The Diasporex Gate.
This was the absolute final line of defense before the bridge.
A massive blast door, well over a hundred meters tall, blocked the end of the corridor.
Its surface was plated with composite crystal armor several meters thick, glowing with an eerie azure sheen under the emergency lights.
In front of the colossal gate sat a sprawling ring-shaped fortification built from solid steel and overlapping energy shields.
Automated turrets bristled from behind the barricades, a dense thicket of barrels leveled dead center at the corridor.
Plasma cannons, heavy lascannons, and even a few missile pods.
The Diasporex Alliance had literally dumped their entire remaining arsenal right here.
Behind the fortifications, tens of thousands of heavily armed guards stood in grim formation, ready to die.
The bio-augmented xenos shock troops held the vanguard.
The eyeless, four-legged creatures were now strapped into heavy cybernetic exo-frames. Their twin mechanical arms each wielded a different weapon...
Plasma carbines and energy swords.
They were visibly bulkier than the baseline xenos, their muscles bulging beneath their scales as low, guttural snarls ripped from their throats.
Hovering above the fortifications were the Alliance's cybernetic drone units—cold, metallic chassis bristling with heavy weapon mounts and missile racks.
They had no emotions. No fear. Only cold, hardcoded combat subroutines.
On the human side, the Alliance's mechanized shock troopers were equally strapped.
Heavy exosuits covered their entire bodies. Their left arms mounted heavy lascannons, while their right arms featured modular weapon platforms capable of instantly swapping between energy swords and melta cannons.
Behind their tactical visors, their eyes were locked onto the corridor, fingers resting tight on the triggers, waiting for the inevitable.
At the very front of the line, standing on the highest platform, was Karu Atlee.
The xenos leader stood firmly on his four legs, his slender body leaning slightly forward. His eyeless head was tilted toward the depths of the corridor.
He could sense them...
The heavy, synchronized footfalls of those humans drawing closer.
Those purple-clad killing machines, marching step by step toward their final stand.
"Ready."
His raspy, low voice echoed down the entire defensive line.
Every guard instantly tightened their grip on their weapons.
In the next second...
A tidal wave of purple surged out from the darkness of the corridor.
Fulgrim spearheaded the charge.
The Laer Blade danced in his hands, its pinkish-purple light reaping the lives of multiple human soldiers with every single flash.
The regular baseline guards were cut down like wet paper. Before they could even raise their energy swords, their heads were already spinning through the air.
"For perfection!!!"
His voice shattered the air in the corridor, his flawless face twisted into a mask of psychotic battle lust.
Right behind him, Kaesoron, Lucius, Tarvitz, Vespasian, and the rest of the Captains followed hot on his heels.
The elite veterans of the Emperor's Children crashed into the final defensive line like a violent purple tsunami.
And then—
The fortifications opened fire.
Over a hundred automated turrets roared simultaneously, dumping a blinding, apocalyptic torrent of plasma and laser fire directly onto the Emperor's Children.
The legionaries at the absolute front of the charge were instantly focus-fired. Under the sheer volume of concentrated impacts, their ceramite armor shattered, and they were blown violently off their feet.
"Take cover!"
Kaesoron's roar exploded over the vox-net.
The Emperor's Children scattered instantly, throwing themselves behind any available cover along the walls and returning fire.
The thunder of bolters matched the roar of the turrets, while plasma beams melted scorched, blackened craters into the metal bulkheads.
Fulgrim stood his ground out in the open. He brought the Laer Blade up across his chest, casually parrying several incoming beams.
The pinkish-purple energy formed a shimmering barrier in front of him. Attacks that would have instantly melted through power armor merely rippled against it like water.
His eyes cut through the blinding crossfire, locking onto the four-legged silhouette standing at the highest point of the fortifications.
Karu Atlee.
The xenos leader.
He could instantly sense that the creature was the commander of this entire sector.
"Xenos..."
A cold, vicious smirk curled onto Fulgrim's lips.
On a face completely bathed in that toxic pinkish-purple glow, the smile looked incredibly sinister.
He was just about to launch himself forward when a massive explosion threw him off balance.
Three rockets detonated right next to him simultaneously, the sheer force of the shockwave staggering him back two steps.
By the time he regained his footing, a massive wave of guards had already poured out from behind the barricades, locking into brutal melee combat with the Emperor's Children.
The bio-augmented xenos shock troops led the charge.
The four-legged monstrosities unleashed a terrifying level of combat effectiveness. Their mechanical arms swung wildly, alternating between energy sword strikes and point-blank bolter fire.
An Emperor's Children legionary had just dropped two baseline guards with his bolter when a bio-augmented xenos tackled him to the deck.
The creature's two front legs pinned his shoulders down with crushing force, while its mechanical arm slammed an energy sword straight through his breastplate.
The ceramite armor melted instantly under the extreme heat, the blade biting deep into the flesh beneath...
His scream was cut brutally short.
But the Emperor's Children hit back just as hard.
Kaesoron's swordsmanship was exquisite, every single strike cleanly severing the mechanical limbs of the augmented xenos.
Tarvitz's tactical shot-calling kept the legion's formation rock solid, coordinating overlapping fire and advancing steadily, meter by meter.
Lucius's gleaming bald head stuck out like a sore thumb in the chaotic melee.
His bladework truly lived up to his boast of being the "Best Swordsman Below the Primarchs." Every swing, every parry claimed another xenos life.
But right now, a rare flash of poorly hidden panic flickered across his arrogant face.
Because he realized these bio-augmented xenos absolutely refused to give him a stage to perform on.
They didn't care about elegant sword dances. They didn't care about perfect stances. They only cared about one thing...
Killing the enemy.
By any means necessary.
Lucius's flawless, textbook swordsmanship felt completely out of place against them.
He had just settled into a gorgeous opening stance when three augmented xenos lunged at him from three different angles simultaneously.
Energy swords, plasma fire, and one of them literally just tried to headbutt him square in the chest.
"Fuck!"
Lucius ungracefully dove out of the way, his bald head scraping against the metal deck and leaving a white streak.
The second he scrambled back to his feet, the three xenos were already lunging at him again.
He was forced to throw all his flashy, showboating techniques out the window, resorting to the most primal hacks, slashes, and stabs just to survive the brawl.
Meanwhile, in the airspace above the barricades, the xenos cybernetic drones rained down an even more punishing barrage.
The weapon mounts on their hovering platforms spun wildly, dumping rockets and plasma beams like a localized monsoon.
The Emperor's Children were forced to split a massive amount of their attention just to dodge the aerial bombardment.
For a brief moment, the front line actually ground to a total stalemate.