You Arrived Too Late

Wherever Guilliman went, victory followed. No enemy could stop him.

The mighty Primarch's body was indestructible. He could effortlessly destroy every loathsome foe and proclaim the Imperium's arrival while standing upon their skulls.

The Armor of Fate and Iron Halo blocked every enemy attack directed at Guilliman. Whether Bolters or malicious Melta Beams, all were stopped by the powerful force field.

Those terrible impacts and energies were either dissipated or diverted.

A Plague Warrior was mercilessly cut down by him. From its bloated body gushed foul slime and maggot-infested flesh like bursting pulp.

The moment it fell, golden flames burst forth with a whoosh.

Its rotten, stinking blood burned across the battlefield. The golden light was so brilliant that even its tainted soul was completely purified by the Emperor's will.

Seeing the Primarch's arrival and overwhelming strength, the other Plague Warriors roared in fury. They tried to gather together and use their numbers to defeat a Primarch.

The Honor Guard steadfastly protected the Primarch, never allowing him to fight alone.

Clad in Terminator Armor, they formed a combat ring around Guilliman.

Anyone who wanted to surround the Primarch had to get past them first.

Before the Plague Warriors' scheme could even begin, it had already failed.

Every member of the Honor Guard was an Ultramarines veteran with incomparably rich combat experience, clad in massive, heavy Terminator Armor.

Trying to break through their line and surround Guilliman was nothing more than a fool's dream.

Even if they could barely break through the combat ring formed by the Honor Guard, the Plague Warriors would suffer devastating losses and be casually harvested by Guilliman. Their plan to ambush and kill the Primarch died before it could begin.

The traitors could only watch helplessly as the Primarch entered their ranks like a tiger among sheep, slaughtering their comrades at will.

The coordination between Guilliman and the Honor Guard was virtually invincible. Before them, the defensive line painstakingly built by the Plague Warriors was as fragile as paper.

Under their fierce assault, Plague Warriors fell one after another.

Forced back by the Primarch's might, the Plague Warriors' line kept shrinking and was on the verge of total annihilation.

At that moment, Sicarius also charged in from the outskirts of the ruins, becoming the final straw that broke the enemy.

Leading his squad, he had destroyed the enemy's anti-air defenses and long-range firepower, providing a safe landing site for war units such as the Astra Militarum, Titans, and Knights.

With Sicarius and his men joining the battle, the Plague Warriors collapsed even faster.

It even became a one-sided slaughter.

The Imperium was steadily claiming victory. Chaos's defeat was already unavoidable.

"Your time has come, traitor." Seeing a Plague Warrior rise from a trench and try to stop the Loyalists with a Bolter, Sicarius's face darkened with rage. His voice rang out from beneath his helmet and echoed across the battlefield. He broke into a run, charging the Plague Warrior that kept firing, his Power Sword crackling in his hand.

The Cultists in his path were all cut down by his masterful swordsmanship. Bodies covered in cursed runes were cleaved apart beneath his Power Sword.

A Plague Warrior that tried to stop him swung wide, only to have its leg cut by Sicarius's blade.

With its thigh slashed open, the Plague Warrior lost its support and dropped to its knees.

Sicarius pressed his Bolter against the other's helmet with his free hand. "Repent for your sins." Then he blew the enemy's head apart.

His gaze swept the battlefield, and he quickly found his next target. The enemy was firing a melta gun, and a loyal Space Marine's upper body had been melted away, leaving only half a steaming corpse.

Sicarius ran again. He would avenge his fallen brother.

Before long, that Plague Warrior was cut down as well.

Sicarius did not pause. He continued fighting.

The battlefield became a stage for the brave warrior's swordsmanship. No enemy could escape his exquisite blade work.

His gaze was like Ynnead's judgment. Every rebel he fixed his eyes upon was directly sentenced to death.

A Plague Warrior was slashed by Guilliman and transformed into a golden torch, falling to the ground with pained howls.

With its last strength, it begged Grandfather for salvation.

But before the Emperor's will, even the Dark God had to retreat. Its flesh and soul were destined to burn to nothing.

"Sicarius, how is your side?" Guilliman asked over the communications channel.

"Everything is proceeding smoothly, my lord. The traitors are collapsing, and victory is close," Sicarius said.

"Good. Do not lower your guard. The traitors' ritual is wicked. Even I can feel the Warp boiling. That endless malice is chilling. Clearly, they are summoning something."

"Rest assured, my lord." Sicarius shouted into the communicator. After a moment, he added, "I can see a high tower made of piled corpses. The traitors are drawing back their line to defend it."

