Chapter 1159 You are the next one
The sky of Tau burns with the colors of blood and fire.
Tens of thousands of airdrop pods pierced through the clouds like divine punishment hammers, dragging scarlet trails in the ionosphere.
The surface of each airdrop capsule is engraved with the emblem of a different legion.
The wings of the Dark Angels, the "U" symbol of the Ultramarines, the wolf head of the Space Wolves...
They poured down like a rainstorm, hitting the surface of the planet that once gave birth to the titanium civilization.
"boom!"
The first airdrop pod crashed into the central square of the Tau capital, and the hatch opened with a bang amid the hissing of the hydraulic system.
The dark angels in Terminator armor trod out with heavy steps, their power boots crushing the exquisite etheric patterns on the ground.
“No one will be left alive.”
Ryan's voice echoed across the fleet's communications channels.
His armor was still stained with the coolant from Shadowsun's battle suit, and the blade of the Lion Sword gleamed coldly in the pale sunlight of Titanium.
The civilian areas of the Tau have fallen into hell.
Women clutching young children ran through the narrow streets, their skin a sickly pale color from fear.
The old men huddled in the sacrificial hall, praying in vain to the long-silent etheric idol.
Behind them, the roar of the grenade launchers was like the death knell, getting closer and closer.
"Alien nest discovered."
A Death Guard sergeant raised his flamethrower, promethium fuel gurgling in its pressurized tank.
He pulled the trigger, and a blazing white fire dragon instantly engulfed the entire building.
The screams of the Tau were drowned out by the roar of the flames, their pale blue bodies twisted and carbonized in the high temperature, melting like wax figures.
On the next street, a team of Iron Warriors was methodically clearing out the underground bunker.
Their power claws easily tore open the alloy gate and dragged out the civilians hiding inside one by one.
A Tau engineer clung to the data core tightly, but was cut in half by a chainsaw sword the next second.
"Record: Execution mission #1147 completed."
The Iron Warrior's sergeant recorded indifferently, the broken limbs on the ground reflected in his eyepiece.
The most tragic of all are the human traitors who defected to the Tau.
In Camp 7, hundreds of ragged humans kneeled on the scorched earth.
They wore Tau identification rings around their necks, and some even wore Fire Warrior uniforms.
In front of them, a team of Blood Angels were slowly checking everyone's pupils and genetic markers.
"Identify the betrayer."
The Blood Angel priest's voice was like ice. He tapped the power staff in his hand on the forehead of a middle-aged man, who was once the governor of the Empire's colony planet.
"Please, I just want to live--"
The scepter's force field generator hummed to life, and the traitor's head exploded like a watermelon.
Blood splattered on the face of the woman next to her. She screamed hysterically, but was grabbed by the neck by a Blood Angel and lifted up.
"The Emperor's mercy is to grant you a clean death."
The bolter was pressed to her temple, and the trigger was pulled.
........................
Meanwhile, on the other side of the galaxy.
The last ark ship of the Wotan Alliance, the Eternal Forge, is activating its ancient jump engine.
Inside the bridge, dwarven engineers nervously adjusted navigation parameters, their stubby fingers dancing on the consoles.
"All clans have confirmed that they have boarded the ship."
The voice of Grand Engineer Grom Anvil was hoarse. His cybernetic eye scanned the holographic star map, which showed the red mark of the Imperial fleet spreading from the direction of Tau.
"Activate subspace shielding, set course - extragalactic."
As the order was given, the giant engine of the Wotan Ark spewed out blue flames.
The dwarves silently looked at the galaxy that was gradually disappearing outside the porthole, and there were still tears on everyone's beard.
They knew that once they left, they would never be able to return to their ancestors' furnace world.
"At least..." Old Grom stroked the rune axe at his waist, "We took away all the knowledge."
In front of the Ark, the space began to twist and tear.
When the last inch of metal hull disappeared into the Warp rift, only faint energy fluctuations remained on the Imperial reconnaissance ship's detector.
..............................
Deep in the twilight of the Webway, the Council of Prophets on the Craftworld of Iyanden fell into a deathly silence.
Under the crystal dome, the Mirror of Destiny reflects the final scene of Titanium.
The burning city, the massacred square, and the imperial double-headed eagle flag planted on the ruins of the Ether Parliament.
Prophet Eldrar's fingertips trembled lightly on the mirror, her pale skin almost transparent under the coffin lamp.
“Another civilization has fallen.” Her voice was like the rustling of dead leaves, “Just like our former empire.”
The columbarium pillars in the parliament hall trembled slightly, as if responding to the sorrow.
