In the World of Sword and Magic as Space Marine

Chapter 88: To Be Martyr

[You fool, Taradreel. You don't deserve to lead my 31st company when you can't follow my advice.] The Night Lord's Hellbrute (Dreadnought) spoke through the mechanical speaker as he and three Obliterators enters the battlefield. The speaker was loud enough for everyone to hear every word including Rana's side as the enemy's heavy units began to fire their weapons without concern for friendly fire.

Few of the Night Lords who were in close combat with Sisters got caught on heavy weapons fire from their ally as heavy bolter rounds shred them in the back. This surprised everyone from Rana's side, but unlike them, the rest of the Night Lords move aside as if it was normal and continued their assault on the Sisters and remaining soldiers. The four heavy units move on with heavy footsteps with each one crushing fallen traitors Astartes bodies and cultists alike.

'That damn walking machine tomb Naralor. If you regain your sanity temporarily, you could at least avoid friendly fire. This is why I don't want to use him and his band of Chaos mutated unless it is open warfare.' Taradreel, the current captain of the Night Lords, 31st Company said to himself and ordered his men to reposition themselves due to the incoming disaster.

Just like every other Night Lords company after Horus heresy, 31st Company is also below half of its former glory. With less than 50 Night Lords under his command, Captain Taradreel is somewhat better compared to others. Still, their exile to Eye of Terror was just like others, outgunned, outnumbered, unable to recruit a proper replacement, and scavenging for everything including salvaging the fallen battle-brothers equipment or loyalist Astartes.

Former Captain Naralor long before he was forceful tombed into Dreadnought was just like any other Night Lords' captain. Full of himself with arrogance and stink of Chaos corruption of the Blood God.

After escaping from the Imperium's counter-attack after the death of Horus, the 31st Company ran tail with the rest of the traitors but because they were low on everything, Captain Naralor ordered his battle-brothers to attack fellow Astartes's ship in a much more critical situation. To no one's surprise, the targeted ship belong to the Emperor's Children, followers of the Slaanesh and way behind the rest of the fleet.

Night Lords being Night Lords, they followed Captain Naralor's order and board the ship. To their surprise, Emperor's Children fought Night Lords with everything they got and managed to wound Captain Naralor who first believed Emperor's Children was an easy target. The victory was costly, but the 31st managed to salvage everything from the ship of the Emperor's Children. Due to his injury, Captain Naralor was forced to enter the Dreadnought to preserve his life and continue to serve the Ruinous Powers. From then on, Captain Naralor was no more, and Hellbrute of the Night Lords was raised from the darkness, to be mocked and punished for his arrogance.

In normal circumstances, Hellbrute is a being who sufferers from eternal insanity and desperation for the end of his life. As for Captain Naralor, his Chaos corruption was both blessing and a curse as his blood rage from the Blood God kept him alive but easily lost in the rampage during battle. In a rare circumstance, he regains his sanity and remembers everything before his entombment. For this reason, Tech-adepts of the Dark Mechanicum have to remind him every time they awaken him for the battle.

The only use of Hellbrute is now to use it as an expendable heavy unit and leading figure for the rest of the corrupted united to follow. Besides that, Taradreel considers them loose cannons on the tactical battlefield, just like the situation they are in right now.

"Kill that abomination!" Sister Superior from the Our Martyred Lady shouts her order and immediately, half a dozen Sisters armed with bolters rush head front towards four enemy heavy units with no concern for their lives or safety. Meanwhile, the rest of the sisters who can provide support reposition their weapons to provide firing support.

(If there is one thing Sisters are well known for is becoming martyrs and becoming a great example to the rest of the Sisters. This tends to get out of hand and for some reason, everyone is okay with it.)

The heavy firing support from the Sisters paused the four units from responding to the correct action which gave the six Sisters the opportunity they needed. Four Sisters fire their bolters with a precision aim towards gaps such as shoulders and knees. Because they had gotten close, two of the Obliterators managed to hit three Sisters with their melee weapons.

Two went down when the first Obliterator swing his power blade horizontally, cutting two Sisters in half even though they were equipped with power armors. One of them somehow managed to survive the lethal wound and with an iron will, crawled towards the Obliterator while her white dyed with blood red. The Obliterator saw this and finish the job by raising one of his feet and stomping on the Sister's head. Crushing her skull with crunching and slushing sounds afterward.

Third Sister received a blunt hit from the Obliterator's power fist from the side instead of a direct hit from the fist. Still, the damage was powerful enough to break everything including power armor, and sent her flying. Sister died before she landed on the battlefield as her eyes and mouth gushed out blood.

