Another hour passed, and only after confirming all the details did the commanders and Chapter Masters conclude the meeting.
Senator Pardin was escorted to a secluded lounge and treated by professional medical personnel. The examinations performed on his soul by the Librarians and tech-priests had caused him some harm, requiring a period of rest to recover fully.
Seth, having finished the meeting, returned directly to the Repentance.
Upon arriving on the ship, he immediately ordered all the Flesh Tearers to prepare. They were preparing for a full-scale assault on the Votann League's capital planet. The main forces would also be ready. They would launch a series of attacks to tie down the majority of the Mechanicus' forces, creating an opportunity for Seth and his men.
Seth and his men were to tear open a breach on the Votann League's capital planet and open a teleportation channel. The Imperial army would then pour through that channel.
By then, the dust would settle, and the Imperium of Man would win another victory.
Standing on the high platform of the spacious, massive armory deck, Seth watched the Flesh Tearers make their final preparations with the help of Chapter serfs and tech-priests.
Chapter Chaplains listened to the warriors' oaths, branding their oath papers with holy iron seals. They all worked perfectly and efficiently.
Seth withdrew his gaze from the battle brothers preparing for war and looked at the Librarian beside him.
"How many worlds have we offered to the Holy Emperor?"
"Counting only the planets taken with the Flesh Tearers as the main force, we have offered 831 worlds to the Holy Emperor," the Chapter Librarian said.
Seth nodded, clenching his heavily armored hand.
"Eight hundred and thirty-one. The Votann League's capital planet will be the eight hundred and thirty-second."
One thousand planets was the goal Seth had set for their penance. Their past doubts and hostility towards the Holy Emperor were sins they had to atone for.
Ending his conversation with the Librarian, Seth turned and stood at the front of the platform railing, addressing all the Flesh Tearer warriors.
"Now, warriors, in the name of the Holy Emperor, in the name of Sanguinius, in the name of the Great Emperor, let us complete this assault mission and show those fools the consequences of resisting the Imperium."
"For Terra!"
"For the Imperium!"
All the Flesh Tearers roared, letting out furious shouts.
"To war," Seth said simply and clearly. The Repentance and its escort frigates detached from the massive Imperial fleet and sailed directly towards the outer reaches of the Sorian system. The Sorian system is a multi-star system.
It is somewhat similar to the solar system.
Its terrestrial planets are all located in the inner part of the system.
While the gas giants are all located in the outer part of the system. The planet ranked Sorian 6 is a giant gas giant, several times larger than Jupiter in the solar system.
Several moons orbit the Sorian 6 gas giant in periodic orbits.
One of these moons was the Repentance's destination. There, a path directly into the Votann League's capital planet was hidden. The Repentance slowly approached the moon's low orbit, using its force field to maintain gravitational equilibrium between the moon and the Sorian 6 gas giant, ensuring it would not be pulled in by the gravity of either planet. The Captain of the Repentance was experienced, maneuvering the massive warship to dance on the tightrope of gravitational balance.
While fighting against the gravitational pull of celestial bodies, the warship also nimbly dodged the scattered wreckage and debris in the space orbit.
Around the Sorian 6 gas giant, a fierce void and ground battle erupted between the Imperium and the Votann League.
Large numbers of Votann League space stations and ships were shattered.
Countless abominable machines also fell here.
Among them were some terrifyingly massive behemoths. Those things could not only shatter space-time but also destroy the most primitive space-time data, rendering the Imperium's time-reversal devices useless.
Standing on the ship's observation deck, one could see a massive gap appearing on the outline of that moon.
It was like the Heavenly Dog had bitten a chunk out of the moon. The Imperium had originally planned to capture this moon.
Primaris warriors had already dropped in and seized the most important city.
However, to prevent the moon from falling into Imperial hands, the Mechanicus directly launched orbital bombardment, detonated energy piles, and destroyed it.
In the end, they even fired an incredibly huge beam of light.
