Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 741 The Battle of Baal - Part 8

Dante left the command center and, surrounded by the Honor Guard, ascended the highest tower of Angel Keep. From there, he could overlook the entire battlefield. The scale of the swarm was beyond imagination; they were like living scourges, completely engulfing the land of Baal.

He connected to the global communication channel, and his voice, filtered through the mask, spread to every corner of Angel Castle, reaching the auditory receivers of every defender.

"Sons of Saint Gilles! Brothers of the Dark Angels! All warriors loyal to the Emperor!" Dante's voice wasn't impassioned, yet it carried a heavy, soul-piercing power. "We have nowhere to retreat. Behind us lies the millennia-old legacy of the Blood Angels, Baal's last hope, and the dignity of the Human Empire in this star system!"

He paused for a moment, as if to imprint each word on the listener's mind.

"The enemy is just outside the city. They are countless, and they crave to devour everything. But I tell you, as long as one person stands, as long as one explosive bomb remains, as long as the banner of the Holy Blood Angels still flies over Angel Castle, Baal will never fall!"

"Today, we may die. But we will die under the Emperor's gaze, and our names will be forever etched on the Empire's monument! Let these alien scum understand that what they are trying to devour is a hard rock strong enough to shatter their teeth!"

"For Saint Gilles! For the Emperor! For Baal!"

After a brief silence, deafening roars erupted from the walls of Angel Castle and from every defensive point, converging into an indomitable sonic wave that even temporarily drowned out the hissing of the insect swarm outside the city.

"For Saint Gilles! For the Emperor! For Baal!"

Dante shut down the communications, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon where the swarming insects stretched out. The final battle to defend the city was about to begin. He knew this might be the swan song of the Blood Angels, but like all warriors, he was ready to play the most tragic yet glorious finale on this final stage.
-
The swarm's all-out attack began with a soul-rending shriek that seemed to come from the depths of the earth.

That was not the roar of a single creature, but a psionic shockwave generated by the resonant will of billions of Zerg units, powerful enough to shake reality.

After the shriek, the previously relatively "calm" insect swarm instantly boiled over, like a flood bursting its banks, launching a full-scale, reckless assault on the walls of Angel Castle.

The ferocity of the siege battle instantly escalated to an unprecedented level.

On the main city wall, the roar of explosive guns, the boom of heavy weapons, the buzz of powered weapons, the sharp hiss of insect swarms, the clicking of carapaces rubbing together, and the hissing of acid corroding metal blended into a symphony of destruction.

The Blood Angels, relying on the crenellations and fortifications, poured fire downwards, and every second, swarms of insect units were pulverized at the base of the walls.

But more enemies immediately filled the gap, trampling each other and piling up to form a rising slope of flesh and blood, which the subsequent swarms climbed upwards.

The blazing beams of laser guns shot out like a storm from the firing ports in the middle of the city wall; it was the Astronauts in battle.

Although their laser weapons are not as powerful as explosive bombs when fired individually, they have a high rate of fire and high reliability, making them very effective against large numbers of low-level insect swarms.

They formed a dense barrage of fire, precisely targeting and killing the knife-wielding and gun-wielding worms that attempted to climb or break through it.

However, the Astronauts were under immense pressure. The Zerg's specialized units—the Gun Bugs capable of firing spore bullets and the Warrior Bugs with ranged attack capabilities—were unleashing a barrage of fire on the firing ports in the middle of the walls.

The laser gun array frequently malfunctioned due to the firing ports being clogged with acid or viscous secretions. Occasionally, firing ports were directly destroyed by intense biological fire, turning both the firing ports and the Astronaut soldiers inside into charred remains.

An Astral Army captain, while commanding his company, was struck in the chest by a bone spike that pierced through a gap in the crenellations. His last order before falling was, "Keep the fire! Don't let them get up here!"

His soldiers, their eyes bloodshot, continued operating their laser guns until a tunnel worm rammed a hole in the wall they were in, and the surging swarm instantly overwhelmed them.
-
In a relatively low tower area on the flank of the city wall, the battle nuns undertake a crucial defensive task. This tower controls a vital passage leading to the inner fortress, where the Zerg swarm has deployed a large force.

