Lord Ravager Haxos Hellblood, Chosen of Abaddon, tears through another Ultramarine with his gore-covered chainaxe Soultearer as he screams his praises to Khorne.
"Blood for the Blood God," roars Haxos as he beheads another of Guilliman's bastards, "Skulls for the Skull Throne."
Hexos is one of the original World Eaters who spilled blood across the stars at the side of their Primarch, Angron, who is now a Daemon Prince of Khorne. Even his legion's fall to Chaos they were they were considered insane. One of the main reasons for this was their Primarch's command that every World Eater be implanted with the cybernetic cranial implant called the Butcher's Nails. The implant technology originated on Nuceria, the world where their Primarch was found, where they were used by the ruling aristocracy on gladiatorial slaves to enhance their fighting abilities, turning their already formidable fighting stock into ravaging killers, barely controlled between each gladiatorial bout.
Haxos, who normally has more control than almost any other World Eater over his rage, is little more than an unchained beast when on the battlefield. He doesn't much care about his mission to break into the Temple of Correction and slay the half-dead Primarch housed there. All he cares about is cutting down as many of the blue-armored bastards in his way as possible. His force of well over seven hundred Black Legionnaires and thousands of slaves, both human and beastmen, has pushed the force of defending Ultramarines and their allies back into the temple itself, and they are now fighting through the legendary building's hollowed halls.
Haxos lowers the shoulder pauldrons of his Terminator Armour and bullrushes an Ultramarine into the wall, ignoring the bolt rounds the Space Marine was firing and buckling his armor before cleaving the bastard in two from shoulder to hip. Haxos bellows in rage and pleasure as he feels the eyes of his god upon him. He can sense that his apotheosis into a daemon prince is near. He knows that if he takes Guilliman's head, then he will be raised to stand before his god's throne without delay. This gives him some of his focus and clarity back.
"Guilliman's blood for the Blood God," bellows Haxos, "Guilliman's skull for the Skull Throne!"
He is about to turn and continue his rampage toward the Shine of the Primarch when something changes. He can sense the Black Legion charge falter. He had fallen behind the front line, and now that the bite of the Butcher's Nails had easier, he could hear strange reports over the vox in his helm.
"They are appearing out of nowhere!"
"Armor like nothing I have ever seen!"
"Their weapons are too-"
On Haxos's HUD, under his kill counter, he sees the green dots marking his troops on his map, winking out one by one at an alarming rate. They were doing the slaughtering earlier, and now they are being slaughtered, but by what?
"I take offense at hearing my Primarch's name pass from your lips, traitor," says a voice from Haxos's left.
Naxos turns and finds an Ultramarine standing there, but the blue of his armor, his chapter crest on his shoulders, is where the resemblance to his brothers ends. His armor is sleek, almost to the point of being form-fitting. On his chest, he bears a golden symbol of infinity instead of the Imperial Aquila. In his hands, he holds a crackling power sword and the stand-looking Bolter. On his chest, above the infinity symbol, is a name written in gold: Uriel Ventris.
Another Black Legion Space Marine attacks from the side. Firing a hail of explosive rounds into Uriel. The rounds explode but do no damage as a shimmering force field that clings to him like a second skin absorbs the impacts. In retaliation, Uriel raises the strange Boltgun and fires a round of green energy that hits the Black Legionaire and blows him into shining white dust that disappears. Haxos is shocked and speechless.
"I will never get used to how quiet and destructive these are," said Uriel as he admired the weapons, "I wanted to use the Vengence patterns on you scum, but the thought of letting you taint this place with your rotten insides even in death is enough to make me want to puke. You though, I don't want to kill cleanly. You, I want to gut like a fish and let your god sort the pieces."
He mag-locks the strange Boltgun to his thigh and raises his power sword in challenge. Behind him, Haxos sees other Ultramarines in sleek blue armor obliterating his force with machine-like precision and armed with the new Boltgun. His rage comes rushing back with the force of a volcano as he charges Uriel, attacking with such speed and ferocity that each time his chain axe meets Uriel's power sword, it sounds like a sledgehammer hitting steel. The weapon, like its master, is blessed with some of Khorne's power, so it withstands the power sword. The problem is Uriel is just as fast and just as strong. He stands his ground, blocking energy blow with ease.
Hacks raises his axe above his head, and that is when Uriel strikes. Haxos is nearly daemon fast, and against a normal opponent, the split-second opening he left while raising his axe to strike would not have been there long enough to exploit. Against Uriel, he may as well have been swinging a planet he is so slow. Uriel swings, and the axe goes flying backward, still held in the grip of Haxos's severed hands, which are still attached to his severed arms. The Traitor Space Marine looks in shock at the stubs where his arms used to be. Uriel pauses for a second before he continues to cut Hexos Hellblood to pieces. He takes off his legs next, letting his torso fall to the floor. As Uriel stands over him, he switches his blade's normal power field to one of UC's energy before raising it point down over Haxos's chest.
"I guess he will get your blood and skull today, eh," says Uriel as he drives the blade into the Traitor's chest.
Haxos Hellblood barely lets out a whimper before he bursts into white dust. Uriel is already moving to his next opponent, the Chosen of Abaddon, already forgotten as he and his brother wipe their planet clean of traitors in the name of the First and the New Imperium. The invasion is over within a day as the Unshackled Ultramarines Firstborn and Primaris are unleashed on the Black Legion, who are broken and scattered and then hunted and wiped out to a man along with every member of the Ecclesiarchy, and every Ultramarine is evolved.
As Macragge is cleansed and reclaimed under the banner of the New Imperium, Guilliman receives a guest in the nightmares of his eternal slumber.