Marcus had been wondering about this planet and the very idea of a shrine world. An entire world dedicated to worship. He understood having a place to raise morale, even a massive building, but an entire planet? It had always seemed like a tremendous waste—all these resources could have been dedicated to anything else. But the Imperium being awful was always a key part of it, at least from his memories. Both of them.
Varik was pulled from his musings by the sound of the man in his grip choking and gasping for air. The Night Lord squeezed and ended the mortal's suffering, dropping the body without looking at it.
He looked down the hall instead. Some unfortunate squad of Guardsmen had run into Varik and his brothers—what remained of them anyway. Just three corridors down was the main door into the void shield generator room.
Now they were just waiting for Kael and Vosk, who seemed to be taking their sweet time.
Varik's attention was drawn to his two brothers—Brother-Sergeant Decarion and Malith—who were either tormenting the Guardsmen or, in Decarion's case, taking his frustration out on the Guard sergeant who had been leading this rabble. Just slamming the mortal's head against the wall. Varik could tell Decarion wasn't using his full strength; otherwise, the mortal would be dead.
Marcus then heard something—power armor. But not many. Two, in fact.
"Decarion, Malith—we have two incoming Astartes. Think it's Kael and Vosk?"
It was then the squad's vox went live as the rasping voice of Kael came through. "We are coming up. Watch your fire."
Soon enough, Vosk and Kael came around the corner, the two of them looking a bit worse for wear compared to the rest of the claw. Though from what Marcus remembered, these two had run into a bit of trouble, so the damage could be excused. Still, they had parts left over from the Crimson Fists.
"About time you all showed up," said Decarion as he walked forward and addressed the claw. "Now we can begin. The Loyalists have reinforced the void shield generator, and the void shield has returned to full strength, so Solm can't pick us up in the Thunderhawk until we shut it down. So far, no Crimson Fists—just Guardsmen and those Sisters who have reinforced the Tech-Priest and the security servitors. We'll have our hands full this time, and they'll be expecting us now. So here is the plan—"
Salem led a prayer to the Emperor when banging could be heard coming from the chamber door, as if something was being slammed against it.
Salem ordered her Sisters and the Guardsmen into defensive positions. The Tech-Priest set about their own preparations as servitors moved into defensive positions where the Tech-Priest believed most effective.
Then a smell began to fill the air—small at first, then it became strong and outright repulsive. It was at that moment Salem realized what it was and where it was coming from.
The smell came from smoke that bled through the chamber doors, and with that smoke came the smell of burning flesh.
"Servants of the Emperor, do not falter! The foe employs the tricks of cowards. Stand fast and hold the Emperor in your hearts, and we will slay these vile traitors and wipe them from His galaxy!"
The Imperial faithful were bolstered by this, but the smell was now growing stronger than before.
Salem placed her helm on and ordered her Sisters to do the same. The smell was gone, but it was clear that the foe was coming. As every weapon was trained on the chamber door, a metal creaking filled the air.
By the time Salem looked up to the source, three devils rained down from above, bringing death with them.
As Vosk, Decarion, and Varik fell upon the Loyalists from above, the defenders were caught off guard as the Night Lords struck.
Varik brought his chainblade down, trying to split the Sister Canoness in twain, but she moved in time to avoid the strike—the blow grazing her leg, sparks flying from the clash. However, the Night Lord didn't stop, firing his bolter at another Sister of Battle and ending her in three shots.
Just as the Loyalists began to turn, the chamber doors were blown open in a shower of flame and debris. Kael and Malith rushed through the smoke, weapons roaring, attacking the Guardsmen's positions.
Decarion laid into the Sisters, driving his axe into one and grabbing the blade arm of another. He pulled hard, tearing free the limb and forcing the chainblade to fall to the ground. Decarion kept moving, either avoiding or positioning himself just right to minimize the damage from the Sisters' bolters.
Vosk fired on the Tech-Priest, but his aim was off due to a servitor's shot—instead of taking off the machine-priest of Mars's head, he got their arm. Vosk then shifted his fire, taking down three of the six combat servitors with a quick burst before rushing another with a knife, driving it through the corpse-machine's skull. He used its body as a shield before hurling the remains, taking another out.
Marcus heard a Sister let out a war cry, screaming about her Emperor, but Marcus struck out with his chainblade, uncaring for her religious screaming. The force threw the Sister off balance. It was only a bolter round striking his pauldron that saw the Sister not cut down for her mistake of trying to take an Astartes head-on. The shot came from the Sister Canoness.
Before she could fire again, Marcus moved—seeing her posture shift to brace for the recoil of her weapon. The Night Lord moved against her less-skilled squadmate, using her as a still-living shield, driving his chainblade against hers and forcing her to get between Marcus and the Sister Canoness. This stopped the Canoness from firing for a moment, which saw Marcus drive his chainblade through the Sister, causing the Canoness to curse the Night Lord.
As she did, Marcus remained silent, waiting for her next move.
"You vile traitors dare pollute the Emperor's domain on this blessed world! Each and every breath you take is an unacceptable sin that you must pay for with your life, and I shall deliver His justice, traitor!"
Marcus finally spoke, and only had one thing to say.
"You Loyalists need new material. You're boring me."
Varik then charged, leading with his pauldron, allowing the Sister's bolter rounds to strike while he closed the distance. He swung his chainblade to take the Canoness's life, but instead she sacrificed her bolter to avoid the fatal strike and drew her own power sword, trying to strike the Night Lord.
But Varik was faster. He fired a bolter round into her abdomen, then another. Blood spilled from her mouth, and yet she tried to raise her weapon. Marcus wasn't going to take that chance—he drove his chainblade down on her, ending any attempts at a last strike.
Marcus let the body fall but took the power sword. Too small to be actually effective, but a worthwhile trophy at least.