The Emperor’s Angel of Death

As Malakim stood helplessly amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, the colossal, armored dragon slowly extended its hideous and enormous head from the crimson clouds, its bizarre eight eyes seemingly fixed upon the tiny figure standing on the blood-colored earth.

Remember the original website domain name 𝕥𝕨𝕜𝕒𝕟.𝕔𝕠𝕞

Suddenly, another spasm coursed through his body, and a pair of lifeless eyes appeared before him.

"Get out!"

Malakim roared, waving his hands, but the eyes remained.

It was his own grim face, his armor turned black, with a pair of mismatched wings on his back, the left one withered black, the right one dripping red.

".Sanguinius requires blood and fury, the abyss you guard needs to be liberated, Watcher of the Abyss, otherwise the Lamenters will face destruction. You have not only failed the people here, but also the Emperor, and the blood within you."

Malakim turned abruptly.

"No! No! This will drag us back into the darkness! We represent Sanguinius's goodness and redemption, we absolutely cannot—"

"So you will fail once again, just as you did in the past, allowing disappointment and despair to continue to entangle your soul."

"Failure... No! I won't—"

"Chapter Master! Chapter Master!"

Malakim slowly opened his eyes, seeing the anxious face of the Sanguinary Priest. He shook his head and struggled to sit up.

"Chapter Master."

The Second and Fifth Company Captains of the Chapter were also beside Malakim, looking at their Chapter Master with concern.

The Lamenters' Chapter Master looked battered. His once magnificent armor was covered in scratches and corrosion marks, one shoulder plate was shattered, revealing the damaged servo-motors inside. There was also a huge gash in his armor's abdomen, temporarily patched with filler material.

"I'm fine. What's the situation? How many people have been evacuated?"

They were in the planet's largest transport port, also one of the main evacuation points. Over a hundred million residents were being evacuated from here, making it a key target for the Tyranid swarm. Malakim had been seriously injured in a fight with a ferocious Hive Tyrant and was carried off the front lines. The booming of guns and the chilling roars of the Tyranids could still be heard outside.

The Second Company Captain hesitated for a moment, then said softly:

"Most of the remaining residents have been evacuated, leaving only about two hundred thousand. But the fleet sent a message not long ago that their strength has reached its limit. Most ships have sunk or are damaged beyond repair. They can only use the 'Mother of Tears' for one last orbital strike, so... perhaps you should withdraw to the flagship first and leave this to us."

Malakim shook his head, stood up, gasped, and said slowly:

"That means we only have one last chance to evacuate. Hurry up and organize the residents' evacuation. Save as many as we can. What about the other companies?"

"The First and Seventh Companies have already withdrawn. The Sixth Company returned to orbit with the last transport ship."

Malakim frowned.

"What about the Third Company?"

Hearing this question, the Second Company Captain revealed a painful expression. Tears streamed down his face, covered in ashes and blood. He and Third Company Captain Sullivan had undergone the transformation in the same batch and fought side by side in the same company for nearly a century, they were like brothers.

The fact that a Space Marine could be brought to tears spoke volumes about the situation. Malakim's heart sank to the bottom.

"The Third Company... only a boy carrying the company banner survived. Sullivan asked the boy to tell you that the Third Company did not fail the blood of Sanguinius."

Malakim's face froze for a moment, then he suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood, his body swaying, on the verge of collapse. The Sanguinary Priest quickly supported him.

"Oh, Emperor... why..."

Malakim murmured weakly, tears streaming down his face:

"...why is it like this?"

After closing his eyes and breathing for a few seconds, he asked:

"What is the casualty situation of the other companies?"

"Each company has lost more than half of its brothers. The Sixth Company is in the worst condition, with only 17 survivors during the evacuation. Currently, the entire Chapter has only about two hundred and fifty warriors capable of fighting."

Malakim didn't say anything, just waved his hand.

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"You go and organize the evacuation of the residents immediately, and the companies must evacuate as well."

