Extremus Fors Chapter 41

Novak lay prone on his back, staring in disbelief. Ajax had returned to them, as proud and defiant as ever. There was no hint of delirium, no sign that he was anything other than the belligerent pillar of strength the Storm Heralds had revered for millennia. Anger lent him clarity and rage burnt the fogs of dementia away. Ajax was indomitable but never had he faced so stern a challenge. A Daemon-Primarch stood against him. Could Ajax survive such an encounter, Novak couldn't see how anyone could expect to win in such a contest.

Ajax seemed more than willing to try. He leaned forward and metal feet slammed into the floor, pistons wheezing as he broke into a run. Loose plates rattled on his frame and drips of lubricant fell from cracked joints but still he charged. Fulgrim moved to meet him, swords held point first. The Primarch moved twice as fast as the lone Dreadnought, double in size and wrapped in corruption. Surely Fulgrim would shear through Ajax's battered armour at the first touch, then scatter the remains far and wide.

Novak held his breath as he waited for Ajax to die, but a moment before they met the assault cannon roared, spinning barrels spewing rounds at Fulgrim's perfect face. The Primarch met the onslaught with contempt, his hellmetal blades became a shimmer of light, deflecting the hail of bullets. He didn't meet them with the flats of the swords either, he used the edges. Every bullet was intercepted and chopped in two, he was cutting the bullets out of the air with unimaginable skill, a feat of swordsmanship beyond imagination. Fulgrim was showing off, which proved a mistake.

As the swords spun wide Ajax dove in, passing through the haze of steel without taking a scratch. Novak thought he would pound the Primarch hard, but Ajax eschewed the use of his fist. He crashed bodily into the Primarch's chest, using sheer bulk and momentum to drive them both along. Fulgrim was doubled over as Ajax slammed into his belly, folding him over the Dreadnought's back as metal feet dug into the floor and powered on. Ajax could not dream to match a Primarch's skill at arms, so hadn't bothered to try. His attack was all fury and brute strength, using sheer inelegance to his advantage.

Fulgrim's blades whisked down, trying to shear Ajax apart but the Dreadnought was too close. Within the arc of the swords Fulgrim could not properly bring his weapons to bear and was bodily carried along by the rampaging war machine. Ajax careened wildly through the melee, crushing Technobarbarians and Beastmen under their combined bulk as he drove on. They slammed into a towering capacitor and Fulgrim whipped backwards, in a move that would have shattered the spine of any living warrior. He reared back with a cry of fury, but Ajax slammed forward once more and crushed the serpentine tail into the capacitor.

Fulgrim was being battered by the ferocious onslaught, but was far from defeated. He flexed his fingers and the swords evaporated, leaving him with claws as long as a man's leg. He drove six hands into Ajax's back, sparks flying as armour failed. Fulgrim heaved back and ripped Ajax away as a man would a clinging cobweb and held him at bay. Ajax thrashed and kicked but was hoisted aloft as Fulgrim leaned in, a wicked grin on his face. Ajax responded by lifting his hand and opening the fingers, exposing the flamer buried within. Roasting Promethium spewed forth, bathing Fulgrim's face in flames, but all it did was make him laugh.

"You fool! I bathe in the fires of the Warp, what made you think…" his tirade was cut short as Ajax's fist came out of the flaming torrent, slamming into his jaw so hard it nearly ripped off. Fulgrim reeled and let Ajax go, dropping him to the floor. The Dreadnought's feet hit metal and he was on the attack once more, pounding at Fulgrim's hide relentlessly.

"You think I can't beat you without a sword?!" Fulgrim snarled as his mangled jaw reset, "I'll annihilate you bare-handed!"

"BRING IT, YOU STEAMING SACK OF EXCREMENT!"

"Then that's how it shall be, at least I will have some small sport before the end!"

The pair flew at each other but Novak's view was blocked. Cortha loomed overhead, Crozius in one hand and Honour's Edge in the other as he snarled, "On your feet Space Marine."

"I can't," Novak gulped, "My arm…"

"It's only an arm," Cortha snapped, "You have another one."

"My swordarm, it's gone. Without it I'm useless, I can't fight like this."

Cortha's fury boiled in his voice, "I don't care if you feel sorry for yourself, I want you in that fight now! An Astartes who can yet stand can fight! And if he can't stand then he can shoot, and if he can't shoot he starts biting ankles! Get your miserable arse off that floor and act like a Chapter Champion!"

The words cut through Novak's fog of self-pity and spoke to his most deeply ingrained instincts, impulses drilled into him since his first days as a Scout-Novice. The Chaplain's tirade compelled him to rise, forcing his feet under him as he swayed drunkenly. His weight was off, balance ruined and his head swam but rose he did, body flaring in agony every inch of the way. Excruciating pain as would unmake a man lanced from his amputated arm, but his Hypno-indoctrination held it at bay and he stood up. His sword was offered and he took it in his remaining hand. The grip was slippery and loose, with only two fingers and a thumb he couldn't hold it properly. He doubted he could pull off any fancy styles like this, but he was up and he was armed, that would have to do.

The others were stood nearby, readying to move. Nearby Technobarbarians lay in piles, dying alongside Beastmen and the few yet alive were being culled by flaming Undying. Their battle had shrunk into irrelevance, a mere sideshow to the duel of champions. Novak discounted them for now, they did not matter, not when there was a more important fight to be won.

Hypras snapped, "We have to get in there."

"Are we on the same side then?" Arvael probed.

"Absolutely not," Hypras snarled, "But we may be shooting in the same direction momentarily. I'll kill you after we deal with the Daemon-Primarch."

Agriff spoke up, "Your Dreadnought seems to be holding his own."

