The Forge of the Magma City.
Archmagos Koriel Zeth stood on the high platform of her forge temple, gazing at the darkness swirling in the north.
Her apprentice, Kant Polk, walked to her side. "Master, I have redirected power to the augur arrays."
"The Magi Observi have done their best, but they cannot detect what is happening at Ipluvien Maximal's forge-city, no matter what methods they use."
"I have accessed all of his, Arkhan Land's, and Cavalerio's communications over the noosphere."
Zeth was the Mechanicum's foremost authority on noospheric technology. She could retrieve any trace of information left behind.
Her apprentice-Magi were spread across the Imperium, including the noosphere established at Ardium, in the heart of the southern Ultima Segmentum, overseen by Magos Ur-Kha Hest, whom she had dispatched.
"Arkhan created that darkness. He bought time for Ipluvien and the Tempestus God-machines to withdraw."
"This is the first time I have seen darkness in the ceaseless forge."
"Archmagos Arkhan's power is remarkable." Polk recalled the terrifying encounter with the mechanised assassin.
"A nanosecond later, she would have destroyed my core engine. I would have been transformed into a mindless servitor, continuing to serve you."
"Remarkable?" Zeth repeated.
"The fear of death clouded your rational thought."
"Remember the core principle I taught you."
"There is no Machine God. There is no Omnissiah." Polk said slowly.
"Every mystery can be explained and understood."
"Master, then why don't we accept Arkhan's suggestion? Why not go to Lord Nareth?"
"You could unravel all the mysteries yourself."
"That would mean abandoning the Forge of the Magma City." Zeth said.
"I have poured countless resources and effort into building this city."
"Now, it is only one step from completion."
"That is precisely why you should seek Lord Nareth's help. To perfect the Akashic Reader."
"The Akashic Reader's knowledge originates from the Warp. To interpret its secrets, we must rely on psykers."
"Lord Nareth is the champion and leader of the Astartes Librarius program. Staying here, we will only be destroyed with the city. With Lord Nareth's help, we can build the perfect city you envision."
Zeth was silent for ten seconds, then spoke.
"You are right. The knowledge Lord Nareth has given Arkhan, and perfecting the Akashic Reader, are more important and valuable than this city."
"Convey my orders. Withdraw all essential assets. Take all research data and the three Archangel cannons."
She looked at the fading darkness, focusing her consciousness on the noosphere.
"Arkhan."
After five failed attempts, she finally reached his consciousness.
"The method you used to create the darkness, to blind their augur arrays and communications, Lord Nareth gave it to you?"
"Yes. He is the Omnissiah. He gave me the power to create astronomical phenomena." Arkhan replied.
"Astronomical phenomena." Zeth repeated.
"Whatever it is, I will understand it."
"Yes. You have convinced me. I have decided to leave with you."
"But I want the enemy's death to be a lesson. The Forge of the Magma City will be their tomb."
Boom!
The Aquila Ignis, an Emperor-class Titan of the Legio Mortis, stumbled from the darkness.
Camulos's leaned forward, then settled back against his throne.
"Confirm our position."
"My lord, we have cleared the central sector of Maximal's forge-city. The main road to Arsia Mons lies ahead."
"The Forge of the Magma City," Camulos considered for a few seconds. "It is not our primary target."
"Locate the Storm Legion fortress at Mount Askrales. I will destroy them myself."
As the crew executed his orders, Camulos checked the damage report.
[Void shield damaged locally: right leg 41.96%, left leg 38.07%…]
"Damn Maximal and his petty tricks."
As he cursed, a stream of seventy-two-bit scrapcode poured in.
"Camulos, I require an immediate report from you."
"Do not test my patience any further."
Camulos quickly sent a scrapcode reply: "Fabricator General, my communications were jammed. They only just recovered."
"What?" Kelbor-Hal's scrapcode was laced with astonishment.
"Have you determined the cause?"
"Not yet." Camulos replied.
"I believe we need to return to the hangar for a full diagnostic."
"This is probably Zeth's doing." Kelbor-Hal thought of the Warmaster's request, relayed by Regulus.
'The Akashic Reader. Had Zeth truly derived some supernatural power from it, similar to the Vaults of Moravec?'
He also remembered that his trusted ambassador, Melgator, had died at the Forge of the Magma City.
"You will proceed to the Forge of the Magma City immediately. Kill Zeth. Seize all her assets."
