A completely sealed, pitch-dark Hive City.
A broad avenue, with dense networks of walkways suspended from the towering factories on either side.
The glow of lumens intertwined with the glare of flames.
Light cast upon the walls, stretching and distorting countless human shadows.
Following the shadows, one saw an almost endless tide of rebels, packed shoulder to shoulder, surging frantically upwards.
And on the elevated walkways flanking the sides, was a similarly ceaseless, torrential flow of humanity.
A deafening roar echoed from the Hive City's summit.
A fierce conflagration erupted, countless pieces of wreckage and structural debris plummeted down. The human tide below was like water struck by a stone, rippling violently before rapidly returning to 'calm'.
The world after the explosion remained filled with nothing but the boundless, dense, frantic pounding of countless feet.
"Why aren't these traitors afraid of death?!"
*Boom boom boom!*
The heavy bolter raked the human tide with furious fire.
Each bolt shell tore through the packed masses, erupting in sprays of blood and flesh.
Bruno's eyes were bloodshot, his index finger clamped on the trigger without a moment's release.
Even Bruno couldn't help but be shocked, watching how no matter how many he killed, the rebels behind continued to charge forward fearlessly, wave after relentless wave.
"Fall back! Keep falling back! The passage is blown!"
A soldier's shout came from behind. Bruno emptied his magazine and, with arms already trembling from exhaustion, stubbornly hefted his precious heavy weapon as he retreated.
The other covering veterans rapidly emptied their own magazines, laying down a curtain of las-fire before tossing over a dozen grenades together.
Another explosion claimed hundreds of rebel lives.
And when the rebels charged forward again, they were met by a blasted-open doorway and the frantic retreat of black-clad soldiers towards the Hive City's spire.
In the passage ahead.
A small-caliber bolt round pierced the darkness, precisely detonating the head of a lurking sniper.
Then more bolt rounds rhythmically shattered the quiet, one after another eliminating enemies hidden in the shadows.
Sith, wielding an officer-pattern bolt pistol adapted for Mortal use, advanced steadily, firing continuously into the darkness.
Veterans followed closely behind. Whenever Sith cleared an area, these veterans would immediately fan out, simultaneously mopping up enemies and searching for routes to the upper levels.
The veterans had long been utterly convinced of, and had completely accepted, Sith's combat prowess.
Only Davi Luo and his two Deathwatch companions, who were fighting alongside Sith for the first time in the truest sense, wore expressions of stunned disbelief.
Because if not for Sith's undeniably Mortal physique, this style of fighting—advancing while firing, each shot precisely eliminating the greatest threat—looked exactly like the kind of effectiveness only an Astartes could achieve!
Davi Luo watched Sith, lost in thought. But the two younger-serving Astartes behind him had already completely revised their opinion of Sith.
At the very least, in Sith's presence, they found themselves instinctively according him an equal status.
The entire squad halted once more before a new expanse. Greatly diminished in number, soldiers poured frantically into the space from the passage behind.
Without orders, the soldiers immediately began searching for a new path.
And from behind, the heavy bolter, quiet for only a brief moment, roared back to life under Bruno's hands.
Sith temporarily lowered his weapon. Ignoring for now whether the surrounding soldiers had found a route, he turned to look behind him, his eyelids twitching.
Although Davi Luo hadn't said anything yet, seeing the almost unnaturally fanatical fighting will of the Hive City rebels, a terrible premonition grew ever stronger in Sith's heart.
"Passage found. The door access code is still incorrect."
Ana ran back, protected by over a dozen elite veterans, her face barely containing a torrent of anger.
If the lockdown command for the main gate could have been tampered with, or even mistakenly sent...
But with nearly every door along the way failing to open, this was undoubtedly a problem originating with the spire's nobility.
Davi Luo did not display the direct fury Ana showed. He simply gestured calmly to one of the Deathwatch, who, with practiced ease, picked up a melta charge and moved towards the door.