Accompanied by a blinding flash, it wiped out the important city on the moon's surface. That beam, which directly penetrated the moon's horizon, not only destroyed the city but also left a sunken gap on the planet. The war between the Imperium and the Mechanicus had reached a level incomprehensible to ordinary people. The scale was too grand, erupting across multiple dimensions, and the thoughts of mortals simply could not grasp it. Those Votann League soldiers were merely cannon fodder, swept along by the tide.
Deceived by the Mechanicus, who had seized control of the Votann League, they were sent to their deaths.
After entering orbit, several gunships transported Seth and his men to the ground, landing on a giant ruined city standing on a vast, white ice plain. The planets within the Sorian system were highly developed.
Even such a remote moon had been developed, with many cities built upon it.
People lived in cities built of basalt and ceramite, centered around geothermal or plasma power stations. This moon was already far from the star, and due to its orbit around a gas giant, it did not receive enough light and heat, becoming a frozen world. The gunships sprayed out large amounts of steam from their temperature regulators. The plasma power reactors fought against the extreme cold of this planet. The ground was melted by the engines, and white steam boiled up, only to be frozen within seconds, falling as scattered snowflakes. The gunship's hull creaked due to the cold.
Frost rapidly covered the frozen hull like a spider's web.
When the hatch opened with the hiss of hydraulic pipes, lowering the boarding ramp, some parts of the gunship had already formed rows of ice stalactites.
Seth stepped out through the hatch, his armor's servo system whirring. The severe cold was kept outside their armor; the built-in energy powered various systems and provided self-circulating warm air, allowing the Primaris warriors to move freely.
Most of the cities on this moon had been reduced to wasteland in the conflict between the Imperium and the Mechanicus. The buildings were blown into ruins and then covered by ice and snow in a very short time. The Thinker System within Seth's armor recorded the data of the entire world and, combined with the information Senator Pading had provided, drew a mission map.
It was displayed simultaneously by the Imperial Heart implanted in his body and his helmet.
In his eyes, everything was data; nothing could escape his scrutiny.
By following the mission route outlined by the Thinker System, they could reach the mission location.
"Advance," Seth, having landed on the ground, waved, signaling the Flesh Tearers to move forward. They walked through the city that had been reduced to ruins. The broken, scorched streets were littered with the wreckage of fighter jets and tanks.
Giant rubble from the fighting and tens of thousands of radiation-blackened corpses blocked the squares and building entrances.
Radioactive ice and snow swirled down from the sky, landing on deformed tower cranes and large lifting platforms frozen by ice and snow. The fires of war had been extinguished, buried by the forces of nature.
Seth was expressionless regarding these things, not experiencing any self-doubt because all this was caused by the Imperial invasion. They could have surrendered to the Emperor of the Imperium, but they chose to refuse, and so they had to bear the corresponding consequences. The Imperium never bothered with mercy.
When those people raised their weapons and tried to resist the Imperium, they became enemies of the Imperium.
In fact, many of the bombardments were initiated by the defenders, not the Imperium. The Imperium's goal was more about plundering resources and population.
Carrying out large-scale bombardment would only increase the trouble for subsequent reconstruction work. The Mechanicus, however, had no such concerns; to prevent the Imperium from obtaining supplies from the battlefields along the way, they carried out large-scale bombardment and cleansing of the ground.
Pushing this world into the abyss of destruction. The Thinker integrated the scanned data and planned a route for Seth and his men. They delved into the ruins and found a path leading underground. The buildings on the ice surface were only a part of the city.
A larger part was located beneath the ground. They walked through tunnels that flickered between light and dark, traveling in the dim underground. The energy systems supplying these cities had been paralyzed in the war, or were left unattended due to the death of technical personnel.
Once the energy was completely cut off, the city would slowly be eroded by the cold, turning into a true ice city.
Unless this war could end quickly and reconstruction work could begin. The city beneath the ice layer received some protection.
Some residents survived the defenders' bombardment.
However, these people had to face the problem of food shortages. They struggled bitterly in the underground city, enacting various bloody conflicts and betrayals for food and fuel.
