One Krieg soldier stood alone in the middle of the city, hundreds of thousands of soldiers had entered it after the collapse of the Gewalt front. Yet when they encountered the horrors of Tzeentch they were severely decimated. Forced to retreat. Not out of fear, for they did not feel any, but because of the magic of the horrors. Horrors that turned Krieg's soldiers into statues, butterflies with the faces of their victims painted on their wings, burning them not only in body but also in soul.
And so Paul looked around the corner while drinking water. His entire group was destroyed by the magic of the horrors and he was the only one left on this street.
"Shit, they're coming," he said to himself, finishing the canteen and putting it away. Seeing that he still had time he checked his magazine and ammunition. He had plenty still so with determination he began to pray.
"Daudi, here is a soldier of death who asks for your hand, may you guide this soldier faithful to you, may my death be a good one and may my family know that I am dead. I am your faithful believer and as such I will die for you. I embrace death as I embrace life."
Finishing his prayer Paul stood up and turned the corner starting to run against the horrors, his bolt-action rifle with bayonet attached.
The horrors who laughed maliciously with jokes unintelligible to the non-daemonic being began to fire their magic at the soldier. However, he dodged each and every one of the shots and fired a shot back, piercing one of the horrors in the eye.
With a laugh the pink horror split into two blue horrors. Paul continued firing, killing the second pink horror which split into two more blue horrors.
Slashing through the first blue horror he could with his bayonet, Paul pulled out a grenade, dodging the stabbing blue horror, and shoved the unsealed grenade into the mouth of the open-mouthed one.
"DAUDI WILL TAKE ME TO HER EMBRACE!" Paul shouted, stopping the blue horror's attack after hitting it with a right hand. At that moment the grenade exploded in the other monster.
The two dead blue horrors turned into more sulphur coloured ones. Paul grabbed his rifle and began to dodge the attacks of the two blue horrors and 4 sulphur horrors that were trying to burn him alive.
Grabbing another grenade he pulled the pin and began to run, counting the seconds in his head as he ran, not out of cowardice, but as a strategy. The blue and sulphur horrors followed him to kill him. However Paul turned a corner in the street throwing the grenade, right into the middle of his pursuers, and making them explode.
When the horrors were killed by the explosion, Paul looked to confirm the death of his enemies. Only to see the two blue horrors turn into four sulphur horrors.
"You sons of bitches," the soldier cursed unconsciously. Shooting and killing them as they ran towards him to kill him. Killing all but one who, with intentions of burning Paul alive, ran towards him. However he was obliterated by a lead round from a machine gun. Paul turned to see a ten foot metal figure.
"Thank you, my prince!" Paul shouted in appreciation for Kurt's saving of him. However, more jovial shouts began to ring through the streets.
"Soldier, fall back until you join a group, I have to take out the daemon leader."
The sounds of artillery destroying the city sounded in the background and Kurt's figure seemed almost majestic standing in this ruined cityscape. Paul stood up and nodded towards Kurt.
"Thank you again," he said, as he started to run to join his comrades and Kurt smiled.
-'Helping all the people in trouble on the road is making it take too long. I recommend avoiding distractions to accomplish the mission,' complained the AI, deeming Kurt's actions of saving people irrational.
-'I have a lot to teach you... The mission must always be accomplished by saving everyone who can be saved,' Kurt lectured it.
-'Do I need to memorise this new understanding for the mission?' asked the AI to confirm Kurt's intentions.
-'Yes,' Kurt answered as he started moving again, running through the streets of the destroyed city.
Encountering a large group of daemons Kurt activated both of his rotary weapons. Sweeping through the horrors by the dozens, first the pink ones, then the blue ones and then the sulphur ones.
-'One enemy dividing by two, twice. What an inconvenience, it is recommended to avoid combat with them,' complained the AI after its analysis, to which Kurt laughed.
-'No shit,' Kurt said, firing lead at anything that didn't look human enough. He had his shield on his back and his sword in his right hand.
Street by street, Kurt mopped up hordes of daemons, growing larger and more numerous. Artillery was no longer falling in front of him, but on top of him from the number of miles he had advanced on the daemon hordes. However, neither the artillery of his own allies nor the daemons could stop him.
