Warhammer: Start with a dog

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With the wailing wet rales that sounded more like the bellows of a patient with a fever than the roar of the engine, and the creaking and tooth-grinding friction of steel bones on the bodies of the dead; some strangely swollen and uneven airborne drop pods, Thunderhawks, Predators and Land Raiders, twisted combinations of steel and rotten flesh, began to emerge from the gray-green clouds that floated on the ground like a nightmare towards anyone who was unfortunate enough to encounter them.

Now, after the first company of the Death Guard Legion cleared the front of the battle line for them with the hatred of the World Purifier Army's attack on life, they began their formal full-scale attack.

This was the organization of the first company from the ancient legion period. Even if we don't count the ships that twisted and expanded in space, the huge number of demon engines, the filthy miasma of the warp, the various variants of the Plague Drones, and some beasts bred from Chaos Eggs and other strange and deadly weapons they brought, they also had a full complement of 1,000 Death Guard warriors.

In addition to the two powerful warbands they brought with them this time, the Nurgle believers' military strength and numbers have theoretically formed a ratio of almost two to one to the Iron Hands, which were formed under the guidance of the Astartes Codex.

If Medusa's current intelligence shows that there are only seven clan companies and a small number of new recruits available, the ratio is almost three to one.

The timing of the Death Guard and their allies' arrival on the battlefield was so coincidental, and they penetrated the system defense so quietly. If it is combined with the previous betrayal of Lakuan colluding with Hammonk and Karagul, it is hard not to think that there may be a connection.

This also made some of the originally neutral Iron Hands more suspicious. But there is no time to discuss and interrogate these at the moment. The warriors and dreadnoughts of Hammonk and Karagor were required to forcibly implant additional control modules and install a large number of bombs on their bodies, ready to be used to break up the enemy's line as needed - yes, due to the suspicious behavior of their clan commanders, these warriors were not trusted, so such treatment was considered appropriate in the simulation calculations at this time.

Hastam Hammonk, who was still imprisoned in the Iron Council, was immediately unplugged from his cable connecting the fortress's simulated sanctuary (Note 1) and the Council's mind when the attack was discovered.

The power reactor energy of this Iron Captain was also unplugged, leaving him with only a small battery that was barely enough to operate the life support system. For Hastam, whose body was more than 95% mechanical, he not only became unable to move, but also prevented him from using his unclean voice and thoughts to disrupt the thinking of the Iron Hands commanders.

Medusa's Mortal Auxiliary Army - These unfortunate mortals suffered heavy losses in the poisonous gas attack of the Purgatory Army just now. The Iron Hands, who noticed the vicious weapons used by the other side and immediately readjusted their defense and attack calculations according to the situation of the First Plague Company, did not know that the Nurgle believers had something worse waiting for them.

The iron and ceramsite hatches, which were unnaturally rusted by the strange energy of the warp, opened one after another. From the thunder eagles and transports that exuded the power of decay and decay and seemed that they should not even be able to move, waves of huge and stinking enemies slowly walked out.

The muzzles of the rusted bolt guns continued to spew out gun flames, and the bullets were full of plague or contagious bile. The Nurgle warriors slowly entered the attack position with the demon engines and plague beasts around them, and began to advance towards the defense line regrouped by the Iron Hands.

Unlike the Separatists and the Purifiers, whose bodies have not changed significantly, the Plague Warriors of the Death Guard look like a sick and deformed afterimage of their past glory.

Black and red rotten intestines overflowed from the belly of the power armor with holes in it, hanging in an orderly manner on the edge, fresh maggots were actively tumbling happily in their power armor, and fat plague flies were flying around them, playing a buzzing music.

Although each Death Guard seemed to be unable to be alive or have any strength to raise a gun and shoot, they were so unclean that they constantly taught everyone around them how beautiful the blessing of the benevolent and happy father was, but in essence, they were still Space Marines who had undergone complete surgery and training, and the skills and strength needed in the war had not disappeared with the blessing of their bodies.

The Purifiers and the Separatists began to move, taking their demon auxiliaries in different directions, and now, the front of the Iron Hands' battle line was the Death Guard First Company, which was constantly advancing and attacking with the ruthless and tenacious efficiency unique to the Legion ten thousand years ago.

The clan commanders of the Iron Hands soon discovered that this was the most difficult group of Death Guard they had ever encountered.

The armored cluster firepower barrage that the children of Medusa had always been proud of and usually invincible would be detonated prematurely by the cloud formed by the plague drones and the rot worm swarm, or because the shells fell into the soft sockets formed by the overly wet and sticky flesh shells and failed to trigger.

In the past experience of fighting against Chaos, the flamethrowers that were extremely effective against the warriors of Nurgle performed poorly in the thick corrosive acid mist and the thick liquid blocks that began to fall from the sky——

The people of Medusa, who had never seen such "rain" falling from the sky, were surprised to find that the eternal black clouds in the sky of their hometown began to show a strange yellow-green light, and poisonous plague raindrops began to fall from them.

The battlefield auspices screamed in despair. They detected some kind of high-energy subspace warning signal. Even if they only "detected" it from a distance, these unfortunate machines began to rot and rust horribly and rapidly. It seems like they have been stored in some abandoned doomsday place for a long time.

An ancient huge black shadow was slowly lowering in the orbit above their heads, pouring blessings from the loving father towards Medusa's dense atmosphere and clouds.

That is the Plague Chaos Ship Terminus Est, the Blessed Land of the Father, the flying sanctum of Nurgle, the most terrible legend and one of the most malignant horrors in the Imperium, the planetary governor and the lord of all systems. omen of despair.

In this nightmarish swamp scene, there is a figure holding a sickle and thick black smoke rising from behind, appearing in the poisonous miasma in the center behind the front.

