"This will be one of the most important final battles in the history of the Imperium!"
Tears glimmered faintly in Guilliman's eyes. He looked like a man who had finally reached the end of an endless ordeal.
Long-term command was genuinely exhausting.
Had the war continued to go poorly, Guilliman, as the temporary supreme commander, might have been trapped inside the command fortress for decades or even centuries.
Fortunately, all that effort had finally paid off.
Guilliman and the command staff had already prepared the plan for the final offensive.
The Savior had successfully led his xenos allies into the Sindor System, severing the Celestial Orrery's energy-transmission network and neutralizing the threat posed by the celestial weapon.
Now, the Imperial armies only needed to charge as one and advance according to plan.
It would be an overwhelming, saturation-level assault.
Their objective was to destroy as much of the Silent King's military power as possible, annihilate at least half of the Necron dynasties, and seize their ancient weapons.
The Necrons would never again be able to threaten humanity's survival.
Once that was accomplished, humanity would have no true rival left in the galaxy. Never again would it face such an existential crisis, and it would finally be free to develop without restraint.
This battle was no less important than the Great Crusade.
In fact, it would be even more thorough.
Humanity was already on the verge of victory!
For the warriors of the Imperium, this would also be a battle of unparalleled glory.
Countless Legions, Chapters, and military formations were committing their finest warriors to the field. Together, they would encircle and annihilate the Silent King's forces, bringing the strategic objectives to completion as quickly as possible.
That was another reason for Guilliman's excitement.
He could finally leave the command fortress and fight beside his Primarch brothers on the front lines!
In the void surrounding the colossal tombship, Savior Colossi were advancing rapidly with enormous Imperial fleet formations following close behind.
They were pursuing the retreating xenos tomb fleets.
"The Catachan Fleet has arrived!"
"In the Savior's name, the Calixis Frontier Development Zone joins this sacred war!"
"The Far Eastern Theater Fleet will annihilate every xenos!"
One Imperial fleet after another arrived in the war zone to participate in the final charge.
Fleets from every major region of Imperial territory poured into the theater. Their excited commanders flooded the shared command channel with declarations.
"By the blood of Sanguinius, we shall burn away the enemies of the Imperium and fight until death!"
"For the Savior! For humanity!"
"For those we cherish, we die in glory!"
"In the name of my honored father, we shall purge every heretic and abomination!"
The great Legions and Chapters of the Imperium were also launching their assaults.
Some forces, such as the Carcharodons, were so eager to join the fighting that they shamelessly proclaimed the Savior to be their father.
It was an unprecedented spectacle in Imperial history.
Nearly every military force was attacking at once, united in pursuit of supreme glory.
They had endured the Necron menace for far too long.
Across the void battlefield, the human fleet formations successfully intercepted the retreating tomb fleets.
Rows of Savior Colossi stretched across the heavens. Around them sailed mountain-sized warships, their immense hulls trailing white-hot plasma exhaust.
Macro-cannon arrays covered their flanks like savage fangs, while layer after layer of lance batteries accumulated blinding radiance.
Dark masses of escort ships swarmed around them, moving like clouds of predatory insects and casting vast patches of shadow across the void.
"No!"
"They have even more warships! The human reinforcements have arrived!"
The Necron Phaerons were afraid.
At that moment, the former rulers of the galaxy lost their arrogance and finally began to understand humanity's strength.
When the star-obscuring human fleets descended like a Tyranid swarm, the sheer pressure they created was suffocating.
Streams of light formed by countless engines intertwined across the dark void, setting the heavens ablaze and enveloping the fleeing tomb fleets beneath the shadow of death.
In the next instant, the sea of stars erupted.
Countless macro-cannon shells blasted from their barrels, leaving orange-red trails as they converged into a torrent of destruction and descended upon the xenos fleet like a torrential downpour.
Hundreds of thousands of plasma lance beams intersected across the battlefield like spears of judgment cast down by the Savior. They pierced the tombships' ancient armor and melted savage breaches through their hulls.
Swarms of heavy torpedoes penetrated the defensive barrage and detonated deep inside the xenos vessels. Towering fireballs erupted from their cores, scattering fragments of metal and waves of energy through the void.
The colossal guns of the Savior Colossi shook the entire region with every discharge.
Each shot sent another ancient xenos warship to its death.
The stars themselves were roaring!
Even Guilliman and the other boarding forces inside the colossal tombship felt the vessel tremble beneath the violence raging outside.
The battlefield beyond the hull had become extraordinarily lively.
The Imperium had launched its long-awaited collective counteroffensive, an overwhelming charge carried out with complete saturation of firepower.
Yet the roaring battle outside stood in stark contrast to the empty silence within the tombship.
"Father!"
Calgar and the other Primaris warriors looked toward their gene-father, their emotions equally intense.
They needed to hurry.
If the other Legions claimed all the victories first, the Ultramarines would have little to show for themselves and would surely be mocked by their brother Legions afterward.
The great Imperial Legions no longer confronted one another as aggressively as they had in the past, but healthy competition still existed.
