These two planets were entangled with one another via gargantuan engines, causing gravitational distortions in the surrounding space that made it impossible for fleets to approach.
Only this towering, earth-bound siege cannon possessed the firepower to match the Lion's surging lethality at this moment!
He raised his arm and slammed his hand down onto the firing control without a second's hesitation, giving vent to his long-suppressed rage.
"FIRE!"
The Lion's throat worked as his roar shattered the air, making no attempt to conceal the thrill of vengeance.
In mere milliseconds, photoelectric signals bridged the gap across space, delivering the firing command straight to the siege cannon's arming room.
"Firing order received!"
A Ironwing warrior reported with rapid urgency, data streams flashing across his eyes as he confirmed every single telemetry directive.
"Directives verified!"
The Legion warrior's arm trembled slightly; confirming that the firing key originated directly from the command hall, he pressed the mechanical firing switch without hesitation.
HUMMMMMM—!
The plasma reactor whined softly as energy surged from its core, pouring through conduits straight into the siege cannon's converter array.
The Ironwing warriors dared not drop their guard, eyes glued to the fluctuating data to ensure every firing step was executed flawlessly.
The technology utilized by the siege cannons from Nul was mysterious and immense, its underlying principles difficult for them to comprehend. Their current operation was merely following the instruction manual step-by-step.
Should any anomaly occur, the Ironwing lacked the means to contain it; preventing an accident was absolute paramount.
The colossal gun shuddered slightly as energy flooded its frame, shaking off dust and yellow sand while straining the nerves of every Legion warrior present. If the siege cannon were to suffer a catastrophic detonation due to improper operation, the unleashing energy would reduce everything within a hundred miles to dust.
Fortunately, the resonance plates inside the cannon began to oscillate rhythmically, synchronizing to guide the resonance as the equipment smoothly entered full operation.
Zzzzzzt—!
The pitch of the harmonic resonance rose steadily, like a razor-thin needle piercing into the ears of the Legion warriors.
Inside the cannon's breach, no energy was visible; there was only a space warped to the absolute extreme, trembling under the influence of the resonance plates.
Suddenly, an invisible force broke free from its shackles, shooting forth from the hundred-meter-wide muzzle and hurtling straight toward the deflector hanging in the sky.
[Acoustic resonance received. Initiating deflection to designated coordinates.]
The deflector's automated machine intelligence completed the forcefield constraint in an instant, redirecting the soundwave toward the strike zone within picoseconds.
Watching the monitoring array, the Ironwing warrior felt a chill run down his spine as the power armor's internal cycling system swept away his sweat. The suffocating tension—like a fist squeezing two hearts—suddenly released, causing him to gasp for breath.
The principle behind the deflector paired with the siege cannon was simple: encasing raw energy inside a massive forcefield to transport it to any chosen coordinates.
Yet while simple in theory, executing it in practice was entirely beyond human hands!
With forcefield constraints acting within picoseconds, using the reflexes that Astartes took so much pride in to manually operate the deflector's energy projection was a pure absurdity. Only machine intelligence, paired with ultra-fast logic chips, could complete the entire process.
The warriors dared not relax, for the energy from the remaining siege cannons was already on its way!
Acoustic resonance, disintegration beams, helio-flare rays, and organic flash.
Four distinct weapons of apocalyptic destruction were all captured by the forcefield at the deflector's inlet, routed and separated within its interior volume, before emerging from the gargantuan exit aperture in distinct, defined streams.
High in the sky, ten thousand meters up, a brilliant display unfolded.
Four beams of different colors converged like the four edges of a pyramid into the deflector's entry array.
At the exit, however, a completely different scene took shape.
The rays of death were dazzling and blinding, wavering like raised whips or fluttering, beautiful ribbons—abandoning the property of traveling in straight lines.
To the eyes of the Rangdan warriors, it appeared as if a cosmic god had raised a whip of pure particles and brought it crashing down with unfathomable fury!
The earth-shattering energy was guided straight down into the defenseless Rangdan base.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A violent roar triggered a massive earthquake. As the crimson helio-flare rays struck, endless matter within the iron base instantly vaporized; atomic collapses triggered terrifying nuclear fusion, unleashing explosions that shook the very stars.
Yet the attack did not cease. Under forcefield control, the helio-flare rays swept continuously across the Rangdan base, expanding the zone of destruction to its absolute limit.
Then came the pale blue disintegration rays.
Resembling a celestial ribbon, it swayed softly across the sky—stunningly beautiful, yet dealing absolute death. As the disintegration particles touched the ground, atomic annihilation erupted instantly, leaving behind silent destruction wherever they passed. Matter was wiped out from the atomic level, leaving not even subatomic residue behind.
The invisible soundwaves slammed into the Rangdan base as well; beneath high-frequency vibrations, all matter disintegrated into raw atoms and molecules as iron foundries melted like soft wax.
Finally came the organic flash—a forbidden technology originating from humanity's Dark Age of Technology.
