Chapter 3: One who endures
The group was pushed along by a congregation of necron soldiers, the pacing and sense of direction was lost upon the group due to the almost random nature of the tomb complex, yet the machines merely continued along a set path, headless of the pains and struggles of the more human personnel.
Eventually, after a few hours of the most intense escorting the crew have ever faced, they were brought into a massive chamber room, where sitting upon a throne of bronze like blackstone sat Trazyn, his fingers were streaming across the sitting surface while his metallic eyes were looking upon the congregation of lesser beings and the one whom took his attention before him.
Naruto looked upon the chamber room, all around him were the showings of priceless artifacts and instruments, each showing a different place and time, his memories showed each encounter, each instance of how they came to be, along with their stories.
He looked beside him, seeing his astartes and the rest of his crews chained in blackstone, some who's faces were tired and scared, he gave them a reassuring smile as Trazyn sat upon his throne, looking upon the entourage of humans.
'Well... this was a rather interesting investment of my time... yet I welcome you little old one to my throne room upon this world'
Naruto looked around, within his sights he counted no less than one hundred necrons within his line of sight, yet could hear the sounds of metallic footsteps coming from other chambers within the room as Trazyn sprouted about how it was an "honour" for them to be in his presence and about how he is archiving beings within this galaxy to show for their species in due time.
A few of the more meek and non combat crew members within his group were showing signs of anxiety, as they huddled together, the sights and sounds of such a place were making their sense of self preservation become distorted.
'Frankly... I am rather disappointed at the lack of foresight little Naruto... surely one of your status and prestige would have known that to breach a sanctum of our glorious empire is a lesson in futility' Trazyn said, his face somehow showing a weirdly smug face for someone whom was only metal.
Coming before the group a row of newer looking necrons took firing positions, where the others looked either dilapidated or rather basic, these ones looked more sophisticated, their singular eyes were looking upon those whom stood in front of them with unflinching focus, within their hands were rifles of such length and craftsmanship that they surpassed the normal stature of standard weaponry.
All as one they raised their weapons against the group, shouts of panic and fear echoing across those whom were not astartes, while the astartes looked onward with none upon their faces, their heads exposed when the other group of necrons stripped them of their head protection.
'Wait!' Naruto bellowed, making the figures pause and Trazyn look onward with a look of interest. 'If you harm anyone in my group, then you will not leave this room'
The sound of synthetic laughing echoed across the room, as Trazyn looked upon Naruto with his smug look, his face glowing green in timing with the laughter.
'And what makes you think I am troubled by such a threat? Ohh such a lesson in ignorance little old one... one shot to their heads should do... now make it quick, we don't have all day'
Three things happened in those moments that would make Trazyn give the slightest amount of attention, the volley from the single eyed warriors cracked the air in a green glow, the projectiles being impossibly fast for even astartes vision to follow, yet that was not the things that made Trazyn pause.
The first was a blinding flash of yellow, one that even Trazyn's vision could not look upon, the second was that now instead of the fleshlings standing in the firing zone of his marksmen it was now his own troops whom stood upon that spot, the green discharge shorting out their bodies as they collapsed upon the cold metal floor.
The last thing that gained his attention was the fact that Trazyn's body had suffered from an unexpected explosion, the source of that explosion coming from the hand of the primarch whom now was looking at him with an expression of pure murder.
This was the last thing Trazyn had seen before his conscious engram within that body completely faded, as a groan echoed across his actual body back upon his original home world.
The elementians looked around in confusion as the chamber's non organic occupants were destroyed on the spot, the sounds of sparks and twisted metal echoed across the floor as Naruto stood within the center, his eyes looking upon the group with a hardened gaze.
'We don't have much time... lets move it' Naruto said, his form moving towards one of the corridor exits.
The rest of the crew members rushed to follow Naruto, while he blazed across various corridors and such.
A few necrons were in opposition to this group, yet Naruto smashed them aside with a burst of chakra, his face set in stone as he did not even show an ounce of caring, a static hung across the corridors as the sounds of a synthetic voice echoed across the tomb complex.
'Why I never... what disrespect you show me in my home. Why I should just..'
The synthetic voice shorted out as Naruto's eyes glowed with a fierce blue light, his chakra boring itself into the necrons electrical circuit, it's potency merely destroying the system with a dangerously caustic form of his chakra.
'We don't have much time... we must continue with all haste'
'Lord Naruto' one of the adepts asked, his voice panting as he tried to catch his breath 'How do you even know where we are?'
'I can't exactly explain it... I just have a gut feeling that what we seek is approaching soon' Naruto said, the group came across another corridor as Gauss blast echoed from down the edge, one of the astartes shinobi created a wall of earth to block the corridor as the group continued to run at a frantic pace.
They make their way into another chamber, this one seemed less exorbitant, yet the metallic surface and various power electrical pulses echoing across the room gave it a more practical feeling.
Naruto walked up towards a panel within the extensions, the grid like structure shone with a green pulse as there was no clear indication that the panel was anything of note.
Yet Naruto's fingers pushed random segments within the panel, eventually showing a projection of a particular structure that was within the center of this complex, it's shape was completely simplistic yet showed an utterly alien design, glyphs and such echoed across the projection as Naruto looked upon it with hurried pace.
'What is this?... is that what we seek?' asked one of the tech-priest, his robotic eyes archiving all that he was seeing as Naruto navigated the alien panel.
'No. This is something else, more of a control and monitoring room for the tombs systems. Yet if these readings are right, this part of the network hasn't been activated in a long time... but I'm fairly confident that the system is still able to be fired' Naruto said as his fingers activated other parts of the projection.
'And how are we to escape this far within the complex Naruto?' the same tech priest asked 'As you are well aware... we cannot simply move back towards the surface'
A few more projections showed themselves upon the screen, the glyphs upon it's surface were not anything the group could translate except Naruto but the rapid images that appeared gave them a moment of pause.
