The war was about to reach its climax—the time had come for Rhodes to close the net. Fulgrim's Slaanesh host, along with the Noise Marines, had joined the fray a month earlier.
They had formed a coalition with Abaddon's Chaos forces to strike toward the Imperium. In recent days, under the leadership of the Emperor's Avatar, the Aeldari Avatar of Khaine, and the enlarged Calgar—the Imperium struggled to hold the line.
Every Imperial soldier now fought sustained by a single belief: in the not-too-distant future, Lord Regent Roboute Guilliman would arrive. When the great Guilliman arrived, he would save them all.
"Warriors! Don't let these Chaos fiends break our lines. This battle is critical. We must hold until the Primarch arrives—until the Lord Regent arrives!" A Captain of the Ultramarines raised his chainsword and roared.
"For the Imperium!" "For the Emperor!"
Once more, the human defenders erupted with unimaginable morale and launched a counterattack against the Chaos army.
Calgar sighed helplessly at the sight. All of this was for the Imperium, for the human race.
No matter what, they had to win this war in the end.
At that moment, Guilliman's flagship, Gloriana-class Macragge's Honour, slowly sailed out of a warp rift. A massive fleet spread across the void, like a sword pointed at the Vigilus planet.
Guilliman had brought hundreds of thousands of Ultramarines, hundreds of Imperial Navy warships, and over a hundred million Imperial Guardsmen.
And those hundred million Guardsmen were not ordinary soldiers—they had all been injected with superhuman agents, a mortal army with strength comparable to that of the original Astartes.
"My Lord, we have reached the outskirts of Vigilus." the Fleet Admiral reported.
"But the warp fluctuations are extremely violent—the Chaos fleet is besieging Vigilus. A battle beyond imagination is raging here," said a naval officer watching the auspex screens.
He could hardly believe what he was seeing: endless hordes of daemons, endless Chaos Space Marines, madly assaulting the Imperium's bastion.
Guilliman stood at the bridge, eyes fixed on the burning world within the hololithic projection, his brow tightly knit. "Abaddon and Fulgrim… so they joined forces after all."
Vigilus was the key to victory in this war. Even while traversing the warp, he had paid close attention to the course of the battle.
If not for Rhodes's restraint, he would have used his psychic power many times to carve a faster path for the fleet.
Only when Rhodes told him not long ago that the time had come—that Fulgrim had fallen into their trap—did Guilliman advance at full speed, arriving roughly half a month earlier than planned to reach Vigilus at last.
"These accursed daemons—they seek to seize the sacred territories of the Imperium," a mortal naval officer said.
"But the Imperium will never let them succeed. The great Father of the Gene will lead us to defeat Chaos," an Ultramarine declared.
Guilliman nodded at their words. The Imperium's borders would not be violated; its majesty would not be trampled by Chaos.
"My Lord, high-energy reactions detected!" an Imperial Navy officer reported.
A Tech-Priest suddenly cried out, "It's…the Emperor's Avatar! He is on the planet's surface! In addition, there are many Aeldari—there's even an Avatar of Khaine."
A flicker of surprise crossed Guilliman's eyes, then turned to resolve. Rhodes had already informed him about the matter of the Eldar god of death—at such a critical juncture,
It was understandable that the Aeldari intervened; after all, Slaanesh's birth was inextricably tied to them.
And according to their ancient myths, the God of Death would end Slaanesh. In a way, the Eldar god was enacting their prophecy.
"All forces, prepare for planetary drop! Target: Vigilus surface! We must support the Emperor's Avatar! Support our xenos allies! Support the warriors of the Imperium!" Guilliman commanded.
"You heard the Primarch's order. Warriors, prepare to attack!"
"Ultramarines—deploy!"
At Guilliman's order, the Imperial fleet formed up. A storm of drop pods rained down. Hundreds of thousands of Ultramarines descended onto the battlefield.
…
"Hold fast, brothers! The Lord Regent is almost here!" Calgar roared. His power armor was battered and scarred, yet he still stood at the forefront,
A blue giant incarnate, he rallied the entire Chapter.
"For the Emperor!" an Ultramarines Captain shouted—only to be hewn in half by a Chaos Lord's axe. Despair began to spread.
And at the very moment the line was about to collapse—BOOM!
Countless drop pods slammed into the battlefield like meteors, the blue ceramite of Ultramarines gleaming through the fire.
