Chapter 35

Blood & Sorcery

Part I

Night fell upon Kinon city as the first wave of chaos bombers attacked, coming in low and unleashing their payload upon the usually built up residential areas, as the first explosions flashed Commander Bass was suddenly thankful that he had evacuated all of the civilians into bunkers deep below the cityscape, the landscape suddenly came alive with flashes of anti-air fire, illuminating the otherwise pitch black atmosphere with the flashes of cannon, flak and tracer rounds.

At the walls of the city the companies of Imperial Guard saw the small flickering lights of thousands of torches come alive, temporarily illuminating the outer areas as the Chaos army made their presence known, after a moment the air was filled with terrifying, eerie chants for death and blood, amplified a hundredfold by the lesser Chaos sorcerers scattered across the army.

The Imperial Guardsmen sent communications to the artillery batteries in the centre of the city, giving them targeting and position data, within moments the night air came alive with another near deafening set of noises, the sounds of artillery fire, the shells flew overhead with a piercing scream, leaving trails of smoke in their wake and collided with the ground with a near deafening and blinding set of explosions. As the flashes temporarily illuminated the army the Imperial Guards armed with long range lasguns and sniper rifles began to open fire, peppering dozens of charging cultists and traitor guards with their barrage.

From the observation deck of the central spire commander Bass watched the entire engagement, silently congratulating his boys on their reactions, firing without hesitation, the traitors didn't deserve such mercy, betraying the emperor was a near unforgivable act, as the old doctrine said a heretic may be forgiven but a traitor will never be forgiven, they were dogs who deserved to be slaughtered.

A direct hit from one of the cities flak guns collided with a chaos bomber, clipping its wing and sending it spiralling down, billowing smoke and breaking to pieces, it collided with an old office building, crashing straight through and exploding, once again Bass congratulated himself on evacuating the civilians.

Another series of flashes and bangs signalled another bombardment from their artillery batteries, the shells ripping through the air and colliding with the outside ground in a series of flashes and explosions, tearing dozens of cultists and mutants apart. Bass smiled but his smile didn't last long when he saw a series of flashes from the far mountain, there was a piercing series of roars and several near blinding explosions within the city, he spun to see several city blocks go up in flames, the enemy had artillery.

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The defences surrounding the capital city of Kinon were formidable there was no denying that, the walls that surrounded the city were thick adimantium steel, similar for the type used for the armoured hulls of warships, at the top were walkways were lines of Imperial Guard stood, their weapons ready, in spires and turrets were heavy bolter turrets, stubber and mortar emplacements along with the odd anti-air or artillery battery, any army that laid siege to this place was definitely going to take heavy losses, even with artillery and air support.

"What do you see…sorcerer" the blood curdling voice of raptor champion Valrush asked "Are their defences as formidable as we have been told?"

"Worse" Talge replied as his chaos imbued eyes scanned the defences "The defences are deadly, thousands of Imperial Guard man the walls. The interior defences are strategically placed with a myriad of anti-air batteries including AA, flak and launchers, they are scattered with a squad of Imperial Guard at each site, their artillery is all in one place, but very heavily guarded, I'd say about a full company of Imperial Guards with a few commissars and delta level Psykers"

Talge was a sorcerer, one of several dozen apprentices that the Blood Brothers had brought with them, he was considered quite powerful, being Beta level, most of his comrades were either Gamma or above, he turned to look at the Raptor Champion only to narrow his eyes behind his helmet, he had no respect for the World Eaters because they were a legion of Khorne, and Khorne hated sorcerers.

"Raah, when do we attack!!!" one of the Raptors spat from behind.

"Patience" Talge bite back "To go in without knowing an enemy's strength is to throw yourself unto his sword!" he turned back to the city, his eye visors shinning an eerie red from barely contained warp energy "There are sentries on the walls not under attack" Talge informed "This commander is smart…he leaves no blind spots" his eyes darkened as he closed himself off from the warp "To go too high would put you into the anti-air barrages…but to go to low will risk being detected by the sentries" he turned to the Chaos champion "What will you do…servant of Khorne?"

"Fool" Valrush murmured with a terrifyingly insane smile on his scarred face "We are not here to sneak in. We are here to create panic…Chaos raptors. Disperse!"

As one their jump-packs came to life, as one they hovered into the air and as one they scattered into groups and flew through the darkness towards the walls, their laughter and war-cries becoming lost in the maelstrom of weapons fire. As he watched their forms vanish into the darkness Talge brought himself up from his crouch and began mumbling incantations, there was a blur and he vanished, no servant of the blood god was going to outclass him.

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The battle in space had completely degenerated, the Chaos fleet had broken from their lines and came straight at his forces in a desperate attempt to break out of the blockade of warships, in orbit Mynn's strike force of Imperium cruisers, old Ravagers and a single Imperial star destroyer had completely isolated the second Chaos force from the main fleet and were chasing them to open space. Surrounding the cruisers were swarms of starfighters, each engaged in their own dances of death, blooms of explosions and flashes of lasers signalled where these battles were taking place, which were everywhere.

