Crisis

Quan Tiehua looked at the damaged homing beacon and, in the end, reluctantly reported the situation to the other members over the communications channel.

"Everyone, be advised. I encountered a daemon of Chaos. The threat has been eliminated, but the homing beacon was damaged."

At that moment, Leonster and the other Battle-Brothers still fighting, who had been strolling leisurely after the Chaos traitors fleeing headlong ahead of them, silently prepared themselves.

Leonster showed no reaction upon hearing the news. It was a predicament Astartes frequently encountered on missions.

But to them, powerful as they were, there was nothing to fear.

At worst, they would inherit the glory of having their souls return to the Golden Throne.

"Loy-alty."

Leonster had just reached an intersection. He could easily track the Chaos traitors' retreat route.

But... clearly, this group of Chaos traitors was not simply running away.

At the other end of a broken bridge at the end of a corridor, several Chaos traitors had pushed a Hellhammer-pattern laser cannon into position and fixed it in place.

Several mortal traitors quickly connected additional battery packs.

In the magnified image on the display, more and more retreating Chaos traitors came into view.

They took cover in the other nearby compartments.

Hiss--

Leonster had only just exposed himself at the intersection, and the boltgun in his hand had not yet been raised, when a terrifying laser blast struck his plasteel armor.

As an Astartes and the leader of the boarding squad, Leonster possessed extraordinary overall abilities.

His reaction speed was one example.

That was also what allowed Leonster to survive the attack by sheer luck.

However, the blood seeping from the damaged gaps around a joint in his plasteel armor clearly revealed his condition.

The laser cannon had not only wounded Leonster; it had also vaporized the Chaos traitors who had yet to clear its line of fire.

A flash-smoke grenade was thrown against the hull wall, bouncing back and forth. Thick smoke instantly engulfed the corridor, blocking the Hellhammer-pattern laser cannon's view.

The moment the smoke appeared, the Astartes squad carrying boarding shields and Leonster swiftly sealed off the passageway.

The other squad members deployed in the corridors a short distance to either side of the intersection.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang--

Terrifying bolter fire poured out in an instant, shredding the enemies who had taken cover in the nearby compartments and tried to launch a surprise attack through the smoke.

Leonster, meanwhile, raised his fully charged plasma pistol and pulled the trigger in the general direction he remembered.

The plasma streaked forward like a comet, trailing fire as it slammed into the Hellhammer-pattern laser cannon and eliminated the heavy weapon.

Quan Tiehua took aim at a spot outside the compartment in the battle corridor, where a grenade had long since been planted.

The chaotic footsteps he sensed through Leman's Ears grew clearer and clearer.

He could even hear the sounds of some bolt weapons opening fire.

He held a boltgun in his right hand and used the Combat Dagger in his left as a support.

A makeshift barricade built from debris and enemy corpses concealed the Astartes' towering figure beneath the dim lighting peculiar to combat aboard a ship.

The frantic heretics appeared around the corner with their battered weapons raised, instantly entering Quan Tiehua's line of sight.

But he did not rush to open fire.

Instead, he waited silently as the heavy breathing inside his helmet gradually faded away.

The heretics, nearly out of the corridor, had evidently noticed that something was wrong with this compartment. Before they could fully raise their weapons, a precise bolt round pierced straight through the body blocking its path and struck the trap already primed around the corner.

Boom.

In an instant, terrifying explosions rang out throughout the corridor one after another. Flames sprayed from every corridor exit like roaring Lords of the Fire Dragon.

In only a moment, most of the heretics who had come to reinforce them were wiped out.

Quan Tiehua slowly rose, drew the bolt pistol at his waist, and gripped the Combat Dagger in his other hand. His heavy Magnetic Boots pressed against the slightly sticky deck plating.

Bang bang bang.

The bolt pistol opened fire rapidly. Only seconds later, the Combat Dagger followed in a blur of slashes.

At the same time, the other brothers began steadily advancing toward this position, dealing with the remaining Chaos heretics.

The battle on the bridge ended swiftly. Although they had lost one homing beacon, their experience fighting Chaos enemies over countless campaigns meant that they would obviously never carry only one piece of such important equipment.

However, the Chaos energy of the Warp had caused the homing beacon's signal to become severely unstable.

But aboard the Blood Angels, Chapter Master Affos had no time to worry about that. On the planet below, the planetary governor had sent them more than ten distress calls within the span of just a few Terran minutes.

As the planet most frequently visited by this Rogue Trader for trade, it had clearly been heavily corrupted as well.

Fortunately, the people in its hives who remained steadfast in their faith in the Emperor were still fighting to the death.

But for them, the most likely outcome was still to die beneath the guns of their own people while holding fast to their profound faith in the Emperor.

After receiving the Astropaths' final message, Chapter Master Affos knew they could delay no longer.

Their follow-up reinforcements would take a full half-Terran month to arrive.

Who knew what this place would become by then?

But they were out of luck. They were the closest available relief force in the sector, after all.

"Launch boarding torpedoes."

As the order was issued, the hatches slowly opened, and boarding torpedoes shot one after another straight toward the enemy Chaos Warship.

Even among the few Assault Boats remaining to the Crimson Angel Chapter, some First Company veterans wearing Indomitus Pattern Terminator Armour were fully equipped and waiting to strike.

As more and more landing points were established, the Astartes of the Crimson Angel Chapter began moving in groups to seize the various critical positions aboard the ship.

Boarding shields led the way as makeshift cover. The Indomitus Pattern Terminator Armour behind them followed close behind, providing fire support and a degree of protection for the Astartes behind them with their powerful weapons, heavy armor, and deflector fields.

In only half a Terran hour, most of the entire Chaos Warship had already been taken.

Aside from some xenos hidden on the lower decks, nearly every part of the ship had been swept clean in an instant.

Some squads even moved to reinforce the bridge after completing their assigned missions.

But when the squads that had come to reinforce the bridge arrived, they discovered that the situation had already changed drastically.

The enemy ranks had even produced Noise Marines.

And it was not only this ship. Those corrupted Emperor's Children had appeared on the planet below as well.

These corrupted Emperor's Children were individually even more powerful than ordinary loyalist Astartes.

Together with the corrupted, twisted, and fallen mortal believers, their appearance delivered the fiercest possible assault against the loyalist positions on the planet.

For a time, the battle line teetered on the brink of collapse.