At the edge of the Type-Moon composite world lay a higher-dimensional universe on the brink of extinction. The prosperous civilization of intelligent beings that had once ruled its galaxies had already perished...
Within the frigid cosmic region, a colossal rift in space stretched across the galaxy like a horrifying wound carved into the universe itself!
Plasma flames spewed from military Honkai Energy conversion engines, illuminating the dark void. Cold, angular steel hulls gleamed beneath the engine light of neighboring ships. From a distance, what appeared to be countless suns and stars flickering together was, in fact, an enormous pack of "steel beasts"!
Countless steel spires rose from massive fortresses, while rows of magnificent fortress cannons pointed toward the boundless galaxy. Amid those colossal guns and countless weapons of destruction, gleaming statues of the Imperial double-headed eagle proclaimed their allegiance.
Pure, unadorned silver-gray emblems were engraved on both sides of every vessel. Each depicted an iron mask shaped like a skull. There were no unnecessary embellishments and little personal flair, yet few Imperial citizens who saw that symbol would ever doubt the powerful legion's will or cold determination.
The Astartes Fourth Legion—the Iron Warriors.
Every warship of the Fourth Legion, the Iron Warriors, displayed an almost brutal pursuit of functionality through its tactical iconography, design style, and operational philosophy. Beyond their exceptionally thick hull armor, the ships possessed pitifully few portholes compared to those of their peers.
The sole exception was the Iron Warriors' legionary space carrier, which exceeded three hundred kilometers in diameter—the Iron Blood.
Although it shared the same monotonous silver-gray paint scheme and possessed a hull protected by layer upon layer of void shields without a single porthole, its structure designed solely for war, the bridge section was exceptionally luxurious.
The enormous Gothic spire-shaped bridge not only possessed vast multicolored stained-glass windows, but was also filled with sculptures, reliefs, and murals depicting the glorious image of the Imperial Empress.
Of course, it still could not compare to extravagantly styled legions such as the Third Legion, the Black Marlin, the Ninth Legion, the Blood Angels, or the Thirteenth Legion, the Ultramarines.
According to the Lord of Iron, the magnificent palace constructed upon the bridge had never been intended for his own use. He was not skilled in such matters. Military technology and combat data were what he relied upon, so he was content to remain in the command center and war room.
As for whom it had been prepared for...
Creak!
The heavy gilded alloy doors groaned as they were pulled open, and the palace revealed its true appearance to its owner.
No matter how busy they were, the moment the visitor appeared, the Imperial Navy officers clutching tactical tablets felt shock and boundless passion surge through their chests. Even the towering Astartes warriors and Sangheili commanders dropped to one knee, fists held before their chests.
"Your Majesty!"
"Our Empress!"
"Our Goddess!"
The giants clad in finely crafted silver-gray power armor also rose from their seats and saluted, offering the visitor their eternal loyalty.
Humble, trembling voices rang out one after another. Selene's eyes turned toward the "planet" beyond the floor-to-ceiling observation window. It was a desolate world entirely covered in metallic structures, its surface composed of gigantic armored plates and vast quantities of exposed machinery.
Chaos.
The instant Selene saw "it," every piece of information concerning it surfaced in her mind. It was a supermassive Dyson sphere constructed by an intelligent civilization from another universe, built around a star as its core. It absorbed the star's entire output and served as an enormous interstellar mothership.
It was the primary vessel of the Greek Machine Gods, the primordial Chaos from which the Olympian gods, including Zeus, had separated.
When its original universe approached its end, Chaos expended ninety-seven percent of its functionality to transport the other Machine Gods into another universe, entrusting them with the mission of restoring their homeworld.
The Machine God fleet sailed through the cosmos for tens of thousands of years, searching for a planet upon which they could land. Just as their energy reserves neared exhaustion, they discovered Earth. The Machine Gods descended upon the planet and were worshiped by humanity for their immense capabilities, gradually evolving into the deities known from Greek mythology.
Previously, in order to resist Selene's corrosion, the Swirl of the Root had released Chaos from the rifts of cosmic space-time and allowed it to enter the material universe. Judging from its route, it had been heading toward Chaldea to cause trouble for Arisa. Unfortunately for it, it encountered the main body of the Fourth Legion's Iron Warriors fleet midway through its journey.
Its mode of existence and operational mechanisms immediately attracted the Lord of Iron's attention.
Thus, Chaos, whose functionality remained far from fully restored, was besieged. Colossal lances, macrocannons, heavy electromagnetic cannons, heavy plasma cannons, orbital fortress cannons, nova cannons... An entire barrage of weapons smashed into it all at once.
