With Seth's departure, the purging of the great hall became orderly and efficient.
The Chapter Master of the Revenant Angels did not slacken in the slightest due to the Flesh Tearer's exit. Commanding with cold precision, he directed his Space Marines and brothers from the other two Chapters to establish a crossfire network, utterly crushing the remaining Necrons attempting to crawl from the shadows. Simultaneously, the engineers and "Helldivers" of the Death Korps of Krieg began their most critical task: planting the charges.
This was no simple demolition; it was a devastating funeral rite.
The Kriegers and Helldivers swung their entrenching tools, prying open living metal wall panels to pack in high-yield melta explosives and even miniature atomic charges.
Only after confirming that every crevice and structural node was filled with cataclysmic energy—turning the central hall into a volcano primed to erupt—did the Revenant Angels Chapter Master activate his vox-caster.
"This is the Revenant Angels, calling Calgar," his voice was steady and chilling. "The core area is purged. Destruction protocols are deployed and ready for detonation on command."
From the other end of the vox came the calm response of Marneus Calgar: "Acknowledged. All Astartes units, evacuate to a safe distance immediately. For the Emperor."
"For the Emperor."
Severing the link, the Revenant Angels Chapter Master looked around. The Space Marines had already begun to form up for extraction, yet near the piles of volatile explosives, the mortal troops remained motionless.
The Krieg soldiers silently established makeshift cover throughout the hall, setting up heavy bolters and lasguns; the sound of their breathing beneath their gas masks was barely audible. The Helldivers were checking their ammunition, their eyes devoid of even a hint of fear.
Looking at these mortals, the Chapter Master's expression shifted slightly beneath his helmet.
According to the plan, someone had to stay behind to ensure the Necrons' eerie self-repair mechanisms didn't eject the explosives or that swarms of scarabs didn't dismantle them before detonation.
This wasn't just a guard detail; it was a burial party.
When such an order is given, perhaps only the Death Korps of Krieg and these Helldivers would execute it without a moment's hesitation or compromise. They would serve as part of the fuse, turning to ash alongside this sacrilegious xenos construct.
The Chapter Master sighed softly and walked over to the Helldiver commander, who was currently wiping down his lasgun.
"Since the explosives are set, it is time for us to withdraw," he said, his tone carrying a trace of uncharacteristic respect.
The Helldiver commander looked up and nodded. "Then hurry up! The longer you stall, the more likely this hellhole spawns some new nightmare. Don't let our sacrifice be for nothing."
The Chapter Master remained silent for a moment, looking at this small yet towering mortal. In his long years as an Astartes, he had seen many deserters and cowards, and many heroes as well—but the calm with which these men viewed death as their true destination still struck him.
"I only hope that in the future, I have the chance to fight alongside mortals as courageous as you again," the Chapter Master said solemnly, offering the highest praise he could give to those destined to die.
The Helldiver commander grinned. "Don't worry, sir. As long as you don't die, you'll have plenty of chances."
Finished, he waved his hand as if shooing away a nuisance. "Go on, get moving. The 'scenery' here is about to get very intense; it's no place for you."
***
The heavy footsteps gradually faded until they vanished at the end of the corridor. The once-boisterous hall fell back into a suffocating silence, broken only by the drip of coolant and the faint humming of the bomb timers.
The Helldiver commander chambered a round into his bolt pistol and looked somewhat bored at the Krieg colonel standing like a statue beside him. The colonel's pitch-black gas mask looked particularly ghoulish in the dim green light, his lifeless lenses reflecting the surrounding ruins.
To break the crushing tension, the Helldiver commander ventured: "Why don't you guys leave too? I feel like having both the Helldivers and the Kriegers here at the same time is a bit crowded."
The Krieg colonel didn't speak; even the rhythm of his breathing didn't change. He simply turned his head slowly, those emotionless glass lenses staring straight at the commander as if looking at a corpse.
Being stared down by the personification of death made even the battle-hardened commander's skin crawl.
"Haha, just a joke," the commander laughed awkwardly, waving it off. "Don't be so serious. We're about to meet the Emperor; lighten up."
Just as he turned back to check the defensive line, the other man spoke unexpectedly, his voice muffled and strange through the mask: "Our deaths are a good thing. Otherwise, with so many Kriegers born every year, the galaxy wouldn't be able to hold us all."
The Helldiver commander froze in place. He blinked, looking at the completely covered man in disbelief.
Was this guy stating a fact, or was he telling a dark joke?
Before he could figure out how to respond, a dense, skittering sound—like metal legs tapping on stone—echoed from all sides of the hall.
Countless black shadows flickering with green light crawled out of wall cracks, ventilation ducts, and the floor. They were swarms of scarabs and bizarre Canoptek constructs, arriving to purge the "foreign objects" and repair the damaged structure.
Though they weren't frontline soldiers, their razor-sharp metal claws and molecular-disintegration beams were lethal to mortals.
"Don't let them touch the bombs!" the Helldiver commander roared. His bolt pistol fired first, blowing a scarab attempting to climb the explosives into scrap.
The battle erupted instantly. No tactics, no cover—just primal melee and desperate stalling. Krieg engineers swung their shovels, smashing mechanical bugs flat, while the Helldivers used their bodies to plug the breaches, fighting the cold metal monsters with bayonets and grenades.
Blood and machine oil mingled, flowing across the cold blackstone floor.
Finally, the long-awaited voice crackled over the vox: "All Astartes units have cleared the danger zone. Repeat, we are clear."
By now, the hall was nearly drowned in a tide of constructs. The Krieg colonel and the Helldiver commander locked eyes across the chaotic battlefield. Though their masks hid their faces, they understood each other perfectly.
Ten seconds later, the pyramid erupted in a flash of light brighter than a star. Tons of high-yield explosives released their devastating fury simultaneously.
The magnificent pyramid disintegrated from within. Support pillars melted, and the vaulted ceiling collapsed. The arrogant xenos architecture buckled inward amidst soaring flames and smoke, finally turning into a massive ruin—burying all the sin, all the glory, and the two mortal regiments who died proud to be there, together in the eternal dark.
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Helldiver became an adjective? Lmao