Warhammer: In the Name of the Emperor

The pale light flickered under the huge dome, and the pale light seemed to come from a dying star without any temperature. The planet had already collapsed into a white dwarf star in billions of years, and was finally burning. The lieutenant general shone his last light in the star field that was also already cold.

Under the light of this "planet" are cold armors. They are arranged one after another, completely protecting the steel body below them. Their masters, who are wearing the armor of the Empire, can no longer be restored. Cast, unable to even understand the physics of which armored soulless robot stood in the light.

It was an extremely huge war machine. Its burly body stood under the incandescent lights above and around it. However, its tallness and external armor layers extending on all sides blocked the lights above it and chopped them into pieces of different sizes. The shadow is cast on the lower side of its burly body, silently highlighting the hugeness of the war machine built by humans.

Above the shadow under the chest, the angular head was completely exposed to the light. The pale light completely illuminated its head with only one eye. In the center of the dazzling incandescent light, the steel head The mechanical eye in the center, which is composed of countless rings and incomprehensible technological structures, is dimly silent. It opens its eyes, but there is nothing that can be called alive underneath.

The tall robot looked ahead and crossed the trestle bridge above the endless warehouse. The long bridge was like a bridge across the world across this sea of ​​steel, allowing those who passed it to pass unimpeded above the head of this endless steel army. Through it, you can also overlook these sleeping iron men through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides of the long bridge.

There is indeed a person walking on the long bridge at this moment, a golden giant, a man who has countless memories in his mind when he sees these steel objects. He is walking on the long bridge, and through the closed steel corridor. The curved glass window on the side looks out.

The man named Vito Constantine was walking. He was walking on those long bridges spliced ​​together by steel window frames and curved glass. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows cut the walls of the corridor, showing each side. The window reveals the Iron Man army outside to the eyes of those who pass by.

Vito held Helen's CD in his huge palm wearing golden power armor. The little artificial intelligence lady standing on it also had her hands behind her back, looking out the window at the endless Iron Man Army with Vito's blue luminous eyes. them.

Surrounding the giant multi-legged war machine standing outside the window are war beasts that are smaller in size but are also equipped with countless advanced weapons. Their tall bodies stand majestically in the endless sea of ​​machines. It's like mountains and islands poking out from the bottom of the sea.

Those islands are also covered with trees, with diamond-shaped shooting ports, "trees" that can blow up the entire palace in the blink of an eye. They just stand like that, with their huge supporting feet stepping on the endless iron men below them. In the infantry.

Vito looked down at them. Under the feet of those huge war beasts were an even larger number of iron infantrymen who covered the entire floor of the huge warehouse like an ocean. The same kinetic energy guns, pulse guns, ion guns, etc. stood together, just like military parade formations.

Vito's eyes scanned them from above. Some of the iron infantrymen held firearms or advanced individual heavy weapons, while others held weapons that looked like cold weapons, such as long knives, sharp axes, or Spears, but trust me, you won't think they are easy to bully after a side-by-side comparison.

Because the reason is very simple. They are both cold weapons, but the swords and spears held by barbarian settlements in the wild world or old farmers in the feudal world are still slightly different from those held by the Necrons. , so yes, the same is true for the "cold weapons" here.

Vito looked at a steel beast, a beast that was similar to a saber-toothed tiger, or at least a beast that looked like a beast. The only thing that was different from the beasts it was based on was that their bodies were made of meat and bones, and its The body is entirely composed of steel and hydraulic structures.

The sharp decomposition claws are turned off and grasped on the ground. They can pounce in an instant and tear open the armor of the Space Marines, tearing the warriors under them into pieces of rotten flesh. The sharp teeth are also quietly closed in its mouth, and the teeth on the steel face are The mechanical eyeball hung lifelessly, dimly and without light, falling into what seemed like an eternal sleep.

