The foul taste of copper was the first thing he registered as his mind came back into focus. The attack had been powerful indeed, the daemons warp blade slamming into him with all the force the foul beast could muster. The only thing that had saved his life was the power field from his iron halo kicking to life at the last possible second. The force had still thrown him back multiple meters, and not even his power field could protect him from physics.
Fleet Commander Caius pulled himself up into a resting position as he looked out towards the location he had only been moments prior. The Daemon itself was stumbling, his sword swinging out defensively as it grasped around its eyes, trying to rid itself of what ever had blinded it. The impact of the warp blade and his iron halo must have caused a burst of energy that had caused the daemon to go temporarily blind. Caius would have counted himself lucky if he weren't so sure he was still about to die horribly.
Looking to his right, he was relieved to see his thunder hammer, Frostwind, laying just in reach of where he had fallen. He quickly jumped to his feet as he grasped the relic weapon and readied himself. His body flared with pain and his muscles ached. Despite having only just engaged the great daemon, he had already been fighting the great enemy for almost twelve hours straight. Even though his enhanced physiology would allow him to fight for much longer, it did not stop the pain. He was honestly thankful for the pain. It meant that he was still alive.
With a quick thought he pulled up the ammo counter for his wrist mounted storm bolter. 13 shots. Even with spare clips in his utility belt, he wouldn't have enough time to switch to a fresh magazine. Another thought sent the counter away and preformed a flash sweep of the area. The fighting was still going on around him, but the traitor legionaries and his astartes were not interfering with his match against the daemon. Another thought began the recharge for the iron halo and surged more power throughout his armor.
In less than three seconds from getting to his feet, Caius had charged the daemon again, intent on delivering a killing blow. The daemon had already began to regain his senses, and pulled itself back before releasing a torrent of hell fire from its mouth. Caius paused only a second to position himself, raising Frostwind high above his head before arcing it down to slam into the ground. A split second before the swing had even begun, he had activated Frostwinds power generator and set it to maximum. The energy field that surrounded the head of the hammer began to crystalize what little moisture was in the air, pulling it all together to form a rough arc of ice. Upon impact with the ground, it created a blast of freezing air, causing any of the flames around Caius to snuff out completely.
There was an art to the mighty weapon, and Caius had spent centuries learning it. He quickly brought Frostwinds power levels down to prevent it from over loading as he forced it from the ice that had formed instantly around the head of the hammer as it had hit the ground. A second later he was smashing his way through the already shattering arc of ice and resuming his charge towards the daemon. This time however he raised his left arm and mentally pulled the trigger to his storm bolter, releasing the remaining rounds in a torrent of explosive shells.
The daemon drew his hand up to his face to prevent any of the rounds from impacting his face, before bringing his great wings around to shield his entire body. The rounds detonated across his leathery appendages, blowing holes through the daemon flesh. Despite the appearance of the damage, Caius knew it would have little effect on the daemon. However the storm bolter had still served its purpose, allowing Caius to close with the daemon and even build a small amount of momentum.
Just as Caius reached the foul warp beast, its warp blade lunged out from between the parting wings. Having expected the attack, Caius spun around the attack and slammed Frostwind towards the monster while setting the weapons power levels higher for striking. The blow landed first against the daemons wing, crushing it and bending it almost in half before the wing tore open. The blow continued to strike the daemons arm next, hitting home against the massive appendage around the elbow area.
Caius knew that the arm would fair better against the attack than the wing did, but it was a solid hit. Before the beast could retaliate, Caius pulled Frostwind back and finished the spin to place him on the daemons left, away from the warp blade. The daemon turned with Caius, sweeping the sword low to catch the astartes at the waist. Caius thrust out with Frostwind, the two weapons impacting with a loud clash. The daemon twisted the blade out from the clash before Frostwinds mass broke the weapon.
Caius reset his stance before launching his own attack, an upward swing towards the beasts legs. Caius knew he wouldn't kill the beast in one blow, even with a mighty relic like Frostwind. Instead he had to beat the monster down, hammer its weak points to bring it low before finishing it off. The daemon however was fast, moving its leg back, causing Caius to go off balance. It then attempted to run Caius through, but misjudged the attack and missed.
Caius quickly closed his defense before circling the daemon, looking for an opening. Frostwind was a wondrous weapon, lighter than most thunder hammers and equipped with an unique power generator, but it still was slower than the daemon and its blade. Where Caius had superior equipment and weaponry, the daemon countered with a physiology made of pure unnaturalness and the unending powers of the warp.
