Paul let out a low shout, coming to a dead halt.
The instant his dark grey power armor stopped, he raised both hands.
Vrrrrum!!!
Storm-tier psychic power erupted with a deafening roar!
Pale golden psychic ripples exploded outward from him, instantly vaporizing the falling raindrops into a fine mist.
Deep within Paul's pupils, the geometric patterns of the five great traits spun wildly.
The Wisdom trait was fully deployed, tracking the trajectory of every incoming bolter shell.
The Pioneering trait guided the psychic energy, constructing a defense in the most efficient manner possible.
Then, the Compassion trait activated!
An emerald green light, representing the very essence of life, surged from his eyes and merged into his surrounding psychic field.
A psychic barrier expanded around him, enveloping both himself and [Tau Buddy You're Right].
It was a Telekine Dome.
The psychic energy materialized into a tangible barrier, constructing a protective shield shaped like a dome.
Immediately after, the power of the Compassion trait was injected into it.
The white membrane was instantly dyed emerald green. Its thickness tripled, and geometric patterns surfaced across its exterior.
The first bolter shell then struck the shield.
BOOM!
The explosive flash bloomed across the shield's surface, sending a shockwave rippling outward, but the shield itself didn't even tremble.
The second shell, the third, the fourth...
A torrential downpour of munitions rained down, hammering the emerald psychic shield and erupting into countless clusters of fire.
Ripples cascaded across the shield's surface, but not a single mass-reactive shell could penetrate it.
Inside the checkpoint, Captain Sikal stared in absolute, slack-jawed horror.
"What... what in the Emperor's name is that?!"
He had never seen anything like it.
A psyker?
But shouldn't a psyker's kine-shield be pale blue or purple?
An emerald green psychic shield... he had never even heard of such a thing!
And the sheer resilience of that shield...
A heavy bolter's armor-piercing payload could punch straight through the frontal glacis of a Leman Russ battle tank, yet it couldn't shatter that thin green membrane of light?!
Right at that moment, the two heavy lascannons finished their charging cycles.
Zzzzzzt!!!
Two searing crimson beams of high-energy lasers shot out, striking the shield dead on.
An output of one hundred and eighty megajoules per second was more than enough to melt through thirty centimeters of ceramite plating in 0.3 seconds.
But against the emerald green shield...
Sizzle! Hiss!
The laser and psychic energy clashed violently, emitting an ear-piercing shriek.
The shield's surface bowed inward slightly under the intense heat, and the emerald light began to fluctuate.
But barely a second later, the power of the Compassion trait surged anew.
The minor structural damage was instantly repaired.
Paul stood amidst the hail of gunfire, his expression perfectly calm beneath his visor.
He raised his right hand, splaying his five fingers, and aimed them squarely at the turrets mounted on the main gate's lintel.
"My turn."
Spiral Power surged through his right arm.
Pale golden patterns surfaced beneath the gauntlet of his power armor, instantly boosting the armor's performance output by twenty-two percent.
Paul bent his knees slightly, and then—
BOOM!
A shallow crater exploded in the ground beneath him.
His body launched skyward like a fired artillery shell, his three-meter-tall armored frame carving a nearly vertical trajectory through the rain.
In half a second, he leaped onto the forty-meter-high lintel.
He clenched his right hand into a fist.
Across the surface of his gauntlet, the patterns of Spiral Power fully manifested, the pale golden light burning like a raging fire in the rain.
"Shatter."
He threw a single punch.
Target: the first twin-linked heavy bolter turret.
The instant his fist connected with the ceramite base of the turret...
CRUNCH!!!!
A deafening screech of tearing metal erupted.
The entire turret was violently sheared straight off its mounting by the sheer force of the blow. The massive metal construct tumbled through the air, smashed heavily against the hive's outer wall, and crashed to the ground below.
Paul didn't pause for breath.
He spun around, channeling Spiral Power from his left hand into his chainaxe. Golden light wreathed the weapon as he swung it in a vicious arc.
Vrrrrrm!
The revving teeth bit into the barrel mount of the second turret, cleaving through the ceramite as easily as a hot knife through butter.
The top half of the turret sheared off and slid to the ground.
The heavy lascannon of the third turret desperately tried to swivel and lock onto him, but Paul had already bounded onto its roof.
He raised his right foot and brought the heavy boot of his power armor stomping down with bone-crushing force.
CRACK!
The turret's optic lenses and targeting logic-engines were pulverized into scrap.
The gunners manning the fourth turret finally recovered from their shock and frantically tried to swivel the guns to fire.
But Paul had already drawn the bolt pistol at his waist.
Thoom! Thoom! Thoom!
Three precise burst shots accurately blew apart the turret's ammo feed system and power conduits.
The turret was silenced.
At the same time, [Tau Buddy You're Right] wasn't idle either.
The Alpha Legion Astartes leveled his bolter, methodically blowing apart the remaining three pillbox turrets one by one, before calling roll on the gunners manning the heavy stubbers in the firing ports.
