In truth, he had also wanted to lead the warriors of the Imperium in annihilating those vile Rangda.
In fact, because of Axis's presence, he had even proposed to his father that they strike deep into Rangda territory and put an end to them once and for all.
But war was never something that could be fought by one man alone. Axis did not possess the ability to split himself into multiple bodies, and it was impossible for him to appear on every battlefield across the Imperium.
Moreover, Axis now had to return to Holy Terra to establish his own Legion and formally take his place as a Primarch, something that would take at least ten years.
For now, the Imperium needed a buffer zone between themselves and the Rangda. Driving deep into their territory was simply not realistic.
At most, the Imperium could commit three Space Marine Legions to the front. There were no additional forces to spare as the wars on the Western and Southern Fronts were still raging fiercely.
The Imperium had been founded for barely a century. The Great Crusade itself had only been underway for seventy or eighty years. There was still no deep reserve of resources to draw upon.
Thus, this war could only aim to repel the Rangda and deliver a show of force, a deterrent. The time for their complete destruction had not yet come.
"Axis, we simply do not have the manpower. With three Astartes Legions, plus a few billion mortal auxiliary troops.
"At best, we can take this foothold world. If our forces are spread too thin, it will be to our disadvantage," Russ said to Axis.
When two galactic powers clashed, it was not something that could be decided in a day or two, no matter how formidable Axis was.
"I understand. Then this battle… should be the final one in this campaign, correct?" Axis asked.
His vanguard fleet had already been dispatched over a year ago. He had only recently received word from Mader.
They had just emerged from the Warp and were en route to the target star system, intending to observe the Necrons and see if there was any chance of establishing contact.
"You're right, this will be the last battle. Afterwards, we'll station some forces along the Imperial border.
"Only when the wars on the Western and Southern Fronts are concluded, and when all the Primarchs have returned to the Imperium, will it be time for the decisive battle with the Rangda," said the Lion, Lion El'Jonson.
"Once we take the enemy's foothold world, we'll begin fortifying our defenses here," said Jaghatai Khan.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
As per custom, it was time to discuss the details of the upcoming battle, the deployment of forces and the division of responsibilities.
But was such discussion even necessary?
All three Primarchs turned their eyes toward Axis.
With this little monster present, it seemed they had no need to trouble themselves with such details.
"Axis, how do you think we should fight this battle? Tell us your thoughts," the Lion said.
"Ahem! I do have an idea.
"Since this is not the time for a decisive battle against the Rangda, and since the Imperium needs time to grow stronger, I intend to deliver the Rangda a strategic deterrent.
"I will frighten them so thoroughly that they will be forced to scramble for peace, so that for decades to come, they won't dare attack the Imperial frontier," Axis declared.
The three Primarchs exchanged glances, then looked back at him.
"Axis, by 'strategic deterrent,' you mean destroying one of their fleets by yourself, correct?" Russ asked.
Axis had done such things many times before.
The first time had an effect, but repeated too often, it would no longer instill much fear.
The Lion and Jaghatai also looked at Axis with curiosity. They both suspected that his idea of deterrence would not be so simple.
"No, no! I don't mean destroying their fleet. I mean destroying one of their heavily fortified fortress worlds, one they've spent great effort to build," Axis said.
Ever since he had crossed into this world, he had only destroyed two planets while testing his Super Saiyan transformations, and both had been lifeless worlds.
This was the perfect opportunity to do it for real. Of course, that half a star system was another matter.
The display of directly destroying one of the enemy's heavily fortified planets would exert an overwhelming psychological pressure onto the enemy..
Without a means to defend against planet-level attacks, the Rangda would never dare to assault the Imperium again.
"You… you mean to destroy an entire planet?" the Lion asked, staring at Axis, speechless.
They were just talkin about taking the world to establish their own frontier world, but here Axis was, talking about directly destroying it. But thinking about it, destroying a heavily frontier World meant, having to deal with all the fleets and forces surrounding that planet along with whatever was inside the planet.
The man had recently destroyed fleets that were spread acoss half a star system. Destroying a planet wouldn't be much of a problem for him.
Axis' existence would be, without a doubt the best strategic deterrent.
"How do you plan to destroy an enemy world? Are you going to strike directly at the planet's core and trigger a full detonation? Or are you going to repeat what you did to the first Rangda fleet?" the Lion pressed. It would be such a waste if he did. Lion had to persuade him not to.
There were two known methods to destroy a planet. The first was to shatter the planetary core, rupturing the tectonic plates.
