Titan, also known as Saturn's moon Titan, is a satellite body orbiting Saturn.
It has no developed industry, little agriculture, and even a sparse population.
But the existence of this planet is extremely important to the Imperium.
Because Titan is the Fortress World of the Grey Knights.
The Grey Knights, specialists in combating Chaos and dealing with daemons, train and practice there, ever ready to march out to various parts of the Imperium to purge daemons.
During the Horus Heresy, the Emperor was already mentally prepared for the failure of the Webway Project.
Humanity would inevitably be poisoned by Chaos.
Ordinary weapons are not very effective against Chaos.
Psykers are too dangerous to use against Chaos.
Humanity must possess an army specifically capable of fighting daemons.
Only then could the continued existence of the Imperium of Man be ensured, preventing its destruction by those supernatural enemies.
Malcador recruited several Space Marines with extensive experience in combating Warp entities, making them the Grand Masters of the Grey Knights Chapter.
Combined with the Gene-seed newly created by the Emperor.
Thus was born the Grey Knights Legion, skilled in psyker abilities and capable of resisting Warp corruption.
The Grey Knights are uniformly composed of psykers, implanted with the Gene-seed specially crafted by the Emperor.
They are absolutely loyal; throughout ten millennia, the Grey Knights have never once betrayed the Imperium.
Like the Custodes, the Grey Knights can resist the erosion of Chaos.
For ten thousand years, the Grey Knights have roamed throughout the Imperium, hunting down terrifying daemon entities and containing forbidden artefacts harmful to the Imperium of Man.
Few people know of their existence.
Because when the Grey Knights are deployed, it often signifies that the situation has reached a critical, irreversible point.
In such circumstances, not many living beings would remain conscious.
Nor would the Inquisition allow those people to live and recount their experiences.
Many worlds purged by the Grey Knights would undergo sterilization or direct execution of survivors.
Of course, this practice was feasible in the past.
With the emergence of the Great Rift, Chaos is no longer a secret that can be hidden.
When Terra faced the crisis of daemon invasion.
Titan responded to the call of the Custodes, dispatching strike forces.
Sending personnel to intervene and resolve Terra's problem before the situation completely deteriorated.
The unrest continued, and Terra's sky was blood red.
As the rioters' rebellion spread, the eerie whispers grew stronger.
Those daemons were using the rioters' slaughter and blood sacrifices to enter the material universe.
They wanted to enter Terra and completely end the Imperium of Man.
The Custodes, the Grey Knights, and the forces loyal to the Emperor would stop this crisis.
Standing on the city walls, Valerian observed the Grey Knights.
These cousins possessed special skills that the Custodes lacked.
They efficiently killed and expelled the daemons and abominable Warp entities.
Their efficiency was much higher than that of the Custodes.
Furthermore, their strategies were more effective.
As a scholarly Custodian who enjoyed spending time in Terra's great libraries, Valerian knew many secrets of the Imperium.
Like the Custodes, the Grey Knights can fight and kill daemons, possessing a stronger immunity than others, an immunity to the temptations of the Warp.
The Grey Knights were the last gift He left before ascending the Golden Throne.
An important means for humanity to survive in the face of the cruel Warp.
In the Sol System, there are two libraries storing knowledge for combating daemons.
One is located in the Tower of Hegemon within the Inner Palace, an archive exclusive to the Custodes.
A larger library is located on Titan.
Those forbidden pieces of knowledge can only be considered safe when placed in these two locations.
Although far from Holy Terra, Titan still received His protection.
In the final moments of His walk, as the Chaos-dominated Horus drew closer to Holy Terra, Titan silently disappeared.
It truly disappeared.
With His supreme power, He isolated Titan's space from the material universe, placing it in a safe corner of the Warp, waiting for the Horus Heresy to end.
The Grey Knights safely weathered that earth-shattering siege within the sanctuary and fulfilled their original mission in the years that followed.
Valerian observed the Grey Knights for a moment before retracting his gaze and his thoughts, focusing on the matter at hand.