Finally, after turning another corner, Kurt was at the Ruin of what was once the Royal Palace of Gewalt, now not much more than a smouldering mess of rubble, broken glass and other debris.
Kurt was about to move on when the AI picked up movement underneath the rubble. The young Primarchs readied himself, raising his shield and spooling up the Gatling guns.
With a bang, the Man, or rather the Thing he was looking for, burst from the rubble. Kurt's eyes glowed red with anger, at the sight of the man who had cut off the arm of his mother as well as blinding her and torturing her for so long.
Likewise, Erich took notice of Kurt, immediately recognizing him as the son of that damned woman his god had sent him to convert. Enraged he channelled the powers of the Warp his master had given him, and launched a psionic bolt of lightning towards the armoured prince.
Blocking the bolt with his own shield, enhanced by a spell of his own, Kurt opened fire with the Gatling guns, only to find the bullets harmlessly bouncing off the psychic barrier Erich had constructed to shield himself.
Noticing how his bullets didn't do much damage, Kurt channelled his own psychic powers, he didn't know how he was doing it, but it came as naturally to him as breathing, as if the knowledge was implanted into his very genes.
He pointed the tip of his sword at the Daemon Prince, and a bolt of grey and golden energy surged forward, only to be met in the middle by another bolt of energy coming from his target.
What Kurt was using was not mathematical magic but the totality of his psychic powers. However, he still could not compete with the Daemon Prince in front of him. Advancing slowly Kurt tried to reach the daemon, but the fiend laughed.
"You have never used your power fully, so far you have only used that useless magic that makes you weaker. You can never beat me!"
Kurt sighed heavily, beginning to force his way forward despite the clashing energy of the two. When he got close enough he raised his sword and threw it like a spear, attempting to penetrate the daemon, only for it to be stopped in mid-air by it.
The daemon laughed at him again. Kurt stopped throwing his magic, dodged his enemy's attacks and started to run until he reached the daemon. He hit him hard with his right fist. So fast that the daemon couldn't dodge it, sending him back several metres.
"I don't need weapons to defeat you mutant bird!" Kurt called out enraged, abandoning his shield and leaving his two arms free, at which point he rushed at the daemon again, hitting it dozens of times in a few seconds. The daemon responded by defending himself with his sword against many of the blows, though some of them landed.
Despite beginning to be overwhelmed the daemon continued to laugh.
"You think you can kill me? Even if my physical body were to die now, I would never die, immortality has been granted to me by my God!" he shouted fanatically, before Kurt broke his beak with a sideways punch.
"Yes, yes," Kurt replied, continuing to punch the daemon, who now angrily threw a bolt of lightning at Kurt. He couldn't dodge, it started to melt his armour, which slowly began to cling to his skin.
Time began to slow down and Kurt could do nothing as the armour continued to melt. Until time stopped completely, and after a nanosecond the darkness filled everything. It seemed almost infinite as there was nothing there.
Kurt began to calm down for a reason he didn't understand and his eyes returned to normal.
"You are not my son, for your soul is not touched by my blessing, you are not of my flesh, for you are not born of any faithful to me," a female voice sounded. Almost for sheer spectacle in the black void a different black appeared, taking the body of a woman covered in a robe, with no visible features save for golden hair similar to his mother's.
"Who are you?" asked Kurt.
"I was once a mighty goddess to whom billions of people prayed, now I am only a small thing who can no longer be called a god, who looks with melancholy at her last believers... I am known as Daudi."
Kurt frowned.
"There are no gods, only powerful individuals mistaken or masquerading as such," Kurt said. To which a motherly laugh rang through the void.
"Only a tyrant or someone desperate would say that gods don't exist, now tell me Kurt, what is the difference between a god and a powerful individual?"
Kurt stopped for a second and thought, he always heard that he was not a god and that gods do not exist. Yet he never rationalised the meaning of 'God'.
"Suppose you are a God or a powerful being, I will call you Factor 0, why are you talking to me?"
The entity turned in on itself, appearing in the distance a blue influence, a slowly growing flame.
