"…"
The most feared thing is a sudden, awkward silence. As for Zhou Ye, he was one step away from covering his eyes.
He had been lazy back then when creating the backstories for his Dreadnoughts. Aside from the Space Wolf and Blood Angel Dreadnoughts—who were put in their chassis after being wounded in the warp to make the story believable for their respective legions—the ones from the Dark Angels, Imperial Fists, and Ultramarines had all been blown into their sarcophagi by the "General's Cannon" that the Lion had gifted to Perturabo. It was just that the other two were relatively stable, not as volatile as the one from the DA.
"Why do I feel like a complete bastard? They were all clearly killed by Horus, yet I pinned the blame for all of them on the Lion's head."
Watching the silent scene, Zhou Ye silently condemned himself in his heart.
Of course, he would never say it out loud. How could he possibly interrupt such an interesting development, such a joyful event?
"Hahaha!!!"
Sure enough, the next moment, that familiar laugh echoed in his ears once more.
Zhou Ye ignored it completely. Useless trash. Just thinking about it was disgusting.
As for the Lion, it didn't matter; he didn't know the guy personally. And in terms of results, that fellow was quite the bastard in 30K anyway, so there was no problem at all.
"My Lord, My Lord…"
Feeling the dangerous stares from all around, the Dark Angels immediately scurried over to Zhou Ye's side. After all, they also had one of their own chapter's Dreadnoughts who had suffered the same fate. And for some reason, Asmodai suddenly had a bizarre thought.
Karma's a bitch. He deserved to get blown into the ICU by his own people. Thinking this, Asmodai suddenly felt much better and snapped out of his stupor.
And just at that moment…
"You blasphemous bastards!!!"
A furious roar erupted. The group then saw several bruised and battered Space Wolves being chased out by a group of Astartes wearing Trailblaze power armor who were clearly Thousand Sons.
The Space Wolves were cursing up a storm, and at their head was another ancient Contemptor Dreadnought.
"Next time you sneak onto our ship, we'll break your legs!"
The few Thousand Sons didn't notice the crowd around them. After throwing the Space Wolves out…
SLAM!!!
With a dull thud, they slammed the large door shut. Everyone then saw the sign written on the door of that room…
"Russ and Dogs (Magnus Included) Not Permitted Inside!!!"
It was clear that while they considered Magnus a dog, it didn't stop them from holding a tiny, minuscule grudge against the Space Wolves. After all, they had no idea what was happening when a group of psychos had suddenly boarded their ship and started hacking away at them.
"…"
The group that had been glaring at the Dark Angels fell silent once more. They certainly recognized that Dreadnought. It was the same Space Wolf Dreadnought who had been holding Captain Metellus and ranting furiously in front of Guilliman. When did he get here?
And for some reason, everyone from Guilliman down to the ordinary Ultramarines felt a profoundly surreal and abstract sensation. Was this the Astartes they knew? Was this still Warhammer 40k?
"Ahem. Let it go. This matter will be temporarily put aside for now. The Lion has been missing for ten thousand years. His mistakes should not be forced upon his sons ten millennia later."
Guilliman had no choice but to step in and mediate. Of course, he hadn't known his brother had done such a vile deed. In his heart, he was actually a little grateful to him. If they hadn't been blown into Dreadnoughts, they might have faded away completely over the long centuries, just like the other sons he had known.
Thinking this, Guilliman suddenly felt a flicker of gratitude towards the Lion. Of course, he quickly snuffed out that thought. He wasn't some idiot with no social grace; he would never say such a thing out loud.
"All of you, follow me. And from now on, stay calm no matter what you see. Otherwise, don't blame me for slapping you."
Pulling everyone's thoughts back to the present, Zhou Ye addressed them. He had already grown accustomed to the abstract antics of his subordinates. For crying out loud, you're Astartes. You're called mankind's demigods, the Emperor's Angels. Can't you learn a bit of my composure and stop being so weird all the time?
"?"
The group was a bit bewildered by Zhou Ye's words, but soon…
BOOM!!!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
KABOOM!!!
After passing through a strange, massive doorway, the sound of intense explosions rang out. Seeing this, all the Space Marines not belonging to Trailblaze instinctively gripped their weapons, with the exception of the Black Templars, whose faces darkened slightly.
Then…
"Look out!!!"
Just like the Black Templars had done initially, these marines instinctively drew their weapons and charged forward, their bodies moving faster than their minds could process. Because what had appeared before them was…
A plague daemon army led by a Great Unclean One.
To be fair, while quite a few Greater Daemons had fallen at Zhou Ye's hands, in reality, if a single Greater Daemon appeared on a planet, it could sometimes take an entire Chapter of Space Marines to put it down.
While nameless Greater Daemons weren't the strongest, the Chapters they often faced were also relatively obscure.
So, upon seeing the army of Nurgle and the Greater Daemon, the Space Marines' battle instincts completely overrode their conscious thought…
"STAND DOWN!!!"
A thunderous roar exploded in their ears. Immediately, everyone, including Guilliman, felt a terrifying pressure wash over them.
CRACK.
More than half of the Space Marines were unable to resist and were forced to their knees. The rest were frozen in place.
"…"
Feeling that pressure and seeing the state of his sons, even Guilliman couldn't help but shrink back a little. It would be incredibly difficult to force him to his knees. Though he was a psychic dullard, his resistance was terrifyingly high. But more than that, he had a sense of déjà vu.
The Perfect City… the Word Bearers… the Emperor…
The three names echoed in his mind. Of course, the feeling vanished as quickly as it came. Zhou Ye was just snapping them back to their senses, not actually trying to make them kneel before him in contemplation.
