Chapter 57

ellijayskywalker- Maybe. I'll have to actually watch the anime or read the manga first before doing it though. If I do it.

Cathay Lord Magistrate Gang Jei

"Hold fast!" Yelled a Lord Magistrate as he ordered and fought alongside his fellow Cathayans against the Chaos Hordes. Slashing at a Chaos Marauder and kicking them off the walls of the Snake Gate, the Lord Magistrate known as Gang Jei watched as a Doom Knight of Tzeentch came straight down and tried to impale the Lord Magistrate with his spear. Ducking out of the way in time, Gang Jei watched as the Doom Knight instead pushed several Jade Warriors off the walls to their deaths with his shield after failing to kill the Lord Magistrate.

Gritting his teeth, Gang Jei got up and began coordinating his soldiers more, trying to make them hold on longer. If not to allow reinforcements to come in time, something that is becoming increasingly more unlikely as time progresses and more Chaos forces are approaching, then to take as many of those Chaos filth with them.

"Hold fast!" Yelled Gang Jei as he coordinated his Jade Warriors to battle. "You are warriors of Cathay! You will not shame the Dragon Emperor by fleeing against our mortal enemies! You will hold your ground and fight to the death if you must! To protect your fellow countrymen and families from the deprivations and corruptions of the forces of Chaos!" While some felt invigorated by his speech, others were feeling despair as the Chaos forces kept coming, even more so when the next wave arrived and began crashing their siege towers on the walls while their cannons were firing on the walls as well, trying to tear them down for their Warbeasts to force their way to the fortress city. To make matters worse, the Storm Dragon was unable to assist them. Some thought she was dead and their morale was brought low, making things easier for the Chaos forces to smash through them. Others thought she was delaying even more Chaos forces from approaching and thus fought hard to not disappoint her.

Regardless of what the defenders thought, one fact was clear. If they don't receive reinforcements soon, they're all dead. Even the most stubborn of Cathayans saw this. The Chaos forces were simply too numerous and just kept coming and coming, exhausting the defenders of the Snake Gate to the point that it took all their strength to barely keep fighting. Their mages weren't able to cast anymore and their Warmachines were out of ammo. Without reinforcements, the Snake Gate will fall and the Forces of Chaos will gain a strong foothold that will enable them to launch attacks into the lands of Cathay, leading to a potential dark age for Cathay.

The Chaos Forces must have realized this because they fought harder than before. Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch, finally making their appearance, made their way to the siege towers embedded on the walls of the Snake Gate and, upon arriving at the top of the walls, began hacking and slashing their way through the exhausted Jade Warriors with ease. Their armor and blessings of their God protecting them from the weak defenders of Cathay. Gang Jei was in the middle of fighting a Chaos Marauder when a Chaos Warrior armed with a halberd began cleaving his way through to face the Lord Magistrate. Caving the skull of a Jade Warrior with the pummel of his halberd, the Chaos Warrior ran up to the Lord Magistrate while his back was turned to him, eager to strike the Lord Magistrate down while he couldn't protect himself. The Warrior was about to slay the Lord Magistrate when a magic fireball from out of nowhere hit him square in the chest and sent him flying back, crashing into the ground. It was then that everyone on the wall or flying above it heard the sounds of war horns blowing. Upon hearing them, the Cathayan defenders felt hope and relief return to them. Reinforcements have arrived.

Looking above towards the source of the war horns, the Chaos Forces saw two dozen red, horse-like creatures flying towards them with Cathayan Dragon-blooded on top, armed with spears. On the ground, from the only entranceway to the lands of Cathay, were dozens of Jade Warriors on horseback. Some of them were sounding war horns while riding their horses. Leading this force was a Dragon-Blooded Shugengan Lord, riding on top of a Longma, the red horse-like creatures flying above the ground troops of Cathay.

Upon seeing this fresh wave of Cathayan forces, the Doom Knights of Tzeentch abandoned their attacks on the Cathayan defenders on the wall to engage these Cathayan reinforcements before they can make a difference in the assault. Engaging the Longma Riders as the calvary would have less impact on the battle compared to the Great Longma Riders, the Doom Knights of Tzeentch engaged the flying calvary of Cathay.

