The Emperor’s Angel of Death

In fact, Bamon's initial idea was to break the team into smaller units, disperse them throughout the city, and conduct harassment operations. If the battle for Jiao Furnace City went smoothly, they would regroup and launch a large-scale offensive. If the battle went poorly, they could temporarily leave the city, scatter, and lie low, waiting for the situation to calm down before restoring their original size.

However, those two wastes in Jiao Furnace City insisted that he "cooperate in the battle," "distract the enemy's attention," and "attack on two fronts." The two idiots didn't understand anything but wanted to direct the war. The patriarch also supported them, so Bamon had no choice but to bite the bullet and occupy an area, which was equivalent to locking himself in a cage. Now, breaking out and dispersing was no longer realistic. The only thing he could do was wait for reinforcements to arrive.

It was tantamount to entrusting his fate to others, which was truly frustrating.

Just then, distant rumbles came from the various corridors of the hall, and the mixed-blood acolytes hidden in the shadows growled, a sign of their eagerness for battle.

Bamon blinked and stood up from the throne. He had already discerned the source and significance of these sounds.

"They're here too... Well, they always launch a full-scale attack, trying to push us to the limit with their numerical superiority. This is probably the only tactic those 'calculating' minds of the sages can come up with."

Then, he sent a telepathic communication to the leaders stationed at the Crimson Fortress.

"Everyone, hold your positions. Report any unusual situations immediately."

"My Lord, there is indeed a special situation."

More than a dozen voices came at once. Bamon's hand, gripping the scepter, twitched. 'Unexpected' was the last word he wanted to hear right now.

"What is it?"

"It doesn't seem to be the Mechanical Slave Lords'... servants coming."

"Hmm? I'll go take a look."

With a worried heart, Bamon left his command post. Accompanying him were the acolytes and two guardians wearing hooded cloaks, carrying twin swords and holding scepters.

As he walked down the corridors of the temple, the followers hurrying back and forth with weapons and ammunition boxes knelt on the ground, prostrating themselves before him. The banner-bearing acolyte followed him closely, holding the sacred battle flag of the order.

The Crimson Temple was once a sacred place of the Omnissiah, attracting believers from the entire forge world for regular pilgrimages. Now, it had become a nest and fortress for aliens.

Even so, it was still a sacred place, although the walls engraved with complex mathematical formulas were scribbled with blasphemous symbols, and the gears representing the Machine God had been transformed into shrines for multi-limbed aliens.

When he arrived at the main sacrificial hall on the middle level of the Crimson Church, Bamon gave a leading nod to the troops setting up obstacles and spikes. Then, he turned from the main door to a small door, from which a narrow stone staircase led to the gallery. The Neophyte Guards knelt and saluted as he made his way to a good vantage point.

Soon, he arrived inside the semi-circular gallery encased in alloy. A brass telescope stood on a stand.

The bishop focused his eyes on the eyepiece, gently adjusting the knob, moving the telescope very gently, focusing his attention on the distance, beyond the firing line.

Then, he saw it, a flag, a silver-gray flag, with a burning black sun on it.

Under the flag were massive tanks and armored vehicles. In the distance, he could see rising smoke and the trails of rockets...

Boom boom boom—

In this position, the roar of the explosions was deafening. Although most of it was offset by the void shield, the shells and rockets that hit the ground around the temple still caused the gallery to shake slightly.

"What kind of unit is this?"

Bamon was deaf to the explosions. He only cared about the enemy soldiers.

Soon he saw them, first humans wearing silver light armor, wielding lasguns, pouring in from all directions, then humans wearing red and black full-body enclosed segmented armor, wearing pointed helmets, their faces covered by emotionless silver masks, holding a square shield and a uniquely shaped short spear.

The most important point was that they were all obviously normal humans, not cyborgs.

Bamon took a breath. He knew that what he feared most had happened—the Mechanical Slave Lords had called in reinforcements.

"Damn it! I said it! Even if the threat underground is terrifying, we can move, we can abandon it temporarily, but we can't start an uprising prematurely!"

He slammed his scepter hard on the ground, Bamon growled a few words of dissatisfaction, but ultimately shifted his attention to the present.

"The enemy has many tanks, it seems they are going to attack head-on. Leaders, have the warriors prepare as many anti-tank rockets or incendiary bombs as possible! Also, prepare the large-caliber artillery and plasma weapons, but let them get close before firing! Ensure the destruction rate!"

Normally, at this distance, he could have ordered heavy weapons to carry out a deterrent attack, but he felt it was pointless. The other side clearly would not be intimidated, and firing at this distance would not cause effective damage.

Letting them get close was their most effective tactic against the Adeptus Custodes.

"Bishop! The sky!"

A leader's urgent voice suddenly echoed in his mind. Bamon blinked, then used his psychic powers to soothe the other party's anxious emotions.

"Calm down, the enemy has attacked from above more than once, there is nothing to be afraid of. Hold your position and ensure that all weapons can be used on those clumsy ornithopters of the enemy."

"No! Bishop! Not ornithopters!"

The next moment, a clearly audible series of explosions came from above Bamon, causing him to fall into a brief stupor.

"What?"

"The enemy's anti-air fire has been destroyed!"

"The hidden explosives have been cleared!"

Three Stormtalon squadrons hovered above the Crimson Temple, their hulls still bearing some traces of las-burn. The top floor of the temple below them was a mess, scarred by explosions, with shattered lascannon wreckage, and some charred corpses.

Soon, with a whistling sound, four Stormbirds swooped down, quickly hovering over the drop zone cleared on the Crimson Temple.

With a loud bang, Sojiyan, wearing specially-made Terminator armor, holding Heaven's Wrath, jumped out of the Stormbird first. Then, one by one, the Dhe'gari Terminators followed him, the ground cracking under their feet, as if struck by a meteorite.

After the entire company of Terminators had landed, there were 20 Terminators and 80 warriors from the Second Company. In addition to weapons, a significant number of them were equipped with boarding shields.

As soon as the Second Company landed, they acted, quickly rushing to the entrance of the spiral staircase on the top floor, and using melta to blast open the sealed door.

Da da da—

The next moment, dense bullets shot out from inside the door. It turned out that the Genestealers had deployed automatic turrets behind it.

But those bullets only weakly struck the boarding shields, and were then destroyed one by one by plasma.