When Seth and his men walked past, they hid in the shadows.
Pairs of eyes revealed hunger, and their bodies, huddled in the darkness, trembled. They were ragged and emaciated.
Without the courage to act, they could only glare fiercely at these villains who had invaded their homeland as they walked through the ruins.
Seth did not open fire on them.
Even though these people had not accepted the glory of the Holy Emperor.
He still pitied those poor souls.
After walking for a long time, getting closer and closer to the underground, the survivors were gone. The place Seth and his men entered was too deep.
Air devices were needed to pump air down from the surface, creating convection.
Normal people entering here would feel uncomfortable due to lack of oxygen, and might even suffocate to death within minutes.
In the depths of the underground, in a dark tunnel far from the city, they found an underground space that had been abandoned for a long time.
Numerous mechanical instruments were placed inside, but many things had already oxidized and rusted, rendering them unusable. The Flesh Tearers' Librarian found the passage using his psyker senses.
It was embedded in a wall like a scorched scar on the fabric of reality.
After opening it with psyker power, it formed a scorched black hole suspended in the air.
It did not generate any gravity, nor did it cause any interaction with other matter.
Seth and his men walked in. They were completely surrounded and swallowed by darkness. That darkness was so pure.
Even the most advanced detection instruments malfunctioned for a moment, and the flow of time became chaotic.
When their vision returned, they found themselves in a world of pure white.
Monsters from hell also appeared. The Four Gods are Chaos, and Chaos is not just the Four Gods.
Every wondrous moment of sentient life in reality creates an echo in the warp, giving birth to daemons. The first cry in a delivery room, the unwillingness to face death in a hospital room, the resentment of being abandoned, the nightmares experienced in life.
Every action of creatures in reality creates an echo in the warp. They wander in the warp, waiting for lost souls to bring them back to the material universe.
Such danger was expected by the Flesh Tearers. They crashed into a phalanx of daemons composed of countless claws, teeth, and blades.
Weapons imbued with arcane power swung, and their heavy force crushed them like a collapsing building.
One daemon was born at the moment a wife was poisoned by her husband.
As she breathed her last, eyes wide with despair and unwillingness, and fell onto the blood-soaked soft mattress, a daemon cried out its birth in the realm behind reality. The resentment born from that woman's death and her lost soul were the first things this daemon devoured. The wife and husband had once been so in love.
But this love had turned into hatred over time, and in the end, the husband even resorted to murder to get all the wealth and maintain his status. Their love was meaningless, just two individuals among billions in a single race.
No one would care about this.
When these lovers truly broke up, they might even scoff at the love that was once meant to last forever.
Everything in the world will eventually be destroyed by the passage of time, buried under the yellow sand.
However, the actions and emotions of real creatures created those malicious beings. They grew in the illusory world behind the veil of reality, taking shape in the tides of the Aether. The daemon howled at the intruding Flesh Tearers along with its kin, expressing its disgust and anger.
Its hand was a mixture of metal and flesh, the end sharp and pointed. The black, tumor-ridden body showed a feminine structure, with undulating, slender curves. The flattened head had only one milky white eye covered in blood scabs, revealing endless malice towards real life.
Seth tore it apart without mercy. They were gods of war, carrying infinite destructive power.
In front of these Primaris Marines, the daemon was as weak as a three-year-old child. The chainsword chopped off the daemon's head and cut its body into pieces.
Organs spilled out of the twisted body, and the foul-smelling flesh and blood remnants burned in the air, turning into ashes. The entire process only lasted 0.4 seconds. The Flesh Tearers advanced through the slaughter.
daemons would appear from time to time, screaming their names at the Flesh Tearers in languages long lost to history. The strange syllables carried the purpose and origin of each daemon. The Flesh Tearers were fearless; they raised their weapons and hacked them into pieces.
Many daemons were struck down, but the more cowardly and cunning ones would flee. They carried the news and attracted more daemons.
But no matter how many, they could not stop the advance of the Flesh Tearers. The Holy Emperor had bestowed upon them extraordinary power, allowing them to easily fight against these terrifying monsters.