Great Longma Riders. Dragon-blooded that ride to battle atop Longma, horse-like creatures that are native to Cathay, are some of the most powerful soldiers available to Grand Cathay. A part of the Celestial Host, the Dragon Emperor's personnel legion, these Dragon-blooded along with the Celestial Guard form Cathay's most elite soldiers. Their presence alone brings hope to the defenders of Grand Cathay and despair to the Empire's foes. Armed with the best weapons and armor available to the Celestial Host, or Celestial Dragon Guard, the Great Longma Riders can turn the tide of battle against the enemies of Cathay with a single decisive charge. Even their mounts, the powerful Longma, rumored to have been created by the Moon Empress herself, were deadly with their massive horns and powerful feet. Combined with the speed of these creatures and the weaponry of the Dragon-blooded themselves, the Great Longma Riders were only surpassed by the Pegasus Knights of Bretonnia, a point of contention for those Cathayans that believe their Longma Riders were superior, on the field of battle. Such was their reputation that their mere presence alone can break the enemies of Cathay. Indeed, certain Marauders tribes have been known to flee at the mere sight of even one Great Longma Rider, believing them to be invincible. However, such a thing will not be seen today. Especially when the Chaos Forces have their own flying calvary that was known for their seeming invincibility. The Doom Knights of Tzeentch.

While the ignorant would think that only the Chaos God Slaanesh would be the only Chaos God that would field calvary extensively, indeed even the heavy calvary of the Blood God was only one instrument of war that is fielded by the followers of Khorne and was more of a sledgehammer than a scalpel that Slaanesh Warhosts typically use them, such a thing is not true. For Tzeentch himself also employs calvary in his mortal followers.

While magic is the foremost proficiency of Tzeentch's followers, calvary is used extensively in Tzeentch Warhosts. And that was for several reasons. The followers of Tzeentch all have a sort of warp barrier that protects them from harm. This barrier gives the followers of Tzeentch durability that can only be surpassed by the followers of Nurgle, who have been known to fight on even after suffering wounds that would kill them several times over or regenerate from fatal wounds within moments. Even cannonballs and magic have been known to be deflected or outright erased from existence by this barrier. However, this barrier can be depleted through constant attacks or overwhelmed through sheer power and it can only be recharged from a few sources. The most known being through certain spells and artifacts or being recharged, "naturally," by the barrier not being attacked after a period of time, albeit slowly. This is one of the reasons that Tzeentch followers and daemons use calvary.

Calvary can not only attack the enemy, holding them back from attacking the mages of a Tzeentch Warhost, but they can also quickly retreat from combat the moment their blessing of Tzeentch was in danger of failing to recharge it before sending themselves into the fray again once their barrier was restored to acceptable levels. They also provide a source of mobility that Tzeentch forces need in order to provide a constant source of harassment against their enemies that can divert the attention of the wizards and magic users of a Tzeentch Warhost, whose magic was easily the most dangerous element of said Warhost. Eventually, this usage of calvary in Tzeentch Warhosts cultivated the creation of elite calvary that rival the calvary of Khorne and even Slaanesh in function. One of those, and perhaps the most infamous, were the Doom Knights of Tzeentch.

Doom Knights of Tzeentch were Chaos Knights that have earned the right to ride upon Disc of Tzeentch, daemonic mounts that often were formed from Screamers of Tzeentch. Some earned this right through gifts provided by Tzeentch himself for their actions in the Mortal World. Others have managed to actually force a Screamer to transform into a Disc of Tzeentch. Whatever the way they obtained these mounts, the results were the same. Flying calvary that can give even the Knights of Bretonnia pause upon seeing them on the battlefield with some members even surpassing the powerful Grail Knights of Bretonnia, something some Bretonnians see as pure nonsense.

The formation of the Doom Knights of Tzeentch was not known. Even the Asur of Ulthuan held no knowledge of how the Doom Knights came to be. Initially, the Disc of Tzeentch was something that was only provided to certain Chaos Lords and Sorcerers as gifts from the Chaos God of Magic yet now they're provided to Chaos Knights of sufficient power or skill. Stories of their formation come from a variety of sources. Some claim they came to be during the final battles of the Asavar Kul's invasion. Others claim they had to be long after it. Regardless, they exist today and are some of the fiercest mortal warriors for Tzeentch, providing a source of flying calvary that is not only durable but also fast enough to move past an enemy's main lines and hit either their rear or other integral parts of their army, like wizards or Warmachines. A truly terrifying force of calvary and that wasn't even considering the martial prowess of the Chaos Knights themselves. And now they were put to the test against the Great Longma Riders of Cathay.

