Veroni the Knight's Escape from Despair

In December 841, the Moon II of planet III in the Dametus system.

High King Jacques Veroni looked up at the emerald sky, where ribbons of color glided across it.

As a satellite, the Knight's home planet is illuminated by the reflected light of the gas giant it orbits, giving it a bright emerald green hue.

Jacques' eyes were filled with rage. He knew that as the Mitu he had thrown down landed, another noble Fortress would be reduced to ruins.

His eldest son, Gios, spoke through the communicator, "Father, we only have about two hundred Knight Mech left."

Jacques felt the sadness welling up in the Machine Spirit, and his heart was filled with desolation.

His family once owned six hundred Knight Mech, but now only a third of that number remains.

Jacques already sensed that the House Veroni were on the verge of destruction.

Their supplies were almost exhausted, and not a single fortress in the entire Dametus remained intact.

Memories of glory that once belonged to Veroni flashed through Jacques' mind.

The Dametus system is the intersection of several small but stable Warp routes, attracting colonists to this world. They used the hull of the exploration colony Craftworld to build a magnificent fortress— Cloud-Evil Fortress.

The colonists soon discovered that the entire world was ruled by Xenos beings who called themselves gods and demanded the newcomers' submission.

The Age of War began, and the Knights of Veroni fought for decades against the vile creatures that fed on them, relying on the Standard Template Construct of Cloud-Evil Fortress.

The battle between the two sides boiled the swampy sea, scorched the vine-covered forest, and turned the verdant sky into Evernight.

Finally, the knights defeated or drove large numbers of hybrid cephalopods and mammals to the deepest, most remote wilderness.

In the long, five-thousand-year -Old Night that followed, the Veroni Knights steadfastly resisted countless invasions.

There are both unheard-of Xenos and infamous, familiar enemies: savage Ork and Aeldari slave hunters.

But of all the countless invaders, none was more terrifying than the Mitu Xenos.

Throughout the centuries of resistance, generations of knights died.

They refused to yield to the Xenos, and even in the most dilapidated ruins where a single person remained, the nobles would not break their oath and allow the Mitu to carry out their cruel purges.

Jacques listened intently to the voice of the Solitary, and the Machine Spirit of the Knight Mech roared in greeting.

Despite its scars and lack of maintenance, it will still meet its end in glory.

During the long and bloody resistance, each Knight Mech experienced the death of its master countless times, which gave Dametus's Machine Spirit a unique temperament, both combative and melancholic.

Dametus' knights were inevitably affected, becoming lonely and strong.

Each nobleman bestowed upon their Knight Mech a name imbued with a unique and sorrowful quality.

Jacques's Knight Mech is called the Solitary, symbolizing a solitary resistance against the brutal Xenos.

The High King gathered his thoughts and spoke into the communication network.

"Knights of Dametus, we are the last human survivors in this shattered Galaxy."

We will surely perish, but our vow will never be broken.

"Hold your ground and protect our people."

The Lancer-pattern Horned Viper Knight, the Solitary, raised his left arm high, his charging lance spinning and roaring.

"Our oath is unbreakable!"

The response from the communicator was less than the Supreme King had anticipated.

But he couldn't even continue searching for the number of surviving knights; he had already noticed the numbers flashing across his retina.

[Plasma Reactor output power: 50.13%]

Jacques silently shut down the communicator; from now on, until his death, he would not need to communicate anymore.

Just like this world sustained by solitude, he will face a glorious death in his solitary battle.

Jacques stroked the worn leather and cold metal of the command the Throne cockpit, then slammed it down hard, bursting into laughter amidst the Machine Spirit's furious roar.

The sadness in his eyes vanished, replaced by a resolute gaze fixed ahead, where the strange vehicles and anemone-shaped, disgusting bodies of the Mitu came into view.

Jacques' hands moved rapidly across the rune panel, the Solitary Machine Spirit roared in anger, and the light cavalry Cerastes Knights charged forward.

