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

Chapter 952 The Destruction of the Battle Planet

For the Space Wolves, Raven Guards, and Salamanders legions to safely retreat from such a massive wave of warp demons, they would inevitably have to allocate a significant number of troops to cover the main force's withdrawal.

While it was called cover, it was essentially about risking one's life to buy time and space, sacrificing oneself to ensure the survival of the main force.

This was supposed to be an incredibly brutal mission, with the covering force being slowly devoured by the endless onslaught of warp demons, with no chance of survival.

However, when this doomed mission was handed over to the green-skinned orcs, the situation took a strange turn.

These bio-weapons, whose minds were filled with nothing but waaagh, not only did not feel that their orc emperor had abandoned them and left them to flee alone, but instead praised Vulcan's generosity and greatness with unparalleled fervor.

Vulcan left the war to them, while he himself went to summon more green-skinned orcs to join this great waaagh!

No greenskin orc would refuse such a leader as long as they could have endless battles.

This battlefield, located deep within the Eye of Fear, is arguably the most devastating battlefield in the galaxy since the War of Heaven.

The warp army, united by the four Chaos Gods, even surpassed the number of the Greenskin Orcs, known for their prolific reproduction.

After all, the number of orcs is finite, while the undead surging from the etheric tides are endless.

Countless wrecked spaceships began to emerge from the depths of the Eye of Fear, filling the entire battlefield along with the warships of the green-skinned orcs.

The orcs' flying machines, pieced together from scrap metal, celestial debris, and warship fragments, had only one thing in common: they were loaded with various ship-based weapons of different calibers that looked like they could explode at any moment, and then they would fire wildly at any enemy they could see.

The green-skinned warships have absolutely no precision in their attacks, but they cover an extremely wide area, and with the blessing of my thinking power, their attacks often hit the enemy in an unbelievable way.

The warp demons inside the wrecked spaceships also unleashed various blasphemous psionic weapons, with blinding psionic beams clashing wildly with the green-skinned warships, tearing each other into tiny, unusable fragments.

Once the long-range firepower exchange ended and the two sides closed in close enough, the green-skinned orcs immediately took the initiative to pilot their crude warships, which were covered with rams, and fearlessly rammed them into the space wreckage filled with demons.

As the orc warship plunged into the wrecked spaceship, completely connecting the two, waves of already excited orc hunks immediately led their howling minions out in droves to engage in the most waaagh-level close-quarters combat with the warp demons.

No matter how angry the demons were, they had to accept the fact that they were entangled by these damned green mushrooms. Unless they killed all of these green-skinned creatures, they could not mobilize much power to pursue the humans.

The beneficiaries of the active warp energy are not only Chaos Demons; under the catalysis of the strong psionic environment, the Waaagh field within the bodies of Greenskin Orcs is beginning to boil with unprecedented activity.

High-intensity warfare is like the most fertile soil, giving rise to the Greenskins' terrifying reproductive and regenerative abilities.

The wounds of the greens crawled and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and new, even thicker, granulation tissue quickly sprouted from the broken limbs.

The green blood and bits of flesh that were spilled on the deck and splashed onto the battlefield would, given the slightest opportunity, frantically absorb the surrounding energy and matter, and in a very short time, give birth to more howling green-skinned boys who would join the battle!
Even in the real universe, it takes a period of time for a green-skinned orc to grow from a spore to a fighting size. On this battlefield, even this brief period of accumulation is simply and crudely omitted.

The orcs thought, "If that's acceptable, then so be it."

The beast-like orc warlord known as "Skullcrusher" is leading his orcs in a counterattack against the warp demons, following orders from Vulcan.

This colossal creature, comparable to a knight's mech, roamed the chaotic deck of a wrecked spaceship. It wielded a giant flail inlaid with spikes and ramming hammers, and its green body, covered in welded adamantite armor, resembled a mobile fortress. Its eyes, burning with pure battle intent, scanned the battlefield.

Although the spaceship was a chaotic creation of the warp, its messy appearance gave it a faint sense of familiarity.

Perhaps after killing all these demons, it can seize this wrecked spaceship and hand it over to the Great Tech Boss to be converted into its own flagship.

Since his current ship had been wrecked in a space wreck, it was only right that this ship should belong to him.

The skullcutter's mind was unusually active; it had already begun to imagine itself piloting this giant wrecked ship.

"Waaagh, Vulcan! To get back at Mao! Kids, follow me and smash these disgusting freaks to pieces!"

"This is our ship, get those demons out!"

The Skullbreaker roared, tearing through the obstacle in its path with its battering ram-like flail. Its battle instincts detected a large number of warp demons lurking behind the metal barrier, some of which even exuded an aura that made it drool.

As the thick metal walls and various obstacles tangled together were torn apart, the heavily armored leader, clad in super-heavy armor and resembling a mobile metal fortress, immediately rushed in to fight for his leader.

Meanwhile, those neurotic lads with crooked heads and unstable sparks of psionic energy in their eyes carefully mingled among them, using their psionic energy to warn other orcs and locate enemies.

The warp demons gathered inside the wrecked ship intended to use their advantageous position to launch a surprise attack on a group of greenskin orcs in order to speed up the slaughter of these reckless invaders. However, they soon realized that they were sorely mistaken.

The Skullbreaker didn't even need to lift a finger; its heavily armored leader had already torn apart any warp creatures in its path.

These heavily armored bosses may lack agility, but in a space wreck, agility is simply not important.

Their armor is enhanced with the power of my thoughts, giving them excellent resistance to demonic psionic attacks.

As they swarmed forward, tearing the demons to shreds with their giant axes and cleavers, the demons were even forced to retreat.

The battle only became interesting when beings of the Chaos Demon level intervened.

A bloodthirsty berserker, Khorne, wielded a giant, burning brass axe, easily chopping down two heavily armored bosses blocking its path. With a deafening roar, it charged toward the skullcrusher.

Its body still bore the dark green blood of the green-skinned orcs. Although it wasn't the red blood that the bloodthirsty monster preferred, it wasn't that picky.

The rage amplified the Blood God Champion's power, unleashing a destructive force strong enough to cleave through the Knight's mech's shield, but the Skullbreaker disdained to dodge.

The orc warlord never refuses a challenge from a powerful enemy. The giant flail, with a shrill whistling sound that tore through the air, interrupted the bloodthirsty berserker's slash, allowing this champion of the blood god to taste the feeling of having his power suppressed for the first time.

Then the Skullbreaker swung its left-hand power claw, deftly tearing half of the Great Demon's face apart. Taking advantage of the Demon's furious roar, the giant flail in its right hand fell again, striking the Bloodthirsty Berserker's head with pinpoint accuracy, like a pile driver.

"boom!!!"

The bloodthirsty monster's hard skull shattered instantly, like a ripe fruit, scattering burning blood and brain matter everywhere.

Without pausing, the skullcutter grabbed the limp neck with its enormous hand and yanked hard, tearing off the still twitching demon's head.

Under the horrified gaze of the surrounding demons, it opened its blood-red maw and crunched the hideous demon's head several times, swallowing it as if chewing on crunchy bones, a satisfied and cruel smile appearing on its green face.

"Not enough! Is there anything more exciting?!" roared the orc warlord.

A cunning and ever-changing demon lord attempted a sneak attack from the shadows, and countless beams of reality-distorting psionic energy suddenly shot towards the skullcrusher.

But at that moment, the neurotic young men following the warlord let out a piercing, discordant laugh.

They danced and gesticulated, gathering their chaotic yet powerful Waaagh energy into a thick torrent of energy that flickered with an unstable green light, and poured it directly into the skullcrusher's body.

The Skull Crusher let out a satisfied roar, its eyes instantly filled with blinding green light. Waaagh energy flowed through its body, allowing it to easily capture the cunning and ever-changing figure of the Myriad Transformations Demon Lord.

It didn't use any complicated spells; it simply blasted the psionic energy transmitted by the crazy kids back along the trajectory of the attacking psionic energy from the Myriad Transformations Demon Lord in the most brute force.

Even Tzeentch the Great Demon could not cope with the psionic field released by such a massive number of orcs.

"Boom!!"

It was as if an invisible giant hammer had struck the soul of the Myriad Transformations Demon Lord. Its exquisite magical structure collapsed instantly in the face of this unreasonable and savage power, and its bird-like head exploded like shattered porcelain.

Immediately afterward, a filthy, putrid creature, the Great Unclean One, strode in with heavy steps, intending to kill the unstoppable Skullbreaker.

It wielded a giant staff of plague, unleashing a malevolent psychic energy powerful enough to rust steel and wither life.

Brown pus and deadly viruses rained down on the skullcrusher, attempting to corrode its tough green skin.

However, the plague viruses that were enough to easily kill Astartes had little effect on the skullcutter; his skin only developed some sickly green blisters at the point of contact before returning to normal.

Another great guardian swept past with ghostly speed, and the Slaanesh slashed a deep, bone-revealing wound into the skullcrusher's shoulder with its sharp blade.

Much of the splattered green blood and flying bits of flesh landed at the feet of the nearby unclean beings, and began to grow rapidly as if they had come to life.

Nourished by the life-giving, foul energy of the Nurgle demon, almost in the blink of an eye, several howling green-skinned brats emerged from the Great Unclean One's body and began frantically gnawing at his swollen ankles!

"Hahaha! See that? The more we fight, the more there are!"

"You bunch of weaklings, you're so boring!"

The skullcutter laughed maniacally, ignoring the wound on his shoulder that was healing at a visible speed, and once again swung his flail and charged at the enemy.

Under the leadership of this beastly warlord, the greenskins not only withstood the demons' siege but even began to push back.

They dismantled the wrecked ship with sheer brute force, while the green-skinned mechanics mixed in with the green tide used their ingenuity to quickly transform it into weapons and equipment that could be used directly by the green-skinned orcs.

The orcish green tide acted like a disinfectant, constantly washing away the filthy warp demons on the entire wrecked spaceship, leaving it in ruins.

However, the chaotic waves were endless. After the Skullbreaker seized the wrecked ship, another, even larger, wrecked spaceship, like an out-of-control asteroid, crashed directly into the wrecked ship where the Skullbreaker was located.

"Boom——"

The earth-shattering explosion and secondary explosion swept across the two wrecked ships. The massive shock and energy turbulence instantly engulfed hundreds of thousands of orc boys, and even the Skullbreaker himself was severely injured in the violent explosion and structural collapse.

Without the support of the boys' waaagh energy, its massive body was buried in the twisted metal ruins, and the light of life dimmed rapidly.

But for the greenskinned orcs, once an orc warlord falls, another, even more waaagh orc leader will soon rise up.

This horrific war acted as a catalyst, causing the orcs under Vulcan's command to continuously evolve in battle, becoming more adapted to fighting against Chaos.

Thanks to the precious time and space gained by the green-skinned orcs, the human fleet led by Lemanrus, Corax, and Vulcan finally broke through the layers of obstacles.

The fleet, having shaken off the main force of the demonic legion, successfully escaped the death zone completely swallowed by warp space and retreated at full speed towards Cardia. ...

The situation at the Cadia defense line is equally dire.

The first line of defense established by Ryan Johnson has essentially fallen. The power of the warp has completely devoured those areas, making it impossible for the Imperial fleet to launch a proactive attack and disrupt the strategy of the Chaos army to form a continuous line.

Therefore, the troops of the first line of defense have been withdrawn in an orderly manner and reassigned to the second line of defense, which consists of various combat planets.

Compared to the massive battle planets, both the warships and those void star fortresses appear so small.

Since celestial fortresses of this size, such as battle planets, have generated powerful gravitational effects, they need to maintain a certain safe distance from each other to avoid unnecessary casualties caused by gravitational disturbances before the enemy even arrives.

The fleet that withdrew from the first line of defense, like grains of sand stuck together between bricks, filled the empty spaces in the middle and made the second line of defense even more solid.

Furthermore, due to the significant changes in the war situation, Rogdorath and Perturabo, who were originally assigned to be stationed directly in Cardia as the final high wall, have also personally gone to the battle planet to take command.

"If we hold onto Cardia, it will be useful in fighting against enemies who try to land on Cardia's surface. But we must not be rigid in our thinking about war. Who says the enemy can only destroy Cardia through amphibious landings?"

