“And the earth refused to die. That is decreed and without question. And the earth will weep for her fallen children. But we cannot be swayed and must continue forwards on this path. She will weep for the fallen as we march forwards. She will weep for the fallen as we descend from the heavens. And she will weep as we pave a way forward and hold this line. We are fallen, but not forgotten. There is blood on the risers and the earth will weep no more for our bastard souls.”
- Commissar Antivan Leuren McCree XI, Fall of Lyre
And it was with that blinding flash of scarlet light which burned the eyes of Hugo that he finally understood what it meant to kill. A bolt of crimson energy appeared for no less than a second, and with it went a Sentinel. Slumped over with a burning hole between its eyes, and Hugo could only smirk. “First one.”
“Dust damn it.” Caesar lamented and took aim while Hugo’s Lamplite powered back up. Her carbine barked to life. He could see through his scope, low powered as it was, how another Sentinel was torn to shreds. Huh. She was using displacer rounds to limit the usefulness of their shields. Neat.
Wait. Everyone was using those from what he could see. The Troopers were out classing sentinels now that their rapid fire rifles ignored shields instead of barely affecting their shields. Hugo watched as Caesar pulled the trigger once more and shredded another Sentinel. Blue blood slowly began to seep all over The Wall.
The Lamplite recharged again, and Hugo scanned the area for an easy target. He saw Sergeant Roseri locked in a duel against three Judges. His laser rifle was cut clean in two and scattered across the ground, but he was still fighting with his officer’s saber. So, Hugo took aim, got a bead, and pulled the trigger.
The beam caught one Judge in the shoulder as it lunged for the sergeant and caused it to stumble. John whirled around and in a blur of silver it’s head was removed. Sergeant Roseri wasted no time to turn and parry a judge’s shock maul, then he simply thrust through its neck, pulled out, and turned to face the last one. Only for Caesar to slot it with a three round burst.
A gout of plasma crackled over their heads, causing the two to duck. Two more cams then Hugo peaked back over. Another breath in and another bead on a sentinel. It tried to sprint for cover the moment Hugo fired, catching it in the side and making it stumble. Another trooper caught it and stomped down on its head; Hugo couldn’t hear the noise, but he could imagine it.
That same Trooper caught a gout of plasma and was promptly boiled alive within his own skin. Hugo’s Lamplite hummed, indicating a recharge, and he repeated the process. Firing once and hitting the Sentinel in the head, slumping it instantly. An eye for an eye was a cruel thing. But it suited him well.
“Oi space case. Justicar coming into the right,” Ceased called out and Hugo turned around to see it. Three meters tall and big as some of the industrial equipment in the mines. And it had no neck or head, instead it had a core between its shoulders. So, Hugo took aim at that. He went to fire but thought better, instead he flicked the inhibitor switch on his Lamplite.
“Opening up at full charge in three…” Hugo took aim. “Two…” The weapon was getting warmer and warmer. Almost burning hot on his cheek. “One…” He pulled the trigger. The Lamplite hissed and kicked backwards as it sent a massive beam of energy right at the Justicar’s core. It impacted… And didn’t do a damn thing besides alert it to their position.
The towering creature turned their way, hefting its massive frag cannon and leveling it. A moment later the world was on fire. Hugo could remember Caesar shouting something and then falling. He was still burning, and his face had it the worst. For a single, blistering second the entire left side of his face went numb. And after that was blackness…
Pain. Pain blossomed all across Hugo’s body as he jolted awake and gasped for air. His lungs were filled with the burning sensation of dust and ash with each ragged breath. His throat was on fire and became dry. And his face felt weird. Half of it was terribly cold, like he’d been dunked in ice while the other half was blissfully warm.
Hugo went to open his eyes but... but only one opened. It suddenly hit him. Like a strike of lightning a deep and stabbing pain wrenched Hugo's eye shut. Hugo clutched his still warm side, falling to the ground as the pain consumed his entire being. Which left Hugo to wither and writhe on the cold and steely ground in pure agony. He could barely think let alone move around as sweat and blood pooled beneath him. And everything but his bleeding face began to feel colder, and his writhing became more sluggish.
