Flame and fire arose to the sky, punctuated by the BOOM dropped by a low flying Imperium bomber known as the Marauder. It Disappeared as quick as it appeared, with the result being a massive, charred demon corpse falling to the ground with half of its demonic flesh missing, taking a multi-story building with its weight. The resulting ash cloud on the ground inadvertently blanketed any vision the Imperial forces had, resulting in the forces of Chaos advancing forwards to slaughter them in turn. Most died screaming only of their shrill cries to be cut off abruptly or muffled by psychotic laughter, gun fire, and explosions.
The result was a loss of morale for the already battered and beaten Imperial offensive which fought for every inch of land they could muster, only to encounter a greater demon or some other horror and have to call in reinforcements and support which was slow and in-adequate for the task at hand. Spurred on by the threat of death from execution via their Commissars, the war machine of the Astra Militarum powered on like a well-oiled tank. Taking endless hits, only, only for it to return fire. It would then run dry due to the sheer number of targets, only to be rearmed with new ammunition in the form of Guardsmen and mechanised units to replace the dead and demonically enthralled.
All of this was witnessed by the purple eyes of a lone Guardsman as the ash and dust from the collapsed building blew past her. She had been on this, in her opinion, Emperor forsaken world for nine days. She had witnessed horrors within those nine days which would haunt the hardest of men, and make lesser women break. Still, she kept her faith. She kept telling herself with every bolter round that ends a daemon, every lasshot fired, every bomb dropped, that the Emperor was watching over them and in turn would mean victory was assured and even she may survive this hell.
She had not known of such horrors as chaos prior to making planetfall. She was merely conscripted to the regiment and within a month, was boots on the ground. Prior to this, she had lived a relatively peaceful life in a hive city similar to this one, that was set up to house new colonies of Cadians after the great fall of their home world. That of course, couldn't last and now she was staring down endless demonic hordes. She wondered if it was punishment of some sort, some failing to the Emperor, that she personally had displeased him to be sent here.
BOOM
She ducked as an Imperial drop ship carrying more troops tried to deliver more soldiers, only to be shot down by some sort of demonic cannon and come swooping overhead, crashing and burning and in all likelihood killing all occupants.
Sprinting for cover, which was difficult as her armour while the lightest mass-produced trash the Imperium could offer such a low ranked soldier, was still not something she was used to wearing as her lasgun, ammo, and armour were tiring to lug around. Especial after all the fatigue from lack of sleep from the nightmares these creatures like to taunt them with which was apparently an ability of theirs.
"GUARDSMAN! HELP ME MOVE THIS MAN!" A fellow soldier called out to her as he was dragging a bleeding out man back to get help. Immediately she sprinted over to assist, throwing her lasgun over her shoulder with its sling.
"Ok, I'll get the legs, you ge-."
BANG
She left in shock and unable to me with dilated eyes when the man they were trying to save was shot dead via a bolt pistol round which blew his head off, spattering her and the other Guardsman with blood and brain.
"The God Emperor's mercy, may your soul rest in peace knowing you did your duty." The cold and apathetic voice of their regiment's Commissar reached her numb ears, cutting through her shock as she slowly shakily looked up at the black leather trench coat and officer's cap clad old man. He was wrinkled with eyes showing nothing but coldness and hatred that she believed for a moment he may be sent via the enemy for surely someone of the God Emperor's service couldn't be so cruel. He seemed to notice her as he looked down at them both with a sneer.
"And what do you two think you're doing? Return to the line before I grant you the God Emperor's wrath." Without hesitation, he levelled his bolt pistol at her and the other Guardsman, who stood up and backed away.
"Y-Yes sir!" She responded with haste and turned, only to hear his gun go off once more. Looking down at herself, she thanked the Emperor that she had not been the one shot as the other Guardsman lay dead with a missing head just like the man that was bleeding out.
"He hesitated, the Emperor as no desire for such cowardice. We are weapons for his grace's God appointed conquest. Now MOVE!" She needed no further prompting, practically tripping over herself, and some debris on the ground, to get away from the man who'd probably killed more Imperial soldiers in the last nine days, than demons.
Shouldering her Lasgun, she joined the battle line with hundreds of other guardsmen. Behind her, Leman Russ tanks numbering in dozens supported them with many of their brethren already destroyed and in burning heaps around her. The 120mm cannons and heavy flamers constantly fired and were in turn targeted, as evidenced by her being blown to the floor when the tank she had been using for cover, suddenly and violently exploded, launching her quite a few feet, making her lose her rifle.
Ears rigging, and her left arm numb, she blurrily watched as a huge berserker demon passed over her, ripping the cannon from a destroyed tank and began clearing the line of Guardsman while taking lasfire like it tickled. Feeling her arm, she felt it maybe dislocated if the many injuries she'd witnessed so far was anything to go by. Desperately crawling with her functional arm to a small nook under some concrete debris created from a burnt-out dropship that had crash-landed through a building. Bundling a piece of concrete into her mouth to muffle her scream, She braced herself against the wall, and imitated the movement she'd seen half a dozen times done by her fellow soldiers since she got to the planet.
She let out a scream into the cloth with tears streaming down her eyes from the pain as she worked her arm now that sensation had returned. Unfortunately, she lacked a weapon other than her combat knife as she had lost her lasgun in the explosion. However, that wasn't the worst part as when she looked to the entrance of her hiding spot, she was now staring down the barrel of a bolt pistol.
"HIDING? THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! FACE THE GOD EMPEROR'S WRAT-ACK!" Just as her life flashed before her eyes, the commissar was cut down by a demonic looking sword with his bolt pistol clattering at her feet. She watched as the man was discarded and torn apart by feral imp-like demons.
The demon then turned to her and was about to attack, only for her to grab the bolt pistol and fire wildly, blowing chunks of its flesh away, killing it.
She then scrambled out from the nook she was in and began firing upon the imps, having difficulty with accuracy due to the difference between a lasgun and a bolt pistol's kick with every shot. Unfortunately, she quickly ran out of ammo and resorted to tossing the now useless weapon at the lesser demon which chased her, stunning it for a moment while she ran for her life.
All around her, she realised help wouldn't be coming as the demons had once more broken through their offencive and were slaughtering their soldiers now that the last of their heavy armor had been knocked out, as evidenced by all of the burning husks of Leman Russ tanks.
Sprinting forward without looking back, she snatched a bundle of frag grenades off a dead soldier and his lasgun which he was still being eaten by distracted lesser demons, leaving an unpinned grenade at their feet. She then began desperately dropping grenades behind her as she ran, in order to kill the dozens of demons which had singled her out as one of the last humans in sight.
Throwing a krak grenade, a much larger explosion followed and did a decent amount of explosion. Unfortunately, the blast knocked her to the floor once more and she cried out in pain from her earlier injury and a new blistering pain in her thigh and shin. Sitting up against the wall of an almost collapsed building entrance quickly as she could, she shouldered her rifle just in time to kill a dog-like demon which leapt upon at her, maw open and ready to turn her delicate flesh into a meal.
Firing continuously, she prayed, she prayed for a saviour, anything, anyone. As the hordes advanced and she was sure she was running out of ammo as she sat firing her lasgun desperately, the pain in her leg being the last thing on her mind at the abominations just kept coming.
PEW, PEW, PEW, PEW, PEW Tsss Tssss Tsss Tssss
And then it came, the sound she dreaded most of all as the battery was empty and she was without another mag. Hearing this, the demons seemed to have actually stopped their advance. Much to her horror, the larger demons actually held the horde back as an even larger demon approached, its blood-soaked maw featuring rows of sharp fangs that were grinning.
"You fight well human. Your skull will please the Blood God. Maybe your soul will be worth something to actually consume." He sneered as she could only cry and pray to the Emperor that it was quick as the demons descended upon her.
CRACK
Everyone's attention was then brought to the entrance. Next to her, some debris were kicked out of the way, leaving only the dark doorway which was difficult to see through.
Next the Guardsman saw the most unexpected thing as a naked man absolutely soaked red in blood stumbled out of the building and into the daylight. He was wielding a battered but seemingly functional chainsword, as well as a trench knife. On his back, purple fire was burning and searing his skin without him reacting to it in the slightest. She would have thought he was a demon if not for the fact he wasn't attacking her yet as he also looked like a lunatic.
Coming to stand before her, only a few feet away and with the demons ahead of him, it seemed he had not even noticed her as he spoke to seemingly himself, lending credence that he may just be a lunatic that was about to get slaughtered. However, she was thankful as even if just for a moment, the random had distracted the horde and bought her a moment of piece before her horrific fate.
