Imperium of Man Terra Aeterna Season 01: Rise of Humanity's War Machin

Resident Evil – Salt Lake City

The sky above Salt Lake City looked like it had cracked.

Not literally, of course—but by an arch of bluish-green energy that hissed and pulsed, forming a webway portal torn open like a wound in the air. Its shimmer trembled, nearly unstable. The dimensional rift gaped right above a modern villa—once Reuel's place of residence.

From within the glow, Reuel stepped out first. Behind him, the silhouettes of the shipgirls from Azur Lane began to emerge one by one. Their uniforms glinted softly under the morning light. Some stepped forward with graceful composure, while others looked around with childlike curiosity—like schoolkids on their first field trip.

And then, as always… Universal Bulin appeared, shouting her signature cry across dimensions:

"Hai hai, BULIN~!!"

She landed—squarely on top of Laffey's head. The destroyer just mumbled softly before standing back up, still half-asleep.

Moments later, a swarm of bright yellow Manjuus appeared, pouring into the unfamiliar land like a tiny parade—busy pecking, flapping, and chirping with joy.

The shipgirls paused briefly, taking in the new world they had just stepped into.

"Is this… the Commander's world?" Javelin whispered, her eyes reflecting the glass windows of the villa in the distance.

"Well… better than I expected," Enterprise said casually, arms crossed. "Thought we'd get tossed straight into a nuclear wasteland or a biohazard zone."

Belfast took a quiet breath, as elegant as ever.

"The air here... it's clean. There's a scent of damp earth… and a bit of pine. Not as bad as Sector 13."

Meanwhile, the younger destroyers like Ayanami and Z23 were already chasing the local wildlife. A tiger, two wild boars, and even a brown bear became their observation targets—prompting Universal Bulin to panic and hide behind Akagi's skirt.

"Bulin is scared~~!"

From a distance, Essex pointed toward the large villa perched on a small hill. Several Cadia Shock Troopers stood guard, armed with lasrifles and clad in their worn yet steadfast flak armor.

"Is that… your old home, Commander?" she asked.

Reuel gave a slight nod.

It had been a month since he left the Resident Evil world. Salt Lake City now stood quiet. According to Red Queen's reports, about five billion of its population had migrated to new colonies near Terra Aeterna—with assistance from sub-5km Imperial Navy starships, backed by Dominion-class Gorgon battlecruisers.

Admiral Dungale had mapped the stars surrounding Terra Aeterna—from habitable planets to mining zones. However, the construction of Reuel's Palace was still delayed. He planned to build it with help from the Azur Lane shipgirls.

Now, Salt Lake City had become a military hub. Astra Militarum soldiers, various Tech-Priests of the Mechanicus, and Dominion personnel—including Marauders, Firebats, Medics, and dozens of SCVs—moved back and forth, building the primary base in the region.

Reuel glanced at his watch, then opened an internal channel to Red Queen.

"Contact them. Bring Ada Wong, Claire, Jill, and Alice here."

Soon, the rumble of heavy engines echoed in the distance. The ground shook with the approach of armored vehicles. From the south, a formation of Leman Russ and Chimeras advanced in tight formation. The banner of the Imperium flew high.

Akashi—as usual—had already rushed toward the convoy, eyes gleaming with interest, rapidly jotting notes with her tech analyzer.

"Nya~! This world's tech is insane!! Plasma reactors! Unknown metals! Nya~~!"

The tanks stopped before Reuel. From one of the Chimeras, Major Hellsker stepped down—a battle-hardened Cadian veteran with a scarred face and eyes burning with near-holy fanaticism. He marched briskly and saluted sharply, the Imperial Aquila emblazoned on his chest.

"Glory to you, His Majesty, the Emperor of Mankind."

Reuel nodded slightly. Cold, yet commanding.

"Take them to my villa."

Not long after, Reuel and the shipgirls arrived at the villa. Meanwhile, Major Hellsker's convoy returned to the military barracks.

Inside the villa, Claire Redfield, Ada Wong, Jill Valentine, Alice, and Angie were already waiting.

The moment they saw Reuel return—especially with dozens of loli shipgirls in tow—they all stared at him with utter disgust, as if looking at biological waste.

"Sweetheart, I'm back," Reuel said, attempting a smile.

No reply. Just cold glares and cutting remarks:

"Trash."

"Lolicon."

"Asshole."

"Bastard."

Reuel exhaled slowly, trying to stay composed. He then began introducing the shipgirls one by one. Though the atmosphere was awkward, the Azur Lane girls greeted them with cheerful smiles and genuine enthusiasm.

