Bell Tower

The Thirteenth Legion's flagship descended into a state of chaos, but thanks to the swift reactions of the Ultramarines, the disorder was quickly suppressed.

Crew members handed unprocessed data directly to the Primarch, who was using his superhuman brain to directly sort and calculate the warship's situation, forming effective countermeasures in his mind.

"Communications system offline, power system offline."

"Scan system and shield system are still operational." Guilliman put down the data slate. The Glory of Macragge's reactor had been affected, and the current energy was only enough to support the deployment of shields.

"Then activate the Void Shields first, scan the status of other warships, and fully restore power and communications. Notify me the moment either is restored. If not, tell me the specific estimated time!"

The Primarch was the core of the legion. After the initial panic, order was restored. The crew raised the blast shields on the deck, relying on simple visual cues to assess the situation.

The sun of Kaos illuminated the bridge. In the spaceport and near-Earth orbit, warships were everywhere. Some were stationary, while others had partially restored engine power.

The surface and near-Earth orbit of Kaos were not so fortunate. The data surge had caused severe damage. Ground units, having lost their coordination, were involved in widespread traffic accidents, with smoke and flames constantly rising into the sky.

Seeing this, Roboute suddenly understood.

"The weapon array was trying to warn us; they couldn't transmit the message to us."

The power of the laser array was not simply capable of piercing the flagship's outer armor. The fully activated orbital defenses, combined with the star fortresses and the Garrison Fleet in space, were enough to counter any enemy daring to invade Kaos.

Clearly, this was just a physical warning.

The surface wanted to transmit some information, but it was impossible in the current environment.

The urgency of this information was so great that they had to use the weapon array to attack the Primarch's flagship!

But for what reason? The Primarch, trapped in an information island, tried to decipher the intent of the ground sentry towers.

What could have happened that required the surface to send a warning in such a life-threatening manner?

A full twenty thousand Ultramarines and hundreds, even thousands, of warships were gathered in this star system. This number even surpassed many smaller legions by several times.

Guilliman suddenly realized that while the Thirteenth Legion appeared fearless, the Ultramarines were actually dispersed across the planet's surface and various warships. The starships were also docked at orbital spaceports for resupply.

Engines and reactors had been shut down, and personnel had been diverted to maintenance and supplies. Most people were not at their posts.

This was their most vulnerable moment. If any enemy were to attack now, Guilliman's legion would suffer unimaginable damage.

"Who could the enemy be? An unknown code attack, a data surge, and possibly infiltration operations. Who is my enemy?" Guilliman's two hearts pounded incessantly, the thumping like war drums.

The Ultramarines never feared war, no matter who the enemy was.

While the entire Kaos was in turmoil, a transport ship named Bell Tower had already accelerated.

Its hull was insignificant compared to the battle-weary battleships and cruisers laden with honor, but at this moment, as those war behemoths struggled to restart their engines and desperately sent signals to their companions, its Realspace main engine was running at full power.

Under normal circumstances, the main engine was only activated for short-range sub-light speed travel or for acceleration during Warp jumps.

The main engine roared, propelling the Bell Tower to accelerate continuously. Something even more insane happened – the Bell Tower activated its Void Shield.

It was already very close to Kaos, but its speed was too great. It was impossible to capture its trajectory with the naked eye or monitors. However, the Glory of Macragge, which had just reacted, discovered it using its scan array.

"Keelcode confirmed, that ship is the Bell Tower!"

"Emperor, it's going to crash into Kaos!" the high-ranking technician screamed.

"Weapons! Target it! Shoot it down!" The Primarch slammed his fist onto the command platform, unable to suppress his rage any longer. The alloy steel plate was dented by the furious Primarch.

Inside the Bell Tower at this moment, a large number of crew members had fallen into pools of blood. Chaos cultists, wielding ritual daggers, cackled as they slit their throats, smearing the splattered blood on their skin, throwing their entire beings into this evil ritual.

They pushed the engine output and Void Shields to their maximum, laughing wildly.

"In the name of the Empyrean, be destroyed!"

The Primarch's rage could not be enacted. The Glory of Macragge's weapon systems were not yet online. They were completely unable to stop the transport ship that had turned itself into a bullet.

The Bell Tower pierced Kaos's near-Earth orbital platform. That ring-shaped steel structure was no match for the Bell Tower accelerating to near-light speed within a quarter of the galaxy.

Despite the early warning, a large number of warships, troop transports, and cargo ships were still in orbit. Among the most massive and conspicuous were the renowned giant battleships and cruisers.

This mad bullet shot towards Kaos's fleet. Its Void Shield grazed the hull of the assault ship Lekrus, causing its starboard sensor array and radar to vanish in smoke.

It passed through the hull of the large cruiser Queen's Sigh. The Void Shield instantly tore apart all surrounding cargo ships, repair ships, and other small vessels.

Blue and red sparks erupted on the surface of the Void Shield. Countless shattered ship hulls scattered, bringing destruction and death to more warships.

Warships collided and ground against each other. Those steel monsters, kilometers and tens of kilometers long, tumbled and intertwined. Their protruding spikes and claws were forced to pierce the bodies of their comrades, triggering a new round of explosions and losses.

However, some warships could not stop the mad Bell Tower. It continued to ram the largest and oldest orbital shipyard, the Kaos Veridian Anchor Point, at near-light speed, protected by its Void Shield, tearing apart and annihilating that colossal metal structure with a diameter of three hundred kilometers.

Everything that came into contact with the Void Shield was annihilated. The massive superstructure frame fractured. The nine-kilometer-long Hatred was pierced in its engines, and its reactor's explosion consumed six thousand lives. Over thirty thousand engineers perished in the aftermath of the explosion.

Cargo ships docked on the orbital platform were torn apart. The cargo and containers of forty-nine cargo ships and one hundred and sixty-eight small barges were flung into the atmosphere. They tumbled, igniting blue friction sparks under the pull of the planet's gravity.

The greatest victim – the Soul of Canno's reactor and ammunition depot suffered sympathetic detonation. More than half of its hull evaporated, and the remaining parts, along with the shipyard's structure, crashed down towards the world below.

Warships were scattered everywhere. The gravity-failed docks, along with everything on them, plunged into the atmosphere. The shipyard was finished; nothing could stop it from crashing into Kaos.

The mangled remains of the Bell Tower, protected by its Void Shield, continued its charge. It could no longer be called a ship, but rather a colossal and extremely dangerous piece of space debris. It tore through the miracle created by Kaos, dragging at least dozens of warships down to hell with it.

All of this happened too quickly, in the span of a breath.

The silent void of space was utterly silent. Everyone could only see continuous, dazzling explosions spreading wildly, erupting, and only then could they feel the fear and helplessness originating from the depths of their hearts.

Today was Kaos's day of destruction.