Tons of crimson steel heavily impacted the damaged hull of the Murder-class Cruiser.
Thanks to the efforts of Horatio and the other gun crews, a large number of boarding pods could smash deeper into the interior through the breaches, linking up with the Blood Angels carried by the boarding torpedoes.
The melta charges of the boarding pods breached the armored domes outside the deep compartments, drilling into critical nodes.
Countless Blood God servants were killed by the shattered metal and extreme heat, and those eightfold sacred mark Space Marines eager to engage the Blood Angels in one-on-one combat were disoriented by the dense barrage of boarding pods before they even met.
Many traitors were smashed to pulp; their sturdy ceramite power armor couldn't save them.
Whoosh—
The ramps of the boarding torpedoes and boarding pods quickly opened.
The Blood God servants huddled behind cover, some extending their gun barrels, looking into the grey-black thick fog.
Suddenly, pairs of chilling and terrifying glowing green eyes appeared simultaneously from the smoke, dazzlingly numerous.
While the Blood God's servants could not yet make out figures, the machine soul in the Blood Angels' helmets had already marked each enemy through the smoke, and the loyal Astartes had already raised their boltguns, unleashing a torrent of fire upon the traitors.
Many Blood Pact Soldiers were instantly blasted into gore by.75 caliber (19.05 mm) bolts before they even knew what was happening.
Some huddled into cover, but even so, the steel plates offered them no protection, only becoming their graves.
An ancient Centurion-armored Blood Angels veteran used two heavy bolters, each one inch (25 mm) in size, to directly penetrate the steel plate, sending the Blood God servants and the blasphemously marked barrier along to face the Emperor's judgment.
A panicking rebel Soldiers ran to a high-energy Laser Cannon turret guarding the corridor, but before he could fire a few shots—
The Blood Angels' combat helmets had already marked the threat target.
Several Astartes reacted extremely quickly, moving towards the side compartments to dodge the dangerous and scorching lasers.
They didn't even need to communicate, tacitly seizing the moment they sprinted for cover to fire multiple shots, penetrating the ballistic shield and precisely pulverizing the Blood Pact Soldiers who stood behind, thinking they were safe.
Company Commander Apher, emerging from the black smoke, charged forward with a speed unattainable by these mortals; only a force-field humming blur flashed by.
An entire string of people in the corridor instantly turned into scattered corpses on the ground.
The Blood Angels quickened their pace, following their Company Commander, and began to sprint forward.
They fired their boltguns while swinging their Chainswords or power swords, firing upon the fanatical Evil Cultists surging from other directions.
Company Commander Apher reached a circular intersection with six directions; there, he witnessed an utterly abominable scene.
The wide circular platform at the intersection had been transformed into a bloody arena to please the Blood God, standing out like a scabbed sore on the deck.
The entire deck was stained black-red with ancient, putrid blood, emitting a pungent, foul stench, and the ground was thick and viscous; stepping down, a thick layer of blood mud clung to the bottom and sides of their iron boots.
Here, he could feel deep anger and extreme malice. His sharp eyes gazed at the heads impaled on spear tips, narrowing slightly.
Captured Imperial Soldiers dueled Khorne Space Marines here, completely naked; this was a duel fair only in appearance, seemingly one-on-one, but in reality, under the Khorne Warrior's continuous assault, the loyal duelists would quickly exhaust their stamina and eventually be brutally tortured to death.
A row of short spears was impaled with the heads of loyal mortal warriors such as Imperial Guard officers, Commissars, Battle Sisterss, and Crusaders.
The longer row of sharp spears behind them were all impaled with the heads and combat helmets of Astartes Monks.
Some had already turned into stark white bones, some had rotted to the point of facial collapse, and some were fresh heads, with blood still gushing from their eye sockets.
Bloated red maggots, engorged from drinking blood, writhed in their eye sockets and mouths, desecrating the remains of the death angel.
They belonged to brother Astartes Monks from many different Chapters: Space Wolves, Sons of Dorn, Dark Angels, Sons of Ultramar… The layered spear tips here were like rows of blasphemous display shelves, except the exhibits were all bloody human heads.
What gnashed Company Commander Apher's teeth even more was that many of them were the heads of other Chapters' Blood Angels, and he could recognize these brothers from their similar facial features.
The Astartes Monks of the Second Company quickly ended the nearby fighting.
Apher led a small elite squad, following his instincts, to a cabin.
Inside was a wretched inferno, with a harsh environment and blood flowing everywhere.
There were two Chaos Space Marines inside, whose subordinate servitors were about to execute prisoners of war.
Apher and his brother Astartes Monks engaged the enemy together, using their swift movements to surround the two traitors, separating them and cutting off their paths forward and backward, while three other combat brothers took the opportunity to charge in, mercilessly slaughtering the executioners.
The Company Commander's combat experience was exceptionally rich; his attacks were swift and fierce, accurate and ruthless like a hawk hunting a rabbit. After three exchanges, his power sword severed one of the traitor's arms.
Before the traitor could take a step back, the power sword plunged directly into his chest and ribs, the disintegrating force field tearing through his power armor, shattering the ribs and shoulder blade beneath.
The Khorne Space Marine screamed, half-kneeling, still attempting to punch the Company Commander.
An enraged Apher shoved his artificer boltgun into the traitor's mouth, the muzzle's flash suppressor shattering his front teeth.
Bang! With a gunshot, the traitor's head split into eight pieces.
Another traitor Space Marine, surrounded by Blood Angels, first had his arm severed by a Chainsword, and then they crippled his lower leg.
The traitor knelt on the ground, shouting about 'duels' and'single combat,' wantonly and maliciously insulting their Gene-father.
The enraged Blood Angels tore off his flesh with their bare hands, twisting and breaking every single one of the traitor's bones.
By the time they continued to advance, the traitor on the ground had been reduced to an unidentifiable paste in their hands, looking like red corpse starch.
The assault squad eliminated the traitors in the prison cells, rescuing the tortured mortal Soldiers.
They also discovered two injured Astartes Monks in the cages, covered in scars and bleeding profusely.
Upon seeing the equally crimson-clad warriors, they were first startled, but quickly recognized the bloodletter symbol on their shoulder pads.
"Blood Angels, I knew they'd run into you," a naked Astartes, bearing the mark of a Sergeant, looked at the newcomers and sneered mockingly at the enemy.
"Can you still fight, Sons of Ultramar?" Apher kicked open the iron grate, and with a swing of his sword, severed the horrifying barbed chain hooked into the Astartes' arm muscles.
This Ultramarines Sergeant was a tough man; he directly pulled out the bloody flesh hooks from his own flesh, stepped forward, and stretched his limbs.
"These traitors have slaughtered too many of my brothers. Today, their debts must be settled."
"Please allow me to join your fight, brave and noble Watch Master."
Company Commander Apher turned at the words.
A tall, dark-skinned warrior followed the other Blood Angels behind the Company Commander; he picked up a traitor's Chainaxe from the ground.
Company Commander Apher recognized him as a Company Champion from the third company of the Salamanders Chapter, from the heraldry inscribed on his body.
It was precisely because of this that he had survived to this day. A Company Champion is the strongest melee fighter in a company, also known as a Champion Swordsman.
"Very well, cousin. Today, we will make them pay the price."
The Company Commander led his forces down to the core compartment, where internal railcars could quickly transport them beneath the bridge.
As they descended to the deeper decks, they first saw some Imperial Guard corpses hacked apart by Chainaxes. Gradually, the figures of traitor Astartes appeared before them.