Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 555 ______ The Great Retreat
As the particle flow gathered on the fingertips of the Great Sage gradually dissipated.

The first change that can be felt by ordinary organisms at the sensory level is temperature.

The temperature in the underground cave where the two mechanical sages were located had reached over 60 degrees Celsius due to the waste heat emitted by the guards gathered here and their own reactor engines. But in just one tenth of a second, Cawl didn't even need the built-in thermometer to tell him what was happening, because his automatic circulation maintenance system had begun to add antifreeze to his pipelines - his mechanical fingertips, which had not yet been fully retracted, had begun to be covered with thick frost.

"What?" Sage Clan turned around in confusion. "What happened? The pressure disappeared? Rules...formulas...principles...what did you do?"

"I have accomplished one of the greatest things in history! Cran!" Caul looked up, and seemed to be able to see the amazing scenery tens of millions or even trillions of kilometers away through the thick rocks and soil.

"The Eye of Terror...is about to close!"

The loyal warriors who were fighting fiercely with the constantly emerging Secret Keepers, Bloodletters or Bird-shaped Demons in the cave ahead suddenly found that these demons all showed expressions of astonishment, and then their forms in reality began to dissolve and melt, just like a piece of meat that experienced a thousand years of decay and weathering in the blink of an eye, and finally turned into dust and even smoke, and dissipated in the air.

But before the defenders could begin to rejoice, they suffered even more severe headaches, vomiting and other symptoms, causing most of the people here to lose the ability to move. Those who had previously demonstrated psychic powers or had mild psychic abilities were particularly affected. Some people's hearts stopped beating on the spot, and others let out horrifying, inhuman howls, as if the "rational" part of them was being forcibly stripped from their minds.

The Inquisitor who suddenly appeared fell to her knees in agony, holding her head - she was an extremely powerful psychic, with psychic lightning surrounding her, showing her unconscious resistance and self-protection against the huge dimension of nothingness that was descending upon this place.

The Astartes' reactions to this varied, but they all observed one thing amidst their nausea: as the enemy demons dissipated, the Space Wolves that had pounced on them began to collapse to the ground with a crackling sound, and those that had mutated into wild beasts - did not become better, on the contrary, they began to become even less human. If the previous mutation seemed to be stimulated by the Warp, now it was as if the inhibitory substances in their blood had been removed - the Space Wolves were now worthy of their name, and soon there were only wolves here, and not a single Fenrisian, which made the Astartes, who were originally friendly forces, a little hesitant - fortunately, there were several special leaders in the center who stopped their plan to "deal with" all of the wolves in time, and the warriors from ten thousand years ago and ten thousand years later had unknowingly split into two groups and stood on both sides, sizing each other up cautiously.

Likewise, the reach of this relentless, merciless intrusion was so great, so intense, that even the few Primarchs who were surrounding emergency surgery in the center of the battlefield were not completely immune.

Although they did not experience the same intense pain as the mortal psykers around them and were still able to move, an indescribable feeling of nausea, resistance and other sensations still appeared in each of them.

Just different.

Robert Guilliman let out a small cry of pain, and the function curve crown rotating on his forehead dimmed and turned into intermittent spots of light.

"Are you okay?" A concerned greeting came from the Fearless loudspeaker grid. It sounded like the people inside were not affected at all, and the mechanical bird still looked very flexible. One eye was worriedly looking at the person who was being rescued, stopped bleeding, and treated by Hongso, and the other eye was looking in the direction of Guilliman with a little concern.

"It just feels like a part of it..." He struggled to find the words, "a part of it... a function? Was it suddenly blocked? Shut down?"

Hong Suo's voice interrupted their conversation.

"The situation has been stabilized for now, but we have to move him immediately."

"how?"

"At least we need to get away from the thing above our heads that is emitting drastic readings. I don't care what it is. My medical instrument readings tell me that this phenomenon will be extremely detrimental to his recovery. It may even cause consequences similar to permanent brain damage."

They looked at each other.

"…Then let's not delay any further. As for who did this, we'll talk about it after we leave."

"I'll do the arraignment and the organization."

"I'll gather the men."

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"I need to speak to the Warmaster."

After sending out communication requests for who knows how many times, Mokas was clumsily and diligently repairing the damaged Blackstone Fortress, all the while looking forward to the Warmaster's response.

