The battleship continued forward. Soon, they crossed the asteroid belt, passed the planet, and arrived at the homeworld of the Guardians' civilization.
However, the scene there was clearly anything but peaceful.
From the void of space, the Guardians' core city—the Tower—was now dyed crimson. One did not even need to look closely to know the situation was dire.
"Magnify the target, let us see what is happening there."
At Duanmu Huai's command, the screen zoomed in. Immediately, a city appeared before everyone's eyes. It was obvious the city was under attack. Above it, dozens of warships, painted red and white, trailing long plumes of exhaust smoke that screamed of inefficient engines, swaggered about as they spread fire wantonly.
"Ah, it's the Cabal."
Seeing the markings, Duanmu Huai's face darkened.
"Cabal?"
"Galactic bandits. Idiots. A bunch of fools who think they should rule the whole galaxy, so they start wars everywhere."
Duanmu Huai casually answered Guleya's question, his eyes fixed on the screen.
To the Inquisition, the Cabal were aliens, and aliens had only one fate: to be eradicated—no, to be purified. Whatever they were, they had to be utterly destroyed, leaving none alive. This was the Inquisition's ultimate goal: for the sake of humanity, annihilate every threat to its survival.
"Enough, let's move!"
Duanmu Huai pulled his thoughts back and gave the order in a loud voice.
"Head to the target city immediately and stop these cosmic bandits' atrocities!"
The Cabal did not notice Duanmu Huai's arrival. On one hand, he had activated stealth mode. On the other, they were too absorbed in bombarding the Guardians' city to care about anything else. That was only natural, for this civilization was the last human settlement in the star system.
To be exact, this city was all that remained of humanity here.
So when the twenty-kilometer battleship emerged from the clouds, the Cabal were baffled. They stared at the massive vessel, unsure where it had come from or why.
But when green plasma beams cut across the void, and the thunder of macro cannons roared, the answer was clear.
The searing plasma beams easily shattered the fragile shields of the Cabal warships. Then, thousands of tons of macro shells spiraled into their hulls, tearing them apart in blinding fireballs.
Before the wrath of the Inquisition, no alien could withstand a blow.
Duanmu Huai stood at the command dais, expression cold as he watched the battlefield. The battleship was now unleashing its full firepower. Fortunately, before arriving, he had spent some [Construction Points] to rebuild the lance batteries into plasma turrets. Their power was considerable. The Cabal's shields could not resist the storm of plasma fire, and the crushing barrage of macro cannons ripped them to shreds.
Those Cabal ships that tried to close in fared no better. The point-defense batteries on deck unleashed such overwhelming firepower that anything reckless enough to approach was torn apart instantly.
"What is that thing!!"
On the Cabal flagship, a commander clad in white heavy armor glared furiously at the golden, cathedral-like battleship before him. The Cabal were a massive, brutish species, each resembling a humanoid rhinoceros, bodies brimming with strength and intimidation. Their armor only added to their savage presence.
But in front of this warship, they were as insignificant as dust.
Amid the clouds, the vessel resembled a skyborne fortress, walled with colossal guns, its golden domes gleaming so brightly in the sun that it enraged him to no end.
They had already bound the Traveler. They were moments away from conquering the city! Just one more step and they would seize the Light! Where had these cursed intruders come from!?
"Dominus! We must withdraw at once!!"
Another Cabal rushed forward, shouting desperately. Almost as if to prove his point, a green plasma beam screamed through the void and slammed into a nearby Cabal cruiser. Its shields failed instantly, the beam piercing it clean through. The stricken vessel tried to descend for an emergency landing, but a macro shell obliterated it in a fiery blast.
"BOOOOOM!"
The shockwave was so violent that even the flagship shuddered like a leaf in a storm. The Cabal standing on deck were thrown flat to the floor.
"Dominus! If we don't leave now it will be too late! We still have the Leviathan, we haven't lost yet!!"
"..."
The white-armored Dominus clenched his teeth, glaring hatefully at the golden warship, then rose to his feet.
"Retreat!!!"
The Cabal fleet began to flee. Against the Inquisition's fury, these vile aliens had no resistance at all. Terrified, they scattered in panic, fleeing in utter disarray.
"Hmph…"
As the last Cabal vessel was torn apart mid-air, Duanmu Huai let out a cold snort. The command chamber fell silent. The girls stared wide-eyed at the battlefield. It was their first time witnessing interstellar combat up close. They knew their battleship was powerful, but its strength far exceeded anything they had imagined.
"I never thought this warship would be this strong," Anne said with awe.
Guleya nodded firmly beside her. "Yes… if it were that evil dragon Fafnir, I doubt even scraps of it would remain before this warship."
