In a corner of a transport ship.
More than a dozen players with black IDs above their heads were gathered together, with different expressions. These players also hadn't performed any Chaos sacrifices.
In the [Regional Channel (Wings of Freedom)], messages were scrolling rapidly.
[Kingslayer Luna Wolf Horus]: "Did you all get the message?"
"Crimson Dawn!!"
"That legendary Alpha test faction."
[Inherit Sevatar's Will to Slay the False Emperor]: "Got it."
"They once handed this planet over to the Alpha test players, Crimson Dawn, to manage."
"To put it bluntly, Sanguinius and Guilliman are going to audit them."
"If they fail the audit, Crimson Dawn will have to get out."
"If they pass the audit, they can continue to rule that planet."
[Is the Emperor's Ass Lifted Today?]: "So it looks like our game plan this time is actually pretty simple..."
"We just have to figure out how to make Crimson Dawn fail the audit."
"Looking at the leaderboards, they are loaded."
"Like, stupidly rich."
"Don't forget, if we completely annihilate the Crimson Dawn faction, we get to loot all of their Imperial Coins."
The channel went dead silent for a second.
Then, [Kingslayer Luna Wolf Horus] slowly typed out a line:
"Exactly."
"Just that Paul Dawn guy alone is sitting on over ten billion Imperial Coins."
"And the other five hundred Astartes players under him easily have tens of millions—maybe even hundreds of millions—each."
His tone turned manic.
"As long as we can get Sanguinius and Guilliman to fail their audit and strip Crimson Dawn of their legal right to rule Aurelian IV..."
"Then we just have to figure out a way to smear them with some Warp Heresy..."
"We snitch to Sanguinius and Guilliman, claiming Crimson Dawn has fallen to Chaos."
"And we use the sheer military might of the Blood Angels and the Ultramarines to completely wipe Crimson Dawn off the map."
"Knock them out of the game early."
"Hehehe..."
[Is the Emperor's Ass Lifted Today?] chimed in:
"Hehehe... over ten billion Imperial Coins, man!"
"That's more than enough for most of us here to afford Astartes gene-seed modifications, right?"
[Inherit Sevatar's Will to Slay the False Emperor]: "The problem is, how do we make them fail the audit?"
"My advice is not to rush."
"Let's see how things play out first."
"Crimson Dawn isn't going to be a pushover."
"Don't forget, that Paul Dawn guy is literally strong enough to one-shot Lucius."
[An Eighty-Year-Old Man Sneaks into Lady Wu's Boudoir at Night]: "Just figure out how to sabotage them."
"Plant evidence, cause chaos, stir up internal conflict..."
"There are a million ways to do it. We don't have to fight them head-on."
[Kingslayer Luna Wolf Horus]: "Then let's do it!"
"For the Imperial Coins!!"
A wall of "For the Imperial Coins" flooded the chat.
--
Crimson Drake Gate Orbital Starport, Defense Force High Command.
This was a circular command center buried in the core of the starport. Dozens of holographic screens circled the room, broadcasting live feeds from every single corner of the station. Over a hundred operators sat at their stations, their fingers flying across holographic control panels.
Dead center in the command room, Xavier Locke and Paul Lica stood shoulder-to-shoulder in front of a man in his forties.
The man wore a deep crimson commander's uniform, a rank above Xavier's. Four gold bars were stamped onto his epaulets—the mark of a Defense Force Commander.
His face was chiseled and hard, his eyes deep and cold like a frozen abyss. Just standing there, he projected an aura as immovable as a mountain.
Rommel Cartop.
Commander of the Crimson Drake Gate Defense Force, a first-generation member of the Aurelian Youth League, and one of the veteran soldiers who had marched out of the Redblaze Wasteland with Crimson Dawn twenty-four years ago.
Right now, the Defense Force Commander stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring through the command center's observation window at the massive fleet slowly drawing near.
The deep blue of the Macragge's Honour.
The bloody crimson of the Red Tear.
And over a hundred strike cruisers, frigates, and supply ships bearing different heraldry.
These steel leviathans completely dominated the void.
"Commander Rommel."
Xavier slammed his right fist against his chest plate, his voice steady.
"We have successfully established comms with both fleets, exactly as the Governor ordered. All data has been relayed to the Governor's Mansion, and Governor Cage has confirmed receipt."
Rommel gave a curt nod.
He didn't speak, simply keeping his eyes locked on the approaching armada.
Xavier hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up. "Commander Rommel..."
His voice was hushed, tinged with a sliver of anxiety. "If we fail this inspection, and Governor Cage is stripped of his title, and the Imperium sends a new Governor to take over Aurelian IV... what do we do then?"
Rommel turned his head, looking at the young man he had personally trained.
Xavier Locke, thirty years old.
