"That's the target." Liu Zhipeng stood at the hatch of the Landing Craft, pointing at the distant structure that loomed like a black mountain. "Destroy it, and the 'Silence' over a quarter of this star region will be lifted."
Group leader Maran personally led an elite force alongside him: two companies of Space Marines, five regiments of the Astra Militarum, and a squad of Sisters of Battle led by Sister Evreel.
"Saint," a Company Captain from the Iron Hands Chapter, a veteran named Pheros, asked gravely, "will the enemy counterattack?"
"They will," Liu Zhipeng said calmly. "And soon."
No sooner had he spoken than the ground began to shake.
Rumble-
Countless fissures split the ground around the Obelisk. Green light gushed up from beneath the earth. Tens of thousands of Necron Warriors crawled out, their skeletal frames gleaming metallically in the sunlight, their Gauss Rifles already trained on the invaders.
But this time, the warriors of the Imperium felt no fear.
Because that golden figure stood at their very forefront.
"For the Emperor!" Company Captain Pheros raised his Power Sword and roared, "For the Saint! Charge!"
"For the Emperor!"
"For the Saint!"
The Space Marines surged toward the enemy ranks like a torrent of steel. The roar of Boltguns mingled with the shriek of Gauss Rifles, and the battlefield instantly became a meat grinder of flesh and metal.
Liu Zhipeng did not join these small-scale clashes. He charged straight toward the central Obelisk.
Golden flames blazed around him. Every Necron Warrior that tried to intercept him was reduced to ash the instant they drew near. He cut his way through as though no one stood before him, reaching the foot of the Obelisk.
"This is the place."
He looked up at the black structure towering into the clouds. The runes