Life or Death Unknown

Marius Gage was thrown back—he didn't know what had knocked him off, but as he landed heavily, he felt a chilling cold.

It came from below his left ribcage and began to spread rapidly. The chill was undeniably real, yet the wound itself felt like it was being burned by Phosphex flames.

Gage got to his feet a few seconds later, suppressing the pain with sheer willpower. He showed no fear, no wavering, not even a hint of surprise, even though he had just been thrown from a height of tens of meters. The First Chapter Master had severed these things with an extraordinary and terrifying resolve.

He retrieved his Power Sword from a spot not far from where he had fallen, and then began climbing up the cliff. During this climb, he also found a name, a name that welled up from the depths of his heart— Roboute Guilliman.

Some memories flooded back, his mind was foggy, and his body told Gage that he had a fever. So he allowed his memories to run their course for the time being.

He slowly began to recall, from the location where the attack first took place, to the collapse of the ground, their fall, and Roboute Guilliman.

The attack came too fast and too suddenly; they were separated during the fall. Gage now unsure if his Primarch is even still alive.

He climbed to the top of the cliff with his bare hands. The dim and fragile light underground hadn't improved, and the air was filled with smoke and the extremely unpleasant screams of the Xenos. Gage ignored them and rushed over to join the battle.

He gripped the Power Sword with both hands, raised it high, rotated his wrists, and strode forward, unleashing a deadly dance of swordplay amidst the chaos. Death was the ticket, blood was the applause, and flying heads were the cheers; a bloody path to death was born.

He continued forward, stepping over the primitive corpses of the Xenos, panting, feeling as if his lungs were being tightly bound with red-hot wire, preventing him from breathing deeply.

He quickly realized the reason—it was the poison; the thing had weakened him with a toxin that could harm Astartes.

He should have realized it sooner, from the moment he was knocked away. Marius Gage sighed deeply, remembering the appearance of the thing that had knocked him away and forced him to fall off the cliff, and a wave of nausea washed over him.

It was taller than Astartes, with layers of pale blue skin that created disgusting wrinkles. Like the other suddenly appearing Xenos, it had eighteen eyes—eighteen eyes on each head. It was horribly ugly.

It has many heads, many hands, and many legs. The way it moves is like a monster from a nightmare coming to life. It moves on the ground like an insect, and its seemingly long and fragile legs can pierce through the chest of Power Armour with a single blow.

Above those countless heads was a gigantic mouth, with yellowish-brown venom bubbling between two separate tentacles. It took Gage half a second to recall what the thing looked like. He stopped imagining the details, gripped his sword tightly, and began to run towards his brothers.

The Ultramarines' battle cries were too clear in the darkness, especially since Gage already knew where they were—he had gathered a squad after the crash and was fighting alongside them before being blasted away.

He ran in that direction, his dwindling strength Mercy not stopping Gage from completing the task. Forty-seven seconds later, he rejoined them. The monster that had sent him flying was now fighting them; it was enormous, yet incredibly agile.

An Ultramarines was firing at it relentlessly, Heavy Bolter striking its body and creating a storm of flesh and blood. The thing cried out in pain; no flesh and blood could withstand the power of Heavy Bolter, and this thing was no exception, yet it displayed an astonishing resilience.

Amidst the carnage, it reared up like a nimble cat, its Great Maw on its back opening wide, its two enormous tentacles, like lips, thrashing about, as it poured out its yellowish-brown venom.

The Astartes who was firing immediately retreated. He moved quickly, but his right hand still got a little bit of the venom on it. It quickly began to corrode the Power Armour, hissing as it melted away, and then the flesh itself.

In the end, his limbs below the right elbow had completely disappeared, and murky liquid continued to drip, yet the Astartes didn't utter a sound. The pain was temporarily shielded, allowing him to make more informed decisions.

He shouldered the Heavy Bolter and immediately retreated. The others began to use firepower to restrain the huge monster. Gage took a few seconds to assess the general situation. He did not immediately Chapter, but quietly waited in the shadows for a while—until the thing straightened its back again, intending to use the same trick again, he finally rushed out.

