Alex and the others retreated into the Webway.
Shyrllian, the Veilwalker, and her companions chanted ancient spells, blocking the tide of magic on the other side of the door.
Angron swung his battle-axe and demonic sword, but he couldn't open the Webway gate, only able to rage in impotent fury.
Eventually, continuously burned by anger, he turned his killing intent towards the Red Corsairs and demons around him, frantically hacking at them.
A chaotic battle erupted once more,
and it only barely subsided after a long time.
Black Heart King Huron, who had received the news, rushed over and saw the bloody, corpse-strewn battlefield, a scene of utter carnage, and felt utterly disheartened.
He had intended to ambush the Primarch and make a huge profit,
but not only did he fail to gain anything and even lost more, the fortress he had painstakingly acquired was almost torn down.
It was truly a massive loss!
… … … … …
The void battlefield of the Maelstrom.
Macragge's Honour, leading numerous Imperial warships, broke through the encirclement, achieving significant battle results along the way.
The fighting within the warships also ended with the successful breakout.
Under the valiant efforts of Imperial heroes such as Amaric, Celestine, Greyfax, and Woldaes,
all the boarding invaders were annihilated.
Fateweaver Kairos wanted to pursue the Imperial fleet,
but the Khorne fleet went mad again, shouting the slogans of 'Blood for the Blood God, skulls for the Skull Throne' and once more attacked the Slaanesh fleet and the Thousand Sons fleet.
The three factions were once again embroiled in a chaotic battle.
Later, even Greater Daemons joined the fray, turning the entire area into a massive melee, with everyone fighting tooth and nail.
"Have the Primarchs escaped?"
Amaric, who had just finished fighting, was covered in scars and utterly exhausted, but he couldn't rest.
After rushing back to the Bridge, the first thing he asked about was the Primarch's safety.
"The Primarch and my master have entered the Webway; they are safe for now."
Cortana had just finished her conversation with Alex.
Her master and she could communicate without hindrance, no matter how far apart they were.
As soon as the battle ended, Cortana immediately established contact with her master to report the situation here.
"It's good that they're safe, it's good that they're safe."
Amaric let out a sigh of relief.
This Grand Marshal of the Black Templars Warband had been living with the self-reproach of Cadia's fall.
He believed he had failed to protect Cadia Fortress and had let down the Emperor, an unforgivable sin.
Escorting Cawl to Macragge and following the Primarch back to Terra were his pillars of faith, his way of atoning and supporting his continued fight.
If the Primarch were to fall, he couldn't think of any excuse to forgive himself.
"Now let us head to Terra." Cawl looked at Woldaes, "Grand Master, can you see the Astronomican?"
"We can now." Woldaes nodded.
"Then let us set sail." Celestine said, "For the God-Emperor, for the Primarch, we must reach Terra as quickly as possible."
"The route has been planned." Cortana said, "We are expected to arrive in the Solar System within a week."
… … … …
Webway.
The surviving Players gathered.
After a headcount, ninety percent of the Players had been killed, logging off to await respawn.
This was a difficult bloodbath.
It was extremely fortunate to have escaped from those demons.
"Is this the Webway?"
Warmaster looked at the path ahead, shrouded in a golden mist, and showed surprise.
The Webway was vast, wide enough for giant warships to pass through.
The misty light was dazzling and mesmerizing.
The Webway's structure was very special, extending in all directions, even in non-existent ones, transcending the concept of three dimensions.
The Players watched in amazement, curiously touching and tapping everything like curious babies.
A deep rumbling sound came from the depths of the Webway, like the heartbeat of a giant, like an unceasing tide.
"We'll have to build Webways too in the future." Tenjiro said, "Webways feel so convenient, they connect everywhere."
"Uh, well, in this game, we have to do everything ourselves, even build roads." Twisted person said, "It wouldn't be that when we build the Webway, someone has to sit on the Throne, and it'll be us, right?"
Little Alpaca poked Warmaster with his hand, "Warmaster, why don't you go ask then, see if Guide can sit on the Throne."
Warmaster: "... ... ... ..."
"You bastards are treating me like Old Thirteen, aren't you? Making me ask such questions?"
"... ... ... ..."
Shyrllian, the Veilwalker, walked up to the Primarch and the Saint.
"Our scouts have found a group of warriors ahead, clad in exquisite golden-blue armor, exuding the blasphemous aura of Chaos sorcery, all bearing the demonic mark of Tzeentch."
