Warhammer: I don't want to become a stinky can!

Page 853

The moment the psionic communication was connected, Khan spoke immediately, his words sharp and incisive.

[You're planning to sacrifice Pluto outright... Neos.]

The Emperor, who had closed his eyes and was sensing the entire fleet, remained silent for a moment.

"My goal is to get you into the solar system smoothly."

But... Khan thought of his brothers in another destiny who were trying to build an empire—Pluto, which the Emperor had moved there to, had obvious signs of Primarch construction. Khan thought that blowing up the entire Pluto would break the hearts of the rulers on the other side.

At the same time, directly sacrificing an entire planet of believers and psionicists is cruel enough and insane enough.

But... never mind.

This is the choice of the Lord of Mankind. The Khan does not believe he can dissuade the Lord of Mankind and offer a better suggestion. Just as Neos said, the Emperor's mission is to get the fleet into the solar system, while the Khan's mission is to get the fleet into Terra successfully.

Okay, but I hope our ships can capture some debris from Pluto.

The emperor's closed eyelids trembled slightly. After a brief moment of thought,

"can."

He then paused for a moment, as if assessing the current state of the entire fleet.

“...What you want—”

[Recreate a battle.]

Chagatai Khan naturally replied that the emperor felt his son seemed to have never changed—the original being from the steppe was like a gust of wind, vast and formless, unaffected by worldly forces; only when he came to your side would you feel the power of a hurricane.

"Galaspa".

Neos pinpointed the battle in his memory, a battle that was clearly ancient enough—the only special thing about it was that it was Primarch Mortalian's first appearance since his return, the Primarch from Barbaross stubbornly choosing to lead the Legion to attack that impregnable system.

After paying a heavy price, Mortarian succeeded, bringing with him a catastrophe that was utterly devastating to Galaspa.

I was somewhat surprised.

The Khan raised one eyebrow, and after confirming that the Emperor would block the attack from the sun, he once again turned his unwavering gaze to the azure Terra.

[I thought you had forgotten that less-than-glorious battle—though my brother Mortarion was somewhat reckless in it, he provided the Imperium with invaluable experience on how to breach a well-defended core planet of a star system with as few fleets as possible.]

Similar battles were rare after that, because the Empire's offensive also had to consider post-war supplies and rescue. Civilizations like the Galaspa regime, where the entire system came to a standstill after the core planet was captured, were few and far between. Generally, after the landing war, the entire system would launch a counterattack.

But coincidentally, Motalian's crazy tactics are clearly well-suited to their current strategic objectives.

“I remember every battle, every drop of blood, every sword drawn—for I am the Lord of mankind.”

The Lord of Humanity spoke proudly, and he opened his eyes again, his eyes flashing with golden light. Beside the entire fleet, the small Pluto suddenly began to slow down its rotation, and huge ravines cracked open on the surface, revealing the bottomless black scars beneath.

The Black Stone Tower, once imbued with the power of Hades, is beginning to activate. Hades originally set these up to prevent the psykers from rioting again. The construction was completed by the Imperial Fist, also as a tribute to the Star Speakers and Navigators' contempt for the Imperial Fist.

Unexpectedly, the emperor used it for other purposes.

After a thunderous roar that echoed across the entire planet, a colossal black dragon rose up. Beneath it, people as insignificant as ants screamed and howled as they knelt down, their legs curled up, struggling to bury their eyes in their hands.

Even so, the psionicists continued to pray, and the grey knights stationed above shouted, raising their psionic scepters and warhammers high. Amidst flashes of bright lightning, people gathered their faith and souls, empowering the darkness rising from the depths of the earth.

The planet that had just been summoned was about to be destroyed. Even the most extravagant Primarch would be spitting out blood, but the Lord of Man knew that they needed to face that sun—Guilliman's control over the solar system had reached an unimaginable level.

If one does not willingly succumb to death, the only outcome will be being destroyed by the enemy.

Apart from Neos, none of them were powerful enough psionic beings in the warp, and Neos knew all too well that he could not currently match the psionic power of an entire celestial body.

