What does it feel like to be hit in the face by a boarding torpedo?
Leon had experienced it before, but he couldn't describe it clearly. When the huge black iron rod penetrated the armor, brushed his face, and went into the cabin, he had already fainted due to the huge vibration and the whistling of the air in the cabin suddenly leaking due to the damage to the cabin.
But the next moment, Leon was forcibly awakened by the device on his body. The cardiotonic drug directly stimulated his nerve center along his iron spine. As the little flesh and blood left in his body, his brain keenly received the stimulation and issued compulsory feedback to the body, pulling his consciousness back from the depths of darkness after being unconscious for less than half a second.
Leon, who had just regained consciousness, raised his head suddenly and happened to meet the first black-armored Space Marine who had just emerged from the boarding torpedo. The Space Marine raised his gun and fired. The muzzle of the grenade launcher spewed out fierce flames. In an instant, the deadly bomb was in front of him!
Leon snorted, but he was not panicked. The bomb in front of him was swallowed by a light blue thin curtain. Before the oxygen mask on his face fell, he pulled the corner of his mouth to show a mocking expression to the black-armored Astartes.
This angered the Space Marine. He put down the grenade gun without hesitation and rushed towards Leon with the chainsaw sword raised. But when the chainsaw sword he swung down was also blocked by the light blue thin curtain, he inevitably showed a surprised expression on his face.
"Isn't that a change of stance?" he asked.
"Energy shield, kid!" Leon grinned, kicked the opponent away, and pulled out the solar battle axe from his backhand. This weapon originated from StarCraft and was powered by an Aeldari spirit stone. It looked very powerful.
Seeing the bad situation, the Black-armored Astartes leaned sideways, trying to use his thickest shoulder armor to block Leon's counterattack, but Leon turned the button on the solar axe, and the solar axe suddenly burst into light and swung in his hand like a whirlwind.
The huge force combined with the decomposition point on the axe blade chopped the Black-armored Astartes in front of him in half from shoulder to waist like a hot knife cutting through butter.
"And the solar-powered battle axe." Leon kicked the half-body blocking his way to the ground. "You know, I am always ready to embrace the glory of battle."
Having lost the half-second opportunity when Leon was initially unconscious, the remaining four Space Marines who had just emerged from the boarding torpedo posed no threat to Leon at all. A plasma gun automatically deployed from the mechanical backpack behind him, and the Space Marines who wanted to fight back from the boarding torpedo were killed one by one by the loyal, fully automatic plasma gun.
The fifth and final Space Marine waited until the ion gun overheated before suddenly jumping out from behind the boarding torpedo and rushing straight towards Leon. However, as the servitor behind him pulled the trigger, a big hole was melted in the chest of this last Space Marine, and he fell to the ground without a sound.
"The sudden change in air pressure made you unconscious for 0.43 seconds, and you also showed a lot of useless emotions during the battle, which slowed down your combat efficiency, Master Leon." The servo skull, recording data on the side, reminded coldly: "I still recommend that you further transform your body, especially replace the fragile human brain."
"But having a human head can show the difference between me and them, right?" Leon stepped on the corpse of the black-armored Space Marine and spat at the Chaos Eight-pointed Star symbol on his forehead with disdain.
He changed the subject: "Show me the current situation of my Ark. That damn Abaddon, what does it have to do with me stealing things from Fabius Bile? Is it worth mobilizing so many troops to board and hunt me down?"
"Strictly speaking, that's not just Fabius Bile's stuff, Lord Magos Leon." The servitor following Leon kindly pointed out the problem: "If the DNA you stole was not from Abaddon's father, I think he would be happy to enjoy Fabius Bile instead of leading a team to hunt you down."
twenty one
"He destroyed the cloned Horus and took back the body of Horus, but he didn't clean up properly, so Fabius Bile left the DNA sample of Horus. I didn't intend to take the body of Horus. I just took the Horus DNA that Fabius had hidden from him. Then Abaddon blamed me?" Leon yelled, and he asked without turning his head: "What is the situation of the mechanical ark now? How much time do we have?"
