Near the church, the remaining demons, their eyes glowing red, screamed terribly, then burst into flames and were reduced to ashes in a short while.
The evil mark on the church's forecourt floor also vanished; apart from blood flowing everywhere and corpses strewn across the ground, there was no trace of a demonic invasion.
The Battle Sisterss' Vowed Legion had completed their mission; they stood in place, reluctantly gazing at the sacred ground they had protected.
"May the Emperor guide your future path, lighting a beacon of hope in despair."
Horatio could hear their ethereal and pleasant voices. He slowly raised his head, watching the Battle Sisterss gradually turn into golden dust, scattering into the distance.
The Blood Angels felt a wave of dizziness and disorientation; they seemed to have seen a golden-armored angel, resembling both their Gene-father and Saint Giliano, fighting Khabandha, but it all felt like a hazy, unreal dream, a fleeting and impractical one.
Until a deep roar echoed from within the church.
Roman Roland, now without enemies, began to scream in agony and slash wildly.
Horatio rushed into the church. Roman Roland looked at the golden-armored angel charging towards him, his eyes filled with surprise, and he ceased his attack.
The golden-armored angel crashed into him, pushing him backward until he was pressed against the statue of their Gene-father.
"Pay for my father's life!" Roman Roland roared, looking up, attempting to resist.
A red tear slipped from the eye of the holy statue, falling perfectly onto him.
'The sins and transgressions of the past should not be borne by you.'
Finally, the tormenting illusion of the Primarch's death gradually faded.
But the Blood Angel's eyes were already wept blind, blood-tears seeping from the corners of his eyes, while at the same time, his other senses became exceptionally sharp.
"Father... I'm sorry." He clasped his hands tightly, his upper body curled up, constantly muttering in pain.
Finally, he swayed and fell to the ground, losing consciousness.
"Brother Roman Roland!" His Battle Brothers quickly ran from the doorway to check on his condition.
The golden light in Horatio's eyes also gradually faded. From the moment the rift widened during the previous battle, he had been overwhelmed by the surging psychic energy and lost consciousness, but his eyes were open, and what he saw was blurry and dreamlike.
He leaned against the statue, sweat dripping from his forehead.
He had a strange feeling; his muscles ached all over, yet he felt full of energy, even feeling as though he could fight another battle.
'+ Potential Burst 'Saint Celestines Wrath' (Fragment of Feather) unlocked: Can be activated in high psychic environments when potential reaches 1000 +'
[A fragment of feather... meaning it's a basic level. It seems it will be much weaker than today's state.] Horatio sighed, realizing there was still a long way to go if he wanted to master this powerful strength in the future.
Analyzing the clues, everything that happened today should be a coincidental event, a burst of randomness resulting from numerous coincidences coming together.
It was St. Giles Festival, there was a statue of Sanguinius nearby, his descendants, inexplicably soaring psychic energy, Khabandha... Regardless of whether today's angel was Sanguinius or Saint Giliano, based on Horatio's understanding of Warhammer, the manifestations of these two are not common. Next time, unless absolutely necessary, he shouldn't take such risks again.
If the angel hadn't appeared, he truly would have died. With only one life, he couldn't afford to gamble.
[If I ever have the chance to go to Baal, perhaps visiting Mepheston might reveal something?] Horatio thought.
He looked at the unconscious Blood Angel, recalling the tragedy of the Gene-father he had witnessed, and a sense of shared sorrow arose within him.
But Horatio didn't believe Sanguinius was truly dead. Even if it were true, there was still Saint Giliano, who was like a father to him, protecting his descendants.
Whatever the truth, today, the holy light of the angel once again dispelled the crimson and darkness for the Imperium, bringing light to the people Sanguinius once guarded.
For Roman Roland, there was still a long road ahead.
Loss of sight could be compensated by technology, but if the Black Rage continued, he would truly be waiting for death.
"Horatio." Louise emerged from the sanctuary; she looked very weak, tired, pale, with disheveled hair and bloodstains at the corner of her mouth, but fortunately, she could still move.
"Are you hurt?" she asked urgently, clinging to Horatio.
"I'm fine, how are you feeling now?"
