So here I am again guys!
Reviews:
Freelancer Mississippi: New chapter up like you asked. Well I can't post what happened in the woods without changing the rating to 'M' but put it like this- Yarsa will screw anything with a pulse, and some things that don't.
Sicarius 117: Thanks for the support and compliment!
I'd also like to thank Killjoe for his tremendous help with this chapter- he write the Chaplain and Tau fight scenes.
Will
"Come on Mon-Keigh, not much further now," Karha said as she led us around the bulk of the much as I felt cowardly I knew that I didn't have a hope against the Daemons.A single Daemonette peeled away from the main Daemon force and charged us. Karha didn't even slow down as she drew her singing spearing and decapitated the Daemon in one swift movement.
Karha carried on leading when Yarsa decided to speak through me.
"Are we there yet?" She asked.
"Her, not me," I said quickly as I regained control.
"Almost, Mon-Keigh," Karha said before halting in her path, "Oh dear."
"What-" I said before seeing what she saw, "Oh crap- wait is that a Chaplain?"
Chaplain Desturis
Chaplain Desturis fought alongside his battle brothers, his black armor somehow shining in this light, with his cudgel in hand, bolter pistol in the other, he was truly happy, delivering the Emperor's justice to these disgusting abominations. To think that only a few hours ago he was watching Football, a strange game he had never heard of, but now, he was doing what he had been made for, what he had been truly trained for, the Emperor's standard to his back, his squad circling around him as they picked off the Daemons that swarmed to them. They had been a sort of beacon in the light during this fight, and already several Space Marines came towards them, this was their only chance to regroup and he knew that if he could get at least a company of these stragglers, they're very well might be a chance t-
"Get out of the way, Bloodcrusher!" A battle brother screamed loudly, and he had only a small chance to look to his left when he found himself flying back and skidding against the black stained carpet. My chest. It was the only thing he could think of as he looked down, his chest plate heavily dented, yet with the constant pain throbbing in his chest, he stood, his brothers were being slaughtered by the beast and its three Bloodletting subjects. On the ground before him lay his cudgel, its barbed iron faintly glowed the color of gold, his bolt pistol lay beside it, the cold iron lying on a large stain of blood.
Quickly, and swiftly he picked these two up, they felt the same as they always did, well balanced and masterfully crafted by the Magos of Mars. He muttered a faint prayer to the Emperor, running quickly to the battle that was in progress, only five Sentinels were holding back the four Daemons, and they were failing quickly. "Take heart brothers! For even in this strange place the Emperor is still in our hearts!" He shouted and charged the first Bloodletter to come in view, he clipped the bolt pistol to his waist as he sprinted, shoulder slamming the unholy thing.
The beast flew back several feet, its red skinned covered in hundreds of scars, the metallic horns of the beast inscribed by some tainted writing that burned his eyes to look at, the sword it held was a flaming crimson, blessed by the entities of the foul place known as the Warp. "Come to me Daemon, and know the last thing you see will be me." It spat out several undecipherable words then charged him. As it raised its sword to slash at him, he slammed the cudgel into the beast's chest, the barbs that had been in placed on the weapon tearing into the Bloodletter's red chest, tearing out chunks of flesh as he knocked him down.
His swung the cudgel downward, attempting a finishing blow on the Daemon, but it was quick, he had underestimated just how long this beast of war had been fighting, parrying his blow with its own sword and kicked him back, rolling onto its feet again it slashed once more, cutting into his blessed armor and tearing into his already scarred chest. But before he could swing once more, Desturis dropped the cudgel and grabbed the arm which held the sword, snapping it like a twig. The beast gave a sheer cry of pain as it held the arm which was now bent in a shape that it had never been meant for, The Chaplain however grabbed the cudgel, swinging it upwards, Desturis heard the satisfying crunch as it's jaw broke and before he could recover, The Chaplain through the cudgel into the air partially, jumping up slightly to grab it and bringing it down on the Daemon's skull, completely crushing it, the brain matter and blood splattered against his armor, bathing it in black filth.
Once again, The Emperor's prayer exited his mouth, thanking him for letting him live to do his will, but as Desturis did this, he noticed that only two of his battle brothers remain in the fight against the daemonic spawns, and that one of the other Bloodletters were encroaching on the Chapter's standard, attempting to defile its sacred and blessed cloth, this was beyond offense, this filled him with uncontrollable rage, a scream came from the mouth and the Daemon turned its head, not sure what it was seeing as the black armored man sprinted towards him, but as the figured slowed down, gathering its force, the Daemon became wide eyed, seeing the silver plated skull of a Chaplain just before Desturis's fist landed between its eyes. Making it stumble back, some of its face bones broken , his hand reached for the standard with his offhand, picking it up from the carpet and stabbing the pointed end into the heart of the Bloodletter.
