"Are you pleased that one of my sons is dead?"
The Emperor's voice echoed in the hearts of the surviving nobles, filled with anger, majesty, and power.
For the sake of my relationship with my son as well — all of you, die quickly.
The smiles vanished from the nobles' faces in an instant; each wore an expression of terror, as if frozen in place.
They had thought the Emperor had come to save them, yet it seemed the matter was not so simple!
The nobles who reacted first quickly wiped the last traces of smiles from their faces and assumed expressions of complete terror and unease.
"Your Majesty, that was not our intention."
A noble standing at the edge of the crowd stepped forward and explained in a panicked tone.
The Emperor is the supreme ruler of the Imperium of Man; he needs no reason whatsoever to kill them.
Whatever the reason the other party said such a thing, kneeling and admitting one's mistake is the wisest choice.
"We are merely glad that you are here. We have no other intention whatsoever."
"Lies. Vile lies."
The Emperor's voice was stern. He gently raised a hand covered in golden armor.
The noble's body was lifted from the ground as if blown by the wind. It was as if an animal had been seized by the back of the neck by an invisible hand.
Golden flames erupted in an instant and enveloped the noble's body at once.
In a mere few seconds, the man had become ash.
This sight plunged the other nobles into terror; many collapsed to the ground and lost control of their bladders.
After executing the noble who had spoken, the Emperor looked around at the nobles present and burned with killing intent in a sharp gaze.
"All of you deserve to die."
The Emperor's voice echoed in the nobles' hearts.
They all stood dazed and trembling, unable to stop weeping and crying out.
"I have shed blood for the Imperium and served Your Majesty. It is not permitted to treat us loyal subjects this way."
Another noble, weeping and crying out, crawled toward the Emperor on all fours.
The other nobles also shouted their loyalty.
"All of you deserve to die."
The Emperor glanced at them with a sharp gaze.
The noble who had been leading the pleas for mercy suddenly fell silent.
Bang...
A dull sound rang out; the noble's body stiffened, his face turned purple, and he collapsed as he was.
The instant the Emperor's gaze fell upon him, his heart was stopped by an invisible force.
In a mere instant, his life was taken.
This sight thoroughly terrified the other nobles; they all fled at once.
No amount of condemnation or pleading was of any use. There was only one thing they could do: flee as far as possible.
However, the Emperor did not intend to forgive them so easily.
In order to gain a chance to regain Angron's trust, he had to take decisive measures to prove that he was not one of those insects.
The nobles of Nuceria who had luckily survived faced a bloody purge.
The Emperor used no weapon at all, did not take a single step, and merely stood there.
He employed that mighty spiritual power and psychic ability and killed the fleeing nobles one by one.
Some tried to flee in haste, yet the moment they reached the edge of the arena, golden flames erupted from their bodies.
He had run only a few steps before he was reduced to ashes with a scream of agony.
Some trembled with terror, knelt on the ground, pressed their foreheads to the earth, and begged the Emperor for mercy again and again.
The next instant, however, their hearts were forcibly stopped, and they died.
The Emperor executed every last noble present.
In less than a minute all the nobles were dead, and the uproar had completely subsided.
Seeing this sight, Lorgar and Angron marveled at the Emperor's power. While commanding the warriors of two Legions, the Emperor had been able to execute this many people.
With the deaths of the nobles, the entire historical fragment began to collapse.
It was neither an earthquake nor an explosion. Rather, the fulcrum of this historical fragment had been destroyed.
Everything turned to ashes and vanished without a trace.
The structure of spacetime disappeared and became a complete void.
The World Eaters and Word Bearers, suppressed by psychic energy, vanished in an instant together with the burning cities and smoking ruins.
Beginning from the edges, it crumbled little by little and vanished.
At this time, Lord Guilliman of the Ultramarines was leading a fleet toward Nuceria.
He had wanted to punish his two traitor brothers.
However, the traitor Lorgar and Angron were already dead, and the important elements supporting this fragment of history had vanished with their deaths.
