Death on Dominica Minor

Dominica Minor上的死亡

Datacore recordings retrieved from the sundered command tower of the lance cruiser Pride of Hemicron, which had been cut free of her hull by enemy fire and left adrift for nineteen years before its eventual recovery, logged the attack on Dominica Minor as occurring at 4392007.M31. With typical brutal efficiency, the warfleet of the Death Guard Legion appeared at the outer system's primary warp transit nexus, first blunting the waiting minefields with fire ships —converted mining barges no doubt taken from the dead worlds they had visited— and then simply ploughing through the remainder of the minefields firing as they went, undeterred as the atomantic ordnance and servitor guided-missile clusters exploded against their pale hulls. The attacking force comprised perhaps a half of the recorded Death Guard Legion fleet, now reinforced with warships taken as prizes from their murdered brethren at Isstvan, and was arrayed in four columns of attack. Each was led by a heavy Capital class warship made famous in the Great Crusade, now turned against the Imperium they had helped create: the Reaper's Scythe, the Spectre of Death, the Mia Donna Mori, and the newly re-named and re-built Dread 一 formerly the battle barge Winter's Oath of the Iron Hands Legion. Of the dark roll of the Death Guard's heaviest vessels, only the Terminus Est was absent, its location and purpose at this time unknown. Against this mighty force, the defenders of Dominica Minor were a poor match indeed, fielding half of their enemy's number of line warships, with only an aging Goliath class battleship, the Spear of Umbriel, long relegated to second line duties, to match the Death Guard's heavy Capital class ships. Furthermore, the fears of the Guildmasters had pulled their fleet in to defend their capital world of Dominica Prime and clustered it around their orbital fortifications, robbing them of the ability to manoeuvre and abandoning the outer worlds and precious void-refinery complexes of the system to their fate. But as these sacrificial victims bleated vox-signals of frantic surrender, they were ignored and bypassed, and the Death Guard fleet, its engines burning at battle speed, came on for Dominica Prime.

從光矛巡洋艦“赫米克羅恩之傲”號被切斷的指揮塔（敵軍的炮火將其從船體上切下，在被最終回收之前，其在虛空中漂浮了十九年）中索回的數(shù)據(jù)核心記錄表明：對于Dominica Minor的進攻發(fā)生于4392007.M31。死亡守衛(wèi)軍團戰(zhàn)爭艦隊以其典型的致命效率出現(xiàn)在了星系外環(huán)的主要亞空間傳送樞紐處，他們首先用縱火船削弱了等待中的雷區(qū)——這些由采礦貨船改造而成飛船無疑是來自他們曾造訪過的死亡世界，之后則徑直地穿過剩余的雷區(qū)，并在行進的同時開火；自動火炮和機仆控制的集束導彈炸開在他們蒼白的船體上，這這些飛船對此不屑一顧。組成進攻部隊的或許是死亡守衛(wèi)軍團艦隊中有記錄戰(zhàn)艦一半，而且現(xiàn)在還用那些在伊斯特萬星系作為戰(zhàn)利品奪取自他們被殺的兄弟手中的戰(zhàn)艦來進行了增強，并被排列為了四支進攻縱隊。每支縱隊都由一艘大遠征期間的著名重型主力級戰(zhàn)艦來領導，現(xiàn)在它們都轉(zhuǎn)而來攻擊自己協(xié)助創(chuàng)建的帝國：收割者之鐮號、死亡幽靈號、吾之死亡女士號以及最近被重建和重命名的恐懼號——她之前是鋼鐵之手軍團的戰(zhàn)列母艦“冬日誓言”號。在死亡守衛(wèi)最重型戰(zhàn)艦的黑暗名單中，只有終焉號缺席，我們不知道她當時的位置和目的。面對敵軍強大的力量，Dominica Minor守軍確實難以匹敵，他們派出的戰(zhàn)艦數(shù)量僅有敵軍的一半，唯一能夠匹敵對方重型主力艦的飛船只有一艘古老的哥利亞級戰(zhàn)列艦“本影之矛”號，而且是在很久之前就被降級來執(zhí)行二線任務。另外，恐懼令行會總管們聚攏起艦隊來保衛(wèi)首府世界Dominica Prime，并將之聚集在自己的軌道要塞工事周圍；他們剝奪了艦隊的機動性，并且放棄了外環(huán)諸世界和星系中寶貴的虛空精煉綜合體，任其自生自滅。但當這些被犧牲的受害者們用音頻通訊系統(tǒng)發(fā)出投降信號時，死亡守衛(wèi)艦隊被忽視和繞過了它們，艦船們引擎燃燒加力，達到戰(zhàn)斗速度，撲向了Dominica Prime。

