Chapter 243: The Brilliant Plan to Decapitate the Emperor
A spacetime portal tore open in the void, its edges blazing with light that rivaled a star. Both sides froze mid-battle, startled by the sudden phenomenon.
The human fleet seized the opportunity to retreat, buying themselves precious moments to regroup.
"Have they returned?" Masaki Keigo stared at the portal, his expression caught between hope and dread.
The others shared his mixed feelings, they prayed to see Raven and the Emperor emerge, yet feared that more dark monsters would pour through instead.
"The spacetime field is distorting," Nori reported from his console. "Energy readings are off the charts. There's a risk of catastrophic destabilization."
"Something's wrong," Masaki Keigo said, frowning. "All units, evacuate from the portal immediately. Do not linger nearby."
The order rippled through the fleet. Giants and warships withdrew in orderly fashion.
"I need to bring Daigo back," Lina commanded from her battleship's bridge. As they retreated, she fired the tractor beam, pulling Tiga's petrified form away from the battlefield.
Tiga had defeated too many monsters over the years; if his statue remained here, the kaiju would surely destroy it.
Seeing the humans retreat, the monster swarms surged forward, filling the void around the portal.
"What is that?" Zogu, the Root of Destruction, approached the portal cautiously. She could sense a terrible presence emanating from within, something that made even her ancient power feel insignificant.
"Whatever it is, it cannot stop humanity's destruction," Gransphere declared coldly. After its previous defeat, the dark planet had developed an obsessive hatred for human civilization.
"This thing makes me uneasy," Queen Monera rumbled, her massive form examining the portal with countless eerie eyes.
"You, go investigate," Zogu commanded, pointing at the nearest metallic being: Apatee.
The creature resembled an armored Roman warrior, its right hand capable of transforming into a sword or a spear. A timer like that of the Giants of Light adorned its chest. Apatee dared not refuse and approached the portal reluctantly.
The moment it drew close, indescribable terror seized the creature. It tried to flee.
A beam of pure annihilation erupted from the portal.
The lance of energy stretched tens of kilometers wide. Apatee, standing fifty-two meters tall and weighing over fifty thousand tons, appeared insignificant before it. The creature was vaporized instantly.
The beam swept outward, consuming lesser kaiju. The Hyperdimensional Wave Monster Shaigomezad, the Sea Monster Bokuragu, and the Strange Beast Eye Q were all obliterated. Only leader-class monsters like Gransphere, Queen Monera, and Zogu possessed the power to withstand the beam's edge and escape.
Those who survived were filled with fear. The vast monster horde grew restless, an oppressive weight settling over them.
The whispers in everyone's minds grew louder, more powerful, shaking their very souls.
Then, through the portal came the fleet.
Perfect formations emerged in devastating synchronization, unleashing volleys upon the stunned monster horde. The dark void blazed with destructive light.
The Dark Angels had arrived. Loyal battle cries echoed through communication channels and from the throats of every warrior. Primarch Lion El'Jonson stood upon his flagship's command deck, drawing his blade. Radiance wreathed the ancient sword as he raised it high.
The Blood Angels' fleet followed. Magnificent warships poured fire upon the distant monsters. Holy Sanguinary Guard, their white wings spread wide, charged across the void with spears crackling with divine wrath. Their brethren in crimson armor followed close behind their gene-sire Sanguinius.
Every warrior's gaze burned with unwavering purpose. They would follow Sanguinius into the abyss itself. Neither hell nor oblivion would halt their advance.
The Ultramarines' fleet emerged. Roboute Guilliman, Lord of Macragge, raised his gladius, proclaiming war upon the darkness. Warriors in azure ceramite answered with thunderous roars.
They were reason made manifest. They were vengeance incarnate. They were war perfected. They were Ultramarines, and they knew no fear.
Behind them all came the Imperial Ambition, magnificent and terrible. Shipgirls in manifested rigging circled the vessel like loyal guardians. Thirteen Primes unfolded into flight mode, surging ahead as vanguard.
High above the ship, within the fortress rising from its spine, stood the noble Lord of Humanity, surveying the battlefield with ancient, terrible eyes.
Warships poured through the portal endlessly. The fleet's scale defied comprehension, like something from a fever dream made manifest. Behind the magnificent armada came the Imperium's Giants of Light, legions of Transformers, and fleets of shipgirls.
The assembled host blotted out the stars.
The Emperor gazed upon the dark monsters in the distance. He raised one hand in a simple gesture and spoke: "Let the fires of war burn. Purge all enemies!!"
And so began a cosmic conflagration that would shake the heavens themselves.
The raven perched upon the Emperor's shoulder took flight, soaring into the void. Before all assembled, it revealed its divine form, growing immense until stars themselves became mere ornaments scattered among its feathers.
With a piercing cry, boundless primordial power surged from the raven, flowing toward the Giants who had been petrified by exhaustion.
Ha!
Tiga's stone eyes snapped open. His pale, lifeless form blazed back to radiant glory. With a shout, he launched into the air, unleashing a searing shockwave that sent the monster pursuing Lina's ship tumbling away.
He hovered in the void, meeting Lina's eyes through the viewport.
She smiled. "Go, Daigo. Keep fighting for humanity."
Tiga nodded, then transformed into a beam of light, streaking toward the distant battle.
Under Raven's healing touch, every petrified Giant awakened, returning to peak strength and throwing themselves back into the fray.
