"Understood."
Solas placed a hand over his chest, his black silhouette masking any expression.
He stood perfectly still where he was, neither joyful nor sorrowful, looking like a pitch-black statue.
The Grand Overlord's authorization did not bring the expected satisfaction; instead, a hollow sensation crept into his mind.
The long-imagined thrill of vengeance vanished without a trace, leaving only a sense of absurd mockery.
He had once believed that revenge was his sole obsession, a hatred driving him to tolerate these xenos and bide his time in the dark, waiting for an opportunity.
Now that the moment had arrived, waves of emptiness assailed him instead.
Solas turned and walked out of the council chamber, a deep sense of sorrow welling up within his heart—a lamentation over the injustice of fate.
His brothers walked in the light, fighting for humanity; yet he, consumed by hatred, had plunged into the shadows, standing on the opposing side.
But with supreme authority now in his hands, the warm smiles and familiar voices of his brothers flickered in his mind.
When he had approached them with ulterior motives to investigate, those radiant faces had been filled with genuine sincerity and affection.
Only by stripping away his hypocritical mental filters did he realize just how precious that bond truly was.
He walked in a daze all the way to the command hall, finally taking his place upon the commanding throne under the gaze of thousands.
Those eyes held awe, inquiry, fear, and above all, contempt.
To the xenos, a traitor who turned against his own kind was always viewed with disdain, no matter how exceptional his capabilities.
Despite their inner contempt, however, the Rangdan still submitted to the authority of the Grand Overlord. As the Supreme Warmaster took his seat, hundreds of thousands of commanders in the hall knelt toward the central high platform, showing reverence to the authority bestowed by the sovereign.
"We pay homage to the Rangdan Overlord."
As thunderous proclamations shook the hall, several floating, massive brains drifted into the command center, drawing sincere cheers of reverence from the ranks.
The eyes of the Rangdan Overlords drifted toward the figure on the high platform, their gazes carrying a mixture of pride and underlying disdain.
They took pride in the genuine reverence directed at their species, yet disdained this rule that relied on borrowed authority.
The figure seated on the high platform paid them no heed. He looked down at the massive tactical holographic display before him, absorbing the battlefield telemetry.
He needed to launch an attack against the Imperium of Man as quickly as possible.
After a long silence, a command finally echoed from the high platform in a gravelly voice: "Overlord Despair-Sky, Overlord Wander-Sky, step forward!"
Beneath the platform, two Overlords drifted forward from their thrones. Raising their bulbous heads to look up toward the high platform, they responded in piercingly sharp voices: "Despair-Sky is here!"
"Wander-Sky is here!"
Solas looked down at them, noting their cooperative stance, and nodded inwardly: "I command you to lead your respective tribes and launch an ambush at this location."
He highlighted a coordinate on the holographic display located behind the front lines. It was a vital logistics hub, responsible for securing the war materials of trillions of troops.
Despair-Sky and Wander-Sky studied the position on the display, exchanged a glance, and nodded.
"We shall depart immediately."
The two Overlords inclined their heads to their peers and departed without hesitation, obeying the Supreme Warmaster's orders.
They harbored no doubts regarding Solas's personal capabilities, having witnessed his supreme commanding talent firsthand.
Seeing the two Overlords depart, Solas felt a weight lift from his mind; his authority was now firmly established.
Despair-Sky and Wander-Sky were highly ranked among the Overlords and were practical doers, dedicated to the preservation of the entire Rangdan species.
Solas had employed them first precisely to project his authority, allowing the other Overlords to witness their compliance.
Evidently, the two Overlords understood his intent and were willing to cooperate, setting a precedent for the others.
With a precedent set, the rest would naturally fall into place much more easily.
"The Silent Warden shall receive orders."
Following the majestic summons, the Silent Warden stepped out of the ranks, though a hint of defiance remained in his posture: "The Silent Warden is here!"
Solas cast a sidelong glance at him and pointed toward Planet Seven: "Take your tribe. I shall allocate an additional two hundred thousand elite warriors to your command. Launch a general offensive against the Dark Angels!"
"The objective is the complete annihilation of the Imperium's First Legion."
Hearing the details of the command, the Silent Warden was somewhat surprised; this alien had not discriminated against him.
He was well aware that he had ascended to his rank latest and that his tribe's military strength was the weakest, leaving a massive disparity in power when matched against the First Legion.
But with the addition of two hundred thousand fresh troops alongside his own forces, it would be more than enough to wage a war of annihilation against the human legion.
"I shall obey," the Silent Warden conceded, lowering his haughty posture and, for the first time, harboring a shred of respect for this outsider.
He knew that even if he were in the outsider's position, facing rivals or those with whom he shared grievances, he would never possess such breadth of mind.
With another Overlord departing after accepting his orders, the atmosphere in the command hall gradually relaxed, losing some of its covert friction.
Seeing that the restless elements had been pacified, Solas issued his next commands: "Foul Sage, Sorrowful Venerable."
"Take your forces and garrison Planets Eight and Nine respectively, launching assaults on the Salamanders and the Iron Hands."
