Chapter 335 The Rise of the Primarch: Perseverance

I have to say, many people will see a majestic high-rise building, or a magnificent palace-like thing and think about it when it collapses. It will definitely be very spectacular. The bigger the thing, the more satisfying it is when it collapses and collapses. Kind of. Weird and quite good, kind of refreshing.

Like cool guns, huge mechas and a majestic flying cathedral? The roar of heavy tanks, the explosions that echoed across the earth, and those demigod warriors one or two stories high, maybe this is the romance of men? You know, the penchant for oversized things and things that make a lot of noise, like a motor oil guy.

Okay, I may know why the Emperor always likes this kind of big guy, which is extremely big and can be stacked in any size. This is "romantic", isn't it?

But it's one thing when you look at it, but when those big things hit you, you may not find it so romantic. This is the case with the current Captain Eisenstein.

The golden power armor stood up from a large piece of rubble and gravel. The company commander stood up slowly. Countless particles of dust and building debris rolled down one by one from his shoulders and head. Aisen Stan looked ashen as a tired miner returning from the mines.

In a sense, this is true. After all, miners are there to break some ores that the empire needs, and the job of the Astartes is also to break some things, but the things they break do not need to be remade or reused. Just smash it into pieces, then leave the body there and hand it over to the guards who are cleaning up the battlefield.

Ah, you know, use flamethrowers, crushers, etc. to clean them up. If they are bigger, you need to call someone from the Mechanicus to take a chain saw to cut them into eight pieces and burn them in different parts. , after all, dismantling the body of an orc boss or big demon is no different from dismantling a tank.

Perhaps the biggest difference from the miners is that Eisenstein's "tool" is not a chisel, but a chainsword. The company commander pulled out his sword from the rubble, and he thrust the sword into the On the large piece of gravel in front of him, he stepped on the stone and climbed over.

Eisenstein fell to the ground and patted his dusty head. Large swaths of dust rolled down from his head. At the same time, the company commander also turned his head and noticed Bell running towards him.

Bell, who had a pharmacist's white shoulder armor and a double-helix snake doctor logo on his shoulder, ran over. He approached from a distance with a gun in one hand, "Are you injured? Company Commander, I need to check you out."

"You are always like this. You care about others first and completely ignore your own injuries, Bell." Eisenstein raised his head slightly and pointed at the bolt gun bullet hole on Bell's shoulder. The black hole was torn by the blue bullet hole. A hole was left on the shoulder of the armor that exploded and collapsed, and traces of dried blood still remained on the edge of the hole.

Bell followed the company commander's fingers and glanced at his shoulder. He moved his shoulder slightly. The tearing pain caused Bell's expression to change subconsciously, but he quickly controlled it. The change in his expression calmed down almost instantly without anyone noticing, and there was no hint that he was injured.

But the brief change of micro-expression was still captured by Eisenstein. He turned around and pulled out his chain sword from the gravel, "We need you alive, brother, we and the Emperor all, let's give it to you first." Treat yourself."

"I'm fine, Captain, it's just a small scratch. I need to scan your body immediately. You just had a fight with a World Eater. I saw him knock you to the ground, not to mention you were also beaten." If the entire tall building falls down, you will most likely suffer concussion, internal bleeding, etc. "

"I'm fine, Bell. This is what I call a small scratch." Eisenstein said and pointed at the scar on his face with his fingers. He walked over to Bell and patted his shoulder gently, and that A slight slap was enough to cause a sharp pain from Bell's bullet wound.

Bell's expression immediately became distorted, but he quickly looked at Eisenstein beside him and quickly suppressed the pain.

Eisenstein smiled and hung the chain sword on his magnetic belt. The chain saw was quickly fixed in place by the built-in magnetic lock. When the company commander let go, there was no sword belt or hanging strap hanging on it. The chain sword he wore was firmly attached to his waist.

"I'll treat your injuries now. I can do my examination later. For now, I have other things to do." Eisenstein said, striding towards the direction of the fountain in the square. Walking towards the fountain which was in ruins during the war.

The huge fountain was obviously an attraction in this neighborhood. There were layers of angel statues standing on it. Those young baby angels spread their wings and flew to and stood around the towering fountain water jets. Each angel is holding a ceramic water bottle with a water outlet at the mouth.

In the huge pool below the main body of the fountain, horses with mermaid tails galloped in the water. Those fit horses ran and jumped around the pool. They were carefully polished by skilled craftsmen, and almost every mane hair was polished. The mane of the carved head is dancing with the movement.

