The Lieutenants, Sergeant and Colonel burst out of the building, to the sight of the Severan and East Imp forces engaged in close quarters not far from the temple. The ground was pockmarked by the craters left by enemy Artillery and bodies littered them, both allied and hostile. Rosie waved at the team before shouldering her SMG and putting rounds downrange. The spit-fire of the Sub-Machine Gun pinned down a squad of East Imps clad in black armor and Severan elite Shock Troops belonging to the Legate.
Matt took a knee, raising his bolt pistol and firing as other officers and NCOs joined him. Captain Varrot ordered, "Lieutenants Landzaat and Gunther, get to your vehicles! Colonel, Captain Al-Ahab's tanks are engaged with a battalion-sized enemy armored corps, but we've got word something big managed to slip away! Corporal Wulfstan almost had the enemy commander in her sights before this whole mess started!"
"How did so many of the enemy's forces make it here!?" He asked, putting two bolt rounds through the chest of one of the Hellgun-wielding enemy soldiers.
"Must've snuck past the tanks while they were dealing with the advance force!" Rosie supposed, looking at the kid, "Listen, kiddo, get to your Superheavy! If anything, it's gonna be helping us stop the shit the Imps and their allies are throwing at us!" She poked up again and squeezed the trigger. Rounds struck and bounced off of the carapace of another Dominate Shock Trooper.
She watched as his head burst like a pimple, his neck a cauterized stump, then turned to see the Kasrkin. Amy's company of boys and girls had appeared out of thin air, their Hellguns, plasma rifles and flamers belching burning promethium and ionized gas. The dusty air caught the scent of ozone as the area ahead was filled with so much energy weapon fire, parts of the sand were glassed, gashed like those they'd seen on their advance to the temple. The Colonel patted Rosie on the shoulder
To their right, there was a steep cliff that held up one of the temple's terraces. To their left and rear was ruins scattered amongst a wide open stretch of desert leading up to a ramp that climbed to the temple. Ruins useful as cover and maybe as tank traps, if improvised, for defense against whatever enemy Armored unit may have attempted a breakthrough. The few tanks they had around, including the Destroyer Tank Hunter Cadian Menace, were assisting with halting the advancing division-size force not far behind the forward Spear the enemy had sent.
Infantry, meanwhile, remained engaged in a brutal melee, exchanging las and hardshot with what was clearly the cream of the enemy's crop. Amy drew her power sword and called out "FOR CADIA!" as she vivisected a Severan bastard at his midsection. She drew a plasma pistol she had attached to her belt, then squeezed. An angry blue beam cut the air, vaporizing the top half off an East Imp that was charging Rosie.
Alvin and Yrine followed her. Despite not being kasrkin, the two were well-versed in the Major's up-close-and-personal maneuvers. She'd picked them herself and would've taken them in as Kasrkin if the grox-shit hadn't hit the proverbial fan back on Cadia. Yrine was a fierce warrior, for being so petite. Her bayonet glistened in scarlet in the burning sun of the desert, stained by the blood of three separate False Imp and Severan soldiers.
Not to be outdone, Alivn let loose a continuous, staccato shot-blast from his Agripinaa-Pattern Shotgun, a gift from an Elysian that had landed on Cadia with an Inquisitorum team in their early days. The high-caliber flechette rounds tore through armor and sinew and bone with disregard, painting the sands below a deep red and watering the soils of this damnable place with the enemy's own blood.
He pushed his sister aside as a Hotshot Long-Las's round snapped past them, striking a soldier from their squad, Reves, the team's heavy weapon spec. Alvin swore, then said "Rocketeer's down!" as he slammed a slug-shot into his weapon's open chamber. He aimed, with dedication and purpose of death, then fired. The gauge of the weapon was unknown to him, but he still felt the massive kick in his shoulder. The slug-shot tore through the air, slamming into an East Imp and pretty much tearing his left arm completely off.
"I got the launcher!" Yrine called out, dashing from out of her cover to recover the weapon under the protection of Hellguns and the return-fire of the enemy's Las and stubbers. She dived, rolled and grabbed the massive tubular device, slinging it and its ammunition, three Krak Rockets and two HEs, onto her back. Atop the small cliff, an enemy Leman Russ appeared. She took a knee, grabbed the weapon off her back and checked if it was loaded.
