Because the three leaders of the chaos daemon were not on good terms and each had their own objectives, these three individuals could be said to be fighting independently.
During the initial period of the war, the three Nurgle generals, who did not cooperate well with each other, did not directly attack the core Macragge region of Ultramar.
However, they did continually tighten their grip on the Ultramarines' homeworld from multiple directions.
Moreover, for Mortarion, he had very good news: there was a large number of Space Marines reservists among the Ultramarines' 500 worlds!
This undoubtedly greatly supplemented his forces. These Space Marines reservists, who were about to be transformed into Ultramarines, did not have sufficient resistance to chaos.
Therefore, under the influence of the daemon Primarch, these Ultramarines reservists, who should have become the Ultramar's defensive force, ultimately turned into the daemon' chaos Space Marines.
On the planets surrounding Macragge that Mortarion had conquered, he captured approximately 60,000 Ultramarines reservist soldiers.
These soldiers were afflicted by his virus, then captured alive by him. Among these 60,000 reservists, he successfully converted 50,000 into chaos Space Marines.
More importantly, Mortarion discovered in the subsequent war that almost every Ultramar world he conquered could provide a huge replenishment to his forces.
The ambitious Guilliman's every world under his command could provide Mortarion with a large number of recruits, allowing him to create more chaos Space Marines.
This made Mortarion still enthusiastic, even though he encountered fierce resistance from the Ultramarines when attacking the Ultima Segmentum, paying a price far exceeding his imagination.
After all, no one can ignore the fact that the more the war is fought, the more soldiers he has at hand.
At the same time, beneath these overt battles, Mortarion was also secretly carrying out some more sinister plans.
Previously, Mortarion had communicated with Abaddon. To attract Zeke's attention and support the actions of his suicide squad allies, Abaddon gifted Mortarion a powerful artifact.
That artifact was the Hand of Darkness, an ancient device capable of easily controlling vast amounts of Warp energy.
This item first appeared during the 12th Black Crusade, also known as the Gothic War.
Abaddon had used it to control the Blackstone Fortress.
After acquiring this artifact, Mortarion conducted more in-depth research and created many evil devices.
Among all his creations, there was one that resembled a bizarre mechanical clock.
This thing, like the Hand of Darkness, could amplify chaos power.
If properly deployed, these Warp machines could span astronomical distances.
At the same time, they could raise armies of the dead on countless planets and greatly influence the minds of Imperial citizens, inciting rebellion.
These things posed a great threat to Ultramar. Large numbers of Imperial worlds were bogged down by endless hordes of walking dead, which greatly demoralized the local populations.
Mortarion was continuously deploying his daemon machines on various planets, thereby casting a vast net of Warp corruption over Ultramar.
More and more worlds were about to be engulfed in a terrifying wave of corruption, and each world engulfed meant Mortarion could acquire more chaos Space Marines.
Mortarion could be said to be extremely pleased.
His plan was succeeding step by step.
The Ultramar's Five Hundred worlds were constantly suffering losses under his attack, and the kingdom built by his brother Guilliman was about to fall into his hands.
As the saying goes, as opposing sides, however triumphant Mortarion was now, the Ultramarines were equally in a sorry state.
As more worlds began to fall, the Ultramarines also discovered some warriors who should have been their comrades, but had been possessed by daemon and transformed into new chaos Space Marines.
They could accept the constantly appearing walking dead and decisively open fire to eliminate all of them.
But they could not accept that soldiers who were about to become their comrades had become chaos Space Marines.
They were clearly corrupted by daemon.
This discovery left the Ultramarines deeply alarmed and heartbroken.
The Ultramarines and Ultramar's mortal soldiers were engaged in skirmishes with the enemy every day on hundreds of front lines across various star systems.
With the appearance of soldiers who should have been their comrades on the opposing side, the Ultramarines realized that the situation had become so severe that they had no choice but to report it to their Primarch.
Finally, the moment Guilliman's fleet first appeared in real space, a communication arrived from Macragge.
During Guilliman's time on Holy Terra, the commander of the Imperial Army, or rather the Ultramarines, on Ultramar was Marneus Calgar.
Before Guilliman awoke from stasis, Marneus Calgar was the leader of the Ultramarines.
Calgar is now also one of Guilliman's most trusted generals.
With Guilliman absent, the issues of Ultramar's command and development were naturally handled by Calgar.
After all, he held the titles of king of Macragge and Defender of Ultramar.
His title of king of Macragge was only slightly less than Guilliman's Lord of Ultramar, but it also indicated his identity and status.
And now, the immense difficulties facing Ultramar forced this king of Macragge and Defender of Ultramar to contact Guilliman.
Calgar's communication signal, bearing an emergency encryption tag, directly connected to the command throne of the emperor's dream.
As soon as Guilliman connected, he saw his most trusted general looking haggard, with a rare anxiety in his eyes.
"Primarch," Calgar's voice was hoarse and weak due to the increasingly deteriorating situation.
"Primarch, the situation in Ultramar is worse than we anticipated. Mortarion is not only spreading plague, he is also... converting our reservists."
The holographic projection displayed heartbreaking images: reservist recruits in Ultramarines training gear, now bearing Nurgle's symbols, firing fiercely at their former comrades.
Their armor still bore the Ultramar's insignia, forming a horrifying contrast with the corruption of chaos.
"Primarch, this is a huge problem we are facing now. Our reservist soldiers are constantly being converted by these Nurgle daemon arts into their chaos Space Marines.
This is not only a desecration of our battle-brothers but also a tremendous blow to Ultramar."
Guilliman's eyes darkened as he watched the scene before him... These chaos daemon actually had the ability to corrupt his reservist soldiers; how terrifying!
Reservist soldiers are called reservist soldiers precisely because there are still some differences between them and Space Marines, but they only need to complete the final surgery to become qualified Space Marines.
And the most critical surgery they lacked was the gene-seed.
Although gene-seeds could be obtained in large quantities through cloning technology, Guilliman had recently expanded the size of his army a bit too much.
At the same time, it was also to ensure that his forces would not exceed his brothers' too much at once, making his brothers feel that he was ambitious again.
Guilliman only had a mere 3 million Ultramarines; otherwise, he should have had 9 million Ultramarines.
He had not expected that this momentary thought of his would lead to the Ultramarines' reservist Space Marines in the 500 worlds of Ultramar being constantly assimilated and corrupted by chaos.
Guilliman regretted it somewhat.
Guilliman suppressed the anger and regret in his heart, his voice unusually calm: "Calgar, tell me the specific losses and current situation."
Data began to scroll on the holographic projection, and Calgar's voice was heavy.
"At least 37 worlds have completely fallen, and an estimated 80,000 reserve soldiers have been converted. Even more terrifying is that Mortarion has deployed those demonic mechanical clocks on every world, and they are forming a massive network of corruption."
Guilliman's gaze was sharp as a sword: "Can the locations of these devices be determined?"
"Partially, Primarch," Calgar brought up the star map, "but we lack sufficient forces to attack all devices simultaneously. Whenever we concentrate our forces on one point, the corruption in other places intensifies."
"The local human auxiliary forces simply cannot withstand the attacks of those demon lords; we must return to reinforce."