Blood spilled from the Emperor's tightly closed mouth. He heard the sound of cracking inside the dimming planet, and a huge black lightning dragon rose from the depths of the core, bringing a sense of shock and disgust to this ignorant fate.

boom……

A slow, massive sound drifted through the void, and the asteroid began to shatter, revealing the dark secret buried deep beneath its surface.

The crack ran through the entire planet, and at first glance it looked like an eyeball. It turned toward the giant sun that was staring at it, and then black lightning flashed across the center of its pupil.

The cold, unyielding, bright blue sun visibly dimmed.

After completing its transport mission, Pluto began to disintegrate, and the fanatical cries of the Pluto cult were revealed like a fruit with its shell peeled off, indiscriminately showering its stench and nausea upon everyone who looked at it.

The sun, which was gazing at Pluto, dimmed instantly and became listless, as if it had witnessed something unbelievable.

Nine seconds later, the pale blue giant eye began to turn, as if it had its own consciousness, and impatiently shifted its gaze away from Pluto.

Even though it tried to avoid it, the darkness that burst forth when Pluto shattered successfully struck the massive celestial body. As if weary, the intense solar storm began to subside. Ignoring the psionic energy and commands from Terra, the Eternal Sun slowly and wearily closed its eyes, returning to being a celestial body devoid of any psionic response.

However, the light was dimmer than before.

[?! !!!! ...

On the Terra altar, Guilliman suddenly collapsed to his knees, blood gushing from his mouth. His Primarch tightly covered his right eye, blood gushing out between his fingers.

That... madman.

[Killiman] felt his vision blurring as he realized that the other emperor was also a completely insane being.

Chapter 852 [294] The commotion is top-notch! The fastest in the galaxy!

The celestial body that continuously emitted tormenting the subspace was slowly disintegrating in the weightless void, and the leaking energy beneath it was continuously polluting the High Heavens.

From a psionic perspective, the once radiant High Heavens were now pitch black on Pluto's projection, as if some kind of deadly radioactive liquid had leaked, with filthy turbulent currents eroding the brightly shining subspace.

Never before in the highest heavens has such a blasphemous thing appeared.

It's like a subterranean being looking directly at the sun for the first time, or like someone who has never had a sense of smell smelling the fermenting odor of blood and excrement for the first time. It's a physiological aversion and terror—you've never seen anything like it before, but your soul trembles as you look directly at it.

That dark and disordered existence... that blasphemous and greedy fissure... This is the tumor of the world, a symbol of the imperfection of destiny, a gap, a defect, something despicable and repulsive.

Those who had been watching that area couldn't help but quietly shift their gaze, trembling involuntarily.

[Killiman] knelt on the altar, his hand tightly covering his right eye, the blood still dripping uncontrollably, shimmering with blue light.

This was also the first time he had ever "looked directly at someone".

……

A tremendous shock spread through the Primarch, but then turned into hysteria. He began to understand why the other old man was so shameless—because of that being—that dark and blasphemous being.

It was far beyond their imagination—even though [Killiman] had anticipated it, facing it was still painful.

Even so… [Killiman] straightened up, panting. Even with such a powerful trump card on the other side, the Lord of Humanity never intended for this game to have a winner from the very beginning.

The Emperor's first move was aimed at a lose-lose situation for both sides. The exchange of Pluto would be a fatal blow to both empires, and the only difference between the losers might be life and death.

Perhaps only life and death are considered problems in the eyes of the Lord of Humanity, while future construction and resources are nothing but nothing in Neos's eyes.

Having figured this out, [Guilliman] couldn't help but sneer. He was wrong—he had deployed a large force, but he hadn't expected the Emperor to choose to persuade [Horus] to rebel right away, and then directly destroy an entire planet in exchange for the opportunity to enter the solar system and for a period of time for the large-scale psychic energy to cease in the solar system.

Let him see where the limits of another human ruler lie—compared to his father, this human ruler seems even more chaotic and insane. At least [Guilliman] can see what the [Emperor] is thinking, and this Emperor…

[Killiman] It's hard to say whether the other side really wants to win, or just wants to see blood flow on the battlefield.

But in any case, he will make those intruders pay the price.

