Datch and Keyan were assigned to the Imperial Army's Kushtun Nagada local regiment.
This regiment was garrisoned at Fort Sixteen outside the Helios Gate of the Imperial Palace; Captain Gennan held command.
Fort Sixteen had been constructed by mixing rapid-hardening concrete, grey granite, and reinforced ceramite-steel.
The corridors inside the fortress were narrow and dim; overhead emergency lighting flickered with pale white light.
Everyone's faces were pale as if they were corpses that had just crawled out of a grave.
The air was filled with gunpowder smoke, sweat, the pungent smell of quick-drying cement, and a deeper, more widespread sense of terror that no ventilation system could dispel.
Rebel warships remained in near-Earth orbit and mercilessly bombarded the Aegis protecting the palace.
The Aegis uses geothermal energy; though inefficient, it is stable.
Alpha Legion spies attempted infiltration and sabotage, yet their efforts bore no fruit. On the contrary, they were captured by Imperial agents and executed.
The Aegis is the Imperial Palace's last and most solid defence line.
Its existence blocked traitor orbital bombardment and protected the gigantic anti-aircraft gun positions on the surface.
This made it significantly more difficult for traitors to execute large-scale amphibious operations.
The gigantic batteries mounted on each rebel capital ship poured concentrated fire at maximum speed.
As shells passed through the atmosphere, they rubbed violently against the air and left dazzling white trajectories in the sky like an endless meteor shower.
The shields withstood the bombing; energy petals flattened by impact pulsed like a heart.
From the radio, the same message was repeatedly broadcast in a hoarse but constant voice.
The Thirteenth Legion has broken through the blockade lines along the way and is navigating toward Terra at full speed.
If Lord Guilliman arrives at Terra and begins an attack on the rebels, everything will go well.
Repeated propaganda activities gave the conscript teams a thread of hope.
This war is not endless. If they can hold until the Thirteenth Legion arrives at Terra, this hopeless war will end.
Datch also heard these broadcasts and well knew Guilliman would not come to help.
This is the final battle between the Emperor and the four gods. Only after the winner is decided does Guilliman have a possibility of reaching Terra.
Of course, the result of this war was already decided.
Once the final battle breaks out and Datch becomes able to use items, the four gods will be completely overwhelmed.
Perturabo established a tactical headquarters on the bridge of the rebel fleet's flagship Iron Blood.
The entire wall surface of the command centre transformed into holographic tactical projections updating in real time; an enormous amount of data flowed out like a flood.
For several days he bombarded the Imperial Palace's defensive facilities and repeatedly tested the Aegis's strength and recovery speed.
He meticulously recorded the impact points of each probing bombardment, the time intervals between each round of void-shield overload and recharge, and the weaknesses of each overlapping region of the light shields.
In a brain known for computational ability and logical thinking the data was rapidly woven into a network of weaknesses covering the entire palace.
He saw through the Aegis's weaknesses and systematically removed anti-ship guns in order to prepare conditions for a landing operation.
On the twenty-fifth of February, Perturabo began the first amphibious landing operation.
Fighters and gunships were released one after another from rebel fleet hangars and covered the sky.
There were so many that, from the ground, the entire sky seemed slashed into countless moving fragments by ash-white and deep-red metal wings.
Capital ships on the flight path and low-flying gunships began bombardment simultaneously; the defensive positions surrounding the palace became a swirling sea of flame and shrapnel.
Numerous shockwaves were released into the air; each explosion produced visible ripples of air that spread in all directions.
The ripples collided, overlapped, and tore the clouds to pieces.
Numerous transports carrying traitor soldiers and beastmen crashed from the sky. Most of them were destroyed; only a very few lucky ships broke through the anti-aircraft fire and reached the ground.
The landing thrusters of the transport spaceships erupted in a last fierce flame the instant they contacted the ground and scattered fragments and remains in all directions.
