The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Having driven off the Greenskins, Kantor, panting, looked towards the interior of the spaceport, smoke billowing from the central buildings, reminding him of a giant bonfire pot.

Warriors ran back and forth, Contemptors relentlessly swung their power hammers, destroying walls, sidewalks, and bridges. Where the Heavenshammer fell, the fire was pure and cleansing.

He realized then that they couldn't clear this place on their own; they were too few, the enemy too many, and the spaceport too vast.

"Lord! Angels!"

A scream pierced the clamor, human speech. Kantor turned to find the source.

In a moment, he saw the cages through a gap in the smoke. These heavy cages were made of wood and iron, filled with the weak bodies of human captives.

He finally understood why the Greenskins' construction was progressing so quickly.

Hundreds upon hundreds of slaves crowded in the enclosures, their skin olive, their eyes dark, typical Southerners. They reached out to him through the rusted bars, screaming, crying, desperately trying to escape the rising heat and the overseers' brutality, the Greenskin beasts lashing them with barbed whips, trying to silence them.

"Die!"

Kantor descended in a roar of thunder, scattering the overseers, one of whom was a pot-bellied brute, clad in tattered rags and rusty armor, whipping at him, spewing filthy curses.

The enraged Chapter Master seized the whip wrapped around his forearm, pulling back hard, dragging the massive Greenskin right in front of him. Then he raised his power fist, beating its head and body with cathartic fury, until the overseer was pulverized, finally raising his head amidst a spray of blood and bone fragments.

"Cortez, free those people now."

The Fourth Company Captain approached, saying nothing, merely looking at the enslaved humans reaching out desperately, contemplating what he should say.

"Kantor, we have more important tasks. We don't have the strength to protect them."

He knew these words might cause an argument. In fact, he and Kantor had had heated conflicts over similar matters all the way back from the destroyed Chapter Monastery-Fortress to Rynn's Hope. Cortez didn't think Kantor was wrong, but Kantor had to realize his responsibilities and learn to be more ruthless.

"I know!"

Sure enough, Kantor whipped around, roaring at him.

"You know too! We all know! So what? Let them die then!"

This time, Cortez didn't respond with anger, but only asked in a mournful tone:

"What about the people in Rynn's Hope?"

Kantor froze. He staggered back two steps, realizing he truly had to make this choice. It couldn't be anyone else; it had to be him.

"Chapter Master, there's—"

A shout of alarm and anger was drowned out by a thunderous boom. Kantor turned to see a warrior guarding a low platform not far away disappear in a flash of azure energy.

Seconds later, a behemoth clad in heavy armor, a unique helmet resembling the head of a giant horned boar, came into view. He held a battleaxe as large as an adult human, and his height was almost twice that of any Space Marine present, accompanied by thousands of Greenskin Boyz.

"Big Iron Can Boy, good, Urzog gonna krump all Iron Can Boyz."

The Greenskin Warlord roared, jumping off the platform, landing with a crash, his armor smoking.

Kantor could tell at a glance that he was likely the biggest boss of the Greenskins here.

His fury soared to its peak. He clenched his power fist, striding towards the Greenskin Warlord.

"You beast, it's time to settle the score!"

At that moment, the burning wreckage of a crippled fighter shrieked down, crashing nearby, obscuring the roars of the Astartes and the Greenskin.

Just as the Rynn's Air Guard was engaged in a brutal dogfight with Greenskin fighters that outnumbered them many times over, fighter squadrons from orbit finally arrived, hundreds of Fury Interceptors descending from the sky like angels, joining the intense aerial battle above the spaceport.

With the wreckage of numerous Dakkajets plummeting to the ground, the tide of war began to gradually turn. The technological and numerical superiority of the Imperial Navy's air arm began to take effect, and the last of the Dakkajets limped away in a rout.

As the skies were cleared, the first wave of Imperial heavy landing craft began to touch down, interspersed among the dense formations of warships were also strike craft such as Fire Raptors, Storm Eagles, and Stormravens.

"For Rynn!"

"Waaaagh!!!"

The enraged beast and the warrior were locked in the most intense struggle. Each swing of the massive battleaxe brought forth more syrup-like, viscous blood, and each drop of blood spilled from the cut-open power armor was met with a crisp cracking of bones on the Greenskin boss.

Around the furiously fighting leaders, the Crimson Fists Space Marines were also engaged in a brutal slaughter with the heavily armored Nobz, who held an absolute numerical advantage. The corpses of both sides piled up like mountains, blue power armor covered by green flesh, stacked and squeezed together. The living fought standing on the corpses of the dead, using blades, bolters, battleaxes, and claws to tear each other apart.

Having sustained several wounds, his left arm almost severed by the opponent, Kantor swallowed bile, dodging a devastating vertical chop, and once again smashed out with his red power fist. The fist, surrounded by a disruptive field, shattered the armor, turning the flesh beneath into a bloody mess, leaving wounds that looked like a mix of burns and lacerations.

As explosions continued to erupt all around, toxic fumes scorched his lungs, but Kantor persevered, the images of the Chapter Monastery's destruction and the countless Rynn's people who had died burning in his mind.

He was the Lord of Rynn, and the task of avenging the dead fell upon him.

The Crimson Fists Chapter Master gritted his teeth and swung his fist again, the iron fist covered in alien blood slamming into Urzog's face. An impact that would have crushed a mortal only knocked the Greenskin Warlord's jaw askew, splitting his mandible.

The Greenskin Warlord did not retreat. His jaw flopped on his chest, followed first by a gurgling sound in his throat, then a wet roar, and then he punched Kantor in the face, shattering his visor and cracking his helmet. The immense force nearly knocked the Chapter Master backward, but if he fell like that, the giant axe would immediately cleave into his chest.

Kantor suddenly reached out and grabbed the Greenskin Warlord's belt, then, amidst the other's staggering steps, abruptly yanked him to the right, forcing the axe to slice across his left shoulder, shearing off a large piece of armor. Then he abruptly raised his hand, using his power fist to choke the other's neck, but the disruptive field failed at this moment. The Warlord, his neck seized, instinctively hammered Kantor's helmet with the haft of his axe, trying to break free from the grip.

With two loud bangs, Kantor's helmet was nearly split in two, viscous blood dripping down from his temples and the corners of his eyes, but the Crimson Fists Chapter Master stood firm, only using his other hand to grab the fist holding the axe, contracting his own fist with all his might.