Chapter 68 — The Siege Beneath the Rain
The night sky opened above dark, heavy with rain. The Ultramarines stepped out from the cracked stone gate, their boots sinking slightly into the soaked mud as the storm rolled overhead. Water streamed down their armor, tracing clean lines through grime and dust.
They stood at the mouth of a canyon a narrow throat of black rock stretching in both directions. Behind them, the ruins still pulsed faintly with the remnants of psychic fire. While looking at the column of pale blue light skyward, splitting the clouds in two.
The beam cut through the night for only a moment, but it was enough to light the whole valley.
Titus looked up, visor reflecting the glow. "Captain… that light, will attract all those, who are corrupted"
Gaius finished quietly, his voice steady behind his helm. "Then we will hold here until we are extracted."
The beam faded slowly, leaving the rain to fall harder. The wind carried a strange scent, not of death, but of something being washed clean. Yet there was no peace in the storm. The planet still breathed the stench of Chaos.
From the dark canyons came the first distant roar.
Then another.
Engines. Many of them.
The Marines turned their helmets toward the sound. Through the storm, lights appeared, first a few, then hundreds. Sickly green headlights, and flaming torches, flickered across the valley like a swarm of insects.
They were coming.
The beam of light had been seen across the horizon, a beacon to every corrupted soul left alive. The Chaos Cultists came screaming from the canyons, riding trucks, motorcycles, and armored carriers plastered with crude sigils. Some ran on foot, waving rusted weapons and chainsaws, chanting mad prayers as they charged through the rain.
Metaraus, the eldest among them, watched the endless mass pour forward. His voice came through the vox, calm but heavy.
"Captain Gaius. My vox has reconnected to the Invictus. Should we now leave?"
Gaius studied the horde. Their lights formed rivers of motion across the mud, surging toward him like an ocean tide. He could see the fanatic gleam in their eyes even from here. They would not stop, he wants to order an cleansing for this world. but The Invictus, a strike cruiser, orbited above, Titus striker cruiser's name powerful but not built for planetary extermination. Yet its weapons could turn mountains into glass. But with The Oath Of Rectitude help, it can clean a huge terrain into glasses.
He nodded once. "Yes. We leave now. I'll call a Thunderhawk for extraction."
He opened a secure vox channel.
"This is Captain Gaius. We require immediate retrieval. Location marked."
The Techmarine's voice answered through static. "Acknowledged, Captain. Thunderhawk launching now. Estimated arrival in eight minutes."
"Understood."
He turned toward his squad, Titus, Metaraus, the Bladeguards, and two Primaris brothers who had fought with him since the start. "Thunderhawk inbound. Eight minutes. We hold here."
The Ultramarines nodded in silent agreement. They didn't need orders for what came next.
Above them, faint projections shimmered, translucent shapes that only Gaius could see, its members visible in the rain like ghosts of light.
Tony's brow furrowed as he looked at the canyon below. "That's… a lot of them."
Diana folded her arms. "The light drew them in."
Naruto leaned forward, eyes wide. "That's crazy! There's too many of them!"
Mindy's gaze followed the wave of headlights. "So that's what real madness looks like."
Beside her, Saeko stood still, trembling faintly, eyes half-shadowed. Not in fear, but anticipation. Her fingers flexed unconsciously, as if gripping an invisible sword.
Mindy misread her. She stepped closer, wrapping her arms gently around Saeko from behind. "Don't worry. Gaius will be okay. He's strong. And he's not alone."
Saeko blinked, her trembling fading. "I see… I was only worried, that's all."
Naruto grinned. "Yeah! Gaius got this!"
Tony nodded in agreement, but Diana glanced sidelong at Saeko. She knew that tremor hadn't been fear. Still, she said nothing.
Below, the Ultramarines readied their weapons.
Rain poured down in sheets, splashing off their armor as they took formation.
Titus drew his chainsword and bolter.
The Bladeguards locked shields, forming a forward arc.
Metaraus powered up his plasma gun, its core glowing faintly blue and taking out his power double bit axe.
The two Primaris raised their bolters, adjusting stances in silence.
And Gaius, at the center, hefted his warhammer, resting it on his shoulder. The golden auramite of his armor glowed faintly under the stormlight, each plate marked with faint script.
"Hold formation," he said, voice low through the vox. "Let them come."
The first wave broke through the mist, motorcycles screaming through the mud, headlights blazing.
Their riders howled, swinging axes and chains, reckless in their charge.
