ok, i forgot to mention that prince of the eye is the creation of Zahariel last time. Hope the mods understand.
s/13366753/30/Prince-of-the-Eye
threads/warhammer-40000-prince-of-the-eye-what-if-horus-had-survived-the-heresy.766753/page-24#post-72829841
the tech priest played the next file.
The Catalexis Crusade
Maeleum Datum : 402.M34
On Holy Terra, the High Lords convened, trying to discover the source of the calamity that had befallen the Imperium. The ramblings of soul-blasted psykers and oracles were of little use, and it was from Sanguinius himself that revelation came. For the first time since the Scouring, the Great Angel returned to the Throneworld, and revealed to the High Lords the existence of the Cacodominus. Sanguinius proclaimed that, should the monster not be destroyed, its abominable power would in time consume the entire galaxy. Only Holy Terra itself would be spared, along with perhaps a handful of the closest systems, thanks to the presence of the Emperor's continued psychic might.
None of the Imperials watching the video were sure if Sanguinius's counterpart was deliberately leaving out the Eye of Terror or if it was uncertain the afterbirth of She-who-thirsts would survive this thing,
Commands were passed down across the Adepta, and the strength of the Imperium was mobilized in full. Squadrons of the Imperial Navy were mustered, along with billions of Imperial Guardsmen and entire Companies of the Legiones Astartes. It took a whole three years before a force of sufficient size had been gathered, during which almost every scout and operative dispatched to the Catalexis Sector and its dominated neighbours disappeared without trace. Honorary command of this host was given to Sanguinius, more for reasons of morale than tactical ones : the Great Angel remained distant and aloof, too preoccupied with his scrying of the future to take an active hand in the leadership of the Imperial armada.
Sanguinius was disgusted by his counterparts inaction.
And so began the Catalexis Crusade. With potent wards added to the hulls of their ships and Sanguinius' psychic presence to further protect them, the forces of the Crusade were able to enter the Cacodominus' territory without being subjected to its will – though thousands of weak-minded souls were still lost, for these defenses were not perfect. There, they found horror after horror.
The Emperor mourned the fact that these wards and the power of one of his sons could not protect everyone from a xenos monstrosity.
Driven by the Cacodominus' will, its slaves had gathered a fleet of their own, composed of the vessels that had been caught in its influence and of new ships produced in shipyards modified by the alien inspirations of the great horror. Though based on Imperial designs, these new ships were equiped with unknown and terrible weapons that could tear through void shields and flay the flesh from the bones of the crew, while leaving the ship itself intact. The void battles of the Catalexis Crusade were brutal affairs, where the Imperium either had to rely on gruelling attrition in order to take out the ships equiped with these weapons, or using the quicker ships of the Legiones Astartes to deliver boarding parties while dodging the scouring beams. Those ships of the White Scars that had joined the Crusade distinguished themselves in that manner on several occasions, earning Sanguinius' own accolades for their bravery and excellence.
The tech priest, despite not having many of the superstitions of his order, still could hear the screams of the mangled machine spirits of the Cacodominus's slave ships.
On dominated worlds, Imperial structures had been torn down, and the Cacodominus' slaves had constructed in their place vast towers and temple-like monuments, whose cyclopean architecture was inspired by the dreams of the great being they served. Within these alien lairs, servants of the Cacodominus experimented with forbidden sciences. They profaned the holy human form, infusing it with xenos genetic material – including some from the Cacodominus itself – creating repugnant hybrids. Perhaps following the example of their cyborg master, they also performed cybernetic augmentation in violation of the restrictions and protocols of the Adeptus Mechanicus, their careless surgeries cutting out pieces of their subjects' broken souls with every implantation.
The Imperial Family immediately made promises to find the Cacodominus's resting place and bomb the f out of it.