Roaring out a challenge, the Doom Knights charged at the Great Longma Riders in an arrow-head formation, intending on separating the Longma Riders from one another. The Longma Riders, meanwhile, charged at them in a line formation, intending to minimize the breakup of their forces on account of the Doom Knight charge formation, fierce determination, and discipline clear on their faces. Both sides were skilled warriors, one because of the training and discipline, the other because of experiences in battle and sheer brutality. This battle between calvary will be a blood bath.

The two sides soon rammed into one other, knocking riders off their mounts with the initial charge. One Doom Knight slammed his shield against the side of a Longma Rider, sending them off their mount and falling to their death. At the same time, a Longma Rider pushed a Doom Knight off his Disc, but not before the Doom Knight took his lance with him, rendering the Longma Rider without a weapon beyond his Longma. The conflict from there went to a bloody melee with each individual combatant trying to gain an advantage over their foes. With the initial charge momentum now gone, both sides were relying on their strength of arms, their mounts, and their martial prowess to win. A situation that the Longma riders were at a severe disadvantage.

Much like most calvary beyond those belonging to the Forces of Chaos and Bretonnia with a few exceptions, Great Longma Riders relied on the initial charge and sheer shock value to break the enemy before they could retaliate. If the enemy recovers in time and counterattacks, the Calvary often find themselves in a terrible situation that can end their lives quickly depending on both the courage of their mounts and the quality of the enemy troops and their arms. While the Longma riders had the advantage of their mounts being able to fight with their riders, increasing the effectiveness of their charge and its ability to break the morale of an enemy of Cathay, they were still susceptible to counterattack from their enemies if they recover and counterattack in time. This can be seen with the Doom Knights, who held the advantage against the Great Longma Riders in a continuous melee.

The Doom Knights held the advantage of speed, the blessings of Tzeentch, their Chaos armor, and sheer experience. Their Disc of Tzeentch, while unable to fight with their riders as the Longma were with theirs, gave the Doom Knights speeds that the Longma were unable to match on account of the heavy armor they wore along with their rider themselves weighing them down. Something that was not a problem for the Discs of Tzeentch, where the laws of the physical realm have no hold over them. Combined with the experience and equipment of their riders, the Discs of Tzeentch were able to hold the advantage in anything beyond the initial charge against the Longma and their riders. To make matters worse for the Cathay warriors, the Doom Knights were keeping the Longma riders from grouping together and fighting as one, taking away one of the few advantages the Dragon-blooded had over the Chaos Warriors. Discipline and the ability to fight as one. It's one of the main reasons that the Empire and Cathay can win against the Forces of Chaos. By working with their fellow men, the men of the Empire and Cathay can deal with scores of Chaos Marauders and even Chaos Warriors with the right tactics and equipment. Without that advantage, however, the Dragon-blooded were forced to face the Doom Knights in one-on-one combat, where the Forces of Chaos excelled at.

One Doom Knight proved this when he flew above a Longma Rider while she attempted to ram her spear against the gut of the Doom Knight. Before she could do anything, the Doom Knight swung his halberd against her Longma's left wing, slicing it off with ease, thus sending both the Dragon-blooded and her Longma to their death. Another rammed his shield into the body of a Cathay warrior, sending him screaming to his death, after deflecting the lance attack of the Longma Rider. In time, the Doom Knights would prevail against the Cathayan soldiers and resume their attack on the defenders of the Snake Gate. At the moment, however, they're distracted with the Longma Riders, allowing the Dragon-blooded Shugengan Lord to fly and assist the exhausted defenders of the Snake Gate, who were at the point of collapse.

Upon seeing the Snake Gate defenders, the Shugengan Lord realized that she must ignore the approaching Doom Knights in order to assist the defenders on the walls of the Snake Gate. Thus, with a cold heart, the Shugengan Lord abandoned her Great Longma Riders and flew to the walls in order to provide magical assistance to the Jade Warriors and Peasant Warriors defending the walls from the Forces of Chaos. Taking down one Doom Knight that pursued her, the Shugengan Lord began to provide magical protection and augments to the defenders of Cathay. Much like Miao Ying before her, the Shugengan Lord began to magically support the exhausted warriors of Cathay, albeit not as skillfully as Miao Ying. Nonetheless, it gave the Cathay warriors much-needed support and they began to fight with renewed vigor that was supplied by the Shugengan Lord. Gang Jei gave a prayer to the Moong Goddess for this before exerting more of his influence on his men, giving them more strength through his presence alone. In the meantime, the horse riders from before began to fight against the Chaos Warbeasts that have just breached through the gates of Cathay and began pouring out from them along with those Marauders that moved to support them. The battle had turned from a certain victory for the Chaos Forces became one where the Cathay forces had a chance to win. Unfortunately, that was not to be. As another wave of Doom Knights were approaching the battle, defending several of their members who were carrying barrels of blood and skulls. These barrels contain the key to their victory and unless the Cathayans stop them, victory will be in the hands of the Forces of Chaos.

