Chapter 535: The Siege of Terra

Within the Aeldari enclave, Grand Farseer Eldrad Ulthran studied the star map projected before him.

Countless shifting data points flickered across its surface—each one a headache waiting to happen.

Through the skeins of fate, he had foreseen the coming civil war within the Imperium.

And because the Aeldari desperately needed humanity to remain a gigantic, noisy lightning rod for galactic threats, he had intended to warn the Imperium early enough to matter.

But timelines had begun to drift.

In his prophecy, Horus should not have rebelled for several more months, and Roboute Guilliman certainly should not have fallen so easily to Lorgar.

Yet reality had violently swerved off course.

“…We must eliminate the Cult at once,” Eldrad said through clenched teeth.

“They dance on strings pulled directly by the Chaos Gods. If they remain active, the disaster ahead will become immeasurably worse.”

He could not hide the disgust in his tone.

To him, the Cult was nothing more than a nest of self-destructive vermin—creatures whose meddling only ever worsened the galaxy’s suffering.

He even suspected their organization had been tainted by the Ruinous Powers from the very moment of its founding.

He had hoped to simply observe them a while longer…

But with events accelerating beyond prediction, caution demanded decisive action.

“By your command,” a voice answered.

A squad of lightly armoured Aeldari stepped forward—silent, graceful, deadly.

These were the Warriors of the Path of the Assassin.

The Path system, forged after the fall of the Aeldari Empire, allowed their people to discipline their emotions and avoid repeating the decadent doom that once destroyed their civilization.

These assassins had undergone grueling refinement, mastering techniques capable of felling enemies far more powerful than themselves.

Sending them to cleanse the Cult was not merely appropriate—it was necessary.

Yet before Eldrad could even exhale, another report arrived.

“Massive Necron reactivation detected in the T’llingro System. Predictive models indicate imminent full awakening…”

A fresh wave of pain throbbed through Eldrad’s skull.

The Necrons—the ancient, undying nemesis of the Aeldari—were the last thing he needed revived right now.

But he could not ignore them.

Even now, scraping by on the brink of extinction, the Aeldari still treated the purging of Necron tombs as routine maintenance.

Whenever an awakening was detected, kill-teams were dispatched immediately.

Strike them while they slumber.

Never allow them to rise in full strength.

Thus had the Aeldari always survived—not through brute force, but through shadows, misdirection, and flawless timing.

—

While the Aeldari struggled with calamity, Horus, marching toward Terra, was grappling with his own frustrations.

He expected Imperials to resist him.

He did not expect half the galaxy’s xenos species to suddenly involve themselves.

In barely a few weeks…

Horus had already survived over one hundred assassination attempts.

Only a third were from Imperial loyalists.

The remaining attacks?

Xenos assassins, hailing from species he had never even encountered before.

Even as former Warmaster, he simply could not comprehend how the Imperium—famously xenophobic and ruthlessly genocidal toward aliens—could somehow have acquired so many “allied” xenos factions.

During the Great Crusade, humanity exterminated alien civilizations on sight.

How could such an empire have friends among them?

Yet there they were—and extremely persistent.

‘Did the Emperor hide diplomatic ties even from me?’

Horus questioned silently.

But regardless of their origin, the assassins kept coming.

Overwhelmed, he eventually chose the only viable strategy:

Leave a portion of his forces behind to screen out the endless xenos interference, while the bulk of his army advanced toward Terra at full speed.

—

After heavy losses and far more delay than expected, Horus finally arrived before Terra.

Waiting for him were the combined defenses of:

Loyalist Space Marine Legions

The Adeptus Custodes

The Sisters of Silence

Entire Imperial Army regiments

And even masses of armed Terran civilians

The cradle of mankind—the strongest fortress of the Imperium—stood ready once more.

For the first time in over ten thousand years, since the civil wars of Old Earth, Terra was under siege again.

And just like every previous siege,

the enemy was humanity itself.

No alien power had ever broken into the Solar System.

Without exception, every great catastrophe had been triggered by internal human conflict.

The irony was suffocating.

—

Horus ordered sustained orbital bombardment.

Yet it achieved little.

Thanks to the Golden Age terraforming megastructures, Terra’s planetary architecture was unimaginably resilient.

Even weapons capable of destroying worlds barely scratched its surface.

Meanwhile, the planet’s anti-orbital defenses were tearing apart traitor ships in significant numbers.

With long-range bombardment ineffective and voidships too large to risk atmospheric entry, Horus issued the only possible command:

Astartes Shock Drop Assaults.

Each warrior was sealed into a drop-pod and fired toward Terra through torrents of anti-air fire.

During descent, a Space Marine could not steer.

Could not defend.

Could not evade.

Many pods were vaporized mid-air.

Others plunged straight into enemy strongholds and were overwhelmed moments after landing.

It was a tactic of staggering risk.

But the Space Marines—raised in war, forged in death, and unflinching in duty—did not hesitate.

Whether loyalist or traitor, they were the finest warriors humanity had ever created.

Heart.

Body.

Skill.

All pushed to the very limits of mortal capability.

…

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