I landed hard on the ground, my boots cracking the pavement beneath me, but I didn't pause. The Kharsons flanked me, slipping between the shadows as I pressed forward, my eyes locked on the towering fortress ahead; their role was to relieve pressure while I dealt with the Warboss. The Ork Stronghold loomed over the battlefield, a grotesque amalgamation of metal plates, spikes, and guns, all crudely welded together in that haphazard way the Greenskins loved. The air buzzed with the stench of oil, smoke, and blood—a fitting backdrop for what was to come.

The Orks within the Stronghold were no longer the scattered, panicked rabble I'd torn through earlier. These were the Warboss's elite, the toughest, meanest brutes that survived a thousand battles. They lined the battlements, firing their crude weapons at me, but I didn't bother dodging. Bullets pinged off my skin, leaving shallow, quickly-healing cuts. Those that pierced through left holes that closed almost as quickly as they appeared. One by one, however, the gunners died at the hands of the Kharsons, who cut them down where they stood, before they could even react; the cacophonous booming of their massive guns worked against them. My focus was on the massive gate ahead, its reinforced metal creaking as it started to open, revealing the hulking silhouette of the Warboss.

He stepped out of the Stronghold, and the very ground trembled under his weight. Nine meters of brute muscle, covered in rusted, blood-stained armor that barely contained his monstrous bulk; and yet, underneath the withered exterior was technology, a layer of artificial muscles and a powered exoskeleton – Power Armor. The Warboss wore true power armor and not the clumsy, ramshackle tin cans worn by the Meganobz. His skin was a deep, sickly green, mottled with scars that told stories of countless battles. His eyes were bloodshot and gleaming with a savage intelligence, crimson irises that glowed like overheated lasgun packs. He carried a massive chainaxe in one hand, its jagged teeth stained with the blood of its previous victims, and in the other, a huge cackling claw that could crush tanks.

I grinned, baring my teeth as I met his gaze. This was what I came for. I held out my left hand and made a challenging gesture.

With a roar that shook the heavens, the Warboss charged. He moved with surprising speed for something his size, each step causing the ground to quake, almost blurring despite his bulk. I barely had time to dodge as his chainaxe came crashing down, the air screaming as it sliced through where I had been standing a split second before. The impact shattered the ground, sending chunks of debris flying.

I darted to the side, using my speed to stay just out of reach, looking for an opening. The Warboss swung again, this time with his claw, the massive pincers snapping shut with a force that could shear through steel. I ducked under it, feeling the rush of air as it passed over my head, and lashed out with a tendril, aiming for his exposed throat.

The Warboss saw it coming and batted the tendril aside with a snarl, but I was already moving, circling around him and slashing at the back of his knee with the Vaultsword. The weapon bit deep, cutting through several layers of wires and cogs and machinery, but the Warboss barely noticed, his speed not at all hampered in the slightest. He spun around, his chainaxe coming in a wide arc that I only just managed to avoid by throwing myself into a roll.

Usually, I wouldn't bother dodging, but the Warboss's weapons were so freakishly huge it was almost impossible to get hit and somehow still keep my brain intact. Luckily, my semi-Custodian physiology granted me the same inhuman reflexes as possessed by the God-Emperor's Golden Guardians. Still, the Warboss moved with such speed that I was only barely faster, which was honestly rather surprising.

Before I could get back on my feet, his boot came crashing down, catching me in the side. I felt my ribs crack, my body hurtling through the air before slamming into the side of a building. The impact collapsed the wall, burying me in rubble. I coughed up blood, my vision swimming, but the pain was a distant thing, dulled by the adrenaline and my body's unnatural resilience. However, that one attack managed to crush half my torso and just about every single one of my organs. That the sudden shift in pressure didn't just pop my skull open was honestly a miracle by the God Emperor.

The Warboss's roar echoed through the air as he charged again, determined to crush me beneath his massive bulk. I forced myself to move, tendrils bursting from my back to push aside the rubble as I sprang out of the way. His charge carried him into the remains of the building, the entire structure crumbling under his weight.

I didn't give him a chance to recover. The moment he was off balance, I activated [Muscle Burst] and surged forward, a blur of motion as I rained down blow after blow. The Vaultsword finally sliced through his armor, drawing thick, black blood that sizzled as it hit the ground. Huh... weird. Ork blood wasn't supposed to do that. I targeted his joints, most of all, to try and disable the Mega Power Armor; but, otherwise, I attacked anywhere I could do the most damage. And yet, the Warboss was relentless, shrugging off my attacks like they were nothing. In hindsight, the Vaultsword, despite its size, was small in comparison to the Warboss.

The gargantuan Ork swung his chainaxe in a wide arc, forcing me to leap back. His eyes were wild with fury, blood pouring from the wounds I'd inflicted, but it only seemed to make him stronger. With a roar, he lunged at me, his claw snapping shut around my arm before I could react. I felt the bones shatter, the limb crushed in his iron grip. The Warboss lifted me up. And I grinned as I transformed the shattered limb into a mass of claws and tendrils and teeth.

