Saul Tarvitz, Captain of the 10th Company of the Emperor's Children, raised his boltgun and fired at a Megarachnid.
Th shell struck the spider's thorax dead center, hammering against its carapace.
Tick!
The spider didn't fall. It lunged at the Emperor's Child, a blur of motion.
Sharp blades swept down, slashing across the purple-gold armor.
Boom!
Tarvitz's fourth round blew the spider's head apart, sending white ichor flying.
Tarvitz felt no satisfaction in his first kill. The headless corpse of Kolchak tumbled into the red sand, arterial blood fountaining from its neck.
Tick!
A second spider lunged, its forelegs moving like lightning, faster than even the swift Emperor's Child could react.
Bang!
His boltgun flew from his grasp.
Clang!
The Palatine Aquila on Tarvitz's chest was cleaved in two, the unique honor of the Emperor's Children shattered.
With a roar, Tarvitz drew his power sword, activating the disintegration field.
The insult stung, but he remained calm. He dodged the four blades, gripping his sword in both hands and bringing it down in a powerful stroke.
Thud!
The gleaming blade was deflected by the xenos' cephalothorax, only chipping a few yellowed bone plates.
Tarvitz adjusted, spinning the blade to strike the spider's neck. The blade shrieked, severing the connection between head and body, splitting the Megarachnid in two.
"Ah!"
Tarvitz fought through the psychic screech in his mind, turning to see the green-robed Astropath staggering back.
He raised his glowing staff, unleashing a volley of psychic screams. The spider's wedge-shaped head shook, but its legs kept advancing.
Tarvitz wrenched his power sword free and charged.
"Ah!"
Four blades swept down, carving the noble Astropath into a pile of gore.
Drip, drip!
Two lines of blood fell.
'Lord Nareth was right: Murder is no place for Astropaths. The Warmaster's idea idea of relying on them to establish communication links is unrealistic.'
'The Megarachnids are faster than even the Emperor's Children. Astropaths are mere prey.'
The psychic shockwave churned in Tarvitz's mind, a low groan escaping his lips.
His blurred vision was suddenly pierced by a cold light.
A piercing shriek filled his blood-filled ears.
Tarvitz threw himself backward.
Two blades swept past his helmet, shattering his visor.
Two more blades scraped across his purple leg armor.
He landed, rolling, and swung his sword, plunging it into the spider's neck, splitting it in two.
After the battle, Tarvitz led his company towards Lord Commander Eidolon's position.
His comms were only static. He couldn't, as he once had, use the tactical network to pinpoint Eidolon and Lucius's 13th Company.
With the Astropath dead, Tarvitz had no way to coordinate.
He could only follow the pre-drop plan, hoping the others were doing the same.
For the next ninety-six hours, the 10th Company fought thirty-one engagements in the dense grasslands, losing eight warriors.
Over seventy-two hours past the planned rendezvous, their march began to feel aimless.
They had no strategic detail; Tarvitz couldn't contact Eidolon or Lucius, let alone the Blood Angels or Luna Wolves.
They pressed on, fighting a pitched battle every few kilometers.
Bolts were hard to land on the spiders' necks; they ran out of ammunition.
Without orbital contact, they couldn't get resupplied, and were forced to fight with blades.
After their thirty-second engagement, two Emperor's Children fell. Without ranged firepower, their casualties began to mount.
Diaz threw his shattered helmet to the ground. "We've lost our Librarians; we're just wandering blindly in this grassland like it's a maze."
After the Council of Nikaea, while others in the Legion were still hesitant and resistant, Tarvitz was the first to obey the Edict. He had ordered the 10th Company's Librarians to discard their force swords and force staffs, remove their psychic hoods, and train with bolters and other weapons on the training deck.
He hadn't brought any Librarians into battle, and he didn't regret it, even now.
He walked to Diaz, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Doesn't fighting these spiders feel like dueling four swordsmen at once? This is a chance to hone our skills. After this, maybe you'll be as good as Lucius."
Tarvitz kept the Emperor's Children focused, leading his company with vigilance.
As he advanced towards five o'clock, twenty-five kilometers away, Eidolon stopped.
