It hurt. Yuki wanted to scream. The pain was… Unbearable. Every nerve crackled with seething heat, flames licked at her mind. She wanted to scream. She couldn't open her mouth. She couldn't breathe. Her twitching form was locked in a rictus of agony and fear. It pierced at her very soul, stripping away piece after piece. Oh so slowly. Tears streamed down her face, evaporating in the heat of the abominable ritual she was forced into undertaking. But she had to persevere. She had to do this. For all that she loved.
"Is that what they told you?"
The voice almost went unnoticed. The laughter that followed did not. Never had she heard such a sound. Like a million human souls crying out in agony. The pain intensified again, a flash burst of white hot agony, and Yuki convulsed, heaving as her body tried to vomit nothing.
"Annoying." The voice boomed, and the pain was gone again. Yuki swore she heard a screech, a roar of terrific fear emanating from the Shinju as the voice spoke.
"My child is not yours to take, Neverborn."
Yuki inhaled haltingly, hiccups and sobs wracking her form as she fell to her knees, the Shinju's hold on her gone. Her body tilted forwards, falling, and she closed her eyes, too exhausted to keep them open. She felt her face impact… something. Yuki inhaled again, steadying her frayed mind as best she could, and pried her eyes open through what little will she could muster.
The figure that stood before her radiated hate. She shivered, the cold, unfeeling lenses of a skull plated gasmask peering down at her form. Their greatcoat hung still over their frame in the windless atmosphere of the Shinju's home, and they stood over Yuki's prone form, unmoving. Yet the hatred rolled off them in waves. Yuki could taste it. Like copper. Rich, thick. The taste of blood.
"You know what must be done, my child."
The guardsman inclined his head once. The Emperor commanded him. So he would obey. For the forgiveness he was granted in death. The shame that no longer held him. Guardsman Corporal Heinrich of the 982'nd Krieg Sturmgrenadier Regiment would wage the Emperor's war. And he would win. He was a son of Krieg. There was no option but victory.
A daemonic hand reached out, the mad laughter of false gods thundering against Heinrich's body like a gale. He didn't even twitch.
Without warning, he struck, his entrenchment tool in his hands, its bladed head carving through air and flesh like it wasn't there. The Daemon wailed, baleful and enraged. Heinrich didn't care. He swung again, separating another hand from arm as the neverborn set its attention on the Grenadier.
"Stirb, Greuel! Im Namen des Kaisers!" Heinrich roared behind his mask, his voice a vox-polluted wall of violence as he charged the vile daemon, his bolt pistol in his off hand now. He fired, mass reactive rounds carving daemonic flesh and shattering shards of the creature's soul. Still it attacked, each jab at the enraged guardsman more and more frenzied with each passing second.
The Shinju screamed, terrified and incensed in equal measure. Who was this mortal, to defy their plans? To defy their survival? How dare he steal their prize. The mortals were theirs to play with as they wished. Pieces in a game, to be used and cast aside as the gods wished.
But here it was. One man. One mortal human. And he was killing the Shinju.
The ancient amalgamation of unreal entities that fancied themselves gods roared their indignation to the heavens. The mortal laughed. He laughed. The Shinju was panicking now, every power, earth shattering power, was hurled at the lone human with abandon. They didn't care that the shield they had erected was shattering by the second. They only cared that the mortal died.
He had to die.
With a fear filled growl, the Shinju summoned their armies of Vertex, the abominable warp spawn bellowing their hunger for the flesh of the human.
The mortal only laughed harder, and killed his way closer to the Shinju.
The Shinju's mind scrambled, ordering the Vertex to converge on the mortal. They complied, hundreds of massive daemon engines hurling themselves at the Kriegsman.
And they all froze, unable to comprehend the sound that assaulted them.
The sound itself was a weapon in and of itself. Designed in the dark age of technology by the priests of Mars, the warhorn of a Titan was meant for three purposes. To warn units on the ground of impending movement, to allow the Princeps to speak to other titans should the Noosphere ever become inaccessible, and to break the will of the Titan's foes.
The Warlord Class Blessed Engine, 'Hateful Shield' used its warhorn for all three purposes, the God Engine of the Damned Legion tearing reality and unreality apart as the Emperor's will brought it to existence.
