Chapter 76: Questor Imperialis
Chapter 76: Questor Imperialis
Passing the main gate, the Space Marines are met by an unexpected group of people defending the area facing the opposite direction towards the capital city. A group kill-team of Space Marines are defending the main entrance against a hoard of minor daemons of Slaanesh and Sound Marines from escaping the capital city.
"Well, about damn time. I thought we have to do all the work and win this battle by ourselves. Praise the All-father and Great Wolf King." Vaskell, the Wolf Seer, said to everyone after he threw a grenade and fired a few bolter rounds. After redirecting the Valkyrie One to rescue the second kill team, Vaskell and his group also shot down but eventually regrouped with the second team. With both flyers down, the group decided to defend the main gate to prevent any Chaos spawns from escaping the Emperor\'s judgment.
"We are here now, brother. Let us purge the traitors and daemons back to warp once and for all." Veteran Sergeant Sariel of the Blood Angel greets his battle brother and powers his chainsword to join the battle. The sudden arrival of the massive reinforcement turned the tide as defenders began to push against, and Blood Angel Assult Squad led the charge with their jet pack as it allowed them to jump into behind enemy line.
While Blood Angels are busy dividing the enemy with blood-chilling chainswords in their hands, the Black Templars confront the enemy frontline as enemies are flanked on both sides. Armed with powerswords and chainswords, the Black Templars slaughter the daemons as they begin to lose morale and will to fight.
The other Space Marines did their parts as Salamanders and Ultramarines cover their battle-brothers using ranged weapons to take out and control the flow of the battlefield. Fire of the flamer covers the potential blindside of the frontline while bolters of all types put down traitor marines before they could attack with their bolter weapons. With four different chapters working as one single legion, both traitors and daemons of Chaos couldn\'t push back or hold the line even though they had a large number.
"I\'m receiving the vox message from William. He said to push the remaining minions of Chaos to the city square. He also said not to enter the area as he is currently using his new power of blank." Vaskell passed the new information to everyone through a vox link and began to formulate with others how to herd the enemy to the kill zone.
Meanwhile, a shadowy figure with a magical staff curse to himself as his prediction came way too soon. The destruction of the gate and reinforcement of the Space Marines wasn\'t supposed to happen for another 6 minutes. If the flow of time happened according to the prediction, the gate defenders would have died, and reinforcement wouldn\'t receive the new message from their leader for another 3 minutes. This would have allowed Avinon Fatecast to complete his summoning spell to bring forth the company of World Eaters Berserkers from the Immaterium to trap the unsuspected loyalist Space Marines in the rear while Slaanesh\'s minions push in the front.
"Damn it all to misty future. I can\'t tell the exact prediction as if something interferes with my magic. I guess I have to do all the work now." The greater daemon of the Tzeentch came out of the shadow and began to open multiple warp portals at once. Pushing against each other, the minions of Tzeentch pour through to the New World as various Horrors, Flamers, the cult of Tzeentch, Soul Grinders, and even the Thousand Sons enter the battlefield. The third faction of the Chaos Gods joins the battle that will be known as Blank War as their involvement will be their downfall by the end of this fight.
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Bam! Bam! Bam!
The roaring sound of the bolters can be heard in the center of the capital city as William\'s Blacksouls unleash Emperor\'s wrath at the Chaos daemons. The other sounds can be heard as heavy bolters, autocannons, and plasma cannons from the Dreadnoughts unleash their full power to support the frontline.
William and 10 Librarians activate their blank ability, which expands the range of the blank field into maximum. The effect of the mass null ability neutralized all of the warp entities, including Greater Daemons, as they felt weaker and their souls blocked from returning back to the Immaterium. The daemons that could use the warp magic (All from Slaanesh\'s side) are now unable to generate or cast any spells as their connection is severed and some of the lesser ones explode, taking their fellow daemons with them.
While William\'s forces charge ahead towards two different Chaos factions, the other two do as anyone would expect as Keeper\'s and Skalbrand\'s armies attack William and each other simultaneously. Because of Blacksouls\' blank effect, their range attack spells and any warp magic fueled weapons became useless. This made Slaanesh\'s side lose a massive advantage as this ruined their capability to attack in range. Skarbrand, on the other hand, wasn\'t having much difference as his army indeed lost connection to the Khrone, but it didn\'t stop them from slaughtering enemies with melee weapons.
Khorne doesn\'t believe in range weapons much as he prefers close combat, but this doesn\'t mean his legions completely abandoned range weaponry. Blood Legions use artillery such as Skull Cannons, which is usually used for siege warfare. World Eaters of Post-Hersey completely changed their battle doctrine as they completely abandoned their long-range weapons, allowed to use bolter pistols for short-range purposes before slaughtering their enemy in close combat.
"You are MINE!" Skalbrand shouts all his might while swinging his two large battle axes as he charges towards William. Considering his giant body and tattered wings, everyone would expect Skalbrand to be slow, but to everyone\'s surprise, Skalbrand\'s speed outran even his minions, who are quick to their feet.
Just as Skalbrand is about to increase his speed, something interferes with him as two Seeker Chariots catch up to him and slam at the same time from both sides. The blades from the chariots\' wheels sparks as their daemonic blades did nothing to Skalbrand as he blocked with his two battle axes. Now completely stopped by pesky daemons, Skalbrand lifts his weapons at once with his mighty strength and flips both chariots upside down.
