This chapter has been rewritten for typographical errors.
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Horus Lupercal? Here?!
Urkanthos scowled as he regarded his challenger. He had thought Abaddon was spouting nonsense when he said those words. The Chaos ascendant never considered the gravity of such a revelation, and now that the greatest of traitors stood before him, clad in brilliant white and righteous zeal, he took pause in considering whether or not he should cross blades with the Lupercal.
The paragon of Cthonia was the most powerful champion Chaos Undivided ever saw, and how much more could he be now that he was reborn, at his prime and absent any flaws?
Horus did not give him enough time to weigh his options, however, and engaged the daemon champion in a duel that shook the very earth of Cadia.
Celestine, having recovered from her initial astonishment, took to the skies and brought down her ardent blade upon the daemon hordes. She decided it would be best for her to save her accusations for the Arch-traitor for another time, considering that they were in the middle of the biggest Black Crusade the Despoiler has ever wrought.
"Have you come to embrace the Ruinous Powers once more, Lupercal?" Urkanthos mocked, parrying the enraged demigod's spear with a casual swipe of his talon.
All bore witness to the Cthonian's dedication to rid Cadia of the traitor legions. Each answer Horus drew was history's prize, for all watched with great anticipation his every move and word. The Emperor himself watched, proud as a father would over his son. It was no secret that upon hearing the Lupercal's declaration the loyalists would brand him an enemy the moment their shock wears off, and would understandably act accordingly. And yet, miraculously, not a single loyalist weapon was raised against Horus as he dueled with Urkanthos!
"If they beckon, they waste their breath!" Horus snarled, delivering a savage kick to Urkanthos' wounded side. Quickly, the primarch followed up with a powerful swing of Soulrender. The hallowed weapon burned right through the ascendant's armored hand, severing it from his arm like a scythe through grain. The daemon prince roared in pain-wracked anger, for it was not only flesh that burned in that strike- but his very soul!
"What in damnation?!"
"Feel that?" Horus grinned, "That would be a piece of your existence chipped away!"
Urkanthos, now fearful of this treachery, backed down out of instinct. Whereas the wounds he bore healed from each spilling of blood, they remained open as though the very power of the Blood God- the one thing sustaining the daemon prince- had fled with the first strike of that wretched gilded weapon!
"Where is your courage now, Urkanthos?" The name tasted sour in his mouth, but Horus hurled forth his challenge just the same. His pace quickened as he raised Soulrender, "Where is your god now?!"
"Khorne, help me." Urkanthos whispered, pride preventing him from speaking out loud.
Alas, the Blood God had grown bored with the ascendant's attempts at seizing glory at the Cadian Assault, and even more so now that he reduced himself into a simpering fool- ultimately unworthy of his favor. And so, he withdrew his hand, content that blood would still be spilled.
After a brief exchange of desperate blows, Horus finally sunk his weapon into the ascendant's heart. "Do you know the difference between my father and the Chaos Gods?" Celestine, having dispatched the broken daemonic hordes and winning the Imperium Kasr Kraf, approached the Primarch and listened to the exchange. "He did not abandon me when I needed him most."
Urkanthos, knowing that all was lost, chose one last spout of defiance. With a mad grin, he answered Horus. "And do you think they will welcome you as that Corpse did? After all you have done?" He cackled as the flames ate at his body, "The Imperium will reject you, hunt you down like a dog! And your defiance against the Ruinous Powers earns you not a single ally among them! You have accomplished nothing, Lupercal! You have returned, a fugitive on both sides!"
Horus frowned, dislodging his spear from the ashen corpse. "Then so be it."
Out of the corner of his eye, Horus saw the ardent blade rise to meet his throat. Celestine met his gaze with righteous fury burning in her eyes, "Drop the spear, Arch-traitor."
This was bound to happen sooner or later, and Horus knew it.
"I will not ask again!" The Saint's angelic voice grew tight as did her grip on the blade.
Horus nodded once, calmly stabbing Soulrender upon the bloodied earth before removing his helm for all to see. By this time, the fields of Kasr Kraf had been retaken, with a stemmed flow of casualties as a price. The ranks of the loyalist armies, be it guardsman, astartes or sister, they all came together- gathering around the Lupercal and the Emperor's daughter.
"He stands as the worst of sinners!" Genevieve shouted, the first of a thousand voices to condemn the paragon of Cthonia. "My lady! I implore you, slay him now!"
"Aye! A billion worlds' worth of blood demands it! Kill the Arch-traitor!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"An eye for an eye! It is just!"