A dozen prophets sat around the Ring of Destiny, the runes on their gorgeous soul armor dimmed, and everyone saw the same fragment of the future: after annihilating the Tau, the Imperial fleet turned its guns to other alien races.
The young Battle Prophet Kaelis stood up suddenly, his phoenix helmet creaking as it was squeezed. "We must awaken all the Nether Lords immediately! Iyanden cannot repeat the mistakes of Bjetan!"
"Calm down, child." The oldest seer, Molaing, raised his dry, branch-like hands. "Fear only feeds Slaanesh's pleasure."
His gaze turned to the outside of the dome - through the translucent shell of the wraithbone construct, he could see the Craftworld traveling through the webway.
Thousands of Eldar folk still wandered the marketplace, artists singing and craftsmen carving, unaware of the coming storm.
At the top of the spire in the Craftworld, Deathwatcher Aedra stood on the observation platform.
Her long hair fluttered in the webway wind, and her psychic vision penetrated the dimensional barriers and saw everything that happened in the material universe.
"They are coming," she whispered.
In the visions she saw: the guns of the Imperial battleships were being calibrated; the Inquisitor's fleet marked the next target in the alien database; the Mechanicus's exploration ship had discovered the coordinates of the Eldar Outer World...
A cold hand suddenly rested on her shoulder.
"How much did you see?" The voice of the underworld lord Tar Weiss echoed like a tomb.
His soul armor was wrapped in frost mist from the underworld, and his eyes beneath the mask were burning with dark green flames.
"All of them." Aedra's voice was trembling. "Humanity will not stop. The Tau are just the beginning. Next will be the Wotan, and then..."
"And then there's us," Tal Weiss said.
He raised his hand, and the psychic flames outlined the route of the Imperial fleet in the air, eventually stopping in a gleaming star field where there were three worlds belonging to the Savage Eldar.
"They will be the next target of mankind..."
"The end is coming, and sacrifice is inevitable."
........................
In the prophecy chamber deep in the Death Army fortress, Evelyne knelt alone in front of the psychic crystal.
Her fingertips touched the cold crystal surface, and the power of death resonated with the crystal, casting a distorted illusion in the room.
"Let me see... the end..."
Her whispers echoed in the secret room, and her violet pupils were gradually swallowed by the illusion.
She saw the Chaos Sea of the Warp - its never-ending raging energy, the palaces of Slaanesh gleaming in the distance, the rivers of blood of Khorne flowing endlessly, the labyrinths of Tzeentch twisting and changing, and the gardens of Nurgle rotting and corrupting.
Then, a golden light pierced through the chaos.
At first it was just a faint spark, then it suddenly expanded and turned into a burning golden sun.
The light was so pure and so intense that it burned away all the surrounding subspace energy.
The scream of Slaanesh, the roar of Khorne, the laughter of Tzeentch, the groaning of Nurgle, everything turned into nothingness in the golden light.
Evelyne's breathing hitched.
She saw a vague golden figure standing in the core of the sun.
He was clad in ancient armor, had a crown of thorns on his head, and held a flaming sword in his hand.
His face was unrecognizable, but those eyes, those eyes were like cold stars, watching everything, judging everything.
"Human...Emperor...?"
Her voice trembled in the illusion.
The golden sun continued to expand, swallowing up everything in the warp.
The Eldar craftworlds crumbled in the light, the Death Army's fortresses turned to ash, the spires of Commorragh collapsed, and even the shadow of the Death itself melted in the golden light.
But then, the golden figure began to disintegrate. His armor shattered, his crown shattered, and his body was blown away by the wind like sand.
A trace of compassion flashed in his eyes, and then completely dissipated in the light.
The golden sun, having lost its core, began to expand uncontrollably and eventually exploded.
The warp was completely purified in the endless golden light, the stars went out, the stars collapsed, and everything returned to nothingness.
The illusion ended, and Evelyne stepped back suddenly, her face beneath the mask as pale as paper.
She felt a sharp pain in her fingertips and looked down to find that the fingers that had touched the crystal were charred, as if they had been burned by flames.
“Is this… the end…?”
She murmured, her voice hoarse.
However, before she could continue thinking, bad news came one after another, and the Empire began to launch a large-scale war against the Eldar.
The first to suffer will be all the elves existing in the real universe.
………………
The light of the Astronomican tore a rift in the warp, and the flagship of the Salamanders Chapter jumped out first.
This huge battleship is completely black, with a fire-breathing dragon carved on the bow, and the armor is covered with burn marks left over tens of thousands of years of war.
