Warhammer: Empire Reboot

The underlying archives of memory show that the five hundred steel warriors led by Grendel were just a small company of the Fourth Army in the Agrippina theater.

On Agrippina's meat grinder battlefield, an even larger and better-equipped force of steel warriors from Dalian was active on the front lines.

Even more deadly, intelligence revealed that this Iron Warriors Dalian not only possessed a heavy siege artillery array, but was also equipped with multiple Chaos Knight mechs.

The Knights are the ultimate land-based weapons in the Imperial and Chaos arsenals, second only to the Titans. They range in height from nine to twelve meters and are equipped with heavy thermo-melting or volcanic cannons capable of melting a warship's armor in a single blow, as well as Reaper chainsaws that can cleave Space Marines like firewood.

Lawson's suicide squad had never encountered such a large weapon of war before.

In response to this threat, Lawson ordered Xiong Da and Xiong Er to lead 6,000 Xiong Guards to the high-radiation wilderness on the surface of Planet Obolos III to simulate battles against Knight Mechs and more complex mixed-unit coordinated scenarios.

Six thousand giant beasts began a round-the-clock combat drill in the wilderness.

And so, the Avenger continued its journey through subspace, rapidly approaching the Agrippina system under the precise guidance of the Star Trek assassins.

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The battle rages on in the Agrippina Galaxy.

The main star, forging the world's surface, is the first war zone.

The sky is perpetually gray-black.

A winding network of trenches stretching 300 kilometers divided the First Theater into two halves: the Empire and Chaos.

The two companies of the Lamenters' Regiment are responsible for guarding the core defense line of Zone One.

This is a Blood Angels successor chapter burdened with a cursed fate. They suffered a severe trial at the hands of the Empire during the Badab Wars for their political missteps, beginning a century-long crusade for redemption. Their armor is painted a bright yellow, with a bleeding heart emblazoned on their left shoulder plate.

Throughout the ruthless Empire, the Lamenters are among the very few Space Marines who truly place the protection of ordinary civilians above their own survival.

But at this point, the situation in the First War Zone was already extremely precarious.

Inside the underground command bunker, a holographic sand table projected the terrain of the battle line ahead. The red dot representing the enemy had crossed the third line of defense and was less than twenty kilometers away from the main forging furnace's energy pipeline.

Inside the bunker, a heated argument broke out.

The two sides in the conflict are two company commanders from the Lamenters Chapter, Kyle and Tecon, and Vikley, a senior technical priest from the Agrippina Mechanicus.

“I refuse to carry out this tactical deployment, Father.” Company Commander Kyle braced his hands on the edge of the sand table. His yellow terracotta armor was riddled with bullet holes and charred from plasma burning.

Tech Priest Viktor hovered on the anti-gravity chassis: "Company Commander, your refusal does not conform to the logical deduction of the current war zone."

“The minefield density ahead has reached 87%. The Iron Warriors’ heavy artillery array has locked onto all conventional assault routes. We need biomass to fill the firepower vacuum and deplete the enemy’s ammunition reserves.” Vikley extended a mechanical tentacle and drew a path of advance on the sand table.

"In the rear camp, there are 100,000 mortal auxiliary troops who fled from Kadia. They have not received advanced military training and are poorly equipped. Their survival time in conventional defensive battles is no more than twelve minutes. But if they are made to form a dense formation and launch an indiscriminate charge on the enemy's positions, their flesh and blood can crush 60 percent of the enemy's sensor mines."

"We can take advantage of the lull in the enemy's heavy firepower to wipe out these 100,000 mortals."

Vikley displayed three large blue icons: "Dispatch three of our own Krastau family's knight mechs, along with 200,000 Guardians of the Church, to directly cut into the enemy's artillery positions from the flank. The win rate is calculated to be 74%."

"Use the lives of 100,000 ordinary people to step on landmines? To deplete the enemy's explosives?"

Company Commander Taikong clenched his fist: "They are citizens of the Empire, humans we swore to protect! Not biological mass that you can consume at will on your data panels!"

“Company Commander Tecon, please correct your perception.” Vikley’s optical sensors coldly locked onto the two Space Marines: “The lifespan of a mortal auxiliary soldier is about forty standard Terran years. Their production cost is only a few pieces of corpse starch and a ration of purified water. On the other hand, a Klastu family knight’s armor has a forging cycle of three centuries and contains a sacred machine spirit and irreplaceable technological relics sealed inside.”

"Using 100,000 rapidly regenerating low-level biological units to improve the survival rate of three Holy Knight mechs in an assault is a mathematically profitable deal." Vikley's mechanical arm tapped the sand table: "The God of Machines only values ​​efficiency. The World of Forging does not support idlers or useless things."

