Adeptus Ridiculous - Devastation of Baal Part 1: Fall of the Shieldworlds | Warhammer 40k Lore

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

https://www.patreon.com/AdeptusRidiculoushttps://www.adeptusridiculous.com/https://twitter.com/AdRidiculoushttps://shop.orchideight.com/collections/adeptus-ridiculousThe Hive Mind is hungry, and it's heading straight for the Blood Angels. In part one of our massive Devastation of Baal coverage, we're joined by Kirioth to break down the Cryptus Campaign.What was supposed to be the ultimate shield system against Hive Fleet Leviathan turns into an absolute nightmare of frozen bug ships, desperate Cadian last stands, and a Tyranid swarm so massive it literally blacks out the skies. Things get so incredibly bleak that Commander Dante and the Blood Angels have to rely on a literal C'tan-throwing Necron team-up just to buy some time. We cover the tragic fall of the Shieldworlds, the Sanguinor finally breaking its silence, and why Dante is just having the absolute worst week of his long, long life.Part 2 coming next week!Support the show

Welcome everyone to another episode of the Adeptus Ridiculous podcast. My name is D.K. Diamantis and old man, Yowie, is back on the menu. Here are my co-hosts. Introduce yourselves. Who the hell starts an episode like that? I don't know. You know, I'll be honest with you, we were talking about it earlier. Shy said it.

Got stuck in my brain. I decided that's how we're starting it. Good luck. My outrage is completely faked. By the way, this is the best. Warhammer News of the Year. A sequel to the Infinite and Divine written by, and I cannot stress this enough, the same guy, Robert Rath.

After so many book series that we've discussed written by not the same people, this is very good. I feel like there's very few. There's very few like IPs out there. or at least like book series where it being written by the same person for more than one book is almost treated like an achievement. Like, you think about the great sequels out there when we're talking like just the literary world,

there's not that many where you can go, and you know what, this one was special because the same dude wrote all three. Like it's just not really a thing outside of if someone dies. But for this, genuinely impressive. impressive. The War of the Beast has done irreparable damage, even though most trilogies in Warhammer are also written by the same people, but like, I have to make this very clear that extremely prolific and great writer Robert Wrath, who wrote

the Infinite Divine, as well as a couple other fantastic books, he did the Volcadia, which is really good. And I actually, if I'm not mistaken, he also did, I think. I think Assassanorm Kingmaker? Oh, was he, was he Kingmaker? He was. He was Kingmaker, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Also, one of the better 40K novels. I recommend King Maker to lots of people. It's really good. It is really good. And, well, I mean, yeah, you probably don't really even need a whole lot of 40K back knowledge for that one, because they pretty much explain what the Assasinorm is, what they're doing, what the knights are. So, yeah, actually, that's a great book to, to write. recommend to people, old or new heads.

And he's even done his own kitbashes of them. Hell yes. Heck yeah. That's what a champ. That's legendary. That's legend. Yeah. Right.

You know, you know what I appreciate about that? That, those paint jobs are about as decent as mine. And I like the fact that, you know what? He's a great writer. And as a painter,

you know, he's just happy to do it. Yeah. It's nice to know that it's, in a way, it's nice to know that, you know, Not everyone, or at least much like, much like your common man like myself, you can be good at some stuff and be perfectly average at others.

You know, not everyone is a luminous ticket. It's great at everything. Not every game's workshop employee is going to make me upset with their pay jobs. Yeah. Yeah. That's been happening a lot with the Oger stuff. I've just realized, we've done it again. we've done yet another intro where we've immediately segwayed away from

DK introducing himself and then we simply haven't done it. No, this is the DK show. This is all that matters. We don't need anyone to talk about us. I gave you both a chance. I said toxic old man, Yowie, introduce yourselves and y'all just had to go off on your little tangent. What was I supposed to do here? Hey, guys, stop talking.

Say your names. What do you want from me? It's very simple, my guy. It's very simple. More Infinite Divine is more important than our names. Well, you're not wrong about that. That's true. If someone had led me like that, I would instantly start talking about the book to and forget my name.

Yeah, that's fair. Sorry, just for a second there, I took what you said far to literally. And I was like, okay, it's cool news, but I don't think you should be, you know, losing your identity over it. Deep amnesia over. Oh, my God, Infinite Divine got a sequel. Who am I? Who are you? I don't know how to walk anymore. Speaking of walking, there's also that new ogre lady with the, what did you call her mount again, Kyriath? That was going to be how I introduced myself. I was going to say I'm Kerrioth and I want to rhinopotomous because that's what it is.

The rhinoponimus. Nice. Completely accurate description. And it's great. He's got a little cute face. you know, if you ignore all the big tusks and the fact it could probably stamp you to death. To be fair, to be fair, the generic version of it, the tyrant, so Morga Morga the Mighty being the name character, the Ogre tyrant on just a normal glut horn.

It's got the mouth open and it's properly got the hippo mouth. It's got like the hippo gums that are all like weird. Yeah, there's a one where you see it like, you see it like, eat like a watermelon and it's just like, oh my God, it just crunches that thing apart. Yeah, yeah. It's like it's like it's got just a mouth. It's almost like it's already got a mouth full of watermelon when it opens its mouth,

which is weirdly disturbing. Yeah, I don't, I don't like that. Oh, Shai said, it's like your mom writing your mom. That's amazing. Shai, thanks for that. What? Nice. Really well done.

Top drawer comedy. Well, with all of that, should we get into the big stuff? I suppose so. Hey, have you been enjoying this witty banter between the three of us? Yeah? Maybe you want to support us at patreon.com slash adeptis ridiculous. We get access to the Discord, bloopers if they happen, $15 tier get you access to all of our posters in just the crispiest digital form ever.

You should check it out. It's amazing. Patreon.com slash adolph. Adeptus, ridiculous. Pricky's going to tell you about merch now. I got a cool thing to announce today, actually. So through the time that we spent doing our podcast and, you know, shilling the merch, we've actually on occasionally been reached out to by local game stores and Warhammer

tournaments asking for merch for their events. We do some merch for a local event, and we had a couple of other folks throughout the United States ask for t-shirts, objective markers, sorry about that, and various other bits and pieces for for either events or just local shops. And so because of that, we've now actually added a brand new tab on the top of the Orchid 8 site. It says business contact up there. There is a brand new email and some very common item pricing there. And so if you are an organizer or honestly just anything that has like a group of people, whether you have a day job or you go to a magic event or you have like a local game store, whether it's Warhammer or magic or anything between.

We are now offering a bulk pricing for things like shirts, hoodies, magic mats, desk mats, and then also a bunch of other stuff not listed. Just if you, if you're curious, you can go ahead and ask. So if you like, let's say you work for or you run a local Warhammer place and you, want like 10 to 20 staff shirts for the people who work at the at the store itself then we can you know help help make that happen if you want to get some TCG mats for your magic events we could help make that happen and uh yeah so check it out um it's it's just the way top of the main orchidate website it's uh there's a little email there for that and uh some you know pricing it's not

all 100% confirmed like things adjust depending on needs and all that, but like, just a little bit of a basic thing. And, uh, yeah, you know, I really like helping local, local stores and smaller stores. And, uh, I know we got reached out to by the other people because they like the quality of our stuff and that feels really good. So this is now official. You can check it out. And, uh, yeah.

Uh, and if you don't want to do that, go buy the merch. Yippee. Hell yeah. I might be a little buys, but I, I, I, too can vouch for the quality. I like it a lot. Buties feel great. Sweatpants are great. Everything's great.

Buy it today. Buy now. I love the natural way in which D.K. sells things. By now. Well, genuinely, I do love the merch. Buy now today at OCD.com. This is what I love.

It starts out completely sincere, but it's like there's a certain combination of words that just don't come out correctly every time. And it always gets me. And it's not your fault. I'm also very bad at it. You know, you've heard me outro literally anything. I don't know how to do it.

It's just one of those things. But I don't know. It's just a nice little, nice little bonus at the end of a statement. Keras said, they're like, I like the way you make mistakes, goofy failure man. Reminds me of me. Now, we should probably, yeah. Speaking of mistakes, mean, uh, how many pages? a mere 19 for this one.

Mere. Mere. I mean, to be fair, with what we are covering, it's already split into a two-parter. That's right, I'm telling you, from the top, we want to emphasise this is a two-parter. This was a significant incident. A lot happened.

There was so much going on that attempting to cram it into one episode would be an absolute catastrophe. So we didn't do that. Parsim has instead been down the law mines and has split this into two. parts because we are not even doing a quote. We're just going straight in because it's that much of a, and then he said, beastly, uh, thing to get through, but that would imply.

Don't do that. We don't want to imply. Me, me in the, in the Peter Griffin's straitjacket screaming. The image just keeps distorting on your open mouth. Yeah. We are, we're going to be talking about the devastation of ball. And this time round, we're going to be talking about the cryptos campaign and the sort of prelude to all the horrible things that go down. So the devastation of Baal was a brutal assault on the Baal system that was a culmination of awful things. A highly unusual movement of a tyrannid high fleet from halfway across the galaxy almost led to the end of the Sons of Sanguinius and they would nearly die alone

thanks to the return of Aberdon during his 13th Black Crusade. The events before, during and after are quite in depth. So this is why us covering the full scope of the devastation of Baal is going to be a two episode affair, one for each

respective ball, of course. Thanks, Possum. Oh, man. It had to be done. You knew it had to be done. I don't think it did. I distinctly remember Shai

saying specifically that if there wasn't a set of balls joking there somewhere should be a really annoyed. So if anything, can't even really blame Potson for this one. I guess.

But like, it's the blood angels are stored in the balls. We've done this before. I feel like it would have been more skillful had you tactfully avoided all testicle jokes, honestly. I'm sorry. Have you do you know where you work?