"We also considered sending small squads of Space Marines to carry out decapitation strikes, but the effect was minimal as the enemy has a large number of chaos Astartes. Although we outnumber them, our defensive area is larger."
Guilliman pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Those converted reservists... is there still a possibility of their recovery?"
Calgar shook his head painfully: "According to our reconnaissance, the conversion process is irreversible. Nurgle's corruption has completely altered their genetic structure, and even..."
He paused and reorganized his words, "...some of the converted have even begun to grow new mutated organs, completely transforming into another form of existence."
"In addition, the Grey knights have also reported to us that every Ultramarines reserve soldier has a demonic presence within them."
"The essential souls of these soldiers have completely vanished, leaving only their bodies, and now the essence of their bodies is also continuously disappearing."
The appearance of the Round God not only strengthened the combat power of the Chaos Gods but also made their respective domains more powerful.
In front of Space Marines who hadn't been fully converted, they could even corrupt them with ease.
Furthermore, what was even more terrifying was that their demonic units had also begun to grow stronger, and a large number of ordinary demon soldiers capable of fighting Space Marines one-on-one had even appeared.
However, the number of such demon soldiers was not yet too large, but this was not good news.
Facing the current situation, Guilliman had to take actions he had not originally intended.
Guilliman closed his eyes, forcing himself to accept the outcome that the reserve soldiers had become Nurgle's demons.
With the Primarch's powerful mental capacity, three full seconds passed.
After three seconds, Guilliman reopened his eyes and looked at Calgar before him.
"Do your best to eliminate those reserve soldiers who have become chaos Space Marines; grant them the mercy of evolution."
"As for those Nurgle demons, I will personally bring them their end!"
Guilliman was enraged. Guilliman was not just a guy who handled internal affairs.
Although he was very skilled at operations and then crushing his opponents, his true genetic essence was that of the Avenging Son.
These foolish Nurgle demons had turned his Ultramarines reserve soldiers into a pile of chaos Space Marines. Such an act was not only a slap in his face but also a desecration of the Space Marines.
Guilliman decided to personally bring destruction to his brother, Mortarion.
However, before that, he first focused on the hospital world of Iax, which had always served as Ultramar's fortress against Nurgle's diseases.
"How is Iax doing now?"
Hearing the Primarch's question, Calgar quickly searched his mind for Iax's current status and then replied.
"It's still relatively stable for now, but our forces have detected a large number of chaos daemon traces around it. It's highly likely that a battle will erupt on Iax."
"After all, Primarch, you must know that Iax's existence is an affront to the Dark Gods themselves, so we deduce that it won't be long before Iax comes under a specialized attack from the chaos daemon."
"And among the three chaos Nurgle daemon armies, the one most likely to launch an attack there should be Ku'gath the Plaguefather, as his devotion to Nurgle is well-known."
"As for the others, we currently have no definite intelligence. We can only detect that they are attacking some node planets and deploying some daemon-summoning devices."
"As for the rest, we simply cannot confirm their specific targets."
Calgar reported the current intelligence to the Primarch in detail once again.
Since the other two could not yet be determined in terms of direction and target, Ku'gath the Plaguefather naturally became Guilliman's most important target at this time.
"Since the enemy might be showing their hand, we should give them a grand welcome ceremony."
"From now on, the fleet will be divided into two. One fleet will be responsible for supporting operations on various worlds within the Ultramar sector, ensuring that no more Imperial worlds fall."
"The other fleet, which I will personally lead, will be deployed around Iax. I want to see if these chaos daemon will launch an attack there."
The fleet split in two.
For Guilliman at this time, half of the fleet was enough to support the war in Ultramar.
The remaining half of the fleet would become his trump card, used specifically for lying in wait and for rapid support operations.
"Besides that, don't let the enemy detect anything amiss. The number of Space Marines on Iax is currently insufficient; send 100,000 reinforcements there!"
"Recall all our reserve soldiers on the fringe systems and have them prepare for a unified transformation, completing the final modification!"
Guilliman made his decision. He felt that he should not allow his Ultramarines to become chaos Space Marines for the sake of maintaining fraternal relations.
This was inappropriate. He would rather his brothers have other opinions of him now.
He would ensure all his Ultramarines completed the final modification, making them truly qualified Space Marines, protected from demonic desecration.
Guilliman's orders were swiftly carried out. The fleet split in two; one half continued to perform defensive and cleansing missions in the Ultramar systems, while the other half, following the Emperor's Dream, quietly sailed towards the Iax system.
During the voyage, Guilliman stood before the tactical holotable, gazing at Iax's defensive deployment map.
"Notify the commander of Iax's defenders," he ordered, "to immediately begin evacuating non-combat personnel. We will turn this place into a trap, but we cannot let civilians pay the price."
"Primarch," a staff officer reminded, "a large-scale evacuation might alert the enemy."
Guilliman shook his head: "Use the pretext of medical transfers. Iax is already a hospital world; regular transfers of critically ill patients are normal. Have the Tech-Priests of the Mechanicus cooperate to produce enough medical ships for cover-up evacuations."
As the orders were given, a silent mass transfer began in the Iax system.
Tens of billions of civilians and medical personnel were evacuated to nearby safe worlds under the guise of medical transfers.
At the same time, 100,000 Ultramarines and a large amount of heavy equipment were conspicuously deployed to the planet's surface.
The conspicuous deployment was intentional. What Guilliman wanted to do at this time was to let the enemy know that the Ultramarines had strengthened their vigilance on the hospital world of Iax.
Only in this way could he further lure the opponent into the trap, as the opponent would surely want to destroy this world, which was an extreme desecration to the evil god Nurgle.
The stronger the military force on Iax, the more it would prove the planet's importance, and the more it would entice the opponent to mobilize more troops for a large-scale attack.
Guilliman, with his massive fleet, was not afraid of the enemy deploying a large number of troops on the ground.
After all, for Guilliman, who possessed air superiority, even if a large number of chaos daemon appeared, it would be a matter that could be resolved with orbital bombardment.
Guilliman personally oversaw the trap's deployment. "Deploy dark energy generators beneath the main medical centers," he instructed the engineering corps, "These devices can, if necessary, generate a purifying force field, dealing a fatal blow to Nurgle's daemon."
"Deploy seismic sensor arrays in the wilderness areas. Once a large-scale daemon teleportation is detected, trigger geological shifts to disrupt their formations."
"Deploy the Dominion-provided phase shields on the outskirts of the city to restrict the daemon' warp teleportation capabilities."
Every command was aimed at that demon.
It showcased a portion of Guilliman's exceptional talent as a strategic master. He not only wanted to win this battle but also to make Ku'gath pay a heavy price.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the Iax system, the reconnaissance fleet detected the traces of Ku'gath's main forces.
As expected, the Great Unclean One was leading his plague fleet towards Iax.
"Detecting numerous Nurgle vessel signatures," the sensor officer reported, "The flagship is the Plague Barge 'Rotting Canticle'. Estimated arrival time: 72 standard hours."
Ku'gath was getting restless with the Ultramarines' frantic deployment of heavy troops on the medical planet X.
He wasn't like the daemon Primarch Mortarion; Mortarion could attack Imperial worlds and expand his chaos Space Marines, but The Great Unclean One couldn't do that.
