As Daimon's transport descended through the atmosphere, he could see the flashes of hundreds of battles occurring all across the surface. Accompanying him were over a hundred transport ships, gunships, starfighters, and bombers providing escorts and fire support. The Theocratic defenders attempted to shoot down the convoy with surface-to-air batteries, but Imperial fighters eliminated each battery before it could fire more than a few shots.
The transport touched down in a secured landing zone near the largest temple complex, the Cathedral of Divine Ascension. This massive structure housed the Theocratic Dominion's most sacred relics and served as the seat of their religious government. Intelligence indicated that the remaining leadership had barricaded themselves inside, preparing for a final stand.
Daimon stepped off the transport ramp and onto the battlefield which was already filled with gunfire. Around him, soldiers and vehicles charged forward towards the Cathedral's defense line.
Gunships's flew overhead and provided covering fire against the entrenched positions while bombers targeted the Cathedral's outer walls, creating breaches for assault teams to exploit.
"My Lord," an Empyrean Guard commander approached and saluted. "We've surrounded the Cathedral, but the enemy has concentrated their remaining forces inside."
"Just as I expected," Daimon replied, igniting his lightsaber. "They've nowhere left to run. This is where we fracture their little empire."
He turned to his left and looked at Cortana who had her own lightsaber in one hand and her blaster pistol in the other. This was going to be her first actual ground battle, and she looked to be more than prepared.
Daimon started to walk forward, followed by the Empyrean Guards who formed up around him. As they approached, they Cathedral's main entrance, Theocratic warriors emerged from the breach, screaming prayers and charging towards the Imperial forces.
Daimon didn't slow down, instead he sped up. He reached his hand out, lifting dozens of them into the air before slamming them into the Cathedral's walls with bone-crushing force. Those who survived the initial attack found themselves facing the Empyrean Guards, whose combat efficiency made the battle terrifyingly one-sided.
More warriors tried to block his path, protecting the entrance behind them with tanks and other vehicles. The Imperial tanks which were behind them had quickly targeted and destroyed the Theocratic armor before it could cause much damage. Explosions occurred across the Cathedral steps as burning vehicles created barriers of flame and debris.
Daimon walked through the fire, his Force barrier deflecting the heat and flames around him. Behind him, Cortana used her blaster to take down defenders while her lightsaber cut down incoming fire. Unlike the Imperium, the Theocratic Dominion mainly wielded kinetic weapons that were a little different from your traditional kinetic weapons.
"Enjoying yourself?" Daimon asked, sensing her satisfaction through their connection.
"Immensely," Cortana replied killing three warriors with headshots. "Though I must say, their tactical doctrine is utter shit. They're literally throwing bodies at superior firepower."
"Religious fervor sometimes tends to make people stupid, depending on how it's structured," Daimon said, reaching the Cathedral's main doors. They were massive, reinforced doors covered in a religious symbol.
"Stand back." Said Daimon placing his hands on the doors. He channeled the force through his hands and blew the door open. The Theocratic defenders on the other side were thrown backward by the blast; their bodies being scattered across the Cathedral's main hall.
The interior was vast, filled with ceilings decorated with murals depicting their gods. Thousands of candles burned throughout the space, and at the far end, standing before a massive altar, was some random General.
"Heretic!" he yelled as Daimon walked through the Cathedral. "You dare desecrate this holy place with your presence!"
Daimon looked around, sensing the warriors who were hidden behind the walls, probably here to ambush him. "This place today, will become your tomb General." replied Daimon.
The General raised his hands, and from hidden pathways in the walls, hundreds of warrior-priests emerged. These were the Theocratic Dominion's elite forces, trained from childhood in both combat and religious doctrine. They were ornate armor and carrier weapons that were supposedly blessed by their faith. In reality, they had just used their limited understanding of the Force to create Force-infused weapons.
However, these weapons were not on the level of the Imperium's Force-infused weapons.
As the warrior-priests charged, Daimon simply stood still, while Cortana and the Empyrean Guards charged forward to intercept them. The warrior-priests fought with religious zeal, their Force-infused weapons clashing against vibroblades and advanced Imperial armor. But for all their training and devotion, they were hopelessly outmatched against soldiers who had been forged not just to serve a god, but for war.
Cortana moved through the battle, processing every threat and opportunity in microseconds. She ducked under a warrior-priests swing, fire three shots into his chest, then pivoted to block incoming fire with her lightsaber. Two more enemies were shot in the head before they could close the distance.
The Empyrean Guards on the other hand systematically dismantled the Cathedral's defenders. Each of them moved in coordination, covering each other's advances and overwhelming the enemy.
The General watched his elite forces fall and realized that conventional tactics would never work against such opponents. He raised his staff, and the murals on the ceiling began to glow. "If I cannot defeat you through strength, then I will call upon the divine to smite you down!"
Energy began gathering around the altar, drawn from some ancient mechanism built into the Cathedral's foundation. Daimon felt the disturbance in the Force immediately; they had constructed some kind of amplification device, likely using some Force artifact.