"This Chaos commander is indeed an idiot" Revan murmured as a Retaliator cruiser crumbled under the fire of his battleship, they had since been separated from their duel with the Blood Dragon because of the heavy fighting, the battleship in question was on the other side of the battlefield, its hull charred and cratered, its void shields almost shattered, but no where near out of the fight.

"Forget about him for now" Revan ordered "Turn this ship towards the planets orbit and launch the ground forces, order Mynn's taskforce to do the same once they've dealt with those annoying flies" he then turned to his daughter who was looking at him expectedly "Go and prepare your forces, I will join you shortly"

She nodded before spinning and striding out of the bridge, her two battle-sister bodyguards following her soundlessly, their bolters held firmly against their chests. His daughter was very proud of her legion of battle-sisters, whom she had trained and prepared herself.

As the Reverent Blade turned towards the planet he saw that the star destroyer had already launched its ground troops and walkers towards the surface, he smiled, those AT-AT and artillery walkers would be a big help in the battle to come, with the guidance of two young Jedi and an Eldar warlock they should be able to hold steady until his forces arrived.

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Commissar Quill watched from his vantage point on one of the wall turrets as the Chaos cultists and mutants charged the western gates of the city, and were mercilessly gunned down as a result. He snarled at the traitorous swine and their feeble attempts, it was almost as if they had wanted to die, they continued to run, shouting their blasphemous praises and war-cries, holding blades, guns and explosive devices in their hands.

He drew his bolt pistol and squeezed of several shots at a few of the cultists who reached the walls, burning holes in their heads and chests from the powerful pistol that he held in his hands. As it clicked empty he slammed in a new cartridge and began raining down bolter shells upon them again, smiling fanatically as he did so. Already the ground outside of the walls was littered with hundreds of either dead or dying bodies, smouldering craters and burning wrecks of small vehicles, his men were doing their jobs well.

The sudden squealing sounds of tank tracks brought his attention to the distance, where a row of Chaos predator tanks, coloured in their traitor legion colours were moving forward, firing their main guns upon the walls as they went. He smiled to himself, these tanks were formidable but the wall was made of the strongest and thickest metals in the galaxy, it would take nothing short of a Baneblade's main gun to break through it.

On one of the predators he spotted the unmistakeable shape of a platform over the main turret and standing on that platform was the forms of Chaos sorcerers, two of them all wearing their scroll covered armour and the forms of twisted staffs in their gauntleted hands, he felt an eerie force flowing out through them, making his entire body feel cold.

"Artillery" he called into his communications device "Aim all guns to the following coordinates…thirty nine degrees west, forty degrees north, fire everything you can muster"

A few moments later he heard the unmistakeable booms of artillery weapons and several shells flew well over his head, creating jets of smoke in their wake, they flew across the killing fields towards their intended target. Only they never got there, the shells smashed into what looked like a psychic wall, their explosions causing purplish ripples like stones being thrown into a pond. Quill gritted his teeth, whoever these sorcerers were they weren't your average Psykers, they were on a completely different level from that.

"Commissar they have a Baneblade!!!"

"What!?"

He then looked through his binoculars and searched the line of tanks, finding the unmistakeable form of a Baneblade Super Tank in its centre, it was massive, dwarfing the Chaos Predators on either side, its hull which was once camouflaged green was now coloured in shades of red and gold, its main gun could fire a powerful shell capable of levelling the strongest made building and its side turrets could blast through almost anything.

"How in the name of the Emperor did they get their hands on one of those?" Quill growled, fear rising in his throat, that things main gun could demolish a section of the wall "Aim for that Baneblade, order the artillery to target it and unleash everything they possibly can, I don't care if their gun barrels begin to glow!"

"Sir we can't reach the artillery installations!"

"What!!!"

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The scene was one of spilt blood and insane laughter as the Chaos Raptors descended upon the heavily defended artillery position, their bolt pistols firing and their chain-swords revving, several of them dropped melta bombs upon the nearest batteries, partially destroying them and making them useless. The company of Imperial Guard opened fire upon them but only managed to get a few due to concentrated fire. Once they hit the ground the blood began to flow, they swung their chain-swords like madmen, tearing those close to them to pieces, blood flew in all directions, spattering onto the ground and anyone nearby.

Sergeant Strider drew his power-sword and used it to parry a chain-sword, the chainsaw was on and sparks flew as it tried to dig into his weapons blade, the Chaos Raptor attacking him was unrecognisable due to his nightmarish helmet but his laughter, magnified by his helmets voice box showed just how insane he really was.

The sergeant grabbed his laspistol from its holster and sprayed the marine with red lasfire, but the marines armour was too thick and the bolts simply ricocheted, the traitorous marine took his chance and using his superior strength batted the power-sword away, he then swung his weapon and tore through Striders abdomen, cutting him in two and ending his life. The raptor laughed maniacally and spun on his heel, swinging his chain-sword in a sweeping arc and cut through another Imperial Guardsmen.