The Grey Knights' mission is different from the Custodes; after clearing out the severely mutated rioters, they will leave for the next battlefield.
After the Great Rift appeared, the Grey Knights' combat missions increased significantly, forcing them to rush around, suppressing daemons everywhere to prevent the complete collapse of the Imperium of Man's system.
The Grey Knights supporting Terra were the last available forces from Titan.
The remaining Grey Knights had to strictly guard Titan, preventing the sealed monsters and forbidden artefacts from getting out of control.
Valerian stood on the walls of the Lion's Gate, watching the defending soldiers, with the help of the Grey Knights, repel the abominable creatures time and time again.
Many civilians had been transformed, becoming half-human, half-daemon.
Mutations like growing fangs, sprouting strange wings, and so on.
The wave of supernatural violence intensified, and agitators appeared everywhere.
Gathering in groups with their followers, begging for foolish blessings from the Warp.
Some people were genuinely corrupted; for years, they had served Chaos, and today was what they had painstakingly brought about.
Some were poor wretches driven by deceit and despair.
The corruption of the Imperial bureaucracy had eroded their trust in the Imperium, and their fragile minds were warped by the terrifying sights appearing in the sky and their empty stomachs.
With the walls of the Lion's Gate as the boundary, the situation outside had long since become a mess.
Especially after Tieron's death, no one was organizing the logistics for the various Imperial forces.
The morale of those forces plummeted, and they had no heart for combat; after all, no one wants to work on an empty stomach.
Within just a few days, the Imperium lost control of most residential areas.
Magnificent cathedrals became places of fallen blasphemy.
Statues commemorating Imperial heroes were desecrated.
For this to happen right under His nose was truly a dereliction of duty.
Suddenly, a message entered Valerian's personal data-slate.
Observation posts in low orbit detected a large gathering of rioters near the Processional Way, along with excessively strong Warp energy.
Valerian reviewed the information in the message and then requested the man in charge of managing the mortal forces to assemble a detachment for him.
He was preparing to clear out the gathered traitors, preventing them from forming a larger wave.
After fighting for such a long time, Valerian finally learned that the man's name was Yob.
Yob was from the world of Catachan, a veteran who had experienced many battlefields.
Yob assembled a force of two hundred men for Valerian, and also found several Valkyrie gunships and Stormraven gunships.
Valerian's objective was to hold the Processional Way, a road extending from the spaceport all the way to the inner wall, with a width of over three hundred meters.
He needed to ensure this road remained clear so that retreating forces could safely return behind the walls to rest.
Once the Processional Way fell, they would completely lose control of the situation outside.
To this end, Valerian repeatedly carried out clearing missions, hunting down the already mutated monsters along the road.
Gunships took to the air, their weapon systems adjusted to maximum sensitivity.
The towering buildings of the hive city appeared on either side of the gunship formation.
Many buildings were shrouded in fire and thick smoke, mixed with screams and desperate roars.
The fire control system constantly adjusted the linked weapon systems on the gunships.
As soon as the slightest hint of danger was detected, the fire control system would open fire directly.
Valerian stood in the gunship, his gaze heavy as he looked at the buildings shrouded in thick smoke and flames.
Tens of billions of people were still hiding inside those living tombs.
Valerian was pessimistic about how much sanity they had retained.
Without food, without safety.
They had likely already broken down under the double torment of rioters and whispers.
The Adeptus Arbites had collapsed, completely unable to maintain security in the outer areas.
At first, some forces went to various residential areas to suppress the rioters.
But soon, those forces disappeared.
No news came back; they were simply lost in the riot suppression operations.
Later, the Adeptus Arbites gave up on further suppression efforts.
Because the rioters were not just rioters; there were also many mutated, abominable monsters among them.
Valerian suspected that many people inside those buildings had gone mad, becoming abominable monsters.
In this matter, he resented the cowardice of mortals and the incompetence of the High Lords.
