Author's note: I'm back and ready for more!
This past week, I've been getting up at 7:00 in the morning, practicing for the coming football season, and not getting back home until roughly 7:30 or 8:00. As such, the very idea of trying to write a chapter within the scant few hours of free time I'm not using for sleep was nigh-impossible. And now that it's over, I'm going to try and get back on the ball. To make things better, yesterday was my birthday….which is the same day we received our pads!
Anyway, here we come to the long anticipated 'Dog Days' chapter.
This show is about one of those ultimate wipeout contestants being snatched out of his world and dumped into a wishy washy mid-evil setting. My gripes with this anime are few, but large.
First off, what they call war is similar to paintball in some ways (which is a sport I actually love, but have a hard time maintaining do to 'funding issues'). Due to some magic placed by a being those people may or may not consider to be a god, anyone killed within a certain patch of land turns into a plushy like toy (or 'creature ball' as it were called) until they can 'respawn' per say. This is actually an interesting idea that I liked, until the soldiers started treating it like it was an actual war. Then it started going downhill for me.
Second is how inconsistent the whole setting is. At one point I see the old run down, dirt road villages you'd expect to see in mid-evil times, then the very next setting would be an over-the-top stage, even better than the ones we use in major concerts and award shows. They're so schizophrenic in the tech levels they show that I can't peg down what time period they're all supposed to be in, and whether or not they should've all had guns by this time. They seem to just be everywhere at once, and for an anime, that's never a good thing. There was literally a point where they go from a giant sword melee to seeing people arming mortars and loading rifles behind sandbags.
Truth be told, the overall problem I have is that this anime has no REAL villain.
The seemingly evil queen of the cat people turns out to be a dear childhood friend of the protagonist's love interest. It turns out that everything she's done thus far has been an attempt to save the pink haired chick, as well as the protagonist from dying by a mysterious force. The queen's little brother kidnaps the queen, leading you to think that this was a giant twist and HE's the big villain. Whoops, nope. He's just the stereotypical little brother, who can be easily bullied by the big sister. A story without an enemy isn't really a plot, just a problem that everyone is going about solving in the most dragged out and illogical way possible. The cat queen never once gets the idea to simply tell everyone that she had a vision of the dog queen and the summoned 'hero' dying, and that they should help her try to prevent that from happening. Instead, she damn near wages a full fledge invasion to get the dog people's valuable weapons, so that she can use them to change the future. The queen of the dog people even flat out tells the cat queen she would've given her those weapons if she just asked for it. There's some evil demon thing that shows up in the last few episodes, but it's more just a wild animal than an actual villain. Turns out that it was that mysterious thing that would kill the protagonist and pink haired chick, but it gets defeated anyway over the course of two episodes, so I'm forced to wonder what the big deal was.
To show you just how peaceful this world is, when the townspeople find out that the queen's been kidnapped, just as she's preparing for her live concert, everyone sorta just shrugs it off. One lady is quoted saying to her children "The hero and the soldiers are working really hard to get the queen back. We'll have to hope they can get her back to the show in time." Apparently no one is worried that she might be hurt or something, just that this is an extension to that friendly tournament they were having earlier.
I find this disappointing because they have a shitload of soldiers, special divisions, and weapons. Why? They don't do anything with any of it except wage more of their war games, which is mostly filled with what you'd call 'local militia' anyway, so why bother with soldiers? They said earlier that the reason they all migrated to this land where everyone 'respawns' was because there were a lot of monsters running around outside the land, and that they could eat a man alive. They could've used that as an interesting plot! Monsters are starting to migrate in, and they need to actually use those dust collecting militaries to boot them out before they overrun the place. But no, that wouldn't be cute or 'funny' to watch at all (*sarcastic voice*).
They're in dire need of a real bad guy.
The skulltaker is in need of more blood and skulls.
Let's see how the two interact, shall we?
xxXxx
Cleansing of Flonyard
Khorne may have been the 'Blood God', but his jurisdiction extended over many more subjects than simple body fluids.
The Blood God lorded over war, combat, anger, hatred, and any other things that could possibly come from a battle field. Blood was as common as water in a heated battlefield. Skulls were favored trophies taken by mighty warriors from the enemies they slew in combat. Hatred was the chief emotion felt by soldiers in the midst of combat with sworn enemies.
These aspects made Khorne who he was.
Every species had a different name for war, as well as different ways of fighting it, based on the species' physical and/or mental abilities. However, Bloodshed, Hatred, and Skulls remained a constant in war, no matter how any species fought it, or how well they advanced in doing it. It was because of this that Khorne's domain ran slick with blood of the slain throughout the galaxy. It was because of this that Khorne sat upon a throne of skulls from slain warriors. It was because of this that Khorne, as well as his daemons, were never truly 'happy', just on varying levels of anger.
At this point in time, Khorne, the Lord of Skulls, was absolutely FURIOUS.