Once the reference point is lost, it naturally becomes impossible to maintain the historical fragment.
Everything was rapidly heading toward doom and complete collapse at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The red sand of Nuceria, the outline of the Rika Mountains,
corpses hanging from rusted beams at the top of the ruins, nobles' corpses piled in the square…
Guilliman's gigantic fleet vanished in an instant as if it had never existed in the first place, and became an eternal void.
In the end, all that remained was a shining sphere floating in the chaotic flow of time.
That orb of light embodies the historical essence of Lost Hope.
The TARDIS telephone box floated in the chaotic flow of history; its faint light stabilized the disordered spacetime.
Datch stood in the roofed area of the TARDIS telephone box and took a red-and-white Monster Ball from his game inventory.
When he pressed the circular button on the front, the sphere opened along the center line and a soft ray of light was released.
Skarbrand condensed in the light and took form.
This Khorne daemon's hooves trod the void of the river of time.
Due to the surrounding light and the flow of spacetime, the deep-crimson radiance dwelling in his body looked dim and lacking in brilliance.
Roar!!
With an ear-splitting roar, Skarbrand suddenly spread his tattered wings.
The moment he finished roaring, Skarbrand looked around, immediately found the loyal Lorgar and Angron, and at once most of his arrogance was erased.
When he turned, he saw the Emperor once more clad in golden armor, and his last arrogance vanished without a trace.
It greatly feared a casual sword-stroke from the "Cursed One."
It is certainly a mighty daemon, yet it cannot withstand this attack. It truly cannot endure it; it will be destroyed and die.
Datch ignored Skarbrand's emotional fluctuations and began throwing the historical essence of Lost Hope at him.
Skarbrand instinctively stretched out a hand and seized it. After observing it for a while, he was driven by inner desire and put it in his mouth.
The historical essence shattered to pieces between his teeth and emitted a dim light.
Because of that, the face covered in calluses and old scars looked bizarre and grotesque.
After absorbing the historical essence, Skarbrand's momentum accelerated all at once.
The essence that had shattered when he was banished from Khorne's domain was completely repaired by that essence.
The tattered wings on his back slowly regenerated new flesh and blood and no longer needed to be bound by chains as before.
The Emperor watched this sight with a thoughtful expression.
How many more hidden cards does this Nameless One hold?
Skarbrand, once Khorne's greatest daemon, who had destroyed countless worlds, had in fact become Khorne's pet.
The strongly loyal Lorgar and Angron looked at each other with puzzled expressions and saw surprise floating in each other's eyes.
The nameless one certainly hides many secret plans.
Datch found it troublesome to explain to the NPCs, so he turned around, went straight back to the control panel inside the telephone box, and began setting and operating it.
With a growl, the time rotor began to accelerate again and sought the next fragment of history.
This time they easily focused on another fragment: the Webway War.
Datch stared intently at the new fragment, paused for a while, and seemed to be deep in thought.
The Webway War is a landmark event that shattered humanity's dreams.
The story begins when Magnus breaks through the Emperor's wards, and a great number of daemons flood into the Webway.
The Imperial Guard, the Sisters of Silence, and the Mechanicus guardians are gradually losing their positions in the Webway amid the endless waves of daemonic armies.
In the end, the Emperor had no choice but to order the Sisters of Silence to bring psykers captured from across the galaxy to the Golden Throne as sacrifices.
Through this sacrifice he obtained a brief rest and was able to infiltrate the Webway himself to assist the withdrawal of the remaining Webway forces.
Without doubt, the Webway War was one of the most devastating defeats in Imperial history.
It is also the heaviest fragment among the relics that became strongholds of the Horus Heresy.
The Ten Thousand suffered enormous damage; many powerful members of the Sisters of Silence lost their lives; many tech-adepts of the Mechanicus died in combat.
Datch had originally planned to take the Emperor, Lorgar, and Angron inside and deal with the fragment.
Just as he was about to enter, a thought suddenly floated into his head.
