40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 315 35. Blood of Calth (7, 4k)

004.M31, Calth Ground, Leptis Numinas.

"Nice to see you again, Captain Van Cleef," said Marius Gage. "We are in a palace, and you brought gifts. It's a pity that I can't entertain you with wine."

He reached out and took the head from Van Cleef's hand, and looked at it carefully.

He seemed to be laughing, and blood dripped down his gauntlet. The dead head of Hall Belos had a piece of skin peeled off on his forehead with a knife, and the mark of the Night Blade was carved on the flesh.

Marius Gage finally laughed.

"My skills are a little rusty." Van Cleef told him as he took off his helmet. "There was no need to skin him, but he struggled a bit hard at the time. I didn't control the strength well, and the blade penetrated the flesh."

"Can I learn?"

"Better say goodbye, Gage." Van Cleef smiled and shook his head. "I didn't carve that mark to torture him."

Marius Gage nodded to him, indicating that he understood and asked no other questions. He turned around and led Van Cleef toward the ground.

The Word Bearers' attack ceased, and the warriors in the palace finally began to breathe. Everyone was covered in bruises, and some of the Ultramarines' armor paint had even been worn away. Bullet marks, sword marks, broken arms or scarred faces, there was blood everywhere.

They gathered together, the Ultramarines and the Midnight Blades standing side by side, the Imperial troops and the Skitarii checking each other out. Gage didn't have many medical staff under his command. They even had only one pharmacist. Fortunately, Van Cleef brought three teams over.

There were three thousand people in total, some were lost, but there were still 2,123 left. The thick fog helped them a lot.

The Night Blades' medical officers and pharmacists began to waste time treating the injured - in fact, treating everyone. No one was uninjured, and everyone was bleeding.

Van Cleef and Marius Gage walked into the palace underground. They remained silent. No one chose to speak first until Gage took Van Cleef to a meditator array.

"Why are you here?" Gage asked while standing next to the array of meditators.

"The primarch's destiny." Van Cleef explained briefly. "Let's talk about something else. We have a total of four large companies with a total of ten thousand people. Thirty-five thousand of them are on the ground and the other five thousand are staying in orbit. We have a battleship and an entire fleet. Although the escort fleet cannot help in the void battle, it is better than nothing."

"Precious." Gage said solemnly. "It's my turn now. I have activated the backup communication network equipment underground in Leptis Numinas, broadcasting globally. If anyone receives it, we will get a reaction. Based on this, we can rebuild the surface of Calth network, and contact surviving surface forces.”

He said this slowly, finally showing a little tiredness.

VanCleef couldn't help but notice that the Chapter Master's left eye was completely scarlet and the bridge of his nose was broken. Presumably there were more injuries hidden under his armor.

"Why not try to establish contact with the Macragge's Glory first?" he asked. "If Robert Guilliman's voice can appear on your global broadcasts, it will definitely be of great help to the current situation."

"Electromagnetic signal disorder." Gage explained simply. "I have a solution, but that requires us to advance to the nearest watchtower, otherwise it will be impossible to break through this damn electromagnetic signal storm. In my opinion, we'd better do it step by step."

Van Cleef nodded to him and began to tell him the information he had.

"We first landed in the city of Plo, where the communications center had been recaptured, where we made contact with Fourth Captain Nered Ventanus, who was near the Astartes Assembly Point in Rudd Province. I have sent two teams to help, and we may have two nodes now."

Gage turned around and smiled at a man with a broken arm: "You heard me, Director Terrence, it's time for you to help again."

"Understood, my lord," Terrence said. "But I do wish we had a technician or servoman to fill in for me now."

He walked to the control port of the Thinker Array and began to control it using the most primitive manual input method.

Although he complained, there was nothing wrong with his complaint.

If any member of the Adeptus Mechanicus were here, they could do this job ten times faster. However, Terrence is not slow either, and he also knows that this is not his own fault.

Twelve minutes later, while Gage was having himself examined by a Nightblade medical officer, Terrence informed him and VanCleef. That's a pretty uplifting statement, no matter who it is.

