A tempest.
If anyone on the battlefield were to look toward Zhou Ye's position, they would be astonished to find a superstorm raging there.
Eight crimson figures and one of black and gold—nine silhouettes intertwined.
They stirred up a furious tempest, a maelstrom of violence that, let alone to a normal human, looked like a scene with dropping frames even to the augmented eyes of an Astartes.
Eight against one, and from the outside, it looked like an even match.
"Hahaha…"
A wild laugh boomed from the Brass Citadel, and the Blood God's voice was broadcast directly into Zhou Ye's ears.
"Say it, and you shall gain endless glory."
"Shout it aloud! So long as you shout it aloud, you will be the master of this army!"
"Say it! Say the eight words! Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!"
"Otherwise, your sons and everything you are will be slaughtered!!!"
"Everything you protect shall turn to dust!"
"You…"
Khorne's voice echoed incessantly in Zhou Ye's ear. The latter couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind, directly blocking out the Blood God's voice. These eight Bloodthirsters were, frankly, putting a great deal of pressure on him.
First, Zhou Ye was unsure of their power level in the Warp, and it was hard to say how they compared to the one he had encountered on the space hulk. But now, with the Great Rift open, all eight of them were stronger than that one.
Second, the power of Greater Daemons, much like that of Space Marines, varied wildly. The weaker ones could be banished by a Chapter Master, an Inquisitor, or a Chapter Champion. The strong ones, like Skarbrand, could fight Guilliman wielding the Emperor's Sword to a standstill. But during the Siege of Terra, some of the Bloodthirsters had been torn apart by Guilliman with his bare hands.
So Zhou Ye wasn't sure which tier these eight belonged to. But fighting one against eight while also having to slowly strip away their Warp blessings and convert them into his own energy was a massive strain. Furthermore, this place was now suffused with the blessings of the Blood God, the entire sky stained blood-red. Under these multi-layered buffs, the pressure on Zhou Ye was immense.
"Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne~!!!"
Evidently, no matter how mightily Khorne roared, he was completely ignored by Zhou Ye.
As time wore on, the eight Bloodthirsters and the nine Lords of Change were locked in a fierce battle. And despite being outnumbered, the blessing of Khorne was so potent here that the Lords of Change held no advantage. They had only brought nine legions of Tzeentchian daemons, far fewer than Khorne's eighty-eight. They were now being suppressed, unable to move freely.
Meanwhile, the eight Bloodthirsters besieging Zhou Ye were being relentlessly hammered, despite their eight-to-one advantage. Wounds that were difficult to heal were beginning to appear on their bodies. But even so, the eight Bloodthirsters did not retreat, nor did they dare to. Khorne was watching. Although he couldn't see Zhou Ye directly, he could judge the situation from his minions' reactions.
Though Khorne was furious that his plan had been ruined, he was greatly pleased by this spectacle. But soon, his fury grew even greater. This anger, however, was not directed at Zhou Ye. He was far too fond of this Primarch. His ire was aimed squarely at the other four piles of filth in the Warp.
At such a blood-pleasing moment, these Khornate daemons dared not say a word. The one who had gone to the space hulk not long ago had been permanently erased. When his soul, stripped to mere fragments by Zhou Ye, returned to the Brass Throne, Khorne had personally immolated it in front of all his daemons.
"Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!!!" the Bloodthirsters roared, continuing their frenzied assault on Zhou Ye.
"May this journey lead to the stars! May humanity's glory last ten thousand years!"
The response they received was the war cry of Zhou Ye's Honor Guard. Now, facing the terrifying assault of a Khornate host several times their own number, they formed an unbreachable wall. This time, they were not left behind by Zhou Ye, but could finally participate in the main engagement.
But even so, there were still eight other Bloodthirsters. They led their forces in a charge against the great fortress-palace and the walls erected by the Imperial Fists, the Iron Warriors, and their auxiliary forces.
But…
"For the God-Emperor!!!"
With a roar, Living Saint Celestine, accompanied by her twin Geminae Superia, charged one of the Bloodthirsters, intercepting it with all her might. The two were immediately locked in a furious exchange of blows, their battle taking them from the sky to the ground and back again.
"Blasphemous heretic! Your opponent is me!!!" Rylanor took the lead, wielding his master-crafted Contemptor-pattern power sword and leading a small squad of Emperor's Children against a Bloodthirster that had crashed into the earth. Sparks flew as he, with the help of his dual-wielding brethren, fought the Greater Daemon to a standstill.
The other ancient Dreadnoughts did the same. The Dark Angel, Imperial Fist, and Ultramarine each led their own battle-brothers to engage three more Bloodthirsters. The Raven Guard Dreadnought was even more formidable, refusing the aid of a squad of Shadow Wolves and taking on another Bloodthirster by himself.
"For the Emperor!!!"
Two Astartes who seemed particularly out of place on the battlefield were the Black Templar Marshal Amalrich and his Emperor's Champion. Because these two had led the charge into the simulator, they had been subjected to a thorough round of Aruba against the wall by the Imperial Fist Dreadnought. Despite one being a Marshal, equivalent to a Chapter Master, and the other an Emperor's Champion, neither dared to make a peep in front of the ancient Dreadnought. Especially not when the Dreadnought was administering their punishment while saying things like…
"It was I who took that little fellow Sigismund from the Night Lords' recruitment station. Almost started a brawl with them over it."
