The foremost Black Legionnaires who had divided into different fronts, most of which swarmed Gerhard and his group, were mere yards from the foot of Guilliman's throne when the rune panels on Cawl's auto-reliquary flickered from red to green.
*DIIINGG*
A single chime sounded through the racket of the battle. The Archmagos himself, fighting back-to-back with the suffering Ynnari and Chief Librarian Tigurius, emitted an uncharacteristic burst of binharic triumph. He had done it! This was what he had arrived to do here on Macragge.
In the next moment, the outstretched mechanical arms and parts of the auto-reliquary folded back with a gaseous hiss, revealing a sight of breathtaking splendour.
Where the stasis field-encased Roboute Guilliman had been seated on his throne before... now the Primarch stood awake, alert, angry and very much alive.
...
[Presence Sense]
[Danger Sense]
Gerhard's senses warned him about the danger behind him. It was so much, such a powerful presence, that even Lencillus and the four Sisters of Silence stopped fighting to turn back and look.
Guilliman's presence was immense, dominating the entire shrine like a Titan, filling the space with the overwhelming pressure of his mere existence.
The Primarch was clad in a magnificent new suit of armour. An elaborate masterwork that had travelled all the way from the forges of Mars inside Cawl's auto-reliquary, across Cadia and now to Macragge. In one hand, the Ultramarines Primarch held the Emperor of Mankind's long sword. Its blade was burning with hungry, psychic flames, despite Gerhard and the Sisters of Silence.
Guilliman's eyes held a look of such murderous intensity and rage that even the loyalists and the most powerful warriors within the shrine cowered at the sight.
It was as though a time-stopping spell had settled over the large hall. Though outside the cacophony of war reverberated on, within that chamber, loyalists and traitors alike stared awestruck at the legendary figure reborn in their midst.
All except Gerhard.
He was thankfully using his Blank skill, which didn't protect him from the Primarch's presence and attention, but it allowed him to at least shrug off the Warp-part of Guilliman, that part that was not human.
He used these few valuable seconds well and slashed the Anathame through several Chaos Marines, and pierced through the thorax of a Terminator, before shooting his shotgun several times and causing a group to explode.
An incoherent scream of rage shattered the stunned moment of everyone else... that and Gerhard's actions. A single Khorne Berzerker charged headlong through the stunned combatants and launched himself through the air, and leapt at the Primarch.
Guilliman moved with such insane speed that the Ynnari themselves would have struggled to match it. His burning blade drew a fiery arc through the air as it was slashed, bisecting the Khorne Berzerker at the waist and causing his severed halves to fall to the ground.
...
And this was the Primarch who had just woken up from 10,000 years of stasis... Yeah, Primarchs were insane.
As the Chaos worshipper's armoured corpse crashed to the floor, the 'time-stop spell' was broken. With roars of hatred, the Black Legion warriors surged toward Roboute Guilliman.
Wordlessly, the noble demigod strode to meet them, and the real carnage truly began.
First to die was the Sorcerer, whose powers had originally shaken the temple to its foundations and then gone numb after Gerhard had started his rampage. The Sorcerer had suffered immensely.
Guilliman raised his mighty gauntlet, the Hand of Dominion, and a storm of armour-piercing Bolter fire erupted from beneath it, ripping the tainted, excruciating psyker to pieces.
Next to fall were the remaining Black Legion Berzerkers, which were very few, as Gerhard had killed most others. Following their comrade's example, they threw themselves screaming at the reborn Primarch.
Like their brother, they were reduced to little more than armoured meat, smashed and cut from the air with terrifying speed.
Guilliman was running now, storming forward through the hail of bolts and shells unleashed by the Black Legionnaires, and had a very particular goal in mind—a group of warriors, led by a single figure, that reminded Guilliman of the Soulless Queen.
Rounds exploded against the Primarch's armour, but none could pierce its inviolable plates, especially after a blue sheen of energy had started to coat the power armour and densify to create an additional layer of almost impenetrable energy.
"RAAAAHHHH!!"
A building roar of pure, undiluted fury erupted from Guilliman as he crashed into the front ranks of Black Legionnaires.
The Primarch's first almost casual blow sent a Black Legionnaire flying through the air, blood streaming behind the corpse in a red trail. His second strike smashed a traitor Terminator into a bronze and marble column with enough force to punch the Chaos worshipper through it and out the other side.
A spiked power fist swung for Guilliman's chest, only to be lopped off from its wielder's arm before the blow could land. Guilliman's attack swing cut his attacker's head from his shoulders, cauterising the stump of the traitor's neck as the body crumpled to the floor.