The hatred was worse on the Blood Angels' end, for with the revelation of Horus' true identity came the violent visions of the Black Rage- a genetic and psychic flaw that forced every single son of Sanguinius to witness the death of their Primarch over and over again. It took the patience of a god for them to restrain themselves.
Celestine gazed out into the howling mob and then back at Horus, torn between what she had been taught about the Arch-traitor and what she was seeing now. Corruption, in all its forms, cannot stand the presence of a Saint. If Horus was yet of Chaos, why does he not flinch from her very presence? "You stand before us, your judges, accused of high treason and heresy. By all accounts, this judgment shall be a swift one. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"Hold!" A powerful voice called out above the cacophony of murmurs. It was Sgt. Aggregius. "Celestine, stay your hand! Horus Lupercal is not our enemy!"
"Who are you to make such bold claims?" Celestine asked.
"I am Sergeant Aggregius of the Blood Ravens 2nd Company! I make no mere bold claims, I speak the truth!" His eyes fell upon his friend, "Horus stood by me in my darkest hour against the xenos, he saved Battlefleet Imperatis and Agripinaa! By his hand, and mine eyes as witness, he struck down the Dark Apostle Erebus on Malin's Reach!"
There was a pause as the sergeant allowed the people to digest these truths.
"I know what you all think! I had similar thoughts when I realized who he was, and yet these testaments to his intentions are clear! Horus Lupercal returns, not as the Arch-traitor, but as the very instrument of the Imperium's salvation! Is that too hard to comprehend, my brothers and sisters?!"
"But... what if it is another trick?" A Blood Angel mused, "Some convoluted ruse the Great Enemy has wrought to ensnare us?"
"If he is Chaos, then how can he stand so close to Saint Celestine without so much as a flinch?" Aggregius argued, "She emanates the pure holy fire of the Emperor's Golden Throne! You all know corruption cannot stand before hallowed presence!"
There were murmurs of agreement amongst the brethren. Though not all stood entirely convinced, none can deny the sense in the Blood Raven's words. Horus met his friend's gaze and nodded appreciatively at his defense. He had thought none would stand with him, that he would face judgment alone, yet he was proven wrong.
"He has come to Cadia to aid us in the war against the Despoiler! I implore you, do not deny him his quest for redemption!"
Celestine, satisfied that her test was met with the results to her liking, lowered her sword and addressed the penitent Primarch. "Horus Lupercal, by the power invested in me as Saint of the Golden Throne, I judge you innocent. Pick up your spear and stand with us, for as far as I'm concerned, you are an ally to us."
"Thank you, Saint Celestine."
After that brief respite, time barely used to lick their wounds, the Black Fleet closed in over Cadia. Having beaten back the already heavily battered loyalist battlegroups, the Despoiler- understandably enraged by Cadia's stubborn resolve- hammered the 13th time and broke the Gates. His prize lay within his grasp, a feeling reminiscent of his father at the Siege of Terra, but he would not let it slip away as Horus did.
"Urkanthos has failed." He declared, mood soured by the loss of one of his prized generals. "Signal the Will of Eternity to begin priming. This world's life is at an end."
Yet unbeknownst to Abaddon and his allies, Archmagos Belisarius Cawl managed to get by the blockade and land on Cadia Prime, his intentions clear on fulfilling his role to the Omnissiah. The work he had done, guided by the ever-enigmatic eldar harlequinn Shadowseer and the unlikeliest ally so far- Necron Lord Trazyn the Infinite- culminated to this moment. As the battles raged on above, Cawl coaxed life back into the Cadian Pylons, the network springing to action by the sequence punched in. Offering a prayer to the Machine God for forgiveness, should he be mistaken in trusting the xenos in his desperation to halt the Despoiler in his tracks, he initiates the final command and activates the Pylon Network.
The effects initially went unnoticed as the steady anit-psionic fields resonated amongst the waves of reality, and then all faint connections with the Warp suddenly stopped working. Psykers froze in their places, minds torn from bodies as the Pylons did their work. Daemons screamed in horror as their anchor upon this reality was severed, then were dragged back into the hellhole from which they came! Possessed machines, deprived of their daemonic halves, crumbled to nothing. Even the maddened hordes of Chaos turned on each other in a berserked rage, feeling the influence of the Ruinous Powers diminish in an instant!