The Webway War was begun by Magnus; to warn the Emperor about Horus's rebellion,
they borrowed the power of a sacrificial ritual and the dark gods and forcibly broke through the Emperor's wards, opening a breach in the Webway construction project.
It also inflicted irreparable damage on the Golden Throne and invited the influx of a great number of daemons and rebels.
Why was Magnus — the originator of such a major event — not present?
"I need to bring Magnus."
Datch resumed operations, set the parameters, gripped the joystick, and activated the TARDIS.
The telephone box drew a sharp arc in the flow of time, quickly changed direction, and flew off toward another timeline, taking Datch to the loyal Magnus.
On this new timeline, Magnus is leading the Thousand Sons on a large-scale expedition.
An unimaginably large fleet is anchored in orbit around a planet not yet incorporated into the Imperium of Man.
She employed psychic power, joined the Thousand Sons Legion of the Great Crusade army, and at once became an especially conspicuous presence on the battlefield.
They can release psychic storms that swallow the enemy's defensive networks and reduce to ashes enemy weapons hidden behind heavy armor or energy shields — operators and all.
It can use prophecy to perform astonishing offensive and defensive predictions.
Every enemy maneuver, every ambush, every attempt at a flanking breakthrough…
They were "foreseen" by the Thousand Sons sorcerers before they actually occurred, then ambushed and swept away.
They can use divination to identify the enemy's strategic weaknesses quickly and accurately.
Whether a fortress power-supply pipeline buried deep underground or a small-scale clash between armies, they can skillfully exploit them to open a breach.
It is precisely these special abilities that enable a Thousand Sons Legion of only a few dozen to inflict astonishing damage on the enemy and significantly weaken their military power.
Through their outstanding performance, the Fifteenth Legion became an indispensable and important force in the Imperial expedition.
At that time Magnus was delivering a speech to the rulers of a hesitant planet.
When the envoys from the Imperium of Man arrived, the local rulers
neither refused nor immediately agreed; they asked for time to consider.
Seeing the people's hesitation, Magnus ordered the fleet to wait and went himself to persuade them.
Despite possessing powerful psychic ability and being able to easily destroy the enemy,
Magnus prioritized diplomatic persuasion first rather than resorting to direct violence.
Magnus stood on the highest dais of the oldest council hall of the planetary government.
That hall had been built from a single slab of white rock; the dome soared so high it was almost swallowed by shadow.
It is a symbol of power that the civilization of this region has repeatedly expanded and refined over thousands of years.
"Humanity has endured a long dark age; many planets have become terrible worlds of death…"
Magnus's voice was not loud, yet it reached the ears of everyone present clearly.
He spoke neither of the Imperium's power nor of the Thousand Sons' psychic storms and prophecy, and made no threats whatsoever.
He merely spoke of the suffering humanity had endured in the past and called on everyone to unite.
Only thus can human civilization endure, and the audience is filled with passion.
With outstanding oratory, Magnus easily captivated the audience.
Finally, the supreme leader issued a declaration to the world.
"We choose to submit to the Imperium of Man."
Hearing that announcement, a slight smile floated at the corners of Magnus's mouth.
Yet another world has been placed under Imperial rule peacefully.
The nameless one will surely be pleased to see how wonderful I am.
After finishing conversations with numerous envoys and returning to his own room, Magnus…
removed his ceremonial armor and put on a light robe.
He walked to the table, poured water into a glass, and just as he was about to drink it, he unexpectedly noticed that the space of the room was distorting.
Click! Click!
A faint sound was heard, and a crack appeared in space.
The cracks visibly increased; strange light erupted from the fissures.
Then something familiar that thrilled Magnus appeared before his eyes. It was the TARDIS telephone box.
"Nameless one!" Magnus shouted excitedly and hurried toward the TARDIS telephone box.
The moment Datch opened the door, he saw Magnus running toward him.
Before I could react, the other party embraced me.
"Nameless lord!"
Magnus's tone was excited; there was not a trace of the strategic planning or complete sense of control he had shown in the earlier speech.
