The Eldar and the Human duelled in the gloom of the twilight, lit only by the flickering fire-light and the faint glow of their power swords, each of them matching the other blow for blow for the past hour. Krieg ached all over as he used every trick he knew, from a parry to feints and strikes meant to de-limb the xeno, but it had dodged, blocked and evaded every one of them. Each time their blades had met, a shower of sparks rained onto the ground, Krieg launched a heavy slice that would have decapitated the Eldar, but was denied by a counter-thrust that would have speared him through the gut. Krieg went for an overhead slice but the xeno's blade twisted sideways, seeking to block the strike, Krieg had other ideas however as he turned the blow from a slash to a pommel strike at the last second. The heavy blow impacted the Eldar in the face, sending a spray of blood into the air as it reeled back in pain of its broken nose.
Krieg ducked under the Eldar's wild swing, lashing out with an uppercut at the xeno's face. The xeno tried an overhead slice of its own, only for the veteran Hive-Ganger to dodge to the side before lashing out with his own blade and neatly slice through the Eldar's power sword just below its guard. Now without a weapon, the xeno slugged Krieg in the chest with a palm strike, not doing any damage but knocking the wind out of the Hive-Ganger's lungs in the process before the Eldar lashed out with a kick of its own, slamming Krieg in the midsection and sending the hiver on his ass as his power sword flew from his grasp. The xeno loomed over him as it pulled another pistol from one of the pouches on its belt before leveling it at Krieg's face, Krieg had better idea's then getting shot in the face however as he grabbed a fistful of burning ember's and threw them into the Eldar's face, making the xeno snarl as it fired wildly at the empty space where the Hive-ganger had once been.
Krieg had rolled to the left, rising to his feet beside one of the Centaur's, the one that still had Krieg's shotgun atop it, in a heartbeat Krieg grabbed the shotgunwith one hand before his boot lashed out, impacting the Eldar in the chest, spoiling its aim as the shotguns chainblade bayonet roared into life. Lashing out with brutality rivaling that of most Daemon's, Krieg slammed the bayonet into the xeno's gut's as he pushed the blade in to its hilt. Still not done, Krieg hauled upward's, lifting the Eldar off the ground as the cutting blade tore its way through the xeno's intestine's, upward's through its ribcage and vital organ's and exiting through the Eldar's right shoulder as the xeno fell to the ground with a wet 'thump'.
The Eldar spat out a gobbet of blood and growled out a curse in its bastard language, Krieg levelled the massive shotgun at the xeno's face as he pulled the trigger again and again, only when it clicked did he realize that the fearsome weapon had run dry. The entire front end of the gun was covered with chunks of gore and semi-dried blood and the chainblade bayonet was clogged with piece's of bone, Krieg scoffed as he tossed the ruined shotgun onto the Eldar's corpse, before remembered something as his eyes widened, "Krom"
Gutt'Smasha smiled, as his Battlewagon roared through the empty street's of the dead city with a full load of Nobs aboard. The vehicle shuddered as it slammed through a roadblock, with each passing second the screaming machine drew closer to the overpass, and with each passing second Gutt'Smasha felt his bloody vengeance draw closer...
Krieg's eyes watered as he watched Krom's body go up in flames. After he had executed the Eldar he had ran over to the sniper only to find out that he was to late, Krom's body ice cold and stiff as plas-steel. He had salvaged a few box's of bandages and had placed them down on a clear patch of road before placing the dead body of Krom atop them before soaking it all with a canister of flamer fuel. With a spare flare he set his makeshift pyre ablaze as he watched. Aside from the empty noise of the dead night, the air was still and silent. Krieg took a inhaled deeply as he turned his gaze skyward, Lifting a Lho-Stick to his mouth and lighting it with a flick of his lighter.
His musings were cut off by a soft 'mew' emanating from behind him, instantly Skyhunter was in his hand as he took a step to the side, revealing the creature the flickering fire-light of the funeral pyre. The creature was around a metre in length and was covered in long, fluffy pitch black fur and a pair of emerald-green eyes with a long tail. If it wasn't standing atop one of the grey-blue Centaur's Krieg probably wouldn't have seen it at all. Seeing how this thing wasn't going to try and tear his face off like that Squig he encountered some time ago, Krieg holstered Skyhunter and slowly approached it. The thing didn't react to his presence at all but rather began licking itself clean, as Krieg came to within a few steps of the weird thing. Reaching out his hand to touch the creature, it immediately hissed at him before jumping off the Centaur and running behind an Earthshaker cannon, disappearing from sight in the process.
Krieg frowned, his thought's on breaking the things neck and turning it into a new belt were cut off as the high-pitched sound of a pair of jet engine's sliced through the air. He grabbed Krom's old autogun from where it lay next to the burning pyre, racking the slide back as he glared toward the night skies, the unmistakable silhouette of a Valkyrie approaching as it started descending towards him. Taking another drag of his Lho-Stick, Krieg watched as it descended to land on the far side of the destroyed convoy, Krieg's free hand instinctively went to the hilt of his power sword as he waited for the gunship's occupant's to greet him.
