The howling drop pod tore through the arid atmosphere of the vast mining planet, flames enveloping steel, its sheen flashing past like a scythe, death descending alongside them.
Within the violently shaking confines of the cramped space, Hades sat silently in his seat, the death notice lying quietly in his hands.
He was to be among the first wave of Death Guard to land, following the main airborne contingent of the Iron Warriors onto the rear of Zone 03.
Due to the mutual disdain between Mortarion and Perturabo, Perturabo had resolutely decided that the Iron Warriors would be the first wave of ground forces to land.
The Lord of Iron perceived the Pale King's actions as a provocation, thus dispatching his elite steel warriors as the vanguard assault troops.
Mortarion, on the other hand, completely missed Perturabo's point, choosing instead the wave of drop pods that would allow him to land the fastest.
Due to the persuasion of other Death Guard, Mortarion abandoned his plan to be among the first wave of Death Guard to land. Instead, he decided to land after a wave of Death Guard had secured the local terrain.
Hades still remembered how several Death Guard had approached him, hoping he could persuade Mortarion not to rush in too hastily.
The image of the Primarch abandoning his troops to charge directly into enemy lines during the Galaspar Campaign was still too shocking for the Death Guard.
For the Legion, the symbolic significance of the Primarch was somewhat greater than his individual combat capabilities, and so Mortarion was promptly persuaded to stand down.
Following the Iron Warriors' drop, the command of the first wave of Death Guard naturally fell to Hades.
"Bang!"
After a brief, intense shake, the air hissed into the cabin, blinding sunlight and sandstorm tearing in together, blades unsheathed, bullets chambered.
Hades stepped out of the drop pod with large strides, commanding the first wave of Death Guard to join the battlefield over the channel.
[First squad of Death Guard has reached the target point.]
The public communication channel crackled to life as Hades spoke to Dantioch, the commander of the Iron Warriors,
Realizing that the first wave of reinforcements had arrived, Dantioch breathed a sigh of relief internally. As the person responsible for securing the landing zone in the first wave, he was under no small amount of pressure.
Perturabo had given him just enough manpower to capture the landing zone.
But as the Death Guard, evidently more numerous than the Iron Warriors, joined the front line, they immediately alleviated a great deal of pressure from the Iron Warriors.
Flames spat from the guns of the Death Guard.
Dantioch realized, somewhat surprised, that unlike his brothers who would cry out in battle, these white and green warriors joined the line silently, shoulder to shoulder with the Iron Warriors in the hastily constructed trenches. Aside from the sound of gunfire and the muffled steps, the Death Guard made no other sound.
The occasional crackle in the channel reminded the Iron Warriors that these Death Guard had their public communication channels open.
But there was no sound.
Only when necessary would brief communications pass among the Death Guard, also reminding the Iron Warriors.
However, Hades, the commander of the Death Guard, was not as silent as most. Clear High Gothic sounded over the channel, reporting the current situation of the Death Guard and intelligence on the enemy.
[Well done, brothers.]
[Now let us take control of the battlefield.]
Hades' voice resonated.
[Alright.]
Dantioch agreed crisply,
Originally, the Death Guard were meant to be the main force in this landing battle, but at Perturabo's insistence, it became the Iron Warriors who landed first.
And the performance of the Iron Warriors, led by Dantioch, in securing the drop zone in the first wave had already proven their strength.
There was no need for further entanglement. Unlike Perturabo, who was indifferent to the number of casualties, Dantioch hoped that every drop of blood shed would have value.
Moreover, Dantioch remembered a communication he had received from a brother who had just returned from Mars before he was about to enter the drop pod. In that brief communication, the brother told him to make a good impression on the Death Shroud Hades on the other side, and that as long as they fought alongside each other, there would be no need to worry about integration issues, because this Death Shroud... had a good temper?
Dantioch was surprised. Judging by the time this brother returned from Mars, this Death Guard named Hades had climbed to the high ranks of the Death Guard in a very short time after returning from Mars?!
