Colonel Akal spit out a mouthful of blood and used his power sword to support himself, standing up. His uniform was riddled with holes from the tyranid acid, but his gaze remained as firm as iron.
"Lord Titus, you are right. I will coordinate two companies of troops for you as much as possible to assist your attack. This is the last mobile force I can deploy. The remaining troops must cover the main force's retreat."
"Recapturing the orbital cannon is indeed very important. Only with the orbital cannon can we hold on for a longer time."
"But if we cannot retreat smoothly, then we might be completely annihilated tomorrow."
Titus nodded, indicating his agreement.
Indeed, facing a Tyranid Swarm invasion of this scale, it was inappropriate to place all hope on the orbital cannon.
It would be better to retreat to the planet's northernmost pole and rely on the cold there to delay for a while longer.
To put it bluntly, no matter which option, both were efforts to ensure the continued existence of this planet.
Just then, a piercing shriek suddenly echoed from the sky.
Titus looked up, only to see dozens of burning spore sacs breaking through the clouds and plummeting towards the battlefield.
"New tyranid reinforcements!" Space Wolf Warrior Tokbo roared, "They want to crush us completely!"
This is what happens without air superiority. Without air superiority, the Tyranid Swarm can deploy any troops they want to any battlefield they choose.
Normally, a regular Space Marines facing such a predicament would likely be doomed, but who was here?
He was Titus!
The soldiers of Cadia picked up their entrenching tools and bayonets, preparing for a final struggle against the tyranids, while Titus charged directly forward. The chainsword in his hand was like a great weapon of destruction.
Any tyranid that merely touched his chainsword would be cut in half.
Titus's chainsword roared deafeningly, its teeth spinning at high speed, severing the charging Hormagaunts at the waist.
The tyranid's acidic blood splattered on his power armour, making a "sizzling" corrosive sound, but he didn't care, continuing to carve a bloody path through the Tyranid Swarm.
"Tokbo! Cover my flank!" Titus roared.
The Space Wolf Warrior let out a wolf-like battle cry, his power axe carving deadly arcs through the Tyranid Swarm.
The two Space Marines stood back-to-back, forming a small fortress, buying time for the retreating Cadia soldiers.
"Hold on, brothers!" Colonel Akal encouraged his soldiers in a hoarse voice, "The expeditionary fleet is already on its way! As long as we persevere, there will be hope!"
Titus knew these were merely words of comfort.
The expeditionary fleet would not prioritize supporting this fringe world, but he could not expose the lie. Sometimes, hope was more important than the truth.
"For the Emperor!" Titus shouted a battle cry, his chainsword once again cleaving the head of a tyranid Warrior.
Titus truly lived up to his title as a Chosen of the Emperor of the Ultramarines; his combat power was truly unheard of.
The Tyranid Swarm was virtually no match for him.
Although the battle became extremely fierce, when the war finally ended, the Tyranid Swarm was still cut into a pile of bloody pulp by him.
Although the Cadia soldiers suffered some losses, new reinforcements also arrived.
Two regiments of the local planetary Defence Force arrived and coordinated with the Cadia soldiers.
This was the support requested by the colonel of the 16th Regiment from the planetary Governor.
The local planetary Governor might not have been a brilliant person, but he still understood that recapturing the orbital cannon meant hope.
So he decisively dispatched two regiments of the planetary Defence Force.
No matter what, the battle had reached this point, and the orbit was now filled with the hive fleet. If he couldn't recapture the orbital cannon and drive back the hive fleet, he wouldn't be able to escape even if he wanted to.
Titus looked at the newly arrived planetary Defence Force troops; although their equipment was crude, they at least brought valuable heavy weapons—several old self-propelled artillery pieces, heavy bolters, ten leman russ battle tanks, and dozens of heavy stubbers.
This gave them a glimmer of hope.
"Colonel, have your men establish firing positions," Titus wiped the tyranid blood from his helmet, "Tokbo, we continue to advance."
The two Space Marines led the hastily assembled force in a charge towards the orbital cannon position.
The Tyranid Swarm seemed to sense their intentions, and more xenos surged from all directions. Titus's chainsword was already overheating, its teeth glowing red, but he continued to carve a bloody path through the Tyranid Swarm.
"Lord Titus!" The voice of Kartula of the Raven Guard suddenly came through the communicator, "We have infiltrated the control center."
"But the situation is bad—the Tyranid Swarm has bred new variants here!"
The mechanical voice of Dyakalis, a warrior of the Iron Hands, immediately followed: "System damage 85%... requires at least 6 hours to repair..."
Just then, a biological plasma shot struck the cover near Titus, and the explosion knocked him to the ground.
However, he himself was unharmed; the power of the Emperor of Mankind protected him.
What kind of person can be called a Chosen of the Emperor?
It refers to people like Titus.
He had been favored by the Emperor of Mankind a long time ago, so even though the Emperor of Mankind was currently a shut-in, he still bestowed some power.
It was this psychic power that left him unharmed, and at the same time, he once again wielded his chainsword, unleashing a massacre on the swarms.
But this was not the most important thing; the most important thing was that the Emperor of Mankind directly transmitted this message to Zeke, and Zeke saw Titus fighting fiercely.
Zeke still had some fondness for this main character of Warhammer, a Space Marine he had once controlled.
This was a truly Chosen of the Emperor-level individual. If he were to be transformed into a Custodes-level combatant like the Terran Dominion, Zeke couldn't imagine how strong such a guy's combat power would be.
Among the human race, it's not that accepting the same Gene Modification will result in identical combat power. Their combat power will still vary, either stemming from their individual willpower or from combat experience.
Or perhaps Gene Modification is more effective for some individuals, but no matter what, there will always be some people who are exceptionally outstanding.
The moment Zeke saw Titus, he declared that he had taken a liking to this guy.
Immediately after the Emperor's blessing descended, Zeke's blessing also arrived on Titus at the same time; he received the blessings of two Emperors!
This result led to a significant increase in his combat power; merely after receiving the two blessings, the chainsword in his hand was wielded with extreme frenzy.
He even awakened powerful psychic abilities, and psychic lightning automatically shot out from his hands, clearing all the Tyranid Swarm in the vicinity.
Now he possessed psychic powers akin to a Chapters Librarian, and the power the Emperors was bestowed upon him.
This was a miracle—
In this dark, cruel, bloody, and seemingly hopeless universe.
Such hope, such a miracle, is why humanity continues to persevere.