Gray’s breath formed white mist in his power armor’s filtration system, and the grip of his laser rifle vibrated slightly.
He looked down at the hive city through his night vision goggles; acidic rain corroded the towering metal spires, and the rust-stained outer walls glowed dark red under the searchlights, like a bleeding, slumbering steel behemoth.
This was his 33rd reclamation operation as the commander of the 102nd Marine Regiment, targeting the largest gang stronghold in the Underhive — Anvil City.
“Report, Commander, Divine River snipers are in position,” his adjutant’s voice came through the comms.
Gray looked up at the starry sky, seemingly still able to discern the outline of the Infinite Engine shimmering behind the clouds. Those elite sharpshooters, loaded with super-genes, were positioned on the Infinite Engine in space, using wormhole information reconnaissance to aim their scopes at the heads of gang leaders and army commanders in the Underhive.
“Commence decapitation,” Gray pressed his throat communicator. Three kilometers away, seven plasma beams simultaneously materialized near the enemies’ heads from the wormhole. There was no room for struggle; those who could once easily decide the life and death of others instantly dropped dead.
“Firepower saturation!” Gray raised his laser rifle, and red indicator lights danced across the buildings. The roar of volcanic cannons and howitzers echoed from the sky; kinetic rounds flipped over gang barracks across an entire street, and concrete blocks, mixed with human fragments, danced wildly in the air.
The engine roar of the Leman Russ Battle Tanks was deafening as their chain cannons tore the rebels' strongholds into metal shards.
“Charge!” Gray’s power armor thrusters activated, carrying him as he leaped down from a twenty-meter-high ruin.
The new recruits followed closely, their enhanced human bodies crushing rusted pipes underfoot as they landed, and acid hissed as it splashed onto their armor.
“Rocket launcher on the left!” No sooner had the comms officer’s warning finished than a rocket exploded five meters in front of Gray. His power armor automatically deployed an electromagnetic deflection barrier, redirecting the blast wave.
His laser rifle precisely pierced the rocket launcher operator’s brow, and the man’s mechanical eye flashed a final red light before he died.
Gray noticed a new recruit trembling at the street corner, his laser rifle barrel drooping. “Steady, Private!”
Gray shouted, simultaneously smashing away an attacking mutant with his rifle stock. The new recruit suddenly raised his rifle, firing three consecutive shots that tore through the mutant’s chest, splashing green pus onto his visor.
“Well done!” Gray patted the new recruit’s shoulder plate, the power armor’s hydraulics making a soft sound.
They continued to advance, every building smoking under the laser rifle fire. Gray saw the gang members were helpless against the enhanced human soldiers; their homemade weapons couldn’t even penetrate the ceramic coating of the power armor.
“Report, Company A has secured the energy tower,” the company commander’s voice came through the comms. Gray looked up at the sky; Anvil City’s iconic fusion tower began to flash blue light, as Federal engineers were rewriting its control program.
Suddenly, a purple energy vortex erupted from the spire, and the entire building began to spin in reverse.
“Everyone evacuate!” Gray shouted, simultaneously activating his power armor’s recoil pack.
The moment they ascended, the fusion tower imploded, and the shockwave leveled buildings within a three-kilometer radius.
Gray stabilized himself in the air, watching the rioters below being sucked into the spinning explosion. Their screams echoed through the channel.
“This is a self-destruct device set by the gang,” the tech advisor’s voice came through the comms. “We underestimated their resolve.” Gray looked at the ruins below, suddenly noticing something shimmering in the flames.
“What is that?” He zoomed his eyepiece, seeing a metallic sphere eject from the vortex. The sphere’s surface was covered in chaotic runes and was rapidly expanding.
“Attention everyone! That’s a Chaos Orb!” No sooner had Gray’s warning left his lips than the sphere exploded. Black goo covered the entire block, and soldiers who came into contact with it began to wail in agony, their power armor screaming as the goo corroded it.
Gray activated his emergency plasma barrier, watching the soldiers around him struggle in the goo. His laser rifle fired continuously, vaporizing the goo monsters that tried to approach.
Suddenly, he saw a new recruit enveloped by the goo, his genetically enhanced body undergoing terrifying mutations.
“Commander, save me!” The new recruit’s voice was filled with terror. Gray raised his rifle, but found his hand trembling. He knew this was a precursor to genetic collapse; the infected had to be executed immediately.
“I’m sorry, Private.”
Gray pulled the trigger, and a plasma beam pierced the new recruit’s head.
The mutated body fell into the goo, quickly corroding into bone.
“Medical team, clear the contaminated zone,” Gray ordered, his voice somewhat hoarse. He looked at the distant city skyline, noticing three more Chaos Orbs rising from underground.
“Divine River snipers, support us!” Gray shouted. The sky again lit up with blue-white light, and plasma beams accurately struck the Chaos Orbs, blasting them into black fragments. Gray watched the fragments dissolve in the rain, emitting a sickening hiss.
Gray stood on the turret of a Leman Russ Battle Tank, watching the second volley from the artillery positions pulverize the gang’s last line of defense.
Acidic rain condensed into ice on his power armor, mixed with metal debris from explosions, refracting an eerie iridescent glow under the searchlights. The drone swarm’s intelligent report came through his comms: “Twenty-seven civilian gathering points detected, five of which contain residual gang elements.”
“Initiate population recovery protocol.” Gray pressed the red button on his wrist, and three hundred hover medical pods poured from the belly of a transport ship.
These white, egg-shaped pods swept across the battlefield like mechanical jellyfish, their anti-gravity devices at the bottom displacing standing water.
When they landed in the civilian areas, their hatches automatically opened, extending mechanical arms with rubber suction cups.
“Don’t be afraid, we are here to pick you up.” Gray’s voice echoed through the entire block via the loudspeaker. The sound waves from his power armor’s speakers had a calming effect, gradually pacifying the panicked crowd.
The mechanical arms precisely grasped each person’s shoulder, gently placing them into the medical pods.
Suddenly, gunfire erupted from the ruins of a collapsed building. Gray’s power armor instantly locked onto the sound source, and his laser rifle fired three quick bursts, vaporizing three gang members attempting to hijack civilians.
“Medical pods, prioritize rescuing children.” Gray ordered, watching as anti-gravity stretchers lifted the children, one by one, from the rubble where they were huddled.
The battlefield cleanup process lasted seven hours.
Gray’s combat suit lining was already soaked with sweat, and his power armor’s life support system continuously injected stimulants. He couldn’t count how many civilians he had rescued, only remembering the complex expressions in their eyes, a mixture of fear and hope.
As the transport ships took off, Gray stood at the city’s highest point, overlooking Anvil City.
This hive city, once home to three million people, was now just a smoking ruin. The medical ships’ searchlights swept across the ground, casting long shadows of the survivors, like a swarm of maggots wriggling in the darkness.
“Report, 897,214 civilians rescued in this operation,” his adjutant’s voice came through, and Gray nodded.
Looking at the acidic clouds drifting past outside the window, he knew these people would be sent to gene purification stations in the New City, where they would receive knowledge indoctrination and vaccinations, becoming fresh blood for the Human Federation.
“Next stop, Forge City,” Gray murmured, a trace of weariness in his voice. His fingers lightly traced the bloodstains on his combat suit; the bloodstains gradually disappeared under the power armor’s auto-cleaning system, as if they had never existed.