75: So-called glory is worthless in the face of the chainsaw sword.

["abyssal overlord" Fortress - First Line of Defense Breach]

Bang!

Helmet slammed into helmet.

A dull metallic roar echoed through the narrow corridor.

C-19 felt a violent tremor surge through his cervical spine.

The display of his tactical visor flickered; the data stream showed a brief moment of static snow before rebooting.

The gold-armored Commander in front of him fared even worse.

The ornate helmet, carved with a Sea God Mask, had its faceplate caved inward with a fist-sized dent.

The bulletproof glass visor shattered, shards scattering across the floor.

Blue electrical sparks leapt wildly within the cracks, and short-circuited wiring emitted a piercing sizzle.

"Ugh..."

The gold-armored Commander let out a thick, muffled groan.

He staggered back three steps.

His hands, which had been tightly gripping an energy spear, began to tremble; his fingers lost control momentarily due to a concussion. The butt of the spear struck the ground, kicking up sparks.

C-19 did not retreat.

He released his left hand's grip on the opponent's neck.

The joints of the power armor emitted a dull hydraulic hiss.

He dove forward, lowering his center of gravity, and slammed his shoulder into the opponent's chest.

"Die."

He whispered into the vox-channel. His voice was devoid of emotion.

The Chainsword in his right hand did not swing.

At such close quarters, a swing would waste 0.3 seconds.

He pressed the madly spinning teeth directly against the gold-armored Commander's abdomen—the gap between two abdominal plates, the weakest point of the armor.

VROOOAM—!!!

The Chainsword's engine let out an overloaded roar.

High-speed rotating alloy teeth gnawed frantically at the golden Ceramite.

Sparks flew everywhere, illuminating the two faceplates that were almost pressed together.

The air was thick with the pungent smell of metal friction and the scorched stench of high heat.

Sizzle—Crack!

The golden armor plating let out a teeth-gritting screech before splitting apart.

The teeth cut into flesh. No blood sprayed.

The heat generated by the Chainsword's high-speed friction instantly cauterized and carbonized the flesh around the wound.

Black smoke rose from the wound.

"For... Nathan..."

The gold-armored Commander actually did not fall despite the agonizing pain.

He let out a desperate roar and dropped his spear.

His hands gripped C-19's pauldrons tightly, trying to use the last of his strength to activate the self-destruct device on his breastplate.

C-19 saw the red light flashing on the opponent's chest.

His brain completed a threat assessment within 0.1 seconds.

He didn't try to dismantle the device.

He let go of the Chainsword and slammed both hands onto the sides of the gold-armored Commander's helmet.

His thumbs pressed precisely onto the unlocking points of the helmet's neck seal ring.

"Your glory is meaningless."

The muscles in C-19's arms tensed. The power armor's hydraulic output was instantly pushed to maximum.

Click—Pshhh!

The faint sound of the airtight lock disengaging.

C-19 exerted a sudden burst of force.

He physically tore the deformed golden helmet right off the man's head!

The seal ring snapped, and a mixture of coolant and sweat sprayed out.

Revealed was the terrified face of a middle-aged man, covered in blood.

His mouth hung open, as if he wanted to say something.

But C-19 gave him no chance.

Still holding the heavy golden helmet,

he raised his arm and slammed the edge of the helmet violently into that face.

Crack!

Bones shattered. Flesh turned to pulp.

The gold-armored Commander's skull collapsed instantly, leaving only a twitching headless torso that remained standing. The red light on the counting-down self-destruct device flashed twice and then went dark.

C-19 released his grip.

The headless corpse crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and blood.

He glanced at the blood-stained, bone-fragment-encrusted golden helmet in his hand.

It was a masterpiece of old-world craftsmen, its surface carved with exquisite wave patterns.

He casually tossed it into a nearby crater.

"Target eliminated."

He reported over the channel.

He bent down to pick up his Chainsword, shaking off a length of intestine hanging from it.

The teeth were still rotating at high speed, emitting a piercing hum.

Then, he turned around.

The battlefield was still boiling.

The Sun Warriors, having lost their Commander, did not scatter.

They formed small-scale shield walls, pouring red beams from their energy ray guns at the Astartes.

Sizzle—!

An Astartes was hit by a ray.

His breastplate was instantly scorched red and began to melt.

But he did not fall. Ignoring the agonizing pain of his chest being burned through, he raised his Bolter with one hand and blew the attacker's head apart at point-blank range.

"N-05, cover the left flank."

C-19 saw an opening on the left.

There, three Sun Warriors were trying to set up a heavy melta cannon.

The barrel had already begun to charge, emitting a low hum.

"Copy that."

The rhino's engine roared.

A bullet-scarred rhino smashed directly through a ruined wall.

Bricks and stones flew. The twin-linked Bolters on the rhino's roof began to bark.

Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom—!

Dense bolt shells blanketed the three Sun Warriors.

Their energy shields flickered and overloaded under the continuous explosive impact, finally shattering.

Three golden figures were torn to pieces by the explosions.

"Charge."

C-19 raised his Chainsword and led the charge.

The remaining twenty-nine Astartes followed closely behind him.

Their footsteps were in perfect unison, creating a heavy metallic thud against the ground.

The black flood crashed into the golden dam.

This time, the dam collapsed.

Without their Commander's coordination and without heavy weapon support, those gold-armored warriors were completely outmatched by the Astartes in close-quarters combat.

The sound of Chainswords carving through gold armor.

The sound of power fists crushing bone.

The sound of bolt shells exploding at close range.

The sounds intertwined, echoing through the narrow corridor and making the walls tremble slightly.

A Sun Warrior tried to counterattack with an energy spear.

He thrust at an Astartes' neck, but the Astartes sidestepped; the spear grazed the pauldron, leaving a charred score mark.

The Astartes swung back with his sword; the teeth bit into the spear's shaft, sending sparks flying.

The metal shaft snapped. The Astartes stepped forward, the Chainsword arcing upward to slice through the opponent's jaw and penetrate the skull.

Another Sun Warrior discarded his ray gun and drew an energy short-sword from his waist.

He lunged at an Astartes who was reloading.

But he wasn't fast enough.

The Astartes dropped his Bolter, parried the short-sword with his left hand, and slammed his right power fist directly into the opponent's chest.

Boom!

The breastplate caved in.

Ribs shattered.

The Sun Warrior was sent flying, hitting the wall and leaving a bloodstain before sliding to the ground, motionless.

The battle lasted ten minutes.

C-19 stood in the center of a pile of corpses.

His black power armor had been stained dark red with blood.

The armor's surface bore multiple scorch marks and craters, but its structure remained intact.

He looked around.

The bodies of gold-armored warriors lay scattered across the floor.

Armor fragments and pools of blood mixed together. Those ornate suits of armor that once represented glory and power were now just scrap metal.

"First line of defense, cleared."

C-19's voice remained steady, devoid of any fluctuation.

"Continue the advance."

He pointed toward the depths of the fortress, at an even more massive adamantine gate leading to the core area.

The gate was thirty meters high and twenty meters wide, its surface covered with thick armor plates and interfaces for energy shield generators.

"Tell Nathan Doom."

C-19 paused for a second.

"The sword of the Empire is already at his throat."