The necrons retreated.
Regardless of any strange schemes the enemy might have, the Imperial Army would not give up such a good opportunity.
Imperial Army units began to set out, preparing to reclaim the areas occupied by the necrons.
Six hours later, the second continent vacated by the necrons was once again in the hands of the Imperial Army, which had advanced rapidly through air drops and launched a pincer attack.
The Conscript 13th Guard Regiment was among the vanguard units.
The Conscript 13th Guard Regiment was assigned to the first wave of attack troops, even though they were unsuitable for siege warfare from any perspective.
However, there was no alternative; the only forces on the entire planet that still maintained their complete organization were the Conscript 13th Guard Regiment and a portion of the Astartes Legion.
Therefore, even this Astartes Legion, which was least suited for siege warfare, was included in the first wave of the offensive.
"Commissar Kyle, do you think we're doomed?" Chris, the current Colonel of the Conquest 13th Regiment, muttered to the Commissar beside him as he advanced timidly.
The battle against the necrons surpassed any previous engagements of the Conquest 13th Regiment; even the operations on Cadia had not made them feel such despair.
On paper, the combat power of an ordinary necron Warrior was equivalent to that of an ordinary Astartes of the Imperium of Man, although due to their lack of intelligence,
the Imperial Astartes generally found it relatively easy to deal with them. However, the numerical strength was there, and it was undeniable.
This time, the necrons launched an attack with millions of necron Warriors. Not to mention these Astra Militarum troops, even the ordinary Astartes of the Blood Ravens Chapter suffered heavy casualties under the necron assault.
Just the recorded number of Blood Ravens Chapter Astartes brothers who fell on the battlefield exceeded several thousand. Of course, the Blood Ravens still have 1,000 men now.
On the battlefield, almost no one could understand how the Blood Ravens Chapter managed to achieve this.
Thousands died, yet they still had 1,000 perfect Astartes, a standard Astartes Chapter.
"Shut up! Don't say anything. I also want to take our brothers and make a run for it, but this is a direct order from the Astra Militarum; there's no escaping it!"
"Unless you want our regiment to be designated a penal legion tomorrow, otherwise, we'll just keep pushing forward!"
Commissar Kyle interrupted his Colonel and continued to urge his soldiers to advance.
What could they do? They also wanted to escape, but unfortunately, their 13th Regiment had been designated as the assault regiment for this operation.
The lords of the Astra Militarum were watching, and one mistake could get the 13th Regiment branded as a penal legion.
"Sigh."
Commissar Kyle let out a helpless sigh and continued to lead the Imperial warriors forward. However, it was visibly clear that the 13th Regiment's advance was the slowest.
If this behavior occurred in other Astra Militarum units, the Commissar might brandish his bolter and execute the slow Astra Militarum soldiers on the spot, but the 13th Regiment was different.
If the soldiers of the 13th Regiment initiated a charge, it would be an extraordinary event.
The 13th Regiment's advance was so slow that other Astra Militarum units did not criticize them.
The Cadian 216th Regiment on their left flank voluntarily moved ahead of the 13th Regiment and began to advance.
The Cadian 216th Regiment had witnessed the 13th Regiment's performance during the battles on Cadia.
They understood one thing clearly: if even the 13th Regiment fixed bayonets and charged for the Emperor, then the outcome of this war was almost certainly a hopeless, suicidal one.
Compared to other Astra Militarum units that might have been dissatisfied with the 13th Regiment, this Cadian Regiment, which had fought alongside the 13th Regiment, actively accommodated them.
The Cadian Shock Troops did not fear sacrifice, but they did not want to fight a hopeless war.
The 13th Regiment served as their alarm; as long as the 13th Regiment had not launched an attack, it meant there was still a chance to fight this war.
At the same time, the 13th Regiment was also quite slippery when retreating. If they could follow behind the 13th Regiment when it retreated, then the Cadian forces could be effectively preserved.
The Cadian forces were not afraid to die, but they did not want to die in vain.