The Great Unclean One was getting anxious as the Ultramarines continuously reinforced X.
Who knew how many troops these Ultramarines intended to send to X as reinforcements.
He only knew that the number of Space Marines in the Ultima Segmentum was quite large, so he couldn't even afford to use a feint.
Since the war began, the number of Ultramarines who had died by his hand in the Ultima Segmentum was in the tens of thousands, but had the number of Ultramarines decreased?
No!
They were still endless.
To prevent an insurmountable army from appearing on X, The Great Unclean One was forced to attack the planet X with all his might.
The chaos daemon' fleet appeared in space, and Guilliman watched as the enemy fleet gradually emerged into real space, but he didn't order an attack.
The first fleets to appear were just some ordinary spaceships, with no real offensive value. He would wait for the enemy's main fleet to arrive and then deploy his ground forces to the planet's surface.
Guilliman waited patiently, waiting for them to fall into his trap.
It was already clear who was the hunter and who was the hunted; Guilliman felt confident of victory.
He had a full 3 million Ultramarines, and over 5 million reservists were constantly being trained to become qualified Ultramarines, in addition to a massive naval fleet.
This situation was clearly a dragon riding on one's face; how could they lose? How could they possibly lose? They couldn't lose!
Guilliman had never fought such a well-resourced war; this was clearly a locked-in victory!
But just as he felt confident of victory, many strange fleets appeared in the Warp.
The next second, these fleets were corrupted by Nurgle's divine power, and they began heading towards the Ultima Segmentum to join The Great Unclean One's forces.
This was a universe, not just a small Galaxy.
The Warp didn't just encompass one Galaxy; its core was merely in the Galaxy.
Civilizations still existed in other parts of the universe.
Nurgle was benevolent; he was exceptionally benevolent to his subordinates.
To prevent his Great Unclean One from being crushed by the Imperium of Man, he risked gathering a fleet of warships from various parts of the universe.
These included not only warships from other parts of the universe but also fleets that had appeared in the Warp due to temporal confusion, including some warships built by House Yaeger and warships lost by the Imperium of Man during the Great Crusade.
There were even Iron Men warships from the Terran Dominion era... Although Iron Men warships were not suitable for daemon to use, Nurgle had his ways.
He could completely expose the Iron Men warships, then let daemon technology transform them into qualified warships one after another.
With the Yuan Shen's blessing, the chaos side received a significant boost. Even with Zeke and Weiss currently suppressing the Chaos Gods, preventing them from interfering with the real universe, the chaos forces' military strength had greatly increased.
However, The Great Unclean One was unaware of these reinforcements from the Chaos Gods.
After all, for Nurgle, who was constantly being beaten by Zeke waving his weapon to help him lose weight, it was already extremely difficult to command his corrupted fleet to support his offspring.
As for trying to inform his Greater daemon that he had sent them reinforcements, that was perhaps asking a bit much of him.
"Ow ow ow, gently, gently!"
"Why are you only hitting me? Zeke, can't you go hit Khorne?"
Didn't we just have a tiny, tiny conflict before? You've hit me so many times already, can't you change targets?
Nurgle covered his head with both hands, tears welling in his eyes.
If time could flow backward, he would definitely control his hands and never attack Zeke's fleet. Now look, Zeke just came to beat him up.
Zeke would beat him up whenever he felt like it.
His companion... Weiss, of course, wouldn't let Slaanesh continue to team up with Khorne to fight Zeke, so Weiss had already pulled Slaanesh away.
Tzeentch and Slaanesh fought Weiss, while Khorne and Nurgle fought Zeke.
Between Nurgle and Khorne, Zeke mainly targeted Nurgle.
After all, this guy had attacked his fleet at the very beginning; wasn't he specifically targeting Zeke? It was outrageous!
While Zeke was brutally beating Nurgle, Khorne was also trying to make his presence known, his chainaxe constantly cleaving down.
But every single attack was skillfully dodged by Zeke, so Khorne's chainaxe would land on Nurgle's body.
This undoubtedly brought Nurgle even more pain. If he didn't know that Khorne couldn't be on Zeke's side, he would almost suspect that Khorne had defected to Zeke.
"You red pile of trash, can you aim a little better? If you keep hitting me like this, I'm going to get really mad at you!"
Nurgle couldn't stand being hit by Khorne all the time, so he continued to cover his head with both hands, taking Zeke's beating, while loudly grumbling and scolding Khorne for being useless.
"Bastard, if you have the guts, stand up yourself! What's the point of just taking a beating here all day long!"
"I have to fight Zeke here and also watch out for hitting you. Am I not tired? Bastard!"
Khorne roared at Nurgle in great displeasure while trying to attack Zeke.
What else could Nurgle do besides covering his head with both hands and lying there taking a beating? He was simply useless!
However, Nurgle was displeased when he heard Khorne say that about him.
Even though he was currently being brutally beaten by Zeke, he still spoke with some dissatisfaction.
"If I weren't here to attract Zeke to hit me, would you have a chance to attack? Be careful, he might cut off your hands again. You haven't even given him dark circles under his eyes yet!"
A broken sleeping dragon emerges from the mountain—
Compared to Khorne's insults to Nurgle, what Nurgle said now completely broke Khorne's defense. What did he mean he hadn't even given Zeke dark circles under his eyes yet?
What did he mean by "be careful Zeke might cut off his hands again"?
In his rage, Khorne didn't bother aiming carefully and simply cleaved down with wide, sweeping motions.
The great axe in his hand continuously struck Nurgle's body, making Nurgle constantly wail.
And Nurgle was still firmly suppressed by Zeke, completely unable to retaliate against Khorne.
Watching the perfect cooperation between Zeke and Khorne, even Tzeentch, who knew Khorne couldn't betray them, felt a flicker of doubt in his heart.
After all, their cooperation was simply too good; Nurgle was currently crying out in pain from the beating.
However, this thought only appeared in Tzeentch's mind for a short while before Weiss pulled him back into the fight.
Facing Weiss' relentless attacks, Tzeentch, even as the Lord of Change, couldn't afford to be distracted.
He had to confront Weiss with all his might, otherwise, one careless mistake would lead to a great loss.
The Great Unclean One Ku'gath was unaware of everything the father was doing for him, nor could he know that his father was being brutally beaten in the Warp. At this moment, he was preparing to attack X, the planet below his fleet.
Although the paternity was suffering unprecedented torture, the great blasphemer Ku'gath entered the planet's orbit quite smoothly.
Looking at the medical planet X below, which was exceptionally blasphemous for the Dark Gods, Ku'gath wished he could destroy it directly.
The next second, several cyclonic torpedoes collected from the Imperium were released, heading towards X, and the violent explosions were blocked by the Void Shield.
But even if the Void Shield blocked the cyclonic torpedoes' explosions, their powerful force still dealt a certain blow to the Ultramarines' orbital defense facilities.
The Ultramarines, preparing to open fire on the Nurgle fleet in orbit, were attacked before they could even fire, a result that somewhat pleased Nurgle, who was being beaten in the Warp.
Nurgle, while being beaten, mumbled smugly, "See, see? My children are still very capable... Ow! Gently!"
Zeke landed a heavy punch on Nurgle's pustule: "Still have leisure to pay attention to the real universe? It seems I haven't hit hard enough!"