Rather, there was a pure, unreserved joy like that of a child who has finally been waiting for his father's return from a long journey.
The Emperor stood beside the control panel, watching this sight, and felt a tinge of sorrow in his chest.
They have never been this enthusiastic when they saw me.
Setting aside whether there is enthusiasm, it seems no one even noticed my existence.
Indeed, once a child grows up, he never comes back.
Because Magnus came of his own accord, Datch saved a great deal of time.
He closed the door of the telephone box without particular explanation, returned to the control panel, and resumed work.
The roar of the time rotor suddenly grew louder; the telephone box trembled slightly and advanced toward the time node of the Webway War.
The war in the Webway lasted several years.
The Imperial Guard devoted all their strength to defending Miracle City as a stronghold in order to fight the terrifying daemonic invasion and the rebels.
As a result, the entire battlefield was filled with daemonic corpses and the remains of loyalists.
As a result of the Webway War, the Emperor was forced to use the souls of psykers as fuel to maintain the collapsing barrier.
Then the Emperor himself rose from the Golden Throne and set foot on the Webway path.
Help the last remaining forces still fighting the daemonic hordes withdraw into the dungeon.
The most important part of this historical fragment is without doubt "the First Murder."
This daemon is special. It is a curse upon humanity and possesses a special attack against the Emperor.
In only a few rounds, they inflicted serious damage on the Emperor.
He had no choice but to sacrifice the life of Ra, tribune of the Imperial Guard, in order for the enemy side to seize the First Murder from the battlefield.
If the First Murder is resolved, this historical fragment of the Webway War will collapse.
Datch operated the TARDIS telephone box through the chaotic flow of time.
A torrent-like flow of time raced violently past both sides of the telephone box; each ray of light carried fragmentary images.
The golden power armor of the Imperial Guard torn by daemonic claws; a Sister of Silence falling silently.
Mechanicus combat servitors exploding one after another in the daemonic waves and becoming countless small sparks.
These are all fragments of the history of the Webway War.
Crossing the chaotic flow of time, the TARDIS telephone box slid soundlessly into the real universe and arrived at Miracle City.
Miracle City is a Webway-based city owned by the Aeldari.
All the buildings inside are made of pure wraithbone; their surfaces are covered in dense, faintly glowing psychic runes.
These psychic runes all possess special functions and maintain the functionality and immortality of these structures.
Miracle City is a central hub; from its boundaries, countless passages stretch outward.
Countless capillaries and major arteries form an ancient alien transport network connected to every corner of the galaxy.
Around Miracle City, strongholds, tunnels, bridges, and passages have been prepared; they are guarded by loyal soldiers of the Mechanicus, the Sisters of Silence, or the Imperial Guard.
"Miracle City" is not a city composed of roads and blocks as people generally imagine.
Rather, it is a gigantic structure formed by the confluence of routes through elevated platforms and nodes, floating in the endless void.
Beneath each bridge, an endless abyss spreads.
The pioneers of the Mechanicus once used the most advanced detection devices to survey these abysses.
They discovered a terrible fact. These abysses were bottomlessly deep.
If you fall into the abyss, you will die of old age before you hit the ground.
Standing on a bridge and looking out over the endless abyss, no one denied the conclusion of the Mechanicus adepts' wisdom.
Miracle City is connected to the Imperial Palace and is the most important relay point for the Webway project; at the same time, it is the place where the fiercest combat of the Webway War is waged.
Once it falls, all previous investment will be wasted, the entire Webway army will be annihilated, and even the Imperial Palace itself may fall.
When Datch and his companions arrived, they encountered a horde of daemons launching a frenzied assault on Miracle City.
Daemons exist in various forms and sizes, born from various strange nightmares.
There were blood-hungry warriors of Khorne clad in brass armor, swinging gigantic axes wrapped in blazing flames of blood.
Each swing carved jagged cracks into the bone wall before them.
There were cunning, terrifying daemons constantly changing form, hurling various fireballs at the high walls and shaking them.
There were Nurgle's plague-bearers; their bodies were covered in pus.
