Magnus, using his psychic give watches as the last imperial enter the portal.
Around him, those volunteering for rear guard duty scattered as bloodied corpses.
Guardsmen, astartes, and shinobi alike.
"We finish cleaning up here lord primarch." A thousand son marine reports. His face is blisterred with tzeentchian corruption.
"Well done, Seraphon" Magnus nodded as look at his marine before looking around him seeing the death around him.
"What of Gulliman's lapdog sire?" Akhemen Seraphon ask.
"We have herded those misled fools unto our trap. I have tempered that portal so it could not be close." Magnus left himself a chuckle.
He gazed across the battlefield, scattered bodies of rearguard Astartes and Shinobi alike littering the ash-scarred ground. The ruin of men and astartes flesh mingled in grotesque tableau — a perfect testament to his design.
Magnus then find an interesting sight, Zaelith Korda, the arc-heretek leading the dark mechanicum contingent is kneeling at a fallen shinobi corpse.
Clawed servo-mechadendrites delicately prodded the shattered armor. Pale metal fingers traced over the wrist-mounted device, caressing it with reverent hunger.
"Fascinating…" the Heretek cooed. Her voice was soft, almost lover's tones as she pried open the mask clasp with an audible click, revealing the blood-streaked face of a mortal man.
"Look baseline human, yet I watched this one weave through battle like an Eldar acrobat. And this device…" she lifted the EFA reverently, lenses focusing.
"New configurations. A marvel of psycho-reactive microtechnology. Uncatalogued. Unblessed."
She then looks at magnus expectantly, Magnus understand the hunger of knowledge from her eyes.
Magnus chuckled, his voice a low, molten growl. He cares not about this new type of enemy he came across as his own forces wreck through with relative ease.
"Take what you will, Khorda. So long as your daemon engines bring ruin to their barricades. Many of the Corpse-Emperor's whelps yet cower behind that portal. I want their cries to echo before Terra's own gaze."
The Heretek's curled into a sickly grin behind her metal mask.
"It shall be done, my lord."
-Luna-
The survivors stumbled from the shimmering rift, battered and bloodied, onto the ancient landing platform beneath Luna's pale glow. For a heartbeat, none spoke. The Blackstone horrors seemed impossibly distant — and yet not.
Before them, the void stretched endless.
The psyker felt the Emperor's light gleaming brightly against the cold, eternal black.
And there, hanging in the darkness like a jewel of fire and sorrow, was Terra.
Even battle-hardened Astartes looks up.
Veterans of a thousand campaigns felt their breath catch, the indomitable silhouette of Holy Terra they have been fighting for filling their visor lenses. Its storm-shrouded atmosphere swirled with gold and scarlet, the glow of a million city-lights burning against the dark.
One Ultramarine removed his helmet. Scars ran across his face, and yet his expression was that of a child seeing home for the first time.
"Terra," he whispered.
The Guardsmen stared in mute awe, faces streaked with grime and blood. Even the Harlequins paused — Sylandri Veilwalker's porcelain mask tilting, an inscrutable gleam behind the hollow eyes.
Only the Grey Knights moved unshaken. For them, Terra was duty incarnate, a place of relentless trial. They had seen its spires too many times, spilled too much blood within its walls.
Guilliman stood apart, his gaze hard on the distant world.
A murmur rippled through the assembled psykers. The Librarians, their senses open to the Immaterium, stiffened in unison. An astartes Librarian knelt, clutching his temples.
"Something's wrong," he rasped.
A chorus of confirmations followed.
"Warp signature… unstable…"
"The portal — it's warping!"
Gulliman stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "Explain."
The astartes Librarian gritted his teeth. "It's being hijacked. Magnus. He is still pursuing us… through the rift."
At those words, Guilliman's heart sank. His worst fear clawed into reality. A moment's hope crumbling to ash.
He looks at the grey knight contingents struggling to close the portals.
"Confirm it," Guilliman ordered at other librarians.
"Confirmed," all librarian confirmed as they gasped, sweat beading his brow.
"The Warp echoes — they bear magnus taint."
The portal behind them, now flickering erratically, rippled with a crimson glow. Faint silhouettes could be seen within — shapes in ancient armor, glyphs of Tzeentch's symbols start to appear.
Slowly it is swirling like malevolent smoke but it is rapidly move faster and faster.
