Bridge of the vengeful spirit.
With Abaddon lured to the planet's surface by Calgar in a duel, command of this gloriana-class battleship temporarily fell to the Company Captain of Abaddon's Chaos Astartes.
Clad in incredibly heavy Terminator power armor, with a sharp, ferocious tusk protruding from each side of his helmet like two steel tusks.
Currently resembling a humanoid steel monster, the Company Captain stood on the bridge, watching the densely packed boarding action warnings projected before him.
Around him, crew members ran back and forth incessantly, while even more Chaos Astartes and armed cultists surged from all corners of the massive vengeful spirit toward these isolated Imperial boarding teams.
Watching the red dots appear quickly and be extinguished just as fast, only cold indifference lay behind the Terminator helmet with its two massive 'tusks':
"Imperial lackeys, dying here, you won't even make it back to the Corpse Emperor's side."
The Company Captain scanned the enemies launching this suicidal assault. However, as his gaze swept across the vast vengeful spirit, a red dot moving *away* from the bridge suddenly caught his attention.
"How is there still one... counter-attacking?"
The Company Captain was momentarily stunned. He didn't say 'retreat' or 'rout' because once you've boarded a Chaos flagship, moving in any direction still constitutes an attack.
It was just that, facing other Imperial forces desperately charging the bridge, this unit moving away in the opposite direction left him, after a long pause, with only the explanation 'counter-attack'.
But then, observing that from the boarding point to the current location, other Imperial boarding teams were wiped out in an instant, while this red dot had actually managed to traverse such a long distance within the vengeful spirit...
The Company Captain's expression shifted to one of fury:
"Why haven't these Imperial lackeys been eliminated yet?!"
He roared the question at his Astartes adjutant beside him. The adjutant, also bewildered, hurriedly connected to the frontline. After a pause, amidst the chaotic noise from his headset, the adjutant frowned and repeated haltingly:
"What? What do you mean, 'Corpse Emperor possession'?"
"What do you mean a group of you Astartes are being chased down and hacked apart by a bunch of Mortals???"
"Not a group? Just one?"
Perhaps the battle on the other end of the comms was too chaotic, causing him to repeat these words with an unusually loud voice.
As he bent his head, repeating these phrases, not just the Company Captain, but even the professional Chaos crew below—who normally wouldn't react to anything—suddenly looked up.
Boom!
A burst of Bolter fire turned the first crewman who looked up into pulp. Amidst the spreading gore, the remaining crew hurriedly buried their heads back in their work.
After killing the crewman, the Company Captain's mechanical lenses behind the two massive 'tusks' fixed a deathly stare on the adjutant.
The cacophony from the comms, accompanied by another shrill scream, cut off. On the projection, the friendly markers blocking the red dot completely vanished.
Under the Company Captain's silent, deadly gaze, the adjutant couldn't help but swallow dryly and looked up stiffly.
After a long struggle, the adjutant gritted his teeth:
"A new blocking force... is already on the way..."
The Company Captain suddenly raised his hand, his powerful Terminator power armor lifting the adjutant off the ground.
As the other panicked, the Company Captain's voice, filled with uncontrollable rage, finally thundered across the bridge.
"Do I care about a new blocking force?!"
"I care about what the hell is happening up there! And just how incompetent our men are!!!"
The adjutant's helmet was even deformed by the Company Captain's furious strength. Gasping in terror behind his helmet, unable to speak, the adjutant could only transmit all relevant data.
Soon, information related to this unit called the 'Black Watch' arrived, along with chaotic footage from numerous armed crew and even Astartes in their final moments.
Looking over this information, the Company Captain finally released his grip on the adjutant.
However, upon landing, the adjutant did not stand straight or feel relief. Instead, his entire body collapsed weakly, copious amounts of black blood gushing from his severely deformed helmet.
The adjutant's death terrified the crew below even more, but the Company Captain paid them no mind now. He just stared dumbfounded at the dark silver figure in the footage, and the hundreds of thermal lance shots from the Mortals behind him, all striking their own Astartes with pinpoint accuracy in less than a second.
Looking at these absurd Mortals, the Company Captain even suddenly recalled the mockery within the Warband about a minor Warband called the Black Skull.
Now, for some reason, he suddenly felt that the Black Skull he had mocked might not actually have been incompetent...
Being able to temporarily command the vengeful spirit in Abaddon's stead, the Company Captain was certainly more formidable than the Black Skull.
After only a brief moment of thought, the Company Captain almost immediately refocused his attention from the projection:
"Stop sending Astartes against this counter-attacking enemy. Use only Mortals to wear them down."
"Additionally, send all this information to the Warmaster!"
The Company Captain's orders were executed immediately. Soon, the Astartes preparing to block at the frontlines were recalled, and an encrypted message was transmitted to Abaddon below, who was currently hammering Calgar.
The massive, ferocious claw of horus was about to take another of Calgar's arms. Calgar, with no way to avoid it, prepared to accept his fate. But the claw suddenly halted. Abaddon, who had been displaying the formidable combat prowess of a Champion of the Four Gods, actually paused for an instant.
Seeing this, Calgar hastily retreated to re-establish distance. As for seizing the chance to counterattack, given the terrifying disparity in strength, Calgar immediately dismissed the idea.
However, as Calgar retreated, his eyes looked at Abaddon with some confusion.
Besides Abaddon's strange pause, it was also because even Abaddon couldn't help but mutter a couple of words under his breath:
"Black Watch?"
"Corpse Emperor possession?"
Abaddon was stunned by this message, and Calgar, hearing it from across the way, was equally stunned, even somewhat shocked.
Stunned that Abaddon actually knew of the Sith's Black Watch, and shocked that the Sith and his men were still alive!
And also...
Even severely wounded, Calgar couldn't help but frown in bewilderment. What did 'Corpse...' mean?
No! What did 'God-Emperor possession' mean???
The two giants, one large and one small, locked in a life-and-death struggle below, actually both came to a standstill because of this minor incident, under the watchful eyes of both friend and foe.
Moreover, the expressions visible on both their faces displayed, as if by agreement, astonishment, confusion, and even a hint of... shock!
And as both Abaddon and Calgar ceased fighting, aboard the vengeful spirit, a large number of boarding craft suddenly shot out from one side of the ship, heading toward an Imperial sword-class frigate nearby, trailing thick smoke but holding on through agility until now.
Watching as the Sith's ultimate goal was actually to seize boarding craft with his men, and moreover, to board an Imperial warship, the Company Captain, after a brief moment of stunned disbelief, finally comprehended.
The Company Captain's mouth hung open, unable to accept it. After all, how could such a formidable unit do something so shameless?
He pointed at the projection in astonishment, his words even trembling slightly:
"How... did they jump back again?!"
No one around dared answer the Company Captain. Aboard the sword-class frigate now boarded by numerous Chaos assault craft, the despairing crew watched as the Sith and the Black Watch emerged from them, their faces equally filled with shock.
Wide-eyed, lowering the 'flashlight' in his hand, an aide wanted to ask the same question as the Company Captain.
But just as he opened his mouth, the assault, which had been nearing its end, was finally shattered by a sudden, intensely bright flash!
The Sith turned back in shock. A massive explosion, tearing directly into the Warp, instantly appeared amidst the densely packed, battling fleets.
And that terrifying rent torn open by the blast, with its powerful suction, began violently dragging all nearby ships toward the raging tides of the Warp!
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