Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 934

Chapter 926, White Wolf

Zakaria was deeply irritated.

For him, this operation was a must-win, and the treasury must be secured.

But at the same time, he also understood the immense strength of this so-called Alliance.

In his past experiences collecting “treasures,” he had clashed with and engaged in battles with the Alliance.

Generally speaking, the human side still didn’t fully understand the Scourge Fleet’s objectives, and before the Scourge Fleet launched its offensive, they had no idea how to uncover the so-called “treasures.”

This often gave the Sea Scourge Fleet a significant advantage.

They arrived suddenly, attacked suddenly, looted, and fled, leaving a devastating mess behind… This was their pattern of action,

and it worked time and again.

Without a clear understanding of the Scourge Fleet’s intentions, the Alliance was effectively helpless during their Dark Side expeditions.

This was the key factor in the Scourge Fleet’s repeated successes.

Despite this, his few forays into Alliance territory, into worlds already controlled by the Alliance, had left him with a deep impression of the Alliance’s military prowess and fighting spirit.

Even more remarkable was the Alliance’s attitude.

On other Imperial worlds, a Scourge Fleet would fire a single shot and then flee, leaving behind a devastating mess. But the rulers of the ordinary human Empire would often react with relief.

After all, the great enemy was gone, and even if the devastation was immediate and would take a long time to recover, at least the enemy was gone, and there was nothing to worry about.

But the Alliance was different.

Their intense desire for revenge betrayed a deep hatred for the Scourge Fleet’s destruction of their own achievements.

If there were absolutely no other options, they would pursue the Scourge Fleet, attempting to eliminate the intruders if they dared.

Even a small Alliance fleet was no match for the Scourge Fleet, so they would often pursue and harass it. Especially when the Scourge Fleet attempted to escape into the Warp, they would desperately intervene.

This was to buy time for the larger fleet, en route to support them, to arrive.

The Scourge Fleet, weary of being harassed, would turn back and fight.

But the small, pursuing human fleet was as slippery as a loach, scurrying around without giving them a chance.

While they were eventually apprehended, it was only through the Scourge fleet’s vastly superior numbers and ships that they managed to pull it off.

After defeating their opponents, the Scourge fleet, before the Alliance’s main force arrived, completed a warp jump into the Warp, avoiding a confrontation with the Alliance’s main force.

After several such encounters, it was hard not to be impressed by the Alliance.

Although within the Chaos forces, there remained a certain verbal disdain for human armed forces—even towards the Alliance.

However, words were one thing; to truly disregard the Alliance was foolish.

Back in Papalil, Zakaria, upon receiving the mission stating that something was located there, had been hesitant to act rashly.

It was too close to the Alliance’s main fleet.

Given a choice, he would have preferred to wait quietly on the sidelines until the Alliance’s main force had departed.

After all, the humans didn’t know what that “something” was, so there was no need to worry about them getting there first.

However, the unfolding situation was beyond Zakaria’s grasp.

The Chaos corruption within Papalil was too severe. A sect of Tzeentch’s Mutation Cult had instigated a rebellion so severe that normal means could no longer handle it. The Alliance forces were determined to carry out the Extermination Order.

At this point, Zakaria was at his wit’s end.

He couldn’t just sit back and watch the Extermination Order be delivered, or what if that ‘thing’ was destroyed along with it?

At this point, he hated the Mutation Cult with a passion—why don’t you usually work so hard? And at this critical moment, you’ve caused me so much trouble!

The Mutation Cult stirring up trouble on Papalil, while also a Chaos force, was completely subordinate to Tzeentch’s faction and a separate entity.

Despite being part of the same Chaos faction, the conflict between them could be even greater than that between Chaos and humanity!

If his Scourge Fleet had arrived sooner, he might have even sent his troops to help the native humans of Papalil and exterminate those Tzeentchians of the Cult of Change!

At this thought, he was suddenly struck by another shock—could this be a Tzeentchian conspiracy? They had seized upon this crucial moment, pushing the situation on Papalil to its current state, forcing him to intervene prematurely?

It was no wonder he was suspicious. If it were Tzeentch, their actions would be quite reasonable.

Often, Tzeentchians, even demons, hatch schemes not necessarily for personal gain. They are truly capable of plotting for plot’s sake; it’s in their nature. They find pleasure in creating chaos through schemes, and even draw strength from them.

From this perspective, the Tzeentchian demon behind all this had indeed succeeded.

Regardless of how the situation ultimately unfolded, Zakaria couldn’t expect to wait quietly for the Alliance’s main forces to depart, allowing him to leisurely reclaim his desired territory. The human side couldn’t even dream of systematically retaking a single planet. A major battle was inevitable on Papalil over the “object” that had surfaced.

Zakaria had no time to consider the potential presence of Tzeentch.

He would have to deal with that later; for now, he had to intensify his efforts.

Forced to act, he could only seize half of the planet’s orbit while only a portion of the Alliance’s forces were on Papalil. Then, he would deploy his forces as quickly as possible, attempting to storm and capture the target.

