leas-Planet: Fatorum ruptor (Inquisitorial cruiser) -Year: 913.M34 -Location: Ultima Segmentum, Moving out of the Goul stars -POV: Anon
Anon still couldn't get used to the ship, it was his first time traveling to space and truth be told, it is amazing... until they made a warp jump. Making warp jumps may be a normal thing for these people but not for Anon, firstly it is his first time traveling through hell as a means to FTL travel, well, if you don't count the time he played Minecraft that is, and secondly and most importantly, he was a psyker, and he knew better than anyone, that being a psyker in warp sucks, the Gellar fields did help, but he was still uncomfortable, he could feel thousand upon thousands of beings looking at him behind the Gellar field's shield, scratching the shield and desperately trying to get in, his immensely psychic soul acted as a beacon for the denizens of the warp.
Being in the warp wasn't the only problem, he also had a problem sleeping thanks to the constant nightmares and glimpses of possible futures. Thousands of ways he could die horribly, or ways he'll be tortured until the end of time, thanks to this, a great deal of Anon's attention was to keep his mind shielded and try to ignore the daemons bashing against the gellar shields, being almost 900 years old certainly helped him a lot.
Living for this long changed Anon, he wasn't the same person he used to be, his goals haven't changed at all, but the means in which he obtained them did, Anon is calmer, more calculating, and certainly wiser than before, the way he perceives time changed alongside his age, when a normal human tries to reach a certain goal he will choose series of actions that would lead to his goal, and those chosen actions are planned in such a manner that would achieve their goal in their limited lifetime, after all, no one would plant a tree if they couldn't live long enough to eat its fruits.
In the last few days, Anon tried to familiarize himself with the ship, from what he had read from Inquisitor William's mind, he was going to be under his command for a long time which fit him well, a life of adventure as an inquisitorial retinue sounded great if you removed all the parts about demons. If it wasn't too obvious, Anon doesn't like chaos, but he knew one day he have to face them if he wished to achieve his goals, for now however, he would learn everything he needs to know about them, and his new job gave him a perfect opportunity.
Most of Anon's time on the ship consisted of studying chaos after being permitted to do so by Inquisitor, the knowledge of chaos is a highly guarded secret after all and not everyone had access to them, even some within the inquisition itself.
After that, he spends the rest of his time training with melee weapons and ranged weapons under William's orders, apparently being a good psyker isn't enough for the inquisitor, even though Anon is in decent shape and most human psykers are nothing compare to him, the worst part about it is that the one who trains him in melee was Avina who hated his guts for being a "Cursed Witch", and yes she used every opportunity to cause him pain. And the person who trained him with ranged weapons was Ishmael the old arbite, who also hated Anon, the difference being, at least he is not actively trying to kill him... most of the time.
As for the crew of the ship, no one talked to him unless absolutely necessary, he was a wild psyker so that much is expected.
After a few weeks of living at the ship, the Inquisitor finally called him to his "Office" which in reality was an interrogation. As he entered the room, Anon noticed the bland decoration of the room, two steel chairs and a table with lots of chains, Inquisitor was sitting on of the tables as he noticed the masked man enter, her pointed at the chair in front of him and ordered Anon to sit.
"You have called for me lord" Anon said as he sat on the chair, the room was filled with wards that prevented psykers from using their power, but unfortunately for inquisitor, Anon wasn't a run of mil wild psyker, he could still bypass through the ward and sense the entire ship, at most it just made the process little more difficult, even with wards he could feel the entire 4km(2.5 miles) long ship
"Yes" Inquisitor answered then his expression turned serious "So, shall we begin?" asked the William
"Whenever your ready lord" said Anon his mask not showing any kind of emotion. Anon already knew what he was going to ask
"First, are you a sanctioned psyker?" asked William
"No Inquisitor, and before you ask, I am not an eldar nor am I trained by one, and if you think I'm a chaos worshiper you can just scan me for signs of corruption" Anon answered without hesitation
"And it seems you are aware of chaos, how do you know about chaos?" Inquisitor asked, he held a grim expression on his face, he was suspicious of Anon and would not hesitate to kill him, this left Anon with one choice, he had to earn his trust by appealing his sense of ambition
"I know of the great enemy for I have encountered one, and yes you need not to worry about it, I can assure you that I have dealt with the threat" Anon tried to assure Willam
"Is that so? how did you 'Dealt' with it and what type of daemon are you referring to?"
"I believe it was a lesser daemon of Nurgle, I killed it by burning it before it could spread the taint, I burned their bodies and made sure there was no taint" Inquisitor's expression was cold and grim as always he only nods at Anon's words
"I do not trust anyone other than inquisition to deal with such problems, but alas we do not have time to survey the planet for taint, and said world is a feudal world in the middle of nowhere" said Willam then looked at the ceiling for a moment "The world have no importance for the imperium" said Williams with a slight sense of guilt then he looked back at Anon "Let's stop beating around the bushes Jermai or whatever you are" his eyes were fixated at the masked man in front of him "How can you use your psychic powers with such skill while not being sanctioned? and you told me you were not trained by eldari, which may be true considering their history with humans. Just tell me what did you do to achieve it?" Inquisitor asked
Anon and William were locked in a eye contest at this point, few moments of tense silence passed as the two looked at each other, Anon knew his intentions, he wanted to know if he could use Anon to improve other psykers within the imperium, which Anon didn't have any objections on sharing, if it helped his kin, he would gladly give them necessary knowledge, it may be true that they can't reach his level due to their limited age but at least they can stop exploding all the time.
