‘Detonating!’ came the call, and the silver door vanished. A blast wave of super-heated, molten metal broke over Abaddon and his warriors. They did not flinch – they went forwards. Guardian servitors bounded through the glowing cloud. Bolt- and autocannon rounds tore through silvered armour. Abaddon saw the head of Gedephron’s power mace crash through the chest of a beast shaped like a bear of black iron. He saw another one fasten its gaze on him and begin to pounce. He fired, pounding its body to shards as it reached for him.

He was out of the other side of the debris cloud. Actinic light filled the chamber beyond. It was spherical, its walls curving up and up to a circular opening set at its apex. Staircases and platforms spiralled up the walls. Pods frosted with crystal hung from spun carbon cable in the central void. Abaddon could see clusters of vials and silver coolant tubes nested inside the pods. At the far end of the chamber was a lone figure, hovering just above the ground. Grey gauze billowed around her on the currents of false gravity. A crest of silver tubes rose from her back to halo her head. A silver mask moulded into an expression of false serenity hid her face. She twisted in the air as the Justaerin burst from the debris cloud. Abaddon could see a spiralled arrangement of crystal pipes rising from the floor in front of her. Her hands were moving between vials of liquid, combining fluids in a spinning device. For an instant the blank eyes of the woman’s mask met Abaddon’s gaze.

Buzzing curtains of energy unfurled across the room as Abaddon and his brothers advanced. Figures in segmented black armour with sprung legs bounded forwards. Energy beams snapped out. Bolt-rounds exploded on walls of glowing force. Abaddon was charging forwards, his strides cracking the black stone floor.

The curtains of energy were changing, flicking out and then snapping back into place in different positions. He saw Ekaron from the second Reavers squad split by a sheet of glowing light as it appeared. The halves of his body fell to the floor, burning.

Black lightning reached from behind him and exploded a guardian servitor as it sprang at Abaddon. He twisted to see Layak keeping pace with him, one of his blade slaves at his side.

‘You won’t reach her in time,’ called Layak. ‘This is a void maze. If they have power to keep it active it will protect her until it is too late.’

‘There is a way through,’ snarled Abaddon. Part of his mind had already read the shifting pattern of the energy fields as they activated – read them and seen that there was a flaw.