Gunfire thundered across the tower's summit.
But what had previously been a contest between Sith and Black Skull had now become a three-way melee involving the Genestealers.
More precisely, the 101st Regiment held its ground, casually shooting down a few enemies foolish enough to approach, then watched Chaos face the endless Genestealers.
"Take the wounded down, then rotate in the rear-line troops. Let the soldiers up front fall back for a short rest."
Standing in front of the position, Sith issued a steady stream of orders to Brunok and the other officers behind him.
Large numbers of soldiers were able to withdraw, replaced by fresh troops who had been conserving their strength in the rear.
An aroma even drifted over from behind the position. The logistics troops had actually delivered hot protein stew to the front!
Now the soldiers under Sith's command squatted inside their positions, lifting mess tins and shoveling steaming food into their mouths, their eyes watching the front with something approaching boredom.
Black Skull was also observing the battlefield, but the longer he looked, the more rigid his expression became.
Especially when he saw the humans opposite him actually starting to eat-even his facial muscles, mutated to extreme hardness, could not help twitching violently.
He looked at the 101st Regiment, particularly that mortal standing atop the position in a suit of Artificer Power Armour.
Black Skull could not even muster anger. All he felt was pent-up frustration.
"I've never brought mortals anything but fear."
"How come you're not only unafraid, but actually eating?"
"Now you're making my bloody battle against these Xenos feel more like a grand performance put on just for you!"
Black Skull looked at the 101st Regiment, then at the surging Genestealers beside him, before fixing a fierce stare on Dujiao.
Black Skull was no fool. How could he not know that Dujiao would rather fight endless Genestealers to the death than face Sith?
After all, facing the Genestealers meant a slim chance of survival, but in Dujiao's mind, facing Sith meant no fucking chance at all!
Another transmission reached Black Skull's ears. Listening to the Chaos Fleet overhead report smooth progress on every military front, particularly that large numbers of Chaos Warbands and Cultists had already begun using masses of civilians in all manner of frenzied rituals, Black Skull felt as though he were not fighting on the same Vigilus as they were.
Listening to the fanatical calls of the other Chaos Warbands, and hearing what blasphemous rituals they had performed and which dark gods they had pleased, Black Skull summoned one last shred of hope and looked across.
The human soldiers had finished eating and lit their cigarettes.
His mouth twitched. He looked at the enemy's thirty thousand or more mortal soldiers, then at his own dozen-odd remaining Astartes. One simple calculation left Black Skull's heart utterly cold.
But what Black Skull found even more unexpected was that, when he looked toward the human position, a burly man carrying a machine gun actually dared to glare back!
And glaring was one thing. After remaining bewildered all this time, Black Skull had already admitted that these mortals were uncannily formidable. They had the confidence to glare at him.
But that machine gunner's mouth seemed to turn into a machine gun itself. After a rapid burst of opening and closing, not a single word of his insults had been repeated!
The sight sent the surrounding human soldiers into laughter. The warband's Astartes beside him also showed anger in their eyes as they looked at Black Skull, who had kept refusing to let them advance and reap mortal lives.
Black Skull froze. Even a clay figure had a temper, let alone an Astartes who had killed more mortals than he could count.
Barely suppressible fury filled Black Skull's heart. He abruptly drew his Chainsword and pointed it straight at Brunok. The other Chaos Astartes behind him finally roared as well, desperate to charge over and slaughter them.
As for the Genestealers beside them, Dujiao and his rebels could stay and trade blows with those fellow weaklings.
But while Black Skull raged, Brunok saw that his insults had actually provoked him and hurriedly ducked back into the position, taking up his machine gun to prepare his defense.
After all, while Black Skull was shocked that a mere few dozen mortals could trade their lives for one of his Astartes, Brunok and the others were also nervous that every enemy advance would cost them at least dozens of men!
But unlike before, when there had only been soldiers of the 101st Regiment, this time there was also a dark-silver figure before the position.
Watching the furious Black Skull prepare to attack again, Sith, who had been waiting for the Genestealers to serve the Emperor loyally, finally drew his weapons.
An antique Power Sword and an artificer boltgun.
As Sith took up his weapons and turned the red eyes of his helmet toward him, the furious Black Skull, just about to step forward, abruptly stopped.
No outsider could see the change in Black Skull's emotions beneath his helmet. But as he felt the cold, mechanical red eyes of that mortal in Power Armour turn upon him, tremendous fear suddenly rose in his heart.
It was as though a Warp fiend capable of tearing him apart in an instant had fixed its gaze on him.
As an Astartes who had pledged himself to the gods, Black Skull had received a few of their blessings. This sense for danger was precisely what had allowed him to rise to warband leader.
Previously, however, it had only brought him varying degrees of panic and unease. Even when he encountered powerful enemies, he had felt no more than a little fear.
But when Sith looked over, the tremendous terror deep within Black Skull, like a red alert, told him in no uncertain terms that he had to be exceedingly careful of this mortal before him!
The surrounding Chaos Astartes wondered why Black Skull had stopped again. Their eyes held little obedience toward him, only dissatisfaction born of his repeated displays of weakness.
Especially after hearing that the other Chaos Warbands had already feasted on untold numbers of mortals, and that some warbands whose rituals were sufficiently horrific had even summoned Warp Daemons, they grew all the more impatient.
After all, in their eyes, nothing had changed about the mortal position opposite them. There was simply one more mortal wearing Power Armour.
With a dozen or more Astartes attacking together, they refused to believe they could not kill a mere thirty thousand mortals.
Feeling his warband brothers' intense dissatisfaction and anticipation, Black Skull quickly swept his eyes around behind his helmet, then abruptly planted his foot forward again.
At the same time, he raised his weapon and shouted to the warband brothers behind him, who were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with him:
"For the gods!"
At this rare encouragement, the Chaos Astartes behind him, already simmering with suppressed fury, instantly raised their weapons and roared along. Then Black Skull waved them forward, and the Chaos Astartes charged straight ahead.
Black Skull himself, however, remained where he was after rallying them.
Or rather... he hid at the back.
Further behind, Dujiao, who had been watching the whole time, saw this, and his eyes abruptly lit up as he looked at Black Skull, as though he had discovered a kindred spirit.
Then he joined Black Skull in watching the front, wanting to see whether an attack launched by a full dozen-odd Astartes at once could break through these uncanny mortals.
Seeing so many Astartes charging toward him at once, Brunok instantly went deathly pale.
He hurried to pull the trigger, but the Astartes' superhuman reactions and speed had already allowed them to fire their bolts first.
Unlike before, when they had committed only one or two at a time, throwing in a dozen or more at once actually suppressed the 101st Regiment's forward positions. Large numbers of soldiers, even storm troopers, began falling to the Chaos Astartes' precise shots.
So much so that many mortal soldiers could only huddle behind cover, relying on instinct and feel to return fire at the Astartes.
But this inaccurate barrage struggled to hit the agile Astartes, let alone inflict casualties.
The sight gradually raised hope in Black Skull's heart, until the Astartes finally closed in and that mortal in dark-silver Power Armour swung his weapon.
The Power Sword danced with a faint glow. When Black Skull saw the scene clearly, hope still lingering on his face, he put his superhuman body into motion, decisively turning and running toward the transport aircraft behind him.
"Have our ship ready immediately."
"I'm getting out of this uncanny place right now..."
"As far away as possible!!!"