"Inquisitor, you wish to know how I am stable despite being a psyker, am I right?" asked Anon wanting to clarify lord William's intentions
"That is correct" Inquisitor confirms
"Well I can provide you all the things you want lord" Said Anon, he could feel the hope and curiosity emanating from his lord "Many believe that normal humans cannot be reliable psykers. That is false, everyone capable of using psychic powers can be reliable if they train properly" said Anon then paused for few seconds to read William's thoughts, William was intrigued "Remember the books I brought with myself lord? they contain all methods of training that I went through. It is my sincere hope that you haven't burned them as heretical, as most inquisitors do" said Anon
"The books you say? no, we haven't burned them yet for we didn't recognize their purpose. I didn't wish to burn them before knowing their purpose even though many in my crew objected it, I will send copies of the books to my colleagues for inspection" Said William, Anon noded in acknowledgment then he continued "However, the question remains, how could a lone wild psyker without experience learn such valuable knowledge? if your texts in your books are to be believed that is" he paused for a second "Imperium have been trying to find a better way for training psykers for almost 4000 years now, yet a lone wild psyker achieved that on a feudal world" now Inquisitor's gaze was completely focused at the masked man in front of him
Anon knew this question would come and to be honest, he had a hard time finding an excuse that wasn't going to make him sound like a heretic, Anon thought for a few moments then answered "Luck Inquisitor, luck"
Inquisitor at first was confused then his confusion turned into anger "What do you mean luck? you want to say that all this was just pure luck? you think I'm a fool Jermai?" William retorted, clearly angered by his answer
"My apologies, Inquisitor, I should've been more clear. I was lucky at finding the first book, I have written the rest of them but not the first one which is the most important one, I don't know who was the author but the book is about how to shield your soul from the warp" answered Anon, he was lying, but as long as that lie can keep him safe he is ok with it
Inquisitor seemed to calm down a bit with this revelation, but quickly found himself with more questions, he thought for a few minutes until he asked another question "So you wrote all of them except for the first one? do you truly don't know the author?"
"I'm afraid not my lord, I found the book when I first manifested my powers, I just stumble upon it when I was escaping from the witch hunters, the book saved my soul and helped me control my powers without turning into a daemon gate" Anon assured William, there were more questions in William's mind so Anon gave up the idea of returning to his room for the time being
"I will believe you in this particular matter for now, but more questions remain, if your words are to be trusted, you have been born on this planet correct?" William asks, Anon nods "So can you explain to me that why you were not shocked when you contacted us for the first time? as far as I know, you shouldn't have such knowledge about space travel and advance technology, when we first met you were carrying a plasma pistol which you should not be able to understand" William asked, he was getting suspicious
Anon sighed, 'this is going to take a long time' he thought to himself "Yes Inquisitor I was born on Thule, but my parents were not, my parents taught me about the imperium and everything they knew about it, all I know is that my parents were running from someone and decided to live the rest of their lives in that throne forsaken planet, as for who they were escaping from? I don't know, they never had the chance to tell me, perhaps they didn't wish to tell me" Anon lied again
"And what were your parent's names? which planet do they hail from?"
"I'm afraid I cannot answer those questions my lord" Anon answered
Anger grab hold of Inquisitor's face again "And why would that be?" William hissed
"Before we met Inquisitor, I saw visions of Thule being destroyed thanks to my powers, and when you came to the planet by chance, I offered you a deal and you accepted it, I cannot give away their names Inquisitor lest I will face the danger of my own identity being exposed"
"And there is that question" Inquisitor cut Anon mid-sentence "Why do you not wish to be known?" William asked trying to get to the bottom of this matter
"I have made a lot of enemies Inquisitor, if my identity is to be exposed, they will find me, and no, unfortunately, they are not human nor Xenos" Anon lied again but this time there was some truth to his words, he wasn't lying because of an immaterial enemy, he was lying because of what he has read in Duran's last book about true names and psykers, that if someone's true name is to be known they can be bind into someone else's will, this was especially true with psykers. Telling this to anyone would be silly, so he decided to not name himself at all
"You mean the neverborn? I see, that explains it then, but tell me, why did you accept to show your face to me then?" Inquisitor asked even though he knew the answer
"Did I have any other choice if wanted to leave the planet Inquisitor? I accepted it because what's important is my name, not my face, although by knowing my face there is a small chance they can acquire my name as well, and that is a chance I'm willing to take" Anon answered firmly then continued "And I intend to keep my part of the deal, I can show you my face if you wish to know it that badly" Anon offered again
"I understand when someone try to hide their identity, lots of similar things happen in the inquisition but..." William said, pausing to look at Anon "But I cannot accept someone in my retinue without knowing who they are. I respect my underling's desires as long as they are useful to me, I want to assure you that whatever you reveal in this room will be known only by me and no one else" William looked at a camera in the corner of the wall "Turn off all recording devices in the room captain" Inquisitor ordered, after 30 seconds he looked back at Anon and continued "Now it's just me and you"
"I appreciate your deeds my lord" Anon said as he removed his mask. William took few minutes to look at his face
After a few minutes, Inquisitor signed Anon to wear his mask "Well" William said as he stood up from his chair "This is it for now, I will think about what you said and decide when I'm certain of your trustworthiness, until then I will put Avina to make watch you and you will be wearing these chain handcuffs until your first mission, they will reduce user's psychic power, and when I became certain of your claims I will honor our contract, do you understand?" he asked, this wasn't a choice
"Yes lord" Anon answered
"Good, now you can go back to your quarters" William said as he left the room, Anon sighed, this was a long day, somehow he bullshit his way out, he stood up and moved back to his room while cursing Tzeentch for no apparent reason.
(The next day)
It was always a struggle to get from one point of the ship to the other, the Inquisitorial ship was 4km long and was like a labyrinth, the worst part however was the fact that Avina's training area was far away from Ishmael's shooting range, 'I bet that women choose that place just to make me walk all the way' Anon muttered, couldn't she pick a place where it was close to the training section of the ship?
After 20 minutes of navigation, he reached his destination, it was one of the lower parts of the ship people didn't go often, he stood before a metal door, Anon felt Avina's presence, a single soul within the room. As he entered the room Avina immediately noticed him which creeped him out, sure Anon could feel other being's presence but he was a psyker and Avina was not, he was also intrigued on how she did it, he could search her mind but she will notice immediately, she has fought psykers before and knew their touch, no matter how skilled Anon was, she will notice him in her mind.
Avina turned back to look at her visitor, she was everything you expect from a death cult assassin. Black and red skin-tight suit, two eastern blades, needles place on her thighs, and a lot more weapons hiding somewhere in her body. Avina had long black hair coming out of her head's back, her eyes were also black and devoid of life, her body have reached human perfection, and showed her assassin nature, her muscle body made her look like an athlete from his previous life but far more deadly, she was tattoed with imperial religiose texts all over her body, at least the parts Anon could see, even her face was tattoed. There was a long scar above her right eye which is probably the reason why she had a cybernetic eye, what disturbed Anon the most were her teeth, they were sharp as if she wanted to eat her prey, her being taller than him didn't make her less intimidating, Anon was little over 180cm(6ft in freedom units) and Avina was well over 190cm (6.3ft).
