10 minutes before the terrorist attack.
On stage, Anna Fei, a famous opera singer from Abyss Port, was performing a tragedy about an Imperial mortal hero defending an invaded Bishop World, fighting to the death with his lover against the Imperial enemy in a church.
"How touching, this is love until death."
Thei sat in a curtained compartment on the side viewing platform, dabbing her tears with a handkerchief and sighing, "What a tragic and romantic death. How wonderful it would be if my life could also end so spectacularly."
"Miss Peru, you will live a happy and fulfilling life." The young girl sitting beside her comforted her.
Thei let out a long sigh and looked at the stage. Soon, the lovers would detonate the bombs placed in the church, perishing together with the enemies of the Imperium.
"If we are destined to die for love here today, then may the God Emperor redeem our souls!" As the red-haired actress in a fishtail dress fell into his arms, the male actor on stage shouted and pressed the switch in his hand.
Boom!!!—
A huge explosion suddenly rang out.
Everyone felt the ground shake, and the chandeliers overhead swayed.
Many audience members below the stage applauded enthusiastically for the realistic stage effects.
"What was that just now?" Thei noticed that the explosion came from outside.
"It came from outside. It's an attack!" Yin Shuyao stood up from her seat. Having grown up in the underbelly of the world, she was extremely sensitive to attacks. She was certain it was not a theatrical effect.
"Guards!" Thei immediately called out calmly. Six red-clad Guards rushed to Miss Peru's side: "Escort us out."
Below the stage, some officers who were watching the play also noticed something was wrong. Having been on warships for a long time, they could even keenly perceive which section of the ship's gunnery was firing, so it was impossible for them not to notice that the explosion came from outside.
"Everyone, evacuate immediately!" A Navy Colonel stood up and shouted. The Lieutenants and Guards sitting around him also stood up, pulling out their guns from their waists.
Suddenly, gunshots and screams echoed from the opera house's waiting hall. A large group of burly men with guns, bearing scarlet blasphemous symbols, kicked away the security Guards and rushed into the theater, sweeping their gunfire across the crowd.
"Blood for the Blood God, skulls for the Skull Throne!"
Blood soaked the red carpet. Elegantly dressed upper-class individuals fell to the ground like straw cut by a scythe, their faces filled with terror in their dying moments.
The soldiers immediately sought cover and engaged the rioters. Whizzing bullets and Laser Guns crisscrossed the theater.
But their firepower was insufficient. Under the ruthless spray of a robust Khorne mutated goat-headed man wielding a vicious lumbering gun, chair backs were instantly pierced. The Colonel and his adjutant fell onto their seats, riddled with bullets. The last vestiges of resistance were lost, leaving only a vile slaughter.
Thei and Yin Shuyao, protected by six Guards, hurried downstairs through a side emergency exit. Miss Peru took out a ladies' defense revolver from her handbag.
Suddenly, they collided head-on with Khorne Cultists rushing upstairs. The Guards and Evil Cultists froze for a second.
Bang!
Thei was the first to open fire, shooting through the chests of two Evil Cultists. The accompanying maid screamed, and the piercing scream ignited the firefight between the two sides.
The Guards and Evil Cultists opened fire simultaneously. The two Guards at the front and five or six armed Evil Cultists below fell to the ground at the same time. The Guards' white gloves were stained red with blood.
"Fall back!" Thei gave the order, firing two shots towards the stairs.
She took a grenade from the waist of the nearest Guard, pulled the pin, and threw it downstairs.
Using the retreat time provided by the explosion, the survivors immediately fell back.
"Push the marble coffee table down as a breastwork!" Thei ordered. She displayed a tactical mindset that defied her gender and age.
The Guards and maids immediately complied, overturning the luxurious marble round tables in the boxes onto the ground, facing the Evil Cultists. Relying on the cover, they returned fire, shooting down a large group of rioters rushing up.
The two young girls also took this opportunity to return to their viewing area.
The mutant saw the explosion and walked upstairs.
It raised its lumbering gun, and huge 12.7mm steel-cored bullets shattered the marble and the Guards hidden behind it.
Blood splattered on the maids' skirts. They were at a loss, looking at the attacker in horror.
But the Khorne Cultists didn't care if they were male or female; they only wanted to sacrifice blood to their tyrannical and evil Blood God.
The goat-headed man pulled the trigger of the lumbering gun. The maids fell to the ground, and blood flowed beneath Thei's white shoes. Her beautiful face turned grim.
Yin Shuyao picked up a Guard's Lucius Lasgun from the ground and adjusted it to high-energy mode.
"Very skilled," Thei chuckled.
"This is a skill people in the underbelly of the world must learn," Yin Shuyao said.
"You're not, perhaps, a 'Citizen Army' militant, are you? I heard there are many students in there who are dissatisfied with the planetary capitalist oligarchic government," Thei smiled, reaching into her bag.
Yin Shuyao's pupils dilated. She quickly shook her head and argued, "Of course not, Miss Peru, you misunderstood!"
"Of course, I don't care about these things. Since I chose you to serve me by my side, then show me all your abilities," the girl smiled.
What she took out of her bag was a Laser Gun booby trap, which she installed at the bottom edge of one side of the curtain. Then she returned behind the coffee table.
Heavy, terrifying footsteps grew closer. The sound of the ammunition belt scraping against the iron armor was clearly audible.