These hybrids and cyborgs formed the elite of the Cacodominus' armies, but the xenos false god had gathered a veritable horde of slaves to fight in its name. Those who had fallen under its control were subjected to crude augmentations, implanted with augmetics churned by the million in converted factories that run as much on blood and death as they did ore and promethium. With these, even the least human worker could be a danger to a trained Guardsman.
Konrad Curze noted, "Anyone else thinking of the Great Crusade when they see this?" Lorgar noted, "Sadly, yes."
While the Crusade's accompanying tech-priests performed their own studies, much of the lore the Imperium gained regarding these hybrids came from the strange vivisection chambers that were found abandoned on a number of worlds. Months before the Catalexis Crusade had begun, the Sorcerer Antiochos and his cabal had already reached the region, and performed their own research on captured specimens. They had left behind the ghastly remains of their experiments, along with copies of their discoveries : while this was not exactly in their orders, Magnus hadn't forbidden it either, and the Thousand Sons were willing to assist the Imperium if it meant the destruction of the creature responsible for the great disturbance in the Sea of Souls.
The Emperor noted sadly, "THE ONLY THING THAT SEEMS TO UNITE MY LEGIONS AFTER THE TAINT OF CHAOS IS THE HATRED OF THE XENOS."
After a few first attempts ended in dismal failure, it became clear to the Imperium that the thralls of the Cacodominus could not be saved. Even dragging them into a room full of null-fields did not return them to their previous selves : bereft of their master's alien will, they merely remained immobile, like mindless automatons or puppets with their strings cut. Extermination was the only option, and the Crusade fleet razed world after world on its way to Catalexis, where the Great Angel and the Crusade's psykers could sense the source of this abomination. The full deadly arsenal of the Holy Ordos was unleashed – the Life-Eater virus, the planet-shattering cyclonic torpedoes, and other, unammed things whose mere existence was a closely-guarded secret.
On worlds where it was not possible or practical to employ such Exterminatus-grade weaponry, the Crusade instead destroyed the planet's infrastructure, removing its ability to contribute to the Cacodominus' resistance, before slaughtering as much of the population as possible before departing. Such worlds were carefully recorded, with plans made to return once the Cacodominus itself had been dealt with to finish the job.
Many of the more compassionate primarchs sighed, with Vulkan lamenting, "I wish such cruelty was not necessary, but it is."
While the vast majority of the Cacodominus' slaves were humans, the alien godling had also captured the souls of other xenos. A few ships of Eldar Corsairs had been caught in its influence, their frames of wraithbone torn apart for study while the Eldars themselves disappeared into gene-smithing facilities. No Child of Isha was found alive by the Imperium : by the time the Crusade reached these places of abomination, they had all been already slaughtered, turned into parts for the experiments of the Cacodominus' slaves. Other, lesser alien breeds were also found in these flesh laboratories, all of them subjected to the same gruesome fate. It seemed that the Cacodominus had chosen Humanity as its intrument.
Lorgar muttered, "More similarities between the reality tumors and this xenos abomination."
Only the Orks seemed immune to the Cacodominus' domination. The minor greenskin infestations present on several of the Imperial worlds conquered by the creature were stil there when the Crusade reached them, and still fighting against their dominated enemies. In later years, rumors would circulate of pacts made between Imperial commanders and the Ork Warbosses – alliances of convenience against a greater foe – but no evidence would surface, despite prolonged investigations.
Horus muttered something about the greenskins.
On the forge-world of Merrinos, the presence of other, more disturbing powers was also noticed. For decades, a heretical cult sponsored by the Iron Warriors had grown among the planet's underclass of tech-thralls, promising power and ascension to those regarded as little more than intelligent servitors by their Mechanicus overlords. When the Cacodominus had awakened, those who had already pledged their souls to Perturabo and been marked by the Forge of Souls had been spared from the alien's domination. Finding themselves the only sane (for a certain definition of the word) humans on the forge-world, they had gone into hiding, fighting a guerilla campaign against their former masters, now in thrall to the Cacodominus.
