The smoke over Vigilus's Blackstone Mine had yet to disperse. The surviving Black Legion warriors and Chaos warband members sat slumped amid the ruins as though their spines had been ripped out, staring blankly at the enormous crater in the hull of the Vengeful Spirit, molten metal streaming along its edges.
Their warlord, the symbol of Chaos, Abaddon, was embedded there like a nail driven deep into steel by a colossal hammer. His armor was shattered and charred, his vital signs as faint as a guttering candle in the wind.
Pandora's tiny figure had vanished long ago, leaving behind only this devastation and a terror that seeped into their bones.
She was neither a daemon nor a Warp entity, yet she was more... unreasonable than any known horror.
Her casual remark about "testing his ability to take a beating" had utterly shattered the Black Legion's pride and fighting spirit.
In the shadows at the edge of the mine pit, space warped slightly, and Liang Bing appeared.
With her arms folded, she studied the "artwork" on the Vengeful Spirit with great interest, a teasing curve on her lips. "Tsk, tsk. Little Pan Pan still doesn't know her own strength. But... the results are outstanding."
She glanced at the Chaos remnants below, who looked like homeless dogs, without a shred of pity in her eyes. "What a shame. This warlord isn't even a Primarch, so he isn't worth much."
"Your Majesty," Angel Windchaser's voice sounded over the comms, as calm as ever. "Orbital scans show that Abaddon's other Blackstone Crown nodes have failed in succession due to the destruction of the primary node and the energy backlash. The spatial structure of the Nachmund Gauntlet is slowly returning to stability, though Warp disturbances remain above baseline."
"Got it." Liang Bing waved a hand,