But at this point, solving the problem was the most crucial thing.
Ragged banners were hung outside burned-out windows, smeared with symbols of Chaos corruption.
Everyone ignored this; removing these banners was meaningless.
The madmen would retaliate by putting up even more banners.
Valerian looked up at the sky through the gunship's hatch.
He felt a vague sense of unease.
The sky was getting redder, even forming a strange blood-red eye.
It was as if a madman craving war and slaughter was peering at the Throneworld.
People on Terra could not see the sunrise or the sunset.
Even when sleeping, they would be plagued by endless nightmares.
The High Lords' foolishness had created a gap in Terra's defenses.
There was no way to protect the innocent civilians who remained in the vast residential areas, nor was there any way to protect the important industrial production.
The forces could only huddle behind the walls, allowing large areas of residential districts and factories to be overrun by rioters.
Inside the cabin, the fully armed Yob sat beside Valerian, appearing even smaller.
In his hand was a safety manual still smelling of ink.
Valerian glanced at it; it bore the imprimatur of the Departmento Munitorum.
Special Strike Force Safety Operations Protocol.
One: Do not heed the whispers in your ears; they are pure nonsense. Disgusting, loathsome things. If you find yourself focusing too much on listening to the whispers, or if you notice other soldiers appearing dazed or misled by the whispers, please contact your nearest Inquisitor.
Two: Do not act alone; you must ensure that at least five people act together, carrying reliable communication equipment and sufficient weapons and ammunition. If not, please request such supplies from your superior. If your superior is unwilling to resupply you with weapons and ammunition and insists on sending you to a dangerous area to perform a mission, please contact your nearest Inquisitor.
If Custodes or Grey Knights are accompanying you, this rule is void.
Three: During the mission, ignore any pleas for help from citizens of the Imperium; our priority is to ensure the safety of the Holy Emperor. Do not waste time on any unimportant individuals, regardless of their previous status. Remember, no one is more important than the Holy Emperor. If you find someone violating this rule, attempting to help trapped citizens of the Imperium under various pretexts, please stay away from them, protect yourself, and contact the Inquisition promptly.
Four: During the mission, if you encounter citizens of the Imperium wrapped entirely in clothing or showing physical mutations, you may fire directly. This order is signed by the captain-General of the Custodes, so you need not worry about being held accountable by a military court afterwards.
Remember, humans have only two eyes side-by-side, two ears opposite each other, a mouth smaller than the head and larger than the eyes, humans have a nose, two arms of equal length, and five fingers.
Humans do not have blood-red wings, nor bone spurs or horns; their mouths do not have fangs, nor do they have tentacles on their bodies.
If you encounter individuals with such characteristics, the Departmento Munitorum permits direct shooting and killing, without incurring any military consequences.
Five: When encountering large gatherings, you may use a loudspeaker to warn them to comply with the curfew regulations, demanding they disperse immediately and return home. If the warning is ineffective after three times, or if the other party shows aggressive behaviour, lethal military suppression methods may be employed.
They have betrayed the Holy Emperor; do not show any mercy or hesitation.
Six: You are not permitted to pray to any entity other than the Holy Emperor, not even your deceased parents or elders; you may only pray to the Holy Emperor.
Any soldier who violates this rule will be punished by the Inquisition.
7: The dissemination of any religious books other than the state religion is prohibited, even discussing them is not allowed. If anyone is found to violate this, please contact the nearest Inquisitor.
30: If you encounter an indescribable, inexplicable monster, and a round of saturation attack has no effect, you are allowed to abandon the mission and escape the danger zone, and contact the nearest Inquisitor.
Your lives are not important, but you are the Emperor's currency.
The Emperor's currency should not be wasted on an unkillable monster, that's the Inquisitor's job.
32: During the mission, if you see any of the following creatures, you can open fire directly.
A: A writhing black shadow.
B: Children and women crying with their backs to the team.
C: Citizens exhibiting any non-human characteristics.
D: People with strange smiles.
