(Thanks to vShayuvLajiaov for the tip. There will be an extra update tomorrow.)
Anna's words fell like a stone into a deep pool, sending ripples spreading through Lorgar's heart until they swelled into raging waves.
"An appetizer."
Those two words alone were enough to overturn everything he had imagined about the darkness ahead.
If the Wave Cannon capable of extinguishing a star within twenty-four hours was merely a prelude, then what final secret lay hidden beyond it, guarded by planetary robots and spacetime traps? How horrifying—or indescribably magnificent—could it be?
He needed no further persuasion or urging. A blazing fire of intense curiosity, a warrior's vigilance, and a thirst for supreme knowledge burned in his golden eyes.
He took one last, long look at the silent Stellar Doomsday Emitter, as though engraving every contour into his memory, then wheeled around, his Power Armour scraping with a metallic clang.
"Move."
There was no hesitation, no second-guessing, only a single, decisive command delivered with unquestionable resolve.
Their objective was unmistakable: the gateway behind the Wave Cannon, leading deeper into the darker heart of this place.
Under Anna's guidance, they carefully dismantled and packed the Wave Cannon's Vacuum Zero-Point Energy Fluctuation Core and its essential control modules as efficiently as possible. Hercules and Cassios, warriors who resembled human cranes, carried the immensely heavy core components.
Sage Grom gesticulated excitedly beside them, recording every step and every pattern as quickly as he could. Although he understood almost none of it, that did nothing to stop him from treating it as a sacred mechanical gospel.
After the arriving Tech-Priests and warriors established temporary defenses and a research station here and attempted to secure more stable communications with the fleet in orbit, Lorgar's core group resumed their journey into the unknown.
Beyond the gateway, the passage