So, Kalagann was this desperate.
The Emperor had known that the Warlord of Ursh had grown increasingly frantic and reckless as the Imperium steadily tore away at his empire, but he had not expected Kalagann to be so foolish as to attempt to assassinate him like this.
It was not difficult to guess how Kalagann had located him. The tyrant had several Tzeentchian seers in his service, and it had been a long time since the Emperor had bothered to conceal his power and presence.
Did Kalagaan truly believe that this would succeed, or was it just foolish desperation, yet another flailing attempt to destroy the Imperium as Kalagann's empire crumbled around him?
No matter. The Emperor would crush the daemons currently approaching either way, and then he would see about arranging a retaliatory strike.
"Valdor." The Lord of Terra said, his voice resonating with power as it echoed across the forest, Custodians and mortals alike stiffening to attention at the sound of his voice. "Gather everyone and escort them back to the Aetos Dios immediately. There is a strike force approaching this area, which should be here within a few minutes. Once on the ship, remain there, and do not allow anyone to leave. I will deal with this myself."
Faithful Valdor, well used to his behaviour, only saluted briskly before immediately moving to carry out the orders. The other Custodians had already begun to move as well, gathering the scientists. Though they all radiated some modicum of dissatisfaction and annoyance at having their work interrupted, the scientists knew better than to disobey, all of them accepting the order and hurrying away under the direction of the Custodes.
But one matter remained. The Emperor's eyes flickered to Isha, who was watching him carefully, her muscles tense as she waited for him to say something.
His first instinct was to send her back to the Aetos Dios, but he disliked the idea of leaving her alone with the Custodians and the scientists. Even in her diminished state, her power bound by her shackles, she was more powerful and dangerous than any of them.
He could just leave her here, behind the wards he had constructed, while he dealt with Kalagann's assassins. It was not ideal, but it was perhaps the best choice he had.
But there was another option.
The Emperor's eyes were burning gold. All traces of calm and satisfaction had been wiped away, his aura blazing, his expression cold and his voice hard as he barked orders at his creations.
Isha had to resist the urge to take a step back as his molten gold gaze fixed itself on her and he seemed to be considering what to do with her.
She would like to stay here and protect the new forest while he dealt with the force that Chaos had sent to attack them, but she suspected that it was more likely she would be sent back to the ship with the Custodians. On the other hand, allowing her to do this had been a gesture of trust and it was unlikely the Emperor liked the idea of leaving her alone with a group of mortals, even if some of those mortals happened to be enhanced. So perhaps she would be permitted to shield her creation from harm.
But Isha did not expect the next words that emerged from the Emperor's mouth.
"You will come with me."
The Emperor watched as Isha's eyes widened in surprise at his words, her mind churning as she attempted to deduce his purpose.
It was not difficult to understand...but perhaps being direct would suit his purposes better than allowing Isha to draw her own conclusions on his motives.
"I wish to assess your combat abilities." Simple and straightforward, no matter how much it went against his instincts. "Judging by the power I can sense from those Chaos worshippers, I do not believe that any of them are a threat to us. Nevertheless, I wish to see how you conduct yourself in combat, and this is as fine an opportunity as any."
He was taking a gamble by permitting Isha to engage in battle, but he did need to assess her combat abilities. In any case, the daemons that approached were weak, hardly a challenge for either of them. It was unlikely he would ever have a better opportunity to see Isha fight.
Understanding dawned on Isha as she absorbed the Emperor's words. It was faintly irritating to be subject to another test, but the way he was so blunt and straightforward about it helped, a little.
And it was not as if Isha would mind a chance to cure some of the poor souls enslaved by Chaos, or even to smite some daemons. She would be lying if she claimed the prospect of being allowed to exercise her power some more today did not appeal to her.
"Of course." She replied, curtseying slightly. "What is it that you wish me to do?"
"Be prepared to keep all the attackers as far away from the forest as possible." The Emperor responded. "The wards I have constructed should prevent any harm from coming to them, but it is best to be careful." He paused for a moment, seemingly considering something before speaking again. "You may not remove your bracelets, but you have my permission to act as freely as you can within their constraints."
"Understood." Isha said, inclining her head. It was frustrating that he would not allow her to remove her constraints even when wishing to test her combat abilities, but it was hardly as if she was helpless without them.