Not long after, they all departed for the new capital site, being developed by the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Their journey to Istanbul was led by Reuel—accompanied by Richelieu in her true form, the Resident Evil women, and all the shipgirls from Azur Lane.

Naturally, throughout the trip, Claire, Ada, Jill, and Alice continued to ignore Reuel. As for Angie? She was having the time of her life, playing with the loli shipgirls, laughing with the glee of a child at a summer festival.

---

Three Weeks Later

Southern Europe

Under a clear sky, a massive fleet of warships and aircraft carriers sailed from Northern Italy toward the Mediterranean Sea.

The moment the ship girls set foot on the ocean's surface, their spirits instantly soared.

Although they had no objections to building a city on land, they were fundamentally far more at ease amidst the endless sea—where they came from, and where they truly lived.

At the head of the fleet sailed Richelieu, the lead carrier of the vanguard.

Other carriers flanked the formation, while cruisers and destroyers guarded the rear, forming a neat yet dynamic formation.

Reuel stood on the bridge alongside the women from the Resident Evil universe and the ship girls, gazing at the open sea and the blue sky above.

The fleet cut through the waves, sailing past the Balkan Peninsula and onward into the Aegean Sea.

At last, a vast landmass appeared on the horizon.

"Is that... Constantinople?"

Richelieu gazed into the distance, across the calm sea. There, through the faint mist, the silhouette of a massive Gothic city began to emerge—like an ancient fossil resurrected by imperial will. Grand, dark, and radiating an aura of authority.

A space elevator tower pierced the sky, as if trying to stab the sun itself. Beneath it, an unfinished golden palace gleamed with sacred metallic light, surrounded by skeletal structures and colossal construction rigs. Around it, city walls several dozen meters high stood firm, their foundations buried deep in the earth that once held the histories of Byzantium and Istanbul.

Hundreds of thousands of Servitors moved tirelessly, devoid of will, performing heavy labor with mechanical precision. Among them, Tech-Priest Enginseers and Magos Dominus chanted binaric litanies while monitoring the construction with ever-watchful auspex eyes. Thousands of SCVs—technological imports from the Koprulu sector—came and went, hauling molten steel and macro-engineering components.

This was the rebirth of Constantinople: the new capital of the Imperium of Man, built upon the ruins of Istanbul, envisioned to rival even Holy Terra itself.

Guard forces were stationed along the entire perimeter. Terran Dominion Marines, Marauders, Firebats, and Medics stood side by side with creaking Goliath walkers. Meanwhile, the forces of the Imperium—the Astra Militarum with their lasgun squads, Chimeras, and Basilisks—fortified the outer barricades.

The nation was surrounded by sea on three sides, with a massive fjord—the Golden Horn—gaping wide to the north, spanning dozens of kilometers. The perfect location to establish a naval base for the ship girls.

The terrain stretched out as endless flatlands under a stable, warm climate.

Ideal for agricultural and industrial development, future airports, and even space launch and landing facilities.

Though the city was still under construction, its aura was already palpable from afar: majestic, imposing, and full of promise.

"A fitting place to be the capital, don't you think?"

Reuel smiled.

"In the future, a colossal city—greater than this port—can rise and expand across the entire world."

The greatest advantage of building civilization from scratch is simple: the entire planet belongs to you.

Its landmass spans 150 million square kilometers. Its oceans, 360 million.

Build this world into a paradise... just as you envision it.

---

As soon as the fleet made landfall, the ship girls leapt ashore and began unloading supplies. One by one, they extracted cargo and equipment from their outfits.

Their gear could be enormous or compact, and was easily stored when not in use—thanks to fourth-dimensional storage with capacity equivalent to a full ship's tonnage.

Even the smallest destroyer could carry thousands of tons of logistics. As for battleships and carriers? Tens of thousands of tons were no problem at all.

Sadly, living creatures couldn't be stored.

If they could, it would certainly be entertaining to see one ship girl stuffed inside another like a matryoshka doll.

The ship girls and brides opened containers from within their rigging—metal clanks filled the air as they dropped their cargo on the beach. Soon, raw materials piled along the coastline like miniature mountains of logistics.

Reuel watched them in awe.

"Feels like if I brought these ship girls into another world, I could loot entire civilizations."

"Oh no… I mean, bring home a lot of supplies, of course."

This ability was truly mysterious. And filled with potential.

The Tech-Priests witnessing it nearly suffered collective cognitive failure. Never before had they seen technology like this—warships turned into living girls, complete with alternative-dimensional logistical capacity.

