Chapter Four

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"Sanguinius. It should have been him. He has the vision and the strength to carry us to victory, and the wisdom to rule once victory is won. For all his aloof coolness, he alone has the Emperor's soul in his blood. Each of us carries part of our father within us, whether it is his hunger for battle, his psychic talent or his determination to succeed. Sanguinius holds it all. It should have been his…,"

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There has always been something therapeutic when it comes to fighting. For Sanguinius, it seems that time seems to simply flow behind him like water. The straight simplicity of dealing with a foe, it is something straightforward that does not require a lot of moving parts except you, yourself and the enemy in front of you. It certainly beats any meeting or politics. One can simply be himself at such brief moments like these.

Sanguinius is well-known for his patience. Out of the entirety of his brothers, one might say that he's the most reserved one when it comes into getting into blows. Roubutte Guilliman might have the talent of organization, but Sanguinius is a gifted diplomat, only overtaken by Horus when it comes to skill and talent. He, unlike the majority of his brothers knows how to rein his temper in. Yet nothing pisses Sanguinius off than the worthless spilling of the blood of innocents. He's not as caring as Vulkan and he can be pragmatic enough to know when to spill such blood for a purpose. Emperor only knows he permitted the death sentence of millions during the Siege of Terra when conscripts are used to defend the trenches outside the wall. This one that he is facing right now however is simply wholesale slaughter and that is something that Sanguinius cannot simply abide by without his temper flaring. It takes a lot to put a cinder to his rage, but when it comes, it can be black as Angron's.

"For the Emperor!" roars Sanguinius as he bullets forward to the first trio of Berserkers, his wings carrying him forward quickly, breaking out of the perimeter of defenders surrounding the pub.

The Khornate Berserkers true to their titles of the patron they serve does not retreat or fall back. They instead howl forward charging towards the Great Angel, their chain-axes roaring in anticipation for the bloodletting to come.

If he is in full regalia and armor and the enemy be regular Astartes, Sanguinius might have bowled them over upon impact. With no weapons and armor however and his enemy bursting with the might of what one might call the most warlike of the four chaos gods, Sanguinius hits them with the force of a battering ram sending the three flying all over, their armor rent and dented by the impact force of the Primarch. Immediately he is upon them like a predator would upon its prey. The first one still at the ground gets pummeled unto it as Sanguinius looms upon him and starts stomping on his chest caving in the ceramite and the breastplate of his chest making him howl in agony before lying there incapacitated, his two hearts turned to mush. His wings flap again, pulling Sanguinius to the second one who manages to pull himself up to his knees. Despite his rage and full still of the crazed bloodthirst of Khorne, he swings clumsily with his chain-axe at the Great Angel who catches it in the haft, overpowering the cursed Astartes' might with his own. Blessed by the dark gods or not, they are still no much for a Primarch.

Sanguinius easily pulls his weapon away from him wincing as the daemonic entities living on the weapon bites the palm of his hand. With another hack, Sanguinius bisects the Khornate with his own weapon nearly cutting him halfway through his ceramite armor thanks to his strength. He doesn't get up after that as he crashes down like a brick on the ground.

The last Khornate manages to pull himself up as Sanguinius zeroes in on him. With a roar that would have sent mortal ears ringing, he hefts his double axes and starts swinging wildly at the Primarch. The Great Angel dodges and weaves through his strikes taking a step back or two. While he is doubtful that he would be killed by a single blow of the Fallen Astartes' weapon, it would still hurt a lot to be hit, especially unarmored as he is.

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!" roars the Chaos Space Marine through his vox grill as he charges the Great Angel again. Sanguinius however this time gives no more ground as he stands his feet. He catches the downward strike of both axes by grabbing the armored wrist of the Berserker before squeezing. Ceramite bends and squeaks as he crushes the flesh and bone making the Astartes fall to his knees in agony, the pain of his arms overwhelming his fanaticism to his god. Sanguinius wastes no time grabbing his head and twists it hard with an audible crack. He crashes unto the ground like a sack of potatoes unmoving leaving the Great Angel standing there catching his breathe.

He promptly ignores the awestruck look that the mortals are giving him. Some he even notices have fallen to their knees and faces, worshipping towards his direction. The very sight makes Sanguinius feels uncomfortable as if a pit of vipers is coiling inside his stomach. He has no time for it however, Cultists are still everywhere and not to mention probably other Khornate Berserkers if the purple rifts that he is seeing all over are any indication.

