Chapter 336: Strangling the Hope of the Imperium of Man |
Granite-5.
Demons and Chaos Orks ran rampant through the human settlements, plunging the industrial zones, residential districts, and mining sectors into a landscape of death and ruin.
Yet among the horde, a small cluster of demons behaved in a remarkably unorthodox way.
Instead of slaughtering for sport like the rest of their kind, they gathered under the command of a demonic warlord. They forced open the blast doors to the underground bunker of the Royal Court District and pushed deep inside to search for useful gear and salvage technological data.
Passing the office of the director of the Governor's Agents, the demonic warlord dismissed its subordinates, punched in the passcode to unlock the door, and stepped into the room alone.
Moving with practiced familiarity, it ransacked cabinets, cracked open combination locks, safes, and hidden chambers, extracting Power Armor, a Heavy Bolter, and an emergency communicator.
Once everything was gathered, it dragged out a heavy metal case, preparing to pack the items inside and relocate.
Right then, the emergency communicator crackled to life, receiving a broadcast beamed out to all Imperial agents across the planet.
The demonic warlord hesitated for a second before carefully extending a razor-sharp talon to press the receiver button.
Malcador was dead?!
A tremor shook the demonic warlord's heart.
Given the inevitable lag of Astropathy transmissions, this encrypted alert had to have been sent at least five Terran days ago.
That meant right at this moment, Regent Malcador's state funeral had already concluded.
Beep, beep, beep.
The emergency communicator caught another broadcast.
"Encrypted Terra transmission: By the Emperor's decree, the Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Raven Guard, and Space Wolves legions are deployed to crush the Palu Empire."
The demonic warlord gave a slight nod, entirely unsurprised by the broadcast's contents.
The boss of the Palu Orks had slain Imperial Regent Malcador; an act like that was bound to provoke a furious retaliation from the Imperium of Man.
Clenching its fists, the demonic warlord weighed whether to mobilize its own demon forces and plunge into the conflict to test their combat strength.
Through recent experimentation, the demonic warlord had figured out several inherent traits of demons.
The first trait was "Soul Devouring."
By destroying the physical vessel, a victim's soul lost the shielding of its fleshly shell, allowing the demon to consume it and grow stronger.
The Warp energy packed within mortal souls was extraordinarily pure and overflowing with negative emotions—an irresistible delicacy for any demon.
Because of this, every demon naturally feasted even as it slaughtered.
The second trait was "Warp Shifting."
By burning the Warp energy stored within their forms, they could execute a teleportation jump that entirely bypassed physical distance and barriers.
The more Warp energy burned, the farther the jump.
The third trait was distinctly detrimental: "Cognitive Distortion."
When staring at the control panels of voidships, atmospheric fighters, or armored vehicles—even if a demon had somehow learned how to pilot them—the warped, hallucinated imagery filling their vision made operating those vessels almost impossible.
The exact same problem plagued them when handling complicated scientific equipment.
Take the emergency communicator right in front of it, for example.
To a normal human's eyes, it was just a squarish metal box equipped with an antenna and a few mechanical buttons.
To the demonic warlord's gaze, however, it looked like a grotesque, pitch-black tumor covered in bristling stubble and tiny writhing tentacles, while the mechanical buttons appeared as bleeding, squishy eyeballs.
Had it not personally locked the device inside the safe in the past, the demonic warlord might not have recognized it at all.
Because of this limitation, hijacking a Chaos Ork starship and escaping Granite-5 with its original human body was a pipe dream.
The demonic warlord had to find another way out.
For instance, utilizing Warp Shifting to jump directly to another planet inhabited by human civilization.
Within the small star system hosting Granite-5, there happened to be three nearby planets that fit the bill: a mining world, an agricultural world, and a hive world.
Following Granite-5's fall, these three Imperial worlds had not suffered the same fate and remained firmly under the protection of the Imperial Army.
'If I hold a sacrificial ritual right here on Granite-5 to harvest a massive amount of Warp energy from souls, I can use a spatial jump to carry my human body over to another world. That should get me out of this death trap. As for explaining to His Majesty how I ended up teleported across space by demons... I expect I can concoct a plausible enough excuse.'
The demonic warlord muttered deliriously.
Right now, it felt a creeping dread that His Majesty would notice the abnormalities lingering in its human body—especially that bizarre heart capable of letting its consciousness possess a demon.
Such dark, heretical power would never be tolerated by His Majesty.
'Perhaps, once I escape this mess, I should perform surgery on myself, carve out this sinful heart, and hand it over to His Majesty of my own accord.'
Thinking this, the demonic warlord shoved its gear into the metal case, hauled it up by the handle, and strode out.
A short while later, deep inside a massive quarry on Granite-5.
The demonic warlord rallied roughly a hundred demons and launched a brutal ambush against another band of their kind.
