We cleared out the daemons as we headed for the hangar the vassals were guarding.
"Ah, you have returned."
"It seems quite a lot happened while we were gone?"
"Yes. After you departed, my lord, a regiment of the Astra Militarum arrived. I hear that there are only two places in this vicinity still maintaining supplies, one of them being the hangar we occupy."
"It seems we did well to hold this place."
"Indeed. Ahem, in any event, the command staff dispatched a regiment and some Astartes here."
"That explains why there are so many Astartes about. Hm. In any case, you should all dismount from your Knights now. The war is over."
"Understood."
**
I handed over my Knight, changed into clothes more suitable for moving around, and headed outside.
Perhaps because the battle had ended only moments ago, the Guardsmen remained taut with discipline, while the Astartes watched the exterior with close attention.
"How am I supposed to find them..."
I intended to look for the Astartes I had saved earlier. If the Astartes whose life I had saved was an important figure within his Chapter, I could make certain of the debt he owed me.
"You there, could you come over for a moment?"
So I called over one of the Guardsmen who was servicing his firearm nearby.
"What is it, sir?"
"Have you happened to see two Astartes bearing an emblem of a spear and a star?"
"I do not know, sir."
"Is that so? It cannot be helped. Return to your duties. I shall look for them myself."
I sent the Guardsman away and carefully observed the Astartes, my eyes darting from one to another.
They had definitely worn bluish armor, with an insignia bearing a spear and a star.
Everywhere I look, they are all Ultramarines.
Moreover, their colors were similar, making the search a difficult one.
"How am I supposed to find them..."
"Hm? Are you perhaps that knight from before?"
As I was pondering the problem, a voice came from behind me. When I turned around, I found the Marines I had been searching for.
"Oh, how did you recognize me?"
"Everyone here is constantly on edge, preparing for battle. But the Knights came in earlier, and in this situation, the only ones dressed in ordinary clothes would be..."
Knights, would they not?
"An excellent deduction. It is good to meet you. Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Theo Barbab, a knight of House Barbab."
"I am Deminos, a Lieutenant of the 2nd Company of the Knight Sentinels Chapter."
"Knight Sentinels... Since fate has brought us together, I hope we can maintain a good relationship in the future."
"Of course. We shall not forget the debt we owe you today. Though with only twelve survivors remaining in our Chapter, excluding the Scout Company, it will be difficult for us to offer aid immediately."
"Your entire Chapter was martyred for His Majesty the Emperor. I pay tribute to your martyrdom."
"I shall never forget them."
"Then I shall be on my way. I will be sure to remember the name Knight Sentinels."
"And I shall certainly remember you and House Barbab."
That was how we parted. We remembered each other's faces, names, and affiliations. If we met again somewhere in that galaxy one day, I would surely be able to entrust my back to them without fear.
**
"The Siege of Terra was hell."
Captain Kento Doritos, who had led the Space Marines under his command, recalled that place where he had once stood.
At the Fountain of Beauty, one of the countless plazas within Lion's Gate, he had fired his weapon at the daemons advancing upon them alongside the mortal soldiery, his fellow Astartes, and the Sisters of Battle.
"They are climbing the outer wall! Fire!"
"My lord! The bombardment on the coordinates you ordered is ready!"
"Fire immediately!"
Boom!!
"Tactical Squad Theodorea, twenty yards to the rear! Form a firing line and halt the enemy's charge! Eliminator Squad, enemy commanders are beginning to reveal themselves. Snipe them if you can!"
Commanding from a position slightly removed from the foremost line, Kento employed a strategy of using his knowledge of Chaos, the Guardsmen's artillery, and the Eliminator Squad to eliminate enemy commanders as a priority.
"Our objective is to hold this position at all costs! Never retreat! Fight! Die standing!!!"
Boom!!!
Kento watched the Chaplain at the very front shouting to raise the troops' morale.
They had been given the duty of holding their position at all costs. Countless Astartes and mortals were being honorably martyred in the name of duty.
"Hahaha!!!! Struggle harder!!!"
"Uooooooh!!!!!"
Kra-boom!!!!
Emperor, we shall hold this place to the very end.
At last, the Bloodthirsters began charging toward them. The Chaplain and his fellow Astartes cried out.
"For the Emperor!!!"
"For the Emperor!!!!!"
Vwoooooong!!!!
"Gah! Aaargh!!!!"
"?! Urgh! Damn it..."
Boom!!
Yet perhaps the Emperor had extended His hand of salvation, for they were not martyred that day.
"Imperial Knights!!!"
Giants who protected themselves with adamantium armor and ion shields, crushing their enemies with an array of weaponry.
The Imperial Knights—relics of a lost age, the glory of days long past, their past burning with vengeance—had slain in a single blow the Bloodthirster charging at them.
"How dare you, mortals!!!"
Seeing this, another Bloodthirster charged a Knight. The Astartes fired upon it, but the daemon paid them no heed and rushed at the Knight.
"Damn it... Eliminator Squad! Snipe that Great Daemon!! We cannot allow it to approach the Knight so easily!!"
Kento had fought daemons alongside Knights on battlefields in the past, and he knew how helplessly they died whenever a Bloodthirster managed to latch onto one.
Boom!!
Thus, he could not hide his astonishment as he watched one Knight ram the Great Daemon head-on, only for another knight to appear and immediately finish it off.
Then, a moment later, Kento spotted a Knight in the distance cutting off the tide of daemons and halting their advance, and he made his decision.
This is our chance to push them back.
"We are going down below the wall! Now is the chance!!"
At his command, the Astartes descended from the wall all at once and crushed the daemons. Apparently the same judgment had been reached elsewhere as well.
Thousands of Astartes, including the Custodian Guard, descended below the wall in an instant and began driving back the daemons.
"Thanks to those unidentified Knights who appeared out of nowhere, we were able to eliminate every remaining Great Daemon and purge all the surviving daemon forces."
Kento finished his recollection and looked at the servant who had been listening to his story before him.
"What do you think?"
"That was fucking incredible."
"I thought I told you to refrain from such uncouth language."
"I shall correct myself. Ahem, to give my impressions again..."
"Enough."
"Understood."
"It is time. I shall rise now."
The servant bowed his head and saw his lord off.
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