Huh... the chapter was done quite quickly, so another update! Yay!
Arthur Cultists are now armed with weapons of 21th Century Earth... Hahaha!
As for the Russian, I just ran it through Google Translate.
Chapter 14
Milky Way Galaxy
Sol System
Earth
Russia
Heavy footsteps of Arthur's accursed Power Armor was ringing through the empty factory. He walked to the middle of the factory where an old chair had a post-it stuck on it that said 'Got you!' written on it with a permanent marker.
"Ha! I have been fooled by these mortals?"
Arthur had read the mind of a general as to where the new factory was going to be built. The old and feeble general had known various locations that tempted Arthur but T-90 tanks were too much for the burdens that he was already carrying. So, he decided to just obtain his primary objective, the production line for AK-103 rifles.
"Стой! Бросайте оружие! Положите руки над головой."
"Now they are barking at me in Russian? I am too soft on them."
Arthur turned and saw a dozen men with AK-103s that he wanted to steal. Other doors of the empty factory began to fill with more Russian soldiers.
"Я сказал, брось оружие!"
"Again with the Russian. Fools!"
"He said 'Drop your weapon'."
At the English, Arthur turned and chuckled loudly.
"Detective Adams, we meet again."
It was indeed Jake Adams but not in his trench coat. He was now clad in some sort of heavy armor. In fact, it looked a quite like the Juggernaut from Modern Warfare 2 and 3. He even held a machine gun. Arthur recognized it as the MG36 that Jake had used during their last encounter. Then Arthur noticed that more of such Juggernauts appeared.
"It appears that the Juggernauts from Modern Warfare 2 had been taken from real things."
"It's good to do that sometimes when you need to use the 'plausable deniability'. Now, put your weapons down and surrender. These are Russian boys, and they are not as nice as me."
Arthur surveyed the factory. He was in the middle of the wide factory with the edges were stacked with various bricks and sacks of cement or sand.
"This was a more complicated trap than I had anticipated, but it would not matter. Not even your crude attempt at personal armor would save you from my blades and guns."
Adams put his helmet back on. He was obviously the leader of the American team as he was the only one with clear visor while other Americans had dark visors. Arthur scoffed at such appearance as Adams attempted one more chance at diplomacy.
"This is your last chance. Not even you can fight us all."
Arthur laughed at the words.
"Ha ha ha! Ten Americans in crude power armor and fifty Russians can take me on? You surely jest, Detective Adams."
"It's Major now, fucker. Fire!"
Bullets rained upon Arthur he merely laughed as he squeezed his psychic powers into the hidden Iron Halo disguised as Chaos Star. A fuzzy aura appeared around his head, and it instantly grew large enough to cover all of him. Bullets came, then met the field of energy and then they either veered off or became very slow. The gunfire stopped as the soldiers quickly reloaded their empty guns.
"I am content to stay put while you waste your ammunition, Detective Adams. However, that would be a waste of my time."
Arthur breathed in deep before launching himself toward an American Juggernaut and eight Russians hiding behind sacks of sand that covered them to their waist. The mass of the Power Armor added with Arthur's strength became a true juggernaut, and the soldiers were scattered from the impact. Only the American Juggernaut was still in place, not because he was heavy enough or the soldier was strong, but because Arthur's blade had so easily skewered him and held him in place.
"Such waste."
Arthur stopped and flung the body to the right at the Russians. Others had reloaded their weapons and continued to fire upon Arthur, but Arthur was not harmed. The Iron Halo's aura was getting smaller, but even his Power Armor was flowing with great power of defense that bullets could not so easily crack.
"Death by flames!"
"Ешьте собственного дерьма, ублюдок!"
"I still do not understand you, Russian!"
The Melta Pistol flared up, and six Russians in Arthur's path were instantly vaporized by the incredible heat while the legs, the only remaining bits of their body, were on fire.
"HEY!"
Jake shouted at Arthur and fired his MG36 at the Chaos Lord. Perhaps it was because of the innate psychic talent in Jake, or because the Iron Halo's aura was weaken from hails of bullets, but Jake's bullets hit Arthur's helmet and they exploded in small sparks.
"Hm? Armor piercing rounds with explosive cores? I am impressed, Detective."
Arthur turned, facing Jake who came too close. Arthur slowly raised his sword and swung down, giving Jake to easily evade it, but it was to give space between them. Arthur quickly raised his Melta Pistol.
