Warhammer: Empire Reboot

His gaze fell on Arthasmore, a planet marked in deep red on the edge of the galaxy.

This planet is the oldest and most mysterious in the Viola system.

Its surface is covered by a permanent layer of dark red dust, and its crust contains a large number of ancient architectural remains of unknown origin.

Oshova set foot on this planet three hundred years ago, and the Dawnblade was discovered in an ancient temple on Arthasmore.

The cost of that exploration was extremely high.

His expedition lost two-thirds of its members, and many of the survivors suffered from mental instability.

An inexplicable and insane energy field permeates the ancient temples of Assamolo.

The runes on the temple walls, the traps in the underground labyrinth, and the ancient machines that seem to still be in operation all hint at a danger beyond the comprehension of the Tau.

O'Showa never went back.

But now, he wants to make use of this planet.

The anomalous energy field on the surface of Arthasmore interferes with all living beings; the Tau armor systems experience intermittent signal disturbances, and the Orcs' WAAAGH energy is suppressed.

This is a natural battlefield equalizer that can simultaneously diminish technological advantages and supernatural powers.

The Great Star Platform in the ancient temple, a giant circular platform covered with dense, unknown runes, is the core node of the entire planet's energy field.

O'Showa's plan was simple.

Luring the snake into its hole.

He ordered a large-scale strategic retreat of the fleet around Viola's main star.

The retreat route was meticulously planned, deliberately exposing the flanks to create the illusion that the far-sighted enclave was about to collapse completely.

The orcs were the first to take the bait.

The three orc warlords almost simultaneously ordered their entire armies to pursue, and the WAAAGH fleet surged toward the retreat route set by Oshowar like a tidal wave.

The demon prince Ugalax finally decided to give chase, as the demon radar on his Omen Ark detected a strong energy resonance in the direction of Arthasmore.

The frequency of that resonance closely matched the target that the Ominous Ark was searching for throughout the galaxy.

A fragment of a key is hidden in the ancient temple of Assamolo!

This is the real reason why Ugalax traveled all the way from the warp; the debris is the target.

Two enemy forces attacked Arthasmoro from the front and the rear.

In the planet's low orbit, the orc fleet and the chaos fleet collided head-on.

Greenskins and demons are inherently at odds with each other.

Both sides deployed their ground forces simultaneously, launching a bloody ground battle across the crimson desert of Assamolo.

…………

Assamolo, low orbit.

The Ominous Ark, the Soul-Devouring Coffin, hovered above this dark red planet, like a steel graveyard floating in the void.

The demon prince Ugalax looked down at the burning planet beneath his feet.

His body was enormous, thirty meters tall, and covered in layers of brass armor.

Before becoming the Demon Prince, Ugalax was a Chaos Lord of the Black Legion.

He accumulated numerous military achievements during a long war lasting ten thousand years, and finally gained Khorne's favor through an epic blood sacrifice, and was promoted to the title of Demon Prince.

After his promotion, Ugalax was chosen by Vashtor to become one of the most efficient fragment collectors in the Ominous Ark fleet.

Over the past two years, he has led the Disaster Fleet to sweep across seven star sectors on the eastern edge of the galaxy.

His scourge fleet was quite large.

The core is the Ominous Ark and two heavy cruiser-class escort ships.

Around this core, more than twenty warbands from various factions of Chaos have gathered, including the Black Legion's Terminator Elite, the World Eaters' Berserker Assault Team, the Midnight Lords' Fear Tactics Experts, the Word Bearers' Ritual Order, the Thousand Sons' Wizard Group, as well as a large number of traitorous Astral Legions, three Chaos Knight families, and a traitorous Titan Legion known as the Bloodthirsty Black Ravens.

Its space combat capabilities are sufficient to overwhelm most Imperial sector fleets head-on.

This force had never encountered a real challenge in previous debris recovery missions.

The Empire's fringe world is poorly defended, and the Cataclysm fleet can complete the standard "destroy, search, recover, and leave" process in just a few days each time it arrives.

Ugalax assumed the Viola system would be just as simple.

The demon radar detected a strong fragment resonance signal in this direction.

Based on past experience, the entire process of jumping into the galaxy, clearing obstacles, landing to search, and retrieving debris takes no more than two weeks.

Then he ran into an orc.

The green-skinned army stood right between him and his target planet.

Of all the available targets, the orcs' thirst for combat against Chaos far surpasses their interest in the Tau.

The Tau's tactics consist of long-range firepower suppression, with armored squadrons using plasma cannons and missiles from several kilometers away to take down hordes of Orks.

This tactic made the Greenskins very frustrated.

The orcs call the Tau "cowardly blueskins," and although they outnumber the Tau, they never feel satisfied when they fight them.

Chaos is different.

