Chapter 226: Hello, Xenos, Your Scourge Has Arrived (Part 6)
Rust is the scar of metal.
Hades raised his weapon and fired. In the distance, a wandering figure immediately collapsed, letting out a dying groan before falling silent.
The battlefield was in utter chaos. The bodies of the Mechanicus warriors and the xenos were piled together, their blood seeping out, only to be drowned in layer upon layer of rust.
They were advancing through a corner where the corrosion was at its worst, precisely because the xenos forces there were at their weakest.
The xenos troops had not immediately surged into this area in force, for a simple reason: the rust was stopping them from entering. These sluggish alien creatures had at last sensed that something was very wrong on Rust Prime.
Compared to the human Imperium forces they were facing, other, incomprehensible things had entered this region. A gloom hung over it, and the rust slaughtered all things indiscriminately.
At present, the main Mekanic army was trying to bypass the heavily rust-infested zones around the capital district, while the despairing Mechanicus forces had clearly given up on holding these areas.
On the tactical map, a blank zone had emerged where neither side dared to enter, looking almost laughable.
It reminded Hades of those muddy battlefields, where in the late stages of exhaustion and logistical collapse, plague and disease became the true death.
In a certain sense, Hades had to thank the Warp-tainted nature of this rust.
With him forging the way, the yellowish marks of corrosion withered beneath his steps. The Death Guard paid it no mind, but the Tech-Priests jostled one another, carefully stepping on the path Hades had opened.
As they drew closer to the capital, the harsh static on their comms channel grew stronger, and broken fragments of messages came through:
[Tech-Priest Dela blew up the fuel tanks at the western factory. The road on the west side is completely blocked, the spread of corrosion is contained.]
[Tech-Priest Bluen is luring the corrosion toward the eastern battlefield with his Skitariis. Withdraw the eastern forces.]
[They're using fire to stop it!]
Hades listened silently to the last words of these Tech-Priests, their final scraps of rationality mixed in the chaotic vox signals. Driven to desperation, they had begun using the plague itself as a weapon, even if it meant mutual destruction.
The xenos, too, had become conscious of halting the plague's spread, moving their forces to bypass the worst-hit zones while using fire to purge the disease.
The situation was extraordinarily chaotic. If the Mekanics could not take the capital quickly, then with the plague's outbreak, they would end up with nothing.
As for the Mechanicus, they were like dying patients who, even with their last gasp of breath, still wanted to spit infectious saliva in the faces of the xenos.
Without the intervention of the Death Guard, Hades could well imagine the hellish scene this battlefield would have become.
That was war—in the end, no matter how advanced a force was, it would wind up grappling in the mud. That was why the Chaos of the Warp always won, never losing.
Hades almost felt as if he could hear the gods mocking him.
No. It would not end like this.
Based on the intelligence provided by the accompanying Tech-Priests, Hades was able to get an accurate picture of the current situation.
The western sector of the city, where the corrosion was at its worst, had already fallen. A small xenos squad had entered the capital, but there had been no further reports of them amid the chaos; they seemed to have been wiped out.
That was also the sector through which Hades and his force were advancing.
The battles on the eastern and northern fronts were the most intense, and suffered the least corrosion damage.
However, the Mechanicus had already begun using the rust plague to completely destroy the eastern lines, deciding to concentrate their forces at the northern pass—where the fortifications were strongest.
The southern sector had fallen, but the Mechanicus had blown up the chemical plants there, sealing the front line with spreading radiation and toxic gases.
Compared to the still-fighting front lines, the interior of the capital was in utter chaos. The Tech-Priests were destroying their own machinery, committing suicide in despair, and their dying vox signals had completely jammed communications. Even the acting Archmagos had lost contact.
Hades considered this for a moment.
[Head for the eastern front. Order those Tech-Priests to stop spreading the rust plague.]
Hades stopped and turned, shouting at the Tech-Priests clinging to the Death Guard formation:
"Who among you holds the highest rank? I need them to help me issue orders to the other Mechanicus forces!"
When Hades, like a god in their eyes, spoke, this ragtag-looking group was instantly thrown into a commotion. From Hades' vantage point, a Tech-Priest drifted along the red tide toward him, clearly unconscious from the overwhelming pressure of the Black Domain.
Hades fell silent for a moment, then quietly retracted his Black Domain.
"My lord, she is the overall commander of the western front. Please wait a moment."
With the oppressive field suddenly lifted, the Tech-Priests immediately became much more active. Hades watched them pull out a wrench on the left and a screwdriver on the right, hurriedly trying to repair her.
One Tech-Priest was applying an electric shock, while another was physically slapping her to wake her up.
Hades was silent for a moment, then turned back to directing the Death Guard to keep advancing.
Finally, through the Tech-Priests' tireless efforts, the woman regained consciousness.
"M-My lord!"