You've been present on this podcast for far longer than me. What are you talking about? That's why I was saying it'd be more skillful if you could, you know, Anyway, go ahead. Tell me about the balls. We have literally never been more skillful. That's not how this works. So we are starting fully with the how and the why, because ultimately, events on ball were never supposed to happen, as the Bud Angels had a contingent set up to protect them. The Cryptus system has a second name, the Cryptus Shield.

It's a system whose strategic standing is meant to prevent any meaningful invasion from getting close to the home world. So today we're going to go over the events of the Cryptus campaign, as well as the lead-up to the greatest assault against the blood angels in the chapter's history, allowing us to cover the devastation itself and its aftermath uninterrupted in part two. So, in the final years of M-41, the true scale of high-fleet Leviathens invasion became alarmingly clear, particularly around segmentum tempesters. So colour the Imperium surprised when in late 998 M41, a splinter fleet of Leviathan known as the Cryptoid Tendril began to curl around the red scar region of the Ultima Segmentum. Before it was destroyed, tempestus Sions on Vitria confirmed that the bioforms that attacked the world had the exact same coloration as the high fleet assaulting the Arctarius sector, confirming that even the presumed length of these tendrils was dramatically underestimated. So the red scar is an area of space that appears as a big red stain across the charts of the a auto astra and mythology believes that the red scar is the result of a bloodthirsty god slashing his sword across the heavens. Bad ass mythology, to be fair.

I'll give them that one. That's great. Also the size of the tendrils on that little bit of math. Yeah. Also, you know, we've been doing this for a while and never was like, oh yeah, I bet different tendrils. of tyranids have different colorations and different patterns to differentiate them. I kind of always thought that like all the ten, like all the tyrantids kind of looked and were colored like,

you know, just the ones on the box. But I mean, I guess there would be obvious differentiations. And I've really thought about it until you specifically said that's how they marked that this is the same tendril. Yeah, the different high fleets have got like massively different colorations.

Yeah. It's one of those things where when I first started like getting, and into 40K. I was like, it feels weird that these aliens would have like different color

carapaces and stuff. And then the second I started painting something, I was like, oh, yeah, that's why. You can't tell people, okay, this needs to be red and a sort of bone color.

That's it. Paint them that way. It's just boring as hell. So that being the, the in-universe reason for being able to just paint it whatever you like, I quite like it.

Each high fleet having their own mutations and stuff is very cool. Yeah, when I think of the knit, I think of the one in the top left, the sort of like white and purple and like little bits of like red. That's always the first thing that pops into my mind. Yeah. I'm pretty sure it's, um, which one is that? It's a Leviathan, right? Yeah, the purple and white is Leviathan. Yeah, yeah, Leviathan.

Because I think like, bottom middle is like Kronos and then you've got like Gorgian and stuff and, they're neat. So every star in the red scar is blood red, and the rays of these suns offer up nothing short of death. But some worlds are a hell of a lot more irradiated than others. People under the light of these really bad suns have their skin charred almost immediately before killing them outright. So it's kind of difficult to establish a presence on any of those worlds,

because of the whole burning to death in seconds thing. But obviously, the Imperium loves to. give it a go anyway. They would find a solution to surviving, an elixir made out of tree sap on Satis. Taking this elixir can help people dwell and withstand the radiation of the really bad suns for as many as four decades. Oh, that's pretty good. Can you just reapply this crazy intergalactic space sunscreen after 40 years, or is it just you only get one usage? You got 40 years, rip in peace idiot. The implication seems to be that you get 40 years.

Gotcha. That's it. That's as long as they can hold it off for. And I do like the comment of, that's not bad. Technically correct. But in a universe where, you know, people can live for centuries,

thanks to rejuvenate treatments and stuff, 40 years feels really harsh. It's a bit like, oh, wow. This one Inquisitor, has lived, you know, potentially eight times longer than a guy just trying to have a job on a particularly shitty world, which can apply to a lot of places in the Imperium, to be fair, but damn, that feels brutal and a lot of effort.

So the planet of Satis isn't easy to get to, but there are rumours that it could be refined and obtained elsewhere this sap. The appearance of this tendril, then, in the Red Scar, was relayed to the High Lords, and the Emergency Council had their first unanimous vote since the Black Scourge. The Imperium would fortify the Cryptos sector to the highest degree possible, despite the fact that no Space Marine chapters were able to lend a hand. Despite many of them being classified as dangerously radioactive, each of the planets that formed the shield worlds were home to great natural resources.

They not only had mineral wealth, but also energy, courtesy of the twin sons of the system, known as the eyes of cryptos. To live in these worlds is to be incredibly tenacious. From the nomads of Lyceos to the citizens of the city of Fodia on Asphodex, those who live in the shield worlds have adapted and flourished. It was, to some species in the galaxy, a bountable feast that could not be ignored. So the primary places of interest that make up the shield worlds are Tartarus, Asphodex, Lyceus and its moon, Ixio.

Yeah, Ixoi. Eros and Perditor. But we don't need to worry about purditor for now. It's a dead world with nothing on it and is going to be used to just dumb stuff like prisoners. So don't worry about that world. So at this point, no space marines can help. And the ones that are closest are also busy mustering their defences for the sector that's the most important in this whole situation. That's a big issue. But that's what the guards for. The guard would halt the tendril before it could drag itself further across the Red Scar because the path it was on was taking it directly. towards Baal. Even though Baal was heavily defended, putting the future of the Blood Angels at risk was not an option in any capacity. Hopefully, after stalling the advance of the tyrannids enough, the sector could be

fully reinforced over and over again until the Imperium fully eradicated the presence of High Fleet Leviathan from the Ultima segmentum. This far, the new splinter fleet would encroach upon the Imperium, the High Lord swore. This far, but no further. I like how you say

Well that's what the guard's for Like you know Just a very A very classic like yeah well That's all right We got the guard They'll handle it Yeah

We've got our own wave of endless bugs It's called Everyday Man Soldier It's called It's called the power of humanity Humanity I do love how clear it's spelled out of it Yeah

We're just gonna Look we don't need to worry because we will just throw infinite numbers of human beings at the problem until it stops. Easy. We've got as many guard as there are tyrannid anyway. We've got a billion planets. We'll just match swarm for swarm, right? It's fine.

It's like, don't like that. It's one of the things that there are certain stories where you read it and you're like, ah, yes, this is, this is why I love the Imperium. because it's terrible and that's the solution. Love is such a strong word. You know what I mean? Yeah, I do, I do. The cryptos system then was the perfect battlefield in which to bring the high fleet to.

All the people who inhabited these worlds were relentless survivors and the populations of these worlds combined with those in the Red Scar numbered over 40 billion. People were ready and able to stand by the people. PDFs of the world, if need be, fully armed as well. As the system had been impacted by crime for ages, it was very rare to find any citizen unarmed. Of course, no guard battle is complete without Cadians. Shock troop regiments were diverted from every nearby war zone, and they amassed a force about three million strong, all led by General Malin Dost. Again, I know the Imperium's got a lot of lads, but 3 million card being diversed to a system where there's already 40 billion people,

apparently all of them armed, mental. Yeah, seems like, I mean, three to four million compared to billions seems like barely a trap in the bucket. Yeah. That looks sick. The planet's awesome. Yeah, that looks really good. Yeah, that's great. Now, of course, the Acadians weren't alone. There were already regiments there, including the Vostroian firstborn.

The idea that only the finest of the guard had been deployed resulted in morale being exceptionally high right from the drop. Another thing that helps with morale is faith, of course, and the ministorum couldn't help but send tens of thousands of battle sisters to the system. Canaaness Magde Great of the Saccharos rose was present on Lyceus within the mobile covenant fortresses. Even though ultimately the best defence is a good offence, the system has its own natural defences in the form of a whole lot of stellar debris. Two distinct freezing asteroid belts, the Aegis Diamando and the Castellan belt, had repelled Eldar Raiders and even a whar in the past without much intervention. Hell, it even earned the nickname the Glittering Shield due to the refraction of the icy rocks that make up these belts. Any attempt to conquer the shield worlds would be truly difficult. I mean, you can probably see where this is going, can't you?

I'm just throwing it out there. You could, this is like the perfect situation for the Imperium to get a stonking great victory. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah. I suppose, sure. Sure. I mean, if they weren't fighting a very highly adaptive bug army, sure.

That is, that is fair. That is fair. Now, there were a lot of forces at this point. Just time to wait. weeks became months as the tendril would loom closer and closer, the passage of time being marked with communications becoming less and less reliable as the shadow in the warp grew bigger. Even though the weight was tense and nightmarish,

the people in the cryptos system didn't let it haunt them. In fact, confidence only got higher and higher as time went on. Lots of self-assuring that the fleet wouldn't even be able to make it past the Castellan belt without being turned into ice cubes. If all went well, the shield worlds wouldn't even have to fire as sea. single shot. Oh. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Would. Yeah. There's optimism. Sorry. What was the name of this? What was the first word in this title again?

Yeah. The what of ball? The water ball. There's a huge, huge amount of extreme optimism going on. But, you know, they're allowed to be optimistic. when things are this guaranteed to go well. As the bioluminescence of the high fleet became more clear in the nighty sky,

things became a bit more spooky. But it's fine, still got it. Of all the personnel mustered in the system, only the navigators of the Krypton Armada knew truly how bad this was. The Imperium planned on constant resupplies and pouring in of more and more material, but they could sense that this was just optimism.

