18: Chapter 18: The Dark Angel's Abandonment, the Warrior's Sacrifice.

After a long while, the rebels were reduced to nothing but a pile of ash by the psychic flames.

"Brothers, this skill is way too powerful!"

"Yeah, it's too strong!"

"This feels great, brothers!"

"Move forward quickly, do not lower your guard!" the Justiciar warned vigilantly.

In this manner, the Grey Knights continued to exchange fire with the enemy in the narrow corridors, slaying them one by one.

"For the Emperor!"

However, as they delved deeper, the Grey Knights clearly felt the resistance growing, and their pace of advancement slowed. The Justiciar was becoming anxious—he didn't know the status of the Grey Knight fleet and feared this decapitation strike might end in failure.

In this state of mind, he began a slaughter, soon reaching the vicinity of the control room. The Justiciar pointed his sword at a Chaos Space Marine hiding in the shadows and shouted, "Come out!"

A Chaos Space Marine stepped out from the shadows; his power armor was a patchwork mess, though a dark green base color was faintly visible.

"Dark Angels?" the Justiciar blurted out in disbelief.

"Unbelievable, isn't it?" the warrior sneered. "Those guys' secrecy is as good as ever."

Just as he was about to say more, the ship's hull shook violently—a boarding torpedo cut through the hull and crashed inside. The torpedo hatch opened, and countless Space Marines clad in dark green power armor filed out.

"Dark Angels?" The Justiciar's mind was filled with confusion, but he quickly regained his composure, stepped forward, and demanded, "Dark Angels, I need an explanation!"

The Dark Angels did not respond to his questioning: some stepped forward to block the Justiciar, while the rest walked straight toward that Fallen Angels.

Suddenly, a large number of Chaos Space Marines poured out from both sides of the corridor. They raised their Bolters and fired indiscriminately at both the Grey Knights and the Dark Angels. Fortunately, following the tactical guidelines of the Codex Astartes, the Grey Knights coordinated with the Dark Angels to begin a counterattack.

"Old Chen, why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Old Li, don't even say it, I have the same premonition."

The two looked at each other and immediately reached for their waists, pulling out krak grenades.

As expected, the moment that Fallen Angels retreated, the Dark Angels immediately abandoned the Grey Knights and charged straight ahead—this move instantly exposed the Grey Knights to the Chaos Marines' firepower, leaving them attacked from behind. Many Grey Knights fell on the spot. Fortunately, Li Pu and Chen Mo were prepared; they quickly threw their krak grenades while dragging the Justiciar back, barely managing to save him from the hail of bullets.

"Damned Dark Angels! I will report this to the Grand Master, to the Inquisitor!" the Justiciar growled in fury.

"Justiciar, what should we do now?"

The Justiciar looked at the remaining recruits, his heart aching—these were the future seeds of the Chapter, now trapped in a death trap because of the Dark Angels. He took a deep breath and shouted, "Recruits, the time has come to show your loyalty to the Emperor!" With that, he raised the Storm Bolter on his left arm.

Then, he looked at Li Pu and Chen Mo and said in a heavy voice, "You two performed well."

"Thank you for the praise, Justiciar!" the two responded in unison.

"Come, reload for me."

Li Pu and Chen Mo acted immediately; one helped him change magazines, while the other was responsible for loading the ammunition. The Justiciar looked around at the recruits before him and spoke slowly, his voice firm and powerful:

"'We are the warriors of the Grey Knights, with faith as our armor, devotion as our shield, and purity as our sword. More importantly, we bring the Emperor's holy light into the darkness, to purge all worldly evils.'"

"For the Emperor!"

As his words fell, the Justiciar raised the Storm Bolter in his left hand and was the first to charge into the enemy ranks. The recruits and comrades were greatly inspired and followed him regardless of their lives, charging through the hail of bullets into melee combat—nemesis power swords swung again and again, each strike taking down a Chaos Space Marine.

"For the Emperor!"

On the other side.

"System, what's the progress?"

"Two percent."

"How long has it been? Still 2%? Are you bugged?"

"Host, watch your words. Be careful, or this system will send you to the Warhammer universe."

"Fine, fine, fine, my mistake."

"Then what use are you?"

"To provide the host with rewards, so that the host's avatar on the other side can survive in that other world."

Yang Gao: "..."

"System, you're f*cking screwing with me."

The system remained selectively silent.

(Inner OS: The system is actually plotting against me. What's happening to my avatar? Is he a Space Marine or an Underhive civilian? Forget it, a great man knows when to yield.)

"System Godfather, please tell me, what exactly is the identity of my other avatar? Please let me know. Also, will my name offend those two from the Orks?"

Yang Gao's expression was now extremely humble.

"I still prefer the way you were when we first met."

"Not at all, System Godfather, it was just my ignorance. Please, a great person like you shouldn't hold a grudge against a small fry like me."

"The host's name will not offend the two gods of the Orks in the Warp."

"That's good, that's good."

"Is there any reward for that 2%?"

"Rewards are only given at 10%."

"What? 10%? Why don't you just rob me?"

The system remained silent, offering no answer.

"Sigh! Why is my life so bitter? I thought by transmigrating I could reach the peak of life, but I didn't expect that even in another world, I'm just fated to be a wage slave."

"Old Chen, increase the firepower!"

"Old Li, can't you say something else?"

"Stop talking nonsense, Old Chen, increase the firepower! If you can't kill him, then just beat him to death!"

The two's Storm Bolters roared continuously, rounds firing one after another at the traitors.

"Wow, the streamer is so cool!"

"What should I do? I'm starting to ship those two."

"Eat it cold, the streamer isn't high-class!"

The surrounding Grey Knights fell one by one. The Justiciar's ammunition ran out at that moment; Chen Mo was the first to notice. He picked up a weapon from a fallen brother, checked the battery, and tossed it to the Justiciar.

The Justiciar caught the nemesis power sword thrown by Chen Mo and looked back with a nod of acknowledgment. Then, gripping the nemesis power sword tightly in his left hand, he pointed the tip directly at the Chaos Space Marine where the fighting was most intense.

The Justiciar roared with fury:

"For the Emperor!"

"For Humanity!"

He seemed to burn everything he had as he tangled with that Chaos Space Marine. Every slash was carried by an endless rage. It felt as if a long time had passed, yet also as if it were only a brief moment—a flash of white light passed, and the Justiciar fell to the ground. The Chaos Space Marine turned around, about to sneer, only to find he couldn't speak. His head tilted, and his entire skull fell to the ground; instantly, the scene became incredibly bloody.