"So you are here again mutant" Avina growled, Anon didn't mind her, if he was going to live in imperium, he had to get used to being insulted
"Yes I am here again" Anon replied "Let's get this over with since none of us wishes to see each other" said Anon as he picked up a sword from a stand nearby
Avina didn't like Anon... no, the better way to put it is that she was disgusted at his sight, so much so that it was leaking from her soul, again he didn't mind it and just prepared for training. Despite her disgust towards Anon, Avina was a great teacher, she taught Anon how to use his swords better, and it was working. A long time ago Anon started training his self-taught technique of "Just be faster than your opponent", but it was nothing compared to what Avina has taught him. Her moves were graceful like an art piece, she also was acrobatic which she combined it with her blade skills, Anon thought it was cool so he decided to go along with her intentional torture, his wounds healed anyways and the pain wasn't something he concerned with, after all, he once cut and torn to pieces by a group of orks with crude axes, nothing gets more painful than that except dark eldar which he liked to avoid for time being.
Anon was becoming better at melee every day since his body was already, muscle memory from all those years he used swords and spears which made him learn faster, every day he added another technique to his fighting style, he learned how to combine his blade skills with acrobatics Avina thought her, he wasn't as good as her for now but it was definitely an improvement, the only thing that surprised him was Avina teaching him properly, truth be told Anon expected her to teach him the wrong things just because she hated him, maybe it's because of inquisitor's orders, or maybe she actually taught him the wrong moves and he was too stupid to notice it.
After exhausting all of his energy and receiving 11 new cut wounds from his "teacher" Anon went to the shooting range. Going from Avina to Ishmael was changing one zealot with another but with less beating, Ishmael is your typical army instructor with some flavor of religious dogmatism. When Anon was sent into the training field for the first time, Ishmael was disgusted at Anon's physic, combined with his previous hate for psykers, the physical and ranged training quickly became hell. Ishmael showed him how bad and unbalanced his body was, Anon had a good body shape but unfortunately his previous life's body standards didn't hold up well in 40k, his training became so harsh that the only thing that kept Anon going was the psychic power that allowed him to rejuvenate some of his stamina.
After 4 hours of hellish treatment which Ishmael remark that it was "better than being in schola" Anon finally retreated to his room. Important crew members including Inquisitor's close retinue had better rooms than other crew members, basically equivalent of a large motel room in gothic style, compared to his old house in his first life this place was a cottage, though he didn't mind it, after living for so long, he just didn't care anymore, besides he lived in a feudal world before, houses there were even worse.
When he reached his room, as usual, they have put his launch on his desk, there was a mess hall in the ship which all others go there to eat but Anon wasn't welcome, so they left his food in his room and collected the dishes later. His diet was decided by Ishmael, he did this to help Anon increase his muscle mass in a right way, which meant lots of tasteless bars Anon had to congratulate Inquisitor William, he manage to convince two people who hated Anon's guts to care for him... if you can call it that.
As he finished his meal, he thought to himself 'So this is how my life is going to be huh?' his life was certainly an interesting one but also filled with horrors unimaginable to man, especially since he joined ordo malleus, In first days when he realized which galaxy he was in he had panicked...a lot! but now he was determined and calm, he had a goal after all, and in order to achieve that he must face the horrors head-on, but before that he needs to gather strength, Duran may be an asshole for sending him into Warhammer without his consent, but he wasn't unfair either, he had given him gifts, and Anon intended to use those gifts to prevent some events from occurring, maybe he will fail... no, he is definitely going to fail but that will not stop him from trying.
-Planet: Fatorum ruptor (Inquisitorial cruiser) -Year: 913.M34 -Location: Ultima Segmentum, Moving out of the Goul stars -POV: Inquisitor William
In a dark room within the Inquisitorial ship Fatorum ruptor, a figure entered the room, the Assassin looked around as William was on looking through the archives within his cogitator, he was studying the recent parchment of knowledge given to him by the latest member of his retinue.
Without looking back William spoke to the figure "Are you here to report Avina?" asked the Inquisitor as he went through the archives
"Yes Lord" Avina answered then gave a slight bow even though Inquisitor wouldn't be able to see it "I have been unable to detect any form of suspicious activity from the witch" Avina concluded eyes fixed on William
"Is that so? very well, continue your vigilance" said the Inquisitor as he waved his left hand as a sign to dismiss the Assassin
"Did you find anything in those heretical texts?" Avina asked ignoring William's gesture
"I have yet to label them as 'Hertical' Assassin, and no, nothing heretical...by inquisitorial standards that is" William said with uncertainty in his tone "There is some information that should not be public knowledge, like the ones containing information about nature of chaos and daemons"
William's words were cut short by the Assassin "A witch writing a book about daemons is as heretical as it gets" Avina retorted
Inquisitor sighed, it was a good thing that people would reject any form of knowledge regarding chaos but not in the inquisition, inquisition is at the forefront of the war against chaos and they needed knowledge about chaos if they want to fight them, William was no fool puritan who would ignore any information regarding chaos nor was he a naive radical who jumps into a daemon world thinking he would not be corrupted, he was trying to walk the path between the two, a path of moderation which would benefit the imperium the most, and he wished his subordinates to do the same.
"The content of the books about daemons, is almost similar to the content books used by the inquisition in the same subject, does that make inquisition heretical?" Avina didn't make a sound about William's question, only her face showed annoyance, Inquisitor continued "What's more surprising is the rest of the books about psychic training, imperium already knows most of its teaching, however, the texts I'm reading right now goes in greater detail about said abilities" William explained, a slight tone of excitement can be heard from his tone "I'm not an expert when it comes to psychic powers, yet, even I can see the improvements these texts may have on Astra telepathica. I will send these to Inquisitor Greyfax, she'll know what to do with these better than me" William said as he leaned back in his chair processing information, he was on the verge of discovering something, whether that thing is good or not is up to Greyfax to decide.