"It's Magnus's Thousand Sons Legion." Guilliman reacted immediately, "No wonder he didn't show up earlier; it turns out he was hiding in the Webway, waiting for me."
"He probably also wants to go to Terra." Alex pointed out, "There's a Webway path that leads directly to the Throne Room of the Imperial Palace on Terra; that was the starting point of the Emperor's great work in the past."
"After the Emperor appointed Horus as Warmaster, he let go of the Great Crusade and began constructing the Webway on Terra, intending to free humanity from its reliance on the Warp."
"He used the Golden Throne as a support to build a new section of the Webway deep within the Imperial Palace on Terra, connecting it to the existing Webway."
"When Horus was corrupted on Davin, turned to the Chaos Gods, and plotted to incite the famous rebellion, Magnus, in order to deliver a warning, used the power of the Chaos God, Tzeentch, to shatter the barrier the Emperor had painstakingly built, causing the great Webway project to fail."
"After the Horus Heresy ended, the Empire sealed the Webway gate with the highest-level methods. He believes you will also take this path, and the guardians of the Webway gate, seeing that it's you, will certainly try to let you enter Terra."
"This way, he can arrive at Terra with you and enter the Throne Room of the Imperial Palace."
"The Lord of Humanity did indeed construct a section of the Webway and attempted to connect it with the existing Webway." Shyrllian nodded, confirming Alex's statement.
Guilliman's eyes widened as he heard this secret, "So Magnus screwed up my father—the Emperor's great vision, and then hated Him to the bone? Is he an overgrown baby?"
"Isn't he?" Alex retorted, "If only he had been a little more mature, humanity wouldn't have fallen to this state."
Guilliman was momentarily speechless, only able to offer a bitter smile.
After so many events, he once again tasted the bitterness in his father's heart.
His father expended all his efforts solely to improve humanity's plight,
planning the unification of Terra, using his own power to suppress the Chaos Gods of the Warp,
meticulously forging twenty Primarchs,
launching the Great Crusade with unprecedented rallying power,
building a vast Human Empire, and then constructing the Webway, solely for humanity's ascension.
In the end, it was all utterly destroyed.
His most trusted Warmaster chose to turn to the Chaos Gods,
and Magnus, under the guise of communication, destroyed the fruits of tens of thousands of years of his painstaking efforts.
Having endured so much, anyone with a weaker mind would have gone mad on the spot.
Yet, his father still calmly set about cleaning up the mess,
finding a way to defeat Horus, expelling the Chaos Gods / The Four Gods,
and dragging his broken body onto the Golden Throne to suppress the collapsing Webway.
Compared to his father, he was far inferior in terms of strength, wisdom, and emotional control.
Guilliman struggled to suppress his emotions.
After a moment, he finally spoke.
"Magnus cannot go to Terra with us, otherwise, if those demons swarm in, my father's sacrifice will be in vain."
"The Primarch worries too much. We never intended for you to take that path."
Shyrllian spoke slowly, revealing an ancient secret.
"At its peak, our race's empire extended the Webway to every planet. Even Luna, Terra's only natural satellite, was connected to the Webway."
"This Webway is very hidden, concealed by illusions, and even the Human Emperor has not mastered it. Only under our guidance can it be found."
"Luna?" Guilliman fell into thought, then finally nodded, "Then let's go to Luna."
After making the decision, everyone immediately set off.
Shyrllian led the team through the Webway, which was once the inherent territory of the Spirit Race Empire.
No race was more familiar with the Webway's structure and distribution than them.
Even the most hidden corridors could not escape their eyes.
The holographic arches hidden deep beneath the flagstones were almost untraceable, yet in their eyes, they shone as brightly as the sun.
The team passed through dreamlike, illusory corridors, delving into dark and empty tunnels, traversing exquisitely flawless crystal halls, and witnessing bizarre, indescribable living staircases.
The Webway was intricate and its directions were unpredictable. If not for the Spirit Race leading the way, they would have been lost within a quarter of an hour and trapped to death within the Webway.
The Players chattered, but under Alex's restraint, they obediently followed along.
After some trekking, the team arrived at Miracle City.
There was no sun here, but it was enveloped in a golden halo.
Magnificent spirit-bone buildings stood, tapering upwards like perfect stalactites and then drooping downwards, the entire city curving and arching in some way.
