That was not an earthquake.
It was a kind of terrifying vibration, more fundamental, as if the entire space itself were letting out an unbearable moan!
Leticia snapped her head up.
She saw that above the dark red, turbid sky, huge spatial rifts appeared, like black lightning!
Beneath her feet, the land covered in white bone dust also began to crack, and countless bottomless, pitch-black rifts exuding the aura of the Subspace were spreading wildly!
Destructive Subspace energy, like black venom, seeped wildly from those rifts, greedily devouring this already dead world.
The roaring tide of voices that had just knelt to swear allegiance was instantly cut off by this apocalyptic scene.
All the warriors, whether they were former rebels or loyalist heroes, raised their heads in terror, watching the sky and earth falling apart.
On their faces, the fanatical faith that had just ignited was replaced by a more primitive fear of the world's destruction.
And at this very moment.
A cold, urgent, emotionless mechanical warning sound exploded wildly in Leticia's mind!
"Warning! Warning!"
"Core historical node character [Fulgrim]'s destiny has been completely rewritten, the existence of the current historical slice is unbalanced!"
"Dungeon [Horus Heresy: The Lament of Isstvan III] is about to completely collapse!"
"World annihilation countdown: three minutes!"
"Host, please evacuate immediately! Repeat! Please evacuate immediately!"
Three minutes.
In Leticia's black eyes, reflected the shattered sky, without a trace of panic.
Time was tight.
But it was enough.
She looked at the warriors who were agitated by fear and had just offered her their loyalty; her voice was calm, yet contained an unquestionable, god-like majesty.
"Do not panic."
"The apocalypse is holding a funeral for your old world."
"And I shall grant you rebirth."
She turned to the silver-haired sword maiden in front of her, who was still maintaining a kneeling posture, with a hint of confusion on her face as well.
"Fogremia!"
Leticia issued her first order.
"Yes, my Goddess."
Fogremia raised her head, and the confusion about the world's collapse in her brilliant purple eyes was instantly replaced by an absolute focus brought about by the Goddess's summons.
"Gather all the children who are willing to follow us!" Leticia's voice was firm and decisive. "Tell them this is their only chance to board the ark!"
"By your command."
Fogremia's figure instantly turned into a dreamy pink-purple stream of light, rushing into the chaotic ranks of the Emperor's Children.
Her clear and majestic chant resonated across the chaotic battlefield.
"The Goddess has decreed! All who yearn for the light, assemble to me! Abandon your hesitation, abandon your fear! This is the final salvation!"
Meanwhile, Leticia's gaze turned to the loyalist positions on the other side.
"Captain Saul Taviz!"
"Present, my Lady!"
Taviz suppressed the shock and fear in his heart and immediately responded.
Leticia looked at him, and at the heroes from different legions behind him who were also showing determination.
"I promised you a future."
"Now, the time to fulfill that promise has come."
"Take your men and follow my lead. Do not leave behind any soul worth saving."
"Yes!"
Taviz did not hesitate at all, immediately turning around to issue the order to assemble to Nathaniel Garro, Rauth Solaart, and the others.
These battle-hardened veterans displayed amazing efficiency and discipline.
Even though the ground beneath their feet was cracking and the sky above was falling, they still moved quickly and methodically toward Leticia's position under the orders of their respective Commanders.
The entire battlefield, under Leticia's few brief commands, quickly transformed from the panic of the apocalypse into a tense and orderly emergency assembly, racing against time.
Fogremia's efficiency was astonishingly high.
Her sacred and perfect posture, her unrivaled power, were in themselves the most effective reassurance.
All the Emperor's Children who had just defected, upon seeing her figure traversing the battlefield, had their fear overwhelmed by fanatical faith.
They threw away all unnecessary weight and followed closely behind their new god.
Two minutes.
"World annihilation countdown: one minute!"
The system's warning sound became increasingly urgent.
The cracks in the sky had expanded to their limit, and large chunks of spatial debris, like burning meteorites, dragged black Subspace trails as they whistled down.
An Emperor's Children warrior was grazed by a falling, house-sized piece of spatial debris; the debris did not hit him, but half of his power armor was instantly erased by that pure Subspace energy, disappearing without a trace.