Gaius took one step forward.
The first rider came straight for him.
He swung.
The warhammer connected with the motorcycle's front chassis.
The machine shattered instantly. The impact was so immense it tore the rider apart midair, his body flung backward in a cloud of blood and fire. The wreckage exploded mid-spin, sending burning fragments scattering through the next line of riders.
Those fragments, each carrying the momentum of Gaius's strike, tore through flesh, wheels, and armor alike, scattering the entire vanguard in one brutal wave.
Bolters roared behind him. Titus and the others fired in disciplined bursts, each round hitting true. Motorcycles and trucks exploded in sequence, lighting the rain-swept canyon in strobing flashes.
"Contact front," Titus called. "Armor incoming!"
From behind the first wave came the deeper thunder of treads.
Chaos tanks and trucks rolled forward, hulls covered in blasphemous sigils, cannons glowing with warp-taint.
Explosions tore the ground as shells struck the canyon walls. Shards of rock fell around them. The Ultramarines ducked behind natural cover, returning fire.
Metaraus's plasma gun screamed as he fired, vaporizing one gunner outright.
The Bladeguards raised their shields to block the debris raining from above.
Gaius crouched low behind a broken boulder. "Titus."
"Captain."
"On me."
Without hesitation, Gaius stepped out into the open. Bolter fire and las-rounds streaked through the rain, striking his armor harmlessly. The auramite plating shimmered faintly as the impacts scattered, leaving neither scorch nor dent.
He charged.
The ground shook with each step. Bullets pinged off him like hail.
He closed the distance in seconds.
The nearest tank turned its turret toward him.
Gaius swung.
The warhammer struck the side armor with a single, clean motion.
The entire tank folded inward like paper, the impact crushing it from one end to the other. Flames burst from its hatches. The explosion rippled outward, igniting nearby fuel drums.
He didn't stop. Another tank loomed behind the smoke. Gaius sprinted through the fire, vaulted onto its hull, and brought the hammer down through the turret. Metal screamed. The vehicle ruptured beneath him in a cloud of orange and black.
Titus joined the charge, climbing onto another tank. He shot the top gunner clean through the head, ripped open the hatch, and dropped a frag grenade inside. He leapt clear as it detonated,killing who ever was inside the tank.
The other Ultramarines moved forward in unity,bolters roaring, blades flashing, their armor glowing faintly in the firelight.
The cultists screamed prayers to their gods, but it changed nothing. They were cut down, burned, crushed, their bodies trampled into the mud beneath ceramite boots.
Tony watched with wide eyes. "Normal humans… can't really be a match to these Astartes."
He exhaled sharply. "And their enemies aren't normal either, look at them, huge and muscular from a normal human perspective, but they still look small next to an Astartes." truly showing how strong a Space Marine are compared to Normal People.
Diana nodded with what Tony said as a sign of agreement. but she thought to her self comparing them from the Amazons "Their coordination… their Strength. Even the Amazons would falter against such order. Especially him." Her eyes followed Gaius as he moved through the chaos, a calm storm amidst fire and thunder.
Naruto punched his fist into his palm. "They're awesome!"
Mindy whispered, "If I were that strong… I could've avenged my parents myself."
Saeko's eyes lingered on Gaius, the precision, the power, the inevitability in his movement, she is envious of such carnage, of how wish she Could joined, but she's too weak.
The Thunderhawk's engines roared above them. Its heavy guns tore through the air, cutting down the last of the cultists closing in. The gunship descended through the storm, its floodlights washing the canyon in white.
"Extraction zone secure," came the Techmarine's voice over the vox.
"Form up," Gaius ordered.
The squad regrouped in formation, backing toward the landing ramp. Bolter fire still echoed in the rain, but the horde had begun to falter, broken and scattered by the slaughter.
Gaius turned once more toward the battlefield. Fire burned across the mud, smoke twisting into the storm.
He lowered his hammer and spoke.
"Our mission here is done."
The ramp lifted. The Thunderhawk rose into the night, engines shaking the canyon as it ascended through the rain and smoke.
Inside, none of them spoke. Titus reloaded his bolter silently. Metaraus checked his armor systems.
Gaius stood near the viewport, watching the planet shrink beneath them, the fading light of the storm glinting across his armor.
"The mission is done," he murmured. "But not finished."
The others nodded.
Outside, thunder rolled, distant and fading, as the ship broke through the clouds into the black of space.
.~~~
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