"The communication link has been established!" the security director shouted standing behind the control port. "Accessing! The identity code has been verified and is being decrypted. The decryption is successful and it is confirmed that it is the fourth company commander Nared Ventanus!"

Gage immediately stood up and came to the front of the meditator array. A few seconds later, accompanied by a hoarse and hissing sound of electricity, Ventanus's voice sounded from the external communication component of the Thinker Array.

"This is Nared Ventanus. Chapter Master, can you hear me?"

Gage raised his hands. He looked like he was about to make some action. His hands moved in the air for a while, and finally fell down and rested against his sides.

"It's good to hear your voice, Ventanus," Gage said.

——

004.M31, Cous ground, communication center of the eastern urban area of ​​​​Rude department.

"Me too, Chapter Master," said Nared Ventanus. "I thought."

"What do you think?"

"Nothing, Chapter Master. I want to report the situation. The troops we deployed in Rude Province suffered heavy casualties. As soon as the war began, the Word Bearers attacked the main army assembly points. They seemed to have some way to reach the ground quickly. And, some of them—"

Ventanus stopped speaking, turned to look at Shen standing next to him, and took the initiative to hand over the microphone.

"-Hello, Captain Marius, this is the captain of the first detachment of the fourth company of Night Blade, Shen. I am speaking on behalf of the fourth company commander of Ventanus, and he cannot accurately express the next information. "

"Some of the Word Bearers have accepted the infusion of evil power from the warp. They are no longer Astartes, but some entity beyond rational cognition."

Ventanus looked at him seriously and nodded. Shen paused for a moment before continuing.

"I repeat using existing terms, they are possessed by daemons. They are more vulnerable to blades and promethium fire than conventional weapons such as bolters or plasma. Additionally, the Word Bearers have Titans, They have deployed them to the ground. The exact number cannot be confirmed yet, but I saw at least six more War Dogs.”

"Understood. Thank you for the information, Captain Shen." Marius Gage said. "By the way, you sound so much like an Ultramarine that I almost thought it was Ventanus talking to me."

"A lot of people say that."

"I never said that." Van Cleef's hoarse voice sounded from the other end, and Shen's expression became slightly surprised.

He and Ventanus looked at each other, and after asking for completely unnecessary permission, he picked up the phone and asked again: "Is it the first company commander?"

"Yes, it's me," Van Cleef said. His voice was hoarse due to distance and signal interference, far deeper than when he spoke normally.

"We have rendezvoused with Chapter Master Marius, and our next goal is to head to the watchtower on the plains outside Leptis Numinas to reestablish communications between the ground and orbit."

"Understood." Shen said. "I will fight alongside Captain Ventanus, and we will attempt to clear the city of Rude of all Word Bearers."

"Copy that, how many troops do you have?" Marius Gage asked.

"A total of two thousand seven hundred and eight people." Ventanus replied calmly. "Captain Shen helped us. I have gathered so many combat forces in the eastern city. Among them, there are 923 Ultramarines, 572 Skitarii, and two Imperial Army companies, totaling 1,000 Two hundred and thirteen.”

"If you include us, there are 3,557 people." Shen added.

"Got it," Gage said. "good luck."

The communication was hung up, and Ventanus began to issue orders to his technical sergeants. Shen waited for him patiently for a while, and then they walked out of the communication center side by side.

There were corpses lying outside, civilians, cultists, legions, Skitarii, Ultramarines, Word Bearers, and Midnight Blades.

Some soldiers began to collect the bodies and burn the corpses of the traitors. The pharmacist began to recycle seeds and search for weapons that could still be used. The sky was broken, and there was moonlight faintly shining on the thick clouds. Only then did Ventanus realize that seven hours had passed since the war started.

He put on a found helmet and took a deep breath in it. Shen saw a pair of bloodshot eyes through half of the broken eyepiece. He didn't speak, just looked into the distance quietly. A few minutes later, a messenger ran toward them, breaking the silence.

"Sirings." He saluted, his face contorted with anger, and the Imperial Army logo on the right chest of his uniform was already scorched black. "Sergeant Theraton asked me to report to you that he captured a Word Bearer in front of the main union building, and the latter announced his surrender."