"No, no!" Nurgle quickly covered his head. "I was wrong! I surrender! Let's fight Khorne first, let's fight Khorne first, I'll definitely help you out."
Nurgle tried to divert the conflict to Khorne, hoping to gain some breathing room.
But as soon as Khorne heard his words, he became displeased, and Khorne's great axe fiercely chopped Nurgle's mouth, no longer even bothering to pretend.
Nurgle's screams echoed in the Warp, Khorne's chainaxe deeply embedded in his thick lips.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hit Zeke, I hit you, how embarrassing."
Although everyone could see that Khorne was no longer even pretending, he still said this, leaving Nurgle with his last shred of dignity... What could Nurgle do?
Fight Khorne?
Impossible.
As long as Zeke's mind was sound, he would never let it out.
Just let Khorne keep hitting him; if he let it out, then the variables would be too great, who knew if it was their conspiracy?
So, just from this, Nurgle could 100% confirm that Zeke would never let him out to counter Khorne; he was now in a situation where being hit meant being hit for free.
Even Tzeentch and Slaanesh, wanting to intervene in the situation with these two, were willing but unable.
Facing Weiss' attacks, Tzeentch could still occasionally peek at what was happening over there, but Slaanesh truly couldn't parry; she was practically being thrashed by Weiss.
After all, Weiss got angry whenever she saw Slaanesh looking at Zeke, so how could she let Slaanesh off? Her main goal was to beat Slaanesh soundly.
And Weiss didn't even have to worry about breaking Slaanesh and being unable to vent her anger.
With Yuan Shen's enhancement, Slaanesh could also be said to be very resilient.
Yuan Shen's enhancement boosted their combat power and strength, while also increasing their resilience.
Especially Slaanesh's authority also greatly increased.
Specifically in the direction of pleasure, Yuan Shen's amplification allowed her to gain the ability to recover energy during a beating.
Although she couldn't 100% convert the opponent's attacks into her own pleasure, she could still convert a portion, which made Slaanesh even more resilient.
In the real universe, Ku'gath had no way of knowing that his main god was undergoing inhumane torture.
He was smugly watching the destruction caused by the cyclonic torpedoes, a satisfied smile on his large green face. "Continue the bombardment! Let these blasphemous things witness the paternity's blessings!"
The Imperium of Man became exceptionally wealthy due to Zeke's appearance, and efficient weapons like cyclonic torpedoes were produced in large quantities.
In his battles with the Imperium of Man, Ku'gath had captured a considerable number of cyclonic torpedoes, over 100 of them.
Ku'gath simply stopped pretending and furiously launched the cyclonic torpedoes, preparing to inflict even greater damage on the enemy.
Ku'gath furiously unleashed cyclonic torpedoes, his green face beaming with cruel joy.
"Let the paternity's blessings rain down upon this blasphemous land!" He roared, watching torpedo after torpedo explode against the Void Shield, each explosion filling him with delight.
An attack of over 100 cyclonic torpedoes was a saturation strike, and he believed his attack could easily destroy all Ultramarines on X.
But his idea was destined to fail.
After the explosions of over 100 cyclonic torpedoes ended, X's Void Shield still stood firm, with only a few attacks affecting some orbital defense facilities, and when all the smoke and dust cleared, X's planetary surface revealed a large number of fully deployed orbital defenses.
Terrifying attacks from the planetary surface shot directly at the chaos fleet in orbit.
Right from the start, dozens of space hulks were reduced to scrap metal, and many frigates and destroyers were also directly sunk by the firepower unleashed from the orbital planet.
The firepower unleashed by the Ultramarines on X was equivalent to a harsh slap across his face.
Ku'gath stared dumbfounded at the scene before him, his large green face contorted in shock. "Impossible! This is impossible!" he roared, his corpulent body trembling with rage.
X's orbital defense system was not annihilated by his attack; instead, it displayed far greater firepower than anticipated.
Tens of thousands of macro cannon arrays, laser turrets, and missile silos rose from the planetary surface, forming an impenetrable web of firepower.
Clearly, X's defense system was always beyond his imagination.
"Guilliman!" Ku'gath shouted the other's name, trying to vent his anger in this way.
"All ships, retreat immediately! Reorganize formation!" Ku'gath frantically ordered, but it was too late.
As soon as his fleet engaged the orbital anti-air defenses, Guilliman seized the opportunity to strike.
He directly ordered his fleet to appear behind the chaos fleet, completing the encirclement of the enemy.
Since they had come, there was no escaping!
For Guilliman at this moment, it was best to eliminate one whenever possible, to prevent these guys from scattering.
After all, with the Warp's enhancement, if they sailed freely within the Warp, guerrilla warfare was indeed very effective.
The Imperium of Man's territory was simply too vast for the existing forces to perfectly defend.
In such circumstances, it was necessary to do everything possible to destroy the main forces of the chaos Daemonic Army, which would reduce the defensive pressure on other Human armies.
A fleet of 200 emperor-class battleships and 200 Glorious gloriana-class battleships, along with the emperor's dream and Mount Town as the main force, appeared behind the chaos Daemonic Army.
Flawlesss himself had arrived!
Guilliman's fleet descended like divine soldiers, instantly encircling Nurgle's fleet.
The Emperor's Dream led the charge, its dark energy shields shimmering with a captivating blue light in space.
"Ku'gath! Your blasphemous journey ends here!" Guilliman's voice, filled with the wrath of the Avenging Son, boomed through the comms.
"Today, you shall pay for all the crimes you have committed against the people of the Imperium!"
Ku'gath could hardly believe what he was seeing.
But facts were facts. He began scanning the surrounding fleet with his auspex, quickly reaching a conclusion.
Ku'gath reluctantly confirmed that he was completely surrounded.
In front of him was Ex's formidable orbital defense system, and behind him was Guilliman's main fleet, personally led by the Primarch.
When 200 Emperor-class battleships and 200 Gloriana-class battleships, along with a Mountain Array Titan and the Emperor's Dream, appeared before him, he had to admit that he seemed to have walked into a dead end.
Such a massive fleet wouldn't need a prolonged fleet engagement with him; they could annihilate his forces with just a few volleys.
Moreover, this many capital ships had completely cut off any possibility of him entering the warp.
He had to face the problem; today might be the day of his defeat, but... "But I haven't completed my atonement to Grandfather! How can I, how can I possibly fall here!"
Ku'gath the Great Unclean One became Nurgle's Greater daemon primarily because, as a small Nurgling, he had accidentally fallen into a great pot of Nurgle's concoction.
He absorbed the essence of that entire pot, which led to him becoming a Greater daemon of Nurgle, but the cost of doing so was that the pot of concoction Nurgle was brewing dissipated into nothingness.
Nurgle did not get angry at him; instead, he benevolently allowed him to absorb all that energy, making him a Greater daemon under Nurgle.
Nurgle was merciful and kind to his little creations.
However, Nurgle's lack of blame didn't mean Ku'gath could simply accept the gift as a given.
Ku'gath had always felt remorse and distress over this matter.
In his view, if not for his appearance, Grandfather could have brewed the most terrifying virus and contagion in the world.
All of this should have happened, and all of it was ruined by his appearance!
