Except for the spires, other areas of a Hive City never see sunlight year-round.
Therefore, day and night in a Hive City are merely distinctions of the clock hand's position on a dial.
Faint lights flickered in the intricate passages and buildings. The once bustling factories had become eerily silent, and even the ubiquitous statues of the Emperor were either destroyed or defaced with blasphemous symbols.
However, as the ultimate solution for accommodating human populations, not all of the billions of civilians in the Hive City had defected to the rebels.
As a faint clamor gradually emerged from the entrance, civilians hiding in the darkness, accompanied by scattered, weak lights, looked over with anticipation.
And as more and more rebels charged into the entrance, roaring, the civilians' anticipation reached its peak in the increasingly clear and brightly lit distance of the passage.
Then, their anticipation plummeted into an icy abyss!
"Where did these lunatics come from now?!"
The civilians were dumbfounded. When they finally saw the scene before them clearly, only this thought remained in their hearts.
Because it wasn't the valiant Astra Militarum who were charging from the entrance, nor even the PDF, but a group of shirtless, close-combat madmen wielding exaggerated blades and axes!
Some civilians even witnessed a rebel's homemade bullet pierce through the surging crowd and strike a burly man wielding two axes.
A faint red light glowed, and he seemed completely unharmed, continuing to chop the charging rebels into mincemeat with his exaggerated twin axes.
And as the civilians looked, there were actually over a thousand such madmen in the long passage behind them.
Compared to them, the rebels on this side seemed to be the more normal ones.
The rebels charged forward relentlessly, and the stench of blood grew thicker as the death toll mounted.
Even the rebels who had just arrived at the rear, before even seeing the enemy, were already overwhelmed by the pungent smell of blood, showing clear signs of fear.
The rebels, who had originally just charged headlong, gradually began to show many figures fleeing for various reasons.
The most common reason among them was to return and report.
Now, behind the long and complex passage, in a small camp protected by walls, several blood-soaked rebels with terrified faces stumbled in.
The identifier that once belonged to the Imperial Departmento Munitorum was smashed and thrown on the ground, left for the rebels to trample upon as they came and went.
The camp walls were filled with rebels standing ready, holding various weapons. Many had Astra Militarum standard-issue lasrifles, but even more had various homemade firearms.
As more and more panicked rebels ran back, a furious roar erupted from deep within the camp.
Clang!
An alloy goblet was violently slammed to the ground. A tall, burly man with obvious mutations on his arms stood up and glared fiercely at his subordinates who claimed to have returned to report.
Looking at the trembling, pale crowd below, the burly man was enraged:
"You might as well say the Astartes have arrived; at least then I might believe it for a moment."
The rebels below grew even paler. A few tried to explain in terror, but thinking about what they had just said, they also felt it indeed seemed a bit unreasonable.
And the burly man, filled with the fury of being fooled, gritted his teeth and retorted:
"What do you mean a group of red-glowing madmen chopped their way through the entire passage?!"
Ordinary Mortals don't even know the names of the Chaos Gods. Even if they join various cults, they often only get to learn about the existence of the Chaos Gods much later.
So they didn't know anything about Khorne's blessings; they just thought that all these subordinates who had returned were out of their minds!
The rebels knelt on the ground, tears streaming down their faces. Although their mouths twitched several times, they ultimately suppressed their words in helplessness.
Only the burly man, seeing his subordinates remain silent, finally couldn't hold back his anger and kicked over a table, scattering the Imperial supplies piled on it.
Picking up an exaggerated saber and a lasrifle, the burly man kicked aside the people around him and walked out.
Seeing this, the surrounding rebels quickly followed. Apart from the terrified, pale faces of those who had fled back, the other rebels who had been lounging in the camp eagerly followed him out, watching as the burly man prepared to confront the enemy himself.
The other rebels who had been lounging in the camp, however, followed him out with fervent excitement.
And when the burly man finally dragged his bloated, massive body onto the wall, the first thing his furious eyes saw was the scene he had been utterly unwilling to believe.
