With his iron hand at full power, Horatio, in a fit of rage, gritted his teeth and hurled the sea spear, which had once again initiated emergency cooling on its own.
Whoosh!
The short spear tore through the air, emitting a terrifying whistling sound, leaving the nearby Guards stunned.
How was this a spear throw? This was clearly a human-shaped ballista!
"Awooooh! Ah!"
The spear pierced through the traitor's right shoulder, and the immense force carried his entire body forward, pinning him directly against the bulkhead.
"Chain him and this intruder together and hang them on the execution rack! Let them truly savor this pain until they bleed dry and die!"
Horatio pointed his short sword at the severely wounded traitor Voidsmen-at-Arms Officer and the indentured criminal he had pinned to the wall with the sea spear, issuing the Imperial Navy's cruel, common order for dealing with traitors to the nearby Voidsmen-at-Arms.
"Yes, Captain!" Two Sailors snapped back to attention and saluted their Captain solemnly.
They spat on the traitors, violently dragging them to the execution rack, lowering the two racks with withered bones hanging from them using pulleys, unlocking the rusted handcuffs and leg irons, chaining the two traitors separately, and then pulling the pulleys to hoist them into mid-air.
"Ah! Ah!"
Both individuals were still clinging to life and, for some reason, seemed quite energetic, their heart-wrenching screams echoing like a loudspeaker across the gun deck.
These horrifying screams sapped all fighting spirit from the enemies; some indentured laborers who had sided with the intruders against the Imperial Navy dropped their weapons, intending to surrender.
Others, who swore not to surrender, were shot dead by the Voidsmen-at-Arms.
"Captain, how should we deal with these who surrendered?" the Armed Officer asked.
Horatio gazed sternly at the kneeling, pleading surrendering Soldiers, uttering only one cold sentence:
"Even the smallest betrayal cannot be overlooked. The Imperial Navy will not tolerate any traitors alive in this world."
The invading enemies had been completely annihilated. Horatio reported the great victory of the anti-boarding battle to the Armed Captain and received the Captain's approved disciplinary order.
He then dismissed the conscripted Sailors, sending them back to their combat stations. He had conscripted them for too long; the Macro cannon's rate of fire could not be allowed to decrease further.
Buzz! —
The Dark Son vision suddenly popped up.
'Confirmed: Dark Son'
'Status: Activated'
'Energy: 6 / 7'
'Psychic Power: 5 / 7'
'Corruption: 3 / 7'
'Soulfire: 80 / 80'
A mass of black and gold light began to surge upwards from the pool at the bottom of the skill tree.
'Soulfire: 0 / 160'
Finally, this mass of black and gold light merged into the Hand of Command.
In an instant, four entirely new branch trees immediately unfolded. Horatio could see their branching outlines and background colors, but not the specific content.
And these four background colors…
[Why are they the colors of the Four Chaos Gods…?] Horatio's heart skipped a beat.
He double-checked, certain he hadn't seen wrong; they were red, green, blue, and purple.
[Could it really be corrupted?] He found it inconceivable.
[The corruption isn't even maxed out… What's going on?]
He suppressed a breath and continued to look, not letting panic show on his face.
The black and gold patterns continued to surge, merging into the red branch tree and lighting up the first skill.
'Activated: Crimson Disaster Branch Line'
'Activated: War Horn (Basic)'
'Automatic Passive Effect: All units in the Hand of Command sequence within 88 meters of the bionic limb holder gain +8 Morale, +8 Endurance, +8 Melee Attack'
'Active Activation Effect: Consumes 2 Energy, enemies within 88 meters are more inclined to engage in melee combat with you rather than shooting; units in the Hand of Command sequence undergo a morale regrouping for 30 minutes, temporarily removing negative psychological emotions.'
[Morale regrouping? And what do these +8s mean?]
Horatio switched to the Hand of Command's bird's-eye view, and quantified values appeared on the unit cards.
However, this value was more for his convenience in evaluating the overall level of this force, a quantification of parameters based on his understanding of Warhammer world combat power from his transmigrator's mind, allowing him to quickly assess and make correct and reasonable deployments in combat.
If a single Soldier was separated from a squad, their individual attributes could also be seen.
Horatio suddenly understood and immediately verified.
He used his mind to manipulate the unit cards in his mind to expand, and immediately, the attributes of one of his personal Guards appeared.
'Elite Imperial Navy Breakers Boarding Team'
'Number: 12 / 12'
'Shooting Accuracy: 86'
'Melee Attack: 55'
'Melee Defense: 61'
'Armor: 47'
'Morale: 65'
'Endurance: 54'
'Evasion: 23'
In other words, he no longer needed to spend time understanding his Soldiers as if checking household registrations; he could instantly grasp their training level and overall quality.
[Good stuff.]
"Captain? Captain!" The Armed Officer's call pulled Horatio out of the Hand of Command's bird's-eye view.
The Voidsmen-at-Arms Officer handed him the bicorne hat that had fallen during the previous battle.
He brushed off the dust, solemnly put it on, took a deep breath, straightened his chest again, and assumed a stern and authoritative demeanor.
"Begin," he said coldly and solemnly.
The drummers beat a hurried rhythm, and the Voidsmen-at-Arms immediately began to run, forming ranks and maintaining vigilance and discipline.