Sanguinius knows he can't do solo on this. Even with his might as a Primarch, it would be counterintuitive for him to scour the City Hub alone. By the time he would be finished, too many would be dead and that can't happen. Despite the chaos, part of him feels somehow naturally at home. Primarchs might be powerful in strength and deed but Primarchs most of all are made to lead.

That is what he would do now.

"You, what is your name?!" barks Sanguinius to the Arbites who is in the middle of kow-towing to him muttering something about a "Saint" through his prayers.

"Arbites Michael Kurt my lord!" snaps the man immediately almost falling down through his side courtesy of the rather large chainsword at his hip.

"Arbites Michael Kurt, by my order; maintain the perimeter around this hub. Grab anyone with a weapon and are able to fight. Keep the cultist off and set a refuge point in this area. Anyone that tries to get past you, you kill, understand?"

"I-I-I,"

"Understand?!" repeats Sanguinius, looking down hard at the man who gulps before nodding frantically.

"Understand your holiness,"

"I will try to keep the Berserkers off of you. In the meanwhile, save as many people as you can," says Sanguinius looking around at the terrified faces all around. "All of you,"

At the series of nods all around, Sanguinius reassures himself that they'll be alright before stepping back and flapping his wings, takes himself to the skies where he can see the City Hab all around. He winces at the sight that greets him. Smoke is present all over the city. He is right in his assumption that the fighting is all over and not just localized at the station. Through the throng of black smoke running people, Sanguinius can see the telltale signs of portal openings all over the place also. Portals that he knows would be spitting out Khornate Berserkers.

"Something that only I would be able to handle," he thinks to himself before letting his eyes wander trying to find a strongpoint that would serve as a forward base before he tries to save the city hub.

At this height, he easily zeroes in on a possible place. It is what seems to be a barracks of some kind where three dozen or so figures in brown fatigues and wearing flak armor are forming a firing line that is sending a wall of red lasers at the cultists trying to engage them. Their momentous defense however is broken as out of the crowd of the dying cultists bursts forth two Khornate Bersekers. Immediately the wall of fire of the humans shift professionally to the two with little to no effect as the ceramite armor of the Berserkers shrug off the attacks before reaching the lines of the defending humans.

Sanguinius is immediately upon them, a white whirlwind of death grabbing the back of the first Berskerker slaughtering three of the shooters and slamming him into the ground. He immediately tries to get up spluttering something about Khorne but Sanguinius' foot stepping down hard at his neck stops all notions of that. The second one zeroes in on the Great Angel with a chainsword whose design narrows Sanguinius'eyes.

"Death to the servants of the False Emperor!" bellows out the Berserker swinging the chainsword towards him like a madman ignoring the las-fire from the mortals.

Sanguinius however moves in the swing of his guard faster than the eye can blink and head butts him without ado. The ceramite helmet holds but the red eye-pieces do not as they shatter like glass making the Berserker howl. Sanguinius wastes no time grabbing the head and pushes his fingers in through the broken eye lenses. His fingers dug deep through eyeballs, and flesh before reaching brains making the Chaos Space Marine twitch for a few seconds before he remains still. Sanguinius promptly drops his corpse like a ragdoll on the ground ignoring his bloody hands. He immediately however picks up the fallen chainsword before turning it to the pommel. He would recognize the symbol anywhere.

It is the symbol of the Blood Angels after all.

"Thank you for the save Your Holiness," a voice brings Sanguinius' attention away from the symbol to the speaker.

It is one of the mortal soldiers he has saved. She might have been pretty looking if not for the smudge and dried blood caking the right side of her angled face. She is wearing her hair in a ponytail and her uniform is covered with dust and bits of blood and ground. It is her eyes however that are striking, it is dark violet in color and there is a sternness and dedication there rarely seen in mortals. She bows to him just like the rest of the soldiers that rally around her at his presence, almost twenty-five in all, he counts.

"Your name?" asks Sanguinius, seriously making her snap up in attention at being addressed.

"Captain Mira of the Tenth Cadian Light Infantry Your Holiness. Imperial Guard, " she answers crisply making Sanguinius wince again inside at being addressed as such though his face remains impassive. "We are attached here on leave when these traitors and heretics attacked. This is what is with me when the fighting begun. The rest are holed up at a saloon not far from here,"

"Then that is our destination Captain. You and your men fall in with me and try to keep up. I will deal with the Traitor Astartes while you deal with the cultists; we kill as many as we can along the way, understood?"