-Planet: Orbit of Trantey II -Year: 914.M34 -Location: Ultima Segmentum, eastern fringe of Gothic Sector -POV: Anon (8 months after leaving Ghoul stars)
Anon prepared himself for his first mission, he moved through the ship towards the debriefing room, the only people present will be William's close retinue and essential crew members. Anon wasn't completely aware of the details, only that a daemon gate has been manifested on the planet and local PDF is in a total war against the chaotic forces.
He picked up everything he needs then moved towards the debriefing room, on his way he unintentionally walk alongside a stormtrooper. the stormtrooper noticed him but didn't make a sound about it, Anon could feel his fear and tenseness when he walked with him, he didn't trust Anon. The trooper wore complete carapace armor and had a hotshot lasgun, he carried his hotshot in his left hand and his helmet in the right hand making his face visible, to his credit the stormtrooper kept his stoic face near Anon but wasn't able to hide his emotions, Anon looked at him for a brief moment, blond hair, few scars, no facial hair and well build physic, a lady's man through and through. After 5 minutes of awkward walk, they finally reached their destination.
Looks like everyone was already in the room and waiting for them, Anon felt everyone except Inquisitor, Avina, and Ishmael tense as they saw the masked man enter 'Are they keep going to feel like this every time they see me?' Anon questioned himself. William pointed towards the pair of chairs for the new arrivals to sit.
"Now that everyone is here let's begin" William said while coughed two times to clear his throat, then he began to explain the situation. 2 years ago a demonic gate have somehow opened in the north pole of the planet, the entire planet is now at war with the invading daemons, fortunately only lesser daemons for now with no sighs of traitor marines, segmentum command was unable to send guardsmen reinforcements because of an orkish waaagh that threatens more important areas of the imperium, but surprisingly one space marine chapter has been dispatched to deal with the demonic threat which will arrive in one week, the space marine chapter is the Dark angels chapter under the command of captain Adamus Rogelius commander of the fifth company, only 100 marines were sent from the chapter.
Our orders are simple, close the chaos gate before warp rift expands in size, then cleanse the taint and memory of normal humans who have seen the daemons then leave the planet for ordo hereticus for finding the reason behind the incursion.
The people present in the debriefing will split into few teams, team alpha includes Avina and few agents specialized in stealth, they are to take down cultist priests who are actively summoning more daemons, and team beta consisting of Ishmael, William, stormtroopers, and Anon who are tasked with shutting down the portal in north pole located within the hive city of Baluch.
"Anon" Inquisitor said out loud while looking at the masked man
"Yes lord?" Anon replied
"Can you locate the exact location of the portal?" William asked
"A moment please" the masked man said as he concentrated, he put his hands on his legs as he was sitting on the chair, everyone except the three tensed as Anon concentrated which annoyed him. Anon looked within the planet and sought powerful warp signatures, he located one in the mid-levels of the hive city Baluch, but there was something wrong, Anon sensed a terrible thing from the portal...something big and powerful was coming, using the blood of the fallen as a chain that would connect him to the Materium, the cultist priests are trying to use blood sacrifice to expand the rift, enough to bring something more powerful. Anon quickly opened his eyes again.
"I have found the portal, it is in level 5 of the hive near the plasma power generator" Anon said, Inquisitor and others present were surprised by the accuracy of detection "But there is a problem" Anon announced
"What problem?" Inquisitor asked looking confused
"The cultist are trying to summon a greater daemon Inquisitor" the faces of the crew grew grim as they heard the information from the masked man
"Are you sure it is a greater daemon?" asked Ishmael, it was the first time Anon have seen him like this, and the first time he didn't insult him while speaking to him
"Either that or very powerful exalted daemon which is highly unlikely" answered the masked man "They are trying to perform a ritual of blood sacrifice, to summon a greater daemon, but they cannot do it with such low number of sacrifices, what they can do however is to sacrifice all of them at once which might be able to manifest a greater daemon instead of sacrificing them one by one. They are currently gathering captives to the hive as we speak, it should take them 3 days to gather all of the captives needed for ritual" Anon announced
"So we have 3 days" Inquisitor said as he put his right hand on his chin thinking about his options "Then we have no time to waste, we will move out in 1 hour" Inquisitor announced then looked at Anon again "Jermai, can your close the portal on your own?" William asked
"Yes, I can close the gate but need to be close to it, when we reach the portal I need 30 minutes to close a portal of that size" said Anon
William processed the information for a few minutes "Very well, I trust you for now. Now everyone, prepare for the mission in one hour" Inquisitor ordered everyone to leave and prepare.
Anons battle gear *
-Unpowered plasteel sword made by magos -Plasma pistol with 10 shots worth of ammo -Flack armor under Anon's cloth to protect him from autogun shots and unpowered blades -Cloth modified so as not to hinder him in CQC (Robe remove and replaced with a suit like cloth, the same color as before)
(1 hour later aboard the Assualt lander moving towards the hive city 'Baluch')
"Expect heavy AA fire when they see us men!" announced the Inquisitor in his vox
"I think that would not be necessary" Anon said to the Inquisitor only to meet his confused look, Anon sighed "Keep the other lander close to ours, I will cloak both of us so they won't be detected by naked eye" Said the masked man
"And why I was not informed of such ability?"
"You never asked" Anon answered "And I didn't wish to answer a question when not asked, beside lord inquisitor, the motto of our organization is "The plea of innocent is guilty of wasting my time" " Said Anon
Inquisitor chuckled "Can't argue with that" his laughter wasn't shared with anyone else "Pilot tell the other lander to stick close, and tell him not to open fire on the enemy until given the order" Inquisitor ordered
As the other assault lander got close Anon tapped into the warp again and concealed the ships. After 40 minutes they reached the hive city, Anon looked to see the daemons of Khorne start pouring out of the gates, it was like the orc army scene from the lord of the rings movie he saw in his previous life but more red and far worse. The hive was one of the tallest on the planet, and there was a large khornite symbol attached to the outer walls of the city made from scrap metal, as they got closer Anon could feel the daemons and bloodthirsty cultists within the city and thousands of scared captives waiting to be sacrificed, Anon ignored their pleas and feelings lest he turns mad from all these emotions.