Thei reloaded the cylinder of her defense pistol, snapped it back into place, and thumbed the hammer.
"Come, let us meet our destiny. We shall be the leading actors on this stage."
—
3 minutes ago, outside the theater.
The Imperial Navy's Valkyrie Fighters and the Adeptus Arbites's leman russ tanks surrounded the opera house, together crushing the enemies defending the outside of the opera house with fierce firepower.
The Adeptus Arbites's black leman russ tanks crushed the luxurious marble wall. Two Imperial Navy tracked armored vehicles followed behind.
These specially modified experimental armored vehicles resembled AAV-7 amphibious armored vehicles from the 3K era, but were taller and longer.
Their front could deploy sturdy, thick armored ramps, with thermal melt charges for wall-breaching on the outside. One vehicle was filled with Imperial Navy Hellspawns, the other with Adeptus Arbites special police.
Above, two Valkyrie Fighters hovered over the opera house. Their rear hatches opened, and Hellspawns threw down rappelling ropes from inside.
The operation was conducted by two teams, A and B. Team A would breach the wall and assault the waiting hall, then storm into the theater. Team B would directly detonate the theater's ceiling, rappelling down to the very back of the stands, creating a pincer attack.
The red indicator lights in the vehicle's compartment cast a glow on the Hellspawns' MK1 experimental power armor, creating a powerful sense of oppression.
"+Assault operation, commence!+" Horatio commanded. He stood at the very front, wearing a Void Blue Beret on his head, symbolizing his rank as Sergeant Major. On his back was a Holy Blood Chainsword, resembling a greatsword.
Lati had specially installed a magnetic sword holder on his 'Glory-type' back armor, so he could put this Holy Blood Chainsword, specifically forged for Space Marines, to good use.
The armored vehicle's engine roared like a furious bull, charging directly towards the opera house's outer wall.
All members stood, their shoulder pads held down by stabilizing robotic arms on the vehicle's roof, their boots magnetically adhering to the steel floor.
"+Prepare for impact!+"
Blood flowed like a river in the theater hall. The rioters mercilessly and brutally executed the survivors lying on the ground.
"Why is it quiet outside?"
"Those cowardly False Emperor believers have given up. We will soon kill everyone in here and usher in the true path of ascension!"
"We are warriors!!!"
A berserker holding a blasphemous Chainsword had just roared when the high wall behind him instantly collapsed. Huge stones fell from the sky, crushing him into a puddle of bloody pulp.
The assault vehicle's armored ramp quickly lowered from the front.
Hum—
The Hellspawns' combat boot rollers began to spin, and the motors engaged.
Horatio, leading by example, charged out of the wall-breaching assault vehicle. Louise and Farida followed closely behind.
Louise only knew that the girl beside her was Rear Admiral Hood's daughter, and that she was the one who discovered Horatio's true identity; beyond that, she knew little.
"+Attention, 4 people at high altitude 3 o'clock, 2 people 6 meters above 12 o'clock+" Horatio marked the positions.
Farida quickly turned, pulled the trigger four times, and four shattered corpses fell from the upper platform.
Then, using her rollers, she gracefully glided forward like a skater, eliminating the enemies on the upper front who were preparing to ambush from a vantage point.
"+Threat cleared+" Farida answered with elegance and composure.
Louise could tell that this blonde girl was very excited and active in combat, and her marksmanship was excellent. Enemies who emerged from vantage points all around were shot down as soon as they showed their heads.
She also possessed a better augur array, constantly informing Horatio of enemy movements, allowing Horatio to make more precise tactical arrangements.
Moreover, she noticed that this girl seemed to be competing with her for Horatio's adjutant position; whatever she did, Farida would always try to do it better.
However, Louise's thoughts were simpler. Having grown up in a Cadia military camp, she did not understand the subtle machinations and rivalries of these noble girls.
With the Hellspawns' swift assault, the Evil Cultists were caught off guard and fell one after another.
The Hellspawns' speed was much faster than that of the Adeptus Arbites special police. By the time the special police had all exited their vehicles and fired their first shots, the battle in the hall had already been concluded by the Hellspawns.
"+God Emperor, this blasphemous atrocity+" Louise looked at the corpses strewn across the floor.
After the rioters stormed the theater, people were violently herded to the walls and executed with concentrated machine gun fire.
Their deaths were gruesome. At a glance, there were at least a hundred victims. Their heads were individually severed and piled on the exquisite marble steps, which were covered with a red carpet. Blood flowed down the steps like a waterfall, step by step, truly a river of blood.
"+May the God Emperor redeem their souls+" Seeing so many innocent deaths, Farida, who had served as a Adeptus Arbites vigilante, felt a pang of sadness and her nose burned.
The deployment of the Hellspawns and the Adeptus Arbites was already quite swift, but these Khorne believers reveled in slaughter, making it completely different from typical hostage situations.
This was a truly indiscriminate terrorist attack.
"Search the surroundings," the special police said.
Suddenly, Farida turned her head and shouted, "Watch out upstairs."
"Die, False Emperor's dogs!"
A burly man suddenly leaped from the second floor. The Hellspawns' and special police's ammunition struck him, but the Adeptus Arbites special police, who were caught off guard by his charge, saw his equipment in the instant he fell—a row of thermal melt bombs.
Bang!