Redemptio Opus Chapter 7
The Flesh-Golem loomed over her, swollen with bulbous protrusions and random limbs. Its mechanical arms flailed about, each tipped with a wicked scythe or spinning buzzsaw, tearing at anybody nearby. It travelled on two wide caterpillar tracks and its front bore a spinning series of blades like a threshing machine. The sight of it was nauseating and the noise it made was a cross of bestial screams and a broken machine, whose parts were grinding against themselves.
Justini's heart cried out in protest at facing such an unholy abomination, a small part of her wanted to run away and never look back but she refused to give in. Her devotion and her faith demanded that she stand and fight and everything she had ever known told her that the sight of the God-Emperor was upon her. He was watching over her, now and always, what could she possibly have to fear when she walked under the blessed protection of the Master of Mankind.
Justini forced her trepidation aside and switched her bolter to rapid-fire, she gripped it firmly and then swung wide as she pulled the trigger. A spray of mass-reactive rounds shot forth and peppered the side of the Man-mower, punching deeply within its flank. A second later they detonated, blowing gaping craters into its puffy side that oozed a turgid mixture of blood and oil. Justini wanted to cheer at the sight but the Flesh-Golem was far from dead. A mechanical arm lunged at her, tipped with a spinning buzzsaw blade and Justini's eyes widened in shock as it hurtled right at her face. She saw her death loom yet at the same instant something crashed into her side, throwing her out of the way. Justini stumbled as she heard the unmistakable sound of Ceramite cracking and looked back in confusion. Beside her Selosha was staggering backwards, her left shoulder plate cracked and falling off her armour in bits.
"Selosha!" Justini shouted in concern.
Yet her Sister ripped the damaged plate off and snarled, "It merely winged me."
"You saved me," Justini gasped.
"No time for that, get back into the damned fight!" Selosha barked as she hefted her dashed aside and resumed firing.
Justini shook off the momentary shock and copied her Sister, letting off bursts of fire as she ran. The squad now surrounded the monstrosity on all sides, harrowing it with lashes of fire. Blood was running freely from its bulk but that did not seem to slow it down in the least. It wailed and screamed as it tried to hit the Sisters, swinging wildly and turning upon its tracks as it tried to catch them in its spinning front blades. Justini saw another arm swing laterally at her but this time she ducked and the buzzsaw passed harmlessly over her head. The crowd of Fraters pressing in around them were not so lucky, for the arm plunged into their ranks, tearing three of them apart in showers of rich red blood. Justini shut out their wails of distress and focused on bring this mobile blasphemy to an end, but her weapons were making little impression. The Sisters were stinging it, blowing off chunks of flesh and metal, but it was so heavily built that it would take hours for them to whittle it down.
Justini raised her voice and cried, "We're not doing enough damage!"
Praxi shouted back from the other side, "We need Dominions with Melta weapons!"
"No!" Karna bellowed, "Have faith Sisters, He will show us the way!"
The Sister-superior matched deeds to words and darted between two flailing arms, bringing her chainsword down in an overhead sweep. The whirling blades met the tainted skin and bone and tore it asunder, spraying black blood in all directions. The Flesh-Golem screamed as its hide was violated, ripped apart by the blessed weapon, it thrashed and flailed about but could not reach Karna, so close was she. The Sister-superior held on grimly, dragging her chainsword downward with all her power-assisted strength, leaving behind a vast rent, within which pulsed black-vein organs and clicking devices. Then Karna threw herself backwards, barely avoiding a hooked claw as she shouted, "Phosper grenades!"
Justini and the others reacted instantly, hands falling to their hip and pulling bulky canisters free. Hundreds of hours of practice in their Chantry's shooting range made it instinctive for them to flip the pin off and hurl the grenades above the Flesh-Golem. Almost simultaneously the grenades detonated, spraying burning Phosper all over the Man-mower, covering every inch of it in flames. The monstrosity screamed as cleansing fire touched its filthy hide, it shuddered and bucked hard, tearing at its own hide with its arms as it tried to put out the inferno but nothing could stop the sacred conflagration. Liquid fire ran down its sides, charring skin to ash and pouring into the rent in its flank. Black organs boiled, swelling obscenely until they burst and complicated mechanisms melted and still the flames raged on.
The Man-mower let out one last scream of denial then it flopped limply, its arms dropping to the ground and its tracks ceasing to turn. Justini let out a sigh of relief but there was no time for congratulations, they had only defeated one of the Flesh-Golems, there were dozens more to bring down yet. Justini spun on her heel, to see how the rest of the battle was faring and beheld a scene of bedlam. Everywhere men and women grappled with the Flesh-Golems, fighting nightmares brought to life with nothing but rifles. The Man-mowers were ploughing through the Fraters, leaving trails of broken and bleeding bodies behind them. Meanwhile the Hell-Geists were bounding from spot to spot, blasting away with their guns or tearing bodies apart with their great teeth and over head Buzz-wings flittered about, raining down fire indiscriminately. The carnage was terrifying and yet the Flesh-Golems weren't having it all their own way. Flashes of black-armour showed the Sisters of battle were fighting back, meeting the blasphemies head-on.
