Chapter 28: The Final Push

Aries managed one last parry before a kick to the face put him on his back and broke his nose. He had lost his helmet to a vertical chop that put a scar across his forehead, and was incapable of keeping his balance because his battery pack had been damaged.

As the Astartes blinked in an attempt to clear his blurring vision, he made out the sight of the Ork leading a group of Equestrian beasts into battle against the abomination that was once Lord Tirek.

The Wraks accompanying the monster met them first, Greenskin chopped off one's arm and claimed its cleaver alongside his ax. Using it to bisect another Wrak as he continued to charge Tirek, bellowing his warcry as he went.

The Klaivex's boot slamming into his chest refocused the War Hound's attention. The xeno raised its blade...and was enveloped in a cyan energy wave.

Aries turned to the exhausted but recovering form of Starlight Glimmer. She had removed the alien's demi-klaive from her stomach and had healed the wound as Aries had fought, but was nonetheless on the verge of passing out as she limped towards the Astartes. "I...I thi...think we're done here."

Aries' reply was slowly rising to his feet. In spite of his numerous injuries, the loss of one arm, and his body bearing the full weight of his Power Armor minus the helmet, he was a Space Marine, and only in death does duty end.

"Ar-are you crazy!? What can you even do in your staaa..." Starlight paled midsentence as she stared at something behind Aries. The War Hound turned to find the Klaivex still very much alive, though his armor had all but shattered, and his demi-klaive no longer possessed a functioning Power Field.

Aries didn't hesitate, he reignited Warp Eater and charged. The Klaivex, a Drukhari to the bone, turned and fled from the vengeful Space Marine.

Fune was gravely injured, and knew he had no hope at slaying the Mon'Keigh as he was. But he knew he could outrun him.

The slaughter was slowing. Enough beasts had been killed or set free that the Equestrians could focus their efforts on the Dark Eldar. Fune would've sounded the retreat long ago, but had wanted to kill the Space Marine first.

Better late than never. He thought to himself as he sprinted towards Praxis' reinforcements. He didn't see the haemonculus, but had greater concerns...more than he knew.

A sharp pain cut into Fune's leg and the Klaivex toppled to the ground. He looked to the source of his pain and his other demi-klaive, still faintly shrouded with the dimming glow of the quadrupedal Psyker's magic.

A foreboding storm of thunderous footfalls told him that the Astartes was closing in behind him. Now fearing for his life, Fune desperately struggled to stand and called out for aid.

A single Wych took notice, the wretched fiend was amused by the Klaivex's strife, but nonetheless moved to engage the Space Marine while Fune began a limping run.

His hope of escape died as a golden energy beam struck the Wych before she could attack the human. Fune looked to the beam's source to find a fresh wave of enemy reinforcements lead by two most impressive specimens he had seen...and the Astartes closing the gap.

Refusing to die a coward when he knew his death was certain, Fune howled in outrage and drew the demi-klaive from his leg, activating its Power Field.

The Klaivex managed to block the first blow, but the momentum of his opponent pushed through his guard anyway. The last thing his eyes saw was the bleeding stump between his shoulders.

Elsewhere

Discord had never felt so powerless in all his life. He had been helping Smoulder tend to the Dragon eggs when the battle erupted. Now, all he could manage to do was put a hefty stick between himself and whatever monsters were attacking him.

Smoulder embraced her maternal instincts, ferociously defending the helpless eggs from all would be attackers with great gales of fire. Unfortunately, the maddened beasts and the Wraks that came after were robbed of any sense of self-preservation and rampaged through the flames. What once were hundreds of eggs were now barely a dozen as the two eggsitters desperately fought for survival.

Discord had recognized the crude implants easily enough, and had done his fair share of setting the beasts free. But there was little he could do against the Wraks except run for his life and hope Smoulder would save him again.

The battle had worn the mortal Draconequus ragged. It had been countless millennia since he had been so exhausted, so he wasn't too shocked when he finally lost his footing and fell to the ground so much as he was surprised he had lasted this long.

A Wrak stepped on him and raised a crude cleaver. Smoulder was on the other side of the egg clutch fighting off two Wraks at once, so all Discord could do was throw his arms between him and his death.

A red streak slammed into the Wrak and sent it flying off of Discord. The lord of Chaos looked to his savior and found Dragon Lord Garble offering his talon.

Discord accepted the offer and was pulled to his feet. "How you non-immortals managed to last this long, I will never know."