His shooting style was surgically precise. Every single mass-reactive bolt threaded perfectly through the narrow firing slits, detonating violently inside the pillboxes.
Amidst a series of muffled booms, thick black smoke billowed from the firing ports.
Ten seconds.
From the moment Paul launched himself into the air, to the total neutralization of all six turrets... it took exactly ten seconds.
The primary defense nodes along the main gate's lintel were completely annihilated.
Paul dropped down from the lintel, landing with a heavy, concussive thud.
He and [Tau Buddy You're Right] exchanged a brief glance before sprinting simultaneously toward the main blast doors.
Inside the checkpoint, Captain Sikal finally snapped out of his paralyzing shock.
"Close the gates! Initiate emergency lockdown procedures! Move!"
But it was too late.
Paul and [Tau Buddy You're Right] were already standing right in front of the colossal alloy doors.
In perfect unison, the two retrieved five melta-bombs each from their storage compartments. These were standard-issue ordnance purchased from the system store, equipped with magnetic adhesion bases.
Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
Ten melta-bombs were magnetically clamped directly onto the main gate's hydraulic locking mechanisms.
Paul and [Tau Buddy You're Right] immediately turned tail and sprinted toward the scattered wreckage of the ruined turrets.
They reached a safe distance with blinding speed.
[Tau Buddy You're Right] retrieved the heavy-duty material reclaimer from his storage compartment.
He flicked the activation switch, and a pale blue scanning beam shot out from the device's emitter.
The beam swept over the wreckage of the first turret Paul had punched off the wall.
[Beep!]
[Standard energetic materials detected... Heavy Bolter Turret Wreckage... Estimated value: 5,000 Imperial Coins. Proceed with conversion?]
[Tau Buddy You're Right]'s face twitched violently beneath his visor.
"Holy shit, that's practically nothing." He couldn't help but complain. "An intact turret dismantled for parts would sell for at least ten thousand Imperial Coins. We beat this thing into scrap, and it's only worth five grand? We're taking a massive loss here, Paul!"
Paul chuckled, crouching down to pick up a palm-sized shard of ceramite. "Standard procedure. Imperial Coin conversion valuation is based on the net weight of usable materials and overall structural integrity. We basically smashed these turrets into literal junk; five grand is actually a generous appraisal."
He pointed toward the interior of the main gate. "Don't sweat the small change out here. The warehouses inside are the real prize. Finish reclaiming this, and then we'll link up with Tax Bro and the others."
[Tau Buddy You're Right] nodded and pressed the conversion confirmation button.
The pale blue scanning beam solidified into a tangible tractor field, enveloping the turret wreckage.
With a brief flash of light, the wreckage vanished.
[Tau Buddy You're Right]'s personal account balance increased by 5,000 Imperial Coins.
"Next."
[Tau Buddy You're Right] swiftly reclaimed the wreckage of the other five turrets.
Paul then pulled out a crude detonator, pressing his thumb against the red firing stud.
"Art is an explosion," he muttered softly.
The next second.
BOOM!!!
An earth-shattering explosion ripped the rainy night apart.
Ten melta-bombs detonated simultaneously, unleashing a terrifying wave of thermal and kinetic energy in an instant.
The hydraulic locking mechanisms of the main gates were instantly vaporized. The colossal alloy doors buckled inward, twisting grotesquely under the shockwave, before finally collapsing inward with a deafening crash.
Inside the checkpoint, Captain Sikal and over fifty of his soldiers were hurled violently through the air by the blast wave, smashing brutally against the reinforced walls.
The sickening crunch of shattering bones echoed in a morbid chorus.
Agonized screams and blaring klaxons merged into a chaotic cacophony.
As the smoke and dust began to settle, Sikal struggled to push himself off the floor.
One of his arms was bent at a grotesque angle—a severe compound fracture.
But he ignored the agonizing pain, his eyes locked desperately on the ruined remains of the main gates.
There, emerging through the billowing smoke, two towering figures were slowly walking in.
Leading the way was the dark grey power armor, the monstrous hound insignia on his chest plate seemingly snarling amidst the flickering flames.
He stopped in front of the shattered window of the checkpoint.
His visor retracted, revealing a pair of dark golden eyes.
Those eyes stared down at Sikal with absolute calm, as if looking at a mere insect.
Then, Paul spoke.
His voice, projected through his armor's external vox-casters, carried an oppressive, suffocating authority.
"All mineral and industrial resources within this hive city have been requisitioned by the Imperial Legions for the Great Crusade. All who resist shall be branded as traitors to the Imperium."
He paused before adding, "Glory to the Emperor."
With that, he turned away from Sikal without another glance and strode past the ruined main gates.
[Tau Buddy You're Right] followed close behind. As he passed the window, he casually slapped the forged metal notice plate against the wall.
He secured it with a melta-rivet.
Sikal stared blankly at their retreating backs as they disappeared into the hive, then looked at the metal plate welded to the wall.
Only one thought remained in his mind:
It's over.
Sycamore Hive is finished.