Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long to update, everyone. Been really busy with completing my BA in creative writing and being marred in some epic level writer's block. But finally here it is. Enjoy!

With a roar and a swipe of her hands Karmen sent the last few remaining resurrected flying off the ledge with her telekinesis and falling into the depths of the hill with flailing limbs. Each one was different in one way or another but Karmen had lost the ability to care about the differences. Everyone of them were now just the Lost and the Damned.

'Karmen,' said Tathe. 'Shield up, please. We are about to descend into a hell scape beyond your imaginings.'

She couldn't help frown, she was a psyker. She had looked into the immaterium itself, her 'imaginings' could far exceed anything of his. But she realised something, he probably meant himself in that too.

Karmen raised the shield and a few seconds later the front line of the Imperial advance stepped over ledge.

If it wasn't for Karmen's kine shield, they would've been torn to slivers by the massed upon massed gun fire. It made Karmen stumble, and clench her teeth as fighting the combined force as it almost overwhelmed her shield and her will. Below, the Resurrected and daemons swarmed all through out the depths, swarmed so thick there was almost no sign of the blood sands beneath their feet. Down, down down, to the base of the tower for almost half a mile.

It was ridiculous, beyond ridiculous there was no way they could fight their way through that! Tathe was right, damn him. Karmen's mind reeled, it almost made her drop the shield but around her the men and women of the Imperial Guard didn't hesitate as they fired back, cutting down swathes of countless Resurrected. Karmen's shield couldn't protect even a tenth of them, once they advanced down there they would be surrounded and slaughtered. Then join the ranks of their enemies.

She'd been considering why this was for quite some time now, and she came to the conclusion...the Blood god was killing them and resurrecting them so they can become more and more experienced in battle, so they can leave Omnartus to make war against the Imperium of Mankind. That was why the Imperials and cultists fought each other before they all began fighting the loyalists. And until every soldier on Omnartus joined him the warp storm would trap them here.

That was Karmen's theory, anyway. It seemed a logical one, but that was the problem, the stuff of chaos was far from logical. It could just be a game or something for all she knew.

Perhaps the Space Marine was right, frig the bastard.

The loyalists flooded down the hill, laying down shots, many fired from the hip as it was impossible to miss. Hayden stepped to advance alongside Karmen and Tathe, using his long las to head shot Blood Letter after Blood Letter as they charged up the hill. Him and the other snipers, and many of the Sovrithans took down others with disciplined, massed volleys. Despite the range. Yet again Karmen couldn't help be impressed with their marksmanship. The Sovrithans were truly first class line infantry. Despite knowing how many of her brothers and sisters had died, she couldn't help be glad the Sovrithans had been in reserve until this last push.

But not even Attelus Kaltos, the greatest swordsman Karmen knew a Space Marine and the Guncutter's firepower could make much of a difference against that horde.

She just prayed that Attelus and the others could get here in time.

Or even get here at all.

So they descended and descended and Tathe led from the front but ironically that placed him amongst the safest. The Karmen woman wasn't the most powerful psyker he had ever seen, having seen those from the perfidious Eldar, the Space Marine Librarians and the horrid mutants serving the arch enemy. But she was easily among the most skilled, even in his, thankfully, ignorant opinion. He made damn sure to make a mental note to thank her if they lived through this, if it wasn't for her, many more of his men would be dead. If it wasn't for her he'd most likely be dead too.

Her shield was finite and only able to protect a radius of a few metres so all around him more and more guardsmen writhed and fell and died. They couldn't bring the medicae truck down with them, so the injured were either fighting with the able bodied or being carried on stretchers at the epicentre of the advance.

According to the reports from the rearguard, the enemy had melted away. Which concerned Tathe as much as it relieved him. Concerned him as it could mean the enemy were preparing traps for them or just so the Resurrected could place as many bodies between them and the tower as possible, which was a tactic beneath his father's prowess and stunk of the basest of desperation. And relieved him as the rear guard had bore the worst of the casualties and it meant the advance would be able to take advantage of the high ground while it lasted. Tathe was tempted to have the rearguard stay at the top of the hill and lay down cover fire, but their diminished numbers might allow them to be overwhelmed by an attack from the rear, which was much too likely with the enemy's ability to appear out of nowhere.

