A Custodian?
This was the only thought in the minds of the Black Templars. In their experience, only the Adeptus Custodes fought with such flawless, overwhelming power. A Custodian following a Primarch... weren't those guys supposed to be holed up in the Imperial Palace? They actually came out?
And…
Marshal Amalrich's mind raced. It took something monumental to get those recluses to act.
"All of you, take up your arms! Purge the traitors!" Zhou Ye commanded.
"For the Emperor!!!"
At his words, everyone raised their weapons. The morale of the beleaguered Imperial forces soared. All the Black Templars took up their arms and formed battle lines. Though they often seemed like fanatics, they were still sons of Dorn. They possessed all the tactical skills of their lineage; they just didn't often have a reason to use them.
In the void outside, a fierce battle erupted. Zhou Ye's fleet charged directly at the Chaos armada. With void shields flaring, they launched a headlong ramming assault. Zhou Ye could repair his ships if they were damaged; replacing Chaos warships was far more difficult. Under these conditions, a bloody series of boarding actions began immediately.
From the very first engagement, the Chaos fleet was thrown into utter confusion.
"These lunatics!!!" the lord of a Khornate warband cursed. At that moment, one of the enemy Strike Cruisers, ignoring all incoming fire, charged directly at his vessel. The two warships collided without hesitation, and a bloody boarding action commenced.
"May our journey end amongst the stars! May humanity's glory live forever!!!"
With a resounding battle cry, a sacred and ancient melody filled the vox.
Go forth! And bear the weight of all.Fight! Until the very end.For home, burn your final drop of blood.Return, to the deep chasm of the earth...
An ancient Terran ballad, a song from the 3rd millennium, echoed through the breached corridors. Zhou Ye's honor guard, led by his other two MANTIS warriors, commanded ten thousand Solar Auxilia. Singing the sacred song, they leaped into the fray.
Zhou Ye may not have paid salaries, but the equipment he provided was absolutely top-tier. And he had strict regulations. Unlike the armies of the Imperium, Zhou Ye's forces—be they Astartes or Astra Militarum—were forbidden from engaging in commerce. Even the detachments stationed on merchant ships were held to this rule; they were absolutely forbidden from participating in the merchants' business dealings.
His simulation system was divided into two parts. The first was the Memory Battlefield, which focused on individual combat prowess. Here, a single warrior or a small squad would face a limited number of powerful monsters. The second was the Abyssal Battlefield, a standard theater of war that could accommodate an entire Astartes chapter and around ten thousand Astra Militarum for combined arms operations. Positional warfare was only a small part of the training; the majority focused on complex legion-level tactics. The enemies they faced were a mix of daemons, corrupted mortals, and Fallen Astartes.
While access to the Memory Battlefield was common, opportunities to enter the Abyssal Battlefield were extremely rare. Therefore, every soldier gave it their all. As a result, the coordination between Zhou Ye's Astra Militarum and Astartes was flawless. The Astartes, leading the Auxilia, stormed a Chaos warship—not one of Vashtorr's Arks of Omen, so while twisted and blasphemous, it wasn't overwhelmingly dangerous.
"Huh?" The Chaos Lord stared at the scene, completely bewildered. He felt a strong sense of familiarity. This fighting style... Astartes coordinating with well-equipped mortals, forming a dense web of fire that was systematically pushing back his own grand army of Chaos Marines and Khornate Bloodletters. A single squad of Astartes with a hundred mortals could suppress a force of his daemons and berserkers, pinning them down completely.
How is their equipment so good? The Khornate lord stared in disbelief at the fearless and fanatical army before him.
Meanwhile…
Hahahaha!
In the Warp, a roar of joyous laughter echoed. The Khornate lord's face twisted as if he were constipated. Their own god seemed to prefer the enemy.
What kind of Warhammer 40k is this? Where the hell did you drop me?
---o---
On another front, Abaddon rose from his command throne, a feeling of heated excitement coursing through him. Even he felt a sense of nostalgia, a longing for that glorious age. The scene unfolding before him was like a vision from humanity's most brilliant era, a stark contrast to the decrepit Imperium of today.
Aboard the Zar-Quaesitor, the group of assorted Chaos Marines who had breached the command bridge stared in shock. Before them stood a black and gold giant over four meters tall. The Khornate champion who had attempted a leaping cleave against this giant had been given no chance to resist; the two three-meter-tall warriors beside the giant had dispatched him in tandem. The entire fight had lasted less than a minute. It was too fast.
The Imperial forces, who had been fighting like cornered rats just moments before, felt their courage surge anew.
"Engage!!!"
Zhou Ye charged forward without hesitation, his honor guard following close behind, cutting down everything in their path. The Black Templars were behind them; except for their Emperor's Champion, they were all eating the dust of Zhou Ye's warriors.
"How are they so strong?"
If Zhou Ye's new recruits had once lacked battle experience, the Memory Battlefield and the Abyssal Battlefield had more than made up for it. They now lacked nothing in terms of so-called experience; in fact, they were more seasoned than many long-war veterans. After Ashira was nearly killed by Lucius, Zhou Ye had realized the core problem with his new tin cans. The gene-seed from Istvaan III had long been used up, and the new generations were inexperienced.
In terms of pure quality, the Astartes of the 40k era should have had a far better genetic foundation than those of the 30k era. Recruitment during the Great Crusade was not nearly as strict. In 40k, due to Guilliman's Codex and the loss or disappearance of the Primarchs, gene-seed degradation had severely limited the number of Astartes. This scarcity meant that only the best of the best were selected.
