Morning mist hung thick in the air.
Dark clouds pressed down upon the Hive City, and though dawn had arrived, the world remained shrouded in gloom.
The outskirts of a Hive City, far from Imperial control.
In a depression below ground level, on a sloping bank, human soldiers lay prone in dense ranks.
The officers' faces were steady, but the many new recruits wore a variety of expressions—some flushed, others pale.
A rustle of footsteps came from behind the soldiers, accompanied by low, echoing voices:
"Final half-hour. Eat. Fix bayonets."
A messenger ran past, crouched low. Hearing the words 'fix bayonets,' the new recruits couldn't stop their bodies from trembling.
If not for the veteran officers beside them, if not for Sith's hundredfold amplification of their nearly depleted morale...
After this command, the sound of executions would have risen one after another.
Because just above the crowd, at the edge of the flat ground, stretched an endless, tangible sea of Greenskins.
And it wasn't just the boundless hordes of Greenskin Boyz, bikes, and battlewagons. Within the green tide, there was even a towering Greenskin walker—a Gargant.
Now, as the world gradually brightened, the Greenskins also stirred awake, beginning to clamor and ponder who to pick a fight with today.
That massive Gargant, with its Big Mek and crew, had already resumed its noisy hammering and banging.
Bones, sheet metal, even wooden planks—all were being haphazardly added to the already structurally unsound walker.
Simultaneously, the Gargant's bulk began to further approach that of a human Light Titan.
A few wildly fired rockets—the Greenskins' way of rousing their Boyz—arced crookedly toward the distant, towering Hive City. Its already sunless, deep steel seemed to exude a gloomy, deathly stillness in the dim light.
The Hive City stood upon the earth, its colossal form piercing the sea of clouds. Under the murky sky, it resembled an ancient steel tomb, piled high with the dead, awaiting the knock of outsiders.
Even with prior preparation, Sith, looking at the scene of the Hive City and the Greenskins before him, once again thanked the Emperor in his heart.
At the same time, he turned to look at the terrified new recruits behind him, helplessness surfacing in his eyes.
After all, the higher their hopes had been before, the more intense their desire to die was at this moment.
"The Greenskins have just woken. Now is the best time to launch a surprise attack."
The cold electronic voice from behind Davi Luo's helmet came from the side.
Sith withdrew his gaze from the soldiers behind and turned to Davi Luo, who pointed toward a massive external gateway at a corner of the Hive City.
Unlike Sith's previous Hive City, this one's external gateways were constructed exceptionally wide.
"We'll assault that gateway next. We've received the control codes from the nobles atop the spire. Once inside, we just need to reseal the gateway to cut off the external xenos."
Finished speaking, Davi Luo didn't look at the soldiers but instead regarded Sith seriously:
"Charge over. Open the door. Close it."
"It's that simple."
At these few brief words, Sith couldn't help but take a deep breath. The veterans around him, including Bruno, stiffened.
As for the new recruits below, who were originally deserters, their faces under this concise command turned utterly ashen.
Davi Luo also knew not to expect too much from this bunch of deserters. The fact that they had held their position on the slope until now already far exceeded their previous morale.
Glancing at the new recruits behind him whose breathing seemed on the verge of stopping, Davi Luo rarely sighed behind his helmet.
"Commander Sith, perhaps before we set out, you could inspire your soldiers."
Davi Luo was not an Astartes skilled at inspiration, nor was he a Chaplain.
He could only hope Sith might stir some fighting spirit in the soldiers before the battle.
By now, most of the hour had passed. The new recruits, fighting their terror, forced themselves to swallow their food and tremblingly fixed their bayonets.
It was solely due to Sith's hundredfold amplification that their bodies, which should have long since collapsed or fled recklessly, remained nailed to their positions.
The distant sky grew brighter. Davi Luo no longer even bothered to conceal himself, rising directly from the depression's slope.
Simultaneously, his cold electronic voice reminded Sith:
"Final five minutes."
At the electronic voice, the new recruits' bodies shuddered violently.
All eyes turned to Sith, filled with an expectation they themselves didn't even understand.
Though Sith knew that whatever he said, these lives before him were highly likely to remain forever on this ground not far away, as he looked at the crowd, seeing the fear they directed at him, he ultimately did not deliver the rousing speeches of an Imperial Political Commissar.