This would fail at the first opportunity without question. The lack of light from the Astronomicon due to its obscuring meant that external ships would have to navigate through the belts and they would certainly freeze. It became more and more apparent that the defenders were on their own. Now, there's a bit of a spike back in morale that would come in the form of the first wave of bioships hitting the belts. Rather than adapting, they just hit it head on. The tendrils of the nautiloid vessels would curl like fingers of a corpse dredged from

a winter lake. That is poetic as hell. Oh, man. Also, I hate that someone has the knowledge of what that looks like so that they could write that sentence. That's not great. A dark secret lurks in the office past, potentially. Pictures of the frozen ships would make their way through the imperial channels as some grade A hype propaganda, and the invading fleet would become a field of frozen stellar debris indistinguishable from the debris in the asteroid belt. Almost like they were adapting to it. And I've got a nice quote for you here, D.K. Okay. It appears they expelled a great deal of fluid within the Agio Agus Diomondo and are now encrusted in a thick layer of ice, making it hard to score a telling blow. Van Avaecor felt the hair

on the back of his neck rise. The metal plates in his skull began to throb in time with the frantic signals of the bridge's alert network. They're not. They're not intentionally using the ice as a blade of armor, surely, he whispered to himself. A sick feeling

writhed in his stomach. Those things. They can't be that intelligent, he demanded panic rising in his voice. They can't be, can they? Silence swathed the bridge once more, broken only by the death knelt chimes of the auspicator as the resurrected hive fleet grounds slowly through space towards them.

God, you know, it would be really cool if the Imperium, like, decided to do, like, research. How dare you, sir? How dare you? Because I'm sitting here, I'm like, God, where have I heard this before of the Imperium not understanding the power of their enemy? Because any looking into said enemy would be going against the belief that humanity is the best. Oh, we got, okay, we got orcs, we got crons. We, like, it just, it just keeps doing it.

Yeah, they sure do. And it keeps costing them big. I mean, at some point, you know, someone will have gone. I, I think we should maybe look into why they are so good at killing us and then immediately got shot. You know, it happened. Oh, yeah, yeah. How dare you, how dare you assume that these animals could ever hold a candle to

humanity's power? How dare you? It might not have been an immediate shot to the head. They might have gotten put in line to become a servitor or something. You don't know. True, true. They could still be, and the air quotes are working really hard on this one, alive. Big air, air quotes are doing heavy lifting there, yeah.

Fortunately, fortunately, General Drost never really believed that the glittering shield could fully stop this advance. He had preemptively split up some of the forces on their way to the belts and had them reinforced separately around the gas giant of Aeros, so the tech priest had enough time to prepare Vortex missiles that were paid for long ago by the criminal elite of Asphodex. He wanted these artillery forces to lie low, so they wouldn't take the brunt of a potential hit. His plan was to allow the tips of the cryptoid tendril to penetrate through the system without much hindrance. But as soon as the first wave went through, they would unload. distracting the nids and hopefully rerouting them to allow for more reinforcement. He also knew that if a ground war were to take place in the early stages, the Cadians would have no trouble containing the nids.

Oh, oh, drost. Oh, man. If only a little research had been done. If only we knew, how could we? His theory would be tested quite rapidly as the stalled fleet would begin to splinter. The men stationed would begin to give their lives to buy their comrades a fighting chance. Millions of bioships would begin to pour through with their now unique and unnaturally cold armour. Outnumbered dozens of times over, the space battles were futile

and lost within only a few hours. Yeah. Right. That's brutal. From, oh, we're probably going to deal with this without even firing a shot to, we've lost space in hours is a crazy switcher. Yeah, we won't have that. Well, this will be easy to, what do you mean they have new ablative ice armor and they're moving faster and oh no, we're dead. The what of Ball, Kiraeuf? The what? The perfectly normal day of Ball.

The forces on the reinforced worlds could only watch in horror as any hope of stellar aid was consumed helplessly in the void. The tendril would then split and forces would pour towards each and every shield world. So let's go over every one of those fronts real quick. We've got Asphodex, a highly industrialised world, and it's the primary hub of commerce in the system. The centuries of billowing smoke from the factories has caused the planet to be covered entirely

by a thick layer of smog and smoke that blocks out the eyes of cryptos. The streets are riddled with criminal activity, and the planetary governor, a guy called Augustus Flax, who refers to himself as the king of phodia, is an exceptionally powerful man who just doesn't give a shit. I mean, we could have gained that from him calling himself the king of phobia. You know, that's... Just your typical planetary governor, nothing out of the ordinary here. Just, yeah, that seems very on brand for, you know, mm-hmm. Standard-based. behavior. Yep.

There's rumors that he's become so paranoid of being overthrown that he's devised a network of tunnels so reinforced and so deep that they could ride out an exterminatus. Wow. You know, that's, that kind of rocks, though. I'm not going to lie. I love it. Yeah. That you could ride out an exterminatis is crazy.

Also, what did you do that you need these tunnels? You've got a plan ahead. If you're the planetary governor and you're calling yourself the king of phobia, which is, by the way, it's the primary city of the world. And it covers two thirds of the world's surface. If you're calling yourself king of that, you've got to be prepared for someone to show up at some point asking questions that you don't really have proper answers to, you know?

Pay your tithe, pay the tide, pay the tide, no matter what, pay the tithe. Anyway, go ahead. It should be no surprise, but this is the primary place where Mail and Dross decided to set up shop. During his trip from the Acadian Gate, he'd memorized every single data slate about this world, and by the time he landed, he easily knew more about it than anyone on the surface, especially the governor. When Dross arrived, Flax conceded the surface to the Astrom of the Tarum without a single lick of hesitation, especially since he could just peace out underground without trouble. He would immediately muster a masterful defence network across the entirety of the continent-sized phodia.

Since he knew that tight-quarter battles in the alleyways and side streets would be difficult to maintain for foot soldiers, he would strategically set up defences away from those areas while keeping a major presence nearby. Now, he would intentionally shepherd major populations of people away from the more derelict parts of the city, forcing the crime lords who lived there to act defensively for self-preservation as opposed to doing anything with criminal intent. Somehow, in only a few days, the closest thing to peace in a crime-filled war zone had been achieved. Every man would have their part to play in the coming days, and the fortifications on FOIA had been transformed into a continent-sized fortress

reminiscent of Kadia itself. Nice. It's a shame it took it in my... Go ahead. An invading Xenos force to make people stop killing each other. Yeah, I was going to say,

it's a shame that it took a literal tendril of the tyrannid showing up to finally get some peace in this place. But, you know, I guess... There's a really good... I don't know who said this was a while ago,

but they were talking about, like, racism in Warhammer. And they were talking about how, like, a lot of the racism that we experience in like our modern day is not applicable in Warhammer like that partisan even though there is clearly clearly lots of it there

but the word they used was because in the world of 40K black and white put aside their differences to gang up on green and that's that's kind of what I get by this where it's like yeah you know everyone started becoming best friends because purple is going to fuck you up purple is going to eat you

So Lysios was a world ravaged in the past by the eyes of Cryptus, resulting in its ice caps melting. The rapid rise in sea levels resulted in the ocean of the world getting caught in the erratic orbit of its moon, Ixoi. Now, as the moon orbits Lysius, it drags the ocean along with it, making permanent settlement impossible on the world. So, the population of the world has reverted to a nomadic life in crawler hulks that cover the surface and move along with the tide. This has resulted in the populace being a bit more superstitious in their belief system. So, of course, when the sororitus landed led by Canaaness Magda Grace of the Sacred Rose, the ladies decided to make this a bit of a pet project along with general mustering. They intended to see the superstitions expunged, and one way or another, the emperor will be given his due.

Plus, a hyper-religious front is a good front to have when it comes to an apocalyptic battle. The sisters had actually been on the planet quite a bit before the concerns about the High Fleet and were quite literally about to usher in religious persecutions before the tyrannids decided to show themselves. Nice. The nomads almost got lucky there. Almost. Yeah, they traded one invader for another, yeah, pretty much. Word about the tyrannids got under the Canaaness's skin due to a previous harrowing encounter with the menace.

Every night she dreams of the sister she'd lost after a conflict on Desocran, where she was hunted by a single lictor for days. It left her scarred, but she dealt a fatal blow, ending that invasion. Unless a woman would have resigned, but the canoness tempered herself with the knowledge that the tyrantid hordes could be beaten. The sororitus wasted no time to adopt new tactics, to not only fight the incoming threat, but to keep the faith up in hopes of making the nomads become an extra fighting force. Moon of Ixroy is a gigantic irradiated mess that's covered in a thick and fatal noxious haze, but it is essential to the shield. Without the isotopes that are harvested on it, there would be no void domes. Because of the value of this moon, Dross would assign all of his Vostroian assets

to defend it. Cadian infantrymen would quickly succumb to the fumes of the surface, but the Vostroians are stinky boys and doubled up on protection thanks to the iron skins of their tanks and the rebreathers that are standard issue to each and every one of them. In particular, it would be the 1,635th first-born mechanized as a bloody mouthful. Doesn't exactly blow off the tongue, doesn't it? Better known as the Vostroian Hammers. Originally, they were going to go to Satis, but Commander Alexei Dimitrin and his men were rerouted,

and before the unfurling of the Tendrol, they had just enough time to prepare their weapons and retread their vehicles to handle the surface of this terrible moon. Devostroians have some of the best uniforms for the guard, just throwing that out there. Big hats. No, you can't beat a big hat of rebreather. It just looks so good. It's not even that. It's the black and red and gold, which is already a award-winning combination.

