Maximian froze. "What?"
"I said, you can leave." Liu Zhipeng looked at him calmly. "Go back to your Inquisitor and tell him everything you saw and heard here, exactly as it happened."
"Tell him that I, the Liberator, the Emperor's proxy, formally request diplomatic relations with the Holy Human Empire."
"We are not enemies. We share common enemies-the Chaos forces entrenched in the Galaxy, the Tyranids, and all the Xenos who refuse to see reason."
"On this planet, I will establish a model autonomous region belonging to the Benevolent Empire. We will become the Imperium's most reliable ally in this Sector, supplying it with troops, resources, and... technical support."
He paused, then gave a knowing smile.
"Of course, if Inquisitor Valerius or his superiors reject my goodwill and insist on making an enemy of me..."
He pointed at the battlefield below, now completely engulfed by the Gretchin army, and at the Orks being systematically slaughtered.
"...then they are welcome, at any time, to experience the despair Grob Muchcoin is experiencing right now."
With that, he stopped looking at the utterly demoralized Space Marines, turned, and shifted his gaze back to the distant battlefield.
"My war isn't over yet. You'll have to see yourselves out."
Maximian looked at that small figure's back, his heart tangled with conflicting emotions.
He remained silent for a long time before finally, reluctantly, sheathing his Power Sword.
"We... withdraw." He issued the order over his communicator, filled with unbearable humiliation and uncertainty.
Under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of Gretchin guards and a Gundam, the ten Space Marines activated their back-mounted thrusters. Amid a silence heavy with conflicting emotions, they shot into the sky and vanished into the distance in disarray.
They had arrived brimming with murderous intent, like angels descending to deliver divine