A high-ex shell from the Leman Russ MBT the enemy had managed to bring forth had struck incredibly close to the trench of a detachment of Squad 7 members. The return fire was two lance-tips filled for Armor Busting. Largo was leading the small AT detachment after they'd expended their rockets. The team climbed out of the cover and went up to join Alicia, who was firing her Gallian-M4 into a crowd of Imps.
"Helluva morning, eh, Sarge!?" Largo quipped, garnering a sarcastic laugh from Alicia.
She remarked "You're a sergeant too, Largo!"
"Heh!" The man smirked proudly, shouldering the launcher after reloading it and aiming for the enemy MBT. He loosed the tip at the enemy, a contrail of smoke evaporating as the acrid scent of the Ragnite propellant filled their nostrils. The AT lance's tip struck the enemy tank's sides, cutting the track links and halting the vehicle in its spot, side exposed to the Cadians' own AT.
The cannon thundered before the vehicle's side blew out into a flower of shattered steel. A cone of fire belched high, shooting the commander's hatch high as ammunition cooked off. The hastily-fired High-Ex shell arched high, striking a wall of stone behind the Gallians and washing them with sharp chips of stone, one of which gave Alicia a nasty gash just below her eye. She swore to herself, seeing blood dripping onto the sand. Largo looked to the girl and asked "Sarge, you alright!?"
"Just a scratch..." She murmured, wiping the blood away, "It'll heal!"
"I'm sure it will, now, c'mon! Let's go find the others!" The man ordered. He looked to the elderly woman hauling the second AT Lance of the platoon, then said "Yoko! I want you to find Jane and the others and bring them up!"
"You got it, Largo!" She nodded, smiling and arranging her blue bandana. The woman hoisted up the lance that seemed to big for her small, old frame, then ran as fast as a track-record holder. A deep thunk echoed behind the team and a ragnite-enhanced projectile arched high into the sky, before landing square on an advancing mixed squad of East Imps and Severan Troopers.
Alicia smiled as she saw the Edelweiss, its cannon smoking as it traversed its turret. Welkin appeared out of the top of the turret and said "Largo! Alicia! You guys alright?!"
"We're fine, bossman!" Largo yelled back, smirking as the others with them cheered, "Good to see the 'Weiss rolling in!"
"The Cadians and Squads 1, 3 and 5 have our flank secure from enemy armor! I figured I'd do more good commanding from here!" Welkin remarked, then called out over radio, "All Squad 7 elements, rally up on the Edelweiss and be ready! The enemy's main thrust is just about to arrive!" and he dove back into the turret, turning it toward the path that led deep into a series of stone crevices and surfaces as the ground rumbled below them.
A Cadian trooper fell, a hole drilled right between his eyes by an East Imp sniper. The glint of the shooter's scope vanished a second later as Alicia's ears somehow managed to isolate a distant shot from the rest of the gunfights and orders being hollered. She looked up atop a ridge, in the shadows of a small, perfectly tubular hole, to see a rifle and its scope poking out.
She smiled, "Marina's still doing her thing."
"Being a loner?" Edy quipped from beside her, checking her SMG, "I love the girl, but she needs to make friends."
Alicia chuckled, "Sure. C'mon, Edy, Noce, Catherine! With me! We're sticking close to the Edelweiss, keeping it shielded from enemy AT. Freesia!" She called out to the desert-bred girl, who nodded in acknowledgement. The Sergeant ordered, "Take three others with you as well! You're helping Yoko find the rest of the squad in this mess!" before noticing a Cadian kid had taken one in the leg and was firing his sidearm at the enemy, stuck square in the midst of the hell-fire of the fight. She nodded to Largo, then said "You're in charge until I'm back!" and vaulted over the trench she'd taken cover in.
Largo shook his head, unable to hold her back, before saying, "I swear, this generation's crazier than us!" With a boisterous laugh. He barked "Alright, ladies and gentlemen! COVERING FIRE FOR THE SERGEANT!"