Rex POV
"Ahh, it feels good to be free of that shithole." I said, stretching my body as if I had just awoken from bed. "I feel like we were in that place days." I groaned, basking in the warm sun which felt wonderful on my blood-soaked skin.
("Actually, it only took you one day and three hours.") She responded, to which I looked down at my palm which glowed a purple light, something we decided would be fun as it mimicked the boosted gear and actually gave me a way to direct my attention to her since she was currently concealing herself within me.
"Yeah, well if you hadn't taken us to an elevator that the demons then destroyed, I wouldn't have had to double back and find the stairs." I grumbled to the demon.
("How would I know they were using it as a spawning pit for a ritual? Regardless, I got us out, didn't it?") She snarked. ("Quit complaining and focus on your surroundings Rex. You have company.") She warned.
That caught my attention as I looked around me, only to realised I was standing in front of yet more demons, including some larger ones I'd yet to see before. Said demon seemed to find something about me amusing as he laughed, pissing me off.
"HAHAHA! What act of Tzeentch is this? Hmm, I can smell blood upon you mortal, the recent spilled essence of thousands of my kind. I also sense a follower of Slaanesh? No that's not it. Its vessel is bound to you, is it not? How entertaining. Regardless, I can tell your soul is particularly potent. A great meal to be sure when paired with that virgin behind you." The ugly motherfucker leered at me. Its deep voice making my chest vibrate.
Still, as I stared up at the thing, I cocked my head, turning my back on the demon like he wasn't even threat. I was greeted to the sight of a pretty woman with purple eyes and black hair, dressed in Guardsman gear. I also inadvertently flashed her due to being naked at the moment. Not that she seemed to care as the poor thing was shaking like a leaf.
"Sup, name's Rex." I casually said with a sharp incline of my head, before turning back to the demon.
"Sorry mate, but that ain't gonna happen. Here's what will happen. I'm gonna cut your fat head off and feed you to my friend." I threatened, levelling my battered chainsword at the hefty fucker. He must have been amused by this, more than threatened as is bellowed laughter once more grated upon my ears.
"HAHAHAHA! You know, I like your guile. A pity your words are hollow." He jeered, charging forward to rip me limb from limb. Grabbing me in his hand and lifting me high, he raised me above his head, intent upon swallowing me alive. "And now, you die a pathetic death." His gloating was followed by dropping me into his gullet, then everything went black."
Third person pov
She had just witnessed that strange person be devoured and was honestly horrified. After all, after chewing and swallowing, the monster turned its sights back onto her, only to frown.
"Odd, I should have felt som-ACK! AHHHH!" The mountainous monster screamed and soon the faint noise of a chainsword grew louder and louder from within the monster, raising the woman's hopes against all hopes as its stomach split open and the monster fell to its knees, clutching the wound.
The next thing she witnessed was the man clawing his way out of the monster's gut while shouting expletives, before using his knife and sword like ice picks to climb up the monster's front, before sawing through its neck until it rolled off his head, showering the area in blood. Mentally, she raised him from lunatic to complete psychopath as he laughed manically, gloating, before lighting on fire like a human torch and diving into the horde of demons, slashing and sawing everything in sight.
Using this opportunity, she tried to stand, but was unable to as her leg had apparently been impaled on a piece of rebar in her shin and thigh. She apparently wasn't bleeding out, so her arteries weren't pieced by some miracle, still she wasn't exactly feeling good as it hurt more than anything else she'd ever experienced.
She could only barely focus on the battle, which raged in the background, and she honestly couldn't believe her eyes as the guy was torn apart constantly, only to regenerate and keep fighting. She couldn't believe the guy was human, and more importantly, she didn't want to be around when I was done. Unfortunately, it seemed her luck had run out as a demon approached her, clearly choosing the easier meal. It was clearly attracted to blood above all as it attacked her injured leg.
BRRRRRRRRR
SPLAT
Or it would have if that madman hadn't launched himself at the creature, tacking it to the ground and sawing it in half from neck to chest.
Wiping his bloody brow, the demon killer turned to her with wide crazy eyes which honestly frightened her.
"Hey. *Huff* *Huff* You good? Don't worry, they're dead." He asked, standing and walking back over to her. Looking over his shoulder, she could see the corpses of the demon horde had piled up and it seemed that with the greater demon's death, the majority had scattered to regroup, though she knew they would be back in full force before long. Realising she hadn't responded and not wanting to be rude to her saviour/potential killer mutant psycho.
"Y-Yes. I-I'm fine. My leg though." She gestured to her wounds. The man's demeanour shifted to that of concern as he knelt beside her.
"Ah shit, that looks really bad. I ain't no medic." He admitted the obvious, but she had to comment that his accent was peculiar, and she guessed he must be a local. She hadn't seen any of those as everyone was dead when they arrived, thanks to chaos forces.
Suddenly, a black smoke left the man's body, only to manifest as a very tall, by human standards, equally gorgeous and voluptuous demon woman who was equally naked as her saviour was. 'What's with all the nudity?' She had to question within her mind. Her next action was to warn him.
"LOOK OUT! THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!" Spinning on their axis, the two looked around on alert, but didn't find anything. They then turned to each other in confusion, before turning back to her.
"Where?" He asked, as if the demon wasn't right next to her.
"Next to you." She said more in confusion to herself as it seemed the man actually knew this demon if that familiar glance was anything to go by. Clocking onto her train of thought, the two both laughed at her which annoyed her somewhat.
"I wouldn't worry. This is Verosika, my companion. She's a good girl." He said, leaning his shoulder against her side like she was a wall. Considering the height difference and her slight muscle definition, it was a fitting description.
"What? That's outrageous. She a demon! The enemies of the Imperium!" The cursed, only to wince as she jerked the rebar in her leg with her excited movements. Still, to her this was herecy, an afront to the God Emperor.
"Yeah, but she's a good demon." He said with a sing-song-like tone that made her question if she was the only sane person alive in the sector of the city. "Plus, she might be able to fix your fucked up leg, so as far as I can tell, you don't really have much choice." He added in a lecturing tone, pissing her off further.
"I-I won't be influenced or corrupted by some pervert and his pet demon." She growled, pulling her combat knife from her belt. A pitiful threat, even in her mind, as it was clear that it couldn't hurt the guy, but she had nothing else.
The demon seemed to have found something in her words funny as she nudged the man's back with her elbow. "Heh, she's got you there."
"Hey, I'm not a pervert! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep clothes on while getting practically thrown through a woodchipper every fight? I just gave up on them." He defended himself with a huff. "Look, if I was to pick a side to be on in this dumbass galaxy, I'd be with the Emperor too. I'm human, after all." He reasoned, scratting the side of his head and cracking his knuckles. "Just trust us. I wouldn't have gone to all the effort of murdering those demonic cunts just to kill you. If I wanted something bad to happen to you, you'd be dead."
Hesitantly, the woman lowered her blade and her hand slumped to her side. Praying internally as she knew this to be heretical, yet the pain was just so much. "Fine, j-just don't do anything strange." She gave her assent, much to the man's relief.
"Thanks for seeing reason. Verosika, you're up." He said, to which the demon knelt down at her side and smiled at her in a gentle way that honestly didn't look right on a demon.
"What's you name?" The Verosika asked the woman whilst a purple miasma enshrouded her wounded leg.
"K-Kleopatra. Kleopatra Throng." She responded, wincing as the demon took hold of the rebar in her thigh.
"Cool name, Greek, meaning 'Glory Of Her Father'." She said conversationally, making the now named Kleopatra stare at her in wonder, distracted enough for the demon woman to rip the metal out of her leg, making her scream. Quickly, the daemonette healed the wound, before moving onto her shin. "Sorry about that, but it's best if we don't focus on the pain. After all, I'm more an entity of pleasure." She then ripped the second rebar out of the woman's shin, causing a much bigger mess as bone came with it and Rex had to intervene to stop her from thrashing while the wound was repaired slowly by Verosika's warp energy.
Soon enough, the guardsman was feeling no more pain in her leg, and she slumped against the wall, happy for it to finally be over. She also looked upon the pair of odd nudists with a new appreciation,
"Thank you."
"Don't worry about it. Again, name's Rex." He offered her his hand, which she took, and he hoisted her to her feet. Curiously, she noted that he was shorter than she's had realised, being a few inches taller than him at 5'9ft. He wasn't too beefy either, being pretty average under all that blood. There was one part, however, that she could admit had her attention now that she wasn't in pain or at current risk of death. It seemed the demon had caught her thoughts as behind Rex's back, she made a quick rude hand gesture with her left thumb and pointer being a ring, and her long right pointer moving in and out of it in a slow and firm speed.