"Fabricator General, I have already routed the Tempestus Titans. We should pursue and destroy them." Camulos protested.
He wanted to strike back at his hated rival, not go back into Zeth's dark cage.
"This is my decision, and the Warmaster's. Execute the order."
'The Warmaster.' Camulos knew he had no more excuses.
"Your command, and the Warmaster's, will be done."
After severing the scrapcode link, Camulos gave the order.
"Re-plot course. Target: the Forge of the Magma City."
"Send the summons. All God-machines that receive it are to proceed to the Forge of the Magma City."
Twenty-five hours later, the Emperor-class Titan's foot smashed into an auxiliary fortress of the Forge of the Magma City.
Rumble!
The steel fortress collapsed. A hundred Skitarii were crushed.
Camulos looked ahead. Nineteen Reavers poured fire into the walls.
Thirty-six Warhounds, moving at speed, had already reached the walls.
Boom!
The Aquila Ignis's foot crushed the Aganippe Way, advancing inexorably. Its Bellicosa cannon roared, detonating a chain of chemical silos.
Endless toxic smoke rose. Fire ravaged the city's outer perimeter.
"Maximum power scanning!" Camulos ordered, aiming his arm at the walls.
Boom, boom, boom!
Countless gun emplacements on the auxiliary fortresses poured a torrent of fire at the Emperor-class Titan. The endless energy from the Arsia Mons volcano ceaselessly replenished the plasma bolts and energy beams.
The titans of the Legio Mortis turned, unleashing their destructive fury in all directions.
The Bellicosa cannon's beam suddenly flared, punching through the city.
In just fifty-six seconds, the Emperor-class Titan's attack had melted the Forge of the Magma City's void shield.
The Aquila Ignis strode into the city. Warhounds raced through, tearing factory after factory apart.
In the forge temple, Archmagos Zeth looked down at her city.
Countless workshops, a web of manufactorums, and towering furnaces were leveled in the explosions.
Automata were hurled skyward by missiles, disintegrating.
Destruction beams swept the Skitarii. Flesh was vaporized in an instant.
Servitors were crushed and flattened, their bodies exploding in sparks of electricity.
Every algorithm and predictive calculation run by her strategic cogitators gave the same result: she saw no path to victory.
She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them, coldly giving the order.
"Initiate self-destruct."
Zeth turned to Arkhan. "I need your help. Create the darkness. Prevent the traitor God-machines from seeing their end coming."
Arkhan nodded, walking from the temple.
"Self-destruct sequence activated." Polk reported.
She followed her mentor, watching Arkhan's every move.
He stepped from the forge temple. The "Astronomer" extended all his spirituality. Two gleaming stars shone in his eyes.
The stars shot into the sky, aligning at a 3.3-degree angle.
The burning sky grew hazy. The forge-city was plunged into darkness.
The massive mechanisms of the Etna Dam, the core link of the Magma City's magma network, shuddered violently.
The great gates, which maintained the perfect flow of magma, opened for the first time.
The warning systems were silent.
The dam's temperature spiked. Internal circuits fused. Heat exchange columns ruptured.
In the silent darkness, the Etna Dam evaporated.
All the city's water gates, control valves, and emergency surge devices had already been opened by Zeth's orders. The shield projectors, meant to contain the magma, were destroyed in the silence.
The magma flowed unhindered through the city's heat channels, surging into the network that channeled magma from the volcano's interior to the surface.
Metal bent and melted under the sudden heat. Magma erupted.
Foundations dissolved silently. A tide of magma flooded the concrete, pouring into the city's thermal channels and the banks of the aqueducts.
Magma waterfalls coursed through the streets, igniting fuel depots and ammunition stores.
Forty-one surviving Mortis Titan Princeps felt the searing pain of their metal bodies melting simultaneously.
In the darkness, they didn't know what was happening.
Magma seeped beneath the feet of the Warhounds, their wild advance halted, bewildered.
The ground beneath them collapsed, plunging them into the magma abyss.
The earth crumbled. Reaver after Reaver had its lower limbs melted and broken.
Reactors, overloaded by the rising heat, shut down, then were consumed by the magma.
The Aquila Ignis's ankle-joint couplings snapped. Its upper body, unbalanced, cracked like dry earth.
Its shattered upper half collapsed like a toppling statue, plunging into the boiling magma.
Camulos saw a flash of searing red. Then, darkness swallowed him.
....
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