Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

"The so-called initial good of the body is easily destroyed by the loss of limbs, the stillness of the body, and the bending of the trunk. The so-called initial good of the mind, that is, sensibility and reason, is not permanent. If a person loses his senses, becomes deaf and blind, his sensibility is lost; if a disease makes a person crazy, his reason is no longer there.

And these things can happen to anyone. In such a helpless body and mind, can we not perceive the truth?"-"The Book of Lorgar"

The stars shattered in the sky.

At first, there were some tiny sparks, like the corona halo that was difficult to see with the naked eye, entangled and lingering on the surface of the gray-black metal satellite, and sometimes a feather-like fine light was raised on the surface of the alien void shield of the war satellite, and the subtle ripple-like tremors that followed, spreading layer by layer and dissipating step by step.

Gradually, the firepower poured from torpedoes and light spears coated the surface of the satellite with a hot burning shell, scorching the planet like an incandescent molten iron ball, about to drip molten gold and iron droplets in the dark sky.

Then, at a certain moment, a tortuous but sharp golden thread suddenly cut in from a corner of the satellite, gradually penetrating into the core; the red flames followed the thread, burning from the inside out, like a pair of invisible flame double blades, prying the satellite from the inside along the closed gap like an oyster.

𝟲𝟵𝘀𝗵𝘂𝘅.𝗻𝗲𝘁】

Then, all the light suddenly went out, the fire died down, the bright light returned, and the metal satellite turned back into a condensed and gray sphere, quietly blending into the infinite darkness in the deep night.

The flash disappeared, and the flowing molten mist solidified, as if all the attacks and defenses had come to a halt, and nothing was going to happen.

Only time continued.

The first second. The second second. The hundredth second, ten thousand seconds, until the dawn climbed the skyline of the main star, painted the bleak white light on the edge of the dim world, and gradually brightened, swallowing up the occasional light reflected by the defense module on the surface of the war satellite.

The satellite disappeared in the daylight.

Then, it appeared again.

The dazzling light seemed to be abruptly and violently absorbed from every corner of the entire pale dome to the surface of the war satellite hanging high in the sky. The light continued to enrich, breaking through the limitations of the starlight in the daytime, and piercing the sky with a brighter needle-like flashing light.

And this bright white spot is still getting brighter, brighter, until the light contained in it not only outlines its metal outline, but also blurs it, erases it, violently cuts off, dismembers, and tears its edges, allowing the bright light inside to pour outward, making the entire sky so dazzling that it is difficult to see in a brief moment.

In the light that has been nurtured to the extreme, the satellite shattered with a bang, and thousands of fragments spread wildly in all directions from their original positions, forming a cloud-like structure that stretches thousands of miles outside the atmosphere.

Some fragments are intertwined and twisted, turning into a broken and disordered spider web, piercing the outer surface of the main star and covering a large area of ​​the sky, while other fragments burn through the atmosphere, carrying scalding fire rain, and the tail drags out arrow-like light, piercing into the fragile interior of the main star one by one.

The planet's orbit, rotation speed and inclination, which depend on war satellites for stability, are severely affected. The tides oscillate on the water surface. The land edges along the water are swallowed and smashed by huge waves. Countless observation points are overturned by the shaking crust. Countless flammable areas burst into rapidly spreading fires under the falling meteors in the sky. This northeastern border planet of the Milky Way, which was once shaped by humans and once occupied by aliens, is about to be destroyed by humans.

And in this rain of fire, taking advantage of the disorder of the magnetic field and the temporary loss of control of the orbital defense and monitoring system, one by one, the airborne capsules carrying the joint rapid assault team also fell into the atmosphere and pierced into the surface of the main star. Before the occupation mission is completed, they will serve until death, and even die loyally.

——

After the Terran Dark Angel in the team easily cut the barbed wire around a training base on the planet with some kind of pliers, Iron Warrior Krog first climbed up the tower along the blind spot of the outer wall, grabbed the guard who was leaning against the fence and looking into the distance expressionlessly, and dragged him out of the fence and threw him down.

