Incantator Congressus Chapter 39
Terrible cries filled the Fulcrum as battle was joined. Harbinger's immense girth slamming into the ground and making the world shake like a newborn colt. Inhuman roars split the air and lashing tendrils whipped everywhere as the Daemon thrashed wildly and gnashed the air with razor fangs. Carelessly Harbinger tore across the stone circle, toppling menhirs and collapsing standing stones without a qualm, seemingly unbothered by the damage he was wrecking. As he crashed to and fro clawed tentacles lashed wide, churning the ground as a choking miasma filled the air with shimmering bile.
Set against that monster six Librarians fought for their lives. Weapons charged with psychic power they struck hard and fast, evading whipping tendrils to tear and gouge, then dart away before being crushed bulk the rolling bulk. Arvael was in the thick of it, Force-Morningstar in one hand, kine-shield braced on his other wrist. The presence of the Daemon made him sick, its miasma choking his throat and making his eyes water. His ears ached with the subsonic roar of its voice, his legs trembled from the vibrations of its motion and his psychic sense repelled by the rancid taint of the Warp's foulest pollution. He could barely see what he was striking at, a wall of heaving flesh thicker than he was tall. By comparison the Librarians were flies, tiny insects harassing a grox, but they could bite.
Arvael fought off thrashing tendrils as he closed upon the tail of Harbinger. Thick cords battered at his frame, too many to fend off with his Kine-shield alone. His bones ached with every impact and yet he forged on, determined to land a telling blow. His morningstar was a blur of shining light, swung left and right and left again across his body. With every touch his telekinetic power blew tendrils aside, to bleed ethereal blood. His vision was filled with writhing limbs and his ears felt like they were packed with cotton wool but he pressed deeper and deeper, seeking a vulnerable spot.
The forest of limbs suddenly parted and he saw the silky-smooth length of the Daemon. With an elated cry he pounced, sending the crystal head of his weapon towards the tiny opening with all his speed and strength. He felt an impact ring up his arm as power drained from his mind and he beheld a great crater of flesh blown away, blasting an oozing hole into the side of the snake-body. His hearts soared at the sight, but then the Daemon shifted and its bulk rolled over, pressing the wound into the dirt and leaving unbroken skin where it had been. Harbinger was too big, Arvael saw with dismay, the wounds inflicted were not nearly enough to disable it, let alone kill. The Librarians couldn't dream to do enough damage to stop Harbinger.
His moment of hesitancy cost him dear. A lashing tendril swung about and smote him in the chest, sending him flying high. The wind was knocked out of Arvael as he soared away, ground rushing below as his head rang. His flight was cut short as he crashed into a menhir, bouncing off to sprawl in the dirt. Arvael's chest throbbed in agony and the iron taste of blood filled his mouth but he forced his head up and saw the others battling on.
Jhur was in the midst of the Daemon's tendrils, spear flashing as he cut and hacked. Surrounded on all sides he was surely doomed yet his speed saw him fend off countless assaults, meeting every attack with his darting speartip and not one appendage touched his armour. Sythah by comparison was tackling one attack at a time. He grasped each tendril in his bare hands it began to wither and rot, crumbling to dust under the entropic influence of his mind. Ashuay was spewing twin streams of fire from his palms, waving high to torch grasping limbs and leave only blackened stumps. Imix fought with staff in hand, trailing dark motes behind that obscured all sight. Shooting limbs tried to grab him but somehow he was never where he should be. No matter how many came for him, no matter where they struck he was somehow always where they were not.
