Blood, wails, and the glory-filled battle cries of humanity.
All of this vanished as the projection was crushed under the foot of an Astartes.
In an unknown system far from Sith, there was a fleet just as massive—an exceptionally rare sight, gathered on a scale far exceeding the Aeldari's daily operations.
And now, at the core of the void where the fleet slowly cruised, within the body of that massive Craftworld.
Yvraine stood there, her face pale, staring intently at the projection that no longer transmitted any images.
Around her were the high-ranking members of the Harlequin Host who, though not appearing in the projection, had still watched the entire process.
At this moment, no one had the chance to express any dissatisfaction with Yvraine's previous decisions.
They merely recalled the scenes from moments ago, aching for their lost population while simultaneously swallowing hard.
Why were they swallowing hard?
Because behind Sith were the splattered remains and blood of a massacre, and upon him was a divine light so pink it was damn near turning red.
The cold, glancing look Sith gave them before the projection broke made them fear not only this human called Sith, but even more so that Evil God who had bestowed enough blessings to finally, like the Emperor, observe the world through Sith's eyes.
The gaze Sith cast over was not just Sith's indifference, but also Slaanesh's sinister grin.
Of course, in the final moment before the image vanished, when facing Sith, that grin turned into a flushed look of eager anticipation from being frantically fed.
The room was silent; outside, the Aeldari warriors remained dutifully at their posts, and the cruising warships streaked through the void with the glow of their engines.
Within the silence of the room, after an unknown amount of time, an Aeldari Harlequin finally spoke tentatively:
"Should we..."
"Send someone to show goodwill?"
The silence was broken. Everyone looked up at Yvraine. She was still dazed from Sith's gaze earlier, and only after everyone had been looking at her for a while did she manage to pull herself together.
"We can..."
"But don't send an Aeldari."
Yvraine murmured in response without looking up, and even though she was exhausted to the point of weakness, she forced out one last sentence.
Because if they sent an Aeldari, they were truly afraid that Sith would turn them into a little snack for Slaanesh before they could even speak.
Everyone nodded in deep agreement. The most veteran Craftworld Autarch turned immediately to handle it.
But before leaving, the Craftworld Autarch seemed to remember something and suddenly stopped.
"Then, how should we show our goodwill?"
You can't exactly show goodwill empty-handed, can you?
Everyone looked at Yvraine again. After all, the projection just now had proven that even if they gift-wrapped Yvraine and sent her over, it wouldn't necessarily make Sith act against the interests of the Empire.
To move Sith, they had to show some genuine sincerity.
Yvraine had recovered quite a bit by now. Facing the questioning eyes of her subordinates, she looked up again after a moment of contemplation.
"Coordinates."
Coordinates?
The crowd was stunned, even subconsciously thinking Yvraine was going to send the coordinates of their own Aeldari home to Sith.
But they soon realized that was impossible, and could only wonder what coordinates Yvraine was talking about.
It wasn't until Yvraine produced a technological creation clearly distinct from Aeldari tech, opened it, and looked at the points of light being continuously marked on the projected star chart that the crowd finally understood. At the same time, without a hint of guilt, they nodded in full approval.
Sith wasn't just beating up Aeldari; in fact, compared to the Aeldari who were just causing trouble behind the scenes, Sith beat up those Necron dynasties that couldn't run away the most.
And as someone who had briefly cooperated with the Necrons, the coordinates Yvraine brought out now were a collection of Necron coordinates covering the entire Segmentum Solar, gathered from who knows where.
Xenos allies?
Aren't they just meant to be sold out?
...
The edge of the Segmentum Solar.
On the Necron Dynasty that had just awakened beneath his feet, its Overlord was looking at the Imperial Fleet covering the sky, unable to understand how he had been discovered by these monkeys despite hiding so well!
Furthermore, these monkeys not only disrespected an elder like him who was just sleeping at home, but they also had to blast him awake and then line up their forces for a fight.
And what was even more incomprehensible was the mystery of why these monkeys didn't just kill them all while they were sleeping, but instead insisted on waiting until the entire dynasty was awakened before starting a battle.
