Between the stars, the cold vacuum swallowed up all sounds, but it could not swallow up despair.

In the orbit of Titanium Star, the holographic star map of the Etheric Council Hall flickered with a sickly red light.

The territory that was once as blue as a gem has now been submerged by a scarlet tide.

The symbols of the colonized planets went out one after another, like candles extinguished by huge waves, leaving only the last faint blue light flickering lonely in the center of the star map.

Titanium, once the cradle of the great Greater Good, has now become the last isolated island in the vast galaxy.

"All outlying colonies have been lost."

The communications officer's voice was shaking, and his four fingers were tightly gripping the dataslate, his knuckles turning white from the excessive force.

Outside the transparent alloy dome of the parliament hall, one can see the last batch of defense platforms adjusting their orbits, with the Monta warships arranged in a suicidal interception array.

But every Tau knows that this is just a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

"The Imperial fleet is gathering towards the home system."

On the star map, the red marks representing the Imperial Fleet spread like cancer cells.

Macragge's Glory, the Glorious Queen-class battleship, the Paragon of Hate, the Glorious Queen-class battleship, dozens of cruisers and tens of thousands of frigates...

The iron torrent of the human empire is jumping in through the warp webway.

The sheer number is enough to make any tactical master despair.

The oldest Ether Elder slowly stood up, his bony tentacles drooping due to age, but still maintaining his astonishing majesty.

The lights in the parliament hall cast deep shadows on his wrinkled face, and his eyes, which had seen all the vicissitudes of life, reflected the last bit of blue light on the star map.

“Prepare the last line of defense.”

The old man's voice was surprisingly calm, as if he was discussing tomorrow's weather.

But Shadowsun could see the slight tremor at the end of his tentacles, the spasm in his skinny fingers beneath his robes.

This wise man who once led the Titanium to glory is now personally ringing the death knell for civilization.

“For the Greater Good.”

Shadowsun stood on the bridge of the flagship "Dawnblade", the cold metal deck transmitting a biting chill through her combat suit. She looked out the observation window at the vast starry sky, where the lights of the colonies should have been shining, but now there was only the scarlet light of the Imperial fleet's engines.

Her combat uniform was much thicker than the standard model, and her shoulder armor was engraved with the records of past commanders who had died in battle.

Each scar represents a lost comrade and a hope crushed by the iron hoof of the empire.

His fingers stroked the latest one, which was left by Commander Morningstar three days ago. His battleship was blasted into pieces by the Imperial Nova Cannon while covering the evacuation of civilians.

"Commander, the final count is complete." The adjutant's voice came from the communicator, "We still have seven Monta-class battleships, thirty Kes'la frigates, and..."

"That's enough," Yingyang interrupted. She didn't need to hear those numbers. In front of the Empire, thirty-seven and three hundred and seventy made no difference.

The holographic projection suddenly flickered violently. The bridge alarm screamed shrilly, and the gravity sensor went beeping wildly.

Yingyang looked up suddenly and saw that outside the observation window, the space was twisting and tearing.

The Warp rift opened up like a wound, and the first thing to jump out was the Glory of Macragge, which was more than 20 kilometers long. On the blue and gold painted bow, the emblem of the Ultramarines shone brightly under the light of the stars.

Then came the second, the third...

The Imperial fleet swarmed out like a bloodthirsty school of sharks. The battleships' main guns began to charge, the lance arrays rotated and positioned, and the torpedo silos opened one after another.

Yingyang could even see the indifferent gazes of the Space Marines behind the portholes of those warships.

"Attention, all ships." She took a deep breath, and the breathing and circulation system of the combat suit injected sedative gas into her lungs. "Formation Sky Dome, all weapons charged."

Her voice echoed across the fleet radio to every ship. The young fire warriors checked the weapons systems one last time, and the engineers adjusted the reactor output to the dangerous threshold.

No one spoke, only the hum of machinery and the ticking of the life support system.

“For the Greater Good,” Shadowsun said softly.

As the first spear of light tore through the void, Shadowsun thought of his mentor.

The energy beam, powerful enough to vaporize a city, hit the Morning Star Warden directly, and the energy shield of the Tau warship shattered like a soap bubble.

The armor melted into molten iron, cabins exploded one after another, and three hundred crew members were vaporized in an instant.

But what is even more terrifying is that this is just the prelude to the Imperial Fleet's unleashing of thousands of artillery fire.