The battle which followed was brief and catastrophic, with the attacking fleet holding its fire under the desperate barrages of the defenders until almost within boarding range, the void shields of the Death Guard ships blazing like dying suns and their armoured prows cracking and splining under torpedo strikes and blasts of annihilating energy. When at last the four columns of attack spread open like a clawed hand to grasp Dominica Prime, as one the Death Guard fleet turned broadside and let their guns speak at last, and the defenders were swept aside in fiery ruin. Mutilated and blinded, the Spear of Umbriel met her end as the Death Guard Legion assault ship, The Fourth Horseman, mercilessly rammed her amidships from above and broke her back. With her died any hope of resistance. Of the handful of Loyalist warships that endured the firestorm, none survived the desperate hour that followed as hunter-killer packs of destroyers tracked down any that tried to escape, leaving Dominica Prime to the Death Guard Legion, and the world would now pay the price.

隨后的戰(zhàn)斗是短暫且災難性的。頂著守軍絕望的炮擊轟炸，進攻艦隊一炮未發(fā)，直到幾乎進入了跳幫距離內(nèi)。死亡守衛(wèi)艦船的虛空盾如同瀕死的太陽那般燃燒閃爍著，裝甲船頭在魚雷的進攻和毀滅性能量的爆炸沖擊下裂開和彎曲。當四支縱隊如同將要握住Dominica Prime的利爪巨手（的四根手指）那樣分散開時，死亡守衛(wèi)艦隊向著守軍亮出自己的側(cè)舷，艦炮也最終開火，將防御艦隊化為熊熊燃燒的殘骸。本影之矛號嚴重受損且被致盲，當死亡守衛(wèi)軍團的突擊艦“第四騎士”號從上方（用船頭撞角）撞進她的中部船體并折斷了她的船脊時，這艘飛船也就被摧毀了。與之一并死去的還有防御者們?nèi)康牡挚瓜Ｍ?。有少?shù)幾艘忠誠派戰(zhàn)艦承受住了火焰風暴（般的炮擊），但她們在之后的絕望戰(zhàn)斗中無一生還——驅(qū)逐艦組成的獵殺群追蹤著所有試圖逃跑的飛船。

Planetfall

行星登陸

The orbital assault came in inexorable and measured steps, the Caestus Rams and Thunderhawks of the Death Guard descending amid the meteoric fires of the falling ships that had perished in Dominica Prime's defence. This first wave selected its targets and deployed its strike forces to ruthlessly destroy them; communications towers, defence batteries, auspex arrays and militia bastions—all were systematically neutralised to pave the way for the next wave. Unhurried, like the reaper setting out upon a field of wheat, came the heavy assault landers and Stormbirds, dropping down into the centres of the great caldera-cities of Dominica Prime formed from the craters of vast open-cast mines that pitted the planets surface. Whole districts of habitation blocks were crushed beneath the landers and panic gripped the cities even before the dull-armoured forms of the Legionaries marched out in horrifically rhythmic unison, the sound of the ceramite-shod footfalls of thirty thousand Space Marines echoing like a hammer beating out the world's doom. With them roared the thunder of mighty engines as squadrons of Predator and Typhon tanks poured forth from the gaping maws of the assault ships and simply tore a path through the habitation blocks, sending up great black clouds of choking dust as the roughly built prefabricated buildings closed like rotten petals around them.