Alicia dodged with incredible reflexes past enemy explosives and rounds that snapped around her, eyes locked onto the Cadian kid that fired. The closer she got, the more wounds she noticed, cuts and gashes from bayonets, bullet holes and even las-burns. She swore, slinging her rifle onto her back, then grabbed the kid by the collar and dragged him as quickly as she could into cover.
She saw two other kids, presumably from this one's squad, run up and open fire, their Lasguns belching fire on the full-auto setting. The shots looked like an unceasing, singular beam and the barrel's heat-sinks blew steam high and low. One of the kids turned to the Sergeant, a girl no older than 14. She gave a buck-toothed grin to the Sergeant, her freckles covered by sand, before turning back to fire.
The girl had managed to drag the kid back into cover, by their squad, before calling out "MEDIC! WE NEED A MEDIC OVER HER!"
One of the medical triplets of Squad 7 braved enemy fire and explosions, followed by a Cadian Medic. They jumped into the trench and went to look at the wounded kid. The Medicae exclaimed "Holy Emperor and Patron Saint Pius, Keely! You're more lead than human!"
The trooper let out a hoarse laugh and said "Just patch me the hell up, doc! We got more False Imps and traitors to kill!" before turning to the Sergeant. He, too, was 15. Corporal Keely, Sixteenth Squad, Alicia read on his uniform. He gave the girl a bloody smile, then he stated "Thanks... Sergeant. I owe ya..." to which Alicia smiled, nodding. She waved the rest of her team over the side of the trench, leapfrogging between cover and reaching the rear of the Edelweiss with minimal damage to the team. Juno had taken a bullet in the shoulder plate, but it was stuck there. It'd knocked the air out of her good, though. Damn near had her lose her glasses until Edy and Homer intervened and dragged her into cover.
Yoko had also managed to drag the rest of the platoon back as per Largo's orders, sans Marina, who was still working on picking off enemy commanders. And doing a fine job of it, if one could say so. Alicia looked to every one of the 20+ members of the squad present, then asked "Anyone hurt bad!?" and got a couple hands raised from within the trenches. She hummed, then waved the Cadian medic forward. The boy hoisted his own medical pack onto his shoulders and dashed across, bounding over the stretch of open land between them and the Edelweiss in seven strides.
He jumped into the trench, unslung his pack and went to work treating Vyse and Mussaad, while Alicia readied her weapon. She looked up as Welkin emerged out of the top of the tank once more. The rumble grew louder, almost silencing the sounds of the battle around them even as tracers flew. Alicia crept around the side of the Edelweiss, looking down the path that rumbled ahead of them. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth drooped, both in awe and fear.
From the clouds of sand, she saw two more enemy Russes coming in, bearing golden markings on their sides and turrets. Their cannons were long, those of Vanquisher tanks, of course, but they were not what Alicia was concerned about. Behind the two tanks moved a massive Superheavy. With a dozer blade attached at the front and two short cannons peering out of it, with a massive ragnite artillery cannon attached to the top and a series of machine gun ball turrets and with armor as heavy as a Baneblade's, an East Imperial Siege Tank moved forth.
On the opposite side roared the familiar engine of the Cadians' own superheavy, its eleven barrels of hell ready to be unleashed at the whim of Colonel Telos. The tank's bolter sponsons and laser cannon turrets had already opened up on an advanced platoon of enemy units. The Baneblade hasn't had all that many chances to shine as of late either, so... Still...
She looked up to Welkin and yelled, "We should stay out of this! Looks like it's two Superheavies in a duel!"
"I agree!" He nodded, then heard his Radio crackle.
"Forgive the tardiness... The Hammer of Faith was being temperamental, the old girl... Techpriests solved the issue, however." The Colonel spoke calmly, "I see the enemy brought its own toy out to fight... We will deal with it if you can provide us cover from the enemy Vanquishers, Lieutenant."
"We'll do our best." Welkin replied.
"All the Emperor and I ask... Best of luck. Telos out." For a change, Matias Telos seemed scared. The radio crackled and cut then and Welkin urged his team back to more defensible positions as the enemy's guns subsided, to let the roaring menace that was the enemy Superheavy roll in. The two vehicles ground to a halt, facing each-other now, their turrets and sponsons blasting at the opposite side's troops to keep them pinned.