"The strength of an individual may be great, but the power of machinery must not be underestimated," Duanmu Huai said casually, then turned around. "All right, let's go check on that city."
When Duanmu Huai and the others arrived aboard the Night Raven Blackstar at the ruins of the Tower, a group of people was already waiting. At the front stood a bald, muscular man. Beside him were a bald woman and a machine.
It really had been a long time.
Seeing the three familiar faces, Duanmu Huai smiled faintly and led the girls out of the gunship to meet them.
The Guardians looked uneasy at his arrival, but soon the bald man stepped forward, bowing.
"Greetings, travelers from the stars. I am Zavala, Titan Vanguard of the Tower Council. We are deeply grateful for your aid."
"There's no need for thanks," Duanmu Huai replied, eyeing the small floating machine ornament hovering beside Zavala. "As an Inquisitor, it is my duty to exterminate aliens that threaten humanity."
"Inquisition…"
Zavala paused at the word, then his expression grew solemn.
"If possible, could you explain in more detail?"
"Of course."
Duanmu Huai nodded. He glanced at the enormous white sphere floating above the city, then followed Zavala and the others inside the Tower.
As they walked, he recalled what he had once read on the forums about the Guardians' civilization.
Their rise was tied to that mysterious being above the city, the great white sphere resembling a moon. People called it the Traveler. No one knew its origins. According to lore uncovered by players, the Traveler roamed the galaxy, bringing prosperity and evolution to civilizations wherever it went.
Humanity in this system encountered it, observing how it could transform barren worlds into lush ecosystems. They welcomed it to their homeworld. With the Traveler's aid, they developed rapidly, reaching a level that could be called a Golden Age—though only within their star system.
But the glory was short-lived. A dark force pursuing the Traveler soon struck humanity. Against it, they had no chance. Civilization collapsed. Seeing disaster, the Traveler tried to flee. Luckily, the Warmind Rasputin had foreseen this. Before the Traveler could escape, Rasputin disabled its propulsion systems with all available defenses, forcing it to stay and face the darkness with humanity.
If you can't stop it, then at least take it down with you. Not a bad deal.
Hmm… a bit underhanded, but well done.
At last, the Traveler unleashed its power, repelling the Darkness. Humanity's world was destroyed, but the Traveler itself fell into slumber.
From its dormant shell emerged countless small machines, called Ghosts. These Ghosts roamed the system, searching for those with affinity to the Light, scanning their corpses and rebuilding them.
Indeed, almost all Guardians were resurrected dead, stripped of memory but retaining language and basic knowledge. Upon revival, they gained the superpower known as the Light.
The reborn Guardians gathered the survivors, building the Last City beneath the Traveler. It became humanity's only sanctuary in the system.
The Tower Council governed the city, formed of three class vanguards: Titan Vanguard Zavala, Warlock Vanguard Ikora, and Hunter Vanguard Cayde.
Cayde deserved special mention.
That loud-mouthed, robot-like figure was a relic of the Golden Age. Like many civilizations reaching a certain height, humanity had sought immortality. They created a way to transplant human minds into mechanical bodies, producing the machine race known as Exos.
Well then, I guess the Necrons aren't the only idiots in the universe who turned themselves into metal skeletons.
In the audience chamber, Duanmu Huai explained the state of the galaxy: the fall of the Imperium, humanity scattered, the Chaos Gods, the Warp… By the end, the Guardians were stunned.
Zavala sat speechless. Beside him, Warlock Vanguard Ikora set down her cup of tea, forcing herself calm as she looked at Duanmu Huai.
"So… Inquisitor, you came here to… restore the Imperium?"
"Of course not."
Duanmu Huai shook his head.
"If the Administratum or the High Lords still existed, that would be their task. The Inquisition has only ever had one mission: safeguard human civilization, and destroy anything that threatens it, whatever it may be. We care nothing for rulership or control. As long as you do not betray humanity or consort with the Dark Gods, we will not interfere."
"Ah… humanity's protectors," Cayde muttered, munching on sunflower seeds, his electronic eyes fixed on Duanmu Huai. Whether a robot should even eat seeds, or whether the shells might jam his circuits, was another matter entirely.
"Whatever your reason for coming, we owe you thanks. Without you, we might have been forced to abandon this city…"
Knock, knock, knock.
At that moment, urgent knocks echoed at the door. Everyone turned. A staffer rushed in, breathless and pale, drenched in sweat.
"Forgive the intrusion, Vanguards," he gasped. "But we've received a transmission from the Cabal. I believe you should see it."
(End of Chapter)