The servo skull floating beside Leon's shoulder projected an overview of the Ark. The situation of the mechanical Ark was displayed in detail in front of Leon. The dense red warning signs on it showed the precarious state of the Ark. The servo next to it explained diligently:
"The Mechanical Ark Truth was boarded by the Black Legion. After several advanced Terminator squads were teleported and deployed to the Mechanical Ark and destroyed some of its plasma engines, the enemy launched dozens of boarding torpedoes into different parts of the hull and launched landing craft at Truth, which could not counter the boarding attack."
"Right now, there are about 200 Chaos Space Marines who are gradually clearing out our resistance forces on the Mechanical Ark and tightening the encirclement. Considering that the enemy is still increasing in numbers, according to calculations, the existing Skitarii can only maintain effective resistance for about three more hours. One hour, ten minutes, and twenty-three seconds before the Skitarii collapse, we will be in a dilemma of encountering Chaos Space Marines no matter which passage we go through."
"Where's the gene room where Horus' DNA is stored? I need to get there first."
"If we go forward that way, we will directly encounter three squads of Space Marines from the Black Legion, including a squad of Terminators."
Leon paused and looked outside through the broken porthole of the Truth. There, a stern black warship was quietly floating not far from the Truth, and the huge cannon facing the Truth seemed to be mocking Leon's arrogance.
He was confident that he could deal with the three Chaos Space Marine squads, including the Terminators, but the Great Predator Abaddon was on the battleship not far away, looking at Leon's mechanical Ark with the eyes of a hunter. The battleship that was facing the Truth with its macro cannon was the Sword of Damocles hanging over Leon's head.
Abaddon is only arranging people to board the Ark now because he still wants to capture the mechanical Ark to achieve greater results. If the Chaos Space Marines who came to board the Ark lose contact one after another, he does not doubt that the man with the pigtails will directly use the macro cannon to send the mechanical Ark into the sky.
As the owner and captain of the Mechanical Ark Truth, Leon knew clearly that this monkey-version Mechanical Ark, which was transformed from a Moon-class cruiser, could not withstand the main gun of a battleship at all.
Speed was originally the only advantage the Truth had over the battleships...
But when this Chaos battleship suddenly teleported in front of the Truth in a way that strangely violated the rules of the Warp and used teleportation to board and destroy part of the plasma engine on the Truth, death was only a matter of time for the Ark.
As a Blank, Leon was not afraid of sacrifice because he did not worry that his soul would be played with by the four tumors after his death. He even prepared a melta bomb on his body as his glory bomb.
If Abaddon were to personally come to him, he would not hesitate to detonate the melta bomb and take Abaddon to watch the most beautiful fireworks. But now it was not that kind of situation after all.
Horus's DNA held many possibilities for Leon, but it was not worth risking his life for. Leon was not prepared to meet the emperor just for Horus's DNA, and even if no one reminded him that he still had many things to do, he did not plan to go to the golden throne to rest now.
"Let's abandon the gene room and go to the escape pod instead." Leon made a calm decision. "Abaddon wants Horus' DNA, so let him take it back. There is more than just one truly valuable thing in this universe."
"Instructions received, proceed to the escape pod." The servo skull flashed, "Based on the current position, it is estimated to arrive in thirteen minutes and thirteen seconds."
The mechanical servant beside him disagreed with Leon's decision: "Lord Magos, in addition to DNA, there are many valuable things on this Ark that we have obtained through archaeological excavations and proprietary inventions that you have not yet reported to the Forge World. Are you sure you want to abandon this mechanical Ark directly?"
"The only thing of real value on this ship is my head." Leon tapped the only human structure left on his body: "As long as I am alive, the knowledge we once acquired will not be lost."
"But there is a possibility that those things will fall into the hands of heretics, who may decipher the mysteries of your unique inventions and bring more disasters to the loyal people of the Empire."
"At best, they can use it, but they won't figure out how to make it."
Leon weighed the solar-powered battle axe in his hand, which was also one of his proprietary "inventions". For a reason that he could not tell others, he was quite sure that Abaddon could not crack it.
He took a deep look at the servitor who was his experimental assistant. When he transformed it, he retained a considerable part of its autonomous consciousness as a human being, and it indeed showed a subjectivity as a human being that he could hardly imagine.
