The furious Roman Roland propped his hands against the charging bronze bull, throwing the monster to the ground and crushing the Bloodletter on it.
He felt the hot blood within him begin to boil, a surging, powerful force coursing through his entire body.
He executed a decisive slash, cleaving off the bull's head and smashing it towards the charging Bloodletters, sending a string of them flying like cannonballs, then plunged back into the demonic horde to slaughter them.
The Hellspawns were firing at full power; from an initial 30, only 18 Soldiers remained able to fight.
Louise emptied her energy backpack, discarded her Hellgun, and, like Horatio, donned a Void Blue Beret, wielding a Cadia Assault Chainsword, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with Horatio at the very front, guarding his back.
Adeptus Arbites special police officers held their shock hammers high, gripping riot shields, forming a shield wall with the Ecclesiarchy Crusaders, who wore silver plate-style carapace armor and guarded the Church, blocking the demonic charge and smashing their ugly, grotesque heads.
The Cadian Shock Troopers suppressed the demons on the right flank in their characteristic formation of one row kneeling and one row standing, the short sword-style bayonets attached to their muzzles forming a gleaming forest of blades, ready to stab any demon that approached the front line.
Horatio, clad in 'Glorious Type' Hellspawns power armor, activated all his active skills; he was agile, tearing open demons' chests with his Holy Blood Chainsword.
Behind him were a group of desperate children and civilians; he absolutely could not allow these demons to take another step.
Choral singing, accompanied by the furious roars and shouts of battle, echoed through the Church's dome, like an angelic choir.
The battle grew increasingly fierce and bloody; the world of red and black descended once more. Except for the Sisters of the Sacred Rose, who maintained disciplined volleys, their voices keeping pace with the hymns, almost everyone felt an overwhelming Fury in their hearts. Their bodies seemed to possess inexhaustible strength, showing no fatigue from the prolonged fighting, but rather growing stronger with each passing moment.
"Die, for I am a Dark Son of Ravensberg!" Even David Beatty roared, drawing his power sword and hacking at the demons; others were even more so.
"You can't stop anything, Dark Son." A tall Bloodletter snarled at Horatio with its bloody, ugly mouth, then charged forward.
Horatio parried its black sword with a single strike, and Louise swung her blade, forcing it back.
"You will watch helplessly as those you protect have their heads severed and offered to our master."
"Die, demon." The enraged Horatio gritted his teeth and hacked at the Bloodletter, roaring, "No one's life will be defiled by you!"
Even the usually calm Louise shouted loudly, "We will surely thwart your evil plans!"
The two rushed at the demon together, their Chainswords driving the Bloodletter back step by step.
Horatio lunged forward, grabbed its long, ugly purple tongue, violently pulled it out, and then cleaved off its head with a single strike.
He held up the Bloodletter's head and shouted to the Soldiers beside him:
"Today, under the gaze of Sanguinius, we will be loyal to the God-Emperor! Even if there are only a hundred of us, that is enough to hold the line! We will stop these demons! We have the power to repel their attack once again."
"For the God-Emperor! For Sanguinius!" The Soldiers roared, counterattacking the foul fiends charging towards them.
The Laser Guns ceased firing; the Imperial Army Soldiers had run out of power packs, but they all roared together, shouting 'For Cadia!', raising their bayonets and launching a counter-charge against the demons that had climbed over the shield wall.
"For Cadia!!!" Louise was deeply moved, roaring likewise, severing the head of a Hellhound charging at her mid-air and crushing it with her foot.
The majestic battle cry drowned out the terrifying sounds of the demons.
Thud!
A Hellspawns with '15' written on his shoulder pad knelt at Horatio's feet, his chest torn open by a black sword, a large amount of blood gushing from the wound, deepening the color of the already crimson carpet.
Horatio could see the red light in his helmet's eyes disappearing, and the life signal on his datapad turned to empty grey-black.
"Squad Leader!" Archie cried out, but he couldn't even manage to drag his Squad Leader to the rear; he fought fiercely with a Chainsword in one hand and a Naval Short Sword in the other.
"He's dead, keep fighting! Archie. We must hold back these evil spirits!" Horatio shouted at the enraged Archie, holding a bolter pistol in one hand and slashing with the other, unleashing the Fury of his fallen comrade upon the Bloodletters.
"Then let us be like Captain Abridal (the Captain who charged three Blackstone Fortresses with his battlecruiser during the Gothic War)! Let us ignite the torch of victory with our lives!" Archie shed tears of grief and indignation, roaring as he hacked.
"+Cough Ah+" Not far away, Lydos knelt on the ground, both his arms severed by a swung black sword; his painful groans echoed through the comm channel.
"+Lydos!+" Fidio rushed to his comrade, using his Chainsword to parry a blow aimed at his head, but was struck in the waist.
