Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 931

Chapter 923: The Primarch is also human

The human forces began a massive airborne drop.

Martins led the charge.

His towering stature, his heavy feet thudded to the ground, resembling a small earthquake.

Following him, the Great Nirvana Guard, his honor guard, also descended.

These elite Phoenixes swiftly advanced to defend their Chapter Master.

They were incredibly enthusiastic.

In the past, the Great Nirvana Guards would have dutifully defended their Chapter Master; it was their duty.

However, things were different now.

In the past, it was a reverence bestowed upon one’s most respected battle-brother, a guardian lord and leader.

But ever since Martins’s return after being recruited by General Gu, things had changed.

Martins always emanated a sense of blood kinship. This feeling could be felt even from several star systems away.

In fact, before Martins’s return, at some point, all Phoenixes and Yellow Springs Gulls felt this same feeling.

They panicked for a moment.

While this feeling wasn’t unpleasant…it was incredibly peculiar, something they’d never felt before. For a moment, they thought something drastic had occurred.

Of course, something drastic had indeed occurred—their Chapter Master had ascended to the rank of “father.”

However, it was difficult to say for sure, and it was impossible to share exact information with every Chapter member. Gu Hang simply issued a directive to both Chapters to provide some reassurance.

Later, when Martins returned, at least the warriors of the Phoenix Chapter knew the source of their peculiar feelings.

Upon hearing his battle-brothers’ claims of feeling a throbbing in his blood, Martins remained silent, simply stating that he had participated in a Primaris-like modification experiment conducted by General Gu, which had enhanced the power of his gene-seed.

He knew it wasn’t the case, but he acquiesced to the theory.

His fellow Chapter members, on the other hand, didn’t seem to object.

While genetic affinity and obedience could be overcome, why should they?

Martins was their Chapter Master, a legendary warrior of the Alliance, and a key member of its founding team. Throughout the Chapter’s history, he led the seven surviving Phoenixes, pulling the Chapter from the brink of extinction to its current status as the “Alliance’s Premier Chapter”…

Of those seven Phoenixes, only three remain today. With the exception of Chapter Master Martins, Chief Chaplain Rizzo, and First Captain Carduso, all current Phoenix warriors joined the Chapter after the Alliance’s founding. While many of them boast over a century of combat experience, having been among the first wave of Space Marines trained by the Alliance, they are undoubtedly all Martins’ descendants, nurtured by him.

Obeying Martins, the Chapter Master, is a natural duty.

Now, coupled with an inexplicable genetic affinity, there’s little resistance.

Unless Martins rebels one

day, then the Phoenix warriors might find themselves torn between the Alliance and their Chapter Master.

But none of them have considered this yet.

How could Martins rebel?

…

Martins simply can’t.

This battle was his first since his resurrection.

The Great Nirvana Guards he led were met with a powerful impact the moment they landed.

The Alliance’s airborne landing had undoubtedly been discovered. The Chaos forces reacted swiftly, mobilizing heavy forces to encircle and suppress the human landing site.

This was clearly intended to inflict as much casualties as possible while the human forces were still struggling to gain a foothold, perhaps even annihilating them all in one fell swoop.

The Chaos forces also learned that their surprise attack on the cathedral’s base had failed.

They viewed this failure as insignificant, merely an attempt; if it didn’t work, it didn’t work. On the front lines, their forces were still far superior to the humans, and capturing the cathedral was only a matter of time. The surprise attack merely delayed that time, not the crucial issue.

Destroying the human airborne reinforcements was the more serious task.

While the circling human fighters engaged in aerial combat with Chaos aircraft and Abyssal Fire Dragons, they also managed to divert some energy to intercept the ground-based encirclement of the enemy. However, airstrikes alone could only inflict casualties, not a complete stop.

Still, large numbers of Chaos forces arrived,

including a significant number of Chaos Space Marines.

At this moment, a Chaos warband numbering at least a hundred men had set their sights on Martins and his group, who had just landed.

Their numbers were five to one!

After all, even Martins could only parachute in from a single Dragon Elephant. Cramming twenty Great Nirvana Guards into the Dragon Elephant was a considerable feat; there simply wasn’t enough.

While these Great Nirvana Guards appeared well-equipped, half in Terminator armor and half in finely crafted power armor, they looked impressive, but so what? The Chaos Warriors didn’t believe they could withstand an enemy five times their number.

Not to mention, in addition to their Space Marines, they were also accompanied by a significant number of Chaos Sorcerers and Chaos Cultists.

This initial small group of the False Emperor’s lackeys was merely an appetizer. After capturing these twenty, they would maintain their current strength and continue their search for other prey at the landing site.

They believed that these False Emperor’s lackeys were seeking death by rashly airdropping at such close range.

Given this, they were not shy about accepting their heads, transforming them into the favor of their unholy god.

However, once the battle began, they were all as if they had seen a ghost.

These twenty Phoenix Chapter warriors were incredibly powerful.

Almost every one of them was at least as strong as a company champion.

Despite being significantly outnumbered, they suffered little loss in long-range firefights. The long-range firepower of the Great Nirvana Guards consistently targeted the core units of the Chaos forces. Conversely, Chaos attacks were highly likely to be dodged.

