章 141: Men and Demons

"Do not look to us for kindness. Do not look to us for hope. We are not the kind children of this new age. We are the rocks of its foundation. If you wish hope then look to what we make. If you wish kindness then look to those who will come after us." By Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists Space Marine Legion

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Rocky and covered with small plants such as bushes, the ritual site of the Dragon Cult was fitting environment for the upcoming Dragon Queen. The mountain paths are limited and due to high altitude the oxygen are thinner than ground level.

Due to the last dragon mask being the red dragon, the entire Dragon Cult gather in massive number to perform the ritual to summon their Dragon Queen. Most of the cultists are humans but there are decent number of Tieflings and half races among the cult. There are massive number of monsters present including half dragons, which are bored from breeding between dragon and humanoid races (Different from Dragonborn as they are race of proud race of their own and shaped by the draconic gods).

William's forces are comprised of entire companies of Null Marines, full force of Sisters of Battle and elite force of Astra Militarum such as Tempestus Scions, Catachans and company of Cadians Veterans.

The moment troop transports flyers and Thunderhawks landed, the troops of Astra Militarum secured the landing site as well as Sisters and Null Marines did the same. After finishing securing the landing site and killing any survivors, Astra Militarum begin unloading critical equipments for the final battle and various heavy war gears to get ready for final assault.

Meanwhile, Sisters of Battle and rest of the Astartes expend the security by venturing further and killing anything that could expose their presence. William, Rana and few of the senior officers of the groups gathered to go over the plan one more time before setting out to attack the enemy's main base. After few minutes of discussion and sharing of plans through date sheet, William was the first to step out from the command tent with full might of the Honour Guards behind him.

"Captain Archilaus, prepare for battle. We are going to spear head the enemy base while rest of the battle group get ready for their part of the plan." With William's command, Captain Archilaus Auguste gather all of his men and platoons of Tempestus Scions to move out.

William, in his terminator armor took the lead with flags of Imperium and his legion behind him, carried by the Null Marines given honour of carrying them.

William and his one hundred Honour Guards left the temporary base camp with energy that could rumble the very ground. Equipped with best relic weapons from the STC of the Dark Age of Technology, nothing can stop them even if gods and demons waited to.

Behind them, Tempestus Scions and few of the guardsmens follow behind with their equipments and supplies. From ammunitions to rations packs, the company of Imperium's finest made their march to the battle that's waiting for them.

Less than an hour of venturing into enemy's territory, William and his men came to face to face against small enemy of Dragon Cult comprised of three hundreds of cult soldiers and handful of magic casters such as wizards and warlocks. With no warning from the rear side forces or messangers to notified them of the enemy infiltration, the small army of Dragon Cult was caught with their pants down.

"Open fire," Spoken in normal voice with no emotion to kill or destroy, William's command ignited all of his men to open fire their weapons without any mercy.

All one hundred Null Marines open fire all at once. Raoring sound of bolter rounds and other range weapons mown down unsuspecting enemy forces like a wave. Initial attack put down great number of soldiers as explosive rounds pierced the flesh and exploded, causing devastating death around the target.

By the time enemy realized they are under attack, the wave after wave of bolters ripped everything including wooden covers such as tables and wagons. Some of the survivors return fire by shooting crossbows and arrows but it was pointless as Null Marines' power armor simply bounce them like a toothpicks.

Magic casters also retaliate by casting various magic spells against William's forces, hoping to show off their destructive powers. The result was pointless as arrows and crossbows as many of the pure magic spells simply dissipate before it could hit the fully armoured giants. All their dedication to the studies of magic and exchange of their souls for the power beyond the average people ended with realization that their life is in end of the road. With their position was exposed and identified as a valuable target, plasma rifle squads change their sights and open fire.

Before magic casters realized they are in danger or able to process why their precious spells failed, beam of multiple blue lights with unimaginable temperature vaporize them. As for the enemy soldiers with bows and crossbows, their heads exploded immediately as Null Marines with heritage of Raven Guards took them out with bolter rifles with sniper scopes. None of the enemies had a chance to fight back properly or survive the encounter.

