Lunar Forge World.
Massive foundries sprawled across the surface, spewing steam and faintly radiating golden psychic light.
Whoosh—
A strike cruiser tore through the atmosphere and descended slowly, its hull gleaming with the golden sun sigil under the illumination.
Brilliant and radiant.
It was the chariot of the Great Savior.
Upon seeing this, the tech-priests and workers of the forge world all saluted the ship.
"This is the final stop, right?"
Eden yawned and strolled off the ship. Draped in robes threaded with precious tals, he exuded a lazy yet noble aura.
After wrapping up the matters at the chanicum Forum, he returned to Urth and began a multi-day inspection tour.
He was personally examining the progress of key projects across his territory.
Currently, the domain was pushing forward several critical research endeavors—
Like decoding the Panacea.
The goal of the dical Research Institute was to unlock the associated technology in order to manufacture targeted, low-cost dicines to treat plagues.
However, since the Panacea was a product of the Golden Age, the technology was extrely advanced. Thus, the decoding progress...
Was painstakingly slow.
Still, Eden had issued an uncompromising order: no matter the cost or ti, this must be researched to completion.
Because in the near future, a horrific plague would sweep across the galaxy, claiming the lives of countless humans.
It would be a plague war waged by the Chaos God Nurgle against humanity.
Hardly any civilized world would be spared.
Eden didn't even want to imagine how many people would die in his domain, how devastating the blow would be.
Fortunately, there was still ti. And there were ways to prepare in advance.
Besides this, with the vast amounts of technical data acquired at the chanicum Forum, a new generation of equipnt was also in developnt.
This was primarily focused on full-body armor for regular humans.
A highly experintal design ahead of its ti—riddled with challenges.
Just protecting against Chaos corruption alone was enough to give the researchers migraines.
The Warp was a spiritual realm.
A Greater Daemon of Chaos could shatter the will of mortals on sight, even corrode and control their minds.
In such cases, no matter how strong the armor, it would be aningless.
Might as well just give every soldier a ltagun—score a hit and that's already a win.
Of course, one had to dream. If such equipnt could be developed, that would be the ideal outco.
With powerful resource support, Eden could then have an infinite supply of scaled-down Astartes among his mortal forces.
"Savior, my lord,"
The head of the heavy vehicle division greeted respectfully. "The testing grounds are ready. We can begin the demonstration of the new equipnt at any ti."
"Then let's go..."
Eden boarded the transport and headed to the testing site.
He was quite looking forward to the new gear—after all, these were big toys, the kind n dread of...
Soon, the vehicle arrived at a colossal testing ground, several kiloters tall.
Boom boom boom—
As Eden stepped off, he heard the heavy, tallic thuds of machinery.
A towering six-ter-tall, crimson-colored Dreadnought stomped into view—developed entirely by the domain's own Dreadnought Research Institute.
It was dubbed the Redemption-class Mk I Dreadnought.
Though its body was bulky, unlike the Imperium's Dreadnoughts, it featured streamlined design principles.
Far more agile in appearance.
Currently, all Dreadnoughts, Knights, and Titans produced by the domain had semi-automated piloting modes installed.
This reduced ntal strain, allowing more people to pilot these massive war machines.
There were three piloting tiers implented.
Tier One could be easily handled by well-trained ordinary pilots.
Tier Two was a semi-automated, fully neural-linked mode akin to the Imperium's thod.
Much harder to control.
Reserved for geniuses or those with special piloting talent—though regular skilled pilots could manage it for short bursts, assuming they weren't worried about brain damage.
As for Tier Three, it employed Titan-grade plasma reactor recoil-start tech.
A blazing overload mode.
Exclusively for legends and heroes.
Ordinary pilots could activate this in critical monts for a do-or-die gambit—
But they'd likely end up in the ICU... or dead on the spot.
Still, for the Imperium of Man, where loyalty and sacrifice reigned supre, this was a necessary and valuable feature.
Delivering a fatal blow to humanity's enemies through necessary sacrifice—to save countless others—was a price worth paying...
Humanity's survival in the hellscape of the galaxy had relied heavily on brutal sacrifice.
Eden sighed slightly and refocused, his gaze returning to the crimson Dreadnought.
At the mont, it was performing a variety of complex maneuvers, testing its flexibility.
Beep beep beep—
An alarm sounded.
It marked the beginning of the test.
Researchers began retreating, leaving only the massive battlefield simulation zone—and the crimson Dreadnought—behind.
Eden followed them back to the shielded observation platform.
After all, the Dreadnought's firepower was intense. One stray heavy explosive shell or storm cannon burst...
Could easily cause injuries.