軌道進攻在無情且有步驟地進行著。那些為保護Dominica Prime而被摧毀的飛船墜落下來，形成流星般的火團；死亡守衛(wèi)的拳套突擊艇和雷鷹炮艇就是這些火焰中降臨到了星球上。第一批登陸艇選中了自己的目標，并部署了進攻部隊來將之摧毀；通訊塔樓、防御炮臺、鳥卜陣列和民兵營房——所有目標都被系統(tǒng)性抹除，來為下一階段進攻鋪平道路。而就像割麥者走向著麥田那樣，重型突擊登陸艇和風暴鳥炮艇從容地來到此地，降落到了Dominica Prime巨大礦坑城市們的中央——那些讓星球表面變得坑坑洼洼的巨大露天礦井組成了這些城市。登陸艇碾碎了自己身下的（數(shù)個）完整居民區(qū)，哪怕在全副武裝的軍團戰(zhàn)士們以可怕的整齊節(jié)奏列隊走出之前，恐慌情緒便籠罩了城市；三萬名星際戰(zhàn)士陶鋼戰(zhàn)靴的踏步聲回蕩在城市，其聲響宛如一柄重錘在敲奏出這個世界的毀滅。伴隨著它們的還有強大引擎的轟鳴聲——掠食者戰(zhàn)斗坦克和提豐坦克組成的中隊從突擊艦張開的巨口中涌出，并在居民區(qū)中撕開了一條通路，而當粗糙建造的預制建筑在它們周邊如同腐爛的花瓣一樣合攏關閉時，形成了由令人窒息的灰塵所組成的巨大黑色云團。

The workers militia that struggled to rally against the invaders outnumbered their foes twenty and thirty to one in places, but it did not matter. Their autocarbines and scatter-locks were all but useless against Legiones Astartes power armour, and their few heavy weapons —field mortars and crew-served autocannon for the main part— were woefully inadequate and soon silenced. On came Mortarion's Legion, patient and inexorable, dealing death at every turn; frail human bodies were torn?apart by bolter shells, buildings undermined with cannon fire or simply torn down by the hulking clawed hands of the Legion's Dreadnoughts. Faced with such terrible and controlled power, the militia swiftly broke and ran, and in the killing of the rout, the Death Guard made no distinction between combatant and civilian. As the force spread out, Whirlwind batteries blanketed the workers slums with aspyx-gas warheads, while the horror of burning phosphex was unleashed into breached bunkers and poured through deep cellars sought as final, desperate refuges as the invasion became a massacre.

工人們組成的民兵部隊奮力集結(jié)起來抵抗入侵者，在某些地方，他們的數(shù)量是敵人的二三十倍，但這無濟于事。他們的自動卡賓槍和分散封鎖（戰(zhàn)術）在星際戰(zhàn)士的動力甲面前毫無作用，他們的少數(shù)重武器——主要是野戰(zhàn)迫擊炮和組員操縱的自動炮也可悲得不足，并且很快就陷入沉寂。莫塔里安的軍團耐心而冷酷地前進著，他們到處殺戮著敵人；凡人脆弱的軀體被爆矢彈撕碎，建筑物要么炮火摧毀，要么就是被軍團無畏機甲巨大的利爪拆倒。在如此恐怖且精心安排的力量面前，民兵們很快便崩潰奔逃；而死亡守衛(wèi)毫不區(qū)分平民和戰(zhàn)斗人員，將之作為潰兵一并屠殺。隨著部隊分散開來，入侵行動也演變?yōu)橐粓龃笸罋ⅲ盒L（坦克的）炮塔用神經(jīng)毒氣炸彈覆蓋式轟炸了工人們居住的棚戶區(qū)，同時還釋放出熊熊燃燒的恐怖磷火來攻破碉堡，火焰灌滿了被用作最后的絕望避難所的深層地下室。

Like a blackening stain visible from orbit, the Death Guard radiated out from their landing zones and the crater cities fell around them. Soon only two knots of serious resistance remained, the first at Dominica Prime's largest starport, where a rag-tag company of industrial servitors and colossal mining engines had been turned into makeshift war machines to bolster the last stand of the planetary defence militia, and the second at sub-surface compound, where a score of Salamanders Legion Space Marines had suddenly appeared to hold the line. The Salamanders were recent arrivals, refugees from the orbital battle around Isstvan, their crippled strike ship had made the journey to Dominica Minor against the odds but could travel no further, and they were trapped there, doomed it seemed to replay the fate that had befallen so many of their brothers before them.

