Cancero's flesh never spoke again.
The mortal's prosthetics shattered the instant they touched Eternal Sorrow. Cancero merely smiled, then bit down on the spear's shaft with his last natural organ: his mouth.
From the moment he left Ina and stood beside the Chief Librarian, his flesh had begun to wither. He no longer cared.
"Headmaster!"
On Mororis's shoulder, several Librarians' cries were drowned out by the rising resonance of metal.
The circular formation of anti-psyker warriors held off the attacks of Volkite Guns and psychic sorcery.
Outside the circle, Chaos Sorcery surged skyward. The night opened onto a spectral realm, thick with ghostly menace, and the Alpha Assassins flickered like wraiths wandering a midnight forest.
Inside the circle, pure sword energy shattered space, as though cleaving open the heavens.
The barrier of reality fragmented in an instant. Vast torrents of sword energy poured from the Warp as though descending from heaven, spreading freely across the battlefield.
Merely looking toward that space made Omegon's eyes sting. Cancero's psyker power was incomparably sharp, nurtured for untold years within his steadily rotting flesh.
How long had it been since Cancero last fought? The young Librarians present did not know. Neither did Chief Librarian Mororis.
Before the Chief Librarian's restoration, Cancero had been the Chapter's greatest fighting force, saving Evan from peril with his half-ruined body.
And as the Chapter grew increasingly "wealthy," the old man had willingly devoted himself to the younger generation, presiding over the academy and nurturing students everywhere.
The storm around him grew fiercer. Short swords formed from nothing, soaring upward like eagles striking the heavens and spiraling downward like dragons diving into the sea. They danced high and low, answering him as readily as his own limbs.
Enduring the pain, Omegon looked through the endless storm and met Cancero's