Chapter 900 - 899

The entire star system lay beneath the shadow cast by the human armada.

It advanced in silence, spreading across ever more of the region as the T'au watched in terror.

To the inhabitants of the Farsight Homeworld, it was the shadow of death.

At any moment, the Savior's armies could crush them and their entire species. They had no hope of resistance.

On the Farsight Homeworld, darkness enveloped the planet and turned day into night. The cries and screams of terrified T'au rang out everywhere.

"No!"

"The humans are here! They've come for us!"

"We're all going to die! This entire world will be destroyed!"

"We surrender! We T'au are willing to surrender to the great Savior and return to the Greater Greater Good!"

Fires burned in several districts where riots had broken out, creating the appearance of an impending apocalypse.

Yet to the T'au's surprise, the human fleet showed no sign of attacking. It appeared utterly uninterested in the highly visible Farsight Homeworld.

The torrent of steel warships simply swept past the planet as though it did not exist.

"Could the Ethereal's negotiations have succeeded? Is the Savior willing to spare the T'au citizens of this world?"

A glimmer of hope appeared within Shadowsun.

Based on the intelligence gathered over the years, she knew the Savior was no cruel or tyrannical ruler. Nor was he particularly fond of genocide.

That mighty being preferred to conquer and transform worlds, absorb their inhabitants into his faith, and rule them one after another.

"The Savior hasn't spared this world. He's ignoring it!"

Commander Farsight was practically roaring.

He clenched his fists, his eyes bulging with rage as a terrible pain tore through his heart.

Being ignored like this was an even deeper form of contempt than if the Savior had defeated or destroyed the Farsight Homeworld.

In the Savior's eyes, the resistance forces under his command and this entire planet were no better than a roadside mongrel too frightened to bare its teeth. They were not even worthy of acknowledgment.

The Savior could not even be bothered to chase the dog away or give it a kick.

What greater humiliation could there be?!

The dictatorial commander abruptly realized that the Savior had never considered him a true opponent, much less someone who needed to be eliminated.

Perhaps that mighty being was deliberately humiliating him!

Even more chilling was the fact that the other T'au had already submitted to the Savior's authority. They no longer possessed the courage to resist and refused to accompany Farsight to his death.

No one was willing to obey his commands anymore.

In truth, many T'au had already realized that their commander's mind had been twisted. They had no intention of following the orders of a madman.

He had already killed far too many of his own people.

"Savior, do you think this will break my will to fight?

"Face me! Accept my final charge!"

Farsight's pride was being torn apart. He activated a force field to block Shadowsun's attack, then hurried down the access passage toward the battlesuit hangar.

Soon afterward, a crimson armored figure nearly a hundred meters tall slowly rose from beneath the base, radiating intense waves of heat.

It was the KX139 Ta'unar Supremacy Armour, the most powerful T'au battlesuit Farsight had spent years constructing!

Its intended purpose was to fight the Titans of the human Imperium while also being capable of combat in space.

This immense suit of armor could use its mobility to damage warships, breach their hulls, and slaughter the crews within.

"Savior! Humanity!"

Farsight piloted the Ta'unar Supremacy Armour into the sky. Several dozen loyal bodyguards followed behind him, each piloting an advanced Battlesuit of their own.

This would be their final charge.

No matter what it took, they would damage the human warships and kill enough humans to show the Savior exactly what kind of enemy he faced!

"O'Shovah intends to drag this entire world into the grave with him..."

Unable to stop any of this, Shadowsun watched the Battlesuit force disappear into the distance with a despondent expression.

Perhaps this was the fate of the T'au citizens living here. They would be engulfed by the fires of war alongside their entire world and vanish into the dust of history.

Yet before Farsight's Battlesuit squadron could even leave the atmosphere, a fleet belonging to the Imperial T'au came rushing toward them in a tremendous hurry.

The Savior's fleet was rapidly converging on its designated battlefield to attack the Necrons.

It had no time to waste on such insignificant small fry. The humans could not even be bothered to glance in their direction.

