Golden flames stretched without end, as if they meant to turn the planet into a world of pure fire.
That astonishing heat even reached the ships in orbit, the excessive temperature making their systems issue nonstop alarms.
Crew members and maintenance workers hurried back and forth. The berthing had already lasted six hours, and it was foreseeable that their bustle would continue for a long time before the investigation was complete.
And yet, the strange part was that the surface of the Hive City seemed warm and comfortable. This heat was like nothing more than a warning, meant to alert any possible ill-intentioned intruders arriving from space.
Lorgar Aurelian stared at the golden planet below, his expression somewhat dazed. The reports sent back to the ship by the Custodes and his First Company had left him silent for a long time.
He could not understand it, nor was he able to. Even for a Primarch, this kind of power seemed somewhat too far ahead. Just gazing at it made him feel terror.
In the years past, the Word Bearer had refuted gods countless times. He had belittled Their existence, beginning back on Colchis.
He had humiliated the spokesmen of gods, condemned so-called divinities, and then, in front of the people, torn away the hypocritical masks of those once-lofty clergy, exposing their ugly true faces.
From that moment on, he had already known that there was no god in the world worthy of worship.
But—
What about this one?
He began recalling again the baffling conclusions in the joint investigation report.
"The environment of Leigen Hive City has been completely altered. As an impoverished industrial center, its natural environment was utterly destroyed hundreds of years ago."
"However, according to the conclusions sent back by the scouts we dispatched to the surface,