Second Brother, Quick, Give Your Brother a Hand!

When Mordred saw the Orks markings—billions of giant cannons scattered across the surface of Octarius— he was completely numb.

He'd seen Battle Moon before; the Battle Moon of the Randan Xenos had become Mardon. He understood the logic, but why was it so big?

The moment the Orks Celestial Weapon, comparable in size to Terra, appeared, the gravitational fluctuations caused by its immense mass alone shattered the balance of the entire galaxy, and Octarius was instantly locked onto.

The earth gradually shattered, tectonic plates were torn apart by immense gravity, and Roared, Melta pierced the surface, splashing everything into the sky. In a way that no one expected, Octarius, which had not yet been conquered, suffered a devastating blow. Forget about trying to retaliate, the entire planet's Void Shield Array was pulled into the sky.

Although Mordred enjoys building wonders and believes in the Many-Turret Cult that bigger is better and more is more beautiful, he absolutely does not want the enemy to have weapons of this scale.

The good news is that the Jingba Mushroom and has the ability to float briefly. Apart from a few unlucky ones who were thrown into the void due to the instantaneous reversal of gravity, Atlas suffered very few casualties.

The Imperial Fleet immediately activated its Plasma Engine, risking the shattering of its ship keels to escape the gravitational vortex.

The ground defenders, though uprooted, were not entirely wiped out. The atmosphere, also drawn by the Battle Moon, tightly enveloped these planetary fragments, preventing them from experiencing the most deadly extreme environments in the void.

The bad news is that this is just the prelude. Anyone who has studied high school physics can understand that as long as you are within a planet, no matter how high your paper airplane flies, it will eventually fall.

The boundaries between up, down, left, and right gradually blurred. To the surface defenders, everything was spinning. During the fall alone, a third of the soldiers died from being crushed inside.

If you remove the geological debris scattered throughout near-Earth orbit, the cyclone connecting the two worlds due to the enormous gravitational distortion must be considered magnificent. But in Mordred's eyes, Octarius, which he had cultivated for many years, was completely finished.

As expected, as the planet's gravity gradually stabilized, the landmass thrown into the sky was captured by gravity and began to crash into the surface with an unstoppable momentum.

"Boom!"

Shock, explosion, and a catastrophe caused by sheer mass swept across Octarius, instantly shattering humanity's proud Hive City.

In the face of such a devastating impact, luck becomes the most important factor in your survival.

A thunderstorm suddenly rose in the pitch-black sky, and black rain mixed with volcanic ash pelted Mordred's face. The rain extinguished the flames burning around him, but it ignited his anger.

Through the Mind Network, Mordred could see the Atlas fleet engaged in fierce battle with the Orks in the sky above, and also saw Thousand Sons, who was still fighting the orcs with his Orks.

The human fleet's artillery fire was completely ineffective, all blocked by the supermoon's thick shield. Even if you tried to issue Exterminatus, it would be blown up by the orbital array in mid-air.

All complaints were pointless. Mordred couldn't blame Magnus; if he were in Magnus's shoes, he would have thought of retreating too. Someone had to take the blame eventually.

"But I worked so hard to earn this, scraping together every penny I could, #￥@%-? Minos!! Couldn't you have told me beforehand, you bastard?"

Such a huge loss was heartbreaking for Mordred, who was obsessed with money. Even the rubble pressing down on him couldn't make him feel this bad. He started breathing heavily, as if possessed by Hakimi. "Damn this place is no good anymore. Goff, send the coordinates to Magnus, that one-eyed Sunburned Ogryn, and have him lead the Orks to the planetary fortress."

We absolutely cannot let these Orks escape! Lock them up and beat them to a pulp! And send someone else to pick us up while you're at it! I want Orks dead!

Upon receiving the order, Goff did not hesitate and immediately sent the coordinates to the Radiance. But even for such a simple decoy operation, Magnus wanted to add some tricks.

The Atlas, scattered among the ruins, rose into the air, and the instantaneous low temperature turned the gray rain into ice and electricity.

In an instant, a burst of Psychic Power sparks flashed, and when the group opened their eyes again, they found themselves inside the Radiance, where they saw a group of Psychic Power men casting a spell together in the hangar, with the red one being the most conspicuous.

"Second Brother, I miss you so much—ah!"

Before Magnus could finish speaking, he was slammed to the ground by a knight's kick, followed by a flurry of belts flying everywhere.

"Magnus, you bastard, you owe me Octarius!"

"Stop hitting him! Stop hitting him, Your Highness! Please let go of Father! Your pants are showing!"

