The warmth in the observation room, which had almost solidified into an eternal moment, was completely shattered by Valeria's urgent voice.
Leticia's body didn't pause for a second.
She released her embrace and gently helped Terrania up. In those pure black eyes, where the warmth of a mortal had just been flowing, the depth and coldness of a deity had already returned.
"Follow me."
She took Terrania's hand, grabbed her divine robe from the back of the chair, and draped it over herself as she walked quickly toward the bridge.
Patterns of light and thorns flowed behind her, reconstructing the majesty that made the universe hold its breath.
The moment the two stepped onto the bridge, a magnificent cosmic tableau was unfolding on the grand main screen.
The "Tear of Heaven" star system.
This was a unique sector consisting of three decaying blue stars. The high-energy particle streams they ejected, torn by gravity, formed a brilliant band of light spanning the entire system, resembling a tear.
Countless shattered asteroids and interstellar dust drifted within the band of light, refracting a dreamlike glow.
This was a de facto demilitarized buffer zone between the Empire and several xenos races, one of the few places in the Milky Way that could be called a "neutral" graveyard.
However, beneath this beauty, a deadly killing intent lay hidden.
"Report the situation."
Leticia's voice wasn't loud, but it invigorated all the busy personnel on the bridge.
Valeria stepped forward quickly and gave a military salute, her face carrying a hint of gravity.
"Goddess, our long-range probes have scanned a large number of abnormal psychic signals in the asteroid belt on the outskirts of the system."
She pointed to several areas marked in red on the main screen.
"These signals are very weak, cleverly disguised as background radiation from interstellar dust. If the genesis's detection systems hadn't been optimized by Lady Magna, we likely would have ignored them entirely."
Just as she finished speaking.
Buzz—
A ripple of spatial distortion suddenly spread across the other side of the system's band of light.
Like a giant beast tearing open a curtain, a fleet so massive it was suffocating leaped into realspace from the shadows of the asteroid belt, ship after ship.
Deep blue livery, disciplined formations, and that Gloriana-class battleship, like a moving mountain range, bearing the insignia of the Ultramarines.
Robert Guilliman's fleet had also arrived.
They had clearly just arrived as well; the massive fleet was performing routine lane calibrations and formation deployments, filled with Imperial Navy-style, textbook-perfect discipline and majesty.
The Ultramarines' fleet and the solitary genesis faced each other across that brilliant "tear."
Both parties for the scheduled summit had entered the arena.
Inside the bridge, the atmosphere instantly became tense.
Everyone waited for the Goddess's next command, waiting to establish communication with the Imperial Regent and begin the negotiations that would decide the fate of the galaxy.
However, Leticia's gaze remained locked on those abnormal signals marked in red, hidden within the asteroid belt.
The very next moment, as the Imperial fleet completed its formation and prepared to send a communication request.
The situation suddenly changed!
Those psychic signals disguised as interstellar dust erupted with hideous and violent energy readings in an instant, like explosives being detonated simultaneously!
"Alert! Multiple Subspace jump signals detected! Right between us and the Imperial fleet!"
Piercing alarms echoed through the bridge.
On the main screen, within the shadows of the asteroid belt, twisted spatial rifts were forcibly torn open.
Dozens of Chaos warships, painted with profane runes and their hulls hung with corpses and spikes, appeared out of thin air in the center of the battlefield like venomous snakes surging from hell!
Their positions were calculated with the most malicious intent.
They perfectly sandwiched the genesis and Guilliman's massive fleet, forming a perfect crossfire network.
This was no chance encounter.
This was a long-planned, most despicable and shameless ambush!
"All units! Battle stations! Raise void shields!"
Guilliman's roar, laced with shock and fury, came through the communication channel of the glory of macragge.
The Imperial fleet's reaction was undeniably swift; in an instant, the field generators of hundreds of warships began to charge, and blue energy shields lit up one by one like eggshells.
But it was too late.
The Chaos fleet didn't even issue a hail or a declaration.
The moment they appeared, the weapon arrays on both sides were already fully charged.
The next second.
Lance beams that tore through the firmament, plasma bolts trailing sickly green wakes, and countless dense macro-cannon shells like swarms of locusts formed a storm of steel and energy death, howling forth!
Their target was not a single side.
Instead, they launched a most frenzied, indiscriminate saturation attack on both the Imperial fleet and the genesis simultaneously!
Boom—!!!
The hull of the genesis shuddered slightly.
A thick plasma beam slammed heavily into the bow's shields, triggering a brilliant ripple of energy that undulated like water.
On the other side, the Imperial fleet's outer escort ships were not so lucky.
An unfortunate Sword-class frigate was hit simultaneously by three lances from different directions.
Its fragile void shields shattered instantly, and the searing beams pierced through its hull, triggering a violent secondary explosion.
That ship, representing the glory of the Empire, exploded silently in the void, turning into a magnificent and tragic fireball.
The intended negotiation table was completely overturned by blood and fire in the very first salvo.
This place had instantly turned into the bloodiest, most chaotic hunting ground!
"Hahahahahaha—!!!"
A mad laugh, filled with malice and ecstasy and amplified by loudspeakers, forcibly cut into all frequencies, echoing through the chaotic battlefield communications.
On the main screen, the image of a hideous Chaos Space Marine popped up.
He wore power armor corroded by blood and filth. Two curved, ram-like horns grew from his helmet, and the mark of the eight-pointed star on his back was emitting an ominous red light.
"Imperial lapdogs and the newborn false god!"
The Chaos Lord's voice was filled with morbid excitement.
"What a wonderful sight! What a grand festival! Today, the Regent's skull shall decorate my throne! And everything within that little white ship shall become the sweetest offering to the Dark Gods!"
The conspiracy was laid bare.
They had set an ambush here long ago, aiming to wipe out both the Imperial Regent and this mysterious power that Chaos called "the fifth calamity" in one fell swoop!
Two birds with one stone!
Inside the bridge, there was a dead silence.
Everyone's faces were filled with shock and anger.
No one expected that this summit, which concerned the future of humanity, would begin in such a manner.
In the midst of this chaos and fury.
Leticia's face remained expressionless.
In those pure black eyes, not even a spark of anger could be seen, only a cold chill like absolute zero.
She looked up, calmly watching the laughing Chaos Lord on the screen as if she were looking at a dead man.
She spoke.
Her voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached every corner of the bridge, instantly drowning out all the alarms and clamor.
"All units, enter combat status."
She paused for a moment, her tone showing no fluctuation but carrying an unquestionable will.
"Target: all non-Imperial signals."
"Let them know the consequences of interrupting our tea."
The moment the order was given.
Buzz—!!!
The armor layers at the bow of the genesis, which had been closed like petals, slid open silently to both sides.
A golden beam, more brilliant and pure than the core of a star, suddenly lit up in everyone's field of vision.
That light was filled with the sacred aura of creation and life, yet it also contained the ultimate will of destruction capable of purifying all filth.
It struck after the enemy but arrived first.
At a speed that transcended the laws of physics, it instantly pierced the void and accurately struck a Chaos Infidel-class frigate that was pouring out fire.
There was no violent explosion.
The Chaos warship's shields were instantly evaporated like thin paper before that golden beam.
Next was its heavy hull armor, its twisted internal structures, and all the souls on board corrupted by Chaos.
Everything was silently and completely decomposed, purified, and reduced to the most basic particles within that sacred light.
A second later.
Where the Chaos frigate had been, only a slowly dissipating cloud of pure golden stardust remained.
The pretense of peace was completely torn to shreds.
A sudden, unannounced three-way free-for-all erupted violently in this neutral sector known as the "Tear of Heaven"!
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