Warhammer, from Gothic Fleet to Azur Lane

Even the indestructible blade had to succumb to the Titan-like force. "I swear by blood, the past has always been like this sword!" The blade of the secret sword slowly cut off the gauntlet and sank into the Lion King's hand. His expression did not change at all. This was the struggle between the skeleton of the Primarch and the Skyfall Blade! Until the sword finally exploded, pieces of fragments stained with holy blood flew out.

Those are "secrets". The past of the Dark Angels was completely revealed by the lion at this moment. "Stand up, my descendants. The noble Dark Angels do not need to atone their sins in this way. I guarantee you with my name, Lion El'Jonson, and my blood - now, use swords, the blood of traitors and aliens to wash away these shames!"

What a scene! 'Silver bottle breaks and water splashes out, iron cavalry rushes out and swords and guns ring!' The splashing blood and the crisp sound of breaking shocked every inner circle warrior who was troubled by the secrets of the past. The iron-blooded men who felt what fatherly love was for the first time couldn't help but shed tears, "Is this... the feeling of someone holding up the world?"

The many secrets that had troubled them for thousands of years came to an end at this moment with the Primarch's final judgment. As the Primarch's holy blood dripped onto the ground, all the sins before today were forgiven. The former Unforgiven were transformed back into the noble First Legion after the return of the Lion King!

Cheers began to spread from nowhere, whether it was the Chapter or the Fallen Angels, they all shouted the same name - "Lion King! Lion King! Lion King!"

Azimiao gently stroked the new wound on his face. It was the scar left by the sword that the Lion King had shattered. The blood of the original body was mixed with his blood. What an honor and grace it was!

Just like a fanatical father-loving man like Horus, he was pardoned of all sins and truly broke free from the shackles of the past, just smiling foolishly. He vowed to use the glory of this day as the foundation of his new life - repainting his shoulder armor!

The new shoulder armor will be based on a shining pure black color. The white human skull will be pierced by a winged sword. The only different color will be a spot of dazzling blood on the side of the skull. That is the source of their salvation and the symbol of the Angel of Absolution - he will be the new Angel of Absolution, Azrael!

This will also be part of the new Dark Angels Legion. There are not many Dark Angels (Fallen Angels) left from the past. Even the most optimistic estimate does not exceed 10,000 (although after Luther ran away, he casually pulled in 20,000 or 30,000. Azimiao has been slacking off, right?), plus all the Unforgiven, there are less than 60,000 of them.

It was less than one-third of the Dark Angels Legion in the past, but this was normal. For example, the Ultramarines had increased fivefold in ten thousand years, and most of the Astartes in the Empire were descendants of Guilliman, which was too incredible. In this case, the inner ring of more than a thousand people, the absolute elite, was now the Angels of Absolution, and was an important force.

Although the Lion King was confident that he could conquer the Dark Angels Legion in ten thousand years with his personal charm and eternal victory alone, and he did not need the inner ring to assist in control, but some things engraved in his bones could not be changed. The old man just liked this secret society among the warriors, and he did not take the initiative to do anything ruthless like rebuilding the Knights Templar. This was the result of his restraint.

It seemed as if everything was thriving and the Dark Angels had been revived, but Ryan, who called out to Costwain to find a suitable room for himself, had a bitter look on his face after taking off his helmet.

Your enemies: the Death Guard, Thousand Sons, Word Bearers, who have retained or rebuilt their legion structures, and the Black Legion, which was built on the Sons of Horus' foundation for 10,000 years and has restored half of its legion size;

Your teammates: There are just over 5,000 of them, including the new Dark Angels who are currently in the midst of a civil war, and less than 30,000 Unforgiven reinforcements who will arrive in who knows when.

Five thousand versus three hundred thousand, the advantage is on me!

How the hell was he going to fight this? Even though he was the Lord of the First Legion, the Primarch Lion El'Jonson could not see any hope of winning. To put it bluntly, even with his legion, each man had to exchange one ship for another, and he had to fight the three Glorious Queens, the Endurance, the Radiance, and the Vengeful Spirit, plus an Abyss-class ship. The enemy's warships alone were more than the soldiers he had!

"I need a victory, but I can't even imagine how I can defeat three fallen brothers by myself." The Lion King took off his helmet and stroked his wrinkled cheeks. "I'm old, Xiaokao, I'm old! It took me five seconds to crush the sword. Five seconds!"