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The Rakuan clan's Hall of Conquest shut down all non-essential energy sources and flew silently past the silent watch stations and Mechanicum research worlds.

These once powerful flying stations and planets are now silent.

Their fate is unknown, but the dense, cloudy warp response signals may indicate something.

Under the orders of "Ferrus Manus", they now used an uncommon route to head straight to Medusa, trying to take the attacker's back path to reduce the pressure on the frontal battlefield.

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"What?!"

Young Fulgrim shouted. Although he was allowed to observe the meeting by the noble Primarch, his rude behavior in front of the throne of Ferrus, now praised as "the great", still attracted a crowd. The sights in the eyes of the Iron Hands' bionic implants were locked unceremoniously.

"You decided to prioritize sending new troops to the ground to occupy a landing site?! But that's the rear of the Death Guard! It's filled with high concentrations of corrosive poison gas and plague! You can't be sure about the chemical poison gas that melts flesh and blood, and how powerful their power armor is. It can’t be defended! The concentration of the plague virus clearly exceeds the normal design defense limit! And why are the recruits of the Dofok clan included?”

He pointed angrily at the three-dimensional star map of the war zone in the center, and zoomed in on one of the scenes. It showed that the originally desolate and dead ground of the planet - well - you can't say that it has not become vibrant, right? The green-brown swamps are gurgling. Bubbly and bubbling, the corpses of the defenders were tumbling, as if they were about to give birth to some "strange" "life".

"At this time, calculations show that the loss to the battle group can be reduced by two to three percent, while the success rate is still high." An Iron Father responded indifferently, "Our strength will be greater than that of others. Put it in later, so you can put the most power where it needs to be concentrated the most.”

"Why? Just for the two percent loss rate?! Aren't those your new recruits? Isn't the new blood the future of a legion...a battle group?"

Then another Iron Father stood up to answer his question.

"It is true that people who don't understand often say that we are cruel. But we have truly evaluated the military and resource value of all those who ask for help. We despise those who are too weak to expect their own survival, and we will also be treated with sympathy by countless people. Cursed by others. But people don't understand. We can choose to save only those who can make us or them stronger, so as to save and save the greatest strength, and of course, we can also choose to use our own. The power is wasted on the mission of self-aggrandizement, but it is useless in preparing to prevent the enemy's final blow. In this case, who is more cruel in terms of the result? In the end, we come to the conclusion that... Leave it all to our mechanical calculations to come up with a logical solution.”

"You..." Fulgrim gritted his teeth as neat as mother-of-pearl, his face flushed, "Then let me support them!"

"What?"

"I will take people down to support them! If it fails, I know what your plan B is. You can drop a bomb and turn me into powder together." He sneered, "Isn't this just what you wanted?"

The silver giant sitting on the mechanical throne frowned his thick eyebrows, "You are leading a man? Where do you get the warriors from?"

The cloned Phoenix pursed his lips, but finally suggested, "My Phoenix Guards. They are in the cell, I can command them, and the equipment is ready."

He looked around. The expressions of the Iron Hands commanders were hidden behind implants and steel, but it was clear that the atmosphere of suspicion and distrust was growing stronger.

The communication data between the silver giant spirit and the golden Garuda was flowing back and forth rapidly.

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Old friend, were you so impulsive when you were young?

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I am not sure. But I envy him quite a lot, Gorgon. If, I mean if, our brothers are all on Terra, like the original trajectory, growing up together, rushing to the star sea together, fighting together, maybe one of us Maybe many people are more impulsive than him, like children, before they grow up.

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It sounds...happy.

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……Yes. But that's just a possibility.

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So, are you going to suggest that I refuse his invitation to fight? He will most likely die.

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I would suggest you agree.

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I thought you were going to say "no".

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"No". Gorgon, this was the opportunity he had found for himself, and he saw it correctly. I'm going to give him that chance.

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I understand.

"as you wish."

The Iron Hands' fierce protests were suppressed by their Genefather.

"Go and make your preparations. A cluster of airdrop pods composed of new recruits and heavy-duty servitors will attack with you on the airdrop deck."

The young cloned phoenix breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded.

Fulgrim hesitated before he walked out of the hall.

He turned around.

The new mechanical prosthetic eye that Ravus had just replaced shrank its aperture behind his equally brand-new eyepiece, and the muscles of his unconscious sneer were aching: You see, the fallen are weak, and the traitors are traitors. He must have thought Looking for excuses...

"sorry."

The bright and burning apparition of Fulgrim, who had touched all the people in Chemos Wilds, suddenly spoke rapidly but brightly and clearly.

His lavender eyes looked at everyone in the hall with sincerity and regret.

"I still don't think I'm wrong and should apologize for it, but maybe this is the last chance, and the battle stories I've read about the old days tell me that it's better to speak up because you don't know if it's going to happen next time. Still standing here.”

"So, I'm just sorry that my vague statement brought the topic to a heated point and that I needed to clarify. When I said that to you, I just wanted to point out that we are both seeking to make our physical existence On the road to perfection, perhaps we have all begun to deviate to the opposite extreme. I do not want to question the loyalty deep in your soul, but even if your heart is strong, you must be careful that changes in the body will cause confusion. Qualitative change, the measure to prevent abuse is to be vigilant about it from the beginning and strictly moderate it. Maybe I am not qualified to say this, but..."

The ember of the purple phoenix shook his head as he spoke. He smiled mockingly, stopped what he was saying, and then turned around and left. He went to the prison on the bottom deck to summon the remaining sons of the ancient phoenix to make final preparations for the war. .

The Iron Hands watched the young Phoenix leave in silence, with no one responding.