Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 56: Daemonic Ship (2)

"Strange."

Soshyan took a step forward. He felt as though he could smell the faint scent of rust, even though his armor was completely environmentally sealed.

The squad split into two groups, three men each, and advanced up the left and right sides of the command dais. Soshyan brought up the rear, heading straight for the command center.

"More servitors."

Armin reported his findings to Soshyan over the comms channel.

"You were right, sir. There is no sign of any other crew members."

"Same over here."

Logris's voice followed over the channel.

"But the script on these bulkheads—it isn't Gothic, nor is it the binharic of the Cult Mechanicus. I don't recognize it."

"Pay no mind to the script. We are aboard a traitor vessel; corruption could be present in anything."Soshyan spoke calmly. He had found an answer to one question on the command dais, but it only brought forth more questions.

He had found a soldier.

Clearly, this was not a soldier of the Word Bearers Legion. The deep purple livery, which had not yet faded, and the tarnished aquila insignia on its chest confirmed this.

However, the armor was largely unrecognizable. Most of the markings that could identify its allegiance or identity had been destroyed. One could only tell that the overall style was still Baroque, and there were a few unfamiliar glyphs and symbols carved into the ceramite.

The only certainty was that this soldier had been butchered and dismembered, then reassembled in the crudest manner possible.

This was a blatant desecration of the Astartes. The method made Soshyan realize that this was very likely a "sacrificial offering"—an offering given by those base and cruel Chaos Space Marines to their dark gods.

"If I may make a bold deduction."

The Techmarine stepped up beside Soshyan, looked closely at the ruined Power Armor, and whispered.

"Space and time within the Warp are constantly fluctuating. Is it possible... that this ship of the XVII Legion was participating in a battle, and due to some machination or arrangement, it has appeared here now? But it merely captured a specific moment of that war; it does not physically exist. Perhaps it did exist in realspace once, but was destroyed, making this a true 'ghost'?"

"A ghost of a warship?"

If that were true, it would explain why there were no remains of any crew members or other Space Marines to be seen, while this 'sacrificial offering' was part of the ship's "memory", and thus preserved.

But why would a true ghost ship make a beeline straight for the 'Starfire'?

"Damn it!"

A scream tore through the vox-beads and into Soshyan's ears.

He immediately whipped around to see a massive creature pinning a warrior to the deck. Its body had been riddled with holes, yet it was still franticly gnawing at the screaming soldier's pauldron.

When the other soldiers opened fire on it, the creature roared, causing the entire ship to seem to vibrate.

"Open fire! Open fire!"

Shouts flooded the comms channel once more, and muzzle flashes lit up the bridge.

Amidst the staccato flashes of bolter fire, Soshyan saw more monsters.

They clawed their way out of the bulkheads and sprinted forward, trailing pink flames. It was as if they had been yanked inside from outside the ship, chittering and cheering with glee.

Without a word, Soshyan bounded across the command dais in two massive strides, the Holy Flame Sword raised high. The moment it fell, it obliterated nearly a square meter of deck plating, along with a dozen of the chaotic spawn directly before him.

"Rally! Form up on me!"

At Soshyan's command, the warriors swiftly fell out, adopting defensive postures and methodically driving back the intruders with their bolters.

The entire bridge was strobing with the muzzle flashes of bolter fire.

But on the far side of the dais, the pinned soldier was being dragged toward a pitch-black corridor by the monsters. His bolter had fallen to the deck, and his gauntlets clawed desperately at the floor, throwing up a trail of sparks.

Soshyan raised the Holy Flame Sword high and charged at the roaring beasts.

The next second, the creature recoiled from beneath his blade, springing back as swiftly as a mass of jelly. Even though the flaming blade hadn't pierced it or even physically touched it, the creature appeared to be in immense pain. It even abandoned its prey and fled with its hands over its head.

Under Soshyan's furious wrath, the Gloom Field was unleashed to its maximum capacity.

He transformed into a massive soul black hole. The swirling colors and howling voices melted away around him like snow meeting fire. The monsters skirted around him or turned to flee, as if evading an apex predator.

For a moment, Soshyan seemed to embody an unyielding boulder amidst a raging torrent. The things rushing toward him shattered themselves entirely, entirely powerless against him.

This spectacle deeply shocked the warriors behind him.

Armin, who was constantly firing and observing, had a feeling that it wasn't the weapons slaughtering those Chaos spawn, but the man himself.

Even from a distance, he could feel Soshyan's steady, rational fury.

It was like a frigid gale howling over a winter forest, carrying the merciless chill of frost to slowly tear the abominations to shreds. This chill made even Armin shudder involuntarily—something he hadn't done since his augmentation.

He had never realized it could be so cold near Soshyan; even his superhuman physiology instinctively urged him to distance himself from the Chapter Master.

"Hah!"

Soshyan smashed a monster to pulp in mid-air. It immediately burst apart, the acidic, corrosive matter splashing against his armor with a loud sizzle.

He gripped his weapon tightly with both fists and roared.

He was born to fight, born to win. Every muscle in his body, far exceeding those of a normal man, was drawn taut.

However, a biting chill was creeping straight toward his heart, and the flames upon the Holy Flame Sword were growing dimmer.

Soshyan had never maintained the Gloom Field for this long before.

Taking a deep breath, he spoke to the squad.

"Tactical withdrawal! Return to the 'Starfire'!"

He adjusted his transmission to a broader frequency so everyone could hear.

"Plant melta bombs on the bridge! Set the timers, we withdraw immediately!"

This was a last resort. Since the ship was not being moved by its engines, Soshyan could only attempt to destroy its "brain" to stop it.

Armin ordered the warriors to prime the pre-prepared melta bombs and plant them around the bridge. It only took half a minute, during which time Soshyan had obliterated countless monsters.

But they still kept coming in an endless stream.

Although they were terrified of Soshyan's Gloom Field, it was as if something was driving them from behind, forcing them to attack relentlessly until death.

"Sir! Charges planted!"

Armin's roar rose above the thunderous staccato of bolter fire.

"Fall back! Everyone stay close to me!"

Soshyan bellowed, breaking into a sprint toward the corridor they had come from. However, it was already packed with grotesquely twisted monstrosities, some of which had limbs protruding directly from the bulkheads.

The entire ship seemed to be at a boiling point, or rather...

It had become a living creature.