'We don't need to go back the way we came... cause I just disabled their jamming signals' Naruto said, as multiple red panels of glyphs showed themselves upon certain images.
The vox signal flickered back to life, as Inari's voice echoed across the channel.
'Can anyone hear me in there?... Big brother... anyone?' Inari asked across the vox, Naruto pressed his sender.
'Can read you now Inari' Naruto said, as a sigh of relief echoed across the channel.
'Big bro! Boy am I glad to hear your voice again... But I got some back news coming from the ground crews, it seems they had to exfiltrate cause of planetary shifts... what the heck is happening?'
'I don't have time to explain Inari... I need teleporting crews to get a lock on our location. The rest of the crew will return to the Will while I finish up down here'
'What?... by yourself? What the hell is going on?' Inari asked, his voice showing his surprise.
'I can't get this working if I'm too worried about anyone else getting in the crossfire... I need you to get them out of here... do you copy?'
'I... understood, we are beginning our lock on sequence, tell the crew to not move'
'Lord Naruto!' one of the senior tech-priest asked 'Let us assist you in this endeavor... perhaps we can help'
Naruto gave a sad look, as he turned around.
'You won't be able to help me... so it's safer if you all return to the Will... I'm sorry'
The crew could not reply as the crack of ozone filled the room, a thunderous discharge of energy showing the room was now cleared of all others except the primarch, Naruto gave a deep breath as his chakra pulsed, first into a soft blue light that slowly turned into a golden glow.
Naruto could feel his chakra pulse across his skin, as his vision pulled itself towards the main structure that was beyond the walls of blackstone which his chakra could sense by it's pulsating presence.
He sharpened his chakra, making it's surface the sharpest he could, taking a running stance he rushed towards the nearest wall.
The blackstone, which had stood for untold millennia, shattered against his sharpened chakra, walls beyond counting were blasted apart as even those necrons whom stood within could do nothing as their bodies were reduced to atoms, Naruto's form was roaring with potent chakra, as even the weaponry that was brought to bare could not penetrate it's golden luster.
Eventually he reached an open space of the underground tomb complex, his body floating above the surface as he took to the skies, his body achieving flight as his chakra continued to flow across his skin.
His form flashed across the darkness, a golden glow that shot across the stretch of space like a miniature star, his form flew towards a massive pylon structure that stretched itself beyond the underground chasm, his eyes looking on towards the base of the structure as a great crash echoed across the area as blackstone and metal were destroyed by his entry.
Naruto stood within the massive chamber housed in the middle of the complex, all around him were panels that glowed a green pulse, various glyphs and such echoed across the room as Naruto hurried on his task.
'A single pulse through the whole network should be enough to at least close the warp storms around us... I hope this doesn't knock out the astronomican' Naruto thought as his fingers went through various sequences that only he could understand, the outside of the pylon started to pulsate with a burst of energy, shooting up towards the surface where it will echo across the planets surface in a great bloom of green.
The Will of Fire watched as a massive energy beam blasted it's way out of the atmosphere of the planet, it's destination was to a place beyond their sight as a green pulse of energy flowed across their screen from the planets atmosphere below.
Across the galaxy, various planets flickered to life with a green pulse as this energy bloomed out from deep underneath their surfaces , the pulsating blast screamed across the void as many beams of green energy were fired in a chain reaction, many different planets across many sub-sectors echoed this green tide, yet those whom inhabited these worlds had no idea what was causing such a phenomena.
Warp storms that ran rampart were starting to lose their cohesion as the green energy flooded their surfaces, many of them were silenced by the energy as it rampaged across space and time to correct the anomaly of the warp. Only the most entrenched warp storms proved to have some immunity to the pulse, yet even these rifts were for but a moment disturbed, as the tether between reality and the otherworldly was being cut.
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'I don't think we are going to get out of this one mates'
Captain Howari Daishai said to his crew as they were now in the middle of an enemy splinter fleet, the crew knew that this mission was classified as suicidal, yet the restoration of communications to the forces of Isstvan was dependant on their success.
The small fleet of freighters were now within an area of space that made it all too noticeable to the traitor ships still within the Isstvan system to not detect them, yet this was the last set of transponder nodes they had to plant to achieve communications towards the planet.
Yet now, that plan was starting to fall apart at the sight of the enemy fleet.
'I got a count of twenty middle class vessels captain... all cruiser class or above... they... they have us locked on with their weapons!'
The ship jerked violently to the side as macro shells pummelled across it's shield, yet Howari knew that it was too late to back out now.
'What's the status of transponder Omega-99?' Howari said, even as others within the crew were scrambling around from the damage reports and other functions of the ship.
'Node is offline captain' one of his deckhands said 'Jaegers are pinned down from the enemy weapons to activate it'
Howari gave a curse, as this last node was the fail-safe for the system, without it the communications could be disabled by the enemy. Weighting the options in his head he had to give a sombre sigh, realising that the price of victory will be high for him and his men.
'Then we must give them the chance to succeed... vox officer, give me command of the system. Send this out as a wide range broadcast'
'….. As you command captain' the young officer said, as he performed the task required of him, Howari sat upon his seat as the officer gave him the okay, as the images of the other captains were on screen.
'Attention all crews... This is commanding captain Howari Daishai onboard the ship Last defiance'
The sound echoed across all the various places of all ships within the fleet, all whom were working paused as the voice of the captain echoed across all channels within the fleet.
