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The Sekht Fossa System. In this peaceful star sector, there was not a trace of noise or chaos. The stars here still shone tranquilly.
But who would have thought that decades ago, this was a bustling interstellar trade route? A Hive World named Abel possessed mining sites, refineries, and metal processing plants. Abel was not only self-sufficient but also exported its products to support several surrounding star systems.
But now, only a mess remained.
The destroyed Hive World of Albert (Abel)—even now, one could see the devastating consequences caused by the Two-Stage Cyclonic Torpedoes on this planet.
Two-thirds of the planet's sphere had been completely shattered. Fragments of the planet, pulled by the gravity of distant stars, were gradually drifting away from Abel, forming a trail that looked extremely magnificent, like a long tail.
However, this abandoned mining system, destroyed by the Imperium's own hands, welcomed two "uninvited guests" today.
Boom!
Basically every three minutes, an asteroid a hundred meters long was shattered into countless tiny pieces by incoming laser fire.
These fragments smashed into the high-speed spaceship, causing violent turbulence and vibrations. Yet neither the ship in front nor the one behind showed any sign of slowing down. The scorching orange tail flames spewing from their engines stretched incredibly long.
If anyone saw them, they would look like two crimson meteors shining with dazzling light, using the magnificent starry sky as a backdrop to stage an intense chase.
The battered black spaceship in front was a private vessel of the Inquisition. Although it looked tattered and already had severe battle damage, it could still burst forth with amazing speed. One could only say that Inquisition products were always top-quality, giving the illusion of "This thing can still fly?"
Inside was the former Inquisitor, Tosak Rome. In the underhive world of Asheli, he had been forced out by the terrifying high temperatures that swept across the entire world. Originally, he wanted to leave immediately after treating his wounds!
But who would have thought that Kenmei Isayama, disregarding the lives of those underhive residents, would directly set fire to all of Asheli, turning it into a high-temperature inferno?
To tell a hellish joke: Asheli, the lowest level of the Hive World, had never been so clean. Aside from the slag produced by combustion, it was now a world sterilized and purified by high heat.
Perhaps it was even cleaner than the Middle Hive.
Tosak Rome looked at the spaceship in hot pursuit on the screen. With only one hand, he slammed the steering wheel viciously and cursed loudly.
"Damn it! He's definitely one of those twisted warmongers from the 'Monodominant' faction!"
Acting so unscrupulously and perversely, being so fierce—he had to be one of the crazy ones even among Inquisitors.
If Tosak Rome knew that Kenmei had just executed an Exterminatus order and dropped two Cyclonic Torpedoes, he probably wouldn't have even set foot in Kenmei's hotel suite.
That very night, he would have carried his spaceship and run out of this unlucky Adeli Hive World overnight. He would have run as far as he could without hesitation. In this day and age, anyone who could initiate an "Exterminatus" without changing their expression was a ruthless person.
Sacrifice? What was he going to sacrifice with? His head?
Chasing relentlessly behind him like a hound locking onto its prey was the Death's Piety, a modified Fury-class Interceptor about a hundred meters long. This model, which looked like a sharp knife, was built primarily for speed and maneuverability, possessing massive thrusters and attitude control jets.
So even though the opponent had a ten-minute head start, Kenmei could catch up from behind. Without the help of these violent thrusters, it would have been impossible.
Because Kenmei needed to conceal his identity, his private Inquisition ship couldn't be flown to this Hive World; he had entered using a transport ship. This interceptor was already the fastest ship he could mobilize.
It was equipped with multiple rows of powerful laser cannons and sixteen of the Imperium's latest MK-SAN "Redemption" missiles, thoroughly implementing the violent aesthetic of "Caliber is justice, ammo count is beauty."
Kenmei finally felt why most people dreamed of driving sports cars. Watching the numbers soaring on the dashboard, the scenery of light and shadow disappearing rapidly around him, and those massive asteroids—it demanded high mental concentration at every moment!
"Target locked. Fire?"
Kenmei, hands gripping the steering wheel, stared dead ahead. Just as he used a technique similar to a Cobra maneuver to raise the nose from horizontal to vertical, flying almost perilously close to the surface of an asteroid that suddenly appeared around a corner...
Upon hearing that the fire control system had locked onto the ship ahead, Kenmei pressed the trigger without hesitation.
He couldn't lock on earlier because there were tens of thousands of asteroids, some kilometers long, which greatly affected aiming accuracy. Once a powerful missile missed and hit an asteroid a few kilometers in diameter, the resulting debris would be enough for Kenmei to suffer.
So he had been using the higher-precision, manually controlled laser cannons for point shooting. But now that they had flown out of the asteroid belt, there were fewer concerns, so Kenmei simply opened fire.
"Warning. Warning. You have been locked on."
At this moment, in Tosak Rome's cockpit, the Machine Spirit's cold voice echoed in the cabin along with the red alarm.
Hearing this news, Tosak Rome was already sweating profusely. Gritting his teeth, his expression was utterly mad.
"Shut up!"
Enveloped by the shadow of death, Tosak Rome wanted to turn the ship around and head back into the asteroid belt, but it was too late.
Several covers on the surface of the Fury-class interceptor opened one by one. Torpedoes containing destructive power, flashing with guidance lights, roared out of the launch tubes with trails of fire.
Several arrow-like projectiles, dazzling as the stars in the background, struck directly against the ship ahead.
Inside, the control panel in front of Tosak Rome was already covered in terrifying electric currents and sparks. The red alarms and sizzling noises intertwined.
Because the missiles Kenmei fired were designed with shaped-charge explosives for maximum armor penetration, they erupted with immense heat that corroded the outer armor of the Inquisition warship. At the same time, the contained powder corroded electronic components, destroying the ship's circuitry.
The black armor on the ship's broadside had been completely melted. The gun ports in the weapon arrays began to bend and deform under the high temperature. The structure of the ship shook, feeling as if it were about to disintegrate in space.
Under the continuous destruction of the missiles, even the thrusters at the rear of the warship began to dim, looking like they were about to flame out completely at any moment.
The surface of the Inquisition warship was covered in smoke and dust. The once-magnificent hull was now scarred from the bombardment. Through the ruptured and damaged gaps, one could see raging fire spewing out.
Most of the ship's body turned into shattered wreckage, trailing a crystalline tail extending behind the warship.
Kenmei watched this warship, shining with dazzling light, drift like a kite with a broken string. Unexpectedly, it carried a tragic beauty of "sacrifice."
Especially the burning symbol of the Inquisition, which was full of irony.
Unfortunately, that was the glory of a traitor.