Planet Cadia, Elysion Plains.
Burning wrecks littered the landscape, belching thick columns of black smoke into the sky.
The constant rumble of explosions beat out a relentless rhythm that never ceased.
Civilians and routed soldiers streamed along the broken roads toward the evacuation points.
The Chaos fleet had seized orbital control over most of the planet.
Only the Elysion Plains remained under the protective umbrella of the Phalanx, commanded by the Imperial Fists.
Reach the evac point, board a transport shuttle to orbit, get aboard the voidships, and escape this hellhole of a battlefield.
Abaddon had hurled the remnants of the Blackstone Fortress into Cadia, detonating the obelisk array that had held back the Eye of Terror.
The Eye tore open. Warp storms ripped through Cadia and split the entire galaxy in two.
With absolute battlefield superiority, the Chaos legions pursued the retreating Imperial forces without mercy.
Above, Imperial fighters and Hell Blades fought to the death, providing cover for the troops below.
Energy weapons blazed, weaving short-lived constellations across the sky.
Missile explosions bloomed like brief, brilliant stars.
BOOM!
A Hell Blade forged from daemonically-tainted iron took a direct missile hit, shattering mid-air before plummeting earthward.
Occasionally, human fighters detonated too, their burning wreckage crashing down in flames.
"For the Emperor! Cadia stands!"
Castellan Creed roared himself hoarse, rallying what remained of his Cadian forces to fire on the pursuing traitors, desperately trying to prevent the retreat from turning into a massacre.
But in this dark hour, courage and loyalty couldn't change the inevitable defeat—couldn't save them.
The traitor forces vastly outnumbered the Imperials and had Leman Russes, Chimeras, and heavy weapons to spare.
The retreating soldiers had only the lasguns in their hands and the flak armor on their backs. The difference was crushing.
"Foolish corpse-worshippers! Your False Emperor faces his end, and so do you!"
"The Gods will claim the galaxy! The Warmaster is eternal!"
The traitor commander sat atop a captured Leman Russ, grinning viciously.
He turned to his men and shouted, "See? This is what happens when you serve the False Emperor—you die like dogs!"
"The False Emperor can't protect them! That rotting corpse can't protect anyone! The galaxy belongs to the Gods! To fight for them is our greatest honor!"
"For the Gods! Death to the False Emperor!" The traitors cheered, whipped into a frenzy.
They crashed through the Imperial lines, killing everyone in sight.
Those not killed outright were taken prisoner—subjected to unspeakable tortures, fates worse than death.
"Fall back to the second line! Reform defenses!"
Creed bellowed orders, trying to organize an orderly withdrawal from the collapsing position.
One Imperial soldier with a leg wound couldn't keep up.
Limping badly, he was overtaken by the pursuing traitors.
They beat him down, gouged out his eyes on the spot, and tied him to the back of a vehicle to drag him along.
"Just curse that damned False Emperor and we'll let you go," the traitors offered him a chance.
"Go to hell, you treacherous bastards."
Blood streamed from his empty eye sockets, but he still cursed them with everything he had.
"Speed up! Let those corpse-worshipping fools see what their loyalty gets them!" the traitor commander shouted.
Before long, the Imperial soldier couldn't run anymore and collapsed, dragged behind the vehicle.
His uniform and armor were quickly shredded, leaving bloody flesh exposed.
"For... the Emperor... for... the Emperor..."
The soldier kept shouting through the agony.
Only faith could let him ignore the pain of his body. Only faith kept him from begging those treacherous scum for mercy.
But his defiance only made the Chaos traitors hate him more. They accelerated.
"Emperor grant you rest."
Creed raised his lasgun and put a round through the poor soul, sparing him further torture at the hands of those monsters.
But this was just one tiny atrocity among countless others.
Many captured Imperial soldiers were impaled on steel spikes, bound with wire to makeshift frames, or tied to vehicles and dragged through the ruins.
The traitors did it purely to terrorize Creed's forces and indulge their twisted desires.
"Emperor, at least let their souls return to Your embrace."
Creed prayed for them. It was all he could do.
These poor souls were among the Imperium's most loyal soldiers, who had repelled Abaddon the Despoiler's Black Crusades time and time again.
Now they were reduced to playthings for traitors, tortured at will, denied even a clean death.
In this dark age, human life was worth less than a discarded coin.
At that moment, among the evacuation column—
A Space Marine suddenly appeared, wearing unpainted power armor with no chapter markings.
"Damn, this is realistic."
Dachi looked around. Sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing—all five senses fully engaged!
This immersive experience made him want to give the game developers a standing ovation.
Earlier this year—2077—several VR games had hit the market.
If you were talking about realism, Warhammer Universe took the crown hands down.
Incredible. Absolutely fucking incredible.
Once he beat the game, he'd spam-recommend it to everyone he knew.
