The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Despite suffering devastating fire, the Tau ships remained determined to charge forward, displaying astonishing courage. The seventy-odd surviving ships, in groups of twenty or more, launched suicidal attacks against the Aeldari fleet, including their flagship, the Golden Honor.

"We must collect all of their weapon data!"

The Tau fleet commander stared intently at the incredibly large and incomprehensibly shaped Aeldari warship ahead. He felt neither fear nor anger, only intense focus.

"Our descendants will one day possess even larger and more powerful ships than this!"

Just then, the ship shuddered violently. He would have fallen if he hadn't been holding onto the railing.

"Explosion in compartment 19!"

The elderly Earth Caste technician reported the ship's damage with urgency.

"It's an enemy energy weapon! It bypassed the shield system entirely!"

"Immediately record the energy signature and fluctuations of the attack! Transmit them to the data beacon behind us!"

At this point, very few ships remained around the fleet flagship, and they still seemed so far away from the massive Aeldari battleship.

"Enemy missile swarm detected!"

"Too fast! Point defense weapons can't intercept!"

"Record enemy missile flight parameters!"

Immediately afterward, a series of explosions erupted on the right side of the Hero-class cruiser, a veteran of the Tyranid Wars. The explosive force tore open the reinforced steel blast doors, breaching several decks. Various liquids and gases rushed through the breaches, triggering chain reactions. Fires ignited within the ship and grew rapidly, causing more small explosions.

"Main power cables severed! Electric rudder disabled! We can only use the manual steering wheel!"

"Emergency fire suppression system efficiency reduced to 20%!"

Despite having no way out, the Tau on board did not give up their last hope. They continued to fight the fires in the darkness, attempting to keep the warship moving forward.

"Get closer! Get closer! Use all available sensors to scan the enemy warship! Even just an outline! Transmit any useful information to the beacon!"

But then a third, even more violent explosion occurred within the ship, ruthlessly shattering the last hopes of all the Tau present.

Subsequently, the temperature inside the ship dropped lower and lower, and the ventilation system failed completely.

Just then, a battered cruiser appeared ahead of the Golden Honor at an even greater speed. The Tau commander, already wearing a breathing mask, was immediately stunned.

"The Valiant."

He immediately understood their intention, and his eyes welled up with tears.

This ship, riddled with bullet holes and breaches, used its hull to shield the Golden Honor. At that moment, much of the firepower that had been directed at the Golden Honor struck the Valiant instead.

This was the first time many Tau had seen a ship's armor and structure being "peeled" off the keel. If there were humans present, they would have been amazed that this was similar to a kind of torture called "Lingchi."

The Valiant lasted only ten seconds before being completely torn to pieces.

But that was enough. The Golden Honor became the Tau cruiser closest to the Aeldari warship. Now it was surrounded only by the wreckage of its comrades and was covered in wounds, as if it would self-destruct at any moment.

Unexpectedly, all the Aeldari warships stopped firing and stared from afar at the dilapidated little ship as it struggled to turn its bow.

"Huff... almost there."

In the almost completely torn-apart bridge, the Tau commander lay on the weapons console. Beside him, the remains of the Earth Caste technician, only half a body, were held in place by restraints. The catastrophic explosions and breaches had killed everyone else. Only he had barely survived thanks to the Air Caste's adaptation to space and his protective suit.

"Just need to breach the shields..."

In the near-zero gravity environment, the Tau commander struggled to secure himself to the weapons console. After fumbling for a while, he grasped the mechanical lever for emergency manual firing. But at this point, all targeting systems were offline. Shooting in this situation was meaningless.

But now, it seemed that no aiming was needed.

He raised his head and stared at the dreamlike creation.

"So beautiful."

Then he pulled the mechanical control lever, and a magnetic cannon located at the bow began to spew out the last shells in the turret, panting.

The Golden Honor was like a dying soldier, firing the last bullets in its magazine from its pistol at the Titan rolling forward.

As expected, its shells couldn't even reach the edge of the Slayer, or even if a few lucky bullets could, they were annihilated by its own dissolution shields.

Just like that, the Aeldari ship quietly watched it fire its last shells.

"Close-range attacks... I understand... To deal with them, you have to be at close range..."

Just as the Tau commander was trying to send out the last message, a starlight spear from the Slayer hit the Golden Honor's head and pierced through the entire hull. The ensuing explosion and shockwave threw tons of metal structures into distant space. And at this point, less than an hour had passed since the initial engagement.

From then on, all 197 Tau warships were sunk!

The battlefield became completely silent, with only a few small craft fleeing rapidly, because they were too small to be called ships, and Kamostine was too lazy to pursue them.

"Report, Star Marshal, all enemy ships have been annihilated."

Giulio did not show any joy upon receiving the message, but simply replied indifferently.

"Understood. The mission is not over yet."

At this time, he looked at the other side of the star chart. Almost at the same time as the left-wing fleet annihilated an enemy reinforcement, the right-wing fleet also annihilated another Tau reinforcement of 100 warships, and even faster.

The other approaching enemy groups on the star chart had now stopped moving. Obviously, they knew that going to their deaths one by one was meaningless, but stopping did not mean they were timid. They were waiting...

At the edge of the star chart, a dazzling red color began to appear. This was a psychic signal from distant reconnaissance ships, which could only mean one thing—

"It's finally coming."

Giulio looked at the time. It was about the same as estimated. Although these Tau ships did not have the ability to travel through the Warp, their speed in realspace was not too slow.

Soon, the ships on the left and right wings returned to the main formation. They abandoned the Tau homeworlds, which had no defenses, and began to head towards the Tau main fleet, which was desperately trying to return. According to tactical deductions, Tau ships had difficulty maintaining a consistent speed due to differences in size and age. Once they learned that their homeworlds were under attack, they would definitely rush back at all costs. In this case, their fleets would inevitably become disjointed. This was the best time to attack them.

Obviously, the Tau did not expect the Aeldari fleet to suddenly maneuver. Before the fleets around the star system could react, this strange fleet almost disappeared into the star system in the blink of an eye.

At this time, the commander of the Tau main fleet was still unaware of this. Fleet Admiral Kol'O'K'san'Nawas, a veteran who had served for thirty years and could be considered an elder among the Tau, immediately made a judgment upon receiving news that the homeworld was under attack by an unknown enemy—the enemy was executing a diversionary tactic, and the previous attack was just to lure their forces into a trap.

Realizing that the Ethereals might be in danger, he could only leave a small fleet and most of the ground forces behind, and immediately led the main force of the expeditionary Guardian Fleet back at full speed.