In the meantime, Miao Ying gave a grunt as she obliterated a Chaos Warrior utterly with a stream of lightning from her hands. After that was done, she was about to destroy another one that was on the ground when a third Chaos Warrior slashed at her back with his halberd, ripping her robes and creating a sizable cut across her back.

"Argh!" Yelled Miao Ying as she went to the ground in pain after the attack. The attack had been infused with whatever power the Chaos Warriors held and prevented her from healing from the wound, regardless of how much she concentrated on healing it. Spitting out blood, Miao Ying yelled out in rage as she sent a large lightning bolt on top of the Chaos Warrior's head. She heard the screams of the Chaos Warrior before he fell to the ground dead. After that attack, however, Miao Ying exhausted herself. Sweaty from the fight between Mozar and his warriors, it took all of Miao Ying's remaining strength to even remain conscious. Mozar, meanwhile, with his remaining warriors, of which there were only two left, walked up to her.

The fight with the Storm Dragon had been bloody for the Chaos Lord and his guards. Despite the previous spell that weakened the Storm Dragon, she was still strong enough to give them pause. She even managed to kill four of Mozar's guards at once and damaged Mozar himself significantly once she saw an opening to exploit, destroying his Disc of Tzeentch in the process, banishing it back to the Chaos Realm. She would have killed him too before the remaining Chaos Warriors attacked her to protect their master. Fortunately, they ultimately prevailed, but not without scars to show the power of the weakened Storm Dragon.

His armor was scorched black from lightning attacks and spells. The same with his surviving Chaos Warriors. His helmet's many eyes were either barely open or swollen shut. And Mozar himself felt blood spill from an abdomen wound he suffered earlier from Miao Ying. Despite that though, Mozar was satisfied with Miao Ying's state. Barely able to keep herself awake. Her long white hair was marred with dirt and sweat, sticking to her face. Her headdress laying on the ground nearby, sending said hair everywhere. Her clothes were torn from bloody attacks from Mozar and his Chaos Warriors with blood spilling from all of them. Glaring at Mozar with dim eyes, Miao Ying tried to cast a spell only for a Chaos Warrior to slam the back end of his halberd against the side of her face, sending her to her side.

"You put up a strong fight." Admitted Mozar as he and his remaining guards looked down on the exhausted Miao Ying, who continued to glare at them. Even with her condition, Miao Ying was stubborn to the end. "But it all ends now. Know this before you die, only your family is to be blamed for all this." Mozar then brought out his Lord Magistrate blade while the remaining two Chaos Warriors kicked Miao Ying to her back and held her in place with their armored boots while Mozar aimed his blade at her neck, intending on decapitating her and offering her head as a sacrifice to Tzeentch.

"Know this, pawn of Chaos." Said Miao Ying as she glared at the Chaos Lord that has forsaken Cathay. "Even with my death, the Northern Provinces will continue to fight against the Forces of Chaos. The people of Cathay would rather die than be enslaved to the Forces of Chaos. Unlike you, they see the lies and deceit that all the Chaos Gods use on their followers. Your master especially." Rather than get mad, Mozar laughed.

"They won't when I reveal to them the lies and corruption within the Empire itself." Said Mozar before stabbing Miao Ying in the chest, causing her to cough out blood from the sudden attack. "I assure you, dragon, my plans for Cathay will bring about the fall of the Empire of Cathay and the fall of your family. Just as you have confidence in the blind loyalty the Cathayan people have towards your family, I have confidence I can reveal a path of enlightenment and illumination to them with my plans. I can see it now, dragon. The people of Cathay going up in rebellion against your family and the Dragon Emperor and Empress hanging from their palace walls. The entirety of Cathay becoming a part of the Chaos Wastes, free from the lies and corruption of your family and those that share in your blood. It's…glorious." Having wasted enough time, Mozar readied himself to end the life of the Storm Dragon. With her so weak and the blessing of Tzeentch within his body, Mozar was more than capable of ending her life. Just as he was about to bring down his sword upon her neck, Mozar foresaw a vision of his life being ended now and thus acted accordingly.

