The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"No!"

Kaisler watched as the maddened monster with three legs and two bladed arms killed Mays, his own brother.

The green-glowing blade easily cut through the shield bearing the battle group's insignia, as if the metal shield with a miniature field generator capable of stopping small-caliber weapons was just parchment, and the blade pierced the flesh behind the shield. The white twin swords on the shield turned scarlet the instant his chest was pierced.

Then the metal beast yanked back its weapon, emitting a chaotic howl filled with static noise, and Mays' blood splattered onto his comrades around him.

But the killing continued, as the blade slashed out again, plunging into another helmet.

It continued to wreak havoc, unstoppable. Since it emerged from the smoke of the explosion, Kaisler had seen it kill dozens. This thing was lethal to anyone.

Although they attacked it with inferno spears, burning a considerable portion of its body, it didn't slow down its attacks at all. It seemed to exist for nothing but more bloodshed—even seeing it could send chills down your spine, extinguishing the enthusiasm for battle.

But it was just one of them. On this battlefield west of the Cinder Furnace City, there were dozens of beasts like it.

This melee was the most brutal he had ever seen in his service.

Cold metal skeletons emerged from the massive pyramids rising from the cracks in the earth. The weapons in their hands fired again and again, unleashing showers of crimson blood. The Guard regiments forming the front line, along with the auxiliary forces of the Astral Knights Chapter, confronted the insane attacks of these metal aliens with their steely resilience.

Kaisler and his brother Mays had served in the Second Battalion of the Pushtiban First Regiment for ten years. Their father was a member of the Astral Knights auxiliary forces, and their grandfather was a company commander when the Chapter participated in the heroic Purge of Scourge. Kaisler had grown up listening to his grandfather's many shocking stories of that campaign.

From the time he could remember, he had always longed for glory in battle. Relying on his status as a "military family member," he and his brother entered the Chapter's most elite Pushtiban unit directly from the selection phase. This was an exciting honor, although their youngest brother also wanted to join the army, but the Chapter had a rule that the youngest child in a family was not allowed to enlist.

After that, they continued to train, train, and occasionally return home on leave to marry, have children, or participate in some insignificant live-fire exercises.

Truthfully, Kaisler and his comrades had wondered more than once why they couldn't go to the battlefield. Everyone had even looked forward to the Great Vortex Expedition, but they weren't sent even after it was over, to the point where some people mocked themselves as toys in expensive equipment, only meant for display.

Kaisler himself was worried that he might not actually get to the battlefield before he retired.

Did the Chapter Master not have confidence in them?

Such doubts weren't just his; others must have had them too, until they suddenly received orders to go on an expedition. Everyone finally became excited.

Initially, it was said that they were going to a forge world to suppress gene-stealers, which actually made Kaisler a bit disheartened, because they hardly counted as real enemies, but it was better than doing nothing.

During the attack on the Crimson Temple, their battalion was the first to rush in. Although they opportunistically chose a side door with little defense, they were still commended for it, and Kaisler shot and stabbed six aliens in the battle.

In any case, seeing blood was a good thing. A soldier who hadn't seen blood would feel ashamed to even talk about it.

The subsequent battles seemed to return to mediocrity, just catching sporadic aliens like catching mice in some ruins. Everyone originally thought that the battle would end like this.

Unexpectedly, an order came from above, transferring all Pushtiban units to Cinder Furnace City for defense, and a lot of information about the "Necrons," this unfamiliar alien race, was distributed to them. The officers also made it very clear that the main target of the next operation was this.

Everyone became vigilant. From the descriptions, this thing was not on the same level as gene-stealers, and the weapons were marked as extremely lethal.

And that was indeed the case.

When the violent earthquake occurred, everyone gathered under the command of the officers despite the intense shaking. Their area of responsibility was the east side of Cinder Furnace City. With them were several Guard regiments and a combat robot legion. At the same time, all Pushtiban tanks and heavy artillery were deployed as quickly as possible.

However, what appeared first wasn't the imagined metal aliens, but the distraught gene-stealers. They ran out of the smoke from the earthquake-formed giant sinkhole as if being chased by something, even if what greeted them was the humans' ruthless slaughter.

Without the need for the soldiers to take action, the tanks and artillery tore apart these aliens who defiled human genes with earth-shattering roars.

But this was just an appetizer. Soon they saw the real opponents.

From the deep sinkhole of Cinder Furnace City, glass-like black pyramids rose one after another. Their shells were of glittering obsidian, and their tops were golden, shrouded in smoke, and highly reflective. A large group of small creatures crawled on their surface with mechanical gaits. When they were activated, many alien runes flickered and thundered on their bodies.

Kaisler personally saw at least fifteen such pyramids.

At the same time, the sky began to scream. The obvious vibrations caused by the crescent-shaped alien fighters cutting through the air crossed the wide battlefield. As they screamed in irregular arcs over the heads of the human army, Kaisler had to clench his teeth to resist the debilitating torment and stinging.

Fortunately, they then left, attracted by the aircraft speeding across the sky, flying towards the mechanical city in the distance, where anti-aircraft weapons waiting in readiness awaited them.

When the soldiers' hearing recovered, an even stronger rumble came.

That was the sound of armored units and artillery bombarding those pyramids, including the Guard regiments' heavy weapons. All kinds of shells, rockets, beams, and plasma rained down on those slow-moving alien creations.

The next second was a grand fireworks display. The soaring flames were even hundreds of meters high. Kaisler even joked with his brother that nothing could survive under this kind of firepower.

But reality ruthlessly slapped him in the face. When the firepower in the distance weakened slightly, those giant pyramids, shimmering faintly, were still slowly moving forward, with almost no visible damage. It seemed that only two were gone, but then they also appeared, only with obvious cracks on them.

It wasn't useless, but it wasn't enough.