Chapter 28: A Fractions Of Power
Chapter 28: A Fractions Of Power
POV: Leon
"Ugh… shit. Varn, talk to me! Are you still breathing?"
I growled into my vox-bead, barely keeping ahead of the daemon's relentless assault. My arms ached, my armor was battered, and my breath came in ragged gasps. The bastard refused to fall.
Since Varn had severed its arm, I had expected the usual warp-fueled regeneration—twisting mutations, the grotesque reformation of flesh. But it *hadn't* regenerated the way I thought. Instead, its mass had steadily *decreased*, each lost fragment seemingly fueling its acceleration. It was no longer the slow, lumbering monstrosity it had been at the start of the battle.
It was *faster*. *Sharper*. And it was wearing me down.
*Boom!*
"Argh!"
I barely managed to raise my chainsword in time, intercepting a crushing strike from its malformed bio-cannon. Sparks erupted as the corrupted metal smashed against my weapon, the motorized teeth shrieking in protest. Fractures spread further along the already battered blade.
Then, I saw it—
The daemon's gun-barrel twisted toward me, its gaping maw exuding a sickly green light, the glow of its unholy payload intensifying—
*Warp-damned filth!*
I *dived* to the ground just as it fired.
*BOOM!*
A vast swath of the battlefield *disintegrated*. The sheer force of the blast sent debris flying, a shockwave rattling my bones. If I had been a fraction of a second slower, I would have been reduced to *nothing*.
I didn't hesitate.
Pushing forward, I twisted around its flank, my grip tightening on my chainsword before I *swung*.
*RRRRRIP*
The blade *tore* into its thigh, its shrieking teeth gnawing deep into its blighted flesh. I forced the weapon in with both hands, hacking through muscle and sinew, the daemon's blood spraying out in foul, steaming jets.
"RAAAGGHHH!"
It howled, writhing in fury—then its wound *bled*.
Not just blood. *Something else.*
A thick, writhing *secretion* oozed from the gash, creeping over the chainsword like a living thing. My weapon sputtered—then *stalled*, its motor choking as the unnatural bile clogged the mechanisms.
I barely had time to register what had happened before the daemon *swung*.
The bio-cannon, now a bludgeoning limb, came crashing down like a meteor. I *let go* of my chainsword and threw myself backward just in time. The weapon was useless now.
I needed **distance**.
Ripping my lasgun from its holster, I fired a rapid volley into the beast's torso, each shot searing into its flesh. But it no longer cared. It surged forward, its speed *inhuman*.
Then, I faltered.
A misstep.
A single, fatal *hesitation*.
Pain lanced through my wounds, my body betraying me for the briefest moment—
And the daemon struck.
A massive, clawed fist *slammed* into my chest, driving the air from my lungs. I was lifted from my feet and *crashed* into the ground with bone-rattling force. My vision swam. My breath hitched. Blood spilled from my lips.
I tried to move—tried to force my limbs to respond—
But the daemon was already looming over me.
Its ruinous grin stretched wide, its bio-cannon humming with infernal power. The gaping maw at its end dripped with seething warp-filth, glowing with raw, concentrated destruction.
I struggled, adrenaline surging through me—
*BOOM!*
A blinding eruption of sickly green energy—
And the world turned to *fire*.
---
### **Location: Unknown**
Darkness.
A cold abyss stretched endlessly around me, my body drifting weightlessly through the void. I could not move, could not feel—only *exist*.
*Am I dead?*
The thought was distant, detached, as if it belonged to someone else. I tried to move, to turn my head, to do *anything*—but my body did not obey. I was as motionless as a corpse drifting upon a cosmic tide.
Time had no meaning here. Minutes, hours, years—it all blurred into *nothingness*.
Then, *a voice*.
A voice of power. Authority. Majesty.
"Rise, my child."
It was not a demand. It was *commandment*.
A voice that resonated through my very soul, filling every fiber of my being with reverence and unshakable resolve. I knew that voice.
*My Emperor.*
I tried to kneel—to bow before His presence—but my body would not move.
"There is no need," He said, His words woven with undeniable strength. "Your astral form remains unchained, but your physical vessel is ensnared by the taint of the warp."
Though I could not see Him, I *felt* Him. His presence burned like a golden star in the void, a beacon of unwavering might.
"I bring you power, my herald," the Emperor continued. "Power beyond what you have known. For in your current state, you are weak—too weak to stand against what is to come."
The darkness around me trembled, *illuminated* as golden radiance began to bleed into the abyss. The sheer force of His will shattered the shadows, His presence a sun against the infinite black.
My mind reeled at His words, a flicker of understanding igniting within me. I had *suspicions*—a grim foreboding that had been gnawing at the edges of my thoughts.
But still, I asked.
"Who…?"
A deep, knowing hum resonated from the void.
"You already know."
My blood ran cold.
I did know. I *had* known, but I had refused to acknowledge it. The realization clawed at my mind, the weight of it suffocating.
*They were here.*
The true enemy. The ones beyond the veil, waiting in the dark.
"The Ruinous Powers move against you," the Emperor declared. "Their gaze has fallen upon this battlefield, and you are naught but prey to them in your current state."
His words burned into my soul, searing with the weight of absolute truth.
"But you will not be alone in this war," He continued. "For I shall grant you my boon—a fragment of my power, to *even the field*. It is temporary, a mere taste of what you must become. But heed this well, my herald: it is not a gift freely given."
The void *shook*.
"I offer you *ten years*. Ten years of protection from the daemonic filth that seek to consume you. In that time, you *will* grow stronger. You *must* ascend beyond the limits of mortal men, for when that time ends, you shall stand before them once more—and if you are not ready…"
The golden light flared—blinding, *searing*.
"Then you shall fall."
His words *engraved* themselves into my soul, a vow unbreakable.
I clenched my fists, my spirit thrumming with newfound purpose.
"I understand," I said, my voice unwavering. "And I will not fail you, my Emperor."
Silence followed. Then, the final decree:
"Do not disappoint me, child—for your fate, and the fate of the *galaxy*, now rests upon your shoulders."
And then, there was nothing but light.