Atop the Forbidden Wall, the defenders' faces were pale, their eyes filled with tension. The scale of this Greenskin tide was nearly as large as the Waaagh! previously launched by Mountain-Fat Guga. Without the Governor's ingenious stratagems this time, it seemed impossible to hold the line.
Leo gripped his chainsword tightly. He looked at Hammond beside him and asked heavily, "Can we hold?"
Hammond didn't answer, his eyes fixed silently on the distant horizon of green.
As the Greenskins charged within five kilometers of the Forbidden Wall, the sky suddenly changed. The gathering dark clouds were incinerated by a sky full of fire. Hundreds of searing beams of light plummeted from above the clouds, like a rain of judgment cast down by the Emperor himself, pouring onto the Greenskin formations.
It was an orbital strike—space station support summoned in advance by Raynor.
Anti-vehicle missiles and incandescent lances fell with surgical precision into the center of the Greenskin ranks. Violent explosions erupted in succession, shockwaves sweeping in all directions and tearing everything within hundreds of meters to shreds. Red vehicles were overturned and detonated; Ork Boyz were vaporized by the high temperatures; even hardened mechas were blasted into scattered components.
The green tide was instantly shattered by this sudden blow. Their formation fell into chaos, and casualties were catastrophic.
The surviving Greenskins panicked, looking up at the sky. Through the clouds, over a dozen Valkyrie transports descended, their stark white hulls standing out vividly against the gloomy sky. The hatch of the lead transport swung open, and a figure stood at the edge, gripping a platinum-and-gold Governor's scepter. A deep blue cloak snapped fiercely in the gale. Amidst the wind and snow, those purple eyes shone with a piercing light.
Before the Valkyries even touched down, the ground began to thunder. Every gate behind the Forbidden Wall swung open, and over a thousand Leman Russ Battle Tanks, Chimera Armored Personnel Carriers, and Manticore Self-Propelled Artillery pieces filed out. They rapidly formed neat attack formations across the snow.
The Coldfront Super-Heavy Tank took the lead, the Governor's banner fluttering from its turret, crushing deep ruts into the snow as it charged toward the Greenskin lines.
Leo stood atop the turret of a Leman Russ, raising his chainsword high and roaring at all the Vanguard soldiers: "Soldiers, charge with me!"
The roar echoed across the battlefield, and the morale of the troops soared. Driving war machines and tanks, or even brandishing entrenching shovels, they launched a counter-charge into the Greenskin ranks.
The Greenskins were dazed by the sudden orbital bombardment. Their formations were broken, and their morale took a hit. However, they soon spotted Raynor on the Valkyrie transport—they saw those purple eyes that were etched into their very souls.
"Purple-eyes..."
"It's da Purple-eyes boy!"
"Da one dat krumped Boss Guga!"
Panic spread rapidly through the Ork mobs. Since Guga's death, legends of Raynor had circulated among the Greenskins. It was said he could make Boyz' bellies ache so much they couldn't stand, and that he could beat the four-meter-tall Mountain-Fat Guga with his bare hands. He was an utterly terrifying existence.
Erko, piloting the Deff Dread Mek-Boss, also saw Raynor. Fear flooded his heart as the image of Guga being slain replayed in his mind. But he was a Big Mek; he understood Ork "science." He knew orbital strikes required warships, and he believed those human war machines were just tin toys. More importantly, he knew that if he killed this purple-eyed human, the Orks would regain their confidence, win the battle, and launch the grandest Waaagh! ever seen.
Erko shrieked in his piercing voice at the surrounding Orks: "Lads, don't let da Purple-eyes scare ya!"
"He's just a humie soft-belly dat talks too much!"
He steered the Mek-Boss, pointing it toward Raynor with fanatical fervor: "GET 'EM WIF ME! WAAAAGH!!!"
With that roar, Erko charged toward the Forbidden Wall. Each step of the Mek-Boss left a massive crater in the snow. The Super-heat Big Burna on its left arm was already active, its pitch-black muzzle condensing green fire that reeked of destruction. He was going to burn Raynor alive with his own hands, avenge Guga, and become the new Warboss!
But at that moment, Raynor moved.
He didn't wait for the transport to land. Instead, he leaped directly from the bay of the Valkyrie, a thousand meters in the air, hurtling toward the ground. In mid-air, Raynor's body was enveloped in a layer of purple light—the power of Sarah.
"Sarah, here we go!" A crisp female voice rang out.
"Understood!"
Since Sarah's favorability had surpassed 60, a new ability had been unlocked. The ripper on his shoulder released psionic energy, momentarily supercharging the bionic armor on Raynor's body. The armor spread, covered, and molded over his skin in seconds. A magnificent set of purple bionic battle armor with distinct Tyranid characteristics formed. The lines were fluid, and a pair of slender wings extended from behind his left shoulder, fluttering in the gale.
Raynor hung suspended upside down in mid-air. He slowly raised his right index finger, pointing it at the charging Deff Dread Mek-Boss.
Terrifying psionic energy condensed at his fingertip. The surrounding space began to distort, the sky grew darker, and even the sounds of explosions on the battlefield seemed to vanish. A fear originating from the depths of the soul swept over every living creature present. They stopped in their tracks, looking up at Raynor in terror, forgetting even to breathe.
Erko felt this horror as well. His fanaticism was instantly replaced by a gargantuan dread. His previous arrogance vanished, and he frantically yanked the control levers of the Mek-Boss, trying to turn and flee. He wanted to get as far away from this terrifying purple-eyed human as possible.
But it was too late.
Raynor spoke: "Annihilate."
As the word fell, a purple psionic ray erupted from his fingertip. The beam was ten meters wide, as brilliant as a stellar core, radiating a power capable of destroying heaven and earth. In an instant, it crossed three kilometers and swallowed Erko and his Deff Dread Mek-Boss whole.
There were no screams and no violent explosions—only destruction that surpassed all sound and light. The moment the Mek-Boss made contact with the psionic ray, it was rapidly decomposed. The hardened metal chassis, along with Erko's body, was vaporized instantly. The surrounding air sizzled as it burned.
The psionic ray did not stop. It continued forward, plowing a massive molten trench fifty meters wide and several kilometers long into a distant mountain. The snow was vaporized, and solid rock melted into lava as the mountain was bored through—a scene of extreme shock.
The entire field fell into silence. Every sound on the battlefield vanished in that instant. Vanguard soldiers, wildmen, and Greenskins alike stopped moving, their gazes fixed on the purple figure in the sky. Their eyes were filled with such reverence that they didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
A moment later, an Ork Boy was the first to snap out of it. He dropped his choppa, let out a scream of terror, and turned to flee toward the deep ice plains. With the first came the second and third; more and more Orks threw down their weapons and abandoned resistance, scattering in all directions.
They shrieked as they ran: "DA PURPLE-EYES IS A DEMON!"
"HE'S SCARIER DAN RAGNAR!"
"RUN FOR IT!!!"
As a portion of the Greenskins routed, the thick Waaagh! field above the camp began to dissipate. While some Orks still tried to charge the human army, they were quickly defeated without a Warboss to lead them against the elite armored units.
After the battle, the sheer power of Raynor's strike continued to shock the nerves of the soldiers on the ground. No one knew who knelt first, but soon, more and more Vanguard soldiers fell to their knees. Their eyes were pious and filled with awe as they whispered under their breath: "For the Emperor..."