A landscape deformed by colossal explosions.
Though the use of exterminatus-grade weapons decreased the closer one got to Hyberia, the sheer power of conventional explosives still showcased their terrifying potential as standard arms.
Across the vast, scarred earth lay countless massive craters, and within these craters hid tens of thousands of Mortal soldiers, their uniforms a motley assortment.
In the centermost crater, there was even an armored squad consisting of three Leman Russ tanks and two Chimeras.
At the forefront of this armored squad, a group of similarly varied officers crouched low and quiet, their gazes fixed silently on the Sith at the highest point.
The Sith peered over the crater's rim, the scanner on his helm continuously sweeping the terrain ahead.
Hyberia lay before them, its void shield noticeably diminished compared to before.
The outermost wall was already in ruins, and even the taller second wall was engulfed in violent explosions as more and more Warp Daemons and cultist troops surged up its sides.
Only on the even taller third wall, further back and still sheltered by the void shield, did the Imperial Army continue to hurl firepower down onto the overrun positions below, heedless of friend or foe.
The Sith's gaze shifted downward from the third wall.
He watched several Astra Militarum troopers standing on a gun emplacement, desperately squeezing their triggers at a target behind them, their lasfire merely peppering a Chaos Astarte with small red dots.
Then, to the troopers' horror, the Chaos Astarte casually smashed the first few to death and drove the last one to leap from the towering emplacement.
The wall was hundreds of meters high. The falling Astra Militarum soldier vanished into the seething mass of traitors and daemons below, leaving behind nothing but scattered limbs in an instant.
Further down, in a corner of the outer trench momentarily ignored by the Chaos Host, an Astra Militarum soldier listened to the agonized screams of his comrades behind him, his face a mask of terror as he pointed his sidearm upward under his own chin.
His whole body trembled; he simply couldn't muster the courage to pull the trigger. That is, until a daemon suddenly leaped into the trench. The hesitant soldier's face turned ashen, and whether by intent or sheer fright, he finally squeezed the trigger.
His lifeless eyes glazed over as he slumped down, but the malformed Chaos daemon still lumbered over.
Moments later, right under the Sith's watch, a phantom soul, radiating even greater despair and terror, was ripped out by the grinning daemon...
Withdrawing his gaze, the Sith took a half-step back and turned to look at the remnants of soldiers behind him, all watching him.
Seeing that many didn't even possess a single firearm, the Sith shook his head in exasperation. In a corner unseen by others, he silently cursed Calgar a few times.
Because this was supposedly the location Calgar had informed him was the weakest point of the Chaos assault in the entire Hyberia Hive Sector.
It was also the point from which the Sith was to launch his breakout and ultimately withdraw into Imperial-controlled territory.
But looking at the Chaos Host ahead, which outmatched his forces in both quality and quantity by an overwhelming degree, the Sith felt he might have been better off bringing only his own 101st Regiment.
Yet, after his silent cursing, he turned back to the remnants behind him, who stared at him with expectant, even reverent eyes. The Sith could only lower his gaze slightly, pondering what to do.
But while the Sith wanted to ponder, the Chaos Host ahead would waste no time contemplating such matters.
When intense gunfire suddenly erupted from their flank, the Sith looked up in surprise. An officer from the Planetary Defense Force ran over in panic:
"Our left flank has been discovered!"
The Sith's jaw tightened. With over two hundred thousand men hiding behind the Chaos Host, discovery was inevitable, but he'd never expected it to happen this quickly.
Especially as the sounds of combat rapidly spread toward the center where they were positioned, the Sith dismissed the jumbled 'countermeasures' in his mind.
He stood up abruptly. Facing the distant Chaos Host, which had now turned and was surging toward them with frenzied excitement, the Sith looked back at his own men.
Drawing his power sword and raising his Bolter, the Sith pointed forward:
"I have nothing to give you, except to let you follow behind me. I'll lead you through!"
It wasn't even much of a rallying cry, yet the eyes of the remnants behind him instantly widened.
Not because the Sith's words were particularly inspiring, but because they knew it was now their turn to show courage against the enemies of the Imperium.