But it's the giant hats along with the Ginro style red eyes. lens gas mask over or underneath the big hat. I mean, I mean, how do you how do you beat that? It's just perfect. Yeah, it's pretty good. So good. Now, Eros is a gas

giant of immense size and though it's a gas giant it's still able to be mined for liquid prometium. In orbit around the planet are city-sized erosian mining platforms and they are constantly prone to void conflicts and raids due to the immense wealth held in their storage banks. Despite the

in these platforms, Aeros does not have much by way of defences and ground support is impossible. So protection of this world comes courtesy of Major Herig Jensd of the newly reformed 1,4333kadian Airborne. Him and his Valkyri pilots would use the floating platforms as rendezvous points as they practice three-dimensional grids of the podiums on the outer layers in the event of a full invasion. The last of the worlds was Tartarus, a tortured planet covered in magma and saturated with unfathomable amounts of radiation. However, it's the Imperia. So it's still settled,

and the void shield domes of the world protect the farms that harvest raw energy from the surface that powers the entire system. Once one of those domes has harvested its maximum amount energy-wise, a low-orbit-structure called the Magnovitrium steers into place above it, harvest the energy from the dome, and then channels it across the system

to a pre-arranged receptor dish to provide power to one of the worlds. Because of this, it is perhaps the most important world in the shield, but also the hardest to defend. Cadians would be stationed there in force, and they would also be the ones the most in the know about what was happening in the system, thanks to the Magnovitrium being a very reflective

and well-connected platform. Also, the Magnovitrium is a surprise tool that will help us later on. Oh. Mysterious. So if Tartarus falls, it all falls, because you just lost your energy source for the system. You were just done. Yep, that's it. You've lost it. You've lost, you've lost your power. Goodbye. Yeah. Could look against all those gaunts, I guess.

Damn, if only we didn't make the magma-crusted world so important. Damn. It's a lot easier to defend. Initially, things were looking good at some of the major fields of battle, particularly on Asphid and Lyceus, not coincidentally the places where two major named characters are, the streets and ruins of these worlds were thick with dead tyrannid biophorms. If we could call it a day on day one, then it could be one of those Pyrrhic victories that we love, but with the needle pointing more towards OK victory.

It was difficult for all the worlds to fully communicate with one another during this first day due to the sheer volume of tyrannids, and the astrophaths struggled greatly. Commissars that accompanied Drost's expedition were stationed with each astrophatic conclave and were executing any among them that were claiming that all was actually lost. Classic.

Oh, damn it. What happened to the working together part? That was happening so nicely for so little. Well, it is the Imperium, so, you know. Commissars aren't about that life. They don't want it. They've got their own ideas. Many of the astrophaths claimed a greater doom was still coming, but we don't need those kind of vibes, so they got shot in the head.

Even though the evacuation vessels in high orbit would confirm reluctantly that this was only a small wave all things considered. The efforts of what Dros did at the belts brought the defenders quite a bit of time between invasion waves, and morale for those not near an astropath were pretty high. Some of the locations hadn't really been attacked yet either. Aros and Tartarus had been left almost completely alone at this point. Word, however, would come through that contact with Ixoi and the Vostroians had been completely lost. There was no time for celebration. I've got a little quote for you here, Bricky. All right. The Imperials had weathered the first day of the storm, and a large proportion of the war effort had yet to commit to the fight. If this system

were to be swallowed by the tyranids, it would at least stick in their throat, or as Drost himself put it, Force the void spawn monsters to choke. What's, um, oh God, uh, my movie knowledge is failing me. Is it Day of the Dead where the guy is getting eaten by the zombies and he's like, choke on it. The old George Romero film. I think it's the old George Romero film. Yeah, that sounds right.

Oh, God. What an amazing tactic. Just, you know, it'd be fine. They'll choke to death on all the dead. Yes. But the tyrannists. It works for the machines when we put it up guardsmen and it surely will work for the bugs. Yeah.

The tyrannids, though, would continue to fall on these worlds like raindrops. For each dead tyrannid, two stood in its place and not only where their numbers being more consistently reinforced, but they were truly starting to adapt. The Imperium were thrown quite literally everything they had at them on day one, and it was time for the tyrannies to throw it all back at them. on day two. From one side of the system to the other, the tendrils of Leviathan would begin to fully choke the life out of the shield worlds, and the worlds in the system would fall faster than those that had defied the tyrannids in prior conflicts. The full-blown second assault from them

was not only a culmination in what the Nids had learned from this conflict, but also all imperial conflicts prior. The imperials were outmatched, outnumbered, and out of time. All that could be done was flee as best they could. Barely a million refugees would reach the Evac zones and even the ships that managed to escape were often torn out of the sky by the bugs. I just want to give you a quick reminder as to the number of people on the shield worlds when they started this. Oh yeah.

40 billion plus the three million? Yes, that is correct. And also worst possible enemy to deal with this. by the way, because those 40 billion are now turning against you because they've been absorbed into the fleet. Yeah, not great.

Rough. It's a rough, a rough ratio of losses there from 40 billion to also barely a million. It's not even a solid million. It's not even claim that. It's not quite a million. I like

how you have taken like several billion people's death. I was a little rough. Like it was just like, oh yeah, I showed it. This is catastrophic. This is apocalyptic.

It's a little rough. A little rough is dropping your sandwich at lunch, man. This is 40 billion dying. In the world of Warhammer, how truly apocalyptic could it be? I mean, it's still pretty bad, I feel like. Yeah, no, I'm mainly being full of shit. That sucks.

Okay. Cool. I was like, am I, am I the problem here? Am I the out of touch? No, it's the children. I feel like, yeah, 40 billion is enough for even the Imperian to be like, this isn't going well. Yeah, this is bad. This is.

I think we might have made a mistake here. When the ships began to leave Lyceus, the planet was being hailed as a victory, and the sister's battle strategy had been exceptionally effective. Magda would stay behind and fight hard to allow for the survivors to escape safely. However, the mass religious conversions carried out by the sisters and the Canaaness proved to be a success at the very last second. A full half of the citizens that the Canaaness had hoped to evacuate would turn back to fight alongside her,

believing that protecting her was protecting the Emperor's Holy Light. Hell yeah. Ultimately, as the tide shifted, the tendrils of the tyrantes were like straws drinking a healthy broth of brine and dead bodies. What a description. Nice. Yeah.

Her final stand would be facing down a lictor, one that looked suspiciously like the one that had haunted her nightmares for years. She would triumphantly yell, I will kill you a dozen more times if I have to, before being cut down by it. The Indiana Jones style moment there. Yeah. Long sister him and diatribe, and then the thing just kills her. Just shoots her in the face. Jesus Christ Some sisters would remain on the surface

And sister superior Amity Hope Would command them going forward On Ixoi The tyrannid spools would be so heavy That it would discolour the already fucked up And irradiated colouring of the moon As the atmosphere cleared due to consumption The landscape of torn tanks

Was visible from pole to pole The once proud Vastroian firstborn armaments Had been stripped to the treads and the toxic surface just aided in the digestion of this world for the hive. In the same way, Aeros had been transformed into a miasma of poison. At first, the Valkyries had taken a pretty heavy toll on the Tyrannid sky swarms, but by the end of the second day, the atmosphere had become so choked with bioform spores

that visibility had been impossible. The Cadean Airborne had no choice but to fully disengage in the vague hope of helping elsewhere. I mean, it's going very, very, like, catastrophically badly on every single front in a way that, I feel like, you know, when it comes to 40K novels, obviously everything is really bad all the time. But the sheer amount of horrible death in such a short amount of time, I feel like this is one of the more brutal examples. I was about to say that, Chad, this is day two, and they have blotted out the sky. and arrows to the point where visibility is done. And it's like, oh my God, that's, that's like, that's, that's, that's more nids than was in Space Marine 2.

I actually, well, if I'm not mistaken, Space Marine 2 is like a, like a medium size. It's a slinter, right? Yeah, it's like not particularly huge. I kind of forgot it was day 2. It seems like this, it's been like a week. And it's like, oh no. Yeah. Stay two and they're already in arrows.

Even a week is wild to think about it. Yeah. It feels like this should be, it's been, it's been a month of hard fighting, but unfortunately we've just lost too much ground. Not we are 48 hours in and 39 billion people are dead. Like that is insane. This is that, what is it? What is it, the Tintin meme? It was like, oh boy, what a week it's been capping.

It's Tuesday. I want to see that, but with Tintan and the captain being dressed as Cadians. That's what we want to say. See, I like that. I like that. However, I kind of prefer the captain looking like Dante. Just because it kind of goes in line with his personality a bit more. Yeah.

What a week, Mephiston, Dante is Thursday. So the great city on Asphrates would burn to ash, as the defences of General Drost would collapse due to the sheer volume of invaders. The collapse would be aided by Dross's disappearance at the height of battle. Not ideal. Just gone. Not even his command would know where he was. If he still lived, he must have carried a heavy burden of guilt and rage,

for over 98% of his command had perished. Finally, the void generators of Tartarus had been reduced to rubble, and those defending it had either been decimated by wrecker beasts or boiled alive by the atmosphere itself. It was impossible to not only send reinforcements to this world, but also to rescue survivors. The magnivitrium would hang uselessly in the sky. Across all the worlds, the tyrannage would begin to feast without fear of interference because at this stage the Imperium had met its match, and the consumption of biomass would make the tendril curl more inward,

causing the shadow in the warp only to grow thicker. Only one telepathic distress cry would be able to escape the Aegis Diomando and echo through the warp. It was a desperate scream for help because ultimately if it was to reach anyone out there, it would already be too late. And the would-be defenders would only be dooming themselves. The signal would find its mark, though. And that mark would ensure that this video would have a very specific sticker in the top right-hand corner. Oh, it means to Dante? Hell yeah.

Let's go on. Hey, we mentioned Dante earlier, so we get the sticker regardless, but this is like, this is actually part of the story now. Let's go. We got to make it, we got to make even more prominent. It has to be like really features Dante from the Devil's Donald series. So the subheading for this is literally featuring Dante of the Warhammer 40,000 series. So it's official. It's in the script. And we're going to start on. with a quote from UDK. All right. Upon the command deck of the blade of vengeance,

Commander Dante stood, a golden god in shining sculpted Saramite. The journey through the warp had been nightmarish. Throughout the space marine fleet navigators and astrapass late dying in their dozens. It was a steep price to breach the psychic miasma thrown by the Tyrannid High Fleet, but one Dante was willing to pay

if there was a chance cryptos, if there was a chance cryptos of its people, could be saved. Your dying is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make. Thanks, Dante. He's just, he's doing his best, all right? He's old. He's tired.

