The Black Templars who had been preparing to depart when Axion detained Thien had remained on the scene and witnessed the entire event.
Now, seeing the blinding flash of the explosion visible even from the surface, they instantly understood the purpose behind Axion's holographic display of the void battle and the "little help" he had promised.
Thien's mind was reeling.
"You said you were providing a little help, but I did not anticipate your assistance would be delivered in this manner."
Faced with the terrifying power of such a weapon, Thien involuntarily adopted a respectful tone. The man who had been referring to Axion as merely an "ancient construct" just moments ago seemed like a different person entirely.
Axion was pleased with their reaction and pointed to the remaining three Iron Warriors vessels in the holographic projection.
"That was merely the beginning. Let us bring this confusion to an end."
His mechanical finger moved across the image, selecting the remaining three ships one by one.
The colossal gun turret in the distance began charging once more, and a blinding, pale light shot from the ground directly into the void.
When the second cruiser's Void Shield was penetrated and it burst into a glittering fireball, the leading renegade battleship immediately reversed course.
In the span of mere seconds, the fleet had lost two cruisers. To risk losing the remaining Victory-class Battleship as well would be a crushing defeat.
Moreover, the boarding parties had already been deployed; their only hope now was to seize the Imperial Oberon-class Battleship from within.
Unless they attempted to destroy the ground-based weapon, the single Victory-class Battleship and the Tempest-class Frigate could not afford to linger within the cannon's range.
Should the Oberon-class land a single broadside, the Tempest-class's Void Shields would collapse in seconds, and it would explode into a fireball, just like the two Tyrant-class Cruisers.
Seeing the two vessels attempting to quickly disengage from the battle, Axion reluctantly fired the Fragmentation Cannon before it had fully charged.
A pale beam, only a third of the previous blasts' width, burst hastily from the muzzle.
[Warning! High-energy beam weapon incoming! Execute emergency evasion!]
Assisted by its corrupted Chaos Machine Spirit, the Victory-class Battleship executed an emergency roll and pitch maneuver.
The beam punched through the lower Void Shields and obliquely grazed the bottom eighth of the vessel.
The Victory-class Battleship instantly erupted in a cascade of fireballs from below.
As the hull breached, the vacuum killed scores of common renegades, and even many traitor Iron Warriors were thrown out of the compartments by the sudden decompression at the fractured points.
To minimize losses, the battleship did not stop, but accelerated, sailing toward a more distant location.
The numerous Swiftdeath fighters that had been engaged in dogfights were immediately recalled. Many of the fighters' motherships had been destroyed, forcing them to pursue the retreating battleship and frigate for landing.
Furthermore, all returning fighters received an auxiliary order: on their return vector, they were to fly through the stricken area and attempt to recover the Iron Warriors who had been cast into the void.
As Astartes, even if exposed to the vacuum without preparation, they would likely fall into a state of suspended animation.
Given that they were currently in combat, almost all of the Astartes were clad in Power Armour.
Even if some had failed to don their helmets, bringing them back to the ship would allow the Chapter's Apothecaries to quickly restore them.
Among the various renegade Legions, at least the Iron Warriors still adhered to a sense of brotherhood among their battle-brothers. They would not abandon one of their own so easily.
The two explosive blasts and the rapid retreat of the enemy fleet left the captain of the Imperial battleship dumbfounded.
"Did you see that? What was that bizarre beam weapon? Such astonishing power! With only two shots, it destroyed two cruisers, and the third shot damaged the captured Victory-class Battleship! Praise the Emperor!"
Even as the entire bridge crew cheered, the ship-wide alert klaxons continued to blare relentlessly.
While the external threat was temporarily neutralized, the internal threat could not be ignored.
The enemy ships had launched a great number of boarding craft and torpedoes. Though some were destroyed by point-defence weapons and Fury Interceptors en route, the number of enemies who successfully boarded was greater than anticipated.
These boarding enemies included not only the Iron Warriors Space Marines but also a large number of mortal renegade forces and some heavy weaponry.
If the Astra Militarum and the handful of Astartes within the battleship could not eliminate the invaders, the captain would have no choice but to consider overloading the ship's plasma core, directly initiating the self-destruction of the entire vessel.
The threat of a battleship falling into the hands of the traitors far outweighed the harm of one being destroyed in combat.
The battleship was crewed by 155,000 personnel, nearly 100,000 of whom were combatants belonging to the Imperial Navy.
However, for the invaders, this was irrelevant.
Given the restricted structure within the hull, they did not need to confront the 100,000 Imperial Guardsmen directly.
According to feedback from various engagements, the invasion force consisted of approximately thirty Iron Warriors Astartes and around six hundred renegade mortal troops.
Their objective was clear: the thirty Iron Warriors Astartes would act as the spearhead, pushing rapidly toward the Bridge, with the remaining renegade mortals following close behind to secure and interdict narrow chokepoints.
If the Bridge fell, the Iron Warriors would seize control of the ship and quickly plunge it into the Great Rift.
The power of the Warp would rapidly corrupt the ship's Machine Spirit, at which point attempting to guide the ship back out of the Immaterium would be an absolute delusion.
"Servitor G-19237! Immediately patch me through to Commander Thien! Request his position! We need assistance, now!"
The captain's shout echoed throughout the Bridge.
Facing the rapidly advancing Astartes, the Astra Militarum were almost helpless.
These renegade Angels of the Emperor possessed the same demigod physique and thick Power Armour.
Their terrifying speed, their shooting skill precise enough to place every bolter round, and their nigh-impenetrable, thick defence were a nightmare for ordinary Guardsmen.
Any unarmoured mortal who entered their line of sight would be instantly atomized into a mess of shredded gore.
Corridors and junction points were turning into bloody hells.
Yet, there was no alternative. The Astra Militarum commander could only use a tide of human lives to buy time, while simultaneously accelerating the deployment of heavy weapon teams to subsequent defensive positions.
Having fought alongside these demigods countless times, the commander was keenly aware of the power within an Astartes' semi-divine body.
To halt their advance, sufficient firepower was mandatory to slow their terrifying surge.
Under normal circumstances, heavy weapons were never deployed to these forward locations; gaining that necessary firepower would require time.
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