"Suicide bomber! Get him!" a Shield Guard roared, raising his shotgun and firing at the Khorne fanatic strapped with explosives.
The shotgun blasts tore the shirtless madman, covered in Khorne tattoos, to shreds.
The shattered corpse flew forward a short distance, and the Blood Pact Soldiers behind him pressed the detonator.
Boom!
Several Shield Guards were blown to the ground. Although their heavy boarding shields protected them from injury, the enemies swarmed them, attempting to break through.
"Counter-charge! Attack!!" Seeing the open ground at the front in distress, Horatio roared, raising his Chainsword and pointing it directly at the charging enemies.
The Sailors, seeing this young Naval Officer so bravely at the forefront, wielding an Astartes Chainsword, a weapon beyond a mortal's imagination, to slay the attacking foes, were all infected by his high morale, becoming fervent and zealous.
"The Officer is already in, what the hell are you afraid of?! Charge!!" a veteran Sailor Sergeant Major roared at the Sailors behind him, brandishing his Imperial Navy cutlass.
As the chieftain of a nearby clan, he wielded unquestionable influence and rallying power.
"For the Officer, for the Unyielding! Charge!"
Those ordinary Sailors, stunned by the bloody carnage, cast all their worries aside. They quickly re-formed, shouting and grabbing their weapons as they charged forward.
"Heart for the Unyielding!!!"
All the Imperial Navy warriors following Horatio desperately launched an earth-shattering counter-charge towards the Blood Pact Army heading for the bomb bay.
The Sailors and Sailors were intermixed, forming a thick human wall that crashed into the invaders.
Although the Sailors usually disliked the Sailors—not only did these Sailors have better rations and better quarters, not living with the Sailors, but also because they were the enforcers of discipline, acting as military police, carrying out whippings and hangings, and were seen by the Sailors as the Naval Officers' lackeys and thugs.
But when the Incessant was attacked by invaders, they would cast aside their previous grievances, form mixed units, and, relying on different weapons, cooperate to launch an attack on the invaders.
Amidst the crisscrossing laser bolts, two tides of different colors—void blue and scarlet—collided fiercely.
The sounds of armor clashing, weapons meeting, and bodies falling to the ground merged together.
Silver-gleaming blades and spearheads shimmered under the cabin lights.
Both sides plunged bayonets and spear tips into each other's bodies, swords and axes swung in mid-air, fierce, ruthless, and mercilessly striking at their opponents.
A Sailor to Horatio's left was knocked down. A Blood Pact Soldier rushed up, preparing to stab him with a bayonet, but the fallen Sailor gripped the bayonet tightly. Blood flowed from the Sailor's palm down the bayonet, dripping onto the Skyhawk on his chest plate.
The Blood Pact Soldier suddenly looked up, wanting to pull back the bayonet, but the fallen Sailor held it tightly, unable to withdraw it. In that missed moment, the Blood Pact Soldier was pierced by a bayonet from another Sailor who charged roaring from the side.
But that Sailor didn't even have time to pull out his bayonet before a Blood Pact Axeman smashed his head open with an axe, and he fell down.
Before the Axeman could pull his axe out of the body,
The Armed Officer, rescued by Horatio's reinforcements, shattered his head with a bolter round, then lopped off his arm with a sword.
Yet, a punch came out of nowhere, striking her face. Her lip immediately split, and her nose bled all over her face.
The Senior Sergeant endured the sharp pain, gasping, and thrust her knife into the attacker's mouth with a backhand.
"Stab them to death!"
Immediately after, a line of Sailors, holding short spears level, charged the Blood Pact Soldiers from beside him, pushing the enemies who had broken through the gap back.
The scene was utterly chaotic, devolving into a free-for-all, with casualties rising by dozens every minute.
The wounded screamed and wailed. A Sailor, his face covered in blood and his helmet shattered, crawled away from Horatio's feet, clutching the wound on his head.
Horatio helped him up and pushed him to the back.
Just as he turned, he suddenly felt a weight on him.
Two Blood Pact Soldiers, who had climbed onto a nearby metal box, saw the Naval Officer wearing a bicorne hat and, taking him by surprise, pounced on him together, knocking Horatio to the ground.
"Officer!" The Senior Sergeant, serving as a guard, saw the dire situation and turned to rush back, when suddenly an axe swung from the side. He reacted quickly, grabbing it, and began hand-to-hand combat with the Blood Pact Axeman blocking him.
"Quickly, help the Officer!" he shouted to the others, but his shouts were drowned out by various loud noises.
"Die, you bastard!" One of the enemies who had tackled Horatio bared his teeth, which were black, yellow, sharp, and ugly. He spat, his face flushed, roaring incoherently, and reached out to choke Horatio's neck.
Horatio, of course, wouldn't let them succeed and immediately counterattacked. The three of them wrestled together.