"All ships evade! Ion cannon fire back!"

Yingyang's flagship narrowly avoided a spear of light, and the hull groaned under the heavy load due to the sharp turn.

The Kes'la frigates launched a suicide charge, their pulse cannons splashing tiny sparks on the thick armor of the Imperial warships.

A frigate managed to break through the fire network by chance, but was broken into two by a salvo of macro cannons when it was about to launch a torpedo.

"Commander! Starboard shield overload!"

Before Yingyang could react, a dizzying impact threw her hard against the control console.

The combat suit's cushioning gel was urgently injected, but there was still severe pain from a broken rib.

She struggled to get up and saw outside the observation window that an Imperial strike cruiser was using close-in defense guns to blow up the Tau escape pods one by one.

"The third and fourth engines are destroyed!"

"Shield generator failure!"

Casualty reports were pouring in. Shadowsun wiped the coolant from his visor and discovered that seven call signs had been lost from the fleet's communications channel.

And the Imperial fleet...they seem to be even more numerous than when the war began.

Another wave of torpedoes came. Shadowsun saw with his own eyes that the Everlasting Faith tried to intercept it with pulse cannons, but there were too many torpedoes.

In the flames of the explosion, the keel of the battleship twisted and broke, slowly disintegrating like a toy broken by a child.

"We sank a ship!" someone suddenly exclaimed.

Shadowsun called up the battlefield footage. An Imperial frigate exploded under concentrated fire, but before the Tau soldiers could cheer, more than a dozen warships of the same type jumped out of the warp rift to fill the gap.

This ironic scene caused the bridge to fall into dead silence.

Six hours later, as the Dawnblade's last engine died, Shadowsun undid the safety locks on his battlesuit.

The bridge was half destroyed, and the air was filled with the acrid smell of burning circuits.

The holographic projector flickered, displaying the brutal statistics of the battle: all thirty-seven Tau warships were sunk, while the Imperial fleet lost no more than twenty ships.

Through the broken observation window, Shadowsun saw the Imperial landing craft swarming towards the surface of Tau like locusts.

The orbital defense platforms fell silent one after another, and the atmosphere was illuminated red by the fire of the bombardment.

On the other side of the planet, a huge mechanical structure is moving forward. It is the Empire’s ultimate weapon - the Death Star.

"Commander..." The only remaining communications officer choked with sobs, "The Ether Council sent the final communication."

The holographic image flickered a few times, and the scene of the parliament hall emerged.

The dome was broken, and the Etheric Elders sat on their thrones, their robes rustling in the strong wind.

Behind them, Imperial drop pods were falling like a rainstorm.

“Shadow Sun.” The voice of the oldest Ether Elder echoed in the holographic projection, his wrinkled face showing a calmness that transcended life and death. “You have fulfilled your duty.”

“No, not yet.”

Shadowsun's voice was like the breaking of ice. She stood in the center of the Dawnblade's bridge, and the joints of her XV95 Ghost battlesuit emitted a low hum.

This specially modified combat suit was half a meter taller than the standard model. The melta cannon array installed on the back emitted dangerous heat waves, and the pulse cannon on the left arm was charging, emitting a dazzling blue light.

She raised her hand to turn off the communication, and the final tactical data flashed on the visor display.

All thirty-seven warships lost contact, orbital defense platforms fell silent one after another, and the Imperial landing force had already broken through the atmosphere of the Titanium.

But there was still a cold fire burning in Shadowsun's eyes - she had one last thing to do.

"Activate Shadow."

As the order was given, four Jifeng drones detached from the backs of their combat suits, their optical camouflage systems activated, and they instantly disappeared into the air, with only slight magnetic field disturbances revealing their presence.

Yingyang moved the fingers of his combat suit, and a pulse blade popped out from his right arm. The high-frequency vibrating blade cut tiny ripples in the air.

At this moment, the entire battleship shook violently.

"boom--!"

With a deafening crash, the explosion-proof door of the bridge was completely blown away.

The heavy metal door panel flew over Yingyang's head like a piece of paper, and embedded itself deeply into the control console behind him, emitting a dazzling burst of electric sparks.

In the smoke and dust, a tall figure slowly stood up.

Lion El'Jonson, Primarch of the Dark Angels, his presence made the air on the bridge heavy.

“I said,” Ryan’s voice came through the Terminator armor’s speakers, like sandpaper rubbing against steel, “no matter where you run, I will find you and chop your head off.”

