The Hive City had suffered unimaginable, horrific destruction.
Majestic sculptures had toppled, their remaining bases covered in claw marks.
Buildings lining the streets had been reduced to charred ruins by artillery bombardment.
The ruins were filled with corpses.
There were tyranid bodies and human bodies, mixed together.
The cruelty of war was plain to see.
Humanity had paid an extremely heavy price for this.
Guilliman's heart felt heavy, but he forced a smile onto his face.
He was these people's faith; no matter when or where, he had to give them hope.
A leader with a worried face could not inspire faith.
Flanked by priests, crusaders, and the Honour Guard, he strode down a cleared and tidied road.
He offered faint smiles to the fervent people.
Giving them comfort, letting them understand that all danger had passed.
"Go and help them," Guilliman said to the two priests beside him. "Preach the glory of the Emperor and provide them with necessary protection."
"Understood, my lord."
Several priests who had been walking behind Guilliman nodded.
Then they broke away from the group and walked into the crowd, soothing their pain and spreading the Emperor's teachings.
Under Guilliman's command, medical teams were also examining the survivors who had endured so much.
They gradually began to treat the injured.
Mechanicus construction servitors and heavy machinery were also transported down from the fleet, beginning reconstruction work.
Of course, the previous style of prioritizing industry would be improved.
Planetary environment and industrial development would achieve a balance.
Guilliman walked through the crowd, heading deep into the fortress at the heart of the Hive City.
He entered a hall with a marble floor.
This had once served as the tactical command center.
Calgar had issued orders here, commanding the entire defense of Vitoria.
With the forces at his disposal, he had withstood the tyranids' frenzied assault.
This was an unimaginable and monumental achievement.
It would undoubtedly be celebrated and spread among the people of the Imperium in the future.
The destroyed array of cogitators was still leaking nutrient fluid, the skulls inside ripped out by the tyranids, nerve cables scattered everywhere.
The tactical projection machinery was also broken into pieces.
As Guilliman stepped into the tactical center,
Tech-priests were dismantling the damaged cogitator array and preparing to replace it with new cogitators.
Several hovering servo-skulls, extending long mechanical arms, were repairing the projector, occasionally sparking.
Cleaning servitors were moving the corpses.
Human corpses would be properly handled, while the tyranid corpses would be shredded and decomposed to become nutrients.
The conference table had also been damaged, with a large crack across its surface.
Tyranids always destroyed everything.
That had never changed.
A perfectly intact marble chair, belonging to Guilliman, had already been placed at the head of the conference table in the tactical center.
Guilliman strode over and sat in the main seat.
Other senior officers of the Expeditionary Fleet followed closely behind.
Reporting the full situation of the Expeditionary Fleet to the Primarch.
The tyranid encirclement and annihilation work was still ongoing.
The tyranid organisms on the surface had been mostly wiped out.
Of course, there were still some stragglers, hidden across the planet, requiring the planetary defense force to slowly search for them.
Genestealers might also be lurking in the lower levels of the Hive City; this was also an issue that needed to be taken seriously.
The tyranid bio-fleet had also suffered strikes from the Imperial Fleet.
With the cooperation of the Macragge's Glory and the Imperial Fleet, the bio-fleet that invaded the Vitoria system was completely annihilated.
A portion of the Expeditionary Fleet had already set sail to eliminate the tyranids in the depths of the void.
With the massive scale of the Imperial Fleet, the Behemoth bio-fleet would face its countdown to destruction, paying the price for its crimes.
After listening to the reports from all the forces, Guilliman looked at the tech-priest and asked if the relevant mechanical equipment had been repaired.
"Everything is ready, my lord," the tech-priest said.
Guilliman nodded. "Then open it. Display the full scope of the Imperium. I need to introduce the next plan to them."
"Understood, my lord," the tech-priest said.
With fingers like bird claws, the tech-priest activated the repaired holographic projector.
A massive holographic projection lit up in the hall, displaying the full scope of the Imperium.
The core Sol system and frontier regions like the Far East were all displayed.
Even the Imperium Nihilus, without the Emperor's guidance, appeared in the projection.
The Great Rift was also depicted, allowing a direct view of how dire humanity's current situation was.
Guilliman did not speak immediately but silently gazed at the massive holographic projector.
Like a creator looking down upon the world he had created.
The faint light of the projector illuminated his resolute, charismatic face.
Many senior officers of the Expeditionary Fleet could see the worry in Guilliman's brow.
They felt confused.
They had defeated orks, necrons, and tyranids.
Why was the Primarch still so troubled?
Guilliman did not explain, only focused on examining the projection of the Imperium's territory.
The Imperium occupied two-thirds of the galaxy.
Vast and boundless.
It was difficult for ordinary people to imagine how magnificent the Imperium truly was.
Only after merging memories and truly experiencing the galaxy, would one realize how ignorant the descriptions of the real universe in various documents, novels, films, and other literary works were, and how impoverished their imagination was.
