Chapter Fifty-Six: The End of the Second Battle of Terra

"Blood Sacrifice to the God-Emperor! Skull Offering to the Brass Throne!"

While the Khorne demon army was still bewildered, Khorne's chosen traverser raised his blood-red longsword and charged straight at their ranks. His sudden assault plunged deep into the midst of the demon host, and in his hands, the blood-red blade sliced through the Khorne demons as if he were cutting through butter. The way he hacked at them showed the practiced skill of a veteran craftsman.

His unexpected attack jolted the Khorne demon army out of their stupor and restored their fighting spirit. The battle at the Lion's Gate erupted once more, only this time, among the Imperial troops, there was a figure clad in brass armor.

"Wang Qing! Why have you betrayed the Blood God?!"

In the demon ranks, a great demon blocked his slaughter and demanded to know why he had forsaken the supreme Blood God.

"Screw your Blood God! I'm human! My loyalty belongs to the Emperor!"

Wang Qing swung his blood-red blade at the great demon, and their weapons clashed, the sound of brass and iron echoing endlessly.

Nearly every mortal in the Palace District watched the battle at the Lion's Gate, praying in their hearts that the Emperor's loyal warriors would purge the gate of the vile demons.

A sharp crack rang out. Though the Khorne great demon was formidable, it was still no match for the chosen of Khorne. Wang Qing swiftly severed the demon's head with his blood-red blade. He then kicked the head with force, sending it flying in a beautiful arc through the air, landing squarely on the skull of another great demon locked in fierce combat with Wang Ming.

The demon fighting Wang Ming was struck hard by the flying head, giving Wang Ming the opening to slash at its neck. Even without the blessing of the Silent Sisters, the demons could not be utterly destroyed, but banishing them back to the Warp was a worthy outcome.

Within this brief span, the four great demons leading the Khorne forces had already been slain.

"Is that all? Is that all? This is Khorne's might? Not even close to the Eldar War God Khaine!"

Feng Fan, through the microphone linked to the wall's speakers in his helmet, relentlessly mocked the Khorne demon army, driving their rage to new heights.

Driven completely mad by the taunts, the Khorne demons abandoned all tactics, each fighting the traversers individually. The battle became far easier; the Khorne demons, now isolated, were quickly banished back to the Warp by the traversers, working in teams of three. The remaining four great demons were hacked to pieces by the overwhelming numbers of the traversers.

The demon host dwindled, their blood-red territory consumed by the silver tide of traversers. Once again, the Emperor's warriors purged the sacred Throne World of evil.

In this battle, every traverser died at least seven times. They had transformed from ordinary people just crossing over to the Fourth Calamity—those bold enough to challenge the gods themselves.

"Bloody Khorne, I'm finally free from that godforsaken wasteland!" Wang Qing sat atop the slowly dissipating corpse of a great demon, raising his middle finger repeatedly to the storm in the sky, which was likewise fading away.

"Buddy, don't celebrate too soon. Look at yourself," Wang Ming said suddenly beside him.

"Myself? What's wrong with me?"

Prompted by Wang Ming, Wang Qing looked at his body and saw a thin layer of blood-red light enveloping him, his form gradually becoming insubstantial.

"Damn it, Khorne! I don't want to go back! Emperor, save me!"

Seeing his body's transformation, Wang Qing leapt up from the demon's corpse and sprinted toward the palace, crying out for the Emperor's help. But before he could reach the gate, his body vanished completely from the material universe, returning to the realm of Khorne.

Wang Ming and the traversers watched their vanished comrade and silently prayed that he would survive Khorne's wrath.

While the traversers fought the demon army, Guilliman completed his communion with the Emperor. The Astronomican blazed anew, dispersing the Warp storm over Terra and guiding countless humans across the vast cosmos.

After the Second Battle of Terra, Wang Ming spoke with the Emperor again, seeking permission to recruit a force of mortal soldiers on Terra as the auxiliary army for the "Star Traversers." The Emperor approved Wang Ming's proposal and dispatched members of the Custodes to assist in recruitment.

Whether this would provoke dissatisfaction among the High Lords and prompt them to scheme behind Wang Ming's back...

Such a thing was unlikely. Wang Ming had already accompanied the Custodes to the Antarctic Grand Hotel and the Assassin Temples. If any of the High Lords dared to plot against Wang Ming, they would vanish the very next day.

On the day following the end of the Second Battle of Terra, Guilliman formally announced his coronation as Imperial Regent, granted by the Emperor himself, to govern the Imperium in his stead. Wang Ming, by the Emperor's decree, received the largely symbolic title of Protector of the Realm. Whether he fulfilled the duties of this title mattered little to him; governance could be left entirely to Guilliman.

After all, his main task was to lead the traversers across the stars of the Imperium, fighting Chaos, xenos, and all of humanity's enemies.

Recruitment for the mortal auxiliary force of the "Star Traversers" began in every hive on Terra the day Guilliman was crowned Regent. Wang Ming planned to enlist at least a million mortals as support troops.

Why was Wang Ming recruiting so many auxiliaries? The answer lay in the information he'd received about their next destination.

Previously, the Emperor had given Wang Ming and the traversers a mission: to travel to a world near the Damocles Gulf and retrieve a relic belonging to the Emperor's old friend.

After the Second Battle of Terra, information about this planet was delivered to Wang Ming and the traversers by the Custodes. Upon reading it, Wang Ming and his companions were stunned.

The planet's name was Moers—a hive world of the Imperium, with a surface area of 670 million square kilometers, its landscape almost entirely barren and covered by vast stone fields.

It primarily produced ores required for Imperial shipbuilding. The planetary governor was Thomas Peckhart, formerly Colonel of the 556th Regiment of the Astra Militarum's Cluster forces.

The data Wang Ming and the traversers had was from before the Great Rift. The planet was frequently harassed by the Tau Empire. The lower hives of its two main cities were riddled with Genestealer cults and Chaos cults, and it was suspected that an entire Necron dynasty was awakening deep underground.

Moers, even before the Great Rift, was a boiling cauldron of chaos. Its state after the Rift could only be imagined.