Now as the chaos god most closely affiliated with war and combat out of the other four, he had held a certain expectation for warfare in general. No matter how nonsensical or idiotic fighting became, if in the end someone lay dead at the feet of his killer, than khorne was willing to accept it as an offering. Blood was blood, and anger was anger. It was pointless to try and specify the manner in which one went about it, as warfare constantly evolved and changed. He himself had noticed that he was forced to make 'additions' to his force of daemons, just so that his forces wouldn't be repeatedly crushed by certain enemies. He disliked it at first, but accepted it none the less. On occasion, he would find that some of these 'newer' methods of warfare were quite enjoyable, like hand held weapons that burned their enemies to death in close range. However, some things were also quite cowardly in his opinion, like 'aircraft'.
The eldest chaos god had seen many weird and unusual ways that other people waged war.
This however, was totally unacceptable!
Khorne had always noticed that there was some far off world feeding him tiny scraps of anger and bloodshed, but not nearly enough for the numerous times battles took place there. Khorne was tempted to investigate this occurrence, but was repeatedly prolonged by rather interesting wars that would take place in the materium. The first war of Armageddon, The 13 different black crusades, the skulltaker's campaign against the grey knights, so many battles of beauty were unfolding that he hardly had time to notice that one annoying blip on his metaphorical radar.
It happened to be on a slow day, with only a few thousand minor wars being waged, that he decided to finally look into that one little annoyance that had surfaced.
It took quite a bit to appall a being named 'The Blood God', but this atrocity he laid eyes on had succeeded.
Khorne looked upon a world lush with peace and prosperity. He watched as men and women exchanged blows, using enchanted sections of the earth to stave off death in battle. As if that wasn't a blatant slap in the face to the blood god, they had events where they would arm men and woman of different countries to fight each other, using swords, cannons, obstacles, and magic to try and overcome each other. They called these events; wars.
Khorne roared in unholy fury, his bellow resonating throughout the warp.
Those fools…. Those weaklings…. Those COWARDS would dare mock his existence so blatantly? They dare call this mockery, war? Khorne felt anger on level with the day he was attacked by Skar'Brand. That was the day that one of his favored bloodthirsters had the nerve to take a swing at him while his attention was elsewhere. The blow made a tiny chink in his armor, but that in itself was enough to infuriate the blood god to dangerous levels. Truly these beings should be honored. Their impudence managed to irk Khorne literally as much as a failed assassination attempt by his own creation. Truly, they must be unmatched in their skills of irritation.
This world needed to burn.
Khorne fully planned to send an army of his daemons to raze the entire planet to the ground, but he wanted to be a tad more gradual about it. Despite their weakness and blatant disregard for how real war should be fought, they still had a handful of decent warriors. When Khorne said 'decent', he meant capable of actually surviving a pitched battle with a bloodletter for longer than a few seconds. He wanted their skulls, just as he wanted the skulls of any decent warrior. The best option was to send a herald to collect those skulls before the full daemon host came to obliterate the entire planet.
This was the perfect job for U'zuhl, or as he was more commonly known as, the Skulltaker.
xxXxx
The skulltaker exited the warp rift, riding atop his loyal brass juggernaut, Ro'hos.
The daemon herald and his mount took in the world before them and immediately frowned. They saw dozens, maybe hundreds of floating islands connected by bridges, all of which eventually led to the ground itself. Everything was so lush with greenery and bright colors that the daemon found himself slightly relaxing, despite his best efforts not to.
The next thing he noticed were pink explosions filling the sky.
After an eternity of warfare, the khornate herald associated anything that caused a large colorful blast to be extremely dangerous. He was curious as to why they all seemed to be harmlessly discharging into the air, and not smashing into the lines of tightly packed soldiers, or blasting airborne enemies out the sky.
Treading over to the edge of a cliff, he looked upon a sight that interested and afterward, immediately disgusted him.
He looked upon a gate that was being hotly contested by two warring armies. From this distance, they seemed to all be humans wearing absolutely no body armor, which was unheard of to the skulltaker. Mortal warriors, especially human warriors, always wore armor so that if they failed to stop a blow or avoid a ranged weapon, their armor would save them. These infantry men seemed to have no such armor, nor any care of being without them. They fought with battle cries on their lips, and strange valor, but the daemon immediately noticed one thing that was off.
There was no blood.
He picked out a pair of men fighting and zeroed in on their duel, ignoring everyone else in the large melee. The Skulltaker watched as they exchanged blows clumsily but intensely, until one of the two finally faltered. A single sword stroke got through and made contact with his enemies' chest. The Skulltaker snarled in fury as he watched the defeated warrior burst into smoke. In that persons place was a small ball like object with a tail. The victories warrior, rather than being surprised at this turn of events, cried out victory before running off to engage another opponent.
The herald of Khorne was disgusted by what he saw.
It seemed that Khorne's words were true. There really did exist a world that mocked everything that Khorne stood for, and by extension all khornate daemons. To them, war was a friendly game of enjoyment and recreation. The herald of Khorne was only too happy to show them the true meaning of war.
