Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 689: Ouroboros
The Deathwing Terminators quickly deployed, unleashing a barrage of fire from their Storm Bolts at the monsters.

The bombs struck the monster's scales, leaving only shallow dents and failing to penetrate the surface. Some bombs bounced off and exploded in the air, scattering sparks.

One of the monster's heads lunged forward, and a Terminator, unable to dodge in time, was sent flying by the head, the power armor emitting a screeching sound.

Another Terminator slammed a power gauntlet into the monster's leg, but the gauntlet only left a white mark on the scales, and the monster was unharmed.

"Its defenses are too strong!" a Terminator reported over the communicator. "Conventional weapons are ineffective!"

Leona gripped the Lion King Sword tightly and charged forward. Her movements were swift, and the power armor's servo systems hummed softly.

One of the hydra's heads lunged at her, but she dodged to the side. Her sword grazed the head's neck, but only sliced ​​through the surface scales, causing no fatal damage. The monster roared angrily, and the other heads attacked her simultaneously.

Ezekiel raised his psychic staff and chanted an ancient incantation.

The crystal on the staff glowed with a strong blue light, and a psionic barrier appeared in front of Leona, blocking multiple attacks from the monster.

The barrier rippled under the impact, but it held firm.

“Its weakness is in its heart!” Ezekiel cried. “I must use my psychic powers to lock onto its core!”

He focused his mind, his psychic senses spreading like a net across the monster, trying to find the point where the energy converged.

The Hydra's massive body, made of rock and flesh, shuddered violently, and the crimson eyes of all its heads instantly focused on Leona—or more precisely, on the Lion King's sword in her hand, which exuded an aura it loathed.

It sensed a real threat, one that was enough to completely wipe it out.

The battle escalated to a fever pitch in an instant.

The long tail made of segmented rock bones was no longer a simple sweep, but like a living mountain range, with a shrill shriek that tore everything apart, it suddenly crashed towards Leona's location.

Instead of retreating, Leona charged forward into the face of the massive shadow, slipping through the gap in the tail whip at the last second.

Behind her, the entire rocky ground where she had been standing shattered, turning into a deep pit covered with spiderweb-like cracks, with rubble shooting out in all directions like cannonballs.

"Ezekiel, cover me!" Leona's shout remained clear amidst the deafening roar.

The think tank director was already prepared. His psionic staff erupted with a dazzling blue-white light, not just releasing a bolt of lightning, but weaving a massive psionic electric net that instantly enveloped the three heads on the right side of the monster.

The powerful psionic shock not only paralyzed them, but also forced them to collide with each other, producing a grating noise like rocks being ground together.

It's now!

Leona's power armor leg servo systems roared with overload, giving her the initial velocity of a cannonball.

Like a streak of deep green lightning, she precisely landed on the monster's forelimb joints, which were slightly lowered by its swinging motion. With a second burst of strength, she nimbly leaped onto the massive back covered in rock armor and living flesh.

The "ground" beneath their feet instantly became violent.

Sensing her presence, the monster let out a silent roar that shook the very soul, and its entire body began to twist and thrash wildly, trying to throw her off.

The rock deck blocks shifted due to intense friction, and the molten, flesh-like substance churned in the gaps, emitting a high-temperature and corrosive odor.

Leona plunged the Lion King Sword into a crevice in the rock beside her, using it as a fulcrum. Her entire body was almost thrown into the air by the violent jolts, but her hand gripping the hilt remained as steady as a rock.

The Deathwing Terminators below increased their firepower to the limit, with all their Stormblaster guns concentrating their fire on the monster's left side, head, and eyes, trying to buy their "Lion King" even a second more.

The explosive bombs burst into bursts of fire on the rock armor and flesh. While they couldn't inflict fatal wounds, they successfully drew the attention of most of the heads, causing them to frantically spew corrosive energy and destructive psionic shockwaves towards the ground. Leona took a deep breath, drew her longsword sharply, and began to sprint forward along the monster's spine.

Each step she took landed precisely on the seams of the rock armor or on relatively stable areas, the magnetic locks of the power armor and her sense of balance working together perfectly under extreme conditions.

A gale swept past her, carrying debris and shockwaves of energy.

A head that had just broken free from some of the psychic energy restraints suddenly lunged at the side, its gaping maw revealing crystalline "teeth" that gleamed with a cold light.

Leona didn't stop, but simply swung the Lion King Sword upwards with a backhand motion.

