet's crust.
Before long, the path suddenly opened up, revealing a vast underground domed chamber.
Yet it was not emptiness that greeted them.
At the edges of the chamber, dozens of dim green energy vortices silently unfolded, and Necron teleportation gates emerged! Amid shrieking metallic friction and the hum of energy, squads of Necron warriors clad in green living-metal armor marched out in formation.
Deathmarks carrying gauss rifles, warriors raising phase blades, massive Destroyers, and floating Canoptek constructs... They did not attack at once. Instead, like a cold metallic tide, they swiftly and silently converged from all directions, forming an impenetrable encirclement around Sanguinius and Horus.
Countless "eyes" gleaming with dim green light focused on the two Primarchs.
There was neither killing intent nor hostility within them, only a pure, cold, programmed sense of control—as though they were escorting precious cargo.
"Hmph. Quite the welcoming ceremony." Horus snorted. Her energy claws