No Man's Storm

Chapter 9


"Let loose the horror and become one with it, welcome it into your blood. For this galaxy has place left only for abominations and monsters."

-Recovered heretical writings of the cult of the Raven, author unknown.


When the Ultramarine counter attack came, it came in force. The lord of Hell's Iris clearly was not going to relinquish his hold of the starfort without a fight, as was expected, and what a fight it was brewing up to be.

The most forward elements, those Astartes squads that had strayed too far from the rest of the Crusade Host elements, were obliterated in the depths of the the starfort, survivors crawling back to bring warning to the rest of Kalron's forces. It was clear the Ultramarines were not going to wait for the enemy to come to them : they were striking back while the Host was still fresh out of their breach into the starfort.

Kalron was calling those loyal to him to his side, and the Crusade Host answered. All the squads not responsible for stopping flaking attempts were regrouping around the strong leader that was the Champion of the Blood God. There was no way to retreat from the starfort, and the Crusade Host knew this. Their only chance was to break the Ultramarines before they broke the elite of the Host. Kalron was going to lead them to victory or they would all die.

Rukiel took in the chamber around him. Astartes from many different Legions were here, spiraling around Kalron. They were taking cover on the confines of the massive vehicle storage bay, arranging their forces for the storm to come, or conversing with other leaders of other warbands. It was quite a force gathered there, Rukiel did not believe he had ever seen so many Terminators in one place. Champions and elite squads were eager to fight, and the handful of dreadnoughts finalized the impressive sight. This was a force that could kill star systems and overrun sectors. Unfortunately the force knocking on the chamber's jammed doors was also one.

"This is it," Savardin said from next to Rukiel. "We kill what comes through those doors and we can declare victory for the Crusade Host. Try not to kill the leader, Kalron wants to claim that skull himself." Savardin held up his thunder hammer with both gauntlets. "Let's kill these bastards."

"Victorus aut mortis," Rukiel replied as he formed a feral grin under his helmet.

There was a moment of tension filled stillness as the doors of the sanctum were pounded with impotent attempts to break through. Then those fell silent, like whatever had been on the other side was making way. All the guns of the Crusade Host were leveled at the large cargo bay door.

With a sudden screech of tortured metal being violently smashed apart, an ancient Contemptor Dreadnought in blue and gold, blighted heavily with the corruption of the Warp, came crashing through the door, roaring madly as it barreled forward. Weapon fire instantly responded to its sudden appearance, but most of the weapons had no effect on its thick armor. Only the heaviest of fire had any visible effect, yet it charged on. It reached the vanguard of the Crusade Host with a frightening speed and started killing.

Behind the dreadnought came a swarm of the foul ilk of Guilliman. Corrupted Astartes of a hundred kind, armed to the teeth and roaring for battle. The Crusade Host answered the call for confrontation, and in the next moment the chamber was filled with volatile exchange of fire and violent melee.

The scions of Ruin bled each other generously that day, and the dark masters of the Warp laughed at the bloodshed.


Skaron looked upon the duel with a grin not completely without amusement. In the middle of a ring consisting of Spawn Marines and true Astartes of the Crusade Host, a fight to the death was taking place. It was a nice show of entertainment while the Siege was in a deadlock for the moment.

In the ring, facing each other, were two transhuman figures clad in poor quality armor, one black, the other blue. One was a Spawn Marine, one picked at random by Skaron from the warband's ranks. The other was another spawn of an attempt to create a cheaper legionnaire, one of the so called Evocatii of the Ultramarines, captured in the war by the Crusade Host. Two shadows of Astartes, thrown into a pit fight without weapons to fight to the death for the entertainment of the onlookers. It was interesting to see which would prevail, a corrupted clone or a diluted shell.

It became clear the Spawn Marine was superior of the two. After a long while of beating and clashing, the black clad clone grabbed the head of the Evocatii and ripped its jaw off. The wounded thing was send to the ground, and the Spawn finished the job by crushing the jawless head to a pulp with its feet. The Crusade Host around let out a few cheers and soon the circle started to disperse. Skaron did not spare the victorious Spawn Marine another glance, directing his attention back to the massive walls towering over them.

The main fortress of Pelimar stood in front of the Crusade Host forces surrounding it, high walls protected from artillery by a Void shield yet to be breached. The armies that had killed their way through the city were resting by the walls, unable to proceed forward, waiting for the siege engines to catch up with the front lines so they could enter the main fortress. The massive gate, tall enough for a titan to walk trough, was standing adamantly on their way, beyond the capability to be broken by the current front of the Host.

Therefore, they waited. There was minimal fire coming from the walls due to the barrier of the Void shield, allowing the Crusade Host a moment of respite in the open space around the fortress. New arrivals were joining them every hour, antire warbands, cultist hordes and Blood Korps battalions adding to the tide waiting to break through the gate. Some specially equipped troops, like Astartes warbands with jump pack squads, were launching attacks against the top of the wall, but they were too few in number to cause any real damage, merely launching petty skirmished to spend the time. Skaron though it would take a long while before they had enough siege elements to continue the siege. That was before the Apothecary arrived.