Because their mechanical legs are longer than those of other Knight Mech, lancer knights are taller and faster.

The ion shield on the left hand of the Light Cavalry type does not rely on a force field, but is a true shield.

Secretary Dametus chose the lancer type because Oldest One entering the dense forest to clear out wild beasts, he needed enhanced frontal melee defense.

The more important task now is to conserve energy and address the severe supply shortages.

The speed of the lancers allows them to minimize the number of times they are attacked from a distance.

Jacques fired his last five ion cannonballs at the Mitu Xenos with a deafening roar, accurately destroying five disc-shaped Mitu Chariot.

He shut down the Auspex, reserving the remaining energy for the power and weapons systems.

Charging into the Mitu requires no precise aiming.

The Solitary immediately crashed into the Xenos group. Jacques was relieved, as the impact lance could be used both at long range and in melee combat, just like the knight's lance from Old Terra ancient Terran era in his family's collection.

This prevented him from waiting helplessly for death due to a lack of ammunition; he could kill the Xenos hybrids before he died.

The lance slammed into several six-legged Mitu, the powerful impact turning them into a puddle of pus.

Disgusting slime splattered onto the mechanical body of the Solitary.

The Solitary charged into the enemy ranks, crushing Mitu wherever it went.

The Mitu's the Chariot gleamed with strange light, and metal projectiles were launched and smashed towards the Solitary.

Jak raised his right arm, a shimmering Ion Shield protecting his head.

Despite the constant explosions around the Solitary, Jacques continued to advance.

[Plasma Reactor output power 49.34%]

The Plasma Reactor output power was 37.58%.

The beeping notifications buzzed in Jacques's mind, but he had no energy to pay attention to them; his vision was filled with the limbs of the sea anemones.

It wasn't until countless beams of light ricocheted off the Zero and it sensed the anger and pain from the Machine Spirit that Jacques realized the energy was so low that the Ion Shield had to be shut down.

Despite being defenseless, Jak did not panic. He had already accepted the harsh reality, and only one thought occupied his mind: to kill as many Mitu Xenos as possible before he died.

Jacques raised his head and continued his charge with Veroni's aloof pride.

The Solitary trembled, and wisps of smoke rose from its damaged mechanical shell.

It continued to struggle forward, its assault lance tearing apart the aliens in its Xenos one by one.

Suddenly, Jacques saw a black aircraft rapidly approaching from about a kilometer ahead.

[The flying machines of the Mitu?]

The Veroni knights on the battlefield also noticed the rapidly approaching flying formation in the sky.

They saw the machine guns spinning rapidly, spraying a dense barrage of bullets onto the ground.

Boom boom boom!

What was torn apart was not Veroni's tattered mech, but the Mitu's disc the Chariot and their anemone-shaped bodies.

Nimrod spread his golden wings and leaped down before the Stormbird landed.

He looked down at the battlefield and then saw a group of knights struggling to move forward.

The Primarch's superhuman vision allowed him to piece together the complete pattern using the flags between the legs of dozens of knights.

Green flags, red background, a painted white castle, and a crowned skull.

The crowned skull is the coat of arms of the Veroni Family, and the white castle symbolizes the defense of Cloud-Evil Fortress.

The House Veroni.

Just as I remember, they are on the verge of destruction.

The Primarch's eyes flickered with light and shadow, its Telekinesis extending like a giant hand to grasp Mitu's circular the Chariot.

With a thought, he caused the Chariot to spin rapidly like a disc.

The spinning speed increased, causing it to crash into other Mitu Chariot.

Bang bang bang!

With a series of impacts, most of the Chariot that were besieging the Knights of Veroni were destroyed.

The Knight Veroni, who had narrowly escaped death, stared in Shock at the black-armored, golden-winged giant in the sky.

Nimrod slowly descended, turning his gaze to Gell Quasta, who stepped off the deck and raised the Heart-Forged Staff.