The Emperor's Sword burned brightly in Roboute's hands, despite Gerhard and his armour, showing just how powerful it truly was. The weapon was one of the few weapons in the galaxy capable of delivering true death to daemons.
The onslaught continued, with the Primarch moving at such speed that even the heretics' superhuman reactions couldn't save them.
None could match Guilliman.
None could even come close, and the few opponents that managed to land lucky blows found their weapons blocked by the blue energy that continued to grow denser as time passed.
.
Saint Celestine looked at the towering, blitzing form of the reborn Primarch and experienced the satisfaction that her faith had proven correct once again.
A son of the God Emperor himself, a demigod of battle to lead the Imperium out of the darkness that seemed, with each passing day, more certain to destroy it entirely.
What greater crusade could she have been a part of? What single event could possibly be more important than the manifestation of this breathtaking miracle?
Humbly, Celestine offered up her profound thanks to the Emperor for permitting her to be a part of such a wondrous event.
Around her, the battle still raged, but every aspect of the conflict had changed for Celestine in that singular moment of rebirth.
The strewn corpses of Imperial warriors were no longer a tragic waste, but instead the fallen bodies of martyrs whose sacrifice would be immortalised and remembered forever.
The traitorous killers filling the shrine were no longer hated Chaos forces, but merely the first of an endless count of heretics that Guilliman would kill.
Her own wounds no longer mattered, whether the physical injuries to her own body or the spiritual wounds caused by the deaths of her Geminae Superia and the monstrously dangerous presence of Saint Gerhard and his Anathema Psykana.
"Thank you," said Celestine, a single golden tear rolling down her cheek as she turned her face to the heavens. "Thank you. He is a blessing we do not deserve."
Snarling, a Black Legionnaire lunged at Celestine with a saw-toothed blade in hand. He thought that she was distracted in her moment of gratitude, but he could not have been more wrong.
Fuelled by what she saw as confirmation of her belief, Celestine turned the golden glow of her gaze at the heretic and smiled as she felt her broken arm heal anew. Capable of using her arm, she brought the Ardent Blade up and, with a single, swift movement, pierced the Heretic Astartes.
Once more, faith and misinformation served someone's purpose. The reason Celestine's arm healed, now that Guilliman was here, was that his presence strengthened the connection she had to the Emperor. He acted like a siphon and enhancer of that, as Guilliman held the Emperor's sword and managed to reduce Gerhard's presence and the effect of his [Blank] skill and armour.
The Saint launched herself into the sky and zoomed through the air. She landed beside Inquisitor Greyfax, who stood atop a now-empty casket, sending bolter fire into the heretics massed on all sides.
"I was wrong," shouted Greyfax over the roar of her bolter. "And I shall do penance. You and Lord Gerhard truly are an instrument of the Emperor's will."
"Vigilance is not a sin, Katarinya Greyfax," replied Celestine, slashing her blade through the enemies before her. "You serve Him as surely as I."
"Indeed," said Greyfax with a curt nod. "Then let us serve Him together, as true warriors of faith."
With that, she raised her blade and charged at the Chaos Astartes, with Celestine at her side.
.
As the Black Legion hurled themselves towards the large warrior in their midst, the pressure decreased on the surviving loyalists in the shrine. Full of thoughts of vengeance and inspired by the sight of the Primarch, the last of the Celestinians and their allies threw themselves back into the fight with renewed vigour.
Guilliman reached the place he had aimed at, where he judged the best strategic spot would be to create space for his allies and drive a knife through the enemy's ranks.
He arrived next to Gerhard.
The two exchanged a single look, without uttering a word and then, as if they had communicated mentally, they drove back into the slaughter.
And what a slaughter it was.
The Primarch was akin to a massive blur, but Gerhard and the genius strategic mind of Guillman worked beautifully together. Each was aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the other, and both used one another and watched each other's backs as if they had done so for years.
Guilliman knew what a Pariah was, and he was well aware that there was more to Gerhard than just that, but whatever it was, he was immensely skilled and more powerful than a standard Astartes and even Chaos Astartes. What more could you want when fighting Chaos forces?
As Guilliman and Gerhard cleared the foes from around the front of his throne, Lencillus, Hestia, and her sisters, Tigurius, Cawl and the Ynnari attempted to follow him into the gap. But those who were psykers couldn't and had to stop due to the pain of Gerhard and the Sisters' presences, which left them incapable of forming coherent thoughts.