To atone for his sins, he wanted to create the most deadly and terrifying virus in the world to give back to Grandfather.
This was his atonement!
"Damn you, Guilliman! How could I possibly fall here? Don't even think about it!"
Ku'gath roared as he loudly began issuing orders, commanding his fleet to turn and attack Guilliman.
"All ships, turn! Concentrate fire and break through the rear!" Ku'gath shrieked, green pus oozing from his wounds due to fear and rage.
But Guilliman had already anticipated this move.
The main guns of the Emperor-class battleships fired simultaneously, forming a deadly net of fire that utterly destroyed Nurgle's ships attempting to break through.
"Avenging Goddess, lock onto the enemy flagship!" Guilliman calmly ordered, "Don't give him any chance to escape!"
The Avenging Goddess was the name of the Mountain Array-class Titan battleship in Guilliman's fleet.
The Avenging Goddess' gigantic turrets began charging, their dazzling light dimming the entire starry sky. Simultaneously, Ex's orbital defense system coordinated a new round of attacks, a pincer movement leaving Nurgle's fleet nowhere to escape.
"Grandfather! Please forgive your useless servant!" Ku'gath prayed in despair, but his patron god in the warp was currently being double-teamed by Zeke and Khorne, utterly unable to respond.
Just then, Ku'gath made a final, desperate decision. He activated the secretly developed ultimate plague generator on his flagship—the "Gift of Atonement."
This was his ultimate masterpiece, prepared as an offering to Nurgle, fusing the essence of the warp with the most deadly plagues of the material universe.
"Since I cannot escape, then let all of this become a sacrifice to Grandfather!" Ku'gath maniacally activated the device, and intense warp energy mixed with deadly plague began to spread.
"Detecting high-concentration corruption energy!" The sensor officer on the Emperor's Dream exclaimed, "The enemy ship is releasing some kind of... bio-warp hybrid weapon!"
Guilliman's expression hardened: "All ships, activate maximum protection! Initiate dark energy purification field! It must not be allowed to spread!"
A blue purification field rapidly expanded, colliding violently with the green plague energy. The two energies intertwined in space, forming a bizarre net of light, mutually eroding and canceling each other out.
"It's useless! Guilliman!" Ku'gath laughed maniacally, "This is my highest offering for Grandfather! It fuses the essence of the warp with the most deadly plagues of the material universe!"
Ku'gath didn't care if Guilliman could hear his roars; he continued to shout so maniacally, despising the Avenging Son who was about to destroy him.
But to his shock, the dark energy purification field was actually slowly neutralizing the spread of the plague. The technology provided by the Dominion was demonstrating astonishing effectiveness.
"Impossible! How can this be!" Ku'gath watched in disbelief as his ultimate weapon was purified little by little.
He simply couldn't believe that his ultimate weapon was being neutralized by humans; this was simply impossible.
Facing the current situation, Guilliman remained remarkably calm, after all, he was now utilizing the weapons provided to him by Zeke.
The implications of dark matter technology were self-evident.
The power of chaos would also be neutralized by dark matter technology, so what was a mere virus in comparison?
However, despite saying that, Guilliman breathed a sigh of relief at the sight before him. He was also a bit worried about the impact if this thing were to spread outside.
It was likely that the entire Ultramar region would become a desolate wasteland, and even if it didn't, it would certainly severely cripple the Five Hundred worlds.
After all, the resources of the Terran Dominion and the Imperium were currently being continuously transported to the battlefield, and there were simply not enough resources to deal with what was happening in Ultramar's Five Hundred worlds.
But none of that would happen; he had successfully resolved this problem. As long as these viruses didn't spread throughout the Five Hundred worlds of Ultramar, everything would be fine.
Guilliman breathed a sigh of relief, but he hadn't relaxed for long before countless lances of light directly struck his dark energy purification field.
The sheer volume of attacks made the dark energy purification field totter, on the verge of collapse.
The Chaos God Ku'gath worshipped had sent him reinforcements.
Nurgle had paid too much for this support, and even now, he was being secretly battered by Zeke and Khorne, the two gods ganging up on him.
But it was all worth it.
Guilliman's pupils suddenly constricted. "All available ships in the rear, turn around immediately! Intercept those enemy ships! The *Vengeful Goddess* will continue to suppress Ku'gath!" He issued an urgent order, but it was too late.
Under intense bombardment, the dark energy purification field finally collapsed, and a torrent of dark green plague energy surged out like a broken dam.
He could only watch helplessly as the dark energy purification field crumbled under the concentrated fire.
The dark green plague mist, like a beast freed from its cage, rapidly spread in all directions.
"All ships, retreat immediately! Activate secondary defenses!" Guilliman issued an urgent order, but it was too late.
The plague mist spread at an astonishing speed, first engulfing several nearby Imperial frigates.
The ships' void shields were instantly corroded and penetrated upon contact with the plague, and the metal hulls began to sprout disgusting fungi and pustules.
"Report! The *Eternal Loyalty* has lost contact!"
"The crew of the *Unyielding Faith* are... are mutating!"
Terrified reports came through the comms channel, accompanied by horrifying screams and strange roars.
Guilliman clenched his fists, forcing himself to remain calm: "*Vengeful Goddess*, immediately bombard the center of the plague cloud with your main cannons! Try to disperse them with an energy shockwave!"
The *Vengeful Goddess*'s massive turrets recharged again, but this time its target was not enemy ships, but the deadly plague mist.
Dazzling beams of light shot into the center of the green mist, triggering a violent energy reaction.
Slightly reassuringly, the dark energy bombardment did neutralize some of the plague to a certain extent. But the mist's range was too vast to be completely cleared.
"Primarch! Detecting the plague spreading towards the nearest inhabited world!" The sensor officer's voice was filled with despair, "At this rate, it will reach Caxus Prime in three days!"
The sudden change made Ku'gath, who had previously felt that everything he had done was meaningless and was ready to embrace his own death, suddenly become excited.
Aid from the Grandfather had arrived, his prayers had been answered. The Grandfather was indeed the Grandfather, always thinking of him.
He would spread these plagues and viruses throughout the entire Ultramar 500 worlds.
Ku'gath was exceptionally excited, and the pustules on his body burst one after another, as if applauding his excitement, and a large amount of pus flowed down from his body.
The shit-green color made his entire demon form unsightly, but in the eyes of ordinary Nurgle demons, this was the state they most anticipated and desired, representing the Grandfather's blessings and glorious evolution.
"The Grandfather has not abandoned me!" He cackled maniacally, the pustules on his body bursting and splattering shit-green pus everywhere, "Let Guilliman witness true blessings!"
When the support fleet corrupted by Nurgle appeared, they had already established contact with Ku'gath.
Although their fleet strength was still weaker than Guilliman's, the gap was no longer as vast as it was at the beginning. If the initial military comparison was 100:1, now it was 10:7.
The gap still existed, and Guilliman's fleet still held the dominant position, but they were no longer passively and easily annihilated as before.
Moreover… Ku'gath gazed with renewed longing at the plagues and diseases constantly spreading through space.
There was no need to defeat Guilliman head-on; he only needed to let these plagues and diseases spread, to spread among Guilliman's fleet and throughout the Ultramar 500 worlds, to inflict heavy damage on Guilliman.