Dachi raised his hand and summoned the game interface.
Skills, Equipment, Inventory, Quests, Shop—all the standard options.
He opened his character info. His current role: a Space Marine loyal to the Imperium.
Starting gear: one set of basic-tier power armor and a chainsword.
"Starter equipment. Decent enough. Wonder how grindy the loot system is?"
Dachi scanned his surroundings and spotted what looked like an officer in the distance.
Above the guy's head floated a golden question mark—must be an NPC for the main storyline. Dachi headed over.
As he passed, soldiers and civilians alike stared in shock before saluting.
"So realistic."
"Gotta say, the AI in this game is seriously next-level."
Dachi could genuinely feel these NPCs' fear and anxiety. Had to be some seriously advanced AI.
He'd definitely recommend this. Spam it to everyone. Get them all playing.
"An Angel of the Emperor??"
Castellan Creed looked at Dachi with surprise.
The Space Marines who'd come to support Cadia each had their designated zones. After communications went down, he'd lost contact with them all.
How was there an Astartes from an unknown chapter showing up here?
But the enemy's relentless assault forced him to set aside his questions and ask for help.
"Angel of the Emperor, we're being pursued relentlessly by traitor forces. Can you help us take out their heavy weapons?"
Dachi clicked on the question mark above Creed's head to check his info.
[Ursarkar E. Creed, Lord Castellan of Cadia and Supreme Military Commander]
[Quest: Assist Lord Castellan Creed in destroying enemy heavy weapons units 0/10, protect local forces and civilians during evacuation]
[Reward: 500 XP, Reputation +10, 500 Credits, Doom Slayer's Super Shotgun x1]
"Super Shotgun? Nice reward. Absolutely killer for demon hunting."
VR games were all about mashing up IPs to pull in more players.
Warhammer Universe was no exception—it had integrated multiple famous sci-fi franchises, billing itself as the most open-ended game ever made.
The shop had items from all kinds of games—everything from Stellaris's Colossus superweapon to Armor Hero transformation belts, from Pokémon Poké Balls to Minecraft worlds. You name it, they had it.
Players could do whatever the hell they wanted.
Save the Imperium, fight alongside the Primarchs.
Kill the Emperor and the Chaos Gods, rebuild a better galaxy.
Hell, you could even fall to Chaos and go absolutely ham on the Chaos Gods and everyone else.
Some players even built monuments in-game.
One madlad built a highway between Terra and the Eye of Terror, said it was so Abaddon could visit home more easily.
Freedom and mashup elements were why this VR game had blown up.
Who didn't want to play as the notorious Fourth Disaster?
Dachi didn't know much about Warhammer—just the stuff that went viral like the Emperor, big guys, the four Chaos vendors, that sort of thing.
He was purely here for the hype.
But hey, when you're gaming, story doesn't matter. What matters is having fun.
Forgot the beginning, forget the ending—bottom line was carnage, loyalty, and letting the galaxy burn.
"Blood for the Emperor! Skulls for the Throne!"
Quest accepted. Dachi revved his chainsword. The high-speed teeth roared to life as he charged at the enemy with enthusiastic hops.
Sure, his equipment and stats were baseline.
But he still had a Space Marine's body. Dealing with a bunch of mortals? Easy.
Dachi charged the Chaos traitors. Their lasguns opened fire but only left scorch marks on his armor.
The traitor soldier in front suddenly saw a blur.
Then searing pain erupted in his abdomen. The world spun.
When his vision cleared, he realized his body had been cut in two, blood pooling on the ground.
In the distance, that unpainted-armor corpse-worshipper was still butchering his comrades.
Dachi didn't stop. His chainsword kept swinging. Several more traitor soldiers met the same fate.
"Holy shit—the impact! The screenshake! The sound effects! This is so fucking good!"
Dachi was pumped. He went even harder.
"Concentrate fire! Take him down!"
The traitor commander who'd been so smug moments ago now screamed in panic.
The other traitors turned their weapons on Dachi, pulling triggers. Dense energy beams filled the air.
Dachi tanked the hits and charged again.
The fight was a foregone conclusion.
Overwhelming physical strength combined with a roaring chainsword made short work of fragile flesh.
"Skulls for the Throne! Blood for the Emperor!"
"This is awesome! So fucking awesome!"
"A musou hack-and-slash game this realistic!"
When Dachi finally stopped, the ground was littered with mangled corpses, the earth slick with blood.
[Successfully destroyed enemy heavy weapons emplacement 1/10]
The surviving traitor soldiers witnessed the horrific slaughter, went pale, and fled in terror.
"WHO'S NEXT?!"
"I SAID, WHO'S NEXT?!"
Dachi raised his chainsword and roared, face alight with excitement—looking like a Khornate Champion.
PS: This story's lore follows official novels.