The plains of Chaos seemed rather peaceful that day. If one ignored the screams of agony, pleasure, or both combined, Slaanesh's realm would actually look quite romantic. A permanent, blue dawn, accompanied by purple. Lots of purple. In fact, everything was purple. The ground, the singing plants, the damned mosquitoes. Everything.
Well, there was one exception to the rule. A massive villa built upon a small hill. Each of its walls was painted with a different colour, making it look like some strange work of art. Bad art. Surrounded by a maze made out of red bushes and blue flowers, it was quite different indeed. Normally, one would have to traverse the maze to get to the building... but Nebulon didn't have the time or patience for that.
He just went forward, slashing anything in his path with the massive runic axe, Mithara close behind. After a minute or two of slashing, the plants themselves moved to avoid the black Bloodletter's fury. In less than two minutes they were at the main gate, which was part black, part silver.
His black fist connected with steel three times, sending echoes throughout the surrounding landscape. After a few seconds, the gate started opening. Soon, a Daemonette came into view, dressed in a black and white, typical maid outfit. Her eyes first drifted to Nebulon.
"I am sorry, but the master does not6 wish to be disturbed. I hope you under-" her head turned to Mithara and a smile appeared on her face, "Mith, is that you?"
"It is, Hall!"
The two moved closer and hugged each other, visibly overjoyed.
"I haven't seen you in months! What brings you here?"
"Me and Neby came to ask help for Rakul and stuff."
"I see. Well, come right in!"
The two went in, chatting about stuff. Nebulon scratched the back of his head, mildly confused, and then entered, as well.
The inside was littered with paintings of every colour and type, statues of all shapes, sizes and themes and Daemonettes wearing the same maid costumes, running here and there, cleaning, polishing, washing and looking for where they should be doing the above things. Nebulon just gazed passively at the stuff around, while the two whispered.
"You didn't tell me he was so handsome!"
"On purpose. He's mine, ya know."
"Oh, don't worry, silly! I know that all too well! And I don't think he'd even think of doing something behind your back."
"True."
"We're close to the master's inner chambers. We should... hear his antics soon." an explosion-like racket suddenly made its way throughout the villa, startling the two, while the maids seemed accustomed to it, "indeed."
A scream soon followed:
"Wooooooooooohhhhhhhhh! I LOOOOOOOOVE kittens in LSD! MAKES ME GO WIIIIIIIIILD!"
The only Bloodletter frowned.
"Haaaah... let's get this over with."
Ignoring Hall's warning, he came close to a large green door and knocked. If by 'knock', you understand 'punch with such force that the door falls out of its hinges'. Daemonettes all around gazed in surprise and shock as he entered, Mithara and Hall close behind. There were more maids in the room, but the dominant figure was one upon a throne of chicken bones and kitten skins, all drenched in LSD. He had his armour on, as always, and the flames of his skull seemed to be larger than last time. He watched them with mild annoyance.
"I thought I made myself clear about no visitors."
"They insisted, master!"
The champion's eyes flashed.
"Hey! Your business is with me!"
Doomrider leaned closer to them, sparks flying around him.
"Hey, you're that sorcerer's annoying daemon. I thought I had made my stance of 'I don't give a damn about your problems' perfectly clear by not answering three summonings. I am not fighting those orks again."
"If you had answered, you'd know we are fighting WITH the orks now, against Tyranids. Lots of 'em, too."
The daemon prince stood up and walked closer, his hand making movements in random directions.
"Even worse! You expect me to fight an enemy, which utterly humiliated me?! To just throw away all that and say, 'Hey, we're fwiendz nao!'?! Not a chance!" his eyes drifted to Mithara and examined her body, "then again, if you made it worth my while..."
Mithara wanted to put on a disgusted look, but that was replaced by a face of surprise, as Nebulon caught Doom rider by the neck and lifted him off the ground, the flames becoming smaller by the second.
"Okay, now I am angry."
"Oh, come on, Nebulon! It was just a joke! Come on, Neby!"
Mithara gasped. The nickname she had given him... and only she could say. Otherwise... terrible things happened.
"Okay, that does it."
Nebulon slowly walked to the main gate, Doomrider still in the air.
"Mith... what's he gonna' do?"
"Something bad. My Neby is so cute when he's mad!"
While she daydreamed, the others simply listened to the terrible sounds that came next. Those sounds were reminiscent of cracking bones, screams of agony and shouts like 'Not the horns!', 'My third heart!' and 'My pankreas should not be there!'.
In ten minutes, Doomrider walked... err, hopped back inside on one hand, looking like a knot. Nebulon just watched the scene, an evil grin on his face.