He believed he could achieve this. Guilliman's defeat was already destined!
"All fleets engage in melee with the human fleet and tie them down. They must not be allowed to free up their hands to prevent our holy gifts from spreading throughout the Great Ultramar!"
Guilliman watched the plague mist spread among the fleet, his face ashen. "All ships maintain distance! Prioritize clearing the plague mist!" He immediately adjusted tactics, "Medical fleet, release purifiers, try to neutralize the plague!"
But the Nurgle fleet's tactics were very clear.
They did not engage the Imperial fleet head-on but constantly maneuvered and weaved, using themselves as a shield to block the Imperial fleet's purification efforts.
Whenever an Imperial ship tried to clear the plague with dark energy weapons, a Nurgle ship would suddenly interpose itself in the line of fire.
"Report! Purification efforts are obstructed! Enemy ships are deliberately blocking the line of fire!"
"The plague mist is accelerating its spread! Estimated arrival at Caxus Prime is now two days!"
Guilliman's fist slammed down on the command console. "Cunning demons!" He gritted his teeth, "All Emperor-class battleships form an assault formation to force open a purification channel! *Glorious Queen*-class ships provide fire support!"
The Imperial fleet quickly adjusted its formation, attempting to forcefully break through the Nurgle fleet's blockade. But just then, another anomaly occurred—the Imperial ships infected by the plague suddenly turned their guns and fired upon their former allies!
"Primarch! The *Unyielding Faith*... it's attacking us!" The communications officer reported in horror, "All infected ships have defected!"
Guilliman's heart sank. He hadn't expected Nurgle's corruption to be so terrifying, capable of even transforming the ships themselves.
"All units, attention! Treat infected ships as enemy vessels!" He decisively ordered, "We cannot allow the plague to spread any further!"
The battlefield situation instantly reversed.
The Imperial fleet not only had to contend with the Nurgle fleet's harassment but also deal with their own converted ships.
Although most of the converted Imperial ships were smaller warships.
These smaller Imperial warships, not enhanced by Terran Dominion technology, simply could not withstand such warp corruption.
However, this outcome undoubtedly dealt a blow to the morale of the Imperial forces.
While the smaller Imperial warships attacked the larger Imperial warships, distracting the Imperial Navy, the plague mist took the opportunity to accelerate its spread.
The dark green cloud of death devoured everything in its path like a greedy beast.
Ku'gath laughed maniacally on his flagship: "See! The Grandfather's blessings are unstoppable! All of Ultramar shall become a plague garden!"
But Guilliman did not give up. He carefully observed the battlefield and suddenly noticed a crucial detail.
"All ships, attention! The plague mist temporarily thins after being hit by dark energy weapons! Concentrate fire on the edges of the mist to open a safe passage for us!"
Under his command, the Imperial fleet began to systematically bombard the peripheral areas of the plague mist. Wherever the dark energy beams struck, the plague temporarily receded, forming brief safe passages.
The next second, a large number of battleships entered the core area of the engagement, then used energy shields to collectively form a giant energy shield in that position.
Guilliman tried to intercept Nurgle's plague virus here with the void shields and dark energy deflection shields of the large battleships, and then completely purify it using dark energy devices.
This time he succeeded. A large number of Emperor-class and Glorious gloriana-class battleships entered the combat zone, and then a large number of dark matter deflection shields and void shields activated.
The dark green Nurgle plague virus was unable to expand further outwards under these actions.
The crisis in the Great Ultramar Sector was somewhat resolved, but this was a superficial solution.
At the same time, most importantly, with the activation of the dark energy shields and void shields forming a combined shield, it meant that the *Glorious Queen*-class and Emperor-class battleships in the combat zone could no longer rely on their own shields to engage the enemy.
For every incoming enemy attack, they would now have to rely on their ship's armor to endure it!
Ku'gath looked at the plague on his side, which was being intercepted by the Imperium's fleet with shields within such a small patch of cosmic space, and he was quite displeased.
"These damned human maggots, they actually refuse to accept the embrace of the Benevolent Father's glory! How preposterous!"
"Guilliman, you're just a—"
Ku'gath's insults had even reached the point of being censored, which naturally indicated how foul his current language was.
But then again, no matter how foul his curses were, the situation remained unchanged… Guilliman had successfully used his warships as a barrier to confine the Benevolent Father's gift he had brought to a small pocket of cosmic space, preventing it from spreading even an inch.
While Ku'gath was madly cursing Guilliman, he issued the most correct command for the current stage!
"Attack those Imperium warships! They are at their weakest now without shield protection. Seize this opportunity to annihilate Guilliman's main fleet and bring him before me!"
If he couldn't bring the Benevolent Father's gift to the entire Ultramar region, then he would deal with Guilliman first. As long as Guilliman was dealt with, wouldn't the entire Ultramar be his to command freely?
Ku'gath's order was swiftly executed. The Nurgle fleet concentrated all its firepower, launching a fierce assault on the Imperial battleships maintaining the combined shield. The Emperor-class and Gloriana-class battleships, stripped of their individual shield protection, were indeed in their most vulnerable state.
"Report! Emperor's Dream II has been hit! Our paint has been scraped off! The armor is taking damage."
"Vengeful Goddess is under concentrated fire!"
Guilliman's expression was grave, but he remained calm: "All ships maintain formation! Engineering fleet, begin emergency repairs immediately!"
"Do not fear losses. Our warships have nanometal and enough engineering robots. The enemy's firepower is bearable for us."
The warships on both sides exchanged fire, unleashing their respective arsenals. A large amount of light and macro cannon fire continuously slammed into each other's armor.
Overall, although Guilliman's warships had an advantage in both quality and quantity, the chaos forces, with their void shields, actually held the upper hand in the confrontation.
Void shields were somewhat too overpowered; they only needed energy to continuously deflect all attacks into the Warp.
To destroy a capital ship, striking down its void shield was incredibly difficult.
It usually required dozens of Gloriana-class battleships to bombard it with their main cannons simultaneously.
However, although the enemy's numbers were fewer than theirs, they weren't so few that Guilliman's side could freely concentrate the main cannon fire of dozens of warships.
This led to significant losses for the Gloriana-class battleships after the two fleets engaged in a fierce battle.
The ship hulls sustained varying degrees of damage, and even with engineering robots performing repairs, it was difficult to keep up with the rate of losses.
Four Emperor-class battleships had even been sunk.
Such losses were almost unheard of for the Empire in previous battles.
How could such large warships like the Emperor-class battleships, with their void shields, be so easily destroyed?
Yet, in this naval battle, they were indeed being destroyed with such ease.
Seeing the Emperor-class battleships being destroyed, even Guilliman, the Lord of Ultramar, was now somewhat anxious. After all, these capital ships were extremely difficult to produce in the Empire's past.
Now, these large battleships were being lost like consumables, which was undoubtedly not what Guilliman wanted to see.
"No! If this continues, the Imperial fleet's losses will be too great. We must retract the shields!"
Guilliman slammed his hand heavily on the table in front of him, with such force that even the alloy table was dented.
But when Guilliman looked up at the cosmic space formed by Nurgle's plague, and then turned his head to see the Imperial worlds of Ultramar, he couldn't bring himself to make that decision.
