Chapter 218: Black Gold Custodes
Chapter 218: Chapter 217: Black Gold Custodes
Who?
101?
Never heard of them!
Are they that powerful?
They did not immediately show a reaction of immense dread and shock after hearing Sith say, “It’s just that you don’t understand 101.”
Instead, Lorgar Aurelian’s brow furrowed even tighter, his eyes filled with even more speechlessness.
He was about to suppress his fury at Sith’s “joke” and tell him to send ground troops to bring Leontus to the orbiting warship to avoid being slain by the Norn Emissary.
But before Lorgar Aurelian could speak, on the other side of the Norn Emissary, a flash of pink divine light and black psychic energy suddenly flickered!
Accompanied by psychic lightning, the blinding light forced the surrounding Imperial Guardsmen and Astartes to squint and retreat.
As Lorgar Aurelian stared blankly at the blatant use of Slaanesh’s blessing, his first thought was: could this 101 have some connection to Slaanesh?
Although Sith only used Slaanesh’s blessing because it was the most abundant one in his body before the hive mind blocked the Warp, at the moment Lorgar Aurelian had that thought…
Even those few pairs of eyes, for whom it was extremely difficult to peer through the hive mind to watch the material universe, intermittently sent out a momentary ripple of emotion.
There were two main ones: one was an ambiguous, flushed look of approval, and the other was the God-Emperor, who wished he could immediately summon Lorgar Aurelian back to Terra and make him experience the same treatment Guilliman received that day!
Under the suppression of the Tyranid Swarm’s will, the emotions of these two pairs of eyes lasted only for a fleeting moment; in fact, during that instant, their primary focus was still on getting a better look at Sith.
But sensing those two pairs of eyes, Lorgar Aurelian’s muscles tightened instantly, a cold sweat broke out on the back of his head, and a wave of immense dread surged in his heart.
Then, while Lorgar Aurelian was agonizing over what the God-Emperor meant and why Slaanesh looked upon him so favorably, the nearby psychic lightning vanished, along with…
…the menacing Norn Emissary on the other side!
The once-boisterous battlefield suddenly fell silent. Lorgar Aurelian was, after all, the Marshal of the Imperial Guard, and the shock in his heart lasted only a brief moment.
As subtle changes rippled across the battlefield, Lorgar Aurelian immediately refocused his attention, only to see the Sanctuary Star defense forces retreating in panic as if they had seen the Grim Reaper, leaving a massive clearing in the center of the Iron Guard Fortress.
On one side of the clearing was the Norn Emissary that had brought infinite terror to the Sanctuary Star defense forces; on the other side were five hundred men who had teleported down all at once, the “Black Gold Custodes,” looking indifferently at the Norn Emissary!
The Black Gold Custodes.
This name wasn’t because someone had engraved it onto their Terminator power armor.
Rather, it was the first reaction of the surrounding Sanctuary Star defense forces and even Lorgar Aurelian upon seeing this unfamiliar unit.
The same height, the same bulk, the same coordination.
Even their weapons—the master-crafted power halberds held by these strange Astartes—were similar to those of the Custodes and Grey Knights, except they didn’t have the golden glow of the Custodes or the blue light of the Grey Knights.
The master-crafted power halberds of this strange unit had shafts of black gold and blades of crimson, crackling with psychic lightning.
Furthermore, they had boldly applied a black-gold paint scheme to their Tartaros Terminators. With the black-gold and crimson colors intertwining, who could still remember “101”?
To these humans from the far side of the galaxy, who knew nothing of Alert Star or the hardships these five hundred men had endured along the way…
…they could think of no other description but “Black Gold Custodes.”
Moreover, upon seeing these Black Gold Custodes, the crowd almost instantly compared them to the Golden Custodes nearby.
Setting aside their distinct yet perfectly matched appearance…
Just by looking at these Black Gold Custodes, surrounded by psychic lightning that the Golden Custodes lacked, everyone knew that in terms of combat power, the Black Gold Custodes had one more psychic attack than their “counterparts”!
However, the Mortals and even the Astartes could only observe from the outside.
On the other side, the Custodes, who had gained a moment’s respite due to 101’s sudden entry into the battle, looked even more shocked at these “counterparts” who had appeared out of nowhere.
They might not have the top-tier genetic modifications of the Custodes, nor the customized ancient equipment.
But with every member being a Librarian and having undergone full multiplication, both their physical forms and the equipment they wore and wielded directly rivaled or even surpassed those of their counterparts.
So even before any fighting began, just by 101 standing there, the Custodes immediately sensed a pressure of combat power that ordinary people could not perceive.
Even an ordinary Custodian, when looking at 101, accidentally locked eyes with one of them.
A sense of danger at the genetic level made this battle-hardened Custodian feel as if he were facing one of those veteran Custodes who had survived the Webway War after slaying endless demons.
101 certainly never had the chance to participate in the Webway War, but their hundreds of Apocalypses were no less intense than the Webway War!
It could be said that although their paths of growth were entirely different…
…Sith had nonetheless forged another brand-new branch of the Custodes for the Imperium of Man!
It was no longer an unguarded sneak attack; the Custodes remained vigilant against the Norn Emissary while also keeping a wary eye on 101.
But in the long clearing, 101 only stared indifferently at their opponents: the Norn Emissaries, Neurothrope Tyrants, and a large number of Warrior Bugs.
They didn’t even cast a sidelong glance at the Custodes.
Then, at the very moment all the Custodes, including Lorgar Aurelian, widened their eyes and gripped their weapons, the five hundred of 101 transformed into black-gold afterimages in the eyes of the crowd!
To outsiders, it looked as if a black-and-white whirlwind had swept through, and then the densely packed Tyranid high-level units, the Warrior Bugs, were instantly reduced to chitinous fragments scattering through the air.
This was followed by psychic lightning flashing back and forth, along with psychic attacks whose mere aftershocks caused the onlookers to suffer from massive hallucinations and headaches.
The Norn Emissaries, who had driven the Sanctuary Star defense forces to near despair, were gradually turned into splashing gore under the assault of black shadows, Bolter fire, psychic power, and crimson halberds.
Under the full-scale siege of as many as five hundred Black Gold Custodes, there seemed to be little difference between the Neurothrope Tyrants and the Warrior Bugs.
Only the three Norn Emissaries in the center roared in fury, swinging their chitinous blades and emitting psychic light far stronger than that of 101 as they struggled to counterattack.
However, when combat power is comparable, the difference in numbers determines the final outcome.
A single member of 101 might indeed be inferior to a Norn Emissary, but how many Norn Emissaries were there?
Even if the Tyranids worked themselves to death to hatch them, they could produce at most one or two at a time; three was already the absolute limit.
But Sith’s 101…
…could also be mass-produced, and their output was far greater than that of the Norn Emissaries!
When the Norn Emissaries collapsed to the ground with intense resentment, their bodies were completely turned into pulpy wreckage under the siege of 101.
Facing 101, who hadn’t suffered a single death after distributing the damage among themselves, not only did the onlookers fall into an immediate silence…
…but even Lorgar Aurelian, amidst the equal silence of the Custodes around him, could only mutter to himself:
“This group… of Custodes…”
“Where did they come from?!”