When the wall ruptured, time had seemed to stop for all who had bore witness to it as both Imperial and Sanctii forces seemed stunned by awe and terror alike. Yet, where others marveled at the sight of destruction, the vaunted custodians seemed to be the only to respond immediately. The gunship, venatarii, and agamatus all flew through the new entrance faster than any could comprehend what had happened. The Custodians had only one focus in mind: decommissioning the abomination that ran Sanctii - to destroy Deep Winter.

The Stygian Talons were the first to fire their weapons once more, raining death from above as they flew low enough to not be targeted by anti-air. Lances flew through stunned defenders, bolters ripped through power armor, missiles destroyed fortified areas. They traveled in a singular line with but one destination in mind, the grand citadel and its spire. The gunship flew over the inner wall, Venatarii following close behind, slaughtering those in their path along the way. 

“Lucius, take your jetbakes and ensure that reinforcements do not follow us in,” Amalasuntha commanded over vox, diverting the six jetbikes away from the spire where their use would be limited. Her gaze went up to the top of the spire, sitting well above most of the city - she needed not go to the top of the structure, for their target would not be found there. The gunship and other venatarii followed closely behind, their weapons spewing death in nearly every direction before her full accompaniment disembarked from the venerable ship.

“Daito, take the rest of the Venatarii and scour the upper echelons of the spire for the master of the keys,” without another word the custodians activated their packs and made for the upper spire, leaving the remaining twenty-three custodians to descend into the spire. Even upon entering the spire, the vaunted custodians found resistance, the best of Deep Winter’s forces had been dispatched to ensure that the vault would not be reached.

Augmented warriors of blackened armor threw themselves at the custodians. Bullets impacted off shields. Swords clashed. Viscera began to stain the walls and floor. Deep W1inter’s monstrosities matched the thunder warriors in size, speed, and ferocity - but their attacks were measured and calculating like a custodian. Some seemed nuerolocked, attacking in unison as if they were one organism sharing a mind.

Amalasuntha herself followed closely behind those armed with shields, who methodically advanced forwards as bodies continually piled in front of them. There was little else the supposed best of the Abominable Intelligence could do against the perfect creations of the Emperor. That was when the tricks of Deep Winter began, turrets emplaced in the ceiling and floor sprung up and began to fire into the custodians from behind. If not for their master-crafted armor, they would have all perished in that moment. Pyrihite spears turned in an instant and sent a melta-beam into them, but even in that moment two custodians perished as heavy disintegration weaponry pierced their backs.

Tricks and deceit would be the worst of what they could face for who among them could tell what such a wretched intelligence could conjure up? Amalasuntha surged forwards, her paragon blade finding purchase in the gene-warriors of Sanctii. Her peers renewed their push, knowing that they must keep the momentum for becoming bogged down would only enable further tricks and deceits. So they pushed, matching recklessness with ferocity. 

Amalasuntha’s shield flared as another disintegration ray shot at her, another turret had sprouted up and she could do little but curse under her breath. A melta-beam shattered the defensive weapon, her hand had momentarily gone to the pistol holstered on her hip - but instead grabbed one of her adversaries and crushed his head in a single vice grip. She would not be undone by the likes of a horrid abomination this day, her Emperor had demanded Deep Winter and she would deliver.

As they fought through the horde, another custodian was brought down by sheer force of number - ten gene-warriors skewering him from every angle. Even then, in the custodian’s dying breath, he beheaded them in a single swing of his spear just as he succumbed to his wounds and a cloud of nanites poured from his body. Amalasuntha growled and stabbed, sliced, cleaved, and ripped forwards as she cleaved more of them apart. One came with an onyx blade that pulsed with horrid energies, another with a weapon that fired arcs of lightning. There was little end to the technology that was being hurled upon them.

Yet, there would be an end, the Black Hawk foresaw it as the gene-warriors of Deep Winter began to falter in number. Their suicidal fanaticism did them injustice, perfected warriors to match most of the Emperor’s own yet their singleminded nature brought them low. It seemed being puppets of an Abomidable Intelligence could not match His will for unity or His perfectly crafted warriors. Soon, there was nothing of them left, except for corpses and gore that littered the floor. Amalasuntha had stopped paying attention to her surroundings at the height of the battle. A cursory glance to her sides revealed that six of her companions had been felled, many surrounded by mountains of the dead. 

Wordlessly she stepped forwards, and her Talons followed, for they would not be denied their quarry. A static vox cast had reached her, “Shield-Captain, we have found the Master of the Keys, her entourage felled two of us. We are currently on a maglev to your position.”

