As the First Talon burst out of the corridor, all they could see were rows of cogitators, watch posts, harbinger arrays, and engineering terminals surrounded by a cloud of fire and smoke.
Debris and shattered material flew out from the rip in the atmosphere, and new alarms blared across the bridge, competing with the screams from the air leak.
Under the action of the early warning mechanism, the heavy explosion-proof wall began to seal, and the broken ceiling debris blocked the crack while the atmosphere of the bridge stabilized.
Shards of iron and crystal rained down, the metal groaned slowly, and the ground was strewn with the bodies of the crew.
"Brothers, attack and retake the bridge."
When Talos's roar sounded, the Eldar were already prepared.
Although there were only a dozen of them, they all wore robes with ornaments full of stones and strange runes, indicating that these alien creatures were psykers.
Their reflexes are quick, psychic gimmicks surrounding them, making them move at speeds that seem to blur the edges of reality.
Bolter fire responded to their assault, and the ruins of the bridge echoed with the roars of the Space Marines.
But none of them hit.
Talos looked away from his brothers as a wizard was already lunging at him with a long, elegant blade in hand.
He remembered this wizard as the one who had beaten him to pieces in the corridor, and it was obvious that he had not left the cursed echo.
Talos tried to resist, but he was too slow.
The War Witch Sword slashed across Talos' breastplate, almost slicing his chest open.
The Prophet swung his power sword back with its powerful, crackling blade.
But couldn't get close enough to hit.
The war wizard was no longer where he had been before, gliding with unnatural grace to Talos' right, while another of his kind came in front of the prophet, blade screaming toward his throat.
Once again, Talos's life was saved by the precognition inherited from his Primarch, as he saw the enemy's attack in advance and deflected the blow with his weapon.
He tried to rush among the alien guards and grab hold of their robes, but it seemed to move smoothly in his hands.
In a few quick heartbeats, Talos realized he was surrounded.
The pause was just enough for Talos to breathe a sigh of relief.
Then they attack -
The blades struck like a rain at a speed that his eyes could not keep up with. He felt one blade cut into his right shoulder armor, another cut into his left leg guard, and a third cut into his left thigh.
His power armor screams and sparks, nearly crushed by the relentless onslaught.
Talos roared and swung, but the sword touched nothing.
The aliens leaped and lunged around him with a grace he could never match.
Eventually, one of the aliens' weapons got blood on it.
A spear passed through Talos's left legguard from behind, stabbing flesh and bone.
The prophet knelt down on one knee with a pop.
The pumped stimulants overcame the pain and the wound quickly numbed, even as he felt blood dripping into his boots.
He stopped.
There was a brief pause before the aliens gathered together for the final blow.
Opportunities are fleeting.
Talos seized the opportunity.
"come!"
With a loud roar, Talos lifted the power sword off the ground.
A war wizard had already pounced on his exposed head, and the sword blade turned into a silver phantom.
But in doing so, it finally allowed itself to get too close.
The Eldar's vision failed.
The power sword struck before he could dodge, the energy releasing and echoing through the control center.
The alien disintegrated easily, its robes began to burn, and its body was blown away into a ball of flesh.
Talos poured all his strength into the swing of the power sword, causing it to smash to the side in a 360-degree arc, breaking the other six blades heading towards him.
The Eldar fell back, forming a circle around him, their remains falling onto the twisted deck.
Talos gritted his teeth and stood up, holding the sword tightly with both hands.
At this time, a movement outside the encirclement attracted his attention.
An alien curses the Echo's gun control console.
Crafted from a strange slippery material, runes have been plugged into the launch ports and data of the main cogitator node, no doubt used to override the targeting systems of the Cursed Echoes.
The Eldar's long fingers were at work on the rune table, which was used primarily to control the laser array on the side of the ship.
"Face me, witch!"
Talos roared, before a silhouette left the circle surrounding Markarian.
Her armor and robes were more embroidered than those of the surrounding xenos, and her helmet was engraved with intricate runes.
The Eldar war wizard wields a groaning psychic sword, its blade hungry for blood.
The red eyeglasses on the tall helmet of the War Witch stared into Talos's eyes, and then a contemptuous voice floated into his ears.
"Fallen monkey."
Even with the helmet's visual shield activated, these words could still enter Talos' mind.
"Your presence only puts us in greater danger."
"Get out of my head, alien scum!"
Talos spat at the opponent, and the war wizards surrounding him immediately raised their swords.
The air vibrated with suppressed psychic power.
"Useless resistance will only lead to suffering."
She raised her hand, the first and third fingers extended and pointed at him.
Pain suddenly erupted in Talos's skull, and his whole body staggered forward.
She was in his mind, he could feel her.
Her mind is at war with his own, as an alien invasion seeks to conquer and shatter his consciousness, and the very nature of his existence.
She was digging into the darkness of his memory.
Talos saw the lightless Nastrom—his home world, the home world of the Eighth Legion.
He saw it burning.
He saw nuclear flames engulfing it, burning cities, oceans, and devouring all life.
In the end, only barren rock and ashes remained, all because of the Primarch's command.
He took another step forward.
The wound on the back of the calf had solidified, but it still throbbed.
He gritted his teeth and tried to focus, tried to keep the Eldar Witch out of his thoughts.
He saw Charr, his old friend and battle brother.
He saw Ciel lying on the ground, helpless and defeated.
He saw how Reuven had changed, how the filth had corroded his pale skin, stirring the color of warp pollution in his eyes.
Talos saw the bullet that had executed Reuven, shattering his skull.
Fired from his own bolt pistol.
Gritting his teeth, he took another step.
Ursus tried to save Talos, but he was already severely wounded and rushed towards the Eldar wizard with his battle ax.
"Blood sacrifice——"
But several Eldar wizards around him exerted their strength at the same time, and lightning like a giant python sprang out of the air, easily passed through Ursus' power armor, and hit his body half a second later.
Ursus roared sharply, and fell to the ground with sluggish limbs, until his flesh was scorched, and excessive lightning still penetrated his armor.
Talos couldn't see this.
He squeezed his eyes shut and his whole body tensed and trembled.
In his mind's eye, he saw another destruction, Sargulhasa, being torn apart by cyclone torpedoes.
Once again, the destruction of a world passed through his hands.
