The originally busy planetary command center had been cleared out by Zeke's parents.
For Zeke's parents, their son finally returning was a very happy event, as they hadn't seen Zeke for several years. He almost always needed to be stationed on Terra, sitting on the golden throne with the Emperor.
Just as the two were waiting, Zeke's energy body also arrived in front of his parents. The next moment, the three of them looked at each other.
No one knew who moved first, but the family of three hugged each other tightly, and at this moment, no one came to disturb them.
The location where Zeke's parents were based required commanding a large number of fleets to fight the Tyranid Swarm. Theoretically, there should have been no free time at all, but at this moment, it was indeed empty.
Szar'ak had already seen Zeke's arrival, so he actively took over the military duties of Zeke's parents, commanding directly.
This small act of human decency, he, the Silent King of the Necrons, could easily manage.
Zeke, after the embrace, naturally understood that Zallak had done this for him. He extended his thumb, showing his appreciation for the other party.
After the embrace, the three began their casual chat. It wasn't until after quite a while of catching up that Zeke prepared to get down to business.
Zeke, who had been like a child just moments before, instantly became serious. Seeing his son adopt such a posture, Zeke's father, Grisha, also knew that his son was about to discuss serious matters.
"Tell us, Little Ping'an, is there anything you need our help with? I don't believe you would make this trip just to come back and see us two."
Zeke was truly too busy. They didn't believe Zeke would personally cross half of The Edge of the Galaxy just to see his parents.
The fact that he could come back to see them now must mean there was something important he needed to return for, and it was likely he needed support, as both of them knew what their son was doing.
He was conquering another galaxy... "Dad, how many fleets can we spare from here without affecting the front line?"
Since his old man put it that way, Zeke naturally wouldn't be coy. He chose to get straight to the point.
"Warships? We can mobilize 120 battleships, 180 cruisers, and quite a lot of ordinary destroyers and frigates. The total number of warships that can be mobilized without affecting operations should be around 866."
"You know, the fighting here is simply too intense. War is happening almost every moment, and warships are lost every moment."
"The warships I just mentioned are already the maximum possible to extract enough fleets to support you."
"If you need warship support, perhaps you can go find His Excellency the Silent King, after all, all military operations in the entire border region are under his command."
Grisha suggested this to Zeke, but Zeke shook his head with a bitter smile.
"I've already discussed this with him, but at this moment, the border needs the army more than other places."
"Not only can Szar'ak not spare troops to cooperate with me, but even the Necrons fleet I just found in another galaxy has already been pulled into our galaxy to fight."
"Sometimes, Father, to be honest, I really want to abandon our galaxy."
"So far, we have explored three galaxies, but none of these three galaxies has bugs as terrifying as those here. They swarm like an ocean."
"Although there are also some Tyranid Swarm fleets in other galaxies, those Tyranid Swarm fleets are simply too weak for our warships. They can be eliminated very easily, without any hindrance."
Zeke couldn't help but sigh like this. In his opinion, his galaxy was simply too troublesome.
Originally, before he had explored other galaxies, he thought that the Tyranid Swarm treated all galaxies equally, and that other galaxies would also have so many Tyranid Swarm.
Who knew that after he had traveled around other galaxies, he discovered that these bugs seemed to have very few forces in other galaxies.
If it weren't for these bugs appearing here, and at the same time, their galaxy had continuously opened two other passages leading to other galaxies.
And Yuan Shen had appeared before and expressed his opinion, Zeke really would have wanted to abandon this galaxy.
Constantly fighting here had no meaning for him, but because Yuan Shen had spoken before, he actually valued this place.
A place everyone wants is definitely a good place. No matter what, he must hold this place. There's no reason for something in hand to escape.
"Then I have no other choice. The Yaeger House's fleets have all been mobilized to fight here. What's left are some old Imperium of Man antique warships. Would those old antique warships be of any help to you?"
Grisha also shook his head helplessly. He had no other good solutions either. The Yaeger House's new and truly combat-capable top-tier warships were all fighting at The Edge of the Galaxy. The warships he mentioned earlier were the last available forces.
Apart from that batch of fleets, all other warships already had their respective missions and could not be spared, unless they were those old warships from the former Imperium of Man.
Besides these new warships, the Imperium of Man also had some old warships, especially the Yaeger House.
After all, they were previously the Governor's family of the Hazy Star Field, so they still had some reserves of old T'au Empire warships. Besides those warships already handed over to the Solar Lord, there were still some warships that could be used.
"Those..." At first, when he heard that old Imperium of Man warships could be used, Zeke was happy. This was undoubtedly a new force, but then he lowered his head, feeling a headache.
