Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Have you heard of the Klein Galaxy?

Katrina nodded: "The grain-producing base of the Agrippina Sector, seventeen agricultural worlds."

"The church's communications records mention that they are being invaded by Chaos."

Sena frowned. "Nurgle... those rotten things."

"Yes," Lawson said. "Plaguewalkers, Plague Marines, Corrupted Tanks, Demon Engines, and possibly Nurgle Demons."

The expressions of the four nuns tensed up simultaneously.

The fighting nuns have a hatred for demons ingrained in their genes. From the first day they enter the convent at the age of ten, the church instills in them the belief that demons are the most fundamental enemy of mankind, and that eliminating demons is the ultimate meaning of the nuns' existence.

But hatred is hatred, and fear is also real.

They had witnessed firsthand the horrors of the Nurgle riots, where civilians infected by plague spores developed pustules under their skin, their eyes turned yellowish-green, and black liquid oozed from their mouths. They staggered through the corridors, lunging at and biting anyone they encountered.

Those were just ordinary people who were indirectly infected.

The real Plague Legion, those former Imperial Space Marines in their rotting power armor, are a threat on a completely different level.

Lawson looked at them: "I need the four of you to come with me."

Katarina was the first to answer, almost without hesitation: "I am willing to fight for you, my lord."

"What does the master need us to do?"

Lawson leaned back in his chair, his fingers interlaced on his abdomen.

"The four of you are worth more than a thousand power armors on the battlefield of the Klein system."

"Nurgle's essence is corruption and entropy. Its power comes from the belief in decay: everything will eventually rot, everything will eventually die, so it's better to embrace corruption in advance. The Plague Legion's weapons, plague spores, and demonic curses are all built on this logic."

He held up a finger: “But the Emperor’s power is essentially order and purification. The energy frequency of the Emperor’s Golden Fire is completely opposite to that of Nurgle’s corruption, like fire and ice, light and darkness—two things that cannot coexist. When the Emperor’s Light comes into contact with Nurgle’s corruption, the corruption is destroyed at its source. Plague spores become inactive, the material anchors of demons break, and the warp energy links that sustain the corrupted flesh are severed.”

Lawson looked at Vera: "You should have felt it when you were purifying the Tzeentch Dust."

Vera nodded slowly: "I felt it. Those crystal dust shattered the moment the holy light touched them. It was as if they should never have existed in this universe."

"Correct."

Lawson nodded: "The same goes for Nurgle's corruption. The two things the Plague Legion fears most are fire and the Emperor's Holy Light."

"On Klein's battlefield, the strategic value of a living saint—purifying the plague, dispelling demons, and dismantling Nurgle's corrupting aura—surpasses any conventional weapon."

Lawson raised his right hand.

A faint golden flame flickered at his fingertips.

The flame was small, like the flame of a candle, burning quietly on my fingertip.

Swarm intelligence has analyzed this golden energy tens of thousands of times over the past few months.

The golden energy in the Rosen black hole is completely identical to the golden energy originally bestowed by the Emperor in terms of source, essence, frequency, and structure.

This indicates that the small star has already assimilated the Emperor's dissipated energy.

It is no longer foreign energy debris; it has become exactly the same as the Imperial Goldfire.

In other words, Lawson possesses an Imperial Energy Battery that can slowly self-charge.

The charging speed is very slow, only 0.02% per day.

But little by little, it adds up.

Over the past few months, the brightness and energy reserves of this small star have increased significantly compared to its initial state.

Lawson conducted an experiment a week ago.

He drew out a wisp of golden energy from the small star and, using himself as a conductor, infused it into Vera's body.

The effect is immediate.

Golden wings of light bloomed from Vera's back once more, even larger than when she first purified the Tzeentch Crystal Dust.

This state lasted for a full three hours.

Because the energy that Lawson infused had undergone its own transition and tuning, it acted as a buffer, resulting in a much smoother energy release rate than before.

Vera landed slowly three hours later. Not only did she not fall into a coma, but her physical condition was also enhanced, with quantifiable improvements in cardiopulmonary function, muscle density, and nerve reaction speed.

