Emperor's Bane

Chapter 904 Southern Front
This is the eighth month since Sigismund left Holy Terra and traveled to the Storm Sector at the Primarch's behest.

It was also the 249th day since the Soul of Vengeance sank in Luna Wasteland.

Sigismund was also a witness to this historical moment: when Rogdorn ordered the cannons of the Mountain Array to be aimed at the Queen of Glory, Sigismund stood beside his genetic father and witnessed the entire process of how the Vengeful Spirit died.

It was a kind of pathos and epic feeling that could not be described in human language.

It is both awe-inspiring and captivating: much like the unique allure of destruction itself.

At least in Sigismund's view, while the mortals and fighting brothers behind him were filled with sorrow because of the tragic fate of the Soul of Vengeance and fear of the consequences of such atrocities, the Black Knight felt no similar tremor.

Instead, he felt a lightness he had never experienced before: the passion for destroying something great, the satisfaction of utterly killing a potential enemy, and a chilling aura that would deter any normal person.

He felt a sense of destruction.

Utter destruction: that is loneliness and darkness.

That was the distant future that he longed for.

At this moment, in a corner of this momentous event that everyone knew would be forever recorded in history books and completely change the entire galactic landscape and destiny, Sigismund vaguely grasped a glimmer of enlightenment: he realized that he seemed to have touched upon the deepest truth of life, but he failed to follow up and explore the true secret.

His understanding is not deep enough: he does not yet have sufficient real-world basis to support his views.

It's okay, he believes he has plenty of time.

One day, he will realize what this feeling of being truly convinced is all about.

Perhaps that is the essence of Sigismund as an Astartes warrior.

The Fist of the Empire firmly believes this.

He even had a plan: to go specifically to the crash site of the Vengeance Soul on Luna, to meditate at just the right distance: at the foot of the greatest monument of corpses in the galaxy, Sigismund believed he would get closer and closer to his answer.

That was his original plan.

But when Imperial Fist finally finished his work and responsibilities and helped his father quell the unrest on the human homeworld caused by the Terra crisis, he rushed to Luna only to learn that the ruins of the Soul of Vengeance had become a forbidden zone: even Rogdorn was not allowed to visit.

The orders came directly from the Seal Bearer, Makado, and no questioning or disobedience was permitted.

The Imperial Fist regretted this, but he soon had no time to dwell on the matter: the Primarch soon assigned Sigismund a new mission, one that required his full commitment.

To complete this mission, Sigismund arrived in the Storm Starfield, a region completely unfamiliar to him.

They brought with them a fleet that was still relatively strong, and several thousand Imperial Fists dressed in black and white battle robes.

Of course, both Sigismund himself and his genetic father Dorn preferred to call these fanatical warriors the "Black Templars".

Imperial Fist liked the name because it reminded him of the Seventh Legion's most glorious organization, the renowned Templars: Sigismund had made his name in the Templar tournaments before embarking on his invincible path in the Great Crusade, eventually becoming the undisputed strongest among all.

The first person below the Primarch.

How dare you use such an arrogant title.

But when everyone, whether Primarch, Astartes warriors, or mortal soldiers, accepts this seemingly arrogant title with complete respect, how valiant must the person who bears it be?
And how immense must the pressure be on him?

Only Sigismund himself could know a little about the specifics of this experience.

Even Dorn wasn't entirely clear on the matter.

A prime example is when the Primarch decided to select an elite force from the Seventh Legion to go to the Stormsector, which was under attack from the Deathguards, and rely on the Imperial Fist's fortresses there, as well as the governors whose loyalty and strength were on the verge of collapse, to delay the entire Fourteenth Legion's fleet with a smaller force.

He naturally thought of Sigismund.

And so, naturally, I hesitated again.

Even someone like Dorn knew very well how difficult this mission would be: the Imperial Fist and Terra's main focus would definitely be on the Eastern Front, with at least three rebel legions launching offensives from areas such as Fenris and Betangamon toward Holy Terra, which was destined to become the main battlefield that would determine the fate of the entire galaxy.