Past that there was silence as Amalasuntha let out a grunt of acknowledgement, her eyes darting along the walls and ceiling of the complex. It would not be long for Daito to regroup with the Black Hawk, meeting them along the way but now down to just two Venatarii. The two shared a silent stare before Amalasuntha looked down at the Keeper of Keys, their gateway to Deep Winter.

The Keeper of the Keys stood between the Venatarii. She was comically short compared to them, and of a far rounder nature. An archaic collar granted to the strike force by the Sigillite himself was strapped about her neck. It clicked and whirred, lights blinking along its diameter as the Keeper of the Keys looked frantically between her captors.

“Shield-Captain, the Keeper of the Keys,” DIto motioned to the woman, “the damned machine’s hold on her is muzzled thanks to the auspices of the Sigillite,” Daito confirmed as he pressed the woman toward the Black Hawk.

“She can get us into the inner sanctum of the abominable intelligence as we presumed. She wishes only for protection, that we do not remove the collar before the machine is slain.”

The Keeper of the Keys nodded meekly at the words, her eyes darting around anxiously as the Demi-gods spoke between themselves.

Amalasuntha continued a long and drawn out gaze of the Master of the Keys before speaking simply, “Your protection shall be granted. Stay within the center of our formation and you shan’t be harmed.”

Without another word the remaining custodians formed around the Keeper, each one acting as a separate shield to her form. The Black Hawk and her Talons walked as one, urging the Keeper to keep pace with their long strides until they inevitably reached the first locked door to the vault. It seemed Deep Winter had committed all of the initial guards in a bid to drive them out, but that had failed for the Stygian Talons were not a foe to be matched. 

Halting in front of the large vaulted door, the custodians readied themselves for combat once more, the shields forming a wall in front of them. The Black Hawk looked down to the Keeper of the Keys and gave a silent nod to her, for it was time to do battle. The Keeper gave a silent, shaky nod of acknowledgement as she made her way to a console just off to the side. Placing her palm onto a black console as allowing her eyes to be scanned, the first of the gates to the Sanctum opened. 

Without waiting, a custodian picked up the keeper effortlessly as the Stygian Talons bounded in, ready to face whatever tricks Deep Winter dared to employ. 

The Shield Host, genewrought warriors without peer, surged into the sanctum. The form of the Keeper hefted over a pauldron the only human aspect of the sight to be seen as the golden figures bounded across the open space toward the next of the massive sanctum gates. 

“Deep Winter—!” The Keeper gasped as she was thrashed violently about the Custodians shoulder, “she’ll be ready!” she screamed as the Custodian dropped her to her feet and stretched out her hand to the next gate locking mechanism.

“So are we,” he affirmed as the scanner clicked and flashed a contented green. 

“Not for this,” the Keeper began before she was again hefted to his shoulders. 

The second set of sanctum doors opened on silent hinges to a room exactly the same to the last. A vast empty possession leading to the final door to the machine’s lair.

The shield host began their sprint once more.
——————————————————

Above the sprinting Custodians, in the vaulted ceiling of the sanctum possession, [i]things[/i] writhed unnaturally as the passing of the Emperor’s most trusted warriors disturbed their slumber. 

A mass of black, so dark it seemed to swallow the light, moved in waves. Tentacles of shifting shadow reaching out of the mass as the sleeping machines woke for the first time in centuries. 

A Custodian, moving at blinding speed, lifted his guardian spear and let loose a volley of bolter shells off instinct alone. The writhing, pitch black mass of tentacles that had been falling directly at him exploding into foul black ichor that stained his armor even as he continued his sprint. He swiped the power glaive, cleaving a second ball of twisting tentacles in two, only for both sides to skewer him as he sprinted between them. The Custodian crashed to the floor, the two halves of the split machine joining back together on top of him as the mass of tentacles shifted and stabbed relentlessly into the flesh beneath the armor.
 
More guardian spears barked fire as the machines on the ceiling began to fall like rain toward them. No orders needed to be given, they had to move forwards no matter the cost. Daito took the Keeper from the Custodian, holding her with one hand as he activated his pinion to surge forwards. The other remaining venatari followed suit, surging forth as monstrosities rained upon them - catching one by engulfing him. Yet, the monstrous creation was met with death as the talon activated a Krak grenade. Whatever the source of the abomination was, it seemed to have been annihilated in the blast.

Amalasuntha and the remaining custodians bounded forwards, hacking and slashing into the reforming entities as tendrils and spear tipped limbs met auramite. Swords flashed and shields buckled as the Stygian Talons danced amongst their foes - [/i]Conservai[/i] - knowing well these were not a mere horde of enemies they could overcome with brutality and carnage. Pyrithite spears hit with the force of tanks ripping through clouds on robotic monstrosities only for them to reform and attack with the vigor they showed before. It was in a moment such as this that the Black Hawk’s keen eyes found the source of these machines' supposed immortality, a small ball located at the center of these formations. 

