Chapter 44: Throne of Blood
Reviewers:
Marine Brother Shran: Thanks for the compliments. So you want one fist battle and one mental battle. I was thinking the exact same thing. Et Imperator Brother Marine.
BGTom: They may have an advantage, for now. But the Empire still has to discover HOW to go to another galaxy. I'll have them do it, but their arrogance will end up helping the Imperium.
Liljimmyurine: Read closer. I called the Dragon Claws a unit. That means the rest of the marines are normal just like you said.
Silvanas: What's the site address? Thanks for the info too.
Lennox: Thanks, the sword battle will be used in this chapter too, between Khorne and the Emperor. The Apex Twins are keeping 'Daddy' busy. Teaching him what they learned during their time out there. Starcraft will probably be the next universe.
Oblivionknight7: And long live the Emperor!
THE Bee: Sorry, I don't speak Latin, but thanks if that was a compliment.
Grayangle: Thanks! Don't worry, I have no intention of stopping this story until it is finished.
The Emperor's battle fleet dropped out of the warp in high orbit of a planet that was totally in the grip of chaos. Chaos runes thousands of meters high adorned the planet's two jet black moons. A sun of pure sorcery swung around the planet itself, illuminating oceans of blood and continents moving like liquid silver. Over a hundred chaos ships orbited the planet, called there by their masters. They swung around, preparing to defend their masters.
"Have all ships open fire," the Emperor commanded. At his word the fleet opened up with everything they had. A firestorm filled the skies of the world below. The Emperor's fleet consisted of fifteen battle cruisers and theships fromof the Grey Knights, the Exorcists, and several other daemon hunting chapters. Two to three companies from each chapter. They would deal with the Chaos gods daemonic defenders while the Emperor dealt with the gods themselves. None of the fleet vessels were destroyed, the Emperor's flagship taking down the heaviest ships and distracting the others.
Khorne and Tzeench watched as their last mortal defenders vanished in balls of plasma fire. But even in death they served their gods, for as they dies the Chaos gods absorbed their souls, strengthening themselves. This would be the sight of the final battle between the gods of darkness and the Emperor of light.
On board the Emperor's flagship, the ruler of mankind was preparing for his greatest battle of all time. His armor was at full strength, its golden plates gleaming in the light. He placed his rune sword in a sheath on his hip and grasped the Eldar sword of death in his hands. His stateroom looked like it belonged in a palace. Tapestries of famous battles lined the walls. Lush carpets covered the floors and the twins had beds of their own beside their father's.
"Father, wait for us!" The Apex Twins called. "We're coming too." They were dressed in black leather combat armor and their bodies blazed with sorceress fire. The Emperor shook his head.
"No, you two must stay here," he said. "It is likely I will face Khorne first and he is largely immune to psychic abilities. You would be too vulnerable. However, when I face Tzeench I will very likely require your help my daughters."
"We will be ready," they chorused. During the journey to this world, the twins had been teaching their new 'Daddy' everything they had learned during their journeys through the journey. Including one discovery that could vastly increase the Emperor's chances of defeating the Lord of Magic. The twins looked at their father with their crystal blue eyes and saw they were all in agreement. The Emperor left his stateroom and the twins began meditating to increase their powers.
The Emperor materialized on a plain of bones along with the rest of his warriors. The sky overhead was filled with black clouds that rained blood. The ground was covered with bones and skulls. They had beamed down in three groups to divide up their foes as best they could. Already hundreds of daemons were charging at them in a tide of red flesh. The sky turned dark and massive Bloodthirsters flew down, shaking the ground with their war cries. Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds ran and lopped ahead. The Emperor stepped to the head of his group.
"Warriors of mankind!" He called out. "This battle is the battle that will decide the fate of our galaxy and all its citizens. Be brave, be resolute and remember that every daemon you kill here is one less that will darken the souls of mankind! Now, defenders of the light, forward!" The Emperor cried, running forward and driving the death blade into a Bloodthirster which immediately began to blacken and atrophy. It screamed as only a daemon knowing its eternity of existence was ending could.
The marines followed their Emperor, psycannons which had replaced the marines normal bolters blasting scores of daemons back to the warp, but more always took their place. The Chaos gods had gathered as many daemons as they possibly could to defend themselves. Hundreds of thousands of the warp creatures had materialized. They hoped to overwhelm the Emperor's party by sheer weight of numbers. However the Emperor had weapons of his own as well.
In orbit psykers chanted spells to break the daemons hold on reality and others used their energy to enhance the attacks and defenses of the marines below. Orbital guns fired psi-enhanced shells down onto the read edges of the demonic army. And Silvanas's psykers were weaving ancient spells of protection and sending waves of confusion into the daemonic ranks.
The forces of light and the army of darkness had at last fallen into hand to hand combat. It was very bloody. Axes of Khorne cut through blessed Marine armor and bodies were crushed in the hands of daemons. The blood of humanity's protectors soaked the ground along with foul deamonic ichor. They pressed in on all sides, the daemons not caring if they lived or died so long as they served their masters.
Many daemons dissolved before they were even struck, their flesh unraveling as the waves of faith emitted by the combined prayers of the Grey Knights, Exorcists, the other chapters and the Emperor washed over them, filling them with an energy that was the total opposite of the one that sustained them. Still they pressed in. The runes of protection on marine suits glowed white hot as they shielded their wearers from harm. Suddenly the prayers unified as one and a massive blast of white hot light blasted out from the center on the fight, blasting tens of thousands of daemons back to the warp. The Emperor had used his Banishment power. The remaining daemons froze for a moment at such a display of power.