A sable lance aimed directly at the swirling cauldron of lights that was the Eye of Terror, a rift in reality' that had stood since the birth of Slaanesh and Fall of the Eldar, it bursts across Cadia's skies and into the vastness of space itself! The beam picks speed, then strikes its mark. At first, the effects were as unnoticeable as the Pylon Network's activation, then the Eye gradually began to shrink!
Such a phenomenon could never have been imagined, let alone achieved!
The voidshields of the Black Fleet, a dark blessing of the Chaos Gods, soon faded to expose the traitor vessels to the wrath of the loyalist fleet. The Phalanx, star-fortress of the Imperial Fists, rained fiery retribution alongside the gathered warships of Battlefleet Imperatis. Maranda gave the order to throw everything they had in their reserves, sparing not a single Chaos vessel its share of fire!
Abaddon gritted his teeth at this. His 13th attempt to take Cadia had failed, like all the others.
"My liege, we must turn back!"
Drach'nyen was quick to eviscerate the helmsman, and he falls upon the rusted deck of the Planetkiller with a loud slap. Abaddon leaned back and rested his chin upon his fist, eyeing the bloodstained claws on Horus' Talon as he contemplated on his next move. There was nowhere to run now, and he knew it. He could feel the Eye closing like a door behind him. He had thrown everything into this final endeavor, which he thought would have been enough to shatter the stubborn Gates of Cadia. The Chaos Gods were still with him, goading him to throw himself into the flames and trust in their will.
"My liege! I sense the loyalist scum teleporting onboard our vessel! We have no voidshields to keep them out!"
Abaddon rose from his throne and stared at the massive twin doors carved to resemble two bristling Bloodthirsters, the entrance from which the invaders would come through. "Let them come. We may not have taken Cadia, but we are far from defeated!"
Hundreds of berserkers stood beside hundreds of bloodthirsty traitor marines. There were lesser daemons present than before, having been dragged out by the weakened Eye of Terror, but that did not make it any less perilious for the loyalists.
The light burned brightly in the annex chamber, then faded just as quickly. Horus stood at the helm with a joined company of Battlesisters, Blood Angels, Black Templars and Kasrkin commandos. At his side was Saint Celestine, her twin Geminae, and Sgt. Aggregius. All other heroes could have joined for this honor, the chance to slay the Despoiler and claim such glory. Yet none were willing to stand by the Arch-traitor, who they felt had not yet earned the right to be called an ally.
For Horus, it was already a blessing that they did not decide to raise their weapons against him, so he did not think too much on their refusal to side with him. Instead, he was ever more grateful to have these people at his side in the confrontation with the Despoiler, although he was willing to face him alone. It came as a surprise that even the Blood Angels, who had every reason to hate him, chose to accompany him on this mission. Perhaps the bond between him and Sanguinius lived on even to this day?
Laying her just eyes upon so many traitors, the Saint's gaze blazed with righteous fury, the same fire that now burns in Horus' own! "By the Emperor, let not a single one live!" Celestine commanded, "Charge!"
All were drowned out by the roar of bolter-fire, bestial screams and clash of steel. Worldeater berserker met furious Blood Angel, daemon against screaming Sister, cultist against Kasrkin. The Black Templars, hailing from different chapters and combining their eclectic skills, wove in and out of the fray with such coordinated attacks that even Horus stood impressed by their skill!
Soulrender struck down Obliterator and Chaos lord, for all that towered above the lesser traitors rose to challenge the Primarch of Cthonia. Horus did not revel in the madness of this battle, for his mind was focused on only one thing, same as the sergeant who stood close by.
"Can I trust you to do what must be done?" Aggregius asked, kicking a daemon in the face and drawing his chainsword savagely across its belly. He meant Horus' conviction to slay Abaddon.
Horus nodded, "Come with me and see how far that conviction goes."
Aggregius roared furiously, striking all who stood before him with new fervor. Together, the two friends cut a bloody swath through the traitor ranks until they at last came upon the bridge. After a kilometer's worth of non-stop battles, the loyalists gained entry to the Despoiler's throneroom.
As the noise outside grew silent, the champions of Chaos gave one last exchange of words between themselves as they prepared to meet their assailants.
Ygethmor was commanded to leave the bridge and did so with haste. The Warmaster's work was not tied specifically to this campaign, there were other worlds out there needing the touch of corruption. As for the remaining Chosen of the Despoiler, Skyrak and Devram, they stood at their master's side like faithful hounds.
Lucius the Eternal Duelist, personally selected by the Daemon Prince Fulgrim, licked his lips at the impending slaughter. Around the Four, the Bringers of Despair readied their warp-blessed bolters and awaited eagerly for Abaddon's signal to begin.