死亡守衛(wèi)們從登陸區(qū)呈輻射狀向外前進，礦坑城市在他們周邊倒下，這一切就像是可以從軌道上看見的發(fā)黑污點。不久后便只剩下兩個仍在頑強抵抗的節(jié)點，第一個位于Dominica Prime最大的星港，一支由工業(yè)機仆和巨大的采礦引擎所改造成的臨時戰(zhàn)爭機器所組成的衣衫襤褸的部隊被用于支援星球防御民兵們的最后陣地；第二個位于地下復合體處，數(shù)十名火蜥蜴軍團星際戰(zhàn)士突然出現(xiàn)在此地，控制住了防線?；痱狎媸窃诮诓诺诌_這個世界，他們是從伊斯特萬世界周邊的軌道戰(zhàn)斗在逃出生天，冒著極大的風險駕駛著受損嚴重的打擊艦航行到了Dominica Minor，之后便再也無法前進了。火蜥蜴?zhèn)儽焕г诹舜说?，那已?jīng)降臨于他們諸多兄弟們的命運似乎注定要在這些戰(zhàn)士們身上重演。

The Hammer

重錘

Against the starport, a new element was brought to battle. The great mining engines —each massing more than a scout Titan and staunchly armoured一 had resisted the firepower of the Death Guard's heavy support squads, and alongside suicidal attacks by the overridden industrial servitors, actually managed first to stand off and then drive back the Legion's attack. Rather than waste more Legionaries in an overwhelming charge, or wait until massed artillery support could be wielded to engage the huge machines, a new heavy lander was summoned from orbit, bearing not the heraldry of the Death Guard, but the crimson blaze and crossed black warhammers of House Makabius.

一些新的部隊被引入了星港處的戰(zhàn)斗。巨大的采礦引擎——它們的體積比偵察泰坦還要龐大，而且擁有堅固的裝甲——抵抗住了死亡守衛(wèi)重武器支援小隊們的火力，搭配著被超持控制的工業(yè)機仆們的自殺進攻，守軍實際上首先成功頂住并在之后擊退了死亡守衛(wèi)軍團的進攻。但死亡守衛(wèi)并未浪費更多的軍團戰(zhàn)士去進行壓倒性沖鋒，也并未等待能夠?qū)Ω哆@些巨大機器的大規(guī)模炮兵支援。一艘新的重型登陸艇從軌道上降落，但船身上并沒有死亡守衛(wèi)的紋章，而是帶著馬卡比烏斯家族的深紅色火焰和黑色交叉戰(zhàn)錘（的家徽）。

From the moment the heavy blast doors of the assault lander crashed down, the doom of the starport was sealed. Thirty Knights in the proud quartered sable-and-shadow of the House of Makabius, their armoured forms each looming twice the height of a Land Raider and more, strode forth. They moved with a speed and purpose the hulking mining engines and brute servitors that opposed them could never hope to match. Mortar shells landed in their midst and autocannon fire rattled from their armoured plates, but they paid it no heed, and war-horns blasting out, they formed with clockwork precision into a series of interlocking echelons and advanced, all the time gaining speed.

