Things went from bad to worse quick. Revelation, Lion and Sanguinius managed to take down the Man of Iron alongside his sons' Legions, and then the earth shook.
Part of a mountain range exploded, and from the shroud of dust emerged another Man of Iron covered in the runes of the enemy. All of his focus zeroed in on the machine glowing red in Chaotic power. Then he felt the presence of his youngest child chained inside the chest of the abomination.
"My Lord, the Night Haunter is clinging to the abominable intelligence's chassis and is attempting to get inside it," Constantine Valdor reported.
"My daughter is trapped inside that thing," he informed his Captain-General and the present Custodes briefly froze.
"Brothers! Brother Kithes has landed and is on his way to the Man of Iron," Revelation heard over the comms chatter and saw the Custodes in question charging on a bike towards the machine at full speed.
"Cover him and Kurze! Our objective is to rescue the Imperial Princess," Revelation gave out the order. "Once she is removed from the machine, victory is ours!"
Kithes pushed his bike to the limit. He had dropped in a pod as fast as he could soon after his charge's abduction and had met up with the Dark Angels tasked with eradicating the cultists. He had thought that he'd find the Princess if he worked alongside them, but that had been proven false when the second Man of Iron emerged.
One of the Astartes gave him a hover bike as soon as they received the reports and he wasted no time in heading in the direction of the Chaos tainted machine.
"Brother Kithes," the voice of his Captain-General came over his helmet comms. "The Princess is trapped inside the Man of Iron and Konrad Kurze is attempting to get inside it. We'll provide cover fire for you two until the Princess is secured and out of danger, then the machine will be destroyed."
"Understood, brother," he responded and focused on his mission. He swerved and avoided fire from the Man of Iron until it's focus was on the armies bearing down on it. He spotted a pile of broken Ork tanks that were arranged just right enough to be used as a launch ramp, and he gunned it. He launched, and at the peak of the bike's jump, he launched himself off the vehicle and sunk his spear into the Man of Iron to Kurze's right.
"Took you long enough!" Kurze called out, his hands bloody from prying apart the chassis. Kithes could see a blood red glow emminating from inside the machine, and he heard the broken screams of his charge.
"Scoot over," he said, waited for the Primarch to move, and then proceeded to jab his armored hand into the hole. He pulled, and pulled, and opened the chassis enough for the Princess's brother to slip in. Then the Man of Iron began to thrash, it's hand slamming onto Kithes in an attempt to remove the intruders, but he held on. "Hurry!"
He didn't notice, but the pouch that held the Princess's Duel Monsters deck opened and five cards flew out.
Revelation immediately noticed a change. The Chaos taint from the Man of Iron recoiled as a pentagram formed in front of it and then turned into a spell circle that he knew came from the card game his daughter loved. And it grew in size. Slowly, bit by bit, Exodia emerged, breaking the chains holding it back in the Warp, and Alesia's most powerful monster grappled the Man of Iron with no issue.
"Cease fire!" he commanded. "Do not attack the creature!"
"Father, that's Exodia!" Sanguinius's voice echoed in his helmet.
"I know, and it's on our side," he informed his angelic son. "Keep clear of it and the Man of Iron."
His sister screamed and writhed in pain. Konrad took out the sword he'd gotten from the slain cultists and struck the chains holding his young sister.
Once.
Twice.
On the third strike the chain holding her right arm broke and the light dimmed slightly as the spell work was damaged. He did the same with the chain holding her other arm and he caught her before she fell over. Her screams had ceased and she breathed heavily in his hold. Konrad then broke the remaining chains and carefully brought her out of the machine.
"I've got her!" he called out to the now battered Custodes. The armored guard grabbed them both and jumped off without warning, and they were engulfed in a spell circled that teleported them far away from the machine…and the giant monster grappling it. "What the hell is that?"
"Our new best friend right now," remarked the Custodes. "His name is Exodia."
They watched as Exodia shoved the Man of Iron back and began to charge up an attack. Then, with a mighty roar, the monster jabbed it's open palm forward, and the machine was obliterated in the blinding light of an energy attack.
By the time the Emperor found them, Kithes had closed up the stab wound in Alesia's shoulder and bandaged it. Her shallow wounds were not healing as they should, and the Custodes had to wonder if the poison Kurze had told him of had affected the Princess's healing factor more than they thought. The Night Haunter himself still sported open wounds that were not healing as fast as they should.
Kithes had immediately brought the Emperor and Valdor up to speed with the Princess's condition and what Kurze had reported, and he, his charge and a reluctant Primarch were immediately placed on an aircraft hurriedly bound for the Bucephelus, the Emperor's flagship and the best place for the Princess and her brother to receive much needed medical care.
Nearly everything became a blur in his memory, the proceeding events happened quickly. Kurze had handed over one of the poisoned spears to the head Apothecary, a Custodes who had studied medicine for many years, almost immediately after they had arrived in the medical wing of the ship. The Primarch was taken to a separate treatment room, being the test run of the treatment Alesia would soon go through as Kithes stood vigil as the Apothecaries worked.
"Her wounds are healing now," the head Apothecary informed him, stepping to the side to remove his blood coated gloves. "She will be bed ridden for some time until her body has had a chance to repair the damage the poison did, and that's not factoring in the strain her soul underwent while trapped inside the Man of Iron."
"Understood," he said. "What of Kurze?"
"He is already back in shape and has gone back to inform the Sigilite of what transpired."
"Good. The princess will be relieved to hear her brother is well."
"And brother," the Apothecary placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be hard on yourself."
"I failed to protect my charge," he stated, his voice unchanged. "I failed our Lord and his heir."
"Had you not gone to rescue her, then you would have failed them." He then left him to his vigil.
Kithes walked over to the Princess's bedside. His charge was now in a medical gown and had a thin sheet covering her body as she slept. He took in the fresh bandages covering her shoulder. He would shoulder this sham for the rest of his life.
"I am sorry, Princess," he whispered. "I failed you."