It's not enough!
Although the Imperium's technology wasn't much more advanced, they still possessed some faster-than-light means. The speed difference was too great; the old Imperium of Man warships simply couldn't contend with them.
Under such circumstances, those old Imperium of Man warships were actually of little use.
"Never mind, Father. Just mobilize the troops you said could be mobilized. Having them is better than nothing. With this batch of fleets, there's at least some chance of victory."
Although it was only an additional 800-plus warships, which Zeke considered completely insufficient, having them was better than nothing. These were over 800 warships that could fight the Tyranid Swarm. Fighting the Imperium's fleet was a piece of cake.
And at worst, he could just let his brilliant-class battleship take action...
Zeke, who made a trip to The Edge of the Galaxy, ultimately left with a total of 913 warships.
There was no other way; since Zeke had come to request warships, his parents naturally couldn't refuse their son's request.
After squeezing and patching together newly manufactured warships, they finally managed to gather 913.
This was almost the limit of the forces at The Edge of the Galaxy. As for the Army...
The war with the Tyranid Swarm was now basically a naval conflict, with almost no ground battles of that scale, so the Army was extremely well-stocked.
A batch of Ironclads and astartes units, totaling over 100 million, were transferred by Zeke!
The astartes units combined with the Ironclads amounted to a total of 150 million troops!
Of these, 140 million were Ironclads and 10 million were astartes. The Imperium's astartes had already undergone the Primaris transformation, becoming Primaris astartes.
More importantly, these Primaris astartes were not even the same combat strength as the batch Caul had created; their fighting power was now incomparable to what it once was.
They were fully equipped with power armour crafted from zero-element armor. Now, a single astartes could defeat an entire company of their former selves!
Taking such a force, Zeke began to return to Terra. Thanks to the stargate system, the fleet quickly appeared in the Sol System, while only 10 days had passed in another part of the galaxy.
Ten days was such an insignificant amount of time. When Zeke brought his Army, the Imperium's forces had not yet completed their assembly; they were still en route.
Traveling from the central regions of the Imperium to The Edge of the Galaxy was no simple matter for the Imperium, so Zeke's fleet arrived first.
Under Zeke's arrangements, the moon of war and the fleet pulled from The Edge of the Galaxy began to set up various void torpedoes and void mines as traps throughout the void region.
Large numbers of void mines began to be laid in the asteroid belt, using its cover to ambush the Imperial Army/Forces.
Small-scale collapse devices and black hole generators also began to be deployed, preparing to launch an initial attack with black hole generators when the Imperial Army/Forces arrived.
The Terran Dominion's fleet could directly ignore black holes, but ordinary Imperium of Man warships could not; they were not yet strong enough to ignore black holes.
Numerous traps were being systematically laid. While Zeke's side was busily preparing for battle, the Custodes units he had dispatched were also achieving significant success.
Leveraging their identity as the Emperor's Custodes, and supported by the Ecclesiarchy in various regions, no one dared to oppose the Custodes' intentions; they even had to cooperate with their actions.
Who would believe that the Custodes would betray the Imperium, that the Custodes would stab the Emperor in the back?
With their identity as cover, large quantities of weapons and equipment began to be distributed to the common people in the underhives and middle hivers, while the Custodes conducted round after round of political propaganda among them.
Every evening, speeches would echo through the taverns, rousing the local populace to take up arms and rebel.
Moreover, due to the presence of the Custodes, the various Planetary Governors had not reported these incidents.
In their view, these were at most cultist incidents. Although their PDF forces were beginning to struggle to suppress these cultist rebellions, weren't the Custodes still there?
As long as the Custodes remained on the planet, the situation on the planet could not deteriorate; the Custodes would suppress all dissenters.
A few cautious Planetary Governors, while still reporting the situation upwards, only reported it as far as the sector government.
Cultist rebellions, something that happens frequently, no need for excessive attention—this was almost everyone's consensus.
Under such circumstances, sparks of rebellion began to be spread by the Custodes throughout the Hazy Star Field, and the speed of their spread was accelerating.
The Ten Thousand Strong Custodes Regiment spread their message to tens of thousands of worlds at once.
And as these tens of thousands of worlds spread the message, those Imperium of Man citizens whose minds were influenced also carried this ideology to other worlds.
The Imperium of Man here was vastly different from The Emperor's; they had the Webway personally crafted by the Golden Emperor.
Coupled with the privileges of the Custodes, this led to the sparks of rebellion spreading out of the Hazy Star Field in just over twenty days, even beginning to move towards other Imperial sectors.