Three reaming Sisters didn't hesitate from the loss as they move with greater motivation. All three switch their range weapon to melee as three chainswords roar with powerful engines. With their blades out, the remaining Sisters use their speed to their advantage and get close to three Obliterators. Because of their slowness, Obliterators decided to take the first few damages until they can reposition themselves for a better kill but this was their one and last mistake as all three Sisters pull out something from their bottom of the power armor power packs. In their hands, the Sisters pull out three identical pins with their free hands and spoke in unison before ending their life.

"For the God-Emperor! For the Holy Host!"

Three melta bombs magnetically attached to the bottom of the power packs detonated with immense heat as three Obliterators caught up on the blast. All three Obliterators received point-blank damage and when everything simmer down, most of the bodies are melted or disintegrated to nothing. The large melta explosion also sent many of the Night Lords to halt as they all got knocked back into the ground. As for the Hellbrute, the massive walking tank did receive some damage from the explosion but it sent Obliterators first to deal with six Sisters, it was still operational.

[What a foolish decision to sacrifice themselves.] Hellbrute said to himself and move forward while the remaining Night Lords got up and use Hellbrute's massive body to use it as a walking shield. Meanwhile, the rest of the Sisters and soldiers of the White Lion reinforce their defense after eliminating the last cultists from the frontline. With their wall of shield done for and heavy vehicles support gone, the rest of the soldiers and Sisters went to old school defensive position.

Rana, on the other hand, was still wounded and for some reason, healing spells aren't working. More they pour the medicine and spells to heal, the wound seems to remain open and the purple vines began to spread.

"What is going on? Is this some kind of poison?" One of the priests said as she cast 'cure poison' to stop whatever was causing the problem. Second later, when the light died down, everyone redirect their eyes to see if the purple vines disappeared but to their disappointment, the spell did the opposite effect as now the purple vines are spreading twice as before.

"This isn't some regular poison. This is more potent and supernatural. It stinks of 14th." Sister Superior Sorella of the Order Hospitaller said to everyone and proceed to dig deeper into her medical pouch. After a few moments of searching for the glass vials, Sister Sorella found what she was looking for. In her hand, she was holding three different colors of glass bottles and inserting them into her medical gauntlet with needles attached. Just when she was about to inject Rana with a cure to the poison, a single shot of bolter round hit Sister Sorella's medical gauntlet, destroying the cures and the entire left arm. The second bolt shot hit Sister Superior's head, killing her instantly as her head exploded.

From the opposite side of the battlefield, standing on the high ground for a better advantage viewpoint, Captain Taradreel of the Night Lords 31st company lowered his bolter sniper rifle and gave it to another Night Lords next to him.

"These fools have forgotten why we are here in the first place. We made a deal with Ruinous Powers to eliminate the target so William will experience pain. Now, have everyone push towards where the target is, by the time we get there the poison from the 14th will finish the job and we can claim her head. We will have our reward and done with Ruinous Powers once and for all."

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Rana's mind began to fade as the wound from the power sword and poison of supernatural kind slowly drained her life. No medicine or magical spells made any changes as her life force was eventually consumed by the void. As people around Rana did their best and cry her name, Rana's soul finally left her physical body and by the time she realized what just happened, Rana was standing in the golden room full of expensive decorations and delicious-looking desserts on the table.

Rana didn't panic but remained calm and check herself to see that she wasn't wearing her armor but rather a white dress with golden leaves. With no weapons on her, Rana grab the closest to the weapon, and just when she was about to raise it high to protect herself, a warming voice call her name.

"You have nothing to worry about here. I won't harm you since you are my first follower of the New World. Unfortunately, you didn't get to use the feather I gave to William. How about it? Following the standard rule, I will grant you another chance to live your life in the other world." The golden figure said to Rana with a big smile as he got up from the chair he was sitting on and approach Rana.

"Who are you? Are you one of the divine beings who are here to welcome me to the afterlife?" Rana said with a quiet voice and put her makeshift weapon down. With tears coming down her eyes, she realized that her life with William is over before it begin. She will never feel his warmth and enjoy the thrill of the battlefield next to him. She had many things she wanted to tell him and do, but in the end, her destiny ended as one of the casualties of a war far away from where William is.

"As you can guess, I'm not your local deities. My name is Numen but you can call me Star Child, one of the large fragments of the Emperor of Mankind. It seems you and I need to talk."