Once the core became unstable, the planet would self-destruct. The Imperium's Exterminatus employed Cyclonic Torpedoes to fracture continental plates in this way.
The second method was far more brutal, obliterate the planet entirely through overwhelming firepower. But that required weapons of unimaginable energy output, the likes of which no Imperial vessel currently possessed.
In the Dark Age of Technology, humanity had commanded such capabilities, but the present Imperium did not.
But here was a man who could it all on his own.
"I don't intend to do anything that elaborate. I mean to unleash enough force to pulverize the entire world into dust in one fell swoop," Axis said.
This time, he intended to use the same technique once wielded by Lord Frieza, the Planet Destroyer, condensing an energy blast large enough to erase a planet from existence.
It required an immense reserve of ki, but Axis could easily perform it. Not even scraps of it would be remained to prove it's existence.
Khan was looking at Axis strange. Truly, the man's brain working ways that he didn't want to comprehend.
"Trust me, when the time comes, you'll witness a sight you will never forget," Axis replied.
"But we still need to take that star system as a strategic buffer zone against the Rangda," Jaghatai Khan said, "If you destroy its habitable worlds, we won't be able to station troops there. At most, we could deploy a few orbital fortress-satellites."
Axis nodded, then shook his heads.
"To establish deterrence, they must not dare cross the line at all.
"If we turned this into a forward bastion world, it would take at least a decade to fully develop. But if I strike now, the Rangda will fear the Imperium for a long time to come. We won't even need defenses, as they won't dare attack anytime soon," Axis explained.
When your strength was great enough, fortifications were unnecessary.
The enemy would lack the courage to provoke you, and might even fear you enough to dread your coming to strike them instead.
The three Primarchs exchanged glances, then nodded in unison, agreeing to Axis's plan.
Plunder it is.
The destruction of a planet would send a deterrent message like no other. And once the enemy was dealt with, they could strip the minig worlds to their trousers and leave, not caring about the development.
Once their council ended, each Primarch returned to his flagship.
Four Gloriana-class battleships, accompanied by over a thousand Imperial warships, set course for the Warp.
After a month's voyage, they reached the frontier.
The Rangda fleet was already in position, guarding a heavily fortified star system. At its center lay a forge world, with several heavily modified planets in orbit.
A vast fleet hung in the void.
From a glance, there were at least two thousand warships. Among them, beyond the standard vessels, loomed a colossal space fortress the size of a small moon, two thousand kilometers in diameter.
It was the third War-Moon Axis had encountered.
In raw numbers, the Rangda had the advantage, but Axis alone offset that balance entirely.
In the original timeline of this war, the Imperium had lost over a thousand worlds and been forced onto the defensive.
When the fleets were still an astronomical unit apart, a communication request came to the Imperial flagship.
As the overall commander of the battle, the Lion accepted the transmission.
A holographic projection appeared, showing a creature with three pairs of compound eyes, six arms, and the form of an insectoid.
"Human, I am Tarta, Supreme Commander of the Eastern New Territories of the Galactic Empire.
"I speak on behalf of the Galactic Empire to negotiate with your kind. I propose a non-aggression pact.
"This war is a mistake."
The Rangda had chosen to negotiate.
The threat Axis posed was simply too great, and the high command of the Galactic Empire deemed it unwise to fight the Imperium in earnest, at least, at the moment.
"You wish to talk now? Did you consider negotiation when you attacked the Imperium?" the Lion asked coldly.
"Perhaps there was some misunderstanding between us. In the first war, we only sought to make contact with your Imperium."
"Oh? You call it 'contact' when you enslaved tens of billions of humans, tearing the brains from their skulls?" the Lion said.
"Those were misunderstandings. We can draw the border here, redefining our territories. The Galactic Empire pledges never to attack the Imperium again. Will you choose peace… or war?" the Rangda commander asked.
"We choose war!" the Lion replied calmly.
The moment he declared it, Kasha's psychic power whisked Axis to orbit above one of the Rangda's habitable worlds, surrounded by enemy fleets.
Axis slowly raised one hand, gathering his ki.
A crimson sphere of energy formed in his palm, swelling rapidly as he poured power into it, hundreds of meters, kilometers, then tens of kilometers, until at last it grew to over a thousand kilometers in diameter.
"Watch closely, Rangda. This is the power of humanity!" Axis said with a cold smile, hurling the massive Planet Destroyer downward.
In that instant, the world seemed to lose all color, all sound.
The colossal crimson sun plunged into the planet's surface.
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WAAAARGHHHH!!! powerstones!!!
have a great day/night!