Naturally, trivial matters like this were left to the auxiliary forces following behind. They could clear the relevant airspace and silence any irritating noises that might disturb the harmony of the Imperium.

"Rebels, you must submit to the great Savior! Otherwise, you will receive no mercy!"

As soon as Ethereal Commander Aun'Vash received intelligence from the Farsight Homeworld, he requested permission from his superiors to deploy and rushed over at once.

This was a rare opportunity to earn merit while simultaneously destroying the traitors who had long tarnished the T'au's reputation for loyalty.

The sight of Battlesuits rising from the Farsight Homeworld only made him angrier.

He ground his teeth together.

"Wretched traitors! Not only do they refuse to surrender, but now they're trying to interfere with the Imperium's traffic lanes. Their insolence knows no bounds!

"Loyal warriors, deploy with me! We will suppress those deluded rebels!"

Aun'Vash quickly headed for the armory and equipped himself for battle. Soon, a dark-gold Redemption-pattern Ta'unar Supremacy Armour more than a hundred meters tall slowly rose into view.

Not just anyone was permitted to use such a color scheme.

It was a gift from His Majesty the Savior, bestowed upon Aun'Vash as an outstanding graduate of the Loyal Scions Academy. The Savior's personal emblem had even been engraved upon it.

Of course, His Majesty had not personally presented it to him. The secretariat had merely awarded it in the Savior's name as a reward for exceptional talent.

It was an effective way to win people's loyalty.

This was the special treatment granted to outstanding graduates of the Loyal Scions Academy. From the moment of graduation, the most exceptional students received tremendous resources to aid their advancement.

That mighty being was never stingy with those who remained loyal to him, whether they were humans or loyal xenos.

The dark-gold Ta'unar Supremacy Armour gleamed as though freshly polished and exuded the fragrance of sacred oils. One glance was enough to tell that it had received meticulous care for many years.

Aun'Vash personally inspected the maintenance of his precious armor every day. He would even polish the Savior's emblem himself to demonstrate his loyalty.

If his enemy had been anyone other than Farsight, he truly would have been reluctant to deploy this treasured Battlesuit.

As the Ethereal Commander piloted it out of the armory, the enormous red seal upon its chest began to glow faintly. The long strips of scripture hanging beneath it fluttered gently.

It was an oversized, general-purpose Purity Seal that he had obtained only after spending an entire week praying at a sacred cathedral.

After all, how could the Savior's most loyal warrior possibly go without a Purity Seal?

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

"Stop them!

"Under no circumstances can we allow them to leave the planet, obstruct the army's traffic lanes, and damage the reputation of the T'au!"

Piloting his dark-gold Ta'unar Supremacy Armour, Aun'Vash led nearly a hundred Battlesuit warriors toward the upper atmosphere of the Farsight Homeworld.

They moved to intercept Farsight's force of rebel Battlesuits.

These traitors did not even qualify as ants before the Savior's army, but their actions threatened the harmony between the T'au and His Majesty.

Worse still, they could damage the T'au's reputation for loyalty within the great collective of the Imperium, hindering the advancement of every T'au who served it.

"Shameless traitors! You betrayed your own species and destroyed the hopes of our people!"

When Farsight discovered the Imperial T'au interception force, his furious roar erupted over the communication channel.

He hated these traitors.

"Farsight, you are the true traitors.

"The age has changed. The T'au can no longer remain huddled in a remote corner of the galaxy, playing childish games among themselves.

"The caste system was oppressive and backward. If the Savior had not abolished it, the T'au would have been incapable of further progress.

"You saw the corruption and decadence of the old T'au society yourself. That was why you left in anger, was it not?

"Now the T'au have finally embarked upon the correct path. Only by following the Savior can we attain a brighter future and truly spread the Greater Greater Good..."

Aun'Vash spoke with complete confidence. The words of a traitor could not shake him in the slightest.

Under the Savior's rule, the Imperial T'au had gained more territory and far superior weapons.

