The Escape

The Emperor's light shines bright in the navigator's chamber. The light is psychically powerful enough to cleanse the entire chamber including Nurgle's plagues and corruption of the Chaos.

William felt the increasing temperature in his hand as the orb burn bright than ever before. As if knowing the presence of the Chaos corruption, the Emperor's light purged everything with each second burning bright.

"The light! The light of the…" These were the last words the navigator said before all his three eyes burn to crips and boiled skins washed away like a flame on spider webs. Besides the mutated navigator is engulf in a burning pile of flesh, the entire chamber which was mutated with the green flesh of the Chaos also burns as well. The stone pillars and old gothic appearances reappeared after 10,000 years.

The whole process only took 40 seconds before William couldn't endure the burning sensation in his hand. Lasting long as possible till the end, William put away the bright orb into his inventory, darkening the chamber, and at the same time took one knee due to extreme exposure to the Emperor's light.

"Chapter Master!" One of the guards, who is quick to recover from the light saw William and move next to him to boost him. Once the guard raise his Chapter Master, he saw the damage never seen before on William's terminator armor.

One side of the armor was burning red with intense scorch marks as if Chapter Master was inside of the volcano. The scorch mark covered the entire right shoulder and arm but for some reason, the helmet wasn't as if it was protected from the flame itself.

"Remove his helmet. I can't sense his pulse from my sensor." The medic of the honour guard said to the first guard and he attempt to do so. Unfortunately, his attempt wasn't fruitful as the terminator armor was impossible to remove without the user's permission.

"I'm fine, my brothers," William spoke and raise his head to look forward. His voice was raspy but it was strong enough for others to step aside as their Chapter Master remove his helmet with his left hand.

With a small 'hiss' sound, William remove his terminator helmet and gave it to the first honour guard who helped him stand up. The medic of the guard step forward and tried to examine William's condition but before he could start his task, William blocked him and move him aside.

Opening his eyes, William saw navigator's chamber was cleansed from the Nurgle's plagues and diseases. The room returned back to the once great chamber of the navigator of the Imperium of Men and a place where they could navigate through the warp.

"My lord! Your eyes," The medic said to William with surprise in his voice. William didn't think much as he was focusing on the corpse of the navigator who once served the Death Guard. The dirty green nutrient tank was no more as the tank itself is cleansed of any filth and one who resides within is the burned body of the normal human who possesses a third eye.

'So, his eyes couldn't endure the fragment of the Emperor's light.' William thought to himself and turn around to see his brothers. The medic called William once again which William finally realized as he turn his head to see the medic.

"Yes, apothecary. I'm here, you don't have to scream." William laugh a little bit as he reach for his helmet which the guard returned as if it was a holy relic of the Chapter.

"My lord, your eyes."

"What about it?"

"Well… the color of your eyes is no longer brown. My lord, they are gold." The apothecary pulls out his combat knife and shows the side of the blade for William to see his reflection. To William's surprise, the apothecary was telling the truth as his eyes are no longer brown but rather yellow gold.

'Ah shit, I'm gonna get chewed up for this.' William thought of what his advisors would say once they saw this new change in him. Casually pulling out the Emperor's light isn't something William should do as it is an important relic and a powerful weapon against the Ruinous Powers.

"I guess the Emperor's light was too much even for me." William joke about his condition and put on his helmet, breathing recycled air and rebooting his terminator armor to full function. The scorched mark on the right side shows minimum damage and the paint job should be able to fix the problem. As for the virus bombs, William saw in his intercom that the operation to the exterminatus was terminated once the navigator has perished. It looked like with no one to give the order, the corrupted servitors of the Battle Barge simply stopped and wait for the new order from the next chain of command.

"Let us move to the command bridge. Stay alert and eliminate any threats, this is still a search-and-destroy mission until we return to our forces." With William's command, the honour guards quickly return to combat formation and exit the navigator's chamber. Last, to leave the large room, William turns around once more to see the cleansed room. It was ironic that within Death Guard's plague ship, this particular room is now a more uncorrupted section of the ship.

'Still have job to do,' William steps forward and follows his honour guards, forward towards the command bridge where the rest of his honour guards are holding position.

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Command Bridge of the Death Guard's Battle Barge,

"My lord, we are about to leave the atmosphere and enter the void." Captain Auguste reported to William while a few of his honour guard brothers took bridge stations.

Overall, the ship was in good condition even though it was heavily mutated beyond imagination. As the battle barge began to embark on atmosphere to void space, the engines roared as the flames push the ship away from the planet's gravity. In a matter of few minutes, the blue sky turned black and for the first time, William saw stars through the command bridge.

