bookpower Chapter 590: The Imperium vs. The Necrons
Chapter 590: The Imperium vs. The Necrons
"King Joe Battle Titans—deploy!" Sterne roared.
Golden flashes streaked the sky as countless giant super-robots flew in.
These massive Titans were housed in orbital carriers; on demand, they could detach to land battles—or serve as space fighters.
Over thirty huge King Joe units dropped from transports; on landing, their bodies split and recombined.
Each King Joe could transform into four separate combat units, each with a Pedanium ray cannon.
They swarmed like a hive over the Necron host.
["Target lock—Necron hostiles—commencing extermination."]
Droned the synthetic voices.
Imperially manufactured, these King Joes differed from the system-exchanged originals—homebuilt by the Imperium, they had their own machine-spirits and underwent the same awakening rites as old Titans.
As a result, they harbored deep hatred for xenos and had independent wits—needing crews to pilot, but once their spirits rejoiced, they were much stronger than baseline King Joes.
Blue-white lances poured from their pods.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Countless green metal skeletons were blasted skyward—the Necrons took massive losses instantly.
"Look—the Imperial Titans! The Deus Mechanicus!"
"Warriors—for the Emperor! For the Imperium! For the Gene-Father!"
"Charge! Slaughter these rib-cages! Kill these monsters! Kill the xenos!"
Sterne and Stark's gene-sons howled with joy, wielding power weapons and Pedanium rifles as they charged.
They crushed the Necron formations like a steel torrent. Inheriting Rhodes's bloodline, the sons' legions possessed unimaginable strength.
One advantage of the Imperium: a militant society—honor above all.
The battle turned one-sided.
Besides the colossal King Joes, ten-meter Ultra Knights joined.
Though smaller than Titans, their combat power surpassed even Warlord-class Titans in agility.
They swung power weapons and plunged into the Necron ranks.
"Behold the might of Imperial Knights, Necron scum!" a Knight pilot roared.
"Switch to melee."
The Ultra Knight's arms transformed, ejecting plasma cutters; it whirled into the ranks, slicing living metal into scrap.
"Zzz—BOOM!"
A King Joe subunit flipped midair, dodging a Destroyer's antimatter shot, then lanced its core, exploding it into green fire.
Facing massive constructs, several subunits recombined into a mid-size form, its right arm a superheavy shock cannon.
"BOOOOM!"
The Pedanium blast punched through a quantum shield and blew the construct's upper body apart.
"Sisters, forward! For the Great Gene-Mother! For the Emperor!"
A group of towering women in power armor, all white-haired and wielding frost power, descended—Elena's gene-daughters, the Imperium's Battle Sisters. These fervent zealots charged with power blades.
Dozens of improved Ultra Knights crashed in as well—smaller than Titans but far more agile, moving almost like human bodies.
"The Sisters are here to support us! For the Emperor!!" a Knight pilot shouted, cleaving three Destroyers in one swing.
Another Knight ignited its jump jets, soared, and delivered a blazing plasma kick that smashed a Tomb Spyder's core.
"Knights, charge! Crush them!"
Under King Joe and Knight cover, Sterne and Stark's gene-sons surged. Their armor was caked with Necron scrap; every Pedanium volley cleared swathes.
"For Father! For the Imperium!" a Primaris roared, shattering a Necron's chest; frost-flame froze it and blew it apart.
Another swung a power sword wreathed in plasma flame and took a Lord's head.
The Sisters joined, and even masses of mortal auxilia piled in.
Imperial morale soared to unimaginable heights.
"For the Holy Emperor! For the Gene-Mother!"
The Sisters' battle-hymns split the sky. Inheriting Elena's frost, their power swords cast biting chill—each strike froze a Warrior into an ice statue, then shattered it into glittering shards.
"Heretics! Xenos! Be purged!" one Sister cried, her flamer spewing blue-white plasma to melt a Necron squad into a metal meltstream.
Thirty King Joe Titans seized total air superiority. Their subunits formed a three-dimensional fire net—some hovering to snipe with Pedanium beams, others on the ground forming a steel wall and blasting heavy Necron units with shock cannons.
