"Who the devil are you?!" The governor's voice was strained, thick with panic.
"I am the heretical psyker you mentioned, the Saint of the Emperor, the savior of humanity, and the Imperium's Guide," Daniel introduced himself, word by word.
"No! That's impossible! How could Lieutenant General Petre fail?! This is all fake!"
Daniel didn't bother to answer, reaching out to end the transmission.
He turned to Thade and issued the order. "Take control of this battleship. Anyone who resists is to be destroyed in the Emperor's name."
"Understood, Saint."
Thade strode heavily away. The power claw on his Dreadnought chassis hummed, a blue force field already crackling around the metal. Other veterans followed Thade out of the bridge, fanning out to secure the battleship's critical sections.
Meanwhile, the players in the regional chat channel were losing their minds over Daniel's combat record.
Veteran: "Holy cow, the Guide just went to work! Ten minutes after boarding, the enemy flagship, the Truth and Light, is completely paralyzed. Are you kidding me?"
UwU: "When I saw the real-time intelligence feedback, I thought the system wasbugging out. This is what a blitzkrieg looks like!"
Warmaster: "I thought I was closing the gap with the Guide, but every time I hit a milestone, he just moves the goalposts."
Yuji: "Y'all think 'The Great Daemon E' is a joke? I bet he'll be carving up fleets with a beam of light next. Angron's got nothing on the Guide!"
Rigby: "Guys, keep grinding to make the Guide stronger. We won't stop until the galaxy is fried."
Blood Dove: "It's clear you're not trying hard enough. Even if the galaxy explodes, we won't quit."
Rigby: "Screw you, you want a piece of this action too?"
Blood Dove: "If you're not getting any kills, why are you still on the scoreboard?"
Rigby: "What's the matter, scared I'm gonna steal your number two spot?"
Blood Dove: "I live for this. Watch me show you the Warhammer 40K version of a Kamikaze run."
Warmaster: "..."
Rigby: "..."
Yuji: "Y'all are a bunch of clowns!... Sheesh."
Sibelius Hive was now raining fire and rubble, blanketed by the Imperium's concentrated artillery fire.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fighters screamed overhead, and huge bombs piledrived the earth, creating deafening blasts and small mushroom clouds. Each explosion rattled the ground, leaving behind vast stretches of scorched earth.
The Imperial Army was advancing into the Hive City with relentless momentum. Zaku Titans strode heavily over the collapsed ruins, using their massive cannons and missiles to accurately snipe the rebels' fortified positions. Below them, infantry clusters in exoskeleton armor surged forward like a wave, butchering the rebel soldiers who couldn't escape.
Tank clusters revved their engines and charged through the city's ruins. Gunships roared by, providing crucial fire support for the ground teams.
In the core zone of Sibelius Hive, the rebel leaders were gathered.
When the communication ended, Sonas seemed to have lost all his strength and simply collapsed into the soft seat. He tried to get up but found he had nothing left in the tank.
"How did it go? Did Vice Admiral Petre win?"
"Yeah, when do we counterattack?"
"Once they seize orbital control, we'll hit those Loyalists back! They love that tactic; time to give them a taste of their own medicine."
Sonas didn't reply; he didn't know how to reply. He had believed that with the arrival of reinforcements, the Imperium would be defeated and completely routed. Instead, the reinforcement commander, Lieutenant General Petre, was wiped out by the Emperor's Saint, and his flagship, the Truth and Light, was taken right out from under him.
The fleet led by Petre had barely entered the physical universe before they lost. Just like that.
Was this battle even worth fighting anymore? Sticking it out would only guarantee death.
"If I get captured..."
The thought sent a jolt of raw fear across Sonas's face. He knew how utterly cruel the Inquisition and the Ecclesiarchy were to traitors. Falling into their hands would be a fate worse than death.
He had to avoid being captured alive.
Sonas's gaze hardened.
"Governor Sonas?" Someone finally noticed something was wrong.
The others also sensed the shift in the atmosphere, their eyes fixed on Sonas.
"What the hell happened?"
"Have we been abandoned? Is there no backup at all?"
Sonas looked around at the frantic faces. "We are not abandoned. But there will be no reinforcements."
Everyone exchanged confused glances.
"Because the reinforcements were defeated, and Lieutenant General Petre died at the hands of the Emperor's Saint."
This sentence turned the leaders' faces white as a sheet. Several were so terrified they froze up.
Died?
A Vice Admiral bought the farm just like that? That's insane!
"What's the play now, Governor Thornas?" one asked. "Yeah, what do we do? The Imperial firepower is out of control."