"Yes!"

After the two Company Captains left, Malakim looked at the Sanguinary Priest.

"Cali, how is the gene-seed recovery going?"

"Most of what could be recovered has been recovered. Unfortunately, it's less than a third of the fallen warriors. This battle... has broken our backs, Chapter Master."

"I know, I know... but how can we turn a blind eye to these civilians struggling in the jaws of the aliens? Do you remember that battle we participated in two hundred years ago?"

The Sanguinary Priest was stunned for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"Of course, I remember, Slaughterhouse Star Three."

Slaughterhouse Star Three was a battle that took place during the Corinth Crusade. In 698.M41, a WAAAGH!!! led by the looter Skargul pushed its forces into Imperial territory and occupied the Corinth world, establishing his fortress there. The then Ultramarines Chapter Master Calgar, authorized by the High Lords of Terra, led a small-scale expedition against the Orks. The expedition consisted of 6 Space Marine Chapters and 50 Imperial Guard Regiments, with the Lamenters also participating, sending 300 warriors and the battle barge 'Storm's Daughter' and its escort ships.

At that time, Malakim was already the Second Company Captain and the commander of the Lamenters' operation.

The expeditionary force quickly advanced, defeating the Orks. But then Malakim noticed a world, Slaughterhouse Star Three. This world was originally a mining world, but after being occupied by the Orks, these cunning aliens did not simply destroy it, but instead took it for themselves. They threw all the humans they had previously captured into the mine pits, like blood basins. Millions of humans, regardless of gender or age, became Ork miners, working day and night with little food. Under this extreme exploitation, their average lifespan was only 4-5 weeks.

After learning about the situation, the Lamenters were touched by the unfortunate experiences of these Imperial citizens and took the initiative to request to liberate this world. However, the Ultramarines Chapter Master and Commander-in-Chief Calgar was unwilling to disrupt his strategic deployment for this unimportant world, and only reluctantly agreed to Malakim's request out of consideration for face, but the condition was that the expeditionary force would not give them any additional reinforcements. They could only use their own strength to "do good."

Malakim did not hesitate and quickly attacked and eliminated the Ork garrison on the planet. At this time, there were still millions of refugees controlled by the Orks on the planet, and the arrival of the angels gave everyone hope.

But soon, Malakim embarrassingly discovered a problem. The fleet did not have the tools to transport so many refugees. All their aircraft could only transport a few hundred people at a time at most. The expeditionary headquarters did not allocate any large transport aircraft or transport ships to them, and this little bit of ant-moving transport would take a long time, but the Orks would not give them that time.

Because this planet was located in the rear of the Ork-controlled area, it quickly attracted a large-scale counterattack from the Orks. Malakim had to stay on the planet with three hundred Lamenters to fight for millions of Imperial refugees.

Waves of Ork reinforcements poured into this planet, and fierce battles broke out simultaneously in orbit and on the ground. Facing millions of enemies, the Lamenters, who were few in number and had no Imperial Guard cooperation, could only fall one after another, leaving less than two hundred people in a few days, and their fleet was also reduced to only the battle barge.

At this time, those captured Imperial residents made an astonishing decision. They were unwilling for the angels to sacrifice in vain, and all voluntarily returned to the mines. After praying to the Emperor for the last time, they sent a signal to the 'Storm's Daughter'—their last request was not to be slaves of ugly aliens, but to die gloriously for the Empire as free people.

With the arrival of another wave of Ork reinforcements, Malakim had no choice but to accept this result, and finally chose to drop a fatal torpedo on the location of the mines.

When the battle ended, only less than 100 warriors returned to the battered 'Storm's Daughter' battle barge with a few successfully launched Ork ships carrying a small number of survivors. After nearly a week of hard fighting, only less than 300,000 refugees were truly rescued. For the Lamenters Chapter, this was a painful failure, losing more than two-thirds of the expeditionary warriors in one operation and only saving less than one-tenth of the people.