The Word Bearers waiting at the bottom of the tower accurately caught the falling guard. If Kroger hadn't completely crushed his neck, the impact of hitting the Astartes ceramic steel arm armor would have been enough to take his life. The Word Bearers fixed the body on a metal plate they had taken from the freight station and silently threw it into the ditch around them to cover the traces of the infiltration.

Kroger climbed over the railing and flipped into the room. A few minutes later, he reappeared from the tower and gestured downwards.

Soon, this temporary five-man team consisting of a Word Bearer, a Dark Angel, a Luna Wolf and two Iron Warriors, except for the Deathwing Terminator, all appeared on the top floor of the tower. They all came from the assault squads of various legions, and they had no military ranks.

At first, they agreed that the squad leader was the soldier from the 16th Legion, after all, they liked the tactical style of squads and associations.

But it didn't take long for the Iron Warriors to take over the command, because they were too good at accurately finding loopholes in the surface military structure - well, this might be related to the calculation data flashing inside their iron-gray helmets, after all, that was the auxiliary system equipped by the famous war manipulator Perturabo for the Iron Warriors.

"We should have visited more mortal army training bases before we came, so that we could know which warehouses their laser cannons and tanks are in." The Moon Wolf muttered, his thin face hidden in his helmet. The radio system in the tower has been hacked by two Iron Warriors, who are sending signals to the command tower on behalf of the local rebels.

"There is no need." Another Iron Warrior said, "The fortifications in each place are different. They will only build trenches according to their respective military levels and environmental factors. Maybe there are traps-like the razor wire we encountered outside the base."

"You have all measured the location of the trap, friends, and I am honored to work with you again." The Word Bearer said, and the gray helmet with scriptures carved on it was facing the iron-gray armor of the two Iron Warriors at the same time.

After saying that, he turned his helmet to the window, looking at the broken energy shield and the gray cloud-covered atmosphere in the sky, and said with emotion: "It is also my honor to be able to break through the defenses of these creatures that blaspheme life-"

"Where is my honor?" Shadow Moon Wolf reached out and patted the Word Bearer's shoulder suggestively, "Dear cousin."

"Although I am not Halhabait, this does not mean that I agree with the endless pursuit of glory, because it symbolizes your desire for vanity that the Lord has never given you, and that is a bad virtue that needs to be corrected and removed..."

"I understand, I shouldn't provoke you," Shadow Moon Wolf took a step back and raised his hands, "Respected old scholar of Word Bearer."

"I am glad that you can start from the wrong thing-"

The sound of explosions began to rumble inside the base, and automatic shells whistled through the base, causing the earth to tremble. Shadow Moon Wolf was about to cheer and celebrate the Iron Warriors' success in achieving self-bombing inside the base, when he suddenly found a beam of fire approaching and quickly crouched down.

"Go!" Krog shouted, "We've been discovered!"

Another Iron Warrior quickly fired a series of explosives at the floor, blasting through the narrow entrance and exit. The team members jumped into the charred hole on the edge one by one. After accelerating the fall of more than two floors, they directly relied on the mass of the armor to smash through the floor and achieve a faster fall.

The soil and rocks were broken, the steel bars collapsed, and half of the top of the tower was blown away by the missiles. They went down to the ground and guarded the bottom of the tower. The Deathwing warriors with crossed swords carved on their shoulder armor chased them. The pursuit of artillery fire proved that they had been locked by this base. A bunch of unknown lasers combined with alien weapons penetrated the air from high altitude, scorching the land in the kill zone, chasing every footprint they left.

"Damn it!" Shadow Moon Wolf roared. He believed in the prudence and reliability of the Iron Warriors. The invasion along the way had proved this, which made it incredible that they were suddenly discovered by the group of sluggish soldiers.

"Watch your words-" the Word Bearer shouted.

More shells sizzled around them, lightning pulses whipped the earth into black and broken pieces, the two Iron Warriors' disrupted artillery systems and the power still controlled by the traitors confronted each other and intertwined chaotically.

