The Imperial Department of Legal Affairs is the first line of defense against Chaos incursions in every Imperial world.
When the Chaos Gods / The Four Gods attempt to extend their influence into an Imperial world, they must first confront the Shield of Law Enforcement.
Of course, this is not the only option.
After all, under the pressures of life, not everyone can adhere to their duties.
The Security Inspector named George had lost all his former arrogance, his eyes darting uncontrollably, and sweat pouring down his body.
Every step the Arbiter took upon returning felt like it was crushing his heart and lungs, making his breathing feel so weak and slow.
"Hehehe…" The Security Inspector took a deep breath, raised his eyebrows, and looked at the last dim, old searchlight in the abandoned junkyard.
Just as everyone was waiting for the Arbiter to bring back the evidence…
Bang! The large searchlight went out.
"Careful!" Farida, who was using her helmet to detect ambushes outside the field, saw the flickering red light in her goggles and immediately shouted.
The Adeptus Arbites personnel were not overly panicked, as it was normal for these poorly maintained Lower Hive areas to be dark.
Just as they were about to turn on the searchlights on their helmets, a gust of wind whistled past Shayev Arbiter's head.
"Ugh!"
The Arbiter, holding the secret letter, stumbled. As he tried to get up from the ground, several heavy rounds shot from the pitch black struck the Arbiter's carapace armor in succession. The last shot entered his neck, blowing off his head.
The Arbiters never imagined that those auxiliary police would turn their guns on them.
Their weapons were shotguns, and against such enemies, they could only passively endure attacks before the 'instant deaths' arrived. Therefore, the moment the shots rang out, they all took cover behind the armored vehicle.
"You despicable, shameless thugs, you have desecrated the sacred name of the Adeptus Arbites!"
Arbitrator Inspector Shawi, who had risen through the ranks from an auxiliary police officer, twitched his mouth in uncontrollable rage and, without hesitation, raised his hand to blast to smithereens a man who had pointed his gun at him.
In the pitch black, the close-quarters firefight between the two sides officially erupted.
Leveraging their numerical advantage, the Security Inspector's subordinates swarmed forward. Several men grabbed Shayev, pushing and slamming him against the armored vehicle, while four or five others picked up riot batons and struck at his head.
On the other side, the first row of henchmen knelt, and the second row stood, concentrating their overwhelming firepower on the Arbiters by the armored vehicle who were checking their communication equipment. The situation was not optimistic.
The secret letter fell onto the quick-drying concrete ground, and the bloody head flew to Horatio's feet. The exposed face still conveyed the Arbiter's loyalty and anger.
Horatio immediately opened fire to suppress the already discovered two-man sniper team.
Seeing that they had been exposed, the shooter picked up his gun, ready to flee, but just as he raised his gun, a huge bloody hole was blown through his upper chest.
Farida lay on the ground with her legs crossed, resting the large rifle, almost as tall as herself, on her slender, strong calves, striking a perfect low-to-high sniping pose.
The observer took the opportunity to run. In such pitch darkness, coupled with the long distance, killing the shooter could be attributed to an unfortunate slow movement at the moment he stood up, but a direct run would surely allow him to escape safely.
"Horatio…!"
Before the nightingale-like female voice finished, a diagonal laser instantly pierced through the body.
A sizzling sound of charring came from the observer's head, and he slumped down with a thud, breathless.
"So easy to use, no need to lead the target, just point and shoot," Horatio praised while searching for any other cold snipers.
Not far in front, the Security Inspector's henchmen and the Adeptus Arbites Arbiters were locked in a chaotic melee. In the darkness, flashes of electric shock batons, muzzle flashes from shotgun fire, and extremely shrill screams constantly erupted.
"Hey, Hood, what do we do now? The two groups are mixed in a free-for-all. Can the Arbiters win?"
Horatio's direct address of 'Hood' made Farida frown.
Although she lacked noble upbringing, now was not the time to quibble over such a small matter. So, after a cold snort, she spoke:
"They definitely can. Turn on the thermal imaging identification system to support them. Those depraved thugs are no match for the Loyalists."