The Chief Librarian felt Guilliman's gaze upon him, for just a heartbeat. The Primarch's scrutinising, evaluating gaze seemed to strip Tigurius down to his soul, revealing his deepest secrets. Then Guilliman followed Gerhard, who had stormed ahead through the enemy ranks.
With every blow, the Primarch of the Ultramarines and Gerhard sent mutated corpses through the air. The Primarch's expression was frozen in a look of hate. He wore a mask of revengeful anger that had endured and been forced to swallow for millennia.
For Guilliman, his last memory was a desperate battle against his corrupted brother Fulgrim, a brotherly battle to the death of godlike strength, which ended in a poisoned blade slashed through his throat and pain beyond imagination.
Now he found himself in strange surroundings, facing a twisted horde of creatures that were nightmarish parodies of the Adeptus Astartes his father had created.
Not that his alleged allies struck Guilliman as much more familiar. He was fighting next to a man he knew nothing about, except that they seemed to have similar minds. He could at least detect who in this vast sepulchre was tainted by Chaos and who was not. Since the one next to him was the bane and greatest figure of hatred to Chaos.
For now, that was enough.
The Primarch stored his questions for later and concentrated solely on the battle at hand.
The Black Legionnaires continued to hurl themselves at the reborn Lord of Ultramar and Gerhard, clearly willing to sustain any amount of casualties if it meant laying Guilliman and the bane of their existence low. Yet they were laughably outmatched in almost every regard. Whatever Guilliman might have lacked, Gerhard more than covered.
Sweeping the Emperor's sword in wide fiery arcs, firing off bolter round volleys from the Hand of Dominion, the Primarch reaped a bloody tally as he drove the traitors back. Using the Anathame to slash through the most powerful armour and firing [Mana Bullets], Gerhard picked off those that might have survived the Primarch or retreated.
As the number of enemies dropped quickly, the horizontal form of Marneus Calgar was revealed, his armour cracked and his face beaten bloody.
Guilliman paused for a moment in his rampage, looking down upon this fallen son with an unreadable expression on his face, while Gerhard did the same.
[Mana Bullet]
[Mana Bullet]
He cast a sweeping storm of mana bullets into the fray and kneeled to the Chapter Master, touching his head.
[Burning Spirit Principle]
A bright light could be seen, healing the man from all of his injuries and bringing him back from his bad state.
Calgar stirred, his eye opening to look up at the Primarch reborn standing above him and Gerhard, who had just healed him. Satisfied that his son not only lived but was also in peak physical state again, Guilliman looked at Gerhard and then pressed on, leaving the Chapter Master to stare in disbelief at his resurrected gene-sire and try to keep up with the two.
Across the chamber, Grand Master Voldus and his Paladins were driving the surviving Chaos Sorcerers back. Both sides were powerful psykers, but neither could use their power very well right now. Which was even worse, as the energies they so desperately summoned, now that Gerhard was on the other side of the battlefield, were terribly unstable.
Surrounded by a crackling vortex of Warp energies, the Grand Master strode through the malicious flames and molten lightnings conjured by his foes.
Using purely physical strength, Voldus' powerful hammer swung in an unstoppable arc and smashed into the helm of the closest Sorcerer. Black, spiked ceramite, flesh and bone exploded in a spray, and the traitor toppled backwards as a headless corpse.
The last of the heretic leaders lost his nerve.
"RETREAT!!" he shouted to the last of the Chaos forces.
The Sorcerer turned around, still feeling the pain and darkness that Gerhard and the Sisters created, pushing his Terminator armour beyond its limits.
Before he could flee, though, he felt the effect of the Blank multiply and experienced the slow black hole sucking in his soul and giving him more pain and fear than even the Chaos forces could.
He found himself face-to-face with Roboute Guilliman and Gerhard.
Before he could even say a single syllable, the Sorcerer was lifted off the ground. Guilliman's Hand of Dominion clamped firmly around his throat and stared at him with pure fury.
In a breathtaking display of strength, the Primarch lifted the Sorcerer high into the air. The Sorcerer made a last, croaking attempt to speak before the Emperor's Sword cut through the traitor's torso and ripped it brutally upward, splitting the man into two and causing gore and blood to spill out and splash on the ground.
Not bothering with flashy displays, Gerhard took out his hand-held Mana Bolter and cast a final spell that he had created for such large hordes.
[Rapid Fire Mana Bullets]
Not a single one of the Black Legionnaires and other Chaos forces escaped the Fortress of Hera alive on that day.