"FALSE GODS." Each word was an ear shattering wall of rage-filled sound, the God-Machine walking forth unto the fray. Each step shook the earth. The Vertex reeled in surprise and terror.
"FEAR THE MIGHT OF THE GOD OF MACHINES. DIE IN THE UNMAKING OF WORLDS. FEAR THE COMING OF HOLY ONE AND HOLY ZERO. THIS DAY YOU SHALL SEE HOW GODS FIGHT, AND YOU WILL DIE."
The Warlord titan blared its horn once more, and broke into a battle charge, its massive, hulking upper body leaning forward as it hurtled forth. The Plasma Annihilator on its right arm glowed white as the copper coils lit with the power of a Sun. The massive World Breaker gauntlet on its left crackled with holy balefire. Two of the Vertex met its charge, and the Iron God slammed into the first with the force of a meteor. Pieces of the Vertex shattered and broke off its form, and it reeled back to retreat.
It didn't last a second longer. The sound of insane laughter filled the air, and the titan twisted its upper body, winding back the World Breaker Gauntlet, and slamming it forth into the face of the Vertex.
The Vertex vanished in a flash of light and sound that would rupture organs and cook surface flesh. When the light faded, shattered remnants of a dead Vertex fell to the earth in utter silence. The second vertex had caught up to its brethren by now, and attacked the Titan, unleashing ethereal energies against the God Machine.
It did nothing. The void shield glowed, electric blue arcing in a protective sphere over the Titan. The response came moments later, as the Plasma Annihilator fired, utterly erasing the Vertex from existence.
More came. The Titan squared itself, bracing, as shoulder mounted Earthshaker cannons unleashed against the foe. Hundreds upon hundreds died as the might of Holy Mars fell upon the vertex.
"FEAR THE MOTIVE FORCE! THE SPARK OF LIFE AND FIRE AND ENERGY AND DEATH!"
The Plasma Annihilator began to charge again as the last of the Vertex were wiped from reality.
Yuuna witnessed all this with her mouth agape, eyes wide as she watched what she once thought as gods wither like wet paper against the might of true Gods. So engrossed was she with the Titan's Battle, she barely noticed the lone Korpsman approach.
"Komm Kleine, der Kaiser würde zu dir sprechen.'' Heinrich spoke to her, offering Yuuna his hand.
She didn't know what he was saying, but something about the gentleness in his tone made her obey, her shaking hand lifting to meet his.
The Guardsman lifted her up, and walked with her towards a glowing portal.
"Nachdem Sie mit Ihm gesprochen haben, werden Sie in Ihrem Haus erwachen. Erzähle niemandem, was du gesehen hast. Der Kaiser schützt." The Guardsman said after a moment, and gestured for her to enter.
Yuuna stood at the opening for several moments, and turned, her face set.
"I want to see them die."
In another life maybe, she couldn't imagine ever saying such a thing, even as a joke. But that was not to be. Not here. Not after she saw the truth behind their lies.
The Guardsman nodded, turning to watch the Titan advance on the dying Shinju.
"Gut. Lass die Feinde der Menschheit verdorren und sterben. Es ist ihr einziger Zweck in dieser Galaxie." He replied after a moment.
Together, two children of humanity watched as ancient evils burned, and false gods died.
Ten Years Later…
Yuuna smiled to herself as her friends giggled and played under the warm coastal sun. The cool ocean water tickled her toes, and she sighed in contentment as she lazily kicked her feet in the cool water.
Around her neck hung a leather cord. Attached to it by a clasp were two medallions. The first was a golden eagle, two heads atop it. One head looked to the past, learning the lessons of a bygone era. The other looked to the future, and all that it held in store.
The second medallion was a cog. Within the cog, a stylized head sat. Half was the shape of a human skull, the other, the face of Iron, Steel, and Mars.
Her friends had asked about the necklace, where she got it, what had happened to her, why she had gone missing, and why the Vertex attacks had stopped. Yuki Yuuna smiled at all their questions, and answered them all with a simple statement.
"Even when we are at our darkest. Our weakest. Our most base form of existence, the Human spirit shall always win. So it is, and so it shall be. Until the end."
They all accepted her answer as Yuuna just being Yuuna.
Nobody noticed the sadness in her smile. Or the lone, single tear she shed.
"I hope we can save them all." She whispered to herself.