"Useless struggling."
"You have such faith in the False Emperor, but when has he ever offered you salvation?"
The leader of the Emperor's Children raised a twisted Longsword shimmering with an eerie light, pointing it straight at Victor, whose movements had grown sluggish with exhaustion.
Under normal circumstances, Astartes could fight for days on end, but that did not mean they could sustain days of relentless, high-intensity combat.
More than half a day had passed since Victor had landed with two Tactical Squads.
Their mission as Tactical Squads had been clear: find the Portal and destroy the passage these daemons were using.
Yet there were simply too many daemons here for them to perform any tactical maneuvers.
Otherwise, they would never have been pinned down by the Emperor's Children.
Victor no longer acknowledged the traitors' taunts. He merely kept swinging his weapon in silence.
The few remaining sounds of clashing weapons and Bolter fire told him that only a handful of men remained from the two Tactical Squads he had brought down.
The sheer scale of the daemonic invasion even made Victor wonder whether everyone on this planet had already been sacrificed alive.
He even felt a faint pang of regret. If he survived this time, he ought to suggest to the Chapter Master that they follow other Chapters' example and equip their Chapter with Jump Packs or flight packs.
Perhaps that would not quite fit the Chapter's traditions, but it might allow them to better fulfill their duty.
These thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning.
Victor surveyed his surroundings.
Battle-Brother Lucas, who carried the Melta Bombs, was still beside him. The arm that had held his Longsword was gone, and his remaining hand gripped a heavy Bolt Pistol as he fought to unleash the Emperor's fury upon their