"It should have been just a fist... How I wish I wasn't the only one still alive in this world, even if it was Guilliman, even Russ, even Russ! Come to help me, at least talk to me, instead of some bullshit God-Emperor - someone actually called him the God-Emperor!"

"…Sorry, kid, leave me alone. Ten thousand years is a bit too long."

Chapter 131 Alpha's Covenant

When Salmin received the news from the Dark Angels again, it was eleven days later, 554.999.M41. A small team of Dark Angels came down from the special service shuttle and brought him the Lion King's "gift" - a relic of the dark technology era that could communicate in real time across star regions.

The visiting envoys were all black-armored Terminator warriors, a total of thirteen, their gorgeous armor glittering as if they were showing off their military power. Perhaps they were trying to gain some initiative in the war command, but Salmin just thought it was a little funny. Using my own people to intimidate me? It seems that the Lion King really has no one left.

The Dark Angels he sent out were naturally to supplement the Lion King's forces, but he did have the idea of ​​mixing in some sand. The Alpha Legion's intelligence network had been used too much, and he really disliked the Dark Angels, a force that he couldn't penetrate, as a friendly force - he felt very insecure, you know, and he couldn't accept what a former Iron Blood Demon would do now.

His alliance with the real Alpharius was based on him commanding the Alpha Legion and Alpharius guarding Skarrus, with both sides handing over one of their iron-clad bases to the other. The two sides shared almost all intelligence, had a clear view of the deployment of troops, and had the same enemies and goals, so they hit it off.

Alpharius only wants victory, but Llane wants more than that. Building trust is a long and difficult process, and Salmin doesn't have that much time to build a deep relationship with an old man, even if he is really charming. For this suspicious big cat, Salmin's choice is to add sand.

In other words, rather than mixing sand, it was more like the Lion King had added something else to the sand. The Dark Angels veterans who should be trusted in theory and the former Lion King's chief steward and acting legion commander, Koswayn, were just helpers that Salmin had "borrowed" to him temporarily. Well, until they died or betrayed him.

These replicas of ancient warriors from ten thousand years ago are exactly the same as the real ones. Even if two of them were confronting each other, they could not be distinguished - they are not like the relationship between Sun Wukong and Liu Er Mihou. They are simply completely identical clones, with even the unity of will and thought!

Not only the body and equipment, but also the soul. When they died, it was a real death, and their souls would return to the Golden Throne. But when the Salmin stopped paying their maintenance fees, no matter how large the army was, it would only take three weeks for it to turn into a wisp of smoke and dissipate without leaving anything behind.

The only difference between the replica and the real person is that these dark angels, actually the A-demon army, always have only one master, just like the demons have a master for their domain, the subjective and objective are unified and there is no possibility of betrayal.

Not to mention attacking Salmin, even when introducing himself to the Lion King, Koswayn would consider what to say and what not to say - many times, it is better to have no information at all than to firmly believe that correct but incomplete information, and this is exactly what Salmin needs. A one-sided understanding from the beginning can save him a lot of trouble.

For example, if Alpharius' identity was used as the starting point, he would not be able to live in peace for the next hundreds or thousands of years. It is normal for former traitors to be suspected. However, whether it is the high-ranking lord admiral of the Misty Star Region or the governor of the Dread Shield Star Region, they are no more noble than a speck of dust in front of the Emperor's Children, a Primarch.

It is unrealistic to compare the Primarchs, these demigods locked in human bodies, with mortals. Treating mortals equally is their nobility rather than common sense. The basis of cooperation is equal status. Salmin wanted someone to help him share the pressure, to find an ally who can work part-time with the pendant of +8 morale, not to find a father for himself.

Therefore, Costwain's introduction is very intriguing - they received help from the Alpha Legion, and learned the important information that the Lion King was sleeping in the Stone Fortress in exchange for assisting Alpha in defeating the Black Legion and protecting Cadia.

First, they jointly shot down one-third of the Black Legion's fleet on the nameless planet of Jubal, and the Planet Killer and the Glorious Queen's Doomsday Omen were sunk on the spot. Alpharius killed Carlos, the chief demon of Tzeentch, and he also severely injured Abaddon, the Chaos Warmaster, in the midst of thousands of troops. By beheading him, he defeated the Chaos coalition in one fell swoop and destroyed the reputation of the Lion King.