"Not for long," Mordad snarled, "That's Frakking Fulgrim! Your ancient won't last…"

A screech of torn metal announced a shift in the fight. Fulgrim gripped Ajax about the shoulders and heaved hard, crumpling armour in his grip. Ajax weighed tons and yet Fulgrim hurled him away like a thrown Bochieball, sending him soaring away. Arms and legs flailed as Ajax spun in the air, passing over the Space Marines' heads, so close Novak actually ducked. The Dreadnought slammed down and rolled in a clatter of armour, left vulnerable for a moment.

Instantly the others were in motion, charging to meet Fulgrim as he came to finish Ajax permanently. The Primarch didn't seem to notice them, so fixated was he on the kill, yet he was brought up short as Hypras sent a lightning bolt into his face. Fulgrim roared as he jerked up, evading the onslaught as his perfect skin smoked. Instantly the rest were upon him, Mordad sweeping a flaming blade into a serpentine flank as Agriff slammed his Nemesis hammer home. Cortha struck for the centre as Arvael flanked the foe, attacking from the rear.

Novak limped into the fray, feeling his bones protest at the unkind motion. He gripped his hilt in a wobbly hand and thrust the point for a bulging coil of flesh. It was the most inelegant blow he had ever made, a sloppy stab that nearly jarred the sword from his maimed hand. It was all he could manage to simply draw it back, seeing a thin trickle of purple blood whelm. Hastily he jumped back, before Fulgrim could strike, but it was not for him the Primarch aimed.

A fist as big as a Terminator plunged from above, slamming down into the melee. Agriff was too slow to react, misjudging the speed of the punch. A meteor fell and caught him dead-on, crushing him utterly. Bones snapped, Ceramite crumpled and organs burst like wet balloons as Agriff was reduced to a smear on the floor. Novak was aghast, Fulgrim had killed a Space Marine as easily as swatting a bug and reared high, six arms preparing to finish them all off. Novak knew he could not dodge a blow, not in his crippled state and prepared to die, but then Ajax returned to the fray.

The Dreadnought surged from behind, wrapping his fist and assault cannon about the Primarch's body. Fulgrim roared, his scream torn from the depths of the Warp itself. The air buckled and corpses spontaneously combusted nearby, and the Forgefane itself shivered as if beset by an earthquake. The whole structure groaned dangerously, on the edge of coming down and threatening to crush all within.

Fulgrim bucked wild but the Dreadnought held tight, clinging on and weighing him down as he bellowed, "HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" The rest responded with all their fury. Cortha punched his Crozius into a flank, Mordad scythed with flaming steel, Hypras' staff was wreathed in lightning as he slammed his weapon home. Arvael took up a black sword from the smashed Undying and sent it high, clipping a bicep and making an entire arm fall numb. Novak for his part lurched in, stabbing feebly. They had the Primarch surrounded and pinned, they would never have a better chance to defeat him, but Fulgrim remembered his strength and hissed, "None of you matter, you are all gnats compared to me!"

The Primarch paused, freezing utterly still and then shadow-wings were thrown wide. Ajax was hurled clear, flying away as the rest were scattered like leaves in a gale. Novak was picked up and sent spinning over and over as he hit the floor. Excruciating pain washed through him as wounds opened, ribs floating free and implants burning red-hot as they struggled to compensate. Never had he felt weaker, his strength spent, but he dragged his head up, to see a sight that made his woes fade into insignificance.

Fulgrim reared high and in his hands was Honourable Ajax. He bore the Dreadnought off the floor, gripping arms and legs tight, trapping the war machine in a vice none could escape. Fulgrim sniffed, "Not bad, you actually landed two good hits…"

"DIE!" Ajax roared as his assault cannon spewed rounds into Fulgrim's face.

Fulgrim flinched, but then his hand squeezed and Ajax's cannon crumpled into tangled wreckage. He said, "Three good hits, but it doesn't matter. The outcome of this fight was never in doubt, but I enjoyed the sport while it lasted. Still, time to finish this."

"I WILL NEVER YIELD!" Ajax bellowed, "TO MY LAST BREATH I DEFY YOU! FOR THE EMPEROR AND STORM HERALDS I SHALL NEVER RELENT!"

"Yield?" Fulgrim chuckled, "Who said anything about yielding?"

One of his free hands came up and dug a black talon into Ajax's sensor dome. The remaining lens shattered and armour folded into itself, then Fulgrim dragged it down the front of the Sarcophagus. Metal screeched as it parted, forming a jagged rent down Ajax's front, from which amniotic fluids gushed in a torrent. Fulgrim split Ajax open like a ripe fruit, then brought another hand up to rip the opening wide.

Ajax's interior was exposed to light for the first time in five millennia and then Fulgrim reached within. He gripped something tight and heaved back, pulling free a sack of grey meat. Nutrient-lines and neural shunts hung from it, snapping with wet pops as Fulgrim lifted the mortal remains of Ajax from his tomb. Pallid flesh, a wasted torso bereft of limbs and a drooping head with milky orbs for eyes. This was all that remained of Ajax the Marine, who had not felt air touch his skin for several epochs of history.

Fulgrim grinned at the wet sack in his grip then tipped his head back. Jaws opened wide as a snake's as he hoisted Ajax aloft, then shoved the dripping meat into his maw. His throat bulged and then swallowed, devouring Ajax alive. A legacy of heroism brought to the most inglorious of ends as Ajax, most Honourable and brave of Storm Heralds died at the hands of Fulgrim.

Novak could only watch in mute horror as Fulgrim sucked juice off his fingers, relishing the taste, "Bitter and astringent, pickled for millennia, but with sharp relish to be savoured. A satisfying repast indeed. So… who wants to die next?"