'The traitors have discovered our ships orbiting near the Isstvan system. Unfortunately it is as we all had feared... we are outnumbered and horribly outgunned'
'Yet not all is lost, as we speak, out last transponder is being placed into position so as to be the final link of the bridge to our allies back at Isstvan V, yet the last node is within the battlefield we are currently rushing into'
'I know... that duty demands that I stand my ground for the mission... that I give everything I have to ensure the success of what we have been tasked with... yet I do not feel this is right'
'We have been out here... for months on end... only for this last moment to be our deaths... well I say no'
'I will fight... not for the mission... not for some preconceived notion of glory... or honour... no...I will fight for my brothers and sisters... those whom have bled and died so that we may live... I fight for those whom still remain... who still have a chance to exist, however small that chance it may be'
'I cannot guarantee your survival... I cannot guarantee that we will achieve victory... but I will do all within my power to ensure those who fight are given the respect they deserve!'
'If you wish to flee... then I will not stop you... you have all done soo much for everyone, you have served mankind more than what has asked of you. You all have the right to flee, to run from this battle, and I will not stop you. Instead I will give you my blessing, so that you may live to see a new tomorrow'
'Yet I will stand here... alone if I must, to help those whom still need my help... That is all that can be said... Captain Howari out'
The command deck was silent as Howari rubbed his head, even among the pounding of guns he did not regret his choice.
'Deck officer, notify and prepare the evacuation pods for those willing to retreat from this battle... the rest of you... the opportunity to run is still on the table'
Howari looked upon his crew, yet not a single person had left their position. Instead they sat down upon their seats as-well, a look of conviction upon their faces as they returned to their stations.
'With all due respect sir' Howari's first officer said 'We will stay right here. We will see this through to the end'
Howari gave a chuckle, realising that loyalty goes both ways when it comes to one's survival and comradery.
'Very well then. Lets give these bastards a good kicking. We'll make them regret the day they faced us!'
The crew shouted in agreement as the deck was laser focused upon the task at hand, across the ship the same scenario was being played out, with surprisingly many not leaving their post. Those that did asked their comrades for things to remember their tales and deeds this day. So that they would not be forgotten.
In the end, only one of the vessels had retreated upon the battlefield, as the rest plunged themselves into the impossible scenario. Come hell or high water, they will succeed the mission or die trying.
Jaeger squad delta was pinned down in a local asteroid field, enemy fighters pursued them across the void as the dangerous game of cat and mouse commenced around the battlefield, the discharge of macro ordinance made the situation even more deadly.
'Sir... we're stuck here until those guns are gone' Satsume said to her commander onboard the jaeger Valiant.
'And we're soo close to where we need to put this' commander Harper said, referring to the object grasped within the jaegers hands, months of painful deployments, near close calls and harrowing moments all lead up to this moment, which was slipping out of the strike commanders hands.
Suddenly the sounds of munitions blasting across the void echoed out beyond their position, taking a careful look outside of cover, the Valiant could see that the freighter fleet was engaging the enemy, each ship diving headstrong into the armada of enemy craft.
They were buying them time.
'Delta squad! Lets move it! We don't have much time' Harper bellowed as the ten strong jaeger squad activated their boosters towards the objective point.
Despite the valiant service of the freighters, the enemy was superior in weaponry, the sound of firing decks exploding across the smaller ships echoed across the void of space, yet their tenacity was legendary as they gave everything they had. Jaegers and fighter craft battled across the void as harrowing dogfights and the sounds of lasers and munitions detonated themselves across the nothingness, yet this did not stop delta squad on their mission.
A lucky macro shell from one of the freighters scored a hit on one of the enemy fleets reactors, causing a chain explosion that wiped out three traitor ships, yet in that same moment the freighter suffered catastrophic decompression as a volley of traitor fire pummelled her internal core, resulting in thousands of lives lost.
For every ship the freighters had taken out, one would be lost from their own.
Eventually, the Last defiance was the last of the ships still functioning, yet showed major damage across the board. Her starboard side was wiped out of weaponry, while her shields were non functional. Captain Howari gave a solemn sigh, realising that all their efforts might have amounted to nothing.
'Captain! I have confirmation that the communication grid is functional! The fleet has received the reply signal!' his dust communication officer had said, at this Howari gave a small smile.
'Then our mission is complete... but we are not getting out of here'
The command deck knew that this was going to happen, as part of the distraction sacrifices had to be taken.
'Helmsman... set a course for the enemy armada! All ahead full! Have the technicians begin to overload the warp drive and main reactor. If we are to die then we will make it count!'
The Last Defiance sped across the void, making use of the destroyed wreckage of it's previous members to shelter itself from the oncoming barrage of enemy ordinance, her helmsman using every trick in the book to give them a few more minutes of time.
The pounding barrages of high explosive ordinance along with the roar of enemy lasers echoed across the final stretch of emptiness as the ship screamed headlong into it's death, yet the enemy were not expecting such a brazen tactic.
The ship found itself in the middle of a dangerous crossfire, as multiple decks reported catastrophic destruction and decompression, yet even with such a certainty, the engineers unleashed her final gambit.
'Ohh blessed machine! Make your fury heard through the great void! In the name of our Omnissiah! Sing your last Defiance!' The tech-priest screamed as the reactor started to suffer an unstoppable critical meltdown.
Even as the fire started to escape it's bounds, as red warning sirens blared across the reactor rooms, the priest still shouted.
'Praise be to the machine!'
The atomic fire blasted across the void, striking at least a dozen of the enemy vessels, the blast itself was the equivalent of a star being born within the void of space. It's detonation wiped out the closest five ships while others suffered cataclysmic damage.
And then, space collapsed as the horrors of the warp was unleashed.
A singularity formed, it's destination was the hellscape of the warp as four more ships were pulled into the gravity well towards damnation, the crews unable to do anything as the atomic blast crippled their engines, preventing them from escaping their horrible fate.