從突擊登陸艇的防爆門轟然打開的那一刻，星港的毀滅便注定了。從中走出的是三十臺噴涂著馬卡比烏斯家族漆黑暗影配色的騎士，他們的機體全副武裝，其高度是一輛蘭德掠奪者的兩倍，甚至更高。這些機甲大步奔來，他們的移動速度和目的是那些笨重的采礦引擎和粗陋的機仆們永遠無法企及的。迫擊炮彈落在他們中間，自動炮射出的炮彈也撞擊在它們的裝甲板上，但騎士們毫不理會，他們轟鳴起戰(zhàn)爭號角，如鐘表般精準地組成了一系列緊密連接的梯隊并前進著，速度也在不斷提高。

Entering range, they opened fire, the battle cannon of their Knights Paladin picking out the lumbering servitors and blasting them to bloody shreds of flesh and metal. Breaking out to the flanks, the swifter Knights Castigator and Acheron hunted the remaining militia strongpoints and gun pits, raking them with their mega-bolters and obliterating them in swathes of incendiary flame. Against the colossal mining engines themselves, the core echelons of Knights Errant struck, with a cadre of Cerastus Lancers forming the spearpoint of the attack. Rather than engage the lumbering hulks,which might have easily crushed even such as they, the Knights broke around them like the tide against a rocky shore, using their superior speed and mobility to evade the roaring drills and saw-toothed maws of the mining engines. As close in as they were, not even the dense armour of the colossal machines could deny the searing power of the Knights Errant's thermal cannon, nor the deft savagery of their chainblades, while the blinding flashes of the Lancer's strikes blew out their control mechanisms and blasted apart?vital couplings. Soon the gigantic engines were reeling and crashing like dying beasts, smoke belching from a dozen rents in their scorched plating. All that remained for the last defenders of the starport was a terrified rout, which ended with the waiting Death Guard.

在進入射程后，騎士們開火射擊；圣騎士們的戰(zhàn)斗火炮挑選出笨拙的機仆們，把他們炸成血肉與金屬的血腥碎片。速度更快的懲戒者騎士和冥河騎士向側(cè)翼突圍，進攻剩余的民兵據(jù)點和炮位。騎士們并未與笨重的巨型機器交戰(zhàn)（哪怕是它們，這樣做也會被輕易撞碎），它們?nèi)缤彼采蠋r石那樣在采礦機器周圍散開，依靠自己卓越的速度和機動性來避開敵人咆哮的鉆頭和帶著鋸齒的巨口。當足夠接近時，哪怕這些巨大機器的質(zhì)密裝甲也抵擋不了游俠騎士熱能火炮的灼熱威力與它們靈活殘忍的鏈鋸刃；槍騎士電能長槍那帶著令人目盲的閃光的突刺進攻摧毀了采礦機器的控制裝置，炸掉了其重要的聯(lián)軸器。很快，巨大的機器就像垂死的野獸一樣搖搖欲墜，轟隆轟隆，燒焦的機體上有十幾個冒出濃煙的裂口。留給星港守軍們的只有一場可怕的潰敗，其最終命運是被等待中的死亡守衛(wèi)們屠殺殆盡。

The Scythe

鐮刀

At the adamantium gate of the sub-surface Guild Hall, against all odds the line still held. The few Salamanders who stood fast fought on like devils, unyielding, driven on beyond even the superhuman endurance of the Legiones Astartes by the desire for vengeance and the power of raw hate. With them stood the last of the Guildmasters' finely equipped elite bodyguards, knowing that they had nowhere else to run, even as the Guildmasters themselves cowered in the bunkers beneath them, save a few who had chosen to stand and die with their men. Only when reports that Space Marines had been sighted among the defenders of the gate filtered through to the Traitors'?command, did Mortarion himself Primarch of the Death Guard, deign to join the battle in person. The first the beleaguered Salamanders knew of it was when the Traitors' guns fell suddenly and eerily silent in order to await their masters arrival.

在地下行會大廳的精金大門前，盡管困難重重，但守軍依舊堅守著防線。陣地中的少數(shù)火蜥蜴軍團戰(zhàn)士們?nèi)缤Ч戆泐B強地戰(zhàn)斗著，復仇欲望和原始仇恨的力量驅(qū)使著他們超越了阿斯塔特軍團戰(zhàn)士那超人的忍耐力。和他們一同戰(zhàn)斗的是行會總管們最后一批裝備精良的精銳護衛(wèi)，他們知道自己無處可逃，而且除了少數(shù)選擇和自己的下屬們共同堅守并戰(zhàn)死的人外，哪怕（其余的）行會總管們也就蜷縮在他們腳下的碉堡中。當關于在大門守軍中目擊到星際戰(zhàn)士的報告?zhèn)鞯脚衍娭笓]部時，死亡守衛(wèi)原體莫塔里安本人親自屈尊前去參戰(zhàn)。而被圍困的火蜥蜴?zhèn)冏畛跻庾R到這一情況，是在叛軍們突然停止射擊，陷入可怕的寂靜中時——這是為了等待他們主人的到來。

