"Sacrifice! The end of us all! Salvation! Our mission! Punish the Emperor's enemies! Advance for the Emperor! Sacrifice ourselves for the Emperor! Loyalty!"
Quan Tiehua and his Battle-Brothers devoutly recited their daily oath before the Emperor's portrait in the church of their battle barge.
The temptation of Chaos was everywhere. Only by reciting their oath to the Emperor every day could they resist this evil intrusion.
After the final oath was completed, Quan Tiehua and his Battle-Brothers stood fully armed and ready for battle.
As a newly promoted Codex Astartes Space Marine, Quan Tiehua would have his Power Armour replenished by Lord Regent, no matter how poor the Chapter was.
For example, he was currently wearing this Mark X Power Armour.
As the Crimson Angel Chapter's first Codex Astartes Space Marine, his birth had undeniably raised the morale of the entire Chapter.
As a fleet-based Chapter that frequently traveled along the fringes of the Imperium, they struggled not only with supplies, but even with maintaining their everyday weapons and armour.
Not to mention replenishing their personnel. With only the Blood Angels as their strike cruiser, the entire Chapter had no more than three hundred Astartes.
As time passed, they even lost important historical records during a battle with Chaos. Even after the Chapter recovered, they had forgotten which their original parent Chapter was.
As a result, the Chapter might now possess gene-seed from all kinds of mixed sources.
Quan Tiehua sat quietly inside the boarding craft, covered from head to toe in weapons and ammunition. He even had two Melt Bombs strapped to either side of his head.
His squad leader had personally tied them on him. After all, they had finally received a major resupply. If they did not make full use of it, they would be letting it go to waste.
He looked at his prepared Battle-Brothers around him. For a moment, he sank into his memories. As an ordinary person who had transmigrated here, his original predecessor had been destined to inherit his parents' Rogue Trader family.
But after learning that he had transmigrated into Warhammer 40k, even he, a casual player who barely understood the setting, immediately pulled out a gun and prepared to shoot himself in the head while praying to the Emperor.
The family servants discovered and restrained him first. Then, after being framed by people within the family, he lost his inheritance rights and eventually became a new recruit of the Crimson Angel Chapter.
Fortunately, at the moment he became a Space Marine,
something resembling the system from the novels of his previous life suddenly appeared in his mind.
It gave him no prompts at all. He only discovered a progress-bar-like object on a transparent panel after waking up one day.
No matter how much he investigated it afterward, he made no progress. For a time, he even suspected that it was the work of Little Blue Bird.
As time passed, and as he deliberately increased his training, the matter gradually faded from his life.
Yet idle moments would always let him notice the transparent progress-bar panel at once.
The heavy feeling in his heart had never faded since he became a Space Marine.
Through his painstaking training, he had completed in just five years the initial training volume and standards that normally took ten years to reach.
Then, in less than another year, his Chapter received a combat mission.
They were to eliminate a Rogue Trader family that had already colluded with Chaos.
Moreover, as a new recruit, he had been given the chance to participate in an operation to purge Chaos on his very first mission. It was the highest of honours.
"I won't keep this glory to myself!"
"What?"
Leonster, the squad leader responsible for this assault and boarding mission, was sitting beside him, organizing the stacks of bolter belts atop his head that resembled dreadlocks. Upon hearing the strange, incomprehensible words, he could not help asking what they meant.
Quan Tiehua shook his head, indicating that it was nothing. He only explained that it was an Old Terran language phrase meaning to calm oneself and settle one's mind.
Perhaps feeling that his explanation was inadequate, he solemnly added, "Loyal-ty!"
Leonster did not know how to respond. He merely nodded and left it at that. In his eyes, the Codex Astartes Space Marine beside him had always been a little dim-witted ever since joining the Chapter.
This made him wonder whether Quan Tiehua's brain had been damaged during the surgery. He often found himself worrying about what would happen when they reached the battlefield.
Therefore, he decided that this was no ordinary new recruit. If he got the chance, he absolutely had to let Quan Tiehua experience the combat technique of "sixty" blows in a single second.
After the mortal attendants outside the craft finished arranging the final machines, a command rang out over the broadcast.
The entire compartment shook. Then everyone stopped what they were doing and fell into endless silence.
Only the scent of incense smoke drifted through the air.
At the edge of the planetary belt outside the crimson planet, where countless meteorites streaked rapidly through space, the strike cruiser of the Crimson Angel Chapter quietly slid out from among the dense field of rocks.
The macro-cannons and lance systems on the side of the warship all locked onto the distant fleet of Imperial Rogue Traders.
At that moment, the airlock aboard the Blood Angels slowly opened.
The densely drifting meteorites and the crimson planet glowing in the distance illuminated the dark hangar bay.
They also blocked the view between the two ships.
Inside the compartment, the restraints dropped into place and secured everyone. The next second, they felt a violent jolt.
The massive Assault Boat slid directly out of its track and charged toward the Rogue Trader vessel that had already been targeted ahead.
At the same time, two brand-new Thunderhawk gunships began approaching from different angles, escorting it on both sides from the front.
As the distance to the target closed, the surrounding meteorites gradually thinned, and their field of vision widened.
The enemy had clearly detected the incoming attackers as well.
Interception fire began pouring toward them in waves. The two Thunderhawk gunships left the Assault Boat and accelerated toward the target vessel, creating interference and providing cover.
At the same time, the point-defense weapons aboard the Assault Boat began eliminating some of the incoming attacks.
Wave after wave of shaking made every Astartes inside the Assault Boat hold their breath and focus, making their final preparations.
They all knew what this meant: they were about to board the enemy ship.
Sure enough, the very next second, violent shaking spread through all their bodies.
The Assault Boat had now completed its deceleration. The Melt Bombs at its front melted through the target vessel's entire hull wall, carrying them inside the ship.
The enormous heat and the burning of various chemically produced substances released thick smoke, completely engulfing the area. Even with various bird-catcher devices and thermal imaging equipment, they could not fully detect what was happening inside the smoke.
Yet in the next moment, a large number of kinetic rounds pierced through the smoke.
Even laser weapons joined the barrage. However, the smoke produced by the burning chemicals made it difficult for the laser attacks to continue after entering it.
The inside of the warship had already been filled with all kinds of traps and defensive positions arranged by the enemy.
Following the Assault Boat's final accelerating trajectory, the enemy had determined its eventual landing position.
Thus, the moment the smoke and thunderous impact erupted, large numbers of enemies unleashed a storm of attacks upon it.
At that moment, inside the bridge of the Rogue Trader vessel,
the walls and floor were covered in gold and glittered brilliantly under the lights. On a towering Golden Throne sat a handsome man in expensive silk, watching the neatly arranged phalanx below with elegant bearing.
"Our enemies have arrived!"
At the same time, within the Warp,
inside a palace surrounded by alluring pink mist, a tall purple figure appeared noble and elegant, yet occasionally terrifying and grotesque. It extended its long tongue and said, "I've found you, that intoxicating soul!"
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