"Fine, now hide!" I demanded while preparing myself for a long war.

Lash hid by transforming into his wolf shape, while Zarhulash simply made the wall cover him once more. There! A perfectly innocent black-walled dungeon.

Click. Sister Stern appeared beside me, and looked around curious.

"Pef, is this your hidden dungeon where you seduce women and force yourself onto them?" she asked with a wary glance at Lash. So, she had some suspicions as well.

I sighed and set up a small table with a galactic table hololith. "There is a Necron called Szeras, assaulting the Nephilim Sector, and killing billions of people with his armies. He also kidnaps people to perform experiments on them."

I explained patiently while retrieving two Necron artifacts. A Death_Shroud and a Death_Mask . Macabre things, but useful anyways. The galactic sector lit up without my touch, likely the C'tan speeding this up.

Then I took out the Nexus_Arrangement filled with infected Flayers, and set it on the table.

Lash stepped closer, grinning wolfishly with his foot-long teeth sparkling unnaturally. "Woorf!" he growled in a decent attempt at saying 'listen!'

"This is a Nexus. Kinda like a portable space luggage. It carries a special payload, that can infect Necrons with a virus. Lash will teach you how to use it, so just place your hand into his mouth." I said with a tired voice. It would be faster than installing a Mind Impulse Unit and downloading the manual, not that any human device would withstand the kind of energies she threw around in anger.

"If he bites me, I'll tear his head off. Just so you know!" Stern spoke sternly, making Lash grin wider.

A minute later, she opened her eyes and picked up the Necron device with a confident hand. "So that's how you do some of your tricks, dear Pef. Xenos tech!"

"And you married me, which makes you a Lancefire! However, you saw the Golden Throne. The Emperor is also doing this, when humanity's survival is at stake. Now take the other two, and see if you can use them as well." I answered with a kind voice.

"...The Emperor will guide my hand!" she chanted and began to glow as she worn the Death Mask and the Death Shroud, giving her a fierce look.

A second later, she began running around at hyperspeed, possibly enjoying the Shroud a little too much. As she came to full stop, Lash spat a pike-shaped weapon onto the ground.

I picked it up, and had to grin. A rare Rod_of_Covenant , slightly re-shaped like an Imperial relic with a golden Aquila on the pommel, and ending with a 3-meter-long Phase blade that could extend twice over at need. I admit I played with it for a second, then handed it over to Stern.

"And this will be your back-up weapon, for this mission. Do well, and you may even keep it." I offered with a smile.

"They shall regret the day their were born!" my Demonifuge wife proclaimed in a confident voice. Sure, have your vengeance. Not that the Necrons were born anyways.

I hugged Stern for luck, and had the Pharos move her instantly over several galactic sectors, right in the heart of the Necron invasion.

"This woman is very dangerous, Pef Lancefire. She could kill anyone here in a single moment of lapse, even yourself. Your Blankness isn't strong enough to protect you." Zarhulash warned me as the wall peeled back.

"I know. Makes my love life a whole more interesting!" I declared with a proud voice.

Lash snorted at my foolishness. "You would stick your prehensile impregnator into anything, just for sport."

I nodded wisely, then shook my head. This place may be grimdark and full of terrors, but the women were also amazing! Especially the more dangerous ones.

And speaking of dangerous, Velayne_Ramaeus Lancefire appeared inside the Pharos, using her own Nexus.

"Husband dear. I just heard you entered the Omega Vault!" she exclaimed in a satisfied voice that promised a dozen torrid nights.

Okay then, you asked for it. I opened my palm dramatically, producing the stasis coffin with Primarch Vulkan corpse.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

My Inquisitor wife just stared in silence at the corpse, before shifting her eyes on the Fulgurite glass shard. "A weapon to kill a Perpetual, even Vulkan himself. Filled with the might of the God-Emperor." she pronounced with a reverent voice, hands forming the Aquila sign by reflex.

