Warhammer and Familiar of Zero is not mine and belongs to their respective owners.
The Reconquiesta is a group of Helkigenian nobles dedicated to unifying the entirety of the world in a preparation for an invasion to the Holy Land.
No matter how violent their ways it is.
The fabric of war possesses numerous trinkets: Rape, murder, butchering, pillaging; villages' burn, men and children are butchered, while women are violated.
The Reconquiesta understood these trinkets dutifully, and practiced them more so with brutal efficiency. So when a village was caught under their sights, they are in for a hell to pay.
Such was the fate of a small village in Albion. Abberlyne was its name.
"Abberlyne will fall. It will crumble underneath our power, and these damn peasants will know the might of the Reconquiesta."
It was under the orders of Cromwell – Reconquiesta's leader – that a large force, under the leadership of one Count Pelarch, marched towards Abberlyne, with the intent of crumbling it with one sift force.
They were commoners after all, they have no chance against the nobles and their magic.
And so they fast approached, with speed belying their size.
"The Reconquiesta are coming! The Reconquiesta are coming!"
The shouts of the village' sentries resounded all throughout, as villagers struggled to evacuate their beloved homes. They raced out to the nearby woods, while the men attempted to enact barriers to delay the incoming forces.
One such gentleman was a youth named Malfoy Maxwell, who pushed his body to the limit, just to defend his beloved village.
"Maxwell!" A woman called from the crowd, "Malfoy!"
It was his beloved; Almond was her name; that ran to him amidst the panic. "Come! It's useless! Please! I don't want to lose you too!"
Maxwell comforted his beloved, "Do not fret Almond Frye: There's nothing to fear. I'll come back, and together we can try to survive with old Man to who knows where. Just, promise me you'll be safe okay?"
"But-"But whatever words that would leave Almond's lips were interrupted as she was dragged away by the village elder, Millard Frye, her father.
"It's okay," The old man reassured the fretting girl, coupled with an embrace from his part, "Malfoy's a tough man; he'll live through this. I promise."
He motioned for Malfoy to come away, as he did his part to place Almond away from the danger, "Just promise me you'll come back after this kid, for Almond's sake."
"I promise…"Were Malfoy's final words as he was torn away; far from his beloved.
He took his position on the trenches dug beyond the village's perimeter. His friend, and Almond's brother, Janus Frye, gave him room to wedge in prone.
"Took you long enough," He joked, coupled with nervous laughs, "My sister giving you trouble?"
"Not really," He replied with a nervous smile, "Say: You got a musket for me?"
"With some cartridges," He answered, "Enough to last us a ticket to hell and back."
Malfoy swallowed bile rising from his throat, "…We're not coming out of this are we?"
Janus smiled to him, "Ain't we all?" He handed him a wood musket, along with a box of cartridges, which they placed in front of them, "Don't worry brother: I'll see you on the other side."
The last thing he saw with his serene mind, was Janus's reassuring smile, before a dragon made of fire emerged from the woods, coming towards them with disturbing speed.
"Get me a medic over here!" The defense' commander shouted throughout the chaos, "Fix your sights! Waste not a single cartridge! Fire!"
Malfoy kept a fire mage under his sights, and, with a single motion, pulled the musket's trigger. The bullet sailed through the air, only to miss the mage within a few inches. The mage responded in kind by conjuring a fireball towards him, which would have incinerated him should he not ducked for cover fast enough.
Janus laughed as he fired futile rounds to the Reconquiesta's line. "Take this you limp-dicked bastards!"
He saw some of the village's men – youth especially – deserting their posts and running towards the woods, "Hey you dickless bastards! Even the village women had more balls than you! Come back here! Or the Reconquiesta will come there much sooner than expected and assfuck you!"
Malfoy looks to his best friend with a blank expression, all the while reloading the musket with a fresh cartridge, "Hey, how you holding up?"
Janus gave him a laugh befitting that of a madman, "I'm having the time of my life! Quick, keep firing or you'll end up leaving faster!"
They simultaneously emerged from cover to unleash fire towards the Reconquiesta, then returned to their covers as they reloaded while the Reconquiesta unleashed barrage after barrage of magic towards them.
"Stop slowing down and keep the pressure on them," Their commander shouted, "Unleash hell!"
…followed by him being crushed by earth magic; his blood spilling to the young soldiers in line within the trenches…
"We're doomed!"
