The moment the Black Sphere touched the Forge World's atmosphere, the mass of black energy, greater in diameter than Gungnir itself, was unleashed in full.
The Void Shield arrays along the Forge World's perimeter attempted to activate the instant their sensors detected the anomaly. Energy surged from the reactors into the emitter shafts, force field generators began to spin, and the first pale blue curtain of light began forming above the cities.
But that curtain flickered for less than three-tenths of a second before the Black Sphere pierced it. The force field generators exploded under the overload, scattering fragments trailing electrical arcs, and the glow of the Void Shields died completely, like a candle flame pinched out.
Before the planet could raise a complete protective dome, it had already been annihilated.
The power of the Warp was unleashed at that same instant.
The moment the Black Sphere touched the surface, it became a tide that engulfed the entire planet, spreading outward from the point of impact and devouring all matter.
Everything on the surface was overturned, every protruding structure swept away.
The Forge World's cities contained millions of factories, temples, fortresses, and foundry halls. Together, they formed a vast industrial world spanning an entire continent, where countless Tech-Priests worked, transport lines flowed ceaselessly along their tracks, and interplanetary freighters waited in low orbit for permission to dock.
In the next instant, it distorted every orbital gravity well, tearing apart the planets above and the metal below alike.
Metal shattered.
Millions of square kilometers of armored flooring folded, buckled, and tore into fragments. The foundries' steel beams twisted into corkscrews of wreckage, while underground networks of pipes lay exposed to destruction's gaze like uprooted roots.
Countless Tech-Priests were engulfed in the light of destruction. In their final second, they had only