Deep in the passage in front of the camp, rebels surged forward endlessly from all directions of the entire Hive City.
But at the end of the human tide, the burly man was sure there was no light whatsoever, yet the deep passage, which should have been pitch black, glowed with a faint red light.
And as blood continuously splattered, those red lights seemed to grow even more intense.
The rebels, who should have been fearless of death and incited by various cults, also began to show large numbers of terrified deserters scattering in all directions.
Coupled with his subordinates' terrified reports earlier, the burly man, thinking that these madmen might actually have chopped their way all the way from the entrance, couldn't help but gasp with a cold breath, his furious expression faltering.
He subconsciously looked around, searching for a mysterious missionary who had preached to him, as, being a rebel petty leader who could oversee a supply station, he knew some of the names of the gods he worshipped.
Because with just one glance, the truth he was most unwilling to admit was laid bare before him.
A group of Imperial madmen, bearing Khorne's blessings, had chopped their way through the rebels straight towards him!
Though this was the fact, the question was...
Is this even reasonable?!
Who blesses their enemies?!
The burly man, whose understanding was not deep, couldn't comprehend it. But while he couldn't, Sith, charging at the very front, saw the camp and his eyes suddenly lit up.
He hurled the chainsword in his hand, and the immense force directly knocked down two flimsy rebels in front of him.
Then he reached out and grabbed the neck of a rebel in front of him, lifting him, and used the rebel's long blade to cleave his head from his body.
Then, seeing the rebels in front of him retreat in terrified congestion, Sith pointed directly at the camp:
"The supply station is right ahead!"
As Sith spoke, the soldiers behind him intensified their chopping.
But it was merely intensified; their faces remained relatively calm, continuing to efficiently slaughter the rebels charging relentlessly before them.
Although Khorne was very pleased and bestowed many blessings, Sith and his soldiers did not fall into a frenzied desire for slaughter.
Sith was initially a bit nervous, fearing that all the soldiers would turn into madmen who only knew how to kill. But now it seemed that he and his soldiers had even increased their resistance to Warp corruption a hundredfold.
This was taking Khorne's benefits without suffering the drawbacks.
Sith led his men to continue charging towards the supply station. The rebels on the walls began to pour down fire from above.
Although the dense barrage shot down some soldiers, more soldiers, relying on the blessings they received and using rebel corpses as shields, actually charged right through.
Then, after entering a certain distance, a dense volley of various blades, swords, and axes was hurled.
The burly man watched as the rebels around him were instantly cut down. There was no trace of his earlier ferocity; he merely stumbled down the wall on trembling legs, wanting to escape through the gate.
Just as he reached the gate, it was suddenly blasted open, and those red-glowing fiends charged straight in, right in front of him.
Especially the officer-like fiend at the very front, who even glanced at him directly.
The burly man was startled, his great saber instantly dropped to the ground, and under Sith's peripheral vision, he moved with a flexibility far exceeding his corpulent body...
And knelt down!
"Long live the Emperor!"
The burly man shouted in terror, but the imagined death did not come. He only saw Sith leading his men continuously charging into the camp.
"Ana, come with me to the warehouse. Everyone else, immediately occupy the walls and return fire with the rebels' weapons!"
Sith quickly gave orders, and the surrounding veterans immediately executed them efficiently.
Because at this very moment, as Sith delved deeper, the entire Hive City seemed to awaken. Endless rebels were gathering from all directions into a human sea, surging towards this small camp.
Bruno turned, enduring the barrage of bullets constantly passing through the gate and flying around him, roaring as he desperately tried to close the ruined gate. Then he ordered the soldiers to completely block the gate with corpses and building materials.
More soldiers ran onto the walls, continuously returning fire with their weapons. The rebels' flying barrage wove into streaks of light, constantly whistling over the veterans' heads.
Sith ignored the urgency outside. He, Ana, and a few veterans ran to the core warehouse of the supply station.
When Ana quickly opened the door using Adeptus Mechanicus authority, the scene within, accompanied by dazzling light, appeared before Sith: a massive amount of supplies sufficient to support an entire Astra Militarum Legion!