Heavy clouds loomed.
Countless drop pods streaked across the sky like a rain of fire, trailing long plumes of flame.
Massive lances of light periodically pierced the sea of clouds, reducing crowds of Orks on the ground to ash.
Though the traitors and loyalists had many differences, they were utterly united on one matter: fighting Xenos.
There was nothing to discuss. When dealing with Xenos, neither side of humanity could think of any means of communication besides bolt shells, however hard they racked their brains.
With the arrival of Chaos, the fires of war had engulfed all of Vigilus.
This was no longer the Imperium fighting a confused war against Orks outside and Genestealers within, but a four-way free-for-all between the Imperium, Chaos, Orks, and Genestealers!
Counting the Aeldari hiding in the corners, the number of factions embroiled in the fighting on Vigilus had now reached five.
Amid this chaos, while the Orks grew ever more delighted with their fighting spree and the forces of Chaos began fanatically conducting all manner of blasphemous rituals, atop an unnoticed Hive City spire, a Chaos Warband that had charged over in high spirits had fallen utterly silent.
Black Skull stood where he was. Neither his heavy Power Armour nor the long string of human and Xenos skull trophies on his back could bring him any pleasure now.
He simply stood there in silence, silently watching what lay ahead, silently counting the exchange ratio in this battle.
When another Astartes from his warband fell, Black Skull's mutated brow twitched violently.
"Th-thirty?"
Seeing that the exchange ratio had not widened but had actually shrunk further, Black Skull finally snapped out of his silence.
Once he was certain what he saw was no illusion of Tzeentch, Black Skull abruptly straightened and instinctively looked at the equally stupefied warband captain beside him.
"The Corpse Emperor's blessing!"
"They must have the Corpse Emperor's blessing!"
After racking his brains and finding no other answer, Black Skull finally cried out.
Even trading fifty mortal soldiers for a single Astartes could already be called a miraculous victory.
Yet in this brief stretch of fighting, every exchange of fire Black Skull witnessed had been a miracle!
Faced with this string of miracles, Black Skull could think of only the one seated high within the palace on Holy Terra.
Only his personal blessing could allow mortals to achieve such outrageous results!
Black Skull stood frozen in disbelief. Farther behind him, among a row of equally dumbfounded Cultist leaders, an overlooked horned man in a corner wore not only a stupefied expression, but one of utter, stifled speechlessness.
Amid a crowd of frenzied Cultists, the horned man actually looked as though he wanted to cry but had no tears.
And well he should. After all, Dujiao had finally managed to see off that mighty figure Sith and, after an agonizing wait, welcomed the saviors the preachers constantly proclaimed.
Then he had followed them out in high spirits, only to run straight into Sith again before he had taken more than a few steps.
And in just these few months, the "club" that had already beaten him howling had been replaced with a "spiked mace"-one with barbs, at that!
Dujiao no longer harbored any doubts about Sith's fighting strength. Even the saviors were being felled one after another. His only consolation now was that his low standing had kept him beneath Black Skull's notice, sparing him from facing Sith and the fiends under his command.
But Dujiao's relief did not last long. When a group of storm troopers suddenly charged out and traded a mere ten lives for another Chaos Astartes, Black Skull's heart turned utterly cold.
Unlike the loyalists, Chaos Astartes had a very difficult time replenishing their numbers.
For an ordinary Chaos Warband, every Astartes who died truly meant one fewer in their ranks.
Dujiao huddled in the corner with his head down, but Black Skull's voice still rang out right in front of him.
"Mortal, the time has come for you to prove your loyalty to the gods."
Dujiao shuddered. He looked up at Black Skull, then at the 101st's storm troopers "dancing" over the Chaos Astartes in the distance, and finally at the rebels behind him, whose faces had gone pale at those words alone. Only after a long moment did he raise a hand and point at his own dumbfounded self.
"Huh?"
"Me?"
Displeasure appeared on Black Skull's wrinkled, mutated face. Dujiao's heart trembled at the sight. Forgetting even to complain about the absurdity of it, he hurriedly stood straight.
"For the gods!"
