Arrival of Reinforcements, Now It Is Your Turn to Run

Captain Vulkan stared into the pitch-black starry sky with eyes like those of a dragon.

No one knew what he was thinking; he kept his gaze fixed on the direction of their voyage, seemingly suppressing some kind of emotion.

Even Talon, who was polishing his bolter nearby, shook his head.

He felt pity for Vulkan.

In truth, every Chapter held secrets unknown to others.

Much like the Dark Angels Chapter.

In reality, for those loyalists in every Chapter, the greatest stain on their lives and the shame they most wanted to wash away were those traitors and Space Marines who had fallen to Chaos.

And of the two, if there was anything most unforgivable, it was turning to Chaos.

Actually, Talon understood.

In the culture of the Chapters, the bond between brothers surpassed everything else.

Brothers in a Chapter forged deep friendships through countless desperate wars, and when a brother backstabbed you—or worse, when a betrayal came from a figure who acted as a "benevolent father"—it dealt a devastating blow to the Chapter.

Just like their own Blood Raven Chapter; if he suddenly learned that Cyrus, the sergeant he had always trusted, had defected to Chaos, he would probably go insane on the spot. How could one accept that?

Of course, that was impossible.

Turning to Chaos?

It was a low-probability event. After all, the Chapters had Chaplains, and defecting to Chaos was, in itself, an act of cowardice and timidity that had never been put to the test.

But even if ordinary Space Marines like them turned traitor, it was unacceptable to the Chapter.

"Captain."

"Forget it, don't disturb the Captain, let him have some peace! What is it?"

"I lost my bolter. It was a gift from Chaplain Catoen of the company; they say it was a weapon once used by our Primarch."

"..."

Talon walked silently toward the control console.

When someone mentioned Chaplains, he recalled hearing that the Salamanders had a Librarian who had defected to Chaos, and even a renegade Chaplain—a soul that should have been absolutely pure within the Chapter—who seemed to have turned as well. He had learned this from information gathered when he and his sergeant were executing a mission on Nocturne.

Sigh.

Poor, honest souls.

The kindness of the Salamanders was known to all Chapters. If one were to ask which Chapter would absolutely never turn to Chaos, most would choose the Salamanders. Yet, it was precisely in such a Chapter that a traitor had appeared, and a Librarian—a dangerous role at that—no less.

It was indeed hard to accept.

Talon's gaze followed Captain Vulkan's line of sight toward Ozrax, feeling a slight sense of sympathy.

However, there was one thing he agreed with: no matter the reason for turning to Chaos, it was unforgivable.

Those who betrayed might have a chance to return.

But turning to Chaos...

Talon knew of no case where someone who voluntarily turned to Chaos had a chance to come back. From the moment they turned to Chaos, that person was already dead, and whatever crawled out from that person would no longer be who they once were.

"Faster."

"We are already at maximum cruising speed."

"Then... go faster."

The entire galaxy was simply too vast.

Even the distance between two star systems was an incredibly long journey.

And while long distances meant nothing on the scale of the universe.

To the Imperium and the lifespan of a human, they were an insurmountable chasm.

If the Gamma World wanted to break through, there were only two directions: phase-jump technology or faster-than-light travel. But both technologies were extremely difficult for the current Gamma World; they needed vast amounts of supplies and massive population resources.

Speed was the only standard for measuring territory in the universe.

Vulkan continued to watch the deep, starry sky without saying a word.

From his initial anger to his current rationality, he even began to feel pain.

He wanted to ask the other party why they had betrayed.

He was even unwilling to believe that any brother of the Salamanders would betray them and turn to Chaos.

He even began to think that the other party might have had some hidden hardship.

Why would they betray?

"..."

The benevolent Salamanders always kept their pain to themselves, inheriting the kindness of the Lord of Fire Dragons, which made their emotions more delicate than those of any other Chapter.

In space.

A flash of light streaked by.

It quickly vanished into the asteroid belt.

In the pitch-black universe, only a ripple of scorching plasma burns remained, slowly smoothed over by the silent, dark cosmos, erasing all traces.

Ozrax.

The "bells" of the battlefield rang incessantly.

Death became the only loud, shrill horn on the battlefield.

A terrifying shadow cast down from the sky.

The bombardment began.

Countless shells fell from the sky, and even the Brown Force Field Shield could not hold them back.

Humans died, Chaos died.

The corpses on the ground paved a "continent."

The thick scent of blood stained the "sky."

The defensive lines.

From the initial one or two lines.

To the current perimeter established around the banner.

From actively resisting the enemy.

To passively defending against them.

The defensive lines of the Gamma World were being constantly breached and, at the same time, continuously compressed.

Those Chaos Space Marines were even more furious.

The servants they brought had been almost entirely wiped out by this "backyard" world.

And the Space Marines they brought had fallen in great numbers.

This kind of war made them feel a profound sense of shame.

Space Marines were said to be able to conquer a planetary civilization with just ten men.

Yet now, they had lost so many warriors on this small battlefield.

Chaos had descended, clad in the Power Armor of the Salamanders Chapter, but with two horns sprouting toward the sky!

The flamers in their hands spewed fire capable of melting steel, venting their endless rage upon the humans.

In a normal battle, if a Space Marine died, they could recover their Gene-seed.

But now, the enemy's strange energy weapons directly obliterated their Chaos Space Marines, leaving not even a corpse behind. Where were they supposed to retrieve the Gene-seed?

Their Chaos Space Marines had become consumables that could not be replenished. They were determined to wipe out this group that had occupied their backyard, and they would make them suffer the most painful, desperate torture.

The Research Station stood high in the sky.

Because it was small, compared to the scorching, smoking industrial zones and the large-scale residential areas, its existence was almost ignored by everyone.

Thus, it remained safe and sound, suspended above the sky.

Some of the Astra Militarum soldiers recruited from the ground looked pale as they watched the footage coming from the battlefield below.

In the sky, countless shells fell.

A brutal, inhumane bombardment was being carried out on the ground; the entire area was almost leveled by the sea of artillery.

Everything was shrouded in smoke and fire.

"The defensive line has shrunk again."

"How many times has it shrunk?"

"The third time."

"..."

From the original head-on confrontation to being divided by the enemy, and now to the Chaos invasion of the residential areas.

No matter how one looked at it.

The human defensive line was rapidly decaying.

"Are we going to lose?"

"No, we haven't lost yet, because our reinforcements have arrived."

Loyalty needs no reward, for loyalty itself is the greatest reward.