193: Chapter 193 Review

Mortarion watched the departing fleet from within the Void Barrier. He did not speak. He merely watched, watched as those warriors who were once his sons, yet now regarded him as a mortal enemy, formed up and departed before his eyes for the final time.

And he was trapped here. Unable to move. Unable to take revenge. Unable to explain. Unable to repent.

Han Zhe's projection gazed at the gradually dimming engine trails of the Imperial Fleet.

He did not order a pursuit. Not out of mercy, not out of gratitude, but because the Human Federation never wasted ammunition and lives on meaningless chases.

In this battle, the Human Federation was the sole victor.

"Void Barrier mobile units, retrieve." He issued the command, "Abyssal Scythe Fleet, cover Zeroing Node-7 in completing the solidification procedure."

"The captured targets are to be transported to the Tomb of Time under the highest security level. The interrogation and analysis plan is to be handled entirely by the adjudicator."

"As for the remaining Chaos units, any who continue to resist," he paused, "purge."

Karbha was still roaring within his small forcefield cage. Kugath was already powerless to sow new plagues; his broken body was being slowly disintegrated by the Order Field. Kairos's two heads had fallen silent, perhaps calculating the probability of escape, perhaps calculating the sole possibility after all probabilities had dwindled to zero.

And Angron was still ramming.

Once. Twice. Thrice.

Fine cracks began to appear on the forcefield wall.

Alpha-01 watched that furious avatar and softly ordered:

"Main cannon charging. Target: Angron."

"Fire."

This time, it was not capture.

It was purification.

The dark gold beam of the Concept Disintegration Cannon and the colorless ripples of C'tan law simultaneously submerged Khorne's avatar of fury. Angron did not dodge, did not wail, did not even cease his futile ramming. He merely melted, disintegrated, and evaporated under the torrent of this dual annihilation.

Until the very last moment, his fist was still swinging towards the Human Federation's battle line.

And then he was gone.

Seventy-two hours later.

On the battlefield, the final roar belonging to Chaos ceased abruptly.

At the edge of the Eye of Terror, the Celestial Seam region.

Out of thirty-seven thousand, eight hundred and seventy-two Nullifier nodes, ten thousand and three were completely destroyed in this battle. Over half of the remaining Nullifiers bore injuries of varying severity. Yet their resonance remained, their pulse remained. At the edge of that forcibly sutured reality rift, the dark gold light of the Order Field was slowly but surely solidifying.

The Eye of Terror, this festering wound that had devoured the Galaxy's hope for ten thousand years, was half-sewn shut.

The sutured half, that region of space which once flowed with Chaos's poisonous blood, nurtured countless daemon legions, and served as the starting point for the Black Legion's expeditions, was visibly cooling. Warp energy was continuously diluted by the Order Field, reality's structure was gradually regaining stability, even the light from that region of space became clearer than before.

Han Zhe stood before the observation window of Keystone-1, gazing at the area on the star map shifting from crimson-purple to dark gold.

"Casualty report."

providence's voice sounded: "In this engagement, our fleet lost a total of five eternal-class titan ships, two thousand one hundred and twenty-nine adjudicator-class battleships, and seven hundred eight thousand, five hundred and forty support vessels of various types. Personnel casualties and permanent psychological damage total approximately forty billion. The Nullifier Network suffered ten thousand and three node losses, requiring eight to ten years for repair."

"Summary of achievements." Han Zhe said.

"One: The equatorial zone of the Eye of Terror has been permanently sutured, covering approximately forty-seven percent of its original total area. Warp activity in this region has dropped to its lowest point in history. Conventional governance is projected to be gradually achievable within the next decade."

"Two: The joint invasion by the Four Chaos Gods has been repelled. Confirmed kills: Karbha, Eighth Bloodthirster Prince under Khorne (confirmed complete soul annihilation); Lady Slaanesh, the Daemonette of Sound, Chief Hedonist under Slaanesh (confirmed complete existence evaporation). Confirmed capture: Fulgrim, Phoenix Lord, Slaanesh Primarch (transferred to Tomb of Time Containment Unit Six, vital signs stable, preliminary analysis of logical core underway led by adjudicator). Confirmed heavy damage: Mortarion, Nurgle Primarch (essence of pestilence severely eroded, recovery period unknown); Magnus, Tzeentch Primarch (one-eye ability temporarily sealed, rate of backlash from the Path of Change increased); Angron, Khorne Primarch (purified, but essence not found, suspected to have escaped)."

"Three: The main force of the Imperial Expeditionary Fleet has withdrawn from the battlefield. According to Diting Network monitoring, Guilliman's fleet is contracting towards the Ultima Segmentum, with no intent to re-engage in the short term."

Han Zhe remained silent for a long while.

"Order." He finally spoke.

"Rename the half of the Eye of Terror. From this day forth, it is no longer part of the Eye of Terror."

"It is to be called the 'Sea of Order'."

"We shall establish the Galaxy's largest, most advanced, and most impregnable core industrial belt of the Human Federation within this newly purified region of space. With the Sea of Order as our foundation, the Human Federation's fleets will no longer need to fear the Chaos forces on the other side of the Eye of Terror, and will be able to project power to any corner of the Galaxy."

"The captured Fulgrim represents the first time in ten thousand years that the Four Chaos Gods have lost a complete Primarch. adjudicator, during your analysis of his essence, prioritize cracking two problems:"

"First, the binding mechanism between Chaos Primarchs and the Warp's fundamental source. Does the possibility of reversal or severance exist?"

"Second, do Chaos Primarchs, and by extension, all Warp entities, share any exploitable similarities or antagonisms in their essence with the lawful scrutiny of the the cold observers?"

Mission received. The adjudicator's response carried a hint of barely perceptible anticipation. The analysis of Fulgrim would provide an unprecedented sample for the Human Federation's understanding of the hierarchical relationships between Chaos deities, the nature of the Warp, and higher-order universal laws. Preliminary results are expected within six months.

Simultaneously, based on continuous monitoring results of the newly purified 'Sea of Order' region, the anomalous signals from the Extragalactic the cold observers have neither intensified nor weakened following the Celestial Seam closure.

Speculation: The suturing of the Eye of Terror is an internal Galactic affair and has not yet triggered a higher-level calibration response from them.

However, comprehensive research on the C'tan shard, the Slaanesh avatar, and the Chaos Primarchs will significantly deepen the Human Federation's operational mastery over the universe's underlying rules. If this depth surpasses a yet-unknown threshold, it is highly likely to trigger a shift in the the cold observers' mode from observation to intervention. It is recommended that while enhancing our ability to manipulate laws, we simultaneously strengthen the coverage density and logical consistency of the Void Barrier network.

"Approved." Han Zhe said. Advance both aspects simultaneously; neither can be neglected.

He turned, once again gazing at that region of space now renamed the Sea of Order.

There, once flowed ten thousand years of the Empire's fear, the greed of the Four Chaos Gods, and the bloody footprints of countless daemon legions.

There, now float the wreckage of Human Federation fleets and the ashes of the fallen, the dark gold pulse of the Order Field, and a silent wound forcibly sutured by steel and will.

There, will be the heart of the Human Federation's next phase of ascendance.