"Good, you can see past the first trap. Now, extrapolate. What happens when the Emperor learns of this?" I asked curious.

Velayne glanced around, already thinking how to silence the two xenos present. "What if these two talk?"

"Zarhulash is not a fool." I answered with a shrug. The prisoner could not escape anyways.

The Inquisitor took my words well, as she focused on the fake wolf. "Then we must kill him." she proclaimed in a judicial sentence.

"Wait! There is another way." the mighty C'tan spoke from the wall, and somehow extended an arm to impale and drain his other shard.

In a single moment, the wolf was gone, absorbed into the main C'tan body. The blackstone walls trembled for a second, as more energy from deep inside the Pharos was diverted to keep Zarhulash still imprisoned.

"... I will not talk. Even if I'm free. Nothing in this universe is worth making an enemy of Lancefire. Gods have died already at his hand." the C'tan promised in a solemn voice.

I smiled modestly. It was mostly luck, but that was also one of my powers.

On the other hand, I now lacked a pet C'tan wolf. What will I do?

Ignoring the C'tan, Velayne leaned over and touched the stasis field, with her eyes closed. Minutes later, she stood back and sighed. "I can feel the Dark Pattern again. Can I bring in Alric ?"

she asked me with a sad voice.

"The Hollow Sun is gone. Exploded in a supernova. And this is not the work of the Suhbekhar_Dynasty anyways. A cabal of future readers and long-term planners. Xenos and human alike." I said with a grim voice.

What would happen if I drew the glass shard out? An explosion? Maybe the soul of the Emperor would be torn in two? The Astronomican would go dark? All of these, and worse?

Probably worse. It could always get worse.

"Then, Astartes Semnai? He was your Lamenters Captain and Deathwatch as well." she asked about her new bodyguard.

"Stop it, Velayne! This isn't something a mere Space Marine can fix. I have someone far greater looking into this, and they say this goes way back, to the Federation days and beyond. Perpetuals and Farseers, Navigators, spies and informants, not to mention Inquisitors and Chaos Marines as well. They even nailed the Emperor on his throne! Poisoned Guilliman and the Lion, and had them stuck in stasis cells just like this." I growled and stored the coffin again.

"Pef Lancefire is already investigating, Inquisitor. A thousand of his Blank sons joined the Deathwatch at Erioch. The Obsidian Auguries received a new focus, if less detailed. Lancefire ships are already en route to 40 Forge Worlds, each carrying a Blank Primaris Chapter. And I am here to overwatch. We will find them!" the mighty C'tan spoke from his wall.

"Good. Keep me informed!" my wife demanded with a raspy voice, then vanished with her Nexus, and simply returned to her room to brood.

"Maybe is better that Lash is gone. It was a bit fun, living vicariously through a wolf shard." the C'tan said in a lighter voice, and sounding a bit more powerful again.

"Even C'tan become mentally deranged after they shatter, right? I worry your other shards will prove even more trouble." I grumbled as I began to disperse melta bombs inside Necron Monoliths and various Titan-scale constructs that still withstood Stern's lightnings.

Melta bombs helped cripple the delicate insides, but they were only mid-tech weapons. Nova mines? I had so few left...

"If they are located inside the Pharos n-sphere, I can influence them to behave. Mostly. And here, I can reabsorb them easily, like you saw. But, if you go into the Halo Stars...too far." the C'tan muttered in warning.

"How far can your Cosmic Fire reach, from here?" I asked instead. Maybe using Nova mines could be avoided, if the C'tan would help.

"...Still the same Rogue Trader, I see. About 3 light-years right now. Bring me more shards, and the radius will increase." Zarhulash proposed with a Rogue Trader smirk.

"Let's loot more Necron Dynasties then." I answered with the same smile.

"Let me find a worthy target for you to Crusade. But only after that monster Szeras is dead!" the C'tan said in a vengeful tone.

For once, I was glad he was on my side.