"For Macragge! For the Emperor!" Guilliman's roar thundered across the battlefield. Wielding the Emperor's Sword, he led the elite guard into the foe. Golden flames danced along the blade; every stroke shattered several Chaos warriors.
"It's the Lord Regent—he's here!" The morale of the Imperial defenders surged in an instant.
"Counterattack! Counterattack! Lord Guilliman has arrived!"
At the same time, Guilliman's fleet executed orbital bombardments. Lance strikes and macrocannon salvos tore Chaos formations apart.
Abaddon's Black Legion was forced to pull back, while Fulgrim's daemon legions fell under constant pressure from the Emperor's Avatar.
Chaos Sorcerers quickly opened more warp rifts to summon additional daemons. Even so, their numbers still fell short of the Ultramarines—Guilliman had brought nearly the entire Chapter, hundreds of thousands strong.
Chants of dark sorcery resonated in the air; warp rifts split reality like wounds. Legions of twisted daemons poured out: Khorne's flesh hounds, Nurgle's pestilent hosts, even Tzeentch's horrific flux-spawn.
They howled and screeched, hurling themselves at the Imperial lines.
The Imperium had long been ready.
"Maintain formation! Overlapping fields of fire!" Ultramarine commanders ordered coolly.
Hundreds of thousands of blue-armored warriors formed an unbreakable battleline—a blue wall of steel. The thunder of bolter volleys shook the field, their interlocked fire nets shredding charging daemons.
Those that broke through were carved to pieces by power swords and chainswords.
Guilliman himself moved like a pillar of golden lightning, the Emperor's Sword blazing with sacred fire. Each swing reduced daemons to ashes with their dying shrieks.
His tactical mind worked at full speed, directing precise strikes against Chaos weak points.
Beside him, the Emperor's Avatar raised a burning golden greatsword; with a single swing, dozens of daemons crumbled to ash in holy flame.
Guilliman and the Avatar stood side by side, nodding once to each other before fighting in concert.
Guilliman then magnified himself as well; a dun-colored shield blossomed, protecting all human soldiers. The power of the Cosmic Black Tortoise manifested, its mighty energy barrier covering nearly every human warrior.
Behind him, the Imperial defenders and the Sisters of Silence held back the tidal Chaos onslaught.
The Eldar Avatar fought shoulder to shoulder with the Emperor's Avatar, blade held high. Numerous ordinary Aeldari supported the human soldiers, battling daemons at close quarters.
Suddenly, the heavens tore open—an immense warp vortex widened, and Fulgrim's daemon legions cascaded down like a storm.
Leading them was a figure in purple armor, wielding a runic daemonblade: Fulgrim. He had been utterly transformed.
A powerful purple Chaos divinity flowed through his body—the power of a Chaos God.
Fulgrim had indeed inherited Slaanesh's divine power, and that power was rending his body. Even a Primarch's form could not bear a Chaos God's full might once he fully fused with it.
Seeing the purple figure, Guilliman and the Emperor's Avatar exchanged a smile. The one they'd been waiting for had finally come. After so much effort—at last, they had lured this bastard in.
"Dogs of the False Emperor—your end has come!"
Fulgrim's voice rolled over the battlefield. He leveled the daemonblade Kingslayer at the Emperor's Avatar.
"Fulgrim… look at you now.
Vile. You've become what humanity despises most—a thoroughgoing daemon." The Avatar's voice was deep and commanding.
"Your fall will meet its end," Guilliman snorted.
"End? No—imitation," Fulgrim laughed. "You're nothing but a weapon of war imbued with a fragment of my father's power. Spare me your lectures.
The one who ends here today is you. And you, Guilliman—ten thousand years ago I failed to kill you. Today, you won't escape. No one will save you. This time you die by my hand."
The Emperor's Avatar wasted no words. He raised his golden greatsword and unleashed a cleaving arc—golden sword-light raced toward Fulgrim. Fulgrim, not to be outdone, drew his runic daemonblade and met the strike.
Two divine forces collided with a roar. A storm of gold and violet energy swept the battlefield; even the earth cracked apart.
The Avatar's golden power began to dissipate before Fulgrim's violet Chaos divinity. Strong as the Avatar was, he faced Fulgrim, who had already absorbed more than half of a Chaos God's power.
Guilliman snorted, stepped beside the Avatar, and unleashed dun-colored power: the Cosmic Beast Black Tortoise appeared, forming a great protective membrane that screened out the Chaos power.
"The outcome is far from decided, Fulgrim. You don't think this is enough to win, do you?
Today is your death day—not mine," Guilliman declared.