The aftermath of the Krieg Massacre hit the Imperium with enough force that it left worlds in shock, others in utter terror. Across the Imperium, other such attacks on a smaller scale were happening with teams of various humanoid teams. In the end, the Imperium was baying for blood. The blood of those that had dared assault the bastion of mankind, those who had turned Krieg into a graveyard. The feeling of loss also permeated every facet of life that every soldier, every being, every soul of humanity could feel. Loss wasn't uncommon in the Imperium but up to a scale that made the casualties of the Age of Strife look like minor incidents wasn't at all common. In the end, the Imperium was going to war once again but without a target to aim their rage at...they would be attacking everything but the enemy.
That was what Magnus the Red, the current Lord Regent of the Imperium and Primarch of Prospero, thought as the shuttle flew into the atmosphere of Krieg. He could feel the pain and agony of the survivors as clearly as he could feel the Astronomicon that his Father powered with his god-like psychic energies to allow warp travel in the Imperium. He could also tell that this attack was not being looked into by the ruinous powers due to something...dark tainting the land of those planets that had been attacked. More so on Krieg then anywhere else, which was something that caught the fifteenth Primarch's attention immediately.
Krieg was covered in a darkness that felt like oil on water; shifting, moving, wiggling blackness that covered Krieg. Krieg was covered in this darkness, Magnus felt his powers actually try to leave him and run to the opposite end of the galaxy. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it or if this was actually feeling his powers trying to leave his mortal body. He regained himself as he studied the planet before looking behind himself, seeing one of his new sons, a Commissar and one of the Sisters of Battle. His companions of an odd sort were here to help him figure out what to do on Krieg, as this Commissar Ant was actually assigned to Krieg before the massacre hit.
The Sister of Battle, Sister Fionias, was checking her bolter as his Son, Captain Generos, was clearly grimacing as he looked at the surface of Krieg. Commissar Ant was looking nervous as the shuttle finally landed, the ramp opening onto the radioactive wasteland. One of the Krieg officers as well as several women in uniform, who clearly looked uncomfortable by their stance, saluted them all.
"Lord Regent," The Krieg officer said, "Commissar, Sister, Astartes. Welcome to Krieg, I am Officer Beta-4446-O-1, or Beta-1 by others."
"Officer Beta," Mangus said as he stepped down the ramp, looking around at the landscape, seeing the surviving Krieg's carrying away the bodies of their people, "We came as quickly as we could, could you take us to the highest surviving ranking officer?"
"Of course, follow me," Office Beta led them towards the open pathway into the depths of Krieg.
As Mangus and his group moved towards it, Magnus felt death hanging in the air as he walked. He saw all of those that had been cut down swim before his eyes before he closed his senses off from that portion of his power, the souls of the dead were moaning for their failings for the Imperium. He gritted his teeth as he still heard their cries before stepping into the barely lit darkness of Krieg's underhive city, being led through a massive room where the survivors were doing their best to help the wounded survivors. The Death Korps showing fear was something he and most of the Imperium deemed impossible, religious through and through and highly indoctrinated, whatever cut them down must have been more horrifying than any daemon the chaos gods have to offer.
"This is just...unnatural, I have stories of Kriegers staring down chaos space marines showing no signs of fear, even as a chainsword is driven into their gut, and now I see them looking like any regular guardsmen that has seen any chaos daemon." Magnus says as he sighs heavily.
His son looks at him, "Father, I can feel the very ocean of power screaming silently as though something had torn it apart. The death here...its making the ruinous powers avoid looking here at all."
The Krieg officer brought them to a conference room where Sister Kathrynius was sitting with another Officer before she stood up and bowed her head with a wince. The Officer saluted before helping the clearly in pain Sister back into her seat.
"You must forgive Sister Kathrynius, Lord Regent," The Officer said, "She is still dealing with one of her own bolter rounds being used against her. Her right side was blown out completely, its was by the Emperor's grace that she survived at all."
Magnus frowned, ignoring the clear indoctrination that he had faced for over ten millennia before taking a seat that he created from the very warp. Sitting upon it, Magnus sighed deeply.
"How bad were the casualties, Officer?"
The Officer shook his head, before his voice turned distant, "ninety-six percent of all superstructure has collapsed, all but one of the five reactors are destroyed, less then point eighteenth of the population survived. Of the surviving Adeptus Militarius, ninety-five perished. Only three tech priests of the Mechanicius were still living after the dust settled and that is all."
A pin could've dropped and could have been heard, this left everyone silent as the calculations were made in Magnus's mind. This attack had left Krieg a shadow of its former glory, a literal hoval that couldn't survive without greater aid from the Imperium. The largest contributor to the ongoing war effort had now been reduced to nothing more then this.
"Who could have done this atrocity?!" Commissar Ant snarled, his grip on his chainsword tightening and making the leather grip creek.