What are you going to do? I've been alive two goddamn long. Sacrifice the assy. They're dying everywhere. Everyone dies except me. I want that for me. Dante had suspected from the drop. that the Krypton Shield would fall.

Though his primary focus was on Baal, he had already assembled a sizable and intimidating force on the ready in the event of a distress call. When that call came, he would be ready, and he would have help courtesy of the blunt and violent axe, known as the flesh terrors, led by chapter master Gabriel Seth, the best boy. As they travelled through the warp,

the true scale of destruction would slowly be realised. He would watch on the hololith projector and see the worlds of the shield, but also see the unimaginable wave of tyranny, Nids that now populated the system. At first, he thought the lack of Vox information from the defenders was interference, but as he watched the flickering and fading

of the evacuation ships, he realized that the shield meant to protect Ball had collapsed entirely in only three days. That's awful. It's absolutely horrific. And Shai said Nids usually take like 50 days-ish to destroy a system, and this is three freaking days? This is crazy.

This tendril is not fucking around. No. There was no sort of, how we're going to do a bit of probing, we're going to see what we need to adapt to. No, all in, straight away,

we want all of this biomass, preferably 48 hours ago. Just annihilates everything. I want to have this whole system on my desk by yesterday. Now, a lesser general would consider this a lost cause. I'm sure the most general. I must be the worst general in the world then.

What general would be like, ah yeah, this is salvageable. Hello? Now, mate, we've got this. Easy. It's fine. But for Dante, this thought never crossed his mind. When the tyrannids had finished consuming these worlds,

the tendril would rush to ball and Dante would not allow this to happen. He would assess the worlds of the system and their current status and gather his advisors together to figure out next steps. The greatest strength of the tyrannids was focused on Asphodex and Lyceus, so the bulk of the forces would have to go there. Tartarus, despite having value in the past, held no value at the moment and also no life, so it wasn't a priority. Neither was Ixoi. Eros, however, did have some evidence of life held up in the atmosphere, so some forces did have to go there. The first company of Blood Angels, the Archangels, mostly Terminators, would be held in reserve for the most part. An exception would be made for a small task force that

would go to Asphodex led by First Captain Carlin. The majority of the second company, the bloodied, would be the ones to make their landing on Asphodex in force to link up with any surviving imperial units, while in orbit the blade of vengeance and half the remaining fleet would remain. Dante would take charge of this zone personally, as it was the highest concentration of biomass in the system. The remaining second company would be commanded by Captain Aphiel and he would take them along with the remaining Blood Angels vessels to Aeros. They would be tasked with finding survivors on the platforms and assisting with any further evacuation attempts. There was a second goal with this too. Head of the Sanguinary Priesthood Corbilo has dedicated his

life to the search for a cure to the black rage and the red thirst. These rumours had led him to determine that the shield may hold the key for a cure. Remember that whole satix elixa that helped people living in the red scar? Well, there's rumours that it may actually quiet other mutations in the blood, including gene defects. In the past, he'd managed to get some samples, but not pure ones. There's a belief that the elixir is able to be harvested on the gas giant of Eros, and if his theories are right, it could be a saving grace for the chapter, which, you know, we'll check back on that later. I will say on that front, maybe pick your battles. Maybe deal with the tyrannid first and then and then do the side quest.

Obviously, the black rays, the red first, not ideal, not great. You don't really want to be dealing with that long term, even though they have been dealing with long term. But your shield for your home planet has been absolutely obliterated in 72 hours. I think maybe wait until that's dealt with to go hunting for an elixir, maybe. That's just me. I'm not bullying. No, no, you might be too late by then. You misunderstand.

This is the victory of ball. This is not. You must understand the priorities that are important here. You clearly are, as they said, the lesser general. This is the triumph of ball, obviously, is what we're talking about, right? the glory of Ball, the survival of Ball. Also, theoretically, Aeros could get destroyed, and any chance of curing the Black Rage would go with it

if the Tyrann is completely consumed. So, devil's advocate, I could see why he was like kind of in a rush to go to Aeros, get the thing figured out, potentially get a cure for the Black Rage, and then dip because Aeros kind of like, isn't like the atmosphere blotted out with flying Tiranin? You know what?

I'll give you that. I'll give you that. You would hate to skip the opportunity because it feels like there's bigger things at play and then go back to it and find that it's just gone. That would be back. It's a melted soup bowl and it's like, well, there was a cure here, but emphasis on was. I'll give me that. I'll give me that one.

That's totally fair. Yeah. So I get it. Yeah, you've taught me around. Not a bad plan there, Corbolo. Nice one. The liberation of Lyceus would be under the command of Seth and the flesh terrors. They were tasked with clearing a landing zone and seeking survivors.

Seth assured Dante that this would be done, and Dante had faith in him, despite, you know, the implication. They were a savage lot, but they still had honour to them. And if nothing else, they were still sons of Sanguineas. Dante would board the Stormraven spear of Baal with chief librarian Mephiston and begin the assault on Asvodex. In the ruins of Fodia, a singular spaceport remained in the hands of the Imperium. The rest of the city streets crawled with horrible bioforms while its skies were darkened by swarms of monsters. Dante's arrival would be a literal spear plunging into the heart of the hive mind. As he descended to the surface, the true size of the swarms became apparent,

and he would abandon his plan to link up with defenders. Instead, he would redirect his battle brothers to defend the gates of the spaceports and drive them off to form a stronger exclusion zone. Almost immediately, the hive mind would respond to the landing of the blood angels both on the surface and the sky. The blood angels were more than ready, and the axe mortales would become unrecognizable under gallons of gore. God down. All right, cool. The swarm would break upon the golden warriors, and in less than, than an hour, Dante and his host would successfully drive off the swarm around the port

and secure it. But the regrouping of the tyrannids happened at a surprising speed, giving them only minutes of reprieve. Mephiston would feel something terrible, and Dante will get the memo. It was time to hunker down and hold the line. The psychic might of the now well-established tyrannid population was mighty, but they were able to hold the line and reinforce their fortifications enough to allow for more supplies to land and for a command center to be structured. Now, as they were establishing this foothold, Dante would encounter three Cadians, two of which were supporting a limping one in the middle. The man would introduce himself as General Drost of the 185th.

He survived. He did it. He made it. He made it. Holy shit. Dante would look at him and see how truly fucked up he was. Wow, pardon. Okay.

God down. Not like he hasn't been through anything. The fact he's still around is frankly miraculous. This two survive the fall of Gavia, too? What? Jesus! This guy is, god damn. He's incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky,

depending how you look at it, given where his deployments have led him. But, you know, he's a hero and deserves respect. Dante would just ask him how many survivors, remained, and Rost would answer quietly, It's just us, my lord. We are the last ones. Oh, man.

On Lyceus, the nomadic people had gone through quite a bit, and the last of their crawler convoys would work overtime to keep ahead of the tidal wave of tyrannids that pursued them. At the centre of this convoy was the solarium, which was a huge vehicle that served as the planet's link to the now derelict magnivitrium, and flanked on either side were the remaining sororitus vehicles and transports from the Order of the Sacred Rose.

This is the scene that Seth and the flesh terrors would come across when they arrived, and Seth would make contact with Magda Grace's successor, Sister Superior Amity. She was pretty blunt. In order to survive, they had to punch a hole through the Tyrannid forces to buy them enough time to escape. The numbers were against them, and even though he scowled, Seth would see this as an opportunity. The second company had a quote-unquote easier time in the skies of Eros, and under the command of Afil they managed to secure the survivors, but it also allowed for Corbolo's quest to be undertaken. Across the system, they were able to hold the line.

But nothing meaningful was truly gained. If the Blood Angels were to push back against the devara, they couldn't do it alone. Do we want... Do we want bets? Oh, I suppose it depends on how much you already know about this story. It's definitely going to be Eldran. It's always...

It has to be the Eldar, of course. So true. Immediately my... My brain immediately goes to Ultramarines because who else would swoop in and save the day other than our intergalactic Boy Scouts. I mean, it's not a bad guess. It is not a bad guess.

A few billion miles away on that world that Possum told us not to worry about, Perditer. Prison barges sent by Drost were still en route to drop off criminals and the movement of these barges caught the attention of the hive. desperation resulted in the crash landing of these barges on the snow-torn world, and the now freed prisoners would fight amongst themselves,

knowing that they were going to be eaten by the tyrannids anyway. However, in the swirling blizzard, the prisoners saw that things were coming towards them. Skeletal things. The lights of their eyes complemented by the bright shine of their weaponry. The prisoners, unfortunately, were helpless as the necrons wiped them out, but as the necrons looked to the stars and saw the approach of biological, craft, they knew the rest of the world would have to awaken. Pertiser was a tomb world, and Anriqir, the traveller, would preemptively awaken it,

along with the Necron overlord of the world Zarathusa of the Mifrit dynasty. Plans were made between him and Anriqir. Purditor would be saved from destruction, even if they needed help doing so. Oh, shit! I remember now. I feel so silly. It's the Timo. Yeah, it's the team up.

We've talked about us before. I was too focused on the Eldrad bit. We've talked about this before because I... We have. But we don't know. If you don't remember, then we don't need to spoil it. It'd be more fun when we get there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So Necrons. That's a good thing we talked about the new book earlier because, hey, look, they're here. We'll talk together. It'd be so cool if Unrecere had a model. That'd be crazy. Oh, wait. they legends him because they suck.

Yeah, that does suck. I just does suck. He's really cool. And Rick here is really cool. He had this really awesome ability in like eighth edition or something where, maybe it was ninth where he would like, uh, take one gun from an enemy vehicle and shoot it at themselves because his whole thing is messing with mechanics and machines. Yeah.