Coughing into her hand, she focused on other more pressing things.
"We should get out of here. There isn't much cover here and we are completely cut off from any reinforcements, not that they likely know anyone survived that counter offensive." Looking over the hundreds of shredded Guardsman corpses, she could only feel sorrow. Following her gaze, Rex nodded, not much affected by all the corpses. He'd figured this was commonplace in 40k, so it wasn't something he wouldn't be seeing a lot off. Be decided to just get used to it.
"Yeah, I think you're right. Plus, no offence, you'd get wrecked by the shit on the planet." He agreed with her, though his phrasing did annoy her.
"Noted, next time I'll join the battle with a mutation like yours." She snarked to the man, who shook his head.
"I'm not a mutant. Verosika says I'm a perpetual. It's a kind of once in a millennia human that can't die of old age and can regenerate, though it depends upon their soul how potent that ability to regenerate is. Mine is apparently hype potent." He explained, making her eyes widen.
"T-That's crazy. Then again, I did just witness you get ripped limb from limb, then used those limbs as bats." She shook her head at the absurdity, as well as the horrific images.
"I can lead us to the closest demon attack. We should find more Imperium assault these." Verosika offered, and the pair nodded in agreement.
"Good idea. Climb back aboard then. We need to get moving quickly." Following his directive, the demon turned to a black mist and re-entered his body, much to the wonder of Kleopatra, who couldn't help but comment.
"Is that even comfortable?" She asked while looting some new mags for her lasgun from a nearby ammo create.
Looking down at his body, Rex remarked sarcastically. "Yeah, makes me all warm and tingly."
("Oh yes, Rex darling LOVES when his 7ft dom is penetrating and inside his body~") The demon lewdly remarked, much to the man's annoyance.
"Just you wait you little slut. I'm gonna teach you some manners." He threatened as he stared at the glowing segment on his right hand.
("I think we both eagerly await that event, oh master~ That is of course, if you're tall enough to get on this ride.") The voice taunted, and Kleopatra couldn't help but snort at their interaction as the man and demon continued trading expletives, though the sexual tension was such that she felt like the biggest third wheel to exist, especially as, as the demon had said she was indeed a virgin.
As they walked, Rex came to her with a lasgun and asked.
"How do I used this fucking thing? I can't get it to fire." He grumbled, much to her confusion.
"Well, for starters, the safety is on. For second, it's out of ammo. Third, it wasn't even cocked. Oh, and it's jammed." She listed off as she inspected the rifle with the knowledge she had been provided with originally and showed him how it functioned.
She actually snorted and laughed when the man looked down at the weapon for a moment, before tossing it as hard as he could in a random directing while cursing at it. He then picked up a new rifle and did all the necessary checks to be sure it functioned.
("Temper, temper manlet.") The demon taunted him, much to Kleopatra's continued amusement. She didn't necessarily trust the demon, but after saving her, she figured she could get along with it. If nothing else, it seemed more interested in being a fun traveling companion, than a threat. She was sure the inquisition would have something to say about it, but after witnessing Rex at work, she wondered what they could actually do to him.
"Who's the manlet you bitch!?"
Honestly, it shocked her how unhinged the guy seemed to be. Still, she was happy to go with the pair as long as it granted her increased chances of survival, no matter how slim that chance was when calculated.
Rex Pov
Traveling for a while, I had to admit it was tedious. The sheer number of demons on this planet only seemed to be increasing. Not to mention that I was always mindful that Kleopatra did not share my inability to die. Still, not so say she was useless as she was an excellent support as I would charge into the fray, burning and chainsword roaring, while she would fire into the horde from a distance. Her advice on how to use the Lasgun also helped, and I was admittedly embarrassed that I couldn't figure out that the fucking safety needed to be rotated and the cocking mechanism was a button.
Fucking laser guns. Give me an M4A1 or a HK416!
Note to self, force an AdMech to create normal guns.
Sawing off the head of yet another demon, I grinned as more blood splattered my body. I honestly wasn't going to get bored of this, though I was beginning to worry in the back of my mind that I was turning into a psychopath.
("Rex, we are close to a large infestation. I it seems they are fighting something.") My first companion told me.
"Oh? Another side quest, huh? Wonder what will happen this time." I revved my chainsword to clear it of blood, which spattered everywhere. I then turned to my second companion. "Kleopatra, Verosika says there's a nest of the fuckers up ahead and that something's fighting there." The girl woman was on alert and pretty shaky, all things considered.
"Right. What do you propose?" She asked, clutching her rifle tightly. I honestly felt bad for her. Imagining how I would be without my status as a new Perpetual was not something I wanted to think about.
Stroking my beardless chin, I pondered "Well, it's so far been the first humans we'll likely encounter in the last two hours. I say we go down there and lend our assistance."
"And if they attack you for your abilities?" She countered, rifle stock resting on her hip in an admittedly sexy mental image that I saved. Guns and women, who knew? Where was that in the old playboy sections?
"I'll… convince them to play nice. If nothing else, they'll run out of ammo and have to talk." I shrug. Honestly, I hadn't really thought much about how to somehow not be branded an enemy of the Imperium. However, I did have one advantage. In this universe, power was literally everything. Words only took you so far, as evidenced by the sheer amount of in fighting within the Imperium which had been settled by extreme violence when words inevitably failed. Looking at you Inquisition.
"Right…" She rolled her eyes.
"I find your lack of faith, disturbing." I responded, chucking at my own joke.
Like everything in the Imperium, the building we were staring at was absolutely massive, despite being half destroyed due to pieces of space wreckage which had fallen and crashed here. I could only guess that by the tentacles and red growths all over the segment of warped metal, that it was a segment of chaos ship.
On our approach, we watched as multiple Imperium transport ships flew through the sky, getting shot down. Those that weren't, landed at the battle somewhere up ahead of us.
"Those weren't Astra Militarum Transport ships." Kleopatra commented from behind me.
"Noted, so who's our guests?" I asked as we made it to a section of broken wall that would take us to the next sector of the city.
"Unsure. I haven't seen a ship like that before." She resoponded.
"Huh, maybe a spec-ops of sort?" I muttered to myself. Walking over to the wall, I gestured for her to come over. "Come here, I'll give you a boost."
"How gentlemanly." She smiled and put a foot in my ands and stepped on my shoulder. Jumping, she climbed up and offered her hand which I took and got pulled up.
"Teamwork makes the dream work." I gave a thumbs up.
"I guess it does." She smiled.
BANG
It seemed our time of piece was over as I took a shot to the chest which led to my torso exploding in the next instance. Pulling myself back together, I was thankful Kleopatra had hidden behind a thick wall, though I wasn't sure even that would protect her from what just shot me.
Looking to the source, I could see it was a fighting group of Astra Militarum and black armoured individuals. Their feminine armour gave them away to me immediately.
"Well, well, well. What do you know? Nuns with guns." I laughed. After all, this universe really was just one giant meme. I was just glad that I was in a position to see the funny side of this hellish galaxy.
It seemed it'd been confused for a demon of some sort as it seemed they were shooting anything and everything red in a storm of laser and bolter fire. Unfortunately, it also seemed they were losing as the demons flooded from every section of the building's crevices. They were out in the open, firing at all sides as demons poured in from the surrounding city as well.
Seeing that our way off this planet was slowly becoming demon food, I turned to Kleopatra.
"Kleo, lets skirt our way around. I need you to call out to them when we get close enough. It can't be me. They'd either think I was a demon, or a heretic."
"I mean… They would be great judges of character if so."
"Ha, ha, ha. I forgot to laugh. Now come on. I'll help you get close enough, but you gotta stay low." I strategize, sprinting off and stabbing a demon in his back with my trench knife, ignoring whatever she was shouting. Regardless, I saw her behind me as we approached the fighting force which seemed to be dropping like flies.
There were about thirty humans against the hordes of chaos. They had set up sandbags and debris as cover and were constantly firing. I could see one white haired older woman without a helmet giving orders.
"HOLD THE WRETCHES BACK SISTERS! OUR MARTYRED LADY SMILES UPON US!" She called out as the hordes advanced. She was one-handing a bolt pistol and a what I assumed to be a power sword. With grace, she and about nine other sisters slaughtered demons left, right and centre. It was mesmerising honestly.
