The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Wuwuwu, please! This little bit of biscuit is for my child! He's sick! Please!"

The faint cries came from a distance. Canto walked like a machine. He desperately wanted to gouge out his eyes, but he couldn't. His peripheral vision still told him everything.

A woman in only a single layer of clothing was dragged to the ground, her scarred and blackened fingers clutching a small ceramic pot. But soon, a pair of hands pulled her away, and a soldier held the pot in his arms.

"This is an order from above. All surplus food must be collected. Your share of rations has already been distributed."

"That's not food at all! What are wood shavings and grass roots supposed to be! What am I going to—"

"Mommy!"

A little girl ran out of the door, pointing inside while crying.

"Brother, he, brother, he—wuwuwu."

The woman screamed and crawled towards the house. The soldiers shook their heads helplessly and turned to leave for the next family.

As Canto walked past the statue of Polux, the legendary first Chapter Master of the Crimson Fists, he noticed a group of children huddled near the base, wrapped in blankets and shivering, staring expectantly at everyone who passed by, as if hoping for a little food and warmth.

He continued walking, his steps growing heavier, his red gauntlets clenched tightly.

Crossing the statue and reaching a main road near the Silver Fortress, he heard hushed discussions coming from near a rather upscale residence. Canto had noticed it since he arrived.

People were gathered in front of the door. Soldiers carried out two stretchers covered with white cloths. A priest was praying, and a seven or eight-year-old boy sat on the steps, staring blankly in some direction.

For the first time, Canto hated his keen hearing—

"...I heard the man killed himself first, to let his wife and son eat his flesh. After a few meals, the woman got sick and killed herself too..."

"Oh, what a tragedy. What will happen to the child?"

"I don't know. Who can care about anyone else now... Let's see what the church says."

When Canto entered the new Rynn's City walls, the Silver Fortress where the command was located, nearly a hundred-year-old Governor Maya immediately ordered someone to bring a cup of thirst-quenching wine to her eternal hero. But Canto silently refused and immediately called a meeting.

There weren't many attendees: a few mortal commanding officers, the remaining Fourth Company Captain Cortez and the new Second Company Captain Grimm, the new Chief Librarian Deguero, and the new Master of Sanctity Argo.

This was all that remained of the Crimson Fists.

"...Without food, we won't last until reinforcements arrive."

The meeting began. Canto, removing his helmet to reveal a scarred, steel face, cut straight to the point. Then he looked at a general.

"How long can the current food supply last?"

"Lord, it can support the combat troops for two months."

He only said combat troops, but Canto knew what that meant. New Rynn City had about a hundred thousand combat troops and four to five million residents with little to no combat ability.

"How long can the combat troops last after Rynn becomes a dead city filled with the stench of corpses?"

The other party did not answer this question and could not answer it.

"If the soldiers starve to death, this place will become a dead city anyway."

Fourth Company Captain Cortez seemed accustomed to disagreeing with his Chapter Master, even though they had supported each other from the ruins of the destroyed Chapter Monastery to New Rynn City. Their relationship had become very delicate.

Grimm, who had taken over the position of the deceased former Second Company Captain, suddenly said softly:

"Can we find a way from the sea?"

Cortez shook his head.

"The Greenskin fighters bomb during the day and bomb at night. The ships in the harbor were bombed long ago, not even a plank remains. You probably can't even go fishing at sea."

Just then, there was a sudden knock on the conference room door.

"Emergency!"

Hearing this, Canto's face darkened, but he still had someone open the door. An officer saluted and walked in cautiously.

"Report! The coastal lighthouse has spotted ships approaching from the sea!"

"Ships!?"

Canto's eyes widened, as did Cortez's.

"Greenskins?"

"It doesn't seem so. They raised signal flags, but there was no response on the radio. According to the hull number, it's cargo ship 17, a grain transport ship."

Hearing the words 'grain transport ship,' Canto almost jumped up.

