Chapter 108: Knightly Spirit? What's That?
On Vaporis, the High King of the Knight House, Fabius, was enjoying the slaughter in his family's castle.
The once-noble Knight had now completely fallen.
His Knights had easily breached the garrison of the Planetary Defence Force, and the captives had been dragged here for bloody gladiatorial combat.
The massive arena was littered with corpses and severed heads. He watched as those soldiers who had once believed in the False Emperor now fought to the death just to survive.
Fabius sat upon his throne, appreciating everything in the arena. His once-sacred throne was now hung with skulls.
He felt he would soon be able to sacrifice the entire planet to the great Blood God, and then he and his family's Knights would spread the flames of war to every corner of the Expanse.
His collaborator, Wolteng, had already gone to the Winterscale capital world. Once that world, with its vast population and military resources, was conquered, he would join that immense army to sweep through every corner of the region.
Countless skulls, endless blood… just thinking about it excited Fabius.
The family members and retainers gathered around the arena suddenly erupted in excited shouts; the bloody gladiatorial combat within had ended.
A man still wearing an Imperial military uniform knelt on the ground, surrounded by the corpses of his comrades.
He covered his face and wept, but with the continuous slaughter, the corruption brought by Khorne was also affecting his will and soul.
He struggled to restrain it, muttering the God-Emperor's name, but still felt himself falling into an irredeemable abyss.
"The act of battle itself should be enjoyed. Yet they fight only to survive. They shout the name of that cursed one, but now, their oaths are thrown to the wind like dog crap. Look… what a pitiful fellow. The fear of killing your comrades, you will soon forget. There is nothing more exhilarating than the blood and skulls of others!"
Fabius knew the survivor in this arena was just putting up a useless struggle. As the one who survived to the end, his ferocity would be blessed by Khorne, and he, in turn, would gain a powerful follower.
Soon, he would know the benefits of believing in the Blood God.
And just as he was waiting for his Knights to conquer all the settlements on this planet and offer up his former subjects to the Blood God, one of his sons ran to his side in a panic.
"Father, Sir Lancelot and Sir Louis are dead! Their sacred Knight mechs have also been destroyed!"
The Raiders' orbital assault had been too fast. By the time Fabius received the battle report, the fighting at the strike location was already over.
And it wasn't the only location that had been hit.
Hearing this, Fabius stood up from his throne.
The reason for his anger was not the enemy's attack; he would never refuse any battle. He was angry at the uselessness of his knights. The defeated had no right to live. Even if they had escaped and returned alive, Fabius would have killed them himself and let stronger individuals pilot the Knight mechs.
"Who is the enemy?"
"It is the army of the Mongorte Dynasty!"
"The Mongorte Dynasty? Summon all the Knights to the family castle! Have the Sacristans activate my Throne Mechanicum!"
Fabius knew that since the enemy had already landed on the surface, they would surely head this way. He would lead his Knights to crush their offensive.
The powerful void shields around the family castle could defend against threats from the air, and as for a ground battle…
Apart from a Titan Legion, his Knight House had never submitted to anyone. A single powerful Knight possessed the firepower of an entire tank company. He would let these invaders know who the true master of this planet was.
Fabius imagined himself vanquishing these enemies and offering their skulls to Khorne in exchange for even greater power.
But suddenly, the family castle began to shake violently. The shockwave from a massive explosion sent him tumbling to the ground.
"What happened! What in the blazes happened?!"
Fabius roared, but the explosions continued, one after another.
A castle guard ran over in terror, shouting, "High King, it's warships! There are warships above the castle!!"
"Warships?! Impossible!"
He knew the standard configuration of Imperial warships. A Rogue Trader Dynasty couldn't possibly afford the immense cost of acquiring Strike Cruisers. Even if they could, there would be no need; it didn't align with the interests of a Rogue Trader Dynasty.
"Quick, activate the void shields!"
Although he couldn't figure out the reason, he still began to command his army.
But the void shields did not activate as he commanded.
And at this moment, in the room that housed the void shield generators, the floor was covered with the corpses of Khornate cultists. Most had died from a single headshot; some others had been sliced in half by psionic blades.
The energy engines that maintained the void shields had been overloaded; wanting to restart them in a short time was simply impossible.
And two figures gradually uncloaked.
The two Ghosts looked at the corpses on the ground with disgust. These Ghosts were also survivors of the Chaos rebellion on their home world, and they too held an extreme aversion to these who worshipped Chaos.
Lucan's "Ghost Academy" was continuously expanding. The number of psykers produced by the massive population base was not small, though not everyone's psychic level was high enough to become a Ghost.
But the scale of the Ghost force had already reached 30.
And a two-man Ghost team had also joined this advance force. From the moment the drop assault began, these two Ghosts had also reached the surface via Banshee fighters.
Relying on their cloaking ability, they had infiltrated this castle. Their mind control ability had allowed them to find the chamber where the void shield generator was located and destroy it.
"Ghost team, mission complete!"
After reporting, the two cloaked again and headed towards other important facilities.
Fabius stumbled, trying to walk towards the hangar where his Knight mech was located.
But at this moment, this short distance seemed to be the death of him.
"This is not an honorable battle! If you have the guts, face my Knights in a proper duel! You shameless worshippers of the False Emperor!!"
If Lucan had heard this, he would have surely thought the man's brain had been fried by Warp corruption. Who would talk about knightly spirit with you? From the moment you pledged yourselves to Chaos, there was no honor left to speak of.
At this time, the five Gorgon Battlecruisers that had jumped into this system had executed a tactical jump directly into the sky above this castle complex. The enemy had no time to react.
Lucan had never intended to engage in some honorable ground duel with this group of inhuman individuals.
Even with the advantage on Lucan's side, the remaining nearly twenty Knights were still a huge threat. A head-on clash would inevitably lead to losses.
And with the enemy's void shields disabled, under the absolute air superiority of the five Gorgons, any resistance was futile.
Some standby Knight mechs charged out of their hangars and fired their weapons at the Gorgons in the sky.
But weapons capable of destroying heavy vehicles seemed powerless against the energy shields of a warship.
If you were a Titan's volcano cannon, perhaps you could still pose a threat to a Gorgon. But you are just a Knight.
While destroying this castle, the Gorgons also quickly locked onto all still-active Knight mechs, unleashing a massive, unstinting barrage of firepower that directly engulfed them.
A charged Yamato Cannon is something no Knight, regardless of class, could possibly withstand. This was a difference in scale, not something easily compensated for. It was like a heavyweight champion fighting a lightweight; even if the opponent's technique was superior, victory was almost impossible.
This blasphemous castle now became the tomb of these Khornate cultists.
Without the protection of void shields, no castle, no matter how large, could withstand a bombardment from a warship.
The Gorgons' bombardment lasted for an hour. For dozens of kilometers around, not a single intact building could be seen, nor could any living enemy.
"Enemy has been cleared. Requesting Raiders to enter and sweep the battlefield."
(End of Chapter)
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