Guilliman's jaw clenched, he immediately vox in to terra using his built-in comms.
"Terra control, do you read? This is Roboute Guilliman, confirmation code Axanret2541"
[…what?!...is it really the holy Primarch??…] disbelieve voice from the comms.
"There is no time for that! sound the alarm for the system, warp incurssion incoming at luna, grid 544-Theta-Gin."
[Ahh…understood lord primarch…give me a minute] the comms cut off.
In mere seconds, vox-units blared across the ancient platform.
[WARNING. INCOMING WARP INTRUSION. ALL FORCES TO BATTLE STATIONS.]
The defenders on Luna on nearby base got alerted and surged into motion.
Leman Russ battle tanks and Chimera transports rolled into the portal position.
Gulliman quickly order a defensive fomation surrounding the portal.
Astartes squad, the surviving black templar, ultramarine, and Salamanders and othe chapter scrambled into fortified emplacements such as moon craters.
Surviving guardsmen shinobi fills in the the gap.
Even harlequin makes their own preparation.
"Ah… the threads unravel. The skein of fate is snarled by the foul warp's claws. This dance is far from its final act, mon-keigh. The stage has merely shifted… and a new chapter begins." Sylandri Veilwalker murmurs softly.
Suddenly, Seiji's comm-link crackled to life. A secure connection flared on his HUD. A familiar code-string.
[HQ to commander Seiji. Can you hear us?] a male voice vox in his comms. Gruff and old.
"Commander Seiji to HQ. I hear you loud and clear"
[Commander Seiji, this is Shinobi strike force mission overseer. We are receiving multiple casualty notification, Give us status report. Why are detecting your ping from solar system?]
Moon Tear, this is Seiji. Mission compromised. Extraction point overrun by daemonic incursion. Heavy contact with Traitor Astartes and warp entities beyond prior intelligence estimates. Casualties severe — less than 20% combat-effective remaining."
"Forced into provisional alliance. Harlequin operative attached to formation. Grey knight astartes chapter provided emergency extraction route through secret ancient passage intersecting Sol proximity."
"Emerging on Luna. Pursued by enemy elements led by Traitor Primarch Magnus the Red. Warp portal destabilizing. Enemy attempting pursuit breach. Immediate reinforcement required." Seiji gives his brief report.
[You're in fortune, Commander. The full might of First Wave Battlegroup is currently en route to your previous area of operations. Present location: several dozen light-years from your current position. Rerouting the 3rd Ground Invasion Fleet to your coordinates. Estimated arrival: three standard hours. Be advised — from this point forward, the First Wave Battlegroup will operate under the callsign Steel Cordon, and the 3rd Ground Invasion Fleet under 3rd iron cohort.]
Seiji allowed himself a breath.
"Understood. Thank you."
Seiji keyed off the channel and strode toward Guilliman, his movements precise despite the fatigue burning through him.
"Lord Primarch," Seiji called.
Guilliman turned, his expression still hardens.
"Permission to receive reinforcements from my faction. The force is inbound. Three terran hours. Heavy ground divisions, fleet elements. Callsign 3rd iron cohort"
For a long moment, Guilliman said nothing. His piercing gaze studied Seiji in silence — a thousand conflicting thoughts behind those ancient eyes.
But the risk of warp rift covering solar system is too great to deny such reinforcement.
Then, Guilliman activated his vox once more.
"Terra Control — additional allied fleet will arrive within hours. Bearing the callsign of 3rd iron cohort. You are not to engage unless hostile intent is confirmed."
A tense pause.
[Understood, Lord Guilliman. Clearance granted.]
Guilliman lowered his vox and regarded Seiji one last time.
"I don't trust whoever your master is. But today, I'll take any blade that cuts the right enemy."
Seiji's lips twitched in what might've been the faintest shadow of a smile.
"That's all we ask."
At that, the battered forces began reinforcing defensive lines, bolters loaded, railguns powered, energy shields flaring. Void shields shimmered around their perimeter as the flickering, crimson-lit portal seethed like a wounded predator.
Somewhere in the back ranks, an Eldar Harlequin began to hum a soft, mocking tune, her mask tilted toward distant Terra.
Even Sylandri Veilwalker's voice carried a faint lilt.
"So close to the Emperor's cradle… and already the wolves gather."