The Dark Angels' Deathwing were the first to land.

As the Terminator armor smashed through the crystal dome of the Central Council Chamber, the Fire Caste officers were still trying to organize an evacuation.

Amid the roar of the chainsaw sword, the pale blue blood of the Tau people splashed on the wall engraved with philosophical maxims.

Xia Xi Luo's pulse rifle felt hot in his palm, and the mist rising from his breathing mask blurred the tactical eyepiece.

This was the third time he had adjusted the neural interface in his neck, trying to stop the damn vibrations of the XV25 Crisis Combat Suit's gyroscope.

This home world satellite, named "Wind's Rest Plains", was now convulsing in its death throes beneath his feet.

“Keep in formation!”

The voice of Master Chief Ka'o came from the communication crystal. The Fire Warrior recruit could hear the metal friction from the joints of the other party's combat suit. "Remember the teachings of the Aether! Fear is uncalculated..."

The violent tremor suddenly overturned the entire fortification.

Xia Xi Luo's tactical goggles were instantly flooded with the red light of the alarm. He staggered and grabbed the edge of the bunker, and saw that the red clouds in the distant sky were twisting and cracking.

A roar more terrifying than a thunderstorm rolled in from the sky, and the smell of ozone produced by the ionized atmosphere irritated his gill-shaped respirators.

“Drop pod!”

The scream of a Kroot comrade pierced the communication network, "The orbital defense array clearly..."

Xia Xi Luo's pupils suddenly dilated. Those burning metal creations were penetrating the ionosphere, like spears thrown by gods at the human world.

The surface of each airdrop pod, which is more than several meters in diameter, is engraved with eerie reliefs, which depict long-winged angels holding swords and stepping on alien skulls.

When the first wave of three hundred airdrop pods smashed into the surface, the Fire Warrior soldier felt his bones resonate.

“Free Fire!”

Ka'o's roar was shattered by the explosion.

Xia Xi Luo's pulse rifle automatically locked onto a certain airdrop pod that was emitting white smoke, but the light blue energy beam deflected strangely ten meters away from the pod.

He saw ripples on the rune-carved metal surfaces, as if an invisible shield was distorting reality.

"This is unscientific..."

As the voice fell, the hatch of an airdrop capsule that landed on the Tau Empire's position exploded instantly. Xia Xi Luo finally understood why the instructor strictly forbade talking about the "Angel of Death" of the Human Empire.

A two-meter-tall figure in pitch-black armor broke through the fog, his shoulder armor obstructing the vision of the fire warriors in front of him. The screaming of the chainsaw sword made his auditory organs ooze light blue blood.

That thing almost made the fire warrior refuse to acknowledge that it was a creature. In his cognition, no creature could be so terrifying.

A dark red light shone through the slits in the helmet of this Space Marine, making him look like a killing machine from a myth.

"Repent! Tomorrow is your death!"

As thunderous war cries rang out, a dozen fire warriors simultaneously raised their weapons and charged towards the Space Marine.

Xia Xi Luo watched as the antimatter shells fired by the XV88 heavy combat suit were blasted apart in mid-air by the power sword. The giant wearing the Terminator armor charged forward against the energy torrent, and the rotating chainsaw sword directly cut the fifteen-ton combat suit in half.

Liquid metal and the pilot's entrails splattered on the scorched earth, glowing with an eerie pearlescent luster under the light of the explosion.

"Concentrate fire! Concentrate fire!" Ka'ou's battle suit flew over Xia'xi'luo's head. The azure arc of the railgun illuminated the sky, and six fire warriors fired at the same time to form an energy net.

Xia Xiluo's stomach was twitching.

His outstanding shooting performance in the military academy and his tactical maneuvers in simulated battles, which he was proud of, now all became a clumsy joke.

These angels of death advanced with a precise killing rhythm, and every movement followed a battle routine that had been passed down for thousands of years. The blood mist raised by the explosive bullets was blooming around him.

"Retreat! Retreat to the second line of defense!"

The new commander's voice crackled with overloaded neural bundles.

Xia Xiluo tripped and fell to the ground when he turned around, his palm pressed into a pool of blue liquid that was still warm. It was Xia Weita, who had been sharing an energy drink with him five minutes ago. Now only half of her torso was left lying on the edge of the mine pit.

The sky suddenly became as bright as day.

The recruit looked up to see a trio of Thunderhawk gunships passing low overhead, their melta bombs turning the armored columns of the Tau into flowing streams of metal.

A fire warrior who tried to activate his jet pack to escape was locked by the gunship's assault gun. Xia Xi Luo watched his comrades decompose into elementary particles in the dense barrage of bullets, and the ceramic armor of the XV25 combat suit crumbled like icing sugar.

This can't be..."

He huddled in the crater and shivered, the tactical projection on the inside of his mask flashing wildly.

The blue dots of light representing friendly forces on the holographic map were being swallowed up by the black wave. Every disappearing cursor was accompanied by a sudden scream in the communication channel.

Suddenly, there was a rumble of earth shaking in the distance. A steel wedge formed by six Leman Russ tanks rolled through the burning forest, and the extinction artillery uprooted the Tau bunkers.

Xia Xiluo's pupils suddenly contracted.

A Warlord-class Titan rose from the horizon, the charging light of its twin volcano cannons illuminating the entire battlefield.

Those mighty XV104 Spectre battlesuits were like reeds trying to hold back a flood before this war machine.

As the ultra-high temperature particle stream swept across the battlefield, the image of the Ghost combat suit melting into glassy matter was permanently imprinted on Xia Xi Luo's retina.

"Get up! Rookie!"

Suddenly someone grabbed his backpack strap. Xia Xiluo turned around and saw Shala Mo wearing a cracked helmet. The old soldier who always laughed at his shooting posture had only half of his face left. "Take me to the west position. We need to activate..."

The veteran's words were evaporated by the sudden attack of the molten ray.

Xia Xi Luo felt scalding liquid splashing on his neck. He turned his head mechanically and saw a giant standing five meters away with molten metal dripping all over his body.

There was a winged sword engraved on the chest armor of that thing, and the fusion cannon on its left arm was still emitting green smoke. The power claw on its right hand was crushing a Tau soldier into a meat paste, including his body and armor.

Xia'xi'luo's bladder lost control.

The perfect tactical roll he learned in military school now turned into a funny wriggling, and the dirt kicked up by the explosive shells kept hitting his back.

At a certain moment, he crashed into a half-collapsed bunker and found three huddled compatriots hiding there. Their combat uniforms were intact, but the nerve bundles under their masks were strangely tied into a knot.

"What……"

At the moment he was stunned, a tall figure suddenly appeared behind him.

"Ouch, another toy."

As the sound of the arm blade popping out was heard, Xia Xi Luo felt his head spinning, and then he saw his own body.

Only then did he realize that his head had been cut off in the previous moment.