Chapter 11 Part 3
Chapter 11: Daemon's Bane
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Part 3
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Deimos Peninsula
Kronus
It was a rare and terrible occasion when the Legions of Khorne needed to fight with forethought, much rarer that they cared for it. It was rarer still they were ordered to pursue an agenda besides slaughtering everything in their path.
Today was such a terrible day. U'zhul was among the last Daemon to fight his way through the Warp and a searing barrier of golden power. His great war-steed stumbled and bellowed in pained fury. Smoke rose from Khul'tyran's armored hide. The tough flesh refused to seal back together, the foreign power still clung to it and burned. U'zhul fared a little better – his armored, skull covered coat took the brunt of the Anathema's wrath. The golden light still seared his face and hands nearly to the bone.
The Herald of Khorne smiled anyway. The Anathema's power wasn't enough to deny him passage! In exchange for what he just suffered, he would reap troves of mighty skulls! But even that was secondary.
Today, the Skulltaker was going to make a point. Chaos would not, could not be denied. Khorne's will could never be denied! There would be an everlasting war! Rivers of blood would drown the galaxy, and mountains of skulls would fight for the privilege to adorn Khorne's throne!
Where schemes and arrogance failed, might, blood and skill would carry the day!
Thus, Khorne ordained, and thus U'zuhl would make it be!
Khul'tyran trampled lesser Daemons who had the temerity to find themselves in their way. He feasted on a few of them, using their energy to hasten his healing, and the Skulltaker approved. He rode past Eliphas the Dark Apostle and sneered at the failure. One day, he would take the fool's skull and throw it away as the unworthy trash it was!
Soon, U'zhul reached the pathetic excuse of a battlefield he had to reshape. Not even a full Legion of Daemons, all but a handful of weak examples of their kind, was all he had to work with. The Herald was beginning to understand why Khorne sent him here.
He could see the enemy, and most of them weren't worthy of his time, much less his blade. The Skulltaker beheld the soulless machines, with worthless skulls. He experienced the void that was actually mildly dangerous. He could feel a nasty patch of the surrounding Warp. It was twisted into a disgusting, abominable mockery of all that a Daemon of Khorne stood for.
Khul'tyran roared in shared fury, and thousands of throats answered. The Daemons now knew he was here. Every single Bloodletter went wild, as they should. U'zhul was what they wanted to be, the pinnacle of his kind, and today, he was going to prove it once again.
The Herald of Khorne drew his hungry Hellblade, pointed at the enemy, and went to war.
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The Necron Lord of Kronus watched a horde of abominations approach. He beheld the greatest atrocity wrought by the ancient enemy, at the offense against reality itself. The Necron Lord decided that he hated every single one of the abominations with a burning passion.
That revelation surprised him and gave him a brief pause to re-examine his mental state. In less than a second, countless safety routines and scans ran their course, and what they revealed did indeed stun him for another second.
Meanwhile, his Warriors, and Human allies, wasted no time. Without waiting for orders, they opened fire at the advancing forces of insanity. Emergency sub-routines locked down parts of the Necron Lord's mind, forcing down the stunned confusion he briefly experienced. This revelation could wait, no matter how important it might be.
The Human artillery was somewhat effective in the killing ground between the trans-dimensional defenses erected by the servants of the Abominations and the alliance's defense perimeter. Human solid-projectile fixed defenses and crew-operated weapon emplacement opened fire next followed by hastily dug in vehicles. Meanwhile, the Necron Drone swarms and Destroyers opened fire to intercept a powerful and sustained enemy artillery barrage. The darkened sky lit up with explosions, clearly illuminating the battlefield.
As expected, Human, Eldar, and even Necron long-range firepower were less effective than desired against this type of abominations. And as accounted for, the enemy armor would advance after the next pulse of their profane defensive towers. However, those were conventional threats, which had many available answers.
The approaching horde was something else, especially several powerful emanations that used the rest as shields to get close. Bolts of trans-dimensional energy rained upon the defenders. Abominations ran towards them, shrugging off enough firepower to down a heavily armored vehicle.
The Necron Lord opened his connection to the power generators at his base and the powerful capacitors they fed. The Monolith anchoring the left flank of the defense perimeter lit up with energy. Advanced sensors swept the surrounding area, brute-forcing their way through trans-dimensional distortions. He designated coordinates and opened the floodgates.
Massive pillars of energy breached the gap in time and distance between the Necron stronghold and the battlefield in front of him. The whole front lit up with emerald lighting. The first rows of abominations disintegrated. Their destruction formed a barrier that protected the rest from the backslash. The charging horde briefly faltered. Swarms of Hunter Drones slammed into them and detonated, adding to the confusion. Impossible energies and effects turned an army-shattering blow into mere confusion. What should have been killing blows caused mild to moderate wounds that quickly began to close.
It didn't matter. The abominations slowed down, and now they had a near-solid wall of Necron Warriors waiting to receive their charge. The Necron Lord's guard was finally awake, hale, and ready for battle. The Lychguard stood tall and defiant, wielding Warscythes and thick shields. Behind every single one of them stood a phalanx of warriors equipped for close combat.
For the second time that day, the Necron Lord drank deeply from the power well at his base and teleported between two of his ancient companions. To his shame, his damaged databases couldn't recall their names or most of their history together. Nevertheless, he could recall many images of them fighting together on countless battlefields, from the beginning of the War in Heaven to its bitter end.
The three of them stood shoulder to shoulder, right in the path of a large angry abomination that rode an even huger monstrosity. This one would do, the Necron Lord decided.
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U'zhul had to reconsider. There might be a handful of worthy metal skulls to take after all. One of his primary targets dared show itself, and he was going to ensure it wouldn't survive to offend Khorne again. He screamed a challenge and spurred Khul'tyran onward. The large Necron pointed an open palm their way and shot a beam of green energy straight at them. Khul'tyran plowed straight through it, screaming in pain and fury. His armored hide burst into fire and burned away. Flesh stronger than steel burned slowly but surely, until the Necron attack hit bone and halted, kept at bay by the sheer power and bloody-minded determination of the Daemon.
Khul'tyran wouldn't be denied so easy, neither would U'zhul!
Explosions rippled all around the Herald of Khorne. They scattered Lesser Daemons and even sent some weaklings back to the Warp before their talon could spill blood. The rest staggered, got to their feet, and resumed their charge.
"Blood for the Blood God!" U'zhul roared furiously. He hated those soulless, bloodless machines with a blinding passion!
"Blood!" At least a thousand Daemons screamed back, and they fell upon the enemy like an avalanche of Hellblades, teeth, and claws. They were the fury of the Warp itself, and nothing could stop them!