It planned to harvest Warp energy from the souls of its own kind rather than turning its slaughtering blade upon humans.
Yet it severely underestimated the demons' competitive bloodlust and hunger for violence.
Initially, it was just a localized clash between two small packs of demons, neither numbering more than two hundred.
But the instant nearby demons and Chaos Orks caught the echoing roars of battle, the situation rapidly spiraled out of control.
More and more demons and Chaos Orks surged into the frenzy, transforming the sprawling quarry—stretching over thousands of square meters—into a churning meat grinder. Every passing second saw demons and greenskins toppling over amidst crazed cheers, only to be trampled into bloody sludge by countless feet.
The battlefield snowballed, swelling in scale and fury by the minute.
After fighting across the chaotic carnage for over half a day, the demonic warlord finally managed to catch its breath.
To its astonishment, the battlefront had expanded across the entire mining sector, and its own followers had ballooned from the initial hundred-odd demons to an army of fully 10,000.
This was the fourth trait of demons: "War Feeding War."
As long as a leader maintained an unbroken streak of victories, swarms of demons would naturally flock to their banner and join the ranks.
The demonic warlord gauged the pooling Warp energy within its frame and calculated how many subordinates it needed to sacrifice to leap straight to another world in a single bound.
It quickly concluded that sacrificing 1 million mindless lesser demons in one breath would provide enough power to transport its human body all the way to the nearest planet in the Granite-5 system.
Kill, kill, kill! Keep slaughtering until every demon within a hundred-kilometer radius bowed to its command!
Hack, hack, hack! Cut them down like mad! That damned heretical heart had blessed it with unholy abilities; if it didn't use this power to butcher demons right now, how could it ever survive the Emperor's interrogation?
Endless bloodshed bred death on a massive scale, sparking a localized Warp storm within the Empyrean.
This Warp storm should have erupted directly over the sector of the Warp mirroring Granite-5, yet for some inexplicable reason, its spawn coordinates shifted dramatically.
"Lady Elina, a Warp storm has materialized directly along our vector. The storm's scale is modest, and its energy readings aren't violent—it looks like it will dissipate quickly. Could this phenomenon be the exact storm foretold in the prophecy?"
Elina scanned the Augur Array's Warp projection.
Thanks to millennia spent communing with the Warp and shaping Wraithbone, the Eldar possessed far more advanced diagnostic tools for reading the Empyrean than the Imperium of Man.
Beyond the guiding illumination of the Astronomican, human Navigators were effectively blind, struggling to perceive anything in the dark depths.
Eldar Navigators, however, had no need for the Astronomican; they could effortlessly survey the shifting tides of the Warp across thousands of light-years to plot a safe passage.
The Warp storm currently glowing on the viewing console burned with a distinct crimson hue, proving it was born from a ruthless ritual sacrifice.
It likely took the horrific, instantaneous deaths of tens of thousands of living beings to conjure a turbulence of that magnitude.
Ordinarily, any fleet would steer far clear of a Warp storm.
Yet backed by the assurance of prophecy, the swirling vortex suddenly looked surprisingly inviting.
"Plunge into the storm without hesitation. Also, transmit word to our mon-keigh allies to follow us right in. If any of them straggle behind, their survival is none of our concern."
"Yes, my lady."
When the broadcast went out, the Eldar's brazen order triggered a wave of shock across the human armada.
Are you out of your minds?!
That was a Warp storm!
Once a ship breached those currents, nobody could predict where it might get spat out!
Those alien fanatics might treat prophecies like absolute law, but the authority humanity answered to wasn't some mystical seer or vision—it was the Emperor!
If over a thousand warships were annihilated inside a Warp storm, who could shoulder that responsibility?
The primarchs?
The primarchs would need to survive the storm first before anyone could talk about blame.
"Lord Russ, shall our fleet follow the Eldar armada into the Warp storm?" the helmsman asked.
Leman Russ furrowed his brow, his expression grave and brooding:
"If the Eldar's seer spoke true, this course might actually carry us right back into the galaxy. Do we have any better options left?"
Leman Russ swept his gaze over the bridge officers; around him, veteran commanders either shook their heads or lowered their eyes.
"It appears we have no choice." Leman Russ gripped the command railing tight.
"Pass down my orders. The Space Wolves will escort the Eldar straight into the Warp storm. As for the other three Space Marine legions, let their primarchs make their own choice."
"Yes, Lord."
The Space Wolves led the human vanguard into the Empyrean, charging headlong toward the tempest.
The other three Space Marine legions hesitated briefly before igniting their Warp drives and falling into formation.
Among the countless crewmen aboard, none suffered more than the human Navigators.
Their dread of Warp storms was etched into their very bones.
That agonizing sensation of souls being flayed, spirits tortured, and sanity chipped away was enough to drive any Navigator mad.
