Guilliman fought desperately, trying to survive the clash with two traitorous Primarchs. However, it was only a matter of time before he would lose. Angron completely dominated him, striking with a fury he could not comprehend. Among his Primarch brothers, Guilliman was never the most powerful fighter in direct combat. That title probably belonged to Sanguinius or Lion El'Jonson. He himself was somewhere in the middle of the pack, capable, but not matching the most dangerous of them in pure fighting strength. He heard the call on the Vox and saw that his brothers heard it too, but even a fraction of a second of distraction could make him share the fate of his brother Ferrus. Holding his sword, he blocked Angron's axe blows one after another.
But with each passing second, Guilliman was losing. Angron's blows threw him from side to side, slowly crushing his defense. Suddenly, when a fleeting chance appeared, the Ultramarines' Primarch gathered all his power and struck with fury straight at Angron's breastplate. The force of the blow bent the daemonic armor and, more importantly, tore off one of the skulls that Angron wore clipped to his armor and that he particularly treasured. It was the skull of one of his fallen brothers who had died during his failed rebellion. Retreating from Angron's next attack, Guilliman deliberately stepped on it and completely crushed it under his boot, turning it to dust.
The rage that Angron felt was immeasurable. The crushing of his brother's skull was the ultimate insult. The Butcher's Nails in his brain began to work with even greater, crushing force, driving him into an uncontrollable frenzy. With a roar that drowned out the din of battle, he threw himself with savage fury at Guilliman.
Angron didn't strike. Angron tore. His axes fell with such brutality that each blow dented Guilliman's armor, ripped muscle, and crushed bone. The Ultramarines' Primarch barely managed to shield himself, yet each blow threw him back with such force that his feet sank into the melted asphalt. There was no finesse in it, just pure, destructive power. Angron furiously crushed him, bringing him to his knees, ignoring his own wounds.
Lorgar, heavily wounded and barely able to stay on his feet, smiled. The sight of Angron's madness and Guilliman's helplessness filled him with satisfaction. At last, he could begin the ritual.
More and more Ultramarines joined us on the hill, forming a defensive ring around us. I looked around the dug-in hill, which was constantly besieged by daemons and traitors. In the distance, I saw the Arcadia, and the sounds of battle and flashes of weapons coming from its vicinity indicated that the ship was also under a massive attack. Suddenly, I felt as if someone had brutally torn down the world's blinds, revealing its most hidden, dark aspects. The space around us trembled, saturating itself with the pure, disgusting powers of Chaos. This was unmistakable. I knew what it meant: Angron's transformation into a full daemonic form. Without a moment's hesitation, I jumped in the direction from which the power emanated, with such force that a small crater formed where I stood, and a powerful shockwave followed a moment later, throwing back those standing nearby. There was no time to issue any orders; there was no time to say anything. I simply threw myself forward, knowing that every second was precious.
Making my final leap, I saw Angron already in his full, daemonic form. He was a colossus of fury, and his massive, bleeding axes rose to deliver the final blow. The axe was already descending, ready to take Guilliman's life. In that fraction of a second, instinctively, still in the air, I pulled out my revolver and fired.
A whoosh, and then Angron's bestial roar cut through the din of battle. The white-hot plasma hit his hand directly, tearing off the fingers that were gripping the axe's handle. The weapon slipped from his grasp and fell limply to the ground, sinking into the rubble. This gave Guilliman another unexpected chance to survive.
I landed next to him, grabbed his metallic collar, and threw him behind me. Spinning in place, I drew my saber and blocked the axe's strike. I felt the impact; it was immense. My bones and muscles cracked. I could feel my shinbone break from Angron's power.
Despite the immense pain, I managed to block the attack. He brought his daemonic maw closer and snarled directly into my face. My eardrums burst at that very moment. I pushed his axe away and, retreating, fired my revolver at him.
He blocked the incoming plasma shots with his axe. I retreated further, feeling the Black Matter healing my injuries. I had to quickly figure out a way to get us out of here.
"You alive?" I asked, firing nonstop.
"Thanks to you," he replied dryly despite his many serious wounds.
"Can you still fight?" I asked quickly, seeing Angron prepare to charge.
"Not with him in this state," he replied, looking at Lorgar.
"Then you know what to do!" I yelled, kicking him in the chest, pushing him away from the charging Angron coming towards me. "Round two, beast!"
Guilliman was in shock, though his face didn't show it. The man's strength surprised him for the second time in such a short period. Harlock parried Angron's attacks one after another, but he saw that it was a very difficult duel for him. He had to quickly finish things with Lorgar.
Mora threw himself forward and attacked. Traitors and daemons watched and cheered on their side. The situation was dire. Even if they won, they were surrounded by thousands of daemons and traitors.
Far from the battlefield, Orfeo Cassandar reached the hill with his men despite heavy losses. He took command in the absence of anyone else. The pirates ignored him; they had a captain and an order from him to dig in on this hill, which they had been doing for a few hours. Despite his pleas and threats, they did not accept his temporary authority. It almost led to a civil fight. They could either stay with them here and wait or leave. They decided to stay.
