You Tell Me, What the Hell Is This, the Rebel Army?!
The conversation between the two ended unhappily.
Winnie remained worried that Alvin, with his growing power, would follow in Vandire's footsteps and become the culprit who would cause the Imperium to split once again.
Her concerns were not without reason.
Alvin was abducted to the "Warp" at birth and disappeared for a whole year. No one knows how he returned, and his background is shrouded in mystery.
Moreover, judging from the deliberate indulgence shown by the Chaos Gods towards "Alvin," it is clear that he harbors an important mission. This is also an important factor that the one on the Golden Throne is willing to repeatedly perform "miracles" to protect Alvin.
She is a "Living Saint," yet she remains oblivious to the truth behind the mysteries surrounding Alvin.
Winnie simply hoped that Alvin could stay safe and sound, preferably away from those Warp monsters, including the one on the Golden Throne.
The longer she spent with the "Emperor," the more she understood that the "one" sitting on the Golden Throne was no longer the Emperor who walked among mortals, but a cold sun filled with the pain, hope, wailing, and despair of mankind over the past ten thousand years!
Getting too close to the "sun" will result in being burned to ashes.
But what about Alvin?
He knew all too well that blindly expanding military power would only invite trouble from the Warp and the Imperium, but he had no other choice.
Next, the Lion King is about to awaken; Robert Guilliman's Indomitable Crusade will ignite war in the darker side of the Imperium; Abaddon, commander of the Black Crusade, and the Warp demigod Vashtor have secretly conspired to find the artifacts of the Old Ones; the Silent King of the Necron has returned; the Eldar are also stirring; the tentacles of the Tyran are about to reach into the galaxy; the Orks, amidst the war cries of their Gork and Mork, have begun an unprecedented conquest; and on the frontier, the Tau warships are rising!
Moreover, the prophecy foretells that in the forty-third millennium, the Emperor will rise from the Golden Throne and become the fifth Dark King to ascend to godhood, bringing destruction to the entire universe.
These are things Alvin cannot confide in.
He could only suppress it all in his heart, and before that dark and hopeless future arrived, he tried his best to expand his strength, to find that faint, sliver of hope for humanity and for those around him.
Winnie felt he had changed, but in reality— Alvin knew very well that he had never changed from beginning to end; he had simply been forced to integrate into this stinking "cesspool."
"Spatial fluctuations detected; a large fleet of warships is jumping around. The target is on the port side of the Ishimura, about 100 meters away."
Location in kilometers.
Just as Alvin was getting upset, the Servitor Skull issued a warning and simultaneously projected an image.
"You arrived so quickly?"
Upon hearing this news, Alvin immediately dismissed all other thoughts and focused intently on the several shuttle-shaped warships that suddenly leaped out of the starry sky in the scene.
These shuttle-shaped warships are not large, only a few tens of meters in size, which is still within the conventional range, far smaller than the mobile cathedrals in the Warhammer Universe that can go both into the sky and on the ground.
Then, these warships lined up in front of the Ishimura, pointing their dark cannons at them.
"Good grief, not saying a word, just going to fire right away?" Alvin raised an eyebrow as he watched the other's actions.
To be fair, the CEC was quite decisive.
Once a threat is detected, even final negotiations are omitted, and the aim is to destroy the entire Ishimura, including the survivors, in the fastest, most convenient, and most efficient way.
In the space age, the CEC has already mastered the use of energy weapons, so a distance of one hundred kilometers is naturally nothing.
In an instant, several beams of high-density energy illuminated the dark starry sky, leaving dazzling trails as they hurtled straight toward the Ishimura.
The energy fluctuations contained in these beams caused the space along their trajectory to distort!
Boom!
In the silent universe, above the planet Aegis VI, the massive planetary disintegrator Ishimura was submerged in dazzling light.
The diameter of that ball of light reached several hundred meters!
From their perspective, it resembled a newborn sun, radiating scorching, dazzling light. The shockwave even dispersed some of the clouds above the Aegis V, revealing the blood-red, barren ground.
"It's over."
The commander of the CEC fleet adjusted his hat brim, a contemptuous sneer appearing on his stiff face, "I really don't know what the higher-ups were thinking. Dealing with a mere few Rebel Army is actually worth mobilizing ten frigates at once."
He certainly couldn't understand why, in order to wipe out a mere group of rebels, they would risk turning against the United Government and mobilizing ten frigates at once.
Given the increasingly apparent contradictions between the CEC and the United Government, the sudden mobilization of such a large fleet...
This could easily provoke the United Government; what if it actually leads to war?
As a commander, he naturally did not want to see war, even a false peace was still peace.
It's better than rivers of blood.
"Hopefully, the higher-ups have figured out how to appease the United Government this time." The commander rubbed his temples, feeling somewhat worried, having never taken the Ishimura seriously from the beginning.
After all, no matter how large the Ishimura was, it was just a mining-grade planetary fragmentation vessel, while they were properly trained space elites. Eliminating a mere few rebels would be a piece of cake for them.
However, just as the commander was about to order the fleet to turn back, an observer exclaimed, "They—are still here!"
What?!
The commander gave a slight nod, then turned to look at the starry sky outside the bridge. After the intense, dazzling light dissipated, the Ishimura was still completely intact and unharmed.
"This, this is impossible!" the commander exclaimed, his eyes wide. "This is the latest model!"
"The energy-splitting beam is several times more powerful than the Ishimura; how could it still be alive?"
"They seem to have large Energy Shield."
One of them stared in disbelief at the remotely detected data, his face filled with shock. "Extremely high intensity!"
We absolutely cannot break through!
"These are rebels?!"
The commander was already cursing his superiors in his heart; how could they keep such important intelligence from them?
He had already seen it clearly; these weren't rebels at all, they were clearly the Earth United Government!
Besides the United Government, who else could develop Energy Shield strong enough to withstand the Disintegration Cannon?
No wonder the higher-ups mobilized ten warships from the surrounding area to encircle and suppress them; it seems they've completely broken ties with the United Government and started a war!
Our attention returns to the Ishimura.
"Heh, luckily I calculated one more step." In the captain's cabin of the Ishimura, Alvin smiled easily and contentedly, turning to look at the fluctuating data on one side.
Given CEC's determination to kill, he specifically brought out the Bastion-class Energy Shield from his Personal Space.
They were placed on the Ishimura.
The attack just now only caused the shield's energy value to drop by about 0.1%.
This is a fortress-level Energy Shield, typically used in large Hive City, meaning it requires Transformers' space compression technology. Otherwise, a single Energy Shield factory would be larger than the entire Ishimura.
With this thing around, even the Titans can't do anything to it. And if you really want to count, it can even withstand a few hits from the Navy's Macrocannon and Light Lance, let alone the "outdated" CEC.
"They've finished; it's our turn now."
Alvin glanced at Ollsen, the Dark Angels' Chapter Master, and nodded. "Then I'll leave it to you, Chapter Master Ollsen."