The battle nun preacher, Catherine, wielded a flamethrower, from which blazing holy fire surged forth, igniting the swarm units attempting to climb the outer wall of the tower. They screamed as they fell as burning fireballs.

Her sisters, on the other hand, used bolters and molten weapons to precisely clear out the heavy units below and the spore projectiles that tried to get close.

"In the name of the Emperor, purify this filth!" Catherine cried out, her faith like armor protecting her from the terrifying sight that could break any mortal.

But the swarm's attacks were endless. A new type of unit, capable of short-range gliding, suddenly swooped down from the air towards the battle nuns' positions atop the tower.

Although most were destroyed in mid-air, one managed to crash into the position, tearing two battle nuns apart in an instant with its sharp appendages. Catherine switched her flamethrower and burned the monster to a crisp, but the position had already been breached.

More gliding units seized the opportunity to pour in, and the battle on the top of the tower instantly turned into a bloody melee.

The battle nuns wielded power swords and chainsaws, engaging the aliens in close combat. Catherine's flamethrower was unusable in melee, so she drew her explosive pistol and relic short sword from her waist and grappled with a swarm of insect warriors that lunged at her.

Finally, reinforcements arrived, the remaining swarm of insects was wiped out, and the tower was defended.

But Catherine looked at her fallen sisters, more than half of whom lay dead beside her, their silver armor stained with green blood and their own, and her heart was filled with heavy sorrow. They had paid a heavy price to defend this passage.
-
Beneath the city walls, the city gate area became the most fiercely contested and intense battleground. The Zerg swarm used every means to attack this most obvious weak point.

The colossal destructive beasts slammed their bodies against the heavy adamantite gates, creating deafening roars. Specialized acid units continuously spewed corrosive liquid, and the armor above the gates melted away at a visible rate.

The forces guarding the inner side of the city gate were a mixed force of Blood Angels and Astral Army soldiers. They unleashed heavy explosives, multi-barreled lasers, and plasma cannons, pouring fire upon the swarming Zerg outside through firing ports above the gate and bunkers on the sides. Each salvo cleared a large area, only to have it quickly filled up again.

"Thermal Melting Team! Aim at that biggest Destruction Beast! Now!" a Blood Angel officer roared.

Two Astronaut soldiers, carrying heavy molten lances, struggled to aim, braving the acid spraying in from the firing ports. A blazing beam shot out, successfully striking the Destroyer that was relentlessly ramming the city gate, melting a huge hole in its side.

The Destroyer fell with a howl, but another immediately took its place.

The defenders suffered extremely heavy casualties. Soldiers behind the firing ports were exposed to the swarm's long-range fire, and men fell one after another.

The bunkers were frequently breached or melted by strong acid, and the defenders inside were often killed before they could evacuate. The ground inside the city gate was covered with blood and slime, and broken weapons and corpses were piled up together.

The Astral Army and the Battle Sisters, these mortal forces, played an indispensable role in this war on a divine scale. With discipline, faith, and life, they filled the gaps in the numbers of the Astartes, holding every corner of the defensive line.

Their sacrifice was equally heroic, contributing everything to this final defense. The walls still stand, but every second of their defense is built upon the bones of countless loyal warriors. The brutality of siege warfare far exceeds anyone's imagination.
-
Just as the physical siege reached its most brutal stage, another invisible yet equally deadly attack struck.

A heavy, viscous, and endlessly hungry psionic shadow, like pervasive poison gas, began to seep into every inch of Angel Keep, eroding the will of every defender.

This was not a direct psionic shock, but rather a more insidious whisper and suggestion, a pollution of the individual mind emanating from the complex collective consciousness of the Hive Will.

For the mortals of the Astral Army and the Battle Sisters, this corruption manifests as a sudden, uncontrollable, profound fear and despair.

The endless swarm of insects before them seemed even more invincible, the sacrifice of their comrades became meaningless, and the emperor's glory seemed to be obscured by endless darkness.

Some soldiers began to show signs of mental confusion, their movements becoming distorted when handling weapons; others were gripped by inexplicable panic, cowering behind cover and trembling, and some even collapsed under the unbearable mental pressure, turning their guns on themselves.

As for the Holy Blood Angels and their offspring, this psionic shadow precisely struck the most dangerous chord deep within their genes—the curse of Black Fury.