In the end, ten out of the twenty ships were lost from the enemy fleet, with many others suffering major damage across the board, yet from the loyalist forces not a single ship was left surviving, the enemy fleet left the battlefield, finding safe planets on which to repair their now crippled fleet. While the last of the jaegers that were left upon the battlefield stayed in the shadows of destroyed wreckage, their occupants looking on sombrely at the heroic sacrifices made this day.
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'Captain Jaune! We are receiving a priority message from the dust network sir!'
Jaune looked on with wide eyes, realizing that some of the fleet had managed to survive the massacre, already he had rushed out from his quarters, his fast pace going towards the communication hub.
The place was abuzz with activity, as dozens of astartes were trying their best to clear up the signal and notify the other legions upon the planet of this remarkable change of fortune.
'Sir' one of the communications officers said, giving a small salute to Jaune 'I have tried to clean up the signal as best I can, but it's not great with the restrictions of equipment we have'
Jaune gave a small nod as he listened into the dust message, the heavy sound of static permeating across the signal.
'T̸͉̰͋̈́h̷̫̑̚i̵͕̖͛s̶̡̑̊ ̷̥́̔i̴͙̱͝ṡ̸͚̐ ̵̦̒Ċ̶̯à̵̺͜p̷̝͕̄t̸̡͔̀ȧ̸̤͆ȉ̷̝n̶̝̕ ̸̙̿ Mochigawa to ā̶̰̖̿ǹ̵̤y̷̗͊ ̸̥͑ͅl̵̙̑ó̴͎y̶̫̎à̷͖̰ḽ̸͎̀i̴̘̍̈́s̸͇̀t̸̹̄͌ forces on this channel. C̶͈̿̆h̷͇́͊͜a̷̙̰̽l̴̗̏͒l̶̮̙̓e̵̱̋͊n̸̤͌g̴̲̜̔e̷̻̣͐ ̷̳̏̕c̵̪͙͐͛o̵̰͎͝d̶̨̑̾e̸͔̔͊:̴̯̹̀̅ Mugen, I repeat, ẗ̷͎̺͆h̷̟̀i̷̧̍̔s̸̯͆ ̵͍̽̇i̴͎̤͌ș̶́̓ͅ Captain Mochigawa to any l̸̹̈o̶͔͊͘y̸̦͗a̵̩͈̐l̴͙͔̇ì̴̩͔̚s̵̰̄t̸̙̒ ̷̧̦̽f̵̹̖̃̕o̵͖̅͝r̸͍̕ͅc̵̬̾͝è̷̘̻s̶̨̥̈́ on this c̴̛͉͂h̷͎̣̀̀ạ̶͕́n̵͛ͅn̶̪̊͜e̴̫͋l̴̨͛͘.̸̢̧̏̀ ̴̧̣͗̚C̵͚͘h̸͔͆ͅȧ̸̧ḻ̶̉l̸̮̲͒e̵̬̱̎̋n̵̰̆g̶̙͛ḛ̸͋ code Mugen'
Jaune took the transmitter, noticing the specific code used in the transmission even with the heavy static interference.
'This is Captain Jaune Arc, 6th company, reply code: Mushi. I repeat, this is Captain Jaune Arc, 6th company, reply code: Mushi'
'Jaune? So your c̸̼͈̑a̶͍̐͆p̸̫̭͝t̶̨͆͆ą̴͉̽͊i̴̲̇̾ṇ̴͐́ ̸̪̅́ṇ̷́͐o̷͖̚ẅ̸͚͖́... We are holding out f̴̨̄ȍ̷̥͊ụ̸̪͊͘r̴̘͛ ̵̛̲́s̶̨̐u̵̼̕b̴̼̀s̷̲͊ē̸̳̹̓c̷̦̔̚t̵̤̜̍ó̷̙ŗ̵̔̏s̶͚̼̀͠ ̵̧̙͝͝ả̵͕̱̒w̸̰̔ͅa̷͇͒͜ỳ̶̳̲̍ from Isstvan V, but we can't proceed o̷̢̢͆n̶̩̟̾͂w̶̞̦̋͌a̶̖͂r̷͓͒͝d̷̟̦̽̇ ̵̖̅ù̶̩n̷̹̘̒̀t̵̜͌̇į̷̗̔l̶͈̻̒̏ ̸̩̣̒ẉ̵̈e̷͚͋̈́͜ ̵̥̼̃̇ḧ̶͖́̚ả̸̝v̷̯͕͗e̸̖͌͗ been given tactical data on our s̷̩͓͗ť̵̳a̴̹̪̍g̵͜͝ḯ̷̫̈́n̵̤͚̈́g̶̫̖̅ ̷̖̈́͠p̶̺̋o̸͕̞͊ǐ̶͖̕ͅn̷̲͈̍̎t̵̥̆͜s̴̨̄̈́.̵̛̤̼ Please advise'
'Understood, we will commence restoration of comms ground-side. Standby until communications are restored. Over'
'Ù̴̗n̴̟̳͊́d̷̛͈̟̓e̸̫͆̌r̵̬̈́š̸̨̥t̷͔͌̂ͅọ̵͛͜o̷͍̩͝d̶͈̥̅̓.̶͚̼̃ Mochigawa out'
Jaune gave a sigh of relief, after months of anticipation the fleet were able to establish communication to the planet. It seems that the plan their primarch had establish was actually working.
'Captain... How are we going to establish comms? It would require our forces to deploy a communication hub somewhere upon the surface'
Jaune through for a moment, yet realized that maybe the solution would not be so difficult.
'Get me a current list of Runner squads. Preferably those with a high success rates'
A manifest of current runners across the planet was placed into the captains hands, as he scrolled across the surface he paused as a particular pair of runners fell upon his vision, he pointed his fingers to the squad.
'These two' Jaune said, his tone final.