Whatever opening Caius was looking for never showed, as the daemon attacked again, slamming his sword down onto Caius. He rolled away from the blow, righting himself for a counter attack before he was blasted by a wave of warp energy, throwing him back to the ground. The daemon used this to its advantage as he began stabbing the ground where Caius had fallen. Only his quick reflexes allowed Caius to survive, twisting and rolling out of every strike.
As Caius rolled back to face the daemon once more, it grabbed him by the chest, forcing him still. Thinking quickly, Caius pushed power into his iron halo before the daemon brought its sword down again. The field quickly surrounded Caius, a surge of energy striking the arm that pinned him down. This however was not what Caius was waiting for. A split second before the blade struck the field, Caius closed his eyes.
A sudden crack followed, alongside a painful howl of agony. Caius held his eyes shut until he felt the pressure of the daemons claw remove itself from his chest. Only then did he allow his eyes open to see the daemon once more stumbling backwards, swinging its sword wildly. Caius only had a few seconds to react, knowing the daemon wouldn't let this happen again for the third time.
A quick thought saw the empty clip of his storm bolter ejected and falling to the ground. A second later a fresh clip was slammed in, a gift from an Inquisitor many days ago now. Each of the bolt rounds within the clip had inscriptions carved into the shells and the heads of the ammunition had a blue ring around the tip. Another quick thought brought up the fresh ammo counter on his display, showing a full clip of sixty rounds of psybolt ammunition. With a final thought, Caius aimed and opened fire.
The storm bolter opened up with a horribly fury that it had never experienced before. The normal white/yellow tracer fire that usually spat from its muzzle was replaced by blue tracer fire. The daemon reeled hard from the impact of this new attack, the bolt shells tearing through its flesh and armor. It howled in pain as it tried to shield itself from the onslaught. Caius ended the torrent of fire power as he regained his footing and readied Frostwind again. The deamon was stunned, and he knew there would likely no other chance to strike at the beast. With a righteous howl of fury, he charged the daemon once more.
The monster was weakened, but considered itself far from beaten. Upon seeing the astartes charge at it again, it pulled itself to its full height, raising it warp blade high with both hands. It took conscious effort to channel warp energy into the blade, but the daemon knew that even with this mortals high resistance to damage that it could not withstand this upcoming attack.
Caius and the daemon had reached the final blow, each throwing everything they had left into one last attack. As Caius reached the daemon, it brought its warp blade down on Caius. Caius ignored the daemons attack, thrusting foward with Frostwind, setting its power level to maximum. The hot air around both of them froze in an instant, causing a flash freeze to engulf them. The daemons attack was halted utterly, its muscles frozen in place just over where Caius had stopped.
Caius however knew what his attack would entail, and had prepared accordingly. A split moment before he had thrust, he had snatched his canteen and thrown it in front of the hammer. The canteen had shattered moments before the freeze from the hammers impact, and the water splashed all over the daemons chest. The force of the hammers thrust finished the rest, causing the weakened flesh to shatter from Frostwinds mass as it slipped from Caius loosed fingers and plunge full through the daemon. Frostwind then flew a yard or two before it hit the ground and encased itself in ice.
The air was quickly thawed by the hot air of war. Caius twisted to the side as he began to fall over from the sudden lack of balance. He breaths were long and painful. Had he been outside of his environmentally sealed armor, he most certainly would have died. The daemon was not so lucky. With the both the damage of the flash freeze and Frostwind flying through him, it was most certainly dead. Its body had already begun to dissolve into nothingness, its essence returning to the warp. Caius was grateful that the attack had worked. Had it not, he would would have been unable to defend himself.
Many of his armors systems had shut down, their circuits freezing and cutting off. The generator on his back sputtered as it struggled to stay alive. Caius knew that even with his victory, the enemy could still come up to him and finish him off. He could only hope that one of his astartes found him first. With him still trying to catch his breath and his armor barely operational, he was out of this fight at least. Fortune would have the last say as to whether or not this was his last fight.
As he lay on the ground, awaiting friend or foe, he cast a glance to Frostwind, still embedded in its self created cage of ice. He enjoyed the art of the weapon, and appreciated the skill it took to wield such a dangerous relic. With a smile, he allowed himself to rest.