The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Facing the overwhelming praise and cheers, Huron simply walked past with a confident smile, not even allowing the guards to set up a security line, seemingly unafraid of any assassins.

Another objective of his personally traversing the fortress was to stabilize morale, as the combat group on Angstrom's side had become quite demoralized due to the prolonged and unsuccessful offensive, and desperately needed him to personally boost their spirits.

Even the lowest-ranking cannon fodder would be more useful with some motivation.

Although this was a fortress, it also had basic commerce, and Huron even saw a slave market. Most of them were slaves, some plundered from other parts of the Imperium. Some were used for work, some for sacrifices, some as female slaves for Chaos leaders or certain extremely depraved Space Marines to vent their desires, and some would suffer even more tragic fates.

Passing the outer areas of the fortress, he entered a makeshift manufacturing zone, where a mobile steel factory spewed billowing smoke and steam through dozens of copper chimneys, layers of ash slowly falling on the unfortunate souls encamped along the noisy routes.

It was a black, mobile metal fortress, illuminated from within by the glow of furnaces, leaving huge imprints on the ground as it clanked forward.

A dozen twisted and grotesque heavy weapon servitors surrounded this mobile structure, guarding its slow progress.

This was the property of some Tech-Heretek, not a member of the Red Corsairs, but drawn to this place by the war to peddle the weapons it produced in exchange for the resources, slaves, and even souls it needed.

Huron certainly didn't know the name of this arms dealer, nor where they came from, but he never interfered with such individuals, as they were likely subordinates or even apprentices of some Dark Mechanicus Magos, people Huron least wanted to offend.

Provoking them would bring no benefit, only trouble.

However, they had obviously noticed him. A Mechanicus figure in black robes emerged from the mobile factory, their face covered by a swirling metal mask, then gave Huron a slight bow of respect.

Huron also nodded politely.

Neither of them spoke, because Huron knew that if they needed something from him, or wanted to trade with him, they would come to him themselves.

Then Huron walked forward through the hot, sulfurous fumes and smoke, arriving at the gate of the fortress's core area.

Resounding horn blasts echoed, and the Red Corsair Space Marines before the gate scrambled to make way like slaves. The steel gate of the fortress core was made of thousands of twisted steel plates. As it slowly opened, torrents of searing flames erupted from above and on both sides of the gate.

Huron's personal guard stood in formation on the high, spiked walls flanking the gate, fiercely and silently scrutinizing those who tried to watch.

The Blackheart King walked into the shadow of the fortress tower, its vast scale enough to make the eyes of any sane human ache. The walls made of steel, rock, and bone seemed to breathe with fire-like life. The defenses on either side consisted of towering steel and stone pillars, inscribed with wild sculptures and ancient oaths of fealty, and huge turrets slowly rotated on the pillars.

Entering the gate, a more disciplined and solemn world appeared. Braziers blazed above the outposts, barracks, chapter houses, and armories, and vast banners of silk, cloth, and countless animal hides fluttered in the hellish sky.

Chaos Space Marines stood silently at their posts, weapons in hand, and occasionally squads of Red Corsair mortal soldiers marched past in orderly steps.

The core of the Cursed Citadel had eight circular defensive rings, each equipped with high-powered void shield generators and managed by Huron's most trusted subordinates. After all, this was the Red Corsairs' most important offensive stronghold on Angstrom, related to the entire Angstrom offensive, and no amount of caution was excessive.

After entering the fortress core, they first passed through a large foundry area, overseen by the Red Corsairs' Forge Masters and the Dark Mechanicus priests they employed. The walls of the foundry were adorned with sinister portraits made of strange, shimmering metal, and strings of dozens of chimneys, large and small, emitted various alchemical fumes. Some of the smoke was thick with ash and black soot, while others emitted shimmering, multi-colored mists – various warp-derived materials extracted from daemon forges.

Here, not only could they manufacture various profane weapons, but they could also produce a small number of daemon engines. But after all, it was temporary, and the overall output was not high. The Angstrom battle cluster still had to rely on rear transport and goods ordered from distant, corrupted forge worlds for its main equipment and supplies.

In fact, ever since Angstrom fell into the hands of Sotha, Huron had felt the increasing shortage of armaments. The fighting between the two sides had been going on for more than a year. Although the Red Corsairs used their troops everywhere and achieved some results, and the Imperial expedition had not made any progress, the consumption of supplies and armaments had emptied most of his warehouses.

Purchasing from those heretical forge worlds could alleviate the problem, but on the one hand, they also needed time, and on the other hand, those damned Tech-Heretics kept raising prices, clearly betting that Huron lacked self-manufacturing capabilities.

During the operation, Huron also sent out some raiding fleets to various parts of the Imperium to scavenge for war needs, but Sotha had deployed an encirclement strategy early on. The White Scars and a series of successor chapters, as well as a series of Dark Angels successor chapters active near the Maelstrom, including some of the Imperial Fists lineage, were all on alert for Red Corsair raiding fleets.

And in order to cope with the Imperial Expeditionary Force, Huron could not send out too powerful fleets, so those small raiding fleets did not achieve good results, only plundering some agricultural worlds. Hive worlds were of no help to this war, and population was not a very valuable commodity, not to mention the considerable cost. They couldn't move valuable worlds.

Obviously, under the enormous pressure of the expedition, the Red Corsairs were gradually losing their ability to regenerate.

Therefore, Huron was so eager to occupy Angstrom, not only to relieve the crisis of Badab, but also to ensure that this long-term operation could continue, otherwise, even if the Imperium still made no more progress, the Red Corsairs would suffocate under the enormous pressure, and even disintegrate in the end.

In fact, as far as Huron knew, more than a thousand Chaos Space Marines and warbands had defected from the Red Corsairs during the expedition. If the situation did not improve, this number would only increase!