'Are you sure sir? I mean the pair have an impressive track record yet there are more experienced crews that would be able to accomplish the mission requirements'
'I trust these two. They are close friends and I know they will get the mission done. Send out a dust message, have Sergeant Blake and Sun report to our barracks by 2200 hours'
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A month had gone by rather quickly, yet Sasuke was finally rid of his boredom.
Konrad's trial by his brothers was a rather amusing state of affairs, he had not seen such blood-lust in a single room by the primarchs for a long time, yet even while within chains, Konrad was still rather masterful at manipulating his brothers to the path of Ire.
'Has Lion El'johnson truly wanted to grasp at this pitiful display of power? To think you wished to be offered the reins that Horus had been given for yourself... are you so shallow? Do you really think you would have had the guile and charisma to control us? Yet you couldn't even control this little sector with your authority... you sent millions of lives to the slaughter for nothing, destroyed countless families for nothing... truly, you would be much more helpful as just a wild animal'
Lion had to be restrained by Guilliman and Sanguinius, as his eyes projected an aura of pure blood-lust upon the deranged brother of theirs, yet Konrad merely gave a vicious cackle, finding his brothers conflict to be the most entertaining display.
'Lion' Guilliman asked, after he had finally calmed down 'What was he talking about? Millions to the slaughter?'
'Ohh... did he not tell you Guilliman?' Konrad said, his smile sinister 'Our older brother here virus bombed a few of your worlds without your knowledge... all to flush me out of hiding... and the funny part was I was not even there'
It was Guilliman whom had now seen red, as his un-gauntlet fist impacted the lions jaw, sending the primarch onto the floor in shock, Sanguinius held back Guilliman as he shouted profanities, anger upon his voice as he looked upon the lion with outrage.
'Lion!' Sanguinius said, his voice serious 'You are no longer needed here in this judgment, I see now that your presence here is merely an Ire for the others within this room... you are dismissed!'
'That is right little Lion' Konrad said mockingly 'run along and let the grown ups talk'
Are you done squawking Night Haunter?' Sasuke said, voicing his presence within the room, to the surprise of the three other primarchs.
'How... how long have you been there Sasuke?' Sanguinius asked, not being able to sense the captain for the entire duration of the trial, Lion and Guilliman were in the same state of mind while Konrad flinched as the captain looked at him with those blood red eyes.
'I have been here the whole time... I can be discrete when I need to be... more to the point, you are rather confident for a man that is going to be sentenced to death Konrad' Sasuke said, walking up towards the bound primarch.
'I know that I will not die here... you might have changed my fate for but a moment little bird, but now I can see my death again... clear as day'
The lion paused, his mind grinding at a frantic pace as he heard his brothers words, his eyes widened as he realized something important.
'What do you mean you can see your death Konrad?' Lion asked, his tone suspicious
Guilliman and Sanguinius were going to reprimand Lion, yet his question rang within their minds as well.
'I can see it, knowing that my death is not here means that nothing you do will change that... hehe'
Sanguinius paused, realizing that if Konrad is saying the truth, then surely his death has not changed as well, meaning that Terra still yet stands.
Using his gift, Sanguinius peered into the future of his inevitable death, seeing that familiar sight of his brother's talon and the flash of light, Sanguinius concluded that what his brother had just said means that all is not yet lost.
'He speaks the truth brothers.' Sanguinius said, 'I still see my fate as shown to me, his words carry merit, Terra yet still stands'
The revelation from their brother changed the tone of the room, now the priority to return to Terra had become absolute within their minds, yet the matter of Konrad still managed to persist among them.
'Then what are we to do with this traitor' Guilliman said, as his scowling look pierced the night haunter, even as his brother looked at him with an insane smile.
'He will be a prisoner upon my vessel' Sanguinius said, shocking the other two 'If he says it is fate that he stands upon Terra, then I will ensure that it will be the last thing he would ever accomplish'
Now, as the fleet made it's way to Molech, a distant planet that Sanguinius had seen in his visions, Sasuke had to hold back a chuckle at the absurdity of it all.
He had seen Konrad being traded about as though he was currency, Daemons whom tried to corrupt Sanguinius and the loyalist forces upon the planet and even a moment of betrayal that would have ended in disaster for the loyalist fleet.
Yet through all of that, the sight of the massive warp portal before the fleet graced their sights, with Terra being upon the other side.
'It seems that Horus expected us to make our way here' Sanguinius said upon his flagship, as the sights of a Heretic armada was blocking their path to the other side.
'I do not think they would just let our forces make way towards Terra, the firepower would prove to be a most suicidal approach' Guilliman said, voicing his frustration at seeing Terra but being unable to simply cross over.
'Perhaps... the best we can hope to accomplish is to distract the fleet, so that a splinter group can make safe landing upon Terra's soil' The lion said, his tone grim yet hoping that he would be able to make his way through the gate.
'Indeed' Sanguinius said, 'I have seen the fates here, myself and those who's fates are tied upon Terra must make the journey' Sanguinius said, his eyes gave a resigned look as though he was privy to information that his brothers did not know.
'Well you better organize fast... enemy vessels are on approach' Lion said as his forces started saturating the approach with their weapons.
The fighting was fierce, as three legion fleets plus the added fourth legion splinter fleet were concentrated on breaking through the blockade, munitions and ordinance flying across the void of space as firing decks were pummeled with horrific explosions.
Sasuke took his position beside Sanguinius, his vessels buying time as they pushed onward towards the gap, while Lion and Guilliman's fleets provided them time to cross the death zone. Multiple alarms blared across Sasuke's vessel, this being named Amaterasu, yet she stood strong even through the storm of fire, others within his company also made their way through with the blood angels fleet.
The transition felt almost surreal to Sasuke, As though his body had been submerged into a liquid that in a word felt ethereal, his body and mind felt disjointed as he felt something else, something that he could not describe.