"Now come with me to the escape pod. There is a small escape boat there, which is big enough for the two of us."
The servitor was silent for a while, as if his human mind was at war with the programming logic implanted when he was transformed into a servitor, but in the end, he lowered his head and humbly said, "Your will, my lord."
The two hurriedly passed through the battle zone on the mechanical ark and headed for the escape pod. After killing several Chaos Space Marines who blocked their way along way, Leon and his servitor finally arrived at the escape pod area, where a small escape ship modified by Leon himself was parked, waiting for the arrival of its user.
"I modified this escape ship. It has a special small warp engine and a Geller field, which is enough for us to make a short warp jump." Leon said to the servitor and opened the hatch of the escape ship. "You disconnect the safety connection between the escape ship and the mechanical ark outside, and then come up. We will leave here together. Do you understand?"
The servitor nodded and started to operate. Leon went into the escape ship and checked the equipment, especially whether the Geller stand was still functioning properly. When he was done, he raised his hand and called the servitor to enter the escape pod. But the servitor outside shook his head at him and closed the hatch of the escape pod.
"What are you doing?" Leon was a little annoyed. He tried to directly manipulate the underlying code of the robot servant, but was stopped by the robot servant.
"Lord Magos Leon." The servitor said to Leon seriously, "Although you never gave me a name, I believe you still remember the first time you met me. I am very grateful to you for saving me from the hands of the state religion and transforming me from a thoughtless slave into a servitor with certain thinking abilities. I often wonder why I still have certain human thoughts. Of course, I am your servitor as an experimental assistant, but at the same time, I also hope that I can still make greater contributions as a human being, such as sacrificing my life to stop the enemies of Chaos."
"The mechanical ark is specially constructed. There is no navigator or captain on it. You are the only one on this ark who has the authority to activate the self-destruct system after arriving at the control room. I hope you can give me a chance, an honor to die gloriously as a human being. Grant me the self-destruction authority of the ark. I will go to the control room to activate the self-destruction and overload the engine. I will destroy any possibility of the enemy seizing any of your creations, and bring a complete end to the enemies still on the Truth."
Leon pursed his lips, and he looked at his servitor. Sadness spread in his mind. His reason, including any computing device on his body, reminded him that keeping this servitor would be beneficial to his actions after escaping.
But he had more than just reason. Unlike other Mechanicus Magos who had uploaded their consciousness to computers and used emotion regulators to simulate human emotions, Leon, who still had a human brain, could still taste the emotions that belonged to humans. He chewed on this bitter emotion and nodded at his servitor.
The servitor did not smile. The previous transformation had long deprived him of the ability to express his emotions, but Leon could feel his satisfaction. He disconnected the safety connection of the escape equipment and sent the small escape ship into the launch port. At the end of the launch window, he did not perform the Mechanicus's gear salute to Leon, but crossed his hands and performed the Sky Eagle salute.
"May the Emperor bless you, Lord Magos Leon."
"I don't believe in the Emperor, but I believe in the wisdom and courage of mankind." Leon replied in a low voice: "Do what you want to do as a human being."
The escape ship ignited its engine, pushing Leon inside the ship into the vast universe. The servo skull gradually disappeared from Leon's sight, replaced by the full view of the scarred Truth.
The servo skull told Leon that the possibility of a servo reaching the control room and detonating the mechanical ark under such circumstances was close to zero. But somehow, Leon felt that he would succeed.
"There are always things in this world that cannot be calculated by probability." Leon knocked his servo skull mockingly. He connected the cables on his body to the Thinker system in the escape ship and began to calculate the data required for the emergency warp jump. Although it was an undirected emergency jump that did not start at Manvider Point, if he did not want to get lost forever in the warp, the required data still required a certain amount of time to calculate.
Leon believed that Abaddon would give him this time, and it was indeed the case.
When the chief auspex on the Chaos warship reported to Abaddon that the auspex had detected a small escape craft, he was greeted with an unhappy rebuke from the Great Plunderer.
