Chapter 57: True Mechanical War
Near Olympia
Clang!
They felt a jolt as they exited the Warp. The Warp seemed unstable at this moment, and a Warp storm felt like it could strike at any time.
When they flew into Olympia's orbit, Francis finally understood what luxury meant.
Countless Iron Hands aircraft blotted out the sky like crows, surging towards their target from all directions. Lightning fighters carried out the first wave of attack.
They flew at ultra-low altitudes, evading enemy radar, then suddenly pulled up to release dense missiles and laser beams.
Unlike the Iron Hands, the Iron Warriors focused more on supporting ground troops. While their bombers attacked, they also released a large number of mechanical infantry and combat robots.
These mechanical warriors surged towards the enemy positions like a tide, engaging in fierce close-quarters combat with the Iron Hands warriors.
The Iron Hands and Iron Warriors aircraft intertwined in the sky, forming a complex combat net. The explosions of laser beams, missiles, and bombs echoed one after another, weaving together a breathtaking symphony of war.
The battle on the ground was equally fierce, with mechanical infantry and combat robots moving through the smoke. The roar of tank cannons intertwined with the sound of infantry gunfire, creating a bloody and magnificent scene.
Most importantly, where were the people?
Francis scanned the battlefield below. He looked for a long time but saw neither Perturabo, the Primarch of the Iron Warriors, nor Ferrus Manus, the Primarch of the Iron Hands.
"So, what are they doing here? Slacking off?" Francis muttered, grabbing his head with both hands.
Compared to this, he felt that the previous battles were just primitive men fighting each other.
He turned his head and saw the Soul Drinkers looking envious.
"Hey, hey, hey! What do you mean by that?" Francis demanded. "Do you just like these cold iron lumps? Isn't my gene technology good enough?"
Facing the threat from their Primarch, the Soul Drinkers naturally nodded repeatedly.
"Yes! Of course it's good, Primarch's gene technology is invincible!" one of them said quickly.
"It's just that, occasionally changing the flavor is also fine..." another added.
He was listening happily, but then Francis kicked each of them. He told them to quickly contact Ferrus Manus.
After a while, the other party confirmed his identity. It was somewhat rigorous.
The moment Francis stepped out of the warship, Ferrus Manus immediately came before him. His eyes burned with fervor.
"Brother, is this ship yours? It's really excellent!" he said.
Originally, he wasn't particularly interested in this newly emerged brother. But the moment he saw the Abyss Rage, he immediately felt that this was a brother with good taste. Such a large, such a beautiful warship! Its owner must also be a very good person.
"Uh, yeah. I can't help it, my old ship is lost, and the Adeptus Mechanicus insisted on giving me one, which made me feel a bit awkward," Francis said, shaking his head repeatedly.
The originally enthusiastic Ferrus immediately calmed down quite a bit.
"Oh! Then what are you doing here now?" he asked. "You're not here to snatch the Warmaster's position from me, are you?"
Francis fell silent.
And his silence made the atmosphere instantly grow awkward.
Then Francis remembered that he had prepared a gift for the other party. He instructed Sarpedon to bring out the item.
"Heh heh, long time no see. Here's something for you, it will be of great use to you! Make sure to keep it well," Francis said.
He pulled out a ninety-nine-layer helmet made of adamantium and Wraithbone, fused with Ork technology. This helmet had no other purpose. It was just extremely sturdy.
Ferrus stared at the helmet in confusion.
He was very confused about what the other party meant by giving him a hat. Especially a green one with two tufts sticking out. Even the Iron Hands behind him couldn't understand why.
"Our Six brother must have told you, I can prophesy the future! I saw in a dream that Fulgrim chopped off your head; it was truly miserable." Francis explained.
"And later, your body was transformed into something strange, and you were even cloned, with your iron arms installed on the clones. That was a death without a whole corpse! Truly miserable!"
Listening to Francis say this, at first Ferrus thought it was unlikely. But as he listened further, his scalp tingled. It was definitely not the kind of tingling caused by an electric shock.
He looked back at his sons. He had reason to suspect they could indeed do what Francis described later.
"You!" Ferrus exclaimed, turning to his Space Marines.
Facing their Primarch's scrutiny, all the Iron Hands looked down, not daring to breathe a word.