These cultist rebellions were escalating!
Yet, strangely, the rebellions in various places seemed to be under a level of control that the Planetary Governors could manage.
Combined with the Imperial administrative system, the Imperium had not yet discovered that their grassroots worlds had already been thoroughly infiltrated and riddled with holes.
"Emperor, we have successfully spread your ideology, and it is now propagating throughout the entire Imperium of Man."
Feeling that the plan was nearing completion, Levi reported their current achievements to Zeke.
"We strictly followed your instructions and did not give them too much help, preventing them from immediately launching large-scale rebellions. Currently, organizations on each planet are primarily focused on accumulating strength."
"Furthermore, we have an advantage in terms of identity. While we are unsure about other planets, on planets with Custodes, the resistance elements are continuously increasing their power."
Levi's report greatly pleased Zeke; everything was going according to plan, unfolding in an orderly fashion. This was excellent.
"Very good, you have done very well. Everything is proceeding as planned!"
"Remember to conceal your strength well. You absolutely must not let the current Imperium of Man react first. Wait until the war on my side has fully begun; I need you to act then, when I signal for an immediate uprising."
"Losing tens of thousands of worlds at once would probably be a devastating blow even to the Imperium."
"Understood, Your Majesty."
"I will ensure that all resistance remains small-scale, so as not to attract too much attention from the Imperium.
Just await your signal. We will deliver the most fatal blow to the Imperium at the most crucial moment."
Zeke had complete trust in his Custodes commander. The fact that this Custodes commander was sent over by Weiss and the others already spoke volumes about his excellence.
If he weren't excellent, Weiss and the others wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to send him. It was just that before, he hadn't had the opportunity to fully display his abilities.
"Excellent!"
Everything was ready, only the great battle awaited, and though the Imperium's speed wasn't exactly fast, they still arrived in time.
The First Legion had lost half of its warships, but apart from that, the other eight Legions, not the Nine Legions, appeared in the Void above Cadia.
The omni-viewer's scanning waves almost covered the entire star system, yet they somehow failed to detect the human fleet hiding behind the star.
Due to the severe damage he had sustained in the previous battle, Lion was seething with rage. He didn't wait for other reinforcements to convene before strategizing; instead, he directly ordered his Dark Angels Legion to the skies above Cadia, and an orbital bombardment began.
Massive amounts of firepower were projected from the Dark Angels Legion's warships, but all the attacks were nullified by the planetary shield.
Cadia's Void Shield was an existence that the Imperium of Man had reinforced countless times; it possessed an unparalleled defense, making the orbital bombardment almost entirely ineffective.
Numerous attacks struck the Void Shield, only to be immediately thrown back into the Warp, a junkyard, by the Void Shield.
Seeing the Dark Angels Legion's eagerness to attack, the other Legions had no choice but to cooperate. The fleets of the other eight Legions also began to advance and unleash firepower.
Joining the battle this time were the Dark Angels, Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Salamanders, Night Lords, Iron Warriors, Iron Hands, Emperor's Children, and World Eaters.
The fleets of the nine Primarchs jointly attacked Cadia. Under the combined assault of the nine fleets, the Void Shield began to show a slight sense of instability, but this was still not enough to shake the Void Shield's protection.
Cadia's Void Shield, enhanced by technology, could not be broken by an orbital bombardment from the Nine Legions' fleets. After the bombardment had lasted for two full days, the Primarchs of the Nine Legions finally chose to give up.
Led by the Dark Angels, the Space Marines of the Nine Legions began to descend towards the planetary surface in drop pods and thunderhawk gunships.
The orbital drop had begun!
With orbital bombardment proving ineffective, they could only resort to ground combat on the planetary surface against the enemy.
Under normal circumstances, when Space Marines conducted drop operations, they would typically destroy all planetary defense facilities.
Or at least shatter the opponent's orbital defense facilities, but this time it was different.
Their attacks on the Void Shield at most caused ripples, which meant Cadia's orbital defense facilities were quite complete.
As the Space Marines' thunderhawk gunships and drop pods conducted their drop, a large amount of anti-air firepower was unleashed by the Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii/Cult Guard and the Solar Auxilia.
Zeke commanded from the center, orchestrating movements. Large numbers of Space Marines were mobilized by him and began to advance towards the designated enemy Legion troop drop zones, preparing to slaughter them.
The Iron Legion also surged like a tide, fighting alongside the astartes.
From the Great Crusade until this point, the nine Space Marine Legions of the Imperium had been virtually undefeated, having rarely encountered any formidable enemies. But now, they had met their lifelong adversaries.