Emerging out of the top hatch if the tank, Maximillian sat there, smirking. He voiced, a hint of respect in his otherwise smug voice and demeanor "We are not the only ones with a weapon to surpass any before. That is a very fine machine, Colonel. Almost as fine as ours."
The Colonel emerged from the top hatch, then growled, "Do not compare the Hammer of Faith to whatever dark amalgamation of science created your machine, False Prince."
"We shall see if our machines are as equal in metal as we are in mettle, Colonel. Prepare to be crushed under tread of the Batomys!"
Both men dived back into their vehicles, hatches shutting behind them. The Hammer shuddered under a blow from a Severan Vanquisher's gun, but didn't buckle. He growled, then ordered his gun-layer "Aim! We aim for the False Prince's tank! Ignore all else!" before looking through the up-scope of his cupola. The Hammer's treads ground sand underneath them as it lurched forth, with the Batomys mirroring.
The main turret cannon of the Baneblade roared, a high-caliber rocket-propelled shell bursting out of the barrel. The round surged, but the optical devices and augurs were misaligned, meant to battle long-distance targets. The Techpriesthood hadn't managed to help them re-train and properly sight the guns while they were performing the quick Rites of Reactivation for the old girl.
That meant the shell launched and went wide, striking a column of stone and creating a deep crater in the side of the small mound behind the Batomys. The Colonel swore a colorful string in High Gothic, before ordering "ANGLE OUR ARMOR!" as he saw the Batomys's body turn so the main gun could be aimed. The Batomys turned faster than any tank with that weight class should've been able to, depressing its cannon to meet its Cadian counterpart.
Heat sinks hissed and three blue-shimmering radiators shot out of the top of the tank, steam billowing in a cloud high above the vehicle as the main cannon roared. The High-caliber AP-HE Shell of the Batomys scratched the front of the Baneblade, damn near knocking out its front-mounted Demolisher cannon and the Bolters. Steam hissed and a conduit of coolant burst within the tank, one the Enginseer aboard instantly went to fix. Alarms blared and red runes wailed in front of the Colonel as his Auspex threw a fit.
He growled, then barked demandingly, "CANNON RE-RANGED?!"
"AFFIRMATIVE!" The Gun-layer bellowed back as heat filled the fighting compartment thanks to the ruptured coolant. The scent of cordite was irritating to the Colonel's throat, but he still ordered the Crew.
"Bring us about! FULL FRONTAL FACING! Gun-layer, gunner and loader, ready the main cannon and the Coaxial! I WANT ALL BARRELS ON THE BATOMYS!"
He looked through his Up-Scope, to the left, as the vehicle slightly bucked. A Vanquisher sat at its side, its cannon smoking. He could see through the barrel as the Severan crew hurriedly reloaded the weapon, then smiled as he saw an 88-millimeter shell strike clean through the side of the enemy tank's turret ring and into what the Colonel assumed was the tank's water-jacketed amunition storage. The Ragnite-boosted APDS shell detonated inside, sparking an inferno that boiled the gunnery crew and the traitor tank's crew alive.
He murmured to himself, "Many thanks, Welkin..." and smiled as he saw them align face-to-face with the Batomys as it attempted to roll back. The second Vanquisher caught fire and rolled forward into a deeper ditch, then burst and exploded. A Krak rocket had been the cause of the damage, the Colonel figured. Probably Yrine, Alvin and their squad. He bellowed at his crew, "ARE WE AIMED!?"
"YESSIR!" Cried the Gunnery crew in the turret and around him.
"BY THE EMPEROR AND THE OMNISSIAH, DEMOLISH THAT ENEMY TANK!" He bellowed
Eleven barrels of hellfire raked the Batomys's frame. The Demolisher's shell had a near-miss that chipped two of the left-side machinegun turrets of the Batomys off, before exploding behind it in a shower of massive shrapnel that shredded the unseen rear-mounted tank turret and the gunner inside. Lascannons cut deep gashes into the tank's face and dozer blade, disabling one of the two short 123mm guns, while the Mega Battle Cannon and the 75mm Coaxial in the turret slammed into the body of the enemy tank, drilling within it deep holes that, sadly, did not halt it.
