Is this... the Covenant-bearer of the Omnissiah?
Within Archmagos Cawl's chanical bionic eyes, massive streams of data flashed rapidly. The personality fragnts within his mind held differing opinions, arguing chaotically. The heat sinks, activated by his high-frequency processing, even caused the surrounding air to condense into a faint white mist.
Before eting him in person, he had entertained several hypotheses.
As an Adeptus chanicus Magos who had lived through the Great Crusade and witnessed the Emperor walking among mortals with his own eyes, Cawl believed that few in the Imperium understood the Emperor better than he did.
In his imagination, the Emperor's Covenant-bearer might possess a towering physique like the Emperor Himself, clad in golden armor, radiating endless glory, with a bearing that embodied martial prowess beyond human comprehension.
Or perhaps he would be as transcendent and otherworldly as a Primarch, easily distinguishable from a crowd at a single glance, carrying the Emperor's hopes for the future.
However, he never expected that the individual would look like this.
The man greeting him appeared to be nothing more than a re mortal, his build and appearance completely consistent with an ordinary human.
At first glance, his easygoing aura didn't resemble that of a high-ranking leader; rather, he looked like a resident of so middle-hive sector, nothing more.
This stark contrast montarily caused Cawl to overlook the people standing beside him—figures of imnse authority within the Imperium: an Astra Militarum Commissar, an Adeptus Custodes, and even a Living Saint of the Ecclesiarchy.
This only deepened the Archmagos's bewildernt.
After a brief exchange between the two sides, he imdiately raised his doubts.
"Lord Rowan, I require evidence," Cawl suddenly shifted the topic. "After all, your appearance is entirely too abrupt. Would you be willing to prove your identity to ?"
"That is simple enough."
Rowan had already prepared his response before initiating the teleportation. He imdiately drew the Ceremonial Sword of Solomon, and a radiant golden fla ignited along the blade.
"Having lived through the Great Crusade era, you shouldn't be unfamiliar with the Emperor's psychic resonance, should you?"
"...This is indeed highly compelling evidence."
Looking at the golden fla, even through Cawl's chanical chassis, he still felt that incredibly familiar warmth.
It was an aura that seed to surge from the depths of the soul, capable of purging all evil, prompting Archmagos Cawl to completely drop his guard.
"My apologies, I was overly cautious," Cawl said, his tone carrying a trace of relief. "There is no error. This matches the might of the Omnissiah in my mory banks. Your identity is fully verified."
"I must admit, your appearance took completely by surprise."
"The sa goes for you." Rowan studied the mountain-like steel behemoth before him. The unique aesthetic and inhuman nature of this chanical construct exerted a suffocating, oppressive presence.
"I didn't expect to run into you here, Archmagos Cawl."
"You know of ?" Realizing sothing, Cawl's electronic voice slightly distorted in pitch.
"Of course I do. You are the most critical linchpin in the Emperor's plan." Rowan noticed Cawl's chassis visibly tense up as he spoke, so he didn't elaborate further. "But let's save the pleasantries for later. First, let help you halt the Necron offensive."
"Oh? And how do you intend to stop them?" His interest clearly piqued, Archmagos Cawl pressed.
It had to be said, he remained intensely curious about the Emperor's Covenant-bearer. The man's retinue was undoubtedly formidable, but against a Necron army, they still seed insufficient in numbers.
It stood to reason that this individual possessed other extraordinary capabilities; otherwise, he could never be the Covenant-bearer of the Omnissiah.
Yet, no matter how Archmagos Cawl analyzed him, the man before him registered as an ordinary human. His data augurs detected no advanced biological or cybernetic augntations, nor the slightest Warp signature. He was clearly neither a psyker nor an Untouchable.
So, how would he halt the Necron advance?
"Just watch."
Rowan stepped forward. The others beside him tacitly backed away, fanning out into a wide periter.
He calmly reached out a hand. The soil on the ground and the particulates in the air seed to be magnetically drawn together, and a perfectly rectangular stone pillar materialized out of thin air in the clearing.
Following Rowan's will, the material began to contort and shift, its atomic structure reconfigured. He reached out again, and a seemingly ordinary wooden bow dropped firmly into his grasp.
???
On Cawl's face, his single unmodified organic eye widened in absolute shock.
He had just activated every high-precision sensor and atomic-level analyzer integrated into his chanical chassis, yet he completely failed to deduce the chanism behind what had just occurred.
All sensory data indicated everything was perfectly normal. No Warp fluctuations, no energy anomalies, no abnormal radiation.
Zero precursors. Unanalyzable.
This utterly shook the worldview of Cawl, a self-proclaid scientist.
What in the Omnissiah's na was this? What was the fundantal principle behind this matter transmutation?
Of course, if an SCP Foundation researcher from another universe were present at this mont, they would probably pat the Archmagos sympathetically on the shoulder.
First ti?
But Rowan's movents did not stop.
With a thought, he siphoned a fraction of the immaterial Waaagh! Field from Yarrick to empower himself, simultaneously sharing Cybia's psychic vision to clearly spot his intended targets outside the encampnt.
Then, Rowan drew the bow and nocked an arrow.
An incandescent, blindingly blue plasma arrow materialized out of thin air on the remarkably mundane wooden bow. Emitting a terrifying heat of tens of thousands of degrees, it visibly warped the surrounding air, yet it had absolutely no effect on Rowan's fingers or the material of the bow.
Cawl was completely speechless.
His data analyzers swept the scene several more tis, but still found no anomalies.
Gravitational fields? Magnetic containnt fields? Warp psyker manifestations?
None of the above. There wasn't a single shred of corroborating data; it was as if the universe simply accepted that this was how things were supposed to be.
Such a paradoxical sight even reminded Archmagos Cawl of the Cult of the Blazing Blood on the Forge World of Ryza—those zealots firmly believed that the blood of the Machine God, the Omnissiah, was searing plasma surging through His veins, and they were destined to bring His glorious fire to the galaxy.
Was this sight not the ultimate validation of their beliefs?
Empowered by Rowan's reality-bending dominion, the plasma arrow's mass continued to expand, ultimately transforming into a massive, two-ter-long spear of energy resting directly upon the wooden bow.
He smiled faintly and released the bowstring.
["I fink I can hit 'em."]
The massive arrow instantly transford into a streak of light, carving a beautiful arc through the air as it soared toward the periter of the encampnt.
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