"Get me outta here!"
Malfoy looked at his colleagues, reciprocating the fear prevalent in their hearts; doubt filling his mind.
'Everything's done for, I'm afraid. I'm sorry Almond; I failed you.'
"Is there no patriots here?! Is there no one brave enough to fight for this little piece of land we call home?!"
It was Janus, standing dangerously on top of the trench with a pistol and musket in his hands.
"Let's go! For Abberlyne!" He shouted as he did a suicide charge towards the Reconquiesta lines.
His example inspired the remaining defenders, "Charge brothers!"
Malfoy stared at them dumbfounded.
'Charge my brothers!'
Those words triggered something inside him, filling him with rush; inspiring his soul.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHH!" He let loose as he ran besides Janus, unleashing rounds to the Reconquiesta lines.
"Look at those idiots," A Reconquiesta soldier beside Count Pelarch scoffed as the defenders' futile charge came into view.
"Let them feel like heroes for once," Count Pelarch muttered under his breath, "Makes it all the more satisfying to crush them."
He turned towards the nobles compromising the Reconquiesta, "Crush them. Pulverize them in one go. Let them know what kind of insects they are."
The entire line laughed as they started chanting their own brand of magic to unleash towards the last charge of the worthless defenders…
"Hey, hey Malfoy…"
Janus crawled towards Malfoy; his legs reduced to fleshy strips by the resulting magic unleashed by the Reconquiesta soldiers.
Malfoy was in no better shape either: His chest opened, leaving his innards exposed to the world.
"Hey! Keep yourself together!" Janus said, punching Malfoy's sides, "What would Almond say when she finds you like this?"
This elicits a small chuckle from Malfoy, as he looked at the sky that graced the battlefield.
"I guess this is the end huh?"
"Shut it Malfoy!" Janus said, chuckling with his friend, "At least we did it with a fight right? This one's for the history books."
"You expecting something like "The Great heroes of Abberlyne?" A mage from the Reconquiesta said as they approached the bloody field of corpses that was the defenders of Abberlyne, "Funny; this is what the earlier villages thought it would be. What a bunch of uneducated, idiotic, pitiful, fucking commoners."
He stepped towards the two friends, pinching his nose as he did so, "You pathetic mongrels; you realized you did not have a chance. And yet, you acted like the heroes you are. You should have sit down like an obedient dog and watched as we took what is rightfully ours. Maybe then you wouldn't be like this: Dead and dead in the ground, watching as we take our prizes. Maybe this Almond of yours would provide three weeks worth of pleasure." He said this as he licked his lips imagining what sort of person this Almond is.
"You bastards!" Janus said, only to be kicked in the head by the mage.
"Silence dog!"
Malfoy heeded no words. He did not heed the fact of his death either. A swarm of words filled his mind, like tendrils filling his core to the brim.
A single phrase repeated itself, over and over, and over again. Filling him with a sense of longing, with desperation, with begging, and want…
Something he did not want.
Wrath refilled these feelings. Anger, Vengeance, Bravery, Destruction…
Faith, Belief, Strength, Perseverance...
His frame trembled, gnashing his teeth, his brows furrowed downwards with rage; his breathe seethes with pure, unadulterated anger.
"Hey!" The Mage turned his attention towards the raging Malfoy, "Shut up!"
Malfoy turned towards the mage, his eyes, burning with ethereal fire.
"The…" Malfoy spat with gritted teeth, "Emperor…" His rage filling up the air, causing numerous mages to turn to his direction,
"…Protects."
A golem smashed into the mage, dragging him from the field with brutality.
Ethereal fire covered Malfoy's frame, causing Janus to roll away from the last second.
These fires covered the entire field, burning yet reducing nothing to ash.
A mage got caught in the hands of another golem, wreathed in spectral fire. It raise him above his head, before slamming him on the ground and stomping on his head, causing a large shockwave to slam throughout the area. Followed by his head exploding in gore.
Another golem cut through the fire, covered in the same spectral fire as his brothers. He carried a large slab of intricately designed metal, which fired burning rounds towards the Reconquiesta, repeatedly.
The round burrowed inside the mages, before exploding, turning them to piles of blood and gore.
"Call the dragon knights!" A mage cried out, "Quickly!"
A dragon burst forth from the clearing, intent on running a golem down and tearing apart its armor.