Ten years ago, he graduated top of his class in the fourteenth cohort of the Aurelian Youth League. He enlisted in the Dawn Defense Force as a grunt platoon leader and clawed his way up the ranks to become the Division Commander of the Crimson Drake Gate.
Rommel knew firsthand the kid's talent, his loyalty, and his absolute, bleeding-heart devotion to Crimson Dawn. But seeing the worry etched into the young man's face right now... it reminded Rommel of himself back in the day.
He smiled.
It was a faint smile, but it carried an incredibly reassuring weight.
"Don't worry." Rommel's voice was calm, like the morning breeze rolling off the peaks of Hera. "Aurelian was built into what it is today under the leadership of Crimson Dawn..."
"As long as the Imperium didn't send complete idiots, there's no way we fail this inspection."
He paused, looking past Xavier and back out the window at the armada.
"If Crimson Dawn could take a rotting mining rock and turn it into this over twenty years, and we still somehow fail a basic audit..."
A cold sneer tugged at the corner of Rommel's mouth.
"...Then this Imperium has no right to dictate the fate of Aurelian."
Xavier froze.
Beside him, Paul Lica froze too.
It only took a second for both of them to fully understand exactly what their Commander was saying. The two thirty-year-old Division Commanders—brilliant young men who had risen above countless other Aurelian youths to claim their ranks—simultaneously straightened their spines.
Their right fists slammed into their left breasts in unison, their voices echoing in perfect sync.
"Willing to sacrifice everything for Crimson Dawn!"
"May the light of the Dawn shine eternal over Aurelian!"
Rommel looked at the two young officers, seeing the fiery resolve burning in their eyes, and his smile deepened.
It was a look of immense pride. The look of a man who knew the future was in good hands.
He stepped forward and clapped Xavier on the shoulder, then gave Paul the same treatment. The hits were heavy enough to make both young men sway slightly.
Then he turned around, looking back out the window.
Watching the massive fleet slowly pulling into the Crimson Drake Gate. Watching the deep blue of the Macragge's Honour and the bloody red of the Red Tear.
"Rest easy."
His voice was barely a whisper, as if he were talking to himself.
"Any force that dares try to destroy Crimson Dawn, destroy the Aurelian Youth League, or destroy Aurelian itself..."
His gaze turned as sharp as a blade.
"...We will fight them to the bitter end."
"For the Dawn."
Xavier and Paul exchanged a look and raised their right fists at the exact same time.
"For the Dawn."
–
Crimson Drake Gate Orbital Starport, VIP Berths D-77 through D-89.
Massive mechanical docking arms slowly extended through the void, gently guiding the kilometer-long steel leviathans perfectly into their slips.
The moment the hull of the Macragge's Honour locked into the docking clamps, the entire starport gave a faint shudder.
Then came the Red Tear.
Then came dozens of strike cruisers, frigates, and supply ships.
The deep blue, blood red, and silver-gray hulls gleamed under the starport's floodlights, turning the entire docking bay into a massive forest of steel.
Down on the docking platform, the soldiers of the Crimson Drake Gate Defense Force had already formed up into rigid ranks, their spines perfectly straight.
They wore sharp, matching dark-gray uniforms, the Crimson Dawn emblem emblazoned over their hearts. Their ceremonial rifles were polished to a mirror shine, the muzzles angled toward the sky.
They stood as still as statues, their eyes locked straight ahead. There was no fear on their faces—only a cold, solemn dignity.
Under their watchful gaze, the massive blast doors of the Macragge's Honour slowly ground open.
A flood of pure white light spilled out from the ship.
And from that light, a towering figure in deep blue emerged.
Roboute Guilliman.
Primarch of the XIII Legion, ruler of the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar.
He stood at the top of the ramp, his ice-blue eyes sweeping over the massive starport. Behind him, Marius Gage, Macaon, and dozens of Ultramarines Captains filed out.
At that exact same moment, the blast doors of the Red Tear slowly opened.
Golden light spilled out onto the deck.
And an even more radiant figure stepped out from the glow.
His pure white wings twitched slightly under the starport lights, every single feather looking like the most immaculate snowflake.
Golden power armor. A flawlessly beautiful face. And those pale golden eyes.
Sanguinius.
Primarch of the IX Legion, the Lord of Baal. He stood at the top of his ramp, locking eyes with Guilliman.
Neither Primarch spoke a word.
They simply gave each other a slight nod.
Then, moving in perfect sync, they began their descent. Their golden capes snapped violently behind them.
The moment Sanguinius's boot touched the deck of the starport, he paused for a fraction of a second.
His gaze swept over the rigid ranks of the Defense Force soldiers, over the sprawling, awe-inspiring architecture of the starport, and over the Aurelian staff watching them from afar.
His lips barely moved.
His voice was a whisper so soft, only he could hear it.
"Titus..."
"I'm here."
"Where are you?"
At this very moment, the two Primarchs had finally set foot upon the soil of Aurelian IV once again.