Blood Angels Never End

Istvaan III is on the edge of the Veiled Expanse, and Baal is in the Eastern Fringe.

It's quite far, separated by most of the Ultramarines star system.

After about ten days of immersive Warp travel.

They left the Warp and came to the Blood Angels.

Baal, one of the most famous Death World in Warhammer 40,000. Two moons orbit around it, named Baal Prime and Baal Secundus, and these three planets are the homeworld of the Blood Angels.

The Blood Angels have been recruiting soldiers on the three barren planets of Baal, building their mother legion on these three desolate planets.

Lin En remembered that the background book said that Baal was a planet with extremely harsh conditions. The sun of the Baal System was an aging white dwarf star with severely excessive solar radiation. The surface of Baal Prime was scorched red by radiation and was all desert and wasteland.

The conditions of Baal Prime and Baal Secundus are also not good; only the area near the equator is barely habitable.

The Blood Angels built their fortress monastery, the Arx Angelicum, on this very Baal Prime Blood Angels.

The Ninth Legion was once known as the Ghoul Legion and suffered exclusion and discrimination from all other legions. It was only after Sanguinius returned that they were given their due recognition and became the universally acknowledged, supremely blessed legion of Astartes.

Later, when they became powerful, they still preserved this barren home planet, the place where Sanguinius grew up, building the monastery in this wretched place, to remember the past, to remember Sanguinius and their home.

To be honest, Baal is really too desolate, with radiation deserts and rugged mountains everywhere, and almost no trace of human beings.

However, Lin En and his group had just returned from Istvaan III, and the barren Baal didn't seem so harsh anymore.

After all, no matter how bad Baal is, there won't be Cultists, Greenskins, or demons underground.

What else is there to choose from? If you don't want to, go back to Isstvan III.

The Battle Barge began to slow down.

The spacecraft entered planetary orbit and descended, approaching the atmosphere.

Cecilia stood beside Lin En, looking out the window at the ever-growing red planet.

She didn't say anything, just watched quietly.

Returning to the monastery in Baal with the Blood Angels was not the end of the story; they would also have to undergo evaluation by the Inquisition there.

Lin En and Iron Hammer will be fine, but she'll have to suffer a bit.

Regardless of the achievements made, limb mutations will always be a potential threat and an issue that must be addressed.

The chances of the Inquisition letting her go are not high.

Iron Hammer didn't think too much about it. He leaned against the Porthole, looking down at the red planet that was getting closer and closer, and at the surface radiation that was dozens of times higher than the safety threshold.

Good heavens, how can anyone live in such a horrible place?

The Battle Barge began its descent.

The spaceship passed through the planet's thin atmosphere.

The landing gear touched the ground, and a sandstorm swept across the red earth.

The barge's stern door opened, and Baal's air rushed in.

Dry, scorching, and covered with sand and gravel.

Once the dust storm subsided, the entire monastery was revealed.

Lax, the Arx Angelicum.

The white flying towers rose from the ground, the tallest spire almost piercing through Baal's perpetually gray clouds. Various angel reliefs were carved on the spire, and a huge holy winged Battle Standard hung there, fluttering in the radiation wind.

Lin En followed the Blood Angels down the gangway.

The ground beneath my feet felt hot and hard, somewhat like the Gobi Desert during the dry season, but even worse—a shape completely unsuitable for life.

Four Blood Angels carried out Tyrennius's stretcher.

Then they walked together toward the Fortress Monastery.

Sanguinius ' remains are kept deep within the Baal Fortress Monastery, so the Arx Angelicum is built entirely of solid fortifications, with walls so thick that tanks could drive on top of them.

A platoon of Blood Angels stood guard outside, each holding Storm Bolter.

Seeing the Blood Angels carrying their brother, wrapped in red velvet, back, they stood ramrod straight with their guns pointed downwards, bowing their heads slightly as they watched Tyrennius's stretcher pass through the city gate.