On the other side of the Sun Sector, the Legion of the Great Word Bearers was like a poisoned dagger, always a thorn in the side of Dorn and Macardo: their military strength of at least one million was simply too terrifying. Even if no one believed in the individual combat quality of the Word Bearers, they could turn the tide of the entire battle simply by sheer numbers.

Not to mention, given Rhodes's personality, if Horus's pretext is to find the Emperor, then Terra has almost no chance of winning over the Word Bearers. On the contrary, the Wolf God has a high probability of being able to bring this massive army of at least a million people into his camp and destroy the Highlords' court with a fierce combination of blows.

Therefore, Dorn had to leave a considerable portion of its forces on the western front of the Sunfield, including many elite Imperial Fists and the newly formed Black Templar, plus the minimum garrison troops of Holy Terra and various fortresses. The number truly under Sigismund's command was a figure that even the Primarch felt somewhat embarrassed about.

For this reason, Dorn had some doubts about whether Sigismund was willing to do it.

It turns out that he thought too much.

Without the slightest hesitation, the Black Knight accepted this position, which outsiders considered somewhat suicidal.

He needs to rely on thousands of Black Templars, a fleet without additional reinforcements, a limited number of auxiliary troops, and a large number of somewhat dilapidated semi-permanent fortresses left behind by Dorn in the Storm Starfield to delay Mortalian's army of at least 180,000.

On the other side, the Lord of Death, in response to Warmaster Horus's plan, mobilized all the elite forces of the Fourteenth Legion except for the Seventh Company: the mere fact that the Primarch was personally leading the campaign was enough to cause despair, not to mention that at least four company commanders were accompanying him, and their fleet was at least ten times larger than that of Sigismund, and the gap in mortal auxiliary forces was perhaps even greater.

This is still based on the premise that the governors of the planets who are not particularly satisfied with Dorne's rule will not side with the Horus rebels.

The mission of the Imperial Fist is to stop the advance of the Death Guard at all costs.

As for the task time: there is no upper limit; the longer it can be delayed, the better.

Before the Black Knights set off, the Lord of the Imperial Fist guaranteed with his dignity and integrity that he would do his utmost to raise reinforcements for Sigismund: as long as there were no unexpected developments on other fronts, the next batch of Black Templars would be prioritized for supplying the Black Knights' fleet. Moreover, Sigismund was granted a special power to issue any orders to the entire kingdom of Rogdorn.

If necessary, he could even abandon any world, including Invit.

His will was regarded as the will of the Primarch.

Even so, no one believed that the Primarch's guarantee would improve the situation.

Even Terra thought so.

As the Black Knight's fleet departed, the High Lords came to Liongate Airport to see him off. The then Minister of the Interior and Marshal of the Mortal Auxiliary Army pinned a Terra Star Medal, symbolizing the highest honor, on Sigismund's chest. However, this did not bring him much honor: judging from the expressions and tones of the High Lords present, they clearly regarded this awarding ceremony as a premature posthumous conferment.

It is worth noting that even the Primarch himself was present at the scene. Under the Primarch's witness, the Primarch also made his promise: although Terra's forces must be deployed to the Eastern and Western Fronts first, with a large number of recently retired Sun Auxiliary Forces being demobilized, and many long-dormant warships being gradually put into use by the Cult of Mechanics, Terra will soon have more abundant forces at its disposal.

At that time, they will spare no effort to support the Black Knights' fleet and resistance activities.

In other words, if Sigismund can hold out against Mortarion and the Death Guard for a few months, then he can probably hold out for the rest of the time as well.

That sounds like a truism.

But the Black Knight didn't complain much. He had stayed in Terra the whole time, and he knew that the Primarch and the Marker really had no other choice. They had squeezed out ample supplies for him from their meager resources and provided him with the best equipment and warships: to make the Black Knight's fleet as powerful as possible, the Marker had even risked everything by ordering the weakening of the defenses in northern Terra.