"No! Absolutely not!" they protested.
At this moment, Ferrus felt a great weight in his heart.
A long time ago, a group of Eldar had sent him a message, saying that he would die at Fulgrim's hands. Initially, he didn't believe it and even fired a few shots at them. But now it seemed it was indeed a possibility.
Thinking of this, Ferrus silently accepted.the reasoning.
"In that case, my battle with Perturabo must be a victory! After all, I am killed by Fulgrim, so Perturabo cannot kill me!" he reasoned aloud.
Having figured this out, Ferrus immediately wanted to rush out. Thankfully, Francis stopped him.
"Calm down, I'm not here to snatch the Warmaster's position from you. I'm here to help you subdue Perturabo. It was like this in the dream, too," Francis explained.
"Oh, is that so. Then how do you plan to help me? Your few thousand men probably won't be enough," Ferrus said. "You guys aren't still just rushing up and hacking people, are you? No way, right?"
Ferrus's eyes showed an expression of disbelief. Francis suddenly felt at this moment that it wouldn't be so bad if the other party got chopped to death.
"First, you send a message to Perturabo, saying that you have already submitted to the Warmaster and won't fight anymore," Francis said. "Then, I'll disguise myself as Horus and meet him with you. At that time, we'll split the effort and take him down."
After Francis finished speaking, Ferrus looked at him like he was an idiot.
"Although you look better than Horus, you really can't impersonate Horus," he said. "Maybe then it will turn into a decisive battle. This matter is somewhat inappropriate!"
Francis said nothing in response.
Without another word, he pulled out Horus's blood and gulped it down.
Then, in less than ten minutes, Ferrus and the Iron Hands' eyes were wide with shock. If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn't have believed such a thing was possible.
"How about it? Do you believe me now?" Francis asked, deliberately mimicking Horus's usual tone.
Ferrus stared in stunned silence.
He believed it! It was too similar! Exactly the same, even his hair had really fallen out!
"Two against one is fine, but there's no way to subdue him instantly, so the risk is still quite high," Ferrus said cautiously.
"You don't have to worry about that. I have Nuceria's anesthetic, Leman Russ's poison, and Eldar nerve poison here, plus the control capabilities of my armor, it should be no problem," Francis replied.
"Control capabilities? What control capabilities? I don't see any?" Ferrus asked.
"Wait a moment, I'll activate combat mode!" Francis announced.
There was a hissing sound.
The Wraithbone armor on Francis's body moved. It revealed hundreds of eyes on the armor, as well as eight tentacles on his back.
Ferrus fell silent.
Seeing the other party's shocked expression, Francis finally felt he had regained some ground. Then he continued to ask, "I heard you want to remove your two metal arms and have Father replace them with flesh and blood?"
"Hmm... I guess so. What's wrong?" Ferrus asked back.
"Alas! You don't need to ask Father to replace them, I can do it! How about you cut off your arms now, and I'll regenerate a pair for you immediately?" Francis said with fervent eyes.
Looking at Francis's fervent expression, Ferrus didn't expect the other party's words to be so cold.
Ferrus swallowed.
"I think metal arms are quite good right now!" he said quickly. "Let's just contact Perturabo first."
Soon, they established communication. The holographic display flickered to life.
"Why are you only thinking of contacting me now after all this fighting? It's too late!" Perturabo's voice rang out.
"It's pointless to persuade me now! I'm going to overthrow this damn Imperium! And that False Emperor who dresses in gold all day! You and I can only fight to the bitter end! Let's see if you have more machines, or if I have more firepower! I want to see whose technology is more powerful!"
Perturabo kept talking until Francis said, "I am Horus, the Iron Hands have already submitted to us, so we can stop fighting now."
Perturabo froze. He looked incredulous. The full-system projection indeed showed Horus's appearance, and the voice was right too.
"Come out, we're all on the same side now, cease fire. You've done very well!" Francis said in Horus's voice.
After he finished speaking, the other party actually stopped firing.
"You've done very well!" These words kept echoing in Perturabo's mind. This was the feeling of being acknowledged!
Perturabo, already carried away, directly ordered the ceasefire. Then he bounced out.
[End of Chapter]