Since Cadia was destroyed and the chaotic energy from the Eye of Terror flowed out, splitting the galaxy in two, the dark side of the Imperium has been under constant attack from Chaos Daemons.
Noah's location was still some distance from Cadia, and earlier, this region had not yet experienced attacks from Chaos forces.
But now, the Chaos attack had arrived.
Enough time had passed for these Chaos forces to discover Noah's location and prepare to launch attacks on surrounding Imperial Worlds.
The Daemons of Nurgle Warband that had set its sights on the star system next to Noah's was the "Embrace of Decay."
Warband Creed:
"Decay is the truth of life, plague is the loving father's blessing."
Former Identity: Originally the Iron Snakes Chapter.
During the suppression of the frontier world "Scab Planet," they were attacked by Daemons of Nurgle's biological weapons.
Chapter Master Garrosh, on the verge of death, was seduced by Nurgle's whispers, believing that only by embracing decay could he save his subordinates. He then led the entire Chapter to drink from the Plague Spring, becoming a favored one of Nurgle.
Nurgle's Blessing: Warband members' bodies festered but remained eternally vital; symbiotic flora grew in their wounds, and pain transformed into twisted pleasure. Their power armor was corroded by living plague, pus seeped from their joints, and their weapons mutated into biological armaments.
Core Combat Power and Tactics:
Plague Colossus:
Chaos Spawn modified by Nurgle sorcery, 5 meters tall, with a hardened scabrous surface. When charging, it releases a suffocating toxic cloud and once single-handedly destroyed an Astra Militarum armored company.
Blight Spore Swarms:
Flying units driven by Nurglings, spraying corrosive spores that can turn a city into a slime swamp within 72 hours. They crippled the Tau Empire's drop pods during the "Black Pustule System" campaign.
"Embrace of Decay" Virus Bomb:
The warhead contains the sevenfold corruption plagues from Nurgle's Garden. Upon detonation, surface organisms undergo a terrifying transformation from "flesh blooming" to "bone liquefaction," eventually becoming a hatchery for Daemons of Nurgle.
The various achievements and glories this Warband had created:
Fall of the Pustule Belt:
The Warband used a traitorous governor to tune the defense fields to a "decay frequency," causing the internal organs of the entire belt's Imperial defenders to rot. After this battle, the star belt was transformed into a Nurgle's gospel station, continuously spreading plague to neighboring star systems.
Rusting Crusade:
To seize the Adeptus Mechanicus' "Immortal Forge," the Embrace of Decay allied with remnants of the Iron Warriors, using rust sorcery to paralyze the Skitarii, eventually transforming the forge into a plague manufactorum that mass-produced corrupted versions of Knight suits.
Organizational Structure and Symbolism:
Warband Emblem: An infinity symbol made of green pus, with a rotten Imperial Aquila embedded in the center, symbolizing mockery of loyalty.
Power Structure:
Plague Father Garrosh: Chapter Master and Nurgle Daemon Prince, wielding a festering staff that can release the "loving father's breath."
Corrupted Prophet Council: Nurgle sorcerers transformed from former Apothecaries, specializing in "flesh alchemy," capable of transforming captives into Chaos Spawn.
Pustule Champions: Elite Plague Marines, hosting Nurglings within their bodies, who shout "loving father's mercy!" while leading Daemon Engines in charges.
The Embrace of Decay is entrenched on the edge of the "Festering Nebula," having corrupted 9 Imperial Worlds and transforming 4 of them into plague paradises.
Now they have set their sights on a new Imperial World.
Taking advantage of the Great Rift's appearance, they are preparing to once again conquer a new Imperial World and bring it into the loving father's embrace.
It can only be said that Noah and Nurgle are truly fated to clash. Ever since Nurgle fought Noah in the Warp, basically every Chaos Daemon Noah has encountered has been related to Nurgle.
As a Space Marines Warband, and a relatively powerful one at that.
The combat strength of these Space Marines is not weak; they possess a rather formidable naval fleet.
Plague Mothership "Festering Paradise":
Class: Modified from an Imperial battleship, the Retribution-class. The hull was corrupted by Nurgle sorcery into a living bio-warship, its surface covered with pustules and fungal growths, and its internal compartments filled with plague incubation chambers.
Weapons:
"loving father's Breath" Virus Projector: Launches torpedoes laden with Nurgle's sevenfold plagues. Upon impact, the ship's interior erupts in flesh mutations.
Living Lance Array: Bio-lances driven by Daemon Engines, spewing corrosive pus when firing.