Even on the eve of their search for the traces of the Stone Fortress, the Alpha Legion happened to catch the Thousand Sons Legion in a stalemate with the Death Guard and the Black Legion and launched a surprise attack on the Eye of Terror, vowing to kick the Thousand Sons Legion, the smallest in number, out of the Black Crusade stage in one fell swoop.

This is really too loyal and full of martial virtue, and it is in sharp contrast to the whole process of wandering around and the son's sacrifice during the rebellion. Alpharius's rebellion is the only good news the Lion King has received now, of course, the premise is that everything Corswayen said is true.

"Yesterday I thought about even if Russ came to help me, but this is a bit too crazy - the weird brother who once betrayed my father rebelled again during the ten thousand years I was asleep. It's like... like a dream." The Lion King, who had a better mentality than Guilliman and only locked himself up for one day, said so.

Well, if we compare them like this, Guilliman would say, what the hell am I facing, and what is the situation that the Lion King is facing now. Even though the time difference is only more than a year, this is the difference between having a glimmer of hope and facing a dead body!

"Your Highness, we have no choice. Facing four legions and three primarchs, it is better to have one more friend than one more enemy. And if the new Lord Alpharius is up to something, there is no need to bother with him." - The defense of the Shield of Dread is almost supported by Salmin alone, and your information was also provided by him. He did not say all of this, and there is no need to say it.

"The new Alpharius..." He had never seen the man who went by the alias of Salmin, but he had to admit that for him, any ray of power that could be gained was necessary. If Salmin was friendly, he would apologize for his arrogance and prejudice; but if Salmin was a hidden venomous snake, he would cut off the snake's head, no matter how many!

Although they had a temporary trustworthy ally, the Dark Angels Legion itself was still too weak. Even including the released Fallen Angels and the wounded on both sides who could fight, there were only 5,262 warriors who could fight at this time.

The Stone Fortress that was boarded became a pure target within two or three months, and the Emperor-class battleship was retired on the spot. Apart from that, there were only the two remaining battle flagships, 7 strike cruisers, and 12 escort ship squadrons of the Dark Angels Chapter that were available - well, it was much better than the treatment he had theoretically when he woke up, at least he had the Terminator Glory Guards and battleships.

I don't want to parade 9700 victorious troops like Guilliman did, but the dignified Primarch should at least not use mortal guards and pickup trucks. As it is now, he has twice the fleet of a regular chapter and five times the Astartes, plus the top combat power Primarchs that are out of print and limited in the Warhammer universe. It doesn't look like much, but it's more than enough to fight him in Apocalypse.

Chapter 132 The Lion is Here

"It seems that the situation is much better than I thought before. Salmin, he has done a lot." After receiving the information from Corswayn, the star map of the Dark Angels in front of the Lion King has changed. "Except for Agrippina and the western foothills of the Cadia star sector, all have been recovered."

"Most of the scattered warbands were destroyed in Jubal, and one-third of the Black Legion's fleets and warriors also ended their sinful lives there. The Death Guard was dragged to the Kanzan-Fremas-Kalessus line, and the Thousand Sons Legion will lose at least one-third of its combat power under the surprise attack of Alpha's main force." Looking at it this way, the situation seems to be pretty good.

Looking at the slightly crude star map, the Lion King gave his own judgment, "The only problem lies with the Word Bearers and Agrippina. The arrival of the Word Bearers will break the balance of the front line, and the collapse of the western front of Cadia will be catastrophic. And if Agrippina's Forge World falls into the hands of Chaos, the balance of the war will also be unbalanced."

"It seems that as the surprise troops, we have to be particularly useful." Betting on a surprise attack on Fremas to break the deadlock on the front line and have a head-on decisive battle, or first completely recapture Agrippina and steadily advance, step by step, are enough to affect the direction of this grand chess game that goes beyond Revelation.

It seems like there are two choices, but in fact there is only one for the Lion King - what a familiar choice. Just like before he fell asleep, only this time, he didn't want to miss it again! The baton with laser pointer drew a gorgeous trajectory in the air, piercing through the planet on the star map. "Gather my legion and recapture Fremas!"

"Coswayn, I appoint you as the new Six-Winged Grand Master of the Dark Angels, and Commander of the First Legion. Reorganize the Dark Angels based on the members of the Legion, and I grant you the right to levy blood taxes and compulsory conscription! Gene seeds are no longer a problem, but what I want is a team of warriors that at least have a preliminary combat capability, and expand to 50,000 within 20 years."

