Symphony of Death

Just then, Sergeant Orik's voice came through the communicator, carrying a hint of excitement. "Reporting, elder brother! Reporting, Colonel! Interior secured! We found some 'little gifts'! It seems the sisters of the Ecclesiarchy once established an outpost here! We found a small armory!"

The news lifted everyone's spirits.

When Valeus and Alexander arrived, they found a sight that surprised them both. In a concealed basement lay dozens of crates of Bolter ammunition, several Multi-meltas, and... a large stockpile of high explosives and incendiary grenades bearing the sacred fleur-de-lis emblem of the Order of the Sisters of Battle.

"Looks like the Emperor is with us." Alexander picked up an incendiary grenade and weighed it in his hand. "Or rather, the Emperor's wrath was prepared for us long ago."

"Distribute these 'gifts' immediately! Place the explosives and incendiaries at every key structural support and passageway!" Colonel Valeus ordered decisively. These weapons greatly compensated for their lack of heavy firepower.

The defenses were constructed against the clock.

The soldiers used discarded machinery and metal plates to build sturdy barricades. At every corner and every passage, they established overlapping fields of fire. Snipers and heavy weapon teams were deployed on the maintenance platforms atop the towering grain silos, giving them excellent firing positions.

Meanwhile, Alexander made his own "spiritual" preparations.

He had the soldiers use their own blood—or Ork green blood—to paint fanatical slogans across the walls, the machinery, and every surface they could see.

"Hearth is here, burning all things to ash!"

"Our bodies are firewood; our souls are flame!"

"Fight for elder brother! Die for the Emperor!"

In only a few hours, the entire Steel Temple had transformed from an industrial facility into a sacrificial shrine steeped in fanaticism and the stench of death.

By the time the final preparations were complete, dusk had fallen.

The blood-red setting sun cast the steel fortress in an ominous, tragic hue.

Suddenly, a deep rumble like an earthquake rolled in from the distant horizon.

The ground began to tremble faintly.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned, as one, to look beyond the fortress.

Then they saw a sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

At the end of the horizon appeared... a green sea.

An endless green tide of Orks, war vehicles, and bizarre war machines swept toward the Steel Temple. Their numbers were impossible to estimate with the naked eye. One hundred thousand? Five hundred thousand? Or a million?

The earth-shaking roars of "Waaagh!" merged into a sonic wave of total destruction that seemed ready to tear the sky apart.

Faced with such a terrifying sight, any normal army would have suffered an instant collapse in morale and lost all will to resist.

Yet not a single soldier of the 99th Regiment stepped back.

They stood quietly at their positions, gripping their weapons tight.

There was no fear on their faces.

Only a solemnity and fanaticism... like pilgrims about to behold their god.

Alexander von Lawrence climbed onto the command platform atop the central factory. Behind him stood Colonel Valeus and Sergeant Orik.

He picked up the wide-area communicator, and his voice carried clearly into every corner of the Steel Temple, reaching every soldier's ears.

"Brothers!"

"Do you see them?"

"Out there is the main course for our grand feast!"

"They think they are hunters come to reap our lives. They don't know they are merely foolish moths drawn to the bonfire!"

"Today, there will be no survivors!"

"We will all burn here!"

"With our flesh, blood, and souls, we will turn this Steel Temple into the hottest, brightest Hearth in the history of the Imperium of Man!"

"Our flames will soar into the heavens! Our light will pierce the darkness! The entire sector, the entire Imperium, will see the beacon fires of vengeance we kindle here!"

"Now! Raise your weapons!"

"Let us offer the Emperor—and ourselves—this... most glorious, final sacrifice!"

"For our families!!!"

"—For our families!!!"

A thunderous response erupted from every corner of the steel labyrinth. Within that cry was the purest, most absolute yearning for destruction and glory, enough to shake the stars.

Alexander lowered the communicator with satisfaction, then turned and smiled at the pale-faced Colonel Valeus beside him.

"Ready, Colonel? Go witness... real fireworks."

Colonel Valeus opened his mouth, but in the end, all that emerged was a long sigh filled with tangled emotions.

He knew that he was now completely bound to this madman and this army of madmen.

He drew his Power Sword.

"For the Emperor," he said softly.

Beneath their feet, the green sea had already crashed against the banks of the Steel Temple.

The war began.

"Waaagh!!!"

The first wave consisted of the craziest, most death-defying Ork hordes: the Madboyz and Wildboyz. Riding massive boars and all manner of mutated reptilian beasts, they brandished great axes and spears as they slammed into the Steel Temple's outer defenses like a savage primordial flood.

"Open fire!!!"

Colonel Valeus's calm, decisive command rang through the command channel.

In an instant, the symphony of death began its most magnificent movement.

The Heavy Bolters deployed atop the grain silos unleashed heavy, rhythmic roars like the heartbeat of death itself. Every bolt tore a bloody gap through the charging Ork cavalry, shredding the huge mounts and their riders alike.

The Multi-meltas spewed devastating beams capable of melting steel. Wherever those beams swept, whether Ork flesh or crude armor, everything vaporized instantly like butter beneath a hot knife, leaving behind blackened, smoking furrows in the earth.

The ordinary soldiers relied on their sturdy fortifications, using their Lasguns to form impenetrable webs of fire. Red laser beams streaked through the dim sky like festival fireworks, painting a brilliant yet lethal scene.

The foremost Orks fell in swathes. For the first time, their charge was devastatingly checked hundreds of meters from the human positions.