'I should have rendezvoused with Tarvitz and Lucius by now...'
He surveyed the endless grassland. "Two o'clock."
As the purple-gold line crossed the southern polar grasslands, on the other side of the pole, the 14th Company was surrounded.
"Captain! My squad is out of ammo!" shouted the first squad leader, clad in Mark IV Maximus power armor.
The "Shadow Ascetic" drew his chainsword, shadows quickly enveloping the spinning teeth.
Before the Captain could answer, the Librarian's voice echoed in his mind.
"Thirty-six seconds."
"Reinforcements?" the Captain asked, his Cataphractii armor covered in the spiders' gore, through the "Secret Voice" channel the "Scrolls Professor" had established.
The "Rose Bishop" tore a mass of flesh from his own body and hurled it.
The "Flesh Bomb" sailed over the first squad, striking the neck of a Megarachnid that had smelled an opportunity.
Bang!
The spider's neck exploded, and it crashed to the ground.
"Lord Commander, three kilometers."
Blinding light tore through the thick clouds. Furious lightning painted the sky a murky yellow.
Boom!
A Dreadclaw slammed down, its shockwave, wreathed in fire and lightning, sweeping the area.
Tick...
The grass grew rapidly, and the Megarachnids scattered.
Crackle...
Black-armored warriors materialized from the shadows.
The "Shadow Ascetic" Captain opened the Dreadclaw's hatch. Cold mist billowed, and the black machine clicked open.
The cylindrical weapon racks were stocked with plasma guns, flamers, and other ranged weapons. Below them, stacked ammunition boxes.
He grabbed a flamer, pressed the activation rune. A blast of flame swept across two Megarachnids, engulfing their heads.
The first squad's Shadows of Order moved forward under his cover, resupplying.
Plasma beams arced. Bolt rounds roared.
Ichor sprayed. Xenos forms toppled.
The Captain had just averted his attention from one o'clock when a voice echoed in his mind.
"The line has been broken."
He spun, looking at eleven o'clock.
Over a hundred Megarachnids, their hind legs kicking up clouds of grass, lunged.
"Follow me!" he shouted to his Honour Guard.
The "Rose Bishops" charged towards eleven o'clock, tearing the last flesh from their bodies and hurling it at the spiders.
Boom, boom, boom...
The "Flesh Bombs" felled a dozen spiders.
Dozens more, trampling their fallen kin, smashed through the 5th Squad's line.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Four headless bodies crashed into the red sand, fountains of blood spraying.
The Captain drew his chainsword, shadows swiftly enveloping the blade.
He charged, the shadow-blade slicing down, splitting a spider's thorax.
Its cephalothorax struck the "Rose Bishop," rapidly spreading, enveloping his helmet.
Blades shrieked, slashing at the mass of flesh.
Scrape!
A blade tore through the flesh, sticking to his helmet.
The "Rose Bishop's" head was split in two, flopping onto his pauldron.
He staggered back, swinging his arm. The blade spun, carving into another spider's neck.
Bang!
Its cephalothorax slammed into him.
The split halves of his head slowly knit together, like a clumsy sculptor, layer by layer.
First the jaw, then the lips...
He was almost out of spirituality. His flesh magic was slow.
Tick!
'Not good!' The "Rose Bishop" was about to "dismantle" himself, to flee as living flesh, when he stopped.
Bang, bang, bang...
Through his reforming eyes, he saw spider after spider fall.
Ramsey approached, his marble-like hands clasped together.
The "Rose Bishop" looked at the nearest spider. Its eight legs, mid-stride, had frozen.
'Like he's been burned out... Lord Ramsey is still a biomancer... truly second only to the Primarch.'
"The Lord Commander arrived fifty-two seconds early. The 3rd Company is 1.5 kilometers away, the 6th is 3.8 kilometers."
The Librarian's voice brought relief. With timely support, he could finally rest and recover.
As he thought, Ramsey's voice echoed in his ears and mind.
"The polar region is clear. The 14th Company is to stand down, recover, and collect all intact Megarachnid carcasses."
....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu