Emperor's Bane

Chapter 570: The Collision of Giants

Morgan was the last of the three Primarchs to reach the summit, and by the time she arrived, the war was declared over.

The 2nd Company of the Dawnbreakers led by Bayar and the 4th Assault Company of the World Eaters led by Kahn formed a joint force. Under the cover of artillery fire and psychic power, they used a successful [Hutier Tactics] and finally crushed the last bit of resistance of this pocket empire.

The final victory was glorious, but also difficult: it took the three Astartes Legions and their allies a total of twenty-five hours to completely wipe out the army of this pocket empire, ending its thousands of years of independent history. The double-headed eagle flag of the Human Empire was raised above the ruins.

Under the banner of victory, the number of casualties among the Astartes alone exceeded five thousand, most of whom were Space Wolves of Leman Russ. The casualties of the World Eaters Legion, which was responsible for the frontal assault, were lower than they expected, but there were still two companies that needed to choose new captains.

As for Morgan's Dawnbreaker Legion, they successfully kept their casualties below 100, but this was enough to make the Spider Queen feel a moment of discomfort: because these included six Terra veterans, who should not have died in this [secondary battlefield].

These six people were elites who emerged from the Unification War, and their team was also the first team to attack the Final Mountain: but the luck of these Morgan sons ended there, because after crossing the foothills, they ran head-on into a giant mecha formation that was regarded as the "ultimate trump card" by the Pocket Empire, and were eventually wiped out in an extremely unequal battle.

It is regrettable, but not surprising, because fate is so fickle: in the past hundred years since the beginning of the Great Crusade, too many powerful and famous people have died in places where they should not have died. The list of heroes in each legion will cause sighs.

This is especially true of Dawnbreaker.

After these six men fell, the formation of giant mechas continued to advance, breaking the scythe that reaped the fruits of victory for the Empire. Even the Astartes could not compete with them: with a size comparable to that of Warlord-class Titans, and relatively simple but more powerful gun barrels, these giant mechas even blocked the offensive from the Cinder Wolf Titan Legion.

Although these Warhound-class Titans serving the World Eaters Legion destroyed many opponents with their ferocity and flexibility, their own casualties soon became unbearable. The Astartes warriors, mortal psykers and even Primarchs who accompanied them were obviously unable to provide much help in this large-scale melee at the Titan level.

Finally, it was Angron, the Primarch of the World Eaters, who stepped forward and forced the Cinder Wolves to retreat to prevent the loyal allies of the XII Legion from shedding blood. Although extremely unwilling in their hearts, the Titan commanders of the Legion of the Bold (the official name of the Cinder Wolves) respected Angron's will. They used their flexibility to fight and retreat at the same time, leaving the battlefield to the belated Legion of the Warmongers.

Reza's divine machines dutifully covered their colleagues' withdrawal from the battlefield and paid the highest respect to these ferocious war dogs. Then, these most arrogant warriors, under the excited command of Reza's mechanical priests, marched into the center of the battlefield with their heads held high, ready to engage in a century-long showdown between giants with these powerful opponents worthy of them.

In the next few hours, a battle of giants that could only happen in myths actually happened on these mountains that had been flattened by the war. The sun gradually set in the west, casting the shadows of the giants on the ground. It was like the gates of hell were opened, and Lucifer's monsters were walking among the mortals again.

Even if standing hundreds of kilometers away, one can clearly hear the roar and howl of each steel behemoth. The flames from the divine machines being hit and destroyed can even block out the sun: the [warlords] and [generals] loyal to the empire, and the defenders who swore to defend the territory of their motherland, fought each other. They all had reasons not to retreat, and they all had divine weapons and blades that were enough to chop off each other's heads. The number of casualties began to soar in the first second of the war, and never stopped until the last moment.

Because Morgan's call was too hasty, the Warmongers were naturally unable to send out all their forces and could only temporarily form several formations, which put the divine machines loyal to the Emperor at an absolute numerical disadvantage on the battlefield: but their better technology and more combat experience ultimately helped them win this long-awaited Giant War.
But the blood shed filled the entire plain in the mountain, enough to impress even the most arrogant Astartes warriors with awe: even the wolves under Russ's command straightened their backs and looked solemn when they saw the bloody steel giants.

As the first ray of sunlight was gradually swallowed up by the mountains farther away, the last enemy standing in front of the Warmongering Legion breathed his last in extreme unwillingness, covered in wounds.

The last man to fall was undoubtedly a legend in his homeland: not only because his giant mecha was taller and more gorgeous than those of others, but also because in the fight before he fell to the ground, he took away a Warlord-class and two Predators of the Empire.

The warmongers did not kill this powerful opponent directly, but raised their guns and watched with full respect as this great warrior completed his final journey: they tried to ask this warrior if he was willing to join the Warmongers Corps, but all they got was the silence and tranquility before death.