E: People who keep telling you there is a true god outside the Emperor, and so on.
33: Before entering a building to explore, if you hear unusual sounds or see images similar to illusions, do not hesitate, directly conduct fire coverage on that building.
34: If you encounter a lone Inquisitor or a lone Inquisitor's assistant, immediately demand that the other party lay down their weapons, and immediately contact the nearest Inquisitor team to confirm the other party's identity. If the other party is unwilling to comply, you can attack immediately.
35: Inquisitors have their own strike teams. If the other party is alone and strongly demands you enter a dangerous area but is unwilling to show the corresponding authorization documents, you can attack directly.
40: The Adeptus Arbites' riot control forces are no longer deployed. Any radio message in the name of the riot control forces asking you to provide support does not need to be heeded.
41: If you find a lone psyker, please contact the nearest Inquisitorial team, and do not provoke the other party.
42: If you feel an area suddenly becomes cold and frost appears, please leave immediately. If conditions permit, you can request fire coverage of this area and apply for Inquisitor team support.
57: Emperor's Angels do not have so many bone spurs on their bodies, and there will be no writhing flesh on their power armor. If you see these guys, do not hesitate, shoot directly.
They are traitors, just shoot them.
60: If you find rioters gathering on a large scale and sacrificing innocent Imperial citizens, you must call for artillery support and Inquisitors. Do not have any mercy, otherwise more people will die.
75: If you find an Imperial vehicle that has grown spikes or fleshy eyes or other mutations, you can try to purify it with a flamer until it returns to its original appearance. If it does not recover, you can choose to abandon it.
76: Loyal Imperial vehicles have no legs, no eyes, no arms, and they do not scream. Any Imperial vehicle that has grown legs, arms, and emits human roaring sounds is a sign that the machine spirit has been defiled. Attacks are permitted. This order has been approved by the Fabricator-General.
90: When questioned by an Inquisitor, please honestly answer everything you know, even if the other party wants to know how many meals you ate today, you must answer truthfully.
Lying is likely to be considered a potential for corruption, and thus be purged by the Inquisitor.
There were many rules, densely packed. Valerian saw over 170 of them, all of which were countermeasures for various emergencies.
Mortal forces are extremely vulnerable against daemons.
Their weapons cannot effectively kill those monsters from the warp.
But daemons are not omnipotent.
They also have weaknesses.
These rules can give mortals some advice and improve their survival rate.
Given the fragile minds of mortals, only a little truth can be revealed, letting them know who the enemies they are fighting are.
As for the rest, knowing too much will only poison their minds.
These safety rules avoided some problems to the greatest extent and provided Yubal and other grassroots officers with methods to handle various emergencies.
"Sir, we've arrived. The auspex shows a large number of biological targets gathered here," Yubal's voice rang out. "Those rioters might be having a gathering."
Valerian gripped the war glaive in his hand tightly, and the ammo serf behind him also entered a combat state.
It would resupply Valerian with ammunition and carry his spare weapons.
"Let's land," Valerian said, looking at the gradually appearing gate.
His destination for this trip was a heavy facility production factory near the Parade Avenue.
Intelligence indicated that a large number of rioters were gathered here.
Valerian had to clear them out to ensure the stability of the Parade Avenue and ensure that the withdrawal of other troops would not be interfered with.
The gates of the factory facility were damaged, and tall fortresses on both sides rose up in the rising black smoke.
Valerian brought up the relevant facility blueprints and found that this place was a labyrinth composed of a smelting plant and assembly lines.
It was built countless years ago, when Terra could still manufacture products itself.
Later, this place was often used to recycle unwanted central equipment.
Especially military equipment that was too costly to dismantle and too low in value to export to other planets.
This place provided a compromise solution, which was to convert discarded military equipment into civilian equipment and put it back on the market.
This could also stimulate some economic activity and provide employment opportunities.
Fighters and gunships roared under the low beams, and the airflow from the jet nozzles stirred up dust on the ground.
Amidst the low roar.