Although the Security Inspector's depraved thugs were numerous and their bulletproof vests could barely withstand shotgun fire, these poorly trained amateurs were ultimately no match for the well-equipped Arbiters, all of whom hailed from the Loyalist Academy.
Even if they concentrated their fire, for every Arbiter they brought down, these strong-willed Iron Loyalists would, despite being covered in blood, stand up with all their might and continue to fight to the death.
Each shot from the massive 10-gauge shotgun whistled, spewing out large quantities of black, tar-like pellets. Accompanied by screams and sounds of falling, the grey-black ground was, for the first time in a long while, bathed in blood.
Arbitrator Inspector Shawi wielded an oversized shock baton shaped like a war hammer. Even if he was pinned down and beaten the second before, he would grit his teeth and smash back with the hammerhead, cracking open the skulls of these traitors, who claimed to act in the God-Emperor's name, one by one, splattering their brains everywhere. Soon, his pure silver armor was covered in blood.
Farida and Horatio continuously fired single shots from behind. The sudden and fierce shooting sent the villains, who had formed a line to concentrate their fire, scrambling for cover.
Soon, the seemingly one-sided battle quickly reversed, silently forming a pincer movement.
"Quick, quick, where are the grenades I paid a fortune for you guys to have! Blow them up for me!"
Seeing the situation turn sour, the Security Inspector, completely disregarding his own men still in the fray, immediately ordered his men to throw high-explosive fragmentation grenades at the Arbiters.
Just as a subordinate pulled out a grenade, pressed the fuse, and adopted a throwing stance, the quick-witted Horatio, using his thermal imaging device, swiftly redirected his gun and pulled the trigger.
"Ah!" The injured man screamed. When he saw the grenade fall at his feet, he instantly became too terrified to make a sound.
"You…!" The Security Inspector stared at Horatio in astonishment, then immediately looked down at the grenade on the ground.
Boom—
The Security Inspector was instantly blown away and slammed into the vehicle.
The flying shrapnel caused the other thugs gathered around the Security Inspector to collapse instantly, writhing on the ground like maggots, clutching their wounds.
"Ah… Ah ah ah!" The Security Inspector clutched his face, shakily digging out twisted shrapnel embedded in his flesh. His legs, twisted and limp, dangled to the ground, clearly suffering from comminuted fractures.
"You're finished. Confess your sins," Farida emerged from behind the shuttle, carefully shouldering her rifle as she walked towards George.
"Miss Hood, we need to talk about that guy now," Shayev approached Farida.
"But this matter isn't resolved yet! How can we…?"
"This guy no longer has the ability to resist."
Shayev coldly glanced at Security Inspector George, who was trembling, clutching his wounds, and beginning to babble incoherently.
"Miss Hood, to protect your reputation and that of the Adeptus Arbites, that boy must die now."
Horatio peeked out from behind the shuttle, looking at the two people talking.
"No, at least he has to be sent to the Adeptus Arbites, not to abuse your authority and…"
"Miss Hood!" Shayev stared at his student, intimidating her with his authority.
"He's seen too much he shouldn't have. You know very well this concerns the Adeptus Arbites's credibility."
"But…" Farida still wanted to argue.
"No buts. This death row inmate has lived long enough. He must die now."
Shayev waved his large hand, and four blood-stained Arbiters, armed with ballistic shields and shotguns, attempted to flank Horatio from two sides.
"You want to kill me to save the Adeptus Arbites's face, do you…?"
Horatio scoffed, turning the gun in his arms, his gaze cold as he quickly scanned the nearly empty energy cell magazine.
Then he clenched his fist, and the coolant in his bionic limb began to surge, boiling into scorching steam, like an enraged bull preparing for a fight to the death with a gladiator.
"No, none of you will touch him today. I have guaranteed his life on the honor of the Hood Family!"
The Female Hunter-Duke gritted her teeth, rudely pushing away two Arbiters who had adopted an assault stance, their shotguns already resting on their shields, disregarding her image.
Finally, she simply threw her large rifle to the ground and directly spread her arms, shielding Horatio behind her.
"Before you touch him, please shoot me first, Teacher!"