Gripping the chains on his juggernaut's collar, the Skulltaker ordered his mount forward to battle. This entire world was a massive affront to the blood god, and they owed him a proper sacrifice of skulls. The herald of khorne had made a mental list of all the worthwhile fighters on this world, and filed away their information. The only good thing about this entire damnable battle below him was that nearly all of the worthwhile opponents were already present and currently in 'combat' somewhere.
At the very least, this would make his job all the more easier.
Leo, Cinque, Yuri Panettone, Gaul, Godwin, D'Arquien, Bernard, Laurent, and Éclair.
The skulltaker was to duel, and ultimately take the skulls of each of these individuals. They were supposedly the best warriors this world could produce, which to the Skulltaker wasn't much of an accomplishment. Apparently a human child had entered the ranks of the best warriors simply by acquiring the magical abilities they possessed, which led him to question their capability in close combat. Their magic would be null and void, which he had little doubt would make their skills on par with an imperial guard sergeant… if he was being generous.
As the skulltaker closed in on the battle, he couldn't help but wonder what the point if him being here was. Sure, he was supposed to collect the skulls of worthy opponents, but these opponents couldn't possibly be skilled! All their combative worth came from the fact that they had magic, which was something only a coward would use. Therefore, every person on this miserable planet was a coward waiting to be gutted. None of their skulls were worth the dirt on his feet. He only made an exception for the pink haired mage from that one world because she managed to entertain him to a degree, not because she was actually a worthy opponent.
As he finally came within an acceptable range, he placed away his mental ramblings.
It was time to gift these cowards with what they had been avoiding for far too long.
Bloodshed.
xxXxx
Today was another friendly battle in the world Flonyard.
Biscotti and Galette were engaged in a battle of attrition, hurling all their numbers and weapons at each other until the immediate enemies nearby were all defeated. Both sides fought fiercely, thoroughly enjoying themselves as they battled each other.
Calvary men and women, riding ostrich like creatures, assaulted entrenched positions at high speed. Archers and artillery rained down upon their enemies, hurling soldiers through the air like rag dolls. A select few of Galette's men, armed with rifles, sniped at Biscotti's men with respectable accuracy.
The battle was in full swing, with the commentators hyping it up as much as they possibly could.
It seemed to be a very enjoyable event…until something odd was spotted.
A commentator spotted an unusual creature approaching.
It appeared that some sort of monster in a cape of skulls had appeared on the far edge of the battlefield, riding on top of an iron bull. The second it was within camera range, every cameraman turned to get a close up of this new creature. Every single broadcasting TV in the kingdom's of Biscotti and Galette were filled with the image of this horrendous beast.
The entire battlefield seemed to slowly die down as everyone looked upon this beast.
It was a creature born of one's deepest and darkest nightmares. The creature was a red skinned monster clad in plates of armor and wearing a cloak of skulls. In its hand was a jagged black blade that burned with unholy fire. Its mount was almost disheartening to look upon. It was a monster of steel that showed no organic parts, but the fury in its red eyes, and bloodstained teeth more than proved that it was a living, breathing creature. Both of the figures were adorned in skulls, skull imagery, and mysterious runes that were vaguely similar to a boxy '8'.
This creature may not have done anything wrong, but its appearance said the entire story.
It certainly wasn't a friendly beast.
The battle was canceled, and its soldiers called back. Until this outside threat was dealt with, everyone was to vacate the area. Men and women disengaged from each other as the announcement was made on the intercom. This battlefield was no longer safe.
There were no identifiable ears on monster, both sides of its head being covered in 4 gigantic horns, but it seemed to have heard and understood the announcement. Both the colossal sized beast and its even larger mount reared their head backs, exposing viciously sharp canines.
"Roo-ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAR!"
The earth shook at the intensity of the pair's bellow. They sped up, every foot fall leaving tiny craters imprinted into the dirt. The monster's black sword was raised high in the sky, burning furiously with warp fire while the edges glowed. The blade seemed to be cutting the air itself as it went, leaving a slight after image despite the fact that it was simply being held up in the air. It was unclear what effects the blade may have, but many suspected that getting cut with it wouldn't lead to simply turning into creature ball.
You'd simply be killed.
xxXxx
Dane D'Arquien and Panettone sprinted forward at the intruder.
The pair of ninja women were all too familiar with what they saw. It was a demon, they were certain, but the oddest one they had ever seen. Demons tended to look like horribly twisted parodies of normal animals, which possessed an unquenchable thirst for destruction. These demons would annihilate entire countries, kill 'gods', and carry out a slew of other unspeakable horrors for their own selfish gain. As they charged at the creature, it took immediate notice.
It did something unexpected however.
It halted its mount, raining back on the chains. The bull seemed to stumble as it tried to halt its momentum. Slowly it came to a stop, but it was clearly confused by its master's order. The Skulltaker hoped off the brass juggernaut, ordering it to stay put unless told otherwise. The daemonic mount begrudgingly accepted its orders, but being a khornate daemon, it still longed for battle. Being ordered to simply observe one was deeply insulting, and also humiliating. Had Skulltaker not been who he was, or any other khornate herald, the juggernaut would've surely attacked him.