The mechanical priests and Titan commanders of Ryza were not surprised by this. In the previous decades of expedition, they had experienced too many such things. The Great Crusade was such a legendary and tragic existence: a group of great warriors among humans had to kill another group of great people for a great ideal.

No one is wrong, they are all dying for the ideals in their hearts.

In addition to the three divine machines that fell under the guns of this powerful enemy, Ryza's elites also paid the price of three more Titan formations in this great war. A total of twelve divine machines completely disappeared from the armament list of [Forge of Bound Stars]. In the past ten years, Ryza has never suffered such a tragic loss.

But their opponents' casualties were more than seven times theirs.

Ryza's Mechanical Priests quickly accepted this bloody victory, and immediately sent a report of the war to the Spider Queen who was standing on a distant mountain top watching the battle, and thanked her for not taking action throughout the whole process, thus satisfying the dignity of the Warmongers as warriors: Unlike Ryza's Mechanic Priests who were somewhat heartbroken, the Titan commanders of the Warmongering Legion were instead reminiscing about this legendary battle, and the Cinder Wolves farther away even cast envious glances at their colleagues.

Without relying on external forces, they defeated a powerful enemy rarely seen in the world in a fair and square manner: this was an epic event worthy of being recorded in the Legion Hall, and all those present would go down in history. The witness of the three Primarchs and three Astartes Legions added countless legendary colors to the event.

On the other side, Ryza's mechanical priests did not feel sad for too long, because Morgan would never treat her most important ally badly: since Ryza's army would cross the starry sea at her command, the Spider Queen would also sign a decree to compensate the Warmongers who lost twelve Titans with three times the resources in one go.

But Morgan's real reward goes far beyond this.

At the same time as the law was signed, a similar gift was delivered to Angron's Cinder Wolves. Morgan was even considerate enough to obtain the consent of the Lord of the World Eaters in advance, ensuring that the commanders of the Rampant Legion could accept the gift with peace of mind to make up for their losses in the war.

With this gift as a foundation, Reza's mechanical priests can move forward with a smile, and unceremoniously take all the technological relics of this pocket empire into their arms, and even have the extra confidence to ask the World Eaters for the spoils in their hands.

During this period, some light-hearted internal frictions and mutual greetings naturally occurred within Riza's special team. After all, this already huge Forge World had been bloated by the Spider Queen over the decades of cooperation with Morgan, and naturally there were numerous factions and small groups within it.

Serious issues of principle, such as how many cups of plasma should be consumed in a day, or whether lemon sauce or mango sauce should be served with the plasma communion, have triggered countless doctrinal disputes and subsequent conflicts of interest in Reza, with relatively controllable internal exchanges erupting from time to time.

But none of this has anything to do with Morgan.

The Spider Queen never gets involved in the affairs of Reza and the Fireblood Sect. Even all the gifts she gives to her allies are given to Reza as a whole. As for how they distribute them, that is their own problem.

This retreating attitude, combined with the abundant rewards throughout the years, ensured that Morgan could maintain a relatively detached position in Riza, and cooperation with her had long been a consensus among various factions within the Flame-Blood Sect.

Or in other words: common sense.

What's more, the current actual ruler of Ryza, the Tech Saint named Nira-Heldidon, has already established a good personal friendship with the Spider Queen in order to ensure his own authority and coordinate the balance of various factions under his command: cooperation with Morgan and hatred of Mars have become the only way for the Tech Saint to mobilize the unity of the entire Ryza to do great things.

Especially when Morgan's fleet was summoned to the Perfect City by the Emperor, the Spider Queen deliberately passed by the planet of Reza during her journey: the technical saint Nira, who had already received news from the Primarch, took this opportunity to bring all the powerful figures within the entire Fire Blood Sect.

Witnessed by everyone, the Technical Saint received the canonization book of the Great Whirlpool from Morgan, the [Omnissiah's envoy], symbolizing that Riza's power has reached another peak: their territory is no longer limited to their own galaxy, but has become a true mechanical prince independent of Mars. Of course, the actual documents of the Omnissiah are definitely not written like this: the Emperor only allows Riza to have the highest priority in the Great Whirlpool in [emergency situations they deem necessary], and can even temporarily ignore Mars in those most urgent situations and [act at his own convenience].

However, in the eyes of the various powerful representatives of Riza, this was what Omnissiah meant by conferring the entire Maelstrom upon them: What a joke! From now on, every moment was the most urgent moment for Riza. After all, the Martian hegemonism was determined to destroy us, and the people of Riza had to maintain a tense struggle at all times.

Therefore, their power in the Maelstrom area is also unlimited.