"Yes, your holiness," she replies with a crisp salute. "If I may, what is the name we should call you?"

The Great Angel simply sighs before answering with resignation. "Sanguinius, you may call me," he replies ignoring the sudden gasp of the men of Mira. Unlike the simple Royz back at the village, these soldiers look more professional and seem to bear the heraldry of the Imperial Guard, which means they are more informed than the regular farmer. He's pretty sure they might have heard about him being the Primarch of the Ninth Legion.

"No time to waste, let us go," barks Sanguinius urging them to move for some looks ready to kow-tow in his presence which he doesn't want to experience.

Setting a good pace, Sanguinius leads them at the forefront through the city with Captain Mira at his side calling out the directions.

"Two clicks then a straight on the right we will get to the saloon," she calls out trying her best to keep up with Sanguinius' large lopes. "We would be passing through the main highway and we would be facing cultists and traitor Space Marines your holiness,"

"I understand, stay behind me," Sanguinius says not too late as they burst through the alley and are immediately in the throng of the panic in the highway.

People are running everywhere as Cultists massacre everything that they can get their hands on staining the hot sandy ground with fresh blood. There are also Chaos Space Marines pulverizing every living thing they can get their hands on, cultist, guard or civilian. The main road is packed with them and it is absolute pandemonium.

"Captain, follow me. For the Unity! For the Emperor!" roars Sanguinius in a mighty war cry, his wings pushing him forward with one great leap towards the nearest Chaos Space Marine. His foe barely manages to turn to his direction when he grabs him in the face before slamming his head in the ground with such strength that his brains explode out the cracks of his helmet.

"For Khorne!" charges five of his fellows, their chain-axes roaring as they notice Sanguinius, bowling over normal humans in their attack.

Sanguinius however this time holds his ground. He is no longer weaponless after all. The Blood Angels Chainsword at his hand revvs, its machine spirit whirring in joy as if glad that it is free from traitor hands. The first Chaos Space Marine meets its wrath first as he approaches Sanguinius still roaring his praises to his patron. The Great Angel's arm moves like lightning in a downwards stroke, fast for someone like his size and the Chaos Astartes does not even register it until the chainsword cuts through the top of his helm, roaring as bits of blood and brain spews all over.

His fellow is at his side in a second making a curved whack with his chain-axe but Sanguinius grabs the first like a ragdoll and puts the dying body between him and the axe of his fellow. Sanguinius kicks the dead body, catapulting it like a cannon at the second Khornate throwing him off his feet alongside the third one. The fourth reaches Sanguinius trying to attack his blindside but the Primarch is fast, the chainsword roars as it swings wildly shearing off the fingers of the Khornate Berserker before another downward stroke finishes him. The last one fires bolter rounds at Sanguinius but the Angel takes to the skies fast with a single flap before dropping like a stone right at the top of the shooting Khornate. The sound of his gene crafted bones crunching under the Primarch's weight can be heard. The second and third Chaos Marines however manages to find their feet only to lose them again as a Krak Grenade explodes in their midst throwing them off their feet again.

"We have your back your holiness!" shouts Mira as Sanguinius turns to look at the source. The Captain and her men are advancing in good order using disciplined fire shooting the undisciplined cultists around the crowd as they advance.

Sanguinius gives her a wordless thanks before slamming the chainsword at the exposed necks of the last two Berserkers before they can get their bearings. The entire fight barely lasts three minutes.

"We push onward," orders Sanguinius with the Cadians cheering as they follow him onward to the saloon through the throng of the crowd running around like headless chickens.

The fight to the saloon is quite slow for a Primarch like Sanguinius though it is fast for human standards. He leads at the forefront. So far there is no mass of Chaos Space Marines this time with only singular individuals taking the thrill of the kill among the hapless civilians with the cultists as they sacrifice death to their god. Sanguinius quickly dispatches them with extreme prejudice. He is fighting as he moves, chainsword revving while punching, kicking, grappling every single foe along his way be they Astartes or cultist. The Cadians he has to admit is quite good. Their lasguns pierce through the crowd with accuracy eliminating cultists around, saving as much as they could as they advance. Mira he notices is also at his side, double wielding two las pistols keeping up with him in his reduced pace.

