The Sky Is Falling

The sky of Numinus exploded.

In the fringes of the atmosphere, flashes erupted one after another, fireballs devouring fireballs, tearing through the accumulated clouds as if new stars were rising in the sky of Kaos.

"Did you see that? Our warships exploded!" The mortals of the Omnissiah's Archive were screaming.

Light arrived first, followed by the shockwave and thermal radiation of the explosions. The Omnissiah's Archive's windows and iron doors slammed shut, deploying blast shields. Those inside immediately felt the intense pain of the violent air tremors, as if their eardrums and chests were being torn apart.

"We've lost warships, more than one!" Ventanus said.

"Why? We already sent the message. Didn't the Primarch and the Legion's high command receive it?"

Faced with this doomsday scenario, no one could answer the question.

The shockwave destroyed less sturdy houses and streets. The mortal armies, vehicles, and tanks still gathered on the ground were tossed about like garbage. Then, the scorching winds, carrying the explosion's intense heat, consumed the stunned and terrified people.

It was as if a forge of the gods had fallen to the earth.

After this, the shattered warships and orbital docks in space followed suit. Some smaller debris fell the fastest. Their dense materials and structures prevented the atmosphere from burning them up completely. Fragments the size of skyscrapers plummeted at a forty-five-degree angle.

They struck the ground of Kaos, unleashing a new wave of shockwaves far more powerful than a nuclear blast. Buildings were torn apart, and farmland and forests turned to ash in the flames.

The superheated steam evaporated into rain, and the boiling water fell back to the earth, making the fires burn even more fiercely.

More debris arrived. Small fragments hit the ground like missiles, creating craters, while larger pieces smashed through the surface, causing earthquakes that shook the entire city. The thunderous roars terrified every surviving human.

The rivers of Numinus were hit by the remains of a cruiser. The steel hull blocked the river's flow. The instantaneous heat and shockwave evaporated nearly half the river's water, pushing the rest into a massive wave that surged towards the city.

Only when truly in such a situation could humans realize how small they were. When those starships fell, everyone realized: it wasn't the ships falling, it was the entire sky falling.

"Shelter! Everyone get into the underground bunkers!" Ventanus roared, urging everyone through the Omnissiah's Archive's sealed passages into the depths. If a large piece of debris landed here, everything would be lost.

The mortal soldiers of Company Sixty-One awoke from their unconsciousness. They couldn't withstand the terrifying impact. If the Omnissiah's Archive hadn't shielded them from most of the damage, the vast majority would have died from internal bleeding caused by ruptured organs.

Loci and Tasa and others immediately sprang into action. They helped the dazed mortal auxiliary troops, along with the bewildered staff and servants, into the underground passages.

The air underground carried a cold, damp feeling, but it offered a sense of survival to those who had just experienced the brutal heat on the surface.

"Fortunately, before all this happened, we had already notified all the Ultramarines in Kaos. They didn't just sit idly by," Lamiad said. "But so many troops on the surface didn't receive the warning; their chances of survival are very low."

"I'm sorry, we still came too late," Loci said, somewhat dazed. The doomsday scene had deeply seared itself into his soul. This beautiful, prosperous planet had likely become a living hell.

"No, you've done very well!" Yingjie shook his head. He knelt down so he could look the mortal messenger in the eye.

"Listen to me, your efforts were not in vain. The Word Bearers' betrayal was a meticulously crafted trap; knowing about it wouldn't have allowed you to avoid it."

"I firmly believe the Thirteenth Legion has reacted. Although orbit has been severely damaged and our fleet has suffered heavy losses, everything has just begun."

Loci nodded. Even deep underground, he could feel the ground shaking beneath his feet, and small dust and debris were falling from the ceiling of the shelter.

Once the shaking subsided, Lamiad and Ventanus immediately decided to act.

There were only five squads of Ultramarines in the Omnissiah's Archive's underground shelter at this moment. They needed to gather all the scattered Ultramarines and launch a counterattack against the enemy.

"All our communications are destroyed. We can't contact other companies." In the chaos, the most crucial element was information, the ability to communicate with each other. But the preceding Chaos Junk Code and the current electromagnetic interference from the explosions had rendered everything on the surface useless.

Abbott, the mortal supervisor of the spaceport, finally woke up. She clutched her chest and abdomen, where her ribs were fractured, but she remained composed.

"There's a monitoring station in the port's plaza. It was part of the old traffic control system before the port was upgraded. It has some ancient but very powerful transmitters that can be used," she said, her lungs aching with each word. "I believe if it wasn't directly hit by debris, the transmitters, being in a sealed state, could have survived the previous disaster."

Ventanus nodded at the mortal supervisor. Lord Yingjie had already left the area, leading a squad to gather the closest Ultramarines he remembered.

Just as the Ultramarines captain was about to lead his battle-brothers to the port to activate the sealed transmitters, Loci, who had remained silent, finally stepped forward.

"Leave the communication system to me. Don't waste any more time or lives. The enemy is already here."

Ventanus, who had already gripped his weapon, waited in silence for Loci's next words. Perhaps this mortal could create another miracle, just as he had delivered the news of betrayal from Istvan to Kaos.

The Red Alert, still cloaked, remained in orbit. The aftershocks of the Bell Tower's destruction had not affected this relic of a bygone era.

Upon receiving Loci's command, the AI immediately printed a machine capable of transmitting across the star system and teleported it, along with the remaining Iron Hands, into the Omnissiah's Archive's underground shelter.

Even with the eyesight of a Space Marine, they only perceived a flash of white light. The three-meter-tall machine had appeared in the shelter's underground space.

"Incredible technology," Ventanus's eyes flickered with surprise. He didn't understand where this thing had been teleported from.

But it didn't matter if he understood. What was important was its existence. With it, Ventanus could now transmit orders to the Ultramarines and mortal auxiliary forces on the surface.

"Can it send messages to warships in space?"

Loci also showed a hint of a smile. He casually gestured, and Ventanus stepped forward knowingly.

The AI had cleared the interference from the Chaos Junk Code. Although these junk codes were still rampant in Kaos, Loci was no longer trapped by them.

An invisible stream of information traversed the burning sky and entered the bridge of the Glory of Macragge.

The Tech-Priest, who was trying his best to contact Kaos, did not miss this communication. Contact was quickly stabilized, and Ventanus's face appeared on the bridge's holographic projection equipment.

"What's the situation down there, Ventanus? I'm glad to see you're alive," Guilliman said.

"It's bad, but not completely hopeless. We received advance warning, and most of the Ultramarines have retreated into underground shelters. We are gathering under Yingjie's command."

Ventanus's words were filled with deep hatred. "Father, the Word Bearers betrayed us! They caused this disaster."

"Can you be sure?" Guilliman continued to ask. He understood in his heart that this was the most logical explanation. Loka's arrival, the spread of Chaos Junk Code, and the suddenly out-of-control Bell Tower all formed a connected thread of clues.

But after all, that was his brother, the Emperor's seventeenth son.

Why would he do this? Was it because of the hatred for the Perfect City?