Wide avenues led to lost temples, cathedrals, and amphitheatres.
Sculptures of dead gods stood in this city.
Faint cries echoed from within the mist.
Shyrllian and the other Spirit Race members showed expressions of sorrow.
She told everyone that these ethereal cries were the language of the dead.
They were the fallen gods of old weeping for the destruction of the Spirit Race Empire, and for the suffering of its people.
Miracle City was an important battlefield in the Webway War.
Imperial forces, led by the Skitarii, shed their blood in this Spirit Race city.
Countless corpses remained here, both traitors and loyalists.
Some still retained the appearance they had at the moment of death, while others had already turned to dry bones.
This situation occurred because of the special time flow within the Webway.
"It's a Skitarii helmet."
The Warmaster bent down and picked up a golden helmet. There was a crack on the visor that ran right through the eagle emblem above the eyebrow, and a wisp of red horsehair fluttered forlornly on the helmet.
"And a Sisters of Silence." Zigman sensed the aura of a fellow human, pointing to an arm extending from a pile of corpses.
It wore a golden gauntlet, stained with blood, still tightly gripping a long spear inscribed with ancient runes.
Beside the corpse, there were also damaged servitors and unused ammunition scattered on the ground.
"Look at this, he died of exhaustion." Tenjiro called out to his companions to see the corpse of a Skitarii.
The Skitarii's corpse was kneeling on one knee, in front of him were countless slain enemies, densely packed, filling the entire street, in some places even piled up.
There were no fatal external injuries on the Skitarii's body; he had simply been exhausted to death.
Curious Players removed the helmet of the dead Skitarii and extracted some blood.
The blood was no longer red.
After scanning and testing, the blood content was too low, consisting only of stimulant residue.
It was hard to imagine what kind of desperate war could so utterly burn out the life of a superhuman warrior.
Besides these, there were also Adeptus Mechanicus servitor-robots, Alpha Assassins, Starfort robots, and other Skitarii units.
Massive Titans lay toppled in the ruins, their cockpits shattered, revealing the corpses of the dead.
"Is this the Vigilance Light Titan?"
Tenjiro saw the remains of a Reaver-class Titan.
The dilapidated steel body bore the dual markings of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Fire Bee Titan Warband.
The binary symbols and Gothic script on it indicated the Titan's identity.
"During the Webway War, Vigilance Light was surrounded while rescuing an allied Reaver-class Titan, Black Sky. Even so, it successfully counter-attacked and destroyed a Warlord-class Titan."
The Warmaster also walked over, caressing the scarred Titan body, covered in marks of penetration and explosions.
Some parts of the Titan's remains were rusted, but many areas still retained their appearance from when it was destroyed.
"It's a pity that Vigilance Light ultimately failed to escape the Webway and fell here. The most tragic part is that it was killed by Black Sky. Because the Black Sky it covered for its escape didn't get far before it was possessed by 'The End of the Empire.'"
The story of Vigilance Light was merely a small ripple in the Webway War.
The Webway War was too tragic; the Imperial loyalists shed all their blood, yet still could not stop the fate of failure.
In this universe, every beautiful beginning eventually turns into a source of suffering and despair.
Loyalists died by betrayal, devoted ones died by selfishness, and the fearless died by cowardice.
All the stories of the Horus Heresy, in the end, were nothing more than a father killing a son.
"Miracle City is a crossroads, with small paths leading to Mars, Terra, and Luna respectively," Shyrllian explained to Alex and Guilliman. "We need to take the one going to Luna."
Led by the Spirit Race, the team passed through Miracle City and continued along a small path.
Upon reaching a complex Webway intersection,
The roaring sound of bolters suddenly erupted.
A volley of bolter rounds, imbued with psychic fire, swept towards them, instantly killing several Players.
Through the pervasive mist, the figures of the Red Letter Warriors gradually emerged. These soulless war-constructs advanced with mechanical strides, continuously firing to suppress them while tightening their encirclement.
Although their movements were stiff and slow, their firepower was not to be underestimated, and they were accompanied by swarms of Tzeentch demons.
The demons shrieked, brandishing their magical staves or silver blades.
The Players immediately counterattacked, and many Red Letter Warriors were hit, their shattered armor and the dust it contained scattering to the ground.
"Magnus." Guilliman raised the Hand of Dominion, unleashing a dense barrage that killed swathes of demons and Red Letter Warriors. "If you have the guts, come out and face me."