"Go back to hell!" Marius Gage roared, swinging his sword down—no matter how tenacious the thing's vitality or how terrifying its appearance, there was one thing it could never get past.

It is a creature of flesh and blood, and no creature of flesh and blood can possibly withstand Power Sword.

Under Gage's furious strike, the monster's dozen or so hind legs, which it had been using to straighten up, were instantly severed. It fell to the ground with a wail, and countless heads began to turn, hundreds or even thousands of eyes blinking at Gage.

He sneered without fear. Without a word, the Ultramarines squad didn't waste the opportunity. The heavy gunners, who had been waiting, rushed forward and activated their flamethrowers, and the deadly destructive power of Phosphex began to manifest.

The monster screamed as it scrambled to its feet, trying to escape, but the Ultramarines were no longer going to give it that chance. Half a minute later, its riddled body collapsed to the ground, engulfed in flames. Gage suffered the same fate, lying among the rocks, his face twitching.

"Apothecary!" a voice roared from the darkness. "Come here! The Chapter Master needs help! The rest of you, stand guard!"

Gage raised his hand, trying to speak, but his limbs and lips began to tremble uncontrollably. His face inside his helmet began to twitch violently. The arriving Apothecary Micia grabbed him, laid him flat, and ripped off the damaged helmet to begin the examination.

Two injections of antidote and one injection of stimulant were slowly injected, and two minutes later, Gage was finally able to speak.

"Where is the Primarch? Has communication been restored?" he asked rapidly, needing to confirm these things.

"We still haven't found the Primarch, Chapter Master. Communications have been partially restored, but the situation on the ground is dire; they're everywhere. Our men are working to restore them."

Gage looked at the person who answered him, "What's your name?"

"Vladi Arndt, sir, sergeant of the Third Company."

"Very good, Sergeant." Gage turned and gestured to the Apothecary to examine the soldier who had lost his right hand.

After finishing that task, he looked back at the sergeant. "How many people can we contact now?"

"It's not certain yet; only a little over six hundred people have responded to our communications. The situation on the ground is slightly better; our bombers have already been deployed."

"Bomber?" Gage felt his numb lips and shook his head.

"Yes." Vladimir Arndt nodded and began to explain.

"The city of Harkosus has also been attacked, and their civilians are dying. The interim government official who replaced one of the merchants' leaders has sent us a distress signal. The civilians of Harkosus have half an hour to evacuate the bombed zone or find a safe place to hide."

Gage thought hard for a moment, and nowadays, doing something so organized had become extremely difficult for him. Fortunately, he hadn't lost his basic tactical awareness, and he quickly realized what this meant.

"This is a full-scale attack—" the First Chapter Master said weakly. "—These things have been planned for a long time, Sergeant. We must relay this message back to the Macragge's Honour and have them inform our cousins. Harkosus is a federation with three planets."

"Understood, sir," the sergeant said. "What's our next step?"

Roboute Guilliman.

Gage's lips began to tremble. He reached out and let the sergeant pull him up. His once strong legs were now shaking uncontrollably. The poison had been contained, but it was still affecting him.

Gage didn't have time to worry about its future impact. He straightened up and thought for a while. Then, he felt a wave of fear.

It wasn't the fear of death, nor the fear that the toxins might cripple him. He thought he would never feel such emotions again. Genetic modification and long-term training had given every Astartes extraordinary resistance to extreme emotions like fear.

But now he was sweating profusely.

Roboute Guilliman.

Gage's right hand began to tremble, not because of the poison.

"Sir?" Vladimir Arndt looked at him, awaiting the next order, a hidden unease in his eyes. Gage didn't answer immediately; he glanced around and found everyone in the squad staring at him.

Roboute Guilliman.

Was he dead? We fell from the ground, and I saw countless corpses along the way—could he have survived? Was he fighting? They asked silently.

Gage's thoughts were a jumbled mess, like a tangled ball of yarn. He remained silent, a long silence, before finally offering an answer.

"We'll keep fighting," he said. "Until we achieve victory, or until we wipe them all out."

He didn't mention Roboute Guilliman at all.

Two more chapters to go, 10,000 words today, to make up for yesterday's missed update.