The weak-willed and the hesitant have nowhere to hide.
Only swift action and unwavering conviction can ensure humanity's survival.
No sacrifice is too great; no betrayal too small.
— Inquisitorial Codex, Chapter 28: Exterminatus
Sitting in his chair, Duanmu Huai toyed with a small obsidian box in his hand.
It looked plain and unremarkable, emblazoned with the sigil of the Inquisition and a brief motto.
To anyone else, it was just a compact little seal you could find anywhere.
Yet, many times, the importance of an object lies not in what it is, but in what it represents.
Just like in many games, items NPCs treat with extreme caution often become cheap consumables for players.
Exterminatus was exactly such an item.
In the game, players using Exterminatus was practically a habit—like finishing a combo in a fighting game with a flashy ultimate.
Not because the players had fallen into heresy, but simply because—
the era had changed.
In the age of the Human Empire, humanity spanned the entire galaxy.
Every world was sacred Terra's property, and every soul belonged to the Emperor.
The Inquisition's greatest enemies were Chaos and internal heresy.
In those times, Exterminatus was used with extreme caution.
But now the situation was completely different.
Humanity had all but restarted from zero.
Countless xenos controlled vast regions of space.
They'd built massive fleets and launched relentless, brutal assaults on humanity.
Back in the imperial age, finding a xeno-controlled star cluster was difficult.
Now? They were everywhere.
So when players dropped Exterminatus on these worlds, they felt no pressure at all.
Many even enjoyed it—leading a fleet to smash into the enemy's homeworld, drop one Exterminatus to decapitate the leadership, then mop up the demoralized alien remnants afterward.
Cruel.
Ruthless.
Efficient.
That was the Inquisition.
But now, Duanmu Huai was going further.
He lifted the seal and slammed it onto the parchment in front of him.
"Due to the xenos' relentless slaughter of humanity, their existence is no longer necessary.
Therefore, in the name of the Inquisition, I hereby issue Exterminatus Order No. 1 against the Covenant's Urs system.
Let these aliens feel the Inquisition's merciless wrath—and repent in annihilation."
Duanmu Huai raised his head.
"Deploy the Mantle-class dreadnought."
Standing on the deck, staring at the burning star before him, Admiral Hood was silent.
In the end, he had accepted Duanmu Huai's invitation and brought a group of senior officers onto the Inquisition flagship.
Partly to show goodwill, partly because they were desperate to know how exactly the Inquisition planned to destroy the Covenant.
Now they were utterly stunned.
The reason was simple—
the Inquisition fleet's ghostlike method of travel.
Both the UNSC and the Covenant used technology derived from Forerunner ruins.
Their tech trees were similar: the Covenant simply started earlier.
Both used FTL drives that inevitably caused spatial distortions.
Anyone who could read those distortions could detect an incoming fleet.
That was how Earth's defense grid spotted the Covenant earlier.
Similarly, any human fleet entering Covenant territory would be detected the same way.
But the Inquisition warships seemed to be using a completely different method.
They slipped through space like phantoms.
The Covenant surveillance network hadn't detected them at all—and the Inquisition was already deep within the Urs System!
This wasn't some minor backwater.
It was the home system of the Elites—one of the Covenant's ruling species!
The Covenant controlled five major star systems:
High Charity / Prophet homeworld system – Hosan
Elite homeworld system – Urs
The Lekgolo / Yanme'e / Jackal system – Eudaru
Brute homeworld system – Doisac
Grunt homeworld system – Balaho
Of these, Hosan was the true core—like the human Solar System.
But Urs was nearly as important, as it housed the Elite military caste that commanded the Covenant's armies.
The UNSC had long learned to fear the Elites.
To put it plainly, the Urs system was the Covenant's military headquarters.
Destroying it would dramatically weaken Covenant military power.
Not only that—
the decline of the Elite military caste would cause massive internal chaos within the Covenant.
Where there are people, there is conflict.
Aliens are no exception.
But Hood still didn't understand one thing—
How was the Inquisition planning to attack?
The Urs system was heavily defended.
Both humans and the Covenant could glass a planet—burn it to molten glass using sustained orbital bombardment.
But this took time, multiple ships, and carried heavy risk—especially in a fortified system like Urs.
So how would the Inquisition do it?
"Doo—doo—doo—!!"
As Hood pondered, an alarm sounded.
Then Mia's usual leisurely, sightseeing-guide-like voice echoed through the ship.
"Attention please~~~
The Inquisition is about to issue Exterminatus~~~
Everyone please pay attention~~~"
"Exterminatus?"
Hood immediately straightened.
The officers beside him also snapped their attention back from admiring the decor.
Then they saw it—
A colossal warship materializing beside the Urs system's star.
It was a massive, elongated I-shaped vessel—
even larger than most human orbital stations.
It parked itself right beside the star.
Then—
A concentrated beam erupted from the ship's central core, drilling straight into the heart of the star.
"Oh my god! They're actually doing it!!"
One senior officer screamed in shock.
"What is it? You know what they're doing?!"
Hood turned to him urgently.
The officer's face was pale as he inhaled sharply.
"Sir—if I'm correct, the Inquisition is…
igniting the star.
They're going to detonate the entire Urs system!"
"What?!"
Everyone was stunned.
"Is that even possible?"
"In theory… yes. If you have enough energy.
But we don't.
The Covenant can't do it either!"
Indeed—detonating a star wasn't actually difficult.
All you needed was absurd levels of energy.
The original builders of the Mantle-class dreadnought—the Cabal—never solved this.
Their dreadnoughts required cracking open a nearby planet to extract energy, then injecting it into a star to ignite it.
But Duanmu Huai?
He didn't need any of that.
With ancient Necron reactors?
One isn't enough?
Use two.
Two isn't enough?
Use four.
It wasn't even a problem.
Slap a motorcycle engine onto a bicycle and it'll run like a motorcycle.
Whether the bicycle survives is another story.
As the UNSC officers stood frozen and speechless—
Duanmu Huai calmly opened a channel to the Covenant's missionary network.
"Xenos.
These are your final moments.
For your crimes against humanity, you shall be annihilated by the Inquisition's wrath.
Your souls will never escape the fires of purgation, not until the final day of obliteration.
Repent—for this is your end."
He closed the channel.
"Prepare to withdraw."
"Star core readings at critical. Preparing for evacuation."
The armored blast shutters lowered, blocking out the view.
The Inquisition fleet slipped into the void and vanished.
Moments later, the Covenant defense fleet rushed into formation—
Too late.
The star erupted.
A blinding golden wave surged outward, annihilating everything in its path.
Planets tore apart like fragile stone.
Atmospheres vaporized.
Mantles cracked.
Worlds shattered into cosmic dust.
The Covenant fleet had no time to react.
The incandescent light swallowed them whole.
And so—
The Covenant's second most important star system—
the Urs System—
was completely destroyed.
(End of chapter)