"An escape ship? Where can he escape to? An escape ship that can't even navigate within a star system will just float in space forever, or make an emergency landing on a nearby planet." Abaddon sneered, "I think this Magos is just desperate. Don't pay any attention to him. Tell the soldiers on the mechanical ark to go to the control room at all costs and seize control of the ark!"
His gaze lingered on the Mechanical Ark, his eyes full of greed.
The Black Legion had just been established, and everything was in ruins. The continuous battles to conquer various war gangs had already exhausted the Black Legion's reserves. At this time, a Mechanical Ark was delivered to the door - even if it was just a small Mechanical Ark modified by a little magos himself, the technology and various production equipment on it would alleviate the Black Legion's urgent needs.
This foolish Mechanicus Magos had taken the initiative to give Fabius Bile his entire fortune to steal his father's DNA, and now he fled in a panic before he even had time to detonate the Ark. This cowardice, which was the same as the Magos who stood by and watched during the Battle of Terra, made Abaddon very confident.
He would seize this opportunity and lead the Black Legion to another victory!
But victory did not come as promised.
The window showed the scene of the mechanical ark suddenly bursting into a ball of bright sparks, and then being annihilated in the explosion, and also reflected Abaddon's astonished eyes. He suddenly stood up from his throne and walked quickly to the window. Suddenly, he turned around and walked in front of the trembling Auriac chief.
"Where is the escape ship of the Mechanicus Magus! He must pay the price for this!" Abaddon roared.
"Its escape ship is still shown on the auspex, and it has hardly moved since the beginning." The auspex chief pointed at the auspex tremblingly, "Now... Oh no, God!"
Abaddon pushed the auspicious instrument master away and looked at the information displayed on the auspicious instrument himself.
He saw that there was a violent warp fluctuation on the escape ship, and then there was nothing on the auspicious instrument. There was only one possibility that such a significant signal pointed to, that is, this escape ship, which was too big to be equipped with a warp engine, had escaped through a warp jump and was out of Abaddon's control.
The Great Plunderer was silent for a moment, then he punched the auspicious instrument with such force that he shattered the entire instrument.
The Thousand Sons wizard Iskandar Khayon, who had just cast a spell to teleport the entire battleship and was resting, hurried to the bridge. Looking at the current scene, he understood what had happened and walked to Abaddon's side, whispering to comfort him:
"We have already won, Abaddon. There is no need to be so angry."
"Victory?" Abaddon turned his head to look at Khayon. Even though the other party was a "brother" he recruited personally, he couldn't put on a good face now: "The Mechanical Ark was destroyed, and the Mechanicus Sage also escaped. In addition to those quick-made cannon fodder, I also lost two teams of Terminators - they were all brothers who had fought side by side with me since the Legion era! Such a result, you call it a victory?!"
"Yes, victory!" Khayon raised his voice slightly. "Although it cost us some money, we have caught Fabius Bile's handle, destroyed the conspiracy to steal Horus' genes, demonstrated the authority of the Chaos Warmaster, and told everyone that no matter how great the cost, the dignity of the Black Legion cannot be challenged! Your growing prestige will help you better organize the second Black Crusade you have been looking forward to!"
"Abaddon, this is a victory! A victory that does not care about the immediate interests but looks to the future! A typical Abaddon-style victory!"
Abaddon watched Khayon's impassioned speech, his fists clenched and unclenched, revealing his uneasy mood. But in the end, he accepted Khayon's words: "Yes, my brother, this is a victory."
After hearing Abaddon's words, the almost frozen air on the bridge began to flow again. The mortal crew members took a deep breath and began to be glad that they would not be executed for failure.
"I will announce this as a victory to the outside world, but I don't want any mortal who knows about this to be able to walk out of here, to avoid the spread of rumors." Abaddon said coldly, "There will be nothing left here except victory."
Khayon nodded, psychic flames swirling between his hands. "As it should be."
Abaddon left the bridge without looking back. The wailing of the mortals behind him did not improve his mood at all.
In the distant era of 540 M32, the great Chaos Warmaster Abaddon the Despoiler once again tasted the bitterness of victory.
He still didn't know the name of the Mechanicus sage who escaped, but he would know it one day, because Leon's story would begin from