When the hatches opened, traitor soldiers and beastmen treated as disposable resources poured out in a rush.
Their numbers were so great that from the fortress observation windows they looked like a dense, endless flood from a burst dam.
Beastmen whose flesh and souls had been distorted by the power of Chaos charged at the front line.
Their ancestors had once been human, yet through the long Age of Strife and extra-dimensional erosion they had degenerated into beasts that knew only slaughter.
The beastman's eyes glowed a morbid dark red in the smoke and dust; what issued from his throat was not a battle-cry.
Rather, it was a more primitive, low growl squeezed from the depths of the belly before a hungry beast tears its prey.
Fort Sixteen, where Datch and Keyan were located, was the first to be attacked and became the enemy's breach.
"All members, prepare to engage the enemy at optimal range."
Captain Gennan's roar was heard from in front of the bunker.
He stood behind the parapet, one hand on the wall, the other holding a laspistol high.
Fatigue from weeks of sleep deprivation and constant tension was carved into Captain Gennan's face, yet his voice was composed.
People who had lost reason through chemical spraying roared as they charged into the minefield.
Soon afterward, anti-personnel mines activated; deep-red flames erupted from the ground.
The first beastmen who plunged into the minefield were instantly blown to pieces; a gruesome scene of flesh and blood flying everywhere spread.
The beastmen were indifferent even to their comrades' deaths and charged into the minefield. Ear-splitting explosion sounds rang out; with every explosion, countless beastmen were blown from the ground.
The bodies of those at the centre of the explosions were torn to pieces by the shockwave; those at the periphery were blown into the air by the blast-wind and flailed their limbs uselessly in the air.
However, the enemy was countless. The vanguard fell; the rear ranks of beastmen continued the charge while trampling the still-burning corpses of their own kind.
Stimulated by stimulants, they held no fear of death; bearing only blazing hatred in their chests, they bravely crossed the minefield while risking their lives.
When the beastmen approached to a distance of only three hundred metres from that point, Captain Gennan suddenly brought down the hand he had raised.
"Fire! Fire! Shoot those damned monsters!"
From every firing port of Fort Sixteen dense laser beams erupted.
Pale-red rays left countless linear trajectories in the smoke and dust and shot down one after another the ranks of beastmen charging at the front line.
The intense heat of the lasers produced a very short hiss when they struck flesh; the beastmen they hit cried out in pain and fell.
Some were pierced directly through the skull and fell to the ground without raising a voice.
Some had broken legs and continued crawling across the ground, dragging fractured limbs, leaving vivid red drag-trails.
Bang! Bang!
Heavy mortars on the fortress summit fired high-explosive shells toward the areas where the beastmen were most densely packed.
Each shell that struck created a crater several metres in diameter and tore the surrounding beastmen to pieces.
However, still more beastmen trampled their comrades' corpses, ran through the death zone where laser beams crossed, and charged toward that position.
One beast roared and charged at Datch, emitting an intense stench.
Human contours still remained on the beastman's face, yet the skin was an unhealthy ash-green covered in rough scales and wart-like protrusions.
On his forehead, two curved ram's horns extended outward, piercing the skin from the brow-bone; the horns were covered in dark-brown bloodstains and dried tissue fluid.
The other party swung a heavy, crude warhammer and brought it down toward Datch's direction.
The warhammer sliced the air, raising a deep, resonant growl, powerful and unrestrained, filled with pure, immature destructive force.
Datch rolled sideways; the warhammer missed its aim and slammed into the place where he had been standing just a moment earlier.
It smashed to pieces the already cracked grey granite floor tiles.
Fragments flew in all directions and struck his flak armour with a clatter.
Datch did not hesitate and attacked, utilising the beastman's heavy hammer still stuck in the ground.
He immediately drew from his waist a military shovel sharpened many times on a whetstone, hurriedly stood, and leapt to the opposite side.
He had sharpened the shovel's blade sharper than any standard combat knife.
