With my speech finished, my armies begin to move. Lucy begins heading towards the Eldar first. I, myself, begin moving on the rim worlds of the Imperium.

For about a month, we progress with little to no intervention by the Imperium, other than the guard. However, the planet we’re about to invade will be different. We’re going after Rakkis Prime, which is one of the Imperium’s many agri-worlds. A bread basket planet. Already, I can see an Imperium vessel coming from a warp. Hundreds of thousands of ships all coming to attempt to lay waste to my fleet of what seems to be one colossal ship.

However, as the hangars open, the true size of the fleet is unveiled. Hundreds of thousands of smaller vessels pour out, carrying millions of angels. Mainly crewed by the newly turned corpses of the worlds we left in our wake. The once mighty navis imperialis now looks more like a grouping of flies.

With a single volley, colors of red, green, blue, and violet shoot forth. Painting the dark void of space a kaleidoscope of vibrancy. As the lasers collide with the shields of the Imperium, the vessels behind them are rocked. Feeling as though they’ve been rammed. These lasers cut through the imperial shielding as though it were nothing, melting through the armor like a hot knife through butter. With a single volley, we have cut down around a quarter of their fleet. It’s then that we pick up some of the hulks dropping off legions of space marines onto the surface of Rakkis. An officer comes up to me, a young man, with the black hair and wings of every other angel, but with an all white military uniform. He speaks in a sharp, questioning tone,

“Your majesty, would you like us to target the space marines?”

I shake my head,

“No, we’ll face them on the ground. One weapon redirected to a little space marine is one less kill on their navy. After we destroy their navy, the smaller vessels will begin the collection of corpses to turn to angels, as well as mopping up any remaining humans.”

He nods and heads back to his seat, relaying my orders to the fleet. A second volley soon rips through the Imperial fleet, just after they release their first one. Millions of smaller lasers, missiles, and kinetic weapons rip through the void of space. They contact with shields that turn solid the moment they come into contact, acting like a non Newtonian fluid when it’s punched. The missiles explode with minimal impact, but some of the kinetic weapons manage to rip through the shielding. These impact with magisteel armor, causing the armor to light up for a few seconds before returning to normal. However, the pain in the spot that was hit is gone now.

It only takes about four more volleys until the final Imperial vessel, an apocalypse class battleship, is hit with a 400-megaton missile. This missile acts like a bolter, burrowing deep into the ship and then exploding on the inside. The battleship rips in two, the people near the explosion turning to cinders, then to vapor. I speak to the captain,

“Alright captain, now we’ll be engaging them on the ground. Have every ship above frigate class dock on the Colossus. Their crew will take up arms and join the invasion as well. Rakkis has a population of a few hundred million, so we can expect some serious resistance. Kill everyone. We’re not taking prisoners.”

The captain nods his head and relays my orders. Within an hour, our entire invasion force is ready. Ten million troops, a million orbital drop pods, hundreds of billions of ammo. And a fleet of ships, ready to glass the surface of this planet with a wave of my hand.

—————————————

[Private Arcturus POV]

As I strap into my drop pod, a large sarcophagus of steel holding ten men, I hold my rifle close. I feel a sudden jolt rock me for a few seconds, signaling the pod dropping from the colossus. This is my first battle. I was picked up during the last one in the Geria system. Apparently, I used to be a guardsmen. Though, none of that matters now. Through death, I have been reborn. The thoughts that plagued my mind, of some human god emperor, have been cleansed. I know the truth now.

And I fight for it.

For her.

Seraphim, a true goddess.

Within about a dozen or so minutes, I feel the pod shaking once more. We’ve entered the atmosphere of Rakkis. I hear explosions going off around the pod, most likely anti air cannons. I hear the anti-grav drive kick in and feel the shaking stop. 

Soon after, a green light kicks on in the pod, illuminating my brothers and sisters in arms. Each of them, like me, is a mere foot soldier, save for one. Each pod has at least one Valkyrie present. This valkyrie is female, her face is pale, but not sickly, her hair is blacker than night, and in her hands are a sword and a pistol. Sprouting from her back are two of the most glorious armored wings I’ve ever seen. They may be furled, but I can tell how long they are. She radiates an aura of strength that gives me and my comrades a boost in morale. The pod’s siren goes off, informing us of its opening.

The second the door cracks open, we’re under a barrage of fire. The valkyrie turns her back to them, unfurling her wings to keep us covered. With an almost unnatural calmness, she speaks,

“All of you, it seems we were dropped between their front lines and our own. We’ll need to retreat the second we exit. Stay in front of me. These pellets shall do me no harm.”

We all nod. Slowly, she steps backward out of the pod and stands there, unfazed by the amount of bullets pelting her back. We all run out, back to our line. One of us, another recently turned, stupidly runs to the right instead of the left, and is gunned down in an instant. It’s fine, though, she’ll be back. She’ll learn from this.

As we reach our lines, a section of trenches dug out by orbital lasers, the enemy line begins to charge. Hundred of space marines, glistening with blue plating. Hundreds of thousands of guardsmen, my ex-brothers. The sound of their charge mirroring a stampede of one million beasts. 

I take up my laser rifle and take aim. I fire upon them, each burst sending out three separate beams. The beams cut through any man they find purchase on, save for the space marines. All of my brothers and sisters fire as well. The valkyrie takes to the sky, coming down upon the enemy like a bird of prey.

However, there are just too many of them. It takes them a while, but the wave tactics of the Imperium do begin overwhelming us. We’re about to be fired upon, when I hear the deafening noise of something falling from space. I look up, and see a fireball coming down towards the enemy. It slams into the ground, sending out less of a shockwave than I had thought. I look through the dust, and see her standing. Her black hair and glowing halo telling us who she is. Announcing her presence on the battlefield.

With a wave of her hand, a black mist begins to spread across the battlefield, and  the legions of the Imperium fall. As she puts her hand back down, a space marine charges at her with one of their knives in hand.

She towers over the marine, standing nearly double his height. Without looking, she grabs him by the throat, and speaks to him,

“You shall run, hide, beg, or cry. You shall scream,  and lose your mind. You shall even die, hoping to escape me. Hoping to instead have your soul tortured for eternity within the warp,”

“I, am final. I, am terror. I am the Goddess of death, darkness, and despair. I am the abyss. And you shall learn to fear me,”

“Hear me, marine. For not even death is final before me,”

“For I am Seraphim. Goddess of the Abyss.”

As she finishes speaking, black mist begins to cover the marine. His screams ring across the now-silent battlefield, before they too fall silent. With a dull thud, she drops the armor of the marine to the ground.

All of this leaves me with one thought:

“For the Goddess!”

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AN: people on my patreon get chapters in advance, as well as books I haven't released yet, just sayin'. https://www.patreon.com/sorrestwriting

also, this is officially the 100th chapter. (celebration noises)