The Emperor nodded. "Then, let us go."
Isha tensed slightly as she stepped beyond the wards, from her new forest to the poisoned city ruins around it, sensing the slaves of Chaos approaching ever faster. The Emperor too, seemed more tense than she had ever seen him, excepting his mood after the theft of his children.
Good. Though his assessment of the approaching force matched with her own, it was always dangerous to underestimate Chaos, especially given how irritatingly good they were at concealing their power and presence. She and the Emperor should have sensed their approach long before they actually had, but those parasites and their pawns had always been far too skilled at hiding themselves.
This was a good place for a fight, at least, Isha mused, considering the desolate ruins and cracked roads, with no hint of life beyond the forest she had created. She could fight without fear of hurting anything except some crumbling buildings.
Casting a wary glance at the Emperor, whose gaze was intently fixed on the horizon, Isha steeled herself and began. Recalling an ancient war-melody, Isha whispered the song, ever so softly, summoning armour around herself. At first, it was white and glossy, but it only took a moment to reshape the wraithbone to her liking, the armour gaining the texture and look of hardened bark. The armour grew around her, molding itself to her body, growing under her chin, as well as on the sides and the back of her head, though leaving gaps for her ears and allowing her hair to flow freely from the top. A crude echo of her children's most primitive war garb, with it clad herself in the might of the primeval goddess she had been.
In her right hand, a shimmering trident of crystal and light flowed into existence, while, on her left arm, from the elbow downwards, the armour thickened and shone with the light of the deepest forest, becoming a savage gauntlet that would tear through any the result of any mortal industry.
Isha would have preferred to shift her own form as well, instead of just conjuring weapons and armour, but she was uncertain how the Emperor would respond to that, and in any case, she did not wish to show him all that she was capable of. This would suffice, for now.
The Emperor's gaze never wavered, but she could sense his sharp focus on her as she prepared herself, keenly examining every little thing she did. She suspected he would have questions later, but for now, he remained silent.
For their opponents had finally arrived.
Isha saw the slaves of ruin with her eyes at last. They were flying through the air, crackling with foul power and hurtling towards them at top-speed. There must have been at least two dozen of them, and as they approached, Isha realized that these were not ordinary daemonhosts. They were not mortals, no, but creatures of iron and blood, war-constructs with minor daemons caged inside them.
Next to her, the Emperor's eyes narrowed, and his aura thickened with power. "Chaos Androids." He murmured, his voice dripping with contempt.
They were all the same shape as her children and humanity, though significantly larger than usual, towering metal constructs of height equal to the Emperor, their only distinguishing features being the glowing crimson eyes and the eight-pointed star of Chaos carved on their chests.
Isha was slightly relieved to note that daemons within the war-constructs were a few of the countless minor warp predators that now roamed the Warp, unaligned with any of the Four. They were creatures of Chaos nevertheless, true, but at least she would not have to deal with Slaanesh or Nurgle's spawn today.
Then the war-constructs fell from sky and the time for thought was done.
The Emperor flicked his wrist and golden flames erupted into existence, surging towards the Chaos Androids, seeking to devour both their bodies and the daemons within until nothing remained. The Androids were scattered by the inferno, what little cohesion they had broken as they all sought to save themselves.
The Emperor smiled slightly. Kalagann's Chaos Androids were dangerous, to be sure. They might only contain minor daemons, but their bodies were based on remnants of technology from the Golden Age, crafted by the warlord's most brilliant and twisted techno-sorcerers in their dark forges.
Nevertheless, they were still not a match for him, and the Emperor could smell their fear. They were only attacking because they had no choice, bound too strongly to Kalagann's will by dark spells and the favour that the Four had bestowed upon the Despot of Ursh.
One of the Androids, having risen into the air to get away from the flames, opened fire on him, and was followed shortly thereafter by several others. The Emperor only raised an eyebrow, the flames condensing into a solid barrier to block the rain of bullets, plasma and warp energy.
This was almost too easy. Kalagann had made better attempts at killing him in the past. The bomb that his pet techno-sorcerers had built by blending Chaos sorcery with remnants of Golden Age technology came to mind.