Garble didn't waste energy on a reply, he simply charged into one the Wraks fighting his sister.

Several other Dragons followed, many enraged and grief-stricken at how few eggs were left. Discord was confident nothing else would threaten him if he stayed this close.

Of course, that confidence died when he beheld the haunting sight of Tirek. He and the majority of the Wraks were fighting a group of animals led by Greenskin. The Ork in question was being held in one of Tirek's overgrown arms.

Tirek's scorpion stinger struck at the Ork, but his Choppa intercepted it and chopped it off, causing corrosive purple poison to rain down on the Ork's scarred face, as well as Tirek's arm and shoulder.

The acidic poison melted the flesh of both creatures. While Tirek didn't let go of his prey, he did howl in pain. Greenskin however barely gritted his teeth. "Wut? First Toime?"

Discord snorted at the Orks comment, but his amusement disappeared when Tirek threw the Ork towards himself and the Dragons. He didn't land anywhere near the eggs, but Discord knew what came next.

Sure enough, Tirek slithered towards them with the Hydra's tail that made up the back half of his lower. Charging forward at breakneck speed and crushing a Manticore under his weight.

"INCOMING!!!" Discord shouted while pointing towards to alert the Dragons. Knowing that he would be no help in this fight, the draconequus dashed towards the Dragon eggs and gathered them up in his talon and paw before making a run for it.

Greenskin however was undeterred and shook off his landing before charging in again. "WAAAGH!"

Garble also saw fit to engage the abomination. He and half a dozen other Dragons enflamed Tirek's upper body, but as it was with the Wraks, the pain of burning meant nothing to Tirek except to draw his attention.

The large monster held no weapons, and could not think to absorb the energy of the Dragons, but he was capable of using his own magic and blasting two of the Dragons out of the sky while grabbing a third and bringing it close enough for his snake head to bite it.

The serpent's venom was just as potent as the scorpion tail's, and the Dragon could only scream in agony as his veins burned and opened within his body, allowing the venom to spread to his muscles and organs.

Tirek threw the dying Dragon into another. At this point, Greenskin had closed the gap. The Ork was kunning enough not to just start hacking, and ran around behind the monster to climb atop the base of his tail.

Tirek focused on the more infuriating Dragons than the itchy sensation of a creature climbing to stand on the base of his tail. He paid for it when Greenskin brought his Choppa down directly on the monster's spine where the Hydra tail was connected to his equine body.

The first chop got his attention, the second chop spurred him to action. He started twisting his body in an effort to reach the Ork, but his large arms that could hold Greenskin in one hand were too long and not flexible enough to reach him.

A third strike chipped the ax head, and shattered the head that Greenskin had already chipped in his first fight with Tirek, and Greenskin needed one more good chop to pull this off.

Tirek lowered his body so his hooves touched the ground and quickly bucked his serpentine body. Greenskin stumbled and had to grab on to keep from falling, but this allowed Tirek to finally reach him.

Garble flew in and slammed into the monster's chest before looking up and spewing a wave of flames directly into his face.

Greenskin seized the moment to climb back up and bring his Choppa down with all his strength.

The Choppa cut all the way through Tirek's spine and broke off into three pieces. Tirek's serpentine tail twitched and spasmed, but then laid still.

Greenskin quickly removed himself from the howling beast and grabbed the cleaver of a dead Wrak. Tirek reached for him and Greenskin embedded the blade between the thumb and index finger, severing the bones of his index and middle fingers and pushing the offending appendage away so he could put some distance between them long for him to arm himself again.

A Wrak charged him and swung its cleaver at his head. Greenskin ducked under the blow and tackled the monster. Putting his forearms behind its knees and pulling it off its feet before jumping on its chest.

The weight of the Ork crushed its ribs and found Greenskin having to pull his gore-covered boots out of its chest before taking its cleaver and chopping off its head.

The Ork then turned back to Tirek, who had been fighting the Dragons this whole time. "WAAAGH!"

Tirek blasted the charging Ork, but his Amulet of Might protected him from the monster's magic, not that Tirek was capable of understanding this and trying a different strategy.

Greenskin ran up to the mutilated Centaur and cut off one of the feline paws that had been added to his body. He tried to slap the Ork with his previously wounded hand. Greenskin moved to the right and held his blade out. The outstretched ring and pinkie fingers slammed into the blade and were cut in half.

