It was pitch black under a starless sky, the combined force of warp matter reducing visibility, howling winds throwing gravel and dirt into the storm, and torrential rain pouring down.
Neither fact mattered to Azrael, the vision sensors on his helmet filtering and illuminating the darkness, allowing him to see as clearly as day.
Reams of tactical and situational data rolled across his right eye, absorbed by his enhanced memory.
His left shoulder had been slightly damaged in the course of the previous battle, but the servos were functioning within normal limits, and the command team had formed a perimeter around the damaged Rand, their ID tags and vital signs hovering over Azri The periphery of the retina display.
"Stay alert! Enemies may still be nearby."
Deathwing Grand Master Belial's voice crackled over the voice link.
Azrael glanced at his target, with walls of hive ruins rising from all sides. He glanced at them as a new set of data floated across his helmet display.
The main materials of this fortification are metal and rock, which can withstand a comprehensive bombardment.
"Keep your formation tight, the storm is limiting communications."
There was clear annoyance in Azrael's tone.
"Lord of the Stone, can your instrument still guide our attack?"
"Undecided, I need time to evaluate."
The Master of the Armory's reply crackled in Azrael's ears.
"We continue to attack."
Azriel dropped the hissing communicator.
"Use melta bombs and cutting equipment."
The heavy fortifications were torn apart with the hiss of high-pressure gas. After the Dark Angels poured into the fortifications, some moved to the right and some to the left to patrol.
Azrael couldn't help but frown as his helmet struggled to filter out the putrid air.
There are traces of battle everywhere. Broken illuminators flickered across the ceiling, casting jagged patches of light around the entrance room, the walls pockmarked with fist-sized holes. Sparks poured from hanging bundles of exposed cables, the metal of the floor was scorched, blood and guts littered everything.
"There's no body."
Asmodai spoke Azrael's thoughts.
"The dead are not our concern, keep your eyes open to the living."
Azrael aimed his pistol into the adjacent corridor and walked behind a crude barracks.
It had apparently once been a garrison for Chaos rebels, sheltering from orbital bombardment beneath thick rubble, but now it stood empty.
According to the scan results, the passage stretched for half a kilometer, and then a set of stairs led them to the central area of the Attica Hive, where the governor's residence once stood.
"This is the perfect place for an ambush."
Sappho, the priest, stared at the dark passage warily.
"Olias, leave a company here and take up watch duties."
"as you wish."
Third Captain Orias struggled to hide his dissatisfaction, although he knew that the Grand Master was right - they would be forced to march side by side along the corridor, with no room for more warriors.
Then Azrael entered the darkness.
As the Grand Master walked down the corridor, he could hear Belial's footsteps behind him, and he could hear the hissing of cables as they struggled, the shifting of metal—
Azriel turned sharply to his left as a grenade struck the ground, and his visual sensors dimmed momentarily, shielding his eyes from the blinding flash that filled the room.
With a thud, half a dozen ceiling grates fell to the floor, followed by a group of figures in sodden uniforms descending and opening fire.
"Enemy attack!"
Azrael yelled into the comlink even as a bolt of laser fire flew from his armor.
"quantity?"
Beria turned his head, and scattered weapons fire illuminated the corridor behind him.
"There is also one ahead."
Azrael raised his relic bolt pistol, advancing and firing as lasers erupted from farther down the corridor.
In the firelight, Azrael saw the attackers carrying the Imperial Eagle on their filthy chests.
"traitor!"
He growled, gritting his teeth as the laser rounds struck his helmet.
During the charge, the Supreme Master grasped the Secret Sword tightly and twisted the handle to activate the energy core.
The weapon's energy field roared, a sign of the rage coursing through its owner's veins.
The Grand Master charged towards the traitor, ignoring the lasers that pierced the armor.
As the traitors tried to hold their ground, Azriel swung his sword upward like a tiger among sheep, slicing the first man in half from groin to shoulder, ripping the first of them open.
As the two halves of the man's torso hit the ground, Azrael had bisected the other from hipbone to ribcage. The third died as he completed the move, the Grand Master slicing his sword directly into the man's head and killing him. Dragging the heart from his ribs.
Even between battles, he never forgot to observe.
Azrael counted fifteen muzzle flashes. The traitors only used this number of people to ambush them?
The cowards hid behind some overturned supply crates and metal plates they had dragged up from the floor, and Azrael used his bolter to sew a line across the barricade, blasting him as the exploding bullets struck the metal and exploded flesh. Enhanced hearing registers changing sounds.
Only twelve muzzles flashed.
To his left, Belial's storm bolter fired with a deafening roar, sending a line of fire down the corridor.
The barricade exploded in a blue flash as the bullets hit their target, some screamed as superheated shrapnel pierced the traitor's body, some were more fortunate and returned instantly to death.
Azrael knew that beneath Belial's helm, the Grand Master of the Deathwing must be smiling - his hatred for traitors unparalleled.
A ragged traitor stumbled over the corpse of his comrade. As he struggled on all fours, desperately searching for a weapon, Azrael shot him in the head.
"The fate of traitors!"
Faced with an enemy whose armor bore the guts and blood of their comrades, the traitors retreated.
Only one man was still holding his position, staring at Azrael with wide eyes, and took out a box of grenades from his sling.
But he underestimated the Space Marine's reaction speed, and Azrael rushed up and chopped off his head in an instant.
Grenades dropped from the fingers of the headless corpse.
Ahead of him, the remaining traitors gathered behind a pillar, and he could see the fear on their haggard faces as the Grand Master emerged from the shadows, unharmed.
They actually thought the pillars would protect them from the Emperor's wrath?
This is an insult.
Azrael growled, the metallic resonance of the helmet's audio amplifier giving the sound a bestial quality.
One of the traitors peed his pants.
Then, the Supreme Master rushed towards them. Take off in the last few meters and drive your sword through the pillar when you land.
The blade sliced open the traitor's body, spurting out blood and shattered organs while chewing through the metal of the pillar and piercing the bodies of the two traitors closest to it.