He heard the unholy shout of yet another daemon, he crouched low, narrowly avoiding the warp infused sword and swinging the standard as he turned, knocking the giant Bloodletter to the ground then raising it up then bringing the standard's pointed end down on its stomach. Black blood seeped from the wound; it was struggling to grab the standard's point out of its belly, begging for more life, shouting in pain as he slowly stopped struggling, too much blood loss making it descent slowly and painfully into death.
An unholy roar came from behind him, and he slowly turned his head, the Bloodcrusher ruffed its hoofs against the carpet, the beast that had made a fool of him by knocking him down. Its teeth were razor sharp, its horns pointed him as it lowered its head, its red skin similar to the Bloodletter that mounted it. The Daemon rider licked its lips, the teeth equally as sharp as the thing it rode.
"Come at me Daemon, come at me!" The tamer of the beast hit the flat side of its burning blade against the Bloodcrusher's thigh, making it charge toward him. Desturis planted the standard into the ground, waiting until the last moment to kneel to the left side of the beast, striking the cudgel onto its legs, breaking them almost instantly. It fell on its side roaring in pain as it crushed the Bloodletter that had ridden it. He stood once more, unclipping the bolter that had been on his side, aiming the iron between its eyes as it struggled to get up.
"Know that it is an Angel of Death that kills you now, beast." The bullet found its mark between it eyes, silencing the giant warp beast.
Finally, the beasts had been silenced and the two remaining battle brothers came towards him, their giant frame reassuring him. Hope surged through his body; maybe they could turn the day around and banish these beasts back to the warp. But as he looked around, seeing how many Daemons there were, how fierce they had fought, the hope sank like a boat to the bottom of the sea, yet he pushed on, charging towards more of the Daemons. It was his duty after all, and if he fell, he would die fighting in the name of the Emperor.
Will
Karha fired off a bolt of eldritch lightning that disintegrated the nearest Daemon where it stood as I shot bolt round after bolt round with accuracy that surprised me.
'Oh don't humour yourself Hun, I'm adjusting before you fire,' Yarsa said.
'But Dmitri trained m-'
'Which I also helped with, you'd be lucky to hit the planet you're standing on with your aim,' Yarsa laughed, "Hell- I've seen Orks that are more accurate than you are.'
'Ow Yarsa that really hurt.'
Before I even realised it the last of the Daemons that were in front of us lay slain and the hulking form of a Chaplain and two Space Marines were heading towards us.
"I am Chaplain Desturis," Desturis said, "The situation is dire, these foul Daemons were not part of the original assault."
"So you're saying that there are more Daemons?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes, there have been several more incursions since the original,"
"Several? Where else?" Karha butted in.
"I have reason to believe the Tau have taken a large assault-"
Before Desturis could finish, a bolt round grazed his shoulder armour.
"Damned Blasphemers!" Desturis shouted, "Warp take those traitors. Chapter Lord, I shall hold them here, no traitor shall pass while I still draw breath.
""Chapter Lord- may I say something?" One of the two Space Marines asked.
"Go ahead,"
"Excuse my disrespect, buy you're not as tall as I thought you would be," The marine stated.
I mentally face palmed at this.
"This just further proves brother that the greatest gifts from the Emperor can come in the smallest packages," Desturis said, "Now go, go while you still can."
Wordlessly Karha started to pull me again.
Shas'O Firestorm
The Fire Warriors held their ground against the infinite tide of Daemons that swarmed through the partially cracked closet door, the Daemon's numbers were reduced to practically nothing, and it was the ultimate strategic advantage. Their plasma rifles shot easier than those of the Imperial Guard, more destructive power behind them. And their Sky Rays shot large bolts of blue heated plasma, literally destroying the carpet but as well annihilating the Daemons that would dare get in the way of the Greater Good.
Then, all hell broke loose. The Daemons stopped coming, and for a moment the Shas'o Firestorm thought the battle may have finally been won, that the giant human had vanquished the daemons back to whence they came. But he was wrong, this, this right now was the quite before the storm, the silence before the slaughter. And the storm started by far off thuds, they mistook them for the sounds of battle, they lowered their weapons, unsure of what to do.
"Fire team two! Take the hammer head and open the door!" The Shas'o shouted and the fire team charged with guarding the light Tau tank advanced toward the large wooden door. Blood covered the bottom of it thanks to the battles that had been fought. The carpet was practically a mass burial site, Daemons of all kinds littered it, the majority dead but those who were earned a plasma heated shot between the eyes.