Countless drop pods, millions of Space Marines, combined with billions of mortal auxiliary troops, simultaneously launched an assault on Cadia.
And on Cadia, hundreds of millions of Solar Auxilia and Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii/Cult Guard, along with the Iron Legion and an equal number of millions of Space Marines, counterattacked the enemy.
A sky full of anti-air firepower projected towards the heavens. Numerous orbital drop pods were shattered in mid-air, and the Space Marines' thunderhawk gunships also teetered precariously under such dense firepower.
Casualties were mounting every moment, but the Imperium had no choice; they could only launch a full-scale attack.
Tens of millions of drop pods and thunderhawk gunships, like a reverse meteor shower, trailed fiery wakes as they attempted to break through the despairingly dense anti-air network on the planetary surface.
Laser beams, anti-aircraft shells, plasma streams... various deadly energy and solid munitions wove a web of death that covered the entire sky.
Drop pods were constantly blasted apart in mid-air, transforming into dazzling yet fleeting fireworks. The Space Marines inside were reduced to ash before they even had a chance to step onto the battlefield.
thunderhawk gunships, relying on their excellent maneuverability and shields, struggled to weave through the hail of bullets, but still, gunships were constantly hit, trailing black smoke as they plummeted to the ground, erupting into massive fireballs upon impact.
However, the Imperium's offensive was simply too fierce. Nine Legions, millions of Space Marines, billions of auxiliary troops, like a surging tide, crashed against Cadia's defenses without regard for cost.
Despite heavy losses, a large number of drop pods successfully broke through the fire network, slamming onto Cadia's hard surface like iron hammers.
Hatch doors exploded open, and Space Marines, clad in power armour like giants of steel, roared out, their bolters spitting deadly fire, instantly clearing out any resistance around the landing zone.
The auxiliary troops followed closely, rapidly deploying, establishing positions, and spreading outwards.
But Cadia's defenders were already standing by, fully prepared.
"For the Emperor, for Humanity!"
The warriors of the Solar Auxilia showed no retreat, unleashing terrifying firepower upon the Space Marines.
The Space Marines fighting alongside them also appeared on the battlefield, bolters in hand, charging towards the enemy Space Marines.
When the Space Marines of both sides saw each other, there was no surprise or confusion regarding each other's slogans. They had experienced such things before. The Space Marines of both sides shouted "For the Emperor" at each other, and plunged into battle.
The Imperium of Man's Solar Auxilia and Space Marines worked in close coordination. In squads where Space Marines and Solar Auxilia cooperated, the astartes of the Imperium were steadily pushed back.
This was merely the battle between humans. As the two sides engaged, a rolling tide of Ironclads also appeared on the battlefield, effortlessly harvesting the mortal auxiliary troops of the Imperium.
The battle between the two sides quickly entered a fierce stage. The Imperium's attacks found it difficult to significantly impact the Cadia defenses deployed by Zeke. For this reason, the nine Primarchs, commanding the battle from their warships, chose to deploy the Titan Legions.
Theoretically, the Titan Legions would not be deployed until orbital defense facilities were destroyed, as it would be too painful to see a titan destroyed directly from high altitude.
However, it was clear that the Imperium was struggling to gain ground relying solely on Space Marines and mortal auxiliary troops. They could only risk deploying the Titan Legions.
"Wooooosh!" The titan roared its war cry, and the gigantic titan machine spirit began to stride across the land, but as soon as they appeared, they faced devastating blows.
The warhound-class titans and emperor-class titans began to advance steadily, but as they moved forward, they felt the ground suddenly shake.
"What's going on? Why is the ground shaking suddenly?" The titan pilot inside the emperor-class titan only felt irregular movements in the ground, which absolutely could not be caused by the titan's own movement.
The next second, a colossal body slowly stood upright. This was not the prestige-class war bodies Zeke had given his parents, but a true one-man legion, a single Cyborex war body!
The massive titan stood up, reaching an astonishing 9796 meters in height and 8476 meters in width.
This was not a weapon; this was a city. A city had stood up, its entire body constructed from zero-element armor, and at its very core, even dragon scale armor.
An emperor-class titan appeared as weak as an ant next to it. The fifty-meter tall emperor-class, with its cathedral, barely reaching 100 meters, seemed to have no presence at all in front of this super behemoth.
????.... The nearly ten-thousand-meter height plunged all the Primarchs into deep silence. What kind of enemy was this? This was something they had never encountered before!
"What... what kind of monster is this?!" The voice of Perturabo, the Primarch of the Iron Warriors, trembled with disbelief.
He prided himself on his expertise in war fortifications and heavy weaponry, but this colossal being before him had completely exceeded the limits of his understanding of "war machines."