"Azrael, I grant you the honor of being the Lord of the Angels of Absolution. Continue to send star messages with Ezekiel to recruit warriors from the Dark Angels and other companies. Do not hide my presence, just say 'Here is the Lion!' - When the repairs to the Monolith Fortress are complete, I will give that giant moth a good kick in the ass!"

The Dark Angels' limited number of people can't even fill the battlefield of the legion level, but if they are not attacking the enemy's defense line, it is still no problem to infiltrate the friendly control area by small boats. "You have the identification code of Cadia, send another team, take the fastest ship to Cadia. I want to meet this new Alpharius."

The flashback ends here. For Salmin, this is indeed his first contact with the Lion King. Thanks to the true friends who respectfully handed him the walkie-talkie and synchronized a round of intelligence for him in detail, this first impression was not very good.

The ancient relic from the Dark Age of Technology was quite useful, with only a little distortion and noise, but it could connect two star regions together. This kind of secrecy and speed was incomparable to astrologers. Of course, there was no comparison between the unique ancient relic and the common conventional communication.

What he saw was not a human face, but a gorgeous yet majestic helmet with delicate wings that were almost arrogant. It was directly pressed against the face of Salmin who was sitting on the command seat. "Is this your sincerity? I originally thought that you were just old physically. Is it because of fear or cowardice? Your Highness the Lion King~"

"... Now I believe you are not him, but you still have the Alpha Legion's stinking smell!" The words were not nice, but there was no emotion in them. The first and last legions were both related to secrets, but one was to keep secrets, and the other was to search.

"In terms of deeds, not intentions - you don't even need to believe me. You have to believe, and believe completely, that we are fighting for a common cause, for the future of mankind! Our army, the Astartes and the mortals, will sweep the four legions and their masters who tried to maintain a destroyed future into the dustbin of history!"

“That’s all,” Salmin added.

"Behind me are trillions of Imperial citizens who have been fighting for my ideal, for the survival of all mankind with their heads held high - or to put it in words that you can understand better, they are the 13th Battle Group of the Sunlight Fleet, the Armageddon Iris Battle Fleet, the Vichy Battle Fleet, the White Eagle Battle Fleet, the Sakura Battle Fleet, the First and Second Interceptor Fleets of Cadia, the Shield of Cadia Battle Fleet, the Alpha Legion Fleet, the Black Templars Eternal Expedition Fleet, the Flesh Tearers Fleet, the Conquerors Fleet, the Night Watch Fleet, the Exemplary Warrior Fleet, the Black Archon Fleet -"

"It includes more than 8,000 warships, including the flagship of the Human Empire, the Emperor's Dream, ten Queen of Glory battleships, twenty super warships, and forty-six battleships! It is even more than thousands of army groups and even more interstellar legions, nearly 100 billion of humanity's most elite warriors!"

After naming all the dishes in one breath, Salmin opened the porthole of the command room directly, allowing the Lion King to witness in the most intuitive way this nation-destroying fleet that stretched from this part of the star sea to the other side of the star. The two equally silent fleets were looking at each other, waving their 'tentacles' that could easily wipe out an entire star region outside the range!

Each fleet had the ability to completely wipe out the Tau Empire, a new race that had intruded into the ancient giants' amusement park, with a single attack. A rash attack by either side would mean the sacrifice of at least thousands of warships crisscrossing the starry seas and billions of naval officers and soldiers. Even a powerful Primarch could not guarantee that he would survive such a battle.

The price of victory or defeat is so painful that ultra-long-range shit-throwing has become the main theme of this insurmountable stalemate, but both sides have to push all their warships as much as possible to avoid real losses. This is a never-ending arms race until one side completely collapses!

Ryan, who missed the peak of the Terra siege fleet battle, had never seen such a situation in his hundreds of years of fighting career. Even the most tragic Battle of Randan did not see such a grand scene of tens of thousands of warships confronting each other between two star systems. The Dark Angels were no longer the First Legion backed by the Empire ten thousand years ago. They were too weak and powerless.

"...what can I do?" For the lion, honor and dignity are important, but the Emperor and the human empire are what he values ​​most. He will admit his weakness, all for victory.