"My children, my last children cannot be consumed by that flame, that flame that has consumed billions of my children before. Let me enter your soul and give you my blessing, I will grant you a sacred weapon that will allow you to truly slay the daemons, that will give you victory and allow you to continue at your mother's side."
Kurt looked at Daudi, who moved her black robe until a golden hand came out of it. Opening it, a skull mask appeared, blue in colour, but when he saw the blue up close it was no ordinary blue. It was millions of souls in constant agony intertwined as if the mask had been sewn together with threads made of soul.
"I understand what I stand to gain from this deal, but what do you stand to gain?" asked Kurt.
"A new son and a prince," answered Daudi. Kurt could only nod, before taking the mask, placing it on his face and noticing how it stuck to his face by itself, millions of agonised screams of suffering souls filled his ears but he ignored it.
"Thank you," Daudi said, before everything returned to normal, feeling the iron melt on his skin again. But this time he also noticed the screams of the souls, though he didn't even notice the mask.
-'Taking control of the armour for survival,' said the AI, raising his arms and firing the last remaining bullets from its rotary weapons, which with a ghostly blue aura pierced the daemon's shield and wounded him, causing him to fall and stop melting Kurt's flesh to his armour. At this point Kurt fell to his knees, but with great effort he began to rise, moving pitifully to his sword, as the molten iron bonded to his skin, burning it and cooked his organs.
As he picked up the sword, and turned around, the blade began to glow a strong bluish glow, as millions of souls permeated the blade, moving as best they could over the surface of the blade.
The daemon began to pull himself together and looked at him.
"The sword of the First Krieg?" he asked in surprise. Kurt ignored him, however, starting to walk towards him.
The daemon tried to fly, but using his psychic power, Kurt stopped him in place, not allowing his prey to escape. So far he could never harm him as his weapons were normal and his psychic power was unexplored.
But now Kurt could hurt him. So when Kurt reached him, he cut off his foot, making the daemon scream, hellish screams that would make any mortal's ears stop working.
Laughing at finally having the upper hand, Kurt continued to hack away, the knee of the daemon's left leg, the wings, the entire right leg, each toe, one by one being severed.
The daemon screamed and screamed, his screams could be heard for miles.
"You caused so much suffering, and now you scream, as you receive less than what you have given?" Kurt said with cold rage, as he continued to cut the daemon until only its head and torso remained. Unable to use his psychic power, the Daemon Prince was helpless.
"You will die," Kurt spoke softly, as he slowly cut the creature that was once Erich von Gewalt from the pelvis to the heart, at which point he impaled the daemon like a spear.
Slowly, with the daemon impaled on his sword, Kurt advanced through the streets, as the daemons disappeared and the crack of hell itself closed.
Krieg's soldiers watched this spectacle as Kurt reached the battle line, seeing the daemon impaled on the sword, the remains of his physical body still intact.
"Krieg, Krieg, Krieg!" the soldiers began to shout, not because that was their nation but because Kurt had replicated the deeds of the First Krieg. Defeating the daemons.
As Kurt continued to advance, the soldiers began to follow him, raising banners and shouting. Gewalt's troops surrendered when the daemonic invasion arrived and fighting of all kinds had ceased.
On a walk back to HQ, with banners and the impaled daemon Kurt walked to the entrance, where the field marshal and his mother, Tanya von Krieg, awaited him.
"Have you won, son?" was all his mother asked, at which point the troops stopped cheering.
"Gewalt has fallen and the daemons have been defeated," Kurt said, proudly but with reverence for his mother.
"I'm proud of you, but next time don't leave me out," scolded Tanya.
Kurt laughed.
"Yes mother."
—-
Tzeentch laughed, metaphorically speaking, his laughter filling his entire realm in the warp, confusing all who sought to understand his plans.
"All the pieces have been gathered, Kurt has received the power of the second Krieg, Tanya is changing Kurt, Daudi is interfering, the Anathema is starting his crusade… all has gone as expected, the plan remains unaltered!"
His laughter continued through the chaos, so loud that Nurgle, Khorne and Slaneesh heard him.