"I have heard that the Custodes have absorbed all of human knowledge and are the perfect paragons of humanity, yet your performance—"
Before Trazyn could finish his long-winded speech, a blinding, dazzling blade-light flashed across his vision.
Leonardo simply couldn't be bothered to listen to this xeno's nonsense.
He leaped high into the air on the spot, his blade—shrouded in a Disintegration Field—descending with the weight of a mountain, a jumping cleave directly cutting off Trazyn's speech.
What are you babbling about?
Talk to my guardian spear!
"Dammit, I knew it!"
Trazyn raised his hand, barely managing to block the strike with his Empathic Obliterator, his frame tilting violently from the force of the massive impact.
With a flick of his wrist, he fired an energy wave, barely forcing back the Custodes's follow-up assault.
In terms of close-quarters combat skill, it seems I have an absolute advantage.
Leonardo made the judgment in an instant. With a shift of his feet, his body lunged forward again as if devoid of inertia, his offensive like an angry dragon emerging from the sea, thrusting straight ahead.
Then, he was forced back again by a wave-like energy shockwave.
No matter how superb your skills are, I'll just spam the same combat technique. What can you do to me?
Trazyn barely recovered and, without a word, flicked his other hand, which held the teserract.
The light of teleportation flared again, and over a dozen Astartes appeared between the two, shielding Trazyn behind them.
'Tsk.'
This xeno is playing with his sorcery again.
Leonardo assumed a defensive stance, scanning the newly appeared opponents before him.
Relying on the extensive knowledge of the Custodes, he immediately identified his opponents' background.
Astartes clad in red and white power armor, their shoulder pauldrons adorned with burning horned skulls, and loincloths made of long scrolls covered in blasphemous scriptures—
It was the Word Bearers Legion!
And by the look of it, they were from the era of the Great Heresy.
heretics and xenos together?
A clear diagnosis: a double blessing.
I'll deal with them all at once!
Making his decision in a mere nanosecond, Leonardo stepped forward at a speed the Astartes' naked eyes couldn't even track, swinging the spear in his hand.
Puchi!
As if cutting through air, that Word Bearer didn't even have time to react before half of his body slowly slid off, blood erupting from the armor like a fountain.
Leonardo turned slightly, his heavy shoulder pauldron blocking the supporting fire from the other Word Bearers. The Bolter's flame-propelled rounds spat out in vain, unable to penetrate the thick Auramite Terminator Armor.
Two more nearly imperceptible sounds of a blade entering flesh rang out, and two more Word Bearers became corpses lying at his feet.
Just as Leonardo intended to press forward, his body was suddenly coiled by an invisible force, binding him in place.
The Word Bearer Chaos Sorcerer wore a twisted, ferocious expression, his eyes erupting with brilliant psychic light.
He forcefully channeled his psychic power, feeling as though he were binding not a specific object, but a rampaging dragon—or perhaps an approaching, unstoppable judgment!
Taking the opportunity, the remaining traitor Astartes immediately poured bolter fire onto Leonardo, but the Allarus Terminator Armor proved its terrifying defensive capabilities once again; the Custodes stood tall.
Leonardo gritted his teeth against the psychic pressure, let out a low growl, and forced a step forward, breaking free from the shackles.
Adjusting his angle, the dark muzzle of his Bolter aimed at the shocked Chaos Sorcerer.
"Psychic resistance, traitor!"
The Bolter round leaving the chamber symbolized a belated righteous judgment. The sorcerer fell backward, black, Warp-corrupted blood flowing from the hole in his skull.
Completely freed from the restraint, the Custodes charged frantically, the muscles beneath the power armor combining seamlessly with perfect technique, transforming this noble warrior into a cold, ruthless killing machine.
The guardian spear became a blur of countless afterimages, forming a high-speed rotating whirlwind of blades around him, shredding any approaching enemies as easily as a hot knife through butter.
By the time Leonardo reached the already bewildered Trazyn, a path of carnage lay behind him—a mess of armor fragments and corpse pieces mixed together, almost indistinguishable.
Facing the spear pointed directly at his cognitive core, Trazyn remained silent for a moment before speaking.
"—Can we settle this peacefully?"
"Heh, are those your last words, xeno?"
Leonardo said coldly.
"First of all, these aren't last words. The definition of last words is the final sentence a life leaves in the world, whereas this is merely one of my data-avatar's thought processes."
Trazyn explained slowly, "However, before you finish off this avatar of mine, I am quite curious about something."
His gaze turned toward the shattered corpses: "My diagnostic scans show that the souls of those Astartes have completely vanished, rather than returning to the Warp—"
To be honest, Trazyn was dumbfounded.
Could my guess really be right?
Did a shard of a C'tan really turn into a human and come to this Necron Tomb World to seek revenge?
For real?
Such an absurd thing—even if told to Mephet'ran the Deceiver, he would probably feel that such a lie was an insult to his intelligence.
"You have no right to know, xeno."
Leonardo said coldly, thrusting the blade without hesitation. It accurately pierced Trazyn's skull, and the Living Metal body slumped heavily to the ground.
Retracting his weapon, the Custodes gave the blade a one-handed flourish, thinking silently.
This was merely collecting a bit of interest.
When he encountered that Undead Overlord later, he would definitely make him pay a far more painful price.
He would make this xeno understand the consequences of insulting a Custodes's honor.
He looked around, walked forward a few steps, and saw the black cube that had rolled out of Trazyn's palm—the teserract.
That seemed to be quite an important artifact.
Moreover, the Custodes did indeed know of items with similar functions.
The Grey Knights chapter seemed to store similar things in the basements of their monastery, used to imprison captured Warp Daemons.
For those Warp entities who could retain their essence after death and return to the Warp to reshape their bodies with infinite energy, being sealed in such an item was perhaps a fate worse than death.
So that's it, is that Necron technology?
Thinking of this, Leonardo stepped forward again, leaning down to pick up the object.
But then, something absurd happened.
Another skeletal hand, gleaming with metallic luster, reached out and grabbed the teserract along with him.
"Ah, what a coincidence, we meet again."
Trazyn gave an awkward greeting, while the dimensional portal behind him was quietly emitting a ghostly green light.
The Custodes fell silent.
In the next instant, crisscrossing blade-light turned the Undead Overlord's brand-new avatar into shattered scrap metal.
The space finally grew quiet.
Leonardo properly stowed the teserract away, his hand gripping the guardian spear tightly as he stood motionless.
Some people appear completely still and unperturbed on the surface.
In reality, their hearts are already boiling with rage.
_____________
I was late, sorry.