The Emperor’s Angel of Death

The Empire suffered heavy losses, and the Red Corsairs were definitely not doing well either. Initial statistics show that they had at least 32 capital ships sunk, another 8 captured, and 3 abandoned. In terms of small and medium-sized ships, over 200 were sunk, some difficult to confirm due to their small size, and another 41 were captured. Over 1200 flying daemon engines and Chaos fighters were shot down. Among the Space Marines, on Savage Morticians and Doom Riders alone, there were over 2800 identifiable bodies. The actual kill count is likely over 4000! Combining the bodies found on other battlefields, the number of Red Corsairs annihilated in this battle is very likely to exceed 10,000!

It took a full three months just to clean up the battlefield, with over 600 large and small tugs and barges from the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Navy working day and night.

After the battle, Sosiant called all senior commanders and chapter masters together, frankly admitting his mistakes to everyone. He openly stated that he had indeed been fooled by Huron's last-minute trick, and that he was somewhat arrogant due to being confident of victory at the time. However, everyone felt that there was nothing to apologize for. Hellebrecht bluntly stated that there is no one who can plan perfectly on the battlefield, and one cannot negate 99% of the achievements because of 1%.

The Mantis Warriors, although they did not capture or kill Huron in the end, also felt that it was not entirely Sosiant's fault. The battlefield is inherently unpredictable, especially naval battles. When there is no absolute difference in strength between the two sides, it is usually difficult to stop one side that is determined to escape. He had already done his best.

Lysander told Sosiant not to take the matter too much to heart, as he had created the most glorious victory for the Empire in thousands of years, and the overall result was still more good than bad.

With everyone's support, Sosiant composed himself and then directed the army to sweep through the remaining territories of the Red Corsairs. As he expected, the Red Corsairs had basically all retreated. Thus, a month later, the entire Maelstrom was completely back under the control of the Empire, and the Red Corsairs retreated back into the depths of the Maelstrom once again.

Just as Sosiant was planning to concentrate his forces for a quick raid on New Badab in the depths of the Maelstrom, an accident occurred.

A warp storm suddenly descended upon the Maelstrom.

Although the Maelstrom itself is a warp rift, storms do not occur frequently. Just as Sosiant was planning the attack, a storm engulfed the central surrounding area of the Maelstrom, making any military action a pipe dream. Without the intelligence support of Occam, Sosiant could not know whether this storm was caused by Huron or something else.

However, when the Carcharodons fleet rushed out of the depths of the Maelstrom, combined with some of the "deployments" that Occam had mentioned, Sosiant finally knew what had happened inside.

The story is quite complicated. After losing the Blackstone Fortress, Valteks led his men back to New Badab and discovered a secret force of over a thousand men arranged by Judah in advance. But before he could fully reorganize the planetary defenses, a portion of the Red Corsairs remaining on New Badab suddenly rebelled. Then, Garmonbozia, together with the Blood Snakes and several warbands that did not intend to obey Huron, launched a joint attack. The fleet bypassed the unactivated orbital defense facilities and went straight for the Thorn Palace, the core of New Badab.

The two sides fought fiercely around the Thorn Palace. Garmonbozia even raised the banner – Huron is dead, Valteks wants to take the throne, and he himself is here on Abaddon's orders to clean up the situation.

His slogan was very clever and did indeed deceive some of the Red Corsair remnants on New Badab, causing some to sit on the sidelines.

Just as the balance of victory was tilting towards Garmonbozia, the Carcharodons fleet suddenly appeared, first crippling the orbital defense stations, then bombarding the area around the Thorn Palace on New Badab. Then, Tyberos personally led a landing party, targeting the Red Corsairs' armory. The two sides, still engaged in battle, were caught off guard by this sudden third party. There were even rumors that the Imperial army had arrived, and the entire planet fell into chaos, completely unable to organize an effective defense.

After looting fiercely, the Carcharodons planned to launch Cyclone torpedoes at the planet for a clean sweep, but a Word Bearers fleet suddenly arrived, forcing Tyberos to lead his team to retreat. However, he still did not give up on destroying New Badab, until Huron returned.

Tyberos originally thought that the Word Bearers would occupy New Badab, but that did not happen. Instead, Garmonbozia and others hurriedly evacuated, and Huron returned safely to the Thorn Palace, followed by the arrival of the warp storm.

The Carcharodons fleet even fought with the fleeing Garmonbozia and others, inflicting casualties on each other. As for what happened between the Word Bearers and the Red Corsairs afterwards, they had no way of knowing. But the Pale Nomads believed that this storm was caused by the Word Bearers, because it is not easy to create a warp storm, and it often requires "borrowing strength", that is, relying on the power of the Chaos Gods. According to Occam's past statements, there are many sorcerers among the Red Corsairs, but not many are proficient in daemonology.

Although the Red Corsairs had also used warp storms to surround Angstrom, the scale was very small, so it can be basically determined that this large-scale storm came from the hand of the Word Bearers.

As for whether the Word Bearers are helping Huron or harming him, it is hard to say.

This news made Sosiant both happy and annoyed. He was happy that after this round, Huron would undoubtedly be severely injured and would not be able to recover to his former glory for decades. He was annoyed that now was the best time to eliminate the opponent, but the damn warp storm showed no sign of dissipating.

After briefly informing Sosiant of the situation, the Carcharodons fleet left, as mysteriously as they had come.

Seeing that he could not rush into the Maelstrom for the time being, Sosiant could only arrange for the Mantis Warriors, White Templars, Lamenters, and Flesh Tearers to guard the Lamptan line, closely monitoring the depths of the Maelstrom to prevent enemies from escaping, and to report immediately once the storm dissipated.

After that, he led the main force back to the Sagan System. After all, the war was, in a sense, over, but there were still many things to deal with in the aftermath.

After returning to Sagan Prime, various awards and praises poured in. However, Sosiant was not in the mood to argue with those nobles and Imperial bureaucrats. Now, in addition to Huron, his second concern was Veronica's situation.

But no news came from Veronica either. Sosiant could only carry out preliminary post-war arrangements, such as the specific statistics and compensation for the fallen, the handover and distribution of newly recovered worlds, and the customization of expedition medals, etc.

Fortunately, Sagan Prime already had a very complete logistics and administrative system, and most of the specific content did not require Sosiant to personally handle. After declining all banquets and invitations, he returned to his temporary residence on Sagan Prime, because there he could boldly use the psychic tools Veronica had given him to contact her.

However, as soon as he walked into the gate of the Longevity Hall in the Qingpeng Manor, Sosiant, wearing a robe, felt a refreshing breeze, and then a delicate body pounced into his arms.

"Hehe, surprised?"

Looking down at Veronica, who was wearing casual clothes with her long hair loose and a smile on her face, Sosiant was silent for a moment, then picked her up and hugged her tightly.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

Veronica sensed that Sosiant's emotions were a little off, and then reached out and touched his face.

Sosiant didn't say anything, just closed his eyes as if to feel this rare peace. Veronica didn't say anything more, and leaned her head on his shoulder. The only sounds between the two were their breathing and heartbeats.