A reasonable degree of rivalry kept the warriors sharp and energetic.
No warrior wanted to miss this battle.
Anyone who failed to participate would probably be seated at the children's table during every future gathering of the brotherhood.
Guilliman understood his sons' desire to fight.
In truth, he also wanted nothing more than to reach the front lines immediately and destroy the Necrons responsible for the merciless annihilation of so many human worlds.
"We absolutely cannot miss this battle.
"All warriors are to locate and destroy the xenos containment devices immediately. Restore the teleportation signal.
"Once that is done, we will return to Macragge's Honour and launch our assault on the Sindor System!"
Guilliman issued his orders.
Calgar and the other warriors were thrilled.
At last, they would no longer be trapped inside the command fortress.
The forces of the Ultramarines Legion had most likely already begun their offensive according to plan. Once the teleportation signal was restored, Guilliman's boarding force could swiftly return to the flagship and join the battle without missing its decisive moments.
The Primaris Ultramarines moved with extraordinary speed. They soon destroyed the containment devices aboard the colossal tombship.
The teleportation beacon they had installed on the floor activated soon afterward, establishing a link with the teleportarium aboard Macragge's Honour.
"This will be a glorious battle."
Guilliman looked down at the flashing teleportation beacon and couldn't suppress a faint smile.
Then he felt the Emperor's Sword growing warm in his hand.
He lowered his gaze.
The legendary blade was glowing with gentle heat.
"F-Father?!"
Guilliman stared in confusion.
He could see the figure of his father, the Emperor.
An incorporeal shadow spread from the Emperor's Sword and hovered in midair. It was a psychic projection of the Master of Mankind.
The Emperor appeared to be struggling. His psychic voice came through in broken fragments, but he still sounded remarkably confident.
"Ro... Roboute, my son, you need not fear. I... will transfer you to safety.
"The xenos... cannot stop me..."
What?!
Guilliman's head buzzed.
What did his father mean by transferring them to safety?
The xenos Phaerons had already withdrawn.
Had Father arrived too late, or had the psychic transmission been delayed?
The flow of time varied between different regions due to the influence of the Warp, so some degree of delay was possible.
Guilliman was certainly moved that his father had acted to save him.
Then he realized what was about to happen and hurriedly shouted:
"No, Father! Stop the spell! We're..."
It was too late.
The instant Guilliman spoke, the Emperor's psychic projection shattered.
A psychic teleportation array erupted around them and rapidly spread throughout the engine chamber.
The immensely powerful and impossibly complex teleportation spell separated the matter and living beings within the area from their surroundings, then cast them into an unknown dimension.
"I finally completed the teleportation spell and rescued that boy Roboute..."
At the same time, within a bathing pool on an Imperial paradise world, the Emperor released a labored breath.
Not long ago, Eden had arranged another layer of insurance.
He informed the Emperor that Guilliman had been ambushed and asked the powerful psyker to intervene in the rescue.
After receiving the message, the Emperor immediately found a way to lock onto Guilliman's location and used psychic teleportation to extract him.
It was the absolute limit of what he could currently accomplish.
Even that had only been possible because he borrowed psychic power from the Sun of Hope.
"To think a day would come when I would need to borrow that boy's power..."
The Emperor was overcome by emotion.
Ever since his nature within the Warp had been sealed away, he had lost the ability to draw upon the power of the Sacred Sun. He no longer possessed the seemingly omniscient and omnipotent might he once wielded.
He was no longer a god.
The young man who had once lived beneath his protection, the Savior who had inherited his position, had become the one and only sun upon which humanity depended within the Warp.
"This is a good thing."
A faint smile appeared on the Emperor's face.
By becoming mortal again, he had escaped his endless suffering.
He had even found someone to inherit his responsibilities.
In the past, he would never have dared imagine such a future.
How fortunate was that?
"It appears this war will not require my intervention. The Imperial armies have already contained the xenos, preventing them from threatening humanity's heartlands."
The Emperor was not particularly worried.
By borrowing the psychic power of the Sun of Hope, he had caught a vague glimpse of the battle unfolding in the Sindor System.
The human armies and that boy's forces had sealed off the Pariah Nexus.
All they needed to do now was destroy the Silent King and the remaining xenos enemies to claim victory.
"Hopefully, those troublesome brats will show some restraint. These old bones can't endure many more exertions like that..."
The Emperor finally relaxed.
Clutching his aching lower back, he lay down again and resumed his recovery.
Using psychic power had placed considerable strain on him.
It wasn't that the Emperor had no desire to participate in the battle for the Sindor System. His body simply could no longer sustain high-intensity combat.
He was better suited to guarding the Imperium's heartlands, where he could repel an unexpected assault at a critical moment.
After confirming that his occasionally reckless son had been transferred to a safe location, the former Master of Mankind closed his eyes and returned to his rest.
"Where is our gene-father?"
"Did everyone leave without waiting for us and teleport back early?"
"No, this was a psychic teleportation spell. Some unknown entity forcibly interfered with this entire area!"