Like a circling carrion crow in the smoke- stained sky, the Primarch's banered and battle-scarred Stormbird descended steeply, braking sharply at the last, its retros flaring bright as it disgorged its deadly cargo; the master of the XIVth Legion accompanied by his silent Deathshroud. At once was battle mercilessly re-joined, as the disbelieving Loyalists unleashed everything they had left at the spectre of the grave come for them, and the Death Guard surged forward from their positions in an all-out attack.

如同在煙霧彌漫的空中盤旋著的食腐烏鴉那般，一架帶著原體旗幟（標志）戰(zhàn)痕累累的風暴鳥陡然降落；炮艇在最后階段剎住車，制動火箭噴出明亮的尾焰，同時致命的乘客們——第十四軍團之主也在他一言不發(fā)的死亡壽衣（衛(wèi)隊）的陪同下走出船艙。雙方立刻再次進入戰(zhàn)斗，當莫塔里安如墓穴中的幽靈般沖向忠誠派時，后者釋放出自己留在手中的所有武器向其進攻，同時死亡守衛(wèi)們也沖出陣地，發(fā)起全面進攻。

Though one of his Deathshroud fell never to rise again and a score of his Legionaries were cut down mid-stride, Mortarion came on through the storm of shellfire and las bolts, as unstoppable and inviolate as death itself his tattered cloak streaming behind him and his scythe held high. He crashed into the defence line like a thunderbolt, sending the first two Salamanders he reached to their deaths with ancient Noctumian curses on their lips, bisected in a sweep of his great, reaping blade. The third caught him with a melta blast which set the Primarch's armour bubbling and running like molten wax, but he did no more than stagger soundlessly for a moment, before splitting the valiant Loyalist open with a single downward sweep of his scythe. Then fell a fourth, a fifth and a sixth. By then his Death Guard had smashed into the defence lines with him, and crashed over the last of the Guildmasters'?elite like an obliterating wave, so that the crush of splintered bone and the racking of reloading bolters was all that could be heard. Then came a mighty, amplified roar like that of a monster of ancient myth, and from a pile of broken rubble rose up a huge form, cast in deep emerald armour chased with ruddy gold. It was Shar'rac Grenn, once Consul-Centurion of the Salamanders 3rd Company, bound to serve for the last four decades within the deathless shell of a Contemptor Dreadnought, and for all that he knew, the last of his kind.

盡管有一名死亡壽衣和二十名軍團戰(zhàn)士在沖鋒過程中被擊殺，但莫塔里安頂著炮火和激光矢彈沖上前去，就像死亡本尊一樣不可阻擋也不可侵犯，他破舊的斗篷在身后飄動，手中的鐮刀高高舉起。原體如同雷霆般沖入敵軍陣線，用巨大的鐮刃將自己首先遇到的兩名火蜥蜴戰(zhàn)士斬為兩截，并用古老的夜曲星詛咒斥罵著他們。第三名火蜥蜴用熱熔槍向他射擊，使得原體動力甲（的表面）起泡并如同融化的熱蠟那樣流淌下來，但莫塔里安只是無聲地踉蹌了一下，之后便將鐮刀向下一揮，劈開了這名英勇的忠誠派戰(zhàn)士。第四名、第五名和第六名火蜥蜴戰(zhàn)士之后也倒在了他的刀鋒下。此刻，死亡守衛(wèi)們也已經(jīng)和他一并沖進了防線，他們?nèi)缫还蓺缧缘某彼菢幼蚕蛄诵袝鞴軅兊淖詈笠慌J護衛(wèi)，人們在戰(zhàn)場上只能聽到骨骼被撞碎的破裂聲和重新裝填爆彈槍的咔噠聲。接著一陣被放大的洪亮怒吼傳來——那聲音宛如古代神話中怪獸的咆哮，一個穿著深綠色甲胄、鏤刻著紅金色裝飾的巨大身形從破碎的瓦礫中站起身來。他是沙爾拉克 格倫，火蜥蜴第三連隊曾經(jīng)的百夫長；在過去的四十年中，他一直在蔑視者無畏機甲的不死軀殼中服役，而且據(jù)他所知，自己是同類中的最后一人。

