Warhammer: Empire Reboot

On the other side of the hall, Jia 44, the Judgment Bureau, had arrived.

The Bixie Warband Commander wore dark iron-colored power armor, with a long, narrow faceplate and the Bixie beast head on his shoulder armor resembling a cold, hard seal.

Calgary grabbed Harken's leg and dragged him to the execution ground.

"Let's see if we can dig up anything useful."

Duan Yu looked down at Harken.

A living metal chain slid down from the wrist armor and wrapped around Haken's neck, arms, and the crack in his breastplate.

The chains tighten.

The contempt in Harken's eyes had not faded.

Pain is only superficial.

Humiliation is only the outer layer.

The real secret lies deep within the will and the soul.

And he is the master of fear.

Duan Yu dragged him around and towards the interrogation area. Harken's tattered armor scraped black and red marks on the ground.

…………

Even after Harken was dragged into the interrogation area by the prison, the war on Vigilant Planet did not stop.

Quite the opposite.

The appearance of the Star Stealers was like a black nail driven into flesh and blood, making all the forces hiding in the shadows sense the direction of the wind at the same time.

The Black Legion is coming.

Abaddon's messenger has brought the Hellspear to the top of Vigilant Tower.

Even before the spear had pierced the ground, and even though Haken himself had been "beaten to a pulp" by Calgary, the signal it represented was still clear enough.

The Black Legion considers the Vigilant Star a key objective at Nakmonde Pass.

Thus, the chaotic battlefield, which had previously been a free-for-all, began to enter the next phase.

The green-skinned car continued to crash against the outer wall.

The orc racers felt that the arrival of the Black Legion had nothing to do with them; all they knew was that the planet was more lively now, with more explosions, bigger convoys, and louder cannon fire—all things WAAAGH liked.

The poor prince's blood vessels contracted again underground.

Despite having several claws broken by Lawson, the revered ancestral dragon was still searching for an opportunity. It no longer dared to carelessly throw its valuable bloodline into Lawson's slaughterhouse, yet it could still incite riots, cut pipelines, and, like a worm lurking in the crevices of bones, wait to bite again.

The Chaos Raptors did not immediately disperse after losing Harken.

Some Raptor Warriors were torn apart in the sky by the Flying Bears, Thunderhawk gunships, and Stormclaw interceptors; others burrowed into the gaps of the hive city's spire, continuing their attacks on communication nodes and the tops of the Noble Tower, attempting to sustain the fear that Harken had not yet completed with their deaths.

Lawson's order was issued quickly.

Each battle group consolidated its defense zone.

The entire warning star resembled a machine that had been forcibly sewn back together; the gears were still smoking, yet they were beginning to mesh again.

But the truly dangerous enemy doesn't necessarily come from the noisiest direction.

Almost at the same moment that the Star Snatcher Harken descended upon Saint Harbor, on the south pole of Vigilant Planet, above the Karak Glacier, wind and snow tore through the night.

It is far from most nesting communities.

Glaciers cover ancient water wells, cooling towers, polar ice harvesting stations, and several strategic water sources jointly guarded by the Mechanicus and the Astronauts.

For the water-scarce planet Vigilant, the Karak Glacier is a mouthful of cold water in the planet's throat.

The cold wind whipped up white waves on the ice.

The Seventh Armored Group of the Astronautical Army is on patrol along the glacial rift valley.

Their tracks left two deep marks on the ice, white mist spewed from the exhaust pipes of the Leman Rustank, the turret slowly rotated, and the exterior of the vehicle was covered with antifreeze cloth and temporary armor plates.

Commissar Vesik stood on the hatch of a command-type Leman Russ, his cloak plastered to his back by the wind and snow.

He had an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth.

It's not because I don't want to order.

It's because the wind is too strong.

Over the communications channel, the armored company commander complained, "Political Commissar, the old ice crack zone is just ahead. The oracle echoes are all distorted. I suggest we turn according to the contingency plan."

Visik took the cigarette out of his mouth and held it between his fingers.

"Suggestion received."

The company commander breathed a sigh of relief.

The next second, the political commissar said, "Keep moving forward."

There was a moment of silence on the channel.

"political commissar?"

Viske looked ahead at the icy mist.

"The wartime command's orders are to check for any unusual psionic fluctuations outside water source number three. We haven't arrived yet."

"A bird divination instrument..."

"If the bird divination device were always reliable, the empire would have no need for soldiers."

Visik put the cigarette back in his pocket.

"go ahead."

The armored group continued forward.

Seventeen Leman Russ vehicles, six Chimera armored vehicles, two Salamander reconnaissance vehicles, and an infantry platoon following the vehicles slowly traversed the glacial rift valley.

Unbeknownst to them, beneath the ice, a door that did not belong to reality was opening.

It resembled a fissure melted by psionic flames, its edges shimmering with blue-gold runes.

The wind and snow suddenly stopped for a moment.

Then, the first red-letter warrior stepped out of the rift.

It wore scarlet and gold power armor, with a towering helmet and a lifeless visor.

Following it are the second, third, and fourth place.

An entire Thousand Legion of Red Letter warriors emerged from the secret passage and stood atop the Karak Glacier.

The armor of the Thousand Sons Legion resembled ancient tombs on the move.

It doesn't contain flesh and blood warriors.

It is ashes, it is the sand of the soul.

It is an empty shell of loyalty left behind by the Rubrick spell.

Behind the Red Letter Warriors, several Thousand Sons Wizards stepped onto the ice.

They wore long robes, their scepters were topped with crystals and runes, and blue psionic flames shone beneath their helmets.

The leading wizard was named Sehemos.

He looked up at the water source cooling tower that was faintly visible in the distance and said sarcastically.

"The empire hid the water in ice."

"How crude."

Another wizard said, "Seize the water source and contaminate the transport system. The wartime ruling court of Vigilant Star will be forced to deploy troops south."

Sehemos nodded.

"The Black Legion will love this gift."

He raised the scepter.

Psionic flames spread across the ice.

The Astral Army's oracles screamed simultaneously.

Inside the command-type Lemanrus, just as the armored company commander was about to give the order to deploy, blue flames lit up in the icy mist ahead.

The first magical flame struck the foremost Lemanrus's turret.

The heavy armor melted like wax.

Before the crew could even jump out of the vehicle, the internal ammunition was ignited.

boom!

The tank exploded into a fireball.

Tracks, turrets, and charred fragments of the vehicle crashed onto the ice, then were swallowed up by the wind and snow.

"Enemy attack!"

"Chaotic Astartes ahead!"

"Open fire!"

The Leman Russ artillery group quickly turned its guns around.

The battle roared with the roar of artillery.

Bombs and heavy bomb guns swept towards the red-letter warriors in the icy fog.

The shells exploded in the ranks of the Red Letter soldiers.

Several red-letter warriors were blasted back, their armor cracked, and fine dust and mist leaked out.

The Red Letter warrior, whose leg had been blown off, remained kneeling on the ice, raising his Hellfire Bomb and firing.

Purple-blue flames pierced through the chimera's side armor, instantly igniting the infantry inside the vehicle with psionic flames.

Commissar Vesik pulled out a plasma pistol from the hatch on the roof of the vehicle.

"The Emperor is watching you!"