"Inquisitor, we will reach our destination in 3 minutes, expect heavy resistance upon landing" Announced the pilot
"Very well, don't suppose you could cloak 12 people?" William asked sarcastically to the Masked man only for him to nod in acknowledgment "You can?!" Asked the Inquisitor
"I can cloak them as long as they stick close and don't make unnecessary sounds" Anon informed William
William made a grin which made Anon uncomfortable "Keep being useful and I might be glad to take you with me" Anon didn't say anything
three minutes later both landers reached their landing spot, Anon focused and made sure cultists nearby wouldn't notice two giant landers full of inquisition agents, it was a hard task, there were around 30-40 cultists with auto guns and unpowered melee weapons around, to make all of them ignore them was a hard task, not because it needs lots of power but lots of concentration, if any of them sees them, their cover would be blown.
The troops left the landers with their guns drawn expecting a firefight only to be surprised by enemie's total ignorance of their presence, Anon send a telepathic message to his allies, telling them to kill all the cultists while they couldn't see them, they obliged, in a swift show of skill all of them align their shots and kill the cultist in matter of seconds.
"All clear" said one of the stormtroopers
"4 of you will stay here and protect the shuttles until we arrive, the rest will follow me, Ishmael, Jermail stick close to me" William ordered, 4 of the stormtroopers remained and started creating a barricade around the landing area, Anon put a hastily created ward around the landing area, nothing special, it will increase the chance that landers will not be noticed. The other team, led by the Inquisitor himself, moved through the corridors unseen while killing the cultist along the way. Their advance was unhindered until they reached a bridge, there were only four entry points that reached the plasma generators powering this section of the hive and the hive's void shield, all of the four entry points being bridges with defenses at the end making it perfect Killzone across the bridges, about 60 meters down the bridge was the army of Khorne daemons moving out of the city towards the warzones.
The main problem with the bridge was the explosives planted under them, the rest of the hive was protected by either lowly trained cultist PDF or former citizens charging towards you with melee weapons which were easy to deal with for the stormtroopers, but the ones protecting the plasma generators and the portal were elite cultist forces equipped with lasguns, flak armor and some even had plasma guns and carapace armor, They were also not as crazy as the rest of their forces.
Inquisitors forcers moved into the cover and were waiting for his orders, Ishmael peaked around the corner and looked at the hostile forces "Two automated multi-laser turrets, one heavy bolter emplacement, eight traitor PDF, five with lasguns, one plasma, two operating the heavy bolter, heavy bolter to the right protected by cement bunker, turrets on the walls above the hostile fortification" Ishmael reported then looked at the Inquisitor
"Looks like their defenses in near the portal is good, but I expected this kind of development" William said then looked at his troops then towards Anon "Jermai, scan the area, I don't want any surprises when we go in" William ordered
Anon focused his powers to have a more detailed scan of the enemy, he could detect a total of 78 corrupted Elite PDF inside including those who protected this bridge, there was also around 12 lesser daemons controlled by one person "Total of 78 PDF and 12 lesser daemons controlled by someone within upper levels of the hive" Anon reported
"Alright listen" William said out loud gathering the attention of everyone "Two of you will use your plasma guns to disable the turrets, Jermai use your powers to disable the heavy bolter but do not damage it, after we move across the bridge I want three of you to guard our rear, use that heavy bolter to hold the enemy back, the rest of the PDF shouldn't be a problem without their heavy weapons, their lasguns won't do much against carapace" William then looked towards the old arbite "Ishmael once we enter, take someone with you and use meltas to damage the generators, once we close the portal we will use orbital bombardment to take down the hive, the rest of you and me will protect Jermail until he closes the portal, any questions?" Everyone nods at Williams "Then let's begin" William ordered, powering his sword and checking his bolter pistol.
Two stormtroopers, one with a plasma gun and the other with a plasma pistol took their positions, two plasma bolts hit their target and melt the turrets, the energy batteries of the turrets blow up under the heat of plasma, this alerted the PDF who quickly brought up their weapons. Anon cast an illusion on the two PDF troops making them see each other as enemies, the two PDF inside the bunker manning the heavy bolter shot each other, after he disabled the heavy bolter, the entire team moved forward and shot the remaining PDF, three stormtroopers manned the heavy bolter and cover their rear.
Alerted by the sounds of gunfire outside, the traitor PDF took their weapons and moved towards the sounds while shouting in local low gothic, one of them sound the alarm to alert their allies on the enemy.
William and Anon moved in front of the team with their melee weapons while Ishaem took of the stormtroopers towards the plasma generators and the remaining three-man team moved towards the portal. the team moved through the narrow corridors and reached a corner, William sensing the encroaching enemy sign the stormtrooper and Anon to stop, seven footsteps approached them, few seconds later the unsuspecting PDF met with the inquisitorial agents, as soon as they reached melee distance Inquisitor and Anon leaped from cover and start engaging them in melee.
The cultist in front of the group looked in horror as Inquisitor cut him in half with his power sword, he then shot two bullets with his bolt pistol, killing another PDF. Anon utilizing his training jumped on the left wall and used his legs to propel himself towards the enemy, imitating the same grace and cruelty he has seen from his mentor, Anon cut the head of a cultist and used his powers to create a shock wave which stunted the cultist and dropped few of them on the floor, taking advantage of the situation, stormtrooper used his hotshot to kill two cultists, Anon using his powers to augment himself jumped toward the remaining Cultist while dodging their shots, he reached his target, and brought up his sword to strike, cultist seeing this brought up his lasgun in order to block the attack against himself, Anon changed the direction of his sword mid-strike, changing the slash to a thrust, he priced the cultist through his heart, he then conjured a fireball that engulfed the remaining cultist, burning him alive.
The three then continued their mission after letting the cultist burn in agony, few minutes later they reached the balcony and peaked out of it, 20 meters under the balcony was a portal that spewed out lesser daemons, they couldn't possibly hope to fight them so they decided not to aggravate them, so long as they stood where they were, the daemons will ignore them.