Chaos Space Marines wear power armor, wield chainsaw swords and power axes, and prefer close-quarters melee combat.

Breaking cans is much more fun than beating up cowardly blue-skinned guys.

So when the Cataclysm fleet jumped into the Viola system, the vast majority of the orcs spontaneously turned their attention to the Chaos army, howling as they charged towards it.

Ugalax realized the seriousness of the problem in the first week.

The number of orcs is increasing.

WAAAGH is essentially a snowball effect; the more intense the war, the more Greenskins it attracts.

The WAAAGH energy signal generated by the three-way battle in Arthasmoro spread throughout the warp, like a giant, fishy-smelling bait, attracting scattered soldiers and nomadic tribes from the surrounding star systems.

Every day, new Orc warships jump out of the Warp.

Although Nazdreig is dead, new warlords have emerged.

Whoever kills the most enemies, seizes the largest territory, and shouts "WAAAGH" the loudest, becomes the new big boss.

The three-way battle in Arthasmorro became their best arena, with each warlord desperately throwing more orcs onto the battlefield.

Oshowar's visionary enclave forces roamed the edge of the battleground between the orcs and chaos.

Utilizing the mobility and precise firepower of their armor, they deliberately chose the most intense moments of combat to infiltrate the battlefield, launching surprise attacks from behind the overturned ancient statues, from the gaps in the collapsed ruins, and from the craters created by artillery fire. After reaping the spoils, they immediately withdrew.

This tactic infuriated Ugalax.

The Tau armor was too fast; by the time the Cataclysm fleet's heavy units turned to give chase, the Blueskins had already disappeared at the other end of the ruins.

What frustrated Ugalax even more was the progress of the fragment search.

The demon radar confirmed that the fragment was located somewhere in Arthasmore, but the strange planet itself was like a huge source of interference. An abnormal energy field surging from the depths of the crust covered the entire surface, making all psionic detection methods sluggish and chaotic.

Ugalax sent out psionic slaves.

But in Assamolo, they were all scrapped.

The moment a psionic slave sets foot on the surface of this planet, they will descend into complete madness within minutes.

The anomalous energy field of Assamolo acted like a massive wall of psionic noise, instantly overloading their fragile sensory systems.

They began screaming incoherently, foaming at the mouth, their eyes bloodshot, and some even spontaneously banging their heads on the ground until their skulls shattered.

Sending psionic slaves to search for debris signals in this environment is like searching for a spark on the surface of a star.

Ugalax was forced to resort to the most cumbersome method—dividing the surface of Assamolo into thousands of grid zones and then sending ground troops to search them one by one.

Use physical means to search every ruin, every temple, and every cave until you find the fragments.

The workload was so immense that even the Demon Prince wanted to curse.

And his allies are still making things difficult for him.

The Word Bearers' warband completely ignored the order to search for the fragments.

Upon arriving in Assamolo, the group of religious fanatics were immediately drawn to the ancient runes and temple ruins scattered across the surface.

They believed that these ruins contained ancient revelations from the Dark God, so they carried out large-scale blood sacrifice rituals in several temples in an attempt to interpret the meaning of the runes through sacrifice.

The wizard of the thousand children is even worse.

They had no interest in the fragments, but were fascinated by the ruins of Assamolo.

Several high-ranking wizards, along with their red-letter warriors, broke away from the main force and ventured into an ancient architectural complex half-buried underground to conduct academic research.

Ugalax sent men to recall them, but the messengers were blocked at the door by the Thousand Sons' psychic barrier. A cold reply came from inside: "The pursuit of knowledge is not bound by mortal military orders."

The World Eater has completely lost control.

After landing, they neither participated in the search nor cooperated with the tactical deployment, but instead charged at the nearest enemy and hacked wildly.

Whether it's an orc, a Tau, or even an allied Word Bearer, they'll casually slash at them a couple of times.

Ugalax roared in front of the Ark's communications station.

"A bunch of useless trash!"

"If Vashtor knew that I'd been held up for months by these idiots, he'd definitely cross my name off the recycler list!"

No one responded to his roar.

Several officers from the Black Legion next to the communications station had their heads down, pretending to be checking data terminals.

The Chaos Alliance's organizational structure was fundamentally a disorganized mess.

The worshippers of the dark gods each have their own agendas and interests.

Khorne believers want to kill, Trevor believers want to know, Nurgle believers want to spread knowledge, and Slaanesh believers want to enjoy themselves.

It's wishful thinking to expect them to maintain discipline and focus on such a tedious task as "finding the fragments."

Getting over twenty warbands who don't get along with each other to follow the same general direction is already the limit of what Ugalax has achieved as the Lord of Chaos.

The Demon Prince's lungs were filled with scorching subspace gas as he forced himself to calm down.