Panic began to spread again.
Just then.
Leticia moved.
She gently patted the back of Terrania in her arms, signaling her to be at ease.
Then, she raised her fair, slender right hand.
Toward that shattered, falling, apocalyptic sky.
A pure, unadulterated psychic signal, as if capable of guiding a lost fleet home, rose from her palm into the sky.
That signal pierced through the collapsing space.
It pierced through the chaotic reality.
It pierced into that chaotic ocean belonging to the Subspace, deeper than the void.
The next instant.
Boom—!!!
The shattered sky of Isstvan III was forcibly torn open from the outside by a more massive, more sacred, and more irresistible force, creating a huge gap!
That was not a rift.
That was a door.
A door leading to Hope.
A large starship shining with sacred white light, with a graceful and streamlined design that did not look like a mortal creation, slowly sailed out from that Subspace rift, like an ark sailing out of myth.
[genesis].
It had descended.
The soft light emitted from its sacred white hull, composed of countless mysterious runes, instantly dispelled the surrounding darkness and chaos.
All the warriors who saw this ship felt their souls as if they had been gently washed by warm seawater.
All fear, all anxiety, vanished into thin air at this moment.
In their eyes, only that ship, as sacred as a goddess's skirt, and the figure beneath the ship, independent of the apocalypse with her black hair fluttering, remained.
"Come up."
Leticia's voice clearly reached everyone's ears.
As the words fell.
A golden teleportation beam, massive enough to cover the entire assembly point, warm yet not blinding, was cast down from the belly of [genesis].
The beam enveloped Leticia.
It enveloped Terrania.
It enveloped Fogremia and the thousands of followers behind her.
It enveloped Saul Taviz and the dozens of loyal heroes from various legions beside him.
Everyone touched by the beam saw their bodies begin to become illusory, turning into countless golden light points, pulled upward by an irresistible, gentle force.
"This... this is..."
Rauth Solaart, this battle-hardened captain, felt this warm power, and his weather-beaten face was filled with a shock he had never experienced in his life.
He had commanded fleets larger than this and witnessed miracles more magnificent than this.
But no power could make him feel, as it did now, that he was not being teleported, but... coming home.
"World annihilation countdown: ten seconds!"
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
The ground beneath his feet had completely turned into a chaotic abyss of the Subspace.
Six.
Five.
Four.
The last batch of warriors' figures turned into light points and were sucked into the teleportation beam.
Three.
Two.
One.
When the last golden light point also completely merged into that beam of light reaching the sky.
The entire historical slice of Isstvan III could no longer maintain its final existence.
Boom—!!!
A silent lament that resonated throughout the entire space-time.
This world, which had carried endless death and betrayal and had its history corrected, was like a puppet with all its strings pulled out, completely falling apart.
In an instant, it collapsed into an infinitely small, pitch-black singularity.
Then, it returned to nothingness.
As if it had never existed.
And at the very moment before it was completely annihilated.
[genesis]'s massive and graceful hull, its engines erupted with brilliant light, pushing it to instantly leap into the Subspace route it had just torn open.
Disappearing without a trace.
...
Subspace.
That chaotic, insane ocean composed of pure emotion and thought.
[genesis] was sailing steadily through it like a sacred silver fish.
Its hull was shrouded in a dreamy pink-purple halo formed by the power of [Divine Charm], gently yet irresistibly pushing away the surrounding Subspace storms filled with malice and greed, as well as the demons attempting to approach.
Inside the bridge.
Leticia stood before the huge floor-to-ceiling window, watching the bizarre, ever-changing psychic scenery outside.
Terrania and Fogremia stood quietly behind her, one on the left and one on the right.
And behind them, Saul Taviz, Nathaniel Garro, and the other rescued heroes were looking around, somewhat awkwardly, at this bridge filled with an aura of holiness and harmony, which they had never seen before.
They had succeeded.
They had returned from that doomed world with a full load.
A subtle arc curled at the corner of Leticia's mouth.
She was about to speak, to say something to reassure these "new crew members" who had just experienced such "ups and downs."
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the fanfiction has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 or more chapters in advance over on my patreon: patreon.com/FTLGenBen
Also every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone, Thanks.