"Tch, cowardly xenos."
Hearing Aqua's order, Lucius sheathed his Duelist Sword and slowly backed away, facing the tightly sealed circular crystal.
Tavitz, who had been providing cover nearby, also moved toward the shattered crystal gate. Only Kasgar remained where he was, as though pondering something.
"It's time to go, Kasgar!"
"If we don't leave now, we really won't be able to!"
Aqua shouted again, rare anxiety showing in her voice.
To be honest, Kasgar was rather unwilling to accept this.
Yet he could not say why.
He only knew that if events followed the established timeline, a year after this great victory, the Terra War Council would dispatch an Expeditionary Fleet made up of Ultramarines to investigate through the portal. Beyond it, in the northern reaches of the galaxy, they would discover the xenos homeworld.
Far to the north, immensely distant from the Dalinite Nebula, the Ultramarines would bring the Emperor's wrath to the xenos.
They would successfully complete the extermination of the Crystalline Aliens.
Yet not long afterward, the Dalit Warp Gate would gradually cease operating, and the secrets hidden within it might be buried forever amid the dust of the stars.
These Crystalline Aliens very likely held the key to unraveling the mysteries of the portal!
Kasgar had to find a way to keep prisoners.
Thus, even with victory assured, Kasgar had insisted on boarding one of the more distant Xenos Warships.
But it seemed his first boarding action had not gone very well.
Faced with the xenos crystals' turtle-shell tactic, even Aqua, their Emperor's Children Sword Saint, had no solution.
Kasgar was unwilling, but he still had no way around it.
The Dalit Warp Gate, glowing faintly beneath the transparent outer wall, grew larger and closer.
The other members of the Tactical Squad had already retreated to the gate, ready to leave with him at any moment.
Was he really going to give up like this?
For some reason, Kasgar lowered his head and looked at his palm, covered in flowing golden-red cracks.
"Wait! Let me try one more time!"
A premonition from nowhere drove him to sprint toward the sphere at the very center.
He did not know why, but a mad thought suddenly arose in his heart.
"Damn it, you two go first!"
Seeing this, Aqua signaled for the other two to leave. Her figure instantly shot toward Kasgar at incredible speed.
Almost there!
Almost there!
Rushing toward the sphere, Kasgar stretched out his cracked right hand from beneath his damaged armor.
Slap!
Then he pressed it against the sphere.
Nothing happened.
The sphere remained curled into a ball, unchanged by Kasgar's slap.
His risky move seemed not to have earned him any reward.
Aqua's furious roar came from behind him.
"Kasgar! What exactly are you trying to do?!"
"It's already too late—"
Bzz—?
At that moment, the circular Crystalline Alien emitted a hum entirely different from before.
As its crystals shifted, its core was laid bare directly before Kasgar.
As if it were staring at him in disbelief.
"Don't attack yet!"
Kasgar waved behind him, then held his cracked right hand before the other's core for it to examine closely.
He could not explain why, but Kasgar's subconscious still made him do it.
And at that very moment, he felt the other's thoughts.
Confusion, delight, and excitement, mixed with a hint of disbelief, flowed into Kasgar's mind.
Like a pet separated from its master for many years recognizing him once more.
What was more, Kasgar even felt that he could command and control it.
The Crystalline Alien's core remained completely exposed. Crystals opened around it and spun, as though performing a dance unique to its species.
"You can control it?"
Aqua let out a breath of relief, and the tension on her face immediately eased.
"Then make it stop quickly. We're about to pass through the portal!"
With the portal right before them, Aqua was still somewhat anxious.
"No!"
"I can't control it! It's still moving!"
"Is that so?"
Aqua's expression darkened again, and her other hand had already reached for the military knife beneath the yellow silk.
"Haha, just kidding."
Kasgar gave a shameless, sheepish laugh.
The next second, the warship immediately stopped before the portal.
Aqua: "."
It had to be said that Kasgar always managed to surprise people.
Whether it was his talent with the sword or his command ability, even at the crucial moment when the final boarding action was about to fail, he could resolve the crisis through methods ordinary people found impossible to understand.
But sometimes, she really wanted to beat him up.
".You. Extra training when we get back."
After taking several deep breaths, Aqua chose to hold back for now.
"Are they down yet?! Kasgar and the others!"
"No! All the squads that entered the warship have withdrawn. Only they remain!"
"Damn it!"
"Reporting to the commander, the Xenos Warship has stopped advancing and is descending toward Silent Star's surface!"
"Commander Kasgar succeeded. They captured that Xenos Warship!"
Whew—
Upon hearing the unmistakable news of victory, accompanied by applause from all around, the fleet commander finally collapsed weakly into the command chair at the center of the bridge.
Crewmembers still hurried back and forth across the cruiser's bridge. Even after such a great victory, tallying the battlefield remained an extremely tedious task.
But none of that mattered now.
At least when reviewing the figures, his heart would not race this wildly.
Though he had no idea why Kasgar had insisted on capturing a xenos construct that should have been destroyed outright.
He shook his head, then stood again after clearing his mind somewhat.
It was not over yet.
"I hereby announce that the void battle against the Crystalline Aliens has concluded, with our forces achieving a decisive victory."
Amid the applause, the fleet commander continued.
A great victory.
But it was also the most nerve-racking victory of his service career.
"At almost no cost, our forces destroyed eight enemy light warships and captured one light warship."
"Assess the casualties and losses, then have the Astropath send the battle report to Lord Horus."
Dalinite Nebula.
Vengeful Spirit, Staff Room.
The primarch Horus stood before the Vengeful Spirit's enormous floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the ruins scattered across the distant sea of stars.
He had just returned victorious from a brutal xenos purge, and his armor still bore considerable blood and grime.
As the invincible Shepherd of Wolves, all of it had naturally been left by his enemies.
Aside from the small number of xenos willing to submit, vast numbers of humanity's enemies had been annihilated by Horus, the Lunar Wolves, and the overwhelming military strength of the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet.
Their purge of the xenos in the Dalinite Nebula was proceeding very smoothly.
Only a few remnant forces were still resisting stubbornly.
Tap, tap.
Just as Horus enjoyed a brief moment of post-battle peace, the footsteps of a giant who bore some resemblance to him shattered the silence of the Staff Room.
He was easy to recognize.
Because of his hair styled into a skyward topknot.
And his pointed head.
"Izekiel, what encouraging news have you brought?"
Izekiel Abaddon, Company Commander of the Lunar Wolves and member of the Council of Four Kings.
"The Astropath has sent a message."
"Our rear base has come under siege by a large Xenos Fleet. The situation is extremely critical."
He spoke in a deep voice.
Before you continue