The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Compared to the Astral Knights, the Minotaurs Chapter, in a sense, suffered the most disproportionate losses. Of their 4 battle barges, only 1 remained, and of their 12 strike cruisers, only 2. This equates to a loss of over 80% of the Chapter's warships. This resolute sacrifice and dedication greatly changed Sotharion's view of these individuals. Even if they were recklessly squandering their fleet strength due to their rapid replenishment capabilities, the determination behind these sacrifices could not be simply explained by "affluence."

The Marauders Chapter, on the other hand, suffered no losses. They only had one strike cruiser and two frigates, and they were fortunate enough to only sustain damage.

With the loss of so many ships, there was naturally a tremendous loss of life, but the exact number could not yet be tallied. However, the list of over two hundred deceased ship captains was clearly presented before Sotharion. Some of them had just left the Naval Academy, while others had served for five or six decades. The vast majority of captains chose to go down with their ships, with only a few being rescued by their crew. The loss of these captains was truly irreversible for the Orpheus Guard Fleet, and it may take fifty years to fully recover.

In addition, there were the losses of the aircrews. From the orbital aviation forces of Amara Prime to the fleet aviation, over three thousand pilots shed their blood in the void.

The forces that initiated the boarding actions fared even worse, with only a handful surviving. According to current statistics, less than 30,000 individuals successfully withdrew from the tomb ships, including approximately 3,000 wounded Krieg Death Korps soldiers and 27,000 Orpheus Death Guard soldiers.

Besides that, there were the Space Marine casualties. The Astral Knights' Third Company lost 41 warriors, while the Minotaurs Chapter suffered an even more staggering loss of 576, equivalent to six full-strength companies sacrificed within the enemy tomb ships. The loss of nearly six hundred Space Marines was an extremely heavy blow to Sotharion's entire command career, especially considering it was just a single engagement.

"I once..."

Sotharion spoke slowly in a somber tone, shifting his gaze from the list and looking out the window.

"I once had a simulated battle with the Chapter Master of the Minotaurs. He commanded a human fleet, and I commanded a Necron fleet, the scale of which was eerily similar to reality... In the simulation, I utterly crushed him, almost completely defeating him. At the time, I always thought I could do better than him... But I was wrong. I'm not much better than him."

"And what was the outcome then?"

In response to Saul's inquiry, Sotharion sighed softly.

"His result was one in ten surviving, while my answer was a little less than half remaining... There's almost no difference."

"That's much better. At least Orpheus still has a fleet. The technological gap between the two sides is something no one can overcome."

After Saul finished speaking, he also sighed softly, walked to Sotharion's side, and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, gazing out the window.

"It's truly cruel... Since the Great Heresy, I haven't seen such a large-scale and brutal naval battle."

Sotharion slightly shifted his gaze and asked softly:

"If the Legions of that era had fought, would it have been better?"

Saul was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

"Probably... not. Even the fleets of that time lacked the means to deal with the Necrons' terrifying weapons and inertialess drives. In the end, it would have just been a war of attrition. Even Primarchs couldn't do much in a naval battle of this scale... The best way to eliminate these ancient remnants is always before they awaken, otherwise, there will always be a significant price to pay later on."

"Wouldn't large-scale Space Marine boarding actions work?"

"Sotharion, you should already know that the boarding action was only successful because the enemy allowed it. Otherwise... frankly speaking, with the performance of the tomb ship, if it had kept its distance and not joined the melee, what do you think we would have had that could have caught up to it? What weapons could have truly threatened it?"

Hearing Saul's words, Sotharion chuckled self-deprecatingly.

"Should I be proud then?"

"In any case, the result is that humanity won, even though the process was difficult, but like the Imperium itself... These ten thousand years have been difficult, but at least we've endured. As long as we endure, there is hope."

At that moment, a bulkhead on one side of the bridge suddenly opened. Hearing the noise, Sotharion and Saul turned around and saw Talos walking in.

"Talos, thank you for your hard work."

Sotharion immediately strode forward to greet him. After Talos reached him, he also produced a data-slate.

"The reports are all here."

Taking the ground operation report, Sotharion immediately opened it and began to read, spending twenty minutes doing so.

In one-by-one error-free version!

When he put it down, the expression on his face was even heavier.

Amara Prime's main hive city, New Vostok, was completely destroyed. Of the other two large hive cities, Karoshi was also severely damaged, with over 90% of the upper hive spires destroyed, and over 60% of the middle and lower hive areas destroyed. Only the situation in Tritos Hive City was slightly better, with the upper hive basically intact. Only the lower hive and underhive areas were attacked, but the Necron offensive in this area was not very strong, and with the assistance of the Phantom Legion, Tritos Hive City was basically spared.

Currently, the entire Amara Prime can only be said to be slightly better than being occupied. All orbital facilities were destroyed, less than one-tenth of the major industrial facilities survived, 87% of transportation equipment was lost, and less than 13% of storage and civilian facilities remained. The direct and indirect economic losses were incalculable. It was as if the planet's thousands of years of construction had been destroyed, almost reduced to a blank slate. As a highly hive-based world, Amara Prime no longer had any natural environment, with only the ice caps at the north and south poles partially preserved. The rest had mostly become industrial wastelands, and the residents completely depended on artificial facilities for survival. The hive cities were their only home.

Corresponding to the enormous material losses were the terrifying casualties.

The planetary surface defense war lasted for a full 42 hours. Although many preparations had been made in advance and a large number of residents had been evacuated, due to Amara Prime's excessively large population, more than two billion civilians still died in the alien invasion, and nearly ten billion more were displaced, forced to be resettled in the already crowded Tritos Hive City. It was no longer overcrowded there; even the underhive was packed to the point of being impenetrable. If it weren't for Tritos Hive City's natural advantages in water supply, it was estimated that a large number of people would have died from water shortages alone.

In addition to the civilians, the losses of the military were also enormous. In preparation for the war, Sotharion had deployed over 80 million troops on Amara Prime, including 20 million elite regulars such as the Krieg Death Korps, Necromunda Enforcers, and the strengthened Orpheus Guard, the Astral Knights Auxilia numbered 4 million and the remaining troops, while theoretically militia, had also undergone several months of high-intensity training, and were fully equipped with light and heavy equipment, no worse than the Imperium's conventional Astra Militarum regiments.