He looked toward the Foul Sage, his voice carrying a softer tone: "Your responsibility is immense. Ferrus Manus is a formidable adversary."
"I do not demand that you defeat him. Simply pin down the Iron Hands Legion, preventing them from reinforcing other sectors of the war front."
The Foul Sage nodded gravely, sighing in an ancient voice: "I shall strive to hold him."
His words carried a sense of powerlessness. Ferrus's strategic genius had been thoroughly demonstrated during their decades of fleet confrontations.
Tens of thousands of warships behaved like extensions of his own limbs, causing the Rangdan coalition fleets to suffer immense losses.
Pinning down the Iron Hands fleet was a monumental challenge unlike any the Sage had faced before.
The Sorrowful Venerable said nothing more, casting a grateful glance toward the command throne before turning to depart alongside the Foul Sage.
He was one of the moderates among the Rangdan Overlords and was not particularly adept at direct, frontal warfare.
Matching him against the Salamanders Legion was a balanced pairing of comparable opponents.
"Apostle of Extinction." Solas called forth yet another Overlord from the ranks: "You shall be responsible for the engagement on Planet Five."
The Apostle of Extinction hovered in place, momentarily stunned. It looked up at the command platform, its tentacles curling to point back at itself.
Its meaning was clear: You want me to fight the Doom Slayers Legion?
The previous probing engagements had left an indelible mark of terror deep within the collective consciousness of the Rangdan species.
Even those occupying the absolute pinnacle of the Rangdan hierarchy felt their souls tremble uncontrollably upon hearing of the King of Slayers.
Solas naturally understood its apprehension. Suppressing his inner contempt, he said to the Apostle of Extinction: "You need only hold the front line."
"I shall notify the deep rear and have the Void Lord and the Hollow Retainer lead their forces to assist you in suppressing Planet Five."
Hearing this explanation, the Apostle of Extinction instinctively breathed a sigh of relief. Then, recalling the heavy burdens placed upon the other two, it questioned the Supreme Warmaster: "But what of our rear?"
It was a well-known fact that since the first war against humanity, Chaos incursions had inexplicably erupted within the borders of the Rangdan Empire.
Bloodthirsters occupied eight populated worlds, indulging in slaughter and pushing their invasions outward.
A Great Unclean One reveled across seven fertile worlds, spreading agonizing plagues throughout the material universe, completely refusing to depart.
The Rangdan had once summoned demons to interrogate them, trying to ascertain the reason behind the invasion, only to receive a bizarre answer.
The demons had claimed they were acting on behalf of Blazkowicz Doom Nowick to give the Rangdan territories "a little lesson."
To repay the King of Slayers for sparing their lives!
To counter these demonic incursions, the Rangdan had been forced to deploy two Overlords to permanently garrison the perimeter of the Chaos territories, preventing the demonic hosts from spreading further.
And recently, yet another Chaos invasion had erupted within Rangdan space.
Nine Lord of Change greater demons had manifested in the material universe. The armies of Tzeentch had seized nine worlds, and the Wise One had been dispatched to suppress them to prevent the demons from establishing a permanent foothold.
The reason given this time was even more absurd—to thank the fleet of the Defiant Overlord for assisting it in escaping the hands of the King of Slayers.
They had crossed the dimensional veil specifically to deliver their "gratitude."
Regardless of how contrived the excuses were, the reality of the demonic invasions remained, and they had to be contained.
"We must make a choice," Solas said in a solemn tone. "The demons invade for their own amusement. Once they are satisfied or grow bored, they will depart."
"But the Imperium of Man is different. Their war with us is one of total extermination."
"If the demons wish to run rampant across a dozen star systems, let them. They cannot cause any lasting geopolitical shifts—at most, they will spread to a hundred systems."
"But the Imperium of Man is right at our doorstep. We must make the necessary sacrifices and concentrate our superior military forces to wage a total war against humanity!"
Speaking of the Chaos incursions, Solas felt a headache coming on.
He could never comprehend why the malevolent denizens of the immaterium harbored such supreme reverence for his brother.
Repaying kindness with kindness, and grievances with grievances.
One might almost think the demons had turned over a new leaf.
The Grand Overlord knew some fragment of the truth, but its actions had always been shrouded in mystery, concealing many deep secrets.
"I suppose that is our only option," the Apostle of Extinction sighed, nodding gravely to accept the assignment.
With wolves ahead and tigers behind, they had to choose the lesser of two evils.
While it felt some regret over the impending deaths of the inhabitants of over a hundred star systems, facing the King of Slayers entirely on its own would indeed have been suicide.
"I shall closely monitor Planet Five. The priority of your supplies and reinforcements shall be set one tier higher than our maximum security protocol."
Seeing that the Apostle was still somewhat shaken, Solas suppressed his disdain and offered reassurance.
The Apostle of Extinction possessed a fearsome reputation, having annihilated countless defiant xenos species. Yet now, it appeared to be nothing more than a coward who bullied the weak and feared the strong.
"That would be for the best!" The spirit of the Apostle of Extinction rallied, and its voice carried a far more confident tone.