Chapter 62: The Wall Has Fallen
It was because of the anti-gravity design of these new vehicles, which could ignore the rugged terrain, that lava and water were no longer obstacles. The Space Marines could advance and maneuver faster and more flexibly than before. "Speed" was the prerequisite for the second phase of the plan.
Piloting their brand-new vehicles, the Knights of Iron used their laser rippers and plasma eradicators to slaughter any daemon or heretic traitor who dared to appear in their line of sight. Daemon engines blocking their path were destroyed in a single blow by the twin heavy accelerator cannons mounted on their turrets. Nurgle daemon-flies, circling in the toxic mist, spat their poisonous bodily fluids from their proboscises, trying in vain to corrode and halt the triumphant advance of the Astraeus super-heavy tanks. The daemons' previously invincible venom was laughable in the face of the vehicles' layered void shields, and the return fire was devastating.
Repulsor vehicles followed behind the Astraeus super-heavy tanks, providing fire support for the spearhead and cleaning up any survivors. Some large daemons tried to stand in their way, but before they could even get close, they found themselves battling an invisible force. This was an additional effect of the anti-gravity technology. The gravitational energy colliding between the anti-gravity chassis and the ground would spread out along the gap between the chassis and the ground, blasting the nearby daemons. As the vehicles inevitably drew closer, some were forced to retreat, while others were trapped and unable to escape, being directly pulled under the vehicles and ground into a paste of blood and bone dust by the colliding gravitational energy.
The mortal forces, just to keep up with the Space Marines, had to push their Chimeras and Leman Russes to their maximum speed. At every key location, a regiment would be left behind to hold the line and ensure that the Space Marines' path of retreat was not cut off.
Victory or defeat hung in the balance. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Ventris was on the front lines. He was an excellent commander, and a legendary warrior. Born in an underhive on Calth, Uriel Ventris had idolized his ancestor, Lucian Ventris, a hero of the Ultramarines Chapter, since childhood. He eventually achieved his dream and became a Space Marine neophyte. He was not one to follow the rules blindly. Some of his battle-brothers even questioned his devotion to the Codex Astartes, but he persisted in his own way, because he saw the advantages of non-Codex methods.
It was these characteristics that had made him the Captain of the 4th Company, but it was also this independent streak that had later led to his exile by the Chapter Master, on a "penitential crusade" of one. Fortunately, his loyal companion, Sergeant Pasanius Lysane, had voluntarily joined him. Their mission was to find the "Daemonculaba," a vile creation that could turn ordinary youths into Chaos Space Marines, and was the object of their crusade. In the process, they had strayed into the depths of the Eye of Terror and had been captured and taken to Medrengard, the home world of the traitor legion, the Iron Warriors.
There, they had not given up. They had successfully escaped and had cooperated with the local resistance to continuously harass the Iron Warriors. But the disparity in strength was too great, and they were captured again by the Warsmith Honsou and forcibly put into the "Daemonculaba." Ventris, even in such a desperate situation, was still looking for a way out. He succeeded. By releasing a captured Khornate Daemon Prince, he had destroyed Honsou's fortress and retinue.
After escaping, they were arrested by the Grey Knights on their way back to the Imperium. These daemon-hunting experts suspected they had been corrupted by Chaos. After enduring arduous tests of body, mind, and spirit, it was proven that they had not been tainted during their time on Medrengard, and the Grey Knights released them. Due to the tyrannical rule of the local Planetary Governor, a psyker had tried to get revenge on the governor by possessing a Space Marine. In the end, Ventris, Pasanius, and the Grey Knights had killed him, appeased the vengeful psyker's spirit, and overthrown the governor. They then returned to Macragge, where they were questioned and tested by the Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines, Varro Tigurius, to ensure they had not been tainted. After confirming that neither Uriel nor Pasanius had been corrupted by Chaos, Uriel was reappointed as the Captain of the 4th Company to continue his service to the Imperium.
(How is he any worse than the 2nd Company Captain?)
It was precisely because Regent Guilliman valued Ventris as a flexible military commander, who could think outside the Codex Astartes, that he had sent him to support the complex situation on Teyedan. Since waking up and learning of the state of the Imperium, the Regent had been depressed. The Imperium was like this, and so were his "firstborn sons." How had his once-versatile Ultramarines become a bunch of brutes? If it weren't for the link of the gene-seed, he would have doubted if they were his own. The Chapter's records had no mention of strategy, only tactics, and personal martial prowess at that. Their battle records were one more exaggerated than the next. Guilliman had even thought that if it were him, he wasn't sure he could have come back in one piece. And the successor Chapters were even worse.