Quickly, she surged forwards and grasped it, crushing it in her hands as one of the spinning deaths disintegrated. More of her shield-company fell; one ripped asunder as three fell upon him, a shield bypassed as the malformation fluidly ebbed around the custodian. They hadn’t the time to deal with this - Amalasuntha did not have time to fight these creatures. So, she brought up her pistol, a relic of ages past given to her by the Sigilite, and fired towards the ceiling, where more horrors rained from. 

Suddenly, a great force overtook the chamber as a black dot darker than even Deep Winter’s creations traveled the length of the room in nanoseconds. A gravitational pull opened where it had impacted the ceiling, dragging with it countless of the abominations. Metallic plating of the walls bent and snapped, being overtaken by the singularity.  The Stygian Talons, even with their magnetic boots, had to dig into the floor to stop themselves from being pulled in. Then there was silence as the pull ceased within a full minute’s passing, with its death there was only a fraction of the creatures left - remnants that had robotically attached themselves to whatever they could. However, they were missing much of the cloud that had made up their bodies, and the custodians surged forth once more. 

Still, the metallic beings whipped and spun, even in their deteriorated form they fought against the golden hand of the Emperor. One of them ripped the arm off a custodian, but could do little more before a spear impacted its core. Amalasuntha, content in seeing that there was little resistance to be left to offer, began walking towards where Daito and the Keeper of the Keys had advanced to.

She noted the large hole in the ceiling where the singularity had materialized. 

As she approached, she saw that all the venatri had given their lives to protect the Keeper of the Keys, giving the promise to ensure that Deep Winter would not take her. Daito’s body was seen still standing in front of a corner, holding his spear as if still ready to strike despite missing a leg and a large portion of his head. The Black Hawk gave the custodian a friendly touch to his shoulder plate, allowing him to finally fall now that his duty had come to an end. That left the Keeper of the Keys cowering in the corner, still alive due to efforts of the custodians. Amalasuntha gazed over her form, speaking sternly as if she had not just fought against the horrors of old Terra, “Come. We run on little time.”

What remained of the Stygian Talons soon followed their Shield-Captain, ready to destroy the abomination that awaited them. In total 14 custodians had given their lives to take Deep Winter, a devastating loss in comparison to the casualties faced taking the walls - but only in death did duty end.

“Amalasuntha of the Stygian Talons transmitting, we are making entry to the final vault, Emperor Protect.”

The Keeper of the Keys, on the edge of her sanity after the horrors that had just unfolded before her very eyes, stumbled forward. She shakily placed a hand on the locking mechanism leading to Deep Winter’s chamber and offered an eye to the reader as she shook.

The massive doors clicked with unseen locks, before swinging slowly open to reveal the huge domed room beyond.

Cool blue light lit the vaulted space. Cables as thick as battle tanks hung from the ceiling, running from unseen access points to the massive diamond-glass prism suspended at the center of the room. Steam billowed up from the floor beneath the abominable machine's case from a pool of still warm coolant, as the same clear liquid continued dripping from an open face of the diamond casing.

The Keeper of the Keys gasped at the sight, collapsing to her knees as she began to sob.

“Empty,” she wailed, “it’s empty.” 

As Amalasuntha entered the chamber, a silent rage filled her heart, only portrayed by her hands tightening in grip. Failure was unacceptable for the Emperor’s finest, no alternative to victory would be fated for their kind. The custodian looked to the Keeper of the Keys, grasping her collar and lifting the defenseless human in the air. The hawk’s voice was laced with venom, “Where is the abomination?”

The Keeper scrabbled at the armored hands of the Black Hawk, terror filling her eyes as she was lifted into the air. Her legs kicked at nothing as her chest tightened and her breath caught in her throat.

“I don’t—!” she managed hoarsely as she came face to face with the transhuman horror before her. Her face was crafted far finer than Winter had ever managed of her genewarriors, her every motion, movement, and utterance perfect beyond reproach. She knew then that her people had been wrong to stand before the creator of this being, that they had been misled by the whims of the abomination that should have been at the center of this room.

“I don’t know! Please—” she choked on her own spit, unable to swallow as the full weight of the Custodian’s gaze bared down on her. She coughed, a wretched excuse of a human hanging limp in the Black Hawk’s hands, and tried again, “[i]It[/i] never told me of such a plan—! I don’t know!”

Without pause, Amalasuntha dropped the Keeper of the Keys onto the ground - finding no true reason to distrust the words of the human. Her head snapped to the rest of the Stygian Talons, she began stalking back into the dark halls, “Report back to the Command Tent.”

“Emperor save us all.”