The four Celestial Lion guards answered the call, moving to Dominic's side and instantly forming a tight combat formation.
These four guards were Dominic's personal retinue. They had grown up alongside him, bound by an absolute, unbreakable loyalty.
Two of them held massive Storm Shields and Power Hammers. The Storm Shield utilized a dual-defense system—a heavy physical barrier backed by a crackling energy field—capable of deflecting almost any conventional armament. The Power Hammers, meanwhile, could discharge devastating kinetic shockwaves, making them prime weapons for cracking open heavily armored targets. They took their positions at the very front of the formation to absorb the brunt of Ragnar's head-on pressure.
The remaining two guards dual-wielded Storm Bolters, their pauldrons retrofitted with Hellstorm missile launchers. They were tasked with providing heavy fire suppression from the rear, carving out windows of opportunity for Dominic to strike.
"The monster's strength and defense have surged, but his speed has noticeably dropped," Dominic analyzed coolly. "Do not engage him head-on. Use hit-and-run tactics to keep him off-balance. Keep his attention on us and draw his focus away from the Stormblades."
"Understood!" the four guards bellowed in unison.
"ROAR!!!"
Ragnar unleashed a savage, blood-curdling roar. Having devoured over a dozen corpses and half the wreckage of a Stormblade, he felt an inexhaustible torrent of raw power coursing through his veins. His single, newly-grown eye locked onto Dominic.
This red-haired shrimp in the white armor was his ultimate prize today. Once he slaughtered him, the war would be won.
Ragnar charged forward with furious, earth-shaking strides. The marble floor shattered beneath his heels, leaving deep, jagged footprints. Though his speed was indeed slower than before, his charge carried the unstoppable momentum of a collapsing mountain.
"Disperse!" Dominic roared.
The five of them scattered to the flanks, narrowly evading Ragnar's devastating bull-charge.
"Fire!"
The two fire-support guards squeezed their triggers.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
The Storm Bolters spat tongues of blinding muzzle flash, raining heavy-caliber bolts upon Ragnar in a relentless torrent. Simultaneously, the missile launchers on their shoulders screamed. Four Hellstorm missiles, dragging long plumes of fire, streaked toward the towering Ork.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The bolts and missiles detonated across Ragnar's massive frame in rapid succession. A roaring wall of fire and thick black smoke swallowed his silhouette entirely.
"Direct hits!" one of the fire-support guards shouted in excitement.
But as the smoke drifted away, Ragnar still stood there, completely unscathed. The concentrated bombardment had left nothing but faint, shallow scorch marks on his metallic green skin.
"Is that all the strength you shrimps have got?" Ragnar sneered, exposing a maw of yellowed tusks dripping with blood, flesh, and metallic slag.
He spun on his heel, lunging toward the nearest shield-bearing guard.
"Come on then!" the guard bellowed, refusing to yield a single inch. He planted his boots and raised his Storm Shield.
CLANG!!!
Ragnar's massive metal fist slammed violently into the Storm Shield.
A deafening shockwave erupted. The shield-guard was propelled backward, his boots scraping wildly across the floor. The hydraulic systems in his armor shrieked, sirens wailing as the pressure gauges spiked into the red. The shield's energy reserves plummeted instantly. Yet, against all odds, he had held the line.
"Outstanding work!"
Seizing the opening, Dominic lunged from the flank. His power claws tore through the air, their disruption fields humming with a lethal blue light as they ripped toward Ragnar's ribs.
SPLAT!
The power claws successfully tore through Ragnar's toughened hide, carving deep, jagged wounds. Thick, dark-green blood sprayed across the floor.
"GRAAAH!"
Ragnar roared in pain, swinging a backhand fist at Dominic's head.
Dominic, fully prepared, fired his jump pack. The thrusters flared, launching him backward and allowing him to cleanly evade the blow.
BOOM!
Ragnar's fist slammed into the marble floor, cratering the ground and sending massive slabs of stone flying upward like a blossoming rock formation. The sudden barrier of debris successfully shielded him from another volley of storm bolter fire.
And so, Dominic and his four Celestial Lion guards maintained their deadly dance with Ragnar. They operated like a pack of wolves harassing a massive bear, biting and retreating in perfect synchronicity. The shield-guards absorbed the frontal pressure, the fire-support guards disrupted his movements from a distance, and Dominic searched for the perfect openings to deliver lethal, precise strikes.
Their coordination was flawless. Though they couldn't land a decisive, killing blow, they successfully kept the towering beast pinned down.
"All Stormblades, listen to my command!" Dominic shouted into his vox-link while dodging a sweeping blow from Ragnar. "Find your angles! Free fire!"
"Understood, milord!"
The gunners of the five remaining Stormblades adjusted their massive turrets, locking their sights onto Ragnar.
BOOM!!!
The plasma blastguns roared once more, launching blinding spheres of superheated plasma toward the Ork leader.
Ragnar was forced to redirect his focus, desperately throwing his massive frame aside to dodge the incoming plasma streams. Despite his hardened, metallic skin, a direct hit from a plasma blastgun would still reduce him to ash.
