Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 404 Dark Star Weapons
Carlo led his guards and his warband through the Hearthburg, their heavy armor making progress increasingly difficult in the high-gravity environment.

In the central region of the Milky Way, due to the large number of stars, the gravitational pull on each planet is much greater than that on planets in other star systems.

The Shadow Order, clad in Mark II power armor, advanced rapidly, summoning Iron Cavalry Terminators when they encountered fiercely resisting defensive positions.

Those heavily fortified strongholds were quickly breached after the Saturn-shaped Terminator prototype arrived.

Carlo piloted his massive mech, his gaze sweeping over the towering defensive structures of the space dwarves and into the depths of Hearth Castle.

He saw a massive, dark gray prototype fortress, which he believed to be the hearth core of the Skot Alliance.

Carlo noticed that the reactor in the eyepiece was powering the heavy pyrolysis cannon.

With a thought, he locked his gaze on a fortress, and a dozen laser guns extended from their firing ports, firing dense beams at the shadow of order.

As an Order Shadow charged, its vulnerable eyepiece was caught by the Dwarven Archer's Hunter Module, and the beam he fired bypassed the Storm Shield from the side and struck Astartes' left eye from the side.

Not only did the Shadow Order gain a deeper understanding of the Space Dwarves through their battles, combining the data disseminated by the Primarch, but their adversaries did as well.

Carlo has already lost more than two thousand men in this long battle, and the casualties would have been even greater if he had not been equipped with the Iron Cavalry Terminator before the war began and the newly equipped Prototype Terminator Armor.

He could already see the ultimate goal: to bring this war to a close.

As Carlo pondered, the heavy-duty splitting cannon behind him automatically locked onto the target and fired a shot at the fortifications.

The laser gun instantly disintegrated into an atomic state, and almost simultaneously, the steel and the space dwarf inside dispersed like sand and vanished without a trace.

After marking the target, Carlo stopped paying attention to the fortifications and was instead drawn to a group of space dwarves emerging from the central fortress.

A group of Broken Horn Guards and Ironborn escorted the three as they emerged from the fortress.

In the middle, dressed in magnificent armor, he held a plasma gun in his left hand and a warhammer in his right.

The moment Carlo saw the warhammer, he keenly sensed a stinging sensation.

That weapon is extremely dangerous.
On either side of the dwarf were two people dressed in robes, with strange devices extending from their heads, and holding shimmering staffs in their hands.

Beside them were two ornate mech servants, each wielding a bedrock-type explosive gun.

Carlo knew they were the Sages of Grimnir, psionic beings created using the cloning brocade technology of the space dwarves.

Carlo raised his right arm, and the Explosive Serpent Cannon fired a dazzling beam at the oncoming team.

Lord Grimnir on the left raised his arm, and a blinding light simultaneously emanated from his body and the two mind servants.

The dazzling light overshadowed the flames of the battlefield explosions, and even the blinding beams of light that were being fired.

A force field shield enveloped the entire team, and blinding heat rays shot out onto the force field, only to be swallowed up by an invisible maw and disappear in an instant.

Carlo slowed his pace, raised his right arm, and fired two shots at the space dwarf, both of which were blocked.

Lord Grimnir, the second-ranked lord, raised his staff high, using telekinesis to propel his team swiftly towards the battlefield.

The heavy disintegration cannon was fully charged again, and Carlo locked onto the enemy and fired a shot.

Rumble!
Amidst the ear-piercing explosion, Carlo saw his psychic field shatter within his "subspace" force field.

The energy shockwave spread outwards, causing the Broken Horn Guardians to sway and nearly be thrown to the ground.

Some of the Broken Horn Guardians plunged their bright plasma fist blades into the ground to stabilize themselves, while others were supported by the Ironborn beside them, preventing them from falling. Before the enemy could recast their psionic shields, Carlo raised his right arm and fired a shot at the enemy clad in ornate armor.

The Saturn-shaped Terminator prototype armor's automatic aiming system ensures that the beam hits its target precisely.

The shield of the Supreme Lord's armor of the Skot Alliance gleamed, and the thermal beam deflected at a slight angle, grazing past his armor and striking a guard with a broken horn behind him.

As the broken-horned guard rapidly melted away, the Supreme Lord let out an angry roar.

"For our ancestors!"

He raised his warhammer and charged toward Carlo.

The heavy shattering cannon charged, and Carlo fired continuously at the enemies rushing towards him.

The Supreme Lord's top-grade gold alloy armor did not hinder his mobility in the slightest; he constantly changed direction and charged towards the enemy.

As the most outstanding legendary warrior of the Skot Alliance, he skillfully dodged both beams, with only one beam hitting him.

The shield trembled slightly, and the deflection field shifted by only a tiny angle, with most of the beam of light striking the chest and abdomen of his gleaming armor.

The High Lord's meticulously groomed gray beard was burned to ashes by the heatwave, but his magnificent armor only changed from dark gray to a slightly blacker color, without any damage to the patterns.

He charged to the feet of the black-armored giant, and the space dwarf swung his heavy hammer, forged from dark star ore, at the enemy's shin.

Darkstar ore is mined from the desolate region at the center of the galaxy, and even for the most resilient Hearthblood and Ironblood, created using cloning brocade technology, venturing into the dead zone is extremely dangerous.

In the short history of the Skot Alliance, there have only been four weapons forged from Dark Star Ore.

Compared to the Empire's unstable plasma weapons, the Space Dwarves can forge stable plasma weapons.

Dark Star weapons are the only unstable and dangerous weapons among all weapons.

Only the most elite warriors are entrusted with the duty of using these weapons. They must use them with utmost care, for even the slightest injury they inflict can end the life of an enemy, as if an invisible hand has flipped a switch on their life.

The Dark Star Hammer slammed into the thermal field, the explosion sounding like a missile colliding with the force field.

Chief Lord Grimnir saw the High Lord's warhammer blocked by the enemy's shield, and the runes on his body, back, and the two mind minions beside him lit up simultaneously, with arcs of electricity coiling around his raised staff.

Chief Lord Grimnir swung his staff, arcs of electricity shooting out and coiling around the heavy hammer in the High Lord's hand like a python.

The most resilient body, crafted using cloning brocade technology, trembled as his body was propelled upwards by the surge of immense energy.

The High Lord dodged the falling charged blade and swung the Dark Star Hammer, slamming it hard into the right side of the black-armored giant's knee.

The psionic lightning pierced the thermal field, and the Dark Star Hammer smashed through the Saturn-shaped Terminator prototype armor, striking Carlo.

Carlo swayed as he tried to regain his balance. Such an injury was not considered serious for Astartes, who possessed a superhuman physique.

But in reality, it is the destructive force field released by the Dark Star Ore, a biological material, that shuts down the organic metabolism and electromyographic functions of Astartes' body upon contact.

Carlo was unaware of what was happening before his consciousness was plunged into darkness.

The warriors of the Fifth Legion watched as their lord, along with his massive prototype armor, collapsed like a mountain.

(End of this chapter)