Sith merely raised his sidearm and long blade, his expression... surprisingly somewhat comforting:
"Nothing to fear. I'll take the lead."
The air froze. Davi Luo, who had held no expectations, was rooted to the spot by Sith's soft words.
Even the other two Deathwatch members looked at the calm Sith in shock.
It felt like an eternity, yet also like an instant.
The stagnant air began to flow again.
And the new recruits, who had been trembling all over, gazed at Sith standing before them—not scolding, not reproaching, but actually comforting—and their bodies...
gradually steadied!
On the other side, the veterans like Bruno, the stiffness on their faces rapidly dissipated, their eyes beginning to fill with blood vessels.
Without further words, Sith finished speaking, turned, and in front of the Mortal soldiers, in front of Davi Luo and the three Deathwatch, stepped first onto the high ground.
As his foot landed, in the distance, the Greenskins erupted into a frenzied tide!!!
Shells, rockets, bikes, massive choppas.
Across the broad plain, tens of thousands of Mortals raised their bayonets and charged toward the boundless green tide.
Blood and limbs were shattered in explosions.
Mortals who managed to thrust their bayonets into Greenskins were cleaved in two under massive choppas.
Mortals who had mustered courage frantically pulled their triggers, only to be smashed to the ground by Crazy Speeding Kid roaring with battle cries.
The few rocket launchers fired long-tailed flames streaking into the distance, leaving cracks on the distant Gargant before being blasted into crimson mist by its barrage.
There was no small-scale combat experience, no relatively balanced disparity in strength.
Tens of thousands of new recruits converted from deserters, far inferior to the Greenskins in physique, equipment, and skill, fanaticismly carried out their charge.
Death played out constantly around them. The scene before their eyes was even more terrifying than their previous nightmares.
Yet this time, no one fled. Everyone just held their breath, their gazes fixed unwaveringly on the figure at the very front.
Watching that figure. Chasing that figure!
The Gargant's Frenzied Barrage swept past Sith, turning at least a thousand Mortal infantry beside him into crimson mist.
But Sith had no weapons capable of countering it. He merely quickened his pace, Bypass the Gargant, charging toward the endpoint of this assault.
Davi Luo had already reached the gate with the two Deathwatch.
They uploaded the opening command. The massive gate began to grind open with mechanical roar.
The veterans seized the moment to Boost morale. Davi Luo, having opened the gate, didn't immediately enter and close it but stood at the entrance, actually Begin to cover the Mortals behind.
As Sith also charged through the gate, Davi Luo and one Deathwatch Desperately unleashing firepower.
The other Deathwatch watched the control panel inside the gate light up with warning after warning, his right hand clenching into a fist.
"The closing code the nobles gave is wrong!"
The Deathwatch fury. Hearing this, Sith instantly glared at the Deathwatch, then immediately looked back at the gate where Greenskins, pursuing his soldiers, were A surging tide.
That massive Gargant was steadily turning, aiming its exaggerated cannon muzzle toward the gate!
"Leave a rearguard. Use melta bombs to collapse the passage."
Davi Luo's electronic voice remained icy. But the soldiers who heard this instantly looked at Sith.
There was a vast difference between likely dying and certain death!
Sith was only silent for an extremely brief moment. His reaction was no slower than Davi Luo's.
Looking directly at the veterans bringing up the rear outside the gate, Sith was equally 'cold'.
No words. No time for hesitation. Sith suddenly raised his hand, offering a solemn salute to the soldiers at the very back.
Outside the gate, the Anxious face of the veterans instantly turned Dead silence at this sight. No order was given, yet they all understood the command.
Their steps, chasing hope, gradually slowed until they came to a complete halt.
No terror and disappointment. No Discontent and madness.
The veterans merely looked deeply at Sith. Unable to return the salute, they They shouted in unison:
"For the Empire!"
The Greenskins were forced to halt their advance. Davi Luo and the three Deathwatch personally used their superhuman speed to plant melta bombs on each section of the gate.
Then, Accompanied by a huge roar, the endless steel of the gate collapsed and sealed shut in a thunderous roar.
Through the final gap, outside were the rearguard Mortals still fanaticismly shouting 'Emperor!'.
Inside, the Awakened by the roar the Hive City. The survivors looked toward the depths of the passage, where under countless gradually brightening lights, Endless shadows surged forth!