From their swollen bodies corrosive slime dripped with every movement; when it adhered to the wraithbone it hissed and burned.
Pleasure-witches who worship Slaanesh raced across the battlefield at astonishing speed.
Their sharp crab-claw-like forelimbs left extremely fine, deep cuts in the golden power armor of the Imperial Guard.
Furthermore, there existed every kind of strange daemon not belonging to the four gods, as well as traitors from various Legions.
On the soaring wraithbone walls, cannon fire rang out continuously, splitting the ears of those around with a roar.
Macro-cannons, plasma cannons, laser cannons, and other weapons all fired at once.
The sound of metal colliding and a heat wave that could burn everything enveloped all.
The Imperial Guard, the Sisters of Silence, and the other Imperial loyalists relied on the walls and desperately slaughtered the approaching daemons.
Their combat ability was extremely high; each had countless corpses lying at their feet.
Just then, riding the daemons' momentum, a group of gigantic warhound-like beasts approached the walls.
The double-headed eagle and cog emblems that had originally symbolized the Emperor and the Mechanicus had been mercilessly scraped from their bodies.
In their place twisted eight-pointed stars and blasphemous runes continued to writhe by themselves.
Their cockpits had been contaminated again and again by the whispers of Chaos and Warp energy and had transformed beyond recognition.
The pilot's flesh and blood had fused with the Titan's control panel; in his eye sockets burned an eerie flame that could not exist in an ordinary human.
Various tentacles and bone protrusions grew from the body of pure steel; the appearance was extremely savage.
When they approached the walls, they easily pierced the wraithbone walls of Miracle City using powered steel forks mounted on mech-arms.
Then, while withdrawing, they used the power of the Warhound Titans to tear the walls and open a breach.
The batteries installed on the high walls and fortresses immediately poured all their firepower onto the Warhound Titans advancing while dragging the wreckage of the city walls.
Intense beams from plasma cannons sliced the air, instantly destroyed a Warhound Titan's shields, and sheared off the upper body.
The exposed flesh and tissue, integrated with the control panel, writhed violently in agony.
As firepower increased, the Warhound Titans' void shields became overloaded; after a brief engagement with the defensive fire on the city walls, they were finally destroyed.
In the vast tunnels, smoking wreckage piled up like monuments; the stench of Space Marine and daemonic corpses drifted.
Enemy infantry poured into Miracle City through the breach torn by the Warhound Titans like a flood from a burst dike.
The Sisters of Silence and the Ten Thousand, as well as Mechanicus combatants and the divine machines of the Alpha Legion, guarded every major route and blocked the enemy's advance.
The Sisters of Silence were deployed, divided among various units; their presence was intended to suppress daemons, and many extra-dimensional beings called them the Daughters of Disaster.
When a daemon approaches a Daughter of Disaster, its movements become dull, and its original power drops significantly.
The Ten Thousand of the Guard were also scattered across the entire front. The collapsing force fields emitted from their halberds produced a low growl; the flying electric arcs shone dazzlingly.
The Mechanicus combat units possess overwhelming firepower. Each shot of cannon fire is extremely powerful and will tear charging daemons to pieces.
The divine machine-weapons of the Alpha Legion unleashed firepower without mercy against the enemy hordes.
Terrible explosions rang out one after another; structures built from countless pieces of wraithbone turned to dust.
On the walls and towers that remain, cannons made in former times are piled up.
The defenders made maximum use of every space where an artillery position could be established in order to display maximum firepower.
The slave-laborers of the technicians worked at full capacity, constantly loading ammunition into the guns, exchanging batteries, and replacing damaged parts.
Please confirm that every gun is operating normally and can continuously supply firepower.
Every street, every square, every bridge in Miracle City had been repeatedly calculated and simulated by the garrison.
When the daemons poured through the breaches in the walls, they realized they were not attacking the city but stepping into a slaughterhouse prepared in advance.
Bridges overflowing with daemons and traitors were detonated; amid countless screams of despair, the daemons and traitors fell into the abyss.