"Impossible... a construct of this scale... what is its energy source? How does it maintain structural stability?" Ferrus Manus, the Primarch of the Iron Hands, instinctively analyzed.
But his logical core was almost crashing due to this sight that defied the laws of physics.
"For the Imperium! Fire!" Lion El'Jonson, the Primarch of the Dark Angels, suppressed the shock in his heart and roared.
He could not allow any enemy, no matter how massive, to impede the Dark Angels' path to wash away their shame!
The surviving emperor-class and warhound-class titans, along with all surrounding heavy firepower units, instinctively aimed their muzzles at the colossus and unleashed their strongest firepower!
Lance, volcano cannons, plasma burst shells... they rained down like a storm, pounding the legs of the Cyborex war body.
However, the terrifying attacks, powerful enough to destroy cities and evaporate lakes, merely splashed large energy ripples and insignificant sparks upon the glowing zero-element armor of the Cyborex war body! Not even a single scratch could be left!
It didn't even bother to activate its shield, easily fending off all their attacks.
The next second, a dark blue shield also appeared on the surface of the Cyborex war body. It was a dark energy shield.
When the shield was not activated, the Imperium's attacks were already close to ineffective, and now the Cyborex war body had even activated its shield.
"Orbital bombardment! Immediately initiate orbital bombardment! I want to destroy this giant war machine!" Lion gave a somewhat hysterical order, commanding his fleet to conduct orbital bombardment, intending to strike the Cyborex war body with it.
But little did he know that Stellaris units had an extraordinary resistance to orbital bombardment; they possessed technology for enduring orbital bombardment that the humans in this Warhammer setting could not comprehend.
Orbital bombardment was very difficult to have an effective impact on ground troops. Even if the Cyborex war body were left on a planet and subjected to orbital bombardment for a year, it might not be destroyed.
And those attacks were from Stellaris warships conducting orbital bombardment; now that it was changed to the Imperium's warships conducting orbital bombardment, the effect was naturally predictable.
The Imperial Fleet in orbit faithfully carried out the Primarch's command.
The main cannons of hundreds of battleships and cruisers began to charge, and dazzling light ignited in the cold void, like stars being lit.
The next second, a devastating Lance volley and macro cannon barrage, like the whip of a god, fiercely struck the Cyborex war body standing on the land of Cadia!
Boom—!!!
The deafening explosion was clearly audible even outside the atmosphere. Cadia's surface was instantly enveloped by blinding light and rolling mushroom clouds, with shockwaves sweeping in all directions.
The already devastated battlefield was plowed once more. The temperature at the explosion's center instantly soared to a level sufficient to vaporize any conventional matter.
However, when the light and dust slightly dispersed, everyone who witnessed this scene through observation equipment gasped.
The Cyborex war body still stood majestically!
Everything around him had been turned into rolling lava under the high-temperature evaporation, and a large amount of lava had even been evaporated.
But the piece of land where the Cyborex war body stood remained completely intact, and even the greenest grass still maintained its tenacious vitality.
Under the protection of the dark energy shield, everything within the protected area suffered no damage whatsoever.
And the dark blue dark energy shield on the surface of the Cyborex war body, under the saturated orbital bombardment just now, didn't even flicker, as if their attacks had no effect at all.
It was as if all their attacks had hit a ball of cotton, and all attacks were ineffective.
"No... impossible!" Lion almost squeezed the words through gritted teeth.
His pride and beliefs were subjected to an unprecedented shock at this moment.
The Imperium's most powerful orbital firepower couldn't even budge this monster?
If even orbital bombardment couldn't budge this monster, then how were they supposed to fight on the ground? Do ordinary astartes still have a chance to fight against such a giant war machine?
"Its energy level... is unbelievably high!" Ferrus Manus had somewhat discerned the energy level of the dark energy shield, and it was a level so high he couldn't comprehend it.
"This energy shield is a physical shield. Any of our attempts to penetrate it will end in failure. They can isolate all defenses."
"And if my equipment isn't mistaken, the armor of that giant war machine down there has even surpassed ordinary neutron star matter. Its solidity is beyond doubt."
"If, and I mean if, its energy supply can keep up, then our current fleet, even if it unleashes its full orbital bombardment firepower, couldn't shake its shield even if it bombarded it for ten thousand years."
Manus presented his analysis, stating that this was something far beyond the Imperial technology of the time to combat.
The Imperium had no way to deal with this thing at all.
Upon hearing this, all the Primarchs fell silent. With such a powerful entity appearing, how were they supposed to fight next?