In the World of Sword and Magic as Space Marine

Chapter 19: Penitent Engine

Within the Wall of Fort Stromfist,

"I am losing my forces faster than I can bring them out from the ground!" One of the three vampire Lords on the top of the wall yelled as he turned around to face his comrade. The two other lords start to panic as their ambush didn't work and the massive loss of Crypt Knight riders start to lower their morale.

"We have to stay with our Master's plan. We will defend within our wall while you bring everything you have to delay their advance. Since they have no siege machines, our archers and capulets will take them down before they can breach the wall." A female Vampire Lord explains her plan and about to order her troops to ready their ranged weapons when loud sounds interrupt her concentration.

Coming out from the supply warehouse, a big metal human-shaped walker with a female human attached on the front appeared. The woman is wearing white hooded clothes and is connected with multiple tubes on her body. The metal walkers have two long metal arms with weapons attached and slowly walk toward the inner wall open area while screaming "Repent in the name of the God-Emperor! Only he is the salvation!"

"What the hell is that?" Male vampires ask others but before anyone could say anything, the Penitent Engine stopped and turned around to see the army of undead and three vampires on the top of the wall.

"MUTANTS! No, Genestealers!" The woman shouted and the metal machine charged the undead army, thrashing them with a chain fist. As the army was standing between vampires and the Penitent Engine, they automatically went to the defensive formation and counter against a madwoman in a big walker.

"What is the meaning of this? Did humans somehow infiltrate the fort?" The female vampire said as she commanded his knights with a lance to repel the Penitent Engine. All this was pointless as the moment undead knights approach the Penitent Engine, the machine turns its arm with two attached flamers and unleashes the promethium fueled fire. The entire undead knights engulfed by the fire and turned into dust. With more enemies dead, Penitent Engine continues her attack, destroying foot soldiers and wiping out anything blocking her way.

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"I got this, focus on the incoming army," The third vampire said as he summoned his skeleton monsters to fight against the Penitent Engine. In front of the Penitent Engine, three big skeleton minotaurs with axes and swords block the path. As two sides are about to attack each other, a blue plasma hits one of the skeletons which exploded and turns the area into the hot superheated ground.

"Damn, that was much more effective than I thought. Penitent Engine, continue your repent for your sins!" Standing on the roof of the building, William gave his order to the Penitent Engine as he used his jetpack to hover in the air. The Penitent Engine continues her attack and slashes or burns anything standing next to her.

"Archers, kill that flying human!" The female vampire shouted out loud in which skeleton archers fired their arrows at William but it was useless as arrows couldn't penetrate William's power armor. Hovering in the air, William aimed his plasma gun at the three vampires and fired it.

Boom!

The three vampire lords couldn't react in time to dodge the blue plasma as it was too fast for them. With a large explosion, the three vampire lords died instantly, at the same time their undead armies collapsed to the ground as if puppet's strings were cut.

"Three down two more to go." William landed near the steaming ground where three vampires just died. The Penitent Engine meanwhile, stomps the undead as she searches for something new to crush. Just as Penitent Engine is about to leave, four zombie trolls appear out of nowhere and attack Penitent Engine.

"I'm impressed, human, but this is where you die," A male Vampire Lord with fancy clothes appears from the back as four zombie trolls attempt to crush the Penitent Engine while an army of undead zombies with weapons approach the wall.

"If you are impressed by this, you would love this." William grabs two hands full of grenades and throws it at an approaching zombie army. The handful of grenades exploded and destroyed many zombies but that wasn't the end of it as William pulled out heavy flamer from his inventory and unleashed devastating fire on the remaining undead army. The black smoke covers the blue sky and the stench of burning corpses can be smelled by the slowly approaching human forces.

"NO! Who are you? How are you doing this?" The vampire started to freak out and didn't notice Penitent Engine charging at him while the lady sinner used her chain fist to cut the vampire in half.

"Nice, all of this should have caught their master's attention by now. Where is…" William couldn't finish his sentence as a giant red zombie dragon swooped from the smoke and snatched the Penitent Engine with its mouth, crushing it.

"You cost me my followers and army. I will enjoy crushing you and the living as I will replace my army with their dead body." A vampire wearing red armor said to William as he turned his zombie dragon mount to face black templar. The zombie dragon crunch Penitent Engine multiple times before spitting it to the ground and stomping it to finish it.

"Damn, I'm gonna need a bigger gun."

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The undead army suddenly fell to the ground while the prince's army slowly approached Fort Stormfist's wall. The troops maintained their shield wall formation as sergeants and officers knew archers could still attack them behind the wall. Not even a minute goes by, a cloud of black smoke rose from behind the wall and the smell of the burning corpse reached the prince's army.

"Continue your march, we have to breach the wall and gate to help William. The fallen undead proves that William killed one of the vampire lords in commend. Prepare yourself for true battle beyond the wall." Prince Benton shouted to boost the troops' morale but at that moment something big could be seen above the black smoke. As if a powerful gust suddenly appeared out of nowhere, a black smoke cleared out, revealing a giant dragon with rotten flesh on it.

"That is Blood Duke's zombie dragon." One of Prince Benton's men said as everyone including prince and duchess turned pale. The legendary zombie dragon of Blood Duke that wiped out the city of Deron's defense force finally appeared after 150 years. The zombie dragon was big enough to top over the wall and was crunching something in its mouth. Fearing the worst, the prince couldn't speak or think as he saw nothing but death in front of him.

"Prepare the Volley Cannons and reorganize the troops! No matter where we go or hide we are an easy target for that dragon but we have guns with us so we will stand our ground and hit it with everything we got!" The Duchess was the first to recover from her fear and gave a loud command to the troops as all of them were terrified by the zombie dragon's presence. Eventually, seasoned officers and sergeants recovered from their fear and ordered soldiers to prepare them for life and death battle.

Just as two armies finish their formation and ready all weapons, something big approaches from the air. Soon, a black-armored knight with a jetpack lands in front of the army while holding a plasma gun in his hand.

"William, what happened? Did you killed the dragon?" Prince Benton asked William but he was stopped by one of his men as a zombie dragon climbed over the wall to stand over high up.

"That thing isn't an adult or very old dragon. That thing used to be an ancient dragon, a red ancient dragon." William reloads his plasma gun and puts additional grenades in his pouch as he stares at the gargantuan sized dragon roar, shaking ground and trees.