"Kill them. Every heretic deserves death. Then destroy anything that looks abnormal." Guilliman's voice was low and powerful. "Have the air formations provide support. Use the Iron Fists to smash through their line."

Imperial forces were arriving from every direction, unstoppable in their advance.

Standing high above the ruins, Gurlo saw it clearly. He also knew that if this continued, he would lose.

The Imperium was advancing far faster than he had expected.

"How much longer does the ritual need?" Gurlo asked his subordinate in a hoarse voice.

"Very soon. The Warp has already answered us, but it needs a little more time to prepare."

Gurlo turned to assess the battlefield, then shouted, "Release the Plague Bombs. Let them have a taste of it."

At Gurlo's command, Daemon Engines covered in flesh were pushed out by the Plague Warriors.

Several fattened Plague Beasts were stuffed into the muzzles of the Daemon Engines' cannons and launched outward.

These Plague Beasts had been bred using the power of Grandfather Nurgle and had devoured countless terrible plagues.

An ordinary person would die from plague poisoning the instant they touched one and be transformed into a Plague Zombie within dozens of seconds.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several bloated Plague Beasts covered in tentacles and strange eyes were hurled over the Loyalists' ranks. They then burst apart, raining diseased filth down from the sky upon the Imperial troops.

Many warriors failed to evade in time. The filth that splashed across their armor made the Plasteel bubble and hiss.

The Honor Guard in Terminator Armor were not in too bad a state. The sheer thickness and protective force fields of their Terminator Armor shielded them.

The Loyalist warriors in standard Power Armor were considerably worse off. Their armor structures were corroded by toxic bacteria, electric sparks crackling out from within.

They staggered unsteadily, and several cried out in pain.

Only Guilliman remained completely unaffected.

Before the diseased filth could even touch Guilliman, it was vaporized with a hiss by an invisible force field.

This power did not come solely from the armor's defenses. It also contained a trace of mysterious strength, protecting him from the Warp's filth.

"Severely wounded brothers, fall back and receive treatment from the Chapter Chaplain. Everyone else, find cover. Tell them to bring the Titans over and crush this trash." Sicarius shouted, making rapid tactical arrangements.

The Plague Warriors had only just begun celebrating their success in halting the Imperium's advance when their bloated, decaying faces froze.

The earth trembled. Emperor-class Titans, known as the Wrath of God, approached from afar. These colossal machines were the most terrifying weapons on the battlefield.

They housed gigantic Plasma Reactors to power cannons as massive as buildings. A casual strike could shatter any battle line.

The Plague Warriors collapsed before the Emperor-class Titans. Plasma Beams several meters wide, radiating lethal heat, swallowed everything. Nothing could resist such slaughter. Even though the Plague Warriors had once been the Emperor's finest creations and had received the Dark God's blessing.

Before those beams of Destruction, however, they were still like ants, effortlessly obliterated.

Sicarius and the others advanced under the cover of the Emperor-class Titans, launching the final charge alongside the Astra Militarum.

Guilliman's side moved faster. Even without Titan support, he easily broke through the enemy line with his immense power and saw the high tower built from piled flesh.

The Cultists surrounded that Tower of Flesh, their faces filled with delirious excitement.

"It is Entropy, it is the great Father. Praise him."

"Woo... merciful Father."

"Wonderful life. Wonderful."

Passing those excited Cultists, who had completely fallen to Chaos, Guilliman's eyes found the leader of the rebels atop the Tower of Flesh.

The other wore a horned helmet and a set of Destroyer Centurion Armor that had only appeared after the Age of Apostasy in the thirty-sixth millennium.

The traitorous Space Marines were not all from ten thousand years ago. Some had rebelled during those ten millennia after being oppressed by the Council of Terra, corrupted by Chaos, or driven to revolt by the Ecclesiarchy.

Guilliman's gaze burned with anger, and the golden flames rising from the Emperor's Sword in his hand grew ever more intense.

Gurlo looked down at the Primarch with smugness in his eyes.

"You arrived too late, child of the Corpse Emperor. This world belongs to Nurgle. It belongs to Grandfather now."

Thanks to that generous brother for the donation. That has to count as an extra chapter. With the recommendation votes, donations, and guaranteed updates included, there will be at least five updates tomorrow.

Brothers, please make sure to keep reading.

I'm just trying to earn a living. I may not write as well as others, but I will definitely work harder than them.

I'm taking the route of quantity and satisfaction.

The text has already been checked more than twice. If there are still any typos, feel free to leave a comment.