They will never fall to the ground. Until the lifespan of the universe ends, they will merely continue falling.
At times the defenders deliberately retreated in order to lure blood-hungry daemons into ambushes.
The moment they were lured into the ambush, the hidden units opened fire all at once.
The daemons were torn to pieces in an inescapable net of flame woven from explosives, plasma, and conversion beams before they could even scream.
Rubble piled up in the streets, growing higher and higher. The daemons who came later continued to fight over their own corpses until they themselves became part of the corpses.
No matter how hard the defenders resisted, once the outer walls had been breached, defending the entire city to the end had already become a pipe dream.
Even the strongest force — the Guard — had had their senses numbed by fierce combat.
What flowed in their veins was not blood but a high-concentration special stimulant.
Even so, it could not ease their fatigue.
Every time they took a short rest, they had to use dedicated equipment to relieve the fatigue of each muscle and promote rapid repair.
For the other units, the situation was even more miserable; they were overwhelmed by the endlessly surging daemonic hordes and torn apart.
The TARDIS-type telephone box floated above the battlefield and could clearly survey the enormous damage caused by the Webway War.
"Is this the foolish act I committed on another timeline?"
"Is this the bitter fruit produced by arrogance and pride?"
Magnus stood before the control panel, staring at various images of the ground battle, and spoke in a voice filled with sorrow.
He quietly told himself in his heart that he must not commit the same mistake as the other Magnus.
The Emperor watched the images with a furrow between his brows.
He had poured enormous effort into the Webway project, mobilized the Imperium's finest tech-adepts and psychic scholars, and secretly advanced the plan deep beneath the underground palace.
They had in fact caused an outrageous catastrophe, inflicted enormous damage on the Ten Thousand and the Sisters of Silence, and reduced their strength to less than one-tenth.
"What am I doing now? Won't you come help?" The Emperor turned toward Datch seeking an answer.
Datch did not refuse as usual. He took out the Infinity Gauntlet, activated the Time Stone mounted on it, and captured all the truth of this timeline.
Emerald-green light burst from deep within the gem and spread before the telephone box as a semi-transparent curtain of light.
On the light screen, the image of the throne room gradually became clear.
The Emperor of the old world sat on the Golden Throne speckled with silver and black iron, emitting a bright golden light like a true god.
On the old timeline, the Emperor wore golden power armor, yet the helmet had been removed, exposing a face twisted in pain.
He gripped the armrests on both sides of the throne tightly; his fingertips had turned white.
"On this timeline, leaving the Golden Throne is never permitted." Datch's voice was completely without inflection.
"We could only helplessly watch the Imperial Guard led by the Ten Thousand being swallowed by the daemonic waves."
The Emperor stared at his own figure on the screen — another self who had come from another timeline. That face was twisted by repeated pain. And the Emperor fell silent.
After going back and forth several times, he finally opened his mouth again.
"My Webway strategy is extremely meticulous, so it cannot fail."
"It seems I need to add several backup measures."
Lorgar, who was closest, turned, looked at the Emperor, and widened his eyes.
"Stop thinking about your terrible Webway plan already…" It is obvious at a glance that this method will not work.
"Instead of thinking about ending the relationship you have started thinking of alternatives."
"Please do not take such an arrogant and conceited attitude."
Emperor: ...
What an unfilial son! He criticizes his father in public and even called me arrogant.
It is often said that as the nameless ones rise, they forget their father.
Even if they ignore their father now, once he launches the online platform they will no longer be able to contact him.
"I also think your so-called 'Webway project' cannot be trusted." Angron's gaze shifted from Miracle City below, sinking into the daemonic tide, to the Emperor.
The Emperor's lips twitched slightly.
Unfilial son +1.
However, he did not criticize Angron either.
After all, the Angron of the old timeline had been completely deceived and subjected to severe humiliation.
Magnus did not dare to open his mouth.
Because it was the Magnus of the old timeline who had broken through the Webway wall.
He is a person who came from another timeline, yet whatever he says, people will think of the two Magnuses.
