Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 591

Chapter 589, Western Front Collapse

. Gallardo’s announcement in the hallowed halls of the Supreme Council stunned everyone.

The High Lords sat at their seats, their expressions varied. Some looked solemn, some clenched their teeth, and some leaned forward…

“Speak carefully, I need details,” asked the Imperial Chancellor, Zibodu.

Whatever his mood, Gallardo’s expression was at least serious.

He recounted the intelligence in full.

Of the three fronts of the Ironclad War, if ranked in order of importance, the order would undoubtedly be West, North, and South.

The sudden entry of Alfonzo’s fleet dramatically increased the importance of the Southern Front.

Even so, it only brought it to a level similar to that of the Northern Front.

Neither of these two fronts could compare to the Western Front.

Leaving aside the Alliance’s southern battlefront, the fighting on the northern front seemed intense, with the two founding Chapters, the Infinite and the Bat, and the Black Crusaders also participating. Several other Chapters also sent troops, and after being held back by the Zerg xenos, they received assistance from the Inquisition. The Argent Watch, a special Chapter, joined the battlefield…

However, the three most important pillars: the Infinity and the Bats, each only sent a single company, totaling two hundred men. The Black Crusaders, however, were quite numerous, with an entire squadron led by Marshal Mathieu Leroy and a thousand Black Crusaders forming the core of their force.

But this totaled no more than 1,200 men.

The other Chapters, including the Argent Watch, sent only five hundred Space Marines. None of them were fully mobilized, merely providing support.

Beyond the Argent Watch, the Inquisition sent relatively few troops. After all, they had too many other xenos to deal with.

In reality, the main forces of the regular Imperial Navy and the Imperial Astra Militarum were primarily provided by the Devourer Realm, which backed up the northern front.

Was the power of one realm sufficient?

Not quite.

The Devourer Realm was arguably one of the two largest and richest realms in the northern territories of the Empire. But like all other regions of the Imperium, they also face internal challenges. Within the Devouring World, a rebellious force spanning two sectors remains unconquered. This group of Chaos-believing renegades, while indulging in pleasure, possesses a powerful allure, a constant source of headaches for the regional government. Several large-scale military deployments have failed to resolve the situation, and some units have even been corrupted and defected. Neighboring worlds are also plagued by internal rebellions.

If the Devouring World were not directly north of the Spider Web, and had already suffered attacks from the Ironclad, they wouldn’t have committed such a massive effort to send troops, supplies, and fleets south.

Even so, internal constraints prevent them from fully committing to the war southward.

Unless founding chapters like the Infinity and the Bats show greater resolve and deploy more men, or unless the Black Cross calls in another fleet… there’s no real prospect of significant improvement on the northern front.

Conversely, the western front presents a different picture.

The Phoenix summoned several Successor Chapters to join the battle. After gradually increasing their numbers, their combined strength now reached 700 men.

Even the Black Feathers and Devilbirds Chapters were fully deployed.

Although understrength, they still totaled 1,600 men.

Adding to this the support of seven Successor Chapters, each contributing 2 to 4 Companies, the number of Space Marines fighting on the Western Front exceeded 4,500.

More crucially, the Inquisition, one of the three Great Inquisitions, was the most furious. After continuous reinforcements, they now had at least 20,000 Battle Sisters of the Bloody Rose fighting there. They also recruited the Ecclesiarchy, with whom they had a close relationship, sending not only fleets but also Battle Sisters.

The combined strength of Battle Sisters from all Orders exceeded 30,000.

Adding in the elite Inquisition Stormtroopers and Inquisitors, the Inquisition had committed a significant force, determined to quell the greatest internal rebellion in the Imperium in nearly a thousand years.

In reality, the main force of the Ironclad Chapter was also in the west, fully engaged in responding to the combined attack from the Phoenix and the Inquisition on the western front.

They were not only responding to the attack, but were even pushing back.

The western front was also the primary thrust of Iron Armor.

Furthermore, Phoenix Lord Su Lie’s forces had been gradually increased, not suddenly assembled.

At their worst, Iron Armor even pushed the Empire out of the Spider Web Realm and into the Magre Realm.

Only after reinforcements arrived and the Alliance launched an offensive from the south did Phoenix regain its footing and begin its counterattack.

Recently, Phoenix has re-entered the Spider Web Realm.

While not swift, it’s steady enough.

It was precisely this dynamic that prompted the masters of Holy Terra to consider how to connect all three lines of communication, allowing for mutual reinforcement, coordinated operations, and even redirecting forces to change the primary offensive…

But now, Phoenix has collapsed.

The process of collapse was actually quite simple.

Iron Armor suddenly assembled its forces and launched a fierce attack.

In the naval battle, over twenty massive ships engaged Su Lie’s fleet.

Su Lie had no intention of a decisive battle. Seeing the enemy’s ferocious advance, he resorted to a strategy of fighting and retreating, primarily delaying the advance. He also dispatched detachments to attack Iron Armor’s rear and flanks.

Iron Armor’s concentrated forces and fleet must have drawn resources from elsewhere.

This strategy should have offered a chance of disrupting Iron Armor’s ferocious attack.

However, this time, the situation was different.

Armed with the Stone Shield, Iron Armor launched a fierce boarding attack.

Among the enemy, there were even some quite…strange ones.

They appeared to be ordinary mortal legions, accompanying the Space Marines on boarding. However, their physical strength was far superior to that of ordinary mortals, and their appearance was also quite different.

However, the specifics of these differences were unknown, as no further intelligence was received.

After that battle, the Phoenix Chapter’s flagship, the Phoenix Crown, also known as the Queen of Glory, also disappeared.

With the loss of this ship, designed by the Emperor himself and meticulously crafted on Mars, which humanity had completely lost the ability to build, the war on the Western Front collapsed.

Numerous ships were destroyed, and the surviving ones were forced to flee. The transport fleets that followed were forced to deliver their troops and supplies to the nearest planetary surface before being destroyed and then flee.

After the brutal battle, due to the lack of intelligence from the front lines, it is difficult to estimate the enemy’s losses,

but they were likely significant.

The Imperials, retreating to regroup, lost Chapter Master Sulie and the ship Queen of Glory. Only two hundred Phoenix Warriors remained, commanded by a company captain. The other chapters combined, perhaps a thousand or so, were able to regroup.

The losses of the Sisters of Battle were even more severe, with over ten thousand killed or missing. Of the remaining twenty thousand, only ten thousand regrouped in the rear. The remaining Sisters of Battle, along with an estimated thousand Space Marines, were scattered across the surfaces of various planets, their future uncertain.

————

Still owe 112

(End of this chapter)