An Ultra Knight displayed astounding agility—its joints bending in reverse to dodge a Destroyer shot, then popping a spinning chain-saw blade to cut the target in half.
"Try this, you damned xenos!" another Knight unfolded a missile nest—dozens of micro thermite missiles turned a Necron phalanx into a molten lake.
These new rapid munitions outclassed older Knight weapons—one new Ultra Knight equaled ten old models.
The only pity: they'd lost the Ultraman's flight capability—downsized to around 10 meters, there was no room for flight systems. Still, they could mount void shields and compact energy shields.
Stark's guard formed a wedge with the Sisters. Astartes laid down Pedanium suppression while the Sisters surged in. When Necrons raised shields, the Sisters unleashed frost novas to freeze them, and the Astartes' heavy bolters shattered the ice into powder.
Imperial coordination was seamless.
As commanders, Sterne and Stark exchanged smiles. The battle was easier than expected.
These Necrons weren't as terrifying as Father said—no need for other Primarchs; they could handle them.
Even the mortal auxilia performed miracles.
A Space Wolves company charged through gauss fire. A tank commander stood half out of the hatch, waving a chainsword and roaring, "For the Emperor—charge!"
Dozens of tons of steel crushed Necron ranks, treads crackling over metal bones.
Infantry behind poured las-fire—not one-shot killers like Astartes, but dense enough to perforate isolated Warriors.
These auxilia had been reborn—thanks to Rhodes's super gene serums, their physiques weren't far off from Firstborn Astartes.
"Damn it—what are these human weapons? They're too agile," a Necron commander frowned.
Those massive golden robots were far beyond expectations—highly mobile, splitting into four and hammering the Necron host.
"Overlord Kazakh! We don't know what tricks the humans have!" a Cryptek sighed.
"I don't care about tricks—I know if we don't act, our line will break. Defeat is only a matter of time," Overlord Kazakh snarled, hoisting the Cryptek by the neck.
"Calm yourself, my lord. That's unbefitting a noble," cautioned a Lychguard.
"Hmph! Activate the new Necron Barrier—sever all Warp signals here," the Overlord snapped, tossing the Cryptek down.
As one who'd fought the Old Ones, he could feel it: the humans' giant Titans housed psychic force.
Those big machines—and even smaller frames—held so-called machine-spirits.
If they activated the Necron barrier, they could suppress those spirits and massively erode human will. In the barrier, the living's will and freedom would be stripped away.
"But, great Overlord Kazakh, the barrier hasn't been fully tested. We don't know what will happen," the Cryptek said, troubled.
It was dangerous and hard to control.
"Activate it now—or I'll take you apart! I mean it," Kazakh's eye-lights flared green as he pressed his warscythe to the Cryptek's head.
To hell with protocols—if he didn't use it, he'd lose. The Imperials were pressing too hard.
"Understood, my lord. Executing plan—Spirit-Exclusion Dead Zone: start," the Cryptek nodded at last.
With a tooth-aching hum, countless ghostly green hex runes bloomed across the ground.
They linked into a net—then a hemisphere tens of kilometers wide formed, expanding to cover the planet.
In seconds, murky green light spread and shrouded the world.
["Warning—anti-Warp interference detected—detected—"] a King Joe's machine-spirit shrieked. ["Core output down 40—60—80 percent!"]
The nimble subunits suddenly went limp like cut puppets, tumbling from the sky.
The intact King Joes slowed; Pedanium beams weakened. Crews realized in horror their machine-spirits had gone silent.
Even the Ultra Knights staggered—their power failed, systems crashed to the ground.
No matter how pilots screamed, nothing responded—their spirits seemed dead.
"What's happening? My mech... is resisting my control!" an Ultra Knight pilot cried, joints heavy as lead.
The Necron Warriors seized the chance to counterattack.
"Hahahaha!" Overlord Kazakh laughed behind the lines. "Foolish humans. You think stolen power can defy the mighty Necrons? Delusion!"
Without King Joe suppression, gauss weapons began reaping human lives.
A green flash—and an auxilia squad was reduced to base particles without a scream.
The battle flipped in an instant—the Imperium, once dominant, was reversed by the Necrons.