The blade protruding into the air drew a clean arc, accurately cut into the side of the beastman's head, and bit into the cranial cavity.
The beastman raised a short groan filled with pain; the heavy warhammer fell to the ground, and that gigantic body collapsed forward.
Datch stepped on the corpse and pulled out the shovel. From the blade, a mixture of dark-red blood and ash-white brain tissue still dripped.
When he raised his face, the beastmen had already charged that position.
They climbed the parapet and plunged into Fort Sixteen's defence line.
A man nearby shouted while firing a lasrifle; the laser beam released from the muzzle struck a beastman who was tearing another recruit.
The beastman was pierced through the shoulder and back by the laser yet did not fall.
The degeneration of beastmen robbed them of human-like intelligence and lifespan, yet in exchange it gave them extraordinary resilience and resistance to injury far surpassing ordinary humans.
To defeat a beastman often requires multiple direct hits or an attack to a vital point such as the head.
The beastman turned, flung aside the prey whose throat had been slashed, and charged toward the man who had fired the gun.
A spear made of scrap metal and chain in its hand pierced the man's abdomen; its tip protruded from the back.
When the spear was withdrawn, the man's entrails spilled out; afterward, the man was attacked and bitten fiercely.
"Get off!"
Meanwhile Keyan was tackled by a beastman; the instant his back struck the ground the lasrifle flew from his hand.
That beastman weighed at least three hundred kilograms; with those thick muscles, Keyan was helpless, and his neck was firmly seized.
Datch took up a lasgun and adjusted it to maximum output.
He raised the gun and pulled the trigger. A sharp laser beam was released and instantly pierced the beastman's occiput.
The beastman's corpse tilted forward by inertia and crushed Keyan.
Datch walked over, seized the collar of Keyan's flak vest, and dragged him out from under the corpse.
Keyan trembled all over from terror; the strength left his legs, and he could hardly stand.
Captain Gennan's scream, filled with pain, echoed from afar, then suddenly stopped.
When Datch turned, there was a gigantic mutant monster at least three times the size of an ordinary beastman.
It seized Captain Gennan's legs and shoulders with both hands, lifted him overhead, and tore him in two.
Many of the conscripted soldiers were driven by terror and fled.
Datch charged the fleeing soldiers and, amid the gigantic beastman's roar, threw a grenade into its mouth.
The beast involuntarily closed its mouth, yet at that instant the grenade exploded inside the mouth.
Fragments of the exploded head and blood spray flew in all directions. The gigantic body stood frozen on the spot for about a heartbeat, then collapsed with a dull sound.
After defeating the gigantic beastman, Datch took up a gun and took aim, intending to shoot down the cowards who had turned their backs on the enemy.
After executing several deserters, the withdrawal operation was forcibly stopped.
"We must hold this post to the death. If we collapse, the enemy will pour through the breach, and no one will survive."
Datch controlled the tone of his voice well so that everyone present could hear.
"Who do you think you are…" someone leapt out and interrogated Datch.
Before he finished speaking, Datch took up the lasgun and shot him dead with a single shot.
The body fell backward; when it struck the ground, a small cloud of grey smoke mixed with blood and gravel dust rose.
His toughness and ability gave the dispirited conscripts a sense of purpose.
Such ordinary people whose reason has been robbed by terror need someone who knows no fear.
Under Datch's command, Fort Sixteen held until rear armoured units arrived.
Gigantic tanks entered the position with a roar; every time they rolled across ground scattered with corpses and rubble, the tracks made a metal-scraping sound as if gritting teeth.
Entering the battlefield, the tanks immediately turned anti-infantry weapons toward the beastmen on the field.
Heavy explosive cannons and demolition cannons fired simultaneously and together poured a concentrated barrage of pure firepower as if countless iron snakes were attacking prey.
From launch pods on both sides of the turrets, small rockets trailing pillars of flame flew out and plunged into the places where the beastmen were most densely packed.
