Noctem Oritur Chapter 45
The battle paused for an instant, as the Berserkers struggled to understand how the situation had changed, then before anyone could move Ajax's assault canon fired. The barrel blurred and a tongue of fire erupted as he unleashed his fury. At point blank range the tsunami of rounds flew forth and at such proximity not one missed. The first Berserker hit was sawed in half and he fell to the ground in two gory chunks of flesh. Ajax panned his canon around left and right and Berserkers were blown off their feet with their chest plates ruptured and helms shattered. Blood fountained up and fell back as rain as body after body was ripped asunder. Ajax poured on the fire, blasting foes apart as he roared, "JUDGEMENT IS UPON YOU!"
The rate of fire was stupendous, the accuracy inhuman and in the first five seconds Ajax alone had destroyed a squad's worth of Traitors. The Berserkers were being decimated and not one of them had managed to land a return blow, not a single one. Any other foe would have been broken by the carnage but for all their treachery the Chaos Marines had lost none of their prowess and as one they rose up to launch a counter attack. A mass of screaming figures in brazen armour ran forwards with chain axes roaring. Ajax unleashed one final burst that blew another Berserker into steaming offal then they were upon him. The heaving mass of Berserkers surrounded the Dreadnought on all sides, hacking at thick armour plates and trying to work their way into vulnerable joint mechanisms, Ajax responded by becoming a rampaging juggernaut. He slammed warriors aside; he kicked and battered foes down and anything his mighty fist hit was obliterated by the surging energy field.
One Berserker leapt high and snagged the Dreadnought's assault canon, dragging himself up hand over hand, trying to reach the small sensor dome perched above the sarcophagus. Ajax snarled in fury and reached over to seize the Berserker by the helm, the whole body dangling from as his hand as he engulfed the Traitor's head. The Chaos Marine kicked and struggled to break free but Ajax boomed, "BURN HERETIC," as he triggered the flamer built into his palm. The helm held firm for two whole seconds before giving way, flesh, bone and brains burning to ash then Ajax dropped the corpse with a charred lump for a head.
The Khorne Berserkers were lost in frenzy and piled in upon the Dreadnought, throwing themselves on his limbs to weigh Ajax down. He kicked and thrashed in response but they kept piling in, trying to drown him in numbers. One Berserker wedged a Krak grenade into a knee joint and the explosive detonated to crack piston and gears in a spray of oils. Ajax fell to one knee and the Berserkers hammered their axes against his armour, chipping and gouging his plates. One of the Berserkers drew back his arm and roared, "I shall dig out your skull from your tomb and it shall crown my banner!" then he slammed his weapon down upon the Dreadnought's sarcophagus. The blow actually broke open a tiny crack in the life support coffin and amniotic fluid began to dribble out running down the Contemptor's front.
The Chaos Marines roared in triumph and the one who had struck the blow pulled back his arm for another strike, but Ajax wasn't prepared to give him the time to do so. As the Heretics piled on Ajax unlocking the restraints on his waist gimbal and began to spin his torso in a way no organic soldier could replicate. Armoured bodies were flung away by the unexpected move and crashed to the ground, creating a space for Ajax to surge back to his feet. The Traitor who had cracked the Dreadnought's sarcophagus tried to rise but Ajax smashed the barrel of his cannon down upon the Traitor's helm and he was knocked to the floor again by the impact.
The Berserker fell upon his back and the axe dropped from his fingers, he looked up at the Dreadnought towering over him and screamed, "Blood for the…"
Ajax didn't bother to look down as he said, "JUST DIE," and then he stepped on the warrior. Brazen armour crumpled under the weight of the war machine, offering no more resistance than tin foil. Ajax squashed the Traitor under his metal foot as a man would a bug and there was a fountain of blood as the body disintegrated into a gory puddle that splashed up the Dreadnought's legs. Ajax paid it no mind as he strode on, continuing his slaughter.
While Ajax had been breaking the Berserkers Toran and his squads had been pressing forwards to close on Thessus and his elite guard. The Chaos Lord had left his men to the attention of the Dreadnought for he knew that killing the Captain would shatter the defender's spirit. In a frenzy of hacking stabbing blades the two groups slammed into each other, energised weapons parting ceramite and chain axes tearing armour apart in return. In the initial clash three Berserkers fell to the charge but in return Brother Jullien of the assault squad fell with his guts pilling out to the gore streaked floor.
Toran found himself in the heart of the melee, lashing out left and right with the Sword of Thiel to rip and gouge at brazen forms. There was no sense of the wider battle and all he could do was push forwards and carve apart the next foe and the next. Then he heard a bellow and saw the nightmarish form of Thessus. Toran raised the Sword of Thiel into a ready position and launched himself at the Chaos Warlord. Thessus met him with swift blows of a great axe that shimmered with infernal power and within three exchanges Toran knew he faced one of the most dangerous foes he had ever met. The Traitor's strength was unearthly, his every blow numbing Toran's arm but he was not slow for it, if anything he seemed to be getting faster with every strike.
