Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 61: Breakaway

Despite their combined speed and ferocity, these phantom-like daemons were unable to withstand the resolute Astartes.

The fear and agony in the hearts of mortals would serve as their sustenance, but the Astartes offered them no such opportunity when facing them.

There was no mercy, only a fight to the death.

Soshyan, having dispatched his own opponents, watched as Sol carved a bloody path through the daemon horde. This veteran of ten thousand years seemed to be controlled by an emotion beyond imagination, venting the fury in his heart through silent slaughter.

His sword continuously pierced the monsters, and more than two dozen of them had already been reduced to jelly-like liquid on the ground.

Witnessing this scene, Soshyan, though considering himself a qualified warrior, realized that from any perspective, he was merely a rookie compared to Sol.

The battle ended mere minutes after it had begun, and the last daemon was laid to rest.

The roar of the bolters and the snarl of the chainswords had ceased; the Space Marines regrouped around their commander.

"There!"

Upon entering the landing pad from the entrance, Soshyan immediately spotted the Thunderhawk parked within.By now, the tremors of the warship had intensified into a thunderous rumble akin to a landslide. Much debris rained down from the flight deck above, and those massive pipelines whipped around like disemboweled intestines.

But this could not become an obstacle to the Space Marines' advance. They marched step by step toward the Thunderhawk, evading those colossal obstructions.

As they drew closer to the Thunderhawk, Soshyan could sense the presence of some powerful psychic force nearby. He caught a scent imperceptible to others, like the stench of rotting flesh.

He glanced at Sol beside him and noticed the veteran frowning, seemingly enduring the torment of this smell from the Warp as well.

At that moment, Soshyan suddenly realized a problem.

Was their encounter with Sol a bit too coincidental?

What exactly was the purpose of this daemon-controlled warship charging headlong at them?

As the distance to the Thunderhawk steadily closed, the warriors remained silent, each burying their thoughts deep within their hearts.

Suddenly, Sol sniffed the air and raised a hand, signaling them to stop.

"Something is wrong."

A hazy light rose from behind the Thunderhawk, accompanied by a motley-colored mist.

That mist was actually ethereal energy. Soshyan could see it, but the rest of the Space Marines seemed oblivious to the fog. The drifting mist continuously twisted and coiled, as if containing pain and terror.

Perhaps Sol could see it too; his gaze followed the agonized trajectories within the mist.

Then came a horrifying scream, sounding like the chorus of millions of restless souls.

Instantly, everyone except Soshyan felt as though their heads had been violently struck by a sledgehammer.

"Ugh! This is—"

Armin dropped to his knees. A piercing pain ruthlessly tried to squeeze into his skull, as if someone were shoving a red-hot poker through his ears.

Faced with such a psychic attack, even Sol swayed a few times, but his feet remained firmly planted on the deck, preventing him from falling.

At that moment, Soshyan saw a "thing" crawl out from behind the Thunderhawk.

Soon, the entire upper area of the Thunderhawk was occupied by this creature, which seemed to be composed of translucent slime.

Its surface had a gelatinous texture, and the patterns it displayed looked like millions of wide-open eyes peering outward. It glowed like a bioluminescent creature in the deepest ocean trenches, with iridescent light radiating from within.

Soshyan could even "see" the primal hunger thrashing within the creature's heart.

Like a gigantic parasite, it clung tightly to the top of the Thunderhawk. Reaching a diameter of hundreds of meters, its body seemed in constant motion, alternately expanding and contracting, its shape ever-shifting.

Tentacles dripping with unknown fluids hung from the massive mollusk like vines.

When the screaming receded, all that remained was a low hum, sharp shrieks, and a hissing noise like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, all mixed together.

Stars twinkled around it, dreamlike and surreal. Starlight, seemingly near yet impossibly far, swirled continuously in its depths, as if the "food" devoured in ancient epochs of the past had not yet been fully digested.

Soshyan gasped, his breathing ragged. Confronted with this entity that absolutely should not exist, he struggled to maintain his sanity.

And just as the minds of all the Astral Knights, Soshyan included, were captivated by the terrifying abomination before them—

The thunderous roar of a bolter suddenly erupted, blasting the creature's extended tentacles to pieces.

"Emperor's Children, death to the enemies of the Father!!"

Sol drew his sword and initiated a charge.

Seeing how valiant this veteran of ten millennia was, the Astral Knights snapped back to reality and launched their own attack, shouting their battle cries.

Soshyan did the same.

Gritting his teeth, he commanded the living metal to flow throughout his entire body once more.

The manifestation of the Soul Black Hole made the creature flinch, but as the bolt rounds struck its body, it writhed backward in agony.

Sol's sword was the first to reach it.

Filled with boundless hatred and furious rage, the blade of the Emperor's Children carved a massive gash into the monster's body. Dense ethereal energy poured out from within, accompanied by the wails of departed souls.

It attempted to counterattack, lashing its tentacles directly toward Sol, but they were shredded by a scorching longsword.

"Quickly! Board the Thunderhawk!"

Soshyan frantically swung his sword while issuing orders to Logris.

After blasting a path open, the Techmarine immediately scrambled into the Thunderhawk's cockpit. Further away, a tidal wave of lesser daemons was already surging forward.

The creature seemed reluctant to let these prey slip away, desperately trying to entangle the Thunderhawk, but Soshyan's approach forced it to retreat. Thus, it opted to scoop up the surrounding debris and hurl it at them.

Boom—!

A metal beam, two men wide, crashed heavily less than half a meter away from Soshyan. Knowing the entity would never let it go, he charged forward head-on to cover the Thunderhawk's liftoff, his sword continuing to bite into the opponent's bulk.

"You all get on first! Hurry!"

The warriors boarded the Thunderhawk one after another, and the last to board was Sol.

"Chapter Master! Hurry!"

The Thunderhawk's engines had already roared to life. A warrior manned its mounted heavy bolter, unleashing a storm of metal to hold back the massive horde of daemons.

Yet they still kept closing in.

Hearing the frantic shouts through the vox, Soshyan swung his right arm, shredding a large cluster of tentacles before him, then turned and began sprinting at full speed.

The Thunderhawk was already hovering half a meter off the ground, and the tidal wave of daemons was less than a hundred meters behind them.

Soshyan ran with all his might, the tentacles in relentless pursuit right on his heels, but he had no time to worry about them.

Panting heavily, he forcefully drove the Grey Marrow until one of his hearts was completely frozen solid; he could only squeeze out his very last ounce of strength.

Twenty meters.

Ten meters.

Five meters.

As he took the last step, the chill from his bone marrow pierced his brainstem like a poisoned needle. Soshyan's vision went black, and he pitched forward.

In his ears rang the terrified and furious roars of his warriors.

Then, a powerful hand gripped his arm, hauling him up with a forceful yank.

"Hah... Hah..."

Soshyan lay on the deck of the troop compartment, gasping for breath beneath a sea of flashing red lights.

After a few seconds, feeling able to speak again, he turned his head and whispered to Sol, who was seated near the hatch:

"Thank you."

The man did not reply, merely gazing silently out the viewport at the steadily fragmenting warship.