The two ninjas halted their movement, staring down the demon warily.
The Skulltaker glared back, eyes beaming with hatred. He recognized both of them as enemies he was ordered to kill.
"Sku-SKULLS Fo-FOR Th-THE Sku-SKULL Thr-THRONE!"
Both women were shocked to hear the demon speak. Before they could formulate a response, the Skulltaker rushed forward. Yuri let out a shriek of surprise before leaping backward, barely avoiding decapitation. D'Arquien took a swing at his back with her sword, but the blow was easily parried by an underhand sword stroke by the skulltaker. Yuri Panettone hurled a trio of throwing knives at the skulltaker's chest while D'Arquien had locked blades with it.
The beast surprised them both when it swatted the blades out the sky with its free hand, as if the throwing knives were nothing but irritating flies.
D'Arquien regained her wits and tried to stab the daemon through the chest with her large sword. The Skulltaker parried away the attack again with his own sword before driving his fist into the woman's gut, launching her into the sky. Yuri came up behind the khornate herald with her blades poised to stab the daemon in the back.
The skulltaker lashed out with a reverse elbow from his free arm, catching her in the jaw.
CRACK!
Yuri made a chocked screaming noise as she went down, her jaw broken from the attack. The skulltaker twisted around and made a horizontal swing at the grounded woman. Yuri was still too dazed from the surprise broken jaw to even realize she had been attacked. The hellblade sliced through both her and the ground below her at the knees, parting the woman from her legs. Blood splattered across the ground. She cried out in pain, screaming till her lungs gave out. The Skulltaker sliced two more times, removing both her arms as well. She had fainted from the intense pain.
The Skulltaker wrapped a hand around her head, lifting her off the ground. He spoke 8 words in some odd language that no mortal was meant to hear. Warpfire enveloped her body, burning away all her clothing, skin, and insides until only the skeleton itself remained. With a twist of his wrist the skull was pried free from the skeletal remains.
"Wh-WHO Ne-NEXT Aw-AWAITS My-MY Atte-ATTENSIONS?"
"YURI! NO!"
The Skulltaker looked up to the sky. As he looked up, he saw the woman he punched earlier was still airborne, but seemingly floated in the sky as she prepared some sort of over the top magical attack. He simply stood there, waiting for her to come back down.
D'Arquien swung down her sword, unleashing a beam of pure magical energy at the Skulltaker. The beam struck dead center, detonating and rocking the ground with the explosion. She descended to the ground in a controlled fall as dust obscured all vision.
She assumed her attack had destroyed her enemy, seeing as it didn't move to even place its sword in the way.
"Pa-PATHETIC."
D'Arquien's eyes bugged out her head as she spun around and tried to jump back. Before she could get higher than a few inches off the ground, a large clawed hand swatted her back down into the ground, striking her square in the chest. She struck the ground hard enough to displace the earth around her. The Skulltaker made a fully extended underhand swing. For a normal swordsman, this would've been foolish as the blade would've bounced off the ground or got stuck in it. The Skulltaker wasn't normal by any definition. His hellblade cut through the dirt beneath him and continued through Dame D'Arquien herself, removing her legs from the rest of her body. She was helpless as the Skulltaker repeated what he did with Yuri to her. He relieved her of her arms and burned away all but her bare skeleton. He pried away her skull to add to his collection.
The Skulltaker was one of the oldest daemons in existence, and had spent every day since then, dueling and defeating worthy opponents, be them mortals, other daemons, or fellow Khornate daemons. As such, he was used to adapting to all manner of different enemies. Fast enemies that tried to evade and pick away at him like Slaanesh daemons and Eldar were hardly difficult. They were often very weak, and easily floored by some of his weaker blows. He long ago learned that the best way to deal with them was to daze them with a 'light' strike like a punch, or in this case, a swat. When they were dazed, they wouldn't be able to dodge his next attack. A single sword stroke usually ended most duels such as that, then and there.
He was disappointed, but his opinion of them rose slightly. They each put up about as much of a fight as an elder exarch. He had killed countless numbers of those in his time, and while they weren't particularly hard, they weren't exactly easy enemies to deal with either. Had those magic boosting powers of theirs actually been effective, he may have actually had trouble dealing with them, if at all.
The Skulltaker walked back to his mount, but stopped when he heard an odd noise.
…
Was that the screams of mortals in the distance?
He looked to the sky and spotted a TV in the sky. The khornate herald watched as all the TV's replayed his execution of the two women. When the death blows were shown, the pitch of the screaming sharply increased. These mortals were terrified at the mere sight of their best warriors going down? His slightly raised opinion sharply dropped. They were truly cowards if they were crying for their lives and he hadn't even gotten to them yet. Snorting in disgust, the Skulltaker remounted Ro'hos. His juggernaut gave a rumble of acknowledgement as it continued its tread onward.