The steps from the other side of the doors echoed faintly, and Abaddon frowned as he noticed the familiarity of the scent emanating from the challenger. Then he realized who it was even before the loyalist entered the throneroom.
"Ezekyle!"
The Despoiler's frown deepened upon the mention of his old name.
He eyed the white-clad primarch with contempt akin to what he felt when he first laid eyes on Fabius Bile's creation. "Only one had ever called my name that way, and he is dead- slain by the Corpse-Emperor himself! What stands before me now is a shadow of the man I once called father!"
With a wave of his hand, the Bringers of Despair discharged their weapons, drenching Horus with a wave of malevolent steel and plasmafire. Quickly, the Lupercal slams his spear onto the Planetkiller's deck, enwreathing himself and his allies with a powerful psychic shield.
"Go!" Horus yelled, willing the Soulrender to blast a quick beam to distract their opponents. At his word, the Battlesisters spilled into the throneroom, voices screaming with unbridled fury as they poured blessed bolter-rounds into the hated enemy.
Lucius cackled with glee, letting his tongue slither from the torn gash that was his mouth, and leaped into the melee. His sword-hand moved with blinding speed, separating limb and head from the Battlesisters as he offered each soul to Slaanesh. The flesh-whip that used to be his right arm sliced through the air, aimed directly for the Saint as she took to the air. The Emperor's angel swooped down to dispatch the Slaaneshi champion, but was brought down as the flesh-cords twist in mid-air, entangling her in its grip.
Aggregius, seeing her dillemma, tackled Lucius to the ground and slammed his fist straight through the champion's face! Blood and brains splatter all over his helm, and it was here that the sergeant realized the legends behind the champion's name.
Every opponent who has bested Lucius, if ever they successfully did so, was ensured a horrifying end by the curse of Slaanesh herself. The writhing faces in Lucius' armor were each and every one of those unfortunate souls, each of them forced to give up their bodies for the eventual rebirth of the Eternal Duelist!
Aggregius leaned back and despaired at the thought of his impending doom.
He will not survive past this day.
His eyes turned to Abaddon, who stood high up on the pedestal while his champions fought against Horus and the others, and a desperate plan formed in the doomed sergeant's mind.
Celestine saw that look in his eyes and hers widens. "No."
Aggregius broke into a run, barreling past the Bringers of Despair and the Chosen, chainsword raised high to challenge the Despoiler to one final battle.
Abaddon glanced down at the smaller astartes and smiled. Like a wolf playing with an enraged mongoose, he obliged the Blood Raven.
In any chronicler's tale, the fight would have been glorious, a truly monumental event in history's vast page. The sergeant would have been put alongside the stands of the heroes of all time, with Sanguinius, Ferrus Manus, and so many others. But alas, none could be more further from the truth.
Aggregius' last acts of defiance were commendable, but all too brief.
Abaddon's Talon closed down upon the spacemarine's chainsword as it rattled harmlessly against the ceramite claws, Drach'nyen stabbed into the Blood Raven's chest. Death was not granted immediately to the doomed sergeant, but he does not beg for it. Instead, he spat the blood from his mouth and clobbered the Despoiler in the eye.
Annoyed by the insult, the Despoiler lifted the dying loyalist high enough for all to see, and brought him down upon his knee, breaking his back in two.
Horus watched everything, helpless to save his friend as the two Chosen blocked his path.
"Aggregius!"
A Primarch's aggrieved voice was a mournful thing to hear indeed, and tears fell from the Battlesisters that yet lived.
The sergeant's broken body fell to the floor, motionless. The Black Rage overcame the Blood Angels, a similar vision of Sanguinius' demise forming in tandem with the Blood Raven's death. A familiar anger roiled within Horus' heart at the sight, he felt his muscles tighten and each swing of Soulrender grow stronger. The Chosen backed down, then were slain unceremoniously by the enraged primarch's wrath.
Abaddon smiled at the clone's challenge and met it with equal fury.
Horus brought down Soulrender with such force that Abaddon bent his knee and the floor beneath them cracked! Even in his rage, Horus moved with purpose, never once stooping to rampage like a lesser khornate berserker, but met Abaddon's strikes with calculated manuevers.
Here stood the very manifestation of Horus' sins. His hubris and pride that caused him to fall and be enslaved to the will of the Dark Gods, his every mistake that followed- the death and corruption of his brothers, the wounding of his beloved father. This was no mere battle, but a symbolical event.
Killing Abaddon would be killing himself, the true step to rebirth.
