Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 1001

Chapter 992: Angels also surrender

On the holographic tactical platform, landing craft, one after another, broke through interception, traveling back and forth between the Terran Palace and the planet’s orbit.

The scene was truly breathtaking.

Each landing represented the arrival of an army unit.

Dante silently calculated, estimating that over thirty million soldiers had already been assembled.

This number was not far off the pre-war target.

Massive airborne drops were still underway.

The direction of the palace would be the main battlefield.

But his role was also significant.

They were currently located in what was once a hospital in a hive city. According to survivors, this was once a key base for the nearby city’s fight against the Nurgle plague, housing many infected civilians. Numerous doctors, volunteers from the Ecclesiarchy, and priests treated civilians and soldiers here, while a contingent of Sisters of Battle defended the area.

However, they were soon targeted by the Nurgle forces. A demonic force far larger than they could handle arrived. Even the Sisters of Battle and the volunteers fought tooth and nail, unable to stop the enemy.

They were crushed, with only a handful escaping and hiding in the surrounding streets until the Nurgle horde had passed. Only then did they dare to emerge to search for food and supplies.

But it proved difficult.

The Nurgle horde’s destruction of the hospital wasn’t their primary objective; it was simply a convenient opportunity on their march. But wherever they passed, plague, disease, and toxins… these things would contaminate the entire area.

The survivors were all afflicted to varying degrees, and the food and supplies they could find were almost entirely flawed.

But they had no choice but to survive.

Their good fortune was that they at least survived until the Alliance troops arrived.

The first to land were members of the Blood Angels, led by Dante. Initially small in number, they found the hospital, rescued some survivors, extracted intelligence from them, exorcised their supernatural illnesses, and provided them with supplies.

Then, after confirming that there were no significant enemies nearby, the Blood Angels established a relatively hidden base and called for more reinforcements.

Then, forces gradually began to gather here.

Unlike the troops airdropped to Terra Palace, Terra Palace was the main battlefield, a fierce frontal offensive and defensive battle. The main force consisted primarily of soldiers from the Infinite Sector Expeditionary Force, with some Alliance Army members also deployed, perhaps a few group armies, representing no more than 20% of the total.

But those here were different.

They were few in number, but exceptionally elite—the Blood Angels’ core battle company, led by Dante himself, was located there.

They didn’t engage in a large-scale battle to annihilate the Chaos traitors. Instead, they quietly occupied an area and lay low

. Their initial work consisted of facilitating the arrival of new landing forces in a discreet and unobtrusive manner. Their entire landing method was also quite low-key.

There would be no large landing ships arriving with fanfare, but rather small, infrequent transport using secret teleportation, stealth landing pods, and stealth fighters.

The core goal was to deploy a number of troops here with minimal notice.

It was impossible for the enemy to remain completely unnoticed.

However, the Blood Angels performed remarkably well here.

They killed a considerable number of the enemy they encountered; they would mislead the enemy into attacking elsewhere, then quickly withdraw, misleading them into believing they were a small, behind-the-lines operation.

This was annoying, but it didn’t provoke a large-scale sweep. Small-scale sweeps, on the other hand, depended on the specific situation: whether to eliminate the enemy, avoid their attack, or divert them in another direction.

Through this method, the Blood Angels gradually gathered a total of 600 warriors

. Then, Raymond Weiss arrived with 600 Saints. Then came the

Phoenixes’ 800 warriors, led by Martins.

These nearly 2,000 Space Marines constituted the Alliance’s current all-star lineup.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Small, covert airdrops continued

until the total number of Space Marines gathered here reached approximately 5,000.

The remaining 3,000 came from various Chapters across the Alliance.

Now, they were all under Martins’ command.

Initially, this appointment caused some skepticism among many.

Martins was, of course, a renowned figure. Everyone knew he was a founding shareholder of the Alliance, and throughout the Alliance’s growth, from its inception to its current strength, he had led his Phoenix Chapter, making remarkable contributions and achievements.

However, everything had to be compared.

