Blood Angels Fifth Company All Present

Tyrennius fell to his knees before the entrance to a passage in the depths of the Hive City.

His Power Armor had been smashed open at the sternum, leaving a gaping hole. Ceramite fragments lay scattered everywhere, spattered with blood.

The corpse of the Khorne Vanguard and its Rune Axe lay on the floor at his feet like a pile of trash.

The Holy Light Greatsword in Tyrennius's hand still shone brilliantly, its golden flames burning in the Hive City's dim air as if he were still breathing.

But he was no longer breathing.

The Astartes's two hearts lay one atop the other in his chest. The Khorne Vanguard's axe had pierced his torso and shattered both hearts at once.

Tyrennius was not a Primaris warrior. He had no Belisarian Furnace. With both hearts destroyed simultaneously, he had died.

...No one knew how he had managed to swing that final blow.

The moment he had looked back and seen his three civilian companions, he had known that he absolutely could not retreat.

The Blood Angels might thirst for blood, and they might be prone to losing control of their emotions, but the strong were meant to protect the weak. The Emperor's angels would never hide behind civilians.

There were no cowards among Sanguinius's sons.

Until death, he had not taken a single step backward.

"No, no, no, no, Tyrennius!!!!!"

Lin En did not even know whether any sound had come from him. Tears streamed down his face. He felt as though he were screaming, yet it also seemed as if the Battle Sister was holding him down with all her strength.

Everything before his eyes was submerged in water. Tyrennius's red outline, kneeling there, had blurred into a single mass. The Hive City had blurred into a single mass. The Rune Axe planted in the ground had blurred into a single mass.

Lin En desperately tried to break free of the Battle Sister's arm, reaching out to grab him.

But with dozens of meters of ruins and Daemons between them, he could not even reach a fragment that had fallen from Tyrennius's armor.

Cecilia grabbed hold of him again.

Her hand clamped onto Lin En's shoulder, all five fingers gripping his shoulder blade through his Power Armor glove.

The pain finally called Lin En back to his senses after he witnessed a companion's death for the first time.

Lin En looked up at her in panic.

"Lin En." The Battle Sister rose to her feet and called his name.

Her slit pupils were red, and her lips trembled faintly, but her fingers did not move an inch. She pressed down hard on Lin En's shoulder and ordered him, "Run."

Run with Iron Hammer. Run somewhere the Daemons can't reach you.

The Khorne Vanguard was dead. Its goat's head had rolled beside a metal pillar, its brass eyes extinguished. The mouth split to its ears could no longer let out that disgusting laughter.

But the Daemons it had brought with it were not dead.

The Bloodletters, Chaos Hounds, and twisted monsters that could not even be identified had poured through the rift behind it. They did not vanish with the death of their summoner.

They had smelled blood—and the presence of the living.

Tyrennius was dead. The remaining Daemons ran past him and poured into the Hive City.

The Blood Angel's crimson Power Armor had become a pile of dead metal, no longer capable of stopping them.

Even the sword in Tyrennius's hand was taken.

A hero's weapon was excellent, highly prized loot. Offered to a Greater Daemon or a Chaos God, it could win their favor.

Then they would search the area for the remaining three humans.

Cecilia kept her hand on Lin En's shoulder.

Now it was her turn to protect her companions.

Tyrennius had managed it, so she would definitely manage it too.

Even though one of her fingers had snapped when she clenched her fist earlier, and blood seeped through the joints of her glove, she would still manage it.

Iron Hammer collapsed beside Lin En, tears streaming from his blue-gray eye—the one that had not yet been replaced with a bionic eye.

Perhaps growing up always had to be accompanied by the departure of someone one trusted.

Iron Hammer had never hated himself so much.

Why had he slacked off? Why had he once found it troublesome and been too lazy to replace his metal limbs?

If he had replaced them with high-damage bionic limbs, if his entire body were armed now, perhaps he could charge out and protect the Battle Sister and Tyrennius instead of being in a position where he needed protection.

The Daemons drew closer and closer.

Several Bloodletters had already reached the vicinity, their claws scraping across the ruins with a piercing screech.

...There were too many Daemons, and so many cultists outside. In this Hive City with only one exit, they had nowhere to flee. The Daemons were searching every inch of ground, gradually forming a ring around them.

There was no other way.

Cecilia released Lin En's shoulder.