Kol Badur heavy footfall's echoed throughout the hallway, Chosen and Terminator's stepping aside so the Coryphaus could pass unimpeded as he stormed toward the personal chamber's of Marduk. Seeing a normal Chaos Space Marine running at full tilt would make most mortal men run in terror, but a Chaos Terminator running was horrific as the warrior's footsteps dented the metre thick Plas-Steel flooring before the towering form of slid to a halt outside of the massive Adamantium Mag-Door that led to the Dark Apostle's quarter's. The door itself was over a metre thick, Kol Badur raised his massive Power Talon, intending to break it down with a single blow, he was interrupted by the door itself opening, revealing the haggard form of Marduk himself.
Marduk, garbed in the ancient armour of the Warmonger, looked to have aged several decades, his face now covered in deep wrinkles and panting like he had somehow managed to outpace a pack of Flesh-Hound's. Only then did Kol Badur realize that the Dark Apostle was speaking, although the only words he could make out were "Dream-Child,...Danger,...Quickly,...". Marduk pushed his way past the Coryphaus and started down the corridor, Kol Badur letting out a growl at how idiotic the leader of the 34th Host was acting, Kol Badur placed his hand on Marduk's shoulder only for the Dark Apostle to spin on his heel and grab of his gorget, pulling him closer. "Ditch the strikeforce, get seven of your best men and meet me in the teleportation hub" Marduk Growled, his rage causing the blood-runes on his armour to glow like the embers of a forge before he turned again and walked down an offshooting hallway.
Kol Badur sighed, gently pinching the bridge of his nose with his deactivated Power Talon as he started in the direction he had came.
"Why didn't I kill him?"
The Hive-Ganger ran a hand through his hair, gazing blankly at the newcomer and her entourage. The group compromised of a pair of female death-cultist's wearing form-fitting grox-leather bodysuit's and at least a dozen swords carried between them, a scar-faced bounty hunter wearing a ragged set of carapace armour and lugging a heavy-gauge Las-Lock on his shoulder with a bandolier of stub-revolver's strapped across his chest. A hulking slab of muscle stood behind the Cultist's, Krieg prided himself on his knowledge of weapon's, armour and vehicles at a glance, but cloak the towering meat-slab wore still betrayed him as his subtle movements told a tale of their own, the way he moved told Krieg that he was more like a predator then a man. A single servitor stood next to what Krieg assumed to be the leader of this group, instead of legs, it had a pair of small tread's in their place and a Hellgun implanted into its right shoulder and carrying a massive trunk on its back. Finally, at the head of the group, an obese man that looked to have eaten an entire mob of ork boyz and still would have room to spare.
Before Krieg could continue his observation, the fat man spoke "I assume that you are Krieg Dokken, Leader of the Deathreaper's?" The Hive-Ganger nodded, his hand tightening around his Autogun as his other coiled around his power sword, this action did not go unnoticed by the rest of them as the death-cultist's hands went for their swords as the bounty hunter slowly drew one of his stub-revolver's. "Then allow me to introduce myself, I am Lord Inquisitor Deefan of the Ordo Xenos and I require your expertise" The Inquisitor started, placing his hands together as his pudgy face drew back into a grin as he continued "I assure you that you will be well compensated for your work when you accept" Deefan finished before he gestured toward the servitor who, at some unspoken command, grabbed the trunk of of its back and trundled over to Krieg and bowed as it placed it on the ground in front of him.
"Go ahead, open it" The fat inquisitor encouraged whilst he waved his hands encouragingly, the Hive-Ganger on the other hand narrowed his eyes as he sent a glare across at Deefan as the servitor trundled back to its master's side. Growling, Krieg smashed the tip of his steel-shod boot into the lock of the case before kicking it open before he swept the cold-baked nitrogen gas away with a sweep of his Chem-Metal Jacket. A ghost of a smile spread across his face as he gazed at the ancient relics contained within. Krieg grabbed the holster first, etched with gold wire and gems, it clearly belonged to either a rich noble house or a wealthy Rouge Trader, surprisingly enough the pistol was largely unadorned by decoration, only seven notches running down the left side of the outer casing and had a decent resemblance to a M-35 Galaxy Pattern Laspistol aside from a lengthened barrel and a fire selector. The other item was a simple black box, completely and utterly without a single indentation upon its surface.
"I'm going to have to stop you their" The Inquisitor said, raising his hand as Krieg started to open it before continuing "If you open that box, then you accept my invitation" Deefan finished, gesturing at the Valkyrie in the process. Krieg shook his head, tossing the box back to the Inquisitor as he turned around glancing at the smouldering remains of the funeral pyre. "Take your invitation and shove it up your ass" The Hive-Ganger growled, tossing the holster over his shoulder with one of the death-cultists catching it, "And if you think that a fancy Laspistol will be enough to bribe me with, then I might as well be doing the galaxy a favour in killing you" Krieg finished, lighting another Lho-Stick as soon as he finished. "That Laspistol is a piece of Archeotech dating from the Dark Age of Technology" Deefan spat, his face turning red with anger as he waved one of the death-cultist's over and pointed at the Hive-Ganger "If you think that it's still an ordinary Laspistol then guess again" the enraged Inquisitor growled, nodding at the cultist in the process. The cultist nodded back before opening the holster, expecting the pistol to drop into her hand.
Only for her hand to catch a primed frag grenade...