"Close the portal, we will protect you, be quick" Inquisitor ordered and moved to a cover, Anon sat near the balcony like structure and draw his powers, it was not his first time seeing a portal, he closed two portals back on Thule, he remembered the poor untrained psykers turn into a portal as they begged him to kill them, Anon cleared his mind again driving out the memories of the past as he continued his work. As soon as he connected to the portal, he could feel the Attention of the daemons coming towards him, Anon focused as he tried to close the gate while also shielding his soul, it was a good decision to attack before cultists could start the sacrifice, if they had done so it would be much harder for him to close the gate.
(Few meters away from Anon -Pov: William)
William and the stormtrooper were holding back the Cultists to buy Jremai(Anon) enough time to close the portal, tens of cultists were already dead, but instead of retreating the remaining cultist pushed forward, charging them in a fits of rage only to meet with hotshot and bolter shot to the face, only few cultists manage to close the gap but they too were cut down by William's power sword.
After realizing the futility of their assaults, the remaining cultist stopped attacking for some reason, this made the inquisitor uneasy, the two of them stood vigilant for any foes but non came, after 10 minutes of silence they got their answer.
"Daemons" Inquisitor shouted at the sight of the four Bloodletters charging towards them, seeing this the stormtrooper throw a Krak grenade towards the incoming lesser daemons, taking hit by a grenade one of the bloodletters sustained enough damage that it returned to the warp. The remaining three were faced with hotshot and bolter rounds coming towards them, the two focused their fire on the bloodletter in front of the attack and manage to banish it before it closed its distance, unfortunately, the other two manage to close their distance, William charged towards his adversary, using his power sword he blocks daemon's sword, warp fire of daemon's sword was burning hot it was thanks to his power armor that it didn't burn him, stormtrooper behind him gave him covering fire as William was holding back the daemons.
Inquisitor used one hand to hold the enemy's sword in place and used another to bring his bolt pistol to its stomach and fired three rounds, the daemon shouted in anger as it fell to its knees, before he could finish it off the other daemon moved to attack him, William left the damaged daemon for stormtrooper to finish off as he charged the other daemon, the daemon was already damaged by hotshot rounds, William shot the daemon's right hand with his bolter, the round exploded taking the daemon's hands with it, the daemon's torso was spewing out fire where Bolter round hit him, William then swung his sword, the daemon was cut in half, unable to keep his form, the daemon returned to the immaterium.
William took a deep breath and turn back to check on the stormtrooper, the daemon was banished, before he could say anything two las shots hit his armor, William quickly took cover while taking potshots at the enemy, one of the cultist's hands blow up in a gory mess as the bolt round exploded on his shoulder, the stormtrooper gave Inquisitor covering fire with his hotshot, another cultist was down, as Inquisitor was getting into a cover a hissing sound of a plasma gun was heard, before he could look behind a bolt of plasma went by him, William watched as the round hit the stormtrooper in front of him, the plasma bolt melted stormtroopers upper body and fused his remaining flesh with his carapace.
William immediately jumped into cover, before he could respond to the enemy, he sense something, he heard the screaming sounds of the cultist behind the cover. As William looked behind the cover he was dismayed at the sight, bloodletters killing cultists and drinking their blood, a cultist screamed in agony as a burning blade pierce him through the back while he was down on the ground.
After killing all the cultists bloodletters noticed Anon's presence and charge towards the inquisitor's position in unholy fury, William cursed under his breath, he couldn't take all these daemons at once, before they could meet blade to blade William saw a lighting bolt pass by him hit the bloodletter.
"The portal is closed my Lord, they won't be able to summon more daemons once we kill those who are already summoned" Anon shouted as he came to the inquisitor's aid
"move towards the bridge, we will regroup and retreat towards the landers" William ordered "If we could pass through these that is" he continued as he pointed toward still approaching daemons, after hearing that William saw eldritch energies gather around Anon's hand, few seconds later William saw a giant lightning bolt come out of Anon's hand, the lighting pass by William and hit the bloodletters, all 16 bloodletters were banished in an instant leaving only smoke and smell of burning flesh behind. William was amazed, even if they are lesser ones they are still daemons, banishing all of them at once was no easy task.
Inquisitor looked at Anon "Which grade are you Jermai?" William asked
"Do you mean the psyker grade lord?" William nodded at his question "I do not know my lord, I have been living in a feudal world and there are not the type who would put grades on psykers, closes thing they have is the term 'weak witch' and 'powerful witch' " Anon answered
William was now really curious and intrigued about him "Remind me to put you in a test next time we return to a proper civilized world" Said the inquisitor "Now let's move out before we are surrounded" William continued
Few minutes later before they could reach the bridge they were welcomed by Ishmael, he was bleeding in the left eye, regardless of his injuries William was happy to see him alive.
"Ishmael report" Inquisitor ordered
"Stormtrooper Agot Norse was torn apart by a group of cultists, the generators have been destroyed, I have lost my left eye and a bolter round have pierced my armor" Said the old arbite putting his hand on his stomach would
"Throne damn it!" William cursed, now he had to carry a wounded soldier while retreating from enemy territory
"I can still move but I would only slow you down Lord, I shall stay behind and draw their attention in the bridge, just leave the heavy bolter and my shotgun" Ishmael offered
William was about to say something when the masked man barged into the conversation "That kind of heroic action will not be necessary" said the masked man as he approached the injured arbite
He tried to put his hands on Ishmael's wounds when he protested "What do you think your doing witch?!" Ishmael said out loud, he took a step back
the masked man just looked at him, his expression as always was hidden behind an indifferent mask, he looked at Ishmael then spoked "If you wish to die here I will not stop you, but if you let me help you, you may serve the one on the throne for few more years" he said while offering help
Ishmael looked at William, he clearly didn't want anything to do with a psyker, Inquisitor sighed "Let him help you Ishmael, you'll be more useful to the emperor alive" Inquisitor ordered, he wondered what the masked man wanted to do, was he educated in the medical field?
Ishmael grunted and after looking at the inquisitor for a few seconds reluctantly agreed "If I turn into a warp spawn, I will kill you before killing myself Witch" The arbite threatened the psyker, Anon however didn't pay any mind.
William watched curiously as the masked man put his hand on Arbites wounds, then a faint light emanated from his hands, after 30 seconds he removed his hands, William was surprised once more when he saw Ishmael's wound heal.