The reason they seemed individually weaker than their forebears was a lack of high-stakes combat. While battles were common in this era, they were rarely the kind of high-pressure wars seen during the Great Crusade, where even a Primarch-led force could suffer heavy losses. The intensity was on a completely different level, so they accumulated less experience.
Now, seeing a situation so similar to those ancient battles unfold, the Black Templars found they couldn't keep up. In this glorious moment, charging into battle led by a Primarch, they simply couldn't match the pace. What a humiliation...
"Son, those are Primaris Space Marines. Would you like to undergo the procedure as well?" Belisarius Cawl's voice crackled in Marshal Amalrich's ear. He was tempted.
But…
"I am not your son! I am a Shadowmoon Wolf!"
"?"
Marshal Amalrich, Saint Celestine, Belisarius Cawl, and Inquisitor Greyfax all froze. They glanced at the Khornate Berserkers—it wasn't them who had shouted. They then realized it had come from Zhou Ye's honor guard.
"Horus?"
But before they could process that, they heard another cry…
"No Pity! No Remorse! No Fear!"
"Emperor's Children! Slay the enemies of our Sire!!!"
"Clad in iron, with hearts of steel!!!"
"Primarch! For your glory and the glory of the Lord of Terra!"
"For the Thirty Worlds!!!"
For a single moment, all the Imperial forces paused.
Damn it, isn't this supposed to be Warhammer 40k? Where the hell did you drop me? This was the thought running through everyone's mind.
But before they could act on it, a furious voice, carried by psychic power, exploded in their minds.
"Traitors! All of you! You have betrayed your fathers! Have you forgotten those glorious times?"
Abaddon's voice thundered across the battlefield. He had been closely monitoring the situation and had noticed what was happening here. Zhou Ye's honor guard numbered three thousand, drawn from all his different companies. Only a hundred or so were with him now; the rest were fighting across various battlefronts. So, aside from their unified war cry, when they got caught up in the heat of battle, shouting their own company's cry wasn't a major issue.
Other cries were one thing, but that line, "I am not your son! I am a Shadowmoon Wolf!" had struck a particularly painful nerve for Abaddon.
But before Zhou Ye could say anything, the Astartes who had shouted it roared back. "Abaddon! Your so-called 'Crusade' is nothing but the sum of countless failures! Thirteen attempts, and only one success! Is this your greatness?"
"Abaddon! Do you really think you can control those Chaos Legions? Your followers are a disorganized rabble who will betray you at any moment!"
"Your Black Crusade is an endless farce, each one ending in your defeat! Do you really think you are Horus's successor?"
Excellent. With a little trickery, Zhou Ye broadcast the voices of these young pups directly to the Vengeful Spirit. Hearing the taunts echo from his corrupted vox system, the Chaos Warmaster Abaddon smashed it to powder with a single black-gauntleted fist.
"Good. Very good. Excellent. Do not think you are invincible just because you have a Primarch! The age of Primarchs is over!!!"
Abaddon prepared to have the Vengeful Spirit teleport directly into the fray. He would show that arrogant little whelp what a Chaos Warmaster was. The age of Primarchs was over. A Primarch whose name he didn't even know... could he really protect them? His own era had just begun.
"My Lord! A band of Eldar has attacked our rear fleet!"
But just then, another voice rang out. Their fleet's rear had been ambushed. Abaddon froze for a second, then roared in fury. He diverted a portion of his forces to deal with the Eldar, forcing him to halt his charge.
Though he spoke with bravado, to say he wasn't afraid would be a lie. While the daemon sword in his hand seemed to be awakening, Abaddon was not confident he could fully control it. It was possible that after killing his target, the sword would instantly turn on him. After all, this was a weapon with a deep connection to the Emperor, one that had once grievously wounded him. In a way, the sword represented another side of the Emperor himself.
---o---
On another front, the Eldar.
"What is happening? Why has the prophecy changed so drastically?"
Yvraine, leader of the Ynnari, stared grimly at the distant battle. They had been waiting on another ice world for the remnants of the Imperial fleet to arrive. But who could have known they would suddenly enter a spatial rift, only to be met by a terrifyingly powerful, planet-based defense fleet that was now seemingly gaining the upper hand?
"Do you have any new visions?" Yvraine asked her mentor, who stood beside her looking equally bewildered.
Their prophecies could not be wrong. They had paid a great price to determine a future that was almost certain to occur. But the situation here was completely wrong. When did humanity acquire such a powerful fleet? He had no knowledge of it. And from the looks of it, it was now the Black Legion's vanguard that was in danger.
"There is a Webway gate near that sector. We will head there immediately."
After successfully halting the Black Legion's pursuit, Yvraine led the Ynnari into the Webway, leaving the pursuing Chaos fleet to eat their wake.
Meanwhile, Zhou Ye also sensed something.
"The Ynnari are on the move. Coincidentally, there's a Webway gate near my planet. It seems I will need to remove the lock I placed on it. The Astronomican is dark now, and my Star Rails can't reach Macragge yet. I will have to use the Webway."
Feeling the shift, Zhou Ye's brow twitched. He had a Webway gate right here. His solution to it had been simple: put a big lock on the outside. Now, it seemed he would have to take it off. Getting to Macragge would require the Eldar's help. After all, Zhou Ye wanted Guilliman to wake up as soon as possible, to start working overtime for him, and to help further promote his Star Rail network.
---o---