Taking a few steps back, Mozar watched as several darts flew past where he used to be. In the meantime, dozens of darts hit were launched from all sides that hit his bodyguards. Explosions erupted from wherever the darts hit their barriers, eventually overwhelming them and allowing more darts to pierce through, eventually killing the Chaos Warriors through sheer volume of fire. In the meantime, Mozar was dodging and maneuvering himself as more darts were launched at him from all directions. As he was doing so, the attackers revealed themselves. To the shock of the Chaos Lord, the attackers were reptilian lizards of brown pigmentation that were quickly changing to orange, wielding blowpipes. Lizardmen Chameleon skinks, children of the legendary Old Ones. Hissing at the Chaos Lord, the Chameleon Skinks formed a protective circle around Miao Ying, who was stunned at the sudden appearance of the Children of the Old Ones themselves. She had heard about these creatures from her mother, the Moon Dragon, and Empress to Grand Cathay.

Long ago, the world was a frigid world of ice and snow. It was a time before the race of Men, Dwarves, and even Elves. It was a world ruled by Dragons and other primeval entities such as the ancient Dragon Ogres, who have sadly fallen to the whims of the Chaos Gods. But then the Old Ones came and changed the world into what it was now. It was said that their favored servants were reptilian beings of great power. Her mother, unfortunately, knew little of these beings for despite being alive before even the Old Ones themselves came to this world, she saw no reason at all to learn more about a race that was created to serve the very beings that brought change to the world that her kind used to roam freely in. Change that, Miao Ying suspected, her mother believed to be for the worst for several reasons. There was also the fact these reptilian creatures mainly reside in the jungles of Lustria, a continent far away from Grand Cathay, resulting in Cathay having little knowledge about them. The only reason they knew about them in the first place was from trade with the Empire of Man, who conducted expeditions into the Southlands, some of which encountered these reptilian beasts. Many of which ended in disaster for them. There was also the ill-fated expedition that Cathay had done centuries ago that ended in disaster for them.

This expedition into the Southlands was done by her sister Yin-Yin long ago, the Sea Dragon and ruler of the Eastern Provinces, to secure the spice trade in the Southlands from the lands of Araby. The expedition was a total disaster and cost the Cathayans their entire fleet with only one survivor out of hundreds of thousands of men sent on the expedition, something that the Dragon Emperor himself chastised his daughter for, much to her shame and embarrassment, even more so when it took them a hundred years to rebuild their navy, leaving the Eastern Provinces vulnerable to attack by the Dark Elves and other bands of pirates and raiders. This disaster, combined with the tales told by the lone survivor, reinforced the Cathayan people to name these reptilian beasts as they called them prior to the expedition. Lizard-daemons.

As a result, Miao Ying has never encountered a Lizardmen before, hearing about them only in stories from her mother or from hearsay from those from the Eastern Provinces. Now, she sees several defending her from the Forces of Chaos, despite being daemons themselves. Or at least daemons in the eyes of the Cathayan people.

The Lizard-daemons then began readying their blowpipes to attack Mozar when suddenly Mozar was hit again with a barrage of explosive darts. He endured the first wave, but he was soon forced to retreat at the barrage of explosive darts sent his way. Cursing at Miao Ying and the accursed Lizards that got in his way, Mozar was about to take off when he was suddenly hit with a poison dart that found a chink in his armor and embedded itself in his neck. Touching his neck, Mozar suddenly felt a poison enter his bloodstream and began killing him from the inside out. Coughing out blackened blood, the Chaos Lord fell to the ground dead as the poison from the dart killed him in seconds, not even the blessings of Tzeentch were able to save him from his killer's poisoned darts, whose ingredients come from the very Chaos Realm itself. Revealing themselves after the Chaos Lord was slain, the killer was revealed to by Oxyotl himself. The orange skink had come to Cathay in their time of need, having seen a vision that showed him what would happen if Mozar survived this battle this day and if the Storm Dragon of Cathay was slain at the Snake Gate by the forces of Tzeentch. The terrible consequences of his vision should either event come to pass were enough to convince the Skink to take some of his brethren to the lands of Cathay to aid the Storm Dragon in slaying the Chaos Lord.

Having succeeded in slaying the Chaos Lord, Oxyotl then looked at the wounded Miao Ying, looking at the lizards with suspicious eyes. Even when injured and saved from certain death, the Storm Dragon wasn't about to let her guard down. Something that would have offended some, but not Oxyotl. He knew too well the stubbornness and pride of Cathayan Dragons, especially the offspring of the Dragon Emperor himself. Unfortunately, he had to deal with such stubbornness and pride for a while.