Seeing that Ventris was one who could think, Guilliman had taken a special interest in his life story. And what a story it was. He had almost been killed by his own side. Guilliman was so angry at the time that he had wanted to give Marneus Calgar a good thrashing. But when he asked where Calgar was, he was told that he was in the infirmary after a duel.
Guilliman: Who do they take after? Did the gene-seed cheat on me?
While the Space Marines were launching their attack, the "Father's Party" was also on the move. They planned to follow behind the attacking force, ostensibly to support the front line, but in reality, to secretly transport the parts of the plasma reactor to a location near the warp rift.
The first half of their journey was smooth. There were troops stationed along the line, and only scattered daemons on the road. The difficulty lay in the fact that, to avoid the Space Marines, they had to, at a certain distance from the warp rift, open a new path that could circle around to a location near the rift, where they would install their "ace in the hole."
This journey was destined to be extremely dangerous. Sacrifices were inevitable. But they were prepared to inherit the legacy of their fallen comrades.
"Move out! Maintain a safe distance from the Space Marines!"
"Acknowledged!"
The Father's Party set out.
The Son's Party leader, Magos Laust, was now anxiously watching the Nurgle daemons pouring into the Grand Manufactorum from a breach in the city wall, three kilometers away. They were one step too late. They were only three kilometers from the final wall of the Grand Manufactorum. But they still had not given up. Whether it was to prevent this landmark from falling into the hands of Chaos, or to save Omega and the others who were still alive and resisting, they could not give up.
The reinforcements' attack had not stopped, but these last three kilometers were now filled with daemons who had rushed over from the warp rift.
Inside the Grand Manufactorum, the survivors were all gathered in the largest building of the magnificent complex—the central hall. A dense horde of Nurgle daemons surrounded the hall, their bodies swaying with pustules and rotten flesh, their exposed tongues and intestines swinging. Step by step, like a yellow-green, foul-smelling tidal wave, they crashed against the central hall.
At the entrance to the central hall, the remaining Skitarii formed neat firing lines, unleashing volley after volley at the daemonic tide. The Battle Automata, under the command of their Datasmiths, fired their long-range weapons and smashed any daemon that broke through the firing line with their power fists. The Tech-Priests had also joined the battle, attacking any enemy they could with their personal weapons. The Electro-Priests praised the Motive Force, their bodies wreathed in dazzling lightning, unleashing their wrath on the daemons in the form of thunderbolts. The binary hymns of the Omnissiah and the joyous songs of the Nurgle daemons clashed on the battlefield. The wrath of the Machine God and the malevolent power of Nurgle collided.
Cowardly, about-to-piss-his-pants Omega (O∆O)
Hold on! Hold on! Hold on, my sphincter! You can do it! Ganbatte!
When he was led out of the quarantine room, Omega had guessed that the city wall was about to fall. And he was right. Not long after he arrived in the central hall, he saw people rushing in from all over the Grand Manufactorum. He didn't rashly ask questions. When he arrived, he had noticed that he was the only one in the quarantine area. Where had all the others who were suspected of being corrupted gone? The truth was self-evident.
At a time like this, he should just be quiet and not cause any trouble for his dad. This was the duty of a son.
Omega's thought: It's so great to have an Archmagos for a dad. I really mean it when I call him "dad." If the plan succeeds, I'll see how he behaves in the future...
While fulfilling his duty as a son, he was also waiting. Waiting for that traitor to come to him. He couldn't be sure that what the daemon had told him was the truth. He needed to judge the veracity of the information from the attitude of the person the daemon had mentioned before he could make his next move.
Zola Dickinson, is it you?
Zola Dickinson, who had been fighting the daemons with all his might until the moment the wall was breached, was outwardly terrified, but inwardly relieved. It's over! It's finally over! Do you know how I've lived this past while? I haven't worked this hard since I became a priest! Now, I just have to give this weapon to the possessed Omega, and it will all be over soon!
As one of the last to enter the central hall, the first thing Zola did was to look for Omega. With the help of his augmetic eye, which had a detection function, he quickly spotted Omega, alone, in the depths of the hall. There! Good. No one around. Less contact, less chance of exposure. What a cunning daemon. Zola was very satisfied with the daemon. He liked smart daemons.