"Brave woman," thinks Sanguinius to himself. By keeping up at his side, she risks being targeted by one of the Khornate Astartes that Sanguinius gets rid of.

The first indication that they are at their destination is the sound of a las cannon firing and a Khornate Berserker flying through the wall, a large gaping hole through his armor still glowing red hot. Turning the last corner, Sanguinius and his small retinue finally arrive at the saloon though it barely looks like one.

The Cadian Tenth Light Regiment apparently has fortified the saloon with whatever they can get their hands on, from chairs and sofas to broken crates and pieces of sleds that could serve as cover. A perimeter has been set up by at least he counts a hundred men wielding lasguns. They are all dressed with dirty brown fatigues and flak armor like Mira and her squad. They however are wielding lasguns. Sanguinius can also see that they manage to set up two heavy bolter emplacements alongside a las cannon. Piles of dead cultists and two dead Khornate Berserkers are proof enough of their stubbornness, not to mention the small crowd of people that they manage to take refuge inside the saloon. They also paid for it, he counts at least thirty motionless bodies also scattered all over, most bisected. The Chaos Astartes dealt them a heavy blow.

"Well, those are my men your holiness," says Mira with a tired sigh waving an arm as the Cadians notice them.

"They have done well holding their ground Captain," comments Sanguinius as they approach the perimeter.

"We are Cadians your holiness," replies Mira with a playful scoff. "Holding the line is what we are practically born and bred to do,"

"I can see that, I am impressed. Not everyone is able to maintain their wits and their senses in a surprise attack such as this one. Especially with Chaos Astartes involved. Mortals….are not equipped to fight against Space Marines after all,"

"With all due respect your holiness. These Astartes fights without discipline and no sense, we can take them down with a little planning," says Mira proudly as finally they got near the perimeter whose guards immediately stand up and saluted at the sight of Mira though they are all staring in awe and reverence at Sanguinius, specifically the moment that they notice his wings.

"Captain!" chirps one of the soldiers stepping forward. "I am glad you are safe. Thank the Emperor. We thought you are lost when you do not respond to our hails,"

"So did I Marusk, I would be if not for the help of his holiness, the Saint Sanguinius who appears just in time to save my skin and that of my retinue. He is here to save us all," she says confidently gesturing at Sanguinius whom everyone immediately bows to, their faces to the ground.

"I did not say that, but that is what I plan to do now," thinks the Primarch hiding his shudder at the kow tow he is facing. He's used to being bowed at because he is a Primarch but not bowed at because he's labeled as a Saint. He is also greatly curious as to why they are calling him so, but he keeps his questions for now. Curiosity can be saved when this City Hub is secure.

"Rise, all of you," Sanguinius says in his regal voice maintaining a firm posture as everyone pulls themselves up, their eyes still shining with wonder at the very presence of him.

"I am Sanguinius, and I am here to help you get rid of all these scum currently scurrying and killing innocent people. Your Captain Mira is right, I am here to fight and deal with the Chaos Astartes. As such I cannot do it in a time frame that would cost lives in the long run. As such I pledge my sword and myself as the very tip of the spear while all of you secure the City Hab. I want you all to follow me. We will scour every street, every alley and get rid of these parasites killing good Imperial Citizens. For the Unity! For the Emperor! Follow me and let's kill them all!"

The cheers of a hundred throats roar in reply and Sanguinius smirks. It is not his sons but it is a start.

"Captain Mira, on your order," says Sanguinius to the pretty captain who nods before raising her right hand.

"Cadian Tenth Light Infantry! We follow the Saint! Always remember, Cadia Stands!" she shouts as the men collapses their perimeter to assemble on her.

"Cadia stands!"

Sanguinius has absolutely no idea what they are talking about. He adds it simply to the list of things he needs to know about when he gets back to Terra.

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Author's Note:

So our boy Sanguinius can't escape the leadership role. He still has no idea he's in the future. Anyway his adventures on liberating the City Hab ends here. He would start his campaign to liberating the planet the next chapter. Oh and did you guys like Captain Mira? She would play a great role in this story. Can't resist but put the Cadians, I meant who doesn't like Cadians?

Anyway I wanna ask. Who is Sanguinius' greatest foes that are still alive and would probably have a grudge against him?

As usual readers, please review for your reviews are the song to this writer's heart. See ya next chapter.