In the future, they would not merely follow that mighty being in conquering the galaxy. They would journey beyond it, claim still more territory, and eventually rule the entire universe.

That was the true future of the T'au!

The T'au and every other species had already recognized the truth. Anyone who resisted the Savior would inevitably be swept into the garbage heap of history.

No being could stand against the mighty current of galactic destiny!

"Are you truly so willing to be the Savior's dog and serve as his lackey?!"

Farsight roared, challenging the loyalty of his own people.

"Ha!"

Ethereal Commander Aun'Vash laughed, his voice filled with devotion.

"I have been granted the privilege of becoming His Majesty the Savior's servant and serving the embodiment of the Greater Greater Good. Is that not the highest possible honor?

"Pitiful traitor, you aren't even worthy of worshiping the Savior!"

Rumble!

Blinding white light tore apart the gloomy sky. The upper atmosphere churned violently as the Battlesuits raced through it at incredible speed.

The two opposing Battlesuit squadrons slammed into one another and began slaughtering each other amid the raging air currents.

Every thunderous discharge from their weapons sent tremors through the turbulent atmosphere. Every evasive maneuver produced a piercing shriek as metal armor scraped against the air.

Both sides fought with everything they possessed, holding nothing back.

Yet Farsight's Battlesuit squadron was too badly outnumbered, and its firepower was inferior to that of the Imperial force.

They quickly fell behind. One large Battlesuit after another was destroyed and plummeted toward the ground like a falling star.

"Traitors, you fell behind long ago. Battlesuit technology like yours is already obsolete.

"A more exalted Greater Greater Good, a grander ideal, and stronger weapons and armor.

"That is the future of the T'au. That is what will allow us to survive in this galaxy.

"We will follow the Savior, the one true ruler of the galaxy, into distant regions of space!"

Aun'Vash declared.

He understood just how powerful the Savior truly was. The mighty being had long since transcended anything that could be adequately described as human or any other species.

Although humanity remained the absolute center of the Imperium, both humans and T'au were merely two of the many species under the Savior's rule.

The Ethereal Commander guided his dark-gold Ta'unar Supremacy Armour forward and tore apart two XV104 Riptide Battlesuits with its power blade.

"Farsight, accept your fate! You traitors have been completely defeated!"

He broke through the defensive line and advanced upon the KX139 Ta'unar Supremacy Armour piloted by Farsight, confronting him directly.

Yet the instant Aun'Vash approached, the Purity Seal on the chest of his dark-gold Battlesuit spontaneously burst into flame.

He sneered.

"Hmph. I knew something was wrong with you the moment I saw you. So you're a pitiful slave to heresy, and you don't even realize your own mind has been twisted."

Upon discovering that his opponent was a heretic, Aun'Vash unleashed even greater combat power.

Destroying a heretic would earn him an even greater honor!

"Die, heretic!"

The quad-mounted plasma cannons on the shoulders of his dark-gold Ta'unar Supremacy Armour opened fire first. Four orange-red energy beams tore through the atmosphere, followed by a dense barrage of pulse missiles.

The storm of fire swept toward Farsight and the Battlesuit guards beside him.

The guards failed to evade in time. Their shields were rapidly destroyed, and the following barrage riddled their armor with holes.

This was the difference between entire generations of weapon technology.

The Farsight Homeworld had hidden in a remote corner of the galaxy for so long that it had lost the ability to continue its research.

Meanwhile, the Imperial T'au had continued improving their Battlesuits and had already advanced to fourth-generation designs.

It was practically the technological equivalent of a dimensionality-reduction strike.

"Damn you!"

Farsight hurriedly evaded the incoming attacks.

He now understood that he would never escape the planet and launch his final charge against humanity.

All he wanted now was to destroy the T'au traitor before him, the one who had willingly submitted to the Savior, before he died.

"Die!"

Farsight drove his Ta'unar Supremacy Armour straight at Aun'Vash, but he was still too slow.

Before he could close the distance, the rail cannon mounted behind the dark-gold Battlesuit finished charging.