But the ruler of Ursh's resources were significantly diminished, with many of his servants slain by either the Emperor's own hand or that of the Custodes. He had alchemists and engineers in his service still, but they were relatively new and inexperienced, meant to replace those who had served Kalagann at his height, but had since been slain or abandoned him.
A flick of his wrist saw the wall of flames intensify and expand, surging towards the Chaos Androids once more.
But even as he fought, a significant amount of the Emperor's attention remained focused on Isha.
She was a short distance away, weaving her way through her opponents with such grace and skill that she might as well have been dancing. No, he realized, she was dancing. Her movements were smooth and ceremonial even as they were deadly. Though the forms were unknown to him, the Emperor knew a war-dance when he saw one. Of course, few humans could claim to have the grace and skill to use war dances in actual combat, but that was hardly a concern for Isha.
She moved speed and fluidity on par with the best of his Custodians, not a single movement wasted as her gleaming spear and clawed gauntlet tore through Chaos Androids with brutal efficiency. And much like his own, the power emanating from Isha made the daemons recoil, her power anathema to them much like his own.
It was only the faintest glimpse of what Isha was capable of.
But it was a start.
As the Chaos Androids landed in front of her, Isha had not waited for them to attack first. Instead, she lunged forward and her trident lashed out, piercing the abomination's face and unleashing an emerald light that obliterated both the construct and the daemon within.
The rest of the war-constructs seemed surprised, taken aback by Isha's fury, but she did not give them time to gather their wits. Isha rocketed forward, plunging her gauntlet into the chest of another war-construct, and ripping out the daemon within. The abomination shrieked as her claws dug into it and Isha annihilated it utterly.
The others had finally rallied, and they attempted to attack her from a distance now, hurling projectiles and warpfire in her direction, but Isha simply blitzed through it, the barrage unable to penetrate her armour.
Exhilaration bubbled up within her as she danced through Chaos Androids, her blood on fire. She danced through a perfect combination of blows to step past one of the constructs, beheading it with a swing of her trident. Then, with a gesture of her hand, thorny vines and thick roots erupted from the ground, chasing after the constructs, binding some of them in place and tearing the others apart.
The daemons were frantically attempting to adapt, trying to work in cohesion in a desperate attempt to survive. Several of them rose in the air and backed away from her in a cluster, in a mockery of a military formation, their attempts severely hampered by their fundamental nature. Isha simply threw her trident at them, and the weapon flew through the air, blazing with green light and obliterating the constructs with deadly efficiency.
Behind Isha, another war-construct attempted to strike her from behind but she did not even deign to glance at it. More vines erupted from the ground, and wrapped around the abominable thing, even as Isha extended a hand, willing the trident to return to her palm.
The war-constructs had all been annihilated, with the exception of the one behind her. Isha took in a deep breath, only now realizing how much she had sunk into her war-aspect during the battle. Her armour had fused with her skin, her teeth had grown into fangs and her right hand now had claws as well.
It had always been her preference to nurture and to heal rather than to go to war, but that did not mean she did not know the latter. Even before the Old Ones had reforged her as their weapon, Isha had been the primal goddess of a wild world and a passionate people.
It was true that her aspect as the queen of the wild hunt had diminished over the ages, with her children favouring her more and more as a mother and a healer, but she had never truly lost it either.
And now, it had emerged from her depths like a hibernating beast stirred to action.
After thousands of years of being able to do nothing but stem the tide as her children forged Slaanesh, it felt good to finally have the upper hand over Chaos. To finally enact some measure of vengeance, no matter how meagre, for her lost children and family, for all the pain and agony she had suffered.
It would be easy to lose herself in the thrill of revenge, to allow her war-aspect to become dominant, but Isha forced herself to focus. Now was not the time to change aspects. As long as she remained on Terra, it was Isha the healer and goddess of the harvest who was needed, not Isha the vengeful mother or Isha the queen of the wild.
But before Isha could tamp down on the transformation, she sensed a surge of power. She spun around and saw that the war-construct behind her was growing stronger, glowing a sickly purple. One of the Four had seized direct control of it, and was empowering it, she realized.
Slaanesh was empowering it.
Author's Note: Took a while, but it's finally done. The fight scene is pretty much a stomp and I don't have much experience with writing them anyway, but I hope it's satisfactory.