"When the ship is far away from the planet, place the ship on self-destruction with enough time for us to make our escape." William gave his order and look into his inventory to see his new reward, the Thunderhawk. This will be his escape plan and he proceeds to pull one out from his inventory to summon one on the nearest launch bay.

"The Thunderhawk is in bay two. When the course and self-destruction are set, move to bay two for evacuation." William gave his instruction when one of the guard's stations gave an alarm notification.

"Captain Auguste, we have an unknown vessel approaching the battle barge. It is a single ship but very fast." The honour guard gave his report but before Captain Auguste could respond, everyone saw the ship as it circled around the battle barge.

"That is a Necron ship! That filthy Xeno is still around? Fire at will!" Captain Auguste said and gave the command to activate the ship's weaponry to fire at the Necron ship.

William on the other hand quickly realized what was going on. The owner of the ship is definitely a Trazyn the Infinite and knowing him, he is up to no good, especially if it involves the newly founded Space Marine Chapter.

"Ah damn it. Everyone evacuate to launch bay two now! Set the ship's weapon on auto and move!" Realizing what the Necon Overlord is up to, William orders his men to evacuate the command bridge.

'That damn robot is going to capture the whole ship with me included,' Leaving the command bridge last, William made sure all of his men are moving, and before he knew it multiple teleportations with green energy appeared in the hallway.

"Shoot and move! They are here to capture us." William was correct as Necron warriors are equipped with Chrono pulse weapons to trap the targets without damaging them. Following the order, William's honour guards fire their bolters with different ammunition in their bolters.

Loaded with overheating armor-piercing rounds, the honour guards destroyed Necron warriors before they could lock on them. With fast speed and reflex, the honour guards and William managed to arrive at launch bay two where Thunderhawk was waiting for them.

"Go! Board the ship now!" Captain Auguste orders his battle-brothers to board the ship while he himself and a few of his nearby brothers hold the line. The number of Necron warriors increased as well as more complex units such as Lychguards appeared with energy shields to block the bolter shots.

"Pull back to the ship now! Everyone, cover the Captain and others!" William orders his men while firing both bolters and plasma blaster. The Thunderhawk pilot did exactly the same as the order was given as the ship hoover a few feet in the air and fired lascannons at the heavy Necron units.

"Pulling back now," Captain Auguste said and turn around right after his last battle-brother retreated back to the ship when at the moment of a blindside, a Necton warrior fired the Chrono weapon, trapping the honour guard captain in time.

"Damn it," Without thinking, William jump out of the Thunderhawk and move towards Captain Auguste with all his might. Firing all his weapons including micro missiles, William reached the captain and lift his entire body using his two hands.

"Catch!" William tosses Captain Auguste with all his might toward the Thunderhawk front door and three of his men managed to catch him using their bodies.

Standing all by himself, William once again fires all his range weapons and moves backward to reach the Thunderhawk. Just as William was about to reach the ship, he saw a tear in reality and felt a sudden shock of impact coming from it. Beyond time and space, a Deathmark sniper of the Necron dynasty managed to hit William but failed to break his energy shield.

'Fuck all this to hell!' Fueled with rage and frustration, William pulls out hundred of Promethium tanks from his inventory and throws them before they could be materialized into normal size.

"Eat this Mother Fucker…" William fires his plasma weapon at one of the fuel tanks and before Necron units realized what just happened, the tank exploded causing a chain reaction of multiple explosions.

Escaping from the new problem he caused, William quickly retreats back to the ship. Finally boarding the Thunderhawk, the ship closed the door and took off, leaving the burning Death Guard Battle Barge and Necrons.

A few seconds later, the battle barge exploded, sending a huge chunk of pieces into the void and sending shock waves all around space. Ahead of schedule due to internal fire and damaged Promethium explosions, the ship eventually destroy itself and Necron units that Trazyn the Infinite couldn't retrieve in time. Meanwhile, the Thunderhawk managed to escape and entered the planet's atmosphere, returning to where their main forces is.

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[Damn it. I was so close to capturing the champion.] Trazyn the Infinite said to himself while sitting on his command throne as he watch the battle barge burns.

The plan was nearly perfect and successful until that damn champion managed to make his escape using some kind of techno sorcery. How could Trazyn know that the Emperor's Champion can pull massive amounts of fuel tanks out of his nowhere?

[This isn't the problem. I must return to Solemnace before the final warp portal closes, but first I have to finish my collection before leaving this reality.]

The Overlord of the Nihilakh Dynasty send out his duplicates to salvage what he could from the Death Guard's Battle Barge and his warriors. When this is over, Trazyn will once again set his aim towards the New World as he has other things to collect besides William.