Valerian and the strike force led by Yubal landed on an open space shrouded in black mist, making visibility unclear.
Valerian was the fastest. He leaped down from the fighter jet, his heavy body landing on the metal ground without making a sound.
Metal debris was scattered on the ground.
The mortal troops led by Yubal filed out of the hovering Valkyrie gunship's cabin.
They marched in formation across the constantly clanking ground.
The lights hanging on the muzzles of their lasguns glowed in the darkness.
This place was like a giant tomb, dim and cold, exuding an unsettling aura.
The unstable power supply system caused the lights to flicker, adding to the strangeness.
Posters or leaflets with various blasphemous words were scattered everywhere, and were blown around by the wind coming from who knows where.
Super heavy equipment of the Astra Militarum was once deployed here, and now giant mechanical arms forming lifts are still hanging in the shells of the machines that have stopped operating. They exude the smell of acidic oil and decaying metal.
With his superhuman senses, Valerian could hear the sounds of the enemy coming from deep within the factory.
They were not trying to hide their presence in these places.
This also meant that evil was becoming more rampant on Terra.
These damned traitors were no longer like rats in a sewer, who would flee in panic once exposed to sunlight.
Now, they openly revealed their presence.
This attitude of utter disregard for the Imperial strike angered Valerian; it was a blasphemy that could no longer be tolerated.
"Advance with caution," Yubal ordered his subordinates.
Valerian ran, like a lion poised to strike, eager for slaughter, charging towards the depths of the factory.
Empty cage lifts hung like lanterns in the darkness, silently abandoned in unfathomable shafts.
After running a certain distance, he could already see them organizing themselves, preparing to swarm out and confront the Imperium.
The team led by Yubal followed as closely as possible behind Valerian.
But soon, they fell behind.
Valerian, clad in golden armor, advanced with fury, the war glaive in his hand crackling, arcs of electricity swirling around his weapon, an external manifestation of the tearing field.
Valerian burst into what was once the assembly hall, where the conveyor belts used to transport large parts were still in place.
Some conveyor belts even had the wreckage of battle tanks scattered on them.
They lay exposed like monuments.
The empty assembly hall had become a corrupted abyss.
Humans loyal to the Emperor were hung from the high ceiling by barbed chains, their bodies twisting in agony in the foul air.
Their eyes had been gouged out, and large areas of their skin had been flayed.
Blood dripped down their bodies.
What a cruel scene this was.
The rioters had not cut out their tongues, letting them scream in pain.
The screams of the desperate were also excellent offerings, which the Chaos powers would gladly accept, encouraging the rioters to offer more.
Huge eight-pointed star patterns were carved on the walls by the workers here with their tools, and then smeared with the blood from the slaughter.
Amidst the pungent smell of lubricant.
Valerian's keen sense of smell could detect the smell of human blood, sweat, and despair.
All the rioters were devoutly gathered around a Mechanicus command console.
A huge metal platform, covered with a massive number of cables, and noisy mechanical appendages.
Two half-mechanical heads hung above, dripping a mixture of oil and blood.
It was clear that before the riot, these two mechanical heads had belonged to two tech-priests.
Below the hanging heads was a priest wearing a torn red robe.
The markings of Mars, the gears and steel, had disappeared, replaced by a crude eight-pointed star pattern.
The priest held a still-beating heart in his two bloody hands, raising it high, as if asking for a blessing.
The one whose heart he had taken was an Imperial soldier.
The chest of that poor soldier had been torn open, exposing his stark white ribs.
Valerian recognized the other party; he was a soldier who had taken a troop transport through the Lion's Gate three days ago to perform a cleanup mission in a hive city, and was later reported missing.
Not only soldiers, but also some innocent citizens.
They were placed on the conveyor belt, their hearts removed in the same manner, and offered by the rioters to their gods.
The corpses had soaked the conveyor belt with blood, emitting a pungent bloody smell.
In cages further away, some captured soldiers and citizens let out excited sounds upon seeing Valerian's arrival.
