Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 873 Corax: Even in the Shadows of Order, There Are Masters of Shadow

Merseyside's 23rd hive city.

Kovacs Corax peered down into the darkness through the narrow window.

The Darkwing Storm Eagle silently passed through the Nest City's depth probe matrix and arrived over the industrial processing zone.

The Stormhawk is a complement to the Stormbird and Thunderhawk; it is smaller, and the standard model can only carry twenty Astartes.

The Darkwing Stormbird was manufactured in Kiarwal, and its manufacturing template was not shared with the Cult of Mechanics. It is a unique and special model of the "Raven Guard".

The space occupied by the quantum domain repulsor allows the Darkwing to carry three fewer soldiers than the standard model, and also enables this type of assault boat to stealthily pass through most surveillance areas.

A series of runes flashed in Corax's helmet as he activated his communicator: "Attack!"

Nimrod provided assistance in breaking down the fortresses the Ravenguards were not good at, and now it's time to give back in his own way.

Shortwave communication pulses spread across the Shadow Masters' portable radios, and hatches slid open silently.

Corax flew into the night, the raven wings of the Shadow Armor unfurled.

The Lord of Ravens glided silently through the air, its dark eyes looking down at the food processing plant below.

The war did not interrupt the operation of the factory; the machines roared to life, much like Lycaius before he was named the savior.

The filthy waste cascades through layers of swaying filter spoons, along with algae scraped from the lower layers of the floating pools in the dome reservoirs, and are thrown into the open chute of the pasteurizer.

The listless laborers, without wearing filtration equipment, breathed unfiltered ammonia and toiled amidst foul-smelling mud that occasionally splashed onto their skin.

Kolac's dark eyes narrowed as he looked at the overseer pacing up the ladder in the large ammonia tank.

He had a pistol at his waist and lashed a worker with his right arm.

Corax turned and charged straight at the overseer.

The three-headed power whip, created by the Mechanicus for the Primarch, coiled around the overseer in the air like an electric snake amidst the crackling sound of the decomposition force field being activated.

"Who?" The low Gothic language of Merseyside is very similar to that of Terra.

Koraks understood. "No one has the right to deprive another person of their freedom."

The electric snake ripped the overseer off into the air, and with a muffled thud, the charred, mangled remains fell to the ground with a crackling sound.

Corax landed first, skimming the shadows as he sped past the factory's surveillance equipment.

He did not wait for the Shadow Masters; he often encouraged his commanders to think independently and make command more flexible, so that they could act on their own.

Corax darted through the shadows, rushing toward the area where the high-spectral runes were densely flashing on the advanced oracles.

A gust of mixed exhaust fumes swept past him, and suddenly he saw scattered beams of light shooting across the sky.

Corax caught a familiar scent—the fear of the unknown.

He leaped into the air and landed on a water tower, gazing into the distance.

Shadows moved swiftly through the gloomy industrial dust, like scorpions slithering through the desert, leaping over building rubble and suddenly appearing at the defensive towers of the garrison.

Corax's claws twitched, a strangely familiar yet unfamiliar sensation colliding within his body.

The Shadows operate in a manner remarkably similar to the Shadow Masters, yet they are not marked on the tactical interface of the sensors.

They are not their own shadow masters.

The Shadow Masters are his offspring who inherit his talents; they can conceal themselves from sight like the Primarch.

Corax discovered his innate ability while he was a child in the prison of Lycaeas: he could conceal his body when he was fully focused on himself.

He speculated that this innate ability to become invisible to both humans and aliens was actually psionic.

Corax witnessed humanity's rejection of psionicists. He concealed his psionic invisibility from most of the Raven Guards and took away his offspring when they showed the same trait, training them to become Shadow Masters.

He had a collaboration with Conrad Coates during the "War of Extermination of Farinatus" that he would rather forget.

Corax discovered that some of the Night Lords also possessed similar abilities, and now he saw it once again in another legion.

His dark eyes fell on a shadow.

The dim figure quickly became clear. It was a black Mark IV power armor, with a seemingly ethereal rose on its right shoulder armor.

Shadow Rose.

The tenth chapter of "Shadow of Order".

Corax thought to himself thoughtfully that the Tenth Warband Terminator had recently been tasked with the main assault on Gate 42.

Unexpectedly, they not only excel at tackling tough challenges, but also possess the ability to remain hidden in the shadows.

As Corax pondered, the three Shadow Order members in his line of sight pressed their runes, starting the motors that propelled the fanged blades to roll.

They emerged silently from the shadows, appearing behind the garrison.

As the swords whirled, enemies were torn apart one by one.

The crimson waterfall cascaded to the ground, and the surviving enemies still couldn't find the location of the Shadow of Order. In terror, they raised their laser guns and fired in all directions, bewildered and helpless.

Corax's eyes lit up as he leaped off the water tower.

He darted swiftly between the towering spires, watching with keen interest the shadowy order that was lurking in the shadows, launching a surprise attack.

Even with the Genome's superhuman hearing, it could only hear a faint whooshing sound as it rotated.

Corax stared at the blade shrouded in shadow, which gradually magnified in his field of vision.

[Their chainswords were quite different from the Imperials'; they resembled the Siren's Bite, which Ruth lost when he was defeated by Nimrod, and both had sharp, serrated edges.]
Corax gazed at the serrated teeth of the chainsaw sword, which were formed by the dangerous interlocking of blades and rhomboid teeth.

Even stranger than its shape was the way the rolling serrated blades moved through the thick shadows, as if passing through layer upon layer of curtains, their sound swallowed up by the dense shadows.

When the sharp blade bit into the guards' bodies, their bodies trembled.

[Even the shadows of order have their masters of shadow.]

However, their feelings were completely different from those of the Shadow Master.

Compared to ravens, they are more like...
Corax stared at the guard who was shivering and then suddenly collapsed, and found the right word in his vocabulary: scorpion.

He gazed at the shadowy order that was simultaneously launching attacks from the corners and gaps of the building, further confirming the precision of the words he used.

They are like the stinger of a scorpion, piercing the enemy's body and then disappearing, like a stinger retracting.

As Corax pondered, he approached a spire, wanting to observe the shadow of order up close.

Suddenly, one of the three-man team members leaped out of the spire's window, crouched on the outer wall of the spire, and cautiously looked around.

He was the Scorpion Tail of the Assault Scorpion Group—the true "hermit," more agile than the other two Scorpion Claws.

The hermit's ears twitched incessantly, a power he had acquired while he was a listener.

At that time, during the war with the Nephilim, he accidentally overheard the aliens' overclocked communication and could hear sounds far exceeding those of other "listeners".

The powerful, terrifying pounding of his heart, the whooshing sound of him leaping through the air, pierced his ears and sent chills down his spine.

The hermit discreetly made a mark inside his helmet: "Two seconds."

Two scorpion claws swung first, the chainsaw sword slashing at the invisible enemy.

The scorpion's tail suddenly moved, and it lunged towards the top where the chainsaw swords were crisscrossing.

when!
Corax swung his claws to deflect the shadowy blade.

"You actually managed to find me."

With a flick of his claws, the "hermit" was sent flying.

The three "hermits" gazed at the enormous giant that had suddenly appeared, which resembled a giant raven hovering in the air.

The jet of air propelled the plastic-steel feathers, tugging at the wings on his back, and he took flight like a real raven, disappearing into the darkness in an instant.

"Lord Corax?" the hermit said, recalling the pumping sound that was even more powerful than that of the lord.

He turned on his communicator and reported to the lord.

(End of this chapter)