Tathe had abandoned too many men already, if they stayed together then it might mean there will be more to secure, then hold the tower or at least he hoped.

Two cultists managed to somehow break through the barrage of las and came straight for Tathe. One held a huge double head axe, the other a chainsword. Tathe parried aside the axe as it fell for his head, it opened the cultist up for Tathe's short, almost tender slash across his stomach. The chainsword swung for Tathe's neck, but he put a las bolt through the cultist's chin and out the top of his skull. A monster of a guardsman, a once-officer of the Sovrithans, came for Dellenger drawing back a chainsword for a horizontal swing. The scout didn't even need to block or parry as the butt of his lasgun broke the Resurrected's chin, then Dellenger reversed the blow to plunge his bayonet into the officer's throat. Then went back to racking las fire through the horde from the hip. Tathe's jaw clenched at the scout's flagrant misuse of automatic fire.

But more and more cultists were getting further and further up the hill. As did their daemonic allies. Tathe didn't need to order his men to concentrate their fire on the Bloodletters and neither did Dantian, apparently. But the cultists kept onward, flourishing their eclectic collection of weapons and shrieking their psychotic snarls.

The Imperials on the front already had bayonets fixed and with a crashing roar which Tathe was so desensitised to now, met the cultist's charge.

Laughing, Tathe decapitated the first cultist and everywhere beside and behind came the cries of 'For the Emperor!' 'For Elbyra!' 'For Sovrith!' And many others, morale was on an all time high, for a reason that Tathe could only speculate upon.

For Emperor only knew how long, everything was just a blur of combat, a press of pushing bodies and Tathe was filled with instinct. His sword slew and slew as it cut and thrust and stabbed and slashed, while his laspistol blasted over and over again. And with every single kill both Tathe

The high ground lent the Imperials a huge advantage as the rear echelon thinned the ranks with a rain of las.

No daemons made it into close combat.

Eventually, the packed mass of cultists seemed to melt away. Tathe was so in it, it took him a good few seconds to realise it.

Tathe gasping, glanced about, finding that all of the Inquisition agents were alive and so was Dellenger and Dantian but many more familiar faces were gone. He looked forwards and found they'd advanced at least fifty metres toward the tower as many more Resurrected were running at them.

Tathe raised his sword to the sky and let out a roar of triumph. This wasn't even a victory but it was enough for now. The Imperials joined in with Tathe bellowing down at Resurrected, snarling motto's, the Velrosian 1st's 'First among equals!' being the most prolific, some soldiers even began smashing their fists against their flak armoured chests.

The ferocity even gave the Resurrected pause and by the Emperor it sent a chill of thrill through Tathe. Somewhere within himself something said this was out of character for the Elbyran contingent, that they were normally in stoic, disciplined quietness. That this maybe them finally giving into the corruption and bloodlust which ruled their enemy even in death. But he didn't care any more and he suspected, that he couldn't.

It was then that a roar erupted from the base of the tower, a roar which seemed made of aeons upon aeons of bloodlust and didn't just eclipse the Imperial's bellows, but murdered them in their throats.

The Resurrected started screaming alongside the tower

Tathe and Dellenger shared a look. His eyes were wide with terror, an uncharacteristic show of emotion from the scout. They knew that sound and so did many within the contingent.

The huge adamantium doors into the tower opened and an at least twelve metre tall behemoth stepped onto the blood sands. Its corded arms were as thick as the widths of the hulls of tanks and it's skinless wings were longer than it was tall, as was it's huge double headed axe it kept clenched in a fist the size of man. Its snout was like a permanently enraged, sneering canine, and its long tongue slabbered and slobbered out its mouth like it had a life of its own. Its skin and armour seemed made of the red of the centre of suns, the red of the thickest gore imaginable.

Several men froze, and the stench of shit hit Tathe's nose. Some screamed, some even dropped their weapons and turned and ran. Some dropped to their knees and buried their faces in the blood sands, two even shot themselves with their lasguns.

In less than a split second his men's high morale sapped away and broke into nothingness.

The Resurrected below brandished their weapons and laughed and started up the hill with almost inhuman speed.

'No,' said Tathe. 'No! No! No!'