The Deathwing warrior raised the handheld missile launcher and tried his best to aim at the source of a laser beam while running. The iron feather-like armor on the shoulders of the Terminator Armor reflected the flowing iron luster.

At the same moment when the missile was launched, the shock wave of the explosion near the team flipped him to one side. In any case, a string of red and black flames exploded from the targeted laser turret. The turret seemed to be a floating metal sphere.

The Moon Wolf, who had successfully avoided the explosion, pulled up the Dark Angel. In front of them, the Iron Warrior shouted in the channel: "Bunker!"

They stepped on the steel plates covering the mud and rushed to the back of the solid wall of a warehouse that was part of the entire complex. The metal plates under their feet echoed their footsteps with a hollow echo. A large amount of gunpowder shot from another angle was blocked by the huge main body of the building complex, but various flying firepower platforms and some soldiers were still chasing them, including the floating laser turret that was chasing them relentlessly.

The Iron Warrior raised his hand cannon, and deadly ammunition spit out from the launch tube. One bullet was enough to bite off the entire body of the first few mortal soldiers from the hip upwards.

Screeching and roaring exploded above their heads, and the dazzling plasma fire shot through the thick smoke from the front. The Word Bearers found the position of the tank and detonated the reactive armor in advance. The metal jet of the main warhead of the armor-piercing projectile quickly penetrated the main armor of the tank, and the orange-red flame lit up instantly, followed by denser gray-black smoke. The Iron Warrior immediately replenished his firepower, detonating the magazine, causing the armor of the vehicle to explode.

"What is that!" The Moon Wolf shouted loudly in the back, his voice vibrating through the helmet mask in the turbulent air.

"Tank!" Krog answered, not wanting to question why his companion asked such a stupid question.

"No, I mean! The flying thing! The turret!"

"Go first!" the Iron Warrior shouted.

The Heir of Horus did not stop running. In the gauze-like smoke that was about to dissipate, he could see that the metal ball flying in the sky seemed to drip some sticky liquid. He made sure that the image was recorded in the optical imaging system of the helmet, and then caught up with the speed of the other team members, while firing to defend against the surrounding raids.

The Dark Angel aimed at the spherical laser turret for the second time. The damage this time was superimposed on the previous round of destruction, completely tearing the outer armor of the laser turret, and the burning modules were peeled off piece by piece, exposing the internal structure - it seemed to be a mass of dark pink substance mixed together.

More of a certain liquid was burned dry by the flames, but some sticky substances were also dragged down in pieces. After the carapace was completely detached, the laser turret quickly lost its ability to float, and fell to the ground in piles, turning into a pool of reddish-brown gelatinous mud, mixed with some hard bone materials and difficult-to-determine objects. Obviously, its anti-gravity function comes from a certain area of ​​the external armor.

"For His sake!" The Word Bearer was surprised when he saw the crash of the mass.

In the previous battles, they were actually basically fighting against the rebellious humans who were slaves of the Alien Empire. This was the first time that these Astartes warriors saw the alien biological structure that had deviated from the definition of humans in the Randan Realm.

In a sense, this is actually a good thing, because it means that they are beginning to go deep into the real Randan Empire and touch a corner of the puzzle.

"Lead the shells, Moon Wolf." Kroger said in the channel, and even in combat, his voice was just a little heavier, "I'm not a load-bearing wall here."

"Me?" Shadow Moon Wolf grunted, rushed to Kroger's position, slowed down his running speed, and dodged before the multi-tube hot melt of Demos Rhino caught up with him. The flowing fire hit the outer wall of the warehouse, and the two Iron Warriors quickly coordinated to attack multiple points around the wall. The solid outer wall of the warehouse broke in an instant.

Moon Wolf quickly turned around and flashed into the room. The surrounding cold air instantly formed a layer of frost on the surface of his hot armor, and the small hole adsorption compound on the bottom of his boots immediately fixed him on the smooth ground.

Soon, others followed into the room. The last one was the Word Bearer. After the Rhino's bulldozer got stuck in the outer wall of the warehouse and blocked the passage, he blew up the second armored vehicle of the day.

