"Strange. What exactly am I overlooking?"
Eden pondered the question, worried that he had missed some crucial detail and that the final battle might take an unexpected turn because of it.
That would be troublesome.
Then the Lion's voice came through, carrying a trace of confusion.
"Where did Roboute go? He has already returned to the Sol System, so why has he not joined the battle?"
Back when he had been moving through the forests of Caliban, he had seen Guilliman's silhouette in the projection of the Sol System.
The Lord of Ultramar had ended decades of drifting and returned to the Imperium.
As the First Primarch, the Lion still cared a great deal about Guilliman.
"That's right. I almost forgot old Roboute." Eden froze for a moment at those words, then slapped his thigh as realization struck.
Guilliman had spent so long roaming the Warp like a savage. After finally making it back to support Holy Terra, he had always longed to join the fighting.
It would let him settle the old regret of failing to reinforce Holy Terra in time.
Now Eden and the other brothers were attacking the enemy's main base, preparing to throw down with Horus and the other fallen Primarchs.
If they did not bring Guilliman along for a battle like this, what kind of brothers would they be?
Honestly, if that man missed this fight, would he not spend the rest of his life beating his chest and losing sleep over it?
"As good brothers, we have to bring old Roboute with us. We also get another high-end combatant."
Eden made the decision at once and contacted Guilliman, trying to see if the Hope Sun could teleport him over.
Either that, or perhaps the Lion could open a Caliban VIP forest passage and pick him up.
However, the psychic transmission he sent received no response at all. He could not even locate Guilliman's presence anywhere inside the Sol System.
"That timing is way too inconvenient."
Eden felt rather helpless. From the look of things, Guilliman had most likely already entered Warp travel, or else was in the middle of a sorcerous teleportation.
During that period, it would be very difficult for Eden to contact him unless Guilliman ended his voyage and returned to the Sol System.
In other words, Guilliman might miss this final battle. Who knew how long that man would remain stuck inside a route or teleportation corridor?
Based on previous experience, if he could arrive in time for the champagne, that would already be worth celebrating.
If he was unlucky, he might end up getting lost in the Warp for another few decades, just like last time.
"Old Roboute's luck really is cursed..." Eden sighed with feeling.
With his near-divine cognitive ability, it was very difficult for him to forget things, yet somehow he had still overlooked Guilliman in his plans.
Eden remembered that when he had jumped into the Chaos storm to butterfly-stroke his way through it, Guilliman should have been planning to rush to Holy Terra and stop Horus and the other fallen beings.
But looking at the timing, by the time he arrived, Holy Terra had probably already vanished and transferred into the Webway of Dawnlight City.
In other words, the man had come up empty and missed it.
Yet just then, everyone else had withdrawn from the surrounding region of Holy Terra and moved to deep space near the edge of the Sun, preparing a new round of war around New Longlin.
Eden had gathered the Lion, Dorn, and other loyalist Primarchs, preparing for a decisive battle against Horus and the other fallen Primarchs.
Guilliman, meanwhile, was far away near Holy Terra, which caused him to miss this Primarch assembly.
When Eden remembered the matter and contacted him for one final attempt, the man had just happened to enter Warp travel or sorcerous teleportation again, missing the last opportunity.
"Old Roboute really lives up to his title as the nine-hour specialist. Whenever a major campaign happens, he drops the ball. He never catches a single battle while it's still hot..."
Eden drew in a deep breath. He felt numb.
At this point, he no longer expected Guilliman to arrive on time. He only hoped that the man would not get himself lost together with the Eternal Soul.
The Adeptus Mechanicus might still need the machinery aboard that thing to repair the Throne.
"That possibility is pretty high. Good thing I had Webby copy all the data from the Eternal Soul in advance. Otherwise, we would have been completely screwed."
Eden was rather glad that he had been cautious enough. That way, even if the Eternal Soul was lost again, at least they still had data that could be used for research.
They would not be left with nothing.
"Guilliman cannot come?" The Lion saw the Savior's expression and realized something.
He felt some regret.
The Lion still hoped that brother could fight beside him and end this grudge that had lasted ten thousand years.
"No helping it. Old Roboute got delayed." Eden patted the Lion on the shoulder as he spoke.
"We'll go first. Perhaps he can still arrive not long from now and support us from the perimeter."
As Eden spoke, the doors of the blackstone drop pods opened one after another. The Lion, Dorn, the Khan, and the other loyalist Primarchs swiftly entered them and waited for launch.
After that, he also entered his own blackstone drop pod.
Bang, bang, bang!
With a piercing alert tone, the entire launch platform jolted violently. The blackstone drop pods shot out along their rails and flew toward New Longlin.
The drop pods passed through the breach in the veil, plunged into the planet's atmosphere, and turned into streaks of burning fire.
At that moment, the entire airspace was still locked in fierce aerial combat.
