Brother Taronos, a renowned and celebrated ancient warrior of the Blood Angels Chapter.
He had accompanied the glorious Gene-father Sanguinius through the legendary Great Crusade, delivering punishment to the Emperor's foes and reclaiming countless star systems.
During the Great Heresy, he fought alongside his Father in the Battle of Signus to eradicate evil, and then witnessed the brief tranquility of the Second Empire.
Afterward, he escorted his Gene-father to the Lion's Gate, defending the Terra Imperial Palace on Holy Terra alongside the Imperial Custodes, Imperial Fists, and Lucifer Black Guards.
He personally witnessed his Father, the Archangel, perform the inspiring feat of punching Angron and stomping on Khabandha.
He also endured the immense pain of his Father's death aboard the Avenging Blade.
But the immense sorrow could not break the will of this warrior.
This diligent, ancient veteran of countless wars still served the Imperium.
It wasn't until the Heavenfall War that he was struck by an abhorrent Aeldari xenos' War Walker Bright Lance while fighting in a bloodthirsty frenzy.
The xenos used this high-power anti-vehicle weapon, capable of destroying Titans, to directly hit Brother Taronos as he charged them, nearly annihilating his entire body.
Brother Taronos, who had fought for ten thousand years, fell.
Just as he thought he could finally follow his Gene-father into the beyond, he opened his eyes once more.
This time, he found himself possessing an extremely massive body.
From the day he was reawakened, he became one with this massive Adamantium sarcophagus of the Fury Dreadnought.
He embarked on a journey to continue serving the Emperor and avenging his Gene-father.
He boarded the Avenging Blade with his body of steel, becoming one of the primary offensive forces of the Blood Angels Second Company.
In the eyes of the world, Taronos was known for his dislike of slumber and his love for art, a stark and vivid contrast to his ferocity in combat.
Even as a Dreadnought, he continued to meticulously sculpt and paint with his seemingly clumsy iron hand, a hobby he had cultivated since his time following his Gene-father.
Many of his works even received Dante's personal approval and were displayed in the Sanguinius Shrines on Baal and in the Terra Imperial Palace, worshipped as effigies of the Gene-father.
He was one of the few who had personally witnessed the Gene-father's visage, and the statues of Sanguinius he crafted with his own hands were renowned throughout Baal and even the entire Imperium.
In the 41st millennium, he continued to shine and serve the faithful followers of Sanguinius.
And just moments ago, two statues of Sanguinius, which he had poured countless hours into and spent hundreds of years crafting, were destroyed by these accursed evils.
They were meant to be sent to Holy Terra for the sacred grand parade exhibition on St. Giles Festival.
But now, these exquisite full-body sculptures had been reduced to a pile of shattered plaster fragments by sacrilegious violence.
He was enraged, not only because his painstaking work had been ruined, but also because what they destroyed was his Father's visage.
This evoked Taronos's tragic memories of the day his Gene-father died.
Looking at the broken statues, it felt as if his beloved Father had been killed twice more before his very eyes, tearing at his heart.
"No forgiveness! No mercy! All of you will die for your blasphemy! You will all die!!!!"
He swung his Fury Claw and engaged the Skull Champion, while the heavy cannon on his other arm fired and swung its barrel.
Each sweep was like being hit by a high-speed rotating heavy hammer, directly deforming the flesh.
These Blood God lackeys would today witness a state of Fury in the Blood Angels more terrifying than the Black Rage.
This rage was called: the rage of having the most beloved Father's sculpture, which he had personally crafted over hundreds of years, destroyed in front of a ten-thousand-year-old Blood Angels ancient warrior.
The iron hand and heavy cannon swung towards the charging Skull Champion.
The roaring power axe was dodged by the massive Dreadnought with a speed that defied its size.
Another axe strike landed but was blocked by thick steel plating.
Even with a disintegration field surrounding it, the width of the axe blade could not cut through such a thick iron limb.
Brother Taronos did not care how many scars were on this steel body; their dense number was the mark of a warrior.
For a Dreadnought, as long as the operator in the Adamantium sarcophagus was not harmed, a skilled Techmarine could quickly repair any damage to the limbs.