The shockwaves of the explosions blew the still-roaring mutant monsters into the air together with surrounding rubble and corpses.
In a mere few minutes, the gigantic mutants and the horde of beastmen were annihilated.
Very few mutants succeeded in breaking through the defence line, yet were shot dead by numerous infantry.
Combat ended; countless corpses remained on the battlefield.
"You will take over Captain Gennan's mission and lead this unit."
A senior officer crossed the battlefield where bodies were being cleared and approached Datch.
He was given a new post and thereby legitimately permitted to lead Keyan and the others onto the battlefield.
"It seems you've become our leader."
Hearing that news, Keyan could not stop laughing.
After all, Datch had saved his life.
He is more worthy of being leader than anyone.
For the following two weeks, the enemy continued air-raid operations and launched attacks committing beastmen and ground troops.
The rebel fleet in orbit adjusted bombing frequency and shifted from continuous large-scale bombing to a more regular rhythm.
Every few Terran-standard units, a concentrated barrage of macro-cannons and plasma shells poured onto the same defence line.
The Iron Warriors siege commanders were testing the Aegis's reaction speed and searching for an extremely short, almost imperceptible gap in which the void shields could recharge.
So as not to give the defenders time to rest between large-scale bombardments, small shells were deployed on the outer fortresses.
Spaceship wreckage entered the atmosphere, rubbed violently against the air, and was dragged behind as streaks of flame.
Many conscript soldiers used shooting stars as an opportunity to make a wish.
Every time they saw a shooting star, they drew an aquila on their chest and made a wish.
"I just want to survive." Every time Keyan saw a shooting star, he said the same thing to Datch.
"You will survive. And everything will end," Datch answered calmly while staring at the distant enemy.
"You don't look scared at all," Keyan said in a voice faintly filled with curiosity.
Most conscripted soldiers are very ordinary people and have almost no opportunity to get to know one another. Because cruel war causes many of them to lose their lives before they know one another.
Some were not even remembered by name by their comrades before their names appeared on the casualty list.
However, Keyan held a strong interest in Datch. In his memory, this man had never once shown fear.
"There is nothing to fear, Keyan. Victory in this war will without doubt belong to the Imperium," Datch said.
"You're really optimistic," Keyan muttered and approached Datch. By doing so, Keyan felt a little reassured.
Datch did not refuse the other party's offer. The other party was merely an NPC, yet because of that realism, he was perceived as one human suffering in war. Afterward, the war continued.
The sound of bombardment became the noise of daily life; occasional short silences were enough to wake people from sleep. Fort Fifteen and Fort Fourteen were located on both sides of Fort Sixteen.
By early March they had been reduced to ruins by enemy fire.
Fierce bombardment destroyed fortress after fortress; firepower and defensive power around the palace gradually weakened.
By early April the enemy stopped bombing and instead deployed still more troops at the landing sites.
Even the traitor Death Guard Legion deployed on the ground.
These Astartes, blessed by Nurgle, the instant they set foot on the battlefield, released large quantities of poison-gas bombs.
In the midst of explosions, poison gas spread along the trenches, seeped into bunker ventilation ports, and penetrated every gap in the basements.
Many people lost their lives to poison gas and tasted intense pain in their final moments.
At that time, Datch saw Jaghatai Khan, who had come from the old timeline.
Using jetbikes and attack craft, he led his sons and charged from the direction of the Helios Gate.
That attack was like a sharp longsword and instantly slashed through the Death Guard's defence.
However, the enemy's numbers were overwhelming; when Jaghatai sheathed his blade and tried to withdraw, he had already been surrounded by the enemy.
Death Guard poured from every direction and were desperate to kill this loyal son of the Emperor.
Just as Jaghatai was in crisis, Sanguinius appeared together with the Blood Angels.
The Great Angel, golden longsword in one hand and holy spear in the other, leapt from the heights of the Wall of the Sun.