Black Skull lowered the right hand he had already raised, then tilted his head to signal Dujiao.
With no alternative, Dujiao mustered his courage and looked at the 101st Regiment's positions ahead, particularly Sith behind the lines, who was being attended by his storm trooper guards while learning about the overall battle.
His eyelids and facial muscles twitched wildly as he led his men forward, his eyes frantically scanning his surroundings.
If it meant not facing Sith head-on, Dujiao would have been more than willing to convert to worshipping the Emperor on the spot!
There was little opportunity to convert to the Emperor, but a nearby gate, badly warped by repeated demolitions, caught Dujiao's attention.
Behind the 101st Regiment's positions, guards drawn from the most elite storm troopers wiped down Sith's Power Armour, cleaning up the tiny scratches as thoroughly as possible.
Standing beside the map, Brunok kept pointing at the enormous sector map as he explained.
"Chaos committed far too many forces at once. We can't even tally their exact numbers."
"All we know is that almost every Imperium stronghold and Xenos stronghold came under attack simultaneously."
"And air superiority has fallen completely into Chaos hands. Our supply route to Hyperia has been cut off entirely."
Brunok pointed here and there across the map while Sith alternated between studying it and glancing up at the Chaos Warband ahead, which had been thoroughly battered senseless.
"What about Hyperia?"
Hyperia was the core. As long as Hyperia held, the situation was not too terrible.
At the question, however, Brunok's expression turned speechless. Though he dared not curse outright, he was clearly deeply dissatisfied.
"The enemy fleet exposed the earlier propaganda, and the water purification plant we'd just recaptured was destroyed again."
"Incited by the cults and Genestealers, the entire Hyperia Hive Cluster has descended into internal riots."
Seemingly afraid Sith did not understand the scale of the riots, Brunok even added another sentence.
"Lord Calgar has even deployed a full half-company of Astartes to suppress the riots."
Brunok did not even bother mentioning the number of mortal troops. The full half-company of Astartes alone showed that the riots of civilians who had lost hope were already no less serious than a frontal Chaos assault!
A similarly speechless look appeared at the corners of Sith's eyes. By now, the final maintenance on his Power Armour was complete. Though the storm trooper guards could only perform a simple cleaning, with proper repairs having to wait for Ana after the battle, Sith still placed his hand on the hilt of his Power Sword.
Seeing Sith finally turn his attention to the front, Brunok could not be bothered to say any more. Once the initial panic had passed and he had confirmed that he could comfortably afford these exchanges, he had wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger on the Chaos forces opposite.
But as the soldiers followed Sith in turning their attention to the front, things changed.
Black Skull, so overbearing toward the Cultists, could only struggle with his uncontrollably twitching eyelids under those gazes. He even instinctively glanced back at the transport aircraft originally intended to carry troops and supplies.
But before the thought of whether to retreat could even form, the first explosion erupted in a huge passage outside the area where the two sides were exchanging fire.
The smoke cleared.
Sith and his soldiers looked over with furrowed brows, while Black Skull turned a baffled face toward Dujiao.
Even the countless Genestealers who had been taking it easy behind the passage stared dumbfounded at the passage that had opened at this precise moment.
All three sides were stunned. Only Dujiao breathed a huge inward sigh of relief. He actually turned back toward Black Skull in high spirits, his face full of "fighting spirit"!
"My lord, there are Genestealers here! I am willing to hold them back for you until the very last moment!"
Dujiao was "righteous and resolute." To avoid facing Sith, he was even willing to fight the Genestealers.
Behind him, Black Skull was so furious that he almost wanted to convert to Khorne on the spot and hack down even his own men. Watching the endless ocean of Genestealers gradually rise beyond the gate, he could only tremble with rage.
The Genestealers beyond the gate, meanwhile, exchanged glances. Faced with this entirely different group of enemies, brief confusion appeared in their eyes.
Their confusion vanished as quickly as it had come. Once the Genestealers confirmed that those outside were not their own, they raised their weapons without hesitation.
"I don't care who you are!"
"Anyone who comes gets shot!!!"