Was he seriously injured? She was very worried about him, and she wanted to teleport to his side immediately!

Finally, she saw the Spirit of Vengeance turn the ship and sail towards her, and the flame of warmth and hope ignited in her heart again.

She knew her father would not abandon her...

But the communication holographic panel flashed a few times, and she saw the face of a girl who was indifferent but full of murderous intent.

Ushio, the Spirit of Vengeance.

"He is injured. He needs treatment and rest now and cannot talk to you."

Mokas' heart tightened, "How is my father?! Teleport me over! I want to see him! I want to protect him!"

"That's not necessary, little pet." The girl's cold eyes stared at her mercilessly, "If you hadn't been so noisy and woken up Lord Abaddon, he would still be resting now."

"Sorry, I……"

"No need to apologize, because his meaning is very clear, and the strategic plan for later has been passed on to my meditator."

"What's the plan?" Mokas asked in panic, "Teleport me first! Please!"

The Spirit of Vengeance did not answer. Her massive hull moved gracefully over and began to push against the center of the Blackstone Fortress.

An uncontrollable fear swept over the Daughter of Black Stone.

——The Spirit of Vengeance was pushing her into a downward trajectory.

"No! I want to see the Warmaster! I want to see my father! Father! You don't understand! I am Draulla Abaddon! My father promised me! My father will grant it! I am the daughter of Abaddon! He reached out his hand to me!"

But there were no further responses in the newsletter.

The panicked and sad Mokas was hated by the Blackstone Fortress. The Blackstone implants all over her body became extremely painful. She screamed, "My father and the name I gave myself" as she fell towards Cardia.

come down.

Hit.

The third continent of Cadia was hit by the falling fortress.

It split in the middle, shattered, and sank.

Tsunamis hundreds of meters high are sweeping over the remaining land, the sky is falling, the core of the earth is exposed, and the seal has disappeared.

Afterwards, the tall towers on the Erichen Plain collapsed one after another in the cracks in the cracked earth. The interference of the corrupted materials in the Blackstone Fortress caused the resonance they had just formed to lose its perfect resonance.

The Eye of Terror just closed halfway.

Reopened.

No, it didn't even reopen. With the destruction of this ancient megastructure, the backlash of the High Heaven's fluctuations came so violently that the Eye of Terror shed non-material black and red tears - it was like a huge blood bubble that was about to burst out in the real universe.

Anyone could see that something was about to burst forth. Unstoppable.

The temporary small-scale retreat was quickly replaced with the final code name.

Apart from the few transports that the Cadian fleet desperately launched towards the ground, the eyes of the Cadians who escaped the earthquake, fire and tsunami reflected two colors of hope: a large number of vehicles such as Stormbirds and Thunderhawks painted in Imperial Fist yellow and gun silver were densely and rapidly landing on various survivor gathering points like raindrops of hope.

--------

The reader in the office on the Iron Blood had already read the last few parts of the book describing the Battle of Cadia. He turned a page, read the new content, and slowly frowned.

"What's wrong?" Perturabo BC also tightened his eyebrows with black and white whiskers, making his face look solemn and full of fate. While asking, he was still moving his claws quickly. In the next room, Magna, who finally woke up, was nervously conducting actuarial assessments and assumptions, comparing and defining various statements and profit and loss accumulation values, and making maximum estimated losses, making hidden reserves and final adjustments, etc.

"...Well, I just didn't like what I read about the Daughter of Blackstone and the fall of the fortress."

"Really?" The Lord of Steel paused. "But this is already good. For a child who thinks he has a father."

"Can I ask why? This seems so depressing, like a punch into cotton."

"Believe me, this is better than when she faced Abaddon in person and called him father with hope, but was answered that you are a tool and are no longer useful. At least she died with a little self-convinced fantasy."

"Uh... maybe? After all, we can't know what comfort is in other people's hearts."

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"maybe."

"Well, ... besides, with this precise recording angle, I hope the person who recorded it is okay."

--------

Captain Hannah Katzlar, panting, clutched Laves's arm around her shoulders, and was stepping forward across the position that had been plowed open by artillery fire from both sides, rushing to the designated evacuation point.

Because the Iron Wolf Company followed Master Hongsuo and his men into underground combat, Hannah, as a pilot, stayed in Fort Krave and also received the order to retreat.