Such scenes are not uncommon.

They see each other almost every day, sometimes once a day, sometimes several times a day.

The Blood Angels are always on the front lines, and their casualty rate remains consistently high, firmly placing them in the Imperium's top tier.

Before M41, the Blood Angels recruited soldiers only once every 100 years. After the Tyranids invasion, the Blood Angels began recruiting soldiers every year.

Lin En and the others followed behind the funeral procession into the monastery.

They followed the Blood Angels through the Fortress's high archway.

Then we walked through a corridor paved with red stone bricks.

We passed through one dome after another, each carved with scenes of angelic warfare.

They need to take Tyrennius to the Heroes' Mausoleum first.

They walked for a long time, so long that Lin En felt his legs were numb, before the group finally stopped in front of a huge bronze gate.

We have now reached the heart of the Blood Angels Monastery.

The Heroes' Mausoleum of the Blood Angels.

Outsiders are not allowed to enter the Heroes' Mausoleum, but... well, it's fine. Lin En and the others, as Tyrennius's close friends, can escort Tyrennius to his coffin.

The bronze door was polished smooth as a mirror year-round. The old soldier reached out, pressed down on the door, and pushed it open forcefully.

The door creaked open with a heavy thud.

The scene behind the door made Lin En hold her breath.

... The Angel Tower at Baal Monastery is not actually a real tower, but a stone statue of Sanguinius that is several hundred meters tall.

Sanguinius bowed his head, his hands resting on the hilt of his sword, the tip touching the ground. Huge white wings unfurled from his back, creating a solemn and dignified scene.

A radial corridor surrounds the base of the Angel Tower, with hollowed-out niches on both sides, lined with rows and rows of sarcophagi, piled from the ground all the way to the dome.

countless.

For ten thousand years, the angel stood there, head bowed, watching his offspring being carried in one by one.

Each sarcophagus contains the eternal resting place of a Blood Angels warrior who sacrificed himself for the Emperor and Sanguinius.

Don't underestimate the importance of a single stone coffin in the Heroes' Mausoleum.

Hundreds of thousands of Blood Angels have died over the millennia, but only a few thousand have been able to rest in peace at the feet of Sanguinius.

Tyrennius is a new one.

The sarcophagus is a tradition of the Blood Angels. In the ancient past, when recruits underwent genetic surgery to become Blood Angels, they would sleep in a sarcophagus for a year, during which time skeletal modifications, gene fusion, and organ implantation were completed.

The sarcophagus is their womb, their place of rebirth. They are born and sleep in the sarcophagus. So when the Blood Angels Warriors die, they will return to the sarcophagus to accompany Sanguinius.

The Blood Angels would occasionally pat their familiar old buddies on the shoulder and joke with Tyrennius.

The previous visitors have already taken up most of the spots near Sanguinius, so you'll have to go to the corners.

The gray-haired veteran walked to an outer niche, turned around, and raised his hand. "This is it."

The sarcophagus in that niche had been opened and was awaiting the arrival of the warriors.

The four soldiers carrying the stretcher stopped at the same time and slowly placed the stretcher into the already opened stone coffin.

The Chaplain stepped out of the procession, holding Tyrennius's sword in his hands.

The greatsword was placed inside the stone coffin, and the angle was adjusted along the coffin wall so that the pure gold holy wings on the hilt were directly aligned with the location of Tyrennius's heart.

Then they put their coffins together.

The stone lid closed with the sarcophagus, and the Chaplain, holding the angel's wings on the sarcophagus, recited a prayer of repose.

Brother, you did a great job.

Your Gene-seed has been retrieved. The new recruit will inherit your genes, your memories, and your swordsmanship.

They will see your battles in the dream of your initiation ceremony, decapitating the Khorne Vanguard and protecting the civilians.

You are Sanguinius' most glorious son.

Rest in peace in the sarcophagus, brother; your war is over.

The lineage of the Blood Angels will never be broken.