The Ultramar region was not only a prosperous Imperial world he had personally created, but also a vanguard for the Terran Dominion's merger with the Imperial Dominion.
Precisely because of this, the productivity generated by the Ultramar region could be described as an astronomical figure.
Leaving aside whether the Empire could bear such losses, the fact that Nurgle's virus was effective in the Ultima Segmentum and the Five Hundred worlds wasn't a slap in the face to the Imperium?
If the Imperium couldn't even protect its own territory, would the necrons then perceive the Imperium's weakness and seize this opportunity to cause trouble with their fleets?
For Guilliman, he not only needed to win this war but also had to ensure the integrity of Imperial territory as much as possible. Otherwise, it would undoubtedly proclaim to the world how weak humanity currently was.
He couldn't order the fleet to retract the shields. In such circumstances, Guilliman looked somewhat haggard.
The enemy had the help of Chaos Gods, but what about them?
Guilliman, known for his rationality, now clasped his hands and began to pray in his heart...
"Emperor, Zeke, whoever it may be.
If you can hear my prayer, please cast your gaze upon me and eliminate Nurgle's plague."
Guilliman knew very well that with his current abilities, he couldn't resolve Nurgle's plague, and even if he could, his fleet would suffer heavy losses.
Even though he felt he should rely on himself and not trouble his father or Zeke, he was forced to pray. His prayers were received by both the Emperor and Zeke.
Upon hearing his son's prayer, the Emperor wanted to act.
But just as he was about to make a move, infinite energy surged through his body.
Forcing him to ascend to godhood, this startled the Emperor, who quickly sat back on his throne.
The Emperor was helpless; he could only look towards Zeke with pleading eyes. Zeke had also received Guilliman's prayer.
Fortunately, this time Zeke was not fighting two Chaos Gods; he was merely suppressing Nurgle, so he wasn't caught off guard by the message.
Unlike the Emperor, who had no spare energy to perceive the real universe, Zeke still had some.
After all, he currently only had one opponent, and Khorne was still helping him fight Nurgle, which somewhat freed up his hands.
Zeke, while pressing Nurgle, cast his gaze towards Guilliman's side.
From Zeke's perspective, what he saw was a green scene, but it wasn't a healthy green; it was a disgusting, feces-like green.
It was clearly the color of mold, and this color instantly made Zeke frown. Immediately after, his longsword plunged into Nurgle's body.
To be honest, Zeke didn't want to use his weapon to attack Nurgle, as Nurgle's body was simply too disgusting. He mostly used his psychic powers to suppress Nurgle.
But this scene somewhat infuriated Zeke. Everyone was fighting well here, and he hadn't intervened in the affairs of the real universe.
That previous incident doesn't count!
Now, this damned Nurgle, while being jointly beaten by the two of them, actually intervened in the real universe. What kind of behavior is this?
This was a blatant disregard for him!
Zeke felt he had lost a lot of face. After all, the two of them were currently being intercepted by the Chaos Gods, yet a Chaos God intervened in the real universe. Wasn't this saying that he was weaker than the opponent?
He was with Weiss!
The two of them, a husband and wife tag team, couldn't even suppress a Chaos God. If this matter got out, wouldn't their reputation be completely ruined?
No, this is outrageous!
Zeke glared fiercely at Nurgle below, pushing his longsword further into him, pinning him firmly to the floor. He then flicked his finger.
A psychic power, almost unimaginably powerful, shot out from Zeke's hand and directly entered the real universe.
In Guilliman's vision, this psychic power was an unrivaled force that pierced through their shields and reached The Great Unclean One's ultimate plague virus.
The next second, the dark green plague cloud quickly dissipated in a golden light, like morning mist evaporating in the sunlight. The corroded ships stopped mutating.
The fungi and pustules that had grown withered and fell off at a visible rate.
Even the crew members who had already mutated began to return to their original state, weak but alive.
"Is this... the Emperor's blessing?" a captain murmured, drawing the Aquila on his chest.
Freed from the threat of the virus, and no longer needing to use chaos to prevent the virus from escaping, Guilliman now had his best opportunity.
"All battleships retract shields, protect yourselves and eliminate the enemy fleet!"
Since the threat of the green virus was gone, they could naturally retract their dark matter shields to protect their own battleships.
The dark energy shield rapidly contracted.
The retraction of the dark matter energy shield not only meant that the Imperial fleet's battleships were once again protected by shields, but also that the battleships' energy no longer needed to be excessively supplied to the shield to support such a massive giant shield.
With the dark energy shield retracted to the battleship's surface, the battleships could now reallocate precious energy to their weapon systems.
Under such operation, the Imperial fleet's firepower instantly increased by one level. Dark energy-enhanced artillery rained down like a storm on the chaotic Nurgle fleet.
"nemesis, prioritize clearing the enemy command ship!" Guilliman commanded calmly, "Do not let any enemy ship escape!"
The nemesis' gigantic inferno cannon recharged again, this time with no reservations.
A dazzling beam precisely hit a Nurgle battleship attempting to escape, turning it into a spectacular space fireworks display.
The attack of a titan-class warship on a battleship was so straightforward; the main cannon only needed one hit to 100% destroy a battleship.
The Imperial fleet, free from the plague threat, displayed terrifying efficiency.
The emperor-class battleship's main gun salvo tore through the Nurgle fleet's formation, the glorious gloriana-class' secondary guns swept away the remaining enemy ships, and the Mountain Array-class' inferno cannons consistently targeted complete large enemy battleships for fatal blows.
The tide of battle turned once again.
Ku'gath looked at the scene before him, feeling a sense of utter dread.
What truly distressed him was not Guilliman commanding the Imperial fleet in a large-scale encirclement and annihilation of his fleet.
It wasn't that his battleships were being dealt with one by one by Guilliman.
Because there was already a certain disparity between the two sides' battleships. After the opponent retracted their dark energy shields, his fleet could never be a match for Guilliman's fleet.
Ku'gath had long anticipated this. What truly pained him was the ultimate plague he had cultivated for so long.
That was the ultimate offering he had cultivated in the real universe for an unknown period, preparing to present it to the father. And now, this ultimate offering was so simply and unceremoniously destroyed by another human giant god.
Pain filled his heart, for everything he had strived for was destroyed today.
"Retreat! Order our forces to retreat! We cannot fight any longer. Force open a Warp Passage and leave here!"
Everything he had strived for was destroyed. Now the most important thing was to preserve his fleet of battleships, to start anew later.
Ku'gath was very clear about this, so he prepared to lead his fleet to escape immediately and stealthily open a Warp Passage.
But Guilliman had already anticipated this move. "All ships activate Warp scramblers! Blockade this star system!" he calmly ordered, "Do not let them escape!"
A blue interference field rapidly expanded, forcibly disrupting the Warp engines that were activating. Several Nurgle ships attempting to jump exploded violently amidst the energy disorder, their wreckage scattering.
"nemesis, concentrate fire on the enemy command ship!" Guilliman's gaze locked onto Ku'gath' flagship, "He must not be allowed to escape!"
The nemesis' inferno cannon recharged again, its dazzling light dimming the entire starry sky. This time, its target was clear—the Plague Ark where Ku'gath was located.