Driven by their protective instincts, the Thousand Sons rushed forward, grabbing Mordred's legs and pulling him backward. In the end, even the dwarves, unable to bear the sight, stepped forward to break up the fight, shouting, "Garlic Bird, Garlic Bird, stop fighting!"

"Where did this shorty come from? Get out of here!"

Mordred, having vented his anger, pulled up his pants and, seeing that the good-for-nothing pony was still secretly crying, got up and slapped him across the face.

"What kind of look is that? And what's with those tears? You still dare to cry? Guilliman has already gone to support you, what are they supposed to do?"

Mordred's words only made things worse, as Pony became even more agitated, shouting, "No reinforcements! Nine hours later, then another nine hours, seven whole days have passed, and that dog-like Guilliman still hasn't arrived!"

Now I understand. Guilliman is an Ambition guy. All the brothers were cursing him before, but I thought he was a good person.

But now he's given me a huge problem. I refuse to believe anything can be delayed for seven whole days. It's impossible that Guilliman would run into a whole Orks army the moment he stepped out the door, right?

I could understand if we encountered Orks army, but couldn't you at least send an Astropathic Communication to tell us to retreat? It's impossible that there are so many Orks that we don't even have a chance to send a Star Language message, and we get nothing in return.

Perhaps relieved of the pressure, Magnus, slumped to the ground, poured out his grievances. "What am I supposed to do? We only have so few men, and we also have to take a bunch of Civilians with us to protect the passenger ship in the middle of the fleet."

"That's no excuse for deserting your post. Just hold on for another week, no, just three days, and I'll be there to support you. Atlas won't be late."

"Second Brother, you have no idea what I'm facing. You think there's only one planet? Let me tell you, no. That supermoon that followed is called the Big Stomach Bag, and there are two more over at Olympia. Three worlds of Orks are coming at me alone. Who can withstand that? My legion is down to less than 30,000 men!"

Then another person stepped forward, a dark-skinned Nightfall Star. After he spoke, Mordred recognized him as the old acquaintance Kalliphenni.

Contrary to her previous image as a noble Princess, Kalliphenni is not just a pretty face; she is the chief logistics officer of the Iron Warriors.

When Olympia fell, she also rushed to the front lines. However, her current appearance is somewhat bizarre. Her original two long legs have disappeared and been replaced by two bionic prosthetics. This is understandable, since it's inevitable to get injured in war, and the Empire is not resistant to mechanical modifications.

The only thing Mordred found abstract was that one of Kelfin's arms had been replaced with a power clamp that was clearly Orks in style.

He bears a striking resemblance to that rising star known as Old One-Eye:

"Your Highness, you have truly misunderstood Mag. Since the Orks invasion began, he has never left the battlefield, fighting tirelessly for over a month without sleep."

"Logically, the Orks should have collapsed in morale!" Mordred was already losing confidence, but he still felt that the pony was being unfair.

"It's different. These Orks are different from the previous Orks. We wiped out no less than 170,000 orcs the same size as Orks Dreadnought. We threw in 3 billion Orks, but now so many more have come."

"·...

Looking at the group of elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people all staring at him, Mordred could see that they were all injured, and there were even a few short people who were half-dead.

"Hey, Little Ma, why didn't you say so sooner? If you had, I wouldn't have hit you. Don't be angry. It's all that good-for-nothing Guilliman's fault. Don't worry, your Second Brother will avenge you!"

You're safe now that you're in Serenity. I promise you'll all survive. Stop sighing and complaining; at least we made a successful evacuation, cheer up!

With the legion in such a state, Magnus would have laughed long ago if he could. Their legion was already small in number, and now nearly 10,000 have died, almost matching Atlas.

"Second Brother, how can you laugh like that?"

"Of course I'm laughing at those Orks for being brave but reckless. My Ultimate Wall is impregnable; even if a Battle Moon, I wouldn't be afraid. Besides, judging by the time, Little Mo will be here soon. When we're surrounded from three sides, those Orks will never return."

"Really? Second Brother? I want that Xenos dead!"

"Really, you have to believe me. Listen, my son Goff sent me a message. It's probably Mortarion. Bring him in quickly."

With morale low, some uplifting good news was needed, so Magnus immediately connected to the holographic projection. However, instead of Mortarion, what appeared was Kalas, the Death Guard Captain:

"Your Highness, something terrible has happened! Father is seriously injured and has collapsed. There are Xenos Orks chasing us! Help us!"

"Retreat."