As swift the attack was, the fight ended in a matter of few minutes as hundreds od bodies lay around with bodies in pieces. It was onse side battle with no casualties from William's side and complete destruction of enemy forces including their base camp.

"Chapter Master, scouts are reporting of large number of daemons approaching." Captain Archilaus pass the message to William through vox channel built into his helmet.

"Prepare the Honour Guards and have guadsmen resupply the ammunitions. This is nothing but a warm up for the real battle. Also, contact the others to let them know we are getting enemies attention as we intended. We will move head on as planned." William said as he reload his range weapons. Behind him, a Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought with multiple purity seals and honors followed William.

"Honorable Chapter Master William, what is bothering you to spent your wrath upon unworthy foes?" Veteran Sergeant Raduriel, the senior among the dreadnoughts spoke with speaker as he lost his ability to speak directly with his mouth. With newly upgrades weapons and armour directly from STC forge, Leviathan Pattern is more than just an upgrade and fancy paint job. Armed with destructive cannons, missiles pods and power weapons, Blacksouls dreadnoughts are more than powerful enough to break the siege by themselves.

"This is the moment I been dreading for, Brother Raduriel. To face the demons of the New World, we are about to bet all on our blessed weapons from the Adeptus Mechanicus and Emperor's gift. The result of the first round will determined the outcome of the battle and entire war effort. For once in my life, I'm excited to see what will become of the incoming enemy forces." William answer Brother Raduriel with eagerness while double checking his terminator armor's built in command module. All of his men including supply unit are all green and all of his honour guards report with no issues after restocking their ammunitions. The first key plan of the war effort is about to be tested. For William to become one and only target for the enemy forces to pay attention while Rana and her Sisters breach the main base to wipe them out from the rear.

To take down any grounded dragons and rest of the enemy military forces like a hammer and anvil. A classic military strategy in which William will be the anvil and Rana to be hammer to wipe entire army of cult before facing the Dragon Queen.

"It will work, Brother. Trust on the Emperor's plan and servants. This will be our greates test against the forces of darkness since pre founding of Terranovis. Believe in yourself, brother. You are the one who led us to where we are now and you will led us back home." Massive Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought gave inspiring speech to William and to William's surprise, honour guards with flags of the Imperium and Blacksouls stand beside him, rallying the men.

"You are right brother, your wisdom once again strength my devotion to my brothers and others. We will slay anything that stand in front of us. We will march to the enemy's front and show mankind's greatest warriors are here to confront them. We will return home and nothing will stop us!" William broadcast his voice through the vox channel and his men including guardsmen cheer with vigorous voices.

"Captain Archilaus, move the men for battle. We have war to win and god to slay."

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The scouts of the Null Marines stay hidden while dozens of demons with bat like wings pass by. Utilising their expertise as scouts and master of shadows, former Raven Guards stay still and mixed with shadows to be undetected.

Incoming enemy forces are massive in numbers and sizes. At first, it was humanoids soldiers but gradually, beastmen and large demons began to appear as if they somehow knew where Chapter Master was.

For the enemy to assemble this much number and able to move this quick by sound of bolters wouldn't be the cause. Somehow, enemy foresaw the first encounter and defeat by the Chapter Master and made a move ahead of the first battle. Just as scoutmaster made logical reasoning, he felt the ground shook as if something big as knights are walking towards them.

[We have a problem. Look beyond the army.] One of the scout said using vox machine. Scoutmaster enhance his helmet's scope to see the source of the problem. Through his helmet scope, scoutmaster saw five massive humanoid creatures following the army of demons and monsters.

[By the Emperor's golden throne, they are big as knights. Have the intel sent to Chapter Master, now.] Just as he finish his sentence, one of the giants grab a large boulder and throws it where the scouts are. Following the example, rest of the giants did same and in few seconds, five bus size rocks are in the air, coming towards where Null Recon units are.

[Take cover!] This was the last words Null Marines heard as their location was exposed by the five Eldritch Giants.