He wasn't the Golden Fiend, so only about half of them knelt. Powerhouses like Calgar were naturally unaffected by the pressure.
"This isn't a Chaos army."
Just then, the group came to their senses. Although the spectacle looked terrifying, it wasn't a real army of Nurgle. They discovered that while the plagues caused harm, they stopped at a certain threshold and wouldn't actually kill anyone.
The affected individual would then be thrown into another room, and all the afflictions on their body would quickly heal, though the "eliminated" soldier didn't look too happy about it.
Soon, the entire enemy force before them, including the Space Marine analogues, was completely devoured.
Night Knights Composite Score: 78547.
As the score appeared, the entire Nurgle army vanished before their very eyes.
"…"
The hall fell into an instant silence. Guilliman and his sons hadn't recovered. They couldn't figure out what this was.
One person's face was a little dark, however: Konrad Curze.
He didn't say anything, because this squad was from the batch of new recruits just brought back from Macragge. They were currently undergoing the most basic training, so they had been assigned some auxiliary troops to give them some experience.
The result was disastrous. Compared to Zhou Ye's other companies, their score was off by a whole digit. But since they were complete rookies, Curze held his tongue.
He just had his men clear the area quickly, because what came next was part of Zhou Ye's plan.
"What you see is my special facility: the Memory Battlefield and the Abyssal Battlefield. The scenarios within are generated from memory, a special kind of simulation."
"…"
Everyone remained silent as Zhou Ye explained. They all had combat simulations, of course, and used them frequently. But to simulate daemons and their entire armies—weren't you afraid of corruption?
Of course, considering this individual's previous performance, no one, not even Guilliman, dared to mutter anything about blasphemy.
"Right, hold on a moment. I need to sync a memory."
Zhou Ye muttered to himself and quickly disappeared. He entered a small room and uploaded his memories from the battle on Macragge.
Because the time flow in that room was faster, only a minute or two had passed when Zhou Ye emerged.
"All done. Now, you will select three thousand Astartes and any number of auxiliary troops. I will field a force of the same configuration. We will conduct a special Abyssal simulation. Oh, and a heads-up: due to the facility's nature, Librarians are not allowed to scream. And you, Guilliman, are not allowed to participate either. The rest of you can do as you please. As for the battle scenario… let's go with this one. It's not too difficult."
Zhou Ye thought for a moment, then took out his dataslate and began rapidly operating it.
The very next moment, something that shocked Guilliman and everyone else happened.
In the two immense chambers before them, which seemed to stretch beyond sight, structures began to materialize one by one. In little more than a minute, a dazzling city appeared before them all.
Macragge.
Everyone recognized it instantly. What was even more suffocating, however, was that countless daemons of Khorne and Slaanesh began to appear all over Macragge, filling the entire city in the blink of an eye.
"How is this possible!!!"
Guilliman couldn't help but exclaim. This was a perfect one-to-one replica of the Battle of Macragge, which had just concluded.
"You just said this was memory. Was this constructed from your memory?"
"That's right. Though it's not a complete replica. The giant Khornate Titan and the two Daemon Primarchs aren't here; that's my simulation's upper limit. More importantly, Daemon Primarchs are on a completely different level. There's little point in having them appear in a simulation for Space Marines."
Zhou Ye shrugged helplessly. There were very few Space Marines who could even contend with a Primarch, let alone a Daemon Primarch.
This was a drill to hone skills and abilities. A Fallen Primarch was far beyond the scope. They exceeded the upper limits of what almost any Space Marine could achieve, and simulating them was too wasteful.
"Father, let me do it!!!"
At that moment, a Chapter Master of an Ultramarines successor stood forth. They had completely missed the great battle for Macragge. To them, it was a disgrace, an absolute humiliation. The glorious homeworld of the Ultramarines had been defended by others.
While they were grateful to the forces of Trailblaze, it didn't stop them from feeling ashamed. This was the perfect opportunity to make amends, so he volunteered on the spot. It wasn't just him; nearly every Ultramarines successor Chapter present felt the same.
"That's fine. For this simulation, the objective will be defensive. Your goal is to hold out for as long as possible."
Zhou Ye nodded. After thinking for a moment while looking at the screen, he tapped his device again. A statue of Guilliman appeared inside what was once the Temple of Correction, where the Primarch had slumbered.
"Aren't you going in?"
Guilliman was very pleased to see his sons so motivated. He then turned to look at Zhou Ye.
"Why would I go in?"
"…"
Guilliman nodded quickly and selected three thousand men from among the successor Chapters, along with fifty thousand auxiliary troops that Zhou Ye had specifically asked him to bring. However, before entering, all personnel were required to remove their original wargear.
"Then you may choose your opponent from any of my companies that have sufficient numbers and meet the conditions."
Zhou Ye pulled up the list for him. Some companies were unavailable because they were understrength, while others were recruit companies and not yet ready. All available options were on the list.
Guilliman frowned slightly. He glanced at the companies composed mainly of Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors and immediately scrolled past them. There was no need to ask for trouble by fighting a defensive battle against them. And as someone who had commanded Trailblaze's forces, he was well aware of their combat prowess. So, very quickly…
"I'll take your Third Company. The Emperor's Children company."
"Are the numbers sufficient?"
Zhou Ye turned to Ashira. The number of Emperor's Children under his command was limited. Pulling three thousand at once was indeed a bit difficult, as most were needed for patrol duties in his own sectors.
"The new recruits we received from Cawl don't count for now; they still need a significant amount of training. We have about fifteen hundred stationed here. We can supplement them with fifteen hundred Shadow Moon Dire Wolves."
"Acceptable. No problem."
Guilliman replied without hesitation. There was nothing more to say.
---o---