We approached the force as fast as we could given that we too were fighting demons, fortunately, it seemed that they had heard Kleopatra and me approaching thanks to my loud ass chainsword and Kleo's lasgun. I knew this because the next moment I popped out, a bolter round exploded the spot next to me. Fortunately, we were now close enough for them to hear us if we were loud enough.
"HEY! DON'T SHOOT! EMPEROR'S LIGHT! EMPEROR'S LIGHT!" Kleopatra screamed and I had to cringe, but also give it to her. Girl had some lungs.
It seemed her words caught the attention of the few remaining guardsmen and women who called her over. Running behind her in such a way as to not be too noticeable or seem hostile or like a target. We made it into the defensive line, dodging several explosions and bullets.
"What the hell are you!?" A soldier asked me, looking at me with what I would assume to be disgust. I raised my middle finger at the man in return, not caring about provoking him. He didn't get the chance to act in retort as the next moment, he was blown apart.
("Maybe you should work on getting out of here instead of taunting all these soon to be dead men and women?") Verosika reminded me and Kleopatra. Unfortunately, in the next moment, a loud roar signalled the swarm to increase ten told. Backing up to higher ground where the sisters were, I had a bolter levelled at me by that same old woman from before.
"Who are you!? You're no guard! ACK-AHHHHHHHH!" She roared, however her she was suddenly snatched into the air, only to be torn apart by a flock of what I could only describe as a literal swarm of flying piranhas. THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS GALEXY?
"GET DOWN!" Pushing Kleopatra to the floor, she narrowly avoided becoming a snack for the little monsters, not that they went hungry as they had simply snatched an unlucky guardsman who had fallen back to our position near the troop transport. In fact, now that I looked around, it seemed everyone was doing the same. Grabbing, Kleopatra's arm, I yanked her to her feet.
"ON YOUR FEET SOLDIER, WE. ARE. LEAVING!" Pushing her out ahead of me, I grabbed the fallen power sword and covered her as the swarm came down at us again, ignoring as the little blenders sliced through my flesh as I used my under-used lasgun to fire full-auto into the cloud of death. Swinging my new chainsword and power sword combo at them whenever they got too close. All around us, lesser demons, imps, and other more animalistic demons tore the sisters and guard apart.
Suddenly, a percussive blast sent us off our feet, only to land in a ditch. Blearily, I opened my eyes as the shell shock quickly healed, though not so much for Kleopatra. They were on us in a moment and for the first time since I got to this cursed place, I was questioning my own choices to bring us here.
As I hacked, slashed, and blasted, I desperately fought to get to my second companion.
"BE GONE!"
A power sword cleaved through the demons around Kleopatra, who finally managed to stand up with cuts and bruises. I myself mirrored this motion as I wildly swung my swords until, with a hard punch to a demon's jaw, I was able to stand back up wreathed in fire thanks to Verosika as we both agreed that the threat of the demons was more important than the dying nuns with guns labelling me a heretic.
Speaking of which, I addressed the power sword wielder who helped Kleopatra up.
"We need to go!"
"Who are you!? A HERATIC?" She countered, blasting demons with her bolter as we continued to fight the horde.
"Not important right now. We gotta run!" I responded, not willing to put up with her questions right now, or the line of questioning which would lead to unnatural abilities. You'd think the fact I wasn't trying to kill her; would be the sign I wasn't hostile. Unfortunately, it seemed the Sister of Battle had other ideas.
"NO! I will not abandon my mission. We must destroy the Warp Gate in this facility no matter the cost!" She firmly denied, making me growl in frustration as we were slowly surrounded as we were almost the last people on this battlefield.
"Sister, this battle is lost! The God Emperor would not want us dying a needless death. Our deaths now will serve him nothing but a humiliation at our own weakness!" Kleopatra employed, and give the girl credit, where credit is due. I was convinced. Still, then there were the fanatics…
"Even so, I must-"
"Enough of this!" I shoulder charged her out of the way of a swooping swarm, grabbing Kleopatra's arm and dragging her down with me. "FUCKING RUN!" I jumped up and took off in a sprint, thinking fast, I shoulder charging a door leading into a collapsed building's lower floor. Behind me, I heard multiple sets of human footsteps, so I assumed the woman was following us. Without stopping, I ran through the dark building, searching for an exit.
Even in here, we encountered demons. I didn't pause, swinging my blades and carving my way down the halls. Kleopatra and the Sister's weapons lighting up the hallway in bursts every time they shot. It smelled like death in here and the ambience was musky the further in we went.
Eventually, I could make out some light from a small crack of what turned out to be a window, which had been boarded up with steel plates.
Slamming my power sword into the sides, I began carving through the metal. Even Verosika was helping me by blasting the metal with purple flames from my chest which heated the metal enough for cutting to be slightly easier.
In the meanwhile, behind me the two women were covering our rear as they fired at the horrors this place offered. With a start, I heard the Sister scream as she was grabbed by her leg and dragged on the floor by some spider demon, dropping her power sword as it had been knocked from her grasp. Making a split decision, I threw my chainsword at the creature, embedding the spinning bade into its carapace, killing it. With that, the Sister hopped back to her feet, grabbing her discarded weapons and continuing to fire.
"HEY, SISTER! IT'S DONE, JUST NEED YOU TO BASH IT!" I called out to the women who didn't hesitate in turning and barrelling her whole armoured body through the weakened and chopped metal reinforcement with Kleopatra and me following suit.
What I didn't account for was the BOOM which proceeded our escape as the sister had had the cunning to unpin a krak grenade and drop it on the floor a second before bashing through the window. The result was the down ceiling of the already collapsed upper floors crashing down and killing everything in there, burying it under rubble.
Jumping to our feet with Kleopatra being the slower and needing more help as it was clear she was exhausted, we helped he stand by grabbing one of her arms each and we began sprinting again.
It wasn't long after that we discovered a building to take refuge in, barring the doors shut, the three of us panted.
"Is *Huff* it *Huff* over?" Kleopatra collapsed against the door, sliding down to sit on the floor. Meanwhile and the Sister stared around us still on alert.
"A church, huh? Fitting." I noticed the pews leading to a giant golden statue of Big E himself.
"The God Emperor protects. He must have guided us to this holy place for a temporary sanctuary. We are truly blessed." The sister put her hands together and began muttering some prayer. Ignoring that, I moved over to my second companion.
"Hey, come on, I'll help you." I gently said, assisting the woman.
"Thanks Rex." She said as I placed her on a pew to rest.
"Don't mention it. I don't seem to need rest, so the fast you've kept up with me for so long is honestly fucking impressive." I flashed her a grin and a thumbs up, which she returned lazily.
"Yeah. *Huff* You're a real *Huff.* monster." It seemed the sister was done praying as she didn't seem to see the joke in her statement as now that we had survived, the time for tolerance had ended as she walked up to me, glaring down at me. Seriously, what was with all the tall bitches in this place?
"YOU! You clearly are not human. I saw how those demons attacked you. They ripped you to pieces, yet you just healed. Then there's the flames. What are you? A psyche-mutant? Answer me now!" At her demand, I sighed. Figuring she was literally unable to hurt me, so I could take all the bullshit she'd give me for the truth.
"You want the truth?" I asked seriously.
"Obviously, don't waste breath. Out with it."
"Fine. Verosika, get out here." Following my words her mist for left my body and materialised behind me, making the Sister react as expected.
"HERETIC! TRAITOR! DEMON!" And immediately began shooting, startling Kleopatra, who struggled to her feet.
"Stop!" She cried while Verosika became mist so she couldn't be harmed by the sister. When she couldn't hurt her, the Sister levelled her bolter at me and fired multiple times. I simply took it, raising my hand out to Kleopatra so she wouldn't intervene.
When the bolter ran dry, she took her power sword and began slicing my body up. Finally, she resorted to praying. When that didn't work, I finally spoke.
"Got it out of your system yet woman?" Not liking my casual dismissal of her assault, her reaction was ripping her helmet off. Her beautiful yet fierce features contorted in rage.
"Silence filth. You are everything HE who protects wars against. It is my greatest dream that the God Emperor will someday slay your disgusting blight from this galaxy. You and your evil accomplice are not fit to enter such a holy place." She hissed with such vitriol, that I was actually stunned.
"Ok, now if you could just count down from ten like a reasonable person and CALM THE FUCK DOWN!" I hissed back, grabbing the sharp part of her power sword.