"The main force of the Sakura Empire's battle fleet and part of the Alpha Legion's fleet are heading to Caliban. This force will temporarily obey your orders. The Glorious Queen-class battleship Saratoga and two Damocles-class super battleships, two Shana-class mechanical arks, two Agamemnon-class high-speed battleships, 12 Overlord-class battlecruisers, and 10 Styx-class battlecruisers."

"Create an opportunity in Fremas, and then the Emperor's Dream will shatter everything!"

Chapter 133 The two sides fully exchanged views

The reinforcements were unexpected, but the Lion King was not as happy as he had imagined - the two huge fleets that could easily burn the current Dark Angels Legion were actually just the "tailgating perverts" that the former traitor, Alpharius, who went by the alias of Salmin, casually transferred.

There is no doubt that the fleet so close to him must not be the Kamen Riders who happened to pass by. Rather, it is the Armageddon Heavy Sakura Battle Fleet and the Alpha Legion Second Fleet that came around from the two directions of Caliban to block him, and their malice is written on their faces. If he really has no idea about him, he can even dance with Russ!

The good news is that Alpharius seems to have really defected again. Otherwise, there is no need to give him any identification code or message. A Glorious Queen with six battleships does not even need to enter the close combat boarding phase. A hard throw across tens of thousands of kilometers can turn them into a pile of garbage in the universe.

Weakness once again hurt the dignity of the Lion King. Having a loyal ally who is strong enough can barely be considered a good thing, but the relationship between him and Alpharius is more than just plastic brothers. Not to mention watching his brothers drive a Land Rover, even if this traitor who had extricated himself from that fierce battle in the past showed a slight improvement, it would be more painful for him to have his own legion completely dismantled!

"Damn Guilliman!" Shinobu became more and more angry the more he thought about it. The Lion King couldn't blame the Alpha Legion for accumulating so much wealth after 10,000 years of recuperation. But leaving aside the facts, if Guilliman hadn't taken advantage of his disappearance to split his legion into some crappy battle groups - could he now lead a legion of more than 100,000 to win the glory of the main attack?

The lion cursed and let out a long breath. But what could he do? Guilliman was his brother after all, a brother who had died under Fulgrim's sword ten thousand years ago. Everything was in the past, and those who lived in the present had to look forward. He comforted himself and swallowed his anger. Of course, the premise was that Guilliman was really dead, but was he dead?

Who knows...

The Lion King didn't know, nor did he want to know - because the Salmin in front of him had given him another hard time. "Alpha's decision to turn to the light is a top secret. You know, in such a large-scale battle, the effect of unilateral intelligence transparency is far greater than that of tens of thousands of superhuman warriors bound by gravity."

Of course, the Astartes are Space Marines, not the Gundams with high per capita anti-ship firepower. Warhammer warships are not those so-called cruisers of 200 meters with thin skin and big fillings. Even if an Astartes company wants to suppress a mortal cruiser, it will take at least ten hours and up to several days of the bloodiest mincing.

In the large fleet battles that Salmin had experienced, let alone the cruisers that served as the main battleships because the Imperial Navy was too poor, even the battleships, the absolute commanders of the star sea, could not survive more than ten hours on the battle line! When the distance reached the farthest boarding distance of 4500 kilometers, the life of the battleship would drop sharply to a few dozen minutes.

Once the void shield was penetrated, what greeted them would not be the lightning strike from the very near - but the light spears shot from the enemy ships in front of them from the distant shore, like hyenas snatching food! The ship's hull, which was hundreds of meters thick, was not enough to stand up to the light spears. It only took a stick of incense to turn a majestic fine gold craft into a lump of molten iron.

Neither side was the kind of old peasant in the Empire who regarded the Astartes as great gods in the sea of ​​stars. Even the most elite supermen could not play much of an advantage in a pure naval battle. This was a fact, but the Lion King did not understand why Salmin mentioned this. Did he not want to send troops? But wouldn't the fleet's consumption be greater and more difficult to replenish?

"So, I hope to temporarily use the Dark Angels' organization and paint to camouflage myself until the moment when the Alpha Legion lifts the shadows and reveals its fangs."

The black guy showed his chicken feet, but the lion king never thought that Salmin coveted this kind of thing. Borrowing paint is a small thing, but it is also a big thing, especially between the primarchs, it is just a nod. But what made him hesitate was "Why?" His intuition told him that Salmin's purpose was far more than this.

