Inside the fortress, every remaining living soul on this planet had been brought together here. To hold the line against Nurgle's daemon host, Zhou Ye had put a weapon into the hands of every resident. When the time came, man, woman, child, and elder alike would take the field.
In most circumstances that kind of approach could work against Tyranids. Against Chaos it was considerably more complicated. Corruption spread too easily. Even the Astra Militarum, absolute veterans to a man, could not be guaranteed to hold against it.
But Zhou Ye had prepared two layers of defense. The Aestia Mixed Regiment was a joint force of Holy Necrons and humans, and attached Necron Technomancers had calibrated the obelisks to generate a vast energy field capable of directly suppressing the psychic whispers that drifted up from the Warp.
Zhou Ye had also kept a private failsafe. He had prepared a Honkai Wellspring. When the moment came he would quietly infect everyone in the fortress. Once he had corrupted them first, Chaos could not corrupt them again.
This was the only reason he dared to attempt it. Without those two layers, you could never be certain who was fighting whom. A unit holding the front line against Chaos, while another unit directly behind them attacked that first unit, with a third behind them for good measure. A perfectly ordinary scenario.
Zhou Ye had no particular interest in infecting people or making them his Kin. But under these circumstances it was without question the best available choice.
He slipped back quietly. He had siphoned enough from Nurgle's daemons for now. No need to keep pressing. Getting detected would stop being amusing very quickly.
No need to reveal his actual capabilities at this stage. Better to take his position at the command post and hold the line there as supreme commander.
"Speaking of which, how are the Iron Warriors doing? Their fleet, has there been any engagement?"
"No. Our fleet is sheltering under the planetary defense grid. Their vessel is keeping its distance for now. What are you planning?"
"I want to board and strip that warship. Add more materiel to the stockpile."
He narrowed his eyes at the intelligence report. The original planetary defenses had already failed, which was why he had pulled everything back inside the perimeter and dropped the Governor's fortress-palace directly onto the front line. Using the fortress as the foundation, combined with his enormous material reserves and the accumulated wisdom of ten-thousand-year Dreadnought Ancients, the resulting fortification was honestly quite frightening in its structural integrity. And with the Necron obelisks generating a barrier that suppressed the murmuring of the Warp, Zhou Ye's calculations suggested this position could hold for a very long time.
"Captain, my advice would be not to do that right now. I am detecting something unusual moving through the Warp toward this location. I am currently continuing to build up energy. The Star Rail tracks are still too short and too few people are using them. If usage increased a hundredfold, with transit numbers exceeding one million, we could force our way through this blockade at will. And as the apex node, you could draw on that energy directly."
"Everything you are saying is correct and completely useless to me right now. I want quiet time to develop my capabilities too. But this is an absolutely insufferable universe full of cesspits at every turn. Wait, that is.... Rotigus Rainfather!!"
"As long as the Iron Warriors' vessel does not close the distance, leave them alone. If that thing dares to show itself, hit it with the Imaginary cannon first. The Void Shield will struggle to stop that."
In that same moment Zhou Ye clearly sensed it in the adjacent dimension. A vast presence was spreading something with a branch, attempting to rain its particular gifts down upon the mortal world. He issued the two orders in rapid succession and set aside his plan to board the Iron Warriors vessel.
Then he looked up at the dark green clouds gathering in the sky.
The Void Shield's core principle was to eject incoming attacks directly into the Warp. The problem was that Imaginary energy and the Warp were fundamentally incompatible. Imaginary rounds punched straight through it. The trade-off was that his own Imaginary defenses were equally vulnerable to psychic penetration.
This was the work of Rotigus Rainfather, Great Unclean One of Nurgle.
Sevenfold curse. Sevenfold disease. Sevenfold blessing.
Zhou Ye could already picture it: in the garden above, a foul melody drifting through the air. Nurgle's corruption, trying to bring its rot down upon this fortress and collapse it from the inside.
"So it begins. Good thing I prepared for this."
He watched the sickly green moisture condensing in the sky, and reached for a banner.
Replica: Abyss White Bloom, Battle Standard Mode.
The weapon he had built from the very beginning specifically to counter Nurgle was now deployed. It held within it a terrible concentration of Wither Authority. In the Warp this weapon would have limited effect. But here in realspace, separated from the Warp by the thin veil of material reality, even the Rainfather's blessings would be degraded before they crossed. Much less the output of a single Greater Daemon.