When he felt his face turn red from being choked, his breathing heavy and obstructed, the metallic scent of blood filling his nostrils, and his vision blurring with double images—a moment of crisis.
'There's a defensive mechanism designed by Father Lati here that can fire concentrated laser beams. You might find it useful.' Horatio recalled Farida's words when she gave him this luxurious Naval Officer's belt.
Jing!!—
"Ah!"
The Blood Pact Soldier choking his neck cried out in pain, curling up and clutching his abdomen like a woodlouse burned by fire. The pressure on his neck instantly vanished.
Horatio seized the opportunity to flip his iron hand over and grip the man's jaw.
"Ah! Ah!! Ah!" Piercing screams stung Horatio's eardrums.
Kada!—
He suddenly exerted force, crushing and tearing off the enemy's jaw with his bare hands.
The other person thrust a knife towards Horatio's eye socket. Horatio grabbed his hand, and the two rolled on the ground.
The sharp blade was only a few centimeters from his eye. With a little more force, he would lose an eye, or even have his brain pierced.
'When dealing with the right opponent, gouging eyes, tearing flesh, kicking the groin, throwing sand in the face—there are far more methods available than just these, as long as they help you survive and win the fight.' Horatio remembered what Senior Sergeant Valina had told him.
He kneed his opponent in the groin. He heard a scream from the other party, and the strength in their hand dissipated by more than half.
Horatio gritted his teeth, using his left hand, which was gripping the opponent's wrist, to slowly pry the dagger away from his face. His iron hand, amidst the opponent's desperate resistance, found its way to the enemy's face.
The Blood Pact Soldier panicked and bit down on the iron hand's index finger, resulting in his teeth instantly shattering.
As Horatio's molars audibly ground together, he exerted force, thrusting his splayed fingers into both eyes of the attacker.
"Ah!!! Ah!!!!" A louder scream erupted instantly.
Horatio flipped his iron hand upwards.
With a crack, the skull was torn apart on the spot and flung into the sky.
Horatio pushed the headless corpse aside, staggered to his feet, picked up two swords from the ground, and gasped for breath.
A small squad of Guards reassembled around him.
"Officer! Are you alright?" The Armed Officer, covered in blood, asked Horatio with concern.
"I'm fine, cough, cough… continue the fight!"
"Enemies are climbing the high platform! Protect the Officer!" The gunner behind him shouted, attempting to raise his multi-barreled laser to fire.
Horatio, filled with anger from being choked, raised his pistol even faster, almost instantly firing at the Blood Pact sniper climbing the high platform, shooting him down.
"Attack the enemy!!" A battle cry and dense gunfire came from the side cabin. Immediately after, he heard a report from a subordinate Soldier on the comms channel: "Officer, we have cleared the path and have reached the left cabin of the bomb bay!"
Through the Hand of Command, Horatio saw that his original third advancing force and the first force, which had taken the Naval Officer's passage, had reached the enemy's flank and rear, and had joined his command sequence.
"You did very well! Now join us in annihilating the enemy!" He immediately marked the other forces with holograms, guiding the Soldiers to attack in the direction he needed.
"Yes, Officer!"
They would charge the enemy's flanks and rear, encircling these invaders.
Suddenly, Horatio received a communication from Farida.
"Horatio, the enemies near the command platform have been cleared. The Sailors and Sailors are sweeping the battlefield. The enemies at Macro cannon Three are also about to be completely annihilated. It's safe here now."
"That's great! You did well, Farida. You truly are a capable subordinate!" Horatio, drenched in sweat, looked up and let out a hearty sigh of relief upon hearing the good news.
Farida, standing on the command platform, seemed to hear Horatio praise her with such heartfelt joy for the first time. Her cheeks unconsciously flushed slightly, and her heart fluttered with a ticklish sensation.
"Heh, of course." The female Naval Officer smiled triumphantly, her lips almost curling to the sky: "How are things on your side now?"
"We're encircling and annihilating the enemy; they can't escape. I will swiftly kill them all," Horatio said, waving his sword while directing the Soldiers.
"Hmph, let me see how swift you are." Farida chuckled lightly: "Be careful."
"Mm, I will." Horatio didn't tell Farida about the recent danger, so as not to affect her calm work.
She hung up the communication with satisfaction and continued to busy herself with commanding the gun emplacements.
"Brave Imperial Navy warriors! Our reinforcements have arrived, all enemies behind us are dead, only the scum in front remain! Kill these Blood God lackeys, and let them taste our might!!" Horatio roared at the top of his lungs, his voice extremely loud and inspiring.
"Hoo-hah!!!"
Encouraged by their Officer's good news, the warriors cheered, as if victory was in sight. Their tired bodies instantly filled with strength again, and their earth-shattering battle cries echoed throughout the entire cabin. Their attacking momentum was far more powerful and soaring than even Khorne's minions.