"They could easily smash those massive spaceships, or even these behemoths, directly onto the planets of Cardia after they have destroyed our battle planets."

"Under the devastating impact of such a celestial collision, whether it's those black stone obelisks on top, our carefully prepared fortifications, or the Astartes and the Iron Legion stationed there, they will all be reduced to ashes."

Rogdorn expressed his concerns to Lane, and the Lion of Caliban readily agreed, revising his original plan again at Rogdorn's suggestion.

In fact, Ryan had considered this possibility, but in his previous view, it would have been no different for enemies from the warp to achieve this than to directly send troops to conquer Cardia.

After adjustments, Ryan, Dorn, and Perturabo were each stationed on a battle planet to ensure that no unexpected problems would occur on this crucial line of defense.

"We cannot hold out indefinitely; the enemy is endless, but our soldiers are finite."

I need a definite answer: how much longer will it take for the Emperor and Rosie to arrive?

"If they cannot completely resolve the issue on their side, then my advice is to retreat with your remaining strength and avoid making unnecessary sacrifices here."

As a defense master on par with the Imperial Stone, the Iron Lord clearly sees humanity's passive situation.

Chaos's advantage is gradually expanding, and if humanity does not have a decisive solution, then its demise is only a matter of time.

He knew that he should never defend for the sake of defense; defense was merely a means, not the ultimate goal.

If the sacrifice is meaningful, then they can shed their last drop of blood; but if it is meaningless, then not a single drop of blood should be shed.

“We don’t know,” Ryan answered honestly.

"The Emperor's order was to hold out until he and Loxi successfully closed the Eye of Fear."

"Therefore, no matter what, we need to hold on at all costs. Even if our legion is wiped out, reinforcements will come to take our place and continue to fulfill our mission."

When Ryan finished speaking, the other Primarchs and senior commanders fell silent.

They understood perfectly what Ryan meant by saying that; he simply wanted to express his determination to persevere.

“I’m not asking this question because I’m wavering. After everything I’ve been through, I’m not the same person I used to be.” Peturabo frowned. He felt that the atmosphere had become a little strange because of his question, as if he wanted to back out.

“Ryan, you’re not the only one determined to hold out to the death. Everyone here can do it.”

"But it's not entirely without good news," Dorn interjected.

"Guilliman is already mobilizing Blackstone with all his might. With the help of the Mechanicus and that Necromancer Astrologer, we are erecting more Blackstone obelisks to suppress the expansion of warp forces."

"At least on those battle planets, we have already deployed a certain number of Blackstone obelisks, which can play a certain role."

However, the worry on Peturabo's face remained.

“We all know that the Black Stone Obelisk cannot play a decisive role; we need more Star God Fragments.”

"But besides the Space Necromancers, where else can we get more Star God fragments?"

“Space Necromancers…” Ryan murmured the name of this powerful race, and even the Lion King felt a sense of powerlessness.

The vast majority of the Star God fragments in the entire galaxy are contained and controlled by the Space Necromancers, with very few wandering outside.

"Actually, it's not that we don't have any at all. At least we found a few small fragments of the Star God from the Cult of Mechanics."

The speaker was Mel Ian, the Consul of the Iron Hand.

"Our Legion has always maintained good relations with the Cult of Mechanics, and after the start of the war, we contacted all the Cult of Mechanics forge worlds we could reach."

"In several relatively remote forging worlds, we obtained some information about Star God fragments."

The mechanical priests there had no idea what the Star God Fragments were; they simply treated these unknown creations with limitless energy as a technological black box.

Upon hearing Mel's answer, the many Primarchs present immediately perked up.

Even now, no one in the entire Cult of Mechanics dares to say that they truly understand the real situation of every casting world.

Neither Mars nor Ganymede has control over all forged worlds, so it's not impossible that some forged worlds far from the solar system might be hiding something valuable.

"The Mechanicus and the Advanced Technology Community have mobilized their forces to exchange Star God fragments for those more independent forging worlds."

Everyone knew that the "solution" Mel mentioned might not be as gentle as they imagined.