2 down. 7 more to go.
xxXxx
"CHAAARRRGE!"
Hundreds of cavalry men galloped forward, wielding swords, axes, spears, and other close quarter weapons. They charged with thoughts of glory and vengeance as they charged their murderous enemy. They seemed to be an awe inspiring sight as they rode on their avian mounts, looking like proud and dedicated warriors. These were the best of the best cavalry men combined from both Biscotti and Galette, being led by Prince Gaul, Godwin, and Bernard.
A single enemy galloped forward to meet their charge.
Chains rattled, and the ground trembled as the juggernaut of Khorne wildly charged forward, quite literally breathing fire and smoke from its mouth as it moved. The Skulltaker rode on the shoulders of his mount, his blade held out to the side.
These men were the fastest response force the mortals could muster after watching two beloved friends of both countries perish in a horrible death. Trailing behind the fast cavalry would be the waves after waves of cannon fodder infantry. There may be a small handful of decent fighters scattered throughout the cannon fodder, to ensure that should a stronger enemy storm their lines, those individual's will rally their allies to stay and fight. Behind them was where the artillery, riflemen, and archers would set up, in hopes of obsolete war weapons being able to succeed where thousands of swung blades had failed.
Finally behind them, would be the true target he sought out for. The one warrior that may actually be worth the effort of killing all these men to reach was Princess Leo. He'd have her skull by the end of the day, damned be what any of these pathetic soldiers tried to do.
They were almost in striking range.
The brass juggernaut's eyes glowed a baleful red as it pushed the muscle and machinery in its legs to the limit, powering the bull for a powerful ram. The Skulltaker lacked adrenaline. It was a pheromone that only mortals had as a result of exertion or excitement. With the lack of this, chaos daemons were always focused on their tasks, no matter how frantic the situation around them got. This meant that since daemons never got tired, they were always battle ready and on full alert at any given moment.
The Skulltaker used this ability to great use as his mount smashed through the front ranks of knights.
A jagged and sharp blade swung and jabbed out, decapitating or impaling every cavalry man that attacked from the side. The giant meat cleaver on the juggernaut's head, as well as its massive armored body made it perfect for knocking these soldiers aside or outright crushing them. Ostrich-like mounts and their riders were hurled across the ground, bisected and missing limbs, as they entered the juggernaut's path. The skulltaker's blade killed these fools at a furious pace, making his movements almost blurs.
Many of the cavalry fled from combat, never having seen someone actually die while in battle. Those that stayed were casually dispatched by errant sword swings with his hellblade. These cavalry were no challenge to deal with at all.
The skulltaker's juggernaut flinched as a blue energy claw slashed it across the shoulder, failing to leave even a scratch. Before the herald of khorne could fully turn around to face the threat, he was struck by an enchanted spear from the opposite direction. The thing bounced off the Skulltaker's armor, his blessing from Khorne nulling the effectiveness of magic based attacks.
The daemon turned and caught a descending ball of steel, with a chain attached.
The chain was linked to a man's sword, which seemed to be nothing more than a slightly stronger mortal. The Skulltaker glanced around, seeing 4 men armed with a sword/wrecking ball combo, a pair of spears, and one who chose to not use a weapon at all.
The Skulltaker charged forward on his mount, making a beeline for the most dangerous looking enemy in the group.
Godwin.
The cat man in question moved to launch his wrecking ball at the khornate daemons, but saw that the Skulltaker was still holding it in his hand! The man tried to evade but leaping away with his sword in hand. The Skulltaker yanked the wrecking ball he was holding in the opposite direction the man had jumped in, forcefully pulling him back to his spot, on the ground. The man could only yell for mercy as the armored beast stomped toward him, eyes glowing with hatred.
The Juggernaut trampled over Godwin, turning him into a fine paste.
The Skulltaker heard more pointless yelling from mortals, and turned to see the other three enemies closing in.
The khornate herald hoped off his mount, ordering it to stay put.
A pair of men in knight armor came running forward, spears poised to strike. The first one leapt high and powered their spear with some sort of yellow psychic energy. The other powered their spear with blue energy and then made a jab at the Skulltaker, who parried with an underhand sword stroke. The man made two more jabs at the daemon's unprotected calf muscle, making use of the extra reach to avoid getting up close. The man disengaged just before a yellow beam was fired at the daemon.
The man was simply covering so that his ally could get a chance to charge his attack.
Cowardly, but begrudgingly effective against an enemy that wasn't immune to magic. The daemon phased forward, bending the rules of reality to move himself closer to his targets. He backhanded the closer one with the cat ears, sending him into a nearby ditch. He cleaved down at the other target, who tried to block with his spear. The weapon was sliced down the middle. The man in question blinked and gawked in surprise, before having a fist shoved into his jaw with a resounding crack!
Now he remembered these two.
Bernard was one of his targets, and a Biscotti commander. This other one hadn't made his list for some reason, despite the fact they seemed to be fairly even in skill and rank. The Skulltaker chalked it up to Khorne not caring enough, to be terribly detailed.
