The entire Temple shook ever more violently. Dust rained from the wraithbone dome, and fine cracks spread across it like the tracery of death.
The psychic energy filling the air had grown so dense it was almost tangible. A terrifying will, primal, savage, and born purely for slaughter, filled every inch of space with its presence like an awakening beast.
Lorgar stood at the very center of the tremors, his eternally calm face now etched with unprecedented gravity.
Golden psychic flames burned in his deep eyes with unprecedented intensity as he fixed his gaze on the most violently fluctuating patch of space high above the Temple.
He could clearly "sense" a horrific being filled with a lust for destruction tearing through the veil of reality, about to descend!
"Prepare to engage!" Lorgar's voice rang like a great bell, instantly rousing the stunned warriors.
The Primarch's will carried in that voice forcibly dispelled some of the fear that had frozen their minds.
Khârn, Hercules, and the surviving warriors of the Word Bearers and War Hounds immediately shook off their momentary daze.
Suppressing their instinctive trembling, they contracted their defensive perimeter as quickly as possible, forming one defensive formation after another.
The clack of Bolters being chambered, the roar of Chainswords starting up, and the hum of overloaded Power Armour servos sounded once more, mingling with the warriors' heavy breathing.
Everyone understood that what they were about to face was a horror far beyond their comprehension.
"Destruction!"
"Invaders! Die!"
A roar mingled with the shrieks of countless souls and the most ancient Aeldari language thundered from the Temple's highest dome like a death knell from the abyss!
The sound did not merely batter their eardrums—it tore directly at their souls!
Then, before everyone's horrified eyes, the space at the center of the