That day, Katarina, Sera, and Sena stood in the hall, looking up at Vera in the sky.

Lawson still remembers the expressions on the three people's faces: piety, shock, and undisguised envy.

"Last time it was one."

The golden flame at Lawson's fingertips flickered and split into four strands, each hovering on the tip of one of his four fingers.

"This time, I plan to order four."

The four nuns stared wide-eyed at the same time.

Sera nearly jumped off the bench: "Sir, you mean, all four of us can..."

"I'm not sure if the three of you can be as effective as Vera."

Lawson said frankly.

Katarina took a deep breath.

“My lord, for a battle nun, to bear the Emperor’s sacred flame… is the highest honor we pursue in our entire lives. Even if it is only a wisp.”

Don't be too quick to be moved.

"Let's test whether your body can handle it first."

"Hand out."

Four nuns extended their right hands.

Lawson lightly touched the back of each of the four hands with his four fingers.

Golden light surged in from the point of contact, spreading along the veins in the arm throughout the body.

Katarina clenched her teeth. The Emperor's energy surged through her, and she felt every nerve in her body ignite with that heat, like standing in front of a fireplace to warm yourself, the flames burning your skin, but you know it won't hurt you.

Twins react more directly.

Sera's body arched sharply, a short gasp escaping her lips. Sena bit her lip, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead. But both of them held on.

Vera, on the other hand, was much more relaxed.

"We will arrive in the Klein system in six days."

"These six days are for adapting to the metal fire within your body," Lawson said. "Prepare for battle."

----------

Klein-IX. Arctic Continent. Reaper's Fortress.

Day .

Quintus couldn't remember the last time he had sat down.

His power armor lining was soaked with sweat and blood, clinging to his skin like a rotting, wet cloth.

The west wall of Reaper Fortress has collapsed.

Yesterday afternoon, three Corrupted Raider tanks opened fire simultaneously, with six combat shells hitting the bottom load-bearing beam of the same section of the wall.

The three-meter-thick concrete and steel bars shattered under continuous bombardment, and the entire wall collapsed inward like a cliff with its foundation removed.

Forty-seven Star Guard soldiers were buried under the rubble.

Quintus led the remaining men to retreat to the inner defensive line, to the former grain drying workshop of the harvest station.

The walls of this building are made of industrial-grade steel plates only half a meter thick, which cannot even stop an automatic cannonball.

But it is the last building inside Reaper Fortress that can still provide cover.

The last line of defense, with nowhere left to retreat.

Quintus leaned against a twisted steel pillar, scanning the ruins ahead with his scope.

The ruins of the west wall were crawling with plague walkers.

They squeezed in through the cracks in the collapsed wall, crawling inward over rubble and corpses.

Quintus has stopped counting the numbers.

Anyway, you can't kill them all.

Beyond the ruins, further on, the plague army stretched across the plains to the horizon.

Through the yellowish-green mist, he could see the figures of the Plague Marines.

Those former Imperial Space Marines, clad in rotting power armor, stood out like reefs amidst the torrent of Plague Walkers.

Each Plague Marine is surrounded by a group of mutants and disease carriers, forming a mobile core of corruption.

The third wave of attacks was more powerful than anticipated.

The Plague Legion deployed at least three Marine Corps companies.

In addition, there are eight Corrupted Raider tanks, two Plague Dreadnought mechs, and an incalculable number of Plague Walkers and mutant armies.

Quintus glanced at the people still fighting on the inner defensive line.

Ultra Warriors: Fourteen.

Of the thirty brothers, sixteen died.

The Astartes' gene seeds allow them to persist for a long time in a near-death state, but the Plague Legion's weapons don't give you that chance.

Plague bombs release corrosive pathogens after penetrating armor, causing flesh to rot from the wound.

If the infected area is not removed within 30 seconds, the entire body will turn into a pile of bubbling, rotting flesh within half an hour.

That's how sixteen of our comrades-in-arms died.

In some cases, there wasn't enough time to remove the tumor.

Some injuries are located in the core of the torso, making them impossible to cut.

Viktor is still alive. The platoon leader who lost his right leg now has no left arm either, torn off by the power punch of a Plague Dreadnought mech.