"Interesting," Daimon said walking forward as the energy intensified. "But ultimately pointless."
The General thrust his staff toward Daimon, and a massive beam of concentrated Force energy erupted from the altar. It tore through the Cathedral floor, vaporizing everything in its path as it rushed toward Daimon.
Daimon raised one hand, and the beam stopped mere inches from his palm. The energy thrashed and twisted, trying to break through his barrier, but he held it in place. Then he began to walk forward, pushing the beam back toward its source with each step.
"Impossible!" the General screamed, pouring more power into the device. "The Divine Light cannot be denied!"
Daimon didn't say anything and kept walking until he was standing directly in front of the beam. With a wave of his hand, he redirected the energy upward, where it punched through the Cathedral's ceiling and shot into the sky.
The sudden loss of the beam's resistance caused the General to stumble. Before he could recover, Daimon was already standing over him, his lightsaber cutting through the staff. The General fell to his knees, staring up at the being he had called a heretic.
He wanted to plead for his life, but before he could say anything, Daimon grabbed him by the neck and started to absorb his life force. The General struggled to free himself, and in his last moments, he looked into Daimon's eyes and saw that they were yellow with red rims.
His body shriveled up as all its energy was gone and Daimon dropped it to the ground. One of the Empyrean Guards walked up behind him and kneeled. "We've located the High Matriarch,"
"She's barricaded herself in the inner sanctum with the remaining council members and what's left of their personal guard."
Daimon turned from the General's corpse. "How many?"
"Approximately two hundred guards, plus the High Matriarch and seven council members. They've activated some kind of energy barrier around the sanctum. Our sensors can't penetrate it."
"Another Force artifact probably," Daimon said. "These zealots collected quite the arsenal." He gestured to Cortana and a squad of Empyrean Guards. "With me. The rest of you secure this Cathedral and eliminate any remaining resistance."
They moved deeper into the cathedral, following corridors lined with golden statues of long-dead prophets. The architecture became increasingly ornate the further they went, each chamber more elaborate than the last. Finally, they reached a massive circular door covered in religious symbols.
"The energy barrier originates from beyond this door," Cortana reported, scanning the symbols. "The runes are designed to prevent forced entry. Attempting to breach them conventionally could collapse this entire section."
"Then we won't breach them conventionally." Daimon placed both hands on the door and closed his eyes, feeling the flow of energy through the runes. The barrier was sophisticated, drawing power from multiple Force-sensitive crystals embedded throughout the sanctum. But sophistication meant complexity, and complexity meant vulnerabilities.
He found the pattern, the specific sequence of energy that maintained the barrier's integrity. Then he began disrupting it. One by one, the runes dimmed as their power sources were cut off.
A few minutes later the door opened revealing the inner sanctum.
The chamber beyond was enormous, its walls lined with ancient texts and relics from the Theocratic Dominion's thousand-year history. At the center, surrounded by her remaining guards and council members, stood High Matriarch Selendra. She was an elderly woman, but her eyes burned with absolute conviction.
"So, the tyrant comes to murder the faithful in their most sacred space," she stated. "You have destroyed our fleet, razed our cities, and now you defile the very heart of our religion. Does your cruelty know no bounds?"
"Cruelty?" Daimon replied, walking forward as the guards raised their weapons. He pointed at one of the guards and they were shot in the head by one of the Empyrean Guards. They tried to respond, but their bodies wouldn't move. They couldn't even pull the trigger on their weapons.
"You declared war first and conspired to kill my citizens in the name of your faith. If you think what what's happening is cruel then you have yet to see anything."
"We acted to save the galaxy from your heresy!" Selendra shouted. "Your false divinity poisons everything it touches! The Republic was right to oppose you!"
Daimon took control of the minds of the guards and forced them to aim at the very ones they were supposed to protect. "You want to say that again. What's that word you always call me?"
Selendra hesitated to say it. But another councilor said it anyway, "A heretic and Demon!" he shouted. In the next moment, he was shot by one of their own guards.
The other councilors got on their knees and started praying. Selendra couldn't believe what she was seeing. But they chose this fate, and if it was their time to go to the afterlife then so be it.
"Just kill me know!" she pleaded.
"Ha! That would be the easy way out, but no no no, I have something planned for you." He gestured for the Guards to arrest her and the remaining council members.
Death would be too easy for them. Instead, it was better to make them suffer until the end of their lives. They would be constantly tortured both mentally and physically until the day their bodies withered away.
With the capture of the leaders, Daimon evacuated the cathedral and departed all forces a few hundred miles away then called down an orbital bombardment that leveled the entire city. Any symbol of their faith would be destroyed and erased from history.
All around the planet, the same thing was happening. Any cathedral or other holy site was destroyed via orbital bombardment. Places with holy leaders in them were first raided and the leaders either killed or taken as prisoners then the holy site was bombed.
The fracture of their empire was only just beginning, and this would give the Imperium another advantage by knocking out one of the weaker enemies.