This planet had not been a target of the expeditionary fleet. Only because of a sudden daemonic attack had the fleet been forced to leave the Warp and evade danger.
But when the augurs revealed the human tragedy unfolding on that planet, everyone fell silent.
Lox closed his eyes in sorrow. Guilliman clenched his teeth, his power fist creaking horribly beneath his grip.
Sanguinius planted the Spear of Telesto against the deck. The wings behind him drew tight, and a tear of blood fell from the corner of his eye.
Only the Lion remained calm. His gaze had not left the plague-ravaged planet before them for even a second.
Even after they entered realspace, the bell continued to toll. Invisible psychic waves made the human warships tremble like toys in a giant's hand.
Indeed, as the humans moved farther from the Warp, the ringing became ever more frantic, as though something had lost an immensely coveted treasure.
But as the Warp rift closed and the veil descended once more, the malevolent presence within the Warp finally withdrew its power in bitter resentment. It had failed to keep the precious four primarchs aboard that ship.
"Where are we?" Guilliman asked. Many mortal crewmen and officers aboard had been lost. With disease spreading, even those who had not died needed time to recover.
"This is not the Davin system. We are still some distance away."
Lox glanced at the cogitator's display. It was calculating their position from the stars' locations and the fleet's course.
Within the processing center of this planet-sized warship, one Blackstone Array after another formed a powerful anti-Warp field, and a true artificial intelligence operated within that environment.
Vast floating-point processing power controlled the entire warship. That was why the crew transferred from the Invincible Reason could operate the