"Arrange Thunderhawks immediately! At once! Prepare all three Thunderhawks!"

As the Thunderhawks skimmed over the sea at extremely low altitude, the mysterious cargo ship was less than fifty kilometers from the coast of New Rynn City. Canto personally led the team, and Fourth Company Captain Cortez also participated. The three Thunderhawks were filled with tactical squads.

In the cabin, Canto silently prayed to the Emperor, praying that it wasn't an empty ship, praying that it had at least a little something, not too much, just a little.

Soon, Canto jumped from the Thunderhawk cabin and landed heavily on the rusty deck.

As soon as he landed, he was surprised to find that on the railings of the foredeck, there were large, ugly heads stuck on spikes. They seemed to have been dead for some time, and the blood was completely dried.

"Greenskins?"

Canto felt uneasy. The Greenskins had gotten there first, and there might be nothing he hoped for left.

But he still didn't give up, leading the team to the bridge.

Upon entering, they found it empty. The console was in automatic navigation mode, but on the glass of the command tower, they saw lines of High Gothic written in blood.

"The ship's crew has been killed by Greenskins. To prevent the corpses from decaying and causing pollution, we had no choice but to bury them at sea. The invading Greenskins have also been annihilated. The grain is safe and sound in the cargo hold. It is safe to eat, please do not worry. Greetings to the steadfast defenders."

Canto and Cortez exchanged glances, both puzzled, but the grain was more important now. They hurried to check the cargo hold.

When the hatch opened, revealing the mountains of grain inside, Canto lost his composure for the first time. He slowly took off his helmet, knelt on the ground, and hot tears rolled from the corners of his eyes, as if unable to believe everything in front of him. Until he grabbed a grain and put it in his mouth, slowly chewing out its fragrant taste, the tormented and suffering Chapter Master roared.

"The Emperor has not abandoned us! The Emperor has not abandoned Rynn! No! No!!"

Subsequently, cargo ship 17 arrived at the port of New Rynn City under the escort of the Crimson Fists. The news that followed caused the whole city to boil over.

Food is here! Everyone can have a full meal!

The morale, which had been declining day by day, was reignited at this moment. Moreover, during the process of counting the cargo hold, the Crimson Fists discovered that there were not only grains, but also more scarce medicines, amounting to nearly 2 tons. They did not know where they came from, but looking at the origin and storage labels, they all seemed to come from the already fallen areas.

Of course, the Crimson Fists' explanation for the origin of this ship was that the crew escorted it to the death, fighting to the death with the enemy after being looted by the Greenskins, and that the ship was sent to its destination by the power of the Emperor.

This statement was naturally to boost morale. The real situation was a mystery to the high-level, including the ordinary warriors of the Crimson Fists.

On the way back to Rynn escorting the cargo ship, Canto couldn't figure out who had intervened until Cortez reminded him.

"Could it be... those guys, the ones the Tenth Company encountered."

"You mean the Eld..."

Canto looked at the blood letters on the glass in shock, but he didn't directly point out the Eldar, because the appearance of the Eldar in Rynn was still top secret. Those scouts were also given gag orders.

After all, the Greenskin invasion was already annoying enough. If the appearance of the Eldar spread, the morale would only be lower, making Rynn seem like it was cursed, attracting all kinds of aliens to gather.

Canto walked back and forth in the bridge with his hands behind his back, then looked at the Fourth Company Captain.

"What exactly do they want to do? According to Mishina, the other party doesn't want this world to fall into the hands of the Greenskins, so they came to help us."

"Aliens cannot be trusted, maybe they have other conspiracies."

"Then we have no choice about these grains."

"I didn't say anything about the grains, I'm just reminding you to be vigilant. For the honor of the sons of Dorn... even if there are not many of us left, we must never accept the help of aliens. Rynn will not have alien benefactors."

Canto looked at the smoking city in the distance, sighed, and then said softly:

"Let's solve the Greenskins first before talking about anything else."