In the Moranson Federation, the once-magnificent palace walls were now nothing but broken ruins.
It had once been a beautiful cathedral where powerful and wise gods were worshipped, but now, with the arrival of the man before them and his army, everything was gone.
The Sacrificing King lay on the ground, gasping for breath.
As expected, he had been defeated in his confrontation with The Emperor; his psychic attacks hadn’t even managed to scratch the ornate armor on his opponent’s body.
His unit of Psykers had also all perished beneath the spears of the golden army.
“I once cautioned you; everything you face today is merely the consequence of your own actions.”
The Emperor spoke coldly.
He had warned the other party not to make contact with Them, yet the man had remained obstinate and had even gone so far as to sacrifice the people of an entire city-state.
“Heh, it seems no one can stop you now, can they, King of Terra?” the Sacrificing King spoke mockingly.
“It is the King of Mankind.”
“A single Terra can no longer satisfy your ambition?
Heh, you will eventually be consumed by it.”
The Emperor was about to speak when he was interrupted by another voice.
“Screw you!
You old fossil, still here blabbering on.” Morningstar rushed over at that moment, and upon arrival, she raised her long legs and kicked the Sacrificing King ten meters away.
As she spoke, Morningstar waved her hand at The Emperor: “Don’t misunderstand, Dad, I wasn’t talking about you.” Then, pointing at the Sacrificing King, she cursed loudly: “I’m talking about this bastard who sacrifices thousands of people for his own plans at the drop of a hat!
The king of bastards, the lowest of the low!
I should just punch him right in the face, and then…”
?
Are you insulting me by pointing at him?
The Emperor really couldn’t keep a straight face anymore.
He reached out and covered Morningstar’s mouth: “It seems you’ve been quite idle lately.
Should I find some time to spar with you?”
“Haha, uh, I suddenly remembered I came here for serious business.
You go ahead and finish up, Dad.” With that, Morningstar slipped away without looking back.
The Emperor turned his gaze back to the Sacrificing King: “Do you have anything else to say?”
“Is she your weapon?”
“She is my daughter.”
“You know full well what she truly is.”
The Emperor spoke no more.
He raised the Sword of the Emperor high, and as the longsword fell, the Moranson Federation officially became part of the Empire…
“So, Dad, did you figure anything out?”
The Emperor examined the ring in his hand: “A clever little device.
It only has simple signal reception and feedback functions, though it’s currently unclear what is on the other end of the signal.”
“Dad, is it possible for Nathanduum to use this thing to…” Morningstar had heard that Nathanduum could control people’s thoughts, and she was terrified that he could use this little gadget to brainwash others.
“Unlikely.
If it were that simple, the enemy would have controlled all of Terra long ago.”
“Then Dad, what he said…”
“Do not underestimate it, but do not blindly believe it either.
Go ahead and do what you must.
If worst comes to worst, I will personally make a trip.”
Morningstar suddenly relaxed.
Right, if the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up.
As long as The Emperor was still here, the sky wouldn’t collapse…
“Iligos, summon all the Legion Primarchs from the eastern battlefield.”
Returning to her own command tent, Morningstar immediately gathered all the officers.
“I am making the following deployments: except for the First Legion, which will serve as the general reserve, all other Legions will break into smaller units.
Divide into tactical squads of about three hundred men to infiltrate the Pan-Pacific Empire.”
“The regions each Legion is responsible for will be sent to the commanders after the meeting.
Your mission is to destroy all vital factories, transportation hubs, and other key facilities in your assigned areas.
Remember, you are not allowed to engage in any conflict with the enemy without my orders.
Prioritize preserving your strength above all else.
Retreat once the mission is complete—even if it’s not complete, retreat.
Absolutely no conflicts are allowed before the general offensive.”
“Furthermore, unless I am personally present to give orders, all decisions are left to the discretion of the Legion commanders.
Aside from reporting intelligence to me, no communication between Legions is permitted.
Do not trust any information unless it comes from me or The Emperor in person.”
“Yes!”
No one objected.
A warrior’s code was to execute orders.
Out of trust for Morningstar, no one would say a single ‘no’ even if she ordered them to their deaths.
Morningstar frowned, occasionally flipping through the ring in her hand.