"And why would I listen to a thing you have to say, wretch? You have no authority chaos cultist. And what about you? He came with you did he not? Tell me, has he infiltrated your mind as well? Show me your demon." She levelled her bolter at Kleopatra, who like a deer caught in headlights, could only raise her hands in panic.
Having enough of this, I decided this bitch needed an attitude adjustment, and so I jumped on top of her, pushing her bolter to the side, and headbutted her. This seemed to be a big mistake as she only looked madder.
"You little shit." She snarled, dropping her gun and grabbing me by the throat and lifting me up. I was honestly shocked at her pure strength, though it made sense since she probably trained since birth to fight inhuman monsters.
"How far have you fallen mutant? That you run around covered in blood, without a rag of modesty to garb yourself, and with a demon within you." At her taunting, I finally had enough.
"Verosika, restrain her." At my direction, she reformed behind the sister and using her superior strength and size, executed a police move she had probably copied from my world's tv, pinning the sister in a matter of seconds.
"LET ME GO! FILTHY DEMON, I WILL PURGE YOU!"
"Nasty piece of work, huh girls?" I commented, before crouching down to the woman so I could look her in the eyes. "Now, I'm gonna talk, and you're gonna fuckin listen. Capiche?"
"Never. Nothing you have to say can excuse your actions in the eyes of the Lord Heretic. Save your breath and kill yourself."
"You've got quite the mouth on you, you know that? Kleo, hand me a rag." Hesitantly, she did as I instructed. I had thought she would hesitate due to the prestige of a battle sister and how much the Guard looked up to them. I guessed in this situation; she was swayed to my side. That and that she'd just had a fucking bolter pointed at her.
Stuffing her mouth. I smirked. "Much better. Now then. Try your best to listen and put that platinum blonde covered brain to use." I sat on the floor in front of her. "Now then, to start with. I am not a mutant, I am a Perpetual, just like the big E himself. If you want to know how I know this, it's because I learned it from the lovely lady restraining you." The sister seemed to be listening as she glared up at the demon hovering over her. Said demon taunted her by kissing the air at her.
"Verosika, if you could not do actions to piss off the zealot nun with guns, that would be lovely. After all, I'm trying to be civil here." I reprimanded.
"Sorry Rex." She stuck her long tongue out at me playfully, which I now knew was forked, nice.
"Anyways, I don't know how I got on this planet or anything like that. What I do know is that I discovered I was immortal after getting attacked by the forces of chaos. Push comes to shove and I'm interrupting a ritual, the result being that Verosika became bound to me. Our objective from there was to escape this doomed world. That was how we met and saved Kleopatra Throng. After that, we happened upon your offensive just in time to meet you." I concluded. "That's it, no actions against the Imperium, just trying to survive. Now then. Since you were so kind as to listen to me, it's only fair that I return the favour. As such, I shall remove the gag now, please be civil." I reached forward and pulled it out of her mouth.
"You expect me to believe your falsehoods? That your little story will sway my judgement? That you'd trust the words of a demon."
"No, I expect you to use your damn brain and cooperate. There's no way for any of us to get out of here alone." Well, I might if I just fucked off, but I wasn't going to leave Kleopatra high and dry. Seeing she clearly wasn't swayed, I decided to switch up tactics. "Fine, let's play it from your angle. That's a statue of the big E, right? Of him in her battle armour? Verosika, have you felt any pain since entering here? Felt unwelcomed, or anything like that?" The demon shook her head.
"No, I've been perfectly fine. There is a heavy layer of psychic energy surrounding that shrine unaligned to chaos, but not an ounce of it seems to have ill intent for me."
"So, let's put some things together, shall we? I appear on this planet, I'm granted the same ultra rare status as the Emperor, and I and my warp entity are welcomed into his shrine which in all likelihood he guided us to." I listed off.
"YOU DARE! YOU DARE CLAIM TO BE A FACET OF HIS WILL? THAT HE WOULD GRANT SUCH A WRETCH SUCH A DESITINY THAT IT BE OF HIS OWN DESIGN?" Ok, that did not go as planned.
Sighing, I lay back on the marble floor. "Look, I don't know. All I know is that I it seems like a hell of a fuckin coincidence and even if not. I don't want to be your enemy. I also don't intend to become an enemy of the Imperium of man who in the grand scheme of things, is literally the galaxy's only hope."
"You believe such candid words will sway me heathen?"
"No, I know well the indoctrination of the Imperium." I then stood up, walking over to the statue. "That said, I also know that you desire to avoid being demon food, or whatever else they would do with members of an order which subscribes to a vow of chastity." I shrugged. Funny enough, I didn't receive a rebuttal this time as it seemed against all logic, the nun with guns was actually using her brain.
"Very well. We may form a temporary alliance. However, I shall see you before the Inquisition for your claims and ties to this demon." She glared.
"Heh, good enough for me. Verosika, let her up." Following my instruction, the sister glared at the demon, and I could tell she was fighting every urge she possessed to not attack her. Verosika held her gaze with a smirk which I was sure was only there to taunt the Sister all the more.
"Thank you. By the way, what's your name?" I asked as we all seemed to subconsciously gather around the statue.
"I suppose I can tell you in the effort of cooperation. I am Seranz Steel. Battle Sister of the Order of Our Martyred Lady." She told me while looking away, as if being civil was now such ugly task.
"Seranz? Fair enough. Say, what do you think would happen if I touched the statue?" I pondered, looking up at the big man's golden face, feeling a unexplainable compulsion to touch it.
"I implore you not to taint his grace's idle with your filthy hands, you cretan." She threatened with her sword which I gently pushed away from my face while nervously chuckling.
"Fine, fine… PSYCH!" I slapped my hand upon the metal of the statue's leg, much to her apparent horror. However, even as she stabbed me in the chest in anger, I was suddenly more interested in the golden aura which encircled my right arm. For the first time, I felt actual pain as I gripped the arm. Seranz retracted her sword and stared in shock with Kleopatra and Verosika as a particular golden symbol slowly etched into my skin.
It began as a slow golden growth from the centre of my right forearm, spreading out to form raised wings with lightning bolts streaking down each side. Finally, two eagle heads formed, one blind, one not.
"T-T-T-T-The P-Palentine Aquila…" Seranz dropped her sword and clutched her head in sheer panic. "Oh my God Emperor, what did I do? I have struck a member of his chosen vessels." She whimpered to herself, backing away and ranting like a lunatic.
Normally, I'd find it funny or try to stop her from that melt down. However, I was simply stuck staring at my arm with wide eyes as the burning stopped. Startled, we all turned to Verosika who cried out, seeing the same sort of thing happening to her. A golden aura was flowing from me, into her through our soul connection causing her to have a grip her stomach in pain.
"Verosika." Extracting my hand from the statue, I dashed over and grabbed her arm, looking up to see her crying. "What's wrong? What's happening!?"
"I-It burns!" She fell to her knees, and I was helpless to watch her. The next thing I knew, the same symbol as mine appeared above her navel and womb tattoo. Once it had finished forming, the room was filled with psychic energy, making the atmosphere heavy and electric. The statue behind us flashed and an honest to God apparition of the E man himself complete with long black hair, golden eyes, and a golden aura, appeared before us causing us all the subconsciously join Verosika on our knees.
"TRANSIENT, FAITHLESS, AN ENIGMA, PERPETUAL, TOOL, SELFISH, CHAMPION, NO SAINT, MY INTERCESSOR."
They weren't words spoken from lips or any form of communication I had been aware of. I simply knew them each time they were spoken. I felt my mind trying to rip itself apart, as each jumbled contradictory statement hit me. When they finally stopped, I was left panting and, on the ground with my eyes blurrily searching for any part of the world which felt real enough to anchor myself. I was only vaguely aware as I was rolled onto my back with the purple eyes of Kleopatra and the Verosika and the ice blue of Seranz worriedly staring down at me.
Blinking, I could vaguely make out what they were saying, which amounted to concern.
"Agh, my head." I massaged my temples and wiped my eyes of blood. It appeared I also had blood leaking from my nose and ears.
"Rex, what happened, was, was that truly him speaking to you?" Kleopatra asked, gripping my shoulder to help me stay sat up.
"Yeah, I-I think so. Is this what they meant by God speaking to them? Because if it is? The feeling sucks." I wince as the head pains I was feeling. Honestly, of all the things to actually cause me pain, of course overpowered psychers could hurt me. So much for invulnerability.
"This is not the time to joke Rex. This is serious. I just felt my entire being, being combed through and modified in ways I couldn't even comprehend. What just happened!?" She panted. Apparently, she had a tail which I hadn't noticed until now as it was wrapped around her body in what I assumed to be a fear thing.