"Wait, just how many disciplines do you know? I saw you perform abilities from at least two different disciplines, now you are using another one?" Inquisitor was baffled at the thought, only few psykers in the Imperium could learn two different disciplines at the same time and even lesser number of those psykers are normal humans, as far as he could see, Jermai was a normal human, it was nearly impossible for a mortal human to do what he has done, because they won't live long enough to learn all of them, only people know to do something like that are space marines and eldar, then it a thought hit him, talented psyker, multiple disciplines, not and eldar yet have long enough lifespan to learn multiple disciplines, and William hasn't put him in a DNA test, was Jermai a hybrid?
William was horrified at the thought, he observed the masked man, hoping his theory is wrong, his thought was cut short as the masked man looked at him in the eye, although he couldn't see his eyes William knew he was looking directly in his eyes.
"My Lord, please refrain from having such thought, I'm not a mongrel" The masked man said as he looked at William, Ishmael was just confused
"When we return to the ship YOU WILL go through a DNA test by magos!" William declared
"Very well, if that would stop you from thinking like that then so be it" The masked man said "There are little to nothing that can offend me Inquisitor, but somehow you manage to accomplish such feat" looks like Anon was really angry at William's accusation
William was little relieved at Anon's straight denial of the accusation, he looked at Ishmael who was still in a confused state "Oh right, we will discuss this matter later, for now, let's move towards the bridge" William ordered then took the lead.
William saw Anon quickly heal Ishmael's eye wound, his eye was gone, but at least it wasn't bleeding, to William's surprise Ishmael actually thanked the psyker, William smiled under his helmet, he didn't get surprised often yet, in all his years serving as an inquisitor, this was the thing that surprised him, 'Ishmael thanking a psyker he then cleared his mind "We should reach the bridge soon be ready to break out" William shouted
The group reached the bridge protected by two remaining stormtroopers, the bridge was filled with hundreds of cultist bodies, the head of the dead stormtrooper was missing and the other two seem to be tattered.
The group moved towards the friendlies, then one of the stormtroopers noticed them "My lord, ready to report" said the stormtrooper, William gesture him to start "The cultists start pouring in when the alarm was hit, we hold them off but one of the daemons managed to kill Hans died, after the first three waves they stopped attacking"
Inquisitor look at the area in front of him, there were no cultists to be seen, were they trying to keep them trapped inside? But they are khornites they don't follow plans after they become mad, unless, someone is controlling them!
William looked at Anon "You mentioned that someone was controlling the daemons correct?" Anon confirms his question "Where is he?" William asked
Anon looked blankly at William, it made William uncomfortable for, the masked hiding Anon's face didn't help either "He was two levels above us, not he is close" William heard the masked man say, then he saw him point at the other side of the bridge "He is with the cultists and he is not a normal cultist my lord"
Hearing that gave him discomfort, he had no choice but to face the man if they want to escape the hive, "Here is our plan" William said, after he gathered everyone's attention he begin to explain.
(few minutes later -Pov: Anon)
Anon cut through the untrained cultist charging at him, while in melee he tried to imitate his mentor's fighting style, trying to move as graceful and as fast as Avina but he was struggling, he only learned the basics of her fighting style, Avina's way of fighting exhausted his legs as he had to constantly jump and move around, the greatest problem he faced was enemy ranged units, Anon may be faster than a normal human but not faster than bullets, he was already shot at least 10 times 4 of which bypassed his flak armor and hit him, the wounds are going to take some time to heal.
Their plan was simple, Anon would separate from the rest of the group after crossing the bridge, while they attract the enemy's attention he would conceal himself and assassinate the enemy commander who is controlling the daemons, once he killed their leader, the daemons would go in a frenzy, attacking friend and foe alike, at least that was the plan... Anon had made a mistake, when he looked for the person controlling the daemons, he failed to detect his psychic powers, and then everything went to shit, the sorcerer manage to detect his group and ambush them, seeing this Anon quickly ran towards the buildings around in order to continue his mission.
Anon cursed himself under his breath as he burned three cultists with warp fire, a group of cultists carrying autoguns appeared in front of him ready to shoot, Anon quickly jumped into a building, he wasn't alone inside, he face two cultists, Anon brought his head down and moved low as he dodges the autogun shots, he moved left and right and cast illusions on the cultists in order to confuse them. Anon wasn't completely successful in dodging the bullets as he received two new bullet wounds, in less than a few seconds he closed his distance, one of the cultists dropped his autogun and charged him with his saber, Anon used him as cover against the other cultist, then in a quick motion Anon brought his sword and slashed his throat, the other cultist seeing her friend's death pointed her gun towards Anon, the masked man quickly pointed his left arm toward her and cast lighting, warp lightning boiled her blood and caused her blood vessels to explode.
Anon was in pain, if it wasn't for his healing abilities he would be dead now. Anon had a hard time concentrating after the enemy ambush, not only he needs to fight the cultists and daemons, he also had to fight off the chaos sorcerer as he or she tried to invade his mind, he needed to find the sorcerer and keep an eye for Inquisitor and his group.
Anon healed his wounds while bullets were still inside, he had some time before the enemy break into the house, so he concentrated, the sorcerer was trying to cast an illusion on them to make them feel more fear and force them to run away. Now was Anon's chance to strike back, he used his powers and manage to use the enemy's power against itself, following the path on which psychic attack was cast, Anon manage to locate his enemy, the sorcerer was 30 meters away in a building.
The masked man started to move towards his target, if he fail to kill it the inquisitor and his retinue will die. As he was running Anon connect to William's mind to deliver his message.
~Inquisitor, I have located the sorcerer, I'm currently on move to hunt him, how long can you hold the enemy back?~ asked Anon, moving towards the chaos sorcerer
~Is that you Jermai?~ William sound confused for a second but then realize that it was Anon who is talking to him ~We can hold them for 20 minutes but no more than that, move faster kill that emperor damn witch Jermai~ William ordered
~I'm on the move my lord~ Anon said as he shut their connection
As he was moving from one building to another towards his targets he faced heavy resistance, more close he got to the sorcerer more daemons attacked him, filled with rage they charged Anon, the last thing they saw before they banished was a large bolt of lighting and objects thrown towards them, to his surprise lesser daemon were much more easier to deal with than cultists, the reason for that was simple, he was faster than normal human and bloodletters but not faster than a bullet.