Almost the entire surface of the "planet" was shattered by artillery fire, exposing the stellar core that sustained the machine beneath its layers of armor. At that moment, however, the star contained within had already dimmed and fallen silent.
Selene withdrew her gaze. "Azem, it appears you obtained the spoils you desired."
The Imperial warships anchored in the "planet's" orbit and towing it, together with the Iron Warriors who had landed on its surface, confirmed that it had already become the legion's trophy.
"Yes, my Empress. This will be the finest of spoils. I assure you that I will transform it into a mass-produced tactical weapon no less formidable than the Halo Array or the Greater Ark."
A towering giant rose from the central command seat in the vast hall, unconcealed delight filling his voice.
He stood far taller and broader than even the Astartes warriors beside him. His soldiers appeared as small as children before him.
The edges of his thick, ferocious armor, forged entirely in silver-gray metal, were engraved with sharp, austere brass patterns. Gleaming multi-barreled miniature lance launchers hung beside the massive powered armor encasing both his arms.
His deliberately shaved head was covered by his signature intelligent control-support equipment. It served as the sensor and tactical information interface through which he commanded the fleet in real time, as well as his unique legion of Iron Circle combat automata. It was also the most obvious symbol of his identity.
Legion Commander of the Astartes Fourth Legion, the Lord of Iron—Perturabo Azem.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
With heavy footsteps, Perturabo Azem approached Selene and dropped to one knee like a collapsing golden mountain and crystalline pillar. The proud head that had remained unbowed before the inhabitants of countless worlds now lowered deeply.
"Your Majesty, the Iron Warriors have fulfilled your expectations."
Clang! Clang!
Selene laughed heartily and patted the Lord of Iron's shoulder plate, which was thicker and broader than half her body. "Very well, Azem. Rise and tell me about your new plan. What inspiration has this Machine God mothership given you?" she asked, deliberately choosing a subject that interested him.
As she spoke, Selene extended a hand and gestured for the officers and soldiers to rise.
"As you command!"
Perturabo Azem remained half-kneeling as he answered repeatedly. His voice trembled, and he was clearly extremely excited.
The moment this subject arose, Perturabo Azem became completely energized.
He possessed an innate love of science and technology but was not skilled at speeches. Building more efficient and ruthless war machines was his greatest pleasure, which had made his legion one of the three Astartes Legions that communicated most frequently with the Imperial Forge and Imperial Science Bureau.
Perturabo Azem practically sprang to his feet. He manipulated the holographic display at the center of the hall, revealing his unfinished and still-developing plans. At that moment, a smile even appeared on the resolute face that normally displayed the mechanical stability of a perfectly functioning machine.
His bright eyes stared at Selene as though they had lit up. Combining rapid speech with animated gestures, the Lord of Iron began explaining his plans to her without pause.
His subordinates had almost never seen him smile, leaving the surrounding members of the Iron Warriors' guard momentarily stunned.
Perhaps it was not the most appropriate description, but the scene truly resembled a child proudly reporting his achievements to a parent...
Hey, God-Emperor, are you there?
Take notes!
"A Death Star?" After listening to Perturabo Azem's description, Selene furrowed her brows slightly and murmured the words.
He had described it as a "planet-sized combat space station," a "mobile satellite," a "prototype orbital defensive satellite for an Astartes Legion's capital world," and an "experimental charged weapon of destruction," among other things.
Selene instantly thought of the name of a certain celestial weapon from her memories.
"A Death Star?"
Perturabo Azem was also momentarily stunned. He murmured the name several times, then reconsidered it. Hmm... It truly is quite fitting. He immediately bowed and saluted. "Thank you for granting it a name, Your Majesty. This general will complete the prototype's reconstruction as soon as possible."
"Mm." Selene gave a helpless laugh and nodded, tacitly approving his interpretation.
Chaos' method of attack, the faster-than-light magical cannon beam released from that "eye," truly did bear some resemblance to the Death Star.
Still, he has reminded me of something. The Imperial military's current level of conventional firepower is certainly more than sufficient, and quite a few individual weapons possess destructive power exceeding that of Chaos.
However, there appears to be a gap in firepower between the planetary and interstellar scales.
This gap does not concern sustained firepower delivered intermittently, but the destructive force that can be achieved in a single instant.
Almost every newly commissioned Imperial Navy vessel could destroy a single planet. Even an utterly ordinary transport craft could accomplish the task with ease once equipped with Cyclonic Torpedoes or Two-Stage Cyclonic Torpedoes. All it required was five pounds of pressure from a fingertip gently pressing a button.