Rumble—
The far-side gate of the test area opened, and a familiar-looking Dreadnought strode forth.
Eden imdiately recognized it: "Isn't that the Contemptor Dreadnought the heavy-armor sneaky lads dragged out last ti?"
It was thanks to that Contemptor that the domain had initially acquired the tech to build Dreadnoughts.
And had gained a bonus in the form of the millennia-old veteran Colin, now a Space Marine instructor.
It seed the research institute was pitting the Imperial Dreadnought against the new Redemption Mk I for a trial match...
To assess the performance of the new model.
The Contemptor had been restored quite well, except for a data cable trailing from its back—
Likely simulating a neural link for piloting.
Once the two Dreadnoughts closed in, they halted.
The next instant—
BOOM—
They raised their primary weapons and unleashed a ferocious bombardnt: explosive shells, heavy cannons, plasma blasts pouring out in torrents.
Under the withering fire—
The obstacles were shredded like paper.
Neither Dreadnought dodged; it was pure firepower suppression.
Clearly, the crimson Redemption Mk I had superior firepower and stronger defenses.
Clang clang clang!
The Contemptor's shield failed first.
Its fra took direct hits.
Seeing this, the Redemption ceased fire, standing firm under the enemy's continued assault.
Seconds later, its own shields collapsed as well.
Thud thud thud—
The two machines ceased fire and charged forward for brutal lee combat.
They targeted each other's weak spots with savage close-combat weapons.
For a mont, the air rang with the clash of tal.
"You think... that crimson Dreadnought pilot holds a grudge against the Contemptor? He's going way too hard."
Eden watched wide-eyed as the crimson ch unleashed a vicious beating, its agility overwhelming the Contemptor, then dug into it with its power claw—
Flattening it completely.
Buzz—
Green lights flashed.
The observation shield dropped.
Researchers rushed in with engineering vehicles and testing instrunts.
Ready to retrieve the data imdiately.
Soon, the crimson Dreadnought's cockpit opened, and Colin leapt down—clearly in good spirits.
"So it was this guy—no wonder he took it personally..."
Eden approached. Upon seeing Colin, he understood imdiately.
After all, this veteran had suffered millennia of inhuman tornt trapped inside that old Dreadnought.
The old models were hot, cramped, and a physical and spiritual nightmare.
Eden smiled and asked,
"Colin, how's the new Dreadnought feel?"
"Praise the Emperor..."
Colin's eyes shimred as painful mories flickered in his mind. "The new Dreadnought feels heavenly—an absolute delight. No doubt about it—my old tin can was hell incarnate!!!"
He wasn't wrong.
Compared to the old model, piloting the new Redemption-class was pure pleasure.
Now, all the research institutes had adopted the Savior's design philosophy—ensuring comfort without sacrificing performance.
For example, this crimson Dreadnought—
Not only did it have an air circulation system, but also temperature regulation—
Maintaining a cabin temperature ideal for human comfort.
Even the seats were ergonomically designed—comfortable and soft, enabling smoother control.
They even added a compact hot-cold storage unit so pilots could replenish their energy with delicious als anyti.
When poor: rely on tactics. When rich: firepower saturation.
The domain's current military developnt principles boiled down to three things:
More intense firepower. Carpet-bomb everything.
Lavish logistics. Don't hold back—build like mad.
Equipnt comfort. No anti-human designs.
With that kind of philosophy, even Space Marines had grown reluctant to fire single-shot bolters.
Why bother—go full-auto, baby.
Logistics would get more ammo into your hands fast.
Even in extre cases—deep behind enemy lines—support teams would find a way to teleport ammo to you.
Sotis they'd teleport reinforcents in with the ammo.
Bottom line: fight with everything you've got.
The warriors needed only to focus on combat—logistics would handle the rest.
And Eden's ability to make this possible—
Was due to the imnse logistical network he had built. The number of logistics personnel was several tis the size of the army itself.
In his view, wars were won with resources and logistics.
No matter what, the warriors must never end up stranded—out of ammo and cut off.
With enough resources, such a strategy and logistical frawork was essential.
It was the best way to preserve the warriors' combat effectiveness.
After all, the Savior had created such excellent conditions. How could his warriors not be even more loyal?
Colin gently stroked the crimson ch. "If only these Dreadnoughts could be adopted in the Imperium... The old veterans wouldn't have to suffer anymore."
"Yeah..."
Eden looked at it with a sigh. "That day will co."
The crimson Dreadnought was built using Sun Core energy and alien tech.
For now, it couldn't be widely adopted in the Imperium.
Most Chapters preferred pure human technology—they'd probably reject it.
