If one were to ask which warship of the Imperium of Man has been the most powerful since the Great Crusade...
It is not the 'gloriana-class battleship' assigned to each Primarch as a flagship, nor is it the various experimental warships of the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars.
It is the Emperor's personal vessel: the 'Imperator Somnium'!
As the premier flagship of the Imperium of Man, the Imperator Somnium was personally overseen by the Emperor and utilized a vast amount of ancient, arcane technology from the Dark Age of Technology.
Not only was it magnificent and solemn, its size was so immense that approaching a smaller planet or moon could cause tides on the surface with just a single ship, and it could even block out starlight, forcibly turning day into night.
Beyond its magnificent, artistic, and solemn hull, its armament was nothing short of exaggerated.
The Macro Cannons used as main batteries on other ships were so densely packed on the Imperator Somnium that they had to be grouped and used as secondary batteries.
The main batteries were replaced by Nova Cannons with calibers large enough to fire a Titan at once, with over a dozen of them lined up along the ship's spine.
Its power was so terrifying that even excluding the secondary batteries like Macro Cannons and Light Lances, a single volley from just the Nova Cannons could destroy an entire squadron-sized fleet.
During the Great Heresy initiated by Horus, a single volley above Terra took out four rebel Heavy Cruisers, one Battle Barge, and over a dozen frigates and Destroyers.
Finally, facing overwhelming odds, the ship attempted a solo breakthrough against the fleet Horus brought—nearly half the galaxy's strength—and was overwhelmed by endless fire and crashed.
As the symbol of the Imperium of Man's former supreme glory and the spearhead of the Great Crusade, the Imperator Somnium vanished from human sight after the Great Heresy.
So much so that later generations of humanity could only recall the glory of this Imperial vessel through a vast amount of video records and portraits.
But now, as Lion El'Jonson woke from tens of thousands of years of slumber and concluded the Battle of Longlin Star, he never expected that the final scene would be Sith piloting the 'Imperator Somnium' out in front of everyone!
If there was one difference, it was that the 'gold' color scheme belonging to the Emperor had been thoughtfully changed by orac to the 'black-gold' exclusive to Sith.
At this moment, the Imperial bridge was silent.
Although everyone knew this wasn't the original 'Imperator Somnium', they still looked at this 'ancient' warship that had appeared countless times in their memories with extremely complex emotions.
Simultaneously, they began to unconsciously compare this new Imperator Somnium with the old one.
Besides being slightly smaller—somewhere between a gloriana-class battleship and the original Imperator Somnium—the most direct change was the exterior gold being replaced with black-gold.
At the same time, the statue of the God-Emperor in front of the massive, solemn cathedral atop the bridge had been thoughtfully replaced with Sith by that sycophant orac.
Furthermore, the pose of the Sith statue was very familiar to everyone, as it was the exact movement Sith had made not long ago: pressing forward with his sword and turning to beckon the humans behind him.
If nothing else, the artistry of this giant statue was indeed no less than that of the God-Emperor on the original Imperator Somnium.
But the problem was...
Shouldn't this f*cking spot be the God-Emperor?
How did you, orac, manage to swap him for Sith?!
Everyone's faces twitched uncontrollably. If the God-Emperor hadn't possessed Sith in public, they would probably be cursing Sith as a heretic while trying to find a way to flee.
What?
Why not charge forward and die for the God-Emperor?!
The Imperial side lowered their heads. Although the new Imperator Somnium lacked the lost ancient arcane technology, it could merge and absorb all enemy technology.
Perhaps those weren't Nova Cannons lined up on the spine, but looking at the exaggerated caliber of the Gauss Light Lance, they believed that even a full volley wouldn't be necessary to wipe out their entire f*cking small fleet.
And if they were wiped out and went to the God-Emperor, they wouldn't just fail to receive his 'mercy'; they'd all get a few more slaps.
Add to that the numerous Macro Cannons on both sides of the hull—still so dense they required double-layered rows—even just this conventional firepower was enough to blast them back into atoms.
So, the ship might not be the one from the past, and its paper combat stats might be a bit lacking, but at this moment, this ship—possessing abominable intelligence, perfectly inheriting all the abilities of the Ark of Omen, absorbing Necron technology, and having been sanctified—was still the top warship in the entire galaxy!
Of course, if you also added the Astartes who had survived a hundred Apocalypses, the Blackwatch who had survived three hundred, and a massive number of battle-hardened recruits, its combat power would be another story entirely.
While not absolutely invincible, breaking through a fleet or even going Musou among enemy ships with a single vessel was no problem at all.
Everyone's thoughts wandered. Although these reflections varied in each person's mind, they all ultimately converged on the same conclusion regarding its combat power.
It wasn't until the warship slowly approached, blotting out the sky, and their damaged ships trembled slightly from the gravitational pull, that everyone snapped back to reality.
Then, a communication projection was transmitted directly to the bridge of the Battle Barge and all Imperial side ships.
The crowd was stunned, then looking at the figure on the other side of the projection, everyone couldn't help but stand up straight with a'snap', and even Lion El'Jonson had to look a bit more serious.
Because on the other end of the screen, a massive, magnificent, clean, and bright unmanned bridge was reflecting the magnificent galaxy outside the giant viewport, while the massive spine of the ship stretched forward from 'beneath' the bridge.
Giant Gauss Light Lance pointed coldly into the void, the engines emitted a red glow, and the black-gold hull was solid and magnificent.
Against this backdrop, in gilded silver armor, with the red sword and black gun, and a Green-Lit Crown...
A brand-new Sith stood on his brand-new flagship, with a black-gold servo-skull specially made by orac—with the word 'Sith' welded directly onto its forehead—floating behind his shoulder, looking at them from the top of the giant ship.
Van Roth and the others from the Sith Legion felt no psychological pressure; they almost instantly offered their supreme respect to the figure before them.
Those redeemed rebel Legions also stood up straight, striking their ceramite chests hard to offer their loyalty to Sith.
Then came the Imperial side, who had once been enemies; though they hesitated, they one after another began to salute.
Although Guilliman was still urgently passing on the slaps the God-Emperor had given him, and Terra had not yet revoked Sith's status as a traitor...
Or rather, the news of the revocation had not yet reached this place.
But everyone didn't even need to look at each other to know that if anyone dared to say Sith was a traitor again, before Sith could even act, the God-Emperor—who was constantly watching Sith—would let them know the meaning of 'the God-Emperor's Wrath'!
Even Lion El'Jonson still held many opinions about Sith, but on the sole issue of loyalty, there was no doubt.
And Sith, looking at the countless humans saluting him through the projections and the equal gaze from Lion El'Jonson...
Sith publicly glanced at the damaged ships that were being urgently welded while exploding, then paused and stood a bit straighter:
"Everyone, abandon ship. Transfer all supplies, crew, and troops to my flagship."
"We..."
"Need to return to Terra immediately to provide reinforcements!"
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