"Hannah," Raffs whispered in her ear.

The captain clenched his teeth and did not answer.

"Hannah," he said again, struggling to move his legs, which had just regained consciousness.

She just held him tighter to prevent him from slipping, and led him forward step by step.

"Hannah," he almost pleaded, "Put me down and stay here. You can definitely catch the last few evacuation boats."

"Shut up!" the heroic female pilot replied viciously, "I thought about this when I said I wanted to save you! You don't have to say anything more! I can take both of us there!"

"But..." The weak machine gunner wanted to say something, but suddenly a strong force came from his feet, almost pulling Katezlar to the ground.

"I told you I won't abandon you! Otherwise we will die together in Cardia! My mother is buried here, and we will stay here too! This is our grave! What the... devil are you doing...?!"

The angry red-haired girl turned around and was about to complain about the weight Lavs had added to her, but her cracked and dry lips immediately froze: her most trusted partner and lover was gritting his teeth, trying to pry open a hand that was grabbing his weak ankle.

That hand.

It was a hand with half-decomposed flesh and skin, hanging on the pale skeleton like gray-yellow gelatin and dry leather.

That was definitely not a hand belonging to a living person.

What's going on?! What is this?!

She swallowed the scream that was about to come out, pulled out the utility knife on her calf, and began to help Lafus cut off the dead fingers that were tightly grasping him and almost sinking into his flesh.

"Let's get out of here."

"Leave me here and give me a pistol, and I can keep you safe within my sight, just like when we were in heaven. ...Hannah." Raffs pleaded with her again.

"Shut up! I risked my soul to believe that the Astartes doctor who looked like a super villain wearing imperial armor was a good man with professional ethics, not to abandon you at a time like this! Rafus!"

"One of us has to survive! The Cadians will never be destroyed! Hannah! I hope that person can be you!"

Even as they were talking and stumbling forward, several arms, some that had just begun to rot or had already turned to bones, stretched out and tried to grab them.

Suddenly, there was a burst of gunfire, and a row of vehicles and a group of soldiers rushed over.

"What are you guys still dawdling about for?!"

Captain Helske of the 24th Cadia Regiment leaned her head out of the troop carrier. Next to her sat an Astartes wearing silver armor and a steel mask.

"Come up quickly! The dead here have been resurrected! Hurry up!"

--------

As the Cadian Gate was fully breached by the Crimson Tide, more and more of the Dead felt the call of Chaos and began to join the ranks of the Undead to capture any living beings left on the crumbling rock.

All the ships filled with retreating Cadians, who had abandoned their equipment and burdens and taken only Cadian soil, started to move at full speed to escape the sinister gravitational vortex formed when the planet was shattered.

Some of the smaller ships were running at full engine power but were still shaking. At this time, the Array and the Enterprise had sailed in front of the chaotic cosmic ray particles and gravitational magnetic field vortexes. Their size was large enough to block a small part of the shock waves and gravitational vortexes, especially the Enterprise. If the Array was a mainstay that protected the retreating fleet behind, then the Enterprise was a nimble albatross, spreading its broad wings and cleverly changing the angle of the chaotic space-time torrent that washed over the shields in front of the two giant ships, rescuing more ships one by one that could not escape the trap of the laws of cosmic physics.

Just as the last boat finally started its engine and began to make a close jump.

There was a loud bang, like the cry of an evil child, or the first cry of an evil god.

Cadia, the only and first fortress world before the Eye of Terror.

Completely cracked.

There is no more obstacle on the scarlet road.

------

This retreat, eventually known in Imperial historians as the "Great Retreat of Cadia", was a retreat whose first-hand accounts were either lost or sealed, but in the end, 30 million of Cadia's 850 million inhabitants were miraculously evacuated - a number many researchers claim is impossible, as no ships could have moved so many people at once in such a short period of time, but the subsequent formation of a colonial fleet and several new Cadian auxiliary legions suggests that the population relocated was at least close to this number.

It is still unknown which ship was able to carry so many people at the time, but the more reliable and mainstream research believes that it might be the Shanzhen and a Dynasty fleet of merchant ronin that had just arrived to join the war that happened to save so many retreaters. The Dynasty fleet was empty and had good maneuverability, so it was able to pick them up in time.

(End of this chapter)