Samuel Young's consciousness bobbed and sank within the eternal energy field of the Golden Throne, like an ancient chess player situated at the intersection of spacetime, scrutinizing the massive chessboard before him formed by countless star systems, civilizations, and threads of destiny.
He focused his thoughts on the 22nd Universe, which had just undergone a drastic change—a reality that bore dark prophecies like those in All Tomorrows but had now been forcefully intervened in by the Empire.
The 22nd Universe—
The Qu civilization, which belonged to the core threat, had its main fleet suffer a devastating blow. Its remnant forces were being swept and purged by the expeditionary force composed of the four legions led by Lion, Mortarion, Perturabo, and Curze. Their destruction was only a matter of time.
The most direct blasphemy and pain it had inflicted upon human compatriots were being forcibly terminated by the power of the Empire.
The trillions of suffering human compatriots had their souls properly settled in the Heavenly Domain and were being shunted based on their personal wishes:
Those who chose to eternally reside in peace had found their place;
Those who chose reincarnation and new life had embarked on the cycle of rebirth;
And those compatriots who chose to retain their memories and return to the physical universe had successfully completed the anchoring of their souls to clone bodies, beginning to rebuild their lives and hopes in the new homes planned by the Empire.
Planetary environmental modification, reconstruction of social order, rollout of the educational system...
All of this and more were proceeding in an orderly manner.
From a macroscopic strategic level, the Empire's control over this universe was already solid, and the most critical juncture had passed.
However, this by no means meant the end of the conquest.
The mission of the expeditionary force led by Lion was far from complete.
In the Triangulum Galaxy, and even the vast sea of stars of the entire 22nd Universe, there existed countless intelligent civilizations of varying developmental stages.
Among them were many ambitious ones who, after witnessing the annihilation of the Qu and the forceful intervention of the Empire, might view the Empire as a new target to challenge or replace, dreaming of becoming the next god-level civilization to dominate the galaxy.
For the Human Empire, any potential forces that might threaten the overall survival and development of humanity in the future had to be evaluated and guarded against in advance, and if necessary, persuaded or eliminated.
Nipping threats in the bud was a cold yet necessary survival philosophy that the Empire had summarized during its endless conquests.
Therefore, the expedition of the four legions, after purging the Qu remnants, would transition to a longer-term integration and order establishment phase, a process that was bound to be lengthy and full of variables.
Furthermore, Samuel Young himself also experienced an unprecedented internal crisis due to this large-scale salvation operation.
The trillions-scale resurrection act triggered a flood of faith and a backlash of universal laws that repeatedly brought him to the brink of the critical point of dimensional ascension to godhood.
This was truly a paradoxical situation.
For the vast majority of intelligent life, becoming a god—gaining near-infinite power and an immortal form of existence—was almost an irresistible ultimate temptation.
However, Samuel Young harbored extremely deep vigilance and even resistance towards this.
He knew very well that once he crossed that boundary, his form of existence would undergo a fundamental change.
He might transform from an Emperor who cared for every specific subject into a cold god who only focused on the overarching concept of humanity, and he would no longer be a father.
The emotional detachment behind that omniscience and omnipotence, that sense of distance after transcending humanity, was not what he desired.
His original intention in establishing the Empire, conquering the sea of stars, and saving his compatriots stemmed from his cherishing of and responsibility toward every vivid life. This humanity was the source of his power and his unshakable self-identity.
Fortunately, with this perilous experience, he had a clearer understanding of this power and temptation, and had constructed psychological and willful defense lines in advance.
When the subsequent power of faith continued to pour in, he was already able to guide and digest it more skillfully. While integrating it into his own psionic system, he firmly anchored his cognition of himself as Samuel Young and as the Emperor, avoiding the crisis of being forcibly pushed past the critical point.
But the impact this brought was profound, intertwining pros and cons.
The drawbacks were obvious; the pressure in the future surged.
He had to remain vigilant at all times. When exercising heaven-defying power, especially when it involved the laws of life and death, he needed to weigh things more carefully to avoid triggering another frenzy of faith capable of pushing him toward dimensional ascension, or a severe backlash from the laws.
He was walking on a tightrope at the pinnacle of power; on one side was the supreme might needed to protect the Empire, and on the other was the endless abyss of losing himself.
The benefits were equally significant and held great meaning.
First, his own psionic capacity, having absorbed the trillions of newly born power of faith as well as the subsequent continuous nourishment, had already achieved terrifying exponential growth.
This growth was reflected not only in the scale of pure energy he could mobilize but also in his understanding of the essence of power and his perceptual precision across multiple dimensions.
He felt that his connections with the Warp and the underlying rules of the physical universe had both become much clearer and tighter.
Second, this essential enhancement also produced an indirect resonant buff for his Primarch sons.
He could sense that Lion, Mortarion, Perturabo, Curze, Vulkan, and the others, scattered across different universes, had their psionic flames burning a bit more vigorously, and their life essences faintly becoming more solid.