Inside the bridge, Vulkan stood like a mountain in front of the tactical holographic display.
His figure almost filled the entire command space, with magma-like lines flowing on his black skin, and every breath was as hot as a furnace.
Those eyes burning with eternal fire were now staring at the planet in front that was occupied by the Eldar.
Mar-Selandis, a once prosperous agricultural world, has been corrupted by Savage Eldar and Eldar pirates.
“Prepare for landing.”
The Fire Dragon Lord's voice was as deep as thunder, and the servo skulls of the bridge trembled slightly due to the vibration of the sound waves.
He reached out and grasped the warhammer leaning against the throne. The hammer head of this legendary warhammer immediately burst into a blazing white flame, illuminating the entire bridge like the inside of a furnace.
Orbital bombardment was the first to kick off the massacre.
The macro-cannon arrays of countless imperial warships roared loudly, and the flames produced by the friction when the shells passed through the atmosphere smashed into the surface of the planet like a meteorite rain.
The first volley accurately hit the Eldar's totemic tower, and the structure carved with blasphemous runes was reduced to dust in the explosion.
Vulkan stood in the airdrop capsule, feeling the violent vibrations of the capsule as it passed through the atmosphere.
He did not need any stabilizing devices. His feet were rooted and motionless. No matter how the cabin rolled, his body remained as steady as a rock.
"Landing in thirty seconds."
The voice of Salamander Captain Tushan came from the communicator. Vulkan did not respond, but slowly put on his helmet.
Two rays of molten gold suddenly lit up from the obsidian-like eyes of the helmet, and the breathing grille spewed out a scorching breath.
"boom--!"
The drop pod smashed into the earth with the force of a falling meteorite, the shock wave shattering all the Eldar totems within a hundred metres.
Before the hatch was fully opened, the hammer head of the warhammer had already broken through the wall, and the molten metal dripped like tears.
Vulkan stepped out of the airdrop cabin, and the ground beneath his feet instantly dried up and cracked.
He looked around. This place used to be the granary of humans, but now it was filled with the blasphemous totems of the Eldar.
"go ahead!"
The first batch of Savage Eldar warriors rushed out of the forest.
Their upper bodies were covered in armor painted with fluorescent paint, and they wielded specially made spears in their hands.
Then they rushed towards the lone Primarch like a tide.
Vulkan simply raised his hammer calmly.
The moment the hammer hit the ground, a ring of fire erupted with the hammer hitting the point.
The dozen or so elves in the front were vaporized instantly, and those a little further away were blown away by the shock wave, their bodies burning in mid-air.
A Savage Eldar witch doctor leaped out of the smoke, and a green lightning shot out from the skull staff in his hand.
Vulkan did not dodge or evade, allowing the lightning to strike his breastplate.
The psychic attack, which was enough to reduce the Space Marine to dry bones, only left a scorch mark on the armor.
"sad."
Vulkan grabbed the witch doctor's head and slowly closed his fingers.
The Eldar's fragile skull shattered in his palm like dry clay, and the brain was evaporated by the high temperature of his palm before it could splash out.
"Father! A large number of enemies are gathering on the west side!"
The captain of the Salamander Company led a team of Terminators to arrive, their armor still stained with the smoke of the airborne landing.
"Crush them!" Vulkan ordered loudly.
The advancement process is as unstoppable as the flow of lava.
Vulkan walked at the front of the team, and every swing of his hammer created a sea of fire.
The arrows and spears of the Savage Eldar would spontaneously ignite when they got within three meters of him, and those attacks that luckily hit him couldn't even leave a scratch on his armor.
They encountered the first decent resistance in front of a human building that had been transformed by the Eldar.
Dozens of Eldar pirates emerged from the shadows, their dark matter weapons leaving poisonous green trails in the air.
Fire flashed in Vulkan's eyes, and then he charged forward, so fast that he left an afterimage behind him.
Before the first pirate could react, he was knocked into a ball of blood by the Primarch.
The second one tried to parry with his power knife, but was smashed into the ground with the hammer along with his knife. The molten metal and flesh mixed into a pool of boiling slurry.
“For the Salamanders!”
The captain of the first company led the Terminators to join the battle, and their Thunder Hammer and Power Fist were invincible.
But everyone's edge was overshadowed by the Primarch. Vulkan was like a walking scourge, and wherever his hammer went, there were no corpses, only ashes.
As the last pirate had his throat crushed by Vulcan, the church door suddenly exploded.
A several-meter-tall Eldar Ghost Knight stepped out from the ruins, its soul stone halberd entangled with wailing spirits, and rushed straight towards the Primarch.