She shoved Lin En backward, sending him toward Iron Hammer, then pushed both of them behind a relatively intact wall at the deepest part of the shelter.

Then she dragged over a pile of miscellaneous debris and stacked it in front of them, building a shelter that was not sturdy but could block the Daemons' line of sight for a while.

She glanced toward where Tyrennius had fallen, then turned to face the shelter's exit. She raised her Bolter to her chest, braced the stock against her shoulder, and aimed through the gaps between the increasingly near howls outside.

There was still a little ammunition left in the magazine.

But it did not matter. She would definitely manage it.

Now it was her turn to hold this breach.

Emperor, grant me the power to defeat my enemies.

She knew she was not Tyrennius. A Bolter and a crude suit of Power Armor could not hold back so many Daemons.

But she had two companions with no fighting ability on her back. She definitely could do it.

Inside the shelter, Iron Hammer desperately held Lin En back, refusing to let him go out. But Iron Hammer was not very strong. Lin En forcefully broke free, lunged from behind, and desperately tried to pull the Battle Sister back into the shelter.

But when the Battle Sister did not want to move, Lin En could not pull her.

Lin En threw his entire weight onto her arm, both hands clamped tightly around the forearm of her Power Armor as he pulled with all his strength. His tears had not stopped, and snot had run down his face, leaving him utterly disheveled. He could not care about any of it as he begged her through sobs.

"Sis! Sis! Please, I'm begging you! I'm begging you! Hide! I won't die, I really won't die..."

The Battle Sister gripped her Bolter, her eyes like two copper stars in the darkness. She tried to pry Lin En's hands loose, but he held on too tightly. His hands clung to her Power Armor like nails.

The Battle Sister looked down at him, a little sad and a little helpless.

She said softly, "Lin En, don't be foolish."

Lin En still held on desperately, refusing to let her go. He did not dare speak loudly. Tears streamed down his face as he said in despair, "I'm not! Sis, Sis, you know that! I won't die! I really won't die! Please, let me go. I'll go draw them away. You just watch them and don't let them eat me. Just watch me. If they're going to eat me, then come out and save me, okay? Sis, Sis, you'll die. Hide--"

He was so afraid. He had never begged anyone like this before.

He was truly terrified of being eaten, but Tyrennius was already dead. If the Battle Sister went out too, she would die as well.

They had only one life. They had no extra lives. Their lives were as fragile as a sheet of paper, easily pierced through. Once torn, they could never be made whole again.

Cecilia closed her eyes for a moment.

But outside the shelter, the sound of Daemonic claws scraping against the metal floor grew closer and closer. Those things were searching every fallen pillar and every collapsed corner.

The Battle Sister finally crouched down. Her Power Armor-clad hand gently settled on Lin En's head and stroked his hair.

Her movements were light and gentle.

The Battle Sister had always treated them this way.

She also touched the holes blasted into the leather armor on Lin En's back when he had shielded them from the gunfire.

They had already burned down to the flesh.

She had seen it all when Lin En took the bullets for them.

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

Lin En shook his head hard.

He had always been naïve. Though he was crying now, there was a hint of a man's bearing in him.

A child's growth was just that simple. Often, it only took a single moment.

Cecilia stroked his hair again and patiently told him, "Lin En, you have to live."

Lin En's tears surged forth again. He had finally managed to hold them back, but that one sentence shattered him once more.

But Sis, you have to live too.

There must be another way. Think harder.

Cecilia stroked Lin En's head again and actually smiled.

Ever since the blood of a Khorne Daemon had splashed into her eye, mutating her slit pupil and leading the Inquisition to stamp her as an abhuman, she had not smiled in a very long time.

Life had not been good after she was exiled to this dead star.

But she had been happy.

The only thing she had been allowed to bring down with her was the Golden Iris Insignia. She had worn it on the shoulder of her Power Armor, and it now gleamed brightly there.

She was a Battle Sister of the Imperium. There was no reason for her to be protected by civilians.

She stroked Lin En's head and said softly, "You're only twenty, and you already have so much ability. You have a limitless future."

The ice melting in her eyes became a quietly burning flame.

"You have to grow strong. In the future, drive every abhuman and force of Chaos that invades our Imperium and slaughters our brothers and sisters out of human territory."

"..." Lin En stared at her blankly.

In that instant—a very brief instant—two stretches of history overlapped in his eyes.

In both, warriors fought desperately to carve out a space where ordinary people could survive.

