Chapter 19: Fall

The impact was unparalleled, giving Soshyan the illusion that he was inside the barrel of a macro-cannon.

The shockwaves were laced with wave after wave of energy, causing even the hard rocks of the ground to disintegrate and shatter under the onslaught.

Soshyan felt the world vanish amidst the roar of flames and the shrieking of shrapnel; his power armor's servos hissed, and damage signals flashed frantically across his cracked lenses.

He could taste his own skin's craving to burn; he could feel the death of metal and the screaming of circuits.

He was burning, drowning in steel, until—

The impact came suddenly, and vanished just as abruptly. Just as Soshyan felt he was about to be boiled alive, everything returned to a deathly silence.

He gasped heavily a few times, suddenly realizing that a heavy weight was pressing down on him...

"Axé!"

Realizing what had happened, Soshyan immediately grabbed the other's shoulder guard—but the moment his gauntlet made contact, white smoke billowed from the point of impact.

Even inside his power armor, Soshyan felt he could smell the scent of burning flesh.

"Axé! Axé! Can you hear me!"

Soshyan shook him, but to his surprise, Axé actually pushed him away with his hand and stood up unsteadily.

"Combat... I... can still..."

His words over the comms were nothing more than a blurred mumble, and he had been swaying incessantly since he stood up, like a drunkard. Soshyan moved to support him out of concern, but was immediately interrupted by a burst of disintegration beam.

Soshyan turned to look and found a bizarre Necron vehicle appearing five hundred meters away. Its main body was a massive, semi-circular metal frame with a hovering platform beneath it, controlled by a Necron Warrior.

The vehicle's primary weapon was gradually dimming; clearly, the previous shot had come from it.

The green beam grazed Axé's leg armor and struck the ground, instantly triggering a violent reaction from the Space Marine.

"Enemy... enemy..."

As if driven mad, Axé suddenly began running toward the vehicle.

"Axé!!"

Seeing this, Soshyan immediately gave chase.

However, Axé seemed to have pumped every ounce of adrenaline into his body; his speed was staggering, and he charged straight into the ranks of the Necrons in an instant.

To protect the vehicle, a large contingent of Necron Warriors formed a wall in front of Axé.

"Enemy... enemy!"

Axé continued to mutter to himself, gripping his chainsword tightly as he tore into the Necron ranks like a whirlwind, leaving a trail of bright fragments and liquid metal flying in every direction.

All of this ended with the Necron vehicle's second firing.

"No!"

Amidst Soshyan's roar, a green beam struck Axé's lower body directly. The battle-crazed Space Marine collapsed instantly like a felled tree, his ruptured organs spilling out like a waterfall.

A foul, metallic stench hung in the air, and gray veins involuntarily crawled across Soshyan's cheeks once more.

"AAAH! AAAAAHHHH!!!!"

With a roar like a wounded beast, Soshyan charged forward like a launched bolt shell.

But the Necrons clearly had no intention of letting him have his way; having abandoned their first target, they turned their focus toward Soshyan.

Gauss beams erupted from their barrels, but Soshyan was too fast; he vanished from their flank almost in the blink of an eye.

Under the volley of disintegration rays, rocks, dust, and debris scattered into roaring clouds.

Even while running, Soshyan could judge the path of the next shot by the direction of the enemy muzzles. He had never possessed such an experience or ability, but following his killing instinct, he began sprinting toward that xenos vehicle.

The core of the World Engine sent out that massive roar again, shaking the earth and drilling into Soshyan's skull like the bellow of a steel dragon.

But Soshyan was single-minded. Upon approaching the target, he raised his bolter and opened fire.

From the edge of his vision, he saw the vehicle moving, attempting to flee the storm of fire that was churning through its ranks, but it would not succeed.

The bolts Soshyan fired were easily tearing the remaining Necron Warriors to pieces.

With every shot, an xenos fell.

He was killing with unprecedented efficiency.

Seeing the situation turn dire, the Necron vehicle began to turn around, its anti-gravity instruments shrieking as they pulverized the stones beneath.

Simultaneously, thermal cutting beams from both sides swiveled to point at Soshyan.

He continued to fire—

"Ugh!"

A force slammed into his chest, and flames swallowed his vision.

Soshyan stumbled, his charge faltering.

The impact force surged through him, and blood seeped into the black carapace enveloping him.

Then, more beams struck. The sharp humming made his world feel as if it had fallen into a different kind of silence; a part of him—the part honed and trained for war—perceived everything, recording it without being moved.

The Necron vehicle's main cannon had not fired at him; had it done so, he would already be dead.

They were two lower-powered thermal cutting beams, usually used for clearing obstacles. Though they came at him with ferocity, they were not enough to directly breach Soshyan's armor.

However, they were still enough to knock him back and force him to his knees, shattering his joints and leaving him crippled.

They were not meant to kill him; their fire was meant to suppress him until the main cannon could be turned to blast him into fragments and gore.

And that moment was coming.

With every second he remained stationary, the inevitable reality drew closer.

Soshyan gritted his teeth and began to rise, raising both fists and using his forearm armor as cover.

His sensors were a blur, filled with threat markers and damage readings.

But suddenly, the firing stopped.

Soshyan took a step forward, and his vision cleared.

The Necron vehicle was rotating its glowing red cutting beam emitters, dragging sparks toward him. It seemed to have lost much of its energy, finding even maintaining its hover difficult.

This also meant it could no longer use its main cannon to fire at Soshyan.

Soshyan took a step, his damaged servos wailing as he began to raise his weapon.

He ignored it all and began to run, feeling the damage to his chassis grow more severe.

This action was foolish, suboptimal, and irrational.

But Soshyan no longer viewed the world through such lenses; his heart held only endless rage and hatred, and he could feel more than ever before.

He was now merely a weapon, and a weapon lives only by killing.

In a flash, he collided head-on with the Necron vehicle, and at the moment of impact, he leaped onto the tilted front hull, his iron fist raised.

Amidst his roar, the iron fist slammed heavily into the main cannon, sending a spray of molten metal flying.

Then, his fist smashed into the wounded hull, grabbing the struggling head of the Necron on board and wrenching it free along with its metallic spine.

The vehicle, still struggling to hover, let out a wail as it crashed to the ground, throwing Soshyan more than ten meters away.