On the ground.
Inside a birthing chamber in an underground factory.
Countless bodies were on display.
Every one of them was naked and wore an oxygen mask.
Behind each body were ten identical "resurrection coins."
The precision instruments were beeping incessantly.
[Resurrection Protocol activated.]
[Birthing Chamber 13: Lifeform 3 has disappeared. Lifeform 4 has disappeared. Activating Resurrection Protocol.]
Beep beep beep.
The shrill sound rang out in the empty room.
Immediately afterward, the people in the third and second positions of the third and fourth rows were fitted with some kind of complex device. The instruments pierced into their foreheads.
[Data backup]
[Data loading. Please do not touch.]
[Holy Baptism.]
Electricity surged through them.
Then, in less than a minute,
the transparent doors of the birthing chambers opened.
Two humans were pushed out of the incubation pods.
Although these cloned bodies showed no signs of having moved, they had been kept in an active state. Even after just being revived, they felt no discomfort at all. It was no different from waking up after a nap. These blank bodies were like pristine sheets of paper. As soon as their data was overwritten, they could return to the battlefield.
"Phew!"
"Died again?"
"Looks like I have seven revives left. Once I use them all, I'll have to pay for more."
"That's still pretty good. I ran out of revives ages ago. Good thing I already signed a 200-year employment contract. I get a work subsidy, so any deaths during a campaign can be reimbursed."
"Fair enough. All right, our gear's here. Time to head to the battlefield. Kill one and we break even; kill two and we're making a profit. If we beat the enemy and claim the honor of being first to breach their defenses, we can earn the right to live in Perfect City. We'll also get priority when choosing resources, and we can exchange our military merits for the Empire's most precious goods. Even our descendants will want for nothing."
"The merciful Governor has the resurrection coins in his hands."
As they spoke, the conveyor belt delivered the weapons and equipment assigned to them.
Pale green energy weapons, each connected to a small nuclear fusion device.
These weapons had been supplied by Gamma World. Once the war was over, Governor Cisrain would have them collected. Their Gauss Kinetic Rifles weren't as powerful as the sniper rifle Talon used, but the Disintegration Rays they fired could still break down any substance. Even Chaos would be disintegrated within moments of being struck by the beam. The enemy's Power Armor couldn't withstand these rays, either.
They weren't afraid of the enemy. If anything, they were excited.
After all, this was a great chance to distinguish themselves.
For ordinary people, the battlefield was the only place they could rise to prominence here—except for the Synapse Condenser, of course.
Besides, dying didn't matter. The Governor had kept backup copies of their data. They could die one second and be revived in a birthing chamber the next, ready to return to the battlefield. Their descendants could even pay to activate their backups if they had the money.
[Activating Resurrection Protocol.]
[Activating Resurrection Protocol.]
After a round of spirited praise for Governor Cisrain,
the two humans took their weapons. [Human gene verification successful. Weapon activated.]
Outside, more than a dozen people just like them were already waiting. They were like robots on an assembly line. Once the Resurrection Protocol was restarted, they would take up their weapons again and fight the enemy with their fearless style.
To them, death wasn't scary.
Not having a resurrection coin was.
"Kill them all!"
"These mortals really are loyal to their False Emperor!"
A Chainsword cleaved through the body of a living person at an outer defensive fortification.
Someone piled up the skulls of the dead, defiling Realspace with Chaos Sorcery so the Four Gods of the Warp could admire their handiwork.
The first line of defense.
It was on the outermost planet, where the difference between the day and night temperatures could reach two hundred degrees.
The Chaos Space Marines entered the battlefield like a pack of wolves descending on a nest of mice.
The mortals couldn't track the Chaos Space Marines' movements at all.
The enemy appeared and vanished like phantoms.
They could only hit them with the advanced targeting systems built into their armor.
But the weapons in their hands were almost useless against the enemy.
"They're too fast. Execute Plan Two."
"Blow up their ship. Don't let them return, and ease the pressure on the Governor."
"Then head back to Ozrax and support the Governor."
The Chaos Space Marines had only just landed. They'd wanted to get close to the mortal soldiers and enjoy the hunt.
But when they realized they couldn't beat them, they stopped fighting altogether. Some blew themselves up on the spot, while others ran toward their Battle Barge. The ground-based missile installations also took aim at the ship.
Before long, their Battle Barge was blown up.
A Chaos Space Marine caught off guard by a mortal's self-detonating armor had one of his arms blown off.
"Damn it, are these guys all crazy?"
They blew themselves up at the slightest provocation.
They weren't even afraid of dying.
Those utterly ignorant minions of the False Emperor.
"These guys..."
He'd seen plenty of fearless enemies.
But he'd never seen anyone who, upon realizing they couldn't win, just blew themselves up on the spot.
They'd even destroyed their Battle Barge just to prevent them from returning.
The first line of defense, the second line of defense, the third line of defense.
Sacrifices and self-detonations took place again and again.
Their purpose was to serve as a defensive line.
They had to keep as many enemies outside the line as possible, relieving the pressure on the battlefields farther back.
And after they died,
Cisrain would activate the Resurrection Protocol and upload backup data into their cloned bodies. The soldiers would return to the battlefield.
To meet the needs of this siege,
Cisrain had even committed all his cloning pods and weapon production lines.
If he won, he would have a chance to catch his breath.
Then Oceanic Planet and Tangle Planet
would become his mines, the greatest assets for his further expansion.
Vast quantities of Xenos equipment, Necron technology, foundries, and naval ports could all be built at breakneck speed while he had this breathing room.
And if he lost?
Sorry, I didn't know what losing meant!
One point after another was overwhelmed before Cisrain. One person after another made the ultimate sacrifice, and the number of people revived on the production lines kept growing.
Let them overwhelm the defenses.
He had set up so many positions to draw the Space Marines of these Chaos Warbands toward them.
Even drawing away ten percent would help.
As long as it eased the pressure on his final battle.
"Governor, the enemy fleet has broken through our defenses."
"I know."
"Governor..." Brown watched Cisrain leave again. He turned to the people beside him. "Everyone, follow the Governor. Make sure he stays safe, even if we have to abandon this world."
"Bring me my Power Armor."
"But, Lord Brown, you're a scientist, and..."
"And I'm not good at fighting, is that it?" Brown snorted. "There's only one person in this world who must not be sacrificed. And that person is definitely neither you nor me."
Couples on other planets: "Look, a shooting star!"
Couples on Cadia: "Look, a Chaos Drop Pod!"
Before you continue