The vehicle-scale heavy cannon, which had an effective range of more than a hundred kilometers, punched straight through the left-side armor of Farsight's KX139 Ta'unar Supremacy Armour. Blazing plasma erupted from the breach.

The massive Battlesuit began losing power.

"This Battlesuit was bestowed upon me by His Majesty the Savior! Did you truly believe your obsolete piece of scrap could defeat me?"

Aun'Vash ignited the thrusters of his dark-gold Battlesuit and used its power blade to dismantle the weapon systems on Farsight's armor.

Still locked together, the two colossal Battlesuits plummeted into the atmosphere, wreathed in raging flames.

Boom!

Several minutes later, Farsight's KX139 Ta'unar Supremacy Armour slammed into the ground and demolished the surrounding buildings. The suit itself was on the verge of completely disintegrating.

Aun'Vash landed his dark-gold Ta'unar Supremacy Armour nearby.

He strode forward, ripped open the wrecked armor with one hand, and tore out Farsight along with his cockpit.

"You will never make me submit!"

Farsight's blue eyes had nearly gone mad. He roared and attempted to activate some sort of self-destruct mechanism.

Aun'Vash responded by violently shaking the cockpit back and forth, leaving Farsight dizzy and disoriented. Even the madness in his eyes seemed to clear somewhat.

"Heretic and traitor, it is not yet time for you to deliver your final words. You will be given a formal trial."

With that, he stuffed Farsight and the entire cockpit into a stasis-field cage, stripping him of any ability to resist.

Aun'Vash then noticed the trembling T'au gathered in the streets below.

They were terrified.

He also saw the cold, silent district, every door tightly sealed. Even the stone pavement seemed to radiate a bitter chill.

Farsight had imposed a brutal dictatorship upon this homeworld and had likely killed many of its inhabitants.

The people feared the Fire Caste dictator who had attempted to drag their entire homeworld into the abyss.

Of course, they were also afraid of Aun'Vash, the Imperial T'au commander standing before them.

They feared that he would destroy their world and execute everyone who had followed Farsight as a traitor.

"My people, the traitor has been captured. Your fear will soon fade, and this world will not be destroyed.

"The radiance of the great Savior shall illuminate this world. You will all receive his grace and once again embrace the Greater Greater Good.

"No caste will ever again be restricted by ancestry or bloodline. You will be free to pursue any field you wish, and you will receive both freedom and protection..."

Aun'Vash's voice was amplified by his dark-gold Ta'unar Supremacy Armour and spread across an ever-widening area.

This was the favorable treatment available to loyal xenos such as them.

Gradually, cheers began to rise across the Farsight Homeworld.

...

Not long afterward, the report concerning the Farsight Homeworld was mixed in with countless other reports and delivered to the command division of the Restoration Crusade fleet.

It attracted little attention. It was merely another routine piece of intelligence.

An auxiliary force attached to one of the vanguard fleets had encountered a xenos planet, reclaimed it, and pressed it into service as a logistical world for the fleet.

Truthfully, the Savior and many of the high-ranking members of the Royal Court had completely forgotten that someone named Farsight even existed.

The only noteworthy detail was that the xenos leader appeared to have been corrupted by the Changer of Ways.

It was enough to make people sigh that the powers of the Warp had never abandoned their desire to corrupt the galaxy.

The Farsight Homeworld would be converted into a reserve supply depot along the fleet's route.

After all, this could become a protracted war. The Imperium needed to prepare as early as possible for the logistical pressure it might face.

In fact, more regions and planets similar to the Farsight Homeworld were already being reclaimed.

Organizing an expedition on this scale was no easy task for the Royal Court. They needed to seize the opportunity to secure and thoroughly open every relevant region.

Afterward, each could be incorporated into the Imperium's territory.

Of course, the Restoration Crusade fleet's primary objective remained the defeat of the galaxy's former supreme ruler:

The Silent King!

As the Restoration Crusade advanced deeper into the region, its vanguard fleets soon reached the perimeter of the Zone of Silence and crossed into Necron territory.

(End of Chapter)

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