For a moment, Ragnar was thrown into complete disarray. He possessed overwhelming, god-like strength, yet he couldn't lay a finger on the elusive, coordinated defense of Dominic and his guards, all while dodging the cataclysmic fire of the super-heavy tanks.
"Cowardly shrimps! Fight me face-to-face!" Ragnar roared in sheer frustration.
He thrashed through the hall like a rabid bull, but no matter how violently he lunged, he couldn't catch the slippery Celestial Lions.
Slowly, the primal intelligence in Ragnar's brain pieced the puzzle together. These white-armored shrimps had no intention of fighting him to the death. They were stalling him. The only real threat to his life was the heavy fire coming from those metal boxes. If he destroyed the tanks, these shrimps would have nothing left to hide behind.
Having reached this realization, Ragnar stopped paying attention to Dominic's attacks. He turned abruptly and charged directly toward the nearest Stormblade.
"Dammit! He's going for the tanks!" one of the shield-guards yelled.
"Stop him!" Dominic roared, throwing himself forward. His power claws ripped into Ragnar's back, searching for a vital organ.
But Ragnar acted as if he felt nothing, continuing his mad dash toward the Stormblade without even looking back.
SLASH!
The power claws tore deep furrows into Ragnar's back, leaving gaping wounds that wept green blood. Yet, Ragnar merely grunted, his relentless pace never slowing for a fraction of a second.
"Don't let him reach them! Move!"
The two shield-guards rushed forward, throwing their bodies directly into Ragnar's path in a desperate attempt to block him.
"Out of my way!"
Ragnar roared, swinging both of his massive fists in wide, devastating arcs.
CRACK! CRACK!
Two sharp, splintering sounds echoed through the hall. The two Storm Shields, their energy cells completely depleted, shattered into fragments under the sheer kinetic force of Ragnar's fists. The impact sent both shield-guards flying through the air.
They crashed heavily against the ground, coughing up blood. They struggled to rise, but their shattered chest plates and broken ribs anchored them to the floor.
With the blockade cleared, Ragnar closed the distance to the Stormblade in a few massive strides.
"Crumble!"
He raised his fists high and slammed them down onto the super-heavy tank's armored turret.
BOOM!!!
The multi-ton armored turret was crushed flat under the impact. The barrel of the plasma blastgun buckled and twisted like cheap plastic.
"Abandon vehicle!" the tank commander screamed.
But it was already too late.
Ragnar ripped the armored hatch completely off its hinges and plunged his massive hand deep into the crew compartment.
After a few brief, blood-curdling screams, a heavy silence fell.
Ragnar pulled out several steaming, broken bodies from the cabin and stuffed them directly into the colossal maw yawning from his abdomen.
"Yes! Delicious! More!"
He licked his lips in primal satisfaction. Then, his single green eye turned toward the next Stormblade.
"No!"
Dominic's eyes filled with bloodshot rage. He could only watch in sheer, agonizing helplessness as Ragnar set upon the second Stormblade, tearing it apart in the exact same brutal fashion.
In the span of mere minutes, two of his remaining super-heavy tanks had been reduced to scrap metal. If this continued, every single Stormblade would be systematically destroyed, and they would lose their only weapon capable of killing this nightmare.
"Enough!" Dominic screamed, his voice cracking with despair.
Dominic could no longer contain his fury.
Casting aside all regard for his personal safety, he seized the exact moment Ragnar was tearing open the hatch of the second Stormblade. His thrusters flared, launching him forward in a blinding burst of speed.
"Die, monster!" Dominic roared.
He pushed the energy output of his power claws to the absolute limit. The pale-blue disruption field surrounding the metal talons flared with an unprecedented, blinding brilliance.
"Go to hell!"
With every ounce of strength in his body, he drove the twin power claws deep into Ragnar's back, twisting and tearing at his massive spine and inner organs.
"GRAAAH!!!"
Ragnar and the grotesque secondary maw on his abdomen screamed in unison. The dual-layered, discordant howl reverberated through the grand hall, sending a painful, high-frequency vibration straight through the defenders' helmets. Thick, dark-green blood welled from the deep puncture wounds, viscous as heavy fuel oil.
It's working! Dominic thought, a surge of hope rising in his chest.
But just as he prepared to twist the claws deeper, Ragnar spun around with terrifying speed. His colossal green hand shot out like a hydraulic vise, clamping firmly onto Dominic's backplate.
"Gotcha!" Ragnar snarled, a savage, blood-drenched grin splitting his face.
With a violent swing of his arm, he slammed Dominic toward the shattered marble floor.
Dominic's vision spun, but he was a veteran of a hundred campaigns. Mid-air, he violently twisted his torso, shifting his posture from a head-first plunge to a feet-down landing position.
Just a split second before impact, the jump pack built into his Celestial Lion armor fired. Plumes of azure fire erupted from the thrusters, generating a powerful counter-thrust that absorbed the worst of the kinetic impact.
Dominic landed solidly on his boots. He did not hesitate for a fraction of a second. The moment his feet touched the stone, he ripped his power claws free.
SLASH!
The razor-sharp disruption claws dragged across Ragnar's forearm, carving a long, smoking furrow through the green skin and muscle.