"Since the mid and lower hives have already fallen completely, why not let the Orks in? Let the two sides slaughter each other."
"In the end, no matter which side wins, it's a profit for the nobility."
Sith withdrew his gaze from Bruno's direction and calmly voiced the thought in everyone's minds.
The spire nobility didn't care a whit about the Deathwatch, let alone Sith and his 101st Regiment.
They simply saw an opportunity and took it. Using Sith and Davi Luo to open a passage, they let the Orks into the Hive City to purge the lower-hive populace who had betrayed them.
And as for Sith and Davi Luo...
After all, Alert Star had long been a complete warzone. Losing tens of thousands of Mortals and a handful of Astartes was truly no big deal!
They just hadn't anticipated that Davi Luo would rather face the endless rebel horde alone than hesitate to blow the passage.
Nor had they anticipated that Sith's soldiers would accept their fate so calmly, staying behind to face the infinite green tide on their own.
Davi Luo did not respond to Sith. Although Astartes did not hold Mortal lives in high regard...
The performance along this entire path—not just Sith's, but that of every single Imperial Guardsman under his command—had almost uniformly displayed a courage that forced the three Deathwatch to view them with newfound respect.
Regarding the pointless casualties caused by the nobility's actions, Davi Luo found himself uncharacteristically unable to offer Sith any opinion.
Fortunately, another roar sounded from ahead. The passage was blasted open by the melta charge. Davi Luo and Sith raised their weapons almost simultaneously and immediately advanced into the passageway.
But this time, it was not the soldiers who had charged in first who greeted them. Instead, the Astartes leading the way was caught in the narrow, inescapable corridor and engulfed by a barrage of Bolter fire and heavy las-fire.
Even an Astartes in ceramite plate could not survive under such concentrated firepower.
The lead Deathwatch warrior fell instantly. But before he hit the ground, he loosed a burst of bolt rounds deep into the corridor.
The 'crisp' sound of bodies exploding echoed down the corridor after the barrage ceased.
From the depths came the furious shouts of a rebel officer. At the faintly visible far end, several rebels were hastily positioned at the heavy weapon emplacements, still slick with gore.
The rebel officer's face showed elation—not only had they actually managed to down an Astartes, but in this terrain, he didn't believe anyone else could break through.
But just as his rebels settled into the firing positions, before they could resume fire, las-beams suddenly sliced through the air, picking off the rebels around him once more.
The officer was stunned, even bewildered. For these were not Astartes bolt rounds, but Mortal las-fire.
He looked towards the corridor. And in those brief few seconds, over a dozen Imperial Guardsmen had already charged inside.
A las-beam struck the officer's forehead with pinpoint accuracy.
Before his world plunged into total darkness, a final flicker of astonishment appeared in the traitor's eyes.
These Mortals... they actually dared to charge forward right after an Astartes had fallen!
The officer's thoughts were correct. For while only a dozen or so soldiers had made it through the corridor, on the other side, over twenty veterans had been turned into bloody paste within the passage.
Davi Luo dragged the fallen Astartes further into the corridor. Although the front of his armor was nearly shredded, his chest still rose and fell. The breathing from beneath his helmet was only slightly labored.
Compared to the veterans who had been torn apart, the Astartes, who had borne the brunt of the fire, was merely severely wounded.
Sith, witnessing Astartes resilience up close for the first time, withdrew his gaze. He paid no further attention to Davi Luo tending to his wounded battle-brother, his entire focus fixed ahead.
Because according to the map, beyond this door lay the Hive City spire, still under Imperial control.
This was also the only door without an access code. According to the nobility, once they reached this point, *they* would open the door.
Behind them was the maddened roar of Bruno's heavy bolter. Around them was a battered force, almost every man wounded, even an Astartes down.
But as Ana operated the console behind the door, what Sith saw was her smashing a furious fist against the comms panel.
Sith withdrew his gaze as if expecting this. Ana's voice, filled with rage, cut through the space:
"Those damned fools won't open the door!"