Suddenly, a crippling pain lanced through Horus' body, bringing the vengeful paragon to his knees! Drach'nyen, sensing its wielder in peril, chose to act on its own and struck while Horus remained open for one split second, it was all it needed to halt Horus in his path of vengeance! The primarch groaned in agony and doubled over, allowing Abaddon to rise and claim his glory.
"A pity." He sneered, "I actually thought you were the true Lupercal. That fury is almost similar to him in his prime, but again I say- you are just a shadow of him."
"Leave him be!" Celestine stepped forth, engaging the Despoiler as Horus struggled to regain his strength to stand. Drach'nyen remained lodged between his lowest rib and stomach, unleashing excruciating pain in every attempt to extract it!
The suffering dulled all senses, but Horus could make out Celestine's valiant front against Abaddon. The sight of her in battle was beauty in itself, the likes of which can never be seen anywhere else. Horus cried out as the daemon blade moves inch by bloody inch, until finally the wretched weapon comes free from his body.
"You've been a thorn in my side for too long now, woman." Abaddon struck Celestine across the face, planting three scars where the lightning claw hit her. The Saint fell, and the Despoiler caught her by the wings as she fluttered to the bloodied floor. "I wonder. Can an angel fly with broken wings?"
Horus gritted his teeth as Celestine screamed in agony. A series of sickening snaps followed as every bone in the angel's wings broke under the Despoiler's grasp! He laughed, absolutely relishing the pain in her anguished voice. "I love hearing you scream! I'm not in the habit of keeping pets as the lesser Slaaneshi do, but in your case I'll make an exception."
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Horus roared, propelling himself forward and tackling Abaddon back into the throne, destroying the horrid construct as they tumbled over into the pool of blood collecting under the bodies of the slain loyalists and traitors.
"Still alive I see!" Abaddon's annoyance turns to rage, he brings the Talon in to stab at the primarch. Horus catches his arm and brings him close, slamming his head inwards against the Despoiler's face, breaking his nose with a satisfying crunch!
Celestine picked herself up on unsteady arms, body wracked with pain at her damaged wings. Her eyes fall on the godspear, and she reaches for it. She turns her misty eyes to Horus, watching as the demigod battles desperately against the Despoiler. Surmounting the crippling agony chewing on her back, she yells as she tosses Soulrender towards the Lupercal.
"Horus!"
In a flash, Horus caught Soulrender as it sailed through the air and twisted about just in time to meet Abaddon's final strike. The Despoiler's weapon never connected, but Horus' did. Golden light pierces the red glow of the bridge as Soulrender stabs through Abaddon's chest! Horus, bloodied and possessed by a cold rage, buries the weapon further, unmindful of the psychic energies battling within the Despoiler's body.
Abaddon's eyes met Horus', unlike most that met their end at the godspear's edge he remained steadfast and as defiant as befits a man born of Cthonia.
"You were my son, Ezekyle. Had I resisted the touch of Chaos, we would've treaded the stars together- to bring mankind to its glorious future." Horus whispered, eyes bearing great sadness. The Soulrender, already bloated with psychic energies, shattered to splinters in his hands!
Abaddon screamed as his soul burns in the immaterium along with his body, as it was with countless others who faced Horus, then bursts apart as the roiling eldritch energies sought escape!
The veil of reality splits open, dragging Horus into the Warp and out of the throneroom of the Despoiler's vessel.
And so ended the Despoiler's reign. In the Realms of the Ruinous Powers, the Chaos Gods beheld the climax of the Assault on Cadia with differing responses.
Nurgle glanced nonchalantly at Abaddon's demise and promptly went back to his cauldron to work on his latest project. Slaanesh, bored by the unsatisfactory end, turned her attention to the thousands of writhing and dancing bodies clamouring for her praise and adoration. Tzeentch saw this as a great alteration to his Plan, shrugged, then looked over more promising champions calling for his favor. Khorne, finding the whole thing amusing beyond measure, clapped his hands together and laughed.
Celestine clutched at her broken wings, feathers fraying as she ran her fingers gingerly across its surface. Fresh tears fall as the pain once again lances through her body, strength leaving her and rendering her faint with exhaustion. Her eyes search for any trace of her savior, heart growing frantic when she found none save for the scorched ground where he and Abaddon dealt their last.
"My lady?" Genevieve spoke softly, aiding her Saint alongside her twin Gemina back to her feet. "Where have they gone?"
Celestine said nothing, for she had no answer.
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This chapter has been rewritten for typographical errors.