Yet, despite the impending apocalypse, this "dying" capital strangely came back to life at that very moment.
The soldiers of the Terran Dominion, many of whom were on the verge of surrender or mutiny just a second earlier, suddenly erupted with astonishing combat effectiveness.
Autoturrets swiveled their barrels, unloading large-caliber shells into the oncoming swarm. Heavily armored infantry formed an ironclad line, weaving a dense web of fire with Gauss rifles. Even the most timid logistics personnel grabbed welding torches and scorched advancing drones into charred husks.
Engineers piloting SCVs (Space Construction Vehicles) served as pivotal anchors, and surprisingly, they proved remarkably effective—few Zerg could withstand a close-quarters assault from an SCV.
"Hold the breach! Don't let those beasts through Sector D7!"
A blood-covered captain roared, his Gauss rifle spewing spike rounds outward.
His troops used burning vehicles to form makeshift barricades, turning the advancing Zerg into a sea of flame.
The screams of civilians echoed throughout the city.
Mothers stumbled toward underground shelters clutching their children, the elderly were shoved down in the chaos, and a few brave resistance fighters took the opportunity to blow open more armories, handing out weapons to anyone willing to fight.
"Damn it, let's die fighting the bugs!" one rebel, eyes bloodshot, incinerated two Zerg with a flamethrower and shouted to the crowd:
"Better than dying under Mengsk's boot!"
Meanwhile, in low orbit above Mar Sara;
On the bridge of the Emperor-class battleship Unyielding Sacred Flame, Commander Gaozan of the Salamanders' 3rd Company stood with hands clasped behind his back.
Through the observation window, the full scope of the space slaughter was clear—
The Zerg bioships drifted like rotting, shell-covered entrails in the void. Leviathans spat spore pods in barrages toward Mar Sara's surface and the Salamanders' ships.
The Salamanders responded with flawless formations. Each volley from the photonic spear arrays disintegrated several Zerg escort ships into space dust.
"Main cannon charged. Zerg capital ship entering range," the fire control officer reported calmly.
"Full barrage," Gaozan ordered with clipped authority.
Instantly, the Unyielding Sacred Flame's electromagnetic macro-cannon array spewed a torrent of destruction.
Blinding beams pierced the darkness, boring a massive hole clean through a Leviathan as it released spore pods. Acid and organic matter erupted from the wound, congealing into revolting crystals in the vacuum.
"Report: Right-wing fleet group has broken the Zerg escort formation."
"Multiple warp signals detected—estimated enemy contact in two minutes."
The bridge remained in eerie order despite the ceaseless reports.
Soon—
"Urgent message from Intelligence Division," a communications officer said abruptly. "The Zerg attack on Mar Sara may be in pursuit of some kind of artifact."
Gaozan's brow furrowed ever so slightly.
Then he turned toward the holographic map filled with red blips. "Let Investigation Division handle it. The Salamanders focus solely on the front line."
At that moment, a dazzling green light flared outside the window—
Multiple Zerg escort ships launched suicide attacks against a Salamanders frigate.
Fortunately, the frigate's shields activated just in time, and its agility helped it narrowly avoid destruction. Still, the violent explosion temporarily disabled its shield.
Seeing this, Gaozan barked, "All ships, open fire at will! Do not let a single bioship breach the line! Once the situation stabilizes, commence surface deployment!"
"Yes, sir!"
As the Salamander fleet clashed violently with the Zerg bioships in orbit, Mar Sara City had become hell on Earth.
The eastern district's defense line was the first to collapse.
Tens of thousands of Zerg surged over barricades like a black tide, tearing defenders to pieces. Hydralisks sprayed bone spikes from afar, pinning down any officer who tried to rally a counterattack.
"Retreat! Fall back to the secondary line!"
Thud—SPLRT—!
A major had just shouted his command when an Ultralisk burst from underground and trampled him into pulp.
Above the city, more spore pods broke through the Salamanders' intercept nets.
They crashed down like meteors, each impact zone spawning a new cluster of Zerg.
In the Gobi Desert, the bulging mounds finally burst open. Dozens of Ultralisks emerged from the sands, their mountainous forms even blotting out the moonlight.
As the beasts stepped toward the city, the ground itself quaked.
Inside the command center, the last remaining high-ranking officers stared at the red-saturated tactical display. They knew—this would be Mar Sara's final night.
But then, something no one expected happened—
Just as the first Ultralisk was about to trample the city wall, two azure beams shot down from the sky, precisely piercing its skull and torso.
Armor capable of withstanding tank fire shattered like paper. The behemoth froze mid-charge, yellow-green ichor gushing from the fatal wounds.
FWSSHH—FWSSHH—!
More beams followed in rapid succession.
Each blue flash brought another Ultralisk crashing down.
Moments ago, these towering beasts had driven defenders to despair. Now they fell like wheat before a scythe.
Terran soldiers on and near the wall stood dumbfounded. Some instinctively lifted their visors and rubbed their eyes.
As more orbital strikes hit home, they could even hear the muffled explosions from within the Zerg carapaces.
"Orbital bombardment?" a dust-covered soldier muttered, his rifle lowering unconsciously.
"Why are the giants helping us?" his comrade asked, staring at the lingering energy trails in the sky.
They soon noticed that one Ultralisk emerging three kilometers away had been skewered from mouth to rectum—an obviously humiliating shot born of a Salamanders gunner's twisted sense of humor.
But there was no time to ponder why the Salamanders were helping.
The anomalies in the sky continued.
Hundreds of crimson "meteors"—or rather, drop pods—now pierced the clouds with blazing speed.