Holy Terra borders the Dark Angels and the Iron Hands in the northern part of the Sun Sector. Although neither of them seems to intend to get involved in the war, no one dares to put his safety on the loyalty of the two legions: the Marksman's decision is under great pressure.

What else could Sigismund say at this point?

He didn't want to say anything.

If there's anything that could still interest the Black Knight, it's probably only the Black Templars who have been following him.

Anyway, Sigismund had a hard time understanding these combat brothers who had been cultivated through special means. What was going on with their thoughts and thought processes? When the entire legion and even the entire Terra treated them as a suicide squad and sent them off in a tragic atmosphere, the Black Templars actually seemed quite... excited?
Not only that, but upon hearing that they had actually been assigned to the most stressful front lines, these inexperienced brats, whom Sigismund considered barely out of their teens, actually expressed a sense of joy, as if to say, "We've come to the right place!" They were even more relaxed than the Black Knight himself.

……

At first, Sigismund simply interpreted this fanaticism as ignorance is bliss.

It wasn't until a month after they left Terra that the Black Knights' fleet unexpectedly encountered the Death Guard's reconnaissance force in a small skirmish in the Storm Sector.

Sigismund had fought alongside the renowned Fourteenth Legion for some time, and he knew the insignia and characteristics of each Death Guard company. Therefore, he was able to quickly identify his opponent: it appeared that the Death Guard's Second Company was serving as the vanguard and scout for Mortalian in this war.

This discovery made Sigismund frown.

This is unusual. If the Black Knight's memory is correct, he remembers that the Death Guard's second company retains a considerable number of Terran warriors. The fact that Mortarion dared to send these Terran soldiers as his vanguard shows that he has absolute confidence in controlling their loyalty.

In other words, Horus's rebellion may have been accepted by the various Astartes more than Dorne and the Marksman anticipated.

At least, when the Emperor vanished without a trace, even Terran warriors, inspired by the Primarch, would turn against their homeworld.

Okay, that's not hard to understand.

Sigismund did not let this new discovery trouble him for long. After reporting the problem to the Primarch, he launched his first battle on the southern front.

With his forces at a significant disadvantage, if he wanted to hold off the Death Guard's army as long as possible, he had to seize every opportunity to eliminate the enemy's manpower.

Although the Black Knight had not yet gathered his entire fleet, and the Death Guard was roughly twice his size, neither Sigismund nor the Black Templar hesitated: before their opponents could detect them, they launched a swift boarding operation and eliminated all their opponents in less than four hours.

Some of the Death Guard were killed, while the rest fled in haste. Sigismund even captured more than a dozen Astartes prisoners of war. After sending these prisoners and the news of the victory back to Holy Terra, the Black Knight began to examine his troops with great interest.

To be honest, Sigismund was truly shocked by the Black Templars' fierce performance in the first battle.

He had initially thought these brats' optimism stemmed from their ignorance and fearlessness, but he hadn't expected them to actually have the confidence to be so arrogant: the Black Templars had achieved a remarkably high exchange ratio in this surprise attack, their fanaticism and bloodlust masking their lack of experience, tearing the Death Guard apart before they could even organize their battle lines.

For every Black Templar that falls, at least four or five Death Guards also fall: although the surprise attack played a role, this graceful exchange was enough to make one overlook some of the Black Templar's weaknesses.

For example, during the battle, Sigismund discovered a problem.

After he ordered the various Black Templar companies to launch assaults on their respective targets, he was essentially unable to issue any more orders.

Apart from the Black Templars within his field of vision whom he could call out to or capture, the Black Templars on other fronts had fallen into a state of some kind of loss of control. They completely ignored the Black Knight's orders and completed the entire battle based on their instinctive fanaticism and bloodlust.

This made the Black Knight very uneasy.

He hoped this was just a sign of inexperience.

……

But as it turns out, that's not the case.