A tongue of flame spitting from his whirring assault cannon, Grenn blasted a path to his arch-foe, slayer of his brothers, and betrayer of his Emperor. Mortarion, as still and impassive as lifeless stone, waited for his enemy to come on. The Dreadnought charged, bellowing his war cry, cannon blazing, power claw drawn back to strike. Mortarion spun, stillness to blurring speed quicker than a mortal eye could follow, the great scythe sweeping out in its lethal arc. The blade struck, ceramite and adamantium split, and the Dreadnought bellowed in shock as his severed arm fell, the assault cannon still firing wildly as it clattered across the rubble. Mortarion turned again for another strike but the Dreadnought turned with him, bathing the gaunt Primarch in roaring fire from the heavy flamer concealed in his power claw. Mortarion's shoulder slammed into his foe's sarcophagus, knocking the mighty machine reeling, in return its crackling power claw pitched the Primarch a blow that would have sundered a battle tank, but the Reaper did not fall. The great scythe lashed out, again and again, and with each cut Grenn howled in bitter rage and frustration as the Contemptor Dreadnought's armoured frame was taken slowly apart. At last crippled and burning, the mighty Shar'rac Grenn fell, and Monarion’s scythe plunged like a raptors beak at its prey to slay the flesh within the machine. It was over, Dominica Minor had fallen two-point-seven-five sidereal hours after the attack had begun—less than three hours was all it had taken to murder a world.

嗡嗡作響的突擊炮噴出一條火舌，格倫炸出了一條沖向大敵的通路——他要向那屠殺自己兄弟且背叛帝皇之人發(fā)起進攻。莫塔里安則仍舊如同無生命的磐石那樣鎮(zhèn)靜冷漠，他等待著敵人的到來。無畏機甲怒呼著戰(zhàn)吼發(fā)起沖鋒，自動炮不停射擊，動力爪也后縮蓄力，準備進攻。莫塔里安也行動起來，從靜止（瞬間）進入凡人雙目捕捉不到的快速狀態(tài)，巨大的鐮刀揮出一條致命弧線。刀鋒劈開了陶鋼和精金，無畏機甲發(fā)出震驚的吼聲——當他被斬斷的手臂落下，掉落在瓦礫堆中時，突擊炮仍在瘋狂射擊。莫塔利安再次轉(zhuǎn)身準備進攻，但無畏機甲也隨著他轉(zhuǎn)過身來，隱藏在無畏動力爪內(nèi)的重型火焰噴射器噴出烈焰，直擊那位面容憔悴的原體。莫塔利安則用肩膀撞在敵人的石棺上，把強大的機器撞得近乎跌倒；作為還擊，無畏機甲用閃爍著噼啪作響分解力場的動力爪給了原體一記重擊，這一擊能將戰(zhàn)斗坦克砸碎，但收割者莫塔里安并未倒下。巨大的鐮刀反復揮舞，每一擊都在慢慢撕碎蔑視者無畏機甲的裝甲框架，也都令格倫發(fā)出憤怒且沮喪的咆哮。最終，無畏機甲嚴重受損并熊熊燃燒起來，強大的沙爾拉克 格倫倒下了，莫塔里安的鐮刀像猛禽的喙那樣刺向它的獵物，殺死星際戰(zhàn)士藏在機器里的肉體。一切都結(jié)束了，Dominica Minor在進攻開始2.75個恒星時后淪陷了——死亡守衛(wèi)只用不到三個小時便毀滅了一個世界。