Warhammer: Don't Call Me the God of All Machines

Chapter 417: Son of the Emperor

In the low-Earth orbit of the planet Pullman 4, a battleship named Sword of Phoenicia was docked inside the orbit, followed by a dozen large and small cruisers, which continuously delivered power to the surface of the planet.

The planet's orbital defense system had become extremely devastated after years of war, and the garrison was completely wiped out by this rebel force of the Emperor's Children.

Countless space junk and debris drift at the critical point of gravity. These hard wastes cannot be rubbed away by the atmosphere, forming a shining circle like a star ring.

From time to time, pieces of space junk that were knocked off their orbits would fall into the planet's atmosphere, or miraculously hit the armor of a hovering rebel warship, creating a tiny gap in the hard ceramic steel and plastic steel, as if the heroic spirits of those soldiers were still attacking the rebels after their death.

On the bridge of the Sword of the Phoenician, a commander of the Emperor's Children, wearing Mark IV Extreme Power Armour decorated with gorgeous and complex patterns, stood at his command position.

His ornate decoration is the unique aesthetic style of the Emperor's Children Legion. This Emperor's Children Legion's Praetor, Flavius ​​Irkenax, was ordered by the Warmaster to capture the planet and eradicate those stubborn loyalists.

Compared with the Imperial army, Horus's rebels lacked a stable supply of supplies. Although the Dark Mechanicus led by Kyber Hal had fallen into Chaos, they continuously provided support to the Warmaster's army. However, due to the influence of space and time distance, the rebels' supplies were difficult to transport to the designated location within the specified time.

To this end, these rebels had to continuously plunder the worlds belonging to the Empire within the Beta-Galmon Cluster. Whether it was the supplies, population, or energy on the planets, the rebels were in desperate need of them.

Since the great purge within the Legion at Isstvan III, Elkenax had been highly valued by the Primarch. He was promoted to captain by Fulgrim himself and joined the Phoenix Guard.

Among the many rebellious legions, the Emperor's Children was perhaps the legion with the highest proportion of loyalists. At that time, nearly one-third of the Astartes were unwilling to follow the Primarch's footsteps. In order to clean up this part of the diehards, Fulgrim lost nearly one-fifth of his warriors.

The Emperor's Children Legion, which was already relatively small in number, was even more short of manpower. It was precisely because of this that many positions in the command hierarchy within the legion were vacant, giving people like Elkenax the opportunity to rise.

As his power and status within the Legion grew, Elkenax joined Chief Archon Eidolon's Phoenix Conclave and became his trusted subordinate.

"Eidolon was summoned by the Lord of Pleasure, and then he disappeared without a trace. I think he is probably dead, maybe in some remote corner of the galaxy, and no one knows."

The commander of the Emperor's Children said calmly, showing no sign of mourning for his superior.

For the Third Legion today, the so-called brotherhood has been completely shattered. Except for a small number of Astartes who still retain their sanity, the others have followed the footsteps of the Primarch and completely fallen into the embrace of the Warp.

But Elkenax is different from them. He is not obsessed with crazy pleasure and indulgence. This son of the Emperor is determined to follow in the footsteps of the Warmaster and completely destroy the hypocritical empire.

"The Primarch and the Iron Lord traveled to the Crone World of Illyris, and there, he seized his brother's power and became the Daemon Prince of Slaanesh."

"The Legion also fell further along with its primarch."

After ascending to the level of a demon, Fulgrim was transformed into a terrifying figure with a human body and a snake tail. Elkenax saw in the Primarch the alien race that they had destroyed in the past: the prickly shadow.

He remained loyal to his Primarch, but no longer revered his Gene-Father. In his eyes, Fulgrim had strayed from the path of perfection and was no longer the proud Phoenix Lord he once was.

The loyalists of Pullman IV have repeatedly retreated to the great Hive Worlds, relying on the ancient void shields of the old ruins to block the deadly bombardment from orbit.

Of course, Elkenax did not want to carry out orbital bombardment. His purpose in coming here was to plunder the local population in order to replenish the increasing consumption of mortal slaves.

Even after entering the Warp, their warships and legions still rely on mortals to operate. Aside from the Word Bearers, who appear to be utilizing Warp Daemons to operate their warships, the other legions still rely on the Dark Mechanicus and mortal slaves to maintain operations. In the heavily corrupted warships of the Warp, under the covetous eyes of hungry Chaos Daemons, mortals naturally cannot expect to have a long lifespan. Even for those who are relatively lucky, their lifespans are only measured in days.

What's more, this was on a warship of the Emperor's Children who believed in the Lord of Pleasure. Elkanax knew very well what his "brothers" would do to mortals.

In fact, the complete human skin decorations on the walls of his Phoenician Sword and the noise warriors who used human bones as flutes are vivid examples.

Sadism, massacres and tortures that are unimaginable to the Imperials have all been tried one by one in the imagination of the followers of Slaanesh. Even some Astartes of the Emperor's Children are not satisfied with slaughtering mortals, but do these horrific things to their battle-brothers.

As a minority in the legion today, Elkenax does not like these fighting brothers who have completely deviated from the path of perfection and are like a pile of scattered sand, but they are indeed a force that cannot be ignored.

"Eidolon is dead, maybe I can climb higher."

"Perhaps I can reunite the Emperor's Children Legion once again."

This Emperor's Child even still bore upon his left shoulder and breastplate the insignia of the Hour of the Oath, as well as other pure slips of paper bearing the oaths of duty which were the custom of the old Third Legion.

There was still a double-headed eagle on his chest armor, and molecular bolt devices made by many legion craftsmen were installed on his greaves and knees, but on his left knee, a piece of golden armor with a laurel pattern replaced the molecular bolt.

"Sir, the commander of the Tiger Eye Legion told you that they have successfully landed on the surface of the planet and can't wait to crush the Titans of the Standing Legion."

Next to Elkennax, a female captain who had connected a large number of neural cables to her cerebral cortex in order to better control the battleship reported.

Data from the surface of the planet scrolled on the holographic projection in front of her eyes, and she was staring at this pure ocean of data.

In the holographic projection, all the green spots of light belonging to the Empire huddled together. They relied on the void shield of the giant hive to defend themselves, while those slightly smaller green spots meant that they were the opponent's Titan machines.

The larger number of Tiger Eye Legion Titans are spreading a large net, encircling their prey, which has no way to retreat. The Emperor's Sons' Astartes and mortal auxiliaries are supporting them. Some creations called Demon Engines have also descended to the surface of the planet.

Elkenax's clear mind realized the serious imbalance in strength between the two sides. This was good. As long as they had a little more time, they would be able to take over the planet.

What he needed was the efficiency and speed of the Emperor's Children Legion of the past, not a group of crazy drug addicts indulging in massacres on the surface of the planet.

The Tiger Eye Titan Legion is leading the way. These Titan machines with violent offensive power are also known as the Fanatic Legion. Many of their legion members have arcane shamanic beliefs.

The Tiger Eye Titan Legion is known for its fanatical attacks. They despise "standing still tactics" and highly advocate high-speed maneuvers, close-range face-to-face firefights and close combat.

The Emperor's Children watched with satisfaction as their Titan machine was advancing rapidly and was about to approach the defense lines of the defenders loyal to the false emperor.

"Once we capture this planet, I will ask the Warmaster for greater power." Ambition shone in Elkenax's eyes. He didn't even realize that the Warp had already quietly corroded his mind.

"The Legion needs a new leader after the Primarch's disappearance, so why not me?"

(End of this chapter)