Garble landed atop Tirek's shoulders and sank his teeth into the Centaur's neck. Tirek tried to grap him with his other hand, but stopped when he felt Greenskin chop into his back again.

With the spine already severed, and a Wrak's cleaver proving sharper than the Griffin forged battle ax, Greenskin's blows cut deeper and deeper. Tirek thrashed around and tried desperately to stop the addition to his agony, but his pain would soon end.

Greenskin struck the earth beneath the monster's belly and moved forward to cut further across the wide waist of his foe while Garble continued to rip chunks out of his neck.

Finally, Greenskin succeeded in removing the Hyrda's tail from Tirek's body. His two remaining equine legs managed to drag him forward all of one meter before he fell to his side. Greenskin lopped off the other added paw and began chopping him in half once more. Other Dragons added their teeth to the savage butchery that could only be called a mercy killing for this one type of victim, as it was not uncommon for haemonculi to move a subject's brain or add backups in order to ensure it survived, suffered, and fought for as long as possible.

Eventually, Tirek stopped moving. Satisfied that he was no longer a threat, the Dragons moved on the surviving Wraks.

Elsewhere

Belatrixx had fled the moment she saw the fresh wave of reinforcements. These foolish Mon'Keigh thought they had won the day, but they would learn soon enough.

Of course that idiot Fune had gotten himself killed by the Astartes, and Khaine only knew what happened to Praxis, but if they were weak enough to die here, then good riddance.

The Wych dodged a green bolt of lightning. The little queen was determined to finish their dance. Oh, it was tempting to linger and let her, but the others had already started to flee and Belatrixx was gravely outnumbered. Perhaps if the little queen survived what was coming, Belatrixx could convince Clarissa to let her keep it.

She chased the other fleeing Drukhari through the Everfree Forest to the designated exfil sight. The Raiders that survived the distraction and three others kept in reserve would be waiting to return them to the Flayer of Will. This would soon be over.

Just as she broke through the foliage and saw the waiting Raiders, she heard the telltale sign of the little queen transforming. Evidently, she had seen the ships and was preparing to do something drastic.

A great shadow loomed over the Wych in the unmistakable shape of a larger Dragon. She was prepared to dodge its fire breath, but the little queen spewed out the ahead of her and cut off her escape.

The Wych darted to the side but quickly found herself surrounded in a circle of fire with the little queen landing between the Wych and the Raiders. "You're not going anywhere!"

A casual glance over the insect's shoulder revealed that the flames had quickly died down to below knee height. Belatrixx wouldn't even have to try to jump over it.

The Wych unfurled her Razorflail and charged, the little queen shot forward to meet her. Belatrixx knew that there were only two outcomes, either the queen dodged her initial attack and allowed her to flee. Or more deliciously, Belatrixx cut the bug's legs off and took just enough time to turn her to face the Raiders so she could watch Belatrixx escape.

A delightful thought, but the little queen would never be stupid enough not to dodge...or so she thought.

The two warriors met. Belatrixx lashed out at Chrysalis' legs, and Chrysalis leaped...forward.

The action cost her a rear hoof, but her forward momentum carried her directly into Belatrixx...horn first.

The Wych coughed blood and stared dumbstruck at the horn piercing her below the ribcage. Chrysalis thrusted upward to put her horn as close to Belatrixx's heart as she could, and then shot as much lightning into her as possible.

In spite of her injured back leg, Chrysalis reared up and displayed the dying Wych for all to see as green lightning tore through her being, burning off the crude top made from Cozy Glow's flanks, scorching her hair, and spider webbing burn marks all over her spasming body.

When Chrysalis' front hooves touched the ground again, she flung her head to dislodge the Wych's corpse and spat on her before limping away.

She heard the Drukhari beginning to take off. Good, let them leave. Let them return to their Dark City and bring with them the tale of the Changeling Queen Chrysalis. Chrysalis smiled at the thought of having taught these fiends to respect her...but that smile quickly vanished when she realized the Raiders weren't leaving just yet.

Author's Note:

And we are almost done. I picture two chapters remaining by this point. Though it is possible I'll have to stretch that to three.

Additionally, the technical difficulties have been worked out, and I start work Monday. So if there's a bit of a pause between this chapter and the next, you'll know why.

Having said that, I am going to start writing the next chapter immediately after posting this because I have been looking forward to this for averylong time.

That's all I got for now, see you all next time.