He descended from heaven like an unparalleled angelic god of war and attacked Mortarion's descendants like a whirlwind.
He rescued his brother, brought back all information the enemy had collected during the raid, such as rebel unit deployments and poison-gas formulas, and inflicted enormous damage on the Death Guard.
"Amazing!" Datch, who had witnessed the entire combat, shouted from the heart.
The survivors of Fort Sixteen raised cheers when Sanguinius appeared.
Many people repeatedly drew aquilas in the direction where Sanguinius vanished; some even knelt and began chanting hymns.
"Boss." Keyan approached Datch with a heavy heart.
"What's wrong?" Datch turned and looked at the other party.
"There may be a traitor inside our position," Keyan said in an extremely low voice.
"Connor was killed. He was shot from behind."
"I think they will launch an attack against Fort Sixteen."
Connor was one of the few conscript soldiers whose names Keyan remembered.
A taciturn middle-aged man whose wife and children had died in a riot the traitors had arranged.
Therefore, he deeply hated traitors.
In the end, he was killed by a traitor.
Datch furrowed his brows a little, then lightly patted Keyan's shoulder.
"Be careful. Those traitors will surely pay the price for their deeds."
...
The enemy occupied the landing sites, built positions, assembled cannons, and constantly eroded the Imperium's surrounding regions.
Imperial fortresses were marked one after another with red crosses on the map indicating their fall.
Fort Sixteen too was destroyed beyond recognition in this period.
The outer walls were covered in spiderweb cracks; among the especially severe cracks, some were wide enough for an adult's fist to fit completely.
Technicians repeatedly filled the gaps using quick-drying cement, rebar, and metal plates recovered from rubble.
On the battlefield outside the fortress, countless corpses were scattered.
Beastmen, rebel soldiers, and fallen loyalist soldiers layered over one another…
It emitted a stench of decay; gums had yellowed; skin slowly peeled from bone; only rotting matter remained.
This one month was truly hard.
Plague continued to spread and annihilated defence units one after another.
Every time the Death Guard made a ground attack, they released new poison gas.
The terrible green toxic fog drifted in the air longer and longer and seeped into every corner of unsealed fortresses.
Soldiers noticed their own arms and chests covered in countless small transparent blisters filled with pale-yellow liquid.
Then it developed into pox and fungal infections, and finally they were infected by every kind of strange parasite, bringing pain and suffering to all patients.
Medicae were at a loss. Antibiotics had long been exhausted; even the most basic disinfectants were beginning to run short.
Keyan's acquaintances died of disease one after another.
The survivors wore protective suits and gas masks around the clock and covered their breathing grilles even while eating and sleeping.
The most painful thing is that, as enemy attacks continue, everyone is constantly plagued by nightmares.
They dreamed that dead comrades rose from the piles of corpses, skin rotting and peeling, eyeballs melting from the sockets, oozing two streaks of pus, walking toward them while stretching bony fingers.
They dreamed of those frenzied, chaotic monsters chasing them like mad.
Because nightmares assault one after another, one cannot distinguish reality from hallucination.
This also means the decline of Imperial power.
He could no longer protect the humans on the outer rim from the invasion of dark forces.
As the enemy continued to press, most attacks were carried out by disposable soldiers and beastmen, yet the frequency of Death Guard participation also rose more and more.
Datch's unit was constantly being reorganised.
Remains of neighbouring fortresses, reinforcements sent from the rear, or remnants scattered by other units.
Every time casualty numbers were tallied after combat, a new blank arose in the command system.
Each time the highest-ranking officer among the remaining units filled the vacancy, yet that person too would soon join the casualty list.
Therefore Datch's rank in the army rose higher and higher.
On the fifteenth of April a general offensive began.
The enemy installed multiple unbelievably gigantic cannons, each hundreds of metres in height.
Their wheels were larger than a Leman Russ tank; the barrels were thick enough that an entire Astartes squad lined up sideways could fit.