"Agh!"
Ragnar grunted in pain, his grip loosening slightly.
Seizing that momentary lapse, the auxiliary grenade launcher mounted on Dominic's gauntlet slid forward.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Several high-yield melta grenades streaked directly toward the ravenous mouth yawning from the Ork's abdomen.
Dominic had expected Ragnar to dodge or swat the projectiles away. Instead, the secondary maw stretched open even wider, snapping shut like a steel trap.
GULP!
It swallowed the cluster of melta bombs whole.
The belly-mouth smacked its fleshy lips in satisfaction, chewing greedily on the super-dense ordnance as if they were nothing more than a savory delicacy.
"What?!" Dominic stared in utter disbelief. He had never seen a monster so mindlessly gluttonous. It was eating live explosives.
Even Ragnar's primary brain was momentarily stunned by his stomach's independent, mindless greed. He clawed at his own abdomen, trying to force the secondary maw to spit them out.
But it was already too late. A terrifying, searing heat was expanding rapidly within his gut.
"What did you feed me?!" Ragnar roared, glaring at Dominic with absolute fury.
He lunged to grab the Imperial commander, but then—
BOOM!!!
The melta grenades detonated simultaneously inside his abdominal cavity.
Thousands of degrees of thermal energy erupted within his stomach. Ragnar let out an agonizing, choked scream, instantly releasing Dominic as both of his massive hands flew to clutch his middle.
His stomach ballooned outward like a grotesque leather bladder, the skin stretching so thin it began to glow white-hot. Just before bursting, the extreme pressure forced the thermal backwash upward. Scorching green blood, melted flesh, and liquid organs sprayed violently from both his primary mouth and the ruined maw on his belly.
"Now! Open fire!" Dominic bellowed, using his jump pack to skate backward and clear the blast radius.
Behind him, the turret of a waiting Stormblade had finished its recharge cycle.
BOOM!!!
A massive stream of superheated plasma streaked through the air. At point-blank range, there was absolutely no room for Ragnar to evade.
CRASH!!!
The plasma stream struck Ragnar dead-center in the chest. The blinding detonation threw his massive five-meter frame backward, sending him skipping across the shattered marble floor like a stone over water. He slid dozens of meters before finally grinding to a halt amidst a pile of rubble.
"Did we... get him?" one of the fire-support guards panted, his heavy heavy bolter steaming.
No one dared to breathe. Every eye was locked onto the drifting curtain of smoke and ozone.
A long, agonizing silence followed.
Then, a massive, charred hand thrust out from the debris, slamming onto the floor.
Slowly, agonizingly, Ragnar hauled himself back to his feet.
A gaping, hollow crater had been blasted through his chest. Through the scorched ribcage, they could see his massive, mutated heart, blackened yet still beating with a frantic, stubborn rhythm. Deep green blood poured from the wound like a waterfall.
He looked like a walking corpse, a absolute nightmare of biology and mechanical graft. Yet, he still stood.
Dammit, he's too tough! Dominic cursed inwardly.
How was this thing still breathing? What kind of unholy vitality was keeping this brute alive?
Ragnar shook his head, his single remaining green eye unfocused and swimming. He looked down at the massive hole in his chest, then dragged his broken body toward the smoking wreckage of the nearby Stormblade.
"He's going to consume the metal to regenerate! Stop him!" Dominic yelled, preparing to lead another desperate charge.
Just as he stepped forward, a frantic, triumphant voice crackled through his vox-link.
"Lord Dominic! Excellent news!"
"Without Ragnar on board to coordinate, the Anna's void shields have been completely collapsed by our fleet! Our boarding parties have successfully breached their hulls! We are engaging the Orks in close-quarters combat across all decks!"
"It won't be long before we seize total control of their flagship! Ragnar has no retreat!"
The news was a shot of pure adrenaline to the weary defenders. A ripple of renewed hope swept through the remaining guards.
No matter how powerful this monster was, his fleet was burning. He was isolated, cut off, and entirely alone. If they could just hold the line, victory would be theirs.
But to Ragnar, the transmission—broadcasted over a wide frequency—was a devastating blow.
He froze mid-stride.
He slowly tilted his head back, staring at the high vaulted ceiling of the Gemstone's bridge, as if his gaze could pierce through the heavy armored decks to see his beloved flagship, the Anna, burning in the cold void.
The Anna was his pride, his joy, linked to his very soul. And now, the filthy shrimps were taking her from him.
A wave of pure, unadulterated fury swept away whatever remained of Ragnar's primitive intelligence. He snapped his head back down, his single eye instantly turning blood-red, burning with a maddened, suicidal bloodlust.
He ignored the wreckage of the tank.
He ignored the gaping, smoking crater in his chest.
His entire world narrowed down to a single, white-armored figure.
It was this shrimp. It was all because of this miserable, red-haired shrimp that everything was falling apart.
Kill him. He had to kill him.
"GRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Ragnar unleashed a terrifying, metallic roar that sounded entirely non-mammalian. Throwing all caution and defense to the wind, he charged toward Dominic like an unstoppable avalanche.