Vito looked at everything here. He raised his eyes and looked at the end of the iron man army with no end at all. The silver-gray and iron-colored ocean stretched towards the end of the field of vision. There was no end in sight, only that The long steel wall at the far end depicts the ancient symbols of the Golden Age and the Gothic fonts belonging to the warehouses here stand.

"Terra - The Final High Wall Defense Plan - The Last Iron Guard." The Gothic font description and branding are under the ancient Aquila, which belongs to the ancient times, the last pinnacle of mankind, and under the symbol of the Golden Age Aquila. .

"That Eagle, I remember that it was exactly the same as the Empire's logo before the Mechanicus joined the Empire and changed the Eagle's logo from a single head to a double head. Do you remember it? It was during the Terra Unification War."

"Of course, of course I remember. That guy has always been nostalgic, missing the peak of the beautiful golden age, so when the unification war began, he used the Federation's Sky Eagle logo as his own logo, the Empire's logo, probably for good thoughts and auspiciousness, although he really likes to make a weird mix of decorative arts from the ancient times with the present."

In a sense, it can be regarded as a kind of nostalgia, Vito thought, that guy has always been nostalgic, otherwise it wouldn't have been 40 thousand years, and the Empire's decorative style would still be Gothic and Victorian, or even the older Roman style. That guy really made a surprising and non-mainstream mix of science fiction and classical.

Vito smiled bitterly when he thought of this. He lowered his head and looked at the iron men below. "He is nostalgic and has stored a whole legion of iron men here. The army of iron men is complete with all kinds of sea, land and air. Hum, he is really nostalgic in every sense."

Vito said as he walked across the long "cross-sea" bridge. He walked over the endless sleeping army of iron men under his feet and walked along the long corridor to the main control room at the other end of the gate.

He looked at the closed gate in front of him. The golden sky eagle of the current empire was already imprinted on the gate. The steel door frame was also decorated with the kind of rich gold decoration that the old man liked. He really likes everything to be shiny. What is this? Just like the greenskins think that tanks will be more powerful if they are painted red?

Vito smiled bitterly and brought Helen's optical disc close to the terminal on the side of the gate, "Open the door, we don't have much time, I guess there may have been a fight on the track."

"Well, you are right that there has been a fight. The outer Imperial Navy fleet has already engaged Chaos, and it collapsed as expected."

Helen looked at the terminal as she spoke. She just raised her hand and waved at the instrument, and the terminal immediately lit up and started to work with a flashing Sky Eagle logo. As the Sky Eagle flashed, the closed door in front of Vito also opened.

Vito looked at the Sky Eagle logo in front of him, which was separated from the center and slid into the door frame on both sides. He smiled and shrugged, "Abaddon is still so impatient, just like his father Horus."

As he spoke, Vito walked into the control room behind the door. It was interesting that compared with most of the Empire's battleship bridges and the headquarters of the Hive City, or even a single Titan's cockpit, this place was much smaller, in fact, a little unbelievably small.

You know, as a system control room that can take over, control and coordinate all the defense systems of Terra, from the ground-based anti-aircraft firepower on the ground, the orbital firepower on the track, and even the positions on the moon, this place is so small that it makes people wonder if it is a utility room for brooms and mops or something else.

But this is indeed it. Vito walked into this prototype control room, which is smaller than the larger Titan cockpit. He looked at the arc-shaped CNC glass windows covering the entire wall in front of him. They are exactly the same as the glass windows in the Sky Blade bridge. Before being activated, they were shrouded in darkness, like a black wall.

Vito looked at the matte glass surface, then strode to the terminal device located in front of the glass. Vito flipped Helen's optical disc with his fingers. He looked at the silver optical disc that was flexibly flipped in his huge fingers, "By the way, you see, this is so similar to the Sky Blade. What do you think about changing the skin I mentioned to you before? Just a bikini will do. I guarantee it will be awesome with my 40,000 years of experience."