Skaron noticed the dark artisan of the XIXth Legion almost immediately, the wave of commotion caused by the dark figure and his strange wagon of bone was rather attention catching. The wagon stopped on the edge of the city where it had emerged from, opposite to the grand walls looming beyond the sea of Crusade Host forces. Lord Lharkus moved towards the Apothecary, and Skaron moved to accompany him, pulling his squad and a handful of Spawn Marines with him.

Lord Lharkus discussed something with the apothecary, and soon returned to Skaron who was waiting patiently on the sidelines. His last encounter with the Apothecary had caused him to learn a lot of patience.

"What is the Apothecary doing here?" Skaron asked as Lharkus joined him again.

The Pureblood simply stared at the wagon and folded his hands. "Just wait and see."

Skaron looked at the Pureblood before returning his attention back to the wagon. Then he waited.

It started slowly. At first it was just a disturbed feeling. Then the light of Hell's Iris started feeling colder. The light always felt colder in the presence of the Purebloods, but this was beyond that. It was as if the day-night cycle of the planet had suddenly been accelerated, and it was rapidly approaching evening as far as one existed in a Warp Storm. Skaron could feel the unease emanating from the mortal elements of the Crusade Host and saw many of them making swift distance to the wagon and its master.

That is when the sounds started. Unlike the cold and the darkness, the noise did not come slowly. It pierced the night, for it seemed now more night than day, and was like a blade of ice into the heart, mind and soul of Skaron.

It was not a roar, the sound that the thing rising from the wagon let out. Based on its size, a roar like some huge predator of a death world would have been fitting. The sound that it released was however not easily described by Skaron. There simply did not exist words in mortal tongue to describe it. If Skaron had to give an approximation of a description, he would have called it a shriek made of a thousand screams.

The thing rising from the wagon was hard to look at. It was physically hard to do, and Skaron could not help himself from looking away. It was not that the sight was something he did not want to witness, he simply could not look at the thing straight, his eyes rebelling at forcing him to avert them. The little he was able to capture of the massive thing was bodies. A glance at it had seemed like a lots and lots of bodies.

It let out those indescribable cries as it rose high and started making its way towards the walls. Everything standing before it and the high gate vacated the way as fast as they could. The thing slumbered forward, its steps shaking the earth, yet letting no stomping sounds. Skaron could observed it only barely, but he was able to see it smashing itself against the gate of the fortress. Skaron could hear the merciless pounding as the thing tore at the massive doors, forcefully ripping itself an entry. The sound of breaking metal was horribly loud as Skaron tried to watch the thing tearing apart the gates the Crusade Host had been unable to break so far.

The doors gave in after a while of punishment. They opened as cracked gates opening a hole into the fortress of Pelimar. The way was open at last.

That was when the brutal machine like screech filled the air. The thing, the monstrous thing that the Apothecary had crafted into being, exploded. It vanished from existence, its aura of darkness, cold and sensory disruption suddenly vanishing. Skaron could see clearly again, and there was not sight go the thing. Only bodies flying around or laying before the gates, plain regular bodies. But beyond the gate…

The ground was shaking again, but this time there were stomping sounds. Skaron could only watch. Through the gate, though the massive broken doors high enough for a Titan to walk though, walked a Titan. The cries of its warhorn smashed against the Crusade Host that was quickly starting to react to the appearance of a god machine from the fortress.

"A titan!" Skaron heard someone yell as he turned around and started moving. "Call our Warhounds! They have a Titan!"

"Run," Skaron spat into his squad vox.

That was when the massive guns of the Reaver Titan started booming. Skaron saw swathes of the Crusade Host elements gathered by the walls obliterated, warbands crushed, Blood Korps companies vanishing into the air in a blink of an eye. There was no standing against this kind of power. So Skaron ran. He ran as fast as he could, retreating from the destruction behind him, fleeing from the unleashed wrath of the god machine that was releasing hell of its merciless guns upon them.


Rukiel reeled back as a hail of random bolter fire from the chaos of the fight slammed against his pauldron, tearing at the white raven symbol. He still managed to correct his stance and dodge the Ultramarine champion coming for him with his power axe. The runt of Guilliman over reached because he saw Rukiel's sudden unexpected distraction, and so Rukiel punished him by slamming the shaft of his spear against the Ultramarine's faceplate, shattering on of the crimson lenses. This hit allowed Polryphon, Savardin's lieutenant, to ram his power sword through the Ultramarine's side and gut him is a shower of shredded armor.

Rukiel fixed his stance, looking out for more threats coming his way. The chaotic fighting was getting very brutal and personal, with Ultramarines and Crusade Hosts warriors tearing into each other all around the storage bay.

"Keep it up, we are killing them!" Savardin growled as he used his thunder hammer to smash down a heavily mutated Ultaramrine with almost contemptuous ease. "Machromance, makes us some room to charge!"

A figure stepped past Rukiel and Savardin, clad in the black of a Legion Pureblood. He wielded a staff with an eight pointed crest, directed at the enemy. The sorcerer of Savardin's warband challenged a sphere of dark light towards the Ultramarines, guiding its serpentine movements with his potent psychic powers, making it bounce among the Ultramarines like a ball lightning. It did not damage the armor it touched, but the Astartes that were hit by it fell in silent lifelessness. Rukiel righted himself, preparing to lead his Mortet Guard into another charge over the clue clad corpses piling high.