The Imperial fleet had deployed tens of thousands of atmospheric fighters to bomb the relevant anti-air arrays along the route. Escort fighters also flew alongside the drop pods, forming a physical defensive line.
They protected the drop pods and the Primarchs inside.
Boom!
The Dreamweaver fired its sacred nova cannon. Plasma heat destroyed the most threatening land-based anti-air array and raised a mushroom cloud mixed with yellow flame.
After that, the Starlance Array swept out several blazing beams, slicing diagonally through an anti-air platform and sending it crashing toward the surface in flames.
As the airspace was cleared, more drop pods descended, followed by one golden gunship after another and transport craft after transport craft.
The Imperium had broken through the low-orbit defensive line and was now launching a large-scale invasion of the core region of this planet-sized Chaos fortress.
Even more Departmento Munitorum transport fleets were waiting to move in afterward.
Inside the drop pod, Eden sat in the restraint chair, able to feel the violent tremors coming from outside.
He could see wreckage and more fighters falling through the burning airspace outside. Almost every inch of the sky was consumed by battle.
Fortunately, the blackstone drop pod's force-field defenses were sturdy enough, and the fighters protected them well.
That allowed them to pass smoothly through the most dangerous airspace.
Rumble!
New explosions roared out, continuous and unending. Across the planet's surface, one dark red hemisphere after another flared into existence.
Those were the impacts of large Hell missiles. Their hate-forged energy turned every Chaos being within the blast radius into ash amid wails and agony.
The Chaos beings lucky enough to survive were also left in terrible pain from severe radiation, lying on the ground and groaning.
This was nothing less than a galactic hell. That Savior had brought too much suffering to Chaos.
It sent a chill down the spine.
There was no helping it. The Imperium had been fighting a defensive war before, so it had not been convenient to use these forbidden weapons with excessive radiation and pollution along the Iron Great Wall.
Using them there would not have been worth it, and they would have contaminated Imperial territory.
But on this Chaos fortress world, none of that mattered. First, they would wash the ground clean and sweep away the daemons of Chaos and the traitors. Everything else could come afterward.
That was why the Redemption Legion's extermination forces had basically dumped all the Hell missiles they had stockpiled onto New Longlin in one go.
Those hateful weapons of the Savior dealt a devastating blow to the Chaos garrison here.
"Gods above!"
The Chaos daemons who were lucky enough to escape fell into extreme terror after witnessing the devastation caused by the hell-weapons.
They had almost lost their will to fight.
After that, the Custodian Guard, the Redemption Legion, and the Terror Legion launched another round of slaughter against them.
The main force of the Chaos coalition had pushed deep into the Sol System because of the attack on Terra. They could not return at all.
With their current strength, it was difficult to withstand such a ferocious assault.
As the Chaos garrison's morale collapsed, the Terror Legion began calling for surrender, seeking to take control of these Chaos warriors or daemonic entities.
As followers of Diablo, they also belonged to the Chaos camp, which made it easier for them to recruit these routed forces.
Especially now, when the influence of the Chaos Gods had greatly weakened.
"By the Lord of Hell, fear is the true eternity. Do you choose survival, or do you choose the end?"
The Terror Legion captain's eyes burned with flame as he stared at the Chaos beings before him and issued the final ultimatum.
If they did not choose submission, they would meet the true end. Hellfire would burn away every defiant soul.
"We... we are willing to obey that great being..."
The encircled Chaos beings looked at the surrounding ruins and the wounded soldiers wailing on the ground, then slowly lowered their heads.
They chose to submit to that Lord of Hell who wielded destruction and fear: Diablo.
After all, the energy contained within the hell-weapons belonged to that very being, and it was powerful enough to destroy them utterly.
According to legend, the Savior had a very deep connection with that Lord of Hell. He might even be His representative.
With the power of that terrifying existence and the accursed, he had forged those abominable hell-weapons.
New Longlin's Chaos front was collapsing rapidly. There was no longer any possibility of holding the line.
The cowardly and greedy among them were even desperate to switch sides, using the corpses of their allies to express their loyalty to the Lord of Hell.
There was no helping it. The Chaos Gods had overextended themselves, and the supply of empyric power and blessings on their side had greatly declined.
Meanwhile, the Lord of Hell was so mighty and so generous.
To put it simply, the Chaos Gods' side had not only cut wages and staff, they were also about to miss payroll entirely.
The Lord of Hell's side, meanwhile, was booming. Anyone who jumped ship got double pay, full benefits, an eight-hour workday, weekends off, room and board included, and loaded holiday perks.
Outstanding employees could even receive company shares, cars, houses, and other rewards. They even helped match you with a partner.
On top of that, the boss would publicly hand out money from time to time, spreading out stacks of bright white cash on the table for everyone to share. Pure bliss.