"He is the God Emperor's chosen vessel." Seranz cut through our panic with a strange tone I couldn't place as she stared at me with eyes which made me feel uncomfortable. "I have only heard of this only a few times. The great lady, saint Celestine being one such individual spoken of the highest within my Order's teachings. It is said that since the time of the greatest heresy, the God Emperor has granted certain warriors his light to act as his vessel." She explained while falling to her knees before me with her power sword pointing to the ground while she held the handle with both hands. Her head was down in some sort of knightly repentant gesture. "Please my Lord. I seek your forgiveness for my actions against you and your chosen companion. If I must repent with my life, your word shall grant you my immediate repentance."
"Woah, woah! Its fine. I don't want you to fuckin clip yourself. We need you alive if we are going to figure out how to leave this fucked up planet." I responded, quickly standing up while scrunching my brow as I suddenly felt Nazarick level devotion vibes. Unfortunately, it wasn't just her as even Kleopatra was kneeling and praying into some kind of rosery.
"Very well my lord. If that is your will, I shall do my utmost assist you in this endeavour." Seranz declared, clanking the tip of her power sword against the floor. Honestly, having two beautiful women kneeling in sudden devotion before me while I was naked was an intoxicating mental image I'd definitely be thinking about later. Still, I looked at Verosika with a raised brow non the less. The demon rolled her eyes and simply shrugged.
"Thanks for the faith Seranz. Nice to have you on the team." I wryly. "That said, get up please and look me in the eye. I was always taught it to be rude to avoid eye contact, that goes for you too Kleo." I placed my hands on their shoulders, beconing them to stand, which they did as they hesitantly arose.
"What would be your will, my Lord?" Seranz asked.
"Oh, another thing. Same thing I've made clear to Verosika. My name is not master or Lord. It's Rex. Anything else will just annoy me if I hear it too often." The sister seemed troubled buy my request, as did Kleopatra though she nodded.
"Very well, would Lord Rex suffice?" Seranz suggested, to which I thought for a moment, before agreeing.
"Sure, Kleo, you just call me Rex. I ain't having two of you do this." Sitting down on the pew to my left I looked outside the windows which were placed high, only to realise the sun was setting, it seemed Seranz noticed this as well.
"We will be at a large disadvantage at nightfall. The chaos forces have no disadvantage with visibility in low light." She informed, which was something I'd figured out while fighting in the lower hive.
"Yeah, I'd suggest setting up camp, but from the looks of things, Kleo is practically a zombie on her feet." I commented as we all turned to the girl who was clearly fatigued as she swayed where she stood and was caped in sweat.
"N-No. I'm fine Rex. I can keep going. I-I am no burden." She vehemently denied, standing straighter after being called out and trying to hide her weakness. She fooled nobody as I merely deadpanned her.
"Kleo, I literally can't get fatigued or tired for more than a moment. Seranz here is a soldier from an Order which trains its members from birth with workouts which borderline on torture. And Verosika is a Warp entity who's been drawing energy from the demons I've killed to sustain herself." I gestured to the three of us. "You, on the other hand have somehow kept up with us. And while you're a badass for that, you need sleep." I reasoned.
"No, I-I I'm fine. Honestly." She once more denied. "It's not safe here either. I mean, what's the chances there's not dozens of demons coming here right now?"
"I can't fault her logic. Unfortunately, we don't exactly have the luxury of remaining within his Grace's sanctum as even that is not beyond the reach of these tainted parasites." The sister supported Kleopatra's argument, making me sigh in defeat as that was a valid point.
"Well, just try not to conk out on us, ok? A car can only run for so long without petrol, you get me?" I smiled wryly, standing up from the pew with a stretch.
"I don't know what a car is, though I think I get your metaphor." The soldier resolutely responded. Still, one thing made me shocked.
"You don't know what a car is!?" I questioned, disbelievingly.
"No."
"I do not know what that this 'car', you refer to, is either Lord Rex."
At their flat lack of knowledge of one of the greatest inventions of my age, my eye began twitching.
"Verosika, we are going to have a long word with the AdMechs when we are done here." I ordered, to which the woman cracked up, only to ruffle my hair.
"Ahh, you're so cute Rex." I simply took it, yes it felt good, not I certainly did not push my head into her hand. Heresy.
Picking up my power sword, I lamented that I'd sacrificed my trusty Chainsword to save Seranz back in the building. I also had drained my lasrifle against the swarm things. This left me with only the power sword which I had swiped from Seranz's dead commander. Test swinging it lazily, I lamented that it wasn't as cool to me as my chainsword. It kinda took away the Doom Slayer vibes I was loving.
"Your sword skills are almost non-existant Lord Rex." Seranz commented as she watched me, making me turn an irritated eye towards the woman.
"No skill doesn't mean I can't kill with it." I retorted, and I could have sworn I saw her smirk, if only slightly.
"No, but every fatal wound you regenerate could be a wound you avoided, and it would also be another moment you've spent regenerating instead of doing something productive like killing the enemies of the Imperium." She lectured me and all honestly, the no nonsense way she said it as if it was obvious hurt me.
"Right." I sweat dropped. "All good Kleo?" I changed the target of the conversation to avoid being called out further.
"I have a few more mags and my lasgun is undamaged for the most part. I've tried the rites the AdMechs taught us to appease my weapon's machine spirit." She explained, putting her rosery back under her armour.
"Right, I almost forgot, you gotta pray to guns'n shit here." I muttered to myself, looking down at my sword. Activating the blade, I stared at the blue energy which covered the surface of the silver metal which I was sure was made of something far stronger and sharper than steel. Deactivating the blade, I turned my back to the women in the room, feeling this would be embarrassing, though that in of itself was a ridiculous statement being naked, still covered in blood, and the shortest in a church where three women stood behind me.
Opening my mouth, I just tried to sound like I knew what I was saying. "Omnissiah, please watch over this blade. As its energy field ignites, let my foes be dismayed. With every swing and every clash, may this power sword foes' armour burn to ash. Guide my hand, let my aim be true. For the glory of the God Emperor, I wield this blade as my duty demands its due." After I had finished reciting my made-up prayer, my blade unexpectedly reactivated itself, however this time, it was wreathed in golden fire along with the now golden blue energy. We all stared wide eyed at the visible change for a few moments before it stopped, and we were just left staring down at the dormant blade.
"You have been blessed by the God Emperor in more ways than just to for fill his vision, Lord Rex." Seranz commented from the side, and I had to agree. Big thanks Big E. At least now I wouldn't feel so embarrassed now I know something world actually happen then I prayed to my weapons.
"You just channelled large amounts of psychic energy into that blade. More than you were capable of before. While I'm certain you are still not a psyker in the normal sense as you did not draw upon the warp directly, you instead drew from a source connected to these new tattoos." Verosika explained to me, making me look down at my new golden Aquila.
"You don't say? So, what? I got given the ability to bless weapons like the Emperor could?" I questioned with a diabolical grin.
"That would be my working theory, yes."
"Right, well lefts shelf that line of thought for now. We need to figure out what we are doing." I redirected the topic of conversation. "Suggestions ladies?" Seranz stepped forward.
"Unfortunately, there won't be anymore assistance for a while. My unit was sent to destroy a Warp gate and clear the area for a counter offensive in this part of the city. Unfortunately, we were repelled by the unexpectedly huge force and decimated. They demons knocked many transports down and mine was just one of the few to get through." She explained to which Kleopatra nodded.
"We know, we watched several drop ships get shot down on our way to your defensive position." She sadly remarked.
"So, what do we do then? Where do we go?" I asked, leaning back on a pew. Seranz thought for a moment, before an idea seemed to strike her.
"There was a contingent of battle sisters, Astartes, and AdMechs sent to a local mega forge that produced vessels and support aircraft. It's far from here, but if we could make it to it, we may be able to commandeer a drop ship." She offered and honestly, I liked the sound of this. The only issue…
"What's the catch?"
She didn't hesitant, before saying. "It's on the other side of another infestation, larger than what my unit was defeated by. It seems to be where the demons are conducting a mass ritual as orbital scans pinpointed that that's where the surviving civilian populous was brought. Any sort of orbital bombardment has been repelled, so strike teams of Astartes were sent in, however… we lost contact." Her grim tone didn't inspire confidence in any of us as we all shared looks.
"And there is not anywhere else we may find a working ship?" Verosika questioned, to which Seranz shook her head.
