Time: M42.012 Perspective: Combined Fleet · Traversing the Great Rift

  This is not sailing. In the logs of the Imperium of Man, traversing a Warp storm usually means "diving"—activating Geller fields, praying like a submarine in mad currents, hoping to drift to the other shore.

  But Vulkan does not intend to dive. He intends to build a road.

  "Physical Anchoring Sequence activated." "Phase: Absolute Lock."

  With the low command from the lead ship Hearthfire, three lead-grey task forces begin to change formation. They do not form a conventional defensive sphere, but align into a "Firing Pin" thousands of kilometers long. And the three Blood Angels cruisers dragged at the rear, acting as stabilizing anchors, have now shut down all systems, biting dead hard into the array.

  "Look there, Luis."

  Lion El'Jonson stands before the tactical station of Invincible Reason, arms crossed. Golden eyes penetrate yers of armor and void, staring at the forefront of the fleet.

  Outside the observation window, the Hearthfire at the needle tip and five heavy engineering ships overload simultaneously. Their prows have no macro-cannons, only a set of massive, obelisk-like "Gravity Spindles".

  BOOM—!

  The void screams. That beam is like a red-hot iron nail, forcibly stabbing into the soft flesh of the Warp storm. The originally chaotic Warp energy, ignoring ws of physics, actually produces a reaction simir to "coagution" upon contact with this absolute physical gravity.

  The mad storm is forced to stop flowing, forcibly fixed, compressed, straightened. A "tunnel" paved by pure gravity is violently carved out in the ocean of chaos.

  "Passage formed according to preset model. Structural stability: 94%." The signal from Hearthfire's Logic Core transmits coldly.

  "Advance," the Lion orders.

  The fleet rushes into the Great Rift. Outside the window is only a wall. That is a lead-grey transparent wall composed of gravitational fields, blocking the Warp storm outside dead from the shipping ne.

  However, the Warp is conscious. It hates order. Just as the fleet penetrates deep into the rift, the lead-grey walls on both sides of the tunnel suddenly twist violently.

  "ROAR—!!!"

  A roar that is not a physical sound wave explodes directly in everyone's soul. Outside the tunnel, a High-tier Warp Entity with a body size comparable to a battleship—a chaos behemoth composed of countless screaming faces—senses this "straight line" bspheming the essence of Chaos. It sms into the gravity wall, giant cws trying to tear open the road Vulkan paved.

  "Structural stress rising! Cracks appearing in physical wall!" Hearthfire sends an arm, but it does not slow down, nor turn back. Vulkan is fulfilling his duty: Maintain the road clear at all costs. This means he cannot spare a hand to return fire.

  Just as the beast's cws are about to crush the fragile membrane of reality and penetrate into the fleet.

  "It thought there was no sword behind the shield." Lion El'Jonson's voice rings on the bridge, chillingly calm.

  He draws "Fealty", raising the "Emperor's Shield" with his left hand. The Primarch does not leave the bridge, but the air around him begins to distort. That is not psychic power; that is the ancient w belonging to the forests of Caliban. He closes his eyes, projecting his will to the fleet's spiritual core position.

  In an instant, a dazzling golden radiance covers the fleet's void shields like a physical object.

  "Get back."

  The Lion swings his sword. In reality, he merely sshes at the void. But in the spiritual dimension, a golden sword energy sufficient to sever mountains penetrates the armor of Invincible Reason, penetrates Vulkan's gravity wall, and sshes precisely onto the soul core of that chaos behemoth.

  SCREE—!

  The Warp entity attempting invasion lets out a miserable scream. Its massive body dissolves and burns like snow under a bzing sun the moment it touches the sword light.

  The Lion opens his eyes, sheathing the sword, breath undisturbed. "Vulkan builds the wall; I handle the pests climbing over it." He turns to the dumbfounded Dante. "This is division of bor, Regent."

  The tunnel stabilizes. This fleet is like a red-hot scalpel, precise, ruthless, and unstoppable, cutting open the gaxy's wound, speeding toward the Ultramar on the other shore.