Speaking in the tongue of his people, Oxyotl ordered his fellow Skinks that were still in hiding to launch their poison darts on the incapacitated Storm Dragon. As one, dozens of poison darts were launched at the weakened Storm Dragon, hitting her all over her body. Feeling the sting of poison darts hit her body, Miao Ying coughed up more blood before glaring at Oxyotl, who stared back.

"M-monster. You think that these will…best the Storm...Dragon…" Miao Ying couldn't say anymore before she lost consciousness, slumping to the ground, her eyes dull before closing. Seeing this, Oxyotl rushed towards her and checked her pulse as well as her wounds.

Eyeing the wounds, Oxyotl saw that they were laced with some sort of poison that prevented her from healing, even with magic. The weapons and spell that the Chaos Warriors used on her must have embedded a sort of curse on her that prevented most practitioners of the Winds of Ghyran from tending to her wounds, even one as powerful as her. It's as if Tzeentch himself was preventing her from healing her wounds. Her mother may be skilled and powerful enough to heal her, but Oxyotl had need of her now. The world needed her now. Thus, he ordered his men to gently carry the Storm Dragon back to their outpost so they can stabilize her. If they don't tend to her wounds now, she'll die and everything they worked for will be for naught. While they can't heal her of her wounds, they can stem the blood loss as well as provide temporary treatment for her wounds until they can get her proper treatment.

Receiving his orders, six Chameleon Stalkers, a more aggressive version of the already aggressive Chameleon skinks, grabbed Miao Ying and carried her towards their outpost. At the same time, a pack of Chameleon Skinks surrounded them, giving them protection. Eyeing this, Oxyotl looked at his fellow Skinks departing before looking at the Snake Gate to see a group of Doom Knights bringing the doom of the Cathayan defenders upon them. Having seen what will happen if the Doom Knights bring their terrible cargo, Oxyotl knew that all the defenders were dead. As much as he wished to prevent the Chaos Forces from winning at the Snake Gate, having received a vision of the terrible consequences of this, he cannot. Miao Ying was far more important than the Snake Gate itself. So, as much as it disgusted the Skink, he must allow Chaos this victory this day in order to win the long game. Such things were necessary against the Forces of Chaos, unfortunately. Something that Oxyotl knew too well.

Thus, he and his remaining brethren left the Snake Gate defenders to their doom, realizing that there was nothing that they can do to save them.

Meanwhile

Gang Jei

"Lord Magistrate! More reinforcements approach!" Yelled a Jade Warrior with a halberd as he pointed at a group of Doom Knights approaching. Cursing this, Gang Jei ordered his men to get ready as the Doom Knights approached. The group of Jade Warriors around him, both fresh and old, were ready for a fight when they saw the Doom Knights move past the walls, confusing the defenders. They were, unfortunately, unable to figure out why this is as another group of Marauders descended upon them, forcing them to fight them lest they get overrun. Gang Jei, however, was able to see what the Doom Knights were doing and thus was able to see them dropping barrels of blood and skulls directly in the middle of the city. Just as the barrels of blood and skulls impacted on the ground, sending their contents everywhere, a loud, bird-like screech was heard, echoing throughout the entire city, catching the attention of all the combatants. Even the hardest of Marauders and stoic Jade Warrior stopped fighting to see what was going on. In the meantime, the Doom Knights were retreating, their part in this battle now done. Even the Doom Knights from before were retreating, their opponents too distracted with the screeching to notice the Doom Knights fleeing.

To the horror of the Cathayans, Kairos Fateweaver appeared out of nowhere, having cloaked himself with a spell, directly above the spilled blood and skulls. Screeching out again, Kairos landed before the spilled contents and raised his staff over his head. With a triumphant yell, Kairos slammed his staff in front of him and sent magic all around him, affecting the blood and skulls, which reacted strongly to what Kairos did. Whatever the Greater Daemon did, it caused both items to consolidate together and form a symbol. A symbol that no one saw but Kairos. Once it was formed completely Kairos, slammed his staff into the ground again and this time the symbol erupted into a fiery portal, large enough for an entire Warhost of Chaos forces to emerge from it without issue. With the portal formed, Kairos immediately flew up in the air and flew higher and higher, knowing what was coming next.

It was then, after a few seconds later, the massive roar was heard from the portal, and out came a figure that caused despair to erupt again in the Cathayan defenders. Even Gang Jei and the Dragon-blooded became fearful upon seeing the emerging figure.