Voices. Hugo could hear voices now. They were calling out to him, but he couldn’t respond. But the voices got louder until something warm, and slick grabbed him by the shoulders and hoisted him. Hugo cried out in agony but could not move as he was carried away. And something was jammed into his neck causing the pain to fade out.
Hugo felt himself be carried for a long while, maybe ten minutes, maybe more. But he was set down on a bed and left for a moment. Only for more things to be jammed into him. All in his neck and in his arm. But the world felt cold, and he felt a bit warmer. It was nice, like he was somewhere safe.
Hugo laid there for what felt like an eternity before the pain faded to something manageable. And he was finally able to see enough to fumble around for the mirror in his pocket. It was cracked but through it all Hugo could see what had become of his face.
He could see his teeth, but he wasn’t smiling. He didn’t have a left cheek anymore. But it wasn’t bleeding, probably something to do with that was jammed into his neck. And his left eye. It was gone, replaced by a mire of blood and some other strange liquid. It was horrifying to look at, but Hugo didn’t have the time.
He rolled out of bed and onto his feet. Only to fall and hit the hard ground. Pain shot through his entire body, but Hugo still stood. And using the wall as a prop he stumbled to the door, falling again. But yet he still struggled up and unlatched the door to see bright red lights all flowing in a single direction. So, he followed, fumbling out his plasma pistol in one hand, the other clutched over his missing eye.
Hugo’s legs felt like lead with each step and caused lightning pain to shoot up all the way to his back. He could feel the cold and see less metal with each step. And he could see people sprawled about on mats being treated by Troopers in stained medical uniforms. Someone noticed him and called out.
“Boy. If you have the strength to walk, then get your ass back up there.” A medic shouted, but Hugo didn’t pay him any mind and just pressed forwards. Step after step. Through pools of blood and over broken equipment. His breathing was heavy, but Hugo continued to follow the lights until he got to the stairs.
On the first step he stumbled and fell forwards. Hitting his nose on the metal with a sharp crack, and everything smelled like copper. But he still got up and passed forwards. Step by step, and centimeter by centimeter. The entire world spun around in circles as he walked, all the way until he reached a cordon of Troopers.
He was stopped for a moment with the assumption that he was some sort of runner. But Hugo didn’t even bother answering throat drowned out words. He simply just moved forwards and past the barricades and two dozen guards and went further up.
More climbing. More pain. More blood. Everything was splattered with it. And Hugo couldn’t bring himself to feel disgusted with it like with Sally. He’d known Sally, but the people here were strangers. So, he just stepped over their corpses one by one, until he tripped on a rifle and fell.
Hugo didn’t even catch himself, but he still grabbed the rifle and got up. Shoving his plasma pistol in an appendix carry. The new gun was heavier than most of what Hugo was experienced with, and the trooper who had died with it had a backpack on with an ammo belt trailing from it. Hugo grabbed that too and slung it over his shoulders.
It took a while, but Hugo got there. To the top. And he nearly broke down with what he saw. Caesar, she was still alive and still fighting. But Hugo couldn’t manage a single word. So, he did what his training demanded and posted up beside her. He leaned the massive gun on the barricade and angled it down.
“G-Glad you’re still alive…” Caesar managed to get out, stopping her onslaught of plasma from an obviously looted rifle. But Hugo didn’t even respond, instead he aimed at what he assumed was a Sentinel and pulled the trigger. The rifle, a machine gun to be more accurate, roared to life. And a hail of hot lead shredded the Sentinel.
Blue blood, armor, and organs were splattered everywhere as the Sentinel’s body was torn apart. Just for another squad to take aim at Hugo from behind the cover of a few crates and the pieces of a static gun. Plasma slammed into their position. Barricades bubbled and boiled, and the ground got hot. But Hugo kept his finger on the trigger.
He could feel something pass near his face, burning him deeply. But he kept on firing. Tearing into his opponents’ cover and chewing through their shields, rendering them as nothing but blue and gold stains across The Wall. It was brutality at its peak. Nothing was being held back as each side clashed. Trying to slaughter anything and everything foreign to them.