Didn’t Nathanduum know everything?
Fine, she’d let him know.
I’m telling you openly that I’m going to cause trouble.
If you come, I’ll run; if you stop chasing, I’ll keep causing trouble.
Morningstar understood that Nathanduum was an arrogant man; he wouldn’t just explode because of Morningstar’s harassment.
People like him would always think everything was under control unless they were pushed to a dead end.
But it didn’t matter.
He could hold onto his army of five hundred thousand Men of Iron and continue being arrogant.
He could afford to wait, but his country could not.
Cut off their reinforcements and sever their supplies.
If you’ve got the guts, come to the Empire for a fight and see who’s tougher.
Morningstar roughly understood Nathanduum’s thoughts.
The ring might be real, and the tampering on it was also real.
He was gambling, and Morningstar was gambling too.
He bet that Morningstar would proactively put on the ring to avoid a direct confrontation with his army of Men of Iron.
Even if the one who put it on wasn’t Morningstar, whoever was allowed to wear it would definitely be someone the Empire trusted implicitly.
Either way, he would profit.
Crushing the ring with a casual squeeze, Morningstar looked into the distance, her gaze cold and her body radiating a terrifying aura.
The opponent was undoubtedly the most troublesome enemy Morningstar had faced since coming to this world, but he was not invincible.
If Morningstar couldn’t even defeat him, how could she talk about facing various xenos and the Chaos Gods later?
Oh, right.
Someone like Nathanduum—ambitious, intelligent, and mysteriously knowledgeable about the Warp—couldn’t have been sent by a certain big blue bird, right…
[Open me and you shall gain endless knowledge; I will let you know everything you wish to know.
Come, open me.]
Nathanduum was flipping through a book in his hand, while on the other side of the bookshelf, a book with a black cover made noisy sounds from time to time.
“Enough.
If I want to know something, do I really need you?”
Nathanduum didn’t even give it a glance as he turned and walked away.
Tzeentch: Oh, interesting…
Morningstar’s guerrilla tactics were soon put into effect.
Large numbers of energy plants and transportation hubs in the Pan-Pacific Empire were destroyed.
Unexpectedly, Nathanduum made no response.
Every time, he just went through the motions, sending some Men of Iron to chase them half-heartedly, as if those losses were insignificant to him.
Morningstar understood; he was playing a game of endurance with her.
Originally, Morningstar’s plan was that even if she didn’t deal a crippling blow, she would at least force the enemy to scatter their forces as much as possible.
But she hadn’t expected this “dead pig unafraid of boiling water” attitude.
Nathanduum was clearly stating: I’m not moving, what can you do to me?
But why?
If Nathanduum just wanted to keep his territory from being occupied by the Empire, he could have simply driven the Thunder Warriors out and then lined up his army at the border for isolationism.
That would be better than holding out while his home was being torn apart.
Morningstar thought for a moment and reached a startling conclusion.
“No way…”
No, it’s possible!
Very possible!
Judging by his behavior when they met, he might actually have a twisted desire for her.
Thus, his behavior made sense; he was waiting for her.
As long as she didn’t show her face, he would wait her out.
But could she afford to wait?
No.
On one hand, she still had to study genetic knowledge to solve the genetic flaws of the Thunder Warriors and Astartes; on the other hand, Slaanesh was about to be born.
The Empire had to take advantage of the moment Slaanesh’s birth scream blew away the Warp storms to launch the Great Crusade.
Therefore, Terra had to be unified and integrated before then.
Finally, according to the intelligence sent back by the Thunder Warriors, the Pan-Pacific Empire had at least two billion civilians.
Wouldn’t the Empire’s massive destruction ultimately harm the civilians?
The Emperor wouldn’t intervene either.
Anyone with eyes could see this was a test The Emperor had given Morningstar.
Unless a major problem occurred, The Emperor would absolutely not interfere.
“Dammit, I’m going all in against him.”
Gritting her teeth, Morningstar intended to personally make a trip to Oceania.
No matter what means the opponent had, let him bring them on.
She was a Primarch; could she really be afraid of him?
If things really went south, she’d just shout “Dad, come here!” and call for backup.
How could she lose?