The Fire team reached the door, the thudding now getting closer and closer, like a tribal war drum beating to the call of war, it was steady, never faltering for a single second, the thudding always persistent in its mission to frighten the tau. And it did, the majority of them raised their rifles up to the door. "Fire team two, pull back!" Firestorm shouted this out through their radio frequency, hoping it would reach them in time and they could pull back.
But it was already too late; a deafening laugh full of heartiness filled the air, making some Tau shiver and quake in their boots. The laugh had an eerie echo to it, a laugh a dying man might give out, their throat swollen and plagued by some foul disease.
The door was pushed open, not a slow creak but a giant shove, and before them made some of the Tau want to puke. The being was decaying, its body bloated to the size of a basketball, its skin a pale yellow, its teeth bound to hold scraps of flesh from those it had devoured. Its stomach was threatening to burst open, The Unclean one chuckled, shooting out from its bloated belly three barbed and bloodied intestines, circling around the Fire team and pulling it into its stomach, their screams were horrific as they were eaten alive.
Before The Unclean stood hundreds of small Nurglings, all grotesque as their master, all servants of the Dark God Nurgle, all must be purged for the Greater Good to continue. "Fire Teams focus fire on the Nurglings! Hammerheads and Sky rays focus fire on the Plague bearers! Night blades, attack the Unclean One. For the Greater Good!" He barked these commands over their radio frequency, but the Daemons swarmed towards them. The Fire Warriors immediately opened fire on them, killing the first few waves of them, and their tanks obliterated some of the Plague bearers, but this horde of plague Daemons was the Largest he had seen in all his days of fighting the spawns of Chaos.
The stench was unbearable; it smelled as if a thousand bodies were rotting beneath a hot sun. He saw many of the Tau rip off their helmets to barf but then were overwhelmed and brought down by the small Nurglings, where they stabbed, and even ate their victims. A truly horrid death for anything, to be put into the belly of a decaying, not dead yet not alive thing.
But no matter how many they fell, two more took its place, the Kroot would need to be sent in and quickly if the battle was to be won, otherwise they might well be overwhelmed by the mass amount of encroaching Daemons "Kroot, deploy against the Daemons, for the Greater Good!" He shouted once more, and the strange reptilian race jumped from behind the Tau lines, shouting out strange war cries that must've have been normal to their home worlds. They were a vicious mercenary race, their scales thick, acting as a sort of armour, their faces were gaunt, their skin the colour of slate.
They engaged the enemy quickly, not giving them any mercy as they clashed their spears into the ranks of the enemy, using their dark powder to fire the gun which was built into their war spears. For a moment hope surged through the ranks of the Tau, fueling their fight for the Greater Good, but the chuckling of the Unclean One pierced through their hope like an arrow from a bow would pierce through leather armour; it sent an icy feeling through their veins as the Greater Daemon spoke loud and clear.
"You think little reptilian men scare me? You have mistaken yourself Tau!" He chuckled once more, and even though the laugh sounded jolly enough, it made some of them quake in their combat boots.
From the mouth of the Daemon came forth a giant swarm of buzzing flies, the noise was loud enough to block out their radio units. The flies spewed forth, the Unclean One's mouth stayed open, letting them travel forth. Shas'o Firestorm just stood there stunned, not realising the flies' target.
The insects were sent to the oncoming Kroot horde, swarms hovered over each one before converging on them, the flies ate the very flesh of them, leaving only screaming unfleshed humanoids. It sickened him to see such warriors resulted to nothing. After the Tau saw this, their ranks broke almost immediately, the squads breaking off from the front lines and running to the back of the closet where their base was held.
He could not blame them, and to avoid the slaughter, he gave the order. "All teams fall back! Fall back!" And with the command issued, they broke off into a sprint, sure to be slaughtered if they did not.
"All teams fall back to the base and prepare for counter measures. Air caste; provide air support so we may retreat quickly!" The Air Caste quickly came into view, dropping a pay load upon the enemy, buying the Fire Warriors time to evacuate back to the base.
"All teams, report to your designated evacuation points!" He shouted, running as fast he could, the Tau were being picked off by the Plague bearers, one by one as they ran past the infinite amount of shoes that filled the closet. He felt pity for those who tripped over the carpet and were taken by the Daemons.
The base came into view, where already the Air Caste was evacuating the Fire teams outside the closet, though with the infinite tide of Daemons that were closing behind them, nothing could be done to save them in time unless some of the Battle suits held them off.
"I will not lie to you my brothers, we have lost the day against the Daemons and soon, the slaughter will come before we can get everyone out. So all of you who wish to be true to the Greater Good, help me push back the horde of daemons so our brothers may escape." Some teams agreed to help; others proceeded to the evacuation point, cowards.