"Sir, how did you jump from the issue of Terra being bombed and the entire galaxy being flattened by Abaddon to the issue of me wearing a swimsuit?"

Helen's voice came from the optical disc. Her image had disappeared because of Vito's flipping, but she was still in it. This small optical disc carried her digital core, just like carrying her soul.

"I'm just trying to ease the atmosphere. Anyway, this isn't the first time I've saved the empire and the world, so I can save it this time." Vito said as he gently placed Helen's CD on the terminal. He stepped back a few steps, put his hands behind his back and looked at the screens that were all lit up in front of him. In an instant, the entire dark control room lit up.

All the dark screens around Vito flickered, and soon the Federation's eagle logo flashed briefly on them. Along with the huge eagle logo that almost covered the entire field of vision, a large number of scrolling data and information windows lit up on the CNC glass in front of Vito.

The data torrent that was like a tsunami bursting through the dam rushed out and washed over the window, just like a real tsunami hitting the command room window high up on the flood control dam, but Vito was not panicked at all. He stood calmly in front of the data torrent, his eyes calmly watching the chaotic pop-up windows that kept appearing and disappearing in front of him.

He had nothing to worry about. Although the chaotic intensity of this data would probably blow up the brain of a Mechanicus priest the moment he accessed it, in a physical sense, before he was completely drowned by this crazy data tsunami and went insane, his brain processor would be burned to charcoal.

But he was not worried about this problem, because compared to Helen, all the current technical priests had broken computers from the transistor era.

The artificial intelligence lady stood on the terminal in front of Vito. Her fingers slid quickly in front of her. She quickly browsed the windows one by one and threw them aside. As Helen clicked and manipulated the entire interface, the data tsunami soon Being under control, everything started to become clearer.

Vito looked at the scrolling lists in front of him, which were the list of automatic system interfaces on the entire Terra. From here, he could directly take over Terra's defense systems, void shields, rail guns, and the entire starport and The hive network will be placed under the control of this small artificial intelligence girl in front of Vito, who is only one finger high in the palm of Vito's hand.

"Sir, I need permission." Helen pushed open a lot of windows in front of her. She turned to look at Vito behind her. Vito, wearing gold armor, stood in front of the screen with his hands behind his back. He smiled slightly. After nodding, he looked at the screen with the Empire Skyhawk logo flashing in front of him. The logo was like an iron rope, covering all the control panels underneath it.

Vito looked at the golden eagle and cleared his throat. He raised his head slightly and spoke softly, "System identification authority, the return of the king."

"Permissions expired, welcome back, Grand Marshal." A cold mechanical voice sounded from around the main control room. The voice sounded like a servitor. Vito frowned in confusion as he listened to the voice.

"Generalissimo?"

"Don't you like it? Sir." Helen smiled and turned her head to start operating the system. With a few clicks of her fingers, the entire system began to take over. Windows quickly passed by, and the flashing indicator switches slid across with her fingers. And all lit up.

"Nonsense, it sounds like an idiot military aristocrat from a certain empire, giving himself a bunch of exaggerated idiotic titles. Really, anyone in the Imperial Astra Militarum can be called Grand Marshal now, and the title Marshal is useless. It's almost devalued by them." Vito complained as he looked at the windows that were passing by quickly. Helen's efficiency was very fast, and the entire system was almost under control.

"The system has been taken over and all orbital weapons are under my control. Do you need me to activate the Iron Man Legion? Their systems are operating normally. Although there are some energy shortages, I only need to recharge them."

"No, Helen, you don't need to take over the orbital system. Let them continue to sleep." Vito interrupted Helen and said. He looked at the flashing Iron Man Legion system node beside him, which was like a keyhole. , floating there like a keyhole that opens the cage of a sleeping beast.

It flickers, flickering with the ion light projected on it, as if inviting the user here to activate it, awakening the most powerful beast ever created by mankind.