Yet the transition was merely brief, as the light of Sol bathed Sasuke's face, yet that was merely the beginning of their struggle towards Terra.
The enemy armada responded by trying to unloading a hailstorm of fire towards the warp breach, yet thanks to the efforts of their allies from beyond the warp portal, and the sacrifices of a few of their ships, the majority of the loyalist blood angels and shadow foxes had made their way above Terra's atmosphere, where other loyalist from the Imperial fist, the first and third company of the shadow foxes,the white scars legion, the legio custodes and sisters of silence, elements of the loyalist adepts of the mechanicum and the countless ranks of the solar auxiliary were already embedding themselves upon it's surface.
Sanguinius called all of them to meet up with fleet elements as they made their way planet side to assist those forces whom were preparing for outright war.
'I guess it is time for us to make our entrance' Sasuke said, as Konohamaru, now a lieutenant serving alongside his captain gave a chuckle 'I wonder if Garra is still mad about that little error in logistics I gave him?'
'Honestly Sasuke, I would be more concerned about Kurosuchi. She can hold a fine grudge and last I remember you did not give her any help when she requested it during the Thralax campaign'
'….well shit' Sasuke mumbled, as Konohamaru merely laughed as he watched his captain start to sweat at the fury of one of his peers.
It was that point that a green pulse echoed across the void of space, to the shock and surprise of all upon Terra, psykers across the world gave groans of pain as their connection to the warp was temporarily cut off, while the light of the astronomican flickered briefly before it's light shone once again.
Status reports and explanations about what that anomaly was were flying around the vox channels and different sectors of Terra, with some of the primarchs even questioning what the hell had just happened. Sasuke merely gave a small chuckle as he realized that this event was only able to be done by a single,unique individual.
'Just what the hell did you do Naruto?' Sasuke muttered under his breath as Terra and the Sol system prepared itself for the upcoming battle.
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Naruto looked upon the completion glyph, a relieved sigh upon his face as he could feel the warp storm start to fade, the distant feeling of his father's astronomican pulling upon his senses even from this part of the galaxy.
The sounds of multiple steps echoed across the control room, as he turned towards a corridor exiting out of the room and pushed his body to move, volleys of gauss fire echoed across the room, the marching of countless machine steps echoed across the whole complex, yet Naruto continued to push onward, finding a way to return to the surface.
He entered a grand chamber, where hundreds of necron soldiers looked up towards his golden form, in sync they raised their weaponry towards the young primarch, whom looked at them with indifference, yet standing behind the group, the look of Trazyn was one of extreme annoyance.
'You... do you have any Idea what you just did?!' Trazyn bellowed, as his eyes looked upon Naruto, his face glowed with a green pulse yet somehow Naruto could tell that his face would have been scowling had it been possible.
'I did what was needed for us to get back to our home'
'You did much more than that little old one! That little stunt with the pylon network is going to start off the reawakening protocols early! Do you have any Idea of the calamity you have unleashed upon this galaxy?! All that history! All those races whom have history to still be archived! All of it wasted!' Trazyn bellowed, as frustration echoed from his voice modulator.
'I fail to see how that is a problem for humanity at the moment' Naruto said, his tone indifferent to the frustrations echoed from Trazyn 'Saving my family and friends in the now is my highest priority'
'Why you little... arrogant... ignoramus!'
Gauss fire echoed across the room, yet Naruto disappeared in a flash of yellow, as hundreds of necron bodies exploded into fragments of necrodermis and living metal, Trazyn had but a second before his body was reduced to atoms, as Naruto continued to push through the heavy enemy resistance.
'Will' The necron who started that sentence was destroyed as Naruto's fist drove into it's body, collapsing the figure as it disappeared into a green light.
'You' Another figure was blown apart as a sphere of chakra destroyed their body
'Stop' Naruto did not give this a second of hesitation as it's body was ripped apart
'Doing' This figure was blown to bits as Naruto sent a truth seeking orb towards the necrons body
'That!' the necron figure did not even have a chance to add onto his speech as Naruto blasted them apart with an explosive kunai from one of his pouches.
Naruto continued through the various corridors and such, destroying any resistance he had encountered, until he started to see direct sunlight filtering through the access vents in the tomb complex, this indication of his progress to the surface giving him a brief smile.
Naruto could feel that his transition to the surface was coming soon as the air was starting to become less stale by the minute, yet he still was on high alert as he expects Trazyn to not let him escape that easily.
Entering a massive chamber that had seen better days, Naruto was on high alert as the sounds of enemy fire or even the enemy walking was non existent, usually he would not be counting himself so fortunate as centuries of battle have hardened him on the rule of luck and such.
Taking care not to emit too much noise, the primarch was avoiding any particular place within the chamber that would be classified as a trap, yet as he continued upon the chamber, his sense of danger was beginning to scream at him that this felt like a trap.
The walls of the chamber pulsed suddenly with green light, Naruto did not have any time before the weight of his Armour exponentially increased by a factor of fifty, he was forced to his knee's as he could feel even the power servo's within his amour were grinding against the sudden increase of gravity.
'Honestly... you are a persistent little twat aren't you?' Trazyn said as his new body walked out from a hidden door just to Naruto's right, he walked before Naruto, whom used his strength to look up at the necron in his face, his eyes holding back rage.
'Let me go Necrontyr' Naruto said, as he tried to pull his arms up from the floor, yet Trazyn merely looked at him with a silent stare.
'Twenty percent. That is how much of the population of this tomb you have "destroyed". Do you understand the gravity of what you had just done?!' Trazyn had said as his voice showed the slightest bit of anger 'I have had the local lords grilling at me for the destruction of his forces. So no! I will not just "let you go"'
Naruto's eyes widened as Trazyn pulled out an object from behind his body, it was an intricate object, it's multi shaped dimensions were something completely alien, yet it started to pulse a cascading glow of green through various cracks and openings upon the object.