Eisenstein had seen the fountain when it was activated, although he still didn't remember much of his childhood memories before joining the war group. The only images left in his mind were blurred by the passage of time and the tens of millions of fierce battles over the centuries. He could hardly recognize what those memory fragments represented, their time, meaning, and when and where.

But the fountain existed very clearly in his memory. Eisenstein didn't know why he was here at that time, or when he came here, but when he saw the magnificent fountain, he could hear the cheers of the crowd, the beautiful colors of ribbons and petals falling from the sky, and of course, the wonderful scene when the fountain was activated.

But now, this place is completely different from the impression in his memory, and the reason is very simple. The fountain almost completely collapsed and shattered, and only a few angel statues were left flying around the main body, and the rest were incomplete by the flying bullets.

The horses in the pool below almost collapsed. The once impressive and exquisite horse head now only had the supporting steel bars exposed, and the rubble attached to it, like the remains of brain tissue after being shot, could still be seen.

Eisenstein walked towards the almost completely destroyed fountain. Now, the towering fountain was like the city, with only broken walls standing under the gray sky. It still stood, but it had lost its once glorious spirit.

Its guardians also stood as well as him. The tenacious guards of the city still stood here. Eisenstein walked past the periphery of the fountain and turned his head to look at the guards in groups of two or three on both sides.

Soldiers wearing the dark green uniforms of the defense army and the black uniforms of Zhongsi Academy were cleaning the battlefield around. They dragged and piled up the bodies one by one. The bodies of the loyal soldiers of the empire were clearly divided. They were neatly placed on the open space beside the fountain and covered with white cloth.

Those white cloths looked like white curtains that they had pulled off from people's homes in the surrounding residential areas. After being cut and shredded, they became several pieces of white shrouds. Although this was not very decent, it was a far cry from the Chaos Mutants on the other side.

The bodies of the mutants were piled up randomly, and the inhuman bodies were thrown up by the guards with their hands and feet. The bodies of Chaos Mutants, who looked different but were definitely Chaos Mutants, were piled up into a small mountain.

Eisenstein watched as the last ram-headed mutant body was thrown up, and the two guards who were responsible for discarding the bodies stood aside and clapped their hands, as if they wanted to dispel the smell of the stinky mutant debris from themselves.

But I don't know whether they can disperse them, but those stinking mutant corpses made of sheep, cows or who knows what creatures will soon be dispersed. Another guard standing next to the two guards carried a large barrel of gasoline and poured large amounts of fuel on the corpses, then took out a lighter from his arms, lit it and threw it on the pile of corpses.

Almost instantly, the pile of corpses burned up, and the raging fire quickly spread upwards from the mutant corpses at the end. Their manes became an excellent source of ignition, and in the blink of an eye, the hill became as bright as a bonfire at a bonfire party.

But Eisenstein was sure that the soldiers around him did not have the slightest sense of happiness after the victory of the battle, and there was not even a trace of smile on their faces. Everyone cleaned the battlefield expressionlessly, piled up the dumped sandbags and bulletproof shield walls, or sat on the surrounding ruins to check their weapons.

They didn't feel relaxed at all. The whole square was filled with a sense of solemnity. The oppressive atmosphere enveloped the entire fountain and even the entire city. This place was no longer the prosperous nest city before the war. This was a battlefield, a tragic street battle battlefield where fighting could break out at any time.

Eisenstein walked to the open space in front of the fountain, and Bell followed him with a gun. He stopped and stood behind the company commander to look at Dean Cullen sitting on the automatic gun. He was sitting there alone, his face full of fatigue, and his military uniform was covered with dust and black blood. It had long become something from a different world from the military uniform that fully met the dress standards when he was in the academy.

"Your students are now soldiers, commander, you fought very well." Eisenstein looked at Cullen in front of him and said calmly. There was no extra emotion in his voice. It was the purest kind of words without any other room for interpretation.

Cullen lifted his dirty hair and looked at the Imperial Fist in front of him. He grabbed the laser gun beside him, looked at the soldiers moving in the ruins around him, and responded to Eisenstein with the same cold words without any emotion.

"Please accept my gratitude, sir. If it weren't for your timely appearance, we would have died and lost our position."

"No, you don't need to express your gratitude to me. You have been defending the Moscow Hive for more than a week without any large-scale participation and assistance from the loyal Astartes. You and your warriors have persisted for so long under the fierce attack of the Rebellious Space Marines and their servants, and still hold on to and control the main part of the city."