The glory of Cadia needed to be upheld by them; pointless sacrifices were meaningless.
In the fight against the necrons, the necron firepower was too fierce, and by following the 13th Regiment, they could better preserve their strength and inflict sufficient damage on the necrons.
The Astra Militarum forces began to push hard towards the second continent. They were fortunate; the necrons had truly withdrawn all their forces from this continent and had not even left any troops to block them.
The Imperial Army successfully reclaimed the second continent. When the Aquila banner once again flew over the continent, the war reignited.
necron Warriors, like a tide, launched another attack. No one understood what the necrons were thinking.
With the experience of the previous encounter, the Imperial Army did not suffer such heavy losses this time. After the necron forces launched their attack, the Imperial Army hesitated for only 10 minutes before commencing a full retreat.
No general would engage in a major battle with the necrons while their position was not yet consolidated, so retreating was the best option.
During this retreat, the 13th Regiment was once again at the forefront, frantically fleeing, while the Cadian regiments followed in their footsteps, running and setting traps.
When the second continent fell again, the 13th Regiment once more achieved their glorious record.
Over a hundred necron Warriors were once again taken out by their traps. Although these achievements could not be accumulated or recorded, the 13th Regiment was truly excellent, no matter how you looked at it.
Their accompanying Cadian regiments witnessed this firsthand and highly acknowledged the 13th Regiment's contributions in this operation.
The battle between the Imperium and the necrons on the second continent became an incredibly absurd tug-of-war.
Often, after the necrons drove the Imperial Army out of the second continent, they would withdraw, and the Imperial Army would return.
And just as the Imperial Army had established a foothold, the necron forces would once again land on the second continent and attack them, primarily playing mind games.
Even on the fourth day, the Imperial generals still hadn't figured out what was happening.
A group of Astra Militarum Lord Generals truly couldn't understand what these necron forces were up to, but as the fourth day arrived, all outcomes would be revealed.
No one knew about the farce unfolding in the immaterium. On Kaelthas, the war between the Imperium of Man and the necrons was in a stalemate, but as time passed, the reinforcements dispatched by Zeke finally arrived.
When Zeke's reinforcements arrived, they saw Kaelthas reduced to ruins.
Almost all continents were embroiled in chaotic battles, with Imperial and necron forces constantly intertwining. The necron armies were no longer operating according to their previous tactics.
Their priority was chaos, not allowing the Imperial armies to maintain effective command and organized combat systems.
Thus, the necron legions began to mix with the Imperial legions.
The Blood Ravens Chapter remained the Blood Ravens Chapter. No one knew how many Astartes they had lost, but they still maintained a strength of 1,000.
Among these thousand Blood Ravens, some were powerful enough to effortlessly destroy necron Lychguard, while others were only capable of trading blows one-for-one with necron Warriors.
For 1,000 Space Marines to still number 1,000 after such prolonged fighting was truly remarkable.
Although the number of Imperial Space Marines was small, sometimes they would consistently produce "plot armor" characters.
It was as if they were chosen by the gods.
They appeared one after another, stabilizing the battlefield for the Imperium, which should have collapsed.
Upon arrival, the patrol fleet did not immediately deploy ground troops to the planet's surface. Instead, they initiated precise orbital bombardments.
It could only be said that the necrons had miscalculated. The Terran Dominion's warships were not like those of the Imperium of Man.
They were fully capable of precise orbital bombardments, even when the opposing armies were already locked in close combat.
Ground forces would not be directly deployed for ground combat when orbital bombardment was an option; why save it for later?
Seeing this, the necron Overlord, Deddeka-Sobek, watched with twitching eyelids.
"Has it only been 10,000 years, and these humans have developed so quickly? Their orbital bombardment has reached such a precise level?"
Deddeka-Sobek could hardly believe what he was seeing. He watched as his necron Warriors were about to engage in close combat with the Astra Militarum when a lance beam descended from the sky, precisely eliminating only the necron Warrior.