Justini saw a squad of Dominions confronting a Man-mower, their melta weapons streaming rays of fusion fire that made flesh and metal run like water. They marched forward in lock-step, venting their fury until the Man-mower at last fell still and silent. Elsewhere a squad of Seraphim's flew overhead, blasting their bolt pistols at a pair of Hell-Geists. Returning shots punched one of them out of the sky but the others soared on, ripping the horrors apart with concentrated streams of fire. On the far flank, a Man-mower was tearing through a gaggle of screaming Fraters but a Macharius heavy-tank turned its twin barrels upon it and let loose hell. Two huge explosions engulfed the Flesh-Golem, turning it into a fountain of metal and blood so tall that it painted the roof red. True, a score of Fraters was also killed in the explosion, but the tank's drivers had been trained not to consider trifling things like collateral damage.
The violence and the noise of the battle were stunning, fierce enough to stop hearts and burst ears and it was too much for the common man to bear. The Flesh-golems had wrecked carnage and the revulsion caused by their forms made courage brittle. The balance of the fighting teetered for a moment but then the Fraters broke, their courage failing in the face of Chaos. First one man, then a few more then suddenly they all turned and ran from the field, streaming past the static tanks, even as the missionaries hurled curses upon their souls.
Justini's heart fell as she realised the Imperial assault had failed, but then she saw that not all had broken. Charging through the retreating hordes came a wedge of radiant warriors, with their heads held high and cries of piety upon their lips. At their head raced a woman in white armour and a black cloak. Her plate was festooned with purity seals, icons of devotion and enamel roses while a thurible hung from a chain from her waist. Her helm was crested with a free-standing fleur-de-lis and in her hands she carried a long power sword that shone with golden lightning. It was Cannoness-Preceptor Phantea and she strode to war without a moment's hesitation.
By her side strode a man, he was wearing long brown vestments and upon his head was a smoking brazier. He was unarmoured yet any stray shots that came near him rebounded away with bursts of light as a sacred Rosarius enveloped him in a conversion field. It was Confessor E'zard and he bore aloft a long staff, topped with brilliant flames. Behind them came a horde of half-naked women, clad in rags that obscured their faces. Their skin was cut by many lashes and in their hands they bore ceremonial eviscerators. They were the Sisters Repentia, those who had transgressed the stringent rules of the Adepta Sororitas and been condemned to seek absolution in battle. Together the Holy leaders threw themselves at the blasphemous creations of the enemy, tearing into them with faith and fury.
Justini watched in awe as the Sisters Repentia threw themselves at a Man-mower, a dozen women were torn to shreds in the first moment but the rest piled in, ripping terrible wounds into its thick hide even as it lashed out frantically. It squealed and roared in outrage but was covered in shrieking Sisters and was unable to kill them fast enough as the Sisters smote it with righteous vigour, dicing it to pieces with great sweeps of their Eviscerators. Another Man-mower was set upon by E'zard who lowered his blazing staff and roared, "Your doom is upon you!" A shining ray of energy shot forth from the basket of flames, stabbing deeply into the Flesh-golem. The staff contained an archeo-tech inferno pistol and the ancient relic weapon within smote the monstrosity with deadly power.
Meanwhile Phantea was confronted by a bounding Hell-Geist; it came towards her with autocannon blazing and its jaws wide open. Fat rounds glanced off her venerable plate, leaving grooves in the ceramite armour, but the woman underneath was unhurt. She drew back her sword and held utterly still as it closed then with one perfectly timed thrust drove the point through its mouth and out the other side, skewering the Hell-Geist upon the length of her sword. The wretched thing came to a screeching halt, locked into immobility, then it keeled over and slipped off the point of her sword, leaving Phantea free to seek out another enemy.
Justini felt her heart soaring at the sight and she heard Karna yell, "The Canoness is with us, charge!" As one the squad leapt into action, pressing forward with bolters blazing. They added their firepower to the onslaught, blasting apart anything that came their way. Justini saw a Hell-Geist turning its gun towards them and threw herself to one side. Screaming rounds flew past her but one clipped her side, she staggered, feeling the wind knocked out of her as her armour wailed alarms in her helm. She was winded but pure muscle-memory guided her hands as she lifted her bolter and let loose with everything she had.
A torrent of rounds smashed into the Hell-Geist, making it stagger as chunks of meat and metal were blown off it. Then the rest of the squad joined her and hosed it with firepower, chewing it apart with merciless ferocity. Justini's bolter clunked dry but the Hell-Geist was already toppling over, its body reduced to a smear of bloody meat. Justini hurriedly reloaded and looked for another target and as she did so the scope of the battle became clear.
The Canoness-Preceptor had stalled the advance of the Flesh-Golems, but they were heavily outnumbered and outclassed. The Sister's Repentia were falling in droves, their unarmoured forms no match for the vile blasphemies of the enemy and from behind the tanks fired as fast as they could, but their crews were panicking and the shells went too high or too long, missing entirely. Other Sororitas squads were fighting hard, but they were scattered and unable to come together in the madness of the melee. For a moment Justini's mind reeled with the thought that they could not hold the line, that the Flesh-Golems would win through.
Yet even as the thought formed there was a terrific roar from behind and before she knew what was happening hundreds of men and women were streaming past her. It was the Frater Militia, they had seen the shining charge of their Holy leaders and been inspired by it, rallying together as their courage was reforged. They came back to the fray with all of their ardour, desperate to redeem themselves for their earlier cowardice. They ran at the abominations of Chaos with lasguns flashing, throwing themselves without fear or doubt into the face of death. Now it was the Flesh-Golems who were outnumbered and they disappeared under a wave of human bodies, drowning in the tide of pious zealots.
Karna shrieked ecstatically, "Witness the power of faith! Follow me Sisters and sing so the God-Emperor can hear your victory!"
Justini's heart soared and she joined her squad in worship, even as they threw themselves into the fray once more.