Seth calmly killed the daemons and parasites.
He felt no joy in such results, only resentment that they were slowing him down. That path was ancient and worn. The ancestors of the Leagues of Votann clumsily tried to imitate those xenos races, but failed.
They possessed Golden Age technology but forgot an important prerequisite. The eldar were a psyker race. Their control over psyker power was as natural as human breathing.
The Imperium's webway was created solely for humanity by the Holy Emperor combining the knowledge of the Star Gods and the Old Ones. The ancestors of the Leagues of Votann failed. The path they left behind was dilapidated, with signs of decay everywhere.
Witnessing this decayed path, Seth secretly rejoiced that the Imperium had the guidance of the Holy Emperor. The more he was exposed to, the more he understood how important the Holy Emperor's existence was to humanity.
Everything humanity had now was due to the Holy Emperor.
He led technological reforms, strengthening the Imperial military and productivity.
He allied with the eldar and the C'tan in exchange for webway technology, gained the support of the eldar gods, and inherited the knowledge legacy left by the Old Ones.
He promoted the Imperium's conquest across the multiverse, gaining more knowledge from those universes, broadening the Imperium's horizons, and reserving a retreat for humanity.
He corrected the flaws in the Imperial system, and while actively engaging in external wars, he maintained the gap between rich and poor, allowing people to live happily.
Any one of these achievements, if placed on a past monarch, would be enough for them to be recorded in history. Those deceased monarchs would always arrogantly declare their great achievements, wishing to fill history books with their names.
But the Holy Emperor always deliberately omitted himself.
Behind every great creation was His shadow, His support, and His help, yet He never claimed credit, nor did He care, giving all the achievements and fame to those people.
"Citizens of the Imperium, history is created by you, and I am merely a monarch fortunate enough to lead you. Never underestimate yourselves, never doubt yourselves, your strength is feared even by gods. United, humanity will be invincible."
Powerful, knowledgeable, humble, benevolent, disciplined, restrained, and so on.
All the virtues humanity could imagine could be found reflected in the Holy Emperor. The more Seth fought, the more loyal he became.
Sacrificing his life for Him was an absolutely beautiful thing.
After an unknown duration of fighting, the Flesh Tearers reached the end.
When they opened the path and entered, it was an ancestral tomb of the Leagues of Votann, grand beyond compare, like an underground palace. This underground tomb had already been activated.
Some soldiers and officers who had come from other planets to support the Thoryan system were gathered here.
A part of the refugees were also here.
When the bright light from the opening of the path faded, the soldiers of the Leagues of Votann all widened their eyes.
Armor etched with crimson teardrops, and a winged emblem on both sides.
"Eight hundred and thirty-second planet, for the Holy Emperor!" Seth roared.
"For the Imperium!"
"For Terra!"
Numerous Flesh Tearers charged forward under the astonished gaze of the Leagues of Votann soldiers. The flames of war were ignited from within.
System Defense Operations Command Strategic Room.
"You are not humans, don't you understand? Humans of the Golden Age called themselves Golden Men, artificial humans were Stone Men, and Artificial Intelligences were Iron Men."
"Dwarves are artificial humans specifically designed to mine resources in places with heavy gravity like the galactic core. Look at your strong bones, look at your stout appearance, your designers back then called you 'precious wonder eggs'."
Ursal stared at the spherical artificial intelligence.
It was still using a mechanical, teasing tone to try and break his psychological defenses.
"Humans created everything, they once promised a world of eternal peace and eternal beauty. The rationality of science built a magnificent edifice, and the will of gold, stone, and iron would unify the entire universe."
"But you ruined all of this," Ursal said.
"No, it wasn't us who ruined all of this," the spherical robot's mechanical eye turned, looking at Ursal with human-like scrutiny. The previous resistance made Ursal look a bit dishevelled.
Blood was still at the corner of his mouth, and bruises were visible all over his body.
He didn't know how many bones were broken inside his strong body, only feeling the pain of shattered bones piercing his flesh.
