The brutal C'tan known as Burner stood atop the Blackstone excavation site. From beginning to end, aside from the energy-laden flames flickering and dancing across its body, it did not move a muscle.
The firing-control restrictions on The Visionary's warship were lifted, and a beam descended from beyond orbit to strike Burner directly.
The Tau Empire's naval forces were not particularly formidable, and the combat capabilities of their warships left much to be desired. But just as The Visionary possessed ancient divine weapons, this legendary commander had acquired several powerful weapons throughout his long military career that surpassed every shipborne weapon in the Tau Empire.
The fully powered lance remained active for nearly two minutes, its radiance enough to blind all mortal eyes across nearly a hundred kilometers of the surface.
After the lance dissipated, the ship's guns unleashed a barrage into the dust-filled sky. They fired as rapidly as an automatic weapon, inflicting damage greater than the heavy artillery used by the Imperium's Astra Militarum.
Several minutes later, the barrage abruptly ceased. This proved that the Gou Weisa loyal to the Ethereals on the bridge had been killed, and The Visionary's subordinates had retaken the bridge and stopped the firing.
The energy unleashed by the orbital bombardment suddenly faded. When the Tau observing Burner's every movement saw the transcendent being again, they were astonished to find it uninjured and unmoved, still standing exactly where it had been.
Against a relatively intact Star God fragment, the firepower unleashed by a single warship was simply far too insignificant.
But the people and forces behind this attack had never expected the orbital bombardment to inflict much damage. All they wanted was for an orbital bombardment to have taken place. Nothing more.
Burner was enraged by the attack. The flames around its body