Of course, after allocating 5000DA to the Lion King as start-up capital to supplement the legion, a certain philanthropist who invested 100% and held 0% of the shares still held another 25000 troops, as well as nearly gene seeds accumulated through high-intensity sacrifices during this period, and various weapons, armor, various types of vehicles and dreadnoughts sufficient to arm large companies.

You can't just cut these things and burn them, or give them to the Lion King for free as a gift. With this consensus, whether Salmin is calling in a disguised Dark Angel or a very well disguised Dark Angel is still a matter of words. During this period when the Lion King urgently needs to quickly rebuild the legion, this batch of supplies is enough to make him temporarily blind.

As for the post-war period? It was so funny. He had already survived the 13th Black Crusade. What other reason did he have to use these Dark Angels? He could just divide the territory and enjoy it for a few hundred years. Anyway, the Lion King and the Thirteenth Prince would work illegally for Old Man Huang. One more or one less would not make a difference - as long as he could survive this most difficult period.

"Equipment for ten great companies, of the Dark Angels style, including Dreadnoughts, oh, now called Holy Dreadnoughts, and regular armored forces. And... the command of the Cadia ground battlefield!"

"...Okay!" Sorry, he gave too much. The thousands of armors and weapons stored in the Dark Angels' arsenal were too much for the Chapter, but they were not able to arm even a large company. The Dark Angels had their own casting system, but the problem was that the Lion King didn't have that much time. If he waited for hundreds or thousands of years, the opportunity would be gone!

After giving sufficient compensation, it was as if nothing had ever been mentioned. Salmin gained the Super Palu who worked for him on the ground, and Palu gained the necessary supplies to maintain and rebuild the legion he had always dreamed of, although this legion would also be completely thrown into the meat grinder of the Thirteenth Black Crusade.

Born here, die here.

After the transaction was completed, it was complete garbage time. Regarding the war deployment, the two sides had a full exchange of views (no agreement was reached, and there was a fierce argument), and enhanced their understanding of each other (the two sides had huge differences).

The talks were beneficial (the goals of both sides are far apart for the time being, so it's good to be able to sit down and talk), but Salmin was reserved about the Lion King's request (we refused to agree), and the Lion King also expressed great indignation that Salmin regarded them as a feint force in a naval battle (I can't do anything to you now).

Even so, Salmin could feel the Lion King gradually relaxing. There were only two types of diplomatic relations in Warhammer - a life-and-death struggle and good relations. Being able to talk, even if it was just a quarrel over some points, was already a signal of peace sent by both sides. Only those who tried to clarify the relationship and interests were true allies.

"I will win everything because I am Lion El'Jonson." Finally, it was this declaration that ended the pre-war meeting.

Chapter 1: Cadia Outpost Battle ()

The twelve large companies led by Saratoga and twelve thousand soldiers of the Alpha Legion will be camouflaged in the boulders, and the total of more than seventeen thousand soldiers will, under the leadership of the Lion King, board the two Shana-class mechanical arks and disguise themselves as the Black Oil Man's fleet to infiltrate the Chaos Fleet.

Except for the ten Styx-class battlecruisers for escort, the rest of the fleet will wait outside the identification distance, waiting for the opportunity to expand the chaos caused by the decapitation of the fallen primarch by the lion. Then, it will be the turn for the main fleet of Salmin to attack from the front battlefield. As long as the Lion King can do what he promised, Salmin will naturally not be stingy with his fleet strength.

Just like many battles in this world, the only chance for the weaker side to turn the tables lies in the sacred close combat. As long as the Lion King launches an attack and beheads the enemy's leader, everything will be fine.

This was undoubtedly a huge gamble. Salmin provided as much information as possible about the Chaos warships and Mortarion that had infiltrated the battlefield, even including a Glorious Queen-class ship girl and 17,000 Astartes. There was no doubt that this was his limit. He was betting on whether the Lion King could create a miracle.

Except for Saratoga, which was protected from sinking in one battle by a major damage, he pushed all the other ships to one end of the scale, ending this endless war of attrition.

There were some things he hadn't told the Lion King - he could still hold on, but the citizens behind him and the soldiers in front of him couldn't. It was easy to say that the battle line was maintained before the Kalesus line, but compared to the defense of the corner of Icardia in the original text, it was tens of thousands of times longer, and the geometric increase in supplies was enough to drag down any organization!