..........................................

Pluto is breaking apart.

Khan coldly watched the planet disintegrate—as the most important transportation hub in the solar system and the headquarters of the Star Court connecting the entire human empire, the Lord of Man's actions directly destroyed at least sixty percent of the communications in another destiny line.

The remaining communications... were maintained by the Church of the Underworld and the Church of the Machines.

But he wasn't on that other timeline, so he was unaware of what was happening there.

If the Khan knew that the opposing empire was also embroiled in a major war, he would probably be far more furious than he is now. When it comes to harming his own son and the empire, Neos has never been a human being.

This is equivalent to burning down half of your house and then telling them that the fire brought them tomorrow's sun.

Khan pulled his thoughts back to the present. The planetary fragments pushed aside by the explosion were slowly floating. Some of the continental fragments, whose shapes were suitable for the anti-spiritual energy, were captured by the engineering ships on the outer side of the fleet. Like hermit crabs, they stuck these fragments to the outside of the fleet, covering it with a rough armor.

In Mortalian's report on the Galaspa offensive, the outermost asteroid fragments were described as having been hollowed out and then filled with bombs, but time was of the essence and they no longer had the chance to do so.

This battle will be far more brutal and bloody than the battle of the Deathguard—the Primarch of the White Scars must be prepared to lose most of their fleet.

Moreover, in the Battle of Galaspa, the vanguard Fourth Knight was modified by Mortarion before the battle—making it faster and more adaptable to overload acceleration.

But in this respect, Khan believed that none of his ships needed modification; they would be faster than the Death Guard's fastest ships.

[Full speed ahead, maintain social distancing!]

The mottled fleet had not yet reached a perfect formation, with some ships still haphazardly arranged within the fleet. But time was running out; the gleaming blue enemy ships were closing in like a pack of hungry wolves, and they had to break through before the encirclement was complete.

Khan was confident he could adjust the platooning in the upcoming races, and now—it was time to twist the throttle.

As the Primarch whispered, the fleet led by White Scar suddenly lit up. The engines, which had been preheated, blazed with brilliant light in an instant, like a loud whistle, and roared furiously.

At the forefront of the fleet, the Queen of Glory and the Blade Storm leaped out with an eerie speed disproportionate to their massive size, like a giant horse galloping across a plateau. The fierce wind whipped through their bright white mane. The ship, which was usually as low-key and silent as its original form, suddenly radiated brilliance. In an instant, the whole world would focus on its arrogant figure.

If you entrust your mission to White Scars, the Legion will not let you down.

Almost like the wind, struggling along this line of fate, the fleet, which had not yet been equipped with the main empire's inertialess faster-than-light engines, reached speeds comparable to those of the ships.

None of the white scars were puzzled as to why they could avoid being crushed by inertia at such high speeds, because they knew they had always been this fast—and could even go faster! Of course they could go faster!

Even though Chagatai had warned the Space Wolves and the Shadowmoon Wolves beforehand, the speed still surprised the crew members in the middle of the fleet. In the ships that were not White Scar ships, the crew members were running and roaring loudly, trying to keep up with the pace of the white horses as much as possible.

Fortunately, the Khan had made room for the ships to move slowly. The white horse galloped, but still had to consider the "old, weak, sick and disabled" behind it.

Outside the ships, seeing the invading fleet begin to move, the blue-painted fleets immediately responded, gathering from all directions and blocking all paths the fleet could take to Terra.

In the vast starry sky, all was silent. The two fleets drew closer and closer. Under such circumstances, the larger the object, the slower its movements appeared, but every little movement actually traversed thousands of mountains and rivers.

Closer and closer...closer and closer...Finally, after crossing a certain critical point, the wolves lurking beneath the hills began to howl, and torpedoes and missiles of unknown types rained down, leaving countless trails of smoke in the deep sky. Launch! Launch! Launch again! In Robert Guilliman's empire, life and ammunition are the cheapest numbers.

At the same time, the compressed neural system packages of psionicists stored in specially designed cabins began to pray. Thousands of ships specifically designed for psionic attacks formed a strange array at the warp node. The Ultramarines, who had fought in countless battles within their legions, stood on the ships, their specially designed scepters pointing in a specific direction, praying for the supreme power to descend.