Each entered the atmosphere at a steep angle, their hulls igniting plasma trails that traced blood-red arcs across the night sky.
"Eyes up!"
A Terran sergeant barely shouted the warning before a blast wave from the Zerg tossed him to the ground.
BOOM! BOOM!
The first wave of drop pods struck the city's outskirts—right in the densest clusters of Zerg. Shockwaves blasted everything within hundreds of meters.
Orbital bombardments still rained down, those blue beams carving flesh-corridors through the swarm.
BANG~ BANG—!
Dozens of drop pods burst open simultaneously.
Over 300 Salamanders in dark green armor surged forth, their power armor gleaming coldly in the night.
THUNK—THUNK—!
The signature roar of bolt rifles filled the battlefield. .75 and 1.0 caliber explosive rounds streaked like deadly fireworks.
The leading wave of Zerglings was first to fall.
SPLT—SPLT!!
The agile bugs were like toys before bolt rounds. Each shot skewered two or three, exploding in the last one's body to splatter yellow-green mist in the air.
Larger Hydralisks could barely endure a few hits, but their vaunted bone spikes couldn't pierce Titan armor shields fast enough.
"Purge the Xenos!"
Someone bellowed over comms.
Six Salamanders with twin plasma cannons formed a deadly grid. Each charged shot carved charred trenches through the swarm.
Any Zerg caught by the superheated plasma instantly carbonized. Their innards boiled and burst from within.
Some cunning vanguard Zerg tried to flank.
Their sickle claws barely rose before Salamanders turned and cleaved them in half with chainswords.
WHIRR~—ZZT—SHRRRIP—!!
Amid the screeching of teeth tearing shell, one warrior even angled a kill so its acidic gore splashed another Zerg's face.
Such scenes played out across the battlefield—
Power hammers crushed acid sacs, and the corrosive liquid was weaponized against others.
Power swords stabbed straight into Hydralisks' neural nodes, stopping them mid-charge. Smaller Zerg at the feet of warriors were stomped into putrid pulp under magnetic boots.
These Zerg were tougher and faster than the common Arachni brood, but in front of 300 Salamanders—the elite defenders of the Imperial Palace and Earth—they were currently no match.
The warriors advanced in tight units. Bolters roared, chainswords shrieked—blending into a death symphony. Behind them lay only Zerg corpses and boiling acid blood.
With this sudden support, the collapsing defenders found new courage.
Soldiers rearmed, civilians began evacuating the wounded, and even anti-Dominion rebels paused their grudges to join the fight.
But on the far side of the city, things were very different.
In a ten-story apartment building, dozens of survivors faced annihilation.
The streets outside were crawling with Zerg. Zerglings darted between abandoned cars, and Hydralisks pinned would-be escapees to the walls.
Inside, rebels barricaded stairwells with furniture, but the obstacles were rapidly being destroyed.
"Hold the line! We must hold!"
A rebel with an injured arm shouted desperately, his shotgun spent of its last shell.
Crashes echoed from below. Wood splintered under relentless pounding.
Women huddled with children in corners. Men clutched whatever weapons they could find—kitchen knives, metal pipes, table legs.
Despair was etched on every face, but so was grim defiance.
As the first sickle-like claw pierced the barricade—
BOOM!!!
The entire building shook. Dust rained from the ceiling.
At the northern intersection, a massive metal pod embedded in the ground. Its hatch bore the Salamanders' drake emblem, gleaming under streetlights.
BANG~—!
As the hatch blew open, the Zerg assault on the apartment shifted—all eyes turned to the pod.
Six massive figures stepped out, dark green and imposing. Crimson visors glinted in the smoke, shoulder pads blazing with the Salamanders insignia. Heat vents on their backs exhaled scalding white mist.
ROAR—!
The swarm howled through the streets.
These greedy creatures smelled richer prey—
Astartes biomatter could evolve an entire Zerg hive.
Instantly, tens of thousands of Zerg in the district turned, their shell-rubbing rush like an incoming tide.
Zerglings led the charge. Hydralisks gathered power. Lurkers peeked from sewer grates.
THUNK! THUNK THUNK!!
Bolt rifles tore through the vanguard.
.75-cal explosive rounds whipped up a storm of blood and flesh, each round skewering two to four Zerglings.
Heavy troopers stood firm, unleashing overloaded plasma blasts. Entire Hydralisk squads were incinerated into blackened husks.
But the swarm was endless.
They climbed over the corpses of their own, flinging acid and bone spikes that splashed against Salamander shields. The Titan armor shields flickered under the strain.
When the last magazines clicked empty and plasma indicators turned red, the Zerg shrieked louder.
They smelled weakness. The tide surged harder.
But then—
WHIRR~ WHIRR~—BOOM BOOM!
Six chainswords roared in unison.
"For the Emperor!"
"For mankind!"
With metallic war cries, six Salamanders charged into the swarm.
Chainswords ripped through shells with a teeth-grinding screech. Every armored fist punch turned Zerg guts into paste.
One warrior was pinned by three Zerglings but drove a shock dagger into their neural cores before he hit the ground.
Another lone Salamander dove into the horde, chainsword a blur, severing limbs as he went.
Inside the apartment, survivors held their breath.
The gunfire stopped—only metal impacts and carapace shatters remained. A rebel with a Molotov trembled, children buried their faces in mothers' arms.
Time passed—
BOOM. BOOM.
Suddenly, the barricaded staircase began to shake.
Wood splintered. Hearts leapt into throats. A rebel raised a pistol at the trembling debris.
As the junk heap collapsed—
An "iron fist" drenched in Zerg blood punched through the door.
(End of Chapter)
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