Chapter 96 The End of the Era: Battle of the Mountain Array (Part 1)

The Khorne bloodletter was crawling on the ground. The lower half of the demon was missing. The blood flowed and extended along the broken wreckage dragged behind it. The demon's claws scratched the ground and crawled hard, but his back was suddenly stepped on by the power iron boots. Khorne was stepped on the ground, and then a grenade was pointed at his head.

The expressionless battle sister pulled the trigger. A flash of short fire illuminated her young face. The sister with short brown hair picked up the grenade and walked towards another corpse.

The outside of the temple of the Hand of Dorn was full of corpses. The corpses of demons and traitors were moved out separately. The filthy corpses were piled into small hills and then ignited by the battle sister and storm troopers with flamethrowers and plasma.

The sound of gunfire continued to echo throughout the hall. The Sisters of Battle and the Inquisitors, who had won the Battle of the Hall, were cleaning up the battlefield. The Sisters of Battle walked over corpses one by one, using chainswords, bolters and power weapons to ensure that they were completely out of breath, while the Stormtroopers and Marines were doing the same.

The scorching light from the muzzles of the Hell Guns lit up the black ground, and the glare of the precision bolters and plasma continued to flicker, while the Space Marines of the Imperial Fists gathered around their commander.

The survivors of the Imperial Fists were scattered in a small area, checking each other's equipment, and the Centurions walked through the squads one by one to ensure that they were in the best condition.

The Astartes did not talk to the mortal soldiers. In fact, they gathered alone at the edge of the hall, using the yellow iron wall to separate the mortals from Captain Thor Galadon.

But this is not absolute, because there are two "mortals" behind the yellow iron wall. They are standing at the entrance of the towering dark corridor with Captain Galadon.

Vito looked at the deep dark corridor. The deep darkness enveloped the sky. The magnificent colossus and the exquisite murals were immersed in the darkness. Everything disappeared in the deepest darkness.

Lilith stood beside Vito with her arms folded. She stood very close, almost sticking to Vito's arm, and she was obviously doing this on purpose. Lilith would stare at Celestine threateningly from time to time to make sure that the little angel stood in her "correct position".

This correct position was one arm away from Vito, one arm away from the size of Astartes.

Celestine also looked at the black corridor with one hand on her waist. The dazzling golden light scattered from the halo and wings behind her head. The pure light illuminated the entrance of the black corridor, making the nearest murals and sculptures appear in front of her.

"Thank you for your help, Inquisitor." Captain Galadon walked behind Vito and handed the data board in his hand to the sergeant who followed him. The latter left silently after saluting, as silent as all the Imperial Fists warriors.

"I left a team to defend Dorn's Hand. We will ensure that the holy relic is effectively placed." Galadon said, and Vito raised his eyebrows and looked at the entrance gate of the shrine in the distance. There was indeed a position outside the gate. The sons of Dorn stacked and welded bulletproof shields and armor plates removed from somewhere to form a simple position.

Although Vito wondered how Dorn would evaluate his children if he knew how they treated his broken hand.

"I'm more curious, Captain, why are you here? The warp is not a place suitable for outings." Vito raised his head and looked up at the captain. Galadon's tall body was taller after wearing the Terminator armor, more than three meters tall, and even Celestine had to look up at him.

"It's not true, Inquisitor, but I must order a jump into the warp to ensure the safety of the palace." Galadon said and looked at the dark corridor. His giant bomb glove slowly moved his fingers, and the armor joints creaked.

"The demon prince Be'lak managed to open a chaos portal in the Phalanx. We still don't know how he did it, but he led the demon army and the traitors to attack us in a place we least expected."

"Be'lak tried to seize the Phalanx and use our orbital cannons to bomb Terra, destroy the Golden Throne and kill the Emperor." Galadon gritted his teeth, clenching his fists tightly, his knuckles cracking.

"I had to choose between betraying the Emperor and betraying the Primarch. I finally ordered the Phalanx's artillery, which we could still control, to attack the demon-controlled ship's artillery and area, allowing the Phalanx to destroy part of itself. I failed the Chapter Master and even failed Lord Dorne."

Vito looked at the extremely ashamed Galadon and shook his head slightly, "No, Captain, believe me, Dorne will be proud of you."

Galadon said self-blamingly, his face full of shame and self-hatred, "I failed Lord Dorne and the Emperor. I did not expect that I would be attacked in this way over Terra. I seriously failed in my duty."

"Captain, if I remember correctly, all the companies left Terra to perform missions, and even the Chapter Master himself led the First Company and the Honor Guard to leave. There were only less than thirty Third Company bosses and seven Terminator veterans on the Phalanx, as well as dozens of recruits from the Seventh Company who were still receiving training." Celestine said comfortingly, looking at the Captain with holy eyes.

"You can't defend the entire Phalanx. You've done your best, Captain." Celestine said softly, as gentle as the warm sunshine in winter, making people feel so kind and reassured.