I lashed out and sent my tendrils right into the Ork's exposed face, piercing through his nose, eyes, and mouth. The Warboss howled in pain, his pincers snapping shut slicing through my tendrils, all the way up to my shoulder. No matter; reabsorbing the separated biomass and creating another arm was as easy as blinking my eyes. The Warboss snarled, blood streaming down his face from his ruined eye, but I could see the rage burning in him, undiminished. Looking back, my foe now was powerful, indeed, but this overgrown Ork was nothing compared to Athulhum, whose very presence scorched earth and sky. This Warboss, really, was just a really big Ork – stronger, faster, and more resilient than normal, but otherwise just a Greenskin, just another alien to be cut down.

We clashed again, a furious exchange of blows that left the ground shattered and the air thick with the stench of blood and sweat. He was stronger, each strike of his chainaxe sending shockwaves through my body and outright liquefying my organs, each swipe of his claw forcing me to evade. But I was faster, darting in and out of his reach, the Vaultsword cutting into him whenever I found an opening.

The battlefield around us was reduced to ruin, buildings crumbling under the force of our fight, the ground scorched and torn. The Warboss fought like a force of nature, his massive frame an unstoppable juggernaut that crushed everything in its path. But I was no less relentless, my body a blur of motion as I slashed and stabbed, tendrils lashing out to rip into his flesh.

He caught me with a backhanded swing of his claw, the force of the blow sending me skidding across the ground, shattering just about every bone in my body and breaking apart just about every organ with it. Before I could recover, he was on me, his boot slamming down on my chest with a sickening crunch. I felt my ribs shatter, my vision going black for a moment. But I didn't stop. I couldn't stop.

I drove the Vaultsword into his ankle, the blade sinking deep into the joint, before I twisted and sliced through the joint entirely. The Warboss roared in pain, lifting the stump of his ankle just enough for me to push away the remaining foot. I staggered to my feet, my body broken and bleeding, but a flicker of thought mended me back to full health. The Warboss limped for a moment, before sending the stump into the ground, ignoring the lack of an actual foot, as he roared with the fury of a living storm.

The Warboss lunged at me, his chainaxe coming down in a brutal overhead swing. I sidestepped the blow, the axe embedding itself in the ground. I turned my free hand into a mass of bony flesh and tendrils, all of which I drove into his exposed side, a weakness I'd created and hadn't noticed until now. They pierced through his flesh, wrapping around his ribs, and with a surge of strength, I ripped them apart, tearing off several ribs in a spray of dark blood.

The Warboss bellowed in rage and howled in pain, wrenching his chainaxe free and swinging it wildly. I ducked under the blow, driving my fist into his open wound, feeling the sickening crunch of bone beneath my knuckles. But before I could rip out his organs, the Warboss slammed his claw into my side, the massive pincers closing around my torso and lifting me off the ground.

I felt my ribs crack, the pressure crushing the air out of my lungs. The Warboss grinned, his bloodstained teeth gleaming as he tightened his grip. I grinned right back, even as his power claw tore apart my body at a microscopic level. "Wrong move."

I transformed my whole body into a cyclone of tendrils, claws, teeth, and mouths, each one tearing into the Warboss's form, ripping out chunks of flesh and chunks of armor.

With a roar, he threw me to the ruined buildings, nearby. I reconstituted myself before impact, returning to a humanoid form. I crashed into some loose gravel, grinning right as the Warboss came surging towards me, chainaxe raised high for an overhead attack.

As the chainaxe came down, I rolled to the side, the rotating blades missing me by inches. I scrambled to my feet and then used [Muscle Burst] to reposition myself behind the Warboss. The titanic xenos roared in frustration as it struggled to turn towards me. So, it settled for jumping and spinning, bringing its chainaxe down in a desperate attack.

I smiled. For all its rage and power, the Warboss was losing composure. Its attacks were becoming erratic, losing that brutish intelligence it once had. Now, it was just rampaging wildly. Idly, I noted the fact that no one was shooting at me, which I chalked up to the Kharsons, who were doing an excellent job of keeping the lesser Orks away.

I charged at him, my body a blur of motion as I closed the distance. He swung his chainaxe, but I was faster, ducking under the blow and swung the Vaultsword up, slicing clean through his wrist. The Warboss's eyes widened as his hand fell right off, still holding onto the chainaxe.

For a moment, time seemed to stop. The Warboss looked down at me, his bloodshot eyes filled with disbelief. And then, with a snarl, he brought his claw down on my head. [Muscle Burst] allowed me to surge under the Warboss's weapon. And, as I'd done before, I sliced upwards and watched as the Vaultsword carved right through the connection between flesh and metal, between the various machinery that held the power claw in place, severing the cybernetic appendage entirely.

The Ork Warboss roared in pain and frustration. It was harmless now – impotent. The only thing it could do was either kick me with its remaining foot or try to crush me beneath its bulk and neither of those were going to work.

I smiled. "I win."

AN: Chapter 64 is out on (Pat)reon!