The Omnissiah said it himself!
Morgan, who brought all this to the Riza people, and the technical saint who fought for all this for them: in the eyes of the Riza people at this moment, these two are simply holy angels emitting plasma light!
Even their souls must be the purest plasma!

Finally, the Ryza people were no longer satisfied with simply recording Morgan in their Holy Codex of Fire and Blood, and under the leadership of their greatest historian, the Mechanical Priests of Ryza began to work hard to sew the Primarch of the Dawnbreaker into their history books: the day when Morgan brought them the Maelstrom could become a legendary day that the Forge of Bound Stars would sing about for thousands of years.

The Spider Queen had no opinion on all this. She had long been recorded in various creation myths and strange history books in the Far East frontier. Having one more Riza would not hurt her at all.

What really concerned the Primarch was the attitude that Ryza showed next: if in the previous decades, the two sides were just bargaining partners, and Ryza still had to consider the interests in advance for every call of Morgan, then, after Morgan brought the entire Maelstrom for them, both Ryza and their Titan Legion were really ready to respond at any time, and they would not even ask in advance what benefits this trip would bring.

That was the case this time: facing Morgan's emergency call, Ryza, who had always been cautious and regarded her own safety as more important than anything else, did not hesitate to withdraw their proud local defense forces and used these elite troops to form a legion to support Morgan. The Primarch also reciprocated this. She has decided to give the entire marginal Ark Cluster close to Ryza to her mechanical ally. Anyway, this is the best solution for the Empire.

Maybe only Mars would be unhappy.

But Morgan didn't care.

The attitude of the Mechanical Priests towards the Spider Queen remained consistent. When Morgan arrived at the final fortress of the Pocket Empire, Representative Ryza, who had been waiting there for a long time, respectfully handed over the STC template that the Dawnbreaker Legion deserved. Leman Russ and Angron, who were standing further away, were watching this scene with interest. They had never seen a Forge World be so humble to its Primarch.

There was a flash of uneasiness in the Wolf King's pupils, but Angron turned a deaf ear to these things. He was more concerned about the casualties of his own company, especially the Kahn Commando who was the first to attack here: these daring lunatics, together with the elite of the Dawnbreakers, took advantage of the melee of the Titan Legion to sneak over from the edge of the battlefield of those behemoths and captured the last fortress of the Pocket Empire in one fell swoop.

During this period, even if a giant mecha discovered their whereabouts, they would be faced with a devastating blow: but whether it was Bayar or Kahn, they did not seem to deserve to die here, and none of their companies were killed in the battle. The most seriously injured was just a person who sprained his ankle while collecting the ashes of the six people who had died before.

"You know, Morgan, this reminds me of Akudona."

As the Spider Queen approached, the Wolf King of Fenris took a break from his conversation with Angron and winked at his kinsman of Avalon. He brought Morgan the latest news, news that the Dawnbreaker's Ministry of Internal Affairs had not yet had time to report back.

Obviously, this barbarian from Fenris also has his own ways.

"Akudona?"

Morgan chewed on the name, and she noticed Bayar's glance over here: the champion swordsman of the Emperor's Children and the strongest Dawnbreaker under Morgan's command were a pair of sword friends who had been evenly matched for more than a hundred years.

"He almost died."

The wolf king waved his hand.

"Ferus's fight in Gardenar was quite ugly. I don't know how he played like that. If it weren't for Akudona leading his company to sacrifice their lives at the last moment and destroying the important hub of the Gardenar people, I don't know what the war would have turned out like."

“It was supposed to be like this.”

Ruth stroked his chin.

"But the Emperor's Children's Champion Swordsman obviously did not deserve to die, for he and his company were not the only ones present. This time, it was Fulgrim and his entire legion of the Emperor's Children who responded to Ferrus' call. Our Phoenix brother personally rushed in and rescued his strongest son."

"So, don't worry, your old enemy is fine."

Having said that, the Wolf King blinked at Bayar who was standing in the distance.

"Rather than worrying about that guy, you might as well worry about yourself. Boy, don't forget the Night of the Wild Wolf that we have already discussed. Many of my wolf lords and good guys have long wanted to challenge you, the perfect knight. They are already waiting for you."

"What do you think, Morgan?"

Behind them, the smoke and stench of the battlefield had not yet dissipated, and the mortal auxiliary troops were carrying out the bodies of those who resisted and piling them together waiting for cremation: and in the midst of this bleak sound, the laughter and expectation of the Wolf King came to Morgan's ears.

As for the Lord of Dawn, she just looked back at her offspring. After receiving Bayar's confident look and nod, she turned around with full pride and looked at her brother arrogantly.

"I think?"

"I don't need to think so."

"You should pray for your warriors, my brother Leman Russ."

"after all……"

"You can't do more."

(End of this chapter)