Eisenstein unabashedly put his iron fist on his chest and bowed his head in salute, "You have achieved a miracle. In fact, when I made an estimate to Marshal Vito Constantine, I thought that you are the most If you persist for three days, you will collapse, but you did not, so please accept my apology and high respect, Commander."

"My pleasure, sir." Cullen said quite calmly. There was no sense of pride in his words. He was too tired. The days of fighting here were like years. Every day, his soldiers died in pieces, and the roster was reduced in one day. It had to be deleted several times, until finally Cullen could no longer remember the name of his new warrior.

Everyone is like this. Before the battle started, they would introduce each other, chat and laugh together, but now, everyone can't even say a word except during the battle. No one is introducing themselves, no one is laughing together. , there are only gunshots and the silence before the gunshots.

Bell glanced at Eisenstein in front of him. The company commander looked at the slightly depressed Cullen and raised his head slightly. "You are very depressed, commander. Do you still believe that we will win?"

"I believe."

"Really? You don't need to lie to me. I'm not a political commissar and I won't execute you."

"I do believe, my lord. In fact, do we have any other choice but to believe in victory? Victory or death, that's all."

Cullen raised his head and looked at Eisenstein with his calm, gray eyes. The company commander looked into his eyes for a moment and then nodded slightly in confirmation, "Very good, my brother and I were looking for your commander-in-chief. I don’t know if he is still alive, but we did not find him, so we came here by accident and participated in the battle.”

"I believe the Commander-in-Chief is still alive. He is the Emperor's golden-armored guard. The Imperial Guard is not that easy to die."

"Do you know his location? Commander."

"No, sir, I don't know. The last time I contacted the Commander-in-Chief was two days ago. Since the Central Defense Headquarters in the Moscow Hive was occupied by traitors, communications in the Hive have been intermittent."

Cullen said as he still sat on the automatic cannon. Bell looked at the tired commander. The place where he sat was surrounded by the dried corpses. They were stuck to the cannon like some kind of strange plasticine. Cullen sat down. There seemed to be no intention of moving between them.

He didn't even jump down to salute or kneel down because there were two Astartes in front of him, but Bell knew that he was not disrespectful, but simply too tired, so tired that he no longer wanted to think about those meaningless questions. If you offend the Emperor's Death Angel in front of you, then let them execute you, and you can escape from this hellish defensive duty.

But he was lucky, or unlucky. Eisenstein was not angry because of this rude behavior. In normal times, he would have angrily denounced this kind of undisciplined and etiquette behavior. After all, Donne's sons are all a stickler. Muscles, but they are not entirely like this. They will respect the mortals who fought with blood and won their respect with their blood. At this moment, the sons of Dorne will treat them as equals, if their brothers do that.

"You did indeed do it. I believe you can report the situation to me on behalf of your commander-in-chief, so please start, commander, and tell me the defense situation of the hive."

"Our troops were scattered. I took my own soldiers and the gathered skirmishers to reorganize a battalion, although there are not many left now."

"But we are still continuing the street fighting according to the order to delay the advance of the Chaos traitors, sir." Cullen said softly as he looked around at the soldiers. Eisenstein also looked at them and nodded slightly.

Cullen shrugged slightly and sighed tiredly, "The main orbital defense system has been destroyed. The Chaos Astartes found those firing positions very well. They took out most of the orbital air defense positions through quick decapitation strikes. , especially the central fortress. Although the defenders there put up desperate resistance, they ultimately failed to block the attack of possibly a company of traitor Astartes. "

"Since then, the main defensive position has been lost. We have broken into pieces according to the commander-in-chief's order, leading the civilians in the city who have not yet evacuated to fight street battles everywhere. We rely on spreading out to force the traitors to spend more money. Time to clear us out to delay their attack."

This is a very brutal way of stalling. The scattered defense forces will be further dispersed. Most of them lack effective heavy weapons. It is okay to just fight against the Chaos servants, but if their crossfire attracts traitors, Astartes, only death awaits.

But it is precisely through this extremely brutal combat method that the defenders, who crawl like ants throughout the entire hive city, can fight guerrillas through the extremely complex streets and underground structures of the hive city, attacking and delaying the traitors from everywhere. Following their footsteps, they are busy suppressing and destroying guerrilla forces everywhere.

