13: Chapter 13 Danica's Sacrifice, the End of the Death Mark.

"You should hold onto your faith."

Danica exploded at these words: "You have no right to speak for the Emperor! You are a cowardly piece of scum, wearing sacred robes yet long since tainted by fear! You have no right to talk to me about faith or dereliction of duty, let alone forgiveness! The Emperor forgives no one!"

Danica's blood boiled, and she fired a shot. Sakan was startled and quickly looked back—the bullet hit the ground; the priest had already collapsed.

"Danica!"

"Sorry, Brother, I didn't control my emotions well."

When the group reached the extraction point, they found it had long since been destroyed. At that moment, a Wild Scorpion Destroyer, attracted by Danica's gunshot, began to attack them.

"Brothers, was I right? Just as expected!"

"Holy crap, brother, you're a jinx!"

"Find cover, stay calm! No matter what happens, you must keep heading west!"

The already heavily wounded Sakan didn't last long. He was beaten until he spat blood; even his hard Ceramite was shattered, exposing half his face, and his right hand was severed. Just as the Wild Scorpion Destroyer was about to deliver a killing blow, a rational Danica arrived just in time, firing repeatedly to force it back. Sakan seized the opportunity, gripped his Chainsword, and delivered a fatal strike, but then he collapsed, his injuries too severe.

The players fell silent collectively.

"Is he dead just like that?"

"He fulfilled his mission."

Danica reclaimed her faith: "We must keep going west, further and further, until we get you out."

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. A Gauss Ray pierced her back, and green light began to shimmer on her skin as she slowly fell. Poor Danica had only just reclaimed her faith, and now she could no longer serve the Emperor.

The Deathmark watched the struggling Danica, stepping on her weapon. He commented on her unusual nature while looking down at her like an ant. Danica's final words revealed the Deathmark's ultimate fate: "I... hear... an angel descending."

As soon as she finished speaking, the Salamander warrior who had long since fallen, supported by the Belisarian Furnace, quickly rose and dealt the Deathmark a fatal blow, only to be swatted away. Then, the Deathmark hastily fled into a multi-dimensional space.

"Sakan, you're alive!"

"I am like you. Remember what I said? Head west, keep heading west. May the Emperor be with you!"

"Come with us, please!"

"Not this time. The Emperor has given me a mission. I must eliminate that monster, or it will eliminate me."

"But... you're injured, your... hand..."

"Child, when I was your age, I was already hunting dragons. It's just a small wound; it won't affect me."

"Brothers, isn't this sci-fi? Why are dragons involved now?"

"Who knows?"

"Maybe the author wants to do some fusion of East and West?"

"It's quite possible."

"Go, hide as best as you can. When you reach the edge of the city, tell them that Sakan of the Salamanders Chapter sent you."

"This unit has failed, requesting backup!"

Unexpectedly, before the voice in the communicator could finish explaining, Sakan ended its life with a single strike.

Zeras looked at Sakan with some confusion: "What keeps you fighting? Or rather, why persist even when you know this war is doomed to be lost?"

"As long as the inhabitants of this planet plead for aid, we will answer. Because we are the Salamanders Chapter; to be protectors is our mission..."