The line was made behind several shoes that had been piled and made into a line, many fire teams formed up behind it, the Sky rays pounded the tide of daemons and even some of the retreating Tau, obliterating everything that was put into their lines of fire. He jumped, activating the jump back he had been equipped with and landing behind the line, spraying the tide of enemies with his plasma cannon, knocking several down, but of those who fell, half came back up, charging once more. The thudding had returned as the Unclean One marched forward, his silhouette coming into view as the Tau fired off round after round from the approaching Daemons as their ships became airborne and left the closet.
Will
It had taken us a long time -too long- to reach the destination Karha had wanted us to go to. It seemed like an oasis amongst the carnage that had been unleashed, yet there was a strange air to this place, almost as if it was pouring strength and resolve into my very being.
"Karha what is this place?" I asked.
"The shrine to Khaine," She replied, "And home of his Avatar."
Shas'O Firestorm
In his subconscious he knew that he would not be leaving this battle alive, and that meant that he would take as many of the foul Daemons as he could. And as the Unclean One came into view, he engaged, shooting off the plasma cannon he had used for the majority of his life. It was a large Gatling type weapon, spewing forth round after round of plasma ammunition.
He spread his feet apart, activating his plasma pack to send him soaring through the air, the air level of the evacuating ships. His feet landed against the Unclean One's chest, knocking it back several inches. Its rotting hand rose, slamming it against where his was. He sprayed more of the plasma rounds onto its chest before flying off once more, circling it and shooting more of the rounds at it. Below, the Fire Warriors fought a valiant fight against the Daemons, but they were being slaughtered quickly, the majority of the evacuation crafts had almost departed, this gave him back the morale he so desperately needed. He launched himself into the back of the Daemon's head, knocking it forward and there for making it stomp upon its Daemons.
But he had mistaken the beast's agility, and this did in fact cost him his life. The Unclean One's hand raked back, grabbing him in its horrid and tight grasp, raising him to it head, where the stench was even more putrid, its smile jolly but grotesque as well. "Down you go!" It shouted and raised its jaws up, delivering him unto its mouth.
Before he was swallowed, he unpinned each of his plasma grenades, so as he was swallowed into the belly of the beast, the very instruments of its destruction were swallowed as well. As Firestorm was pushed into the stomach acids of the Greater Daemon, his skin corroding thanks to the juices that digested him, he did not scream. Nor did he shout. He had the closure to know that he had saved countless lives that day.
The Daemon laughed heartily, pushing onto towards the diminished ranks of the Tau, but he stopped, his stomach roared in pain and the first of the explosions set off, blowing him inside out, his remains being exploded onto the ranks of the Tau, as well as his own, destroying everything that was alive thanks to the rotting flesh that burned each and every living thing. The Tau defenders had been slaughtered as well as their commander. But as the ships of the Tau that had survived reached ground floor, they held a moment of silence, thanking those that had saved them. They had died continuing the Greater Good, and they would not die in vain.
Will
"The Avatar of Khaine?" I asked, "Why wasn't it awakened yet?"
"There has been a minor problem," Karha replied, "A problem where I need your help."
"Go on then."
Karha led us into the strangely empty shrine and towards a large stone throne towards the back that had a huge blade resting against it.
"Where is he?" I asked.
"That's what I need your help for," Karha said, "Take the blade and I'll draw him out."
"Okay..." I said as I slowly approached the blade that was easily the size of me- perhaps even bigger.
That's when I recognised it- The Wailing Doom.I stopped and it all made sense to me.
"Karha, are you trying to make me your new Avatar?" I asked as I slowly turned to the Farseer.
"Mon-Keigh, why woul-" Karha started.
"I'm not finished," I said harshly, "Because it would make sense you know. You've been training me in martial combat for one, and to think of it having the only one who is keeping the peace as your pawn would be an advantage over all the others."
"Will-"
"Still not finished," I interrupted, "Also if there's no one keeping the peace then there is war again, and if you have an Avatar then you have another advantage over the other races. So Karha, look me on the eyes and tell me everything that I said wasn't true."
Karha looked at me briefly before staring downwards.
"I can't."
I bit my lower lip and I felt sick to my core.
"Was there anything there Karha- or was it all an act?"
Karha just continued staring at the floor as my anger threatened to consume me.
"Well now that that's settled, ready your forces because we have a Daemon prince to kill," I growled, "And we'll do it with what we've got or die trying."
So another chapter under my belt, this officially marks the approaching end of Bitesized- but don't worry it's not the end I'm planning on a trilogy- but more about that later.