The golden armor represented the incredibly powerful Custodes, who could slay even daemons that crawled out of the warp with a single blow, and were the most feared existence by the rioters.
They felt they were saved.
The rioters turned around and looked at Valerian, their eyes filled with brutality and cruelty.
The souls of these people had been completely twisted, turning them into abominable monsters.
Like this factory, their bodies were breeding the evil power of Chaos.
The rioters' skin was pale, their eyes were pure black, and their tongues had malicious spikes and were crimson.
Bloody tattoos were carved on their faces with dull knives.
Fragments of metal were nailed into the folds of their skin, letting the wounds bleed.
There was no fear in their eyes, not even for a Custodian, they had no reverence whatsoever.
"Traitors," Valerian roared, brandishing the war glaive in his hand and charging forward.
He was a blade forged by the Emperor, and even if they had received some blessings from Chaos, these rioters were no match for him.
The war glaive swung, like harvesting grass.
Valerian easily struck them down, and the rioters who surged towards him instantly turned into shattered limbs.
He charged directly towards the control console, to stop this large-scale blood sacrifice ritual.
"Fire, don't let anyone escape. Request fire support from the Inquisition, tell them there is a blood sacrifice ritual happening here," Yubal's voice rang out, organizing the troops to start shooting, reducing the pressure on Valerian.
The beams of the lasguns dispelled the gloom of the factory, illuminating the twisted and mutated flesh.
The rioters screamed curses, swarming forward like beasts.
Hundreds, thousands, then over ten thousand, surging forward in a dense mass.
Some mutated rioters wielded sharp, black iron-gleaming nails or bone spurs dozens of centimeters long.
Some also held crude weapons, swinging them wildly and without any pattern.
Their eyes were all wide open.
Some even had more than just one pair of eyes, with seven or eight eyes growing on their faces.
All of those eyes exuded malice, revealing madness and a lust for slaughter.
Valerian showed no mercy; the halberd in his hand swept through the crowd, and no one could even touch his armor.
In just a few breaths, a circle of torn flesh and broken limbs lay scattered around him, and the places he passed through were all drenched in the pungent smell of blood.
He moved quickly, killing at a high speed in an orderly fashion.
The sound of heavy weapons boomed.
Coaxial laser cannons and bipedal heavy servitors also joined the fight.
The heavy firepower deployed by Yubol began to take effect.
A whistling sound came from the sky again; the reinforcements he requested would arrive soon.
Yubol's priority was different from Valerian's; he was rescuing trapped comrades and citizens.
Yubol knew clearly that the battle between the mutated thugs and the Custodian Guard was not something he could interfere with; rescuing people was what he should be doing.
Valerian slaughtered thousands of thugs, and even though they were mutated, they were like grass before him.
Valerian was designed this way.
The Custodian Guard were designed before the Emperor even ruled Terra.
When the war was at a disadvantage, they would be sent to the most intense battlefields, relying on their combat skills and ferocious might to turn the tide.
Soon, Valerian approached the command platform, a path of blood and severed limbs already laid out at his feet.
The closer he got to the command platform, the stronger the oppressive feeling in the air became.
A chilling coldness and malice permeated the space, spreading through the air.
The priest was indifferent to Valerian's approach; he was still sacrificing those poor souls.
Efficient, like a butcher.
His mechanical prosthetics provided great assistance.
One mechanical prosthetic grabbed a victim, another disemboweled them, took out the heart, and threw the corpse back onto the conveyor belt.
Efficient, simple.
In line with the principles of the Mechanicus.
Valerian could see the pile of hearts, dripping with blood, just piled there, pleasing the great powers of Chaos.
The thugs became even more excited.
The twisted mutations on their bodies became even more terrifying, and some thugs could no longer even be recognized as human.
They were on all fours like beasts, revealing sharp fangs and blood-red wings with bone spurs.
Valerian's speed began to slow; the thugs with deep mutations put some pressure on him.