Fiercely they fought and yet Chamat seemed to be struggling. His blunt hammer had not the reach to fend off all attacks and his defence was being overwhelmed. A tendril went low and ensnared his leg and suddenly he was hoisted aloft, dangled upside down like a sack of flour as he cried out in distress. Arvael leapt to his feet to intervene but before he could move a hundred tendrils converged, wrapping themselves around Chamat's form. The Steel Confessor disappeared into a cocoon of pulsing flesh, which swiftly began to contract like a hydraulic vice. All seemed lost but then the tendrils began to blackened, charring in moments and erupting black smoke like a smouldering fire. From the cocoon emerged Chamat, his armour blazing as a forge crucible, scalding hot and glowing with furnace heat. The tendrils were forced to drop him and Chamat hit the dirt to roll over, battered but alive, for now.
Fierce and swift did the fight rage and yet Harbinger was not done and shrieked, "Insects! Your pathetic powers are no match for the infinite might of Chaos!" The Daemon reared high, taking his squid-like head into the sky then he dove. The ground shook wildly as he smashed down, knocking all off-balance and then he drove forward, smashing aside foes like a freight train. Librarians went flying, arms and legs flung wide as Harbinger careened through their midst, thundering past with effortless ease. Arvael had barely gained his feet when Harbinger rumbled by, one thick tentacle slamming into the menhir to topple it over. Only a desperate dive to the side saved him from being crushed, hitting the mud and rolling over to see the Daemon's tail swish past.
He found himself laying next to Sythah and Chamat, who spat, "Rust in the cog, we barely scratched it!"
"Harbinger's channelling warp-power in a torrent," Arvael gasped, "That frail host can't sustain this change for long. Maybe we don't have to beat him, merely outlast the host."
"Fool," Sythah spat, "That will take hours, we won't last five minutes!"
"What do you suggest then?!" Chamat spat.
Arvael cast his gaze about and called, "Imix, get to Echeb! Free Echeb, his power may tip the scales in our favour."
"To unwind time takes focus and discipline," Imix protested.
"You worry about Echeb, we'll buy you time!" Arvael howled.
Imix broke off but Harbinger had reached the far end of the clearing and was turning that immense bulk about. With scant seconds to act Arvael reached out with his mind, grabbing one of the fallen menhirs. The crystal column was twice his height and broader than a tree and he thought to use it as a spear, but its density resisted him. Heavy, so very heavy, more weight than he could manage. Picking up a Space Marine was one thing, but this block weighed more than a Land Raider.
Sweat coated Arvael's brow and his teeth creaked, so hard did he clench his jaw, as he strained, "Too... heavy... can't..."
"Let me help!" Chamat cried, leaping to the pillar to lay his hands upon it.
Suddenly all weight vanished, the crystal becoming as light as a feather. Arvael nearly stumbled as the doughty stone lifted away, held aloft by the power of his mind alone. Yet he had no time to marvel for Harbinger had completed his turn and was coming back. With a mental heave Arvael hurled the menhir, blunt tip spinning like a fat arrow from a bow. Weight had been neutralised but it still held mass and inertia, enough to wound even this monster. It struck Harbinger in the left cheek, pulping eyes and driving deep into the blubbery face. Harbinger yowled he came to halt, stone pillar sticking out of the nightmarish face as lurid blood gushed.
"This is our chance, hit it with everything you've got!" Jhur cried as he threw his spear with all his might. It struck the other cheek and drove deep, piercing another eye and drawing a trickle of blood. Ashuay clasped his hands together and a flaming sphere grew about them, crackling loudly as he hurled it towards the Daemon. Trailing flames it shot across the distance and seared a tentacle away. Sythah lifted his arms high and an ethereal skull formed between his palms, purple in hue and covered in wispy smoke. He drew back his arm then threw it like a grenade and when it touched Daemonic flesh it burst, spilling gases that chewed away skin and muscle like acid. Arvael was not done either, working together he and Chamat floated another menhir and sent it spinning into Harbinger's bulky torso, then a third and a fourth.