"No! the father's blessing cannot be cut short like this!" Ku'gath watched despairingly as the cannon aimed at him, frantically activating all weapons on the ship for a final resistance.
But it was too late.
The nemesis' main cannon, like a divine judgment, directly pierced through the Plague Ark with a huge energy beam.
Dark energy and Nurgle's corrupting energy reacted violently, triggering a chain of explosions.
At the same time, among the weapons fired were a large number of psychic disintegration cannons and psychic disintegration rays, which also pushed Ku'gath to his final path.
Ku'gath let out a final wail on the exploding bridge: "My atonement... the father... I..."
His words were drowned out by the violent explosions.
The Plague Ark turned into a spectacular fireworks display in space. The Great Unclean One ultimately turned to ashes, regretting his failure to complete his "atonement."
With Ku'gath' death, the remaining Nurgle fleet plunged into complete chaos. Guilliman immediately seized the opportunity: "All forces attack! Purify all remaining enemies! For the Manifest Destiny of humanity! For Ultramar!"
The Imperial fleet's offensive reached its peak. Under the absolute suppression of dark energy weapons, the Nurgle ships' corrupted shields were no match. One enemy ship after another turned into fragments in explosions.
Because the two sides were engaged in a large-scale main force battle, even though the enemy's flagship had been destroyed, the Nurgle demon fleet still did not completely collapse; they continued to resist fiercely.
This naval battle lasted for more than 10 days... and the reason it could end after more than 10 days was because the detached fleets Guilliman had sent out began to return as reinforcements.
The combined number of battleships on both sides already exceeded a thousand. It was a miracle that such a large-scale battle could end in just 20 days.
The great war between the fleets naturally couldn't be confined to a single star system; over a hundred worlds in the Great Ultramar region were drawn into this large-scale melee.
Although each world suffered varying degrees of damage, the situation was still manageable.
After annihilating such a powerful fleet of chaos forces, Guilliman could finally return to his homeworld, to rest properly after years away from his mother.
He should, right? Maybe?
Guilliman thought so, but before he could even issue an order, a towering pillar of light shot towards his direction, obliterating over a hundred battleships in its path, yet still piercing through his fleet.
The next second, a gigantic psychic entity appeared in the cosmos, taking the form of the ring.
Guilliman looked at the ring before him, slightly dazed, but the ring was not dazed. After its physical manifestation, it arrogantly shouted at Zeke in the Warp.
"Zeke, you owe me money! Since you won't pay it back, don't blame me for coming to take it myself! I will reclaim everything that belongs to me!"
Yuan Shen– the last time it came, it wasn't just a single body. It had split off many bodies to lurk in the cosmos, and now that Zeke was intercepted, it was time to collect its interest.
As for why it didn't go to the Terran Dominion to collect this interest, it was naturally because it couldn't win.
Its main body was still being brutally beaten by the Terran Dominion, so it naturally couldn't go to the Dominion for proof. In comparison, the Imperium of Man was much easier to deal with.
Coincidentally, Zeke had intervened before, so Yuan Shenwas certain that Zeke couldn't intervene in this area again. It brazenly appeared before Guilliman, destroying over a hundred of Guilliman's battleships to demonstrate its power.
The terror of Yuan Shenwas displayed before everyone. Guilliman gasped, taking a cold breath. Such a terrifying existence – what could they do? Could they win?
The Emperor was unable to help them now. Zeke had already acted once, and no one knew if Zeke could act again.
The powerful combat ability displayed by this unknown entity made Guilliman somewhat fearful. His fleet was no match for the opponent, and ordinary ground units were even more out of the question. How could ground units survive against an existence of this level?
"We finally! We finally achieved victory!
And now you're telling me this is only temporary, and we're about to fail again!"
"How can this be? How can this happen? How can such an opponent appear in the real universe!"
Guilliman could no longer endure it. He slammed his hand heavily on the command table in front of him.
Such a powerful enemy truly left him with no way to contend.
Even a Primarch like Guilliman found it difficult to cope, let alone ordinary Imperial Navy soldiers. They also witnessed the scene of over a hundred battleships being destroyed in a single blow.
Such a horrifying sight naturally caused the Imperial Navy soldiers to begin losing their fighting spirit. But just as their fighting spirit vanished, they turned their gaze towards the direction of the emperor's dream.
That was the direction where the Primarch was. The Primarch was with them, and they believed that victory would ultimately belong to them.
The power of faith manifested at this moment. The Imperial soldiers, seeing Guilliman, regained their morale, but Guilliman, with no one left to call for aid, was helpless.
While so many things were happening, in reality, only a short time had passed.
Yuan Shen 's display of power was very effective. Seeing that the Imperial fleet before it did not move, it turned its gaze towards the worlds of the Ultramar region.
It was time to collect some interest from the Terran Dominion. Even if this wasn't Terran Dominion territory, didn't they also fly the red aquila banner?
The transparent ring turned its body and looked at the 500 worlds of Great Ultramar, preparing to swallow all 500 worlds in one gulp.
The powerful chaos entity astonished everyone. Even Lorgar, who had already sided with the Chaos Gods, was filled with admiration upon seeing the appearance of the ring.
Lorgar's faith began to waver. He had once believed that the Chaos Gods were the true deities of the world, but could the power of the Chaos Gods truly compare to this ring before him?
This individual, whose loyalty only appeared with faith, seeing a god more powerful than the Chaos Gods, would naturally have his beliefs shaken, especially since his faith in the Chaos Gods wasn't exactly unwavering.
After Yuan Shenappeared, Zeke originally wanted to leave the Warp to deal with that bastard Yuan Shen .
After all, the 500 worlds of Ultramar were also worlds he valued. But just as he began to move, Nurgle and Khorne suddenly joined forces again.
Khorne, who had been brutally beating Nurgle, instantly swung his chain-axe towards Zeke's head again.
Sensing the blood god's killing intent, Zeke nimbly dodged again.
Khorne's axe once again struck Nurgle's body, but Nurgle, despite being hit, showed no resentment. Instead, he resisted Zeke with all his might.
The reaction of these two Chaos Gods undoubtedly made Zeke's heart sink.
It was clear that these two were probably only trying to stall him, allowing that Yuan Shento devour Great Ultramar.
"Get lost!" Zeke roared, powerful psychic energy surging, shaking the two Chaos Gods back, attempting to gain some time to launch an attack and erase Yuan Shen .
After all, while Yuan Shenin the real universe seemed powerful, there was actually a huge gap between it and them. As long as Zeke could spare a moment to launch an attack, he could eliminate Yuan Shen .
But knowing that Zeke intended to rescue Ultramar, how could the Chaos Gods let him have his way? Nurgle, who had just been shaken back a few steps, immediately wrapped both hands around Zeke's thigh the next second.
His inherent immense power also surged, intending to hold Zeke back. Khorne did the same, launching frenzied attacks, making it impossible for Zeke to intervene.
"We won't let you succeed. You should also pay some price!"
Nurgle said this, speaking through gritted teeth.
He would absolutely not let Zeke succeed!
Because it had always been the Chaos Gods who suffered losses, while Zeke suffered none. How could that be allowed?
Zeke should also pay some price, otherwise, what was the point of their fight?
The reason they attacked Zeke, besides Yuan Shen 's essence making them stronger, wasn't more importantly for revenge?