To put it bluntly, the current Guardsmen are using their lives to delay the pace of Chaos. The annihilation of each army is to delay the traitors for even a second, so that the subspace storm weakens and the Imperial reinforcements enter the solar system. That moment is delayed.

"We have suffered serious attrition. Several regiments we fought together before have been wiped out. There are more than a dozen battalions under my command now. Their troop structure has completely collapsed and they are now being reduced to pieces. Then we found the troops who were still fighting and continued to resist.”

"Their loyalty is admirable, Commander. These soldiers could have chosen to flee or surrender, but they still chose to continue fighting with weapons and use their lives to delay the time." Eisenstein said with respect. Just like before, the respect was not discounted at all. It was all the respect that an Astartes could express.

Cullen just shrugged slightly, as if he had no special reaction to the respect. "Not entirely. We received a group of deserters from the central fortress before. They were panicking like crazy."

"Crazy? Do you mean they have been corrupted by Chaos?"

"I don't know, sir. Maybe they are just scared. They are talking nonsense and shouting about the warmaster coming, he is here, and we will all die."

Cullen said expressionlessly. Eisenstein and Bell in front of him immediately noticed the word "warmaster". They frowned after looking at each other.

Eisenstein looked at Cullen after a moment of contemplation, "Did they say anything else?" "Hmm? Ah, just some words to shake the morale of the army, urging us to escape, and then they had the regimental political commissar shoot them."

"Did they see Abaddon? Here?" Bell whispered as he approached Eisenstein, as if to prevent Cullen, or anyone else, from hearing.

Eisenstein glanced at Bell, and after a moment of silence, he nodded slightly. "These guards don't know who Abaddon is, or what he looks like. Among those traitors, no one dares to pretend to be the Warmaster. According to Loken's words, Abaddon would not use a substitute, which is a very difficult tactic. He probably told these guards to spread the news of his arrival to provoke the marshal."

"Although his "messengers" were killed by the political commissar before they ran far, and almost didn't spread his news."

"My lords? What happened?" Cullen asked in confusion while sitting in front of the two Astartes. Eisenstein looked back after he and Bell looked at each other and nodded in affirmation. He stared at Cullen in front of him and nodded slightly.

"We will bring the news you told us back to the palace. I will personally report your courage to the marshal. Commander, what is your name? I believe the marshal will want to know." Eisenstein said quite seriously, and Cullen raised one of his arms and saluted in a tired, not-so-standard military salute, "Stephen Cullen, Dean of the Artillery School of Zhongsi Academy." "Very good, it is my honor to meet you, Dean Cullen, I am Captain Eisenstein Batalov, I hope you and I will meet again after the war." Eisenstein stretched out his big hand, and the thick arm stretched out to Cullen, who was sitting on the automatic gun and was therefore at the same height as Eisenstein, just like shaking hands with another Astartes brother. "Me too, Captain Eisenstein. I swear we will continue to fight until the blood runs out." "I believe you will, Dean. May the Emperor bless you and guide your path."

"May he guide you, Captain. I believe you will need it too." Cullen said as he reached out and shook Eisenstein's hand. Although the shaking hands between Astartes and mortals looked quite funny and the size was completely disproportionate, it did not affect the atmosphere at all.

After shaking hands with Cullen, Eisenstein turned and walked to the edge of the square, where a Thunderhawk was parked steadily. Bell also followed him in big strides. He followed the captain with a gun and walked from the fountain ruins to the Thunderhawk. The tired soldiers on both sides looked at them and watched them leave.

"Captain, if Abaddon really appears here, then we must." "Inform the marshal, yes, and as fast as possible."

Cullen sat on the automatic cannon and watched the Thunderhawk rising into the air. The golden Thunderhawk fighter jet spewed flames and rose from the ruins of the high-rise building of the nest city. Then, with the vector nozzle turning and spurting out a stream of fire, the Thunderhawk flew to a corner of the ruins of the city and disappeared from Cullen's sight.

He watched the disappearing Thunderhawk sigh and stood up. He stood on the base of the automatic cannon full of corpses and debris and looked at another street beside the square. A group of mutants and cultists rushed out from the corner of the street. They roared and waved their weapons and rushed in groups.

No matter how the back of the figure stood in the gray light, suddenly a golden light shot down from the clouds, and the beam shone on the dean. That might be the last figure of Stephen Cullen, but he would not be afraid.

"Get ready for battle!" In the light, Stephen Cullen raised his laser gun and pulled the bolt hard.