Gate: Thus the Sons of Sanguinius fought there

Chapter 4 - Italica

"-Lelei: The Emperor." The girl said it in curiosity. "He must be very strong to be the leader of such a big domain."

"-Silas: Of course he is! He's the God-Emperor of Mankind after all! The savior of humanity! He is the one that united humanity with the help of his legions, the Space Marines!"

It was clear at this moment that it was clearly admiration that was in the voice of young Silas, anybody who had been repeated such things all of their life would follow the same believes after all.

"-Lelei: Space Marines, are you talking about the red golems from earlier?"

"-Silas: They aren't golems, they are supersoldiers. Clad in the best armors and equipped with the best gear the Imperium can offer. And yeah those in red like that are Blood Angels, the sons of Saint Sanguinius, one of the children of the Emperor. It's a true honor to be able to serve alongside them. I've heard tale of such soldiers all my life, but I never thought that I'd ever see one."

The two of them continued to talk for a long moment, mainly following the structure of Silas explaining something, and Lelei being amazed, suprised, or curious, or the three at the same time.

A few dozens kilometers away, princess Piña Co Lada was visiting the refuge of none other than king Duran, one of the few leaders of the Coalition Army still alive. The Coalition Army is, or rather was, an absolutely gigantic army of over a thousand hundred men coming from several allied countries that assembled under a single banner to face a common foe. This time, the common foe were actually foes. As it turned out, both Alnus and Helnus Hills had fell to the respective forces that layed beyond the twin Gates.

In order to reconquer both Hills, the Coalition forces were split in two vaguely equal group of around 50'000 men each. King Duran was one of the commanders that was to attack Helnus Hill, and was the only commander to survive the battle, despite losing a leg and an arm.

"-Duran: I stood in formation, and thought for a moment that Helnus Hill had erupted. Princess, have you ever seen a mountain erupt? In my youth, I once saw a volcano erupt in the mountains. It was as though the entire mountain had exploded. There was no sign of it beforehand, like earthquakes, and then I heard the air tearing apart, followed by an unimaginably vast explosion. My heart nearly jumped out of my mouth, and that was but one of several occurrences. As for what had happened... we halted to make sure of the circumstances, but all we saw before us was thick, black smoke. Soon the smoke dispersed, and it was as if someone had driven a giant plough across the ground. In the earth that was dredged up we saw the bodies of the Arguna and Modwan armies, mashed into the ground like rice grains in a paella dish..."

"-Duran: For the rest of our offensive, smaller but still just as deadly explosions would occur here and there, always following the same pattern. The sky would scream, then stop for a second before an attack so vast that each of them wiped at least thirty soldiers. And that was only the start of our horror."

Duran closed his eyes and shuddered as he recalled that scene.Besides him was a nun, who was trying to feed him some seafood paella. But he did not eat it, instead turning his face away.

"- Piña: And what of the two kings?"

Duran shook his head when he heard Piña's question.

"-Duran: How shall I put this...?"

Piña had searched through the villages near Alnus and Helnus in the hope of finding the Coalition Army after the battle had started. The conclusion she had reached was that the Coalition Army had retreated back after losing their commanders.