Bolters tried and failed to cut the thick tread-links and halt the Batomys in place, but succeeded in taking out its other three machine gun turrets and damaging one of the radiators to the point it burst. The other two retracted inside as the enemy tank prepared another shot, while the Colonel ordered a full reverse with the thick of the armor facing the enemy. He couldn't shield the Demolisher or the twin-bolter turret mounted at the front, as much as he wanted. The last shot was damn close.
"Matt!" Isara's voice cried over radio, "I saw something!"
The girl listened in over the radio for the response as her brother fired shell after shell from the Edelweiss's Magazine into a series of advancing Royal Guard Light Tanks. She drove as best she could while the Sevens fought beside them, keeping the black-clad infantry pinned with the aid of Cadian guns and the Destroyer Tank Hunter that'd come to reinforce them. Matt called out to her, "What do you have for me, Is?! I need any advantage! This thing's armor is thick as!"
She smiled, then rapidly explained as she dodged shells and Lance-tips from the enemy's own AT Lance squads, "The Batomys! The enemy's command tank! Its hull was not made to hold that massive cannon! It's a late addition Ragnite weapon, which means it needs radiators to cool it off after every shot! And after every shot, they're exposed!" and she watched through the Vision slit with one eye as the Baneblade backed off into open desert, dragging the Batomys with it.
"I had noticed a faint blue shine through the smoke!" He replied, "Did not think of it as radiators, though! You have a keen eye! Thank you!"
"Don't mention it! We're holding back an armored company here, though! We may need the help soon!" She said, then yelped as a short 75 shell bounced off the front.
"We'll dispatch the Batomys at best speed and come to help!"
"AUSPEX SCAN DETECTS MASSIVE ENERGY SIGNATURE APPROACHING DUE EAST!" The Enginseer reported over the com. Far into the fields, the sounds of battle grew dim, quiet. Leman Russ battle tanks reformed rank and broke off to move in assistance of their comrades in the rest of the Third Regiment. One tank, leading the formation after Naccarato's forces had separated themselves to outflank the enemy, found itself taking the brunt of a shimmering wave of azure fire that pierced its frontal armor and cooked the crew alive inside, shattering the tank upon the detonation of its ammunition.
The XO of the tank platoon, now in charge, gasped, looking in the distance, a being of burning blue flame and human flesh led a contingent of the Empire's and Severan's most elite. Soldiers and tanks clad in black and scarlet, Leman Russ battle tanks and reinforced machines designed for war. Silver hair flowed in the whirlwind caused by the burning heat of the flame spiral surrounding her and two scarlet eyes, cold as ice, glared at the Cadian and Tallarn tanks. This was General Selvaria Bles. The Valkyria of Prince Maximillian Gaius von Reginave.
She raised high the trade-mark of any strong Valkyria, her spiral lance wreathed in the Sacred Blue Flame, then cried out "SOLDIERS OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE! WARRIORS OF HIS GRACE, PRINCE MAXIMILLIAN! THERE STANDS GALLIA!" her voice ethereal, soothing to her men and fear-inducing to her foes. She thrust forth her lance, then ordered proudly, "CLAIM HER!"
Emboldened by the arrival of their Valkyria and with her in the lead, the Eastern Imperial force charged the Cadians and the awed Gallians as their tanks turned to meet the enemy's own. She charged forward with speed and grace, her lance and shield ahead of her as she charged into battle. Following close behind her was her trusted second-in-command, Oswald The Iron, hauling a heavy machine gun in his hands and heavier armor than his compatriots.
"... No..." Faldio murmured, his eyes wide.
The Colonel took pause, watching as the Valkyrian, an actual Valkyrian, by the Emperor, took the stage of battle. His soldiers greeted the arrival with Lasguns and Hellguns, but all shots seemed to simply dissipate off of her fiery aura. He swore to himself, then said "Focus on the Batomys! We will assist the moment this damnable abomination is dead!"
"Yessir..." Replied the crew, more silent this time.
An avatar of that False Faith that built the temple. What in the Emperor's name was... He had suspected something was awry with this woman when she blocked two Bolt Shots with her strange Ragnite lance. He gritted his teeth. The damnable creature was a Daemon, he was sure of it. He'd kill her where she stood when he was done with her Prince. Bracing himself, he felt the Batomys's shells impact and bounce off the front of the Baneblade, rattling them and denting the frontal armor, but not piercing it. He swore to himself, then said "Lascannons! Aim for the Radiators!"
