Outside the eastern main hall, the battle had reached a fever pitch.
Sejanus leaned against a pillar just inside the entrance, already on his fourth bolter magazine.
His white power armor was covered in blood.
Some of it was his.
Most of it belonged to his enemies.
The wound on his left arm still throbbed painfully, but he had no time to worry about that now.
Outside the hall, gold-armored soldiers continued their relentless assaults.
One wave fell.
Another immediately took its place.
They charged over the bodies of their comrades, utterly fearless and seemingly endless.
But the invisible warriors remained the deadliest threat.
They appeared silently from unexpected angles, their energy rifles always aimed at the most vulnerable targets.
If it weren't for Easton...
Sejanus glanced toward Lone Wolf, who was crouching behind another pillar.
The young warrior was staring intently into the empty space beyond the entrance through his strange tactical goggles.
"LEFT SIDE! THREE O'CLOCK! THREE INVISIBLES!"
His warning rang through the hall.
Three Luna Wolves immediately raised their bolters, firing precise shots toward the indicated positions.
Three invisible warriors materialized out of thin air, blood pouring from the holes blasted through their chests.
Another three.
Lone Wolf silently updated his count.
Three hundred seventy-nine. Three hundred eighty. Three hundred eighty-one.
We've killed THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-ONE of these bastards already! How are there still more?!
Are they mass-producing invisible soldiers in some kind of factory?!
He kept the complaint to himself.
There was no point saying it out loud.
The soldiers outside were still charging.
And as long as they kept charging, the Luna Wolves would have to keep killing them.
"SIXTH SQUAD! CIRCLE AROUND THE RIGHT FLANK!"
An officer's furious shouting echoed from outside, his voice bordering on hysteria.
"THEY HAVE TO BE RUNNING LOW ON AMMUNITION! WEAR THEM DOWN!"
"WHOEVER KILLS THEIR LEADER WILL RECEIVE HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR'S PERSONAL BLESSING!"
A cold smile appeared on Sejanus's face.
Running low on ammunition?
He glanced toward Lone Wolf, who was crouching in the corner.
The kid was pulling yet another magazine of bolt rounds out of his clothing and handing it to a nearby Luna Wolf.
The warrior accepted the magazine and silently began reloading.
How many times had they done this already?
Sejanus had completely lost count.
All he knew was that ever since they'd been trapped inside this side hall, Easton had been acting like a walking armory, continuously supplying them with ammunition.
Bolt rounds.
Grenades.
Even power cells for meltaguns.
Just how much equipment was that kid hiding on himself?
Sejanus had no idea.
But he knew one thing for certain.
Without Easton, they would never have survived this long.
Outside, the assault continued.
Gold-armored soldiers charged forward in endless waves, stepping over the bodies of their fallen comrades.
Their eyes held nothing but madness.
The fanatic devotion of men who had been thoroughly brainwashed.
"FOR THE EMPEROR!"
"FOR TERRA!"
"KILL THE HERETICS!"
Sejanus raised his bolter and blew apart another two soldiers leading the charge.
He glanced at the mountain of corpses piled outside the entrance, then at the soldiers still rushing toward him.
For a moment, he felt something unexpected.
Sorrow.
These people were human too.
They had once had their own lives.
Their own families.
Their own dreams.
And now they were nothing more than pawns in the false Emperor's hands.
Disposable bodies used to exhaust his enemies' ammunition.
"ENOUGH!"
The enemy officer's furious voice rang out again.
"CHARGE! ALL OF YOU, GET INSIDE!"
"THEY CAN'T HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER!"
Sejanus tightened his grip on his bolter, preparing for the next wave.
But just then...
A series of violent whooshing sounds suddenly caught Lone Wolf's attention.
He looked outside.
And immediately screamed.
His voice was sharp and urgent, filled with genuine terror.
"BROTHER SEJANUS!!!"
"SOMEONE OUT THERE HAS ROCKET LAUNCHERS!!!"
Sejanus's pupils contracted.
His gaze instinctively swept toward the area outside the hall.
And then he saw them.
Beyond the gold-armored soldiers, farther out across the open ground surrounding the side hall...
Countless flashes of fire were appearing.
Rocket exhaust trails.
Dozens upon dozens of them.
At least a hundred.
A low growl escaped Sejanus's throat.
"EVERYONE..."
His voice thundered through the hall with an urgency none of the others had ever heard before.
"TO THE BACK OF THE HALL! NOW!!"
He lunged toward Lone Wolf, grabbed the young warrior by the shoulder, and pulled him against his chest.
Then he turned and sprinted toward the deepest part of the building.
The ten elite Luna Wolves Honor Guards reacted almost instantly.
Before Sejanus had even finished speaking, they were already moving.
Ten white-armored figures shot toward the back of the hall like streaks of lightning.
And the instant they reached the inner chambers...
The first rocket struck.
Then the second.
The third.
The hundredth.
BOOOOOOM!!!
Explosions swallowed the entire side hall.
Shockwaves carrying metal fragments and chunks of concrete blasted outward in every direction.
The gold-armored soldiers who had still been charging outside might as well have been made of paper.
The explosions tore them apart.
Rockets sent their bodies flying.
Collapsing sections of the building buried them beneath tons of debris.
Their screams were almost completely drowned out by the thunder of the blasts.
The officer who had been directing the assault stood frozen in place, his pupils dilated and his face twisted in disbelief.
Where the hell did those rockets come from?
That was his final thought.
A second later, three rockets detonated around him simultaneously.
His body was torn into pieces, mingling with the remains of the soldiers he'd been commanding.
There was no longer any way to tell them apart.
The bombardment continued for thirty whole seconds.
By the time the last explosion faded, the entire hall had been transformed beyond recognition.
Its outer walls had completely collapsed.
Only a few crooked pillars remained standing, barely supporting what was left of the structure.
Most of the domed ceiling had caved in, exposing the burning sky above.
Rubble covered the floor.
Fires burned everywhere.
And deep within the wreckage of the side hall, twelve figures lay scattered among the debris.
Sejanus was the first to crawl out.
Fresh scratches and cracks covered his white power armor.
At some point, his helmet had been knocked off, leaving a bleeding wound across his forehead.
But he had no time to worry about that.
He immediately looked down at the person he'd been protecting against his chest.
Lone Wolf was staring up at him.
The young man's face was filled with the unmistakable relief of someone who had narrowly escaped death.
"Brother Sejanus..."
His voice was hoarse.
"You..."
Sejanus said nothing.
He simply reached down and roughly ruffled Lone Wolf's hair.
It was a rather forceful gesture.
Yet there was something indescribably warm about it.
"You're alive."
His voice was rough.
"That's what matters."
He released Lone Wolf and struggled to his feet.
His gaze swept across the shattered remains of the hall.
The ten elite Luna Wolves Honor Guards were gradually getting back up.
Some had been thrown against walls and were still recovering from the impacts.
Others had been buried beneath debris and were struggling to dig themselves free.
But they were alive.
Every single one of them.
The corners of Sejanus's mouth lifted slightly.
Then he turned toward the ruined entrance.
Through the flames and drifting smoke, he spotted a hundred figures wearing white lightweight power armor, rapidly approaching the destroyed hall.
They carried bolters in their hands.
And their faces were twisted into manic grins.
Sejanus narrowed his eyes.
"Interesting."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
But the cold killing intent behind it was unmistakable.
"Finally, something different."
--
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