As the warships drew close to the roaring perimeter, that crushing torment hit an excruciating peak.
Yet the moment the vessels actually crossed the threshold into the storm's core, the Navigators gasped as a familiar, brilliant beacon pierced their second sight.
"It's the Astronomican!"
"Hahaha! We're saved!"
"I can see the light of the Astronomican!"
"We've returned to the galaxy! The Emperor protects! The Eldar prophecy actually worked!"
A grin broke across Russ's face as cheers erupted across the command deck.
Their banishment outside the galaxy had been brief, but the memories cut deep with bitter torment.
That suffocating, horizonless isolation was something none of them ever wished to endure again.
"Open the vox channels. Ask Elina whether her scouts have locked onto Lino's exact coordinates."
"Right away, Lord."
The holo-screen flickered to life.
Elina spoke without delay:
"We must set course immediately for another small star system stationed beyond the galactic rim. I just received verified intelligence: Lino is holding his second ascension ritual there right now."
"Outside the galaxy again?" Leman Russ hesitated openly.
Truth be told, he would rather fight surrounded by endless greenskins than voyage back into the deep void stripped of the Astronomican's guiding light.
The treacherous navigation conditions were only part of the problem.
Having to rely entirely on the Eldar was the other.
Being leashed to xenos whims was simply unacceptable in the long run.
Elina's voice sharpened with urgency:
"I know what concerns you, but trust me, we will not end up stranded outside the galaxy this time. The Seers of Luganath have volunteered their own Craftworld for this campaign. That vessel will ride with us, anchoring our Webway exit and smashing the Old Ones' automated turrets guarding the gate's realspace coordinates. Those Palu Orks won't sever our line of retreat again."
Leman Russ gave a firm nod:
"Very well, let us depart. I will relay your tactical data to Lion and the others."
The transmission ended.
The combined armada made only minimal preparations, skipping resupply entirely before plunging right into the Webway toward the site of the ascension ritual.
Back inside the Universal Hall, the Palu fleet keeping constant watch on Eldar movements spotted the incoming "guests" immediately.
Within moments, the tracking report landed directly on Lino's desk.
"Hiss—now that's interesting. How did they manage to get back to the galaxy so quickly?"
Studying the telemetry on his Dataslate, Lino felt both surprised and intrigued.
Still, now wasn't the time to dig into mysteries; his immediate priority was neutralizing the massive armada heading his way.
This target zone was a compact extragalactic system anchored by three suns.
Ringed around the particular star showing early signs of going supernova hovered two dozen bombardment vessels, each rigged with a maximum-yield Earth-Shattering Big Boom.
Lino left behind five biosphere ships as bait, two construction rigs, and five shadow-vessels generating a localized Warp shadow, and arranged three hundred greenskin gunboats as an escort.
Every other warship evacuated the sector via the Webway, shifting rapidly to the third ascension site well before the enemy arrived.
Roughly an hour later.
The four Space Marine legions of the Imperium of Man and the Eldar armada poured out of the yawning Webway gate.
The instant their Augur Arrays picked up the detonation signatures of the Extermination Weapons, the presiding tech-priest took one look at the scans and suffered a catastrophic logic circuit overload from pure panic. Several others fried on the spot, their heads smoking and sparking as they collapsed dead across their stations.
"My Lords! The greenskins have gone insane! They're trying to trigger a stellar supernova and take us all down with them!"
"No, wait—that's wrong! Their main armada isn't here! It's a trap!"
"Fall back! Fall back into the Webway!"
"Buzz—sizzle—beep—beep—beep—"
Blaring sirens from the Augur Array drowned out the frantic shouting across the bridge.
Before the horrified eyes of everyone present, that reddish sun laced with blue flared up with terrifying speed, its light shifting violently toward blinding white-blue.
Without warning, a total blackout engulfed the entire fleet.
The tech-priest manning the Augur Array slumped over his display console with a heavy thud, spending his final breath to wheeze out a despairing warning:
"High-energy... particle streams... have fried... every conduit... By the Omnissiah... the sacred spark... is extinguished!!!"
There was no pain, no screams, no resistance, and no space to dodge.
In the opening phase of the supernova detonation, an ocean of high-energy particles blasted outward in every direction, ruthlessly tearing through and disabling anything dependent on electromagnetic reactions.
That included—but was far from limited to—void shield generators, ship engines, logic circuits, and the delicate nervous systems of the human crews.
Across the entire battlefront, only the Eldar ships—built without reliance on electromagnetic reactions—and the Eldar warriors clad in Wraithbone Armor survived the blast wave intact.
Executing an emergency reversal at maximum speed, they dived back through the Webway gate mere seconds before the burning radiation tsunami washed over them, slamming the portal shut behind their fleet.