"+Ugh Ah!+" He collapsed, clutching his wound, blood continuously pouring from his armor.
"+Horatio, we must help them!+" Louise said to Horatio, trembling urgently.
"+Louise, one on each side, hold back the demons. Sister Arabella, please!+"
He gritted his teeth and, with Louise, carved a bloody path, blocking in front of the two, but they had no strength left to help their two teammates, only able to desperately hold their ground in front of their fallen comrades, fighting the demons that rushed in, smelling blood.
Roman Roland forcibly pushed aside the demons; he swung his Chainsword, resolutely standing in front of the two mortals, relieving their immense pressure.
Sister Arabella's dark hair appeared in Horatio's eyes; her face was already covered in sweat, her white headscarf was nowhere to be seen, and her body bore the scars of battle.
Even so, she still hacked at the demons with the short saw on her arm, while dragging the injured Lydos and Fidio to the rear of the front line for rescue.
The battle was fierce and bloody, but the situation remained under the control of the Imperial Army defenders; their casualties were still within an acceptable range, and they should be able to hold out until the outer reinforcements broke through.
At the urging of the Canoness, the civilians struggled to control their fear, singing in time with the hymns, providing spiritual power to the Soldiers, protecting them from being corrupted by the Blood God's evil power.
Boom!! A violent explosion and the roar of aircraft streaked over the Church. Lasers and shells exploded in the red tide of Bloodletters.
The sound of firing outside grew louder and louder, like the light of dawn, piercing the darkness.
Everyone knew that reinforcements were coming.
"+Horatio, tens of thousands of Imperial Navy armed forces, supported by aircraft airstrikes, are launching a fierce assault on the Church of the Celestial Woman, and have already reached the outer plaza of the Church. You must hold on!+" Farida's voice and the dense sounds of gunfire came through the communication.
She was providing real-time battle dynamics and support to the reinforcements and Horatio from a high vantage point, her sweet voice already hoarse from shouting.
"+Is there any airborne support! Our defensive line needs to be strengthened! We're about to collapse!+"
"+Forcibly blasting through the Church roof would cause it to collapse; we can only have the troops break the stained-glass windows and then parachute down to you using grav-chutes.+"
"+Do that! We'll do our best to hold on! Please!+"
"+The Storm Troopers are on their way, Sergeant Major Valina will arrive in a few minutes! The Blood Angels' Second Company Commander has dispatched two Blood Angels assault squads aboard Thunderhawks for emergency reinforcement.+"
Farida looked at the real-time support positioning signal and immediately used the laser beam from her gun to provide breakthrough instructions to the Valkyrie Fighter flying in the distance.
It was fully loaded with elite Loyalist Heir Storm Troopers, led by Sergeant Major Valina, and equipped with weapons such as plasma and melta guns.
For the defenders inside the Church, this was exciting news, but Horatio had fewer than fifty people left around him; scattered demons pushed down the heavy mobile shields, seeping through gaps into the defensive line.
"Warriors of the God-Emperor, our reinforcements are on their way! Hold on!" Horatio shouted.
The last reserve of Cadia Soldiers charged forward, using their forest of bayonets and their flesh and blood to prevent the demons from tearing through the front line.
"Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!!!" A piercing, powerful roar instantly drew Horatio's attention.
He saw the very thing he least wanted to see.
Eight towering Chaos Space Marines, clad in baroque-style brass armor, wielded Chainaxes in both hands. Their helmets bore wide, fan-shaped horns or bull horns, and their shoulder pads were black, edged with brass.
Their shoulder insignia were smeared with extremely unholy marks—the Mark of Khorne combined with the eight-pointed star of Chaos.
[It's the 'eightfold sacred mark' warband.]
These individuals were a group of extremely insane fanatics; they regarded themselves as Khorne's only true followers, their terrifying fanaticism drawing them like an endless bloody tide from one war zone to another.
Due to their fanaticism, they attracted many Khorne Berserkers to their ranks, which was a testament to the warband's loyalty to Khorne.
Because they were deeply favored by Khorne, in battle they could easily summon their Khorne master's demonic servants—Bloodthirster Ka'bandha and Khabandha—from the depths of the Warp into the physical universe.
This must not happen!
The charging frenzied warriors issued arrogant dueling invitations to the two wounded Blood Angels; they joined the slaughter from the rift, which was much easier than the Imperial reinforcements.
But the Blood Angels paid no heed; although they had already entered the Red Thirst, under the gaze of the holy image of Sanguinius, they, like The Ninth Legion, maintained their rationality, holding their front line, rather than being dominated by Fury.
Both sides' elite reinforcements were tirelessly rushing to the battlefield, but once the Imperial reinforcements arrived, the outcome would be decided. Therefore, the Khorne warband wanted to finish the battle quickly before the Imperial reinforcements arrived.
A desperate, race-against-time overtime slaughter began.