Chapter 225: Unexpected Forces
The Raven perched upon the Emperor's shoulder stretched its neck and released a piercing cry. The sound defied physical law, spreading throughout the void.
The Emperor raised His sword, leveling it at the Transformers who continued their resistance. His voice transcended the void's restrictions, resonating within the minds of every Imperial soldier.
"Annihilate them."
"For the Emperor!"
Sanguinius was first to answer his father's command. He swept forward on pure white wings, his spear wreathed in lightning from its annihilation field. His opponent was Nexus Prime, the first true Transformer forged by Primus himself.
Nexus Prime's frame was impossibly vast; entire planets appeared as toys before him. The Star Saber that Sentinel Prime had wielded belonged to this ancient being.
When Sentinel Prime fell, the blade, knocked from his grasp by the Emperor, flew back to its true master's hand. It blazed with brilliant electric light, radiating an aura that made even the void tremble.
Spear and sword collided, generating endless ripples. The immense impact tore through spacetime itself, opening terrible fissures. Strange winds from beyond reality howled through the cracks.
An annihilation beam erupted from Nexus Prime's shoulder cannon, piercing the void with devastating force.
"Spacetime Imprisonment."
Sanguinius swept his spear in a wide arc, freezing tens of thousands of kilometers of spacetime. The annihilation beam halted mid-flight as though caught in amber.
"Reshape."
His other hand clenched suddenly. Disjointed spacetime consumed the beam entirely, then reset to its original state.
Seeing his attack nullified, Nexus Prime swung the Star Saber with renewed fury. The clash of their weapons unleashed a fierce storm, releasing power that could unmake worlds.
This was combat on a cosmic scale, like the cycling of stars, the death of constellations, the decay of all things.
Sanguinius and Nexus Prime both possessed the greatest physical forms and power the material universe could contain, surpassing what ignorant beings called gods.
Both fought with absolute killing intent. Every strike was delivered at full strength, channeling destructive force capable of annihilating all existence.
Other Transformers attempted to intervene, but Sanguinius moved with blinding speed, several swift thrusts pierced multiple Transformers, extinguishing their sparks.
Their sacrifice, however, bought Nexus Prime precious moments. He disengaged from Sanguinius and transmitted an order across the Cybertronian communication network: retreat.
Sentinel Prime had fallen. Continuing this battle would lead only to catastrophic losses. Preserving what forces remained was the rational choice.
The motherships unleashed withering firepower to cover the withdrawal, and the Cybertronian army began an orderly retreat through the Star Gate.
Then, without warning, disaster struck.
A group of Transformers, not affiliated with Cybertronian civilization, appeared on the battlefield and launched a coordinated assault on the Star Gate itself. They moved with purpose and precision, their objective unmistakable: destroy the gate.
An explosion bright as a newborn sun erupted in the void. The magnificent Star Gate collapsed, its structure disintegrating.
Watching their escape route vanish, Nexus Prime, the other Primes, and the Quintessons all wore expressions of grim realization. Without the Star Gate, withdrawing such a massive force was impossible.
Space distorted violently.
An entity of unimaginable scale appeared on the battlefield. His volume equaled the combined mass of hundreds of stars, a presence so vast it defied comprehension. His mere manifestation in realspace, without any action, threw the gravitational fields of entire star systems into chaos.
The newcomer was Primus.
The Transformers who had destroyed the Star Gate were his followers, forces he had cultivated during his exile. After being expelled by Unicron, he had hidden in the shadows, gathering strength and building a new army.
The Emperor's personal intervention in this universe and His slaying of Sentinel Prime had given Primus the opening he needed, a genuine chance to defeat Unicron. So he revealed himself and severed the Cybertronian army's line of retreat.
Cybertron represented one of Unicron's most vital assets. Its complete destruction would be equivalent to severing both his arms.
"Primus!" Nexus Prime's voice carried pure fury. "You conspired with outsiders and destroyed our home! Your crimes are unforgivable; you will answer for this!"
The other Transformers stared at Primus with undisguised hatred, their optics burning with murderous intent.
Unicron's indoctrination of Cybertronian civilization had clearly been thorough. Many Transformers regarded their own creator as a malignant tumor.
The irony was bitter.
Primus gazed at Nexus Prime, and sorrow flickered in his optics, vast and bright as stars. Nexus Prime was his first creation, yet the Transformer regarded him as an enemy. The thought brought immeasurable pain.
But he harbored no killing intent toward Nexus Prime. All of this was Unicron's doing.
"This is going to be fun," the Raven muttered, observing the unfolding drama.
The Cybertronian army found itself surrounded by Imperial forces with nowhere to run. Some powerful Transformers attempted to open spacetime passages for escape, only to discover that a terrifying force had locked down the entire region.
Even with all their methods, they could not breach the sealed spacetime.
"Primus!" Nexus Prime's voice dripped with hatred.
The other Primes glared with equal venom. They understood immediately that the entity sealing spacetime could only be Primus. He intended for them all to perish here.
Primus ignored their hateful stares.
"It's time to set everything back on track."
Light flowed through Primus's optics, reaching extreme brilliance. He released a cognitive beam, forcibly restoring the Transformers whose minds had been warped by Unicron's influence.
Nexus Prime's optics shifted from hatred to confusion, then to dismay and regret, and finally to deep, burning hatred once more.
But this hatred was not directed at Primus; it was aimed at Unicron, the entity he had recently revered as his spiritual pillar.
Memories erased by Unicron flooded back into the minds of Nexus Prime and the other Transformers, overwriting and reconstructing their logic modules, rebuilding their self-awareness. The wills of two supreme creators clashed within their bodies as a battlefield.
Different memories and cognitive frameworks surged, churned, and violently conflicted within their metallic forms. Logic modules and memory cores operated at high frequency, emitting waves of intense heat.
Every Transformer released agonized screams.
Ultimately, Primus emerged victorious. He expelled the corrupted influence Unicron had embedded within Nexus Prime and the other Transformers, allowing them to reclaim their original memories and virtues.
"I'm sorry, Lord Primus."
Nexus Prime knelt before his creator, his voice laden with pain and guilt.
Primus was his maker, yet he had branded him an enemy and pursued him relentlessly, seeking his complete annihilation. Moments ago, he had even denounced him as a cosmic plague that needed eradication.
As absolute as his conviction had been before, so profound were his pain and remorse now.
'What had he done?'
Facing Primus, he could offer nothing but apologies. He lacked even the courage to beg forgiveness. Even though Unicron had orchestrated everything, Nexus Prime could not forgive himself. As a Prime, failing to resist Unicron's dark power was itself a failure.
He remained kneeling, willing to accept death itself without complaint if Primus willed it.
The other Primes and every Transformer who had regained their true memories knelt in unison before their rightful creator. It was the only way they could conceive to atone, the only means to express their renewed loyalty.
"I forgive you all. The fault for this does not lie with you."
Primus's tone remained calm; he did not blame Nexus Prime or the others. It was his own failure to defeat Unicron that had led to Cybertron's predicament.
The Thirteen Primes and Cybertron's finest had not surrendered willingly; they had fought until the last moment and fell into Unicron's grasp only through Sentinel Prime's betrayal.
How could he hold them responsible for what followed?
"Thank you for your magnanimity."
Hearing Primus's words, Nexus Prime felt relief wash over him as though a crushing burden had been lifted. The other Transformers shared the sensation.
[End of Chapter]
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