Before he could move to finish off either of the two downed opponents, Gaul launched a trio of magical claw strikes at the daemon, tearing up the terrain nearby with its overwhelming power. The khornate herald simply walked through it, his khornate runes glowing as they dissipated the magic away from the daemon.
Gaul backed away slowly, still pelting the demon with his magical claw attacks.
It didn't make sense to him. His attacks seemed to not even affect him. It was like the monster before him regarded his magic with as much interest as rain, for all the good it did to slow him down. The Skulltaker lunged forward, his hellblade leaving a flaming vapor trail in its wake. Gaul's eyes widened as he leapt back.
The prince quickly snatched up a nearby sword on the ground. As he grabbed it he went into a barrel roll to avoid the daemon's foot stomping down on him. Gaul got up on one knee, holding his sword in one hand. The chaos daemon stood only a few feet away, inviting the Galette prince to make the first move. Gaul could only feel dread as he realized the sheer size difference between him and the daemon. The monster stood easily twice the height of Godwin, who was one of the tallest people he knew. On his knee, he looked like an infant trying to take on a grown man.
Gaul moved fast, leaping forward with his sword in hand.
The Skulltaker saw this attack coming from a mile away. Gaul expected for the daemon to raise his sword to block, move out of the way, or use its armor as a shield. Instead, the clawed foot of the daemon kicked up, catching the prince in the gut. The boy went flying into the dirt, making a crater. Undoubtedly, he would have a few broken bones from the impact.
The Skulltaker casually walked over to the Prince, and found he had been knocked unconscious.
The Khornate herald scowled. These opponents went down far too easily. If they had been space marines, they'd be up and ready for round 2, regardless of any broken bones or concussions they may have suffered. The daemon let loose a rare sigh as he went to the body of Gaul.
He spoke the 8 words of sacrifice, engulfing the prince's body in warp fire. Flesh, clothing, and innards were all burned away, leaving nothing but a skeleton. With a brutal twist and yank, he pried away the skull before moving on. He then repeated this process with the dog/man Bernard and his cat/man counterpart, who had been knocked unconscious by his earlier backhand.
That did it for the cavalry. Now he had to cut his way through the rest of this forsaken world's soldiers.
xxXxx
"FIRE MORTAR'S!"
"Archers open fire!"
"Riflemen, aim for the rider! The armor on the bull is too thick!"
The Skulltaker and his juggernaut had smashed through the enemy's lines. Men and woman soldiers alike were being sent flying, hacked apart, or trampled underfoot by the Skulltaker's rampage. The soldiers had long begun running away, realizing that this wasn't a fight they could return home from. If they were struck down, they would die! None of the local militia or the knights signed up for battle to actually put their lives on the line in real warfare!
The demon was unstoppable; having devastated every elite group he came across. Biscotti's imperial knights were slaughtered to the last by the Skulltaker's flaming blade. Galette's trio of specialized woman soldiers were ran down and trampled by the daemon's mount as it smashed through every attack, defense, and obstruction in its path.
The soldiers were in full retreat, relying on the artillery units to try and cover their retreat.
The skulltaker barreled forward on his juggernaut, charging through whatever objects or screaming soldiers happened to be his path. His target was the gathering of warriors standing behind the artillery line. From his position, he could see Princess Leo, Ecclair, Cinque, and a contingent of honor guard.
His enemies were gracious enough to gather in a single place, for his convenience. He would repay them for their kindness by personally allowing those of them who wished it, single combat. He'd still kill them all, but at the very least, they'd get a chance to try and avenge their fallen. Regardless, he would have to get their first.
Arrows and high explosives rained down on the Skulltaker. The arrows and rifle shots pinged off the khornate herald's armor and horns, while his juggernaut didn't even seem to notice it was being shot at. The mortar rounds were entirely different. One had actually scored a direct hit on his juggernaut. While the explosion failed to do damage, the explosion briefly dazed the juggernaut and his rider. They were the primary weapons that the skulltaker wanted gone. His experience with fighting imperial guardsmen let him know that mortar teams tended to be bunched together in places far away from the enemy. In this instance, they were gathered right in front of the gathering of warriors he sought out.
The Skulltaker thundered forward on his mount, closing in on the line of artillery soldiers, archers, and riflemen. Their shots became increasingly faster and inaccurate as he approached. He watched as one of the mortars actually loaded a mortar and pointed it directly at the Skulltaker like some sort of improvised missile launcher.
The round smashed into his juggernaut's shoulder, dizzying his mount with concussive force of the attack.
Angered by their cowering behind ranged weapons, he ordered his juggernaut to charge at max speed. The mount thundered forward, shaking the ground as he came closer and closer. The men and woman manning the ranged weapons began panicking and backing away. Many outright turned and ran in fear for their lives.
The Juggernaut of Khorne dropped its head and smashed through the sand bags in its way, inadvertently tossing a handful of stupid soldiers who hadn't gotten out of the way. The Skulltaker began cutting down soldiers left and right, especially those who were manning the mortars. Amputated limbs, heads, and blood filled the air as the khornate daemons went on an orgy of destruction.
