Planet Cadia, Ailisen Plain.
Burning wrecked vehicles could be seen everywhere, thick columns of black smoke rising into the sky.
Explosions rose and fell like dense drumbeats, never ceasing for a moment.
A retreating column of mixed civilians and routed soldiers followed the ruined road toward the evacuation point.
The Chaos fleet held orbital control over most regions.
Only the Ailisen Plain remained within the protection of the Phalanx, commanded by the Imperial Fists.
Only by reaching the evacuation point could they board transport shuttles to orbit, embark on voidships, and evacuate this hellish battlefield.
Abaddon had hurled the wreckage of a Blackstone Fortress at Planet Cadia, detonating the obelisk matrix suppressing the Eye of Terror.
The Eye of Terror tore open; immaterium tempests ripped Cadia asunder, and ripped the entire galaxy asunder as well.
The Chaos armies held absolute battlefield superiority, pursuing and intercepting Imperial forces attempting to flee the Cadia battlefield.
In the sky, Imperial fighters and Heldrakes fought desperate, life-or-death battles to cover the ground forces' evacuation.
Energy weapons flashed dazzlingly, weaving short-lived constellations.
Missile explosions bloomed into flames like fleeting bright stars.
BOOM!!
A Heldrake forged from foul iron was struck by a missile, blown to pieces in midair, and crashed toward the ground.
Occasionally, a human fighter would detonate, its wreckage falling to earth in blazing flames.
"For the Emperor! Cadia Stands!"
Lord Castellan Creed shouted himself hoarse, organizing the Cadian remnants under his command to open fire on the pursuing rebels, preventing the routed troops from falling into a massacre.
But in this dark hour, courage and loyalty could no longer change the tide of defeat, nor could they save themselves.
The rebels outnumbered the Imperium and possessed Leman Russ tanks, Chimeras, and a massive number of heavy weapons.
These routed soldiers only had their lasguns and flak armor; the disparity in strength between the two sides was staggering.
"Foolish believers in the False Emperor. The False Emperor shall soon meet his death, and so shall you."
"The Gods shall claim the entire galaxy. The Warmaster is eternal."
The pursuing rebel leader sat atop a captured Leman Russ tank, his face twisted in a savage grin.
He turned to look at the soldiers beside him and shouted, "Look! This is the fate of those who serve the False Emperor. These dogs will be killed by us like the curs they are."
"The False Emperor cannot protect them. That rotting corpse cannot protect anyone. The entire galaxy belongs to the Gods. To fight for the Gods is our greatest glory."
"For the Gods! Kill the False Emperor!" the rebels roared, their excitement palpable.
They charged into the crumbling Imperial defenses, killing everyone in sight.
Even those not killed immediately, taken prisoner, suffered a hundred torments, living a fate worse than death.
"Fall back to the second line! Fall back to the second line and reorganize the defense!"
Creed shouted, ordering the soldiers to withdraw in good order from the collapsing position.
One Imperial soldier with a leg injury could not keep up.
Limping, he was overtaken by the traitors and beaten down.
On the spot, they brutally gouged out his eyes and tied him behind a vehicle to be dragged along.
"If you curse that damned False Emperor, we'll let you go."
Those traitors gave him a chance.
"In your dreams, you shameful traitors."
The Imperial soldier's eye sockets were a bloody mess, yet he still cursed at them furiously.
"Speed up! Let those fools who follow the False Emperor see the reward for their loyalty!" the rebel leader shouted.
Before long, that Imperial soldier could no longer run. He fell to the ground and was dragged by the vehicle.
His uniform and flak armor were quickly shredded to tatters; his body was mangled into a bloody pulp.
"For the Emperor... for... the Emperor."
That soldier endured the agony while shouting.
Only faith could let him ignore the pain of his flesh, could keep him from begging those shameful traitors for mercy.
Yet this only made the Chaos traitors hate him more, and they increased the vehicle's speed.
"May you rest in peace."
Creed raised his gun and shot that poor wretch, sparing him from further torture at the hands of those inhuman monsters.
However, this was merely an insignificant atrocity by Chaos.
Many captured Imperial soldiers were impaled on steel spikes by the Chaos traitors, bound to various frames with wire, or tied behind vehicles and dragged through the ruins.
The sole purpose of the traitors' actions was to intimidate Creed and the others, and to vent their twisted desires.
"Emperor, at least let their souls return to Your embrace."
Creed prayed for those men; it was the only thing he could do.
Those poor souls were the Empire's most loyal soldiers, who had time and again repelled the assaults of Abaddon the Despoiler.
Now, they were reduced to playthings for the traitors, wantonly tortured, unable to even die a clean death.
In this dark age, human life was as worthless as a casually discarded penny.
At this moment, within the retreating column, there suddenly appeared a Space Marine wearing unpainted power armor, bearing no insignia of any kind.
"So realistic."
Daqi looked around. Sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing—his five senses were fully intact!!
This immersive experience made him give a big thumbs-up to the creators of this game.
This year—the beginning of 2077—several virtual reality games had been released on the market.
If one were to name the most realistic, it would undoubtedly be this Warhammer Universe title.
Amazing. Truly freaking awesome.