"Only two people," Sister Kathrynius whispered, a tear or two rolling down her cheeks, "a fully armored man and a female Xeno, carrying swords of crismon and wielding powers that were like the Imperium sanctioned Psychers but wasn't like them. The armored man tore through the trenches, lightning stroming from his fingers that turned Krieg soldiers into burnt corpses. Limbs slashed, necks broken…"
She started to silently weep as the Officer put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, as the Krieg looked up before tapping a button on the table. A flickering holo-image appeared, showing the figures carrying the energy weapons as they cut down Kriegs as though it meant nothing to them. There was nothing Chaos-like to them, just these two were killing with powers similar to a Psycher but it wasn't. The devastation caused by these two was beyond anything that the Imperium had faced in the ten thousand years it had stood.
Captain Generos looked at them before muttering a long forgotten curse in an old Terra language, "Those two left the Imperium with a mark that will not be forgotten."
In the furthest edge of the known galaxy, as far away from the Imperium planet of Cadia as anyone could get, was a system shrouded in darkness. The Darkness wasn't of that cast by a system with a dead star, no, it was shrouded in a veil of darkness that had kept it from the prying eyes of the major powers in the Milky Way for generations. The veil had kept this system from their prying eyes and only grew to cover three or four more systems by the time the Dark Age of Technology arrived. Two more were swallowed up by this veil, disconnecting several vital Terra colonies from their would-be saviors.
Within these protected systems, the peoples of the new Sith Empire worked and toiled. Continuing to improve and expand their reach in knowledge, technology and other sciences that would only improve their way of life. Be it Militarily, Socially or even Naturally, this empire grew in size and strength under the noses of every other Major power in the galaxy. Over eighty quintillion souls populated this empire, all of them of mixed species from a long dead galaxy from so long ago and so far away. Chiss, Twi'lek, Nautolan, Kalleesh, Togruta, Kel Dor, Umbarian, Sith, Human and so on. Droids also filled in the needed niches that normal life forms couldn't handle or get to. But the Empire was focused on one goal, to give everything they had for the Empire and take over the Galaxy that was left to ruin by the other Powers that dared lay their sullied claims upon it.
Within the center of the five systems lay a planet, covered in cities but not enough to call it an ecumenopolis. Life grew within its soil and within its core was a Goddess, one that had been watching events through the Dark Side of the Force with permission of Darth Imperious. The planet's name was Abeloth, named after the very immortal deity that became the core of the planet. She was worshipped and revered but only because her power held the veil in place, under the instruction of Darth Imperious, or so the legends said.
"Old myths," The synthetic, seductive, female voice whispered within the confines of her laboratory in the depths of Abeloth, "nothing more, must focus for the Emperor."
The former Adeptus Mechanicus Tech Priestess redoubled her efforts and focused on her newest project, her body shifting as all her new upgrades left her with no flesh but organic metal. Positively sinful in appearance and absolutely dangerous in design, she with the Emperor's most needed tool in his arsenal. That didn't mean she couldn't be replaced, no, she absolutely could be replaced. Just like she had been replaced as Fabricator-General only a day into her service to the Machine God by a fool of a tech priest that dared call her a heretic for trying to create new technology! Her metal skin-like cover rippled as the insides shifted from the anger that filled her, as she pushed that thought away.
The Emperor of Mankind wasn't the Omnisah, nor was the Machine God a being to be worshipped anymore. That deity was dead, its parts rusted and forgotten in a galaxy where only those who knew the truth would survive. Ouroboros continued her work as she had the mechanical tentacles that were coming out of a circular port in the back of her head work on applying the needed codes and failsafes to the cylinder before her as she activated the final stage. Within the cylinder, a very pale body became visible before it opened its eyes, causing Ouroboros to smile as all screens showed green for her.
"The newest Kull Warrior survived and has all attributes increased by eighty-four point six two percent." She said aloud before a droid came into the green glow that the cylinder gave off, recording her words, "all current Kull Warriors, both male and female variations, will be given an injection to augment their bodies to the newest adjustments. Effective immediately."
"Most impressive," The voice of her Emperor came from the shadows as she quickly spun around, going into a crouching bow for him, "These Kull will be of greater use in the field against the likes of those Terminators and Custodes then they could before."
"Of course, my Emperor," Ouroboros agreed, "They will serve as the perfect counter to those Space Marines."
The Emperor looked closely at the Kull before nodding his head, "Have you increased the Navy's ability to counter those Void shields? Of course, you already made one ages ago but any improvements?"
"Indeed, Emperor Imperious!" She was like a child now, showing her parents her latest success, "Come, let me show you!"
In the darkness of the laboratory, the Sith Emperor smiled to himself as he nodded, "Good, its time to prepare the fleets and armies for war. The Galaxy will fall…"