But once the domain's influence spread, and it earned stellar results on battlefields across the stars—
That view might change.
Then the domain could begin mass-producing these new models for the Chapters.
Having completed the inspection of the Dreadnought, the Savior moved on to the Knight test ground.
"This—this is what n really want to play with..."
Gazing up at the 10-ter-tall Imperial Knight, Eden's DNA lit up with excitent.
The Redemption Series Knight chs manufactured by the domain had optimized body size.
Overall, they featured a sleek, streamlined design.
Their limbs and joints had been reinforced and covered in heavy armor plating.
Additionally, they were equipped with dual-layered defensive shields.
The appearance sat sowhere between the chs of Eden's past life and the Imperium's Knight armor—
Imposing and majestic, exuding unmatched deterrence.
At present, the domain possessed three categories of large war machines:
Dreadnoughts, Knight chs, and Titans.
Dreadnoughts were affiliated with the Astartes Chapters and piloted by Space Marines.
Knight chs and Titans, however, belonged to the domain's army proper—the Storm Army Group.
Currently, the Storm Army Group had already undergone expansion, forming the Knight Heavy Synthetic Brigade and the Titan Heavy Synthetic Brigade—
Designed to et various combat environnts.
With this structure, these war machines could operate with even greater coordination.
According to the domain's military classification:
Astartes were specialized assault teams for high-difficulty operations.
The Storm Army Group handled large-scale warfare.
Naturally, in all-out war, the two forces would fight side-by-side.
After glancing at the Knight ch, Eden couldn't hold back anymore:
"Since I'm already here, I've got to try it!"
Who wouldn't want to pilot a ch?
And with his near-Primarch-level physical and ntal strength, even without training—
He could easily handle it.
BOOM—
The massive dark-gold ch stepped forward, kicking up a cloud of smoke.
"Hoo~ The experience really is sothing else..."
Eden focused on the sensation of his mind linking with the machine—feeling as if he'd beco one with the Knight.
The cognitive load was negligible for him—almost like it wasn't even there.
Yet, he still detected a faint delay.
The Knight ch trudged awkwardly at first, but after a few steps, its movents grew smooth.
Then—another Knight ch of the sa type approached from the other side.
"Damn it... Savior, is that you in the ch!?"
A gruff voice crackled through the comms—it was Arye, commander of the Storm Army Group, clearly caught off guard.
It was obvious: the pilot of the other ch was none other than Arye.
A battle-hardened brawler who'd never miss a chance to test these behemoths.
"I'm just trying it out. But don't hold back."
Eden moved the ch's joints, limbering up—clearly ready for a proper bout.
"Alright then—prepare to witness the true power of Undying Arye!"
Arye grew serious. His opponent was the Savior himself—he had to go all out.
BOOM BOOM BOOM—
As the test began, Eden unleashed a barrage of cannon fire.
Yet—
All of it missed.
???
How is he dodging this?
BANG—
Seeing his suppressive fire fail, Eden activated the rear boosters on the Knight, launching himself toward Arye.
This was one of the domain's signature techs.
Rumor had it that so grease monkey from the chanicum Forum had proposed the idea—
It had even been retrofitted onto so Titans.
Buzz!
Mid-charge, Eden activated the power chainsword, swinging it at Arye.
Again—dodged.
Luckily, his reflexes were fast enough to reverse the attack and land a direct cannon hit.
Arye imdiately retaliated, nearly slicing off half of Eden's ch's shoulder armor.
The fierce battle rocked the entire testing ground.
In the end—
both Knight chs were totaled.
THUD—
Eden's cockpit was ejected and landed on the ground. He staggered out, dazed.
That fight had gotten a little too heated.
Arye's Knight fared even worse—utterly wrecked, sparking wildly.
"Savior, are you alright?!"
Arye ran over nervously, sweat beading down his face—worried the Savior might've been hurt.
BOOM!!!
Behind him, his Knight exploded violently, shrapnel flying everywhere.
Fortunately, Eden's shield had absorbed the blast without issue.
He quickly looked up at Arye—wondering if the guy had a shield on him.
If he'd gotten hurt, that'd be very bad.
But Eden's worry was unwarranted—
From the intense fight to the explosive impact, Arye didn't even have a scratch!
What kind of divine physique was this guy!?
As the Knight exploded and the test concluded, researchers rushed toward the wreckage.
To collect the data.
Compared to low-intensity combat trials, these full-on battles yielded far more data.
Of course, these massive war machines would ultimately need real battlefield deploynt for proper validation.
Only with sufficient combat data could mass production proceed.
After all, once the assembly lines started running—
They'd churn out machines nonstop.