They could destroy a fortress protected by void shields with a single shot and easily smash every obstacle, including Fort Sixteen.
The enemy advanced furiously and marched toward the Wall of the Sun.
"Father, I have come to find you."
Angron descended onto the battlefield like a meteor; his roar was ear-splitting.
The shockwave of the landing blew away everything around.
Countless World Eaters descended to the ground together with their gene-father.
They charged toward every remaining defensive facility around the Wall of the Sun and slaughtered every resistance soldier who entered their sight.
"Blood for the Blood God!" Roars rose and fell; each time they were louder than the previous roar.
Nothing can stop a Primarch who has ascended to the daemonic realm.
Angron ignored the falling bombardment and continued to advance.
After ascension, he wielded a gigantic sword matching his own huge body, slashed tanks, bunkers, and towers, and destroyed everything that entered his sight.
Datch encouraged the remaining soldiers, led them toward the Wall of the Sun, and headed for the Helios Gate.
At that time, survivors from other defence sectors were also running toward the Helios Gate.
They slowly melted into the crumbling flow of people.
Though they were only a small portion of the original conscript targets, their numbers were still enormous.
However, the door was firmly closed.
Cannons on the walls roared without cease; barrages of plasma cannons and macro-cannons raced overhead.
Fireballs struck the rebel columns advancing from behind and exploded again and again.
The garrison had no intention whatsoever of opening the gate to let survivors inside.
Just as the conscripted soldiers were about to sink into despair, Sanguinius's voice rang across the battlefield.
"Men and women who swear loyalty to the Imperium, seek salvation and take refuge under the Emperor's protection."
Remaining time is three minutes.
When the Primarch's voice vanished, the Helios Gate slowly opened.
The fleeing soldiers, exhausted yet wringing out their last strength, ran toward the slowly opening gigantic door with the single-minded desire to survive.
Datch did not move and fixed his gaze on Angron. Along the way, Angron was destroying the last forts one after another and reducing the soldiers inside them to nothing.
The enemy is charging toward the Helios Gate.
Every time the Primarch takes a step, the ground shakes violently.
If he charges the crowd withdrawing toward the castle gate, there will without doubt be enormous casualties.
We must stop him and take some countermeasure so that these pitiful people can survive.
The character he plays this time does not have a physique like the original Forged Warriors, yet he still possesses considerable physical ability.
All the experience points obtained in this period were used to improve combat skills.
Holding Angron back for a while should not be a problem.
"Boss, why aren't you going?" Keyan ran a few steps and found Datch standing in the same place.
He hurriedly turned, seized Datch's hand, and tried to flee together with Datch.
Everyone else also paid attention to Keyan and Datch and waited for the two to come together.
The majority of these people were those whose lives Datch had saved on the battlefield and who had sworn absolute loyalty to him.
Datch escaped Keyan's hand without hesitation. "Keyan, go alone. Take them and live."
"Boss, what about you?" Keyan's voice trembled.
"You need not worry." Seeing Keyan's hesitant expression, Datch immediately raised the lasgun and aimed at his former comrade.
"Now run. Otherwise I'll kill all of you."
After saying that, he fired a single shot.
The laser beam grazed Keyan's left ear and struck the wreckage of a transport vehicle overturned behind him, opening a small, still-smoking hole.
The sharp sound slicing the air filled the surrounding people with surprise and terror.
"Run, run with all your strength. Otherwise I'll kill you."
Datch aimed the gun at Keyan again and put his finger on the trigger.
Keyan did not understand why his superior had done such a thing. However, he never doubted the other party's resolve to fire. If he did not flee, he would truly fall to those bolts.
The others ran together with Keyan.
After seeing them flee, Datch took a stimulant syringe from his waist.
He stabbed the needle into the side of his neck, pushed the plunger down with his thumb, and injected the drug into his body.
The drug took effect instantly.
