The Emperor’s Angel of Death

The Third Legion's 2 battleships and 6 cruisers were exceptionally fierce, quickly tearing the star system's defense fleet to pieces. Over a hundred ships were reduced to rotating wreckage in space during six hours of engagement. Furthermore, the Emperor's Children deployed flyers, sending small boarding parties onto unprotected ships, seizing control of over twenty defense ships, and transferring a large number of crew members to their capital ships as expendable slaves.

However, their capture of these smaller ships wasn't purely for profit.

"My lord, the Third Legion sends a signal, they have a plan—"

"A plan?"

Ghur narrowed his jaundiced eyes, his maw full of protruding tusks slightly agape, then shifted his massive Terminator-armored frame a few steps.

"Let me see."

Soon, the Third Legion's plan appeared on the grimy screen. Ghur studied it for a moment, then nodded.

"Acceptable. Let them proceed."

Just then, dancing green lightning slashed across the empty void, interspersed with the bright lines of lasers, unleashing energy that surpassed the speed of torpedoes and shells in the blink of an eye, striking the Terminus with devastating force.

The Terminus immediately shuddered, followed by frantic reports. Several layers of void shields were breached, and two sections sustained damage. Steel was torn, and toxic pus flowed into the void. Fire blazed along its decaying hull, but as long as the profane magic endured, it could slowly regenerate.

Ghur disregarded the damage reports, as they were inconsequential. The Avesta had undoubtedly considered prioritizing the Terminus' destruction, but the cunning flagship remained protected within the fleet's main force, like a leader shielded by its pack. A lone wolf would find it difficult to take it down.

Retaliation swiftly followed. The Plague Fleet's cannons and lances lit up one by one, each weapon imbued with Nurgle's vile magic. If conventional ships were struck, their armor would not only be breached, but deadly viruses would begin to fester within. It was through this unholy magic that the Plague Fleet became one of the Imperial Navy's most lethal adversaries.

However, most of these profane enchantments were dissolved by unique energy shields, with the remainder only inflicting minor scratches.

At this moment, the warships captured by the Emperor's Children began to turn, forming an assault spearhead, charging towards the orbital facilities of Natesan V from another direction. Their objective was simple: to directly ram the orbital defense installations with their hulls, facilitating the Third Legion's ships to reach low orbit and deploy their deadly drop pods.

Within the space station, the Chaos Space Marines might not have been particularly noticeable, but once they landed, it would be a catastrophe.

The Avesta was thus faced with a dilemma: whether to withstand the Plague Fleet's relentless pressure or to turn and intercept the Third Legion's assault.

Aeliana watched the various pieces of information flowing across the massive screen on the frigid bridge, until a prominent marker lit up.

Then, a slight smile curved her lips.

"Just as expected, exactly as predicted."

"Master! Detecting a signal source! Unknown ship type... This—"

Ghur lumbered his massive frame beside the display, staring at a striking red dot appearing at the edge of the battlefield, its outline quickly being drawn and magnified.

Looking at the unique trident-shaped behemoth, the veteran of the Long War seemed to recall something, and suddenly rumbled in surprise:

"How is this possible! Could this be... an Abyss-class!?"

Spewing crimson engine flames, the massive warship pierced the battlefield like an angry trident. It had a silver-plated hull, with a huge golden aquila emblem engraved on the bow. However, unlike Imperial warships, it lacked massive broadside macrocannon arrays. Instead, three huge twin-linked turrets were distributed along the central axis on the front half. This was Ulan Hud's finalized Blacklight Cannon design, a structure that made it distinctly different from Imperial warships. The secondary armaments consisted mainly of lasers, plasma weapons, and short-range magnetic railguns. The relatively small number of kinetic weapons was primarily to reduce logistical strain, as the entire hull was densely packed with over 18,000 automated point-defense weapons, 2,500 small turrets, 1,100 medium turrets, and 300 large turrets. Especially in the critical blind spots on the lower hull, Ulan Hud had specifically designed a separate firing arc.

Besides its own powerful firepower, the Abyss-class was surrounded by seven Forge World reaver-class and warrior-class ships, and their target was the Third Legion fleet charging towards Natesan V.

Upon discovering an Abyss-class suddenly appearing on the battlefield's edge, the Third Legion's fleet commander was also extremely surprised and immediately made a decision. If they ignored it and proceeded with the landing, their fleet would likely be severely damaged in orbit. Therefore, for their own benefit, they immediately chose to turn around. The captured warships, having lost their cover, were immediately subjected to a heavy barrage from orbital defenses, and exploded into fragments halfway.

Two battleships took the lead,迎向猛冲过来的深渊级,迎向猛冲过来的深渊级这一型号的战舰即便在昔日叛变军团中也属于比较隐秘的，不过多年的传播中大家多少还是听说过那么一些，但真正看到实物依旧令人震撼.

First was its size, its enormous size, so large that it made battleships look like destroyers.

Then there was its speed. Contrary to its size, the Abyss-class's straight-line speed was extremely fast. The Forge World-modified engines, at full power, allowed it to travel from exiting warp space to entering the center of the battlefield in just under thirteen minutes, likely making it one of the fastest ships currently cruising in realspace by mankind.

Finally, there was its strangeness, as its style was completely different from the vast majority of ships currently used by the Imperium of Man, more like a product of another era.

However, the real amazement came from its terrifying power.

As the two sides rapidly approached, the Third Legion's fleet commander devised a pincer tactic: two battleships to engage head-on, with the other cruisers flanking from both sides. This was a very classic and suitable tactic, especially against powerful capital ships.

But just as the Third Legion's fleet was deploying, the Abyss-class's radar and fire control systems completed their lock and firing solutions. Then, the ship's six spinal-mounted Blacklight Cannons unleashed a full broadside.

In an instant, the light of the entire space seemed to be absorbed, and even on the bridge of the Third Legion's battleship, all the equipment seemed to dim for a microsecond. Immediately afterwards, five of the six streams of dark matter accurately struck the Emperor-class battleship, Absolute Perfection.

The thick void shields collapsed layer by layer as if pierced by a sharp blade, and then its armor seemed to be "dug" into, with massive craters exceeding two hundred meters in diameter and one hundred meters in depth appearing in the middle and rear of the hull. A large amount of gas, metal fragments, and unfortunate crew members spewed from the ship's breaches.