Seventy-seven years later.
The Warp.
Colonial Enclave No. 777.
Buzz~
As space warped, dozens of special Blackstone Fortresses burst out of The Void and floated within the endless Chaos zone.
Ripples spread through the interiors of those Blackstone Fortresses, forming a semicircular barrier ahead of them.
They blocked the Chaos Tide surging this way, creating a rare safe zone behind them.
For the colonies, these fortress clusters were both forward bases for expansion and shields protecting vital worlds.
"Great Savior, we have finally arrived—"
On the dome platform of a Blackstone Fortress, Ork inhaled the somewhat pungent, metallic smell drifting from The Void, his voice trembling with excitement.
This high-ranking Imperial engineer and heir to an engineering family had gone gray-haired and acquired even more mechanical prosthetics, even losing one eye.
Yet he remained just as proud. More Honor Badges hung from his mechanical arm, every one meticulously maintained, anointed with the most expensive Holy Oil, and fitted with protective devices and force fields.
Even if his body were destroyed by enemy bombardment, those mechanical prosthetics and the badges upon them would not suffer the slightest damage.
Ork valued these honors above his own life. He hoped that one day he would become an Honor Engineer, receive the Imperial Excellence Medal representing supreme dedication and honor, and then be granted an audience with the Great Savior alongside the others.
In truth, his accomplishments had long surpassed those of his grandfather, Old Ork, and he had become a core member of the Third Industrial Group's upper ranks.
The reason this high-ranking Imperial engineer was so excited was that he had finally reached the last region of this mission.
After decades, he was finally about to complete that sacred mission.
Over the years, he and many other high-ranking Imperial engineers had secretly