That's cool. He looks like. It was really fun. It was really fun. I was like, hey, riptide. Kill your friends. It was really fun It was a great time actually

Rail cannon yourself Now A bit of a bit of retro Dodge this action going on Like it is As Dante looked at plans A Tech Marine would enter the war room Something was beelining it across the system

And even the hive mind paused As this thing flew past Dante saw through the hollow lift A crescent-shaped craft and knew what it was immediately. Necron tech. The ship flew past all the other planets until it was in orbit above Asphodex.

Bioships attempted to fuck around with it and they found out. Dante would stand atop the battlements and would watch as the Necron Pyramids rained down across Fodia. On the nearest craft, a glowing gateway would open up, revealing Anrache.

The blood angels would point their weapons, but Dante would hold them back. He knew that if the Necrons wanted them dead, they would have already been killed. Anrache would hold out a hand towards Dante and say in high Gothic, any chance of an audience? That's not what he said. That'd be a cheeky thing to say after doing that.

Yeah. I don't think you'd lead with any chance, would you? The Necron's had a plan and a solution to all the problems. You know that old magnivitrium thing that's hanging in the sky that powered the whole system? Well, that was... The thing that you said that we should make. Maybe not think about. Yeah.

Yeah. It's just there. And it's also actually a Necron device. And it's not called the Magnovitrium. Its real name is the Star Flame. I was waiting for subtle. You know the thing that powers your whole place that you think is a safety device? Yeah, it's just a big galaxy wide doomsday device.

Just a galactic flame thrower, just chilling out. It was being used as a harvester of energy, but it could also be used to focus energy into something unfathomable. Anrikear's plan was to reactivate the device and use it to draw as much energy as possible from the systems to ignite the core of the gas giant Eros. You know what? Even having read this through already in preparation for the app,

I totally forgot that happens. So my shit-talking corbolo for being like, yeah, I just want to get samples from this gas giant. I mean, hope you got your cure. But I totally forgot. Because aerosling turned into a planetary bomb. Corbolo, I cannot apologize enough.

I was unnecessarily harsh. You have the right idea. You did things in the right order. I take it all back. My terrible memory is not your problem. But, you know, yeah, perhaps I treated you too harshly. I legit totally forgot that that happens. God, I'm not.

It's only been about five hours since I've read it through as well. That's bad. Anyway, this was not a means of total eradication of the tyrannids. It was a way to cause heavy damage to them and halt their movement for a good amount of time. The final orders in the system were to take control of the device by reactivating the plinths on the surface of Tartarus, which would be handled by a death company, while retaking the respective relays inphodia and Lyceus. Dante would send a message out astropathically ordering extermination, of the Worlds of the Shield in order to buy Balmour Time. On Lyceus, Seth and Amity Hope would make

their stand to assure the total control of the relay dish, while Blood Angels and Necrons worked side by side on Fodia to secure the one there. The death company called Strike Force Mortallis and led by Chaplain Arafan, however, dealt with literal hell on the surface. Their job was impossibly hard, but they did have some incredible help. would throw a poker ball and summon the shard of the burning one, a fiery giant that would wreak havoc on the surface. Oh, shit. All right, pretty cool.

Wow, yeah, that's a, that's a nice thing to have on your side. Phenomenal. Jeez. It doesn't it will give you a hand with this? You just get on with it. Now, it wasn't a huge amount of time. that the shard of the burning one was active, but it was enough to blunt the tyranid waves

and their initial reinforcements, but it wasn't quite enough to, like, assure total victory. To be fair, there's a lot of bloody tyrannids around. The entity that would assure victory was the arrival of the sanguinalore whose presence assured that the job could be completed. The preparations were set, and the magnivitrium would be activated.

Let's go. We love it when the sanguonore shows up. Let's go. Right. No, he's cool. Everyone thinks it's cool. Yeah. Yeah.

That must have felt like a very weird day for Chaplin Arafan especially. First, the shard of the burning one. I've got a piece of a god for you. And also here's this incredibly significant fabled figure from your chapter's mythology who's also going to help. Like, what a day. What a weird day. The odds of seeing those two in the same day and surviving to see.

Oh boy, you buy a scratcher because, uh, I'm expecting some random civilian who somehow stuck this out and survive looking at their window and being like, what in the ever-loving hell? There's the god of fire and an actual angel. Yeah. Mama's never going to believe me when I tell her about this one. Like, yeah. The shockwave of the Magnovitrion would be witnessed by Dan. in Fodia as all the other worlds would face devastation. Their temporary allies had vanished after a job well done and the Blood Angels and Dross forces were left on their own. Asvedex's atmosphere is thick

and it had protected the surface from immediate incineration but there was no time left. Everyone needed to escape. No more allies would die today. The Blade of Vengeance would coordinate the evacuation at Dante's behest while also learning the status of everyone else in the system. Though they managed to save the system, the death company had fully fallen, but most other elements, including the flesh terrorists and sisters, withdrawing. But there was a failure. Corbulo's mission to get the Satrix elixir had failed. Mephistan says that the devourer grows hungrier and angrier and that action needs to be taken.

Dante gives a speech declaring that the true shield of Baal is not the planet or the stars, but a barrier of flesh, blood and will. and I'm really sorry but the first time I read that all I could think was the real... Was the friends we made along the way? Yes.

I was waiting for a gap so I could say that dude. We're all so stupid. We all thought the same goddamn. Exactly the same thing. Oh, dear. Those who died by the millions

were the true shields and oh, no, I can't even all right, I need a second. I'm just making myself laugh now. Those who died by the millions were the true shields, and the blood angels will not allow the last of them to die in pain. He raises his axe and asks for one last stand for humanity.

The arrival of Thunderhawks and Storm Ravens assures that the evacuations can begin, and Dante orders a layer-by-layer tactical retreat, and though ancient vehicles and irreplaceable armour is left behind, they do complete their escape. Back on the blade of vengeance, Dante walks the halls as the ship's cannons pound the dying world of bits. He passes by the bodies of retrieved battle brothers who are being praised by Chaplain Order Mail while the status of their progenoids is checked for damage and repurposing and their war gear is removed. Arifayo Dante's query meets Dante and

Parsim is very sorry to say this but he is Dante's 67th personal equerry. Just I'm just going to let that settle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. He offers him a goblet Yeah He does offer him a goblet of wine But Dante is in no mood for wine Fair

Seven archangels have died Twelve have been wounded And many more damaged Dante wants numbers But Captain Carlin has none They're still assessing the war gear He passes by a crowd of Imperial Guardsmen Who call out for his blessing

These men are standing here And clearly have not been tended to He tells them that they've won a great battle And the chapter owes them a debt He learns that Drost is being treated by an apothecary and he orders that the troops are to be shown proper accommodations and refreshments. It's the least they can do for their sacrifices. Dante reflects on the conflict. A victory, maybe, but not a triumph. It's a temporary reprieve. This is merely a splinter of a splinter. How many more

world would have to die while he lived? All these victories have been at a cost and even though they could briefly ally with an enemy to make this quote-unquote victory possible, Dante can't envision humanity uniting. The war seems unwinnable, and even though he doesn't have the foresight of Sanguineas, he can feel that the end is near. Someone gives him a hug. Come on. He's going to say so much for optimism.

Like, damn, he's really Dante maxing. God. If only he was a better general, you know, he would have rallied the troops. So true, dude, so true. Also, that's a lot of Terminator damage. Like, that's, that many archie. Angels. Yeah, and Rick here is out here being like, what's the big deal, dude?

Just live forever like me. God, you guys, you people are so mopey. So dramatic. God. Come on, my 400 warrior slaves. Let's get out of here. This party sucks. Everyone's miserable.

Let's go do something else. So Dante, close. his eyes and praise to Sanguineas and ask for forgiveness. He pledges to never give in, and if he can't ensure a better future for humanity, he will see it has a glorious end. Even now. Jesus. The Primark has never answered before, but this time is different. A blaze of light shines through the deck, fading away to reveal the golden figure of the sanguanor. All activity on the hangar stops as everyone drops to their knees in the presence of this deity.

everyone except Dante the sanguinald stares at him and strides directly towards him Dante feels like he's done something wrong by standing there in front of the sanguinal wearing the face of his primark as if guided by something unseen Dante removes his helmet and exposes his

true face to the sanguanor he asks why is he here has he failed has he come to condemn him are these events the will of sanguinius and I've got a quote for you here Bricky okay There were no words.

The sanguador was ever silent. Dante dropped his voice to a whisper. Is there hope? Can Ball be saved? Dante expected no reply. There was not a single record of the sanguador ever speaking. The presence of the sanguador seemed to swell and fill his vision with its purity and its light. Ferocious in battle, a great peace surrounded it now, and it settled on Dante like a blessing.

There is yet hope, said the sanguador. With a rush of air, it vanished. A maze voices rose up all over the hangar. It spoke. The sanguador spoke, voices called. Dante replaced his mask with shaking hands. Oh. Spooky.

But good spooky. But good spooky. Yeah. Because even Dante's like shaken. And also, man, I was kind of expecting Dante to take his helmet off and sanguiner be like, oh, put it back on. Sanguanor spoke. Do not show me that face.

I didn't manifest here to be looking at that shit. Yeah. Oh, put the Primark's face back on, buddy. Gally. That is further depressed. They can't catch a break. That is really quite huge. Like, the Sanguador does not talk

ever and just appearing to just be like don't give up and then leaving again again another fairly wild incident in this series it's the only known time has ever spoken

ever yeah yeah literally no one has ever heard it heard the sangu nor speak ever there is no record of it ever happening before that moment so the rare times it's shown up to like help the the Blood Angels. It's never been, like, rallying the troops. It just shows up, kills everything,

leaves. Pretty much, yeah. Huh. That shows up. Does a hell of a lot of damage. You know, morale goes through the roof because the second. Of course it does. And then it just pisses off. Never speaks to anyone, doesn't communicate directly. Just sort of let's, uh, let's the, fighting do the talking, so to speak. So to just show up in a non-combat scenario, give like a little pep talk and then leave, it simply does not do that ever. Yeah. God, really shows how bad shit is here too. Not that they needed a reminder, but like, if that's happening, things are really in the shitter.