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Hugo could see Sergeant Roseri and Mint fight back to back against what looked like a platoon of Awakened. So, he shifted his fire to that. The rounds only flattened themselves against their shields. But it gave the duo below a better chance. The rain made it hard to keep a bead on any one target, so he instead focused on the incoming squads, leaving the two to their work.
The sergeant lashed out with a volt saber. Cutting into a judge’s shields. Only to get battered to the side with another’s shock maul. But he still got up and clicked on the saber, causing arcs of electricity to emanate from the blade. The sergeant lunged and delivered a vertical slash through one judge and its shields, twirled around and impaled another. Charing it’s ashy gray skin to a deep black.
Another Judge attempted to bash the sergeant over the head with its shock maul, only to have its head separated from its body by a shotgun slug. It was Mint. Who slam-fired three more rounds into the platoon. Ripping violently into, and through, six Sentinels. And like a juggernaut the veteran made his way to sergeant Roseri, covering his recovery.
The two fought with the force of a typhoon. The sergeant would almost elegantly dance through his opponents with unnatural finesse. Weaving through blows to deliver sharp strikes that burned Awakened to a crisp. And Mint was always there. Brutally cutting swathes through them with slugs or using his shotgun’s bayonet like a spear and running Awakened through while slam firing. It was a marvel to behold. And Hugo did his best to keep them covered from approaching enemies.
But they just kept coming. Even if a single Trooper could take a dozen Awakened then it still wouldn’t be enough. They just kept coming and coming and coming. The Awakened were supposedly the best of the best. But in all reality, they would’ve been a hundred years ago. But it wasn’t then, technology had advanced and stronger people were born each year. So, they were now not only being met head to head but also outclassed here. Or maybe that was just the fire in the blood of Legio X.
These thoughts crept into Hugo’s head as he gunned down soldier after soldier, he’d lost track after a minute of it. But the radio blaring to life caught his attention over the constant ringing in his ears, but Hugo stopped his hail of death to pick up the receiver.
“Command! This is radio unit one one six seven two. I repeat this is radio unit one one six seven two. We read you. Please repeat. Please repeat.” And Hugo waited for a single second on the ground. Water washing all of the grime off of him. But then the radio came back to life. “We read you one one six seven two. I repeat. Reinforcements inbound. ETA five minutes. I repeat. Scion reinforcements inbound. ETA five minutes. Terra Invicta Trooper, we have your back.”
“Terra Invicta Command, and High Lords bless you.” Hugo barely got out. Reinforcements! Scions! This would be over in just a moment… But where were the transports? “Hang in there one one six seven two. Command out.” Hugo grabbed the megaphone once more and shouted above the symphony of the damned below.
“SCIONS INBOUND. I REPEAT. DUST DAMNED SCIONS INBOUND. FIVE MINUTES ETA. HANG IN THERE!” Hugo bellowed. Which earned possibly the loudest war cry he’d ever heard. A resounding “TERRA INVICTA” Resounded from The Wall. And Hugo couldn’t help but give a bloody grin as he shouted as well.
But he had a job to do. So thus, he went, back to the gun and ready to fire, even if the ammo was running low. And just in time too. Sergeant Roseri and Mint were being cornered by two whole platoons of Awakened. Hugo let all hell loose on them, carving them out in vast swathes. With Caesar nailing anything that dared try to stop the hail of twelve-millimeter explosive rounds.
Sergeant Roseri flicked a switch on his saber and electricity engulfed the entire blade while Mint loaded in another helical magazine. The sergeant ran forward and lashed out, sending a cascade of neon blue volts through the rain and the ground. Which slammed into the lines of Awakened, and not only cooked them inside their armor but also obliterated its ancient augments.
Mint kept up a torrent of fire from his massive shotgun. But now each shot caused a massive spray of phosphorus flame to arc out. The entire area was alight with burning phosphorus and crackling with electricity. Hugo could only smile and keep his finger on the trigger. Barrel melting be damned, he didn’t have time to worry about it.