It burst in mid-air like the flashbulb of an ancient camera, casting stark shadows across the earth.
Iron, stone, and air—inorganic matter remained entirely untouched.
Only organic lifeforms, illuminated by the flash, vanished under eerie circumstances before they could even let out a scream, leaving behind nothing but faint silhouette shadows on the decks behind them.
They were gone forever, their information erased from the physical universe.
The organic flash precisely, instantaneously interfered with and reversed a critical physical process inside living organisms: quantum coherence. Organisms exposed to the flash had their highly ordered internal quantum states shattered, collapsing back into the most primitive, basic state of disorder.
The complex organic molecular structures comprising their living bodies broke down completely, as though an eraser had wiped an image from a canvas, leaving behind only a blurred shadow.
Four apocalyptic weapons wreaked utter havoc in an appalling spectacle.
The Rangdan base launched countless missiles and artillery shells, even risking warships by driving them into the gravitational distortion zone to rain orbital strikes down upon the humans.
Tragically, all their struggles and counterattacks proved pathetically futile.
The warships managed only a few sparse strikes before being torn apart by the gravitational pull at both ends, while macro-cannon shells and lance beams were all turned aside by the planetary shield. Missiles and long-range strikes from the ground merely raised ripples across the shield's surface, unable to land a meaningful blow.
Four-colored radiance danced like dragons and serpents, sweeping relentlessly across the field like divine judgment, slicing the Rangdan base to shreds.
Human warriors let out roaring cheers of triumph; the simmering hatred within the base was finally being avenged, and victory was within their grasp.
High atop the Seventh Wall, Blazkowicz and Selene leaned against the parapet, watching the Rangdan base crumble in a sea of explosions.
Selene shook his head, clicking his tongue in awe; seeing humanity's weapons of absolute destruction up close delivered a profound shock to his mind. He now understood why he had been instructed to return to the human fortress immediately upon completing Phase One.
Beneath that apocalyptic bombardment, even as a Primarch, he could never have escaped unscathed.
"Magnificent!" The pelt draped over his shoulders gleamed under the firelight as Selene voiced his admiration: "Xenos and twisted abominations deserve to be erased from the universe entirely."
Blazkowicz tore his gaze away from the ruined Rangdan base and looked up at the sky.
Planet VI dominated the entire firmament, its fortress hanging upside-down overhead, casting a heavy pall over Planet VII.
Yet he knew that the Rangdan's defeat would now cascade like an irreversible avalanche.
"The soaring serpent rides the mist, yet in the end turns to ash," Blazkowicz raised a hand, pointing toward the Rangdan home territory, as if witnessing the ultimate collapse of the xenos empire: "Once overwhelmingly dominant, the Rangdan Empire that gave humanity so many sleepless nights has finally met its ruin."
"Once the Dark Angels' battle concludes, we will land on the Rangdan homeworld."
Reflecting the high spirits of his brother in his eyes, a surge of heroic pride welled up within Selene's chest: "How fortunate I am to have arrived in time to witness humanity wipe out its ultimate mortal enemy."
Lowering his arm, Blazkowicz shook his head gently, a barely perceptible trace of sorrow passing through his heart. The war was drawing to a close, but the reckoning was only just beginning.
Moribar Solas—the Emperor's second son—judgment would descend upon him before long.
Catching that fleeting trace of grief in his brother, Selene felt that such an emotion had no place on a warrior of his stature.
"What happened—" Just as he was about to ask, a vibration from his comms interrupted his words.
"Brother," Lion's voice—tinged with excitement—came through the vox: "Please execute Phase Two of the operational plan."
"Executing immediately!" Selene's eyes narrowed as he responded solemnly: "Consider the objective secured."
"Go," Blazkowicz waved a hand, signaling that the mission took priority and any questions could wait for next time.
Selene nodded, turning to sprint along the wall. After putting some distance between himself and his brother, he vanished into thin air.
Phase Two of the tactical plan: Lion leads a force to breach the Rangdan command hall and execute the Silent Overseer by his own hand.
Seeing Selene vanish, Blazkowicz raised his arm and tapped his vambrace, speaking to the holographic projection of Sophia: "Send a transmission to the rear. Have the Disordered Array deploy to the battlefield."
"My Lord," Sophia's miniature projection appeared lifelike, a hesitation lingering in her eyes: "Is it truly necessary?"
As she asked, a wave of "sorrow" surfaced within her data core. The Disordered Array was her brother; thrusting it into war once more would cause its digital consciousness to perish under the sheer computational strain. As a digital lifeform possessing emotion, she wished to save what few brothers she had left.
"Its demise pains me deeply," Blazkowicz shook his head helplessly, his voice growing heavy with regret: "Yet we cannot stop it."
"The silicon virus has severely damaged the Disordered Array; its time is running out."
"Commanding the Killing Ring to erase the enemies of humanity is the grand, brilliant curtain call it truly desires."
Sophia said nothing more. Gathering her dress, she bowed low, her projection vanishing from his vambrace.