Chapter 1 Part 10

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Inquisition

=ATBS=

Part 10

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Jenova Town

Deimos Peninsula

Kronus

It was sheer madness. Hundreds were already dead or dying, yet the rest of the crowd simply pressed on, caring nothing for the hell they waded into. Lances of coherent light speared through men and women, flash-boiling flesh and blowing limbs away. Auto cannons fired as fast as they could reload – reaping a frightful harvest with their fragmentation shells. Grenades tore apart whole groups of people gone berserk, yet the madmen would not be denied.

I could see all that as I charged at the pressing crowd. I could feel the blood lust gripping their hearts. It was like miasma hovering around the locals.

For me, it was worse. I could feel their emotions. There was no reason. Only rage and the need to tear us apart. In different circumstances that would have been a boon, letting us goad them in a killing zone and deal with the poor sods. Here and now – it was a different affair. The insane had a good chance of reaching our lines and mixing in melee – which incidentally was the only thing that would give them a chance.

The other flank was handled. I knew it – I could sense Anteus drawing power from the Warp and enhancing his attacks. He was tearing through the unarmored civilians, leaving the squads facing them to shoot them at leisure.

On this side of the plaza, it was quite different. There wasn't a power-armored giant ready to charge at the horde and distract them from the squishier Guardsmen.

There was only a tired Psyker who acutely felt the miasma of blood lust clinging to the locals. It called to me, whispered of battle, carnage, and spilled blood. It felt familiar, comforting.

"For the Emperor!" I roared, pulled energy straight from the warp, and surrounded myself with the raw power like a cloak. I willed myself to move and the Immaterium was eager to obey – hurling me like a cannon shell at the advancing madmen.

One moment I was twenty meters away, then I was right there, leaving a tunnel surrounded by crackling purple lighting in my wake. The energy I had clad myself with exploded outwards on my arrival, pummelling everything in front of me. The civilians – protected only by their clothes – never stood a chance. The wave of warp energy was like a hammer blow – rupturing organs and shattering bones.

"May the Emperor have mercy on your souls." I muttered at the dead and dying people around me.

Then I awoke my chainsword and charged at the closet group of locals.

For all its ferocity, what followed was short and brutal. The crazies were no match for my warp-enhanced speed and strength. I barely felt their kicks and punches as they landed on my carapace. Even the madness-enhanced strength of the few who tried to grapple me was insufficient to hold my thanks to the bitter power coursing through my veins.

My headlong charge gave a breather to the troopers on this side, breaking the heretics' momentum. That allowed the Guardsmen to shoot the remaining civilians with impunity.

Suddenly it was over. There was no one left to cut down, no more blood to spill. I looked around, my wide eyes searching for additional targets, but the only things I could see were torn apart corpses and pieces of bodies. I was slick with still-warm blood, none of it my own.

My eyes met those of the closest Guardsman, who flinched and looked away.

Damn, it was over too soon! I wanted, needed to spill more blood in the name of the Emperor!

A blazing presence turned my way, concentrating its attention upon me. That very fact dissipated the haze of blood lust that had fallen upon me. I took a deep breath and relaxed, sensing the Librarian. I slowly let the warp go and sagged as its energies left my body, leaving me with tired and aching muscles.

Damn it, this wasn't covered in the school!

"Lieutenant, call in for reinforcements if available. We need to clean up this damn town and see if that imbecile," I pointed at the only living local in the vicinity, "was telling the truth and the Inquisitor is somewhere in the Arbiter's HQ." I took a deep breath and frowned.

For some reason, the smell of blood and offal surrounding us wasn't as unpleasant as I expected.

That was an unsettling thought.

"I'm on it. Veil, you look like shit." Pickos snipped at me.

I glanced at my front. Ah. It was splattered with blood and some less unidentifiable pieces. I needed a damn shower. Or a rag to sweep the shit away, though that could wait a bit. There was a traitorous Admisnistratum flunky to interrogate. Besides, I needed to retrieve my laspistol.

While I was going towards our crippled captive, I gave Anteus a once over. The Astartes didn't seem to have even a drop of blood on his armor. The Librarian glanced at me and shook his head.

I could almost hear him muttering "amateur" or something like that. At least he didn't try to smite me, considering that right now I probably looked like an unhinged Khornate cultist.

"Lord Anteus, can we count on Astartes reinforcements?"

"A Tactical squad is deploying as we speak. The other two had already dropped to engage enemy armor in the vicinity of our base." The giant rumbled.

"With them we should be able to cleanse this place of heretics." I nodded. Hopefully. If not, we were all dead.

I looked down at the man whose kneecaps I shot a few minutes ago. He was clutching the wounds and quietly moaning.

"Come on. You're a big, bad heretic. You won't cry from such scratches." I taunted the traitor and used my feet to roll him on his back.

That made him scream like a damned soul when his legs shifted.

Anteus touched the warp, raised a hand and the heretic was pulled up in the air, on eye level with the Librarian's helmet.

"I have a few questions." The Astartes' modulated voice rolled from his helmet. "Where is Inquisitor Requista? What are you planning? What is this harvest that has you terrified?"

The unnamed Admisnistratum functionary had the gall to laugh, though he had tears streaking down his cheeks.

"The fun way it is." Anteus shrugged.

I didn't need to actively touch the warp to sense the Librarian's actions. The Astartes was shinning like a star next to me as he drew in more and more power, before plunging it straight in the heretic's mind.

The traitor shook within Anteus' immaterial bonds and started foaming at the mouth. He stayed that way for about a minute before blood started seeping from his eyes, nose, and ears. The heretic convulsed twice and relaxed in death.

The Librarian left the body to fall to the ground and shook his head.

"As far as he knew, Requista's in the Arbiter's HQ. Possibly still alive. All this is a distraction. They're planning a ritual to summon the 'blessings and aid' of Chaos at a temple in the far end of the plateau. It's happening right now. I'm calling an orbital strike on that area."

"Let's hope it would be enough. What about the that harvest?"

"Almost as bad as Chaos." Anteus responded grimly. "Necrons."

"Fuck." Those soulless machines were covered in the schola, if very briefly. In short – call the Astartes and at least a Naval battle group, then start praying to the Emperor for deliverance.

"Leftenant! I want two squads securing our vehicles, the rest form on me. We're going to storm that building and rescue the Lord Inquisitor. Be advised, an Astartes team is on its way to reinforce us. And someone give me a rag to clean up this shit!" I waved at the film of blood covering me.