Ignorant people revere gods.
People with wisdom will revere science and the universe.
Those who promote theistic superstition and creators who depict gods as incredibly powerful fail to realize the vastness of the starry river.
The distance between two planets is often measured in hundreds of millions of kilometers, requiring light-years to calculate.
The speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second, a speed that even the gods imagined by ancient people might not possess.
Even with the speed of light, it takes a long time to travel back and forth between two places.
Even the Flash would run himself to death trying.
The universe is the most worthy existence of awe and fear.
Its vastness is absolutely unimaginable to ordinary people.
The Imperium occupies two-thirds of the galaxy, insignificant in the universe.
But anyone who dares to say that the Imperium of Man, occupying two-thirds of the galaxy, is nothing special, is ignorant and foolish.
The sheer scale of the Imperium is absolutely unimaginable to humanity throughout history.
The Imperium of Man is the largest and most magnificent nation ever built by humanity in its forty thousand years of civilization.
A single Hive World alone has a population of tens or hundreds of billions.
It also possesses a vast number of fleets, the Astra Militarum, the Adepta Sororitas, the Titan Legions, and many other military forces.
Such a terrifying existence absolutely exceeds everyone's imagination.
Only top-tier individuals like the Emperor could build such a vast empire without technological means like intelligent AI or faster-than-light communication.
Gazing at the vast territory of the Imperium, Guilliman's expression became slightly solemn.
The Behemoth tyranid invasion had been repelled, and the Expeditionary Fleet was currently encircling and annihilating the remaining bio-ships.
The Ork Warboss had been killed by him.
The Sautekh dynasty, which had been poisoning the Imperium's frontier worlds, had also been annihilated.
The chaos in the Charradon sector has now been basically quelled.
And the next target is the neighbor of the Charradon sector, the Naflia sector.
In this sector, during the decline of humanity's first stellar civilization and the Long Night era before the Imperium of Man was established, there existed an alien civilization called the Naflia.
This civilization was extremely malicious; they controlled humans and used them to incubate themselves and gain power.
During the Great Crusade, this alien civilization was destroyed by Horus and Sanguinius working together before their betrayal.
For this reason, this sector was named the Naflia sector.
It is worth mentioning that the current base of the Dark Angels, the Rock, is located in the Naflia sector.
The Rock is also referred to as the Tower of Angels.
It is the home and fortress-monastery of the Dark Angels Chapter.
It is an extremely powerful super-battleship.
Equipped with the Imperium's most advanced warp engines and shield systems.
It has participated in multiple wars and repelled many enemies of humanity.
The scale of the Rock is no less than that of the Macragge's Glory, nor is it inferior to the star fortresses throughout the Imperium; it is one of the few giant warships in the Imperium.
This Tower of Angels was not built by the Mechanicus using steel, but was constructed from the remnants of the Dark Angels' home world, Caliban.
After the end of the Horus Heresy, upon returning to Caliban, the Lion discovered that Luther, who was responsible for guarding the home world, Caliban, had rebelled.
Furious, the Lion was determined to kill this traitor at all costs.
However, Luther had already turned Caliban into a giant fortress.
The Lion had no choice but to order the fleet to launch an unprecedented orbital bombardment on his own home world.
The violent orbital bombardment and the special power of the Caliban home world.
Ultimately led to the planet's disintegration.
Most of the debris was sucked into the warp.
When the rebellion caused by Luther was resolved, the surviving Dark Angels Legion looked at their shattered home world, reduced to mere remnants, with sadness.
Of the vast planet, only the monastery protected by shields remained intact.
They gathered the remnants, and around the monastery, spent a great deal of time and technology to build the Rock.
This fortress was not purely made of steel, but was built from the remnants of Caliban.
However, its defensive power is terrifyingly strong, one of the best in the Imperium.
Once the Rock joins a battle, it is the enemy's nightmare.
After its construction, the Rock began to roam the galaxy.
According to intelligence from the Expeditionary Fleet, the Rock has been staying in the Naflia sector in recent years, seemingly hunting some enemy.
Guilliman estimated that they had caught the scent of the Fallen Angels, which is why they were lingering in the Naflia sector.
It's truly difficult for them, still relentlessly pursuing the Fallen Angels after ten thousand years.
Perhaps, this matter could become an important means to firmly draw the Dark Angels to his side.
Presumably, the Lion's sons also don't want this mess to be exposed.
At this stage, it is very important to win over enough Imperial factions to his side.
Not to mention that this will strengthen himself.
It can also weaken the morale of the nobles who oppose his policies, letting them understand that if they start a civil war, no Chapter will help them.
Binding the Dark Angels firmly to his chariot, even if the Lion revives, he can be dragged down with them.
The Rock, he must visit it at some point.
"My lord, what about the next strategic arrangements?" Sicarius looked at his liege, who was tapping the table but not speaking, and prompted him.