Yeah. So on the one hand, I appreciate you telling me that all is not lost. But the fact that you showed up to tell me that is in itself an indicator that things are very, very bad. Yeah. you don't act like this normally. Amazed voices rise across the hangar, and Ordemail runs to Dante demanding to know what the sanguador said. Dante announces that the sanguador has indeed spoken and that they will prevail.

Cheers erupts through the hangar, but Dante cannot share in this optimism. For fuck's sake, Dante. Told you was Dante, Maxing. Something incredible has just happened. Take it at face value for once. He watches them celebrate for a moment, but the outward pride masks a deep sadness. Of course it does. Dante bathes in an attempt to heal and rest his wounds, but this doesn't clear his mind. Arafayo hands Dante a towel, but with shaky hands. Dante tells him that they both must rest, but Arafo says that his duty is nothing compared to his.

He failed his tests at the place of choosing, but even still he'll carry Dante's burden however he can, no matter how small. Dante says he will rest after a red council meeting. He enters the armor. Oh my God. Armorium to redress and clean the armor. Wow. Once again, whole, but also hollow. There's a lot of, there's a lot of, like, kind of banger, uh, descriptors in this one.

Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, so much of it is focused on just how miserable Dante is, but possums done a very good job. It's showing just how miserable Dante is. I mean, I guess that's just, that's just always Dante, though, right? That's just how he always is. It's true. It's true. He's got to be exhausting to be around at this point.

I mean, you're going to survive probably because he's a great warrior because that's why he's been around for so long. Great general. But, yeah, it's got to be absolutely exhausting to just be like your day. I can't imagine what a day off with Dante is like, God. How was you born? Actually, don't tell me. Don't tell me. I don't want to know.

It's fine. I'll just assume it was okay. So the Chamber of the Red Council on the Blade of Vengeance has 25 chairs representing the full council of the Blood Angels. It's an ornate and beautifully decorated room and the round nature of the table allows every voice to be heard. Present in the room are, and I got a personal apology in the script for this bit,

literally just says, sorry, Kariath. So we've got Dante, chaplain Aldermale, High Priest Corbolo, captains Carlin Raphael, Phaeton. Keeper of the Heaven Gate, Brother Belephyron, Captain Asante of the Blade of Vengeance, Tech Marine Musial, Chief Librarian Mifiston, and the Honoured Guest Chapter Master Gabriel Seth, Sister Superior Amity Hope, and General Drost. That's who's there.

I will not be taking questions or repeating any of it. Dante states that the battle in cryptos cannot ever be called a victory. They witnessed the absolute destruction of a highly populated and vital imperial system, and they did not have any luxury of choice. Fayton reports that there's roughly two million survivors total. Better than we thought. Better than we thought. It's still not great.

Absolutely atrocious. Yeah, that's, I mean, that is better than we thought in a technical sense. Yeah. We only lost 99.8% of everybody. Look, technically correct is the best kind of correct. So there's roughly two million in survivors' total, and starvation is going to set in soon. I forgot about that bit, because provisions are inadequate. So it gets worse, again.

Dante says they must be sent to another system. Drost suggests Kadia, but Carlin says that the Eye of Terror is a bit of a hassle. Dante asked Dross to provide a letter of demand for other systems to make aid contingent on mercy, while also requesting that aspirants be sought out from the survivors. The conversation shifts to the biggest issue at hand, the defence of Ball. Currently, the High Fleet is beginning its slow march through the Red Scar to Ward Ball, and the tip of this fleet is about a half-light year across and aimed directly for the Blood Angels' home world. Drost suggests attacking the guiding ships to dismantle their command network,

but the Nids have already adapted countermeasures against this. Fayton believes that shooting the big ones no longer works, and Corbular adds that the sheer volume of specialised organisms that the Turinids have cover virtually every base imaginable. Mephisto believes that psychic means can be employed to divine where the higher nexus on the ships reside despite potential camouflage, but this will take some time with his librarians, and he'll need to pull them from active combat duty. Dante then offers a grim assessment.

Other splinters of the hive don't show this level of accelerated evolution. Undeniably, the hive mind is actively seeking to destroy the blood angels outright, and they're already down a bit being a little over three quarters full strength. So the high line is specifically pushing hardest in here.

That's crazy. That sucks, dude. That's not good. Imagine being the sole target of what is effectively an intergalactic cosmic horror entity. Just fuck you guys in particular. that's that's rough that's real rough

I kind of hope they never I can't hope they never actually show the hive mind this like mysterious aura of it just controlling all of these tendrils is way cooler than actually knowing what the thing looks like you don't want to spoil the mystery do you and stuff like that

yeah Dante at this point has taken it upon himself to contact successor chapters including the angels Numinous Angels sanguine flesh eaters exsanguinators, blood drinkers, and the angels in Carmine, all of which have offered aid. When it comes to certainty, Dante is certain that 5,000 Astartis will defend Bal, but perhaps as many as 15,000 will be there by the Tyrannid's arrival.

Hell, even the renegade and hyper-violent knights of blood have offered to help freely. Afael says, hey, if we made good with the Necrons to help us out, maybe we should make good with some of our actual brothers too, huh? And Dante says that he's already tried calling the Lamenters, and they refuse. Aphail says that's not what he was talking about. And Dante looked at him and silently begged for him to mention the Angels Vermilion so he could beat the hell out of him. They will not be contacted and they know why. That's funny.

Wild. Say it. I dare you. Just fucking say it. Give me a reason, you piece of shit. Dante's strategy on Ball was to gather the majority of forces on the planet so that they could deal pinpoint precise blows to the fleets. Ball and its moon will be fully fortified so that they can meet the Xenos at the edge of the system in full. Taking a page from Dross Playbook, they helped to split the hive at the start so that they can more easily take them out. The Blood Angels and Seth approve of this strategy, but Drost has a heavy heart. many more will likely perish and that's not great since this is the only viable choice that they have

thousands of space marines together can likely push harder than any guard regiment at this stage the will of the emperor is clear the sons of sanguinius must fight for their home behind dante's mask he worries in the face of absolute destruction hope can't be the only thing that guides them it's truly not enough now at this point dante receives a message for from Hyde Chaplain Astorath the Grimm. The shadow in the warp has lessened slightly, and this message was sent with an extreme boost at the highest priority grade.

The message is a grave tiding from the Cadyan gate. Abadon, the Dispoiler, has emerged back from the Eye of Terror at the head of a Black Crusade of unprecedented size. Cadew is under attack, and Scarbrand has appeared. Astorath is taking the full strength of the demon baines to die more and positions Dante to send as many warriors as he can. If Abadon breaks free of the Cadian Gate, then he certainly has more than enough fighting forces to make a drive for terror.

This war was begun by their forebears, and they need to finish it. I mean, additional pressure, not really necessary for Dante at this point, but you've got a pile on the misery. And the good news just keeps pouring in. I don't remember if we talked about this, but was this intentional?

Or was this lucky? I honestly, I'm not sure. You'd think intentional. You would think intentional. There's a part of me that thinks it might be a little of both, where it's just like, you know, he was probably planning a big black crusade and it's like, oh, hey, you see what's going on with the blood angels and the nids?

This is a perfect time. Might as well jump at it, right? Yeah, if you've managed to find out that basically every blood angel successor chapter excluding the ones they hate are heading back to the home world to fight off an insanely driven tyrannid invasion, that's a good time to invade somewhere if you chaos. That's a really good time to do it. There's at least, you know, if you already know that there's a good 5,000 loyalists who won't be there, that's the time to strike.

If you have a plan, even like a, even if it's not fully fleshed out, now's the time to spring it because you can scratch the blood angels from the equation you want that yeah now at this point Dante's composure breaks and he slams his fist into a wall destroying

a mosaic honestly justified crash out on the one that's much more than acceptable more than acceptable surprised it took this long honestly he must think on this for a while as frankly it's quite lot to process. His soul is withering and he has to sort out yet another choice between two

evils. For guidance, Dante consults the souls of Sanguinius, which were written by the Primark and full of his musings and visions. He finds a passage where Sanguinius writes of visions that plague him of darkness that fills his heart with dread. He writes about a dream where mankind is diminished and the light of humanity goes out. A hunger permeates time and space that is more terrible than the hunger of his sons. This hunger rises from the east and swallows the moons of Baal. Before Baal's succumbus can be consumed, a light flashes upon it, and the hunger takes the shape of a dragon that consumes the stars. He sees his father as a ruined corpse trapped in machinery, and the dark gods fighting the hunger so they can have the pleasure

of landing the killing blow. Before the throne stands a golden warrior surrounded by custodians and other heroes. They fight, and they die. Sanguinius wakes and writes that the golden warrior sacrifices his life to protect the emperor. He doesn't know who the warrior is, but he is noble and true. Dante reads this and knows that others assume that this warrior is the sanguanor, but he fears that this warrior may actually be him. This makes him horribly uncomfortable, and it makes him just read the story over and over again compulsively. But now he's seeing all the pieces falling into place. The great devourer heading toward Baal, the forces of chaos striking from the eye of terror, the likelihood that this is him

becomes more and more clear. I think he'd be kind of stoked about that because that means his, you know, he's fuckers about to die finally. I don't know. Finally. I don't know if I got that far, but. You know, it's good a chance as any.

So Arafo enters with food and drink at this time, and though initially mad, Dante comes and speaks of his fears to his equerry. The collapse of the shield in only a few days and the inevitable invasion of his home. Arafayo says that Dante is the greatest hero the Imperium has ever seen, and Dante says this is probability and not anything special. He is not immortal, he's just old, and his long life means that he has, of course, seen more conflict.