Not to mention other scattered consumption, but the promethium burned, steel shot out, and coolant poured out by these nearly 10,000 warships, the shortest of which is more than 1,000 meters, every day is more than hundreds of billions of tons! How much is the cost of maintaining the consumption of the hundreds of billions of navy and army soldiers in the war and the food and clothing of the nearly hundreds of billions of the empire's people?

All Mortarion and Magnus needed to maintain were the supplies of the two hundred thousand Chaos Astartes and tens of millions of elite Chaos Followers. As for the others? Eating each other was not something worth stopping, and Chaos Daemons and Corrupted Warships did not need any supplies from the material universe.

Every minute and every second, countless demons, especially the fucking Nurgle demons, praise their gods, roar and fill this furnace composed of the wrath and blades of the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Guard, and then nothing will be left except the annoying corruption.

He originally thought that the victory of the surprise attack on the Thousand Sons Legion was just the beginning of the counterattack, but he didn't expect that this would be the final battle. Both sides used the most traditional method of building a stronghold and fighting a stupid battle. No one could gain an advantage on the front battlefield by taking shortcuts. There were only meaningless sacrifices that had to continue.

The mortal troops, not only the Imperial Guards, but even the navy, which had a slightly easier time, showed signs of decline after two months of continuous fierce fighting, and he could do nothing but use the most scientific algorithm for rotation.

The attack led by the Emperor's Dream had been carried out twice. Relying on its Void Shield that was even superior to that of the Queen of Glory class and its super-fast recovery rate, it managed to withstand the salvo fire of thousands of Chaos warships in the effective attack range for half an hour, but ultimately returned empty-handed.

The cost of damaging the flagship and using up the weekly quick repair to replace dozens of cruisers, escorts and a mere battleship was not only dangerous, but the two unsuccessful proactive attacks were also a big loss to morale. Since then, the Salmin Organization has only organized rounds of small-scale attacks with superior forces.

Each super-battle had the firepower and strong survivability to suppress two conventional battleships when fighting, and a "small-scale conflict" involving more than three super-battles could not only lay the foundation for a regional victory, but also would not force the enemy to gather heavy forces and fight a decisive battle before observing the movement of the super-sized flagship Emperor's Dream.

This lengthy and blood-letting tactic of constant small victories but no big ones was one of his rare gains during this period. Before confirming that the Lion King had awakened and was able to launch an attack, his only strategy was to fight back against the enemy and weaken the Chaos Navy's combat power to the point where the Emperor's Dream would be able to break through before it was completely sunk, before the army's front line was pushed to Cadia by endless demons.

However, the blood and sacrifices that would be involved in a war of this magnitude would be too horrific even from the Empire's perspective. Decades of stalemate would inevitably bring hunger, cold and death to trillions of humans in the entire Dread Shield region. That would be the cost of tens of billions of naval and land forces and five to ten times the number of civilians.

It was not just a series of numbers that required scientific notation. It involved the resource hell of countless people who had just ushered in the planned economy and were well fed. It was an elegy of blood and tears from the war years that Salmin could not and dared not bear. Therefore, even if he could see the dawn of victory, he had to gamble!

If the people of several star sectors are placed on the two ends of the scale, and 17,000 Astartes and a large star sector fleet are placed on both ends of the scale, there may be only two people in the world who have the idea and ability to choose the former. Fortunately, Salmin is one of them. This is a wrong choice, but one that should be proud of.

The communication with the Lion King had been disconnected, but he still leaned against the porthole in the command room, staring at the burning galaxy. The Emperor's Vision's main gun was slowly pushing the invincible ship backwards. Yes, he could feel every touch and the Emperor's Vision's hungry roar for war and destruction.

But he couldn't - he couldn't move out when the enemy's main force hadn't moved. This was a two-way constraint. Waiting, then swallowing this desire alone, Salmin continued to look at the star field that bound his soul. The twinkling lights were just a series of not grand but fierce wars.

——That was Chao Zhan, the stage for his girls.

"This is the flagship of the Sixth Mixed Fleet, the Arbiter-class command carrier of the White Eagle Battle Group, Lord Admiral Essex! I will take over the command of the AD-26 theater. The Agamemnon-class battleship 'Voice of the Knight' will be pulled up from the side and cross-strike."

The Lord Admiral who was commanding the battle involving several battleships was actually an illegal queen with a very girlish look. However, compared with her daily cuteness, Essex at this moment was filled with majesty and solemnity. The power armor, which was heavier than that of an ordinary Astartes, only revealed her face with curly long hair.