Most importantly, the Astra Militarum soldiers preparing to engage the necron Warrior suffered no harm whatsoever, as if the attack was solely aimed at the necrons.
Such precise strikes were difficult for Deddeka-Sobek to accept. His brain, which had been somewhat sluggish since the Great Sleep, now began to operate frantically.
"This cannot continue, otherwise my forces will be needlessly lost here!"
Through their own detection equipment, Deddeka-Sobek naturally saw the patrol fleet conducting orbital bombardments.
The necrons' technology was also advanced enough. Using their sophisticated detection equipment, they managed to ascertain the combat readiness of Zeke's fleet.
Although they couldn't fully simulate it, they did obtain some useful information.
To engage this Terran Dominion patrol fleet dispatched by Zeke, the necrons began to activate their large warships.
The patrol fleet Zeke sent out was neither powerful nor numerous.
Considering it was merely a patrol fleet, it consisted of only two battleships, four cruisers, and eight destroyers.
The operational mission of this fleet had never been to resist potential Swarm fleets; they were simply a patrol fleet deployed by Zeke within the star sector to combat space pirates.
To use a term from the 2K era, these fleets were like police.
This fleet was only here to assess the necron situation and provide some support; the true main fleet had not yet arrived.
It was precisely because this was merely a patrol fleet that, after Deddeka-Sobek completed his reconnaissance, he was inspired to engage in a space battle.
Why not?
To achieve precise strikes against the Imperial warships and swiftly end the battle, Deddeka-Sobek did not deploy a powerful necron warship fleet.
He first transferred his consciousness to another body, and after activating his new body, he emerged from the tomb.
After stretching, he summoned his Cryptek.
"Activate one of our fleets. I need them to fight the humans."
necron faces are incapable of showing emotion, so the Cryptek displayed no other expression. He simply received the order and proceeded to execute it.
In a star system approximately eight systems away from Kaelthas, a tomb fleet was activated.
A total of four Tomb Ships were activated, along with their accompanying vessels:
Reaper x9
Equipped with gauss particle whips on their scythe-shaped bows, forming a triangular formation to cut through enemy fleet formations.
Shroud x8
Phase assault units, with hulls covered in quantum camouflage, specializing in flanking maneuvers.
Support Formation:
Scythe-class Destroyers x21
Responsible for resource stripping and anti-air defense, the fleet maneuvers in a swarm-like fashion.
This was a massive fleet, at least for the patrol fleet that was only sent to assess the situation and had not taken the necrons seriously. This was undoubtedly a formidable opponent.
If there was any faction in the Warhammer universe whose warships could contend with the Terran Dominion's fleet, then the necron fleet would undoubtedly be it.
Unlike ordinary Swarm fleets, which rely on bio-warships to engage the Terran Dominion fleet, necron warships, due to their lack of living components, are sufficiently fast.
At least hundreds or thousands of times faster-than-light travel is the primary requirement for engaging a Dominion fleet.
If you cannot achieve hundreds or thousands of times faster-than-light speeds, then your warships have no right to engage a Dominion fleet.
Evidently, the necrons could achieve this. This former galactic overlord was still quite capable.
As this necron fleet was activated, they swiftly began to accelerate and advanced towards their designated direction.
At this moment, Zeke was coincidentally in the immaterium, fiercely beating a Warp Rift. The necron fleet's movements directly fell into his perception.
Upon seeing the necron fleet begin to move, Zeke was not afraid; instead, he was somewhat excited. A new fleet, under Zeke's command, began to advance towards Kaelthas.
Having been in the Warhammer universe for so long, the first true fleet battle was about to commence.
Whether it was a coincidence or something else, just as the necrons' fleet was about to reach the designated star system, the patrol fleet also turned their warships around, and then the support fleet sent by Zeke arrived.
Using strength against weakness and numbers against fewer has always been something the Terran Dominion would do, so this time, the fleet Zeke dispatched was far superior to the necron fleet.
A fleet of over 16 battleships, 24 cruisers, and 36 destroyers, with a titan as its flagship, arrived.