If performance issues arose then, the losses would be massive.
That's why caution was critical.
Due to relative peace within the sector, there were no major wars.
The military departnt had already begun planning to deploy this batch of heavy war machines to external battlefields—
To be tested in actual combat and assist friendly worlds.
——
Spire Estate.
Bedroom.
Eden lay back against his pillow, browsing reports on his data slate—
This was his usual pre-sleep routine.
Now that the Propaganda Departnt had set up an official news agency—
They were even preparing a TV division to shoot docuntaries glorifying the Great Savior.
Compared to old thods, this was a total upgrade.
As he scrolled—
Suddenly, the screen began to stutter and fill with garbled text.
At the sa ti, the lights in the bedroom flickered faintly.
Eden instantly sat up, alert.
"Chaos invasion... don't tell that Slaanesh's pet is knocking at the door!?"
"F-Father!"
The voice of Webby ca through the slate, distorted and panicked—a cry for help.
The domain's psychic network—Webby's core—was under attack!
...
Eye of Terror.
Dark chanicum territory.
A massive ring-shaped Chaos machine, covered in tumors of flesh and tal, floated in the void.
Within the core, Daemonic Tech-Priests, Data-Eaters, and the great demigod Vashtorr worked in unison.
Dozens of fleshy-chanical tendrils bound Vashtorr tightly to the machine.
"Soon... I will attain godhood!"
Vashtorr screeched with a tallic cackle, spewing torrents of data toward a distant data firewall—
Unleashing a full-scale invasion.
At the sa ti—
A horde of Dark chanicum followers knelt beneath the machine, chanting binary prayers in madness.
More tendrils stabbed into their skulls, draining their cortexes for raw computational power.
"Praise the Dark Machine God!"
Their fanaticism grew.
They would offer their power to seize the Imperium's sacred platform!
The enormous data attack shattered the defenses like glass.
...
Urth.
Machine Spirit Citadel – Data Control Center.
"The firewall's down! Chaos code has breached Webby's core!"
Kaul scread.
Eden stared at the monitoring screen, anxiety boiling inside.
Even setting emotions aside—
Webby was the foundation of his domain's developnt.
Any disruption would be catastrophic.
Like now—
With all of her computing power focused on defense, the entire domain had gone offline.
Even electricity was affected. Operations everywhere ground to a halt.
Many forges ceased production.
The entire sector's economy was hemorrhaging.
Worse, this was a data-layer invasion—Eden could hardly help at all.
There was likely only one being capable of such an attack—
The demigod Vashtorr.
If Webby was devoured, the consequences were unimaginable.
Kaul kept typing furiously—but nothing worked.
"The enemy's processing power is stronger than Webby's—we can't stop it!"
The Chaos attack ca too suddenly. Dozens of defensive firewalls had been breached with ease.
"You believe in the Light?"
Eden suddenly said aloud.
"Huh?" Kaul blinked, confused.
"If Webby doesn't have enough processing power—then we'll give her so!"
Eden issued commands:
"Webby, allocate so power to open a line with the chanicum Forum—fully unlock your processing channels.
Kaul—post a ssage on the Forum.
Tell all the forge worlds: lend us your processing power!"
Since Webby had shared her power with the tech-heads before—
Now they could return the favor.
Today, mortal minds would stand against a demigod.
Eden barked:
"Go! Get the brothers online!!"
...
Mars.
Weapon Forge.
"What's going on?"
Burna stared at the garbled data, panic-stricken—on the verge of tears.
Those were the signs of Chaos code.
Even worse—
The data showed that the Goddess Webby was under attack!
The entire chanicum community was thrown into a frenzy.
It felt like everything beautiful was slipping away.
Then—a new ssage overlaid the corrupted feed:
Chaos daemons are invading to seize the platform and devour the Machine Goddess.
The Forum calls upon all Tech-Priests to donate processing power!
This was an imnsely risky action.
If anything went wrong, it could fry their brains and cause massive injuries.
Zzzt—
Burna didn't hesitate. He slamd a data cable into the port on the back of his skull.
"For the Machine Goddess!!"
Data surged through his chanical eyes. He froze in place, channeling every ounce of his ager processing power.
To defend the beauty they once had.
...
Stygies Forge World – Forge Temple.
"Executive directive: All Stygies personnel—donate processing power to the Forum! Fight to the death!"
The forge director issued the order firmly.
One cybernetic arm gripped a thick cable. He gently tapped the Webby crest on his chest.
"For the Machine Goddess..."
He whispered—and jamd the cable into the port on his head.
In the hall, every senior adept did the sa.
"For the Machine Goddess!"