"No, the guard pulled out of the city to rearm and regroup. When they will be ready to begin large scale attacks, I know not. Rescue attempts failed as the demons shot down anything we sent. My assault force was more a desperate offensive to buy them time, than anything." She admitted, though the storm she called an expression told me her pride was shredded by that reveal, which I was sure she'd only managed to honestly expose because the Big E seemed to have something big in store for me. What that was, was not something I wanted to ponder at the moment.
"Fine, then we go. With any luck. The Emperor will smite them all. The worst case scenario, you guys find some place to take cover and I face the horde via attrition." I explained to which Kleopatra seemed pensive.
"It was just proven to you that Psykers can hurt you. You aren't as invincible as we thought. What if they curse you or something?" She raised an excellent point, to which I turned to Verosika.
"You won't need tot worry about that. One thing I noted was that the Emperor seems to have granted me and you a semi protection against malicious warp sorcery. While the greatest of demons could probably get past it with little effort if such methods were their specialty, such as Tzeentch's followers, Khorne and Slaanesh's forces aren't so gifted." She said, much to my eternal relief as I did not want to become a tentacle monster or a living wall decoration.
"Cool, but what about these two. No offence Kleo, but it's as that demon said, you're candy for these fuckers." The girl seemed to bristle at my words and shiver at the memory.
"Perhaps you may bless our armour? I have heard tale that a particularly appeased machine spirit may work in mysterious ways to pull off the impossible, such as a Land Raider becoming sentient, or a ship shrugging off damage which would have destroyed its brethren. That said, I do not believe that you may imbue specific attributes into machines." Seranz suggested.
Taking her advice to heart, I raised my hands and placed them on their shoulder pauldrons. Closing my eyes, I cleared by throat and took a deep breath.
"By the Omnissiah's light, I shield this armour from the warp's foul taint, I seal it tight. In the Emperor's most holy name, I consecrate these plates and fibres. To guard the soul, to ward off spite, to deny blight." I used my trench knife to slit palm and rubbed my hands together, before placing them back on their pauldrons. "With blood blessed by he who resides within humanity's cradle, I fortify this material against corruption that this armour shall not yield. For the Emperor's will that humanity my not crumble, and this its armour will remain unbreakable." I finished, thankful that I'd written and read all that fanfiction back on earth as I was pretty proud of myself for that cantrip.
It seamed to have worked as both of their armours glowed gold momentarily, before dimming down.
"I believe think it worked Rex." Kleopatra said, looking down at her body, though she cringed at the bloody handprint on her shoulder.
"We will only know in the moment of requirement. Let us hope it is not needed." Seranz added, and I could honestly agree with her as I wasn't willing to ask Verosika to try to do weird shit to them to check.
Just as everyone prepared to leave the house of the literal God Emperor, we all heard a large BASH from the massive double doors leading in here. The candles all went out as well, leaving us with only the last fires of the sunset to illuminate through the high windows. To make the scene all the more eery, shadows on the walls started forming and moving about and a thick mist flowed about a foot off the ground.
"Ok, that's some freaky shit!" I called out as I was started as chaos forces apparently liked to make things into a horror movie at night. I tightly held my power sword while Veroskia shifted to mist and moved to re-enter my body. Kleopatra and Seranz readied their lasgun and bolter respectfully.
In the next moment, the door was bashed open and a large number of Slaanesh demons poured in. I could tell because they all looked like perverted body horror creatures. Some looked similar to Verosika with a human body, only fully purple and with crab claws and tentacles instead of hands, and hoofs instead of feet. There was also large and small half-snake creatures that crawled on the walls.
Next the windows were bashed in and swarms of 2ft tall naked harpy-like things with sharp teeth barrelled towards us and the statue of the Emperor.
"Well fuck." I cursed, activating my power sword in all its golden radiance and swung, the unexpected result being profound as a wave of fire burst forth, incinerating the smaller demons while the larger ones tanked it with great personal damage. Grinning, I swung at the swarm of harpies above us, making them back off.
All the while Seranz, and Kleopatra had been blasting everything that moved with Seranz taking a position in front of Kleo so she may swing her power sword at whatever got close.
"We gotta find another way out, that door ain't gonna work!" "I called out, as the three of us were pushed to the back wall. Verosika left my body while remaining in her mist form and moved behind us to inspect for another way out.
Just then, Seranz was tackled by a daemonette that had used the same mist ability Verosika used to get close to the sister. Unlike before, however, this demon didn't know any hold techniques and the sister stabbed it in the abdomen with her power sword before Kleo blasted it in the head with her lasgun, killing it.
All this I watched as was wrestling my own demons, literally as a harpy had swooped low and stabbed my unprotected body with its claws, ripping out my spine in a gory display that I'm sure would have made the Predator proud.
Regenerating a new spine and nerve system in a moment, I kicked a pew over to give me more space to swing. Letting out another blast of fire, I once more fried a group of lesser demons from sneaking up on the girls who had piled up a decent number of ash by this point with the number of demons they'd killed. Seranz was doing better than Kleopatra, but for a standard Guardsman, she was going above and beyond in my book. Nothing better than the cannon fodder turning into a boss.
"REX! I FOUND A SECRET PASSAGE!" Verosika called out from the stage in front of the statue.
"You guys go first, I'll be right behind you." I shouted, to which the two women nodded and ran back while firing behind them as the harpies swooped in now, I couldn't just burn them since they were out of my range.
Standing next to the knocked over alter, Verosika held up a hatch which led down. The first to enter was Kleopatra, followed by Seranz who covered her. In turn, my Verosika spewed purple Warp fire into the air to cover from the fying pests.
Seeing them escape, I dropped my defensive line and sprinted back, diving into the hole in the floor harshly, bashing my neck, shoulders and body on everything on the way down as unlike the girls who used the ladder, I dived like I was going into a swimming pool. The result was me breaking my neck and smashing my face in. Behind me, Verosika shut the hatch and super-heated it with her flames so it would be too hot to touch, as well as weld shut.
Being helped up, I pushed my head back into position with a large CRACK, disturbing the woman present, who all looked away from me while I did it.
"Great, now we have no idea where we are going and what's worse, I'll assume this tunnel leads to the under hive." Seranz scoffed, reloading her bolter. We had ended up in a dark tunnel that was lit by electric lights which had yet to go out. I wonder who prayed to them?
"Not true, Verosika actually can tell which way the demons are, isn't that right?" Kleopatra reminded and informed, to which the platinum blonde and even I glared looked to the demon who seemed to shrink back.
"Yeah, why didn't you tell us that the demons were on the fucking doorstep?" I asked with narrowed eyes. She in turn raised her hands defencively.
"SORRY, OK? It's not like I just walk around with warp entity and demon radar on all the time. I have to actually focus to determine these things based on energy fluctuations. Forgive me for being distracted by what the Emperor did." She bit back, putting her hands on her hips with her tail swishing back and forth.
"It's fine." Sighing, I gathered my thoughts. "I doesn't matter, what does matter is that we keep going. How's your ammo?" I asked the girls.
"I have only one magazine remaining." Seranz responded after double checking her ammo reserves.
"I have two more charges since I managed to grab some extra from the place, we met Seranz." Kleopatra explained while leaning against the wall with visible fatigue.
"Not ideal, but we will manage. Verosika, do your thing." I surmised, walking ahead with my demon buddy going mist and entering my body once more.
("Got it, just trust in your Succubus Navigator.") She cheerily responded making me smirk.
"Just try not to get us lost partner." I joked, enjoying the small cut in the violence to banter.
("Get us lost? How could you even believe a possibility to exist?") I chucked at her feigned indignation. ("Still, I've been thinking. Are you even sure we can make it? With what the Emperor has done, we know he's got his eyes on you and I, and we both know that probably don't lead to anything good. I have your knowledge of 40k and we both know being an anointed individual is never a good thing.") She warned, and I had to agree as I nodded.
"You're right." I muttered so the others wouldn't hear me.
("Then there's those two behind us. Why are they with us? I may not have the same desire for cruelty as all others of my origin, but that doesn't mean I'm a bleeding heart either. They not only hold us back, but the Inquisition will also kill them as they will everyone involved in fight against chaos on this planet apart from surviving Space Marines to hide the secret of the Warp's existence from the greater Imperium.")
"I know."
("Then why? I'm not happy about it, but there's only one way this ends. Assuming they survive, that is. Surely you can see that?")
"I do."
