It was like a flashbang had gone off inside Raynor's head. His mind was a wall of white and his it felt like his ears were being ripped off his head. The world was a dizzying maelstrom of white, blotches of grey and vague shapes in the distance. He tried to bring his hand up to cover his ears, only to receive a rude reminder he was still in his suit when his armored glove hit his helmet. Snarling, he was forced to his knees by the sheer force of light and sound. The ground resonated as over a thousand pounds of terran ingenuity and engineering dug into the dirt.

His vision was the first to return, the white slowly fading into a dark, gritty background. It took his brain a few seconds to process the fact that he was staring into cold, hard dirt. As his senses returned back to normal, he very quickly realized there was a veritable horde of life forms rushing towards his position. His HUD was completely filled by a flood of life signatures, all seemingly coming this way at a rapid speed. He also realized that they were surrounded by a thick fog that seemed almost tangible in nature. He looked around and found the rest of the group in similar positions of disarray.

"Zeratul! Possible bogies converging on our position!"

His protoss companion's deep voice boomed in his head. "From where, friend?"

"Every-damn-where!"

Raynor's already frayed nerves were on the verge of breaking; his HUD's countdown to contact did not help.

He brought up his rifle, checking to make sure he had full ammunition. After a second of hesitation, he pulled out his bayonet and screwed it on, the foot-long blade gleaming with a deadly light.

500 meters… 400 meters… 300 meters… 200 meters… 100 meters… Contact.

It was then that he realized something was very, very wrong. Someone, something stepped out of the fog. At first glance it seemed like a man, except a metal mask seemed to be bolted to half his face. Armed with two axes dripping fresh blood, it looked like something straight out of the fiery pits of hell. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see similar things advancing towards their position.

"Shit." It seemed like the only appropriate word for the situation.

As if on cue, the man/creature/thing leaped. Nimble beyond belief, it launched itself at Raynor, axes whirling in a dead cacophony of noise.

"Blood for the blood god! Skulls for the skull throne!"

Dakka dakka! Splat.

The thing toppled over, half its face gone as over three-dozen uranium-tipped spikes ripped through its body at 10 times the speed of sound.

Before Raynor even had a chance to celebrate his victory, he was almost taken down by another one of the monsters. He was knocked to the ground, pushed to the ground by the sheer weight of the thing. Snarling, he raised his gun and pumped a good half-clip into its face. He stood himself up, only to have to stab immediately with his bayonet to survive for another few seconds. Jesus, was there an end to these things?


Zeratul was having similar difficulties as well. While he had already dispatched with over a dozen of the beasts, there were always more. They were slightly tougher to take down than hydralisks, although the evil zerg creatures had the advantage of being ranged. These things were much stronger than hydralisks. And, he dare say, more numberous. His blades flashed left and right as he cut down wave after wave of them, yet they never seemed to end. The mist further reinforced their endlessness and while he wasn't even close to tiredness, he knew they would soon be overwhelmed.


The Antimage swung his blades everywhere in what would seem to be chaotic random strikes to the untrained eye, when in reality they were carefully timed and thought out hits that would maximize the damage dealt. Unfortunately for these primitive creatures, he was imbued with the powers of a Manta Style, which allowed him to create two illusions of himself, as well as a Heart of Tarrasque, which allowed him to regenerate wounds incredibly quickly. It had led to the demise of more than one demon that had thought he was fatally wounded, only to have him stand right back up, wounds closing and scars healing. Whispering a quick prayer to the monks, he proceded to efficiently cut down more and more of the enemies.


Anakin was, to put it mildy, having the time of his life. It was strange, but he truly was enjoying himself. Perhaps this was the path to the dark side, but nothing could change the fact that he enjoyed killing these brutes. There were so many of them, yet they were so weak. A quick Force push here, a little shockwave there, and before he knew it, there were dozens of these things dead. But nothing compared to the rush of being caught up in the melee. His blue blade was a rod of death, carving a path through the pathetic soldiers as easily as a wind blows leaves. Right now, right here, he was invincible. He was in his element. Nothing could stop him now. Not Obi-Wan, not Palpatine, not Fate Herself. He was in control.


Trajan was the only one to realize the damned Chaos-spawns for what they were. His chainsword revving and bolter blasting he also leaped into the fray, a tornado of destruction. Soon he was covered in blood as his holy blade cut through dozens of the cultists. He soon put away his bolter. It wasn't worth the precious ammunition. Instead, using solely his fists and chainsword he swept through the ranks of Chaos. It felt good to be back.


Perhaps this would have gone on for hours, had not a small thing intervened.

As Raynor was slaughtering another group of cultists with his rifle, a huge pod suddenly flew straight down and landed not 30 meters away from him. Frozen in shock and curiosity, he could only watch as the capsule opened. Out stepped a man, almost identical to Trajan.

The Space Marines had arrived.


As Raynor was slaughtering another group of cultists with his rifle, a huge pod suddenly flew straight down and landed not 30 meters away from him. Frozen in shock and curiosity, he could only watch as the capsule opened. Out stepped a man, almost identical to Trajan.

The Space Marines had arrived.


A/N: I'm really sorry, first of all, at how late this was and how short it is. And the large number of annoying breaks. But I had to get this chapter out. I now have 4 stories out and will be updating all of them about once a month, twice if I have time. Next chapter'll be out sooner though, to make up for how shitty this one is. Se y'all next time.