He had become someone carrying the hopes of others, someone entrusted with their expectations.

Then the Battle Sister withdrew her hand and stood again. She leveled her Bolter, aiming toward the Daemons approaching outside the shelter. "Iron Hammer, take Lin En away."

Her back blocked the dark red light leaking in from the passage entrance, holding up a narrow but safe space for them.

Iron Hammer dragged Lin En back, sat behind him, and rapidly assembled a Plasma Cutter. He also gathered all the bomb-making materials and began putting them together at high speed.

He was ready too.

He accepted the Battle Sister's mission.

After the Battle Sister, he would be the next one to charge out.

There was a problem called the Trolley Problem. A group of people stood on the track the trolley was traveling along, while one person stood on the other track. You had to choose whether to switch the track: should you change course and run over the one person, or stay on the original course and kill the group?

The Imperium's choice was to run over the one that came at the lower cost.

Do not ask whether it was right. Look only at the cost, only at who was more useful to the Imperium.

Everyone's value had a clearly marked price. When there was no way to save everyone, they would preserve without hesitation the person the nation needed more, the person of greater value.

Lin En's life was worth far more than theirs.

The choice to keep Lin En alive was slammed onto the table by all of them, leaving no one room to overturn it.

The Daemons outside drew closer and closer. They were about to reach the shelter where they were hiding.

Cecilia prepared herself to fight to the death.

However, at that very moment.

Lin En opened his mouth and silently rasped out, "Sis." Before he could say anything else--

The darkness above the Hive City exploded.

Something tore through the Hive City's ruins and plummeted downward at incredible speed.

Dozens of heavy objects simultaneously ripped through the top of the Hive City, crashing directly down from the darkness overhead.

Lin En raised his head. His tear-blurred eyes could not make out anything clearly; he saw only crimson points of light igniting in the darkness.

One after another, dozens of red points shone as they descended through the shafts of light formed by the holes in the upper levels of the Hive City and the suspended walkways between them.

Gravity slammed them into the ground with a tremendous BOOM!!

The first suit of Power Armor landed in the exact center of the Hive City's lower hall. Its Ceramite boots struck the metal floor, and the impact sent all the rubble within several meters flying.

The Power Armor was blood red—the same blood red as Tyrennius's. At the very center of its breastplate was a gemstone blood drop beneath angel wings, and the red glow of its lenses burned brighter than hellfire.

The second.

The third.

The fifth.

The tenth.

Dozens of suits of blood-red Power Armor leapt down from above the Hive City. The thunderous impacts merged into one, like countless blood-red meteors crashing into the lower levels.

The Blood Angels strike teams had arrived in overwhelming numbers.

The Blood Angels reinforcements had finally arrived.

The last to land was a Dreadnought.

Its enormous sarcophagus-like body smashed a deep crater into the ground. The multi-barreled meltagun on its left arm had already begun spinning up, while the Power Fist on its right arm clenched tight and sent it charging the instant it landed.

It saw the junior warrior who had been pierced through the chest and fallen to his knees. It also saw the severed head of the Khorne Vanguard nearby, along with the standard-issue Blood Angels Chainswords in the hands of the remaining Daemons.

The honored souls within the Dreadnoughts were Blood Angels Chapter Masters, company commanders, company champions, and priests from the past ten thousand years.

And the Blood Angels could be said to be the most protective of their own of all the Astartes in the Imperium.

The Dreadnought charged straight into the masses of Daemons and cultists, sending countless limbs flying.

The Blood Angels warriors behind it spread into a fan. A barrage of Bolter fire formed a burning metal wall that advanced forward, pinning the Chaos Daemons pouring through the breach to the ground one row after another.

The Daemons and cultists were terrified by this thunderous fury and fled in disarray, but the Astartes in blood-red Power Armor naturally gave chase.

The Blood Angels company had arrived. Not one of them would get away.

They were safe.

Cecilia, Lin En, and Iron Hammer stood frozen in place.

They watched weakly as the Blood Angels warriors charged past them toward the Daemon horde.

The glimmer of moisture that had lingered at the edge of Cecilia's eyes finally broke free and fell.

All of these Astartes wore blood-red Power Armor identical to Tyrennius's, and they had backs identical to Tyrennius's.

Tyrennius had held back the Khorne Vanguard and the Daemon horde alone, buying them time. The Battle Barge's orbital deployment was complete, and every member of the Blood Angels Fifth Company had arrived.