The warriors of the Legion of the Damned never give their prey a chance to escape.
They followed closely behind, stepping on the burning flames as if walking in the void, chasing after the escort ship.
The wizard scrambled onto the bridge of the frigate, yelling frantically, "Take off! Take off now!!"
The frigate's engines had barely roared to life when several dark figures landed on its hull.
Pale flames seeped wildly into the ship's hull through the gaps.
A wizard's twisted and agonizing scream echoed from inside the ship, the sound penetrating the hull and reverberating throughout the hangar, sending chills down everyone's spine.
A few seconds later, the screams stopped abruptly.
Dominic stood there, Daidai, his hand gripping the Power Axe trembling slightly.
Everything before him overturned all his previous understanding.
The demons and Cultists in the hangar have been completely wiped out.
Only faint burn marks remained on the ground; there wasn't even a complete corpse.
Those once invincible Rubric Marines are now nothing but empty ashes.
The Chaos frigate was slowly detaching from the Gemstone's hull.
On the bridge, a black-armored warrior engulfed in pale flames slowly turned around.
From a great distance, Dominic couldn't see his face clearly.
But for some reason, his heart suddenly clenched.
That figure, that posture...
He had a fleeting, almost delusional, feeling that he bore a resemblance to Barlow, the Death Guard veteran who had suddenly come to his senses a few days earlier on the Gemstone and ultimately perished alongside Phelps.
impossible.
Barlow was already dead; he had died right before his eyes.
Dominic shook his head vigorously, trying to banish the absurd thought from his mind.
Just then, the Chaos frigate suddenly accelerated, rushing towards the most turbulent Warp in front of the Gemstone.
The next moment,
"Boom!!!"
Instead of exploding into scattered debris, the entire ship transformed into a dazzling, pale fireball.
Instead of spreading outwards, the flames contracted and extended inwards, burning a straight path through the swirling Warp vortex.
At the end of the passage, there was no longer Chaos jumble of colorful lights and shadows.
Instead, it is the deep universe, dotted with twinkling starlight.
Real space.
The exit to Brevis, in this way, suddenly opened up amidst a pale flame.
"My lord! My lord!!"
Over the communicator came the bridge navigator's excited, almost hoarse voice. "Stable real-space channel detected! Coordinates confirmed! It's Brevis!"
" The Gellar Field is recovering, Warp erosion is receding!!"
Dominic slowly raised his head, gazing at the faintly glowing passageway, remaining silent for a long time.
He looked down at the saint's amulet on his chest; it still emitted a faint golden light, just as before.
He looked towards the passageway again, but the figures of the black-armored warriors had vanished without a trace after the frigate exploded.
It was as if they had never existed.
Only the traces in the hangar and the actual exit testify to what just happened.
Dominic took a deep breath and gripped the Power Axe tightly.
He didn't know what those black-armored warriors were, whether they were messengers sent by the Emperor, or just a hallucination before his death.
But he knew he couldn't waste this hard-won opportunity.
"Attention all ships," he pressed the communicator, his voice regaining its steady and powerful tone, "Adjust course and proceed through the passage."
"Target, Brevis."
The massive Gemstone immediately began to adjust its course, its surface riddled with wounds and smoke, and sailed into the path carved out by pale flames.
Outside the porthole, the madness of the Warp was fading, and the familiar sea of stars came into view again.
Dominic stood by the porthole, his gaze fixed on Brevis's direction.
The desolation and despair that had been there before were no longer in his eyes.
Instead, there is a deeper, more resolute determination.
The rainbow-colored energy surging from the Profane Barrier once resembled a giant, airtight bowl, firmly trapping the entire Saint Garus Castle and most of the Midtown beneath it.
For dozens of days, the Imperial Fleet has made countless attempts to bombard this distorted Warp barrier. Macro-cannon and light spears that hit it only create a few distorted ripples, failing to leave even a crack.
Everyone assumed that this barrier was indestructible and could only watch helplessly as the Chaos forces wreaked havoc within it.
At the very moment the Gemstone was engaged in a life-or-death struggle, the observation screens of all the warships in orbit captured an incredible scene.
At the very core of the barrier, a pale flame suddenly ignited without warning.
It started out as small as a pinhead, but within seconds it burst into flames, transforming into a blazing, pale inferno.
The flames had no temperature, yet they possessed a domineering power capable of burning the soul. The surrounding Chaos energy melted and dissipated rapidly, like ice and snow meeting the scorching sun.
The seemingly indestructible Profane Barrier was burned open by that pale, raging flame, leaving a huge hole.
A perpetual, pale flame flickered around the edge of the cave entrance, expanding outwards at a visible speed.
The surging rainbow energy sizzled and dissipated as soon as it came into contact with the flames, turning into wisps of smoke.
"By the Emperor..."
On the bridge of the Oath of Vengeance, Karen murmured in a daze.
The observers stood up, staring wide-eyed at the hole on the screen, their faces filled with disbelief.
"The barrier is broken? The Profane Barrier... broken?!"
"What is that flame? Is it the power of the God-Emperor?!"
"Look! It's the Gemstone!"
Someone pointed at the screen and shouted.
From the hole, the Victory-class Battleship, adorned with dark gold and burgundy, emerged, covered in wounds and smoke.
The ship's left side armor still bears the grotesque dent from its collision with the Chaos Frigate, yet its engines continue to roar.
The Void Shield continued to flicker, like a steel behemoth reborn from the ashes.
Following closely behind were the surviving Mars-class Battlecruiser.
They passed through the passage scorched by pale flames and returned to the starlight of real space.
" The Emperor has appeared! It must be the Emperor appearing!"
Someone shouted first, and the bridge erupted in a long-suppressed cheer.
Upon receiving the news, the soldiers shouted "May the Emperor protect us!" and "For the Emperor!"
After being trapped by the barrier of Chaos for so long, the ray of hope has finally returned.
Karen quickly recovered from his shock. He took a deep breath, suppressed his turmoil, and gave the order in a stern voice:
"All warships, listen up! Main guns charged, follow the Gemstone and advance!"
"Target: Chaos stronghold in Midtown! Support Brevis's ground forces!"
"Yes!"