Perturabo didnt know what to think about that. Was slavery to his counterparts unholy forge better than this xenos abomination.
As Merrinos' industry was converted to serve the needs of the Cacodominus, the cultists had studied the strange and blasphemous innovations brought to the planet. The Dark Tech of the cult still functioned well enough to occasionally send messages to the Fourth Legion, and their distant sponsors were fascinated by the cybernetic technology. Once, the Iron Warriors would have been disgusted by the prospect of even taking inspiration from xenos techology, but since taking over as masters of the Forge of Souls, their views had broadened considerably.
The tech priest noted, "Being exposed to the literal fires of hell nigh constantly while working on unholy machines in the forges of darkness can do that to you."
As a result, the Warsmiths had expended considerable resources in supporting their cultists on Merrinos, and when the Crusade reached the forge-world, they found it in the throes of a brutal war between the Cacodominus' slaves and the cultists of the Lord of Iron. Hosts of daemon-possessed servitors battled dominated tech-thralls, while daemon engines strode forth to duel Mechanicus warmachines.
Both factions were equally abhorrent to the Imperium, and Sanguinius ordered them both destroyed. Strike teams descended on the forge-world, aimed at destroying the shield generators that both sides had been very careful to avoid damaging thus far. As soon as the Imperials' presence in the system had been detected, the cultists and the alien slaves had both begun to fortify these facilities, and the Crusaders found themselves hard-pressed to break in and fulfill their mission. Reinforcements were dispatched from orbit, until over five thousand Space Marines and a hundred thousand human troops were deployed.
It was inevitable that eventually the defenders would break, and Merrinos would be wiped out. But far from Catalexis, in the Eye of Terror, Perturabo was watching.
Rogal noted, "This probably won't end well." Perturabo didn't bother hitting him.
The Lord of Iron frowned.
So far, he had taken some enjoyment in observing the war on Merrinos. The slaves his sons had turned against his father had fought well, for mere mortals, and there had been much to learn from watching the tactics and weapons of their foe.
But now, his brother's forces were going to end it all. And while Perturabo knew that the Angel's crusade had to succeed, he didn't want to simply let Merrinos fall.
He reached out with his mind, now bound to the great engines of the Forge of Souls. The machinery of Heaven, now shackled to Hell's purposes, groaned and creaked as, for the briefest of moments, all of its power was bent to a single undertaking …
The priest noted, "Say what you will about Chaos, they are epic." The Emperor agreed.
On the bridge of his flagship, Sanguinius sensed his brother's decision mere moments before it took effect. The Angel ordered all forces to withdraw immediately, but even his foresight could only give them a few minutes of advance warning. Less than one in a hundred of the Imperial warriors deployed on Merrinos made it off the forge-world in time.
Before the shocked eyes of the Imperial crusaders, the forge-world was dragged into the Warp, leaving nothing but a rapidly dissipating storm of eldritch energies in its wake. At great cost, the Lord of Iron had stolen away an entire planet, and with it all the secrets of cybernetic enhancements the Cacodominus had bestowed upon its slaves, along with the gene-smithing facilities of Merrinos. For months, the stranded Imperial soldiers would fight a bitter and desperate war against the Iron Warriors and their allies, moving in formerly Cacodominus-controlled strongholds, now occupied only by vacant-eyed meat-shells and holding them against the sons of Perturabo.
Inevitably, they fell, in one way or another. Some managed to escape death by fleeing Merrinos, only to find themselves trapped within the Eye of Terror, deep within the territory of the Fourth Legion, inside all the defenses raised to protect the Forge of Souls.
Across the Crusading fleet, candles were lit in memory of these lost heroes, but there was no time to waste, and Sanguinius soon ordered the fleet to depart the now empty Merrinos system. The psykers in the fleet, already warded against the Cacodominus' influence, had managed to withstand the aetheric aftershock of Merrinos' disappearance, and the Navigators led the Crusade back into the Warp.