"Blood, blood, blood" Valrush screeched as he decapitated a Commissar "Spill more blood!!!"

There was a flash of red warp energy and Sorcerer Talge appeared on the scene, hovering in the air above the battle, his seemingly bottomless eye visors scanning the battle taking place below him, he growled under his breath, the Khorne followers were so entrenched in their need to kill that they had almost completely forgotten about the artillery batteries.

"Pitiful fools" Talge murmured before raising his aging staff towards the nearest artillery battery "Warp technique…Multiple warp fire" he murmured, his staff lit up with dark light and unleashed several powerful blasts of warp fire, they dispersed, each one aimed at one of the artillery weapons, once they hit they exploded, kicking up clouds of smoke and fire, once it cleared the bodies of Imperials and Chaos troopers lay within five meters of each blast, the batteries themselves were now twisted, cratered wrecks, never capable of firing another shot ever again.

The roar of a jump-pack signalled the arrival of Raptor Champion Valrush, his eyes burning with anger and blood lust "Sorcerer" he spat "How dare you interrupt us!"

"The objective was to destroy the artillery" Talge replied dryly "That has just been completed"

"We do not take orders from the likes of you sorcerer" Valrush shouted "Your kind is an inconvenience"

"My patience with you is nearing its end Valrush" Talge replied, his voice still dry but the threat was clear "I lead, you follow…if you don't like that then I will send you back to the eye in pieces"

"Sounds like a threat" Valrush said, his anger reaching boiling point, his chain-sword revving.

"Take it any way you like Raptor" the sorcerer replied, his form suddenly glowing with warp energy "I really couldn't care less"

The roar of an alien machine took their attention to the skies where they could just barely make out the silhouettes of fighters, they had strange solar panel wings and their cockpits were shaped like a ball. As they came closer their roar was almost deafening, they strafed the centre with what looked like green lasfire, peppering several Chaos Raptors and killing them, the sorcerer fired several fireballs at them but it was no good, they were already out of range.

"What in the name of Khorne was that" Valrush shouted angrily.

"I have never seen them before" Talge replied, his voice eerily calm.

He heard several quieter engines and turned to see a small group of what looked like gunships descend upon a block of flats, several white armoured troopers jumped from the ships onto the rooftop, their white suits shaped to look like skeletons, they held the intimidating forms of large weapons in their hands, similar to heavy bolters and missile launchers.

"ARC troopers…deploy!"

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Lord Sorcerer Kahn watched as the Baneblade fired its main cannon, the shell roared across the battlefield and exploded against the side of the wall, the pure power making the targeted section crack and crumble, a second shell from the super tank finished the job, turning the targeted section into a mound of rubble. With a roar of delight the cultists and mutants flowed into the breach, dozens being taken down by surviving Imperial Guards on either side of the destroyed wall, but there were just far too many, the city was breached.

With a wave of his staff the line of tanks began to move forward, following the lead of the much larger Baneblade, who was still firing powerful shells from its main gun, destroying other sections of the so called unbreakable wall, those blasts were being joined by its support tanks, further weakening the already weakened defences, soon the battle will spill out into the city itself.

"Brother" Lord Sorcerer Kane said, his head turning to gaze into the black sky "Do you hear it, something is coming"

Kahn glanced at his brother, in terms of pure power he was stronger but his brothers senses where far more acute to the surrounding areas, when he felt something then it was there. He strained his ears and finally heard it, a whistling roar of alien engines, he looked up to the sky, his chaos imbued eyes seeing it as clear as day, dozens of ball shaped fighters, with solar panel wings were dropping out of the cloud cover with similar, yet far bulkier bombers following them.

"I see them brother" Kahn replied "But I have never seen them before"

"New Imperium fighters?"

"Perhaps…but I doubt it"

The fighters came down low and sprayed a column of traitor guard with green laser fire, tearing through their lines and killing dozens, the bombers followed suit at a higher level, dropping bright blue orbs of energy upon the targeted columns and the vehicles trying to break away, there was several near blinding flashes and once the smoke cleared half of the column had been blown away, the twisted wrecks of their escort vehicles lying beside them. He looked up to the sky to see yet more of the strange fighters and bombers break through the black clouds, diving towards the remnants of their army that hadn't entered the city yet, anti-air vehicles reacted and opened fire, spraying lasfire and shells into the sky.

He saw several aerofighters break from their strafing runs on the city and turn towards the newcomers, engaging them in skirmishes and dogfights, machine gun and laserfire streaked and flashed overhead, they no longer had control of the skies. As his tank entered the city the Lord Sorcerer knew that reinforcements had landed and were on their way, he saw several more unrecognisable craft lift off and fly out of the city, whoever this faction was they were about to make themselves known, and the sorcerer never liked surprises.

Well what can I say, I wanted to try my hand out on a large scale land battle before I started the Chaos Wars and this seemed like the best way to do it, after all I have been neglecting the Revan side of the story for a while. What do you think? Am I any good at this sort of thing?