The rage and sorrow that originated from the fall of Primarch Sangilius, deeply rooted in his blood, began to surge uncontrollably under the malicious seduction of the Hive Will.

An ominous red light began to flash in the eyes of some soldiers, their attacks became increasingly ferocious and erratic, and suppressed growls escaped their throats.

They are sliding into an abyss of irrationality and inability to distinguish friend from foe.
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At the highest point of the Angels Keep Psionic Spire, the chief think tank Mephisto stands at the center of the converging psionic storm.

Behind his scarlet visor burned a blazing psionic flame, and he was surrounded by a barrier of pure will and knowledge, resisting the all-pervasive psionic shadow.

He could clearly "see" that the filthy psionic torrent originating from the hive's will was trying to engulf the entire fortress, disintegrating the defenders' fighting spirit and reason.

"All psionicists, construct a barrier! Focus on defense and order!" Mephisto's voice, transmitted through the psionic link, reached the consciousness of every Imperial psionicist within Angel Keep.
Whether they are the psionicists of the Battle Sisters, the data prophets of the Mechanicus, or the few psionicly sensitive individuals in the Astral Army.

Instantly, beams of psionic light of varying sizes and colors lit up at key points throughout the fortress.

They are like lighthouses lit in the dark tide, striving to dispel the fog of despair and madness.

The battle nuns chanted hymns, their faith transforming into golden light to soothe the wounded hearts of the mortal soldiers; the mechanical priests' binary prayers stabilized the machine souls, resisting the interference of psychic energy on the equipment; and the Astronautical Army's psionicists did their utmost to construct a rudimentary defense line within the consciousness of their comrades.

However, compared to the vast, star-like collective psionic energy of the Hive Will, their power is like a firefly compared to the bright moon.

The pressure from the psionic shadow continued to increase, and weaker psionicists would scream in agony from the overload, their consciousness destroyed, or worse—assimilated by the endless hunger, becoming nodes that spread despair.

Mephisto was under immense pressure. He stood at the forefront of the psychic clash, using his own soul as a fulcrum to forcibly maintain a relatively stable area, protecting the command center and the most important defensive nodes.

The corrupted psychic energy, like billions of cold needles, relentlessly pierced the barriers of his consciousness, trying to find a crack.

His mind was filled with visions of Saint Gilles' fall, Baal's transformation into a desolate world, and the terrifying future of warriors descending into madness and slaughtering each other.

These were not real attacks, but rather malicious distortions of his personal memories and fears by the Hive's will.

"Hold fast...to your...essence..." Mephisto struggled to maintain his senses amidst the torrent of psionic energy, recalling the oath of the Blood Angels to protect Baal.

These unwavering beliefs became his strongest shield.

But the Zerg's will to fight escalated once again.

A concentrated, highly focused spike of psionic energy, like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, suddenly broke through the outer psionic barrier and pierced Mephisto's core consciousness.

This attack was designed to instantly destroy his sanity or utterly shatter his soul.

At the critical moment, Mephisto made a dangerous decision.

Instead of choosing complete defense, he channeled some of his psionic energy into the collective subconscious of the Holy Blood Angels, which he had been trying to suppress—that deep pool containing black rage.

With exquisite control, he guided the external destructive energy to collide with the surging rage within him.

On a physical level, Mephisto's body trembled violently, and a thin trickle of blood flowed from his nostril.

However, on the psionic level, a brief but violent storm erupted.

The psionic spikes of the Hive's will interacted in an unpredictable way with the dark fury deep within the genes of the Holy Blood Angels, resulting in mutual consumption and annihilation.

This risky move bought Mephisto a breather and temporarily weakened the targeted psionic attack. He used the opportunity to regroup and reinforce the barrier once again.

The psionic confrontation has temporarily reached a stalemate. The shadow of the Hive's will still looms over Angel Keep, the whispers of despair and madness have not completely disappeared, and the allure of Black Fury still lurks in the shadows.

But Mephisto and his psionic followers, through their will and sacrifice, successfully averted the worst, buying crucial time for the physical defenses on the walls to maintain basic order and morale.

However, no one knows how long this perilous balance can last, or when the price Mephisto will pay for it will become apparent.

(End of this chapter)