Scattered humans dragged their exhausted bodies, stumbling through the sea of corpses.
They gathered in small groups of two or three, then moved toward a small highland.
Further away from the scattered survivors, the Industrial Daemons and the recovering Necrons were beginning to regroup.
At this moment, on the small highland, Lion El'Jonson, Azrael, and Dante, together with Van Roth, were leading the remnants of the Imperium of Man to set up a defensive line.
Although everyone gathered around Lion El'Jonson, listening to his arrangements for the current situation, their gazes still kept drifting toward the other side, to Sith, who was sitting on an ammunition box receiving treatment from Bayer.
Lion El'Jonson was not angry at his subordinates' lack of focus; after all, not only did they look at Sith from time to time, but even Lion El'Jonson himself would glance over.
Besides the fact that Sith's recent performance had been too shocking, everyone was also afraid that the Emperor, in His old age, was still watching them through Sith's eyes.
In the entire scene, only Sith remained calm, receiving treatment from Bayer while keeping his head down, lost in thought.
Anyway, having been used to being peeped at by those old things in the Warp, Sith didn't care.
It wasn't until Lion El'Jonson gave a light cough that the people in the distance refocused their attention on the projection.
Lion El'Jonson pointed at the projection and continued, "So, our next task must be to destroy this malicious planet."
As Lion El'Jonson spoke, the faces of those around him turned somewhat ugly upon hearing this.
They first looked up at their own near-extinct Imperial Fleet in orbit, then frowned and subconsciously glanced at Sith again.
Seeing this, Lion El'Jonson knew that this objective was a bit too difficult, so he paused and settled for the next best thing: "At the very least, we must conduct large-scale bombing of Longlin Star to reduce its size as much as possible."
Lion El'Jonson made a concession. Although everyone understood that Longlin Star had become Abaddon's base—and a planet-sized mobile base at that—and that leaving it unchecked would soon allow Abaddon and Vashtorr to rapidly increase their strength.
Even so, facing such a 'concession,' the tightly furrowed brows of everyone did not relax.
Seeing that everyone still lacked confidence, if he were younger, Lion El'Jonson would have beaten the brains out of this group.
But now, with a head full of white hair and a white beard, Lion El'Jonson was surprisingly not angry, or rather, he did not show his anger, but instead seriously considered how to achieve this goal.
After thinking it over, his gaze ultimately landed, just like everyone else's, on the silent Sith on the other side.
At the same time, he noticed that Sith had been keeping his head down in deep thought for too long.
"Sith... Your Excellency." Lion El'Jonson paused, ultimately giving Sith a very respectful title.
Even with Lion El'Jonson speaking personally, Sith still did not respond, remaining lost in thought.
Seeing this, Lion El'Jonson helplessly glanced at the people around him, then had to raise his voice slightly and spoke again, "Lord Sith!"
"Huh?" Sith looked up with a dazed expression, unable to react. Seeing everyone looking at him, and with Lion El'Jonson standing right in front of him, Sith hurriedly withdrew his attention.
Then, facing the puzzled gazes of those around him, he stood up while feeling a call he had suddenly perceived after the Emperor 'possessed' him.
This call was not strange or mysterious; it came directly from the Emperor Himself.
To be precise, it came from the core of the Imperium of Man, on Holy Terra in the Segmentum Solar, where the Emperor's body resided.
The reason Sith had been lost in thought was that this call was not gentle or soothing, but carried an impatient urgency.
The Emperor on the Golden Throne seemed to urgently need Sith to go to Terra.
"Did the Emperor foresee something bad during this trip to find Guilliman?" Sith had thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out, which was why he had let Lion El'Jonson call him twice.
It wasn't until Sith stood up completely that he had to set aside his concern for the Emperor's call and shift his attention to the present.
Then, facing the expectant gazes of Lion El'Jonson and the others, Sith helplessly lowered his eyes and frowned as well, "If there's really no other way... let's retreat first and regroup some of the Imperial Fleet."
Sith had no better solution either. Seeing this, the hope in everyone's eyes dissipated, and they furrowed their brows even tighter, looking back at the projection.
While Sith and Lion El'Jonson were leading everyone in deep thought on how to reduce Longlin Star, deep underground on Longlin Star...
In an automatically constructed 'bridge,' Abaddon was sitting listlessly in the new base that Vashtorr had prepared for him.
Facing Vashtorr in front of him, he was extremely depressed: "Our plan has completely failed."
"First Guilliman, then Lion El'Jonson, and now there's... a golden-glowing Sith!"
Abaddon was listless, and only when he mentioned Sith did his tone rise a bit.
Then he looked up, thinking about how the eighteen Legions had fought side by side just now, and how all humans had been united as one. A bitter expression appeared on his face: "I feel that the era of the Primarchs hasn't ended. The era of the Emperor is almost returning..."
Abaddon's words were full of depression. Vashtorr, who originally didn't want to pay attention to Abaddon, couldn't help but glance at him in anger upon hearing this.
Then he turned around, continuing to busy himself with his own affairs, and had to say, "Don't worry, He won't be coming back!"
Upon hearing this, Abaddon looked up in a daze, staring blankly at Vashtorr, and then a great deal of hope instantly appeared in his eyes.
Just as he was about to ask Vashtorr what methods he had, Vashtorr stepped aside after striking his scepter one last time.
The projection in front of them showed Longlin Star's crust beginning to spin crazily after Vashtorr completed his command.
The crustal movement was so violent that even Abaddon, deep in the planet's core, could feel the surrounding buildings trembling.
Then, Vashtorr's voice drifted over, "They are on Longlin Star. If they think my Longlin Star can only forge demons, then they are too arrogant!"
Vashtorr spoke, and in Abaddon's widening eyes, the projection screen showed the Imperial troops being swallowed in large gulps by the continent beneath their feet!
On the surface, Sith was flying in mid-air, looking furiously at the opening and closing of the continental layers beneath his feet.
Lion El'Jonson and the others, who had originally been thinking about how to deal with Longlin Star, were now constantly directing the survivors to frantically board transports, trying every means to leave the surface.
However, due to the sudden situation, the vast majority of survivors who had managed to endure the great battle with Sith were now falling into the bottomless abyss, only to be crushed into 'thin paper' by the massive anvils that were constantly roaring and colliding inside.
Then, the Industrial Daemons that had just regrouped in the distance rushed up, beginning to kick them while they were down.
As for the Necrons on the other side, Vashtorr also conveniently dealt with them, leaving the Necron Fleet in orbit to watch helplessly. Since attacking the planet had no effect, they turned their heads to beat up the silently waiting-for-death orac even more violently.
"Return to orbit first!" Looking at the planet that was truly attacking him, and the countless soldiers dying worthless deaths in the abyss, Sith's ears echoed with the sound that even Lion El'Jonson had to choose to leave.
Then, looking at the transport approaching him, with Lion El'Jonson in the porthole looking at the ground with a face full of rage, Sith looked at the surface, then at the Imperial Fleet above that was indeed running low on numbers, and also gritted his teeth, preparing to return to orbit first.
However, just as he swept his gaze overhead and was about to fly toward the transport, Sith suddenly paused.
In the transport in the distance, which had already opened its hatch, Lion El'Jonson and the others were looking at Sith with anxious faces.
After Sith was stunned for a moment, he slowly looked up at the sky again.
Then, looking at the Necron Fleet firing crazily in orbit, and looking at the unresponsive, despairing, and waiting-for-death Ark of Omen, Sith's eyes... suddenly brightened!
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