Roaring out again, the figure was a massive creature with red skin that was laced with scars from countless battles. It held black wings that were tattered and filled with holes, rendering them useless to the creature. In addition, it was armored with a simple cuirass, cutlet, and armored greaves. Finally, half of its face was nothing but bones while the rest was red flesh and skin. Both eyes of the creature, amazingly, were still functional and were blue. Yet they held a maddening rage that was barely contained by the creature itself that was close to erupting. Wielding an axe in each hand, the creature suddenly threw them to the ground, embedded them there and sending dirt everywhere, before roaring out in anger and rage. Upon that roar, Cathayans and Followers of Tzeentch descended into crazed madness, killing whatever was in their sight. Friend or foe, it didn't matter, everyone was killing each other. Even Gang Jei was killing his own men, his mind addled by the roar of the creature. An expected reaction as the creature that was summoned was a mighty Bloodthirster, Khorne Greater Daemons. But not just any Bloodthirster, no, this one used to be one of Khorne's favored Daemons. Nah, his greatest Bloodthirster. None surpassed him in the amount of death and skulls he offered to the Blood God since his creation. Nothing could have usurped his position as Khorne's greatest champion. That is, none but himself for, in his arrogance and pride, the Bloodthirster attacked the Blood God himself, tricked by the Great Deceiver himself, to strike the Blood God while his back was turned to him. The attack did nothing but create the smallest of chinks in the Blood God's armor and enact a terrible price on the Daemon. So great was Khorne's rage that he deprived the Daemon of all personality and exiled him. Yes, the Greater Daemon was known as Skarbrand, the Exiled One. And he had been summoned by the trickery and sorcery of Kairos to end this battle. And end it he shall.

Ending his roar, Skarbrand looked upon the battlefield, gauzing the combatants that were currently fighting each other in mindless rage on account of his sheer presence in the city. Upon seeing the combatants and seeing so little blood spilled, Skarbrand's rage grew in intensity and thus he went into the fray to teach everyone a lesson in the spilling of blood. Grabbing his twin axes, Skarbrand jumped off the high platform he was on and ran towards the fighting that was still occurring at the Snake Gate's walls. All the while, Kairos was laughing madly to himself.

With the presence of Skarbrand himself on the field, victory was all but assured. The Cathayans had no chance against the mighty Bloodthirst with how weakened they were. Even their reinforcements cannot stem the tide of battle now that Skarbrand has arrived. However, just Skarbrand's presence alone was not enough for his master's grand plan. No, he needed to do more. He needed to bring the attention of the Blood God himself to this battle. And he had just the way to do so.

Raising their staff in the air, Kairos casted a spell on Skarbrand as he charged at the combatants, his eyes set upon the Chaos War Mammoths that were brought to bear against the Snake Gate. Though Khorne Daemons were naturally resistant to magic, a result of their father's disdain towards the arcane arts, Kairos was a master manipulator of the Winds of Magic. Even the mighty defenses of Skarbrand cannot stop his casting of spells. Combined with the power he obtained from the consumed crystal before, Kairos was able to overwhelm this natural defense and cast his spell. An augment-type spell that will certainly draw the attention of Khorne himself.

Indeed, upon the casting of the spell, Skarbrand instantly felt something erupt inside him, making him halt his charge. At first, it was nothing, but then it came. A strike from the inside that, while not matching the intensity of his father's fury, was more than enough to drive the Bloodthirster to his knees in pain. Roaring out in both anger and pain, Skarbrand felt the magic of Kairos doing its work against Skarbrand, providing more power than the Bloodthirster ever obtained in his life. Although it came at the cost of great pain to the Bloodthirster even causing him to cough out blood, even though such a thing should not be possible for a being native to the Chaos Realm. Eventually, though the pain went away and Skarbrand felt the magic of Kairos gifting him power beyond what's left of his imagination. Although it was power, it was also magic and Skarbrand despised magic. Much like Khorne himself, Skarbrand despised magic, seeing it as a tool of weaklings and Skarbrand was no weakling.