A devastating trio of magical attacks blindsided the Skulltaker.
A dramatic explosion erupted, turning those who weren't already slain into creature balls. This was technically considered 'friendly fire', but it was far more preferable to death by the hands of a demon.
The Skulltaker walked out of the explosion, unharmed. His juggernaut on the other hand was blasted into a crater, where it was trying to climb its way out. With his blessing from khorne, magic had no effect on him. His juggernaut on the other hand was vulnerable to magic. It was just too tough for any weapons below anti-tank level to affect.
The Skulltaker strode forward to the individuals who had fired that blast.
Approximately 15 men with knight armor and swords charged at the Skulltaker as he strode forward. They were the guards the Skulltaker had spotted earlier.
The herald of Khorne steadily walked forward, not breaking stride as he began stabbing and slashing with his hellblade in a single handed grip. The elite guards on average parried one or two of the Skulltakers sword strikes before the follow up sword stroke decapitated or disemboweled them. They tried surrounding the daemon but the Skulltaker's form was impenetrable. He could whip around to block a stab from behind, counter attack, and turn back around to face the next attacker, all without breaking stride. The last of the honor guard were cut down in a single horizontal swing, with sheared through their weapons, armor, and flesh like butter. The best soldiers both countries could muster lasted all of 30 seconds against the Skulltaker.
The daemon continued on until he finally came to his intended targets.
In front of the Skulltaker stood a trio of armed warriors.
Princess Leo glared at the Skulltaker, tears born of hatred in her eyes. This creature had murdered her brother, as well as dear friends of hers. She swore she would have vengeance for all of them, or join them in their fate. Ecclair warily stared at the Skulltaker, waiting for the inevitable attack. Cinque was shaking in fear as he stared down the demon. This beast had single handedly cut his way through, not one, but two armies who had joined together to face him. He may be known as 'the hero' but even he had to question how any of them could succeed where entire armies had failed. This creature held no apathy or regard for life, meaning that if the chance to go for a kill presented itself, then it would take it without hesitation.
"I challenge you to a duel to the death demon!" Princess Leo barked.
Ecclair and Cinque almost lost the ability to speak at such a request. They both turned to stare at her with incredulous expressions.
"What are you thinking Princess Leo! We only stand a chance if we work together!" Ecclair yelled out.
"We have to do this together Princess Leo!" Cinque yelled, trying to reason with her.
"THIS MONSTER KILLED MY BROTHER! It didn't stop there either! It killed my friends, aids, and men without a single regard for their lives! I have to avenge them!" As she yelled this, tears streamed down her face. She gripped her shield and battle axe tightly, prepared for battle. Ecclair yelled about how she lost her brother too, and the way to avenge them was together. Cinque was quick to take up the green haired woman's side.
The Skulltaker wondered if they even remembered that he was standing here. Their conversation seemed to imply that they figured he would simply stand there and watch them babble on about nothing important. He decided to interrupt their exchange the best way he knew how.
The daemon lunged forward and swung his hellblade in a large flaming arc.
The trio of warriors each brought up their own weapons to defend, as the hellblade swung in large horizontal arc. The three children were knocked backward a few feet and only barely managed to stay on their feet. Princess Leo lunged forward and smashed her axe into the Skulltaker's hellblade with all her might. The ground cracked in protest beneath their feet as the blades crossed. She followed up with a shield bash to the daemon's chest, but he caught the shield with his free hand.
The daemon lifted the woman up by the shield, which her arm was strapped to. He prepared to cut through her while she was dangled in the air by her arm. He was forced block a staff strike with his sword, and looked to see Cinque standing at his side, looking extremely hesitant. He casually pushed away the spear with his sword and turned to look at the charging Ecclair. He hurled Princess Leo at the imperial knight captain, sending both into the dirt.
Cinque went swing at the Skulltaker with his staff, but the daemon caught the weapon in his free hand and yanked it away. The human boy could only stare in woeful despair as the Skulltaker raised his hellblade high in the sky. His body felt frozen in place as the horrors of war began to take hold. The blade descended, and all the boy could do was scream.
The hero of Biscotti was struck down for all to see.
"CINQUE! NO!"
The Skulltaker turned around, and suddenly began blocking a flurry of axe and short sword attacks. Sparks flew as the enchanted weapons met the daemonic sword time after time. Princess Leo and Ecclair were hammering at the Skulltaker so fast that he actually had trouble counter attacking without making an opening. The two warrior women were furious at Cinque's death and sought to avenge him out of anger. The Skulltaker gladly welcomed the challenge.
As the blades descended for a full 30 seconds, the pair of warrior women began to tire. The Skulltaker, being a tireless daemon, never felt fatigue. In response to their increasingly sluggish attacks, he went on an offensive of his own.