Many of them cried out to Reuel, calling him the Omnissiah, begging for permission to disassemble one of the ship girls for study. Reuel refused.

He explained that the ship girls' existence depended on a vital entity known as a Mind Cube, and that their alliance with their creators must never be violated. He promised: if one day resources were sufficient, he would allow a single ship girl to be designated for full research.

However, this refusal only sparked fierce debate.

The Magos Tech-Priests accused Akashi and the Bulins of heresy—violations of the Machine God's tenets and threats to the very sanctity of sacred technology.

To ease tensions and prove the supremacy of their respective engineering prowess, a contest was held: who could build a structure the fastest.

On one side, the Magos with their servo-arms and sacred blueprints.

On the other, the Bulins… armed only with giant drills, wrenches larger than their bodies, and eyes gleaming with unwavering confidence.

The result?

Universal Bulin won by a landslide.

Their structure stood perfectly complete in an impossibly short time. The Tech-Priests were on the verge of existential breakdown.

Some even began comparing the Bulins to Orks—beings capable of creating technology through sheer belief and... very, very loose logic.

When one Magos asked Bulin how she did it, her answer was simple:

"Bulin... doesn't know?"

Bulin merely shrugged, her eyes sparkling with mischief, and held up her still-spinning drill and a wrench nearly as big as her tiny frame.

---

Night, Golden Horn Harbor

Inside Richelieu's command bridge, Reuel was engaged in a serious discussion with several shipgirls and Tech-Priests. The topic of their conversation: the construction of the Imperium's new capital city.

Until the city's construction was complete, the hulls of heavy-class warships were the only viable shelters available.

"I've prepared several ideas and initial designs for the city," said Reuel, laying down a few bundles of design sketches on the holo-projector table.

These sketches had been painstakingly drawn throughout the voyage. As a former civil engineering student who had earned numerous academic awards, Reuel had a solid background in urban planning, civil engineering, and macrostructure design. Now, that knowledge was fully deployed to lay the foundation of the new Imperium.

His design featured ten layers of power cores—the innermost zone centered on a gothic-style palace, bearing aesthetic influences from Warhammer 40K, StarCraft, and Star Wars.

Meanwhile, the outer regions reflected a blend of architecture and technology from the universes of HALO, Stellaris, Mass Effect, and Gundam—a harmonious integration of various galactic civilizations now united under a single banner: the Imperium of Man.

"Come to think of it, building a city from scratch is quite troublesome," Reuel continued with a faint smile. "But the technology from the Azure World… it's absurd by our standards. I believe we can finish this far faster than expected—especially with the help of the Tech-Priests."

"The first step is clearing out the ruins around the city, removing debris and rusted metal piled up along the bay, and then leveling the ground."

The attendees nodded in agreement.

"Leave it to Bulin! Bulin can clean up real fast, Bulin guarantee!" shouted one of the Bulins, raising her massive drill.

"And we are ready to assist," added Richelieu calmly, speaking on behalf of the other shipgirls.

Though this land had once been ravaged by a biological pandemic engineered by Umbrella, it now resembled a field of rubble—littered with the remains of collapsed buildings and ruins of the old city. Without heavy machinery or high-level industrial infrastructure, even the cleaning phase alone was a daunting task.

"Therefore," said Reuel, locking eyes with them one by one, "for the initial phase, we will construct five main modules: a primary harbor, agricultural district, industrial zone, elite residential area, and… the interdimensional migration hub."

He continued presenting.

"The agricultural area will be used for cultivation. All types of crops can grow there, from wheat to rice," Reuel explained while pointing to the designated zones on his sketch.

"The industrial zone will handle smelting and advanced metal processing. The harbor—home to the shipgirls. And the residential district will be reserved for newcomers from other worlds we'll recruit."

He paused, eyes fixed on a particular point in the sketch.

"And this… is the interdimensional portal. For now, it will be stationed in Terra Aeterna, until the Mass Relay can be constructed in orbit."

Then, in a cold and authoritative tone, Reuel added,

"Of course, only humanoids. Non-humanoid aliens? Let them perish under the wrath of the Imperium of Man."

Expressions in the room shifted. Some in disbelief, some in awe, and others… confused.

"Once the city has grown, the agricultural and industrial areas can be relocated to outer zones and colony planets. At that point, we can begin constructing the scientific research gardens. But that… is a story for another time."