The Colonel's wish came true as the right-side radiator was laced with laser fire, the beam cutting deep and detonating the device just as it opened to eject the heat from the weapon. The Witch turned to face him after that, aiming her lance at him and saying "You will perish for that!" before a string of lightning-strikes from Lasguns pockmarked her shield and damn near blinded her with a shot.
She growled, turning to the Cadian kids whom, despite the welling sense of fear in their ranks, did not break. The Gallians stared at the Cadian troopers as they fought, listened to the hiss and roaring thrum of the main lascannon of the Destroyer burst and break an enemy Leman and watched the kids carelessly fight the enemy. As Alicia and the others slowly got out of their stupor, the girl blinked.
That was a Valkyrian.
And these kids were going at her after everything they'd heard about the Valks being basically Goddesses of war.
She scowled at Selvaria, raising her own rifle and calling to her squad, "RALLY UP! WE CAN'T LET THE CADIANS DO ALL THE HEAVY LIFTING! KILL ANY IMP THAT MOVES AND FOCUS FIRE ON THAT VALKYRIAN! ENOUGH FIREPOWER'S BOUND TO WHITTLE HER DOWN!"
"OORAH!" Yelled the rest of the squad, some with fear in their voices.
Scattering and engaging with the help of the tanks, the Cadians, Tallarn, Gallians and even the Scarlet Army now joined in the onslaught, although the lattermost were farther away. Beams of blue energy shot out from the lance of the Valkyrian and some soldiers caught in them were vaporized, but all continued to fight bravely. It mattered not what Daemon or Witch or Monster the foe threw at them.
The General growled at the enemy as she staved off their shots. These bastards and miscreants dared keep her from defending the Prince, did they? She gritted her teeth, charging her lance in a whirlwind, focusing her powers onto the weapon itself as her soldiers were being shot to death. Beside her, Oswald fired his SMG, asking "General, Sir! Are you well!?"
"As fine as I can be, Johann! Fight! Worry not about me!" She cried, eyeing the tank she wanted to shoot for... The brat Lieutenant's Edelweiss would do fine for a target. She levelled her lance to it, then yelled "PERISH!" as she fired the beam in a blinding flash. The Edelweiss lurched forward, as if the reaction time of the driver had saved them. The beam went wide, glassing a section of the desert ahead and immolating a squadron of Cadians and a few Tallarn in the blast, as well as a few Gallians from Squad 3 and their Light Tank, before the beam struck it.
... It struck the black monolith, cutting the top of the artifact off in a washing fire. Emerald light flared around the device, its glyphs shimmering...
And the ground began to quake underneath them.
Deep underground, as the battle above raged with ferocity enough to shake the very desert, the Canoness and her escort moved forth. There was a rising, a pedestal of sorts with stairs leading up to the top. Her Sister's flashlight illuminated the glyph-covered steps of black stone as best as it could. At the top lay ten sarcophagi, covered by millennia, perhaps, of dust, so much of it that it obscured the insides of the standing sarcophagi.
The Symbols were familiar, once more. The Canoness knelt in front of the intricate archaeological artifacts and wiped away the dust to read the inscription below as the Psyker and her squad joined. She squinted at them, focusing on one symbol in particular as her mind raced. Her breathing grew erratic as more and more details came to her, her hand over the symbol itself. It shined emerald and her heart stopped.
"Out..." She whispered.
"Cano-?" Monyka wanted to ask, but felt the fear surge in the woman's mind and cut herself off.
"OUT! EVERYBODY, OUT! NOW!" The woman cried, drawing her Power Sword and turning it on as light glowed a dangerous green, in and around them. Energy began to travel through conduits in the floor, lighting the symbols of Doom and Destruction for the entire planet. The mounds of dust and sand that had obscured the contents of the thousand-odd sarcophagi in the massive burial chamber soon left as the stasis fields collapsed.
Machines appeared from the nooks and crannies, small, beetle-sized robots with a single burning green eye. They swarmed around the Canoness and her escort, of whom the Sisters already opened fire with their Boltguns. Nat's, Monyka's and Saoirse's hearts stopped and the girls grew pale as they called upon their powers and opened fire with their own weapons.