Sergeant Roseri ducked another swing and smashed the Sentinel’s visor end bare handed just to spin around and cut a Judge clean in half. While Mint roasted a whole squad with a single shot, then ran through another Sentinel with his bayonet. Death was a blur of silver and a blazing inferno.
But the remainders of the platoons backed off, into Hugo’s fire, to make way for a Justicar with a large dent in its core to lumber forward. But the sergeant didn’t waste a single second in terrorized shock. He raised forward and struck at the Justicar’s frag cannon, but its oversized shock maul slammed into him. Sending him hurtling into a nearby fortification, leaving him unmoving.
Mint said something that was drowned out by the clamor of battle. But he charged forwards anyways, firing every last shell left into the thing. Each round didn’t do much on its own. But twelve rounds in rapid succession caused its heavy durasteel armor to begin to melt and bubble. And the veteran wasn’t done with that. As he fired off the last shell, Mint hurled the shotgun bayonet first into the Justicar’s optical sensor with a mighty roar.
Mint kept running forwards at the abomination, he then fell into a slide he grabbed sergeant Roseri’s volt saber. He rolled and was back on his feet closing the distance covered in mud and across the gore splattered floor. Then he leaped, the bastard leaped up and onto the Justicar. He could feel the muscles in his legs start to tear, but he just couldn’t stop. Not now.
Hugo laid into the Awakened that attempted to stop this insane assault. Halting them and driving them back. Buying time for Mint to overdrive the saber. Blue bolts of lightning exploded into a storm of destruction. And Mint was caught in the middle, but he did not falter. Instead, he stabbed it into the behemoth’s core. Again, and again and again. Even as his own skin bubbled from the heat and sheet energy.
With one last silent cry into the night Mint jabbed in straight through the Justicar and kicked over. Only for the thing to explode, sending shrapnel and gore everywhere. And knocking Mint off his course, flinging him almost over the wall. But he still got up. And Awakened were on him within a single second. With a shock maul to the leg, it bent at a disgusting angle, but Mint did not go down. He swung, even if it didn’t do anything he swung.
Hugo turned his gun to aid the surrounded veteran, but it clicked empty. And he froze. Looking on in horror as a shock maul was raised high above Mint’s head. And then it was brought down-
But it never fell, the hand was removed cleanly, giving Mint the time to grab the maul and bash in the Judge’s skull. He took another kick to the gut but broke the Sentinel’s leg in retaliation. Only to catch another kick to the gut. They were taking their time with this despite the threat of Caesar’s fire. It was personal, wasn’t it? Could Awakened even take something personally?
Before Hugo could think any further a sharp whistling overtook the air. It roared to life over the gunfire and the clashing of blades. And it only got louder for three whole seconds. And then everyone heard it. A massive impact near where Mint was getting lynched.
Before anyone or anything could react a stream of crimson light scythed through every last Awakened around Mint. Burning and bisecting them all. And from the smoke and ash a figure emerged. Tall and clad in a dark gray armor with billowing black cloaks, and it had a shimmering field of purple energy around it. A Scion. Not just A Scion, hundreds were dropping from the sky. High lords be praised.
Hugo could see the tides of battle turn in under a minute. Angry crimson bolts tore through infantry like a hot knife through fresh butter. It was half satisfying and half terrifying watching how easily they cut through the Awakened, who had slaughtered most of the Legion within a few days. And while these were the lesser, weakened troops, not the one who had originally nearly broken their defenses each and every one was terrifying to the core.
More pods fell from the sky and more Scions stepped out. But the Awakened had finally recovered, and they all barreled down onto the Scions. Shock mauls and vibro-blades were raised, knowing that they could never match the Scions in ranged combat. But it was all for naught.
A Sentinel tried to go in for a lunge, only to get bashed to the side and sent tumbling over the wall. Hugo could only imagine the noise with a childish but sick glee. And that glee only skyrocketed as a melee specialist revved a chainsword and proceeded to cut through a Justicar like it was nothing. Ripping it right in half, despite taking multiple hits from its mighty frag cannon.
The carnage was beautiful to behold, it really was. Even through the harsh rain and the biting cold that had permeated through Hugo’s entire body. He could feel himself fading but he just had to see it end. He just had to. This is what Sally had died for, and what he’d lost an eye in pursuit of. Victory. It was sickeningly sweet and addictive.
