Chapter 23: This is the ruling of the tribunal that has come

"Fall back! Everyone retreat into the passage!"

A large number of soldiers passed through the passage; Bunoke stayed at the rear, holding a machine gun as he retreated and fired.

And opposite the passage, there remained an endless horde of fanatical rebel forces.

"Concentrate all ammunition; the rest fix bayonets—for the Emperor, everyone must hold out until the last moment."

Xisi stood before a group of soldiers almost all soaked in blood; following his order, the last bit of ammunition was gathered and handed to the rearguard unit.

The others fixed bayonets without hesitation; even wounded soldiers with injured arms would grip their knives with one hand, staring fixedly at the final line of defense ahead.

The rebels' sparse barrage of fire even began to ricochet back through the passage.

A bullet nearly grazed Xisi's cheek as it flew past.

A thin, long wound appeared, and blood trickled slowly down his cheek.

Everyone instinctively looked toward Xisi, while Xisi simply remained in place, doing what a commander ought to do at this moment.

Without panic, and without even tending to his wound, Xisi's expression toward the looking-on soldiers was grim:

"Fulfill your duty."

The crowd hastily averted their gaze, refocusing on the passage; another stray bullet flew past, and a forward soldier dropped dead at the sound.

Gritting his teeth without a cry, the fallen wounded soldier was immediately dragged to the rear.

But with Xisi's calm ahead, the soldiers this time showed almost no reaction.

At this moment, footsteps sounded from behind; Ana spoke somewhat hastily:

"The Death Watch needs you for a moment."

Seeing the soldiers still holding fast, he turned his gaze to the gate where Daiweiluo had utterly smashed the communicator; Xisi's eyes held only speechlessness.

Turning toward the gate, Ana took the veteran Xisi had assigned to protect her, and from the already scant ammunition stores she carried off a large number of hand grenades and explosive charges.

"I hope you didn't bring me here just to tell me it's time to devote my loyalty to the Emperor."

Xisi was so speechless he even showed displeasure directly toward Daiweiluo.

It's just that a mere mortal dares to express dissatisfaction with an Astartes—and one who is capable of entering the elite Death Watch Astartes at that.

Yet whether it was the Astartes still standing or the wounded soldier lying nearby, none showed any anger toward Xisi.

Even Daiweiluo simply took the last heavy ammunition Ana brought, his expression calm.

Squatting to inventory the materiel before him, Daiweiluo seemed not to have heard Xisi's displeasure and went straight to the point:

"I can blow the gate open."

Xisi blinked; not only him, but Ana as well, and even the other two Astartes who were Daiweiluo's slaughter-brothers.

Xisi glanced at the meager ammunition at his feet and the gate holding back the rebels' repeated bombardments, and truly could not imagine how it could be blown open.

After all, even if he ignored the hundredfold secret and personally amplified these munitions a hundredfold, it was utterly impossible to blow open Nest City's gate with small-arms ammunition.

But faced with the surrounding people and the doubts of his own slaughter-brothers, Daiweiluo sighed.

The suppressing fire from the distant passage began to wane rapidly, while the sounds of close-quarters combat started to come.

Daiweiluo wasted no time; he raised both hands and removed his helmet.

A stern face with a white beard, its angles sharp as if carved from steel.

Lifting his head, he shifted his attention from the ammunition to Xisi before him; there was actually some reluctance in Daiweiluo's eyes.

"I, before coming to the Death Watch..."

"I am best at siege warfare."

Daiweiluo explained, but Ana still wore a puzzled look—in fact, even greater puzzlement after that answer.

For in Ana's view, even a unit specialized in siege warfare would at most be somewhat better than other Astartes in that regard, but there could be no qualitative difference.

Not only Ana, but the other two Death Watch members as well were only doubtful.

After all, they knew little about that great rebellion of ten thousand years ago.

Only Xisi blinked, the corners of his mouth twitching several times, which he forcibly suppressed.

Daring not to show any emotion on his face, Xisi pretended as best he could that he knew nothing either.

But inside Xisi's heart, a great surge had already arisen.

Because Xisi could almost certainly tell that the Daiweiluo before him was a loyalist hailing from the rebel army.

And this rebel army was, among the eighteen Astartes units, the one whose specialty was siege warfare!

Lowering his head slightly so as not to look directly at Daiweiluo, Xisi could only seethe inwardly.

How did that line go?

"The Imperial Fist is just guarding a pile of shit; I, the Iron Warrior, also want to snatch that pile of shit!"

And to dare say that to the Imperial Fist, the galaxy's strongest defender tasked with guarding Terra, shows how confident the Iron Warrior is in his siege capability.

