Chapter 7 Part 2

Chapter 7: Chaotic complications

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Part 2

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Eres Badlands

Kronus

All the warning they got was a brief wave of static before realty distorted and a massive green form materialized in front of the convoy in a shower of purple lighting. The leading vehicle slammed into the newcomer without even attempting to slow down resulting in an almighty crash and screech of twisting metal. Feet slammed into brake pedals and the convoy came to a sudden jerky stop. Tracks and tires dug deep into the baked ground and the sudden stop covered the whole convoy in a thick cloud of dust. Even as screams of outrage and vile curses came from the Chaos worshipers, a deep amused chuckle silenced them all.

"I'm not that easy to kill, hummiez..."

Eliphas' eyes narrowed to slits. Despite the dust he could clearly see the source of the interruption. That sorry excuse for a mushroom dared interrupt the Gods' work?! He was going to feed his soul to Khorne after… The huge Ork tore through the Chimera he crashed into with a wicked looking power claw attached to his right hand, which was properly covered in dried blood. His other hand ended up with a tri-barrelled weapon that was sliced nearly in two. No one sane would have used it, but of course that meant nothing for the dumb brute. Said brute being a Khorne cursed Ork, the damned weapon worked too, even if it shouldn't have.

The Chaos Champion moved much faster than even a trans-human had any right to and jumped clear off the Rhino with the Sorcerer vaulting off just a heartbeat later. They got off just in time too, because a moment later a Krak grenade fell through an open hatch and turned the vehicle's interior into an inferno. Shards of glowing metal tore through the armour barely missing the two Astarters.

Two more grenades fell through the air behind the Rhino and detonated, disintegrating a pair of the transports bearing sacrifices. Chunks of flesh and blood rained upon the dusty ground, only for the crimson fluid to be immediately absorbed without a trace.

"Damn you!" Eliphas roared, took his Crozius in hand and charged the Ork, determined to tear the offending Greenskin limb from limb!

The brute chuckled, grabbed the caved in Chimera, heaved as he picked it up and threw it at the next vehicle in the convoy, crushing their crew. The Sorcerer found his footing and sent a stream of fire at the Greenskin who merely shrugged it off as if it was nothing and met Eliphas' charge with a happy laugh.

The Crozius hummed with the promise of ruin in Eliphas' hand as he skid to a stop, his feed digging small trenches in the soil. He managed to halt his progress just in time to avoid a backhand strike from the Greenskin's grenade launcher, which left the beast open for a devastating strike that should have torn off its lower jaw. Instead the blessed weapon and its disruptor field merely dented the crude metal and rang the Ork's head like a gong. The brute took half a step back, paying no attention to the cultists and a handful of blessed Astartes who had finally pilled out of their vehicles and opened fire at him, and swung his power-claw at the Chaos Champion.

Eliphas jumped back avoiding the crude claws cracking with energy and glared murderously at the Ork. "Your suffering will be legendary, beast!" The Champion promised darkly. "Do you have any idea what you just did, you damned brute!?"

"You talk too much." Gorgutz smirked, took another swipe at Eliphas forcing him to move back to avoid it and pointed his grenade launcher at the Chaos Champion, all the while ignoring lasbolts and bolter round glancing off or blowing chunks from his crude armour.

Eliphas swore as he jumped back as far away as his enhanced body and power armour could bring him while clawing for his bolt pistol. A fragmentation grenade detonated where he stood just a moment ago throwing a geyser of dirt in the air and further obscuring the Ork. A second one blew closer to the Chaos Champion rattling his teeth and then a third one landed just in front of him. The following explosion sent searing shards glancing off and even digging into his armour and the shock-wave was enough to lift him off his feet and throw him away. An explosion that would have pulverized an ordinary human merely stunned and singed the Chaos Champion. He had the blessing of Khorne, he wasn't going to die so easily! He roared in fury and jumped on his feet, ignoring the aches caused by the grenades and ran back into the fray.

Finally, the Daemon Engines at the back of the convoy had entered the fray, which was admittedly a mixed blessing in this case. The demon possessed dreadnoughts moved past the halted column spewing flames cannon shells and bolter fire in the Ork's general direction. The brute himself had wadded into the cultists and cut to pieces a squad of Guardsmen who had seen the light of the Gods. When Eliphas saw him again, the Ork was busy tangling with the Sorcerer and a pair of Astartes in close quarters. The Daemon Engines put a stop to that in a hurry – four shells blew up a Chimera, tore two of the Astartes to bloody chunks and left the Sorcerer writhing on the ground leaking blood from the stumps of his legs. The beast didn't emerge unscratched – the detonations threw it off its feet, tore off the left side of its face and the crude bionic eye off its socked and finally demolished the grenade launcher complete with the arm up to the shoulder, not to mention they caved the left side of its armour and torso.

Any natural creature would have been stopped by this much punishment and died in agony. That green mushroom with delusions of grandeur? It laughed and got up on unsteady feet just in time for Eliphas to fall upon it and begin smashing it with his blessed Crozius. Weakened armour cracked and fell apart under the disruptor field, green flesh tore in chunks of bloody gore, a heavy bolter burst caught the brute in the side and it shook under the impacts before the pile of shot up scrap on its back glowed discharging green and purple arcs of energy. Prudently, Eliphas jumped away and it was just in time too – reality twisted so much it was painful to look at and the Ork disappeared with a crack of displaced air that rushed to fill up the void.

The Chaos Champion roared in frustration at being denied his kill. He looked wildly around, saw the still twitching form of the Sorcerer and walked toward him, blood-thirsty Crozuim in hand. The ritual was ruined now, they needed more willing sacrifices than they had at hand! He needed to hit and bleed something, someone, before returning to get his hands on more cultists and a larger force for an escort.

Failure was not an option, the Gods made that crystal clear.

The Sorcerer attempted to summon the Warp to protect himself, raising an arm that glowed with power. Eliphas shot the whinny bastard in the palm blowing the hand to tiny bloody chunks. At least Khorne should be mollified by the bloodletting… Before the Sorcerer could do something else, the Champion shot off the Sorcerer's other hand as well and then began smashing him with his blessed mace until there was nothing but bloody paste left, which was in turn greedily drunk by the ground below his feet.

While this was an unmitigated disaster, the sorry bastard most likely to try to stab him in the back was now very dead so hopefully it wasn't all bad, Eliphas hoped.