Such a person must be an extremely skilled warrior, but outsiders described him as having a good temper?
Recalling the private communication Hades had sent him before, as well as Hades' subsequent reports, Dantioch's curiosity about this rather sturdy Death Shroud grew.
Hades' performance was commendably apt, sharing battlefield intelligence in a timely manner and directing the Death Guard to gradually take over from the Iron Warriors, choosing tactics that prioritized stability.
At present, the collaboration with Hades ranked in the top three of "whom Dantioch preferred to work with."
Hades' commands were devoid of personal emotion and superfluous talk, rich in information, and his chosen tactics aligned with Dantioch's preferences.
In collaborations with other legions, some commanders were overly verbose, a trait Dantioch found distasteful.
Unbeknownst to Dantioch, Hades would also commend the Iron Warriors in his after-action reports. Had Dantioch known this, he would have undoubtedly placed Hades at the very top of his "preferred collaborators" list.
The Death Guard began to push the frontline forward steadily and resolutely, while the Iron Warriors pulled back from the forefront to start trench construction.
Their current landing zone was behind a small hill, close to the rear of the Necron forges. It was the terrain, coupled with aerial fire support prior to their landing, that allowed the Iron Warriors to secure a foothold here.
The warriors who landed needed to advance between these towering black stone structures, seeking and attempting to destroy the enemy's shield systems, then call in a second wave of precise aerial support.
Before entering the cluster of buildings, according to Perturabo's calculations, the Iron Warriors' air force could provide one bombing run to open a breach in the dense Necron infantry for both the Death Guard and Iron Warriors.
After this bombardment, Mortarion would land with the second wave of Death Guard and lead them to capture the target point.
For the time being, the Iron Warriors' Stormbirds were still entangled in the air with those scythe-like flyers, their metallic bodies occasionally visible amidst the swirling sands as they vied for control.
After briefly securing air superiority and covering the drop pod landings, the skies were quickly contested again.
Both sides fiercely battled for air dominance, and the one to maintain it for half a standard hour could unleash a widespread bombardment on the ground forces.
Thus, the Imperial forces on the ground needed trenches to shelter from the bombardment, and Dantioch directed some of the Iron Warriors to start digging, while others continued to fight.
The good news was that the Iron Warriors would soon regain air superiority.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Iron Warriors and the Graian Crusade forces were engaged in fierce combat, holding back the main Necron forces and armor units. Meanwhile, the vanguard aimed to link up with the airborne troops to secure a retreat path.
[Prepare for close combat! Charge with scythes!]
The enemies currently faced by the airborne troops were mostly Necron infantry, and the optimal solution against them was close combat.
As the number of attacking Necrons began to dwindle, Hades decisively commanded a portion of the Death Guard to break formation. Under the cover fire from their brethren, they surged out of the trenches to engage the enemy in close quarters.
Hades, sparing no words, led the charge with his scythe. His towering figure displayed unexpected agility at this moment. His artisan backpack spewed bullets and plasma beams, effortlessly intercepting attacks from afar for Hades.
With long, steady breaths, Hades swung his scythe, slicing through metal. The grating sound of metal on metal was incessant, and sparks flew as the death notice met the Necron's metallic bodies.
The shadow realm was useless against them.
Hades noted the Necrons he had cleaved, but their mechanical bodies and rigid expressions told him these creatures lacked souls.
Indeed.
Realizing this, Hades ceased to waste mental energy on them. He continued to observe the battlefield while reaping the enemy ranks.
However, at the very moment Hades first engaged the Necrons—
Deep within the tomb, Ghazloth, who had been muttering to himself, suddenly looked up.
"I've said it before, in the end, it'll be me who defeats him."
"Nath, you were wrong."
But Nath could no longer hear the king's words, as the Necron ships he commanded were slowly drifting through space.
The faint signal from the shard of the star god was lost.
Nath gazed at the detector, lost in thought.
And the last known location of this signal was—
Within the protection of some Iron Warriors and Death Guard ships, preparing for the second drop, was the Fourth Knight.