Faced with the immense crisis confronting humanity, the interests of any individual seem insignificant. If those who forge the world remain defiant to the death, the Empire would not hesitate to let them taste the iron fist.

Just as Ryan, Dorn, Perturabo, and others were finalizing the specific details of how to reinforce the defenses, a precise strike from the High Heavens broke free from the cover of the warp storm and descended upon the Cardia defenses.

The first to sense the anomaly was Ryan Johnson. This jungle lion from Caliban possessed an extraordinary instinct for danger perception. Ryan felt a sense of impending doom, which immediately put him into battle mode.

Subsequently, Dorn, Perturabo, and others also sensed something amiss and had a terrible premonition that disaster was imminent.

From the core of the Eye of Fear, a chaotic surge of pure etheric energy, moving faster than the speed of light and defying the laws of physics, crashed violently into the carefully constructed defenses of the battle planet!
It was like an arc of light, or a strike from a higher dimension, a rule that humans could not comprehend.

This devastating blow came so quickly that even the Primarchs could only sense its arrival, but had no time to react and prevent the disaster from happening.

The battle planet closest to the Eye of Fear had its newly constructed black stone obelisk matrix on its surface suddenly burst forth with a blinding grayish-white light, attempting to dispel and suppress this chaotic energy.

However, the energy intensity of this precise strike from the High Heaven far exceeded the current suppression limit of Blackstone. The anti-psychic field shattered after only a few seconds, and countless fragments and cracks appeared directly on the surface of the obelisk.

The thick armor on the surface of the battle planet, composed of reinforced alloys and the planet's crust, was easily torn apart like damp paper in the face of this incredible force.

Unfathomable, massive rifts appeared out of nowhere, tearing apart the celestial structure of the battle planet. Some of the deepest rifts even extended directly into the planet's core.

The flames from the violent explosion began to spread rapidly across the surface of the battle planet, and the human army stationed above was reduced to ashes.

The dimensional engine array at the core of another combat planet went catastrophically out of control due to this sudden destruction.

The engine overload unleashed a devastating surge of energy, causing facilities within a radius of hundreds of square kilometers around the engine core to vanish instantly from the real universe, as if swallowed by an invisible giant maw.

The massive loss of mass from the battle planet immediately triggered structural imbalance. Under the pressure of the celestial fortress's own mass, it began to collapse on its own to form a new mass balance.

While the other battle planets were not directly destroyed in the impact, the extremely intense subspace energy permeated their interiors.

The rules of the real universe have been forcibly distorted, and the battle planet may follow in the footsteps of those already destroyed battle planets at any moment due to an error in the operation of its internal equipment.

"Hold the line! All combat planets, activate the Blackstone Anti-Psionic Matrix at maximum power! Prioritize the protection of the core area and the dimensional engine!"

Ryan Johnson's voice, accompanied by constant static, appeared on the senior commander's communication channel.

Even the Lion King, for the first time, showed undisguised shock and a hint of helplessness in his dark eyes.

This is no longer war; it is a natural disaster, a targeted strike from the subspace.

Almost instinctively, Ryan was certain that this attack was definitely related to Luo Jia and Lemanrus.

Perhaps it was Lemanrus's failure to complete his mission objectives that led to this attack.

"It's too late! We have no choice but to cut our losses!"

Perturabo roared as he began issuing emergency orders via cables implanted in his brain, instructing those battle planets that had not been directly impacted to retreat behind the already damaged ones.

"By the Emperor, we will save as many as we can!"

"At least don't let the whole army be wiped out!"

Faced with this power, even Ryan, who had awakened his true nature, felt incredibly insignificant. His power was simply no match for the mighty force from the High Heavens, and he could only let it run rampant.

While Perturabo's choice in the face of crisis was cruel, it did have some effect. The destroyed battle planets acted as obstacles, mitigating the destructive power of the catastrophe.

More than half of the battle planets were either completely torn apart and broken into countless pieces of space debris, or left as massive wreckages that have become floating graveyards in the void, still disintegrating and exhibiting bizarre and supernatural phenomena.

Finally, when the devastating energy surge subsided slightly, the once majestic and magnificent battle planetary defense line was left in ruins.

(End of this chapter)