Once he cleared it, he would absolutely have to recommend it to everyone else to play.
Daqi reached out and summoned the game panel.
It contained options for Skills, Equipment, Inventory, Quests, Shop, and so on.
Daqi opened the info panel. At this moment, his identity was set as a Space Marine loyal to the Imperium.
He had a set of blank-slate power armor and a chainsword.
"Blank-slate gear. So-so, I guess. Wonder how hard it is to get items in this game?"
Daqi looked around and saw an officer-looking figure in the distance.
There was a golden question mark over the other party's head—this should be a main-quest NPC. Daqi strode over.
The soldiers and civilians along the way, seeing Daqi's appearance, were visibly shocked and saluted one after another.
"So realistic."
"I gotta say, the AI these days is freaking amazing."
Daqi could genuinely feel the fear and anxiety of these NPCs; they must have used some incredibly advanced AI.
Recommendation. He absolutely had to strongly recommend it and get everyone to play.
"An Angel of the Emperor??"
Lord Castellan Creed was somewhat surprised to see Daqi.
The Space Marines who had come to support Cadia all had their own defensive sectors; after communications had been cut, he had no way to contact them.
How could an unknown fellow from an unknown Chapter appear here!!
But the enemy's fierce assault forced him to set aside these questions for now and seek the other's aid.
"This Angel of the Emperor, we are hard-pressed by the rebels. Could you help us eliminate their heavy firepower?"
Daqi clicked on the question mark cursor over Creed's head and checked the other's information.
[Ursarkar E. Creed, Lord Castellan of Cadia and Supreme Planetary Commander]
[Quest: Assist Lord Castellan Creed in destroying enemy heavy firepower units 0/10. Protect local troops and civilians to evacuate safely]
[Reward: 500 EXP, Reputation +10, 500 Points, Doom Slayer's Super Shotgun*1]
"A Super Shotgun. Not a bad reward. It'll be top-tier efficiency at killing demons."
VR games all emphasized multi-IP fusion to attract more players.
The Warhammer Universe was no exception; it had fused many famous sci-fi IPs, claiming to be the most open-ended game in history.
The shop contained items from all sorts of games, from the Colossus of Stellaris to the transformation belts of Armor Hero,
from Poké Balls to Minecraft worlds—everything one could want.
Players could do whatever they wanted.
Save the Empire, fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Primarchs.
Kill the Emperor and the Chaos Gods, rebuild a glorious galaxy.
One could even choose to fall to Chaos and madly screw over the Chaos Gods and everyone else.
Some players built wonders in the game.
One absolute madlad had built a road between Terra and the Eye of Terror, saying it was convenient for Abaddon to visit home.
Freedom, mashup elements—these were also reasons this VR game had exploded in popularity.
Who wouldn't want to be a wanton Fourth Natural Disaster!!
Daqi didn't know much about Warhammer, limited to the Emperor, Big E, the Four Chaos Peddlers, and other terms that had gone viral outside the fandom.
He was purely playing because it was trending.
But when it came to gaming, the plot didn't matter; what mattered most was playing.
He forgot the beginning, forgot the end; in short, it was massacre, it was loyalty, it was letting the galaxy burn.
"Blood for the Emperor! Skulls for the Golden Throne!"
Having accepted the quest, Daqi activated his chainsword. The high-speed teeth let out a deafening roar as he bounded and leaped toward the enemy.
Although his equipment and physical stats were the most basic,
it was still a Space Marine's foundation. Dealing with a mob of mortals was very easy.
Daqi charged at the Chaos rebels. Their lasguns opened fire but could only leave a few scorch marks on his armor.
The rebel soldier at the very front only felt a blur before his eyes.
Then, a burst of agony came from his abdomen, and his whole world spun.
When his vision cleared, he realized his body had become two pieces, blood splattered across the ground.
And in the distance, that unpainted power-armored lackey of the Corpse Emperor was still slaughtering his companions.
Daqi did not stop. The chainsword in his hand continued to swing, and several more rebel soldiers followed in their wake.
"Holy shit—this hit feedback!! This shaking! This sound, it really hits the spot."
Daqi was excited; he killed with even more enthusiasm.
"Concentrate fire! Take that guy down!"
The rebel leader who had been so smug just moments ago now shouted himself hoarse, panic in his voice.
The other rebel soldiers turned their guns on Daqi one after another, pulling their triggers. Dense beams of energy instantly filled the air.
Daqi tanked the hits and attacked once more.
There was no suspense in the battle whatsoever.
Overwhelming physical strength paired with a roaring chainsword easily tore fragile flesh into pieces.
"Skulls for the Golden Throne! Blood for the Emperor!"
"Awesome. Truly awesome."
"Such a realistic Musou mowing game."
By the time Daqi stopped, the ground was already covered in broken corpses, churned into a bloody mud by the spilled gore.
[Successfully destroyed enemy heavy firepower point 1/10]
The surviving rebel soldiers witnessed this terrifying slaughter. Their faces went deathly pale, and they fled in panic to other areas.
"Who else??"
"I'm asking: who else?"
Daqi raised his chainsword and roared, his face full of excitement, like a Champion of Khorne.
PS: This book's setting content is primarily based on official novels.