It was at that moment Rukiel senses the sudden shift in the air, the smell of ozone suddenly becoming extremely invading through the smell of blood. He could feel the electrifying in the of the air, charging up towards a release. He had just enough time to yell out a warning before the thunder clap. "Incoming teleportation strike!"

The thunder roared and suddenly seven Terminators in blue and gold emerged right into the flank of the Raven Guard, weapons ready. Rukiel hurled himself behind two of his Spawn Primes as the combi bolters started firing. The two members of the Mortet Guard were ripped apart by the hail of bolts, but they adamantly stood in front of Rukiel, shielding their lord from annihilation.

Polryphon died in an instant. He had been standing right before the Ultramarine barrage, and his body exploded into black armor fragments and gore. From his Pureblood body surged forth a black cloud of Unkind, instantly falling upon the Ultramarines. The dark Neverborn bought Rukiel and other Reven Guards still standing the opening they needed.

"On them!" Savarding roared, charging to smash down the lead Terminator that was occupied by the dark sins made manifest released by the death of his second in command. The other Pureblood's and Spawn Marines were quick to follow, engaging the blue Terminators in brutal counter attack.

Rukiel rammed Shadower through an old Tartaros's pattern armor's stomach coils, but was quickly forced to pull back as the hit failed to kill the power maul carrying walking tank pressing on him.

For a moment it seemed like the Terminators might crush the Raven Guard warriors, but the chance for victory was quickly snatched away from the blue and gold scum as a squad of Imperial Fist terminators rushed their flak in turn, eager to prove themselves against the elite enemy that had suddenly appeared in their vicinity. Ultramarine Terminators were fierce, but they did not match the bloodthirsty monsters that the Crimson First terminators were. Rukiel wondered if these blue platted relic armors would receive a yellow coat when the battle was over and they were claimed from the broken bodies of the Ultramarines.

It was at that moment that Rukiel heard a mad cry of battle lust, and his dark connection with the Warp told him to get away without him even realizing what the threat was. He ignited his jump pack almost on instinct, raising himself above the slaughter as much was possible in the storage bay. Just in time for him to get away from the rampaging Ultramarine Contemptor Dreadnought that came crashing into the Raven Guard Marines.

Savardin was not as lucky. Rukiel cried out his name as the lord of the Onyx Sons turned, but he was not fast enough to evade his doom. The Contemptor smashed its way to the chaos lord, clenched both it's power talons around Savardin's smaller frame and ripped him in two in a second. The death of Savardin was instant, and his broken body quickly exploded to release vengeance of the Unkind on those surrounding his death scene, especially on the Ultramarine Dreadnought. The Unkind spirits spawned by Savardin's death were a lot more numerous than Polryphon's death, and they tied up the raging Contemptor rather well. It allowed the yellow twin Dreadnoughts of Bolron and Malkail to converge on the Ultramarine warmachine. The three massive entombed warriors crashed together, starting to beat each other with gigantic force.

Rukiel used the moment to launch himself towards Savardin's body. He grabbed a piece of armor and meat that had once been Savardin's right hand and pulled back from the way of the thundering Dreadnought giants. He clenched the bloody limp in his grasp and cried into the vox. "Kerverax, give me a capsule from the chain!"

Kerverax disengaged from the fighting, moving to his brother. He grabbed one of the empty capsules hanging from his neck in the Carrion Chain and handed it to Rukiel.

Rukiel took the capsule without a word and filled it with meat and blood from Savardin. His brother's remains and chance for revival secured, Rukiel dropped the bloody hand and mag locked the capsule to his belt.

He had to ignite his jump pack again to get away from the Dreadnought that crashed onto right where he had been a moment ago. The Ultramarine Contemptor smashed Bolron down and then ripped apart the legs of the Crimson Lords Dreadnought. The roaring yellow warmachine kept still clawing at the Contemptor with its power claws, heavily damaging one of the knee joints of the taller machine. That was when Malkail came from behind the Ultramarine, smashed in down, and rammed its chainfist right trough the head of the Contemptor. After the destruction of the head, Malkail proceeded to saw open the hull of the Contemptor all the way to the sarcophagus. Malkail tore it open and proceeded to obliterate the half living corpse inside the Contemptor, finally bringing the Ultramarine warmachine to a halt.

Rukiel did not have time to think about that, for the whole storage bay suddenly shook from a gigantic impact, and suddenly Rukiel found himself hurled onto a chaotic flight projectory just as he had been about to touch the floor of the chamber against after his jump pack flight. His senses were filled with silence and a storm of light and debris impacts, and when he finally got his bearings, he found himself drifting in the cold void, looking upon all of Hell's Iris in the cold and silence of space.


The Sorcerer Machromance is named after an Aspiring Sorcerer player from Eternal Crusade game, historically the only player to have ever given ammo to my Havoc so I could continue mowing down loyalist dogs.

I hope you liked this chapter and I will see you next time.