Ecclair crossed her swords in front of her face to block a downward stroke from the Khornate herald. She was sent into the dirt from the strength behind the attack. Leo came up behind the demon to imbed her axe into his lower back, through his skull cloak. The daemon used the forearm armor on his free hand to block axe swing. The Skulltaker came around with other hand and made a powerful downward swing on Princess Leo, who raised her shield to block.
The shield was shattered from the impact, but managed to at least stop the daemon's attack from taking off her head.
The Skulltaker launched a surprise front kick at the woman, hitting her square in the stomach, and driving the wind out of her lungs. The daemon turned around to see Ecclair rushing again, both of her short sword poised to strike. The Skulltaker made an underhand swing at the woman. She predictably blocked, but the strength of the attack forced her arms up in the air. The Skulltaker gave her an upper cut with his free hand, driving the air out of her lungs and breaking a few ribs. She was lifted off the ground from the force of the punch, and temporarily suspended in midair.
The Skulltaker swung down with his hellbade.
*CHOP*
Ecclair's body hit the ground, her head following a second later.
The Skulltaker strode forward, toward Princess Leo.
The Galette Princess could only stare at the body of Ecclair, watching as her head rolled down a hill. She nearly vomited on the spot. Tearing her gaze away from the gruesome sight, she looked at the Skulltaker with absolute hatred in her eyes.
She held up her axe with both hands, throwing off the remains of her shield from her arm. She pulled all the power she had into one all or nothing attack. The ground trembled and cracked around her as she drew in all the power she could. She slowly brought up her axe, which by now was glowing with the energy she pumped into it.
This ended here and now.
The Skulltaker steadily strode forward, holding his flaming hellblade out to the side. This mortal intended to strike him down with a single attack. The daemon of Khorne intended to do the very same with his hellblade. Only the best swordsman would survive this affair.
The Khornate herald lowered his head and lunged forward, hellblade leaving a flaming after image in its wake.
The Galette princess lunged forward and swung her axe, pouring all the will power she had into that one swing.
The explosion could be seen from miles away.
xxXxx
The Skulltaker stared at the skulls he had accumulated during this little trip.
The daemon was riding across the battlefield on the back of his brass armored juggernaut. There were a couple of other warriors worthy of his time, but he was through with this world. He would leave them to put up a fight for the approaching daemon host of khorne.
The Skulltaker felt a warp rift tear open in the sky.
As he looked up, he saw several bloodthirsters fly out the warp rift on powerful wings, along with a couple dozen furies. Bloodletters and Bloodcrushers were tearing their way into reality, roaring bloody murder and praises to Khorne as they went. Khornate Soul Grinders of the Soul Forge erupted from the ground in warp portals, roaring in freedom and promising destruction. Flesh hounds nimbly sprinted out of warp rifts, hunting for mortals with hunger in their eyes and a thirst for blood. Fellow khornate heralds rode out of the warp rifts from chariots, being pulled by pairs of red armored juggernauts. These heralds ushered their brethren forward, eager to please the blood god with acts of violence and slaughter.
The Skulltaker ignored those daemons, walking by them without a care in the world.
His job here was done.
Many of the daemons he crossed gave him odd looks. The Skulltaker was legendary amongst khornate daemons, even amongst the powerful bloodthirsters. To see such a legendary figure casually walking away from a slaughter confused them. The favored herald of Khorne disregarded his underlings, and entered the warp rift.
He would let his fellow khornates have their fun, for he had business elsewhere.
These 'alternate worlds' had been infuriating Khorne since he first discovered them, and the Skulltaker was sure that by the time he arrived, Khorne would have a new world for him to go to.
The Skulltaker was beginning to miss the loyalist space marines, crafty elder, persistent orks, and even the Grey knights. At least they could reliably face him and give him a real challenge.
He had heard rumors that a grey knight grandmaster was marauding across the warp, and causing a lot of damage. Kaldor Draigo if he wasn't mistaken. He had longed to go after that man, but his obligations to attacking these alternate universes never gave him a chance to search.
The Skulltaker shrugged away the thoughts. Being immortal meant you had all the time in the world.
There was no need to rush.
xxXxx
Author's note: This is the longest chapter I have ever written…ever. 8k words.
When it came time to proof read, I almost cried at the amount of time it would take. I considered getting a Beta reader, but I think that would only make my chapters take even longer to update.
Believe it or not, when I imagined these fight scenes in my head, I actually felt no happiness watching them die. They look so cute with their fluffy little ears and unusually large eyes. Imagining a giant daemon, who carries enough skulls around to be considered a mobile fossil museum, killing them all is almost depressing to think about.
By the way, for those who got confused by my constant change between spelling 'demon' and 'daemon' the two terms are completely different.
The Dog Days characters think the Skulltaker is a 'demon', or a mutated animal like creature that destroys everything for no apparent reason. 'Daemons' are creatures of the warp, who actually have conscious thought and tend to come from one of 4 chaos gods. I used 'demon' when he was being described through the eyes of a Dog Days character, and 'Daemon' when he was referring to himself.
Anyways, have a good day!