Then there was another roar, no several roars which quickly converged into one shrieking cacophony. It came from the sky behind them.

Tathe turned to Dellenger who met his gaze.

'Lightnings,' said the scout. 'Three of them, coming in from the west, on a bombing run. Will be on us in less than half a minute.'

Even when embroiled in utter terror Dellenger's senses were sharper than any human Tathe had ever known.

Tathe cursed and old Velrosian curse and turned back to the Bloodthirster. Its huge, skinless wings were beating and making it lift off the ground despite its wings being only bone.

'Karmen!' Tathe cried. 'Can you do something about this daemon?'

'I cannot. It is taking every ounce of my will to merely keep this kine shield up.'

The Bloodthirster kept rising and rising, far faster than any creature with wings had any right to fly, it'd risen so high it was almost above the tip of the tower.

'Frig!' said Tathe, shaking himself back into reality. 'Everyone back in line! We-'

'Sir,' said Vark as he held Tathe the vox horn.

'What in hell's teeth is it, frig you?' snapped Tathe.

'It's Attelus,' said the throne agent.

'Where have you been?' roared Tathe's voice through the cockpit vox speaker. 'We have a greater daemon of Khorne on us!'

'W-we see it,' said Attelus, his gaze locked on the daemon through the cockpit's window, as they dove down toward the battlefield. 'A-and we're about to take care of your bomber problem. Darrance?'

Darrance answer was three blasts of the lascannon, which sent each daemonic ship exploding and spinning then to the ground and smashing through the hordes of Resurrected like comets created from fire.

'Great thank you,' said Tathe, the exasperation in his voice seemed almost like sarcasm. 'Now can you please send that daemon back into the damned warp, please?'

'We'll find a way,' said Attelus and he cut the communication while the commissar was in the midst of shouting his first syllable.

Then an idea hit Attelus so hard it knocked him back to some semblance of sanity and he turned to Adelana. 'I need you to stay here in the ship.'

'What? Why?'

'Because if the daemons and Resurrected decide to teleport in here again Darrance will need all the

help he can get.'

'You need not worry about them getting in here again,' said Kalakor as he seemed to materialise in the entrance way. Attelus didn't even flinch, now used to the Space Marine's ability to seemingly appear out of no where.

'How do you know that?' said Attelus.

'Call it...instinct,' said the Space Marine, smirking his sneering smirk.

'You do know, that I don't trust you,' said Attelus.

Kalakor just shrugged.

'So what in the Emperor's name are we going to do with that daemon?' Darrance almost screamed.

'I need you to get above it,' said Attelus as he unclasped his safety belt and stood.

'What?' said everyone, even Kalakor.

It was then the huge daemon seemed to see them and with a roar which somehow penetrated through the hull began to fly toward the Guncutter.

'Frig frig frig,' Darrance cried as he opened fire lascannon and bolter round alike smashed into it, sending it writhing and reeling but it seemed far, far, from dead.

'Just do it, damn you. Okay? Kalakor, I'd like you to accompany me to the storage bay, please,' said Attelus.

Kalakor's black eyes narrowed. 'Hmm alright.'

Attelus started out of the cockpit, but Adelana followed.

'You aren't doing something insane, are you?' she said.

'It's as they say, insane times call for insane measures.'

'What? No one has ever said that.'

'Hmm yes, you're right. I'd just made that up, I think. But it still fits, I think.'

She stopped as they were starting down the stairs, pursing her full lips, hunched her shoulders and let out a frustrated growl. 'I can't do anything to persuade you otherwise?'

'Frig no, sorry, Adelana.'

'Okay just don't get killed, okay?'

'I'll try.'

Adelana studied him for a few seconds before shrugging and turning back toward the cockpit, apparently satisfied.

Attelus and Kalakor moved on.

'You are not having the female stay here to protect her, are you?' said Kalakor.

'No.'

Kalakor grinned. 'You are aware that I do not trust you either, right?'

Attelus shrugged. 'Fair enough, just please trust me in this.'

'Oh I will on this,' said Kalakor. 'I think I have a good idea what you are planning.'

'You do, do you?'

'Indeed so,' said Kalakor. 'And if I am correct, the female was right. It is completely and utterly insane. And I frigging love it.'