"Pity that you die here."
In that moment of truth, someone tackled Arthur. It was an American Juggernaut, and though he was still much smaller than Arthur, it gave enough room for Jake to evade the attack. The heat was intense, and Jake's armor caught small fires, which went out when Jake rolled on the ground.
"FUCK!"
"You dare interrupt me, worm?"
Arthur did not even strike down the American with his sword, he just slammed the hilt into the tough helmet. The American juggernaut fell, blood pouring out from every gap in his massive armor and the large crack that appeared on his helmet.
"Doom Bolt!"
This time, the Chaos Sorcerer Lord pointed his Power Sword at another group of Russians, and though the weapon was not a Force Weapon of a psyker, it still fired twenty-five bolts of hate that crushed and blasted apart twelve Russians.
"Пожар в отверстие!"
More Russian was heard, but Arthur did not understand them. He did, however, understood the meaning of a grenade tossed right between his feet.
"Oh?"
Boom!
The explosion rocked the factory, but the Russians were professionals. They did not relax their guard. They had all been briefed about their enemy whose armor could withstand direct hits from sniper rifles.
"Damn it! Force him outside! Outside! привести его пределами!"
"Hm?"
Someone apparently had a shotgun, and that Russian came running up to Arthur shaking off the impact amid the smoke and fired the shotgun into Arthur's helmet. With each strike, Arthur stumbled backward, but the shotguns ammunition did not last. Then with a single swipe of Arthur's sword, the Russian fell, his torso falling backward.
All the Russians and Americans were firing their weapons at Arthur in a concerted effort. Without the Iron Halo aura Arthur was vulnerable to the kinetic energy being stacked up against him. It was not that it really hurt him but Arthur was curious as to what preparation they had against him. With few more steps, Arthur was against the wall, but Arthur did not get pushed out of the factory so easily.
"Let the Galaxy Burn!"
From few inches in front of Arthur's helmet appeared five large balls of fire, not glowing orange but indigo, the color of Arthur's own. Then he launched the basketball-sized fireballs at the Russians. Jake quickly ducked just as one of the fireballs passed over him.
Screams were everywhere once more, and Arthur felt at home. Half the factory was burning in extreme fires of despair, and the Russians were dying along with the Americans. Only Jake and another American Juggernaut had survived along with six Russians. Arthur had killed fifty-two people in just a few minutes.
"Now, let's see what is out there that you've prepared for me, Detective Adams."
Arthur gently touched the blade to the wall, and by the power of his psychic abilities, the wall exploded outward, the shards holding more energy in them than bullets.
Soldiers outside screamed as they were peppered with tiny stones and large slabs, and they killed. Tiny pebbles and stones pierced their crude armor and entered deep into their flesh, while the large slabs broke through limbs and crushed torsos. From amid the chaos of the explosion, Arthur appeared in his fully dark glory. He saw a BMP-3, the Boevaya Mashina Pehoty (Боевая Машина Пехоты, "Infantry Combat Vehicle"), and two BMD-3 Boyevaya Mashina Desanta ("Боевая Машина Десанта", literally "Combat Vehicle of the Airborne") to support the BMP-3.
"Ah! Armored vehicles! Yes, this would do nicely!"
The vehicles turned their guns on Arthur. 30Mm autocannons and bullets from their machine guns came at Arthur. Yet, he was a Chaos Lord of great power. He could not be bowed by such crude weapons. Though his armor's paints were ground off by the machine guns and his armor dented by the cannon shells, he pushed forward, only knocking aside cannon shells that came at his face.
Then when he was close enough to one of the BMD-3, he raised his Melta Pistol and fired. The vehicle's cockpit was instantly turned into a molten slag with the metal around the hole still glowing in bright orange. The crew inside were roasted alive within seconds as the sheer heat of the Melt Pistol's attack turned the vehicle into an oven. Super-heated air exploded out from the hole and met the cold Russian air, turning into steam.
With one vehicle disabled, Arthur turned only to find the two vehicles retreating while maintaining their attack on him.
"Cowards! I will endure no coward in my presence! Chains of Terror!"