However, he psychologically supported Lorgar's remarks.
Father's plan is far too unreliable.
The Emperor ignored his three unfilial sons and asked the Nameless One, "Well then, what should we do?"
Datch did not reply at once and continued watching the battlefield of Miracle City.
At that time, a new change occurred on the battlefield.
Just as the Imperial garrison was on the verge of collapse, reinforcements arrived from the Imperial dungeons.
Diocletian, commander of the Imperial Guard dispatched to the surface by the Council of Ra and charged with seeking reinforcements, led every reinforcement he could find and returned to Miracle City.
Zephon of the Blood Angels, Adept Arkhan Land, a Mechanicus hierarch, and the knight household of Highrock.
Diocletian first gathered all available reinforcements on Terra, organized this force, and hurried to Miracle City as quickly as possible.
Their arrival eased the assault of the daemonic armies and stabilized the front.
Unfortunately, the arrival of reinforcements could not change the fate of Imperial defeat; rather, it accelerated the process.
The supreme leader of the Mechanicus did not wish to defend Miracle City.
She possessed a gigantic, modified body equipped with various weapons of destruction and controlled numerous Mechanicum units within the Webway.
However, she did not intend to fight to the death. Rather, she wanted to find the network branch point connecting Earth and Mars.
She planned to station troops within the network and await an opportunity to launch a counterattack on Mars and become a surprise-attack force.
"Go home."
The hierarch issued instruction after instruction to the Mechanicum.
Under her command, Mechanicum assassins, armed attendants, and guardians of the faith left the spot at the same time the units were reorganized and withdrawn.
Such an action is without doubt suicide.
Mechanically trained detection devices cannot fulfill their original function within the network; the data obtained is full of contradictions.
Some of the defense units wandered and were destroyed by the defensive mechanisms of the Aeldari city.
Some were eaten by daemons; some were killed by Warp monsters wandering the Webway passages.
Searching for the Webway route from Earth to Mars was a complete mistake.
It not only brought great losses to the Mechanicus but also caused many departments to lose contact with each other.
The hierarch realized the gravity of her mistake and, at the same time, was crushed by guilt and terror.
In the end, he was possessed by the First Murderer; even his broken soul was eaten by the other party. He also obtained a combat body made with Martian technology.
The Mechanicum's foolish actions further strained the already limited fighting strength and left the withdrawing Imperial defense forces and Sisters of Silence without cover.
Daemons poured from those passages, bypassed the Imperial defense lines, and left the loyalists unprotected on both sides.
At this moment every tunnel and branch leading to the Imperial Palace overflowed with rebels, combat machines, and extra-dimensional beings, constantly launching attacks against the withdrawing Imperial forces.
The enemy host was as vast as Terra's oceans, yet the Imperial garrison was nothing more than a withered leaf drifting between the waves, a candle flame flickering in a raging wind.
The First Murderer controlled the hierarch's gigantic body and began an attack against the remaining Imperial forces.
Even the Imperial Guard were crushed as easily as ants before it.
Once it was confirmed that the target person of this journey had appeared, Datch immediately decided to take action.
He first used the power of the Space Stone to send the Emperor, Angron, Lorgar, and Magnus onto the battlefield.
He took out Monster Balls and summoned Skarbrand, the Masked Dancer, the Angel of Life, and other Warp creatures to fight the Warp monsters.
Then he opened the entrance to the Room of Requirement.
Fully armed Necrons and primordial Space Marines marched in formation from the entrance.
Orikan walked at the front and surveyed the battlefield with cold green eyes.
In the blink of an eye, the battlefield evaluation was completed, and the optimal combat plan was formulated.
"For the nameless ones!" Mordachi shouted and led the primordial Space Marines as they plunged onto the battlefield.
Their support reduced the pressure on the Imperial defense lines that had been driven into a desperate situation.
The Guard, who had been in a state of extreme exhaustion, collapsed to the ground the moment they finally obtained a chance to rest.
