Chapter 46: Battle for the Uphive
The assault on the uphive began in earnest.
One by one, frenzied cultists accepted the weapons handed to them and, under the cover of heavy vehicles, advanced towards the uphive.
What was given to these cultists could hardly be called weapons; most were just crudely made, hand-assembled autoguns, their rifling perhaps even worn smooth.
Valentin didn't need these cultists to kill many; he needed these people to expend the defenders' ammunition with their lives.
The true offensive force consisted of his family's PDF, those humans augmented by the Dark Mechanicum priests, and the blasphemous daemon engines they had created.
Meanwhile, Governor Rebecca, in the tactical center, was listening to reports from her officers.
The Banshees' attacks on the artillery batteries had also been detected by the loyalists. Rebecca realized that Lucan, this new Rogue Trader, had already begun to act. Although she didn't know how Lucan had managed it, this was heartening news for everyone in the uphive – reinforcements would be coming soon!
However, this joy was short-lived. Countless distress calls flooded into the tactical center.
"Governor! The Cargo District! The Elevators! Pilgrim's Square! Even the Waste Disposal Sector is sending distress signals! The rebels are launching a massive offensive!"
Rebecca immediately rushed to the holographic display.
One by one, the blue icons representing their defensive positions were extinguishing. Each disappearing blue dot signified that the defenders there had been annihilated. Communications sent to inquire about the situation received no response, only the sounds of dying roars and explosions. Soon, the voices of resistance vanished completely, replaced by the crazed howls of the heretics.
And the few remaining Astropaths within the Dynasty seemed to be enduring endless agony at this moment.
The sacrificial ritual had disturbed the Warp. The Astropaths, incapacitated from peering into the Warp, were suffering unspeakable torment. They sent one final message to Rebecca:
"They are here."
"How could it be… how could they have broken through so quickly?"
At this moment, within a large defensive position on Pilgrim's Avenue, soldiers nervously watched the wide, white marble road before them.
This avenue was originally intended for devout followers of the God-Emperor to make pilgrimages to the Emperor's statue in the center of the square. But the once-sacred avenue was now scarred and ruined. A portion of the defenders were retreating from the avenue towards the fortified position, bringing back news of the enemy.
Contact with most of the forward positions had been lost. Even though officers continually tried to bolster morale, fear still spread among the soldiers.
Because this position was close to the Emperor's statue, all the surviving priests of the Ecclesiarchy were also stationed here, vowing to protect the Emperor's statue from desecration by those Chaos worshippers.
A soldier couldn't help but ask a nearby priest.
"Father… can we win?!"
The priest, however, was exceptionally resolute.
"Look at the holy icon of the God-Emperor behind us! The God-Emperor is watching over us from behind! We shall surely achieve victory!"
But just as the priest finished speaking, countless heretics charged towards the position from the end of the avenue. Chaos had completely devoured their sanity, and among them were many heavily mutated aberrations.
"For the God-Emperor! Kill them!!"
All the soldiers at the position opened fire.
The characteristic hum of lasguns filled the air.
Fixed emplacements continuously fired heavy bolter shells into the densest parts of the crowd.
The heretics' blind charge allowed these PDF troopers to easily hit their targets without even needing to aim.
Swarms of heretics fell under the barrage. That same priest even picked up a bolter, normally used as a heavy support weapon, stood up, and madly pulled the trigger.
The recoil kicked up his priestly robes, revealing an absurdly muscular physique beneath.
This stunned the nearby PDF soldiers.
Normally, they needed a bipod or mount to use such a weapon; otherwise, its powerful recoil was enough to leave even an experienced veteran reeling for a long time. Yet, this priest directly shouldered it and fired continuously.
He finally understood why, in the initial stages of the uprising, this group of Ecclesiarchy members had managed to withstand wave after wave of attacks on behalf of the Dynasty.
"With every ounce of my strength, with every inch of my will, with every fiber of my soul, I swear, my soul and my faith belong to the Immortal God-Emperor! Face His wrath, you dregs!!"
Under the terrifying firepower, the heretics fell like scythed wheat.
Just as everyone thought this crisis too would pass, a bolter round, from an unknown origin, accurately struck the priest.
The bolter's impact directly tore the priest's body to shreds.
The traitors' true assault had arrived.
Those former comrades, treading upon the corpses of the cannon fodder, began their attack on the fortified position.
And the rebel ranks no longer consisted solely of humans. Profanely augmented servitors charged towards the position at incredible speed, feeling no pain, their modified bodies allowing them to endure more damage.
A total of ten daemon engines also advanced on the position. Among these daemon engines were not only Forgefiends but also Defilers, resembling multi-legged mechanical walkers – these Defilers were mobile heavy artillery platforms.
But what terrified these PDF soldiers the most were the blood-red figures among the enemy ranks.
"A-Astartes… the Emperor's Angels… No! Not angels! They are the legendary traitors!!"
The might of the Astartes was deeply ingrained in the heart of every Imperial soldier.
The soldiers here had fought against traitors who worshipped dark gods, and they had fought against cruel xenos. But when these former Angels of Death of the Emperor stood before them, the shock was even greater than that caused by the daemon engines.
One of the Word Bearers disdainfully lowered his bolter. A voice echoed in the mind of this Possessed Word Bearer; it was the Khornate daemon residing within him.
"You should not have killed him with a bolter. You should have seized him, then taken his head. Kill these worshippers of the Corpse-Emperor in melee; such skulls are far more valuable."
"I don't need you to teach me! Every time I hear these hypocrites pray to the False Emperor, I cannot suppress the rage in my heart! I didn't want him to speak for even a second longer!"
"Heh, you Word Bearers are still the same. Why not let me take over your body? I will help you dispose of these people with ease. You can enjoy your victory when it's all over."
The daemon was already impatient for slaughter, its words tempting the Word Bearer.
"Get back! I don't need your help to destroy these worshippers of the False Emperor!"
Saying this, the Word Bearer ignored and resisted the daemon's whispers, beginning to attack the loyalist position in his preferred manner – melee. When Astartes engaged mortals in close combat, the disparity in their strength became even more apparent.
A single punch could send a soldier flying dozens of meters, and their speed was so great that the eyes of these mortal soldiers could barely track them.
And any plan to take these traitors down in a mutual sacrifice was easily thwarted.
The Imperial lines began to collapse.
After one key heavy weapon position after another was eliminated, the loyalists could no longer hold back the enemy's charge. Some priests even charged out of their positions with chainswords, intending to use their own flesh and blood to block the enemy from approaching the Emperor's holy statue.
But the end result was that they were targeted by that Word Bearer, torn to shreds. The Word Bearers held a particular hatred for members of the Ecclesiarchy, even prioritizing killing them over other tactical objectives.
Even if these priests' physical conditioning surpassed that of ordinary soldiers and their faith was incredibly strong, they were still mortals, utterly defenseless before these Astartes.
When the traitors completely broke through this defensive line, they had well and truly entered the uphive region.
(End of Chapter)