While the Alliance’s main force consisted of only a hundred or so warships and the remaining fleets were arriving from other planets in the sector, the crucial task was to capture the target and then flee.

But due to the church’s desperate defense and Martins’s overly rapid reinforcement, Zakaria’s primary goal was thwarted.

Zakaria even fell into deep regret.

He regretted his own arrogance. Why didn’t he truly commit his all in the first wave?

Why didn’t he personally fight in the battle? If he and his White Wolf Guards had joined the assault on the church immediately, they would have likely won the battle long ago. It wasn’t

his fault, really.

Chaos has always been like this. It was

n’t just him. Every Chaos Lord and the ruler of the Disaster Fleet followed a consistent pattern: conserve their own strength and send others to their doom.

From the leaders of smaller warbands to the Chaos Warmaster Archathon himself, they all practiced this.

After all, within the Chaos factions, strength was paramount. Accomplishing the mission but exhausting one’s own strength would be forgotten, and only the next ambitious individual, with some remaining strength, would seize the opportunity to take their place.

He had simply made a mistake common to all Chaos Lords.

He had realized it, and was determined to put an end to it himself.

He rose from his throne, fully armored.

Beside him, the White Wolf Guards, clad in Terminator Power Armor, were already gearing up behind him.

These warriors had seen at least a thousand battles. Their most distinctive feature, besides the White Wolf’s off-white livery dotted with black, was the pelt of a genuine white wolf with a head draped across their chests. It resembled a scarf, but in reality, it imbued them with a powerful force drawn from the depths of the Warp.

This blessing—or curse—imbued the White Wolf Guards with far greater strength than normal.

In times of need, the wolf soul hidden within the White Wolf

‘s cloak could completely replace the Space Marine’s own soul, transforming them into a complete wolf. While a Space Marine transformed into a werewolf’s true personality and memories were completely obliterated, effectively becoming dead, the power gained at the cost was undeniable.

They will be completely transformed into werewolves, clad in the finest Terminator Power Armour, blessed by the Warp, their power rivaling that of a supreme Daemon!

Zakariah’s entourage numbered a full seven hundred of these White Wolf Guards.

This core force, along with the two thousand or so warriors of the White Wolf Warband, formed the primary force controlling the entire Scourge Fleet.

Attached to this core force were approximately four thousand Chaos Warriors from hundreds of warbands, large and small, as well as numerous conscripted and enslaved Chaos Servants, reinforcements from the Dark Mechanicum dispatched by the Chaos Warmaster, and Daemon Engines procured from Bassor.

Of the thousands of Chaos Space Marines sent forward to fight, only a little over a hundred were White Wolf Cub from Zakariah; the rest were Chaos Warriors from other warbands.

As a result, they were decimated.

And now that he had decided to personally undertake the mission, he wasn’t going to spare any effort.

Even if his deployment capabilities were limited, he would immediately bring all his most elite troops down.

This wasn’t just about committing all his strength to the mission and ensuring its success; more importantly, he had to keep all unsafe factors at his side.

To put it bluntly, even if he died down there, he would ensure that everyone who deserved to die died with him. He would never leave anyone on board who could take over the fleet if something happened to him down there.

…

This church on Papalil wasn’t particularly well-known in the past.

This world itself wasn’t a well-known one, and this church wasn’t even a household name, let alone outside of it.

However, from this day forward, the name ‘Savenir Cathedral’ would bear a profound mark in countless annals of human history.

A battle with a profound impact on the cosmic situation unfolded here, almost without any foreshadowing.

When Zakaria led over six thousand Chaos Space Marines of diverse attire and origin, accompanied by a vast array of Dark Mechanicals and Daemon Engines, forming a formidable formation and attacking the Cathedral of Savinir, even Martins shuddered. The

enemy was simply too numerous!

Martins’s Space Marines numbered only a thousand!

Not to mention the disparity in conventional forces. Even

in such a large-scale, head-on battle, the Space Marines alone could decide the outcome.

The Dark Mechanicals, the Corrupted Knight Mechs, and the Corrupted Titans among the enemy were formidable creatures.

How many Space Marines would it take to defeat a Corrupted Titan? It’s hard to say!

But it’s safe to assume that if such a Corrupted Titan were left unchecked, it would easily destroy several Space Marines with a single volley. Whether you were a Company Champion or a Great Nirvana Guard, a single hit from a Titan’s main cannon would shatter you to pieces, a fate not even the Furnace of Cawl could save.

Even if they had observed it in advance, dodging would have been difficult—the Titan’s main gun had a vast range.

The Knight Mech was slightly inferior, but not by much.

The same could be said of those bizarrely shaped Demon Engines. Be they in the shape of demon bulls, dragons, or some other indistinguishable form—they were no match for an ordinary Space Marine.

Martins took a deep breath, the nauseating odor of the Chaos enemies wafting into his nose from afar.

When he opened his eyes again, he had already made up his mind and thought of a plan.

(End of Chapter)