After several years of campaigning, the Imperial host finally reached the source of all this madness.
Horus was aghast, "A typical engagement of such a size against a comparable foe takes a few months now. Its just more proof of how far the Imperium has fallen."
The battle of the Catalexis system was as desperate as any fought during the Heresy. The Cacodominus had gathered a mighty fleet there, and seeded the entire system with void fortresses and converted cargo transports. The Crusade fleet paid for every advance in blood and iron, but with the greatest strategic minds of the age on their side, they eventually reached their target, leaving a trail of broken hulks in their wake.
Catalexis Secundus, where the Cacodominus itself laid, was protected from orbital bombardment by a newly-built array of defensive platforms. Vast engines had also been built on its surface that used alien technology constructed by enslaved Imperials to warp space and time in targeted regions of the planet's atmosphere, making it impossible to simply obliterate the planet from orbit.
Yet even if Catalexis' defenses precluded conventional Exterminatus, there were other options : there were secrets left to the Mechanicus that could cause the system's star to go supernova. Such an act would leave the system forever desolated, and cost the lives of those who initiated it, yet the price would be much lesser than what it would take to conquer the planet by conventional means.
But the Angel confided that he had already foreseen the end result of such an effort. Without his presence in the system to abate the Cacodominus' power, the crew of the ships left to murder the star would be turned, and all they would have achieved was give the xenos abomination another, terrible weapon.
Magnus was confused, "Isn't Sanguinius basically an Imperial Daemon at this point?"
This could be prevented if he remained aboard the sacrificial ship, of course. By giving his life along with that of the star, Sanguinius could ensure that the Cacodominus was slain.
It was not pride that prevented Sanguinius from sacrificing himself : only the knowledge that the threat of his power was one of the few things that kept the greatest of his damned brother from leaving the Eye of Terror. The prophecy of doom that hung over him, of his fated meeting with Horus, had turned from a noose into a weapon, for the Angel knew that his treacherous brother feared that confrontation, even though he was fated to win it.
Therefore, the simple truth was that the Imperium needed Sanguinius, and if he had to sacrifice millions to win the Crusade in a more direct manner, then he would do it, however much it might break his heart.
In the end, after all, Sanguinius was his Father's son, and he would do what needed to be done.
The final battle of the Catalexis Crusade would have to be fought with boots on the ground. So close to the Cacodominus, only the most loyal, strong-willed, and best-warded troops could be deployed without succumbing to its influence. Dozens of Inquisitors and hundreds of Acolytes were spread across the army, keeping a close eye for any sign of xenos corruption. Space Marines of all loyal Legions led the attack; Space Marines had proven more resistant to the Cacodominus' influence, though even they were not immune. Astartes that succumbed to its psychic call didn't fall under its control, but instead went mad, the imbalance in their psyche taking the form of rampant psychosis that could only be stopped in death.
Angron couldnt help but be reminded of his own sons before he abandoned the Butcher Nails.
Nothing remained on Catalexis Secundus to indicate that it had ever been an Imperial world. The slaves of the Cacodominus had entirely remade the planet. Where once there had been cities of standard Imperial design, now there were huge temples and alien structures where men and women toiled like insects.
The greatest of these cities rose at the pole, where the Cacodominus' body rested. Immense engines had been constructed to melt the ice around it and fully thaw it out. Planetwide earthquakes and floods ravaged Catalexis as a consequence of this, but the ancient monster cared nothing for the slaves that drowned or were crushed.
With Sanguinius himself leading the charge, the Imperium managed to secure a landing zone on the planet. The army immediately began to march north. Xeno-biologists who had studied the samples of genetic material recovered from the Cacodominus' laboratories believed that, once the creature was dead, its slaves would simply stop acting, and the Crusade would be won. Sanguinius himself did not know for sure what would happen – all his sight could show him was the dark fate that would befall the galaxy should the Cacodominus be allowed to live.