This was a nourishment that transcended distance, originating from their shared bloodline and soul connection.
But the benefit that surprised him the most, and contained infinite possibilities, lay in the qualitative change of his perceptual range.
Now, without needing an already established, physical spatial gate as a medium, he could more clearly perceive those human compatriots suffering in other parallel universes that had not yet been connected to the Empire.
It was no longer a vague echo or premonition, but a direct perception that could distinguish the general situation, even faintly hearing the despair, anticipation, and calling contained within.
He saw that in a certain universe, humanity had been reduced to batteries and spare parts under a mechanical tyranny;
He heard that in another universe, survivors were uttering their final prayers surrounded by a zombie horde;
He felt that in a certain dimension, human civilization was a faint flicker on the verge of extinguishing under the crushing weight of an alien invasion...
These perceptions were like countless tiny needles piercing deep into his consciousness as the guardian of humanity.
Although with his current power, he might not yet be able to accurately and stably open spatial gates directly leading to these specific universes—after all, the energy consumed and the precision required to manipulate spatial structures might still need time to accumulate or specific conditions—he was trying.
In the intervals between deep thought and experimentation, Samuel Young began trying to use his psionic power to conduct some extremely faint, extremely indirect interference upon the universes where he perceived those suffering compatriots, without directly opening stable channels.
For instance, casting a ripple of hope toward a city shrouded in zombie despair, capable of temporarily enhancing the willpower and stamina of some survivors;
For instance, implanting a vague concept like a seed about the possibility of freedom into a society suffocated by mechanical surveillance;
For instance, sending a fleeting warm image of a golden giant bringing salvation into the dreams of children trembling beneath the fangs of aliens...
These interferences were so minuscule they were almost imperceptible, and for the time being, could not directly turn the tide.
But they were like small pebbles tossed into a dark pond; they might stir a trivial ripple in the abyss of despair, sowing a seed waiting to sprout in the future.
The purpose was to preserve a spark, add a variable, and offer a slim yet genuine hope for those suffering compatriots as much as possible before the Empire's legions truly had the capability to cross the universal barriers, descend, and execute full-scale rescue.
The greater the power, the more suffering one sees.
Samuel Young silently recited in his heart.
This path was destined to be lonely and full of challenges, but he had no other choice.
Furthermore, after a prudent evaluation of the overall situation, Samuel Young believed it was time for the Empire to once again enter a strategic phase of recuperation and integration.
Simultaneously launching integration operations in two large universes—namely the 21st and 22nd Universes—especially with the scope of the 22nd Universe involving universal-level civilization purging and order reconstruction, required astronomical amounts of resources, time, and energy.
Although the Empire's war machine and administrative system were powerful, they also needed time to catch their breath and digest the spoils of war.
Continuous high-intensity expansion could lead to overextended frontlines, excessive logistical pressure, and indigestion in newly occupied territories.
As for the 21st Universe, that is, the Half-Life 2 universe, the situation had long become clear.
The Salamanders Legion led by Vulkan had completely taken control of Earth and launched a general offensive against the United Empire's dimension. Now it was merely the post-war integration of that dimension, proceeding step by step.
Therefore, on the premise of ensuring that the 22nd Universe expeditionary force had enough strength to continue executing purging and deterrence missions, and that the 21st Universe continued to develop as planned, the Empire would shift its main focus internally—digesting the new territories and populations of the 22nd Universe, perfecting management, and accelerating the social integration and talent cultivation of the newborn compatriots.
Integrating technological and cultural achievements from different universes, especially the biological technologies that might be deciphered from the ruins of the Qu civilization, which required strict purification and control.
Strengthening the power of the Primarchs and core legions, utilizing the resonance effect brought by Samuel Young's psionic growth to enhance the Empire's cutting-edge combat capabilities.
Perfecting the legal and belief systems, formulating strict regulations targeting newly emerged possibilities such as resurrection, with correct guidance from the State Religion to consolidate the foundations of social ethics.
Samuel Young also needed to focus on his own exploration and experimentation, attempting to deepen his understanding of cross-universe perception and indirect interference, to accumulate experience and power for potentially more precise multiverse rescue operations in the future.
The Empire's journey was the sea of stars, and even more so the endless multiverse. After a brief period of recuperation and honing, the light of humanity was bound to illuminate more worlds still struggling in the darkness...
If time were traced back and anchored in the 21st Universe...
On the side of City 17, just over a week after the spatial gate opened, on the top-level platform of the Citadel that had already been completely purged and controlled by the Salamanders Legion, space once again underwent an unnatural distortion.
But compared to the spatial gates that stably connected the origins of different universes, the channel opened this time appeared to have a single function.
A massive portal, its edges pulsing with unstable energy ripples, like a scorching wound torn across the veil of reality, was forcibly propped open.
Its interior was not a dazzling sea of stars, but rolling filth, mixed with biomass fluorescence and bizarre light resembling the oil paint of industrial waste, emitting a nauseating metallic and organic stench.