Harbinger roared as he was beset most cruelly and yet the Daemon had strength enough to bellow, "Cretins, did you think assuming this form impaired my mastery of magic?!" The snake-body reared high, bleeding but unbroken, as Harbinger threw its head high and screamed inhumanly. The sky responded and a blazing bolt of lightning shot from nowhere. It struck the ground near Arvael and he was sent spinning, corposant covering him head to toe as his nerves screamed in torment. Another bolt followed and another, throwing the Librarians away like rag-dolls and where the bolts touched soil the ground mutated, maggots with eyes and hands that walked like spiders and crawling things with human faces skittering away to eke out unlives of misery.
More and more lightning speared from on high, faster and more ferocious than an artillery barrage. Flat on his back Arvael conjured a Kine-shield overhead as Harbinger bellowed, "I am avarice and greed and betrayal!"
Jhur rolled under his shield and spat, "Where's Imix and Echeb?!"
"We haven't the time to look," Arvael hissed as a lightning bolt bounced off his shield, making his nerves scream in torment.
"I am the death of worlds; I shall outlive the universe itself!" Harbinger thundered.
"There's no stopping it," Jhur yowled.
"I am boundless, timeless, the mere thought of me is forever!" Harbinger bellowed into the heavens.
"Can't hold on for much longer..." Arvael gasped as more lightning fell.
"In the treacherous hearts of men I rule supreme!" Harbinger roared, "So long as man covets, I shall exist!"
"I'd give my right nut for him to shut up!" Jhur spat.
"Only one chance left..." Arvael exhaled.
As the next bolt fell Arvael dropped his shield and reached out to embrace it. Time slowed in his eye and he witnessed the dance of electrons, arcing current and motive force flowing. With only an instant to act he grabbed the stream and drew it to him, letting the current flow over his plate, then he redirected it away. Lightning shot from his palm, blazing across the field to earth itself in Harbinger's form. The Daemon screamed as he was smote by his own power and Harbinger flinched away, crying in pain.
Quick as a flash the Librarians were on their feet and as one they cried, "Charge!" Arvael threw himself at the foe, drawing the last gasps of his power as they closed. He swung hard and was rewarded with a chunk of flesh being blown away. The others piled in, Jhur ripping his spear free to hack and slash. With desperate fury and stubborn defiance the Librarians piled in, spending the last of their strength in an effort to break the Daemon. Arvael struck over and over, feeling the ache in every muscle and the draining of his mind's strength as he fought. Already he had expended more psychic power than he ever had before yet he drove on, drawing on reserves of will he had not known he owned. The Daemon was reeling, they were holding it at bay and for a moment he dared to imagine they could beat it, but his dream was short-lived indeed.
Harbinger rallied and the serpentine body undulated, crashing about without restraint. All were knocked aside and Arvael stumbled, staggering backwards in an effort to keep upright. Everyone was thrown off-balance and in that moment Harbinger struck back. A tentacle shot down, tipped with a diamond-hard claw, and it drove into Jhur's back with a crack of ceramite and the wet squelch of blood. Jhur froze in shock, spine violated as the tentacle heaved him from the ground.
Arvael's jaw fell and he reached out a hand but it was too late. Harbinger rose far above them, holding Jhur aloft with ease, then he lifted the Librarian into the sky before plunging his foe into the black maw that split his face. Jhur was eaten alive, body consumed utterly, flesh to be shredded by gnashing teeth and bones dissolved by Daemonic acids, reducing the proud Marine to nothing. Without even a final cry of defiance Jhur was gone, his life ended by the filth of Chaos. Arvael could barely grasp it, the Librarian had been so bold, so fierce and so filled with life, it seemed impossible for Jhur to die, and yet he was gone forevermore.
Arvael's hearts turned to stone but Harbinger laughed mockingly, "Such a sweet morsel and five more to go! You all shall suffer a similar fate. Who shall be next..." Arvael could only look up with horror as Harbinger's many eyes fixed upon him and he knew who would be the next victim. The Daemon's shadow blotted out the sky as his hand tightened on his weapon and he dedicated his final breath to the Emperor, preparing to go out fighting.