Tactical Role: Fleet flagship and plague manufacturing center, capable of releasing spore clouds to obscure the battlefield, covering the advance of other ships.
Abomination-class Heavy Cruiser "Scab-blade":
Features: Its broadside macro-cannons were replaced with "rust spore cannons," whose shells contain a mechanical corruption virus that can disable enemy ship engines.
History: Originally an Imperial Corinoth-class, it was captured and corrupted by the Embrace of Decay during the "Rusting Crusade."
Cruisers and Support Ships:
Murder-class Cruisers x 2:
Modifications: The prow lances were replaced with "Nurgling Projectors," capable of releasing swarms of Nurglings for boarding actions, infecting enemy crew.
Desolator-class Cruiser x 1:
Role: Carries Blight Spore Swarms aircraft, specializing in atmospheric plague bombardment.
Escort Fleet:
Infidel-class Raiders x 8:
Tactics: High-speed raids on isolated Imperial warships, launching boarding torpedoes containing Plague Marines, and after disabling the enemy ship, the main fleet harvests it.
Corrupted Falchion-class frigates x 3:
Origin: Replicated from Imperial Falchion-class frigates, their torpedo tubes are filled with corrupted flesh warheads, causing biological mutations in the target ship upon impact.
Special Ships:
Plague Supply Ship "Pus Pool":
Function: Mobile plague factory, recycling battlefield debris and corpses, transforming them into Chaos Spawn or Daemon Engines raw materials.
Warp Rift Generator "Festering Stargate":
Purpose: Temporarily tears Warp rifts, summoning Daemons of Nurgle to directly intervene in naval battles.
It was precisely because they possessed such a powerful naval fleet that they were able to consecutively capture several Imperial Worlds.
Frankly, even a sub-fleet of the Indomitus Crusade would find them extremely troublesome when encountering this Nurgle fleet, having to resort to loyal boarding actions.
Without using their Space Marines, which are even more numerous than the enemy's, to directly board and fight,
the Imperial Crusade fleet might not necessarily be their match.
And now they have set their sights on the colonies around Noah.
Although they haven't yet targeted Noah's own colonies, it must be said that they are already practically next door, which forces Noah to be on guard.
Warp travel has a very remarkable characteristic: uncertainty.
They could use Warp lanes to appear directly within Noah's colonies.
Although Noah's naval fleet could also arrive in time for support, such enemy actions would indeed cause him some distress.
To prevent being caught off guard, Noah decided to launch a naval battle.
Should he wait for them to come knocking before passively retaliating? That was impossible; it wasn't Noah's character.
An order was issued from Noah's hand, and the Patrol Fleet, which had been out on patrol, immediately reversed course and began heading towards the location where the Nurgle fleet had appeared.
Strike first to gain the advantage, strike last to suffer. First, kill these Nurgle abominations!
Due to the several star systems separating them, it would take the Terran Federation's fleet at least one standard Terran hour to arrive.
This hour gave Nurgle's army an opportunity to attack the Imperial world.
Since the chaotic energy of the Eye of Terror had already encroached upon the Imperium's dark side, the Imperium on the dark side lacked sufficient strength to resist them, as they didn't have enough fleets.
What's more, this was just one Imperial world encountering such a large-scale warband attack from Nurgle.
It was only when the fleet of the Plagued Embrace, a Nurgle warband, arrived in orbit around the Imperial industrial world of Drella that the Imperial world's governor discovered the Nurgle fleet's arrival.
The next second, the reasonably diligent Imperial governor immediately began announcing the impending threat from Chaos to the entire world and instantly summoned the general to organize defenses.
The Imperial industrial world of Drella was an industrial world belonging to the Kelsite family, and it could be said to be the industrial core of this nearby sector.
It could produce a large amount of the Imperium's industrial equipment and weaponry; although this planet could not build naval warships, it truly had everything else imaginable.
They could build Leman Russ tanks, and even Baneblades could be partially assembled with some effort.
It was precisely because of this that, upon discovering the Chaos threat, the governor did not immediately plan to flee with his people; instead, he prepared to resist with the general.
On one hand, his planet could produce a large amount of weapons and equipment, so it was better to fight Chaos here than to flee.
On the other hand, the Imperium was currently affected by an unknown cause; the opening of the Great Rift meant that these governors could no longer contact the Imperium's Astropathic Choirs.
The only voidships on this world, after undergoing Warp travel, regrettably found that they had lost the guidance of the Astronomican.
They did not know if the Imperium still existed, nor did they know if they could flee to other worlds of the Imperium.
