In The World Of Sword And Magic As Space Marine - Chapter 116: Walking Armory

Clang!

William’s sword clashed with the honor guard’s blade a second before it could hit the guard’s head. After barely escaping a certain death from Chapter Master’s sword, the honor guard pushed against William’s strength and managed to hold it to a stalemate.

“You are not one of my honor guards. Not only have I memorized all of my guard’s names but I also recognize their movement and mannerism, you don’t match none of theirs.” William said to the intruder his reason without exposing his ability of appraisal. This revelation shocked the fake guard as he believed his infiltration was flawless.

With the new revelation, the fake honor guard pushes against William’s strength but at the last second disappeared entirely. The moment everyone realized what just happened, the intruder reappeared a distance away from William with his weapon down.

‘What was that? He was here a moment ago but he suddenly vanished as if he just teleported.’ William thought to himself and ready his sword in case he need to take action. Meanwhile, his honor guards took action and surrounded the intruder with range weapons. As for Rana, she and the Sisters of Battle evacuated civilians including Lady Shaw from danger as they realized the true enemy is in fact superhuman traitor Astartes.

“Chapter Master William, former Black Templar, and Supreme Commander, Imperator Fratrum. You earned your titles fairly.” The intruder said genuinely as his grey silver armor slowly vanish and reveal the true colors of the power armor he is wearing.

Designed to look more like scale armor, the purple and green power armor appeared. Clad with a traditional traitor style of armor, the Alpha Legion Space Marine even had his marker on his shoulder pad, scales of hydra, and horns in his helmet. At first glance, William saw the standard model of Chaos Space Marine but after observing more detail, he saw a few adjustments to the armor and changes unlike he have ever seen.

One thing that caught William’s attention, attached to Alpha Legioner’s hip is a head of a Necron with a cyclops eye, and cables are linked to his helmet. In a closer look, William identified the Necron head as to be head of the Cryptek, the Necron equivalent of technologists and engineers.

The Cryptek’s head was blinking as if it was processing something and by just looking at it William knew he need to act fast. With no hesitation, William gave the command to attack but before anyone could follow the command, the traitor disappeared and reappeared in front of William, about to stab William’s stomach with a modified sword between the power sword and Necron hyperphase sword.

Surprised by the attack, William quickly react and was able to deflect the incoming fused blade thanks to his mastery of all items and superhuman reaction. The attack wasn’t done as the traitor Space Marine continue his attack while tossing a small metal cube toward William’s honor guards.

‘That is Trazyn the Infinite’s Tesseract cube. How in the world did he get that?’ William quickly identified the mysterious cube but it was too late as the cube unleashed creatures that were contained within. Out of the cube, a dozen Drukhari appeared and dash toward the honor guards with the intention to kill.

“Dark Eldar Succubi!” Immediately, the honor guards change their weapons to close combat and pick their opponents. Succubi paired and attack the honor guards with ferocity and attempt to find weaknesses between joints. Believing honor guards are another Astartes, a few Dark Eldars underestimated their opponents which resulted in a brutal but quick death.

“We must help the Chapter Master. These Dark Eldars are nothing but a distraction.” Lieutenant of the honor guards said through their vox channel and form up to deal with nuisance once and for all. Meanwhile, William is still dealing with Alpha Legion and his unknown ability as each time William though he has the advantage, the traitor disappears and reappears in a blink of an eye.

‘What is his deal? He is equipped with all kinds of Necron techs. He even has Trazyn the Infinite’s Tesseract cube.’ William managed to quickly analyze the situation and change his tactics to match the enemy’s strategy. Based on what William can observe, the traitor is using the head of the Cryptek and its ability to disappear and reappear like a teleportation. Believing his next step, William quickly draws the black sword of the Emperor’s Champion from his inventory and slashes his opposite side to kill the traitor just as he is about to reappear. William was correct to make a secondary attack with his freehand but to his surprise, the traitor reappeared a few inches away from the tip of the sword with a different weapon.

Now holding a spear similar to Alpharius Omegon’s Pale Spear, the traitor stepped to the side to dodge the black sword and swing the spear with the intention to slice William’s hand. Seeing how he is about to lose his hand (Again), William quickly adjusts his stance with superhuman speed. At the same time, he put away his black sword and Novros to bring forth the power hammer.

“I got you now!” William shouted and slam the traitor with all his might but before he could actually hit the target, the traitor disappeared once again and reappeared next to William, barely dodging the devastating attack.

‘Ah, crap.’ Just as William was about to receive a deadly attack from a strange spear, a golden spear parries the enemy weapon with its holder generating golden light through her. The Living Saint entered the fight as Sisters of Battle followed her with bolters ready.

“Take out the Dark Eldars. This one is mine.” Rana gave her command and the Sisters follow her order as they scatter to take out the Succubi. With additional reinforcements and firepower, the honor guards and Sisters of Battle took out Succubi much quicker than before. Still, the problem lies with Alpha Legion Space Marine as his ability seems to be more trouble than anyone William and Rana faced before.