There was nothing more to say. The first to respond to the Sith were several Kriegers who silently stepped forward. Without a word, they took prone positions behind the crater, calmly preparing to resume the charge.
Then came the roar of Leman Russ engines as throttles were pushed to the max!
Leading the charge from the front was a Khorne Bloodletter, brandishing a massive two-handed serrated sword, its long tongue lolling as it roared with excitement.
But as it gleefully charged forward, what burst from the crater was a Leman Russ tank with so much power it actually popped a wheelie.
Under the Bloodletter's stunned gaze, the massive treads crushed it into pulp.
Seated in the commander's position, the Sith didn't even notice the Bloodletter. He simply fired his Bolter and continuously swung his sword forward.
Behind him, a dense mass of two hundred thousand Mortal remnants leaped from their craters, covering the entire vast battle line.
The pressure on the front lines instantly eased. Seeing the Mortal forces, with the Sith as their spearhead, plowing through their own positions from behind, the Chaos Host almost immediately abandoned the stubbornly defended walls and turned toward the Sith Legion, now exposed in the open field.
The Imperial Army, granted a brief respite, watched this sudden 'reinforcement' with confusion, quickly followed by pity.
For this was not the weakest point at all, but the Chaos main assault direction!
"What? The Chaos forces can't hold them?"
At the forefront of the third wall, Calgar stood with his power fists at his sides. Several Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priests were constantly replenishing ammunition and erecting shrines to placate the machine spirits.
Calgar himself, covered in blood and wounds, stared in astonishment at the messenger who had rushed to deliver the news.
The messenger was also visibly shocked, his mouth agape, unsure how to phrase it. But Calgar had already risen and walked directly to the very edge of the wall.
The walls grew taller toward the rear, allowing Calgar a clear view of the entire battlefield below.
Then, not only the other Imperial defenders on the wall, who were stunned speechless by the scene below, but even Calgar himself was momentarily transfixed.
That expendable force, meant to divert enemy attention and buy the main force a moment's breath, was actually breaking through the Chaos lines wave after wave, led by a young regimental commander.
Watching the charge where dozens, even hundreds, of Mortals fell with almost every step, watching the Chaos forces shift from excitement to shock and then to panic...
After only a moment's pause, Calgar whirled around:
"Open the side gate! Dispatch a squad of Ultramarines for cover. Get the Sith and his regiment into Hyberia."
The officers below immediately turned to carry out the order, their eyes repeatedly glancing back at this band of Mortals who had actually fought their way to Hyberia's gates.
As Calgar gave the order, more and more defenders realized this force was the very Sith and his 101st Regiment that the Departmento Munitorum had been constantly promoting. Morale, which had sunk extremely low, actually began to rally at this moment.
Any reinforcement in a desperate situation boosts morale, let alone the Sith, who had been practically propagandized into an Alert Star legend.
Was Calgar sending precious Astartes for cover because he felt for the Sith?
No. It was because Calgar hadn't anticipated that the very unit from his own propaganda would actually appear before the main force, announcing its presence in the most courageous way possible.
At this moment, the only scene Calgar was willing to witness was this legendary force he had personally promoted creating another legend, withdrawing into Hyberia under the full view of the main army.
Otherwise, the hope he had instilled in the soldiers below would be matched only by the depth of despair when the Sith's forces were inevitably wiped out!
As casualties mounted among the troops the Sith had gathered along the way, and his own Leman Russ perished in mutual destruction with several Chaos heavy units—'Daemon Engines'—under the watchful eyes of all, the roar of Bolter fire from the Ultramarines finally began to sound around the Sith.
The Sith didn't know how many had fallen on the charge, nor how many had followed him into the safety zone.
He only knew that when he entered the wall, heaving for breath, his power sword notched from the fighting, he was met with countless pairs of eyes upon him, from both atop and below the walls.
And those eyes held nothing but shock and silence!
For even the Sith himself didn't realize that just moments ago, he had led a band of remnants before everyone's eyes...
and shattered the Chaos line!
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