'Judging by your look... you know exactly what this is... good to know. See what your new prison is before this tesseract solves the issue of your continued disruptions' Trazyn said as the labyrinth started to unfold itself, the inner part of the object cracked with untamed power as Naruto could feel the pull of the object, it's targeting protocols pulling him towards what looked like a singularity.
'At least take heart little Naruto. You will be preserved in eternity. Indeed, I will ensure you are one of the greatest pieces within my museum'
Naruto could only scream as his form was pulled into the singularity, his form fading as the labyrinth closed once more into it's inactive form, the green pulse humming within the room as Trazyn looked upon his prize.
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'They've breached the first wall! Drive them back!'
The ramparts lining the first outer wall of Vierra echoed with the sounds of blades and dust powder discharges, all across the wall the hordes of the damned echoed in cackling laughter, rejoicing in a slaughter of crimson that brought satisfaction to their demented minds.
Winter stood upon the ramparts, her blade swift as her energy was being conserved from the prolonged fighting, it had been months since the enemy had attacked Vierra, yet by her estimations this was the seventh major wave offensive the enemy has thrown into the meat grinder.
'Hold the line! Hold! Do not let them take ground!' Winter bellowed, as orders and commands were echoed across the battle-zone, firing lines of men and women unleashed volley after volley into the enemy, as even the pounding of artillery ordinance echoed across the entrenched positions, many on both sides suffered massive casualties as the city forces were forced to even fire within their own breaches, something to at least slow the grinding advance.
'Incoming!' Winter had but a moment as a violent blast blew her down from her standing position, the shock wave making her impact upon the rampart walls, her head was dazed as her vision was blurry, a deafening ringing echoed in her ears as small amounts of blood dripped out from her ear canals, yet her sight would re correct itself in what felt to her like minutes yet was mere seconds.
When her vision cleared, she wished she didn't see what was before her.
The enemy had brought machines, these twisted abominations of flesh and steel. Great cannons mounted themselves upon their shoulders as fire and brimstone burned from seals and cracks upon their disjointed plates. They towered over man and women alike, as fire burst froth from openings upon what looked like twisted faces, the fire burning with a heat and intensity that those caught in it's unfortunate path were reduced to aches.
Yet the thing that made her heart froze was not the burning of the bodies, it was the inhuman screams as specters of people, of those whom were disintegrated by the fire continued to scream of terror, as their projections were sucked into the gaps within the armor, the fire within blowing ever hotter.
'Commander! What do we do?!' One of the new recruits, this one not even past the age of ten said as they could not stop the shaking or the tears within their eyes. Winter had to act fast before the line was overrun by these machines, least they share the same fate.
'Reform ranks! Form firing lines and light those machines up!' Winter bellowed, as her orders restored some form of order within the chaos and madness.
Volleys started to pound into the machines, the sheer volume of laser and dust explosions making the machines stagger as rounds found their mark upon the armor, some parts of the plate started to shed off and break apart as the energy was concentrated. Machine after machine started to succumb to the sheer firepower poured into them as their internal gears and parts suffered catastrophic damage. Yet even with this sudden burst of firepower, the line was starting to falter.
A sudden discharge of explosive shells pummeled themselves into the enemy line, as the sounds of gravity pulses echoed across the lines themselves, behind the faltering defenders came massive figures, tanks that brought a sense of relief to the entrenched city fighters as parts of the enemy started to stagger backwards from the sudden inclusion of these colossal sized machines.
Banegliders! We have help!' echoed some of the younger and even some veterans, as the sounds of cheers echoed across the trench lines.
Behind these machines, rumbling forth into the breaches, the mighty baneblades of the city guard rumbled into the enemy lines, blood and guts being crushed as the massive house sized machines discharged ordinance that shook the ground and sent many within the enemy's line running.
'Elementians! Do not fear the enemy! For we stand with you this day!' the bellows of the speakers from the baneblade and banegliders echoed across the line, the echo of explosive ordinance blasted entrenched enemies, leaving nothing but scorched ruins and blood, as the regiment of super heavy platforms continued their offensive advance, the split forces of the city guard re grouped and followed behind.
'Commander Schnee!' a nearby Baneglider hatch opened as a grizzled face veteran popped their body out of the hatch, giving a formal salute to Winter relief echoed in her heart as she had seen a familiar face.
'Adriath... thank humanity... you are a sight for sore eyes' Winter said, as the aches upon her body forced her to take refuge upon the armor of the mighty machine.
'It is good you are still alive Maam. I bring news from the west. The enemy have fallen back, it seems our push with the armor company has made them falter in their attack. With your permission Maam, we wish to continue our advance and break their lines'
Winter gave pause at the command request, yet something within her made her hesitate at such a bold action.
'Negative... I have a feeling that it is merely a trap, we need your armored firepower to hold what we still have'
'Understood Maam' Adriath said, giving a formal salute 'I shall relay your orders across the unit. May humanity be with you madam'
'As with you Adriath' Winter said, as the company of super heavies continued to pound at the entrenched attackers.
The fighting would continue for the next three weeks, as the wave would rally and charge forth into the defenders while the defenders would pound into them consistently. Neither side truly faltered in their task as the trenches and battlements were bathed in the blood of the dead.
Looking at the reports from the various parts of the city from her temporary quarters, Winter had to give a sobering though at the lives she lost from this recent wave.
'It just doesn't stop' she muttered, perplexed at how the enemy can keep this form of attrition warfare for so long without the slightest hint of their lines even faltering in numbers, in fact; according to her reports and scouting operations she had been given reports that their numbers were actually swelling, becoming something she had never thought possible.