Reuel's sketches—detailed and professionally crafted—depicted a city of gothic megastructures straight out of Warhammer. A central axis served as the main thoroughfare, and its layout followed militarized urbanization principles with extreme precision.

Drawing from experiences in parallel worlds, the locations of space stations, highways, high-speed rails, and even military shipyards had already been mapped out from the start.

However, as Reuel presented all of this, the expressions of the shipgirls grew… chaotic.

The Tech-Priests simply nodded solemnly, full of reverence.

"All is sacred by the will of the Omnissiah."

"Do you understand?" Reuel asked, hoping at least some of them had grasped his intent.

"No." Richelieu sighed. "Do you?"

"Not a clue," Essex glanced nervously. "I'm a sea combat weapon. There's no way I'd understand this."

"Ah… Commander looks so serious… and so handsome…" Dafeng whispered, resting her chin on her hand, eyes filled with drifting sakura petals.

"You insult the Omnissiah! Heresy! Heretek! You must be purified!!" one of the Tech-Priests screamed.

And as usual… chaos erupted.

The shipgirls and Tech-Priests began arguing. The Adepta Sororitas joined in with equal fanaticism. Technocratic curses and mechanized religious jargon flew through the air.

Reuel let out a long sigh. He stood and raised his hand—releasing the psionic aura unique to the Emperor of Mankind. The aura surged like a wave of spiritual pressure, silencing the entire room in an instant.

"Enough."

The Tech-Priests and Adepta Sororitas dropped to their knees. The shipgirls bowed in silence. No one dared utter a word when Reuel spoke.

"I do not want this incident to repeat. We are now one alliance. These girls may be warships, but they are shaped as humans. They are still part of the Imperium."

"As compensation, I will grant you the blueprint for an interdimensional portal. This technology comes from beyond our universe—if you can comprehend it, then you may rightfully call yourselves true worshippers of the Omnissiah."

"We understand, O Omnissiah!" the Tech-Priests shouted with reverence.

The tension subsided.

In the midst of the silence, a small hand shot up.

"Bulin did it~~! Bulin understands the sketches!" cried the universal Bulin, blonde-haired with a drill in hand, standing proudly atop a chair.

"If we can build houses, then building a city's no problem!"

Reuel stared at the small creature, puzzled, then handed her the architectural plans.

"You can read these?"

"Bulin can! As long as you give us the materials, Bulin can build anything!"

The Tech-Priests immediately stood, eyes blazing.

"Silence, silicon abomination! Synthetic heretic of blasphemy!"

"Let us build the capital, not some heretical artificial construct!"

Terrified, Bulin hid behind the shipgirls. Naturally, they stood at once to defend her.

And once again—chaos erupted.

Reuel sighed and released another wave of Psionic Authority, instantly freezing everyone mid-motion.

"Tech-Priests. Listen to me carefully."

He looked at them with piercing intensity.

"From now on, anyone who causes disorder will be purged. The Bulins may not be like you, but they are efficient. I require results. I am not stingy—so long as you demonstrate progress, technology from other universes will continue to flow into your hands."

The Tech-Priests bowed deeply.

"We understand... O Omnissiah."

The room grew quiet once more.

Reuel pulled the small Bulin to sit beside him.

"Come. Do you understand this construction diagram?"

"Bulin doesn't need those pictures. Just tell us what to build, and Bulin will build it all!"

"When you construct buildings… do you use structural analysis?"

"Bulin doesn't know what that is… but everything Bulin builds is strong! Even a cruiser can't destroy it!!"

"....." The shipgirls fell silent.

"....." So did the Adepta Sororitas and Tech-Priests.

"Are you... the Green Order?!" ( Ork's )

Though the Bulin had no formal background in civil engineering, she instinctively understood every concept Reuel had presented. The universal Bulin faction possessed a unique architectural approach—similar to Reuel's sketches—but based entirely on raw intuition and absolute efficiency.

In the world of Azur Lane, the Bulins could build ships, repair combat systems, craft weapons, even construct large-scale research facilities.

They were a miracle of biological industry.

Reuel looked at her, eyes wide with admiration.

"I need people like you. A lot of you."

"Who said Bulin was dumb? We're geniuses, you know!"

Reuel hugged Bulin and gently patted her head.

And in his heart, he made a momentous decision:

He would create more Bulins. Trillions of them, if needed.

And this world... would change.

Build it all.

Pyramids, Petra, Hanging Gardens, Dyson Spheres, Aether Phase Engines, Sentinel Arrays, Treemap Designers...

From the edge of space to the Fourth Cataclysm.

Reuel w