Under the gaze of the Sailors and loyal indentured laborers.
The surrendering bloodletter servants and indentured laborers who had betrayed the Imperial Navy had their hands tied behind their backs with ropes, and their mouths were stuffed with woven rope gags.
Horatio, as the responsible Captain, led the way, his back straight, solemnly holding his sabre upright in front of him.
Behind him, the Armed Officer faced the first war criminal, pressing the tip of his sword against the criminal's abdomen, following the beat of the drums.
At the very back, the Voidsmen-at-Arms pressed bayonets against the war criminals' backs. To the rhythm of the drums, Horatio and the Voidsmen-at-Arms marched, escorting all these war criminals onto the second-level platform without railings.
This deck without railings was feared and called the 'Punishment Deck' by the Sailors. All executions in this gun fortress were carried out here, and thus it was equipped with a sufficient number of execution devices.
"Look, the show's beginning."
"If only we had something to chew on."
Some Sailors, who had made mistakes during wartime and were chained to the ground, watched with relish the execution show about to begin.
The Armed Officer had already arranged for the Sailors to loop the swaying nooses onto the steel poles suspended in mid-air.
The war criminals stood trembling in a line, each with a Voidsmen-at-Arms behind him pressing a gleaming bayonet against his back, while another Sailor placed the noose around his neck.
Many of the condemned urinated, the warm wetness soaking their pant legs and running down their legs onto the ground.
They howled muffledly, some twisting and struggling, but all were firmly controlled by the Sailors behind them; even wishing to jump off and fall to their deaths was a luxury.
Horatio raised his hand as a signal, and the drummers stopped their rhythm.
"According to Imperial Navy Navigation Law, any unauthorized armed intruder onto an Imperial Navy vessel, rebel, mutineer, or one who disobeys orders in wartime. The God-Emperor will not forgive these sins; they shall be subjected to the most disgraceful death."
Horatio declared in a booming voice, "And those who made courageous decisions in battle, I will truthfully report your choices to the Captain. The loyal shall receive their rightful rewards!"
"Yeah! Long live Captain! Hang the traitors!"
"Disgrace! Degeneracy! Die, traitors!"
"Hmph!"
The indentured laborers who chose to help the Imperial Navy fight the invaders cheered, indignantly cursing and insulting the traitors about to be executed, freely venting their inner resentment and dissatisfaction.
Horatio raised his sabre, the Armed Officer blew his brass whistle, and the drummers began to beat their drums.
The sturdy hemp ropes were all securely fastened.
Hanging is divided into drop hanging and suspension hanging. The former involves pushing a person from a height, instantly breaking their neck.
But the Imperial Navy only uses the suspension method within ships; the condemned, after being hanged, remain suspended for a period to warn enemies and disloyal crew members.
The moment Horatio swung his command sword downwards.
"Pull! Heave-ho! Hey!" The Sailors behind shouted in rhythm, pulling the ropes with force.
This was the most painful type of hanging; there was no instant release from a broken neck during a drop. All the condemned could clearly feel the rope tightening around their necks, slowly constricting, gradually pulling their throats, suspending them in mid-air, like strings of cured meat.
The sensation of suffocation distorted the faces of the condemned, making them flush red and purple.
They thrashed their bodies back and forth like fish wagging their tails, clearly feeling death approaching bit by bit.
Little did they know that the more they twisted, the more painfully they would die. But this was what everyone wanted, the just deserts for traitors.
Then the violent swaying gradually turned into involuntary twitching and spasms. Horatio could hear the condemned's throats emit painful gasps, and those who had held back from urinating now did so.
After one or two minutes, most of them moved less and less, their thrashing toes drooping. Only a very few still showed some movement.
But even if they didn't die from mechanical asphyxiation, their brains would be brain-dead within minutes due to the noose cutting off blood supply.
Until the last person stopped moving, a long string of traitors, their faces purple to black, hung in mid-air like neat rows of cured meat, swaying slightly with the wind.
Their bodies would later be thrown into the Macro cannon barrels and fired back at the enemy ship, to prevent possible Chaos corruption.
Horatio sheathed his sword back into its ornate scabbard, and the drummer stopped beating the drum at that moment.
The brief and swift execution concluded, because the battle was not yet over, and the Imperial Navy had no time to imprison these doomed individuals. The sooner the execution was carried out, the safer it was, saving a lot of potential trouble later.
Bang, bang, bang!
Three extremely loud cannon shots came from afar.
Horatio and the crew looked out through the observation portholes, and surging flames erupted from the crimson hull of the Blood Angels' Avenging Blade.
Three colossal bombardment cannons had opened fire, their super-heavy projectiles, even more exaggerated than the Mars IV Macro cannon, whistled straight, slamming into the hull of the Murder-class Cruiser, creating massive gaps as if from a torpedo explosion.
"Yeah!" Seeing such a powerful and magnificent strike, the crew cheered excitedly.
Witnessing the largest and longest flagship battlecruiser, a rarity even for Space Marine Chapters, enter the fray was a rare event for most Sailors in their lifetime, and they couldn't help but be excited.
It's the beginning of the month, please support, dear readers! This week is a three-update pilot week; I will update three chapters daily this week to see the reading retention effect.