Captain Avenius, along with not even a hundred Ultramarines, headed toward the battle that was raging in the city center. His group had been separated during the landing, so he didn't know what the situation was like. Besides the news of the regrouping, he had no other information. But seeing that someone was fighting there, he preferred to help his brothers and escape with them.
Breaking through the dense ranks of the enemy, the Ultramarines finally managed to get to the top of the collapsed buildings. From here, there was a wide view of the entire battlefield. They could clearly see how their Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, and Captain Harlock were fighting the forces of the traitors and daemons. Below, the daemonic form of Angron spread its gigantic, winged body, and then struck Harlock with his wings. The impact was so strong that Harlock, like a cannonball, hit a nearby, ruined building, smashing against its wall. However, at that very same moment, a pillar of black mist shot towards Angron. Surrounded by Dark Matter, Harlock struck the daemonic Primarch's immense body with his saber, inflicting a massive wound from his shoulder to his waist.
Angron's roar pierced the battlefield. Feeling the pain, his rage soared, and so did his power. Avenius saw that despite Harlock holding his own in the duel, he had no chance of winning. He saw his father, though heavily wounded, fighting Lorgar. With other officers, they quickly began to think of how to break the siege and get them out. The tall ruins of the buildings still stretched upward. If they could just manage to blow up one of them and have it fall in a specific direction, it would create a clear path. And that's what they implemented; a frontal assault was out of the question.
Harlock and Guilliman fought, giving more of themselves than they even knew they were capable of. Lorgar was losing more and more ground; his wounds piled up, and his Marines began to worry that if things continued, there would soon be one less Primarch. The World Eaters, consumed by battle-fury, cheered on their father; their shouts and daemonic noises spoke louder than words.
The situation changed very quickly when the sounds of explosions rang out. A massive tower that once served as a residential building began to fall, right on top of them. Tens of thousands of tons of steel and concrete crushed thousands of daemons and Marines. Dust obscured all visibility; it was hard to breathe. The filters in Harlock's mask immediately filled with concrete dust.
Seeing that the chaos had become even greater than before, the pirate jumped back, disappearing from Angron's sight. Roboute could not see further than a meter. Holding his sword high, he was ready for anything. Suddenly, he felt a rush of air, someone charging in his direction. With a single move, he sliced through the stream of air that was rushing toward him, but found nothing there.
"Can't you tell the difference between friend and foe?!" a quiet, harsh voice sounded.
"Harlock," he replied authoritatively. "Your doing?"
"The work of one of your sons. Someone made us a nice highway to escape. I'm taking this chance. Are you going to finish your revenge and die, or are you coming with me?" I asked, seeing that his rage was the only thing keeping him on his feet.
"I'm coming," he answered shortly, squinting to see anything at all.
As they walked, they occasionally encountered isolated traitors who had gotten lost in the cloud of smoke, and they eliminated them as quickly as possible to avoid slowing down. In the background, Angron's bestial roars could still be heard, as he, in his frenzy, destroyed everything in his path, flinging chunks of rubble and bodies around.
Unexpectedly, in an instant, all the dust and dirt suspended in the air fell to the ground or was brutally sucked upward, as if an invisible force had cleared the space. In the blink of an eye, the entire battlefield was revealed before their eyes in all its gruesome glory. This was undoubtedly Lorgar's doing, who had used the powerful force of Chaos to gain full control over the environment and visibility.
The Ultramarines who had fortified their positions began to fire from above. A hail of projectiles rained down on the daemons and traitors, turning them into bloody pulp. Harlock and Guilliman ran towards them, providing covering fire and preventing the traitors from reaching them.
However, they couldn't stop Angron. The bolter rounds did nothing to him. He ran, taking everything on his body. The rage from the loss of his fingers to that pirate would not let him calm down. Harlock looked over his shoulder and snarled.
"Beast!" I commented, seeing his maw open and a new roar emerge.
The two quickly reached the Ultramarines and began to retreat. Avenius quickly detonated more charges, toppling more buildings nearby and blocking the passage. Harlock, seeing that they had planned everything, whistled in approval. But this still did not stop Angron. On his red wings, he soared into the air and flew over the ruins.
In the distance, one of the Arcadia's cannons suddenly began to move. The crew on the bridge was in shock. Cornelius, quickly clicking the console, tried to stop the cannon. They needed energy for something else now. But the ship did not obey. The cannon turned and fired. The sound cut through the pirates fighting below, shocking them.
A blue beam flew over the heads of the pirates and Ultramarines on the hill where they held their position and continued. Passing several kilometers, it headed for a tiny point in the sky.
Guilliman's group, rushing forward through the ruined streets, suddenly saw a powerful beam of energy flying in their direction. Just a fraction of a second later, a deafening explosion occurred, shaking the ground. A powerful shockwave pushed them back, throwing them to the sides and forcing them to find support. At the same time, Harlock, leaning his foot heavily against a nearby destroyed tank, watched the whole event. He looked at the sky and saw Angron falling.
Like a glowing meteor, the daemon left a blurred, red-black trail behind him, to finally hit the ground with an impact, creating another crater.
"We're getting out of here," I said to Guilliman, seeing the powers of the Immaterium consume the planet.