"May the Emperor guide your soul, back to His light. Your suffering has been witnessed, and your vengeance shall be ours," Krol said, glancing at the corpse.
Then, he suddenly raised his head, the compassion in his eyes instantly replaced by a renewed fury, capable of burning through stars.
He raised high the scepter, still dripping with xenos blood and nutrient fluid, pointing it at the entire laboratory, at the endless rows of living tanks containing humanity's endless suffering.
His voice once again turned into thunder, echoing through the desecrated hall, a declaration of final judgment:
"Brothers of War! Burn it all! Burn everything here!!! Leave not a trace! Let not a single iota of this blasphemous creation defile the Emperor's galaxy! Let the cleansing flame be the only requiem for this place!"
No second command was needed.
All Space Marines wielding heavy flamers stepped forward simultaneously, raising their weapons.
Their movements were uniformly precise, carrying a ritualistic solemnity and coldness.
The triggers were pulled.
Not one, but several streams of incandescent, roaring fire erupted!
These reinforced flamers could spew molten flames up to tens of thousands of degrees, the fire representing the Imperium of Man's most extreme hatred and will for purification.
The flames instantly engulfed the first row of tanks. The glass vaporized under the extreme high temperature.
The nutrient fluid within was instantly evaporated, and the bodies of humans, imprisoned and modified, burst into flames the moment they touched the fire, carbonizing, twisting, and turning to ash.
In an instant, the entire laboratory transformed into a colossal fireball.
The heat distorted the air, pale walls blackened and peeled, green conduits exploded.
Moans sounded again, not from the matriarchs long dead, but from the surviving xenos researchers also caught in the flames, and from the still-functioning, sentient living experiment devices.
But amidst this symphony of roaring flames, crackling burning matter, and dying xenos shrieks, the Word Bearers warriors, with their superhuman hearing, captured another sound, faint, brief, yet clearly discernible.
From the human remains rapidly turning to ash, there seemed to come a subtle, relieved... laughter.
That laughter contained the release of endless pain finally ended, as if the imprisoned souls, in the purifying flames brought by the Emperor's angels, had finally found a cruel mercy.
And the souls of the xenos would burn forever under humanity's wrath.
......................
The 3rd Heavy Assault Squad advanced unimpeded until they reached an exceptionally sturdy giant gate, which appeared to be forged from a mixture of alien alloy and biological polymer.
And here, it became the final and only obstacle for the Word Bearers' 3rd Heavy Assault Squad.
Unlike the pulsating silver structures of the ship's other sections, it was cold, silent, and shimmered with faint energy runes, symbolizing the uniqueness and importance of the area within.
"By the Primarch's name, smash it open!" Sergeant Slax's roar echoed in the corridor, his voice hoarser from consecutive bloody battles, yet undiminished in its fervor.
Two Ironclad Terminators wielding heavy breaching weapons stepped forward.
Their armour was covered in scratches from explosions, marks of acid corrosion, and dried, congealed shallow blue bloodstains, making the carved scripture on them appear even more ferocious.
As the heads of their power hammers accumulated destructive energy, accompanied by the hum of their servo-systems operating at full capacity, they slammed heavily onto the gate.
*BANG!!!*
*BANG!!!*
*BANG!!!*
Each impact shook the entire corridor, the shrieks of twisting metal and the crackle of overloaded energy shields incessant.
The seemingly indestructible gate finally let out a mournful cry under the repeated impact of pure violence, a huge dent appearing in the center, with cracks spreading like a spiderweb.
Finally, with a coordinated blow, the locking mechanism completely collapsed.
Half of the gate twisted inward and tore open, revealing the dim space behind.
However, what first poured out from the breach was not the Space Marines' roar of vengeance, but—
"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!"
A volley of extremely dense, furious automatic fire!
The scorching stream of projectiles instantly swallowed the breach. A deadly storm of metal roared into the corridor, striking the Terminators' thick frontal armour, splashing countless dazzling sparks and emitting piercing impact sounds.
It was an ambush! The surviving xenos guards had established their final firing point here. A ground-mounted, multi-barreled alien automatic laser weapon was madly unleashing its firepower, attempting to turn this sole entrance into a death zone.
"Pathetic death throes!" the squad's adjutant sneered disdainfully amidst the bullet storm.
The Ironclad Terminator armour lived up to its name as a fortress. Such ferocious firepower could not immediately penetrate it but only temporarily suppressed their advance.
"For the Emperor, purify them!"
No further orders were needed. The squad's heavy gunner advanced from the flank.
He wielded a large-caliber autocannon, a fierce weapon usually mounted on vehicles, which felt as light as a feather in his hands. Then, he responded to the enemy's clamor with a brief silence for aiming.
Afterward, he pulled the trigger.
"THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!"