She spoke while shaking off her comrades' support, then fell to her knees in a deep bow—
"Stop!"
Hades hoisted her up with one hand.
"I need to use you to send orders to the other Mechanicus battle groups. Do you understand?"
"Understood, my lord!"
She quickly opened up her communications panel. In her heart, Hades—who had just saved the western remnants—now had an unshakable status.
Look at the road they had come through: withered black rust had been cleared away on the wasteland, forming a path like a colossal axe splitting the ocean.
[This is Bluen, ER1. Reinforcements have arrived—it's the Death Guard Legion. Hand over operational command to the Death Guard commander immediately. Repeat, hand over command authority, top priority.]
[Are you insane from the rust?!]
Hades interjected directly on the vox, without the slightest hesitation:
[Bluen, ER1, this is Hades, commander of the Death Guard. The Death Guard currently controls two-thirds of the Rust system.]
[By the order of Lord Mortarion, I lead the Seventh Company of the Death Guard to support your defense of the capital.]
[Wait—your vox location? You're on the western front? That place is covered in rust—how are you even transmitting?!]
[I can block the spread of the rust.]
There was silence on the other side. For a battle where every second counted, it felt like an eternity.
[ER1, by the Omnissiah's name, I swear everything that man just said is true.]
[It's absolutely true. This— this lord—he can, he can do it!]
[Repeating again—both of you, hand over command. The Death Guard will join your operations.]
[The reason the xenos haven't launched a full-scale assault yet is because the Death Guard fleet is holding up their reinforcements in orbit.]
Hades took a deep breath.
[I myself am a Master of the Forge. I fully understand the Mechanicus' methods of war. We can understand your resolve to defend the capital at all costs.]
[It is precisely because of this understanding that we broke through the lines in advance to provide support.]
[…]
[I have sent you the command codes, Lord Hades.]
[The acting Archmagos within the capital are no longer in contact. ER1 and I are merely holding on by the last thread. Commander of the Death Guard, I hope you and your forces will succeed.]
[We will.]
Hades spoke:
[First priority—Bluen, stop spreading the rust plague. We are heading for the eastern front to provide support. Hold the line until we arrive.]
Even as he argued with the Tech-Priests, Hades was not idle. He began broadcasting signals across the city, announcing the arrival of reinforcements and ordering the Tech-Priests to stop destroying machinery.
The wrath of the Death Guard descended upon the battlefield.
The silent warriors joined the fray. Coordinating with the Skitariis' firepower, these highly mobile warriors managed to pin down and annihilate the enemy forces.
Under the cover of the Seventh Company, Hades unleashed the Black Domain, creating a one-man fortress across the vast battlefield. Around him, rust and life alike withered.
The rust that had been gradually overtaking the entire battlefield receded—like the tide drawing back to reveal the bones beneath the water.
Now even the Tech-Priests who had initially harbored doubts had nothing left to say. This was no feat an ordinary man could achieve; only the powerful psykers of ancient records could wield such might.
But Hades was not a psyker. Unlike those psykers despised by the Mechanicus, his power did not bring chaos.
On the contrary, he stilled chaos and disorder.
One way or another, aside from the mad Tech-Priests on the west front driven insane by the rust plague, the rest truly submitted after witnessing Hades' extraordinary abilities.
The xenos' assault was temporarily repelled. Hades walked through the trenches, arranging the next moves. The eastern and northern fronts could still be held, and the eastern gate, capable of handling large vehicles, would become the next strategic point.
Tech-Priest Bluen followed behind Hades. Having witnessed Hades' power, this exhausted priest finally seemed to have found something to rely on, and she began muttering the whole story of the campaign:
The xenos' attack had been sudden and without warning. These Mekanic creatures, with firepower far exceeding Rust Prime's, had torn through the system's defenses.
The defending orbital stations had been annihilated by sheer volume of munitions. Then, because of the acting Archmagos's arrogance, the planet's defense laser arrays had targeted the wrong coordinates—directly leading to Rust Prime's fall.
The Mechanicus' Titans and Knights were deployed, but the enemy responded with heavy vehicles in far greater numbers. Left with no choice, the Mechanicus resorted to trading blood for kills, doing everything possible to take down the enemy's heavy war engines.
Their landing platforms were destroyed in the process, and afterward, the Death Guard fleet prevented the xenos from rebuilding them. The enemy was forced to fight with their initial deployments of light infantry.
At first, the defenders could still rely on the city's existing fortifications to repel the enemy. But as the rust spread, those defenses began to fail, one by one.
Without heavy firepower cover, the city began to fall.
The battle lines crumbled slowly. With no word of reinforcements, the acting Archmagos eventually chose to abandon hope.
Despair and chaos crept into people's hearts like rust. Defeat was inevitable.
The Archmagos ordered the destruction of the factories along the southern front, the southern troops retreated to sabotage the city's machinery, and the Archmagos himself headed to the city's central World Forge.