"Sister Arabella checked me; the injuries aren't serious. Thank you, this saved my life." Louise showed him the blood-stained rosary.
Horatio chuckled and nodded.
Then, he saw Lydos and Fidio being carried out on stretchers.
"Sorry, Sergeant Major, I can't salute you right now." Lydos, with both arms broken, said with a bitter smile on his pale face, "But I was planning to replace both arms with bionic ones anyway; these damned demons actually helped me with that."
"Luckily, my intestines weren't injured, or it would have been dangerous. But it really hurts." Fidio saluted while clutching his wound, biting his lower lip and gasping as he squeezed out the words.
"Heal well, guys." Seeing that they were still in good spirits, Horatio breathed a sigh of relief, and he solemnly saluted the two of them.
He looked at a figure kneeling on the ground, Archie, covered in blood, kneeling and covering the bodies on the stretchers one by one with blood-stained white cloths.
"Archie, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Horatio walked over to him and called softly.
"Horatio, our squad... only I'm left. I couldn't save anyone." He continued to kneel, fighting back tears, but his voice was uncontrollably choked with sobs.
After a long while, he shakily stood up, turned to Horatio, and saluted, his eyes red and swollen.
Horatio looked at the bloodstains on the white cloth, held his breath, and returned Archie's salute.
Today he had witnessed too many great sacrifices, and too much fragmentation.
Looking at his fallen comrades, his heart was a mix of emotions, just like everyone else, but he couldn't show his sadness or grief to anyone.
Because he was their benchmark, the captain of the Hellspawns, he carried much responsibility and had to set a strong example.
"They performed very well today; we should be proud of them." Horatio's lips trembled slightly, forcing a smile.
He gave Archie a hug and patted his back with his fist.
Archie bit his lower lip, forcing a smile and nodding.
"We defeated the enemy, we protected His people, protected these children. They are an example to every warrior; may their souls return to the Golden Throne."
"May their souls return to the Golden Throne."
Horatio straightened up and patted his shoulder: "Be strong, Archie. We still have to fight until humanity finally achieves peace."
He turned his head to look at the majestic statue of Sanguinius.
"As Sanguinius wished, our mission is to bring peace and hope to humanity's future, allowing more people to live their lives safely and peacefully.
This is also the Emperor's noble vision; even if we burn ourselves out, we are His navy, His warriors. Sacrifice is not terrifying, we only ask that our sacrifices have value. The Emperor expects everyone to fulfill their duties."
Archie looked at the children in the sanctuary who had survived, overjoyed to be reunited with their families, and a light rekindled in his eyes.
"Long live the glory of humanity." He solemnly saluted Horatio.
A few days ago, while playing Helldivers, Super Earth made players choose between rescuing children and anti-tank mines.
At the time, I went to Vernom Wells to evacuate the children's hospital and met an English-speaking foreign guy. When he first joined, he complained that all the players were coming to Vernom Wells to save children. He said he didn't care about the lives of these little brats, and Helldivers should focus on longer-term goals.
We were fighting N9 robots, which were very tough. The mission time limit was almost up, and the Super Destroyer had already flown out of low orbit. Someone asked if we should evacuate, and the guy who initially disliked the children was the first to say: "You guys evacuate, I'll fight here until the end. Although these little brats are annoying, if we can't save their lives, at least we won't let them die alone."
In the end, we laughed at him for being 'tsundere' (saying one thing but doing the opposite), and everyone gave up on evacuating, completing the mission to evacuate the children's hospital in the final stages.
After the full-server mission was completed, the developers donated to a Gaza children's relief organization in reality, helping Palestinian children in war-torn areas.
Perhaps many years from now, a new group of Helldivers will receive a full-server mission, with tight deadlines, forcing them to choose between war preparations and saving 'frozen meat' (old veterans). All the warriors will unanimously abandon new war preparations to save the old 'frozen meat,' simply because they too were once rescued by such a group of older brothers and sisters.
"This time, it's our turn to protect you."
Super Earth and the Imperium of Man may not be good regimes, but the dawn of hope and resilience will illuminate the path to the future for human civilization in this dark world.