Hugo couldn’t help but giggle as a trio of Scions had wiped out an entire platoon in a matter of seconds. He could actually see less Awakened than Troopers, as sorry of a measurement that was. Maybe half of them remained? That was a generous estimate if you asked Hugo. He giggled again and fell to his knees. Pants soaking up bloody water.
Caesar quickly hauled the boy up and leaned him against the barricade. Noticing that he was having a fun time watching it all. And she also had a small, but genuine smile spread across her angular face. It wasn’t charming, or pretty by any means. But it was genuine. And Hugo liked that. Not many people could smile genuinely anymore. Not many at all could even pretend.
The Tombstones that were still hoviering, and being used to screen areas with their powerful plasma repeaters were brought down with ease with high focus laser bursts. Frying their systems and burning through their heavy armor. This was the might of humanity! And by the High Lords above was it glorious. So glorious that Hugo pulled his megaphone back to his lips and shouted one last message.
“WE HAVE HELD THE LINE. THROUGH RAIN AND BLOOD, WE HAVE HELD. WE ARE LEGIO X, WE ARE THE BEACON IN THE DARKEST OF NIGHTS. AND DUST DAMN IT WILL WE BURN BRIGHT. CONTINUE THE PUSH. DON’T LET A SINGLE ONE OF THOSE FREAKS LIVE, YOU SORRY SONS OF BITCHES. DEATH TO THE AWAKENED. AND TERRA INVICTA”
One last, and resounding cry of “TERRA INVICTA” rose up. But it was not a war cry, nor was it a scream into the inky blackness of space. It was them. Every last person there believed it at that moment. Just in that moment they were whole again. And they had finally won something. They had finally dealt more damage than they had received. It felt good to win for once. And it felt good to know they were not just cattle in a cage.
But that moment would fade. It faded for Hugo when the stimulants and pain medications had worn off. He couldn’t even stand as pain spiderwebbed from his eye and cheek causing him to fall back onto the ground. Yet Hugo couldn’t help but laugh some more.
“We did it…” He sputtered out between laughing and coughing fits. Just for Caesar to plop down beside him and nod her head. “Yeah. We did it. Good job on not dying too.” She said, patting his back, but being careful not to touch any of the obvious wounds. “I think I’m gonna take a nap for a while. Until medical services arrive at least.” Hugo chuckled again.
“You go and do it. You fuckin’ earned it little buddy.” Caesar ran a bloody hand through her hair and chuckled herself. Medical would be there in just a matter of moments. Not many people were ever wounded in these types of engagements. Plasma was quick like that. A clean death for a bastard soul. And that was good. That satisfied her to a degree.
And medical did arrive some eight minutes later. Hugo Marce was the last person to be moved out despite his egregious injuries. His injuries were so terrible that he was mistaken for dead, and Caesar had to threaten the medic very creatively to even get her to check his pulse. It would suffice to say that she was shocked to see that he had a pulse and was breathing. It shocked Caesar as well.
She simply limped along besides Hugo, down the stairs, and to Mint and John who were propped up under a makeshift canopy smoking a few cigarettes with a couple of Scions. A ridiculous sight… But then again, the two had single-handedly killed three platoons to a man, and decimated others. And they had killed a Justicar in hand-to-hand combat. A rare achievement, especially for the living.
Caesar didn’t even bother speaking, she simply grabbed a cigarette from her pack and lit up. Taking a long drag with a wistful look. The victory felt hollow now, somehow. She didn’t understand why. They had won, that’s all that matters right? That’s what father had taught her at least, and he was not normally wrong… But when father was wrong, it was bad. Very bad.
The battle ended after sixteen hours, forty-eight minutes, and thirteen seconds exactly. And it was a brutal affair. Only a single company’s worth of Troopers had survived, that was two-point five percent of their original number, and under a millionth of a percent of the regulation number for a Legion. But they had managed to take over eighty thousand Awakened down. A staggering blow for sure. But victory never had felt so hollow as it did now.