"Fine... I'll help, I'LL HELP!"
"Very good! Let's go, Mith!"
With that 'Oh my Chaos god, I love him!' look on her face, they left the villa, leaving many maids to try and untie their master. With mixed results.
******
The battle was still raging, with minor reinforcements for the defenders coming from all forces. Darug had built something vaguely reminiscent of a gun and was prepared to test fire it.
"Redy. Set. FIRAAAAAA'!"
Smoke filled the cannon's surroundings as a special piece of ammunition was shot. What was it? Here's a hint: it was black, round and had lots of pointy teeth. The little squig flew above the Tyranid battle lines, straight at a Zoanthrope. The synapse creature was readying a powerful warpal blast, but Ugu impacted soon enough to change the beam's target from the defence lines to the middle of a horde of gaunts. The small creatures were sent flying everywhere and Ugu hoped back to his friends, landing on many more gaunts on the way. Muskit caught him and ran behind the main line, covered by bolter rounds and shurikens.
Within the base, many were resting or getting their wounds treated within a hastily built tent. Among the ordinary troops, farseer Macha sat, regaining lost energy. She was lucky, for many around her were missing limbs. Suddenly, a blue and gold figure appeared in the entrance, one of his shoulder-pads missing.
"Stupid Raveners... attack from every direction." in his hand, he held the remains of a power sword. The sorcerer turned to a nearby Aspiring champion, who had a similar weapon, but intact, "hey, give me that."
"But, sir! This is my sword!"
"I'll trade it for a Ravener claw."
He pulled said item out of his armor.
"Deal!"
The champion plunged the sword into the ground, took the claw and ran outside, only to get cut in half by a Carnifex moments later.
"Poor sod."
He sat next to her, resting as well. Rakul then noticed she no longer had her helmet on and her crimson hair went down to the middle of her back. How the Warp could she fit that inside the helmet? She noticed his stare and asked:
"What?"
"Oh, nothing. Just wondering why you have stripes on your cheeks."
"I just like the way it looks. You have a problem with that?"
"Not at all. They suit you." he noticed, that a few of the surrounding wounded were looking at them, "quit staring before I gouge your eyes out!"
Before she could reply, a monstrous roar echoed throughout the landscape, followed by a 'Not delicious!'. Both psykers rose and rushed outside, weapons ready. There, they saw Carito screaming and pointing towards the sky. A massive swarm of gargoyles flew towards them, lead by nothing less than a winged Hive Tyrant, whose four arms were each a different weapon.
While she readied her spear, Rakul started shouting orders:
"Okay, idiots, regroup! Carito! Get some men and start shooting the small ones! Me and Macha here will take the Tyrant!"
"Roger!"
Many marines didn't even wait for Carito to come close. Considering the airborne swarm's size, that was no surprise. The Tyrant came ever closer, not hindered by small arms fire. It then came crashing down upon them, crushing a pair of avengers under its clawed feet. The beast's single eye watched the two opponents before it and then its jaws opened with a deafening roar.
"This was a bad idea, eh?"
"Indeed."
Its massive scything talons slashed at them, but they dodged just in time. A barbed strangler and venom cannon shot at both independently, while it tried to get close to either combatant. Macha released a bolt of psychic energy against her foe, but that merely scorched its hide. Rakul's doombolt had a similar effect.
He tried to strike it from the back, but its tail swept him away with no effort. His body smashed against a rock and he started getting up. With a flap of its wings, he saw Macha go to the ground, the wind too strong. The massive talons rose into the air, ready to cut her in half. That simply would not do. His armoured boots impacted the ground rapidly and his power sword went into a blocking position in the last second.
The Tyrant's strike was brutal, powerful enough to destroy the power sword and strike Rakul's helmet, pushing him several feet back and sending him to the ground. Macha and many surrounding troops gasped, but found a hint of relief when he got up again, the helmet cracked. And he threw away the sword and took it off.
Shoulder-length hair appeared from under it and two blue eyes watched the monster. His pale skin coloured by a small trickle of blood. He was definitely not pleased.
"Time for drastic measures." he whispered and, fighting the urge to scream 'By the power of Grayskull!', he raised one of his hands, sending psychic signals into the Warp at the same time.
******
Tzeentch knew what the sorcerer wanted. Rakul had earned the item within his labyrinth, after all. And requesting the object meant only one thing... Crap just got serious. All four of the Changer's arms went into the air.
"Very well, Rakul! Receive your blade!"
Chaos energies filled the room and their effects soon appeared within the normal world. Gmork and the other gods just kept looking, waiting for something to happen.