The roar of the heavy bolter rounds contrasted sharply with the sharp hiss of the alien laser weapon. Its sound was deeper, heavier, each shot carrying unmatched kinetic energy and the destructive will of the Emperor and the Primarchs.
The barrage of shells accurately targeted the source of the autocannon's fiery output.
The hastily constructed cover, perhaps some biological workstation or instrument, was easily torn and crushed like paper under the bombardment of the heavy bolter rounds.
The dozen or so xenos soldiers hiding behind it, their pearl-white armor and fragile bodies, were meaningless against this storm of metal.
They, along with their weapons and cover, were instantly turned into scattered metal fragments, chunks of biological tissue, and shimmering azure blood mist in a brief, violent explosion.
The roar of the laser cannon ceased abruptly, leaving only the twisted barrel still smoking and the ground littered with debris.
As the smoke had not yet dissipated, five dark grey steel giants strode with heavy, unstoppable steps across the still-smoking ruins, officially entering the final room.
"In the Emperor's name! Annihilate this world!"
Their battle cry, mixed with static noise and the roar of twisting machinery, filled the entrance. The blasphemous blood splashed on their armor shimmered with an eerie glow in the dim indoor light, making them appear like judges emerging from the depths of hell.
Two xenos soldiers closest to the doorway, perhaps out of desperate courage or perhaps as a final programmed command, let out sharp shrieks and lunged forward, brandishing their pale beam weapons or bio-blades. Their counterattack was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
They didn't even need to use their weapons.
The two lead Terminators, with pure disdain, used their massive bodies as weapons, slamming into them with their power-assisted shoulder and arm armor.
"CRUNCH! SPLATTER——"
After the dull thud of impact came the horrific sound of flesh and carapace being instantly crushed and burst by absolute force.
Those two xenos soldiers couldn't even momentarily slow the Terminators' advance. Under the immense kinetic energy, they were directly shattered, turning into two pools of foul blood and flesh splattered on the walls and floor.
At this moment, the room fell into dead silence, with only the low hum of the Terminator armor's servo-systems and the faint crackle of their power weapon energy fields remaining.
The air was thick with the smell of ozone, blood, and the stench of scorched xenos tissue.
As far as the eye could see, only one xenos was still alive.
It was huddled in the farthest corner of the room, near a destroyed control console.
Its bone-white armor was more refined than that of the soldiers encountered before, perhaps a technician or a low-ranking officer.
Its multi-jointed body trembled violently with fear, and its compound eyes reflected five approaching, nightmarish steel giants.
A small self-defense weapon dropped from its grasp, making a crisp sound.
It let out a series of sharp, rapid, desperate shrieks, its multi-jointed limbs flailing backward in a futile attempt to merge with the wall, to escape the inevitable end.
A Word Bearers warrior raised his bolter, the targeting reticle steadily locking onto the pearl-white head.
"Halt."
Chaplain Krol's voice rang out, cold and authoritative.
The warrior immediately lowered his weapon but maintained his stance of deterrence.
Krol strode forward, his massive, blood-stained body casting a shadow that completely enveloped the xeno.
He looked down at it, as if looking at an ant.
He did not use his weapon but extended his huge, power-armored hand.
The xeno let out an extreme scream of fear, its limbs wildly flailing in defense, but it was useless.
Krol's hand easily broke through its feeble defense and precisely gripped its torso.
The subtle hum of the power gauntlet caused the xeno to writhe in pain, its smooth carapace emitting faint cracking sounds under the immense pressure.
But it did not die.
Krol held it firmly, lifting it from the ground, bringing its compound eyes, filled with extreme fear, to meet his own cold, emotionless helmet visor.
"You are afraid?" Krol's voice was deep and oppressive. "This is only the beginning. Your blasphemy, your sins, must be thoroughly accounted for. And this reckoning must reach your homeworld, your origin."
His words, transmitted through the vox, were cold and emotionless, yet more chilling than any battle cry.
"The Legion does not want your death, xeno," he continued, each word like a tolling death knell. "The Legion wants everything from you. You will reveal your homeworld, the coordinates of every hidden nest of filth you possess."
He slightly tightened his grip, and the xeno immediately let out a piercing wail.
"Then, you will have the honor of witnessing..." Krol's voice seemed to carry a tone of unwavering resolve.
"We will magnify the destruction you fear, the despair you feel now, a thousandfold, ten thousandfold, and then precisely guide it onto your homeworld. Your race's existence will be completely erased under the Emperor's wrath. This is the ultimate end for your blasphemy against humanity and defiance against the Emperor."
He turned around, displaying the struggling, screaming captive to the warriors behind him.
"Take it. Ensure it reaches the interrogation room aboard The Victorious alive. Have the Apothecary and Tech-Servitor prepare... to question it. We must obtain the coordinates of that cursed star."
"Understood, Chaplain," the squad members replied swiftly.