This was an extremely ornate crimson suit of armor, with two antennae on top and a red-and-white carapace reminiscent of a beetle's shell.
The design style was far from that of human power armor; it exuded a sense of sci-fi power and streamlined aesthetics.
After smashing the Necron Overlord Trazyn's body, the figure didn't hesitate to crush the remaining Necron skull underfoot.
Simply destroying a body was like merely damaging a piece of clothing for a Necron Overlord.
Necron Overlords never lacked spare bodies; in fact, their true forms had never even left their tomb worlds.
'But don't think the matter ends here—destroying Trazyn was just a little interest I collected.'
The man who suddenly appeared was none other than Rhodes himself, and the suit he wore was no ordinary power armor, but the newly completed mobile armor his subordinates had spent months crafting.
The Zetton Armor—constructed from the Ace killer armaments' metal native to the Zetton species.
Its head could unleash crimson Zetton fireball beams of terrifying power, far more horrific than Rhodes' ultra shockwaves.
The mobile armor's capabilities far surpassed ordinary power armor; even Terminator armor stood no chance against it.
With this suit, Rhodes was as agile as a human-sized Zetton.
And since Rhodes himself possessed a terrifying physique, they design the armor without restraint, further boosting its combat effectiveness without the need for excessive internal protection.
No balance system needed, no life support required—Rhodes could survive in space unaided.
According to Zett, if used well, this mobile armor could even solo an average kaiju.
After its completion, Rhodes couldn't wait to put it on and test its power.
In terms of flight speed, it could reach a terrifying Mach 25 within a planet's atmosphere.
The beam attack he just released was only at 10% power.
Other functions—Zetton Shield, Zetton Instant Transmission, Zetton Ultimate Beam, and the hundred-megaton fireball—hadn't even been used yet!
Several dozen lasguns aimed at Rhodes. Lord Castellan Creed's men eyed him warily—even though he had just defeated a Necron Overlord, they remained on guard.
Who knew if he was just another kind of Xenos? That armor he wore looked extremely imposing!
Once donned, the armor made Rhodes about 2.6 meters tall—a giant among humans.
"Don't be nervous! I'm human too—this is just a powered suit I designed," Rhodes said, pressing a button on his helmet to reveal his human face.
Seeing Rhodes was human, the Cadian soldiers relaxed but didn't disarm.
"Lower your weapons! He just saved us. If he meant harm, he could have attacked us too," Creed said, pressing his men's weapons down.
"But, father—" a female soldier with purple eyes looked at Creed, wanting to say something.
"No buts, soldier. Don't you see the double-headed eagle emblem on his chest? Are you from the Mechanicus?" Creed asked.
That emblem usually meant Imperial forces.
"This armor was only completed thanks to a little help from Magos Belisarius Cawl," Rhodes said.
Yes, just a little help.
As the armor neared completion, Cawl visited to see the Zetton's masterpiece and helped with some assembly. He also took a look at the armor's specs.
Afterward, Cawl became very interested in Rhodes' armor. If it could be mass-produced, it could replace all current power armor.
After all, Primaris Astartes were far more robust than ordinary humans and should handle the armor easily.
Because of the black carapace, they could control the armor even better.
When the armor was about to be finished, Cawl gathered a group of Tech-Priests.
They even brought a small servo-angel, and with candles, incense, and sacred oil, performed a machine spirit awakening ritual for Rhodes.
They also inscribed the Imperial double-headed eagle on the armor, to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"I'm here to rescue you. This planet is about to be destroyed. Many of my drop pods are already evacuating people.
I detected trouble here, so I came to check," Rhodes said.
"Please, sir! If you can take Lord Castellan and his daughter, please take them—we'll manage," someone pleaded.
"I'll stay with my men. Please take my youngest daughter," Creed said, glancing at his attendant.
"Enough talk. Everyone, get closer to me," Rhodes said and then activated his teleportation bracelet.
With a flash of golden light, hundreds vanished and reappeared aboard Rhodes' flagship.
As the doomed planet's surface was swarmed by Mechanicus drop ships, Cadian soldiers were loaded onto transports.
Rhodes even deployed a hundred King Joe robots from his flagship, sending out their chest modules to rescue more soldiers—each could fit over 200 people.
Additionally, Rhodes' gene-sons descended to the surface, eliminating daemons and covering the Mechanicus ships' retreat.
They didn't board the ships, as each captain led their squads and had teleportation bracelets to return to the flagship at any time.
With the flagship upgraded to the highest level, the teleportation bracelets became standard gear—though only 100 could be produced per day, Rhodes now had over ten thousand silver bracelets.
Two bracelets together could teleport a force of several hundred, so this deployment included a full 100,000 Primaris Astartes.
"You… are you Space Marines?"
"They're so tall—taller even than other Space Marines!"
"They say Salamanders are big, but their armor is green."
Surviving Cadian soldiers speculated about these newcomers' origins.
Many guessed they were Salamanders or a Salamanders successor chapter since only Salamanders cared about saving regular soldiers or civilians.
However, some argued that even Salamanders, though tall, were dwarfed by these three-meter giants.
"Enough talk! Just know we're here to save you. Board the dropships—we'll handle the daemons," a Space Marine officer said.
As per the Gene-father's orders, they'd cover the evacuation, using their bracelets to teleport away when the planet could no longer hold.
The Cadians, showing their discipline, quickly boarded the crowded dropships, making room for as many as possible.
With Rhodes' Space Marines on the battlefield, the enemy on the surface was no longer a problem.
Cawl himself went to the surface, rescuing Black Templars, some Sisters of Battle, Living Saint Celestine, a millennia-old Ultramarine, Inquisitor Greyfax, and unknown Custodians, bringing them aboard his ship.
"Thank you for your rescue, Magos," said the Black Templars' High Marshal.
"Hmph, if you'd come sooner, maybe we could've won instead of retreating," Greyfax said.
"I was studying the Blackstone Matrix's effects. As soon as I knew there was danger, I came as quickly as I could, but was still a step late," Cawl replied.
He had come as fast as possible, using the Noosphere rather than the Warp—if he'd used the Warp, they'd have been cosmic dust by the time he arrived.
"The Magos wasn't on the Imperial relief list—this wasn't his job.
I'm already grateful he came," said Lord Castellan Creed, whom Rhodes had just saved.
About three million troops had left with the Imperial Navy, but over five million were abandoned.
Now, Cawl and the unknown being at his side had rescued all five million.
"Rescue operations are complete, Lord Primarch! The brothers on the ground are teleporting back," Chaplain Magro reported, bowing to Rhode.
"What did you call him? Primarch?" The senior survivors all stared at Rhodes.
"No need to doubt—he is a Primarch. The Emperor told me so," Living Saint Celestine declared.