The Primaris Ultramarines who arrived to assemble in the engine chamber were left completely dumbfounded.
The chamber before them no longer even had a floor.
There was not a single person in sight.
Some tremendously powerful teleportation spell appeared to have removed the floor itself, along with the Primarch of the Ultramarines and every warrior standing upon it.
The warriors were worried about their gene-father, but a Librarian quickly reassured them.
"By the Savior... It appears the father of the Primarchs transferred them away. There was no malice within the spell."
The moment the Primaris veterans heard that the Emperor had taken Guilliman away, they felt considerably more at ease.
No one would suspect the father of the Primarchs of harboring malicious intentions toward his own son.
The very thought was blasphemous.
"Perhaps they were assigned a new secret mission?"
That was the conclusion the warriors reached.
Not long afterward, they activated new teleportation beacons and returned to Macragge's Honour.
Since their gene-father had apparently received a new combat assignment, the rest of them had no choice but to follow the original plan and participate in the collective assault on the Sindor System.
"It's a shame we arrived one step too late. Otherwise, we could have accompanied our gene-father on his new mission."
Some Primaris Ultramarines were genuinely disappointed.
As far as they were concerned, their gene-father, Calgar, and the others had undoubtedly departed on an even more thrilling and glorious assignment.
Those left behind had simply been unlucky.
They would have to settle for obediently participating in the largest final offensive in Imperial history.
...
At a region where the Warp intersected with the galaxy.
Chaotic energies churned and intertwined.
A large section of a warship's deck floated through the turbulence. Several dozen human warriors stood upon it, staring blankly at one another.
"..."
Guilliman and Calgar exchanged glances.
For a time, neither of them said anything.
They seemed to be rather far from the battlefield.
They couldn't even see the weapons fire from the ongoing battle. At most, they could make out a few distant points of starlight.
It was incredibly quiet.
Where the hell did he send us? This isn't even the Pariah Nexus, is it?
Guilliman was shaking with rage.
He felt completely numb.
He had repeatedly attempted to contact the Emperor and every nearby Imperial communications network, but received no response.
The forced teleportation had encountered turbulence along the way, dropping them in a region with virtually no communications coverage.
There was little that could have been done about it.
The Emperor's primary objective had been to rescue Guilliman. As long as he removed his son from the colossal tombship, Guilliman would be safe.
Where the Primarch ended up afterward had been beyond the Emperor's control.
After another failed attempt to establish contact, Guilliman swallowed hard.
His face seemed to become even more weathered.
Had he actually managed to get lost?
"Can you construct a teleportation spell here?"
He turned toward the Librarian beside him, his voice filled with desperate expectation.
If they could construct a teleportation spell, they might still return to the battlefield quickly enough to avoid missing the decisive engagement.
"My lord, the energy in this region is far too chaotic.
"We must first escape the turbulent zone. Only then can we reestablish resonance with the Warp and construct the spell."
The Librarian shook his head.
"Then we will leave this region. Whatever happens, we must return to the Pariah Nexus and rejoin Macragge's Honour!"
Guilliman's voice was resolute.
Missing the battle would not affect its final outcome, but the Lion and his other brothers would probably mock him for the next ten thousand years.
Besides, a battle of this magnitude would feel incomplete without the gene-father of the Ultramarines Legion there to command his sons.
Whatever it took, they were going to paddle their way back!
Guilliman and the others used the recoil of their bolt weapons and the power fields of their swords to push themselves forward.
The section of xenos warship deck slowly slid through the region of chaotic energy.
They only needed to travel another thousand kilometers before they escaped!
"For Ultramar!"
Calgar and the Ultramarines roared as they paddled furiously, grunting with exertion and using every ounce of their strength.
"We will return."
Guilliman stared toward the distant stellar region, his gaze filled with unshakable determination.
He was also paddling for all he was worth.
...
The Pariah Nexus, within the Sindor System.
The stars burned fiercely.
War had spread throughout the entire region, and the Lord of Hope's fleets were rapidly approaching the heart of the system.
At a critical command node, a Phaeron of the Charnovokh Dynasty stared at the Lord of Hope's fleet approaching from the system's outer perimeter. Fear stirred within him.
"No. Great Szarekh's celestial weapon has failed. What do we have left that can stop him?"
That detestable being, the traitor to the Necrontyr, was advancing with overwhelming momentum.
The Phaeron had no choice but to face him.
Reports from the front lines had arrived one after another throughout the battle:
"The disgraceful Necrontyr traitor has begun his offensive."
"The fleet of the New God's slave is advancing on the Sindor System."
"The usurper has crossed the celestial defensive lines."
"The accursed one has breached our defenses and entered the Sindor System."
"The Lord of Rameses is approaching our dynasty's territory!"
At last, the latest report arrived:
The Lord of Hope was here!
The Phaeron of the Charnovokh Dynasty immediately adopted a solemn expression. He rose from his throne and spoke with the utmost respect.
"Our sovereign has arrived in the territory of his loyal dynasty. Come, let us welcome him!"
(End of Chapter)
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