In the vast emptiness of the cosmos, a colossal ring-shaped object that blotted out the stars hummed and sang with an eerie resonance. This was the Blackstone Fortress.
An ancient construct of the gods, nothing could stop its advance—or so Mocas had always believed.
There was less than two and a half days' journey left to reach Cadia.
The Blackstone Fortress's weapon systems were fully activated. Warmaster Abaddon, her "father," would get his wish.
Cadia was destined to fall.
Everyone had gathered in the war room to pay their final respects to their Warmaster.
Skyrak, the Nurgle representative, was shrouded in a putrid cloud of decay.
Urkrathos, the Khorne representative, dripped blood constantly, emitting a sickeningly sweet, metallic stench.
"Within two days, we will arrive at Cadia," Warmaster Abaddon said in a deep voice.
"Phase One will commence."
"Urkrathos," the Warmaster said, "you will spearhead the assault, leading half the fleet to strike at Cadia's orbital defense platforms."
"But, Warmaster..."
"No buts."
Urkrathos lowered his head. As a representative of Khorne, he didn't care for hit-and-run raids.
He wanted slaughter. Endless blood.
"Mission guaranteed, Warmaster." Urkrathos had no choice but to obey.
"Skyrak." The Warmaster turned his head, his eyes fixing on the Nurgle worshiper. "You will—"
Suddenly the massive doors burst open. A psychic shockwave, like a gale force wind, slammed the doors against the walls with a resounding bang, drawing everyone's attention.
Zaraphiston, Abaddon's sorcerer advisor, strode into the room.
"Warmaster, I did not intend to interrupt your council, but I have a matter of grave importance."
Zaraphiston spoke, his voice projected psychically into everyone's ears.
"What matter could outweigh the impending doom of Cadia?" The Warmaster was displeased, but he signaled for Zaraphiston to continue.
"Mariatus has fallen," Zaraphiston stated. It was bad news.
The room fell silent for a moment. It took Abaddon a few seconds to retrieve information about this planet from the depths of his memory.
Mariatus, a resource-rich planet in a star system neighboring Cadia, had been infiltrated and effectively controlled by Chaos forces.
It served as one of the outposts for monitoring Cadia and stockpiling supplies—a pawn, but not a critical one.
Warmaster Abaddon was surprised, but only for a few seconds. "Cadia is right before us. Such a trivial matter..."
"No, Warmaster. The fall of Mariatus is not the point. What matters is the Warp divination I received of that planet."
Zaraphiston's body trembled slightly. The tremors were minute, but Abaddon's keen senses picked up on them immediately.
He suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. Warp divinations... those things never brought good news.
Zaraphiston spoke, "I saw a Totem. It is a treasure of vital importance. And this treasure will soon intersect with that man who has slumbered for so long. The 500 Worlds... Macragge... in the Temple of Hera... Guil—"
"Silence!"
Boom!
A rage far more violent than the psychic wind that opened the doors erupted from Abaddon!
It wasn't psychic energy; it was pure wrath.
"Do not speak that name!" Abaddon's roar was deafening.
This was the first time since boarding the Blackstone Fortress that the Warmaster had displayed such undisguised fury.
So even you can lose it... Urkrathos lowered his head, a flash of near-pleasure passing through his eyes.
The Warmaster before him had maintained a facade of absolute control and calm since the start of the crusade.
And now, that calm was shattered by a single name. Laughable.
"Could this be a trap?"
Warmaster Abaddon quickly pulled himself out of his rage and began to think.
The conquest of Cadia was imminent. Yet, at this critical juncture, Mariatus fell.
And coincidentally, his sorcerer captured such a prophecy at that exact moment.
"Warmaster, your wisdom pierces the fog," the sorcerer chose to be vague, avoiding a direct answer.
Abaddon pondered again. Both matters were extremely important.
And they had collided at this exact moment. Clearly, he could only choose one personally, while the other had to be delegated.
Truth be told, Abaddon was uneasy. In the end, do I still have to rely on the power of these daemons?
Abaddon thought of a suitable candidate: the Iron Warriors Warsmith, Krom Gat.
On the Blackstone Fortress, he didn't belong to any of the four Chaos Gods' factions. He would be the right choice.
"Send Krom Gat to me," Abaddon ordered.
–
Zeke originally thought scaling up the Tunnel Bore would be a simple task.
In reality, it wasn't. It seemed like he just needed to make the front drills bigger, but the difficulty of every other part increased exponentially.
The Steam Engine was clearly insufficient.
However, this didn't stump Zeke and the Adeptus Mechanicus technicians. They quickly proposed a solution: Build more Steam Engines.
The massive Tunnel Bore was finally completed. Everyone at Refinery Number Two saw the device that blotted out the sun.
As Zeke activated this oversized contraption, the giant drills began to bore downward.
Countless blocks shattered under the crushing force of the drills, turning into item drops that were sucked into chests.
Zeke stood on the giant Tunnel Bore and looked down. A gaping abyss was carved out in moments.
Next came constructing the supply line with Conveyor Belts to transport all the ore to where it was needed.
After the Tunnel Bore's success, Zeke recorded it with a Blueprint and named it [Mega Tunnel Bore].
Zeke went to the Nether and deployed this Mega Tunnel Bore to start mining.
Ancient Debris, Nether Quartz, and some Gold Nuggets. Zeke filtered out the Ancient Debris.
Using Diamonds, he duplicated the Smithing Template he had obtained from the Bastion Remnant. Then, he upgraded his entire set of armor and tools to Netherite.
Zeke donned his full set of Netherite armor. At this moment, in terms of physical defense alone, he stood at the pinnacle of the vanilla Minecraft survival hierarchy.
Next up: Enchanting.