"Surrender?"
"Surrender means death! Don't forget how the Imperium punishes traitors!"
Sonas watched the leaders quarrel and smiled bitterly. He thought back to when he was appointed governor of Sintila after defeating the Imperial loyalists—he had been feeling himself, a tax director suddenly holding immense power, deciding the life and death of countless people with a nod.
He had thought that if we could just drive the Loyalists completely out of the Calixis Sector, the Colin family would be set for life.
But before he could enjoy the dream for a few days, the Imperial revenge fleet arrived.
Sonas drew a pulse-laser pistol, put the barrel in his mouth, and pulled the trigger.
The scorching beam instantly pierced his brain.
This scene left the quarreling rebel leaders stunned silent. When they finally came to their senses, they fled in a panic, desperate to get out of the Sibelius Hive. Seeing their leaders run for the hills, the subordinates immediately broke and ran, too.
The defense line that might have held for days completely collapsed. The Sibelius Hive battlefield quickly became a one-sided massacre.
Void Battlefield.
With the flagship decapitated, the enemy fleet was a total mess. First, the chain of command was non-existent; they had too many officers with the same rank. Second, the fear and psychological pressure from the decapitation strike were immediate and crushing.
Sha pressed the advantage, dividing and separating the enemy ships. Coupled with the Imperial Glory's overwhelming firepower, if you were targeted, you were toast.
"Guys, for the glory of the Chapter, we have to win! The second we see an opening, we hit them hard!"
"Push forward! Push forward! Push forward!" Blood Dove was flying a fighter and yelling over the comms.
They controlled void fighters, rushing into the battlefield. Whenever they found an opportunity, they'd fly fighters packed with explosives straight into enemy ships—a suicide run. To ensure success, players like Blood Dove specifically targeted ship tail thrusters or bridges. If they succeeded, the enemy ships were typically paralyzed.
After dying, they could pop back up in an hour, use EXP to revive, and get right back in the fight. With this high-risk style of play, they actually managed to boost their war score significantly.
Once the Void War ended, the Soaring Eagles Regiment had temporarily edged out the Emperor's Hammer Regiment, becoming the first on the list by a slim margin.
"No honor! That's just dirty pool!" Rigby shouted indignantly. "Fine, we can all go down together and see who cracks first!"
The players of the Emperor's Hammer Regiment seemed energized. The moment they logged in, they focused on completing missions, rushing to any location rumored to have an important rebel leader.
This led to a running joke among new players: all you had to do was yell that an important boss was nearby, and the Emperor's Hammer Regiment would materialize in the blink of an eye—faster than the Dark Angels hunt the Fallen.
With the victory at Sibelius Hive, the Battle for Sintila also drew to a close. While there were still many rebels dug in across the Hive World, the war is over; all that's left is the mop-up.
Daniel planned to release the Version 2.1 update soon: adjusting the time flow ratio between the players' reality and the Warhammer universe. This would allow players to stay in the game for much longer, but the problem was that when they logged off, they would be gone for an extended time in the real world. A balance had to be found. Daniel planned to extend the time gradually to let players adapt. He'd test the waters with player feedback to dial in the perfect time ratio.
Across the Galaxy...
On the other side of the galaxy, the dormant Necron dynasty, the Haxus Dynasty, had awakened.
A colossal, mountain-sized black pyramid lifted itself from the ground. A huge crescent-shaped spacecraft slid out of a dimensional rift like a folding blade.
Tomb Scarabs and Tomb Spyders were breaking down living metal from tombs, vaults, and tunnels, storing it or using it to rebuild ship hulls. The entire planet was now a hollow shell, crisscrossed with fissures leading to its dead core.
The Mausoleum Pyramid hung in the void, a glorious, terrifying sight. Intricate passages led past numerous Tomb Guards, Undead Generals, and vassal Overlords who stood silent as statues.
Setka, the Pharaoh of the Dynasty, stood before his cold throne, a blue star map projection suspended before him. The star map was exponentially more complex than any human map, displaying the current, past, and future celestial alignment.
Setka read the message left by the invader, attempting to find information about the outsider. "Ahriman must be erased. He and all his disciples must perish."
As he spoke, the star map shifted, and a line extended deep into the stars, eventually pointing to the region humans called Calixis.
Setka turned and looked at the Overlords standing beneath the throne. One Overlord stepped forward and bowed. "O Great Pharaoh, your word is law."
Setka reached out and tapped the stars. "I grant you the sacred honor of wiping out the invaders. Get it done."
"I will." The Undead Overlord spoke, bowing respectfully.