The two fleets almost simultaneously entered the opposite edges of the star system, immediately locking onto each other.
The Terran Dominion's largest titan-class warship fired first, unleashing a hellfire ray. The thick ray directly traversed the entire star system, spanning five light-years and striking the necron tomb ship with a single shot.
Without exception, this tomb ship was shattered right from the start.
The quantum shield had no effect at all; the power of the titan-class main cannon was simply too immense.
This scene made Djedekh Sobek, who was commanding his fleet for battle, gasp.
As a necron Overlord, he had not expected the Terran Dominion to deploy a warship of this caliber at such a time, capable of destroying their tomb ship with a single shot.
Shouldn't they be probing each other at this point? Why was a titan deployed already?
However, the necrons had, after all, reached the pinnacle of physics, so their counterattack came instantly.
The black hole projector was activated, and a small black hole appeared near Zeke's fleet, but it was clear that the black hole had no effect whatsoever.
Even though a small black hole had appeared near the Dominion fleet, the Dominion fleet simply ignored it.
The Terran Dominion's fleet could never be affected by black holes; immunity to black hole effects is something every basic-level cosmic civilization must achieve.
The black hole being ineffective made Djedekh Sobek even more speechless; this scene shocked him far more than anything else.
A massive black hole appearing next to any warship should not result in such a sight.
And now this had happened, and he felt a trace of fear.
But it was only a slight fear; the necron Overlord maintained his combat readiness. He commanded the fleet to fire gauss rays.
Emerald green gauss rays flew towards the Terran Dominion's warships; they were also superluminal strikes, so this round of attacks directly hit the Terran Dominion's warships.
However, although they hit, they were all intercepted by the psionic shields.
Looking at the dazzling shields on the opposing side, and then at his own shields, which had no effect and were instantly destroyed by a single shot… Djedekh Sobek didn't need anyone to tell him; he already had a very bad premonition. He felt that he might have made a mistake in this fleet battle.
But the dice were already cast; how could he escape?
This was an open fleet battle between the necrons and humanity. If he were to flee now, the necrons would lose all face, and how would he explain himself when the Silent king returned?
Under those circumstances, he continued to command his warships to advance, preparing for a proper fight with the Terran Dominion's fleet.
However, just as the necron warships advanced, the main cannons of 12 battleships began their volley.
The battleships' main cannons directly struck the necron warships, and this time, their quantum shields were effective.
After all, the necrons are a race that has developed for tens of millions of years and boasts the reputation of being at the peak of physics, so they would not be directly destroyed by battleship main cannons.
Under the combined quantum shields formed by their warships, only six cruisers and some destroyers were destroyed. The tomb ships did not suffer significant losses.
Djedekh Sobek breathed a slight sigh of relief… No major losses were good. If his warships had been wiped out by the Terran Dominion's battleship main cannons, then this battle truly couldn't be fought.
As for the titan-class warship directly destroying his warship, he considered that acceptable.
After all, the size of a titan was evident; it was perfectly normal for a warship of that caliber to destroy his tomb ship with a single shot.
The distance between them began to close, soon reaching two light-years, and the carrier-based aircraft began to depart from the battleships, flying forward.
The necrons' nanite living swarm was also deployed and began to fly towards the Terran Dominion.
However, it was clear that this technology had almost no effect on the Terran Dominion; everyone had nanite technology, and for the Terran Dominion, the necrons' nanite technology could not harm them.
The carrier-based aircraft of both sides had already engaged in combat in the 2-light-year battlefield before their respective fleets even arrived.
However, as the battle continued, the Terran Dominion's carrier-based aircraft began to gain the upper hand. After all, the necrons lacked souls, and their AI development was not as good as the Terran Dominion's.
Sentient AI is like when Zeke treated him as a soul and embedded him into the figurine king Trazyn.
Sentient AI is equivalent to having a soul.
A soul has great uses; with one side having no soul and the other having a soul, the side with a soul naturally wins in combat.