As for weapons capable of spanning galaxies, the intersecting phased neutrino waves emitted by the Halo Array could instantly eradicate all life throughout the entire Milky Way.
The problem was that the difference between those two extremes was too vast, leaving the intermediate range of destructive power in an awkward position.
Take the solar system as an example. Without employing unconventional weapons or methods such as black hole bombs or detonating the Sun, even a main Imperial Navy battleship would currently find it extremely difficult to destroy an entire star system like the solar system in a single instant using conventional firepower alone.
We should build Chaos... No, we should build a Death Star powered by Honkai Cubes and test it. A star-sized Death Star...
What a sudden leap in thought.
As she considered it, Selene could not help rubbing her forehead. Why am I in such a hurry...?
The Empire's various weapons and equipment already possess an obvious excess of firepower. Dr. Stylish, Mobius, and the others have probably prepared proposals for what I am considering long ago. They may already have submitted memorials and begun planning.
As for me, I only need to oversee the overall direction.
Those who had spent years on the front lines understood the development and deficiencies of the Empire's armaments far better than Selene did. After all, Selene had never used any of those weapons. A casual snap of her fingers was more powerful than the simultaneous discharge of ten thousand cannons.
Immediately afterward, Selene's thoughts wandered again.
Velber... The Ark of the Stars is a spacecraft built with unknown technology, a fragment of the wandering star capable of traversing the universe faster than light. We should package both its "records" and captured physical form together and take them back to the Imperial Capital for Dr. Stylish to study.
And Liver is in the direction of Velber, isn't he?
"Hehe..."
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Selene reclined diagonally on a luxurious sofa upholstered in red and trimmed with gold, stretching her flawless legs wrapped in sheer, intricately patterned pantyhose as she settled into a thoroughly comfortable position. She yawned and used delicate gravitational control to peel a piece of fresh fruit presented by an agricultural world under the Third Legion's command, then began chewing it.
"The difference in style is enormous. Honestly, I still prefer making incognito inspections of Liver's Third Legion. When it comes to luxury, they truly are unmatched..."
The interior was decorated with extreme opulence. Even the armored walls had been painted a dazzling purplish red and inlaid with golden ornamentation. This was a quiet observation lounge, with an exquisite indoor fountain occupying one corner of the lavish private chamber.
Beside her stood an incense burner. Smoke drifted from its top and spread through the room, transforming first into a crane and then into a dragon with astonishing lifelikeness.
Directly ahead was an enormous floor-to-ceiling observation window. Its outer frame was meticulously carved from joined pieces of orichalcum, while the inner frame was made from rare mountain timber. Through the reinforced glass, one could look down upon the planet below and see the Third Legion's fleet docked in low orbit beneath them.
The floor was paved with enormous single slabs of marble, while agate pillars stood on both sides. Gilded inscriptions upon the pillars recorded every victory won by the legion, and statues of the legion's successive Company Champions stood between them.
That fellow whose hair looks like a starfish... Isn't that Hak Foo?
Unfortunately, Hak Foo was currently serving on another battlefield opened by the Black Marlin Legion. Otherwise, Selene would have insisted on sending him down to give Merlin a shot—meaning a cannon-powered punch.
As for why?
To enjoy the show, of course.
Selene's current condition could only be described as... divided consciousness.
Her primary consciousness remained within the Swirl of Honkai, transforming dimensions and elevating her own existence, while the secondary avatars she had separated from herself went out to inspect the lower ranks. Their thoughts were shared, of course.
Remaining within the environment of the Swirl of the Root for too long was rather boring. Nothing ever changed amid those chaotic, hazy stellar regions. Sending secondary avatars out to gather inspiration was a decent way to pass the time.
As an analogy, Selene's main body was still asleep, but her consciousness remained awake. She had even actively chosen which dreams she wished to experience.
Some avatars went to Esdeath, some to Perturabo Azem, some to Liver, and others...
Then what happened on Fu Hua's side delighted Selene. Using her authority over the Swirl of the Root, Selene learned everything Merlin had done.
Tsk, tsk. Using illusions to repeatedly show Fu Hua the murder of the squad captain who served as her mentor in life... Merlin, it is hardly surprising that a fraud like you would get beaten.
Crunch!
Selene reached out and drew a slice of stringy pizza from the coffee table through the air. She took a small bite. "Phew... Meanwhile, I'm the one who has ended up with nothing to do."