“You bunch of lunatics whose souls have been corrupted by engine oil.” Company Commander Kyle drew his explosive pistol from his waist and slammed it heavily on the table. “We are Astartes, offspring of the Primarchs. It is our duty to break through enemy fire. I will lead my company as the spearhead, even if it means dying to the last man, but I will never allow you to drive civilians into the meat grinder.”

The atmosphere inside the bunker dropped to freezing.

Ten Alpha soldiers, protectors of the Mechanicus, raised their Arc Rifles and aimed at the two company commanders. Outside the bunker, veterans of the Lamenters' Legion also pulled the engines of their Chainswords.

Vikley refused to budge.

"Company Commander, your tactical vision has been blinded by the lingering sympathy in your genes. Your battalion has less than two hundred men left. If you are all wiped out in the charge, who will guard the main forge? You are expensive genetically engineered weapons; your deaths must produce equivalent strategic benefits. Furthermore, I must remind you both—"

Vikley pulled up a data panel bearing the General's authorization mark cast by Agrippina: "This is Agrippina. I am the supreme logistics and support commander of this theater. I do not need your approval. I have already issued the orders."

Kyle and Tecon's expressions changed drastically.

Outside the bunker, the piercing assembly alarm had already resounded throughout the entire third line of defense.

Although he could not persuade the two company commanders in the debate, the Mechanicus Tech Priest used his authority to bypass the Lamenters' command chain and forcibly issue orders to the mortal auxiliary army camps through the overlay network.

The neural control collar installed behind the neck of the ordinary officer was activated.

One hundred thousand refugees, dressed in thin bulletproof vests and carrying old-fashioned laser rifles, were driven out of the trenches by electric shocks and the whips of mech servants. Behind them were two hundred thousand members of the Mechanicus Legion's protectorate.

"For the God of All Machines! Forward!"

Under the command of the technical priest, 100,000 mortals and 200,000 apologists began their charge.

The earth was shaking.

The sheer number of 100,000 men, devoid of any tactical plan, surged like a gray tide toward the positions held by the Iron Warriors and the Chaos Warband.

As soon as the first row of ordinary people stepped into the combat zone, deafening explosions erupted one after another.

The minefield laid by the steel warriors was triggered, and severed limbs and internal organs flew through the smoke.

Those mortals behind them, controlled by the neural collars, were unable to retreat and could only step on the corpses of their companions to continue forward.

Then, the Iron Warriors opened fire with their heavy-explosive machine guns and automatic cannons.

Faced with such a dense crowd, each bullet could penetrate two or three bodies.

The mortal auxiliary troops fell in droves like harvested wheat, their screams completely drowned out by the roar of artillery fire.

Just as the Mechanicus's 200,000-strong army was preparing to use the blood-soaked path carved out by mortals to launch precise arc-fire attacks to cover the knight mechs' assault, the battlefield suddenly distorted.

The Chaos Legion launched electronic warfare.

The Dark Tech Priest of the Steel Warriors activated a massive waste code launch tower behind their position. A subspace logic virus called "Waste Code Contamination" swept across the entire combat zone at the speed of light.

The obfuscated code is a stream of binary data imbued with demonic consciousness; it has directly penetrated the tactical network that the Mechanicus prides itself on.

Inside the command bunker, the holographic sand table in front of Great Sage Viktor instantly collapsed, transforming into countless twisted, screaming pixel fragments. Sparks erupted from Viktor's three optical eyes simultaneously, and the logic processor issued an overload alarm.

“Non-logical interference detected…system firewall breached…instruction chain broken…” Viktor’s synthesized voice turned into intermittent static.

The tactical network of the Mechanicus at the front lines suffered a fatal delay.

The Christian Guard, which had been working together like a sophisticated calculator, suddenly lost the overall data from the command center.

A large number of heavy machine servants responsible for transporting ammunition and providing fire support experienced a deadlock in their underlying logic after receiving the invalid code. They stopped advancing, spinning around aimlessly like headless flies, and even turned their weapons on friendly forces nearby.

Two hundred thousand Christian defenders lost their tactical data link.

The mechanical components in the brain are tormented by obfuscated code, and they can only disconnect from the network.

The Guardians of the Faith had degenerated from a unified killing network into scattered, individual soldiers relying solely on basic instincts. Precise volleys were gone, and their formations were in complete disarray.

The most desperate people in this electronic storm were the 100,000 mortal auxiliary troops.