But Galadon shook his head stubbornly, "No, this is my dereliction of duty. There is no reason or excuse. I am the garrison officer and everything that happened is my responsibility."

Like his father, Vito thought, Donne was stubborn and extremely responsible, and that responsibility sometimes led to painful and incomprehensible decisions.

So does he.

Vito thought to himself. Celestine glanced at Vito as if he knew what he was thinking. Celestine smiled and looked at Garadon again, "But you defended Terra and the Emperor." With the throne, he asked me to thank you."

Garadon knelt down and saluted Celestine without hesitation. The Imperial Fists around him all knelt down on one knee. Everyone was decisive and not sloppy at all.

"I have no right to accept this gift, sir, but I ask the Emperor to forgive my chapter's dereliction of duty." Galaton lowered his head and said, Celestine stepped forward and pressed his shoulders, "You did what you should do. Everything, Captain, the Emperor and I saw you ordering the Phalanx to jump without coordinates, thereby preventing the Chaos Traitors from carrying out their plans with the certainty of total annihilation."

Yes, making an emergency jump out of Terra's orbit with an entire fortress full of demons and no reinforcements or destination is basically courting death, and no madman would do such a thing.

But the Sons of Dorne were neither madmen nor idiots, but they faithfully fulfilled their duties as the Iron Guard of Terra.

"Raise your head, Captain, the Emperor wants you to stand up in glory." Celestine said, and Garadon no longer hesitated and stood up with the soldiers.

Vito looked at Celestine and smiled, she really learned the essence of that old bastard.

"Bell, Lancelot, Ragnar and Olaf, report the situation." Vito started the communicator and said, and immediately his wrist communicator transmitted the disturbed rustling communication audio.

"Lancelot and I captured the sixth deck and the hangar, but we and the commandos were suppressed. Traitors and demon bastards were everywhere. We are trying to meet up with the Imperial Fists at the armory." Ragnar's voice said. He was obviously fighting with something. From the sound of the voice, it seemed to be another guy using a chain axe.

"The situation is very bad, Vito, our retreat has been cut off, Cole and the Sisters' ship has left the port." The Son of the Wolf said.

Vito switched to Cole's channel, and the Imperial Navy's logo appeared on the screen. Soon the audio section started to jump, and huge explosions and noises came from it, but Cole's voice was also mixed in.

"Cole, what's the situation?" Vito asked, and Cole's voice came over after the huge sound of cannons. "The number of Chaos fleets is too great, and the Absolute Truth and I cannot maintain connection. I ordered to leave the mountain." The formation's starport is engaged in a dogfight."

"But it's best to find some way, Vito. Our two ships can't handle the dozens of Chaos warships around us, let alone the traitorous Space Marines on them."

"They tried gang jumping, and they almost succeeded, so they better think of something," Cole's voice said, and then there was an explosion.

"Captain! The end of the left deck has been landed! Traitor Space Marines have appeared on the deck!" the first mate's voice shouted, "Battle Sisters and Marines are intercepting! But we must prevent more traitors from landing!"

"Did you hear Vito? Come on." Cole's voice was offline. It was obvious that he had no time to chat. Vito sighed and switched to Olaf's channel.

"Old Wolf?" "You can hear the Inquisitor." "How are you doing?"

The dense roar of bolters came, and a burst of shouts and gunfire almost overloaded the entire audio. The harsh noise caused the entire audio wavy line to completely peak.

"We have reunited with the Imperial Fists veterans, but have been suppressed. We must prevent more traitors from ascending the mountain formation, Inquisitor." "I know, hold on, old wolf." "Of course, may All Father guide you." "The same to you."

Vito turned off the communicator and looked at Galadon and Celestine. Vito looked at the two men and narrowed their eyes slightly, then looked at the company commander, "Company commander, how many automatic controls of artillery do the Phalanx have?" Is the system online?”

After all, the Phalanx is a space equipment built in the Golden Age. Of course, it cannot be driven purely by manpower. Otherwise, a battle group of a thousand people would have abandoned most of the moon-sized fortress.

Galaton frowned slightly, and then made an accurate estimate, "We only destroyed the demon-controlled artillery, and now 60% of the firepower is intact, but we must go to the bridge."

"I ordered the central control system of the Phalanx to be shut down and cut off to prevent the traitors from seizing control of the Phalanx. I think there are still some soldiers fighting near the bridge, and they will help us reach the bridge to restart the system."

Galaton said, both Celestine and Lilith looked at Vito, who smiled and shouldered the chain sword, "So, Captain, are you ready to take back your right to live here?"

The Imperial Fist warriors all raised their weapons. The centurion stood at the front of the team holding a power sword shining with energy lightning. Garaton glanced at his brothers who were always ready to attack and turned to look at Vito.

The bolt gauntlet clicked into place.