Under Eden's management, the Lord of Hell's side was nothing like the Chaos Gods' chaotic operation.
Instead, it relied on systems and benefits to stay far ahead, giving believers better paths for advancement and absolutely never stabbing them in the back.
Not only that, he also found excuses every now and then to randomly bestow blessings upon outstanding believers. Even ordinary believers could receive rewards of empyric power.
Everyone got surprises.
Such superior treatment caused many Chaos beings to pack up and flee from the Gods, throwing themselves into this side to work hard, build big, and grow strong.
What Chaos believer would not love a Warp deity like that?
After Eden's operations, the Lord of Hell had already become a well-regarded "good evil god" in the Warp.
He was so upright it became heretical.
Bzzz.
"Honestly, what's so hard about being an evil god? I really don't understand how They managed to run Their Chaos domains into such a mess. Not professional at all..."
Inside the blackstone drop pod, Eden controlled Diablo, the dark-side persona of the Hope Sun, and scattered a wave of empyric blessings on the grounds that the Terror Legion had achieved outstanding results in the assault on New Longlin.
After that, he handed out another wave of onboarding benefits to the newly joined Chaos believers.
The surrendered Chaos daemons were overjoyed. They grabbed their weapons on the spot and started working for the Lord of Hell.
They guided the Terror Legion, and they even fought with more enthusiasm than the Terror Warriors themselves. One could call them heroic.
Chaos beings were simply like that.
When you were weak, they became arrogant. But if you crushed them hard enough and gave them a few benefits afterward, they would worship you madly and risk their lives for you.
Even if they had just been bombarded by hell-weapons not long ago.
"Pitiful creature, submit to the great Lord of Hell!"
A certain daemon, now gradually burning with dark red flames, was pinning a Slaaneshi daemon to the ground and grinding it into the dirt.
He had already begun to consider himself the Lord of Hell's favored child and was carrying out that being's will.
The brutal slaughter of the Terror Legion and the bombardment from the hell-weapons also filled him with immense peace of mind.
As more and more of the Chaos garrison defected to the Lord of Hell, the speed of New Longlin's defensive collapse reached an astonishing level.
"I haven't even landed yet, and half the operational objective is already complete?"
The speed of this invasion exceeded Eden's expectations. He even felt that he had been a little conservative.
Sure enough, the galaxy and the Warp had to be developed together for progress to be faster.
Without the assistance of the Lord of Hell and the Terror Legion, humanity would have needed far more time to occupy this planetary Chaos fortress.
More importantly, once humanity shifted from defense to offense in the future, it would inevitably have to face the question of how to deal with the Warp.
The Warp was a domain of belief and mind. As a human, it would be very difficult to completely occupy that realm.
But Eden could use Diablo to cooperate with humanity's continuous territorial expansion, then absorb Chaos believers and weaken the power of the Chaos Gods.
If that continued, there would be a chance to completely suppress Them.
After all, in the eyes of His believers, Diablo was already a rich and generous being who possessed endless destructive might.
When you were out in the world, your identity was whatever you made it.
With the reinforcement of the Warp's belief-driven nature, Eden would grow increasingly powerful as his number of believers increased, until he finally obtained the strength to defeat the Chaos Gods.
Of course, there was still a long way to go before he could defeat the Chaos Gods.
The Chaos Gods had been entrenched eternally within the Warp for who knew how many centuries. It could be said that the place was Their territory.
Even if They had become weak, They were not so easily suppressed.
For that, Eden needed to develop more armies, more power, more weapons aimed at the Warp, and more war machines. Then he would have to carry the flames of war into the empyrean and launch a total war before achieving final victory.
Doing that would be extremely difficult. Even the Emperor in His prime had not dared guarantee that He could win.
And Eden still had not repaired the Throne. There was still the possibility that the Emperor would darken.
If things truly reached that point, it would be incredibly tragic.
Most of humanity across the galaxy would die in an instant. Eden might even have to lead the remnants of mankind into hiding inside the Webway, then cooperate with the Chaos Gods to resist the Dark King together.
Otherwise, that being would greedily hunt them down and devour humanity to the last.
"It's not a major problem. I should still be able to hold."
"Cawl and the others are already researching the latest method to repair the Throne. It should be ready for use soon."
Eden drew in a deep breath and thought this to himself.
The overall situation was still under his control.
Once this campaign ended, the Emperor would be able to break free from the torment of the Golden Throne. At the same time, He would also escape the risk of ascending into a dark god. Then He could finally recover in peace.
Humanity would also remove every hidden danger, lighten its burdens, and move forward into prosperity.
Everything was going according to plan.
Thump, thump, thump.
As he was thinking, the blackstone drop pod reached the target area. Several streaks of fire slammed into the ground at tremendous speed.
(End of Chapter)[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"][Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop][Thanks for Reading!]