Without the suppressive fire of the Guardians, the Iron Warriors' artillery barrage relentlessly unleashed a deluge of ammunition upon them. The ground was blasted into a red swamp of blood, flesh, and mud.

The Mechanicus's highly anticipated killing move—the three Knight Mechs of the Clasto family—had just emerged from the ruins on the flank, ready to strike straight at the Iron Warriors' artillery position, when they stepped into the Iron Warriors' carefully laid trap.

On both sides of the ruins, dozens of electromagnetic pulse generators buried underground detonated simultaneously. Blue arcs of electricity instantly engulfed the three Imperial Knights.

This pulse attack, specifically targeting the frequency of the Mechanicus's shields, directly disabled their ion shields. Black smoke billowed from the shield generators, exposing the massive mechs to the air without any energy protection.

With a violent tremor, the volcanic ash fog ahead was torn apart.

The Chaos Knights, a corrupt branch of the Raven family, make their appearance.

Five larger Chaos Knight mechs, their armor adorned with human skulls and the insignia of the Chaos Eight-Pointed Star, emerged from the mist.

The lead machine was a Tyrant-class Chaos Knight, towering like a mountain. It was a full head taller than a regular knight mech, its right arm equipped with a massive volcanic cannon with a terrifying caliber, and its left arm with a six-meter-long Reaper chainsaw with black subspace flames burning on its serrated edges.

The Tyrant-class Chaos Knight's heavy volcanic cannon fired. A blinding beam of high-energy light instantly pierced the battlefield, ionizing the air in its path.

The Imperial Knight mech at the very front, its adamantite armor plate instantly vaporized along with its pilot's throne by a direct hit from the volcanic cannon. The ten-meter-tall behemoth let out a mournful cry of its own soul before collapsing with a deafening roar.

The other two Imperial Knights attempted to retaliate with their molten cannons, but their weapon fire control systems lost their locking accuracy due to code corruption. The remaining four Chaos Knights charged into melee, their Reaper Chainsaws and Thunder Gauntlets mercilessly tearing through the Imperial Knights' armor and severing their hydraulic legs.

In just three minutes.

The three knight mechs of the Krastu family were defeated.

The front lines have completely collapsed.

The remnants of the mortal auxiliary army fled in despair. But behind them were machine servants corrupted by the obliterated code, unable to distinguish friend from foe, while ahead lay the armored tracks of the Chaos Knights and Iron Warriors pressing in.

Inside the command bunker.

The holographic sand table had completely gone black, and only desperate screams and explosions could be heard on the outside communication channels.

The mechanical tentacles of Tech Priest Vikley drooped to the ground, his logic processor unable to calculate any possibility of victory.

"The battle line has collapsed, and the defeat rate is 100%. It is recommended to retreat to the Second Forging Zone and activate the self-destruct protocol." Vikley issued a cold suggestion to stop the loss.

Company Commander Kyle ignored the technical priest.

He turned his head and looked at Company Commander Taikong.

They had not received orders to retreat, and even if they had, they would not have obeyed. Tens of thousands of Imperial civilians were being slaughtered ahead of the lines. If the Space Marines retreated now, not a single intact corpse would remain.

"Brothers of the chapter." Company Commander Kyle pressed the full-band tactical communication button, and his voice reached the ears of the remaining two hundred Weeping Warriors.

"The calculations of the Mechanic Church tell us that we have already lost."

"They told us that mortal lives are consumables."

"But they forgot who we are."

Company Commander Kyle drew his chainsaw sword from his waist and shifted the engine into the highest gear. The blade emitted a piercing roar.

Two hundred Space Marines in yellow armor emerged from their bunker.

They formed a thin battle line, facing the surging Chaos army and the towering Chaos Knights of Wutai.

This was a suicidal charge with no chance of success.

But none of them backed down.

Company Commander Kyle raised his chainsword, pointing it at the Chaos Knight ahead. The Weeping Legion launched a desperate battle. With all their might, they unleashed a battle cry that echoed above the smoke-filled sky, a cry that reverberated through Agrippina's meat grinder:

"For all that we cherish, we will die in glory!"

Agrippina, the main star, the core logic temple.

General Belisar Kur, the forged general, floats atop a throne woven from tens of thousands of nerve cables. Less than five percent of his physical body remains, his brain and spinal cord directly immersed in coolant and connected to a global array of Thinkers.

The data stream in Zone One appeared as blood-red gibberish on the retinal projection. The corrupted code released by the Steel Warriors was eroding the tactical network at the front lines, and Kur's logic processor detected logical paradoxes in the underlying code. The servants went out of control, and the Apostolic Command's chain of command broke.