Medical personnel and technicians immediately stepped forward, treated the Guard, and strove so that they could recover to their best condition as quickly as possible.
Most of the Imperial Guard were wounded; some had fractured skulls. Pieces of their flesh and blood were stuck to dented helmets.
Worse still, some had had the skin of their faces peeled off and presented a terrible appearance.
At the appearance of the Emperor and several Primarchs, everyone present lost their words.
In particular, Lorgar, Angron, and Magnus had been officially designated as traitors.
The Imperial defense forces immediately activated their weapons and watched the three traitor Primarchs warily.
"Do not move." The Emperor's voice echoed in the hearts of the remaining soldiers of the Webway army.
Seeing the Emperor's figure, Diocletian and the other guards stared with wide eyes.
Is His Majesty not currently seated upon the Golden Throne?
How has it come to this situation again?
Could there be two other Emperors?
Meanwhile, the four gods who witnessed this sight in the Warp felt a chill run down their spines.
The Nameless One's methods were, after all, far too beyond the pale.
How did he enable the "Cursed One" to move freely between different timelines and parallel universes?
In that case, they have no prospect of winning at all.
The other party can freely summon Emperors from various timelines and other parallel universes and attack as a group.
The Emperor did not say much. By the time he tried to explain the different timelines, it would already have been too late.
The Emperor released his spiritual power; dazzling golden light burst from his body like a rising sun.
He lightly brought his longsword down — not a complex sword technique but a simple, almost unadorned arcing movement.
Where the arc passed, the air ignited and formed a dragon of flame racing at tremendous speed.
The swarming daemons were swallowed by the flames and became pillars of fire.
Etheric flesh peeled from bone-like forms; bright white flame flowed from the blade and purified every impurity and evil.
Every time the Emperor's blade cut, the blazing flames erupted with still greater brilliance.
The daemons screamed in terror and could no longer launch the reckless charges they had before.
The instant the Emperor delivered a sword-stroke, the daemonic onslaught stopped cold.
Boom,
a terrible explosion rang out; the Mechanicus hierarch possessed and controlled by the First Murderer was killed by the concentrated fire of the cosmic Necrons.
Gauss beams rained down on the gigantic mechanical body like concentrated fire.
The points of impact began to collapse at the atomic level; thick armor decomposed layer by layer into the most basic particles and was shaken off like sand.
When servo-cables were cut, extremely short blue-white electric sparks occurred.
The internal cushioning gel evaporated into white smoke with a pungent chemical odor the instant it contacted the air.
Sparks flew; engine oil spilled across the floor.
The hierarch's gigantic body collapsed with a dull sound and became a smoking heap of scrap iron.
The First Murderer escaped from the destroyed Mechanicus headmaster and transformed into a human man.
He had long black hair, brown skin, a tribal beard, and wore ornaments made of bone. He also carried a flint spear.
"The First Murder."
The Emperor's voice rang in people's hearts, bearing unprecedented power… Attention.
"At last you came out." Datch smiled, seeing that the First Murder had appeared.
If the opponent is eliminated, this historical fragment can be resolved.
The Emperor did not hesitate; sword in hand, he charged toward the scene of the First Murder.
His figure soaring high in the air went back and forth between reality and illusion; everything around — whether human or daemon — was nothing more than a phantom.
In the midst of the swordplay, the salvation of one race and the curse of another collided.
The golden mist was stained with blood; the Emperor suddenly bent and spat blood.
Intense pain he had not felt in a long time tensed the warlord's body.
The first attack — five spear-like long claws — pierced the Emperor's chest.
When the other party applied force, the Emperor's feet left the Webway ground, and he was lifted little by little.
Just as the Emperor's guards were about to cry out to protect His Majesty, the Emperor laboriously turned his head toward Datch and, while spitting blood, said this.
"Nameless one, please help me."
Dutch: ...
Old Emperor, don't you know the measure of your own strength? Charging in so hastily — aren't you about to die?
Furthermore, I strongly suspect you deliberately made yourself the target of the attack in order to make me take some action.
…