Chaos was frantically preparing a plan to raid the Imperial capital in two days, and the Imperial Navy, confronting them, also sensed the surging undercurrent beneath the seemingly calm tide.
Cedric Hamilton was the Commander of this Imperial Navy fleet guarding the capital, and a seasoned, experienced admiral.
The general's hair and beard were white, but he was still full of vigor. His deep-set eyes were bloodshot, yet he remained hunched over his desk, analyzing Chaos intelligence.
He hadn't slept for several days. To resist the Chaos fleet, the admiral had poured his heart and soul into it, doing everything he could to barely keep the Chaos fleet outside the capital's orbital space.
But a few days ago, the Chaos fleet was just too strange!
If before, the Chaos fleet gave the impression of being cautious, calculating every step, and even repeatedly setting traps that caused heavy losses to the Imperial Navy and made their defenses precarious—then in the past few days, the Chaos fleet's performance truly left this battle-hardened, experienced admiral confused.
The Chaos fleet completely abandoned its usual cautious, step-by-step approach, suddenly becoming extremely aggressive, even reckless, launching a surprise attack towards a certain location, as if it had completely lost patience, desperately wanting to tear through the defense line deployed by the Imperial Navy and the Astra Militarum.
The result of doing so was that Chaos was easily surrounded and annihilated by him!
Cedric couldn't understand.
No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't figure out why the Chaos fleet would do this. Could it be that they were plotting another conspiracy?!
Whenever he thought of this, Cedric couldn't sleep. He repeatedly checked the star charts, contacted the Commanders of various battleships, and watched the movements of the Chaos fleet, fearing he might lady even a small piece of information.
But even stranger was that for the past two days, the Chaos fleet, which was always eager for battle, had been completely motionless!
"Chaos still hasn't attacked?"
Cedric pinched his brow. The intense mental exertion of the past few days had left him exhausted, making him look even older.
"Commander, as per your request, we have been monitoring the movements of the Chaos fleet. They still haven't attacked today, and the fleet has even withdrawn from our firing range."
"Too strange, something's not right."
Hearing this, Cedric's inner unease deepened. He was well aware of the importance of the Avacalon capital to Chaos, and precisely because of this, he knew that the Chaos fleet could never give up.
But now, the Chaos fleet had actively withdrawn from the combat zone—this clearly indicated a conspiracy!
Cedric pondered in silence, his peripheral vision suddenly catching sight of—the capital—in the corner of the holographic star map.
Wait, the capital?!
His pupils suddenly constricted, as if he realized something. He hastily turned and shouted, "Quick, send a message to the capital, tell them to be extremely careful! Chaos has very likely corrupted some nobles and established a secret Warp passage with the capital!!!"
But, just then.
A figure rushed into the bridge, shouting in terror, "It's bad, Commander! Just now, the Capital astropath detected large-scale psychic activity within the capital, and a large number of Chaos Space Marines have invaded!"
"What did you say?!"
Cedric swayed, his eyes bloodshot, his expression distorted and horrified.
"Quick, rally the fleet for defense! Order the 875th Regiment to drop at all costs!"
"Commander, wait—" The comms officer said, panting, "This is an encrypted message from the capital, you need to read it immediately!"
"Encrypted message?"
Cedric paused slightly, raised his hand to snatch the parchment recording the message, quickly scanned it, and then his expression became very strange.
"Commander, I'll go notify the Astra Militarum now." Another comms officer was about to send the message.
"No need."
Cedric suddenly stopped him, his gaze sweeping over the parchment, a smile appearing on his face.
"No need to notify the Astra Militarum. Notify the entire fleet—prepare for bombardment. In three minutes, bombard this coordinate."
Many Tech-Priests surged onto the platform.
They chanted sacred hymns, bestowing the Machine God's blessing upon each shell.
"May the Gothic Fleet be victorious forever!"
"May the Emperor's mercy and wrath incinerate the heretics of the galaxy!"
Amidst the chants.
The cold, rigid voice of the Machine Spirit resonated throughout the Imperial Navy fleet.
"This is the 'Penitent' class, Redeemer bombardment platform, ready and awaiting orders."
"Frigate cluster, void torpedoes loaded!"
"Destroyer 'Ashen farseer', all twelve macro-cannon arrays loaded and ready, awaiting firing command."
"Heavy Cruiser 'Unyielding Anvil', lance arrays aimed at coordinates, awaiting firing command!"
Cedric's eyes burned with fanaticism, as if he wanted to vent all the pain he had endured and his hatred for Chaos during these days. He slammed his fist down, his roar echoing across the deck.
"Iron is prayer, artillery is holy judgment! In the name of the Gothic Fleet, entire fleet—fire!!!"
Several minutes ago.
Thousands of the most elite warriors from various Chaos warbands, forming a mixed battle group, followed Emrys' 'Bloodshedders' warband, entering the Warp passage in sequence.
These Chaos-corrupted Space Marines were all eager for battle, letting out terrifying war cries.
They could already imagine.
When they suddenly appeared in the capital, how shocked and terrified those lowly humans, the Emperor's dogs, would be!
However, as they emerged from the portal, the smiles on their faces instantly froze.
The imagined scene did not occur. They were not in the capital, but in a desert, with vast open spaces all around, only an endless sea of sand, appearing golden under the setting sun!
"Zane—Lord, where are we?!" Looking at their surroundings, some had already vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
It was too open here!
Without any cover, from a tactical perspective, it was an extremely dangerous place!
"Shh—"
Emrys placed a finger to his lips, smiling amidst the uneasy and panicked gazes of the Chaos Lords:
"Close your eyes, and listen carefully."
"Listen? Listen to what?!"
Someone had just asked the question, and the next second, they heard the dull, thunderous roar from above the atmosphere.
"Listen~ to the Emperor's wrath."
Emrys grinned, in their shocked gazes.
"I suggest you all take out your dog tags and hold them in your mouths, so you don't cause trouble for others."
"???"
Soon, they understood the meaning of this sentence.
The entire cloud layer was churning, ignited by terrifying flames. Streaks of light, like meteors, dragged deafening roars, as if the Emperor's wrath had descended, filling their vision and pupils!
"Zane—you tricked us!!!"