The Emperor gazed out over the battlefield, seeing the massive damage his attack had done on the enemy. He had hoped to retain as much of his energy as possible for the gods themselves, but it had been necessary. The daemonic army was broken. Over five hundred marines were dead. Suddenly a throne of skulls rose out of a lake of blood to the right of the army of light. On that throne sat a bestial being hundreds of feet tall. His skin the color of spilt blood, his muscles rippling as his hands grasped a blade a hundred feet long, and a mask covering half his face, Khorne the Blood God gazed down at the ants who had dared to invade his world. He bellowed a roar of rage that blasted twenty marines into the rocks. The Emperor strode forth.
"Khorne, Chaos god of Blood, I challenge you to a one on one battle to the death. The winner will gain control of this galaxy!" He called.
Khorne roared again. He was the god of blood and violence, though he also had a bit of martial honor, and he so rarely got the chance to battle directly, often watching through the eyes of his servants. He had longed for a direct fight for thousands of years.
"Very well!" He bellowed, also shrinking himself down to four meters in size. There was no honor or skill involved in simply stomping a smaller enemy into oblivion. "I accept your challenge." He swung his hand and the daemons backed off. The Emperor did the same for his troops. They started their own battle.
The Emperor and Khorne circled each other. Khorne struck first, swinging his blade faster that the eye could see, aiming for the Emperor's heart. He blocked it and backed away a few steps to absorb the force of the blow. He drew his rune sword now, wielding one sword in both hands. He swung his rune sword at the Blood God, who blocked. The Emperor then swung the death blade at Khorne's side but the god sidestepped. He swung his fist into the Emperor's face, breaking his nose and causing blood to flow down his face. This pleased Khorne who swung again, but this time the Emperor was ready. He caught Khorne's wrist on his rune sword and cut deeply. The Blood god cries out in rage. It was considered the highest crime for a daemon of Khorne to let its blood be spilled.
The Emperor knew he had angered the blood god greatly by spilling its blood. Hopefully this would cause him to become distracted. He swung the death blade in an arc that Khorne barely stopped from chopping his head off, knocking the death blade from the Emperor's hand. He returned with a stroke the left a massive gash in the emperor's side. He cried out in pain, pleasure to the ears of the blood god. The two resumed circling each other. Khorne rushed forward, shoulder knocking the Emperor to the ground in a cloud of red dust and crushing several ribs.
Khorne stood over the Emperor of mankind. He drove his blade into the ground where the Emperor lay but he rolled aside at the last moment and slashed his sword across Khorne's thigh, cutting through skin and muscle. Blood flowed in a torrent to the ground. Khorne screamed in rage, swinging his fist into the Emperor's chest and knocking him thirty meters.
He got back up but his chest plate was splintered and he had felt more of his ribs break, and one of them had punctured a lung. This battle was harder than any he had ever fought. He knew that if Khorne was at his full power he would be nearly impossible to beat. As it was now the Emperor was losing the fight. Or was he?
Khorne, blood still streaming from his leg and wrist, stood over the Emperor. He swung his rune blade but the Chaos god blocked it, knocking it away.
"It is over!" He bellowed, preparing to drive his blade through the Emperor's heart.
"It most certainly is. You have been a worthy opponent," the Emperor said, coughing up blood. "But it is time for this to end," he said, a smile forming on his bloodied lips.
"I agree!" Khorne bellowed, plunging his blade down and…. Stopped, his blade centimeters from the Emperor's heart. A blast of light flittered out behind him. The tip of the Death blade protruded from his chest. The Emperor had allowed it to be knocked from his hands. When Khorne was completely focused on him, he had used his power to propel the Death Blade on a spear of golden light straight into the Blood God's heart. Already the blade's energies were coursing through Khorne's veins and flesh, obliterating both his body and his soul.
Khorne had felt the blade enter his heart, colder than the warp itself. He could not move. All he had to do was release his grip on his sword and the weapon would impale the Emperor, but all he could do was watch as the Emperor got to his feet. The darkness had reached his arms and legs. He could feel his soul dissolving. Slaanesh had told the other gods of this weapon. The Eldar had attempted to use it to destroy him when he first emerged, but they had failed. Now, at last, the weapon was fulfilling its purpose. The blackness reached his head and the center of his soul. He felt himself dissolve, his soul going dark, never to beat to the sound of war drums again.
The Emperor watched, one hand holding onto a rock to keep from falling, as Khorne the Blood god fully dissolved. He had felt his soul die. Without their master the remainder of Khorne's daemons had dissolved back into the warp. Nearly a third of his marines were dead, but they had done their duty. One of the two remaining Chaos gods was dead. However, when he tried to locate Tzeench, he found that the trickster had fled into the warp, to the place where his remaining followers were gathering. A planet within the warp, the center of his webs of fate. That would be where the final battle would occur.
"Men, we have accomplished our mission. Let us return to the ships. Have your wounded beamed to the medical ship. The dead will be honored aboard my vessel, those who cannot be brought back," he said. With the recent advanced made lately in nano probe technology, dead could be revived a full seventy-five hours after death. However there was only so much they could do.
The Emperor's fleet bombarded the planet with cyclonic torpedoes and left it to burn. One Chaos still drew warp breath, and he had to be hunted down and destroyed.
When the Emperor beamed back to his ship, he was taken to the medical bay where his daughters waited with him while they worked together to heal his injuries. Khorne had injured him badly. He had ten broken ribs, a punctured lung and massive internal injuries. The twins and their father and Emperor worked together to make sure that when they found the master of fate, he would pay for what he had done to humankind. He would pay with his very soul.
How was that? The Emperor won, but just barely. Was the battle good enough? Tzeench escaped, but he will be tracked down. Wait for that in the next 40k chapter. For the next chapter we will return to the Babylon 5 galaxy. When will Sheridan begin his operation to free Earth? Who will be loyal to who? Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dark Future. See ya next chapter and don't forget to review!
ENTILZA