Brother Taronos suddenly raised an arm, using his immense strength to wrench the power axe, stuck in his limb, from the Champion's hand.
At the same time, his massive body, too large to dodge, crashed forward, squeezing his opponent's combat space.
In the crowded corridor, the Skull Champion's minions and subordinates, instead of providing cover, crowded his maneuver space, just as Brother Taronos had anticipated.
Every dodge by the Skull Champion knocked over other Astartes, while the crimson claw relentlessly pressed him.
The Skull Champion discovered with horror that no matter what move he made, his opponent seemed to have seen it all before and immediately countered.
Every action proved that this Dreadnought's combat experience was extremely rich, almost to the point of shouting, 'Killing you is as easy as crushing an ant.'
The chaotic invading force was like air to the massive Dreadnought.
No matter how Brother Taronos maneuvered, how many people he crushed in his evasive movements, they were all servants of the Blood God.
He was like a living martial saint, single-handedly charging and expelling all enemies in the entire corridor.
The Khorne Champion was like an infant in his presence; he could not only fight him with just one hand but also kill the enemies trying to slip past him.
The Khorne Champion was sweating profusely.
"Damn it! Die! I am the true warrior!" Enraged, he swung his power axes with both hands, aiming for the center of the Adamantium sarcophagus.
A terrifying red light flashed in the observation lens on the Dreadnought sarcophagus.
Thud!
With a muffled thud, the massive Fury Claw clamped down on the Khorne Champion.
"Boy."
Brother Taronos lifted the Khorne Champion in his hand and held him in front of himself.
"When the great Emperor still walked among men, I was serving Him. If I could still take service studs, there would be no room left on my head."
His claw began to exert pressure, and the ceramite armor on the Khorne Champion's body began to crack.
Under the immense force, the arrogant Khorne Champion screamed in agony.
The Dreadnought flicked off the Khorne Champion's brass helmet, revealing his face covered in crimson bloodstains.
"And you, you wet-behind-the-ears brats, think yourselves invincible just because you've undergone gene-surgery."
All the bones in the Khorne Champion's body instantly shattered. Brother Taronos, with his exquisite skill, inflicted extreme pain on his body and mind, tormenting the Champion's will.
"But compared to me, I've crushed more enemies of the Emperor than you, you damned traitor, have eaten grains of salt!"
Crunch!
"Ah! Ah!!!"
The Khorne Champion's entire body became twisted and deformed, blood and flesh squeezed into mincemeat, extruding in four streams from between the iron claw's fingers like sausage stuffing.
The remaining upper torso of this heretic traitor was brutally shoved into the fragmentation cannon on the Fury Dreadnought's right arm. Heart-wrenching screams still emanated from the gun barrel, like a loudspeaker containing a tortured individual.
This brutal punishment terrified the Skull Astartes in front of him.
They knew the strength of this Champion, and anyone who dared to defy or challenge him had died beneath his great axe.
And now, even such an arrogant powerhouse, after only two moves...?
Had been crushed into a bloody pulp by this scarred, old, and damaged Fury Dreadnought.
[Could it be a true Blood Angels ancient veteran?!]
The heretic traitors were shocked, but even more excited.
Their fanatical faith in the Blood God drove them to shout and fight, charging forward to engage him in one-on-one combat.
But the absolute disparity in strength turned these duels, meant to please the Blood God, into a series of charges to their deaths, ending as piles of Rotten meat.
The Blood God didn't care; he didn't care who died.
As the Immaterium incarnation of ultimate violence and courage, he only craved spectacular battles that would bring him exhilaration and pleasure.
This was also one of the reasons he kept these servants.
Even if the victorious Champion was a Blood Angels, he would let out a terrifying, ferocious laugh from his Brass Throne.
Click.
As the auto-loader reloaded the heavy fragmentation rounds from the ammunition belt.
Bang!
The bloody shell, carrying mangled remains and profound terror, annihilated the invaders who had desecrated the Sanguinius statues.
The howls of the traitors echoed throughout the large and small corridors of the Avenging Blade.
For Brother Taronos, the only inconvenience was that he would probably have to dismantle some bulkheads to completely wipe out the retreating enemies inside.