The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Move! More enemies are coming!"

Nor'shanlen poked the bulkhead of the cockpit with his rifle, as he had just seen something flash by, likely an enemy vehicle. He also noticed some thicker silhouettes appearing in the darkness that didn't look like Eldar, but he couldn't tell what they were.

The Devilfish immediately began to accelerate, but the passage wasn't wide, so its speed was limited.

Just as they were close to the loading area entrance, an attack struck very close to the right side of the Devilfish. Although it wasn't a direct hit, it shook the vehicle violently, causing the Fire Warriors inside to be thrown around.

Nor'shanlen opened the rear observation scope and glanced back, seeing an enemy grav-tank pursuing them. This type of tank was slightly larger than a Hammerhead, with the chassis resembling two giant blades combined. Its main weapon was a high-powered laser. He didn't know this tank was called a Falcon; he only knew that a small squad of these tanks had wiped out the armored hunting cores that were supposed to protect them, with over thirty Hammerheads suffering complete annihilation.

It was also a nightmare for infantry. Due to its swift speed, Fire Warrior squads were powerless against it. Only XV8 Crisis Battlesuits could barely contend with it, but the attrition rate was not pretty.

Even when they used air-burst tactics, they were useless against enemies with superior speed and firepower. Even their prized stealth suits were easily detected by the enemy. And the enemy's strange infantry that appeared out of nowhere (Warp Spiders) made their anti-stealth technology seem like a joke. For the Tau forces, which emphasized mobility and stealth, once these two aspects were surpassed by the enemy, they were left with no means of resistance.

In any case, from what he remembered of the battlefield, there were only two confirmed kills of these Eldar tanks.

Now, this death reaper was closing in on them. To make matters worse, the Devilfish's weapons were fixed to the front, leaving them helpless against enemies behind. Nor'shanlen could already see the enemy's laser main cannon glowing, obviously preparing to fire and deliver a death ray onto its prey.

We're finished—

Nor'shanlen realized.

But at that moment, the Devilfish crew seemed to realize that the pursuer closing in from behind was about to fire. They timely activated the only defensive weapon on the rear of the vehicle: a set of glowing chaff grenades that were ejected, creating a large cloud of shimmering smoke.

Because the Imperium of Man habitually used a large number of laser weapons, many Tau vehicles were equipped with chaff launchers to defend against lasers.

The Eldar Falcon tank reacted quickly. It stopped charging its laser weapon and instead began firing its shuriken cannon, the dense projectiles impacting the Devilfish's hull with a series of ear-splitting scraping sounds.

The Devilfish's armor was made of high-density nanocrystal gold, which offered some resistance to shuriken, but to the Tau driver's surprise, the enemy's bullets struck the right engine.

With one engine erupting in a thunderous boom, the anti-gravity system suddenly lurched forward due to imbalance. The out-of-control Devilfish crashed through a pile of cover and plowed into the underground loading area, leaving a deep gash in the ground.

"Move! Move!"

Although Nor'shanlen was dizzy from the impact, he quickly urged the remaining teammates to forcefully kick open one of the emergency exits and jump out.

They had barely left when the Devilfish detonated, a fireball erupting upwards and illuminating the entire space.

By this point, the entire loading area had descended into war. The enemy had stormed in, with flashes and explosions everywhere. Tau corpses were strewn all over the place, hundreds of mangled bodies littering the blood-soaked ground. There were Fire Warriors and Earth Caste scientists. Wreckage of Hammerhead tanks and Devilfish transports lay in the smoking craters, the shattered and burning battlesuits representing the fate of the Tau on this world.

And their opponents...

As always, they didn't see much of their opponents, only crystalline bullets and lasers flying out of the smoke, and some deformed creatures constantly darting in the shadows.

But as more tanks joined the fray, the situation became even more one-sided.

The Eldar no longer concealed themselves. Striking Scorpions wielding chainswords leaped down from above the Fire Warriors, hacking them down one by one. Warp Spiders materialized behind unsuspecting XV8 battlesuits, slicing open their engines and causing them to crash and burn, disappearing just before retaliatory fire arrived. Dark Reapers strolled leisurely through the death and smoke, each burst from their weapons signifying the destruction of several Fire Warriors or a vehicle.

And Howling Banshees were the most terrifying opponents. As they ran, they shrieked, causing all Tau around them to collapse and convulse as their auditory systems and brains were destroyed.

By this time, the Tau forces were still trying to buy time because the Warden-class gunship had not yet taken off. Master Shuo'an was working hard to transfer his equipment, but the operation was taking a lot of time due to insufficient manpower and lack of equipment.

But even if the gunship took off, whether it could break through the enemy's sky blockade into space and immediately escape with stealth was unknown. But even with this small probability, the Fire Warriors had to fight to the death.

Because Shuo'an's value and significance to the Greater Good and the homeworld were too great; this was an unacceptable loss.

For this goal, even Shas'Il Ka'tan begged Shuo'an to allow him to use a prototype machine for testing.

At this point, even Shuo'an realized the situation was critical. So, after some emergency adjustments, he allowed Ka'tan to pilot this giant prototype without taking the time to make adaptive adjustments.

"Must hold them back! Buy Shuo'an even a second more! For the Greater Good!"

Shas'Il Ka'tan activated the jump pack on this unfamiliar battlesuit and leaped into the air, soaring high above the battlefield.

Seated in the control cocoon within the giant mechanical chest, sheltered by thick and angular nano-alloy armor, he strove to make his mind invulnerable.

[Connection complete, neural synchronization rate 6%, correcting rejection parameters]

In the mechanical broadcast, the new sensors were connected to his nervous system. Because no personalized adjustments were made, this connection gave his brain a stinging sensation, and sometimes his eyes would bleed, but it also turned him into a tall, bipedal walking tank.

This was a giant battlesuit twice as tall as an XV8. The two had similar outlines, covered with thick armor plates, with a disproportionately small head on the torso. The battlesuit's right arm was a heavy pulse repeating cannon, and two missile shield drones floated on his shoulders.

This battlesuit was also currently the largest and heaviest battlesuit in the Tau Empire. It was the Tau's secret trump card and ultimate weapon prepared for their upcoming Third Sphere Expansion. Its main purpose was to deal with the enemy's heavy ground vehicles.