Tzeentch Demon

Standing on the tank, Peter watched the chaos cultists being slaughtered ahead and the soldiers carrying out the slaughter, shaking his head slightly.

He noticed some hesitation among the Mortal Auxiliary soldiers. Peter could guess the reason. These former Citizen Soldiers, regardless of which city-state they hailed from, had never fought a battle of total annihilation like this.

For them, war meant armies clashing head-on. Both sides sent out troops for a direct confrontation, the victor taking prisoners, the vanquished being captured. After the war, it was nothing more than negotiations or surrendering to become another's vassal.

Many of them called themselves professional soldiers, but they had never truly fought in brutal battles, let alone shown such mercilessness toward women, children, and unarmed civilians.

It seemed that after this war, he would have to cut out some of the older ones, those deeply entrenched in local war concepts. He would place his hopes on the young and the next generation, and education would need reform as well.

The four-sided army continued to steadily advance their lines, on the verge of annihilating the last hundred thousand.

But suddenly, a surge of Warp energy erupted within the enemy positions, countless rocks and sand swirling in the air. Then a commotion exploded among the enemy ranks as a group of bizarre creatures rampaged through the chaos cultist crowd.

A swarm of pink, blue, and yellow fleshy spheres crashed left and right through the crowd, their sharp teeth biting and gnawing, three razor claws flailing wildly, while one hand brandished a dagger, stabbing indiscriminately.

Among them, the Pink Horrors sometimes extended a finger with a hole in it, spewing pink flames that seared the flesh of the surrounding mortal cultists. The Blue Horrors similarly spat flames from their fingers, their daggers slashing wildly at the cultists around them. The smallest, the Brimstone Horrors, leaped directly onto the cultists, their perpetually burning bodies roasting everyone nearby.

There was also a flat, ray-like creature flying through the air, diving down to bite off a human head in one go, leaving the remaining body to collapse to the ground.

Another type was tall and thin, with a mushroom-cap-like fleshy skirt, floating in the air by flames within the skirt, their arms and heads also spewing fire to scorch every living thing before them.

Finally, there was a massive, fleshy sphere covered in countless thick tentacles and writhing human heads. This creature even retained spellcasting ability, its heads chanting incantations and releasing lightning and telekinetic force, while its colossal body simply crushed cultists beneath it.

Peter observed the Warp creatures appearing on the battlefield from atop the tank, recognizing them all:

"Chaos Spawn, Horrors, Screaming Sharks, and Fire Fiends. At least the numbers aren't too high."

After identifying them, Peter issued orders through the communicator:

"Tzeentch demons spotted. All commanders, halt the advance. Deploy heavy firepower to prioritize eliminating the demons. Air support, stand by for immediate backup."

Peter switched channels after speaking. He trusted his brothers; the other frontline commanders would know what to do.

"Sacks, order all units to consolidate positions. Switch all weapons to lethal mode. No prisoners."

With Peter's command, both the Dark Mechanicus and the Spear of Hector ceased their capture operations. They faced forward with heightened vigilance, fixing bayonets under their officers' orders.

The soldiers up front opened fire at full force, autoguns and laser guns blazing into the crowd. The Logging Guns mounted on the ground spat relentless streams of fire, bullets piercing countless bodies—after all, the commander's orders no longer required prisoners.

With the merciless light firepower, countless mortal chaos cultists fell. But the demons were entirely different. The inferior laser and auto weapons had little effect on them, and these demons charged straight toward the formation.

The Twin-linked Lascannons on the sides of the Land Raider fired at the demons. When a laser bolt punched straight through a Pink Horror, the creature with a gaping hole in its chest underwent mitosis—its remaining flesh split in two, and a Blue Horror sprang out from each side.

Peter raised his Ion Pistol, adjusting the trigger pressure to medium power. With a bang, a plasma bolt melted the upper half of a Blue Horror, and the remaining lower half split into two Brimstone Horrors.

For a moment, the enemy only multiplied. The Space Marines and Neophytes showed no fear, continuing to fire calmly. Anthony, in particular, gripped his Heavy Bolter, not sweeping wildly but firing in two- or three-round bursts at each demon.

But the demon numbers still exceeded what the Space Marines on the battlefield could handle. As the demons drew closer to the lines, the Mortal Auxiliary soldiers began to waver.

Peter spoke just five words:

"Tech-Priest Yamila."

From the rear lines, about a thousand Dark Mechanicus Rangers and Vanguards stepped forward. These soldiers were uniformly clad in rust-red robes, their bodies encased in armor. Their arms and legs held no flesh, and even some organs had been removed. These Defender Army soldiers had modified their bodies to the extreme, adapting to any battlefield. Each carried a long, flintlock-like Current Rifle, advancing in silence.

They passed emotionlessly by the Auxiliary soldiers, taking position at the front. The front row knelt, the rear row stood. Raising their long Current Rifles, the mechanical communicators linked to their brains within their helmets received a unified command. With a synchronized volley, some Horrors, Screaming Sharks, and Fire Fiends were pierced through, dissipating into the air.

The Defender Army had real strength. Though they would be ground down by Space Marines in the tight confines of a ship, on an open plain, when hundreds of Current Rifles capable of piercing Power Armour aimed at them, even Space Marines had to yield. And when hundreds of thousands of Defender Army soldiers had armored vehicles and air support, they could face an entire chapter of a thousand Space Marines without fear—and even win.

Seeing the demons mostly eliminated, with only the massive Chaos Spawn still advancing, Peter pressed his trigger finger slightly, dialing his Ion Pistol to maximum power. After a brief charge, he fired a plasma bolt at the distant Chaos Spawn. With a bang, the plasma exploded right in front of the Chaos Spawn, the dispersing plasma revealing a circular outline.

"Psionic Shield!"

Peter hadn't expected this Chaos Spawn to retain enough reason to cast a shield.

The Land Raider's Twin-linked Lascannons fired as well, but they too were blocked by the Psionic Shield. The Chaos Spawn even began to counterattack. Countless heads on its body glowed with psychic energy from their eyes. Then an invisible psychic blast slammed into the lines, tearing hundreds of Mortal Auxiliary soldiers into bloody shreds. Some soldiers clutched severed hands and feet, wailing in agony.

"Call in an air strike."

Peter spoke into the communicator. Soon, a Storm Eagle Gunship flew overhead. The pilot brother didn't waste words. The forward twin-linked multi-barreled Meltaguns fired at the Chaos Spawn, but the meltas' range attenuation was severe, and they still couldn't break the Chaos Spawn's Psionic Shield.

The pilot brother dared not descend further, fearing the war band's only Astartes air vehicle would be shot down by the enemy's psychic power.

The Space Marine pilot pressed a button. Four Hellstrike Missiles mounted under the wings launched, streaking toward the Chaos Spawn.

But as the missiles exploded and smoke billowed, a figure slowly emerged from the haze—still the same Chaos Spawn. It unleashed another psychic blast, killing several Defender Army soldiers and over a hundred Mortal Auxiliary troops on the line.

The Chaos Spawn continued its slow, steady advance, even though all other demons on the field had vanished.

Yet Peter remained calm. Because Psionic Shields, like most shields, stopped fast attacks but not slow ones.

Peter spoke into his helmet communicator:

"First and second Assault Bike squads, report for support immediately."