Daiweiluo looked at the several people before him, all doubtful, and a flicker passed in his eyes—uncertain whether it was disappointment or relief.

Disappointment that his legion's many sacrifices and contributions during the Great Crusade are unknown to anyone.

Relief that he can still, as a loyalist, continue to serve the Emperor faithfully.

Without further words, Daiweiluo picked up the ammunition, turned, and began busying himself at several key points on the gate.

Meanwhile, while placing the explosives, he spoke:

"Squad Leader Xisi, I need you to buy me as much time as possible."

"I will let my battle brothers stand with you in holding the line."

Daiweiluo's sole remaining battle brother said nothing more, merely calmly raising his explosive gun.

Xisi, for his part, gave Daiweiluo a final glance, said nothing more, set aside his now-ammunition-less sidearm, and picked up two swords.

At this moment before the passage, the rebels began to surge forward in large numbers, directly engaging the soldiers before them in a bloody battle.

Even a rebel unit, seeing the firepower weaken, did not bother to spread its formation but charged forward in a dense mass.

Facing this crowded swarm of Rebel Forces, Bunoke and the other guards could only watch helplessly.

Until a burst of explosives rang out, blasting all the Rebel Forces in the passage into fragments.

However, that burst of explosives was only a single blast; what followed was not more explosives but a whirling chainsaw sword.

Astat also ran out of ammunition.

The Rebel Forces at the other end of the passage, seeing this, cheered wildly and charged forward again.

But what met them were not panicked soldiers, but two swords turned into a whirlwind.

Xisi didn't know how long he had been hacking; perhaps Daiweiluo's ammunition was so scarce that the door wasn't broken as quickly as imagined.

Until Xisi hacked down another frenzied Rebel Forces in front of him, his body again began to emit a faint red glow, and behind him the massive door finally produced a series of soft, continuous booms.

The sound was hardly loud at all, not even a hint of impact.

Many of the blood‑thirsty soldiers ahead showed no reaction whatsoever.

Yet Xisi instantly turned his head and looked at the tall, broad door behind him.

A fine plume of smoke rose slowly along the door's edge, and that towering door, under Daiweiluo's kick, tipped backward as a whole.

A dense barrage swept across, turning all the Rebel Forces in the narrow passage into blood.

The well‑equipped Nobility Guard burst out from behind the door, unleashing fire upon the Rebel Forces.

At the same time, the guard's eyes kept darting to the side; besides the towering Astat, they were even more fixed on the blood‑soaked, slashing‑through Green Skin and the entire Nest City 101 Regiment.

Looking at this group of soldiers who had almost become blood‑soaked corpses, even the most harsh guards showed obvious respect in their eyes.

Yet, compared with the guard's steadfast duty—or rather, with the door collapsed, they could not help but be dutiful.

The plump noble, carried on a small sedan by four automaton servants, wore a face full of terror.

He forced a smile, scanning the crowd that had cut a path here.

He glanced at Xisi and Daiweiluo; compared with the obvious murderous intent in Xisi's eyes, the noble's gaze sent a clear contempt, while turning to flatter only Daiweiluo.

"Sir, it must be the Emperor who sent you to my side."

"If the Emperor sent you to escort me away, forgive my bluntness, I am still unable to..."

A high‑gothic tongue exclusive to the nobility and upper class came from the noble's mouth, and in his speech he completely ignored Xisi.

Xisi, seeing this, showed no anger at being slighted; he merely glanced at the few remaining soldiers behind him and silently reloaded his gun from a nearby ammunition rack.

The scene drew everyone's attention, and Bunoke and the other soldiers still able to move immediately grabbed ammunition, pressing magazines into their rifles.

The surrounding guards frowned in confusion, and after a brief daze they reacted, their eyes instantly flashing terror and panic.

The noble was also startled, but then, instead of fear, felt a great insult‑driven anger.

He raised his hand to point at Xisi, but his shouted curse never came; instead a figure blocked the space between Xisi and the noble.

Xisi was stunned, and Daiweiluo turned his head to look at Xisi.

The noble, seeing this, smiled with even more contempt, but Daiweiluo's next words changed the atmosphere.

"Squad Leader Xisi, to you, this pig is not worth such an effort."

Daiweiluo feared Xisi would make a mistake, because regardless of any reason, a Planetary Defense Force would never execute a Nest City Governor on the spot.

If Xisi did so, it would stain his already splendid achievements with an unsightly blemish.

The noble's contempt froze instantly, while Daiweiluo finished his earnest explanation to Xisi and turned his gaze back.

Without further words, Daiweiluo raised the Explosive Gun, pressing its muzzle—comparable to the noble's head—against the opponent's forehead.

"Remember."

"This is a verdict from the Judgment Court!"