“Aim for the Necron head! It must be his source of power.” William said to Rana while he change his weapon once again to wield two swords. Hearing this, Rana changed her tactics, she focus more on Cryptek’s head instead of the traitor’s.

The golden sword extends and transforms into a spear and the battle of the spear began as a traitor and Living Saint exchange blows while blocking each attack with ferocity. Seeing an opening, William rushed to the enemy’s blind side with his two swords ready to slash on the sides. But to his and Rana’s surprise, the traitor managed to block William’s attack with Dispersion shield, another wargear of the Necron, belonging to Lychguards.

‘He is just like me. He has a power of inventory.’ The realization finally hit William and as he was about to withdraw his swords, the traitor vanished once again, leaving William and Rana facing each other. Reappearing a distance away, the traitor holds his position as if he needs a break.

‘This changes everything. His arsenal is beyond Imperium standard and somehow he managed to possess Necron wargears. No, the problem isn’t his weapons, it’s the Cryptek’s head. He must be using it to teleport at will.’ Prioritizing the problem one at a time, William signals Rana with his hand. Understanding the plan, Rana rushes the traitor with her spear while William went around to corner the enemy.

Just as both Wiliam and Rana are about to hit traitor, he vanished once again but this time, Alpha Legion is the one who was surprised as when he reappeared, a chandelier was dropped on top of his head.

A few seconds back,

A moment before William reach the traitor, he threw his black sword toward the wall to cut the rope holding the chandelier. The chandelier was positioned opposite from where the traitor was standing but based on his pattern of reappearance, William made a calculated guess and made his move.

The moment the traitor reappeared, the chandelier hit him a second later right on top of him. The chandelier didn’t do much damage to the power armor but it was enough to damage the Cryptek’s head as it sparked and blink nonstop.

“Aren’t you full of surprise? Looks like you figured out after all.” Said the Alpha Legion. With his source of teleportation gone, William was certain he can face the enemy head-on until the traitor said something unexpected.

“There are limits to utilizing the power of the Chronomancer. I have been pushing its limit time manipulation to the point it was burning my armor itself.” Hearing this, William realized what was going on until now. The traitor was stopping the time each time he was in danger instead of teleporting.

‘Damn it. Good thing I got lucky with the chandelier or else this fight would turn out differently.’ William proceed to bring out his bolter pistol and fire at will to kill the traitor quick as possible but it was useless. Anticipating the attack, the traitor change the Chronomancer’s head with something else and activated. William’s bolter rounds went through the traitor and hit the wall behind him. Holding a metal sphere in his hand, the traitor was able to phase through the bolter rounds without any harm.

Seeing the new Necron artifact, William recalled a certain item from Lord Commissar’s report and connect the bots. This Alpha Legion is the same one who impersonated the Emperor’s Champion and stole the sphere under Cain’s nose. The one who called Alath Cassimer.

“Aren’t we a bunch of walking armory? How do you feel that everything you throw at me doesn’t work at all?” The traitor mocked William and activate the metal sphere once again. This time, instead of phasing this time, he turned invisible without leaving any trace including the sound of his steps.

“He just has more tricks under his sleeves,” Rana said to William and brought out her shield to block any attack that could come at any moment. As for William, he bring out his heavy flamer to scorch the area to ensure he wouldn’t miss but to their surprise, no attack came, and soon honor guards and Sisters came to their aid after slaying all Succubi.

“Did that traitor just leave?”Baffled by the traitor’s unusual move, William have his guards scan the entire room and initiated the fortress lockdown. To his and everyone’s surprise, the traitor was no way to be found as Alpha Legion managed to escape after realizing his Dark Eldar distraction was all killed.

—————-

After William is certain the traitor is gone and has triple security for the duration of the unknown foreseeable future, he have all of the guests return to their room with extra security. As for Lady Shaw, she was escorted to her room until William can personally have word with her tomorrow.

William’s intention isn’t to torture Gabriella as she is still a noble lady of Alderim and Prince Benton wouldn’t have someone from his kingdom come to harm until the investigation is completed. Still, William made sure a few of the Fenrisian Wolves are placed in front of the room and had the entire pack patrol the fortress to find the traitor Space Marine.

After everyone returned to their room for the night, William sat alone in his study to analyze tonight’s event including how to counter the Necron technology. Not only did the Alpha Legion possess the ability to manipulate time and phasing but he also had Trazyn the Infinite’s Tesseract cube and inventory ability. It was as if the traitor was William’s mirror opposite and equipped with weapons to counter William’s wargear.

“Is this another attempt from the Chaos? Why didn’t he finish me or Rana off when he had every opportunity to do so?” William said to himself as his terminator armor made a small noise when he moved. Just as William reach for his cup of tea, someone silently came to his side and handed him the cup. Half a second after realizing he wasn’t alone, William got up and pull out his black sword at the new intruder.

[Why don’t we talk before fighting again? I’m sure you have a few questions about tonight and I’m sure I can answer them.] A Necron Overlord with the metal hood on his head said to William as he step backward with two hands up as if he was surrendering. Trazyn the Infinite, the self-proclaimed Archaeovist of the Solemnace Galleries came to William’s personal study with no intention to capture William at the moment as he has a bigger problem.