Yuri looked behind them. An arm emerged from the thick cloud of dust that had fallen off the stasis field. A spindly, gray arm plated in a metal that was littered with the same glyphs as those around them. Its fingers were like bony claws, wrapping around a staff that sat in the side of the stasis chamber. Then, its 'head' appeared from the mist. Two emerald eyes of an undying machine glared at Yuri from deep, black sockets. A long skull-shape sat in place of the machine's head, bearing sharp fangs in relief instead of normal teeth and a golden crown.
The girl screamed as hard as her lungs held her, drawing her sword and plunging it into the cloud of smoke. It scraped and sparked, breaking off the metallic ribcage that emerged soon after. Nat turned around, swiveling and raising her lascarbine to meet the monster. She switched the weapon to full-auto before emptying the charge cell into it and barely staggering it. She dragged Yuri back and out of the line of fire as the monster swung at her.
"Necron... The Lifeless Machines... The Soulless Death..." Monyka whimpered, drawing her own power sword off her belt, "By the Emperor, these monsters... Here?!"
"Run!" The Canoness ordered, plunging her power sword into the chest of a Necron Warrior that had just awoken. A beam of energy slashed above her head and she felt the power of the Gauss weapon even if she was untouched, strands of her hair drying, aging, dying at the near-miss. Though these were no simple Necron, she soon realized as she watched sharp claws dig into one of her sisters, deep, deep and harsh, skinning the armor plating off of her body as she screamed bloody murder. "THESE AREN'T SIMPLE NECRON! THEY'RE FLAYERS! RUN!" The Canoness bellowed, her voice cracking, "Emperor protect us!"
The team ran as beams of energy began to fly and long, sharp claws slashed at them from the crowd of undeath. Yuri was being pulled by Nat by the wrist, while Saoirse and another sister held the line in the back, firing as they moved. Boltgun and Hellgun cleaved through, but the agile monsters that were the Flayed Ones dodged and weaved through the shells, seeking the prey to their sick games. The monster that had so carefully incised and skinned the now-dead Sister Amanda wore her skin like some sickly, gruesome trophy.
"I emptied a whole-ass cell into that fucking Necron! It was the Lord, I think! Too heavy a set of armor!" Nat reported as she ran with her hand wrapped around Yuri's wrist.
"You and Yuri were lucky to have survived, child... Keep running!" The Canoness cried, stopping only to fire a bolt of plasma down into the hall they had run through. She yelped, ducking under a massive claw and putting two plasma rounds into what had swiped at her. A Canoptek Wraith, one of the Necron's elite Stealth Units, had hid itself behind the corner they would turn. Its remains now worked on reassembling its overheated, melted body and the Canoness swore silently, sliding the overheated Plasma pistol into its holster after cooling it.
"They will not let us get out so easily, it seems!" A Sister observed, firing her Boltgun into the darkness behind as a thousand pairs of burning green eyes followed their victims closely. Some eyes got extinguished by the Hellgun and the Boltguns, but too many were present for their weapons to make any sort of dent in their numbers. It was almost as if they'd been stacked one upon the other in their Silent Sleep.
"They weren't meant to wake up!" The Canoness growled, "Something must've initialized their awakening sequence!"
"How do you know?!" Nat asked, looking back at Saoirse, who fired indiscriminately, her eyes wide, adrenaline pumping, feet slamming into the hard stone floor.
"I have read Necron lexicon a few times in expeditions with other Sisters! The symbols registered on that pedestal where the Lord and his Guards were was on standby!" The Canoness explained,then she gasped, "The Pylon!"
"Like the ones on Cadia!" Monyka voiced, running beside them, "Something must've damaged it!"
"Is that what they guard!? The Pylon?!" Nat balked, "That means there must be hundreds more all around us! Both Pylons and Tombs!"
"And yet we woke the one where the Lord is..." Saoirse remarked, chuckling fearfully, "Not a good day!"
"Not at all! And it was not us! As I said, something must have severely damaged that Pylon if they awoke so quickly!" The Canoness shot back. She gasped, eyes wide, as a beam of Gauss energy washed one of the sisters leading the way out, melting through her Power Armor's helmet and transforming her into naught but a dissolving body of dust. She growled, then cried "YOU XENO BASTARD!" as she thrust her sword forward into the Necron soldier ahead.