He slowly raised the Lion Sword. The buzzing sound made by the power sword inherited from the Emperor's era when it was activated actually caused the sensors of Shadow Sun's combat suit to send out a shrill alarm.

The storm shield on his left hand was covered with scars from past battles, but the Dark Angel emblem in the center still shone brightly.

Yingyang didn't answer.

Her combat suit suddenly activated its thrusters and moved sideways three meters at the critical moment.

Ryan's lion sword slashed at the place where she had just stood, and the metal floor was cut like butter, with a molten red light at the cut.

"Bang! Bang!"

The twin melta cannons on Shadowsun's back fired at the same time. Two incandescent beams rushed straight towards Ryan, and the high-temperature plasma that was enough to melt through the tank's armor set off a heat wave in the confined space.

Instead of dodging, Ryan faced the storm shield head-on.

"boom!"

The shock wave of the explosion shattered all the observation windows on the bridge, and the vacuum instantly sucked countless fragments into space.

Ryan's figure stood still in the fire. The surface of the storm shield was burned red, but not even a crack appeared.

"Little tricks."

There was contempt in his voice, and the servo system of the Terminator armor roared like thunder, and the whole person rushed towards Shadow Sun like a cannonball.

The lion sword drew a deadly arc, and Shadowsun barely blocked it with the pulse blade.

“Zheng!”

The high-frequency vibrating titanium alloy blade broke like a toy in front of the Lion Sword.

Yingyang's combat suit was chopped back by the lingering force of the blow, leaving a deep scar on the breastplate and light blue coolant gushing out like blood.

"Activate the cloaked unit!"

Following Yingyang's command, four twisted ripples suddenly appeared in the air.

The drones emerged from their optical camouflage, their high-speed cutting blades going straight for Ryan's joints.

The blade of the first drone slashed across Ryan's cervical fascia, sending up a trail of sparks; the second aimed at the hydraulic pipe behind the knee.

“Annoying bug.”

Ryan didn't even turn around. He swung the Lion Sword backhand, and the two drones exploded into fireballs in the air.

The third drone's attack was easily shattered by the storm shield, and the metal debris embedded in the wall like shotgun shells.

The last drone managed to leave a scratch on Ryan's shoulder armor, but he grabbed it and crushed it into scrap metal in his power gauntlet.

Yingyang took the opportunity to distance himself, and the thrusters of his battle suit spurted out blue flames.

She raised her left arm and fired her pulse cannon at full force, while her right arm ejected a spare shock blade.

The dense pulse barrage created countless sparks on Ryan's Terminator armor, but could not stop him from moving forward.

“You’ve run out of tricks?”

Ryan suddenly accelerated, and the storm shield hit Yingyang's combat suit hard.

With a sharp sound of metal deformation, Yingyang was knocked away and hit hard on the pillar of the bridge. The pillar broke with a sound, and sparks burst out from many joints of the combat suit.

Shadowsun struggled to stand up, but found that the hydraulic system of the right leg of the battle suit had failed.

She looked up to see Lion approaching slowly, his lion sword dragging along the ground, plowing a molten furrow in the adamantine floor.

"For the Emperor."

Ryan raised the Lion Sword high, and the energy field on the sword emitted a dazzling white light.

Countless images suddenly flashed before Yingyang's eyes - the joy of driving a combat suit for the first time, the pride of accepting the appointment in the Ether Council, and the night of talking about ideals with her comrades under the starry sky...

“For the Greater Good.”

She whispered, activating the self-destruct sequence of her battle suit.

Ryan's lion sword slashed down like lightning.

The sword blade accurately cut across Yingyang's throat, cutting off the helmet of the combat suit and the head inside.

The cuts burned by the force field didn't even bleed, only a wisp of green smoke rose. At the same time, the core of the combat suit overloaded, and dazzling white light burst out from every gap.

"boom!!!"

The flames of the explosion engulfed the entire bridge. When the smoke cleared, Ryan's figure was still standing.

His Terminator armor was covered in the remains of his battle suit, and he held Shadowsun's helmet in his hand.

Ryan turned and walked towards the airlock door, with the burning wreckage of the warship behind him. In space, countless wars have been ignited on the surface of the Titanium Star, and the flags of the Empire are rising on all continents.

"Witness your home burning!"

Ryan said, and threw the head into space.