"Surrender?" Ventanus asked from inside the helmet, his voice hoarse and not helped by the breathing grille. A few minutes later, they arrived at the main union building.

Sergeant Ziuz Theraton of the Fourth Company of the Ultramarines stood in the ruins, with a huge fire burning behind him, filled with the corpses of the Word Bearers and traitors.

Five Ultramarines stood around him, holding bolters. A Word Bearer knelt before him, his hands bound and helmless, his face as scarlet as the armor itself.

Ventanus walked over, kicked him to the ground, and then drew his Masterwork Power Sword.

"Company Commander!" His sergeant grabbed him quickly. "He surrendered voluntarily!"

"So?!" Ventanus growled. "I swore to kill every Word Bearer I saw!"

The Word Bearer fell to the ground and began to chuckle: "Then you can start now, come on."

Ventanus held the sword, looked at him for a moment, and then put the sword back.

The traitor always looked up at him with longing in his eyes. Ventanus didn't miss this detail. He dug deeper and finally noticed one thing - the Word Bearer longed for death.

Why?

The fourth company commander kept his anger and began to ask coldly in a low tone: "What's your name?"

"Morpal Kesir," the traitor replied gracefully. "By the way, I was the one who directed the attack on Roude."

Ventanus swung his right fist, punched him in the face once, and then continued to ask: "What is your purpose?"

"Shouldn't you be kind to your captives, Ultramarine?" Morpal spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with his teeth and grinned. "This does not seem to be in line with the humanitarian spirit of your Ultramarines idealists."

"There is no need for me to discuss human rights with something that is not human. You are no longer human, Word Bearers. I have seen what you hide in your body, and I have seen your true appearance." Ventanus waved his hand again. Right punch. "You're not a human, you're just a beast."

The Word Bearer laughed, and he fell back, lying on the ruins, and spit out a second mouthful of blood to Shen who approached him from behind: "Hello, Midnight Blade."

Shen looked at him expressionlessly.

"Honestly, I'm very surprised at your arrival," the Word Bearers said with a smile. "If it weren't for you, the province of Rud would have been completely destroyed by my forces by now. We would sacrifice everyone alive and make their deaths as painful as possible."

He winked at Shen meaningfully.

"This will be of great benefit to what we are about to do. However, the current situation is not unacceptable to us. Do you know that my original body, Luojia, has left? Together with the large army."

He pronounced the word peloton very seriously.

"You have launched an attack on the entire territory of Calth. Even if you use despicable means to seize the opportunity, you will need at least 100,000 people to achieve this goal." Shen finally spoke, his voice extremely cold. "How many people do you have in total to support your claim of a large army? That's a bluff."

The Word Bearer shook his head meaningfully: "You - ha"

He straightened up, and Ventanus, irritated by his taunt, laid his hand on his sword again.

Molpal Keshil lowered his head, took a deep breath, lowered his head and began to smile.

"I don't have much time, so I'll keep it short."

His face began to change, black blood flowed from his seven orifices, he vomited blood, and his voice began to sound like a grunt.

"Our power is beyond your imagination, Nightblade. Do you know where our large forces have gone? And you, Ultramarines, do you know what is happening in orbit right now?"

Ventanus remained silent and slowly drew out his sword. At the same time, the Word Bearer's body began to deform.

His armor bulged like human skin, and something surged and roared beneath it. Ventanus drew his sword, but Shen was faster than him and stabbed the Word Bearer through the skull with a combat dagger, but that still did not stop what was about to happen.

No one could stop it because it happened so early. It comes from the beginning of time, from the darkness that no one can see.

Morpal Keshil began to laugh, a laugh so high-pitched that it didn't sound like himself, it almost sounded like something else. The Ultramarines began firing, and Ventanus killed him with a single blow of his sword.

During the bloody execution, something slowly rose from the Word Bearer's corpse and grew rapidly. Dark clouds covered the sky, the moonlight faded, and a creature began to smile evilly at them.

"Samus." It chuckled. "Samus is here."

update completed.