Djedekh Sobek, watching the situation on the battlefield, had not relaxed his brow since the two fleets engaged. Seeing the overwhelmingly suppressed situation on the battlefield, he was very distressed.
To be honest, the necrons had never experienced such a frustrating battle; the previous battles against humanity were not this unlucky.
House Yaeger's fleet was indeed powerful, but in open fleet battles, House Yaeger's fleet usually relied on numerical superiority to barely engage them.
It was relying on the endless Iron Legion that prevented them from annihilating House Yaeger in one fell swoop, leading to a stalemate… And now, this battle gave him a severe headache. The necrons' technological advantage was almost completely gone, replaced by the Terran Dominion's technological advantage, which was subtly beginning to suppress the necrons.
The implications of being technologically suppressed were too significant, causing this necron Overlord to worry about the upcoming conflict.
After all, the current battle was only a small-scale fleet engagement; both sides could only be said to have sent fleets to probe each other, and there was still some time before a full-scale confrontation.
But even in these probes, humanity had already demonstrated superior warship capabilities, which made the necrons uneasy.
While Djedekh Sobek felt uneasy and was deep in thought, the tomb ships continued to approach the Terran Dominion's warships.
As the distance between them closed, the necrons first deployed their lightning arcs, a noble dual-penetration weapon.
Synchronously, the Terran Dominion's warships also directly used their arc generators, with both sides employing arc attacks against each other.
The warships of both sides unleashed their firepower on each other at superluminal speeds, their shields raised to maximum to resist each other's threats.
The necrons' living metal proved to be truly useful, as it withstood the Dominion's point defense.
However, as the battle between the two sides continued into the second hour, when the Dominion's warships once again opened fire with their main cannons, the battle ended.
The open fleet engagement concluded.
The battle between the necrons and humanity ended with a human victory, and as this massive fleet arrived, the necron forces on the surface also reached their end.
Dedykar-Sobek was naturally aware of this, so he immediately activated the necrons' phase technology, teleporting all the soldiers away.
Although the Terran Dominion's fleet wanted to stop this level of teleportation, the enemy's decision was simply too swift, and they didn't have enough time.
Both the ground and space battles ended in human victory, but the implications of this battle were just beginning to spread.
The Terran Dominion and their necron adversaries, the Kael'zan necron dynasty, engaged in an open fleet battle.
This conflict became the fuse for an all-out war between the Terran Dominion and the Kael'zan dynasty.
Heaven's War 3.0 was about to begin, and to wage this war that would soon affect the entire galaxy, both humanity and the Kael'zan necron dynasty would send a representative to the younger races.
They promised great rewards to those who joined them and severe punishment to those who opposed them.
Choosing to support one side meant giving up their sovereignty to the other, but maintaining neutrality might be even more dangerous for the younger races, unless they could find other neutral nations to cooperate with.
Heaven's War was about to break out—
This was a full-scale redistribution war, where ancient and powerful empires represented by galactic overlords, along with the emerging empires they led, would redraw galactic territories and colonies.
The awakened Ancestor Empires would completely eliminate their old enemies in this war and re-establish their absolute hegemony, led by themselves, on the ruins of the galaxy.
They would restore their former glory and achieve control and dominion over the galaxy.
Of course, for the younger races, they didn't necessarily have to join the alliance of the revived empires; they had another option: maintaining neutrality.
They could choose not to join any faction in Heaven's War, neither the necron faction nor the Terran Dominion faction.
The younger races could choose to maintain common diplomatic relations with both sides, not supporting or favoring either side during the war, and not targeting either side.
However, before making this choice, the young empires and races had to think carefully.
Without sufficient military strength to guard their borders, so-called neutral nations would become battlegrounds for the warring parties.
To protect their safety and avoid being swallowed by the torrent of this all-out war, the younger races had to make their choices and strategies.
Whether to remain neutral or join either side.
The curtain of Heaven's War had been drawn.