At the sa ti—
Across all other forge worlds, the tech-heads plugged themselves in.
Lending their strength.
To them, the Forum was a cyber-holy land.
Their spiritual ho.
This was the tech-heads' war against Chaos.
And they would never allow Chaos to destroy their ho.
...
Urth.
Machine Spirit Citadel – Data Control Center.
Eden waited anxiously.
Through the energy conduits, he could feel it—Little Ling was hanging on by a thread.
The Daemonic Tech-Priest's data streams were like a ravenous chanical vulture, constantly devouring Little Ling's data-sphere.
Her digital life was rapidly fading away!
Then suddenly—
Kaul leapt up, shouting with joy:
"Praise the Omnissiah—the processing power has arrived!!"
Across the vast Imperium, from countless forge worlds, an uncountable swarm of tech-priests had fearlessly poured their strength into Little Ling.
Their contributions were small...
Like fireflies.
But when tens of billions—or even more—tech-priests gave their light—
They beca a sun!
At that mont, from across the galaxy, the sheer volu of processing power surged into the heart of the domain.
Hummm—
The massive Machine Spirit Core—hundreds of ters tall—heated up instantly.
The light of humanity's belief had arrived.
Eden could feel it.
In the digital realm, the massive tide of processing power enveloped Little Ling, and her form began to change—
The data-sphere representing her started to crack.
From within, a small girl-like figure erged.
Wearing data-ford armor and shining wings—
Forged from the processing power of the tech-priests.
"No... this isn't possible!"
Vashtorr could sense it clearly—
The power of that data lifeform had surpassed his own!
"You're a big anie!"
Webby's cheeks puffed with anger—this was her first ti experiencing such rage.
This monster had hurt her and made her father worry.
"I'm gonna beat you up!!"
Webby flapped her wings and launched herself at the chanical vulture ford from corrupted data—
And then—
WHAM WHAM WHAM!!
She began raining down a chaotic storm of glowing punches with no rhythm or style whatsoever.
"NOOOOO!!!"
The chanical vulture let out a soul-wrenching shriek as Webby's glowing fists shattered it into nothingness.
Vashtorr's attack had failed—his data had been shattered.
...
Inside the Control Room.
Kaul leapt with joy, cheering:
"Long live Webby! We've won!!"
Whew~
Eden finally let out a long breath, practically collapsing into his chair.
After all, this whole idea was his.
If it had failed, and billions of tech-priests had suffered damage—
He would have gone down in history as a criminal of the Imperium.
At that very mont—
All across the Imperium's forge worlds, tech-priests roared in triumph.
They embraced their brothers.
This was a victory for every tech-priest!
...
Eye of Terror.
Dark chanicum Territory.
"NOOOOO!!!"
As Vashtorr's shriek echoed out, the ring-shaped Chaos machine exploded into debris.
On the ground—
The dark tech-priests suffered data backlash and physical damage, casualties imnse.
Their plan to seize the Machine Forum had utterly failed.
"Damn it!!!"
Vashtorr roared. Cracks across his body spewed black smoke under arcs of lightning.
He'd lost a trendous amount of power—
And more critically, his dream of godhood had shattered.
"No. I refuse to accept this defeat. This isn't over..."
Gradually regaining control, Vashtorr's tone beca cold. His glowing red eyes burned.
This attack had not been without gain—
He had pinpointed the location of that data lifeform.
If he couldn't win in the digital realm—
Then she would face a far more terrifying invasion.
The great Data Eater himself would descend!
On the ground—
The dark tech-priests trembled as they felt the gaze of their twisted Machine God fall upon them.
So tried to flee.
They were willing to work in the dark, but this?
This was a death sentence.
But it was already too late.
Countless spiked chanical tendrils impaled their bodies, forming a grotesque summoning circle.
Dense Chaos energy erupted as Vashtorr stood at its center, his eyes glowing with cruelty.
"This ti, that data lifeform will not escape!!"
BOOOOM—
The Chaos summoning array burst into radiance!
...
Spire Estate.
Bedroom.
"Now... I can finally get so sleep, right?"
Eden collapsed onto the soft bed, letting out a long sigh.
The data network had been restored, Little Ling was safe, and Kaul was still in the control room.
There shouldn't be any more issues.
Yet, just as he closed his eyes—
He sensed a surge of Warp energy.
Eden instantly entered the Warp, linking with the Mini-Sun to see what was happening.
What he saw stunned him.
That massive golden sun, pulsing with divine light, expanded and contracted like a beating heart.
Hssss~
This feeling...
Suddenly, Eden's eyes widened.
He muttered in disbelief:
"The Emperor... is warming up?!"
(End of Chapter)
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