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the air ahead.
Energy stirred the air currents, blowing away all the gathered thugs.
Five crackling, arc-flashing beams of light descended from the void.
In the light, the outlines of silver-grey warriors carrying halberds and crackling thunder hammers emerged.
The Inquisition reinforcements requested by Yubol had arrived.
The Grey Knights are part of the Inquisition, and they often operate alongside Inquisitors.
Their actions were highly efficient; the moment they landed, they were already poised and ready, swinging their weapons to meet the thugs.
Valerian adjusted himself slightly; while slaughtering, he was still observing the Grey Knights' combat and coordinating with their rhythm to achieve more efficient killing.
With the Grey Knights joining the battle, the victory for the Imperial side was inevitable.
Valerian cut his way upwards, and crushed and mangled corpses were scattered onto the conveyor belt.
They leaped over the approaching chasm, jumping onto the high platform of the command station, grabbing onto the vents on its outer shell, and pulling themselves up.
Valerian was the fastest. Upon reaching the control platform, he saw the priest just as he was tearing the heart out of the last victim.
Next to the priest stood two blessed thugs.
Their muscles were bulging, their bodies swollen, and their size was even more exaggerated than that of a space marine.
They were wrapped in chains and marked with the chaotic symbols of the Blood God.
The moment Valerian stood on the platform, they roared and charged towards him.
Unfortunately, Valerian finished them with just a single blow as well.
Shattered limbs were swept away by the brutal force, scattering across the ground.
The Mechanicus priest was not moved by this; he turned to look at the Custodian Guard, a mocking smile appearing on his face with its implanted metal devices.
He crushed the victim's heart, and blood spurted out.
"You've come, but everything is already predetermined," he said.
Valerian pulled the trigger on his halberd, and the bolter rounds tore the priest apart, his scattered limbs falling among the thugs below, causing them to scream even more piercingly.
When the Grey Knights arrived, Valerian had already killed everyone on the platform.
"We are late," the leading Grey Knight said.
Valerian turned his gaze towards them; five Grey Knights had reinforced him in total.
They carried different power weapons, which glowed with the blue light of a disruption field.
Pure symbols were etched onto their weapons and armor.
"We ended the blood sacrifice, why do you say we are late?" Valerian asked, puzzled.
"The storm from the warp has arrived," the leading Grey Knight said with unease in his voice. "That oppressive force on Terra has also emerged."
Valerian was powerful; even facing five Grey Knights directly, he was confident he could subdue them all without injury.
But he was not as sensitive to the warp as the Grey Knights.
The Grey Knights were much stronger than him in this regard.
psyker energy pulsed around them, radiating from their every movement like heat.
Valerian scanned his surroundings; he could feel a slight tremor.
Even though he was almost insensitive to the warp, he had an instinctive intuition for danger.
On the ground, heavy servitors and artillery were still harvesting the lives of the thugs.
But those battles were no longer important.
Something was approaching.
The veil between reality and the immaterium had been pierced; it was about to descend.
Valerian opened Yubol's communication panel, "Leave immediately, return to the gunship, the mission has failed."
Yubol was currently gaining the upper hand, the artillery and heavy firepower servitors forming a ferocious net of fire, but facing the Custodian Guard's order, he did not hesitate for a moment.
"Retreat," he ordered, and his subordinates disengaged from combat, taking the rescued people with them, and left the abandoned factory the way they came.
The supporting gunships and aircraft were waiting for them at the previous location.
Valerian and the Grey Knights destroyed some of the remaining sacrificial runes to prevent the acceleration of the collapse, and then also chose to withdraw.
They ran at full speed, and during this time, the hall rapidly disintegrated.
Large sections of steel collapsed around them, smashing through the ground, many machines breaking and falling into the ever-expanding abyss.
The entire building was collapsing, tons of rock falling into ruins.
When Valerian escaped, the disintegration was still continuing.
The collapse of that factory was just the beginning; more buildings also disintegrated.