Martins was, after all, only a few hundred years old. The Chapter he led, the Phoenix, had been excommunicated centuries before. Even after the Atonement Crusade, it had, with the Alliance’s support, incredibly revived and grown, even stronger than at its peak…

but it was still nothing compared to a founding Chapter.

A Chapter Master with little experience, a Chapter like this, could rely on his privileged position within the Alliance to take the lead in such a crucial battle?

Elsewhere, that would be fine.

But here, two key members of the founding Chapters were present. The two founding Chapter Masters, the Saint Raymond Vess and the Blood Angels Dante, were both present.

Especially Dante!

This man was a legendary hero of the Empire! Thousands of years of experience, countless glorious battles. Wasn’t he more qualified than some Martins?

Some were furious.

But most were simply curious.

Take Dante himself, for example.

He wasn’t so obsessed with power. He was already too ‘old’. Perhaps Space Marines didn’t die of old age, but for thousands of years, he had fought on the front lines wherever the Empire needed him. Even though his body was no different from when he was at his peak, his heart was weary.

If he could unload some of the burden, he would be more than happy to do so.

But before this battle, he had thought he would be the commander-in-chief.

It wasn’t that he wanted to be the commander-in-chief, but mainly because he truly believed that no one else present was more suitable for the position than himself.

He hadn’t expected it to be Martins.

He was relieved at first—no longer burdened with such a heavy responsibility.

Then, a touch of shame washed over him. He shouldn’t have felt that way.

And then, curiosity filled him: what abilities and talents did Martins possess that Gu Hang considered him so superior as to be even more suitable for the position of commander-in-chief than himself?

With these questions in mind, Dante met Martins for the first time.

Just from this one glimpse, Dante understood why.

Martins’ towering figure, standing before him, was truly awe-inspiring.

Space Marines were not without exceptionally tall individuals, but normally, it was rare for one to reach Martins’s height.

This was abnormal.

But the mere difference in size wasn’t enough to convince Dante.

More crucially, he sensed an aura similar to Robert’s from Martins.

Is this the Son of God?

No, not really.

The term “Son of God” has a strict definition.

How many years had Martins lived? He couldn’t have been one of the Emperor’s descendants ten thousand years ago.

Yet, Martins possessed the same, similar power.

Genetic Father.

Could Gu Hang actually possess such abilities?

Dante was deeply astonished.

…

Martins hadn’t overlooked the psychological issues of the troops temporarily assigned to his command.

This needed to be addressed, otherwise, during the upcoming crucial mission, a breakdown in command due to these factors would be disastrous.

He also fully understood how to capitalize on his strengths.

A considerable amount of time had passed since he became the so-called “Little Primarch.” Although Gu Hang hadn’t stated it explicitly, he was gradually understanding what had happened to him.

He was now completely different from the average Space Marine. He would be easily identified by ordinary Space Marines. He was different from everyone else, a being of another level.

He appeared before everyone without hesitation, making it clear to them that their leader was no ordinary Chapter Master, a veteran with centuries of experience. It

was clear that his actions were effective.

Not only did Dante and Remond Weiss fully acknowledge his command, but so did the other Space Marines under his command.

Besides this, he was also concerned about the reinforcements coming from the sky.

Five thousand warriors, considered elite among Space Marines, were his core force, but they were still too few.

Three other units were also ready to go.

One was the Honor Guards from the Alliance. This elite unit of the Alliance Army, though composed entirely of mortals, was of unparalleled quality. In fact, they can’t simply be judged by the standards of the Astra Militarum; otherwise, no Astra Militarum could match their strength.

Even facing an equal number of Space Marines, they’re not completely defenseless. And if they were to outnumber them by three or five times, the Glory Guards could even hold their own in direct combat.

Another force, however, comes from the Alliance’s largest non-military combat unit—the Battle Sisters of the Holy Lily.

Grand Sister Grit, the “Living Saint,” is personally leading this force and is currently preparing.

These two forces combined will number over 100,000.

The third force, however, is smaller, perhaps even smaller than the Space Marines. However, the “National Knights of the Alliance” is a true Titan Legion, now so large that only the Titan Legion of the Forge World of Mars can rival them.