The golden blade collided with the crystal, but there was no harsh metallic clang, only a crisp cracking sound—the Lion King Sword sliced ​​through grease like a hot knife, severing the several sharp crystal teeth that were attacking it at the root!
The shattered crystal dissipated into pure energy, and the head, in pain, let out a sharp screech and abruptly retracted.

Almost at the same moment, another head spewed out a jet of dark green corrosive liquid, sweeping across her path like a high-pressure water gun.

Leona's pupils contracted slightly, and she rolled forward swiftly. The jet of liquid whistled past her carapace, instantly corroding the rock armor where she had just stood, causing it to hiss and emit thick black smoke, melting it into a sunken swamp.

Without pausing for breath, she dodged two deadly claw strikes, the rocky claws carving deep furrows around her. Finally, she reached her designated spot—the deep-colored core area of ​​her chest, pulsating slightly with the flow of energy.

Gripping the hilt of the Lion King Sword tightly with both hands, Leona poured all her strength, along with the will of the Primarch, into this single thrust. The golden energy ripples on the sword surged with unprecedented brightness, as if resonating with her resolve. The tip of the sword pierced precisely into that dark area!

The moment Leona's Lion King Sword pierced Hydra's heart, the entire battlefield seemed to freeze for a split second.

Where the blade pierced, blinding golden light burst forth from the wound, illuminating the monster's twisted, rocky body. But this was not the end—warp entities are not so easily destroyed. The monster let out a deafening roar, and the flesh around the wound began to writhe and heal at a visible speed, attempting to expel the sacred blade from its body.

"Its essence is a warp creation!" Ezekiel's voice pierced through the battlefield's clamor. "Physical damage can only temporarily weaken it!"

The think tank director had been preparing for this moment for a long time. He gripped his psionic staff tightly with both hands, his eyes blazing with blue psionic flames. Just as Leona's sword pierced the core, Ezekiel's staff slammed heavily to the ground.

"In the name of Caliban's ashes!" he chanted, the ancient incantation resonating with psychic energy in the vacuum, "By the will of the Lion King!"

A dazzling blue-white psionic energy cascaded from the crystal at the top of his staff like a waterfall, not directly attacking the monster, but flowing down along Leona's Lion King Sword. When the psionic energy touched the blade, the golden imperial power and the blue psionic energy merged perfectly, transforming into chains of energy shimmering with runes that burrowed into the monster's body along the blade.

These psionic chains rapidly wove and coiled deep within the Hydra's heart. Leona could feel a violent tremor emanating from the sword—not the monster's struggle, but the fierce clash of two powerful forces at its core.

"Hold on!" Ezekiel's voice was strained from the full force of his spell. "I am binding its essence!"

Psionic chains formed a complex sealing matrix at the monster's heart. Each chain shimmered with ancient dark angel runes, symbols deeply etched into the monster's psionic core, severing its connection to the warp.

The Hydra's struggle intensified. Its remaining eight heads simultaneously turned towards Ezekiel, unleashing devastating beams of energy from their eyes. The Deathwing Terminators immediately formed a human wall, using their bodies and Storm Shields to withstand this desperate counterattack.

"The seal... is almost complete!" Ezekiel gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead. He poured all his spiritual energy into the magic circle.

Leona sensed the change emanating from the longsword in her hand—the Lion King Sword was no longer merely a weapon to pierce the enemy's heart; it had become the core of the seal, an anchor point to fix the warp entity. She gripped the hilt firmly with both hands, merging her will with the Primarch power contained within the sword, strengthening Ezekiel's psionic seal.

As the last rune lit up deep within the monster's heart, the Hydra let out a final, bitter howl. Its rocky body began to disintegrate from within, the parts bound by psionic chains dissipating into pure energy in the vacuum, rather than returning to the realm of chaos as a typical warp entity.

“It’s a success,” Ezekiel said, panting as he put down his staff. The excessive consumption of psionic energy made him sway slightly. “Its core has been permanently sealed.”

Leona slowly drew the Lion King's sword. The blade was no longer stained; instead, it shone even brighter from its role in the sealing. Beneath her feet, the remnants of the Hydra's torso were rapidly crumbling into ordinary rock fragments.

The victory in this battle relied not only on the sharpness of the Lion King Sword, but also on the Curator's superb psionic skills—it was his complete severing of the monster's connection to the warp that brought this terrible creation to its true end.

(End of this chapter)