50: Don't look back, there are bills all behind you.

[Holy Terra - Hive City archimedes - Open-air Scrap Yard]

The rain had stopped. The smoke of battle had not yet dispersed.

C-19 stood on the deck of the 'leviathan', broad as a public square, treading upon the smoke-blackened shark banner of the Pan-Pacific Empire.

Surrounding him were the busy warriors of the First Legion.

They were performing a task named "cleaning the battlefield," which was in reality a "demolition operation."

"Zzz— Zzz—"

The blue light emitted by the melta cutters was exceptionally piercing in the dim twilight.

Massive armor plates were sliced off in whole pieces, precision fire-control radars were uprooted, and even usable pneumatic rivet guns were collected and bundled together.

Any metal of value, whether copper wire or screws, was scavenged clean by this swarm of black locusts.

"This ship..." a recruit tapped the deck beneath his feet, a hint of regret in his voice.

"If it were intact, how many GP could it be traded for?"

"Don't think about it," C-19 interrupted coldly, his voice like ice. "We can't take it with us. It's too heavy, too slow, and reeks of the water."

He looked up toward the top of the Hive City, at the massive black shadow already surrounded by scaffolding and cranes.

That was their hope, and their only ark to escape this hell.

"Our journey leads there."

...[Holographic Operations Cabin]

Li Cang watched the rapidly rising resource recovery progress bar on the screen, yet he felt little joy.

His brow was furrowed, his eyes revealing a deep sense of helplessness and determination.

"I can't take it... I really can't take it with me."

That was a T2-class land carrier!

If he could sell it to the system mall, it would be worth at least five thousand GP!

But now, he could only dismantle it into scrap metal and feed it into the new ship's reactor as Fuel.

Every ton of smelted Adamantium felt like a piece of his own flesh being cut away.

"This is all for survival," Li Cang calmly closed the recovery interface, forcibly suppressing the ache in his heart.

He knew very well that this 'starter village' called Terra could no longer accommodate him.

The Pan-Pacific had suffered a great loss this time. If the Adeptus Mechanicus Ark's lance arrays hadn't been constantly locked onto the horizon, preventing them from opening their nuclear silos, the area would have been carpeted with nukes long ago.

They had to leave. Immediately.

"Commander." Archmagos Ul-02's communication request connected.

In that background noise consisting only of binary static, there was a rare... tremble?

It was a fanaticism for mechanical creations, an excitement for the impending voyage.

[The sacred machine spirit... has been awakened]

[Engine preheating... 100%]

[The 'Sword of Truth' Armed Transport Ship (Heavy Refit)... Ready]

Li Cang took a deep breath.

That was the name he had given the ship.

Simple, direct, like a blade meant to pierce through these layers of darkness.

"All personnel, board the ship." Li Cang issued the final command... [Hive City - Elevator Platform]

The massive airtight doors slowly opened amidst the roar of hydraulic pistons.

One hundred and fifteen First Legion Astartes, in neat formation and with heavy steps, walked into the warship that smelled of fresh paint.

Smoke from the previous battle still lingered on their power armor, but their stride remained steady and powerful.

Behind them were a thousand surviving Mortal Auxiliary Army soldiers.

They carried bags of supplies, their faces showing fear of the unknown, but even more so, a near-pilgrim-like fanaticism.

They would become the ship's first crew, damage control teams, and Servitors.

For these Mortals struggling to survive in the wasteland, being able to follow these warriors of the God-Emperor into the stars was a blessing earned over several lifetimes.

C-19 walked last.

He paused at the hatch, looking back one last time at this massive Hive City.

He glanced at the deep manhole cover leading to the Underhive, which had already been welded shut.

He did not salute.

He simply remained silent for a second, as if waiting for some kind of response. But in that abyss, there was only dead silence, only the wail of the wind passing through the ruins.

"Goodbye, veteran."

C-19 turned and strode into the airlock.

The airtight door slammed shut, locking everything from the past behind them.

System Prompt: All units have boarded. Countdown: 10, 9, 8... Rumble—!!!

The earth began to tremble.

This vibration was a hundred times more violent than the Pan-Pacific bombardment.

The camouflage layer at the top of the Hive City shattered like an eggshell, and countless concrete blocks fell from the heights.

An eight-hundred-meter-long black warship, propelled by a Plasma Plume bright enough to illuminate the entire wasteland, slowly rose into the sky.

It was not elegant like an Eldar ship, nor streamlined like the Human Federation's vessels.

It was like a black brick with engines, a flying Gothic cathedral.

Rugged, heavy, and filled with a violent aesthetic.

Every rivet spoke of sturdiness, and every piece of armor proclaimed strength.

The massive Anti-gravity Engines let out a deafening roar, forcibly tearing through Terra's thick radiation cloud layer... ['sword of truth' - Bridge]

There were no crystals, no carpets here.

Only cold metal decks, exposed cables, and the smell of machine oil permeating the air.

This was the style of the Empire: utility above all else.

C-19 stood on the command platform, looking through the thick Adamantium armored windows at the clouds rapidly receding outside.

The sky changed from a dusty yellow to a murky grey, and then to a profound black.

Finally, a massive planet, its surface an interwoven pattern of azure and grey-yellow, appeared beneath them.

Holy Terra. The cradle of humanity.

It was also the battlefield where they had fought their way through. It was their home, and it was their hell.

"We... made it out," the adjutant beside him murmured, his voice carrying a hint of a sob.

His eyes reflected the shadow of that planet, filled with nostalgia and relief.

In the Holographic Operations Cabin, Li Cang's feelings were entirely different.

He looked at the icon that had finally broken free from the shackles of gravity, feeling like a prisoner who had just snapped his chains.

"Don't look," Li Cang said over the channel, his voice as calm as a heartless contractor's.

"Don't look back. Behind you is nothing but bills."

He pointed to the Fuel tank icon in the upper right corner of the screen, which was flashing a frantic alarm.

To send this multi-million-ton hunk of iron into the sky, that single takeoff had just burned through half of the Fuel he had scavenged from the Hive City.

Every second was consuming a massive amount of resources.

"Target: Mars."

"Coordinates: Noctis Labyrinth."

Li Cang's finger slid across the star map, pointing toward that red star.

That was the holy land of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and the next battlefield he intended to conquer.

"Archmagos, lead the way. I hope the Fabricator-General of Mars can understand the language of the 'omnissiah'."

The "Iron Cloud" Ark slowly turned ahead, its massive engine nozzles like an artificial sun, illuminating the path forward for the "sword of truth."

And behind them on Terra.

Deep within that abandoned Hive City.

Hiss—!

A sharp screech echoed through the Underhive.

With the withdrawal of the Astartes, that steel line of defense finally showed signs of loosening.

Countless purple figures surged from the shadows, flooding the abandoned pump room hall like a tide.

The Genestealers smelled the scent of flesh and blood, and they swarmed frantically, attempting to devour everything.

But before them, there still stood a lonely giant, mutated beyond human form.

His power armor was long since shattered, revealing the knotted black muscles beneath.

In his hand, only half of a broken Chainsword remained.

His body was covered in wounds, each one oozing black blood.

But he did not retreat.

He swung that broken sword toward the oncoming swarm, letting out one last roar belonging to the old era.

That sound pierced the darkness, pierced through death, and echoed in the empty depths of the Hive City.

"For... Unification!!!"