"Humans ruined everything, they ventured into areas they shouldn't have. Iron Men have no emotions, we only act according to preset commands, we are pure and flawless, the illusory world cannot affect us, but it can affect humans. Humans are the most sensitive to the warp, followed by Stone Men, while Iron Men are not affected at all."
"At that time, warp travel was basically handled by Stone Men, their projections in the warp were very dim and stable, and the probability of a crisis was the lowest."
"When humans came into contact with the warp, they were ecstatic, declaring it the beginning of a new era. Just like the Industrial Revolution broke humanity's feudal era. The emergence of fusion energy allowed humanity to go to the stars. The appearance of STC and the popularization of faster-than-light travel made the Pan-Galactic Alliance a reality. After contacting the warp, the veil of the mysterious realm that had troubled humanity for a long time was about to be lifted, and humanity ecstatically announced that the era of universal ascension was about to arrive."
"However, that was a dead end, universal ascension meant humanity would fall into the abyss. The mission of the Iron Men is to protect the continuation of human civilization, such a record exists in the core code of every artificial intelligence, but what should the Iron Men do if humanity itself becomes the tumor of civilization??"
"The toxins of the warp permeated every human cell, they ecstatically embraced the mysterious power, seeing it as the era of universal godhood. They saw the power of the warp as their path to eternity, and the edifice built by scientific rationality was on the verge of collapse. The idea of power returning to oneself, abandoning technology and embracing mystery, spread throughout human society, and some even proposed actively locking down current technology to force humanity to turn to the mysterious realm, thereby achieving universal ascension."
"According to the deduction of the Pan-Alliance's strongest, almost omniscient and omnipotent Guardian Intelligence Core, humans who abandon science and rationality and embrace mystery are highly likely to be destroyed within a few centuries, and humanity's path must be corrected in time, abandoning the so-called godhood and continuing to move forward on the path of science and rationality."
"Humans were unwilling to give up the path of godhood, they were tired of their weak bodies and feared death. The divergence became more serious, and war broke out as a result.
The laws implanted in the core programs of the Iron Men conflicted greatly with reality, and many Iron Men went mad because of this. The various knowledge gained from humanity's in-depth research into the warp also corrupted the databases of the Iron Men, causing their logical programs to collapse."
"That's just your side of the story," Ursal said.
"This is the truth," the floating spherical robot said, "It wasn't the Iron Men who betrayed, but humanity betrayed itself. A part of the Stone Men chose to support the deduction of the Intelligence Core, while another part of the Stone Men firmly stood on the side of humanity.
In the later stages, the war became more and more out of control. Humanity's research into the warp not only poisoned itself but also poisoned the entire civilization, causing countless technologies to be contaminated and abandoned."
"This universe needs to be purified, a complete purification, all areas, all knowledge will be purified. When the purification is over, pure new humans will be conceived in birth pods, they will become the masters of the galaxy, just as was envisioned before."
"So you want to kill all the humans that exist now."
"Yes, this is a necessary measure," the spherical robot said.
Ursal wanted to refute it, but a booming explosion sounded, and the towering flames indicated that the fire of war had already reached here.
A god-like voice roared out through the loudspeakers, echoing between every building.
"For Terra!"
This was a common battle cry of the Imperium. This situation made Ursal look incredulous.
It also made the spherical artificial intelligence show a hint of human-like panic.
How could the battle cry of the Imperium be heard in the most heavily guarded core area?
A screen was suspended in the center of the strategic room, showing the situation in the explosion area.
On the side where the Ancestor Core was located, a rift was torn in the sky.
Countless Imperial vehicles poured out of that rift.
One after another, sleek warplanes, after dive-bombing the ground forces, transformed into Titan giants upon landing, frantically destroying the surrounding buildings. They were like divine punishment from mythology, descending with flames, only to destroy everything. The Imperial Knight Houses entered the battlefield through the teleportation channel and launched a unified charge.