This was a modified version of Chains of Torment, and it was different in that the it was not a way of holding multiple enemies in place, but more of tearing a single enemy apart. The other BMD-3 suddenly stopped when the ground beneath it burned dark blue and it sank a little as if it was stuck in a swamp. Then scores of thick black chains with wicked hooks on them were spat out from the ground and attached themselves to the hull of the vehicle, and then they pulled. With the sound of metal screaming like the crew inside, the vehicle was torn apart, and the crew inside were caught by yet more chains. The hooks on the chains were meant for vehicles, and instead of locking on to the crew, the hooks shredded them to pieces.
"I always wondered if I could really tear apart a tank with my bare hands. Warp!"
With a flash of crimson flame, Arthur teleported himself to the fleeing BMP-3 and landed on top of the light tank.
Tucking his Melta Pistol and Power Sword to his belt, Arthur looked around the vehicle, and found that the crew had locked the hatch tight. Chuckling, he first grabbed the gun barrel.
"Hmp! Not so easy, but doable."
With a single grunt, Arthur's Power Armor whirred into gear and added their strength to Arthur's labor. Then with the sound of metal fatigue, the gun barrel bent and twisted and collapsed, while the root of it began to come off.
"One more pull!"
The cannon was now gone, thrown aside, and Arthur grabbed the edges of the exposed hole, and pulled. Deciding that he needed to stop the vehicle's movement, he jumped down from the top, and slammed his fist into the hatch of the driver's seat.
"Нет, пожалуйста! Не убивайте меня!"
The Russian driver screamed something in Russian, but Arthur still didn't know Russian and didn't care. He grabbed the driver's head with his left hand and squeezed. With his incredible strength, the skull began to crack and the Russian screamed.
"Your screams are more manly than American screams. I like that."
Crackle!
The head exploded, showering the cockpit with blood and brain. Throwing aside the corpse, Arthur grabbed the edges of the open hatch.
"May be a little psychic power here."
The vehicle had stopped, and it began to groan as the psychic energy pulse from Arthur's hands. Then, like tearing thick paper, Arthur's own groans of effort were replaced by the metal of the tank screaming as it was torn apart. Once he was done with opening up the vehicle, the looked at the frightened commander inside.
"Hello."
"Что?"
"I said, 'hello', and you should reply properly!"
With lightning fast hand, Arthur snatched up his Melta Pistol and fired it into the commander's body, instantly creating a hole in the tank.
Stepping off the tank, Arthur focused his mind once more, and grabbed the tank. With light moan of a dead creature, the tank was lifted up by his hand. Arthur turned his had and saw Jake and surviving soldiers all looking at him with shock and awe.
"Detective Adams, a gift from me!"
Jake managed to dodge as the BMP-3 was flung at him, and the metal rolled at incredible speed. The other Amerian juggernaut was not so fortunate, while the Russians all managed to evade the attack.
Jake gritted his teeth when he saw Arthur waving at him.
"Detective, I shall see you again, I hope. Please, entertain me better next time, would you please?"
With a horrifyingly cruel laughter, Arthur disappeared in a burst of indigo flames.
Jake later learned that El Sokauron had tracked down the real factory and stole an entire production line of AK-103 rifles, nearly two thousand rifles in stock and all the materials in the storage areas as well as the ammunition factory for the guns' bullets.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Milky Way Galaxy
Ultima Segmentum
Maelstrom Zone
Magog Cluster – Rook System
Rook III – Lunar-class Cruiser 'Zion of Despair'
Upon returning to his private chamber aboard his new flagship 'Zion of Despair', Arthur picked up the numerous items he had created. He had grabbed a crate and placed small golf-ball sized orbs of swirling blue that crackled with energy. They came in clusters like grapes. Each orb was bound to what looked like bones with bits of muscle, and each cluster was made of twenty-five orbs, and he had ten such bunches, giving him two-hundred fifty orbs. These were important items that he would need to turn his little into the Dreadfleet of Diablo, a signature fleet like the Plaguefleet of Nurgle.
Then there were other items, but they were carefully stored in the vault. Commanding his four summoned Chaos Marines to attend him, Arthur moved out of his personal chamber. Yet, for some reason, his steps seemed labored, as if he was carrying enormous burden. By the time he arrived at the main cargo bay, he was breathing heavily and two of his summoned Marines had to support him. Primus and Secondus were surprised to see their master so weakened.
"My lord, what has happened?"
"Silence! My designs and plans are beyond you, and there is no need for your questions."
Primus bit back his lips, but he saw how El Sokauron was weakened to a state that he could not even stand by himself. He shared a glance with Secondus who seemed to think similar thing. Then suddenly, all of the summoned Chaos Marines pointed their weapons at the two.