The airspace that the raiding Imperial fleet would inevitably pass through suddenly became visibly muddy—as if some kind of translucent blue viscous substance had filled the entire space, and whispers arose.

Standing at the bow, Khan unconsciously furrowed his brow, while the Primarch pursed his lips tightly, preparing for the first confrontation with the storm.

The situation was far more complex and difficult than the Galaspar situation that Mortarion had faced—despite having a larger fleet than the Deathguards—and the Khan believed his fleet was significantly superior to the Deathguards'.

But Killieman is clearly no pushover.

Before the first wave of torpedoes and missiles reached the bow of the Stormblade, the enemy ship's firing finally stopped for a moment after the endless barrage, but it was not a rest. Khan could sense that the Wolf King was huddled in his lair, watching them with sinister eyes.

Like a tacit agreement, a cruel law among wolves, from within the Ultramarines fleet blocking their way, some obviously modified ships stepped forward. The wolves silently watched their kin step forward, then roared loudly and charged directly at the herd of horses!

Suicide attacks! Just as Khan would use suicide charges, Guilliman also favors suicide attacks—after all, for him, unless it's a vital resource—like Pluto—everything else is just a number.

The wolves howled, and Khan squinted at the overwhelming hail of ammunition and the wolves following closely behind.

Even the fiercest and most fearless warriors would be startled upon witnessing this scene. Khan could almost feel the cold laughter of Guilliman, who was lazily nestled in his den opposite him. He knew that Guilliman was a cunning and treacherous wolf, and that the pack depended on him and followed his lead.

[Can this work?! Chagatai!]

The Wolf King's exclamation rang out from the channel. Compared to [Guilliman], Ruth seemed to lack some of his ruthlessness. Ultimately, Ruth still cared about his offspring and his friendships, while [Guilliman] was a mutated madman.

The Khan's expression darkened, but he remained stern.

You shouldn't question a seasoned rider.

The Khan pondered for a moment, then the wind rose, and his cloak billowed. The wolf fangs at his waist clashed with the agate, making a clanging sound. A gale swept around the Primal, carrying with it the distant cry of eagles from the grasslands.

The storm prophets brandished their scepters, made of ancient wood, sheep bones, and eagle feathers, and mimicked the voice of Egi Tengri, uttering deep, resonant incantations from their throats that were almost impossible for humans to produce.

At the same moment, the emperor's voice rang out almost simultaneously.

“Your psychic powers can’t handle this—I’ll take over.”

Khan raised an eyebrow in surprise. Before this, Neos had emphasized countless times that the Primarchs had to walk this path on their own, but in the end the Emperor still intervened.

The Primarch wanted to say something—Chagatai realized that the Lord of Man was most likely overdrawing his power, after all, he still needed to reserve enough strength to fight on Terra.

But Khan ultimately said nothing, just as he had seen the Emperor decide to detonate Pluto. Every decision made by the Lord of Mankind was beyond the Primarch's ability to persuade. In fact, no one could make the Emperor change his mind once he had made up his mind.

Except for that time when Guilliman held the contract.

Therefore, the Khan said nothing; he merely indicated that he was aware of the matter. Amidst the howling of wolves throughout the night, the wind grew stronger, and a storm was approaching.

The communication with the Emperor ended, and at the last moment, the Khan heard a cough as a precursor, but the Primarch remained silent.

Everyone will bleed in this battle, including the Lord of Mankind; such is the nature of destiny.

Then, the horses neighed and charged into the area where they had fallen, surrounded by wolves.

The first to be activated were the torpedoes. Countless torpedoes whistled as they shot out of the gun muzzle, rushing toward the torpedo and missile array that far outnumbered them—to intercept and trigger a chain of explosions as early as possible. Brilliant fireworks burst among the dense torpedo swarm, one after another, dazzling and spectacular.

But it still wasn't enough.

[Killiman] calculated perfectly; at the same time the first torpedo arrived at the Khan's fleet, the Imperial fleet also entered the muddy domain of Naya Space.