So, rather than using those voidships to let their families escape, only to be destroyed in the vast galaxy,
it was better to fight to the death against Chaos on this family planet, which could be considered an act of loyalty to the God-Emperor.
That way, at least when he returned to the Golden Throne, he could face the Emperor with dignity.
Instead of having to lower his head and confess his sins to the Emperor.
In this sinful and dark galaxy, there were indeed many who always sought to cling to life.
However, the human race has been passed down and continued to this day, and even the crumbling Imperium, despite its decay, has managed to persist.
What did it rely on?
Didn't it rely on a large number of people willing to sacrifice their lives for this Imperium, willing to die for humanity, willing to die for survival, disregarding their own lives, taking sacrifice as their highest creed?
In the sinful galaxy, some would cling to life, only wanting to preserve their own lives, but many would also rise to the challenge!
They would carve out a pure land for the humans behind them, even if the final outcome would be death, but before death, they would surely do their utmost to persevere.
The general arrived much faster than usual.
Just 10 minutes later, the general arrived at the governor's palace.
Just 5 minutes later, the two reached a consensus.
After another 5 minutes, an order issued by the general and the governor was spread throughout the entire Imperial world.
"Prepare for war! For the God-Emperor!"
"humanity will never compromise with the Ruinous Powers!"
The governor and the Imperial Administratum of this world Daemonstrated with extreme efficiency the terrifying potential of the human race when facing a crisis.
But this was only what the governor and the general were preparing to do.
The Imperium, as mentioned before, was truly too corrupt.
The people at the bottom had no way out, so when Nurgle's fleet arrived, a large number of Chaos mutations began to appear in the underhive.
The order for war mobilization had only just begun when the underhive had already completely fallen.
A large number of Nurgle cultists appeared, and numerous blasphemous rituals began to run rampant in the underhive.
Nurgle's daemons began to emerge from the Chaos warband's warships onto the ground.
Garrosh, the Chapter Master of the Plagued Embrace warband, did not hesitate; as soon as chaos erupted in the underhive, he led over 600 Space Marines in an orbital drop onto the planet.
Meanwhile, the warships began to strike at the human hive city.
"Decay is the truth of life, plague is the gift of the Grandfather."
The Space Marines arrived, but they were not the Emperor's angels; they were the pawns of the Ruinous Powers!
The Chaos warbands, shouting their chapter creeds, charged out of their drop pods and immediately began a bloody slaughter of the local Imperial PDF.
These demigods, once meant to protect humanity, displayed an almost crushing dominance when facing ordinary human PDF.
In the streets of the underhive, a putrid mist permeated the air.
The first wave of drop pods smashed through the hive city's Dome and crashed into the slum squares. The hatches exploded, spewing green pus that corroded concrete and steel.
"For the Grandfather!"
Six hundred Chaos warriors of the Plagued Embrace charged out.
Maggots crawled all over their power armor, pus oozed from their joints, and turbid toxic gas spewed from their respirators.
PDF soldiers didn't even have time to open fire before they were enveloped in suffocating toxic clouds. Their lungs dissolved in seconds, and the blood clots they coughed up writhed with Nurglings.
"Fire! Fire!" the PDF commander shrieked, his voice drowned out by the roar of bolters.
Lasgun beams struck the Chaos warriors' armor, only burning out a few charred pits. Nurgle's blessings rapidly healed these wounds, and pus refilled the gaps.
A Leman Russ tank rounded the corner, its main cannon aimed at the charging Chaos warriors.
"Boom!"
The shell struck a Chaos warrior in the chest, blowing him in half. But the upper body still crawled, maggots pouring from the ruptured abdomen, entangling the tank's tracks.
Five Plague Hulks emerged from the drop pods, each step shaking the ground. The toxic mist they spewed enveloped the entire block, and the PDF soldiers' skin began to rot, muscles peeling from their bones.
"Retreat! Retreat to the inner city!" The commander's voice was already hoarse.
And his voice had completely changed; he would likely be gone soon, such was the horror of Nurgle's plague.
At the same time, the retreat route was cut off.
Blight Drones swooped down from the sky, raining spores that caused the fleeing soldiers to collapse to the ground, their eyeballs melting, fungi growing in their throats, suffocating them in agony.
An entire Chaos warband attacking an Imperial world was an almost devastating blow to that Imperial world.
After less than 20 minutes of engagement, the entire underhive had completely fallen.
Now, led by the Chaos Space Marines, these individuals began to advance towards the mid-hive.