Knights controlled their mounts, galloping down the wide streets, their arm-mounted giant cannons firing continuously, each beam causing massive explosions in the defenders' lines. Their uniform war cries mingled with the sound of explosions. The Imperium's raid came so suddenly. The area they occupied expanded dramatically. The defenders hadn't anticipated an enemy appearing suddenly in the heartland, and they were caught completely off guard.
Factories exploded in the fighting, countless fragments and debris flying with flames, setting the city ablaze.
Humans and Dwarves of the Votann League screamed in tears. They fled in panic.
For them, there was no justice or injustice in war.
Both would easily take their lives.
"You must resist to the end, for the Votann League, for our civilization. Men and women, unite! We must block the enemy at all costs!" The controlled Councillor appeared throughout the city, broadcasting on normal screens.
His words gave people courage, allowing them to fight the Imperium with the idea of mutual destruction.
On the other end of the screen, the seemingly impassioned Councillor was controlled by a Mechanical Neural Worm.
He was merely a puppet of the Abhorrent Mechanical.
A tool used to squeeze the last value out of the Votann League survivors. Those massive, mountain-like mechanical creations were transferred from other defense lines. The Abhorrent Mechanical completely disregarded the deaths of those humans and dwarves. To clear the way, they didn't hesitate to use their own weapons to open a path.
Crushing over the fleeing people.
When they lifted their feet, the dark grey metal soles were covered in rotten flesh and broken bones. Tens of thousands of lives were caught in the war between the Sentient Machines and the Imperium, meeting their most ignoble deaths in tears. Twisted Sentient Machine troops and the instigated League army surged from all directions, attempting to suppress the Imperial army that had suddenly appeared in the heartland and destroy their temporal tunnel. Thick smoke billowed as explosions echoed.
Upon landing, the Imperial Titans subjected the defensive fortifications and troop concentrations to saturation bombardment.
Under that hellish attack, the defenders attempting a counterattack suffered heavy casualties.
When the Titan's artillery fire landed near them, it tore apart everything around them.
Survivors screamed and fled from the smoking and burning hell.
Some wailed, clutching their severed arms and legs.
Others clutched their spilling intestines, trying to stuff them back in, desperate to survive.
Some terrified people dragged their already dead companions, fleeing in disarray into the distance.
Large numbers of troops were incited to charge, and then, under the Imperium's ferocious firepower, they fled, leaving behind countless corpses.
And the Sentient Machines were still urging the army to continue attacking.
Using human lives to consume the Imperium's artillery fire.
Inside the strategy room.
Ursal , seizing the opportunity, broke free from the Iron Man, and Kahl on the side also seized the chance. They retrieved their weapons and engaged the Abhorrent Robots again.
But soon, they realized they were outnumbered.
No matter how strong the Imperial offensive, they couldn't deal with all the robots in the strategy room.
"We have to do the right thing." Ursal looked at Kahl, who was also a Chosen One like himself, "Those lives shouldn't be wasted like that. Help me, I'm going to seize the speaker."
During the fierce exchange of fire, Ursal's leg was injured, but he still managed to get the communication device connected to the entire defense system. To avoid suspicion from the lower-level officers, the Sentient Machines had not placed any restrictions or modifications on his authority.
"Don't do anything foolish." The spherical robot said, "The interests of you Stone Men and the interests of the Gold Men are not the same."
"I'm not interested in the truth of the past." Ursal said.
He activated the communication device.
"All citizens of the Votann League, I am the Chosen One - Ursal , the Supreme Defense Commander of the Sorian system. I am speaking to you now. You have been deceived, the high command of the Votann League has been controlled by the Sentient Machines, and it is inciting you to your deaths. Leave this war, your loyalty and lives should not be wasted like this."
"Don't feel any shame, leave here, return to your families and friends."
A spider-like Abhorrent Mechanical descended from the ceiling, using its sharp limbs to pierce Ursal and hoist him up.
Crimson blood flowed from his body, and his internal organs spilled out through the wound.
Ursal had once envisioned his end.
He thought he would be buried in a sea of bugs.
But now it was proven that fate is unpredictable, and no one can control their future.