"Skalbrand hates interference and especially from horny pests!" Skalbrand then proceeds to cut both chariots in half at the same time, killing the daemons of Slaanesh with a single swing of his two axes. The weapon\'s impact not only killed the daemons but also shook the ground. This didn\'t stop William from reaching Skalbrand up close as he proceeded to take advantage and swing fully charged thunder hammer directly at Skalbrand\'s face.
Clang!
The moment a thunder hammer clashed into Skalbrand\'s face, Skalbrand\'s entire body lifted a few inches and flew back towards his incoming army. Few poor daemons that couldn\'t dodge in time became Skalbrand\'s cushion as they turned into a pancake the moment Skalbrand landed on top of them. The battlefield paused for a few seconds as everyone just saw a former champion of the Blood God knockback onto his butt for the first time.
"Holy Terra and Emperor\'s throne. I felt that hit through my hands." William said to himself while shaking his one hand. William knew his thunder hammer was special since it was made by Mother and the Dark Age of Technology, but he didn\'t expect to push the Greater Daemon of Khorne. At first, William intended to stun Skalbrand with his hammer, but the result was much more satisfying and terrifying.
"Who\'s next!" William decided to push on and continue the momentum as he and his Space Marines attacked dumbfounded daemons and servants of Chaos Gods. Each kill from William\'s side is a massive loss for the Chaos as they can\'t revive the lost souls, but all good things must end as both sides quickly recover and continue their attack. When the three sides finally got close to the melee fight, the fight turned into complete Chaos as all sides lost any sign of strategy and turned to an all-out battle for survival.
"Foolish brute. Nothing but a muscle and no elegance. No wonder he fell for a simple trick from Tzeentch\'s whisper." Keeper of Secret said to himself and quickly passed the giant daemon but loud enough for Skalbrand to hear every word. The Keeper moves towards William\'s blindside with a swift movement to deliver deadly payback. While approaching his target, Keeper managed to slew a few of the Null Marines but realized the challenge of killing them was much more difficult compared to the different Space Marines.
\'It must be my injuries.\' Keeper thought to himself as he got close enough to reach William, but before he could strike first, something grabbed him from behind, and to his surprise, it was Skalbrand standing on two feet, holding Keeper\'s cape with one hand.
"Why don\'t you say that again? This time say to my face!" Skalbrand, now rage meter fully filled, didn\'t care who was standing in front of him. The only thing that matters right now is specific keywords that caught Skalbrand\'s attention, including his falling from Khorne\'s favor.
Meanwhile,
William didn\'t catch himself in time to realize two Greater Daemons were fighting each close to him. By the time he realized what was going on after killing three Flesh Hounds, it was too late as a random mighty swing from one of the Greater Daemons tossed him across the battlefield.
[Kenetic energy full]
"What hit me?" William said to himself, but before he could get up, a dozen Bloodletters jumped on top of him and attempted to kill him but could not penetrate the terminator armor. A second later, a blast of kinetic energy shreds the Bloodletters into pieces, and soon William got up covered in blood.
\'Talk about a blood bath.\' The irony made William smile a little and turn his attention just in time to block an incoming attack from Khorne\'s Soul Grinder. The bloody metal claw of Soul Grinder lifts William as William attempts to escape the Daemon Engine grasp.
Standing tall little over standard Rhino tank height, a massive Soul Grinder attempt to crush the terminator armor with its metal claw. Fortunately for William, shielding and indestructible armor held giving enough time for him to reposition his two combi-bolter and combi-plasma weapons directly at Daemon Engine\'s face.
"See you later." The blast of the plasma and bolters blow the entire upper body of the soul Grinder and fall to the ground, which William eventually free himself after joining the fall. Regaining his footing, William again got into conflict as a few of the Sound Marines attempted to blast William with their sonic weapons. Like William\'s first encounter with Sound Marines an hour ago, his terminator armor withstood the sonic attack as if it was nothing.
"This isn\'t possible." One of the Sound Marine said with shock, and others quickly attempted to change their weapon to bolters, but it was too late as Wiliam raised his range weapons and blasted them into ashes. With countless enemies constantly coming, William didn\'t pay attention to his new loots or a new summons. At the moment he needs more reinforcement, and he needed them yesterday. So without looking, William summons everything at once and hopes it will be enough to give him and his Null Marines breathing room.
"This is William. I need some fire support in front of me, now." William gave an order through the vox channel but was unsure who was listening. At this moment, it is a dog-eat-dog fight, and everyone is fighting for their lives. He is sure his Null Marines can handle the two armies but the outcome will be heavy for William\'s force which he won\'t let happen.
"Order received. Target acquired. Firing the secondary weapon." A new voice replied, and a few seconds later, a massive volley of missiles flew over William, hitting a large number of daemons and traitor marines within the significant area. The shockwave shook the entire battlefield and knocked most enemies to the ground. William and anyone else who managed to withstand the shockwave turn around to see who fired the devastating weapons, and to their surprise, it wasn\'t from Null Marines or dreadnoughts.
Two gigantic figures overtopping every building were behind a few buildings away from William\'s army. The biggest stands 32 feet tall (10 meters), and the other stands 20 feet tall (6 meters). Both armed with many heavy weapons are red-painted Imperial Knight Gallant and red-painted Armiger Warglive without heraldry marking or flag to show which house the knights represent. With a booming sound coming from the Knight\'s speaker, the Imperial Knight announces their presence to everyone on the battlefield and the entire capital city.
"Freeblade Knight Scion of Wrath reporting for duty and request permission to purge the Chaos taint."
"Freeblade Knight Spear of Olympus reporting to Chapter Master William and ready to cut down traitors."