"When I was charging alongside the Emperor, you lot were nothing…"
Forget just Aruba, even if the Dreadnought had killed them, the two wouldn't have dared to fight back. So while they were being punished, the other Black Templars had quickly spray-painted their armor. The Dreadnought only had two hands, so it could only punish the two of them. Now, they could only bite the bullet and lead their battle-brothers out in their plain gray armor. But do not underestimate them. They were already battle-hardened Black Templars, and now, with the power of the Primaris transformation, their combat effectiveness had undergone a qualitative leap. They had already decided: if they made it back to the Eternal Crusader alive, they would recommend the Primaris surgery to everyone.
"No Pity! No Remorse! No Fear!"
This squad of Black Templars charged another Bloodthirster. Their opponent met their charge without hesitation. The Blood God, frankly, was quite fond of these sons of Dorn, especially fanatics like the Black Templars.
As for the last Bloodthirster, it soon met its match: the Emperor's Champion from Zhou Ye's Imperial Fists contingent, leading the Sword Brethren he had personally organized.
The battlefield was instantly locked in a stalemate, at least among the highest-tier combatants.
Below them, however, the situation was far more dire. Zhou Ye's forces were simply too few compared to the Khornate host.
At the same time…
"Send our people down. The Warp is in turmoil everywhere. This planet is effectively isolated. If this drags on, they won't be able to hold," Yvraine said to her mentor, the Visarch. They had too few people here. During the Battle of the Lion's Gate, the Custodes had deployed four thousand and lost nearly half.
When acting alone, a Custodian could sometimes be surprisingly ineffective. But when they acted as a squad, it was a different story. There was a tale of a single Custodian shield-squad that had held off a Tyranid hive fleet for one or two months until reinforcements arrived. When the relief force got there, they saw mountains of Tyranid corpses. The Custodian Shield-Captain stood like a mountain, not only undefeated but even protecting the bodies of his fallen comrades. So, when the Custodes "jobbed," it was usually because they ran into a Primarch or were acting alone. Once they formed a shield wall, their advantage as humanity's, and arguably the galaxy's, most elite soldiers became apparent. They might not always win, but their combat record was absolutely brilliant.
Now, Zhou Ye was facing a Khornate army that even those warriors had trouble holding back. The pressure on him was immense. These were Khornate daemons. Even if his mortals were immune to corruption, they were no match for them in a fight, especially when Khorne's minions forced close combat. A single Bloodletter was enough to slaughter several squads of humans. What's more, this was a Khornate host acting like a disciplined army under the personal watch of the Blood God himself.
So Yvraine was already mobilizing her Ynnari, debating whether or not to intervene.
Meanwhile, Cawl had temporarily left Trailblaze and returned to his Ark Mechanicus.
"The battle below is extremely chaotic, and the Warp is in turmoil. Although this Primarch controls thirty worlds, this place has effectively become an isolated island…" Cawl was rapidly calculating the situation. Orbital bombardment was impossible. Everything below was distorted by the blood-red light. Under normal circumstances, if this weren't an important planet, the solution would be to just issue an Exterminatus order. Even that might not be effective. And unfortunately, his main forces had been decimated during Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade. Although he had a large number of Primaris Marines in cryo-stasis, he couldn't get them out. And his Ark Mechanicus, the Zar-Quaesitor, had no such warriors aboard.
He was now incredibly anxious. The Armor of Fate was still here with him.
"It seems my only option is to seek Yvraine's help. Have the Primarch take his elites and follow us to Macragge first, to preserve his strength… hm?"
After all, a Chaos God was a Chaos God, especially when fighting Khorne. The more death and slaughter, the stronger they became. Although Zhou Ye's forces were holding for now, if time dragged on, the Khornate army would only grow more powerful. What was more troublesome was that the Warp here had become a chaotic mess due to the clash of the five entities. Anyone who entered would die.
In Cawl's eyes, there was only one solution: have Zhou Ye take as many people as he could and escape through the Eldar Webway. Go to Macragge first and plan their next move from there.
But…
"What is that?"
Cawl froze. In his line of sight, a thousand, ten thousand streams of light were converging. In a flash, dozens of merchant ships appeared before his eyes.
"For the Emperor! For the Thirty-Two Worlds!!!"
"May this journey lead to the stars! May humanity's glory last ten thousand years!"
With a series of war cries, these Rogue Traders opened their cargo bays. Drop pods, each carrying Space Marines and their auxiliary troops, rained down toward the designated landing zones on the battlefield below.
The sight of Space Marines and Astra Militarum didn't surprise him; they were clearly this mysterious Primarch's forces. But what truly astonished him was that they hadn't seemed to have traveled through the Warp at all. That was right. This planet had no stable Mandeville Point. And what was more terrifying was that, due to the Great Rift and the super Warp storm, it was now even more impossible to communicate with the outside world.
These people…
"I remember, during our conversation, the Magos who called himself 010 Omega mentioned that after the Webway Project failed, they journeyed into the depths of the Warp to find a true way to save humanity… they found it…" Cawl murmured in a daze. He knew all too well what this meant.
It was something even the Emperor had coveted, and now, it was right before his eyes.
After all, Zhou Ye was planning to ally with Guilliman, and his Star Rail network was already partially laid out. So he had no intention of hiding it anymore. It was time to use it openly, especially now, with the Great Rift open and the Astronomican dark. The Imperium couldn't do anything about it.
Before Cawl could recover from his shock, he witnessed a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.
A myriad streams of light converged as one, and then, warship after warship materialized, charging directly into the atmosphere of Trailblaze.
"By the Emperor… was this your plan all along?"
---o---