A tall Imperial cult building exploded with a red light, particularly striking in the darkness.
The magnificent high walls collapsed along with the towers.
A massive explosion occurred deep underground, and billowing columns of smoke rose up.
The consequences of that blood sacrifice ritual began to manifest.
An unprecedented earthquake struck, vast swathes of buildings fell, turning into ruins in explosions and flames.
Valerian, who had retreated to the gunship and escaped danger at the last moment, couldn't help but show fear on his face as he saw Terra in the earthquake.
The familiar Terra had disappeared.
The earth was torn apart, and large numbers of buildings were reduced to ruins.
Looking out, the entire world was like hell.
Hissing flames erupted from the depths of the earth's fissures, licking at the teetering towers.
The scale of the fire was unbelievable, the flames reaching high into the thin air.
Valerian could only barely make out the smoke-shrouded, blurred city walls through the heat-distorted vision.
Buildings around the ritual center had all collapsed, and a terrifying warp aura emanated, carrying the purest malice and fear.
The Grey Knights stood beside Valerian, their grey armor appearing even more somber in the light of the flames.
The leading Grey Knight looked at the sky, his expression becoming solemn.
"They actually did it. A fragment of Khorne has descended, and the Betrayer, Angron, has also arrived."
"Return to the city walls," Valerian said.
"Under-" The pilot hadn't finished speaking when a terrifying spatial distortion caused him to instinctively swallow the rest of his words.
The sky ignited, and space turned into a flowing river of blood.
That eye took shape, intensely scarlet, filled with endless rage, yearning to destroy everything and drag all life into eternal war.
The earth burned, and in the flames, truly terrifying daemons took shape.
They were born bathed in flames, with bone spurs growing from their backs, eyes pitch black, and long, hunting tongues writhing.
They stumbled out of the burning sea of fire, wielding strange weapons grown from flesh and bone.
This was a hierarchical army of daemons, able to descend through the suffering and rituals of the material realm.
Covered in flames, bathed in blood, they roared various blasphemous words as they stepped onto the sacred soil of the human world.
The psyker energy became increasingly violent, the aetheric storm swirling to the point of tearing everything apart.
Even more terrifying entities crossed the barrier of holy power, appearing before those armies.
Hell Hounds with countless eyes, iron collars, and dripping saliva.
Chaos Lords bound by heavy chains, with burning horns and eyes, and bulging muscles.
However, this was not all.
The sky darkened, then was illuminated by a blood-red light.
In the violent aetheric storm, the sky was torn open.
Brass scorpions bound by chains and emitting black fire stepped out of the rift.
Their massive bat wings spread out, carrying their enormous bodies high into the sky, looking down at Terra from above.
The chains binding their bodies were strung with skulls, rattling with their movements. The sound echoed everywhere.
"Doom!" The Brass Scorpion that emerged roared, its battle hooves stomping in the air with the roar.
Blood waves surged, and the earth trembled.
The battle axe in its hand was covered in strange cursed markings, etched with runes representing the mark of doom, and it pulsed with the blessings of the Blood God.
Facing a greater daemon, Valerian felt it difficult to breathe.
This was the most terrifying entity he had faced in his limited life.
But the next second, another Brass Scorpion appeared before the terrified eyes of the world.
"Doom!" It roared as well.
The earth's fissures boiled with rising blood and fire.
"Doom!"
Another daemon descended.
One after another, before the terrified eyes of Valerian and the others.
A total of eighty-eight greater daemons of Khorne descended upon the soil of Terra.
The earth trembled, and countless areas were submerged by seas of blood.
Skulls floated in the blood sea, and countless corpses drifted.
No one could deny that this was a sign of the coming apocalypse.
The surviving mortals all began to cry, desperately begging the God-Emperor for help.
"Father, I have returned."
After the eighty-eight greater daemons of Khorne, a voice full of resentment and anger rang out.
An even more terrifying figure appeared before the world.
Crossing the veil between reality and the immaterium, descending upon Holy Terra.