"It's Mr. Raven! It's Mr. Raven!" In the command center, Masaki Keigo pressed his trembling hands against the screen, shouting wildly before breaking down in tears like a child.
The others watching the feed wept openly as well.
After their first victory against Gransphere, humanity had accidentally torn open the dimensional barriers and attracted countless monsters, leaving humanity with nothing but defeat. Colonies fell one after another, burned to ash by the kaiju hordes. Countless lives were lost.
No matter how desperately they fought, they could never overcome those creatures of darkness. They could only retreat, and retreat, and retreat again.
When they'd been forced back to the Solar System, Masaki Keigo had activated Project Fireseed, selecting children and technicians, storing humanity's accumulated knowledge in special devices, and launching them aboard a ship toward deep space.
If Earth fell, at least civilization's seeds would survive to find a new home among the stars.
But now, after so long, hope had returned.
Raven and the Emperor, who had once saved them, came back, bringing an army beyond imagination.
Across Earth's surface, humans in the shelters cheered upon seeing Raven's divine form. Despair vanished from their faces, replaced by fierce determination.
"We must avenge those who died!"
"Defeat those monsters, Mr. Raven!"
People wiped away their tears, clenched their fists, and shouted hoarsely, faces flushed with emotion.
The battle rapidly intensified. The entire void became a storm of devastating weaponry. This time, the advantage belonged not to the dark monsters, but to humanity.
"I knew following the Cursed One would prove profitable," Vashtorr cackled, extending countless thick metallic tentacles that coiled around a dark creature named Arjuros.
Like Apatee, this being belonged to the metallic lifeform species. Despite Arjuros's frantic struggles, Vashtorr held firm, steadily draining its dark energy to bolster his own power.
Another monster rushed forward to help its companion. The next second, it was crushed by invisible force.
Abaddon, clad in Terminator plate, activated his spacetime manipulation, obliterating the creature that had attempted to ambush Vashtorr.
"Thank you, human," Vashtorr said in broken Gothic.
"Don't thank me, daemon," Abaddon replied coldly. "I helped you only because we share a common enemy, nothing more."
"Why so formal? I think we could be excellent allies," Vashtorr suggested.
"Impossible." Abaddon shook his head. "Even if fate holds infinite possibilities, you and I becoming allies isn't one of them."
"That remains to be seen," Vashtorr said meaningfully.
Abaddon ignored him, charging toward other monsters. Vashtorr didn't care, he continued draining Arjuros until nothing remained, then dragged the corpse into the Warp. He collected other fallen kaiju as well, planning to transform them into weapons to teach those four bastard Chaos Gods a lesson for ganging up on him. If he didn't get revenge for that beating, how could he maintain any respect in the Immaterium?
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Primarch Vector Prime dueled the Cosmic Fighter Gregore. The kaiju was formidable, having defeated many Giants of Light.
But Vector Prime was the first creation of Primus himself. In many universes, he was considered a supreme deity.
Gregore attacked relentlessly, energy blades slashing against Vector Prime's AT field, unable to penetrate. He even unleashed Ultra techniques learned from captured Giants. None worked; all were deflected effortlessly.
Vector Prime's blade flashed once, severing Gregore's light weapons. A second strike pierced the kaiju's core, ending its existence.
The other Primes likewise engaged their chosen opponents with devastating efficiency.
At the battle's edge: "This is actually pretty fun!" Megatron said enthusiastically over comms. "What do you think, Optimus Prime?"
"I think it's adequate." Optimus Prime's particle cannon fired a brilliant beam that punched through a monster's skull.
"Stop chatting and help me!" Bumblebee's panicked voice crackled through.
Megatron and Optimus looked over to see Bumblebee being swarmed by several kaiju. They activated their thrusters immediately.
A particle beam lanced across the void. A vibro-blade carved through armor. Working together, they eliminated the monsters pursuing their comrade.
"Fighting's not fun at all," Bumblebee complained. "The recruitment holos made it look exciting. I thought I'd become a legend. Now I'm just happy to be alive."
"If you'd prefer to return to mining, I won't object," Optimus Prime said dryly. "But if you want AllSpark enhancements and advanced modifications, you need to accumulate merit."
"Optimus is right, I'm not going back to mining," Megatron agreed. "Come on, let's keep fighting. We'll make it through this."
In the battle's heart, the Primarchs engaged boss-class monsters in devastating duels.
"Who are you?!" Zogu roared, her psychic fury washing across every mind on the battlefield.
"The ones who will end you," Sanguinius answered, matching her rage with righteous wrath. "Feel humanity's fury."
Any existence that sought to destroy human civilization was beyond redemption.
Guilliman, Lion, Magnus, and others fought against Gransphere, Queen Monera, and the Cosmic Emperor with equal ferocity.
"These humans are too powerful," thought Etelgar, the Space-Time Demon God from another parallel universe. Unlike many kaiju, he possessed cunning intelligence. "If this continues, we'll lose. The only way to turn this around is to strike at their leader, break their morale."
His perception swept across the battlefield, locking onto the golden warship protected by god-class vessels. Someone important must be there. If he could kill them, it would shatter the human army's will.
"Decapitation strike, begin now!"
The Demon God activated his ultimate form, using his unique spacetime folding ability to transform into a purple streak of light. He shot toward the Imperial Ambition, shattering reality wherever he passed.
[End of Chapter]