312: Chapter 314 Judgment Descends on Tarsus! The 113-meter-tall steel temple emerges from its slumber!

Trazyn's palm traced a complex rune in the air.

The entire exhibition hall began to tremble.

It wasn't a violent, earthquake-like shaking.

It was a kind of deconstruction—starting from the molecular level.

The walls.

On the living metal walls on both sides, the green light patterns that had flowed for sixty million years extinguished simultaneously.

Then the walls began to disassemble themselves automatically.

It wasn't a collapse.

It wasn't a fracturing.

It was an orderly, precise retraction, proceeding according to some preset program.

Each living metal plate flipped inward along nanometer-scale hinge lines like folded paper.

The ceiling was also disassembling.

The twelve-hundred-meter-high dome structure expanded outward.

Light flooded in.

It wasn't the eerie green light from inside Solemnus.

It was sunlight.

The light of the Tarsus star.

Dazzlingly white.

Zhang Yuan's archon power armor automatically dimmed its visual filters.

He squinted his eyes slightly.

Once his vision adjusted—

He saw the sky.

The sky of Tarsus.

A few wisps of high-altitude cirrus clouds floated in the orange-yellow atmosphere.

On the distant horizon, the architectural outlines of Tarsus's major cities could be seen.

The ground beneath his feet was changing.

The living metal floor was retracting and giving way.

Revealing what lay beneath—

The original surface of Tarsus.

Gray-brown rock.

Dry soil.

This part of the Solemnus exhibition hall completed its structural folding and disappearance within fifteen seconds.

From an enclosed museum space—

It turned into an open wilderness.

And right in the center of this wilderness—

The 'day of judgement' stood tall.

A one-hundred-and-thirteen-meter emperor-class titan.

Standing on the ground of Tarsus.

Sunlight hit its breastplate.

That Aquila emblem, eroded by time, revealed all its details for the first time under true starlight after being repaired by living metal.

Every feather's texture on the eagle's wings.

The lightning bolt and scepter held in the eagle's talons.

The symbol of the Empire.

After slumbering for ten thousand years.

It stood once again on the soil of a human world.

Ty Adronetus once again—

Knelt on one knee.

This time, he knelt for even longer.

Sunlight poured down through the gaps in the Titan's shoulder armor, casting mottled light and shadow on his golden armor.

Like a pillar of light in a temple.

Titus stood in place.

His tactical helmet was raised forty-five degrees.

He was looking up.

Not looking up at a war machine.

He was looking up at the glory of the Empire—something he had never seen, but mentioned in every pre-battle prayer.

Kallista Raine's fingers stopped on the shaft of the psycannon nullifying spear.

Her hollow eyes had color for the first time in the sunlight.

Gray-blue irises.

Reflecting the silhouette of the Titan.

Talasha Eudon stood beside Sergeant Amon.

She raised her hand, shielding the sunlight from her forehead.

She was looking at the Titan's face.

That gladiator-mask-style face.

Under the real sky, those two black, hollow eye sockets—

No longer seemed to be staring.

But seemed to be slumbering.

Waiting to be awakened.

Clone Fulgrim stood at Zhang Yuan's side.

His violet eyes swept from the Titan's toes to its crown.

The wraithbone veins on his deep purple armor took on a nearly transparent quality in the sunlight.

He didn't speak.

But the nameless sword at his waist emitted a very faint hum.

As if in greeting.

An ancient relic of the Empire.

To another, even more ancient relic of the Empire.

Saying hello.

Zhang Yuan stood in the Titan's shadow.

The shadow cast by the 113-meter steel giant covered the ground for hundreds of meters around.

Compared to the Titan's ankle armor, his archon power armor—

Was like a chess piece standing at the foot of a castle.

He could feel the vibration beneath his feet.

That extremely low-frequency, regular pulsation.

The Titan's heartbeat.

It was still beating.

Ten thousand years.

Still beating.

Zhang Yuan took a deep breath.

He turned around.

Trazyn stood not far away.

The remaining structure of Solemnus had already finished reassembling behind him.

A much smaller, slender living metal structure floated in mid-air.

That was the museum world's folded form.

Beneath Trazyn's feet, an eerie green teleportation channel was opening.

The signature light of Necron phase teleportation rose from the ground, enveloping his slender figure.

He turned his head.

Looking at Zhang Yuan.

"The items have been given to you."

"The Titan has also been placed."

"The blackstone fragment is in your person's hands."

"The armor and sword are on your Primarch."

"The remnant soul of the Old One and the C'tan shard are being transported under armed escort."

"The deal is complete."

He paused.

In the green eye sockets, that flame that had burned for sixty million years flickered once.

"Please do not make me wait too long."

His voice became very soft.

"I look forward to the rest of your story."

Zhang Yuan looked at him.

"I said it."

"I remember all my promises."

Trazyn stared at him for two seconds.

Then he gave a slight nod.

He turned and walked into the teleportation channel.

The green light swallowed his figure layer by layer.

From feet to waist.

From waist to shoulder.

From shoulder to head.

At the last moment—

The green light in Trazyn's eye sockets flashed from within the glow.

As if taking one last look.

Then he disappeared.

The teleportation channel closed.

The museum remnant floating in mid-air flickered along with it.

And then—

Silently.

Completely.

It vanished into the sky of Tarsus.

As if it had never existed.

Leaving only the 113-meter 'day of judgement'.

Standing lonely on the wilderness.

Sunlight shone upon it.

The wind blew through the gaps in its armor, letting out a low wail.

Like a delirium.

Like calling out for something in a dream.

Zhang Yuan stood in place, looking at the spot where Trazyn had vanished.

His hand reached into the storage compartment of his archon power armor, touching the Canoptek Scarab and the phase-shift beacon.

They were all there.

He withdrew his hand.

The communication channel connected again.

Horner's voice rang out.

"Commander..."

His tone was very complex.

"I am looking at the surface of Tarsus from the flagship's main control room."

"May I ask—"

"That hundred-meter-tall thing standing on the wilderness, looking like something from Imperial legend—"

"It's a Titan," Zhang Yuan said.

"Emperor-class."

The communication channel went silent for four seconds.

"...Understood."

Horner's voice became extremely restrained.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Summon all Space Marine Commanders and Vogon; flagship briefing room in thirty minutes."

Zhang Yuan's gaze withdrew from the Titan.

It fell upon the distant architectural outlines of Tarsus's city.

"There are many things to arrange."

He began to walk out of the Titan's shadow.

Clone Fulgrim followed.

Titus followed on the left, carrying the force field container with the blackstone fragment.

Ty Adronetus rose from the ground, lifting his aegis shield to bring up the rear.

Kallista Raine silently returned to her position.

Talasha Eudon, supported by Sergeant Amon, walked in the middle of the formation.

The group left the Titan's shadow.

And stepped into the sunlight of Tarsus.

Behind them, the massive silhouette of the 'day of judgement' cast a long shadow on the horizon.

Like a sleeping god.

Waiting for the day it would be awakened.

Zhang Yuan did not look back.

His steps were steady.

But his heartbeat was three beats faster than usual.

It wasn't fear.

It was that a few more key pieces had been placed on the chessboard.

An emperor-class titan.

A blackstone fragment.

A Primarch clone.

A C'tan shard.

An Old One's remains.

A Necron's promise.

A back door to the Prism Gallery.

All these things together—

Were enough to change many things.

And enough to attract many enemies.

Euten's words echoed in his mind.

"Are you ready?"

Zhang Yuan clenched his fist.

Then he relaxed it.

His palm left a thin layer of sweat inside the glove of his archon power armor.

But his steps did not stop.