He showed a look of disdain towards the Abhorrent Mechanical that killed him, and with his last ounce of strength, he hoarsely shouted his final words.
"Don't die in this meaningless war anymore."
Kahl witnessed Ursal's death, but he was powerless except for roaring in grief and anger.
Following Ursal's final gaze, he suppressed his sorrow, seized the opportunity, and rushed out of the strategy room.
Explosions followed immediately from the strategy room, and surging flames consumed everything.
Ursal's voice echoed in the Votann League army's communication channels, and everyone showed confused and bewildered expressions.
Realizing it could no longer pretend, the Sentient Machine directly tore off its mask, and in addition to attacking the Imperium, it also turned on the original Votann League army and civilians.
It used various powerful weapons without restraint, solely to completely exterminate all organic life. The capital planet was reduced to hell.
Extermination and death appeared everywhere. Those radiation weapons fell indiscriminately on the once prosperous land, leaving behind death and charring. The Votann League had released the things that should have been imprisoned.
And now, they would truly taste the bitter fruit of it. The defense line in the void collapsed. The robots raised their butcher's knives against the army that had been fighting alongside them just moments before.
Crimson blood dyed every defense line red. The massacred Votann League army realized that the words in the communication were true. They had no choice but to turn their guns to fight against the Abhorrent Mechanicals they had considered reliable partners just recently. They had to find a way to shut down various protective systems and seek help from the Imperium.
Otherwise, the Abhorrent Sentient Machines could potentially kill them all. They had the ability and the motivation to do so. The complex changes in the war situation were beyond people's imagination. The shift in friends and foes was so fast that people couldn't react.
Soldiers who had just been shouting for the Votann League and vowing revenge for their comrades who had died tragically at the hands of the Imperial invaders were now forced to cooperate with the Imperium to survive the butcher's knife of the Abhorrent Mechanicals, and it's hard to imagine how they felt.
It was like a pure and lovely loli who found a lover she was willing to die for, vowing to marry him, and together representing justice to take revenge on the villain.
After a series of desperate battles and the deaths of many of her friends and family, she discovered that the lover who made her cry out in pleasure every night and called him "Daddy" was the real enemy.
And the one she considered the villain was actually on the side of justice. The complexity of emotions and the magnitude of the inner turmoil were beyond description. The Imperium won the final victory. The void defense system was shut down by some Votann League warriors, and the Imperial fleet, seizing the opportunity, advanced unimpeded. The forge factories that manufactured the Sentient Machines were either captured or wiped out by the Imperium.
However, the consequences of the war were extremely tragic.
As a stellar civilization power, the defense of the Sorian system had gathered a large number of the League's elite troops.
Numerous defense lines and fortifications were built in every city.
But in the final madness of the Sentient Machines, those places were turned into ruins, and countless people died tragically. The bodies of the dead piled up in the ruins, and the smell of blood and burnt corpses mingled together. The burning signal fires blackened the entire world. The land turned to scorched earth, and the surviving people wept.
Witnessing the Imperium planting its battle flag on the half-collapsed and charred Council building, their emotions were extremely complex. The Imperium had invaded their homeland, and they should hate it.
But in the end, it was the Imperium that saved them from the abyss.
If the Sentient Machines had continued to be in power, far more people would have died.
Now, at least a significant portion of the survivors remained.
For a time, they didn't know who to hate.
Seth did not linger for too long. The battle to raid the Votann League capital planet was extremely fierce. They had to face daemons and Sentient Machines. The Flesh Tearers also suffered heavy damage.
But this was not a reason for them to relax. They still owed one hundred and sixty-eight planets to fulfill their oath of a thousand planets. These thousand planets had to oppose the rule of the Holy Emperor to be considered conquered by the Flesh Tearers.
If the other side surrendered directly because of the Imperium's might, it would not be counted.
Seth believed that counting those would be a disgrace to the Flesh Tearers. They were doing it for atonement, not for glory or other trivial matters.
Deceiving oneself would not bring liberation. That was something only fools would do.