This was exactly the assault channel temporarily constructed leading to the home dimension of the United Empire, built collaboratively by the Empire's Engineering Division and the psionic agents of the Inquisition, based on the coordinates and physical parameters deciphered from Wallace Breen and the Combine database.
It was far less stable than the main spatial gates, its maintenance time was limited, and its carrying capacity was restricted, but it was sufficient to serve as a delivery path for an elite destructive force.
The massive, mountain-like bow of the 3rd Company's flagship, the Indomitable Holy Flame, was the first to pierce this restless energy curtain.
Closely following it was the main fleet of the 3rd Company, like steel dragons rising from magma, spewing plasma exhaust flames that purified everything, sailing without hesitation into that unknown and hostile dimension.
The moment they burst into the United Empire's dimension, even the battle-hardened Salamanders warriors felt an instinctive repulsion toward the bizarre scene in the space before them.
This was not pure outer space.
The background was an eternal, unsettling dark purple void, within which drifted thin, muddy nebulas resembling biological lymphatic fluid.
The most uncomfortable sight was the creations filling their field of vision.
Massive space stations suspended like some sort of giant biological organs, their surfaces covered with writhing fleshy membranes and signal-flashing metal inserts. Conduits resembling blood vessels or nerve bundles connected the various organs, transporting unknown substances and energy.
Small crafts shaped like insects or deep-sea creatures shuttled among them, their outer shells a bizarre fusion of biological keratin and alloy.
In the distance, the outlines of some planets were faintly visible, but they too seemed to have undergone large-scale biological modification. Their surfaces were covered with pulsating veins and tumorous structures, and their atmospheres glowed with a sickly fluorescence.
The entire dimension was permeated with a style that forcibly spliced organic life and cold technology together in the most blasphemous and discordant manner.
In the air...
If it could be called air, it was filled with a buzzing sound like the low humming of countless insects, as well as a bizarre odor bearing the stench of decay.
This was the lair of the United Empire, the materialized embodiment of its twisted aesthetics and ruling philosophy.
"Large-scale hostile life and construct signals detected."
"Anomalous energy readings, strong bioelectric environmental interference present."
"Prepare to engage the enemy."
Warning alarms sounded one after another within the bridge.
Almost at the same time the 3rd Company's fleet completed its crossing, the defense system of this dimension was thoroughly activated.
Countless biomechanical hybrid defense platforms turned their gun muzzles, and those observers resembling insect compound eyes locked onto the invaders.
Sun-blotting fleets of United Empire ships surged out from behind those organ-like space stations. Most of them displayed a fused form of crustacean creatures and gunships, spewing viscous biochemical ammunition and high-energy pulse beams.
Densely packed half-mechanical, half-biological infantry units began to mass like a tide on the planetary surfaces.
However, what greeted them was the silent and scorching fury of the Salamanders Legion.
"For the Emperor! For Vulkan! Purge this land of filth!"
Company Captain Gao Zan's resonant roar came through the broadcast.
The next moment, destruction descended.
The Indomitable Holy Flame, as well as the macro-cannon arrays and lances of all the warships, simultaneously unleashed a devastating volley.
Holy flames and purifying lances tore through the filthy void and violently smashed into the enemy swarm.
The explosive flashes were no longer purely metal fragments, but bizarre fireworks mixed with biological tissue fluids and electronic components.
Melta beams of naval gun caliber swept across those giant biological space stations like the judgment swords of gods. Wherever they passed, tough biological armor and metal frames were evaporated and melted through together, triggering chain explosions of the biochemical substances and energy stored inside.
Plasma cannon blasts smashed toward the biological infantry sea on the ground like a scorching meteor shower, turning those twisted creations, along with the living earth they stood on, into boiling scorched earth.
Drop pods and Thunderhawk gunships functioned like fire bees leaving their nests, forcibly breaching into the interiors of enemy facilities or key surface nodes. Their cabin doors opened, and the Salamanders, clad in dark green power armor and acting like mobile furnaces, roared as they charged out. Wielding bolters, flamers, and power weapons, they engaged in a brutal close-quarters melee with the swarming, variously shaped United Empire biomechanical soldiers.
Fire was their weapon, and also their faith, purifying all filth they came into contact with.
The main forces of the United Empire clearly did not expect the invasion to come so swiftly and so violently.
Their resistance was equally frenzied; biochemical acid, neurotoxic mists, plasma bug swarms, self-destruct units...
Various vicious weapons based on biotechnology were unsparingly thrown into the battlefield, also causing certain losses to the vanguard forces of the Salamanders.
But the Salamanders' advance remained steadfast.
Like red-hot iron pokers piercing into fat, they branded deep marks of blood and fire onto the body of the United Empire's filthy dimension.
A dimensional assault aimed at thoroughly destroying the core of this alien rule had completely broken out in this bizarre and filthy land...
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