We are ready, brother!’ came the reply after a strained moment. ‘Brace for detonation!’
Allectius and his brethren steadied themselves as instructed. For one brief second the world was divided into black and white, hot air washing over them in a rush. The necrons, not forewarned, stumbled or fell as the ground trembled.
‘That is impossible,’ said one of the brothers on the vox, sounding shaken in a way that Space Marines rarely were.
The laughter of the cryptek pealed over the battlefield as Allectius dared a look back. The ground around the base of the spire had been reduced to molten lava, glowing red-hot. The shaped blasts had ballooned outward, carving a crater out all around and revealing the structure sunk deep into the planet. Yet the blackstone obelisk itself was untouched. The melta bombs had done nothing to it.

Nexus and Other Stories