She only stopped, realizing what she stabbed into, when she saw the humanoid jaws fused with the Necrodermis and Gold and the War Scythe it had in its hands. She staggered, drawing her blade from the Corpse, then said "Pariahs... And Flayers... Where in the seven Hells of the Warp did it come from?" as she scanned the walls. To her right, an opening that they hadn't noticed on the way in due to the darkness... Damn.
She saw light ahead of them as they ran. Nat voiced, "I don't think Pariahs are the only thing this Lord's got! It must be some big Dynastic leader! I think I saw Lychguards as well!"
"This is getting better by the minute..." Another sister remarked. They'd finally emerged at the area where the Monolyth or Pylon was. Looking up, they saw that something had indeed cleaved the top clean off. Instead of stopping to wander who had been idiotic or unfortunate enough to do so, the team ran up the rickety platforms of wood, firing their weapons back toward the tunnel from which a horde of Flayers and their Lord, a tall, monstrous beast that wore a cape made out of what seemed like darkness and wielded a genuine scythe-shaped weapon.
It aimed at one of the support struts with its weapon, its Lychguard and Pariah honor guard close behind, then fired. The wood stilts on which the platform that Nat, the girl that lagged behind, had been on, disintegrated. The girl yelped, slipped and damn near fell. Yuri felt her heart stop and the entire world slow down around them, watching as beams of emerald light cut into the sand, turning it to glass and then back to dust around them, while the Sisters, Saoirse and Monyka now focused on keeping the enemy at bay.
Nat was falling. Nat'd saved her. Nat was falling.
Yuri shook off that momentary fright she'd gotten, that little moment of absolute ice-cold freeze and dived. Her hand wrapped around Nat's wrist and she called out "I have you!" while the girl barely held on. One of the sisters noticed the girl struggling to pull her friend up. She doubled back, then helped the two back to their feet, before dragging them out of the line of fire.
Once they reached the top, the Canoness bellowed over Vox, uncaring of the combat around the temple, "COLONEL! CAPTAINS! LIEUTENANTS! WE HAVE A SITUATION!"
"Kind of busy, Canoness! We've an enemy False Idol fighting us! A Witch!" The Colonel shot back.
"This is more important than some Emperor-Forsaken Witch belonging to the enemy line, Colonel!" She bellowed.
... Back with the Colonel and the others, everyone felt the ground rumbling below them, even shuddering the dueling Superheavies at their core. All fighting had ceased and all guns fell silent as they all regarded the rising tide. Thousands of claws made of dark steel, stained by coatings of blood both fresh and old, grew out of the desert sands like flowers.
And as the first Necron Flayer rose in front of Selvaria and the Cadians, staring the Valkyrian general in the face with two uncaring, unemotional green eyes and claws with blood dripping still off of their tips, the Canoness yelled into Vox-wide broadcast, to everyone including the False Imperials, "It's The NECRON, COLONEL!" getting even the pompous Prince Maximillian to stagger and halt.
"No..." Maximillian whispered. He looked to the Colonel as he emerged out of the top of his tank with a Bolt pistol, then yelled "This is a threat to end us all!"
"I figured!" The Colonel barked back, "... All units, armored or otherwise! RALLY UP!" He then ordered into vox. Turning to Maximillian, he said "We either die fighting each-other here, or live to duel another day... By the Emperor, I hate all that you and your pompous ass stand for, but I will not have my men die fighting two enemies at once... Especially not the Necron."
With little hesitation, Maximillian nodded. He looked to Selvaria, watching as she pummeled one of her Necrodermic assailants into the sands with her Lance, firing beams of energy that glassed the grounds around her. He then ordered, "Selvaria! Form a line! We have a common front with the Gallians and their Cadian comrades!" to which the Valkyrian gave a nod... The Colonel hummed. How did he know the name 'Cadia'? Reports?
Selvaria said "Your will be done, my lord... Soldiers of the Empire, ready yourselves!"
... An alliance of convenience. He hated it...
But against what came, he'd rather this than the untimely death of his entire Regiment and their allies.