And then there was the most critical factor of all: Zhou Ye was not holding back.
This engagement was not going to be profitable unless he consumed at least a few Greater Daemons or a Daemon Primarch. He was not about to let that opportunity slip.
"Be careful. That toxic rain is going to cause serious problems."
In the trenches, Space Wolf Volvok looked up at the descending poison rain and then sideways at the group of Lamenters beside him, now standing a full head taller than him in their new equipment. He could not immediately explain how they had become so considerably larger.
But then he thought of what the Dreadnought Ancient had said. The finest Biologis in the entire galaxy. Certified by ten-thousand-year Ancients. Volvok decided he did not need to think about it further.
"Sergeant, you have not had much experience with daemon incursions of this scale. That toxic rain will corrupt mortals. Running the energy barrier will burn through power at a serious rate."
"You do not need to worry about it. The Commander has prepared for everything."
"The Commander...."
It was not the first time he had heard that phrasing. But Volvok still could not entirely suppress his skepticism. What exactly were this person's origins that ten-thousand-year Dreadnought Ancients deferred to them with that degree of respect?
Whatever the answer, none of that mattered anymore. Because at that moment Zhou Ye had already climbed to the highest point of the fortress, battle standard of the Star of Trailblaze Chapter in hand.
And then...
Clang.
A single clean, resonant strike as Zhou Ye drove the standard hard into the stone.
In an instant, a black barrier expanded outward and sealed around the entire fortress. The green rain began to fall from the sky. The moment it touched the barrier, every trace of plague in it was killed outright. It came down as clean, sweet water.
Simultaneously, a surge of life force erupted through the fortress interior. Countless people felt the wounds on their bodies slowly closing. Not the purposeless growth that Nurgle's corruption produced. This was something drawn from the deepest root of life itself.
"The Commander's plans are always flawless. This is the Chapter's sacred relic. We have water now. Prepare for combat. They are moving to assault in force."
The Space Wolves Dreadnought Ancient watched the rain fall across his hull and allowed himself a quiet sound of satisfaction.
Outside, the plague zombies began their slow advance toward the fortress walls.
And then, in the rotting Garden within the Warp.
A vast figure slowly opened its eyes. The enormous body began to shift. As it moved, the entire Garden rang with songs of praise.
"Death. Such pure death. Who is that. Who. I want them. I want them. Where are they. Where. Ah. So that is it. So that is where they are. Go. Go and find that person. Bring them to me."
In that moment Nurgle's eyes were filled with something that resembled paternal tenderness. He had seen death. He had seen life. Life born of creation and death born of wither, both mirroring him so perfectly.
Nurgle was merciful. He believed one of his children had somehow fallen into that wretched cesspit of a material universe. Such an existence could only know true contentment at his side.
It could make his garden more fragrant. Help life here flourish.
In that moment, Nurgle was moved. This existence seemed to have been made for him specifically. Benevolent Nurgle, wishing to bestow his blessing.
But....
"Why can I not see? My most perfect child. Where are you?"
Nurgle in that moment resembled nothing so much as a father who had lost a small child, pawing through his garden in mounting agitation. Around him, feeling the grief of their Father, countless Nurglings let their smiles fade and wept.
"The Accursed One. The Accursed One. The Accursed One......"
Nurgle felt his anger return. That unspeakable anger. If he moved directly, it would inevitably draw the attention of the Accursed One. That pale sun gave even him pause, and with the Great Rift not yet open, he was not in a position to act freely.
Otherwise he would have torn open the veil already and drawn that most beloved child into his arms immediately. He could not see anything. It had to be the Accursed One. The Accursed One had blocked his sight and stolen his most beloved heir away from him.
And then, just beside him, one figure stood with a hand that gripped its scythe so tightly the knuckles had gone white.
Mortarion. An intense hostility rising toward this unseen rival who had never shown their face. For the first time he felt this quality of longing from his Father, directed at someone else. As if...on that Daemon Primarch's own person.
"I am the child Grandfather cherishes most."
In that moment Mortarion silently ground his teeth. But then, at that very instant....
"I have had Typhus prepare an extraordinarily rare Warp artifact. It can open a passage for you into realspace. Go. Go and bring your sibling home."
"Yes."
Mortarion said it through gritted teeth.
He would give this sibling a very thorough education.
He was a Primarch of distinction. Who exactly had the standing to be called his sibling?