The Emperor’s Angel of Death

As Hayes shakily tried to stand again, the pain from his injuries forced him back to his knees. His ears were still ringing from the recent explosion, and he didn't know what the situation was around him. He might be the only one left.

Hayes raised his head, and through his blood-reddened, blurry vision, he saw a 'pile' of things – wreckage made of metal and flesh, along with only half of Pike's head. Instinctively, he crawled over.

Pike's sacrifice had detonated the Chaos Space Marine's jump pack behind him. Half of its body was almost completely blown away, and a dark black liquid could be seen constantly gushing from the wounds where shattered bones and metal intertwined. Hayes had originally wanted to roll the body over, but unexpectedly, the opponent suddenly reached out and grabbed his head, dragging him closer.

Even like this, this Chaos Space Marine wasn't dead!

Hayes struggled, seeing the massive head, almost half gone from the explosion. The only remaining eye, yellowish-brown, bloodshot, glared at him. Two lives, each with only one eye left, stared at each other, both filled with hatred.

It wanted to crush Hayes's head. In the past, it would have been as easy as crushing an ant, but now it felt as difficult as lifting a Leman Russ tank.

"You bastard! Die!"

Hayes suddenly drew his combat knife and forcefully stabbed it into the opponent's unprotected lower jaw. The massive eye immediately widened. It wanted to exert force, to crush this damned thing—

"Die! Die! Just die! Aaaah!"

Hayes frantically stabbed the combat knife into the opponent's head, again and again. Gradually, the hand gripping his head lost its strength, and the eye, filled with final despair and unwillingness, dimmed. It seemed that even in its true death, it refused to believe that its end would be like this.

This almost exhausted all of Hayes's strength. He lay on the enemy's foul-smelling corpse, panting, and then crawled towards Pike's remaining wreckage. He didn't care what he had just killed; he only cared about his comrade.

Not long ago, they were talking about what they would do after the war.

"Hey, Hayes, I picked up so many good things and military scrip, all hidden in my rucksack. When I go home, I'll exchange them for money to get Dad a mechanical prosthetic leg. He was bitten on the left leg by a rust rat when he was scavenging, and he had to have it amputated because he didn't have money to treat the infection, but he could carry hundreds of pounds of stuff every time he scavenged! He's the most amazing person I've ever met!"

"Hehehe, Hey, Hayes, the medics are all so amazing. Mom accidentally inhaled some toxic gas when she was scavenging, and her lungs are infected with a hard-to-treat disease. How much money do you think it'll take to get them to cure Mom?"

"My little brother always says I'm slow and stupid, but hey, Hayes, you see, I'm pretty smart to join the army this time, right? I've earned so much money!"

"My little brother couldn't straighten his back when he was born, and bad kids always bullied him, calling him a hunchback. I told them to throw rocks at me instead. They really only threw rocks at me after that. Hey, Hayes, look at my face, my skin, it worked, right? Hehe."

"Hey, Hayes, I'm not a mutant, am I? Mom and Dad both say I'm not, but other people sometimes say that. I feel like I'm pretty normal."

"Before I left, I only told my little brother about this. He cried and held me back, not letting me go, but Mom was almost unable to breathe. I touched my little brother's head and told him to take care of Mom and Dad, and that I would be back soon."

Pike talked most about his family. Whenever he saw the smile on the other's face, even though it wasn't pretty, Hayes was always envious.

Because at least someone was waiting for Pike to return.

What about him?

Maybe Anya was, but she also needed to work to make a living, so she probably didn't have much time to think about him.

The girl who called him husband had probably found a new life as well.

In a sense, he felt that Pike was more worthy of living than himself, at least his life could fill several people with joy.

He scraped his hand on the ground, trying to gather together the parts that belonged to Pike, but suddenly something stood in front of him—

Another Chaos Space Marine, a twisted face without a helmet, wore a cruel smile and raised a huge chainaxe.

"For the Emperor!!!!!"

In a high-pitched roar, a figure descended from the sky, huge fists clenched together and slammed down heavily, directly smashing the Chaos Space Marine's head into its chest cavity.

Hayes was stunned. It was a warrior wearing armor that was unfamiliar to him. He had killed a terrifying enemy with a single blow. After glancing at Hayes, he raised his right arm high.

"Kill! Push them back!!!"

It wasn't until he heard the other person's voice that Hayes realized that the person wearing the strange armor was actually their company commander!

Then, Arnie's leveled arms began to rumble, firing bolter rounds one after another. At the same time, earth-shattering shouts of killing also rang out. Elite warriors holding plasma rifles and hellguns rushed forward, along with crusaders wielding longswords and shields, shouting holy words. Hayes even heard the roar of the Chimera engine.

And the previously retreating troops also joined the counter-charge, including Hayes's company.

"Hayes! Hayes!"

Hashette saw Hayes sitting in the pool of blood and ran over with a terrified expression.

"Are you okay! Your left eye! Hayes! I'll take you for treatment now!"

But unexpectedly, Hayes pushed him away, stood up again, picked up Pike's dropped gun, and turned around to join the counter-charge.

At this time, the battle entered a fever pitch, and the close combat was extremely tragic. The battlefield was covered in crimson blood, and even the artillery and support firepower on both sides did not stop firing in this situation. Shells rained down on the battlefield, and hundreds of smoke clouds rose up, lingering for a long time.

The entire regiment's strength was almost entirely invested in this counterattack. Even the signalmen and cooks joined the battle. Arnie, protected by the crusaders, charged ahead in his Huntsman armor. Although facing those terrifying Chaos Space Marines head-on was a huge challenge to his courage, fortunately, under the effect of the large amount of combat stimulants injected into the Huntsman armor, fear was suppressed by hot blood.

Soldiers on both sides fired at each other and threw grenades in the firelight. The fierce battle never stopped for a moment. Even the Chaos Space Marines found themselves deeply trapped in the vortex of battle. They had already experienced a very brutal siege before, but those mortal troops, who they imagined should be very fragile, repeatedly refreshed their understanding. The narrow underground world also prevented them from exerting their strength, and they could only forcibly withstand the fierce Imperial firepower. The psychological defenses of many people had already reached their limit.

What supported them to fight to this point was no longer the pursuit of victory. Except for a few lunatics, the vast majority of Chaos Space Marines were thinking about escaping.

The Savage Crucible was definitely finished. The only way for them to escape this hellish battlefield was to seize the Imperial's escape pods, and the Flight Deck and Escape Zone of the Doom Moon were hidden in the rear. They had to break through these layers of defense to reach them.

But now these troops not only hadn't been defeated, but also launched a counterattack. The will of some Chaos Space Marines soon wavered.

Time was tight. Rather than fighting to the death here, it would be better to change course.

Under this thought, some Red Corsairs began to retreat.