"What is this?"
Arthur chuckled despite heavy breathes.
"Yes, I am weakened at the moment, but did you think I would be vulnerable? I cannot be killed by the likes of you, especially when I am surrounded by my minions. I do not even have to utter a word to have these kill you. A single thought , and you shall find your flesh torn and soul devoured by me."
Primus and Second backed down.
"We were thinking nothing foul, my lord."
"It is not wise to lie to me, Primus. I am lord of your soul. In life or in death, I still own you, worm!"
Then, Arthur turned to look at the vast empty space before him.
"A new Chaos Temple should be built here."
He had already destroyed the Chaos Temple aboard 'Icon of Despise', and returned the Temple into the skull-form. With a single gesture, the far end of the cargo bay glowed as pentagrams and other foul runes of sorcery were drawn, and into the heart of the pentagram, Arthur threw the skull.
"In matter of hours, my new Temple of Chaos will come into existence, so, let us attend to other matters."
They all moved to the giant elevator that linked several floors of cargo bays. The elevator was normally used to ferry vehicles or large amount of items through the decks, and it was enough to move twelve Astartes. On the floor below, they only saw rats and corpses, and few Cultists cleaning the decks. Arthur took out a ball of energy glowing in purple and crimson from a bag hanging from his belt. He murmured in some dark language for a moment before flinging the orb at the far end of the cargobay. Lightnings of a thousand different shades erupted from the orb until it reached where Arthur wanted them to.
"Witness our new vehicles that my Cultist army shall use."
With a brilliant flare of light, twenty eight Leopard 2A6 tanks, large boxes containing the three thousand shells for the tanks and nearly other boxes filled with three hundred thousand 7.62 mm x 51mm NATO rounds.
"Hmm... this cargo bay is larger than the one upstairs?"
At Arthur's question, Primus quickly got a hold on his sanity and answered his master.
"Yes, my lord. The Rogue Trader had turned large areas to extra cargo space."
"Good. I wondered where I should place these."
Another two orbs were in Arthur's hand, and soon they filled the rest of the cargo bay with sixty nine IAV Strykers and a small mountains of medical supplies.
"I have more, and this floor now lacks space. Move on!"
Arthur seemed stronger now, as if releasing the orbs removed some great burden. The next floor was quickly filled with eight Kawasaki P-1 bombers, eight Lockheed AC-130 gunships and forty-six Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II 'Warthogs'.
"They appear to be atmospheric aerospace vehicles, my lord. They look weak."
"They are weak. However, my Techmarines would see to it that they are worthy enough for the Cultists."
Primus nodded. It was clear that Arthur wanted a proper army of lesser mortals until he could acquire more Chaos Marines.
The next floor was quickly filled with production lines for AK-103 and the production lines for various ammunition that the vehicles and the AK-103.
"These look quite good for autoguns, my lord."
Secondus remarked as he looked over an AK-103.
"They are quite reliable, and though they would be enough for my Cultists, they are still lacking in firepower."
"I see. What of those... Heavy stubbers? They would surely add to the firepower?"
"You are quite acute, Secondus. They would provide extra firepower. Do you also see those boxes?"
"Yes, my lord."
"They contain small missile launchers. They would also provide excellent fire-support for my army."
Indeed, the boxes contained FIM-92 Stingers taken from various Middle-Eastern terrorist groups, India and some from US Army. There were enough to fight a small war, and that pleased Arthur, for his army needed to fight wars.
"What of these boxes, my lord?"
This time, Primus touched one of the black boxes.
"They are sniper rifles. Quite effective if used well by trained operatives."
"I suppose we would be training the Cultists?"
"Yes. I will not have a rabble fighting my name. A rabble cannot create the kind of fear that I wish to spread."
Even as they talked, they were joined by the two Techmarines.
"Techmarines."
"Command us, Lord El Sokauron."
"These vehicles and aircrafts must be upgraded with armor and new weapons. Make them suitable for my Cultists. Also, I have ordered the Colonel and Captain Vilas to select those among their men who could be trained in operating and maintaining these vehicles. Take these shards of souls and consume them, and they shall tell you all you need to know about these vehicles."
Arthur brought out two small pouches that contained tiny crystals with opaque liquid in them.
"They are distilled souls of the pilots and engineers of these things."
"As you command, my lord."
END OF CHAPTER 14