The Necron Overlord could only watch as wave after wave of human soldiers blasted his Necron army into scrap!
While the ground battle continued, inside the orac, Sith walked across the quiet and spacious top of the cathedral, frowning as he looked out the window at the magnificent galaxy, which was completely normal and devoid of any Warp fluctuations.
Sith's frown was because the starry sky here had such low Warp energy that even those eyes behind him had completely vanished.
It was as if some unknown existence was using its peerless shadow to shroud the connection between the Warp and the material universe.
"The hive mind..."
Sith stopped and looked at the quiet galaxy outside the porthole. Then, out of a Psyker's natural repulsion toward the Shadow in the Warp, Sith felt an inexplicable irritability.
The door behind him opened amidst his irritability.
Van Roth stood at the door. Having already received Sith's orders, Van Roth didn't waste time with respectful salutes and instead walked straight in.
"Still no Astropathic communication from the local sector."
Van Roth frowned, as the hive mind would not only isolate the Warp but also the Astropathic Choir that relied on the Warp for communication.
In other words, in Sith's single-minded urgency to reinforce Terra, he arrived at the doorstep only to find that the entire Segmentum Solar had no information to give him, and he didn't even know where to lead the army he had painstakingly raised.
Because while Terra was in danger, the emergency was for the entire Segmentum Solar, not that the Tyranid Swarm had already struck Terra directly.
Sith's frown deepened upon hearing this. He was about to dismiss Van Roth, but after speaking, Van Roth pulled out a projection and inserted an ancient disk.
Although they relied on the Astropathic Choir for long-distance dream-sending, humans still used radio extensively if the distance wasn't too great.
To Sith's surprise, what Van Roth played was a blurry image from a radio transmission.
The image showed a planet still holding out, with massive Capillary Towers growing from the bodies of bio-ships and burrowing into the ground.
A Hive City in the distance was ablaze with artillery fire, frantically resisting the onslaught of the Tyranid Swarm.
Even in the blurry image, one could vaguely see the close cooperation between Astartes and Imperial Guardsmen.
Not only were there Imperial Guardsmen sacrificing themselves for the Astartes, but one could even see Astartes covering the retreat for the Mortals.
"There are still humans here; we can get the intelligence we urgently need!"
Sith spoke immediately upon seeing the projection, but Van Roth also looked at the screen, frowning and shaking his head.
Then the projection zoomed out. In the planet's orbit was a sea of bio-ships that, in numbers alone, was no less than Sith's Great Crusade fleet.
Sith was stunned, and Van Roth spoke helplessly:
"My Lord, the cost of saving them far outweighs the returns we could gain."
The fleet high command waiting quietly in the surroundings also cast looks of agreement.
For such a small group of human survivors, it was truly unnecessary to risk their precious combat power.
Huron, adhering to a philosophy of pragmatism above all, spoke quietly:
"We could, however, fire Cyclonic Torpedoes. Firstly, it would end their suffering, and secondly, it would significantly deplete the Tyranid numbers."
The crowd showed even more agreement upon hearing this. Sith looked at the attitude of his subordinates, and after seriously considering that this was indeed the most rational choice, he nodded silently.
Sacrifice is the cornerstone of the Empire. Sith had already known this when Calgar not only let Sith go to board Abaddon's ship but also personally acted as a live decoy.
Seeing Sith nod, Huron bowed respectfully and turned to execute the order. Sith didn't want to look at the projection anymore and was about to have Van Roth turn it off.
But from the waiting crowd in the corner of the room, a slight complaint to a companion suddenly interrupted Sith's movements.
"It's actually this Chapter?"
"Sigh, their luck has always been bad."
This Chapter? Bad luck?
Sith felt like he had heard this somewhere before. He looked back at the projection, and after an intent gaze that made even Sith frown and squint, a yellow figure jumping alone into the sea of bugs below the city to buy a chance at survival for the Mortals behind him suddenly lit a fire in Sith's eyes!
"Lamenters?!"
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