Sigismund opened his eyes.

Just now, he recalled the first battle that took place in the Storm Starfield, which was about half a year ago: a clean and decisive victory can always be savored by those who experienced it for a long time.

Since then, Sigismund has officially taken over the southern defenses of Holy Terra and has frequently clashed with the Death Guard on the border, while also trying his best to investigate the Fourteenth Legion's military preparations: the numbers he collects each day are more disheartening than ever.

Mortarion is methodically assembling his most elite forces, including at least 180,000 Deathguard warriors and a massive fleet of nearly a thousand warships, as well as over ten million mortal auxiliary troops willing to fight for Mortarion and a nearly equal number of Guardians of the Faith, and an unknown number of Titans and knightly families.

Although the Lord of Death had to reserve three to four tenths of his power to guard against his neighbors with whom he had a tense relationship, even a single punch he threw was far beyond Sigismund's power to withstand. Meanwhile, the Black Knight also learned some unsettling news.

Many years ago, the Lord of Death ordered the Forge Worlds that cooperated with him to prioritize the development of siege artillery for destroying permanent fortifications and biological weapons that could ignore thick steel defenses: the latter, in particular, had always been the Fourteenth Legion's specialty, so it had never aroused any suspicion.

Now, these deadly things will undoubtedly test Sigismund's fortified defenses.

The Black Knight had witnessed the Death Guard's battles. He knew that any warship in the Fourteenth Legion carried biological weapons powerful enough to turn the entire world into a squalid wasteland, and Mortarion would not hesitate to use them if he deemed it necessary. Back during the Great Crusade, he was the kind of person who would casually abandon several hive worlds for important military objectives.

How much power will such a cunning and ruthless Primarch, and his secret preparations in the shadows for at least fifty years, unleash?

Sigismund didn't know: nor did he want to bother with such pointless matters.

The only good news for the Black Knight is that Mortarion won't attack immediately: he will at least have to wait for news from Horus.

Since the Terra Crisis, the Lord of Death had held a military conference with Horus, where he vowed to obey the Warmaster's command in the war: the Death Guard would not launch a full-scale war in the south before Horus's Shadowmoon Wolves launched their first offensive, a secret known to all.

Therefore, in the eight months since Sigismund arrived in the Storm Starfield, he has never faced a real test from the Fourteenth Legion. However, along the border between the two sides, provocations, reconnaissance, and small-scale conflicts have never stopped. Among these, the Death Guard's Second Company is already Sigismund's most familiar opponent.

The Death Guard's second company commander was named Grugl, an arrogant Barbarus who always looked down on the Terrans and was always trying to do something to get the attention of the Primarch he revered: there was no doubt that he had spent a long time earning the honor of the Vanguard.

So when Sigismund annihilated a squadron of the Second Company without hesitation, the enraged Grugor launched a furious counterattack.

For months, the Black Knight calmly clashed with Gruger's massive fleet, slowly chipping away at the Death Guard's strength: he won most of the skirmishes, and the few retreats were not the collapse the Death Guard desired. After eight months of mutual attacks and stalemates, these outposts ended with Mortarian personally ordering Gruger's companies to cease their indiscriminate attacks.

Thus, in the eighth month since Sigismund arrived in the Stormsector, the southern front of Terra had calmed down. The two sides ceased their fierce battles and quietly prepared for their own tasks: Mortarion awaited the attack signal from Horus, while Sigismund awaited the reinforcements promised by the Marksman and the Primarch.

They all knew that the fragile peace between them would not last until the next standard year.

Soon, the army of the Death Guard will sweep in.

Sigismund will make the most of everything he has to fulfill the Primarch's expectations.

Perhaps it is the Black Sanctuary.

Perhaps it's Invit.

Perhaps it's Taran, Krieg, or some other world where the Fist of the Empire flies.

In short, there was bound to be a place—Sigismund and Mortarian—where someone was destined to make a name for themselves.

(End of this chapter)