On the Blood Angels' strike cruiser, Mephisto and Lemartes watched with tense expressions as the Death Company warriors, who had just drunk the sanctus wine, stood before them.
Although they had confirmed that the sanctus wine could awaken warriors who had succumbed to the Black Rage, they still inevitably felt nervous when it came to actually giving the sanctus wine to their brothers.
After all, this was the first time, and no one was sure what would happen.
Even though Mephisto had used his psychic foresight to ascertain the outcome, watching his brothers, who had once been hopelessly lost to the Black Rage, regain consciousness, he still felt his hands trembling slightly with excitement.
Such a moment was thrilling for any of Sanguinius's sons, as it meant that Sanguinius's sons could finally escape the fate cursed by the Black Rage.
"Hah… Ah! Horus!" With a painful groan, a Death Company battle-brother roared loudly, and then his eyes gradually cleared.
The Death Company battle-brother, now conscious, looked at Lemartes and Mephisto in disbelief, then surveyed his surroundings, and finally asked incredulously, "Where am I? What happened? I remember I seemed to have fallen into…"
"Brother, welcome back!" Lemartes stepped forward and embraced the battle-brother who had regained consciousness, then explained to him, "By Sanguinius's blessing! The Emperor has bestowed a blessing, and we have found a way to awaken from the Black Rage!"
"Is this true? Can the Black Rage really be awakened from?" The Death Company warrior, who had just been immersed in the Black Rage, still couldn't believe it.
Even if he had truly been awakened from the Black Rage, he couldn't imagine that the Black Rage, which had plagued the Legion for ten thousand years, had actually been resolved.
"Yes, my brother! We successfully awakened you, and now we will awaken more of our brothers! As Sanguinius's sons, let us witness this great moment together!" Lemartes gestured for the battle-brother to look to the side, where there were forty-nine other Death Company battle-brothers, all of whom were about to be awakened.
"Sanguinius above!" The Death Company battle-brother knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face, sobbing uncontrollably.
The ten thousand years of suffering endured by Sanguinius's sons finally saw the dawn today.
—
While the Blood Angels celebrated their hope, the Mandeville Point in the Rostov System erupted.
The Starport's auspex arrays shrieked madly, and the entire Starport was enveloped in a piercing alarm.
Tech-Priest Kutas-77, responsible for maintaining the auspex arrays, pulled his mechanical tentacles from the data interface. He took over the Starport's sound system and issued an alert to the entire Starport, and even to Rostov II: "Chaos invasion detected, two Destroyer-class cruisers, belonging to a Khorne Warband, entering Level One alert status!"
As the warning was issued, the Priest's binary prayers activated the defense protocols. All Macro cannon arrays on the Starport began to power up and load, the Lance arrays began charging, and the four defensive gun turret arrays encircling the Starport all entered combat readiness.
Near the Mandeville Point, the defensive turrets installed there were activated immediately, launching artillery fire the moment the two Chaos cruisers emerged from the Warp.
This was not a large, renowned Warband; with only two cruisers, they were an insignificant, nameless minor Warband.
But the two Chaos cruisers were not something that Luka's turrets near the Mandeville Point could dismantle.
The shells fired by the Macro cannon struck the Chaos cruisers' armor, creating bursts of explosions, but the thick-skinned Chaos cruisers ignored the damage, charging directly out of the Warp.
Because they had just emerged from the Warp, the warships' Void Shields had not yet come online, and they could only rely on the warships' own armor to withstand the impact.
But for Chaos warships, especially those of the Khorne faction, this was like an itch.
In fact, these two warships even rammed and destroyed the defensive turrets with their adamantium prows, enduring the defensive turrets' gunfire.
The Khorne Warband's warships, like their master, preferred close combat and charges, disliking the effeminate long-range fire exchange.
The moment the Chaos warships invaded, Mephisto on the Blood Angels' strike cruiser immediately detected their arrival.
He immediately ordered the warship to weigh anchor and set sail, and issued a request for coordinated operations to all warships moored in the Starport.
As an Astartes, in the absence of a higher-ranking Commander, he could take over command of all Imperial warships, and unified command was crucial for space naval battles.
Luka did not hesitate, directly ordering all warships to follow Mephisto's deployment, including the Ash Knights' strike cruiser and the Inquisition Black Ship.
At this time, in orbit, the two strike cruisers of the Blood Angels and Ash Knights, one Dominator-class cruiser sent by the Ecclesiarchy, one Inquisition Black Ship, and one Adeptus Mechanicus light cruiser forge ship formed a fleet, heading towards the two Chaos cruisers.
5V2, this was a battle with no suspense.
And on Rostov III, 32 also urgently boarded his forge ship and was rushing to reinforce.
But for the Khorne Warband, charging at a powerful enemy was an act that pleased the Blood God and earned blessings, so they did not retreat in the slightest, and likewise charged towards the combined fleet.
At this point, the Chaos warships' Void Shields had come back online, and the exchange of Lance and Macro cannon fire only created ripples on both sides' Void Shields.
Although significantly outnumbered, for the Khorne Warband, if they couldn't win the fleet battle, they could still engage in enjoyable boarding actions.
The two Chaos warships, upon approaching the Imperial fleet and the Starport, immediately released boarding torpedoes. These vehicles, filled with Khorne cultists and Fallen Space Marines, passed through the vast void and the Starport's Void Shields, plunging towards the Rostov Starport.
Several Stormraven gunships burst from the two strike cruisers, their melta guns weaving golden grids of light in the vacuum.
"Alpha Squad, block elevation 30 degrees. Beta Squad, execute crossfire." Flight Squadron Leader Gabriel's orders echoed through the comms.
Two boarding torpedoes were instantly detonated, but more torpedoes still broke through the Stormraven gunships' blockade.
Inside the Starport, the Adeptus Mechanicus Adeptus Militarus and the Defense Force stationed there had already set up positions, with various heavy defensive weapons placed at key locations, and the Defense Force had erected barricades.
In such narrow passages, even mortals could give Space Marines a hard time in a boarding action.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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