******
Chaos lightning struck his palm, but went no further. In moments, a magnificent weapon had formed. Made from the finest of mortal weapons and imbued with the power of nine hundred and ninety-nine daemons, it shone in a blue hue. Energy crackled along the sword's blade and red runes glowed. His armoured fingers gripped the golden hilt and pointed the sword straight at the beast.
Sangus stared from afar.
"Damnit! I want a weapon like that!" he then proceeded with venting his anger on a Carnifex's head.
It roared yet again and charged, talons ready to tear him to pieces. But Rakul was the true attacker. He gripped the daemonic sword with both hands and slashed at the monster. Its claws rose to defend it, but the blade went straight through, easily biting deep into the flesh beneath the carapace. The Tyrant roared in anger and tried to bite his unprotected head off.
Rakul, however, dodged and grabbed onto the thing's wing, then pulled himself up. It tried to shake him off, but the sorcerer's grip was firm and the blade shone in his hand. With one last strike, he plunged it through the Tyrant's skull. The masses above grew disorganized and started attacking everything around them, including their own kind.
The beast's corpse fell to the ground and he stood upon it, looking awesome. He then did a victory pose, jumped down and walked closer to the farseer.
"You okay?"
"Y-yes. Thank you."
"No problem. You owe me a helmet, though."
******
Not too far from the site of the epic battle, Nagosh charged against the Tyranid battle lines. His choppa' swung in every direction, his bullets flew at any target, his feet crushed smaller creatures. A Carnifex suddenly stood in his way, but he did not slow down. Rather, he sped up and crashed straight into the beast. As mighty as the bio-beast was, it could not stop the ork and soon felt its body get pushed. It tried in vain to stop the ork, the ground parting under its claws.
Several warriors stood in their path, Warp-bent on stopping the insanity. But it was of no use, for not even these reinforcements could stop the ork. Soon, Biovores, a Zoanthrope, several Genestealers and uncountable tiny Gaunts joined this small 'train'. But the warboss showed no sign of stopping. That is, until they hit a rock wall. The whole mass came to a halt, Nagosh slowly realising he was surrounded by a horde of bugs.
And he grinned.
The ones at the first defence line watched as all kinds of 'Nids started flying into the air. A small gap started forming between Nagosh and the bugs and he headed back to base, looking epic.
******
On the plains of unified Chaos, there stood a lonely bar, filled with all kinds of daemons. From Plaguebearers to Flamers, from Bloodletters to Nurglings. Two new figures entered the building, a black Bloodletter Champion and a pink Daemonette. Many eyes turned their way, intrigued by such travellers. One table had a pair of free seats and a group of war veterans at it, many scars on their bodies. And one gouged eye.
One of the daemons waved at them and they came closer. The one-eyed Bloodletter called:
"Well, if it ain't pretty boy Nebulon!"
"Hey, ain't my fault you threw yourself against the heavy bolter emplacement, Kran."
All of them laughed.
"Hahahahahah! That's true! And you must be Mithara! Big, black and ugly tells us lots about ya!"
she merely giggled, "take a seat, friends!" they did so, to the joy of all at the table, "so, why have ya come to this distant piece of nowhere?"
"Well... we need help."
A Plaguebearer in the corner shouted:
"Typicaaal. And whaaat would you need help with?"
"Oh, just smashing a Tyranid horde, is all."
There was a brief silence, which was interrupted by a waiter, who looked like a cross between a fungus and a pig.
"Can I get ya something?"
"Warpal beer."
"And for the charming lady?"
"Just blood, please."
"As you wish."
The pig-thing left, leaving Kran to reply, two tusks shaped in a grin-like face:
"How many of 'em?"
"Large Hive fleet. I'd say about twice as large as what we're used to."
"Oh, sounds fun. Whaddaya' say, guys?"
Those at the tables did many different things. Roar with joy, bash the wood with their fists and simply nodding being one of those actions.
"I guess that's a 'HELL YES!'."
"Oh, indeed, pretty boy. We'll round up a few of our mates and then join ya... where are we going, anyway?"
"Planet's name is Carridia."
"Hey, I think I was on a raid there, one time! Okay, settled! Now..." the waiter brought the two drinks, "just in time! I'll pay for those!"
"Only for the beer, Kran. Lady's drink is on the house."
"Hahahahahahahah!"
"What can I say? Being pretty has its advantages!"
Laughter filled the bar as their glasses hit each other in the air and as drinks flowed down their throats.
Not a good day for Haxxor... for many allies were heading for Carridia. Not a good day at all.