"(Then why do you… Oh, you've gotta be kidding. You wanna fuck them, don't you?") She declared, making me snort, and be highly grateful only I could hear her. My only reaction was to grin and scratch my bloodied cheek as I subtly glanced back at the beautiful faces of the Sororitas and Guardswoman. ("Oh, my shit. The hell do you think this is? Your harem story?") She chuckled. ("You really think you can be the one person in this entire galaxy that gets, what? A happy ending?") She joked, making me snort and get weird looks from the two women behind me who were far more alert than me as we walked through the dim hallways.
"First, nice pun. Second, maybe I do. After all, have a little faith. God is on our side after all." I chuckle.
("Right, as if those he watches over always end up with the good end of the stick.") I could feel her eyeroll. ("So what's the long-term goal here then? 'Get off the planet', doesn't exactly feel like the perfect solution, you make it out to be. After all, the horrors off world make this little incursion seem trivial.") She rattled on and in truth I agreed.
"It's better than nothing Verosika. What's up with you all of a sudden? You haven't been this… Pessimistic before. Don't tell me this is the part where you get all emo because while I can dig that look, the attitude is a solid no from me." I said while looking down into a gutter which I could see was filled with corpses and little demons crawling about them, eating and other things I'd rather not think about.
("No, I'm not going emo, I'm concerned about you getting too attached to people here, only to lose them tragically when your hopes are running high. I may not have known you for long, but not only did you save me from being a monster like all other chaos born, I share your every memory. I care about you.") I had to pause as I hadn't really considered that, and it honestly meant a lot that she was looking out for me like that. Looking down at the purple glowing back of my hand, I smiled fondly.
"Thank you Verosika, what you just said was real special. I care about you too partner. Honestly, I'd been running from situation to situation while in this hell hole, that I hadn't taken a moment to consider the things around me much. I'm glad to have you."
"That's really sweet Lord Rex, but I'd suggest having your tender moments with your heretical sex demon when we aren't at a constant risk of being torn apart and offered to the chaos gods are snacks." Seranz nudged my back, making me look back with a sheepish grin.
"Sorry about that, I we were just distracted."
"With all do respect, there's 'just dead' as well." She scoffed and continued onwards ahead of me. It seemed even if she was now willing to protect me, she was still a hard ass apparently though I could tell it came more from a place of concern than genuine anger. It seemed Kleo thought the same as we briefly shared a wry smile at the Sister of Battle's behaviour.
"Right, my mistake." I lightly laugh as strode ahead to continue leading with my arms crossed behind my head in a relaxed manner with my sword dangling in one hand behind my back. If she had anything to say about me demeanour, she didn't voice it. Probably because as much as she probably didn't want to admit it. Out of the two of us, down here she was the one actually at far more threat from these demons.
Like all good things, after a while, our leisure walk had to come to an end. Like announcer of this, being a dude that stumbled out of the darkness at the end of the tunnel. For a moment, I considered that he maybe a survivor, that was until I saw that half his arm was missing, and his lower face was missing, exposing his jaw lower bone. All over his rag covered body were dried blood-soaked bites and cuts. I noticed us with its milky eyes and gave out a Black Ops zombies-like roar, before it began stumbling towards us with its stump arm down and other arm extended up reminiscent of the zombies of the same game. I was honestly shocked at the mirror image.
Raising a brow, I looked to Seranz.
"Hey, Seranz. Which chaos God does zombies again?" I questioned, dropping my relaxed stance.
"Nurgle, the chaos god of decay of disease." She responded with disgust, pulling out her power sword. Next to us, I could see Kleo shaking, apparently of all the things she'd seen from, zombies were a new one. That said, it made sense to me as I doubt the Imperium had games consoles or zombie movies for that matter.
"You wanna take care of it?" I asked, the ice queen actually smiled at me for it.
"It would be my pleasure to slay this afront to humanity." She then stepped forward and with a graceful slash that looked far more forceful than needed, the monster was cut diagonally, its upper body sliding off and wetly slapping onto the ground while its lower body collapsed. Still alive, she remedied that by stomping upon its head with her metal boot, crushing the skull like a plastic bottle.
"Nice." I smirked as there was something oddly satisfying about an attractive buff woman kicking ass. She didn't respond to my comment, and we continued on. I noticed Kleopatra deliberately skirting away from the corpse to avoid getting anywhere near it. This I found amusing.
Getting out of the tunnel, we came to an underground street of some sort. The set-up was oddly like a small town where some of the buildings didn't even reach the ceiling which was about 100ft above us. I recognised the setup from when I had been stuck down here the other day when I found Verosika. It was oddly quite now that the bombing of the city had stopped and we couldn't hear any demons anywhere. The whole place just seemed dead, and that had me nervous.
It seemed Seranz felt the same as she scanned the shadows and building fronts as we walked down the street. "Be careful. Where there's one, there's bound to be dozens and even hundreds of others in the least." She warned.
"There's more of those things!?" Kleopatra exclaimed, making us both harshly SHUSH at her.
"Quiet for fuck sake. I'm pretty sure these things respond to noise and if that roar got anything's attention, you best bet we don't want it next." I reprimanded. As I looked down an empty street that was dimly lit via the occasional flickering or sparking streetlights.
"Sorry." Kleo meekly shuffled away, almost tripping over a corpse whose head I had previously crushed to be sure it was head. Not for fun, I promise.
"Well guessed. I should add that in the event you get bitten, we must immediately amputate the infected area or grant you the God Emperor's mercy. If not, you become an abomination. Also, destroying the brain will cease motor function." Seranz added, letting us know that these creatures were indeed standard zombies.
"How do you know so much about chaos?" Kleopatra asked, and that was something I also wanted to know as really, the only person who should know so much was Verosika.
"You must know you enemy if you are to defeat them. Fortunately, my squad's commander was gracious enough to grant us data-slates pre-loaded with basic information from faction, to how to kill most basic demons or tainted vessels you encounter, God Emperor rest her righteous soul." She prayed, crushing the skull of another mobile corpse under foot.
"Would be nice to have been given one of those when we deployed." Kleopatra grumbled, and I had to agree that the Imperium didn't exactly always work in the smartest ways. "Say, Rex. Can you ask Veroskia if she can sense any zombies nearby?"
("Unfortunately, I can't. There's so many entities around us down here that I can't exactly pinpoint a specific direction where they are gathered while also focusing on the ritual site we are such a distance from.") She denide, making me sweat.
"Are you saying we're…?"
("Surrounded, yes.")
"Well, fuck." I cursed, looking around at the dark shadowed buildings all around us with the hundreds of spots something could jump out from at us as we walked down the centre of the street's metal surface. "Bad news girls, turns out we're-"
"Surrounded." Kleo finished, making me turn to her with wide eyes as she pointed her rifle behind us. The sight was not pleasing as it turned out that that call earlier had been a rally cry and the horde had arrived and had spotted us. Then the screams started again, which was loud enough to literally wake the dead apparently as the predictable happened and suddenly zombies were crawling from every building, every backstreet, and even holes in the flooring leading to even lower levels.
"They're in the fucking floor!?" I gasped, watching as the metal plates shifted as the occasional zombie would force their way through.
"This is not good." Seranz remarked, taking aim and backing up as the living dead blocked our path.
"Oh, you think captain obvious?" I gave the Battle Sister a side-eye. "Kleo, stay close to me. If anything happens, I'll cover us."
"What about you? If you get bit, we don't know what will happen." She said worriedly, backing up and pointing her weapons every which way, unable to pick a specific target due to the overwhelming numbers.
"Actually, this would fall under the scope of things the Emperor warded me from. Once more, my greatness is beyond the horrors of this world" I cheerfully responded while cracking my knuckles.
"Lucky you. Your blessed immortality is once again bolstering your ego." Kleopatra sulked at me. "How can you sound happy in a moment like this? We are gonna die horribly!" She trembled, and not for the first time did I feel sorry for the poor woman who was clearly not a career soldier.
Flashing her a smirk, I wrapped my arm around her mid-section before pulling her closer to me. I the looked up into her terrified shimmering purple eyes. "I will not let you die, so cheer up, alright? Your eyes are too pretty to be covered with tears." Studying her face, she actually seemed to redden at that, meaning my mission was a success, which I internally celebrated. Letting go of her, I stepped in front of her and cracked my knuckles.
"Plus, cheer up. This is a wonderful occasion for me as I am about to do something I have dreamed about since I was a child." My sword ignited with golden radiance as I held it down in a lazy grip.
"I get to slaughter thousands of zombies. Doom Slayer style!" I declare with a savage grin as in that moment, I was feeling downright malevolent while staring down the infected horde.