Even those who couldn’t dodge were protected by the ten Terminators, carrying miniature energy shields, helping their comrades absorb the damage.

While the long-range firefights seemed to only suggest the enemy’s superiority, the gap widened when these Phoenix warriors launched a unified, swift charge, plunging into the Chaos formation and engaging in close combat.

Only a handful of the Chaos Warband’s hundred-man squadron could withstand a single blow against a single Nirvana Guard. The rest needed at least three or five men to form a siege, barely holding their own—a struggle that often resulted in casualties. The

most striking individual was the one protected by the twenty Phoenix Elites.

He towered over any Space Marine. This size difference wasn’t simply explained by individual differences; it was more a matter of race.

Initially, he was shielded in the middle, making him invisible. The Chaos side sensed his importance and launched numerous explosives and Chaos spells at his head, but they were all blocked by the Phoenix Terminators.

However, as the melee unfolded and his protection became less secure, many Chaos Warriors, eager to achieve success, set their sights on him, deliberately finding openings to charge forward.

And then… they witnessed true terror.

Under the wielding of his holy sword, no Chaos Space Marine who dared approached could stand a chance.

Regardless of whether they were Thousand-Man Slayers, Ten-Thousand-Fighters, or even veterans of ten thousand years or Chaos Champions, all were slain with a single blow, ending in a myriad of forms.

The climax of the battle fell upon the leader of this Chaos warband.

He was a true Chaos Champion, having personally slain two Great Nirvana Guards in previous battles.

Yet, this couldn’t prevent the collapse of his warband.

He suspected that if two or three Phoenix Elites simultaneously targeted him, even if he didn’t die, he would be entangled, leaving him helpless to watch as the remaining ten or so continued to slaughter their entire force.

To reverse the situation, they had to confront the towering, somewhat intimidating figure, yet they had no choice but to confront him head-on.

Meanwhile, Martins was striding towards the Chapter Champion.

In Martins’s opinion, this man’s strength was roughly at the peak of the Company Champions, just a hair’s breadth away from Chapter Champion status. If he let him continue, perhaps he could kill one or two more of his guards.

He wouldn’t allow that to happen.

The two men advanced towards each other, the Chaos Champion shouting and raising his blade. Under Martins’s pressure, he felt his Chaos Blood boiling, his form in peak form. The next strike would be the pinnacle of his entire life. He even had a vague feeling of a breakthrough, a sudden realization that filled him with a profound sense of well-being.

And then…

“Clang,” “Swish,” and “Uh…”

Three sounds echoed almost instantly.

The first clang was the sound of Martins’s sword colliding with the Chaos Champion’s blade. In a flash, the holy sword precisely grasped the Chaos Blade’s weak side, pressing it down.

A second ‘swish’ was heard as the holy sword, guided by the downward force, not only parried the Chaos Blade’s slash but also sliced deeper, piercing the Chaos Champion’s chest, cleaving through his solid, Warp-enchanted breastplate like tofu.

A third ‘ugh’ was heard as the Chaos Champion’s thorax, neck, and head, separated, fell to the ground. His still-moving lips uttered his final groan.

This was the thirteenth Chaos Space Marine Martins had slain on the battlefield.

He felt no wavering emotion. Even if the man was actually quite capable, for him now, it was a trivial achievement.

In fact, if he could devote even 10% of his energy to the sword in his hand, it would have been a good achievement. He truly didn’t need to focus on the individual enemies before him. A casual swing of his sword and instinctive dodging allowed him to roam freely, slashing down Chaos warriors one after another like targets.

His remaining energy was focused on commanding the battle.

He constantly gathered information from the battlefield, issuing orders one by one to each airborne combat team.

This was the greatest change in his rebirth.

If Martins, as a Chosen Champion, led twenty Great Nirvana Guards, could have slaughtered five times as many enemies, swiftly dispatched an opponent not even at the level of a Chapter Champion, he could never have achieved such ease, much less the ability to fully analyze every bit of battlefield information in his brain, then make the best decisions in a split second.

He could command every company within his mortal army; he could issue specific orders to every squad of thousands of Space Marines.

The rationality of his command, “Machine guns, five meters to the left,” was unquestionable. The information his brain received, the analysis and judgment it made, were at their peak.

This ability to observe details previously unnoticed, to analyze and issue orders with lightning speed, was something his former self could never achieve.

Martins, once a self-proclaimed excellent battle commander, could never reach this level.

Not even from the center, commanding with his whole heart, could do this.

This wasn’t something a ‘human’ could do.

Not even a ‘superhuman’ like a Space Marine could do it.

Unless he had completely detached himself from the concept of ‘human’…

No, I couldn’t think any further.

He was human, of course he was.

Mr. Gu considered himself an ordinary person, the Emperor considered himself an ordinary person… so was I!

Why wouldn’t he?

Martins, ‘born human’, personally fought and annihilated the most important vanguard of the Chaos forces sent to siege the Terran landing site.

Under his command, the human troops that had landed, either defending themselves or rapidly moving, quickly gathered into a battle formation.

Not only did they defeat the enemy encirclement, but under Martins’s command, they also swiftly attacked the main force of the Chaos army!

Under their fierce attack, the Chaos enemies were barely able to fight back!

(End of this chapter)