"Sir, weren't these iron men originally stored here by you and the Emperor as a last resort when Terra was completely isolated and about to be breached?" Helen pressed one hand on the holographic projection in front of her, but But his head turned around and looked at Vito behind him in surprise.

"I think this is the last moment. I don't think I need to remind you that the power of Chaos is several times that of the defenders of Terra, and there are a large number of Astartes troops at their disposal, and currently the main defense forces on Terra are... They are ordinary humans, with only a handful of Imperial Guards and Gray Knights.”

"If you allow me, I can completely activate the iron and intelligent fleets here so that the invasion force can be annihilated without even landing. This can minimize Terra's casualties by billions or even tens of billions." population casualties.”

"Then we will have to fight another civil war. Regardless of whether we fight with iron men or not, it will cause the same scale of casualties. The only difference is that this time it will be fought by humans themselves, just like at the end of the Golden Age."

Vito said calmly and looked at the activation keyhole of the Iron Man system. He turned his head decisively to look at the other interfaces in front of him. Vito's eyes reflected the faint blue light on the CNC glass, and dots of light beams were projected on the black on the pupils.

"If the Iron Man appears on Terra and saves the Throne World and the Emperor, what we will usher in will not be a joyous celebration, but a great religious schism that will immediately occur. The Ecclesiastical Church will clearly oppose the Emperor and regard it as The Iron Man, who is as cursed as the devil, saved Terra and the Empire. He fell into religious confusion about what this meant, and eventually split into two factions and started fighting for the "new truth."

"And the other wave of people, believe me, the confusion and the Iron Man technology curse that led to the fall of the Dark Mechanicus will also cause them to have another Mars split. I guess those oil guys can knock out the parts of each other's colleagues. , the entire Mars will fall into a chaotic civil war. As Abaddon is driven back and the warp storm dissipates, this news will quickly spread throughout the Empire. All forge worlds throughout the Mechanicum will break out in a technological civil war like Mars, resulting in casualties No smaller than Abaddon would have done, maybe even bigger."

"Caul has just reunited those oil guys. I don't want to have the Great Sage do it again just two days later, and this time he has to be sprayed with hundreds of years of poison by Guilliman." That kind of thing, I’ve always been the one to criticize others, and no one else has ever criticized me!”

Vito said sternly, although it seemed from the smile on his face that he was not that serious. Vito lowered his head and looked at Helen who was also looking at him, "They are the last choice in desperate situations, because as long as you choose this method , everything that will happen after that is just like the collapse of the golden age, and it is completely beyond human control.”

"The Iron Man plan is the final one, one of the final plans when everything must settle and the final moment truly arrives. They do not belong to the present, but to the moment that must come."

Vito fell silent as he spoke, recalling in his mind the plan the Emperor had mentioned, that crazy plan, the final moment of the final battle he said.

Vito closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. Helen on the other side frowned slightly. She looked at Vito in front of her with some worry, "Sir?"

"I'm fine, Helen. If you want to activate Iron Man, at least wait until Horus's brat arrives at the palace gate. It's not the last moment, but we do have a battle to fight, so take over Terra's system. "Vito opened his eyes and said firmly. He nodded slightly to Helen, who also nodded affirmatively in response.

The artificial intelligence lady turned around and faced the large number of data nodes in front of her. Her fingers lightly clicked on the screen. As her fingers touched the point, beams of light quickly shot to all the surrounding data nodes. The systems all flickered instantly, and those flickering lights eventually turned into new beams of light and converged under Helen's fingers.

"Helen."

"What's the matter, sir?"

"Make a subroutine and starter that can activate the Iron Man Legion. I will take it to face Abaddon, although I still want to beat that naughty kid myself."

Vito smiled faintly behind Helen. The artificial intelligence girl in front of him also turned her back to him, showing a faint smile where he could not see.

"As you command, sir."

Helen took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She slowly raised her hands in front of Vito's eyes. As Helen raised her arms, the whole underground world shook. Vito raised his head and looked around at the violent tremors. The underground structure, the whole world trembled with the rise of Helen's arms.