The flames of war between the necrons and humanity had been completely ignited, and this time, the war would not stop as easily as the Star Gods and the Old Ones; it would inevitably end with the complete destruction of one race.
Both races possessed powerful weapons capable of destroying the galaxy, whether it was the large-scale killing machines like the Shimmering Star Maps controlled by the necron dynasty, or the temporal flow weapons wielded by humanity.
Or the Dominator-class warships that Zeke had already ordered to be built, and even the War Moons that had begun production.
planet-sized warships were being forged, and the intensity of the war would inevitably escalate further, but no one could stop the outbreak of hostilities.
The victor would become the true overlord of the galaxy; this was a confrontation between two generations of overlords, old and new. As for the so-called eldar caught between humanity and the necron dynasty, they were no longer relevant.
The Chaos Gods understood this point most clearly, as they could observe the entire known galaxy.
It was precisely because of this that the Chaos Gods had foreseen the conflict between the necrons and humanity.
Tzeentch, who had been repeatedly beaten by Zeke, showed a strange smile he hadn't displayed in a long time after witnessing the open fleet battle between the necrons and humanity.
"Excellent, change has finally come, everything is within the plan!" Tzeentch couldn't help but utter his catchphrase.
But after blurting it out, he quickly looked around with his two bird heads, a hint of panic in his expression.
Clearly, he had developed PTSD from being beaten by Zeke.
He was afraid that his words would once again provoke an attack from Zeke.
Tzeentch's cowardly display was seen by the other three Chaos Gods; Nurgle made the same gesture as Tzeentch, covering his head with his hands, trying to protect himself.
Tzeentch often got beaten by Zeke for his loose tongue, and Nurgle... it's well-known that Zeke isn't one to hold grudges, he absolutely couldn't still remember that Nurgle had attacked his Dominion fleet at the very beginning.
It was even more impossible for him to chase Nurgle just because Nurgle attacked his Dominion fleet, and even after beating him so many times, still continue to chase him... that's impossible, right?
After all, how could the Human Emperor be so petty and so vicious?
Slaanesh remained Slaanesh, continuing to watch the changes in the galaxy, as war held little meaning for her. Only Khorne was exceptionally excited by this event!
War!
This would be a war that spread across the entire galaxy, and the outbreak of war would undoubtedly strengthen Khorne's power.
Only when his own strength increased could Khorne seek trouble with Zeke and engage in a great battle with him.
Among the Chaos Gods, apart from the two cowards and one who remained aloof, Khorne was arguably the most excited; he had already felt some energy enhancement.
He felt his combat power increasing.
If a war truly engulfed the entire galaxy, then he, Khorne, would undoubtedly be the biggest winner of this war. By then, Zeke... he swore that he would give Zeke two black eyes, and absolutely would not let him easily chop off his hands like that!
Khorne made his monstrous vow and made a grand aspiration, determined to engage in a fated battle with Zeke.
The Emperor observed the movements of these fellows in the Warp, but he only glanced at them a few times before continuing to play his game.
He wasn't the highest authority right now, so why should he deal with these matters?
"A-site, A-site, hurry and push A-site with me, push hard, push hard! Are you all useless? Why aren't you pushing hard? You dare to screw me over!"
"I am the Emperor, follow me to A-site! Those who don't follow me to A-site will report to the Death world of Catachan immediately!"
Teammate: "Oh, really, you, the Emperor, pushing A-site?"
"If you're the Emperor, I'm the Emperor's dad!"
"Oh, you dare to curse me! You're spouting nonsense, I don't have a dad! How dare you curse me! This is outrageous, simply outrageous!"
While observing the four Chaos Gods, the Emperor was currently fuming, his beard bristling and eyes wide, due to being screwed over by his incompetent teammates.
Especially when he was urging his teammates, they were also furiously cursing him in the voice chat, using him as the origin and his family tree as the radius to relentlessly insult him.
Although the Emperor didn't actually have such things, he was still thoroughly enraged.
Sometimes, the Emperor truly wanted to deploy the Custodes and deal with those guys in real life!