The Price of Victory

On land, the purification was equally merciless.

The Imperial fleet in orbit adjusted its bombardment pattern.

It shifted from high-intensity, devastating strikes to low-intensity, prolonged, blanket fire purification.

Lances and macro-cannons continuously bombarded key areas across the continents and islands.

Especially the once-lush valleys, jungles, and any corner that might conceal Tyranid spores.

The unceasing high-temperature flames reduced everything to ash.

The tropical islands, once thick with greenery, lost every trace of green and became charred ruins.

Dense rainforests turned to drifting ash amid the endless sea of fire.

All that remained were countless carbonized, twisted trunks, like desperate arms reaching toward the polluted sky, telling of the life that had once been there.

As this land was thoroughly destroyed by physical means, the Adeptus Ministorum's power intervened as well.

The Cardinals presided over grand and solemn exorcism rites.

They stood upon temporary platforms overlooking the scorched earth.

Their deep, solemn chants echoed above every ruin through massive loudspeakers.

These scriptures contained the sacred power recognized by the Ecclesiarchy, intended to cleanse the profound blasphemy suffered by this land and banish any lingering immaterial xenos taint.

Though the destruction had long since been completed in physical terms, the Adeptus Ministorum believed that purification through faith was a necessary final step in ensuring the planet's "spiritual purity."

Thus, Azure Dawn, once a beautiful Garden World, had been utterly destroyed in all but name.

Its oceans had become vast, stagnant waters saturated with deadly toxins.

Its complex ecosystem had collapsed completely and irreversibly.

Its land had become an endless expanse of scorched earth.

The once-fertile soil had been fused by extreme heat into hard, glass-like crusts.

Its skies were permanently shrouded by a haze of ash, chemical dust, and smoke.

Starlight could only struggle through that veil, casting a sickly, yellowish glow