The noise outside temporarily faded away, and several people avoided the range of the Rhino lighting and panted in the cold indoor light.

"It's right to let you command, Kroger." Shadow Moon Wolf said generously, while examining whether there was anything moving quietly in the shadows inside the warehouse.

"Yeah." Kroger replied simply, examining the warehouse environment they entered.

More specifically, this is a cold storage. The temperature control system of the power armor has begun to hum. The Thinker adjusts the temperature environment to retain more heat for the Space Marines inside the armor.

The interior of the cold storage is extremely wide, probably more than 100 meters long. Judging from the distribution location, it should be converted from a small training platform.

The cold lighting system makes the walls inside the cold storage glow with a dark blue light. There are many rows of iron cabinets in the space. The Iron Warrior walked to the iron cabinet closest to the edge and carefully opened one of the grids. No signal was transmitted because of this, which is a relaxing thing.

In the pulled open iron plate, even in the dim light, the Space Marines could see clearly that there was a human who had stopped breathing frozen there. Judging from the clothes he was wearing, this should be a logistical support staff. Krog snorted heavily and pushed the cabinet back.

"Did they freeze the human here?" The Word Bearer said softly, a little sad. "Why do this?"

"The behavior of the aliens." The Dark Angel of the Death Wing said. Like their current six-wing commander, the directly elected lieutenant Hou Guin, the entire Death Wing gave outsiders an impression of silence. Perhaps some calmness.

"You are right," the Shadow Moon Wolf muttered, his gauntlet resting near the power sword. "Continue to go in? Well, at least let us avoid this section of artillery fire and walk further into the base."

"Check our weapon data." The Iron Warrior said, "Confirm the remaining amount of ammunition..."

His voice suddenly stopped in the voice system, replaced by a low and steady breath.

Frost crackled quietly everywhere, and some slight scraping sounds were captured by the Space Marines' enhanced hearing, as if some tiny objects were moving inside thousands of walls, rubbing and knocking against the space that bound them.

When a sharp collision suddenly exploded from the iron cabinet, the Space Marines had already prepared their weapons and immediately opened fire when the cabinet slid outward along the rollers, and coordinated with the swinging, stabbing and blunt attack of their respective power weapons.

Every dead body that crawled out of the cabinet easily fell in the five warriors' attack movements that were too fast for people to see, but there were more bodies stored in hundreds of rows of hard iron cabinets.

Kroger compared the situation inside and outside and made a decision quickly. "Keep attacking." He growled.

It's always easier to blow up a dead person than to kill a tank. He turned suddenly to a figure approaching, and smashed the opponent's fragile purple face with a punch. At the same time, he removed the shoulders of the corpse and kicked its frozen legs to pieces, stripping it of all its movement and attack possibilities. The laser weapon fell from the corpse's hand and hit the cold ground.

"Krog!" Moon Wolf shouted, "That--"

His voice was drowned out by a burst of overlapping, loud and piercing shouts. It was hard to imagine that such a scream of pure pain could burst out from a mortal's throat. Krog kicked off the corpse holding his leg armor and turned around. The scene in front of him made him suddenly horrified.

At the end of the iron cabinet, some corpses that had crawled out of the container were twisting and squeezing each other, blending into a pile of formed flesh and blood in the broken bones and skin, and pouring them into a set of damaged Space Marine armor, forcibly supporting the empty armor inside.

Then, through some unknown way, the artificial nerve center that should have been connected to the Space Marine central nervous system completed the interaction, and the entire set of brown-tea power armor was forcibly activated.

And from the changes in the electromagnetic environment in the room, it can be known that this is not an isolated case.

"Blasphemy!" The Word Bearer cursed and raised the flamethrower.

"Don't think about blasphemy," the Shadow Wolf shouted, "even if they dare to touch our fucking Second Legion's fucking power armor!"

Krog made a decision, "Find the emergency passage here! There must be isolation doors around the training platform."

"Keep moving forward." The Dark Angel said hoarsely.

"Keep going!"