With over 300 Titans, they’re also a formidable force.

However, these forces haven’t yet landed on the ground.

They’re in orbit, aboard aircraft carriers, awaiting the crucial moment before they break through the sky and descend to coordinate their operations.

Their key objective was the very heart of Nurgle’s army, the place marked as the Cauldron of Corruption.

Its leader was the former Imperial Chancellor, Zilberdur, now confirmed to have ascended to the daemon realm.

And that day soon arrived.

…

During the final military meeting of the battle group led by Martins, the holographic tactical panel unfolded. The sickening yellow-green tide representing Nurgle’s army nearly engulfed the entire interface, leaving only a small golden area symbolizing the Emperor’s glory suspended within the inner ring of the Imperial Palace and its surroundings. From this, a

blazing white arrow, representing the main force of the coalition, shot forth, its sharp point aimed directly at the core of that foul yellow-green vortex—Zilberdur, the former Imperial Chancellor and Daemon Prince now fully surrendered to Nurgle’s embrace.

“Your Highness, the Regent, with his thunderous force, is crushing the fortress head-on, piercing through the layers of rotten ramparts. Our mission is to attack from its festering, swollen flanks—” Martins’s thick, adamantine-clad finger jabbed at the hologram, landing precisely on the flank of the main force’s sharp arrowhead, a hive ruin labeled “Hills of Suffering.” “From here, we will penetrate the weak defenses and reach the flank of the Cauldron of Corruption, providing a supporting attack.”

“If things change, we will immediately shift to a strong offensive.”

“The goal of this operation must be to eliminate the greatest traitor!”

“Now, march!”

The wills of five thousand Space Marines, fused as one, like cast adamantine, sank into the bottomless mire of war within the ruins of the Terran hive.

No longer passive shadows, they became a molten stream of destruction, silently advancing through filthy flesh.

At the forefront, Martins stood like a moving fortress. Any Nurgle walkers or bloated Plague Marines who dared to leap from the crumbling, twisted concrete and stagnant smoke were reduced to a splatter of gooey flesh and fetid ichor by the roar of his Dawnshaker chainsaw. Wherever his blade passed, foul blood steamed and rotten flesh charred, as if imbued with an invisible purifying forcefield.

Blood Angel assault teams flashed ghostly among the rubble, their bolts accurately ripping open the rotting skulls of Nurgle poison gunners hidden in the shadows. The Saints’ sacred flamethrowers roared with a purifying fury, scorching the plague cloud and creating a temporary, relatively “clean” passage for the following troops.

Each advance was accompanied by the sticky sound of corpses being crushed beneath his boots, and the airborne mixture of spores and metal shards permeated the seams of his power armor. This incredibly sharp blade, following the twisting ridges of the “Hills of Misery,” silently and efficiently sliced through the relatively lax flanks of the Nurgle army, penetrating the core of the rot.

Suddenly, a fiery light a hundred times more terrifying than a volcanic eruption erupted from the northeastern sky, tearing through the thick cloud of radioactive dust that enveloped Terra’s low sky, creating a vast, molten-like breach. This was Robert’s main force, storming the core fortress known as the “Cauldron of Corruption,” commanded by Zilberdur himself.

The deafening roar of explosions, even from a distance of dozens of kilometers, hammered at the soldiers’ auditory sensors like a relentless hammer. The edges of the holographic tactical goggles flickered frantically with fragments of data streams from the main force: huge casualty figures scrolled coldly, and signals indicating armored units were blocked lit up one after another.

Martins’s helmet echoed with a rapid, chaotic call from the public tactical link:

“…The Steel Walker Dreadnoughts have collapsed! The Third Regiment is under devastating fire!”

“…Heavy Chaos armored units have appeared on the left wing, the model is unknown! The impact speed is extremely fast!”

“…Swarms of plague flies have broken through the air defense network! They are obscuring the sky!”

The center of the storm is gathering at the “Cauldron of Corruption”.

(End of this chapter)