'I don't know why... but my gut is telling me we haven't seen the worst of this yet... I wished we had help'
Meanwhile, in the pitch darkness under the earth, the sounds of thousands of strikes echoed across the dark, as wisp of light shined to the sounds of grunts and moans.
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Uzushio was barely holding.
The city itself had been bombarded by unrelenting firepower, daemons beyond counting flooded the skies as the marching of world eaters and bloodletters cut bloody paths into the city. Shadow foxes held their points, jutsu and ammunition blasting into an enemy that felt endless.
Yet they still held out, even when the end was coming.
'Stand your ground! We must hold them back!' screamed the veterans of the legion, even as their positions were being overwhelmed by punishing volley fire, masonry and battlements were being reduced to almost nothing as crazed berserkers rushed into falterings within the lines that pulled more from other positions of strength.
The moment the battle turned for the worst was the moment eight massive figures, these being on wings of blood and fire, ripped into the defenders with massive axes that were the length of two astartes.
'Fall back!, fall back to the second position!' bellowed one of the lieutenants within the company, as others within the legion gave their lives to stand as the rearguard. Yet even with such a retreat given the line was being destroyed by the massive daemons that rushed into opportunities to continue their slaughter.
This would continue, until the armory reserves, these being Sicaran's accelerator autocannons and god-hammer pattern lascannons from land raiders in support along with spartan assault tanks,added their support into the rampaging daemons, such firepower was able to eventually fell them as they were banished in a tide of hellfire.
Yet the damage had been done, the companies that held their positions started to falter and break at the seams. As the loss of life was dramatically reducing their company's ability to react and pressure the enemy force from advancing, forcing them to fall back towards the city center.
Meanwhile, within area's of the city, cultist of khorne offered blood sacrifices as pools of blood were being accumulated across the city proper, the blood itself started to shift and change, a pungent sulfur smell started to echo from them as across the enclosed city the fumes brought satisfaction to those whom committed these vile deeds while the defenders were starting to be inebriated. As a final touch; the cultist started to plant explosive charges within the puddles of transfigured blood, as they continued this ritualistic action, even during the intense fighting, these cultist continued their work headless of the shifting battle or the sounds of gunfire echoing across the city itself.
It took a few hours, yet by then the covering of blood painted the city in a darkened crimson colour as a noxious sulfur smell seeped itself into every part of the city, yet the defenders still stood their ground even as other attackers continued to pour into the city, knowing what was to happen next.
The leader of these cultist, a brute of a man who's muscles were enhanced with unholy power, presented a single device to his master. The figure was a massive daemon, his eyes holding an incurable anger as multiple spikes jutted from it's head, it's colossal wings burned with a fire as it's Armour, once suited for a massive figure in his mortal life, now strained to hold back the unbound muscles rippling under his daemonic skin.
'My lord Angron. The blood pools have been sanctified, the explosives to trigger his fury have been placed and are armed, the detonator is now yours, as it by right'
Angron looked upon the city, the butchers nails pounded into his mind a fury that was agonizing, yet even in this moment he bared it's pain to look upon the city itself, he saw his forces still pouring into the city as the sights of explosions happened where the elementians were still resisting the inevitable slaughter.
'You... Naruto... were given everything...your home; liberated. Your friends; safe. Your family...you were given everything by that man...' he started saying, his rough throat giving an angry undertone as his head started to pound even harder.
'Yet I... I was given nothing... instead all that I knew... all that I cared for... was taken away from me... and all that I have left is these... nails... pounding in my head... unable to stop...'
'The pain...the pain is agonizing... yet I cannot stop it... it is always there... taunting me... making me just soo... angry!'
'Why?! Why is it that you were given everything I had just wanted... why is it that I suffer while you are given these luxuries! And now... now you will be given the gift of progeny... the gift of life'
Angron bellowed a roar of rage, as he looked upon the fires he unleashed upon what his brother had created, what he had been denied this entire time. He raged until his throat could no longer scream, yet the fire never left his eyes, beyond the pounding pain of the nails, beyond the hatred and anger within his soul, he was still hurting at what he was denied.
He grasped the detonator, his eyes open to what he was about to commit, as he could feel the gaze of his god upon his shoulders, judging him.
'For what you have... I will gift you this pain... I will gift you this hatred... let it fester... let it burn within your soul until nothing but ashes remain... and know that this gift is mine to give.'
'Brother. Feel but a fraction of my pain... and know true hatred'
A simple press of the detonator was all that Angron had done to Uzushio.
Yet the city was bathed in a fire that was apocalyptic in scale, from the blood soaking the city came forth a fire that consumed all within it's path, the defenders had but moments until the flames reduced them to ash, world eaters within the path were also not spared from the flames as their bodies were also reduced to ashes. Buildings, fortifications, even the very water itself around the island was not spared from the fire, all of it burned.
Flash boiled water exploded in apocalyptic burst as the chemical compounds within were forcibly split apart, a firestorm erupted across the island as the heat melted even ceramite and rockcrete into molten slag.
Within the shelters, Hanako felt her lungs burning, as the blaze from the outside found it's way within, she could only look on as her children fell to asphyxiation, as the very air itself was being pulled out from the shelter and replaced with searing heat. Fire soaked blood started to seep itself into the ventilation and emergency air vents as people collapsed from the blaze and it's noxious fumes.
Hanako could do nothing but hold her charges, as they started to fall into a sleep in which they would not wake.
Meanwhile, Angron felt the pounding of the nails ease off as he watched the firestorm before him, as a sense of relief reached what was left of his soul.
All the while, Uzushio burned.
Well hello there people.
Hope you all have been rather busy.
Another chapter, another part of the story unfolded for your viewing.
This was a rather annoying chapter to think and write about, especially when it revolves around what plot-lines I want to forward and such, can't just focus on one part otherwise the context would be rather off.
Anyway, until the next time.