"He intends to activate the World Forge's self-destruct sequence."
"Lord Hades, commander of the Death Guard—allow me to make an excessive request."
Bluen trembled as she tried to grab Hades, but Hades wasn't the kind of man who liked having scraps of cloth draped on his back—so Bluen's mechanical limb awkwardly drew back.
"Please, stop Archmagos La. I've tried to contact him, but all requests have been denied."
"If the World Forge is destroyed, the blast from its reactor will level the entire city."
Hades was shocked.
"Something this important—none of you tried to stop him? Or at least delay his actions?!"
Or even just tell me in advance? We're busy defending the city, and now you turn around and blow up the home base?!
The Tech-Priests behind him shrank back a bit.
"Before you arrived… our cognitive circuits were very unstable. The rust plague may have affected our thinking."
Hades took a deep breath. Calm—he had to stay calm. There truly was a warp disturbance here; their souls and minds had clearly been influenced to some extent.
"Give me a detailed map of the place, and your authority codes."
"Right now. Immediately. At once."
Hades' voice carried a barely restrained fury.
Inside the Forge, red-hot molten metal bubbled, sending up scalding steam. The corpse of the Archmagos hung above the steamer, mangled beyond recognition.
"O God, if You truly mean to abandon us—where should we go?!"
"Is Rust Prime's fate really to be trampled beneath the iron hooves of the xenos? Are centuries of effort truly so worthless?!"
Archmagos La called out in utter despair, begging for even the tiniest sign or miracle—but there was nothing. Only a mind growing ever more chaotic, in a space that was otherwise empty.
Hope did not dwell here.
At last, La gave up. The dull thudding sounds seemed to echo from the corridor—it must have been his imagination. At this moment, the xenos might already have broken into the capital.
Standing before the console, the Tech-Priest trembled as he began to enter the self-destruct codes.
As if La's agony had been enough to attract a higher presence, the corpse of the previous Archmagos hanging above the forge began to twist.
It was time for Him to appear. These ignorant cog-heads had never understood true machinery—that it was built upon a pact of order, pain, and soul.
They had no concept of the Plagueheart's power, and only ever foolishly treated it as a common machine core.
It was precisely these unthinking, unlearning fools who formed the industrial backbone of a stupid empire—whenever he thought of that, Vashtorr could not help but laugh.
But one thing displeased Vashtorr: that Apothecary named Laton was not on Rust Prime at this moment. After hastily completing their deal, the Apothecary had vanished.
Even though that Apothecary had shown Him great respect, it went no further than that.
The despair and suffering were still not plentiful enough, and people's emotions were even beginning to calm down—being in a region where the material universe's barriers were thicker was not good news.
But it was enough for His avatar to manifest here. Only a simple petty trick was needed, and these fools—deceived for thousands of years—would kneel and worship.
Praise Him! Master of the Thousand Forges, God in the Machine, Creator of All Machinery—here to descend His might!
The corpse of the Tech-Priest began to distort. Cables squirmed as they pushed out their copper cores, chunks of metal clattered, arcs of electricity crackled and formed His strength, the hall's signals went haywire, and heretical runes appeared on every screen.
La looked on in panic, helpless, shouting the name of God, while a hissing, blasphemous electric voice rang out—
"My faithful—"
BANG!
"Hold it right there!!"
The many-layered security doors slammed open as Hades strode into the chamber, countless xenos corpses in his wake.
The Black Domain spread like a dense fog, enveloping the entire room at once.
Worried he might not make it in time to stop La's suicide protocols, Hades tuned the Black Domain to a level just enough to render people unconscious.
The instant the Black Domain filled the space, all warp signatures in the chamber vanished completely. Electricity and magnetism once again obeyed the rules of physics.
Hades held a death notice in hand as he cautiously approached Tech-Priest La. He could still sense the potent warp presence that had just been here, but the Black Domain had swallowed it too quickly for him to see its true form.
And besides, this… didn't really feel like Nurgle to him? It also seems… to not match the taint of the other gods either?
Hades felt as if a huge wave of metallic steam had just surged through the place.
Within the hall, only the bright molten fuel of the forge glowed, and the Archmagos's corpse swayed on its hook above the crucible.
Judging by the way the corpse was swinging, Hades was sure this fallen priest, La, had done some desecration to the remains.
Hades silently checked around the hall. Once he confirmed that the self-destruct sequence had not been activated, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and retracted the Black Domain—
"Cursed Outsider—you will sooner or later face divine judgements!!"
A shrill, violent scream burst out of the corpse of the Archmagos.
Hades jolted, instantly re-extending the Black Domain, and the world returned to silence.
Only the Tech-Priest's corpse was still gently swaying.
Ah, what was that?
Which warp creature was this supposed to be?
Hades drew a long breath.
Had he… missed something?
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