Roaring out in indignity at being provided power through magic, Skarbrand tossed his twin axes towards a mammoth each before charging at them, his eyes burning with even more intensity than before on account of Kairos' spell. Both axes found their mark and embedded themselves in the brains of a mammoth each, causing said mammoths to roar out in pain at the sudden attack. Before they could do anything, they both were grabbed at the trunk by Skarbrand and, with little effort on the part of the Greater Daemon, had their trunks ripped out Skarbrand, adding to the pain they felt. Skarbrand wasn't done yet, however. He then proceeded to use his fists to hammer his axes into the mammoths, caving in their heads on account of his strength, killing them. He then grabbed his axes and then charged at another mammoth. Kicking it to the ground, Skarbrand killed the mammoth with the impact alone before smashing his axes onto the beast's neck, severing the head from the body. He then proceeded to grab the head and spill its blood everywhere. He then roared out in anger and rage, causing small portals to form around him. Out from these portals came Khorne's lesser Daemons, drawn to the rage of Skarbrand and the blood he spilled. Tall humanoid daemons with massive great swords that were on fire, Khorne's Bloodletters have arrived to spill blood in the name of their father and creator. Though Skarbrand was exiled, they still were summoned by the Greater Daemon's acts of slaughter and rage. After all, Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows, only that it flows. And it will flow in abundance in the Snake Gate after Skarbrand was done with everyone in the immediate vicinity.

Tossing the mammoth head away, sending it crashing into a group of Jade Warriors that have disembarked from the walls to actually fight their horses, Skarbrand grabbed his axes and jumped towards the walls of the Snake Gate, where most of the combatants were, caring not if the walls can support his weight or not. Landing on several combatants, Skarbrand gave out a deafening roar at everyone around him before smashing and stomping his way to slaughter. All the while, Tzeentch was laughing at this chain of events.

Oh, it has always been a joy to use Skarbrand. Even after he had been reduced to what he was today, the Greater Daemon of Khorne provided much entertainment for the Chaos God of Sorcery. It always amused Tzeentch whenever Skarbrand offered literal mountain-sized piles of skulls to Khorne as repentance for his actions long ago, trying to earn a forgiveness that will never come to him. For, in a twist of irony that Tzeentch found most amusing, Khorne actually liked Skarbrand the way he is now. A raging lunatic that was single-minded in his pursuit of a forgiveness that will never come for Skarbrand is more useful to Khorne now than back when he had his full mind. Something that amused Tzeentch to no end. He had deprived Khorne of his greatest Bloodthirster yet he now serves Khorne in a greater capacity than he ever could before. It was a poetic irony that Tzeentch found amusing.

Nonetheless, Skarbrand has once again been used by Tzeentch for his own ends. With Skarbrand being summoned by his own oracle in Grand Cathay and magically augmented with a spell of his own design that was empowered with some of the crystals that originated from the Tower of Heaven after he…experimented on them, Tzeentch was confident that this will attract the attention of his brother, who will no doubt be demanding his presence right about…now.

Just as Tzeentch predicted, a massive sword landed itself upon the realm of Tzeentch, sending massive shockwaves that destroyed crystals towers thousands of miles away or started earthquakes everywhere in Tzeentch's realm, damaging his realm further. Rather than be mad, however, Tzeentch laughed to himself as his realm repaired itself. In seconds, the damage caused by the sword was gone, erased as if nothing ever happened. The only evidence left of the sword's strike was the sword itself and its immediate vicinity still damaged from the impact of the sword.

Finally ending his bout of laughter, Tzeentch choose to depart his realm for he saw what the sword was meant to be. A message from his brother and fellow god, Khorne. A message and invitation. One that both invited him to one of the few neutral areas within the Chaos Realm that none of the Great Four held a claim on. The sword was also a demand for an explanation regarding what has happened to Skarbrand and in the mortal realm around Skarbrand. Eager for the conversation, Tzeentch left his realm to speak with his brother in a conversation that surely be as amusing as it will be essential to Tzeentch's overall goals of ascension in the Great Game.

Later

Chaos Realm

In a rather boring part of the Chaos Realm, where all one could see was blackened rock and rivers of black water, two Chaos Gods arrived at the same time to discuss certain things in private. One was the Blood God himself, Khorne. Appearing like a knight with bat wings, the Blood God glared at his fellow God, Tzeentch, who took the form of a blue cloaked figure, whose face was hidden by both the hood over their head and through magical means.

"Greeting brother." Said Tzeentch as he looked at his brother's current form, which was a knight of Man in red and brass armor. The helmet was shaped like the skull of the race of Men, whose eye sockets burned bright red. "You've summoned me, yes?"

"Yes." Said Khorne with power and authority. His words shaking the very foundations of the small pocket of the Chaos Realm they reside at the moment. "I've summoned you to demand why your oracle not only summoned Skarbrand but also enhanced him through magical means. Magic, I may add, does not come from our realm and sense like anything I've ever sensed before. How did this happen and what have you been up to?" Khorne could just imagine the smile that was coming from Tzeentch at his question before he indulged to answer the Blood God's question.