Konrad once more gave Sanguinius a sympathetic look.
The Imperial army reached the walls of the polar city, where the greatest horrors created by the Cacodominus' servants awaited. Within hours, casualties reached the millions, as the Imperials found themselves assaulted on all sides by the slaves the Cacodominus was summoning from all over the planet. Cut off from reinforcements, Sanguinius realized that their only chance of victory was to forge ahead and cut off the head of the beast before it devoured them all.
The tech priest played a clip, "Cut off the head and the body will die."
With the Spear of Telesto and the Blade Encarmine, Sanguinius descended into the depths of the polar city, intent on slaying the source of all this suffering. He went down accompanied by a full Company of his own Blood Angels, all of whom perished, one by one, fighting the defenders of the Cacodominus or succumbing to the perils of its nightmarish icy city. This close, the Cacodominus' will distorted reality itself, its psychic power breaking down the ever-fragile barrier between the Materium and the Immaterium.
But Sanguinius had fought his way out of the Ruinstorm, and through the Warp-twisted halls of the Vengeful Spirit. More recently, he had even hunted his prey across the Webway itself. The eldritch realm of the Cacodominus would not stop him, nor would the Knight-sized hybrids that were unleashed against him – the greatest scions of the Cacodominus, and the fruit of its attempts at recreating its extinct species.
At long last, Sanguinius beheld the Cacodominus – the first and only soul to do so and not succumb to its alien will.
Suddenly a voice that all realized was that of the Cacodominus boomed from the speakers.
It remembered the time before.
All they had wanted was to live in peace. To wander the stars, seeing all the wonders therein. To feed on the cosmic winds.
The Emperor sympathized with it.
Then the hunting had begun.
Terror. Grief. One by one, it had sensed its kindred die. Their lights were extinguished, their choirs silenced. The ones who had willingly mingled their voices to the Great Melody were slaughtered.
For the first time, it knew fear. Its kind did not know how to fight, for they had never needed to.
Now it saw its brethren taken apart, their corpses processed and feasted upon – not for food, but for pleasure. And for the first time, it knew anger.
Alone, it made itself into something that could fight back. It took the gifts that had helped its people take to the stars, and made them into weapons.
It turned the mingling of minds into a scream, no longer letting smaller minds choose whether to join their voices to its own. It learned how metal could be shaped to act like life, and used it to increase its strength.
Ferrus looked to his hands in concern.
And then it went to war, the first and only warrior of its people. For many generations of the younger minds, it had fought. And it was strong, but it was not strong enough. The hunters continued to kill, until it was alone, and it could not win against them all. And if it died, then the song would be silenced, and nothing would remain.
That, it could not allow. So it had fled, and hidden. Hidden in the cold and dark, some part of it hoping that it would never wake.
But it had awoken, and found the stars changed. New minds were near, and they told it much.
Most importantly, they told it that the hunters were broken, but not gone.
They were weak now, those who had hunted down its kin and butchered them for sport.
It would destroy them all. None would stop it.
It would have revenge for its people.
No Primarch but the Angel could have survived this confrontation. The Cacodominus lashed out with cybernetic limbs the size of hab-blocks, opened fire with cannons meant for ship-to-ship warfare, and unleashed the full extent of its psychic might against the Great Angel. Sanguinius' wings carried him down the abyss, his foresight letting him avoid the terrible onslaught.
The sights of Sanguinius fighting the abomination were nothing short of awe inspiring.
Great beams of light burst from the Spear of Telesto, cutting through alien machinery and flesh. Guided by his secret sight, or by the Emperor's own hand, Sanguinius located what served as the brain of the Cacodominus, and, with a great cry, plunged the Blade Encarmine deep within, igniting the sword with the full extant of his rage and power.
Only when the Cacodominus perished and its death-cry echoed across the galaxy did the Angel realize what he had done.
The video ended and the tech priest noted, "So often the dying curses of a powerful foe dooms the one who struck the death blow."