Arafaio talks about how even when he failed his trial attempts, he heard stories of the great Dan and he wishes he could go back to speak to his younger self, to assure him that he had nothing to fear in the future, because serving Dante had been the greatest pleasure of his life. Dante remains uncertain about the future. To be a blood angel is to immerse yourself in blood and death, and his salvation is to defy it and turn death upon itself. He barely notices Arafo departing, as his equerry has done nothing to lessen his fears, though he can't deny that there's a paternal comfort when it comes to him being around. Now, I'm going to warn you, slight left field curve here, slight curveball, that's a mixture of two phrases that don't work together, that this is going to feel like it goes off the rails, or at least it did to me.

Suddenly, Dante hears a cry deep within the stacks of scrolls and books. He rushes to see what it was and sees Arafo kneeling on the ground. His wrists slit. Oh, what? What? Okay, I'm glad I wasn't alone in thinking that was a bit of a curve. Excellent. Good. Yeah. So Arafayo's left. He's gone into the life area. And he's on his way to the afterlife. Yeah, he is, it seems taken matters into his own hand.

I'm assuming this is just because the situation seems so hopeless, so unwinnable that fuck it, this is way better than inevitably becoming soup. Which he will become soup. Anyway, because his biomass still is there. At least he doesn't get to feel himself melting, I guess? Question mark? It's a puzzler. I'm sorry, what's his job again? He's the equerry to Dante.

So he sort of does all his, he's his PA, keeps his armor shiny, all of that stuff, brings him food and drink, looks after him. Right, right. He's his surf in a sense. Yeah, yeah. But, uh, well, not for long, apparently. Not anymore. I'm glad I wasn't alone in reading that and going, I'm sorry, what now? What?

That did catch me a little off guard. Maybe it's a little smoother in the book, but like in my mind right now, like, that, that's very quick. Yeah, same. Very, very in your face. and not necessarily in the way which you might want. Well, he has done this, and Dante is terrified as the scent of blood fills his nostrils. He yells and asks why Arafeo has done this, and Arefeo says that his time is done. Dante attempts to summon Corbolo, but Arafo pours at him to stop him.

He begs for him not to call for help. His time is done. Everyone has to die at some point, except Dante at this moment. Dante says this isn't true, and he will die. And Arafayo says, sure, but not yet. His presence and his mask on the field of battle in this terrible time makes all the difference, and he begs Dante to not give up. Either overwhelmed hearing the fears of Dante or compelled to assist him in the most selfless way possible,

Arafaio has done this to himself. Now, Dante cradles Arafo and swears that he will fight, and no man shall know what troubles him again. Arafo has one dying request. Grant him the angel's kiss. He chose to die now so Dante can take the strength of his blood to rise anew. He's literally doing the, drink my blood, it'll make you better. Yeah.

Also, I was kind of sort of thinking the same thing, shy, but I wasn't sure I should say it. Dante, your son disposition is infectious. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, he chose to die now so Dante can take the strength of his blood to rise anew. Dante says he can't. an oath to never drink living blood again, but Arafayo says he must break this oath. Drinking the stuff of life is the curse of the angels, and Dante needs it. He is weak without blood, and

Arafeo correctly says he's dying anyway. He bequeaths his blood to Dante. Against his will, Dante opens his mouth and his teeth slide into Arafo's wrist. As he drinks his blood, he sees Arafayo's life flashed before his eyes from a tough childhood to a life of grinding servitude to him. Dante weeps as he drains him of his life. A mix of emotions goes through his mind. Satisfaction, revulsion,

but ultimately calm. The weight of time on his shoulders sits more lightly. He can feel the tightening of his skin. The time for thought is done. He knows what he needs to do. I'm feeling like if he, you know, maybe drank a bit more blood a bit more often,

might be a bit more cheerful. just run out there. Seems like it's done some good. You know, there's this whole honor thing and, you know, don't drink, don't drink blood of humans, but. I was going to,

this feels like that very typical like heroic vampire, uh, storyline, right? Where it's like, oh, never, I'll only drink the,

the blood of rats because I can never, I can never bring myself to do it to a human. And then, you know, a human sort of forces the issue because, you know, you're better with blood. You're a blood,

you're a blood, you're a blood, yeah. Very, uh, what's the, is it the first Blade film? Was it the second one? Or is it all of them? I can't, I feel, I don't know whether it comes up as often as it feels like it does, but that's immediately where, where on my mind, where.

The duality of man, you thought Blade and I was thinking interview with the vampire. Oh, yeah. I was thinking, I totally forgot about that film. I was thinking what we do in the shadows. That's so you, too. That is, man. We're really. getting every mark.

It's a great show, though. I've only seen like clips of it, but it looks fucking. I've actually never seen the show. I've only seen the movie, though I've been told the show is as good, if not better than the movie. It's fantastic. It's so good. It's got that one actor. I don't know what his name is, but the New York.

Yeah. Matt Berry. Yeah. Legend. Absolutely incredible. Is it the Fly the Concords guy, too? No idea. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah, wait. Maybe it's just the movie. Maybe I'm wrong. Regardless, I should watch the show. I think really what I've just reinforced is that the trope is alive and well and applies across counten. All vampire media. Yeah.

So Dante watches as ships from the first, second and fifth companies peel away from the fleet and make their way in the warp to Cadia. Dante feels better. The crushing sense of utility was alleviated by Arafay. sacrifice, but only for now. He dare not take more blood for fear of what that may do to him. Corbolo then speaks to Dante and says that his theories were correct and that Elixir would have likely been the cure that they sought. But all stocks are lost and it's too hard to synthesize. Dante tells him not to give up and to keep working on potential solutions to these defects. Corbolo said that the sanguanor said that there is hope and that we live in an age of wonder

and Dante responds that though hope is not always enough. But while there is, is blood, then there is strength. So by the time the angels would reinforce the system, the amount of support would be incredible. 21 battle barges, 94 strike cruisers and hundreds of more small vessels. 6,000 space marines were among these fleets, 12,000 would be on Baal, 6 would be on Bale Secundus, and 5,000 on Baal Primus, the single largest gathering of the blood of Sanguinius since the Horus heresy. But the shadow in the warp would be to loom. Communications would slowly begin to die, and word from Cadia and whatever was happening there would be nothing more than radio silence for now. On Bilesacondas, a man named

Ugu, Ugi, whatever. Yugi boy! Yugi-o! Like, what am I supposed to do with that? That guy... I would have said Uigwee. Weigwe? Sure. Weigwee. was worked to gather himself for another day of thankless work. He was a water cellar on the wretched moon and he needed to get to work. He had lost much in his life.

His wife had died and his son suffered a catastrophic injury. He tried out to be a blood angel, but during the training, he would hit his head violently, resulting in permanent brain damage. He would be so haunted, so bad. He would be so haunted whenever his son spoke to him that he wouldn't refer to him as his son. he would say that his son was dead, taken by angels. I remarked that the child's grandmother, his wife's mother, would hate. After preparing and reaching angels fall,

the gongs that normally marked the beginning of the market would not stop ringing. Weigwe, his son and the old woman, would watch his void ships would descend on Bale Secundas. Many off-wilders would come to this planet to pay respect to Sanguinius, but these visitors were not off-wilders. They were space marines, all walking past. A chaplain would ask Weigwe, be where the statue was, and he would point. The chaplain would thank him and give him blessings before continuing onward, but more and more space marines would walk past him, all with different

armour than the angels, some familiar, some very different. The gongs would continue to ring, only to be drowned out by the roaring of jets. The man's son would ask him why there's so many, and, forgetting his anger briefly, he would put his arm around his son and say they've come to pray. They're witnessing a marvel. woman would laugh as the tarot tiles in front of her rattle. And to finish off this episode, I've got a quote for you, D.K. All right. What is it? Weigwe said. The old woman's smile was evident in her voice. The burning tower, the bloody angel, the falling star, the foundered void ship. These are all fell signs. Weigwe looked sharply back at her. What do you mean? The old woman regarded him

through the cloth of her veil. They are not coming here to worship, you foolish man, she said. They have come here to die. Well, that's... I really don't like that we're going to have to end and soon talk a lot about wee-gui.

I'm so sorry for putting that name out there for you, Carrie-on. I mean, I don't know how else you would say it, to be fair. Yeah. It's very strange. It's such a weird name.

And it's just every time I said it, it seems like such a joke. And I'm like, there's got, that can't be the way you say it. I just, how else? Why? Why? It's not going to be gooey, gooey, is it? Like, if they say it. Please for the next episode, every time he comes up, call him Ui

gooey, oh, man. I want to see how long it lasts. All right, we'll go for Ui-Gui. We'll stick with that. Um, so, um, that is, that is the, uh, the first, the first episode in our two part devastation of bowl series. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Two things is a series.

And it's so far, so far so good. A mere 40 billion dead. Uh, an entire system lost. Dante is slightly alleviated from his crushing depression by, you know, drinking the blood of his Deccary, who, you know, took a way out that probably won't leave Dante feeling great later on, and all the tyranids are heading to Barl. So that's all good. That's nice. We're nicely set up for the invasion proper.

Would we call this episode a classic Pyrrhic Imperial dub? Is it a dub? Are we positive? We're called a dub? I don't, I guess, is it a dub? I guess that's true. I don't. I don't know.

Classet as a dove, like, they lost the shield gloves completely. In like two days, too, you know? Yeah. But they stopped the tyrannists for a minute, you know? They got necrons in? Sanguador showed up. They did have to ask for the necron's help, which ain't great. Yeah, that's true.

I don't know, man. I, like, Pyrrhic definitely dub not so certain. Is it Yeah, maybe not a dub at all. Is there such a thing as a peric defeat? Rare imperial peric defeat is what we got today. Is there such thing as a peric defeat? Find out more in episode two next week on the devastation of ball.

Will Dante be sad? Most likely. You have to end on that shot. Well, thank you for watching. It was all right, see you.