Datch's pupils suddenly contracted; muscles swelled under the flak armour.
After injecting the stimulant, Datch's physical and perceptual abilities would improve significantly.
As a price, he will die instantly the moment the stimulant's effect wears off.
Datch took a deep breath, stepped forward, and charged toward the battlefield toward Angron.
Datch's combat skills are outstanding; with the stimulant's effect added, those vile traitors were no match for him at all.
In the dense ranks of rebel infantry, his figure was like a scorching blade piercing butter and easily cut a road of blood.
Even scattered World Eaters were no match for him.
They were often defeated within two rounds.
Along the way, Datch discovered a megaphone Imperial officers used to issue orders.
"Angron, you coward, come face me."
Datch's voice, amplified by the loudspeaker, rang repeatedly across the battlefield and drowned out the World Eaters' roars.
"You will forever be a slave of the fools of Nuceria! The gladiators who died because of you will forever despise you!"
Driven by bottomless anger, Angron had been concentrating only on slaughtering the remaining defence soldiers in his path.
Normally, he would ignore Datch's provocation.
However, Datch's words struck his weakest part.
The Red Angel's remaining will made him turn his head toward the direction of the sound and roar toward the place where Datch was.
Datch raised a power sword running with electric light and glared at him without fear.
"You will forever be a slave, Angron. Now fight me. Don't be so cowardly; you won't even answer a human's call."
One World Eater assaulted Datch and tried to tear this human who had challenged his own Primarch with a chainsword.
Datch tilted his body sideways and evaded the other party's chainsword.
Then, seizing the opportunity, he thrust the power sword from above.
The sword's tip accurately pierced the gap created by the other party's downward swing and penetrated the chest cavity.
Then, with a sudden pull, he crushed the other party's two hearts.
This sight surprised even the traitors nearby.
A mere soldier wearing ordinary flak armour had killed a Space Marine blessed by the gods with a single stroke of the sword.
Is this man human?
Keyan and the others who had fled to the Helios Gate were also filled with shock and admiration.
The boss is too strong! He actually confronted a Primarch head-on and defeated a World Eater before their eyes.
Datch's performance drew attention not only from ordinary people but from still more people.
The Blood Angels and Imperial Fists commanders directing bombardment placement on the Wall of the Sun also showed expressions of surprise.
"Who on earth is this guy?" Raldoron, First Captain of the Blood Angels in charge of wall defence, asked the people around him, yet no one could answer.
There are too many conscripts, and complete files have not been created. Identifying their names and identities requires enormous labour.
"You previously sent comrades to their deaths; this time you send your own descendants to their deaths? Angron, are you really that cowardly?" Datch crouched, cut off the World Eater's head, and raised it before the Primarch.
Blood dripped from the neck slashed by the power sword, spread on the ground, and flowed down along the raised arm.
Angron roared again and charged toward Datch; his huge body shook the earth.
The gigantic sword gripped in his hand came down vertically with tremendous force and a sharp sound, slicing the air.
Datch rolled and evaded the other party's attack. The greatsword missed its target and slammed into the ground, creating a large crater.
He rolled to Angron's feet, slashed the cartilage of the heel with the power sword, and inflicted a shocking laceration.
Angron raised a roar of pain and violently brought the sword down toward Datch.
Realising he could not withstand an attack from the front, Datch evaded and took distance again.
Meanwhile, Angron's ankle reattached in a time shorter than one heartbeat and recovered to its original state.
"I'll allow cheating, but when I cheat you can't complain."
Witnessing this sight, Datch realised it was a blessing from the Blood God.
The four scoundrels of the Warp have been shameless from of old. If they try to talk to one another with reason, it is probably when they have found someone even more shameless than themselves.
Angron charged toward Datch intending to smash him to pieces.
Datch used his innate agility to move around Angron, evading attacks while constantly searching for opportunities to wound him.
At this sight, everyone lost their words. A human challenging a Primarch and wounding him—
Is this man human?
