novelraw Chapter 157: Debt of Favor
Chapter 157: Debt of Favor
Confirming that the Ork boss and its bodyguards had retreated a sufficient distance, Soshyan halted his backward steps.
He began to advance, striding toward the greenskin leader. Along the way, he effortlessly punted aside Gretchin scurrying about with raised axes and cudgels.
Now, nothing could hinder his path.
Seeing him approach, the Ork boss's beady red eyes instantly ignited with madness. It raised its crude gun and unleashed a volley of bullets.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!
The rounds ricocheted off Soshyan's armor and clattered to the ground, gouging numerous small craters into his warplate and scraping away the bright silver-grey enamel.
A lucky shot or two managed to squeeze through the gaps between the armor plates, burrowing into his flesh.
A wave of pain lanced through his limbs, but the Space Marine's enhanced nervous system instantly shut down his pain receptors, while his hybridized blood clotted the wounds the moment they were formed.
Soshyan accelerated, closing the final distance with a sprint. He launched himself high into the air toward the Ork, the greenskin blood dripping from Heaven's Fall painting a morbid arc in his wake.
The beast swung its power klaw savagely in an attempt to counterattack, only for the opponent to unexpectedly alter the angle of his assault. The longsword sheared straight through the arm holding the gun.Amidst a harrowingly furious roar, the massive machine gun tumbled into the blood-soaked dirt.
Soshyan landed and immediately rose, flourishing his blade without a moment's hesitation.
He launched another assault against the Ork boss, his gleaming blade whistling through an endless, ferocious flurry of thrusts and slashes.
Although the Ork boss had lost a hand, its combat efficacy remained largely unimpaired. It continuously parried the Space Marine's weapon with its power klaw, retaliating with a series of brutal punches and kicks.
Ten seconds later, in the depths of his mind, Soshyan felt a silver radiance spill across his soul.
The Grey Marrow surged through his veins once more.
Fueled by unparalleled resolve, he intensified his assault, putting his full strength into every strike.
As the Grey Marrow flooded his entire being, the greenskin before him seemed to plunge into slow motion. With unnatural clarity, Soshyan saw right through his opponent's attacks.
He watched the Ork boss swing its power klaw with all its might, yet its speed was pitifully slow.
Moreover, right in the center of those frenzied klaws lay a completely undefended opening—Soshyan saw it clear as day.
Thus, after dipping to the right to evade, he stepped forward and drove Heaven's Fall straight into the enemy.
A brilliant radiance was instantly dyed scarlet.
"Purge the xenos!"
Soshyan roared as he plunged the blade into the Ork boss's chest. He then drove the sword down into the creature's abdomen before finishing with a savage upward slash, cleaving it entirely open.
Shattered by the grievous blow, the Ork boss was bisected, dead before it even hit the ground.
When Soshyan severed the Ork boss's head and held it aloft, the surrounding Orks erupted into terrified wails. Witnessing their leader's gruesome demise, they instantly broke, turning their backs to flee. The other Space Marines fired at will into their retreating backs, gunning down swaths of the xenos.
Suddenly, the Boyz along the entire front line fell into a dilemma, hesitating between their innate desire to continue the assault and turning back to face the new threat.
Soshyan clearly had no intention of granting them the time to decide.
He raised Heaven's Fall once more. Even though his voice was somewhat diminished, it easily carried over the din of slaughter.
"Astral Knights, advance!"
Very soon, under the relentless onslaught of the Astartes, the greenskin hordes amassed on the battlefield broke and scattered, leaving behind only a sea of mangled corpses and smoking, burning vehicles.
Dawn arrived, the sunlight rising through the dust and smoke.
Driven by gale-force winds, the battlefield was blanketed in a heavy veil of dust.
Whether this dust was the remainder of the annihilated Ork tribes or carried from distant mountain ranges, Soshyan could not say.
The Astral Knights rallied around their Chapter Master.
They resembled shadows, or perhaps blood-soaked phantoms, their armor plastered in gore and dust.
Fighting through the night, they had shattered the Ork forces surrounding them. The lonely defensive line constructed of plasteel and ceramite-sand encircling the landing zone was now painted with Ork blood.
The corpses of the invaders piled up in thick, massive mounds all around them, interspersed with rolling waves of smoke and dust.
When those trenches were obscured by the dust haze, Soshyan didn't know how many of the defenders were still alive.
Had they arrived but a few minutes later, they would have been too late to save any of the stationed garrison.
"Once the fresh ground forces arrive, we will return to orbit to rearm before the next wave of assaults."
Soshyan said, his low voice barely audible over the whispering wind.
Suddenly, a faint tremor traveled through the blood-soaked soil to the soles of Soshyan's boots, interrupting the Chapter Master's thoughts.
In the distance, a massive machine was taking enormous strides toward them, emitting a cacophony of clanks and clatters.
Soshyan glanced over, nodded, and instantly recognized what it was.
"Astral Knights Chapter."
He issued a steady command.
"Form up."
The Space Marines immediately assembled, the sound of their boots striking the earth echoing across the scarred battlefield.
Soshyan peered ahead, his helmet's auto-senses dissecting the dust clouds, stripping them back layer by layer.
The first thing to emerge was a misshapen silhouette featuring broad shoulders and a hunched back, approaching them from the direction of the defensive line.
Moments later, his helmet's scanners identified an aquamarine spear heraldry. It belonged to an officially registered Imperial Knight House—though this House was already extinct.
The war machine emerged from the dust like an ancient god of war, each step pulverizing the Ork corpses on the ground into the dirt.
Soshyan planted the tip of Heaven's Fall into the ground and deactivated its power field.
The other Battle Brothers remained standing in their combat stances.
As the Knight drew closer, Soshyan noted the extent of its battle damage.
Its banner was in tatters. The scarred adamantium chassis was riddled with silver and black impact craters, alongside extensive scorching from flamers and countless pockmarks from small-arms fire.
The Imperial Knight had lost the entirety of its right arm weaponry and walked with a pronounced limp, likely due to a damaged servo-grille in its knee joint.
The Knight Mech ultimately halted before the Space Marines, its feet grinding deep into the earth.
A horn blared, and the Imperial Knight lowered its massive gauntlet—a posture that, within Knight culture, represented a salute given to a benefactor.
"How should I address you?"
A grating voice emanated from the towering Imperial Knight's vocal grilles. Although metallic distortion rendered his voice sharp as steel, it was still discernable as a male.
Soshyan shifted Heaven's Fall to his left, revealing the Imperial Aquila upon his scuffed breastplate.
"My name is Soshyan Alexey, Chapter Master of the Astral Knights Chapter, and these are my Battle Brothers."
"I salute you, Chapter Master Soshyan. I am Olga, the leader of the Knights of House Du Pont de Nemours, and the last of my line. Currently, I am a Freeblade. I owe you and your brothers a debt. Had you not arrived, the Scorpion Sting and I would have undoubtedly been torn to shreds by the greenskins."
"All debts we are owed belong to the Emperor."
Soshyan replied simply.
"Continue to fulfill your sacred duty to Him."
The Knight Mech shook its massive head.
"Duty is duty, but I will not use it as an excuse to evade a debt of favor."
"Since that is the case, let us discuss this after the battle ends, Baron Olga."