Bell, who was outside the dark gate, suddenly raised his head and looked at the dome of the palace that was shaking violently above his head. The earthquake beneath his feet was shaking, as if a giant dragon buried deep under Terra was awakening and rising from under the earth. .

Everyone around Bell raised their heads. Eisenstein, Trajan, and all the surrounding imperial guards and shadow guards looked up at the shaking ceiling above their heads. The statues in the dungeon were hanging from their hands. The lantern was shaking in the vibration, and the candle flame in it was also shaking in the shaking, shining the shaking firelight on the statue's face.

On the ground, there was also a candle in the emperor's shrine that was also shaking. The believers praying in front of it looked around in panic at the shaking high-rise buildings in the hive city. The crowd screamed and there was a huge chaos on the street. , even the military policemen with guns suddenly panicked.

The gendarme in the middle of the street stood in the chaotic crowd and looked forward with his gun in hand. He soon widened his eyes in the shadow of the rising behemoth. The gendarme stared blankly at the giant creation rising from the earth. The panicked crowd around him also stopped and looked at the giant thing in the shadow that blocked the sun.

It was a turbine cannon rising slowly from the depths of the hive city. The magnificent cannon, as tall as a building, was rising slowly from among the tall buildings in the hive city, like a giant tower rising from the ground to the sky.

"Where's the other one!" Someone in the crowd shouted and pointed into the distance. Everyone on the street looked at what was behind the huge cannon. It was the second one! That is the mouth of the second giant cannon, and not only that, there are more, more giant cannons are rising.

As the entire Terra trembled, giant cannons reaching the sky lifted their huge bodies from the shadows buried deep underground in the hive city. Those rail guns that blocked the sun cast a large shadow on the city. , projected on the astonished residents of Terra standing on the street.

They all looked at the huge cannon in front of them that covered the sky. The muzzle was pointed at the sky. Gradually, a shining beam of light lit up in the muzzle. In an instant, a huge beam of light shot towards the sky with a roar that shook the earth. In the sky, as the cannon's body receded under the impact, a huge shock wave shook the residents on the entire street.

They stepped back continuously. Some people fell to the ground and looked up at the huge laser beam that shot through the sky. The laser pierced the sky of Terra in the blink of an eye, and it shot through the orbit around Terra. of the Imperial Fleet.

The beam of light roared past the Infinite Frontier. The scarlet beam of light instantly illuminated the entire bridge. Captain Cole stood on the high platform and turned his head sharply to look at the huge beam of light whizzing past the window.

The huge laser beam shot directly through the wide gap between the battleships and shot through a Chaos frigate that was advancing in the distance. The battleship's void shield flickered like a scream for a moment before it suddenly stopped and broke through instantly. Shield, the crimson laser instantly penetrated the battleship, completely piercing it from bow to stern.

The frigate exploded and disintegrated instantly, and the sprayed flames filled the space like blood. The exploding warship instantly illuminated the entire night sky, illuminating the bridge of the Vengeful Spirit sailing on its side.

Abaddon Company's face was illuminated by the firelight of the explosion. The Warmaster looked at the frigate that exploded and disintegrated and suddenly howled. He laughed with an almost crazy laugh and raised his power claw, "I Accept your challenge, Vito!"

"All fleets, get ready!" Abaddon roared and pointed his lightning claws at Terra. Almost at the same time, Captain Cole on the Infinite Frontier pointed his claws at each other. He slowly drew out the navy sword on his waist, raised the golden power scimitar high, and then swung it down to the Chaos fleet in the distance.

"Fire!" Cole slashed down his sword and shouted at the same time as Abaddon. Their roars turned into the roar of war. The macro cannons and light spears began to roar. The whistling shells and laser beams bombarded each other on both sides of the universe curtain. In the collision of blood and fire, the defense of Terra officially began.