A larger golem slammed into it from the sky, tearing its flesh and body apart with large metal claws.
The remaining dragon knights came out of the woods, along with Count Pelarch leading the rest of the Reconquiesta's mages.
What they expected to be a quick fight with fire and magic, turned out to greet them with brutality.
Numerous golems came out of the fire: Large, metallic, and wreathed in fire and vengeance.
Some came with larger pieces of metal than the first, unleashing flaming rounds towards the incoming mages and dragon knights; the rounds unleashing havoc towards the thin flesh of the mages, and penetrating the scales of the dragons, burrowing inside, exploding, bursting the dragon knights into pieces of flesh.
The larger golem charged towards the mages, whose magic disintegrated into thin air. It unleashed fury upon the swine of men, tearing into them like a demon unleashed from hell.
The remaining golems with swords fitted with machinations and teeth destroyed the Reconquiesta. One of them grabbed a mage in tongue, slammed them on the ground, and then tore him apart with his sword.
A golem with flaming wings and a giant, flame covered warhammer landed from the sky, causing a massive shockwave to tear apart the disorganized Reconquiesta, before slamming his warhammer towards a nearby mage; its effects prevailing, as it torn him into pieces with the force of the hammer. And the resulting plasma wave tearing row after row of Reconquiesta mages.
"Cromwell needs to hear from this" Count Pelarch screamed as he tried to rally his men, "These damned commoners! How dare they-"
He could not finish his sentence as the warhammer wielding golem flew through the sky and slammed into the Reconquiesta, pulverizing them as soon as he landed with extreme velocity.
"No!" the count cried out, as the golems tore the mages apart, "We should be the one winning! How dare them! You filthy commoners!"
He waved his wand toward a golem, intent in burning it alive, "Go to hell!"
His magic disintegrated in the fire. The golem turned towards him; he managed to look at it more intently, revealing pale skin underneath a cracked part of the helmet.
"N-no way!"
It regarded him silently, before grabbing his head, raising him, brought him on top of the battlefield's hill, and, in front of the remaining Reconquiesta forces, gutted him like a fish. His intestines sprawled to the ground, but the sword only roared with more gluttony as it tore flesh and bone alike.
"N-noo…" were his last words.
The golem turned towards his brothers, who finished executing the remaining Reconquiesta soldiers who were unlucky to end up at their grasp.
"The…Emperor…Protects…"
It looked to the man who kept repeating this mantra, over and over.
A boy, with his chest opened; grasping a necklace in his hands, with tears trailing down his cheeks.
He walked towards the boy, his steps awfully silent for a giant such as him. He cradled his head using his bloodied gauntlet.
"H-hey!"
He turned towards another boy, with his legs taken away from him.
"What are you gonna do to him?"
The golem ignored him, instead carrying the boy on his arms, and bringing him to his brothers.
The others looked at the boy on his arms, and, with a quick mental sharing, they understood his intentions.
"Hey!"
They turned towards the downed boy.
After fighting in eerie silence, the golem finally spoke, "The Emperor protects."
He turned towards his brothers, before disappearing in thin air, taking Malfoy with them.
"Malfoy!"
The only proof of their existence was a banner left behind. On it were inscribed the words:
"In Dedicato Imperatum Ultra Articulo Mortis."
This was the first battle, in which the Legion took its first campaign: The Campaign of Helkigenia.
"Of all the legends of the Imperium, one of the strongest is the Legion of the Damned. For those who knew where to look, there are many corroborated accounts of these otherworldly warriors; their unexpected appearances upon a desperate battlefield, and their sudden and inexplicable disappearance at the battle's end."
Inquisitor D. Merloriac, Ordo Chronos
They are a legend, spoken in hush tones. A force beyond reality, with loyalty to the Emperor unparalleled by even those of the transhuman Battle Brothers that litter the galaxy; Angels of Death, unafraid, uncaring, loyal; marching together as one, to burn the enemies of man.
They are the answer to prayers spoken in the midst of desperation. Prayers to the Emperor fall on their ears, and with fire and vengeance, they destroy their enemies with brutal efficiency; that before fading to the Warp, only to return to bring vengeance far away in the Galaxy.
They are will, and wrath of the Emperor taken form.
They are the Legion of the Damned, and they know no fear.
Thank you for reading