The Emperor’s Angel of Death

#1901 - Steel and Stone (Part 2)

“The Eternal Fortress is not only a nightmare for attackers, but also for defenders.→”

Recalling that battle after ten thousand years, Darsathra's voice was still full of sighs, he had too many brothers who died in that battle that was almost desperate for both sides.

After the Great Scouring, perhaps out of pure hatred, Perturabo built the Eternal Fortress to provoke his most hated brother, Rogal Dorn, declaring it an unbreakable fortress, waiting for Dorn to come. Dorn, who vowed to cage his brother, immediately came to challenge with the VII Legion, but it took the Imperial Fists three weeks just to approach the fortress. In this battle, Dorn did not make a detailed and precise battle plan as usual, but commanded the warriors of the Imperial Fists to storm the Eternal Fortress without any preparation. When their vanguard finally crashed in, they found that the "fortress" was empty - the Eternal Fortress was more like a hunting ground with walls. The Iron Warriors' ambush and heavy artillery swarmed up, and the battle was so fierce that the Imperial Fists' warriors had to use the corpses of their fallen brothers as cover.

But even in such unfavorable circumstances, they still inflicted heavy casualties on the Iron Warriors. It was not until the Ultramarines arrived that Perturabo was finally forced to retreat. Both sides seemed to have won, but they both lost.

The Imperial Fists suffered heavy casualties and eventually accepted the Second Founding, while the Iron Warriors never operated on a legion scale again. Darsathra was a participant in that battle, and he still remembers how those yellow lunatics, regardless of casualties, flooded one firing point after another that they had established. His forehead still bears a scar left by an Imperial Fists captain.→

In fact, they didn't even understand why they were defending there. It was just a worthless world. Victory or defeat would not have any impact or benefit. Hatred was one thing, but squandering lives was another. The two legions were just fighting on a meaningless battlefield for the sake of their two primarchs' pride, wasting the lives of thousands of warriors.

It was that battle that completely disappointed many Iron Warriors with their father. They left the legion and never came back.

After sighing, he suddenly pointed to the silver tower.

"What are those things doing? They look like something from the Thousand Sons."

"They are indeed from the Thousand Sons. Huron sent the Demagogue Sekhtoth and his warband. I hope they can find a way to prevent the Imperium from deploying exterminatus weapons on the planet, such as bi-polar torpedoes, so they spent a lot of resources and slaves to create these."

"It seems you are well prepared. What if the Imperials surround you without attacking?"

"Isn't that good? You don't think my current strength can defeat the Imperials, do you? But from another perspective, the Imperium cannot ignore tens of thousands of warriors here. After all, this is the closest star system to Angstrom. The Imperials would not be foolish enough to imagine that they could trap us on the planet with only a small force. The Red Corsairs' naval power has not weakened to such an extent. Once their main force dares to leave, the Badab Sector will be lit up again. We may not care about losing territory, but the Imperials may not."

"Ha, so you don't plan to counterattack either?"

"I don't have too many delusions. Every day we delay here is a gain. I just said that victory or defeat is not here, but with Huron. I just need to do what I can. You know, most Chaos Lords have a bad habit, which is not recognizing their own limits, not knowing what they can do and what they cannot do. Of course, I'm not talking about you."

Darsathra shook his head with a straight face. If anyone else dared to talk to him like that, he would have punched them long ago.

But Honsou was like that, and he knew that the other party was not talking about him.

"That mouth of yours is still the same. How do you manage the Red Corsairs?"

"Killed some, and threw the rest who didn't listen to Badab VI. It's that simple. It's not difficult to manage these guys, just lower your expectations. I don't have much control over them. Anyway, they are going to the battlefield sooner or later, and most of them are going to die sooner or later."

"So are you going to defend Sekundus or not? From what you said before, it seems like you are planning to give up on it? But I personally feel that if both worlds can hold out, it can disperse the Imperials' forces, so that they won't use one planet to bear all their pressure."

"Dispersing the enemy's forces requires dispersing our own forces. If the void is controlled by the enemy, forcing a division of troops to defend, then the Imperials can completely ignore Sekundus and directly encircle Badab with all their strength. The result is the same. The forces on Sekundus cannot pose any threat to the Imperial army. But I didn't say I would give up on it directly. The Iron Ring that Huron built in the past still has some long-range weapons that are enough to threaten fleets in the star system. I have moved them all to Sekundus to give it the ability to threaten the Imperial army."

"How many people are you planning to send to defend there?"

"I don't plan to send anyone to defend there. I have had the sorcerers spend more than a year using enough sacrifices to build a huge altar. As soon as the Imperial army arrives, that world will be swallowed by the warp and become a daemon world."

Darsathra's eyes widened slightly.

"You want to turn Sekundus into a daemon world? I heard that it is Huron's homeworld. Can Huron accept you doing this?"

"Whether he can or not, it can only be done like this. I don't have the manpower to waste on that world. I can only let it waste the Imperium's manpower. It's that simple. It's just an addition and subtraction."

"It seems you have contingency plans for everything."

"Planning is one thing, reality is another—"

Honsou looked up at the boundless sky.

"How many great plans have turned to shit the moment reality comes. All I can do is turn Badab into a piece of steel. I heard that the commander of the Imperial army this time is Marshal Helbrecht of the Black Templars? He has quite a reputation, but this stubborn stone will eventually be smashed to pieces on steel."

On the other side, at the edge of the Badab star system, the mighty Imperial army had already landed. Some ships were still carrying out the bombardment of the planet, but most of the ships had begun to enter a docking state for post-war repairs.

"Sir, all strongholds and hive cities on Badab VI have been occupied. The troops are now clearing out the remaining enemies. This is the preliminary statistics of casualties and enemy annihilation reports."

On the bridge of the Obsidian King, Helbrecht was standing with his hands behind his back, watching the crumbling orbital defense battle. Ten hours ago, it had withstood direct fire from six large Imperial battleships for a full two hours, and had even damaged several smaller warships. If it had fleet cooperation, I am afraid it would not have been taken down so easily.

It should be known that not so long ago, this was the core node of the Sigma Node, the powerful defense system of the Iron Ring that guarded the Badab star system. In the final stage of the Badab War, even the Imperial army, which had gained a comprehensive advantage, still shied away from the powerful defense system. In the end, the commander at the time, the Chapter Master of the Red Scorpions Chapter, proposed an almost insane plan, using the Chapter Fortress of the Fire Hawks Chapter, a star fort called the King of Raptors, to drag a fragment of a star to hit the Sigma Node located on Badab VI.

What festival? The Hammer Lads don't have festivals today! The Hammer Lads only have steel and stubborn stones today!