Even Sanguinius, who had been destroying siege towers to prevent the enemy from using them to attack the walls, was surprised.
He had never imagined ordinary people could be this strong.
It is important to know that most Astartes cannot last even one round against Angron and are torn to pieces in an instant.
This human can not only fight Angron but also wound him. If he had a tougher body, he might actually have been able to defeat a Primarch.
Unfortunately, there is a large gap in physical ability between the two, and furthermore Angron also received the Blood God's protection.
In the end, Datch could not inflict fatal damage on the Red Angel.
As time passed, the stimulant's effect gradually faded; Datch's stamina and reaction time also declined.
Afterward, he launched an attack again, yet could not evade by a hair's breadth and was blown away by a single stroke of the sword.
That terrible impact slammed him into a damaged siege tower, and he continued to spit blood.
Roar!!
Angron charged, swinging the greatsword, intending to cut Datch in two.
"Your opponent is me, brother."
Having destroyed the last siege tower, Sanguinius fell from the sky; his longsword blocked Angron's attack and saved Datch.
The Great Angel's attacks were tremendous, like fierce thunder; sword and spear flew out simultaneously; each blow was a fatal wound and forced Angron back.
Then the Great Angel lifted the dying Datch, beat his wings, and flew away toward the walls; Angron stood there crushed by helpless anger.
Returning to the high walls, Sanguinius immediately called medical personnel.
However, Datch had received too cruel an attack from Angron and could not be rescued.
"Warrior, tell me your name. I will remember it and pass it on to later generations."
Sanguinius looked at the human who had sacrificed himself to buy time to save everyone and spoke in a voice filled with sorrow.
Datch, while spitting blood, looked at Sanguinius and smiled.
"Little angel, you need not remember my name. Just remember that this is humanity's courage."
"Humanity will surely overcome every difficulty with courage."
The moment he finished speaking, the NPC Datch drew his last breath and died.
The four Chaos Gods who sensed the anomaly peeked through the curtain and saw the corpse lying in Sanguinius's arms.
They well understood this was an embodiment of anonymity and that the enemy side was interfering in the war in this way.
The embodiment of consciousness has died. They can only avert their gaze, filled with anger, continue searching for others, and try to find it and stop it.
This important milestone means the collapse of the Chaos Gods' symbolic invincibility and the acquisition of dominance in the war.
At that time, the nameless ones will likely replace them with a new pantheon of gods.
That time will be our true end.
After Datch died, darkness immediately arrived.
However, the next instant, a notification sound rang.
[The character you were playing has died. A new character is assigned.]
[The role I play this time: a Blood Angel defending the Wall of the Sun]
As the darkness faded, familiar gunshots rang in his ears again.
The instant Datch opened his eyes, he saw the Great Angel holding a corpse with a face filled with sorrow.
Forehead...
This is a little weird!
Just then, a shrill alarm sounded.
A group of Night Lords used jump packs and rushed up the Wall of the Sun.
The Emperor's power suppresses the Warp, yet Konrad Curze and the Night Lords are merely anti-Imperialists and have not gone over to Chaos.
Therefore, unlike Angron and the World Eaters, they will not be blocked by the Emperor's power. The law intervenes.
They need only climb the walls while evading bombardment and shields.
"We climbed the wall first. The Night Haunter knows no fear."
The moment he finished shouting, the Night Lord leader saw Sanguinius.
Wait — it seems we came to the wrong place.
Why is there a Primarch here?
Uh, we came to the wrong place, so please don't mind us!
Sanguinius gently laid the remains he had been holding on the ground and waited for medical personnel to carry them away. Then he turned toward Raldoron and the other Blood Angels members and gave instructions.
"Kill every last one of these damned traitors."
The moment he finished speaking, the Great Angel charged toward the enemy first.
"For the Emperor! For the Great Angel!" Datch shouted, activated a chainsword, and returned to the battlefield.
…
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