Toran was immediately on the defensive, falling back and parrying with no thought of counter attacking, not even able to risk glancing behind to see if he was backing into another axe. A series of hammering blows came at his midriff and Toran desperately fended them off with a clumsy series of parries but as his sword lowered Thessus swung the haft of his axe upwards to smash right into the Captain's faceplate. Toran's vision dissolved into static as his auto senses were destroyed and for one moment he was helpless, but he was not alone.
Toran heard Novak crying, "Glory and Honour!" as he leapt past his Captain, then there was the sound of a brutal series of exchanges as Toran wrestled his helm off. Instantly the clamour of battle filled his ears and the rotting stink of spilled blood and guts assailed his enhanced nose, laced with the stench of dead men's bowels voiding. Toran blinked and saw Novak with his shining sword becoming a blur of deadly blows. The Chaos Warlord swung in return but somehow the Champion angled himself just right for the weapon to miss. Thessus swung another mighty blow, that should have taken off Novak's head, but the Champion ducked then spun on one foot to end up behind his foe. His sword lashed out and carved deeply into the Warlord's back to rip a tear in the posterior armour and blood flowed freely down to stain the ground.
Thessus roared in agony but the pain only fuelled his rage and his retaliation was fierce indeed. He swung around in one titanic strike that hurtled around his body with the inevitability of an avalanche. Novak actually managed to get his combat shield up in time to catch the blow and the energy field flared as it dissipated the axe's infernal power, yet for all the arcane sciences at play physics could not be ignored. Novak took the full kinetic force and the power of it lifted him off his feet, flinging him back into the melee to knock over a pair of struggling warriors.
Toran saw his Champion was out of action but wasted no time in worry, he seized his chance and launched a strike at Thessus' back, crying, "For Him on Terra!"
The Warlord was not caught unawares. Even as the Sword of Thiel descended the Chaos worshipper spun with remarkable speed and deflected the blow off his axe blade. He twisted the weapon and once more Toran was on the defensive. Thessus advanced as a relentless destroyer, axe swinging over and over and with every step he bellowed, "Blood and Skulls! Blood and Skulls! Blood and skulls!"
The Captain fell back, desperately parrying and trying to find a way to win through, to change the rules as he had done so many times before but there was nothing. Thessus was beyond him in every way imaginable, with sickening dread Toran realised he just didn't have what it took to win this fight. It was in that moment that Toran made his great mistake, stepping backwards his boot crunched onto a dead man's skull and the blood soaked bone slipped underneath him. It was one of those insane moments that could only happen in the white heat of combat but it was enough to condemn the Captain.
Toran fell to the ground and it was all he could do to keep his grip on his sword. He looked up and saw Thessus standing over him glorying in the coming kill. The Traitor raised his axe high and roared, "The Nails sing!"
Toran looked up sternly, determined to stare death in the face but then suddenly everything paused. Thessus froze still with his axe still raised, but he was no longer looking at the Captain, instead his vision was fixed upon a length of Adamantium which had suddenly exploded out of his chest. Toran peered around the warlord and saw that behind his foe was Brother Bylan, holding the banner pole like a spear to plunge it through the tear in Thessus' rear armour and out the other side.
"Not to a maggot like you!" Thessus roared in denial at dying to such a lowly opponent.
Yet Bylan lifted one hand from the haft to draw his combat blade shouting ,"+You shall not harm the Captain!+"
With one blow the standard bearer struck Thessus' head from his shoulders and the Warlord slid off the banner to fall down utterly dead. Toran heard the horde gasp in horror, their supposedly invincible warlord was dead and the loyalist's vengeance was at hand. Their courage broke and thousands of mutant cultists turned to flee, their faith in the Chaos Gods proving shallow and brittle. Thunderous volleys of heavy weapon fire chased them, gunning down hundreds and few lived to flee into the darkness of the distance.
Toran's head was hammering and his guts were water in his belly but the Captain staggered to his feet and saw that only the Khorne Berserkers had not run, but the last of them was being hacked apart between the blades of his squad and Ajax's might. All Toran wanted to do was collapse but he refused to show weakness in front of his Marines, even so he was gasping for air with his transhuman physiology labouring to keep up with the punishing struggle he had just been through. Bylan looked as bad as the Captain felt, for he was clinging to the banner pole like a crutch as blood poured down his side. Yet despite all that the horde was in retreat and against all odds the loyalists had won the battle. Even now the distant serfs were cheering in victory as the Space Marines raised their fists triumphantly in praise to the Emperor and the Primarch.
"+Is that it?+" asked Bylan breathlessly, "+Is it over?+"
"Not yet," said Toran wearily drawing himself upright, "Vorshaan is still out there, this won't be over until he is dead."