Tartarus said. He had kept his eyes fixed on both fronts throughout, missing no detail.
"Is that so? Tell me the details," Rhodes said.
"Great master, both Chaos fleets have reached their targets and begun their attacks. Macragge is in a stalemate.
The Lord of Fire's forces and your reinforcements have greatly bolstered the Ultramar 500 Worlds' confidence; Guilliman's sons are fighting to the death.
Vulkan is aiding in the battles. Though Typhus is powerful and has gigantification, and there are giant Nurgle Greater Daemons and Daemon Princes assisting, they still can't gain the upper hand," Tartarus reported first on Macragge.
Macragge's defense was strong; the Ultramarines weren't pushovers, and they were among the first to receive Rhodes's Primaris-forging and gigantification.
And Guilliman's sons were the most numerous in the galaxy. There were over 400,000 Ultramarines on Macragge alone—only half the Chapter's total; the other half had joined the Indomitus Crusade.
Add in Vulkan's 100,000-plus and Rhodes's reinforcements, and the Imperium was even on the offensive.
After fusing Golza, Vulkan's strength had grown. Typhus had boasted that the age of Primarchs was over, echoing Abaddon's slogan—
But facing the Imperium's upgraded Primarchs, he was inevitably crushed.
In just a few exchanges he was hammered senseless by Vulkan. The confidence he'd built on Mortarion evaporated.
He couldn't understand how, as a Chosen of the Gods, gifted by Grandfather Nurgle, aided by a sub-Chaos deity and granted gigantification,
He could still lose to an old-era Imperial Primarch. The foe's flames and terrifying psychic might were beyond his ability to counter.
And his vaunted plagues and Warp energies were nothing before Vulkan, who possessed a Cosmic Phantom Beast!
With the fusion, a Primarch's body perfectly housed his soul; his warp-nature fully awakened—sub-god tier. Mere gigantification couldn't match that.
Even as a Chosen, Typhus was far inferior to a Primarch. He might bully a fallen daemon Primarch of the old era,
But against the new-era Primarchs he was outclassed. Khorne's champion had slain a Custodian and defeated Calgar before only because multiple Chaos Gods blessed him with undying resilience.
At that time, Khârn's combat power lagged even behind a giant Custodian; without immortality, he'd have lost.
Typhus lost to Vulkan and then lost again to Calgar. As for Mefilas, they weren't even in the same weight class. A fully enhanced Mefilas could tug planets at will.
With terrifying psychic power alone, he could pop the skulls of entire worlds' worth of Chaos Astartes and Daemons, banishing them to the Warp.
It worked better than psyker powers, which needed Warp energy channeled through the body.
Mefilas's power came entirely from himself. Combined with light beams, he inflicted immeasurable losses on Chaos.
Macragge's front needed no intervention; unless the Plague Army had a hidden hand, their defeat was only a matter of time.
"The Chaos army doesn't worry me. I've prepared enough over the last decade to make them pay.
Even if they doubled their numbers, they'd have no chance. What truly concerns me is an antidote to the plague," Rhodes said.
Chaos forces could be destroyed easily enough, but the god-plague that slaughtered civilians was terrifying.
The Imperium was relying on Sisters' prayers, Ecclesiarchal sermons, and medicae to barely hold the line—but casualties were huge, with tens of thousands of humans turned into plague-zombies daily,
Dying horribly to Nurgle, swelling his ranks.
Rhodes's own realm needn't worry as much, since Zog's dual upgrades in light could effectively defend against the god-plague.
But even she could only shield part of it, not even guarantee the outer worlds of Rhodes's domain.
"Great master, I'm not in charge of that—Lady Isha is," Tartarus said.
Isha, standing nearby, smiled, radiating a verdant light, and handed Rhodes a small vial.
"I wouldn't dare neglect your orders. Rest easy.
I've been working nonstop and have ingested the god-plague many times. I've now successfully developed an antidote.
I've put it in this little bottle," Isha said.
Once the plague broke out, she secured the pathogen and swallowed it, parsing it with life-energy within her body.
A few days ago, she cracked it and created a corresponding cure.
"How is it used? Can we replicate it in realspace?" Rhodes asked.
"This bottle is a divine artifact I crafted. I infused some of Zog's light into the antidote—its effect is extremely powerful.
Just pour a little, release it over a planet to merge into its water supply; once the populace drinks it, the god-plague will be purged," Isha said.
The special artifact, made with help from Rhodes's subordinates, didn't contain ordinary liquid but pure life-energy and light-energy.
As long as she and Zog were around, they could produce the antidote endlessly,
Effectively dispersing Nurgle's god-plague.
"Understood. Distribute the antidote across the Imperium—one dose per world, then seed it into the planet," Rhodes nodded.
He immediately ordered his people to package the life-light antidote and ship it to Imperial worlds.
"Rhodes, the god-plague is likely more than this. Nurgle prepared for over a decade—he won't be defeated so easily.
I suspect there will be a second wave," Isha said.
After being imprisoned by that green monster for over 10,000 years, she knew Nurgle's evil well; his plagues were never simple.
"We can only defend passively right now—we can't just storm the Warp and kill Nurgle, can we?" Rhodes said.
If the Emperor ascended as the Dark King and Rhodes had a Grand Mystery Four-O level ally, they could perhaps kill Nurgle—
But unfortunately, their strongest could not stand in the Warp. Those four monsters were born of a world's essence,
Unlike the C'tan in realspace.
"I mean you could build a special device, like the Astronomican the Emperor built—an immense energy amplification array.
Then Zog and I could enter it and spread our light and life-energy across the galaxy, shielding it," Isha said.
With the Astronomican, the Emperor's psychic light illuminated most of the galaxy.
If they made a similar device, with her and Zog's power, they could create a vast life-light barrier to snuff any outbreak.
"That's feasible, master! I can provide some Absolute-being knowledge to build a powerful amplification device," Tartarus said.
"How long to build?" Rhodes asked.
"With one billion servitors, about a year and a half—three years at most," Tartarus said.
"Approved," Rhodes nodded.
The Imperium never lacked labor. A billion servitors was nothing. Rather than passively defend, it was better to build a robust defense.
Rhodrick signed an executive order, drawing immense labor from his domain to raise a sky-piercing energy amplification megastructure on the Phantom Beast world.
"Tartarus, how is the Indomitus First Fleet?" Rhodes asked.
"According to plan, great master. Barbarue and Zarab are keeping Mortarion occupied," Tartarus said.
"I see. Since I'm back, let's start the net-closing plan. This time, we capture Mortarion alive," Rhodes said with a confident smile.