After 5 minutes of banishing daemons, he reached his destination, the building he was looking at is or was a large shop that used to sell dolls for kids, Anon cursed his luck, did he really have to fight against a chaos sorcerer in a creepy doll shop? After realizing he had to save the inquisitor he moved inside the shop after cloaking himself.
His predictions became true as he looked inside the shop, as if the dolls weren't scary enough, the chaos corruption made them look worse. Anon moved low while he concealed himself against the sorcerer, if he was as skilled as Anon he would probably know he is there, after a few moments of looking around he sensed something.
~LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE FOUND ME LITTLE PET CONGRAGULATION~ said a voice directly to his mind, Anon quickly tried to find its location as the voice continued ~YOU ARE QUITE SKILLED FOR A MORTAL I GIVE YOU THAT LITTLE WELP~ said the voice
~Your soul is damned the moment you chose chaos sorcerer, now come and face me I'll put you out of your missery~ said Anon
~I HAVE LIVED FOR FAR LONG TO DIE AT THE HANDS OF MORTAL SUCH AS YOU LITTLE INQUISITORIAL PET~ said the voice clearly angry at Anon's challenge ~YOU HAVE SET BACK MY PLANS BY CLOSING THAT PORTAL... BUT SINCE I FEEL MERCYFUL TODAY I OFFER YOU A CHOIC, SUBMIT TO ME AS A SLAVE AND I SPARE YOUR PITIFUL LIFE MORTAL~ offered the voice
Anon laughed ~That was a fine joke sorcerer, if I didn't know any better I might've accepted that~ he stopped laughing then continued
"Your death will be painful mortal" this wasn't telepathy, Anon heard a voice from behind, he quickly turned to face it but as soon as he turned back a fist throw him few meters away. Anon hit the wall so hard that his spine broke, blood came out from his mouth and dropped from inside his mask, he took a lot of damage on that hit, then he started to heal himself as quickly as possible.
Anon looked up towards the sorcerer, his shocked face was hidden behind a silver mask, his adversary wasn't just a sorcerer, it was a space marine!
A 2-meter tall giant clad in green and red armor stood before Anon, the sorcerer's eyes were burning red like charcoal, in his left hand was a psychic staff, he was wearing a hood on top of his helmet and a roble atop of his black armor, a bolt pistol was visible on his hips.
"Do you realize the futility of your challenge little dog? you lost before you even started" said the space marine, his voice was deeper under the helmet "You have set me back by closing the portal but alas, I can open another one, the only thing I require is a psyker" Anon could sense a smile behind his helmet
Anon stood up after healing his wounds, for the first time in centuries, Anon felt fear, he knew one day he had to face a chaos space marine, he knew it yet... he felt slight fear, 'If I die here he won't be able to resurrect' he thought to himself, regardless of his fears he had to kill the space marine if he wanted to save his soul.
"To think you can still stand after receiving such injuries" the chaos marine thought for a few seconds, he then saw the masked man clutching his sword, this made him smile "A mortal wants to kill me with a sword!" the marine laughed "Your interesting mortal, it's been eons since I have laughed like this" the marine mocked him again
Anon couldn't afford to fight a sorcerer with psychic powers, even if he manage to beat him in a psychic duel, the Inquisitor and his retinue will be dead before they finish the fight. At first, Anon thought he would face a mortal chaos sorcerer and finish him off in melee but now that option was gone, his sword wouldn't even pass his power armor, so he decide to use his last option.
The masked man used the marine's distraction to his advantage, he acted as if he wanted to charge him into a melee, then he place his left hand on his plasma pistol, it would take three seconds for it to charge and shoot the marine, luckily, the sorcerer hasn't noticed his pistol under his clothing. The masked man pulled the trigger on his pistol.
1...2... With great speed, Anon brought up his pistol and aimed it at the marine, marine process the information at a rate that was impossible to mortal men, he was shocked to see a plasma pistol aimed at him, unfortunately for him, it was too late, a hissing sound was heard from the pistol as a bolt of plasma flew toward the sorcerer, the marine, in order to defend himself, brought his right arm to block the plasma bolt, in less than a second the burning plasma hit his right hand's palm and fused his flesh with his ceremite armor.
Seeing this Anon quickly take advantage of the situation and used his telekinesis to throw his sword towards the marine, it wouldn't kill him but at least it can injure him. The plasteel sword flew with sonic speed as it was propelled by psychic force, the sword quickly hit the marine's chest and pierced through his armor. The sword broke under the pressure that made it shatter into pieces inside the marine's body.
It was the marine's turn to attack now, "YOU MORTAL SCUM!" shouted the marine as he gathered his psychic powers, he then launched hellfire on Anon, the masked man managed to dodge most of them but one of them hit him, Anon's right hand burned by unholy fire, he could sense the corruption trying to creep inside his soul.
Anon repelled the psychic attack, his left hand was now gone, as he finished dealing with the corruption he saw the marine drop his staff and point his bolt pistol at him, he shot 8 times, without any delay, the masked man cast a telekinesis shield around himself, he managed to hold 7 of them in the air but the first one passed by him and hit him in the stomach, the bolter round exploded in his stomach, angered by the pain the masked man used all of his might to propel all of the remaining rounds at the marine.
Marine looked in horror as his own weapon was used against himself, the bolter rounds hit the marine like a hammer, two of them exploded on his armor. The marine tried to fight back with his own psychic power, he managed to cast a shield, the remaining bullets exploded on the shield leaving only smoke behind.
Anon augmented himself then leaped towards the marine, the sorcerer was unable to see his approach thanks to the smoke left behind by the bolter rounds and Anon's concealment cloak, before the smoke could completely clear out the masked man jumped on the marine. Anon held himself on the marine using his hand to hold his head.
Anon looked the marine in the eye and said only one word "BURN!" Anon created a warp fire inside his armor, marine cried out in pain as he was burning alive, in a final act of defiance the chaos sorcerer caught the masked man in the neck and used the last of his power to break his neck.
The darkness consumed Anon as his neck shattered under the pressure.