The Enveloping Trap

The Astartes of the Crimson Angel Chapter firmly controlled the passage leading to the bridge. They were engaged in brutal firefights with the Chaos enemies pouring out of the bridge.

The scale of the battle here was incomparable to the fighting of mortals on the planet's surface, but its brutality far exceeded mortal imagination.

The Noise Marines, rushing from within the ship to encircle them, did not attack immediately. Instead, they quietly formed defensive formations, awaiting their commander's orders.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Angel Chapter forces already within the encirclement were completely unaware of this, their backs still exposed to the Noise Marines.

This continued until a Noise Marine, slightly taller than the average person and far exceeding normal human stature, slowly emerged from behind the others and stood at the forefront.

His Power Armour, twisted by Chaos, was grotesque, with tentacle-like patterns writhing and entwining.

The armor around his waist had particularly transformed into some unknown carapace-like substance, with a prominent protrusion in the center.

"The Lord of Pleasure commanded us to find this person. He is within this Chapter. It was worth our painstaking efforts to lure them here," the Noise Marine said, turning to the others waiting by his side. "The Lord of Pleasure has given us his scent. Be careful not to kill him. The Lord of Pleasure's command is for him to be unharmed."

With that, the mad and greedy gaze fell upon the Astartes fighting ahead. "Attack!"

The order was given instantly. In the very next second, concentrated firepower killed dozens of Crimson Angel Chapter Astartes on the spot.

The sudden attack caught all the Crimson Angel Chapter forces completely off guard. No one had expected so many Chaos Noise Marines to appear behind them.

At this moment, some warriors who were still fighting, unaware of the full situation, realized they had fallen into a trap and that the intelligence they had received was severely flawed.

What was supposed to be a training exercise had now become a trap.

Chapter Master Affos was already severely wounded. Although he had regained consciousness, it was only through the effects of stimulants forcing him to hold on. If any intense combat were to occur, he would likely be weaker than a newly recruited Astartes.

Yet, at this moment, he was consumed by despair, regret, and anger. Incorrect intelligence, incorrect judgment, incorrect command. He had directly plunged the Chapter, which had only recently begun to show signs of revival, into a massive disadvantage.

He feared that after this battle, the Chapter would likely be annihilated. Even if a few managed to break through and survive, they would be few in number. What could they do? They could only wander, and if they were lucky, join other Chapters. If they were unlucky, they might drift beyond the galaxy and be hired by Rogue Traders, serving as bodyguards.

He was filled with regret and anger, but his physical injuries left him helpless, forced to watch as the warriors caught in the trap and ambushed fell one by one.

Especially Altrance, who had rushed here as soon as he saw Affos awake, wanting to drag him to safety behind cover.

Altrance was intelligent and experienced. The cover of his boarding shield had saved him from many fatal blows.

But now they were facing an attack from two sides.

A pink, fleshy, thorny tentacle suddenly lashed out, piercing his boarding shield and chest plate, sending him flying backward. He crashed against the wall, slowly sliding to the ground, unmoving. Blood flowed from his wounds, quickly forming a pool.

He watched helplessly as the lights on his helmet's eyes slowly extinguished, plunging him into darkness.

He was powerless.

He knew that after this campaign, Altrance would have received his service stud. As one of the few traditions of their Chapter, each warrior's service stud was personally forged by him and then blessed by the Chief Librarian.

Now, that service stud was kept in his room.

"Altrance..."

Leonster watched this scene, but said nothing, only tears of blood streaming from the corners of his eyes, which became red and bloodshot.

Silently, he picked up the shattered and unmoving chainsword from the ground and charged again at the Chaos Daemon that had just swatted away Chief Librarian Asteris.

He didn't know who this Daemon was, nor how powerful it was. But at this moment, he was filled with immense rage. He wanted to tear everything before him to shreds.

The Daemon Serindar, however, looked playfully at the charging, insignificant human. He did not reveal his full form, merely returning to his original size and revealing a few tentacles growing from his waist. (It's like that character from a certain movie, played by Uncle Ying. The one with the long, blue, thorny ones. Those who know, know.)

He hadn't expected that his casual strike, which had killed an Astartes, would elicit such strong emotional fluctuations from this Astartes. It was simply supreme delicacy.

And especially the Chapter Master, who had fallen into his illusion earlier, his expressions of regret, anger, and all sorts of negative emotions now were intoxicating to him.

It was like an elegant nobleman savoring fine wine, bringing him pleasure.

With a wave of his tentacle, he wrapped it around Leonster, slowly lifting him before him. He looked at the enraged Astartes, his bloodshot eyes turned crimson.

Serindar smiled slightly, then tightened his tentacle. The sound of the Power Armour cracking echoed. Leonster's enraged and pained roars reverberated throughout the hall.

But the next moment, a bolt of psionic lightning struck the tentacle, causing him to release it in pain. (Can you imagine what that felt like? If not, try touching an electrified object with a lighter's igniter after it's already hardened.)

He turned his head in annoyance. The Chief Librarian, who had already gotten up, charged forward wielding a psionic power hammer.

This hammer had been personally gifted to him by an Astartes clad in full grey Power Armour during another mission against a Daemon, signifying their shared combat and acknowledging his bravery and resourcefulness.

In the distance, Vals, seeing Leonster fall to the ground, severely wounded, quickly ran over, grabbed him under the armpits, and dragged him back to the defensive line, away from the center of the battlefield.

Vals's bionic arm was now bare, having been damaged in the previous fight and now lost.

He struggled to drag Leonster. Once they were back in cover, a medicae, who had finished recovering gene-seed, rushed over to provide treatment.

But Leonster waved his hand, looking at Vals. "You all saw it just now. The gene-expression of the Blood Angels. Hahaha. Compared to the other brothers, I'm already doing well. In the end, I finally know where I came from."

Vals remained silent, instead snatching the medicine from the medicae and beginning to treat and bandage him.

"Brother, I know my physical condition very well. My heart has already been crushed. What's keeping me going now are just these stimulants," he said, then turned to the silent medic beside him. "Take out my gene-seed." He then relaxed completely, looking at Vals and playfully saying, "If you get the chance, help me teach that true-born brat a lesson. Make sure he experiences... our tradition of 'sixty strikes per second' combat techniques."

"All of us basically already know, because your thirst for blood has already been evident. I even secretly brewed a Bloody Mary for you in my room. It's absolutely to the taste of a Blood Angel. Now, what you need to do is accept treatment, and then wait until the campaign is over to drink it in my room." Vals chattered on, as if talking to himself, or perhaps answering and comforting Leonster. But towards the end, his speech became so rapid that it was almost unintelligible, like a madman rambling incoherently.

Leonster remained silent, only smiling.

"For the Emperor!"