"Heh. What a laughable fate. The Cursed One left behind a foolish command."
As though peering into something, the Changer of Ways mocked the Emperor to his heart's content:
"What he left behind will plunge the Imperium into chaos. That will benefit our attack..."
This god of conspiracy looked toward the other three supreme deities.
"My fellow gods, everything is proceeding according to plan. The destiny that leads to victory was woven long ago.
We need only step lightly onto it, and the fruit of victory will be ours to taste!"
With that, his vast, iridescent body slowly vanished.
Khorne the Blood God and the others exchanged glances, unable to suppress a degree of anticipation and excitement.
They had moved yet another step closer to eliminating the threat posed by the Cursed One.
Afterward, those immense phantasmal forms turned and returned to their own domains.
From this moment on, the horn of war had already been sounded!
The Warp, Daemonic Territory.
Black tar flowed across the land. An infernal fortress stood deep within the filth, looking down upon the ugly earth below.
It was like a fusion of sin and flesh. Any living being that looked upon that fortress would instinctively feel fear and suffer a mental collapse.
Before the gates of the infernal fortress stood countless spear-like spikes, each impaling human corpses one after another.
That forest of human bodies stretched outward in dense masses, nearly beyond sight, enough to make any human tremble.
These were the trophies of the infernal fortress' master, the Chaos Lord, the Duke of Sadism, Dura.
"Lowly humans. Such perfect flesh-materials. Their anguished moans are the most exquisite music."
The Duke of Sadism had once said that, for he was deeply interested in how best to torment human beings, and never tired of it.
Over the years, he had gone again and again into the material galaxy, burning, slaughtering, and plundering human civilized worlds.
No one could stop him, not even the Emperor's Angels as the humans called them.
Tens of billions of humans had been cast into extreme disaster beneath the Duke of Sadism's iron hooves, while great numbers were dragged back to his infernal fortress for torture and subjected to every imaginable torment.
He could admire the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people at the same time, watching as they were twisted into all manner of grotesque poses beneath the implements of his executioners.
When all was done, those humans would be sent into the fortress' forest of bodies to be displayed as trophies.
Almost none of the humans in that forest remained whole. They had been impaled from below all the way through their skulls, skewered into the ground like pieces of meat on iron rods.
"Emperor, save us poor souls!"
"I beg you, great lord of the Five Hundred Worlds, let me die now!"
"It hurts... it hurts so much..."
Some of the humans were still alive, constantly twisting and wailing, blood spilling from their mouths.
Certain wretches had already been split open from gut to belly, their intestines dragged out and looped around their throats, yet they were not permitted to die.
They could not even scream properly to vent their agony.
The Duke of Sadism regarded all of this as glory. No Chaos Lord had ever devised so many cruel punishments tailored specifically for humans.
He believed these wondrous creations would earn the favor of the Prince of Pleasure, perhaps enough that one day he would be invited to the throne of delight itself.
Not only that, this Duke of Sadism liked to display his trophies to the rulers of Imperial territories -
the miserable state of those suffering humans.
He savored the sight of Imperial governors raging in helpless fury. To him, it was a form of enjoyment.
Not long ago, the Duke of Sadism had done exactly the same thing again, projecting horrifying visions of his human tortures into Imperial territory.
It was meant as a threat.
Yet what he had not expected was that the local Imperial governor was not frightened by it.
That governor took the matter very seriously, gathered evidence of the Duke of Sadism's crimes, and reported it to the relevant tribunals.
Then the Grey Knights arrived at full speed.
Unlike Grey Knights of old, they had not become tangled in drawn-out fights against the powerful daemonic champions under the Duke of Sadism.
Instead, they used some unknown mechanical equipment to follow the residual traces of Chaos and track him all the way back to the infernal fortress.
That Grey Knights force had actually entered the Warp itself and come to attack the lair he had operated for ten thousand years?
The Duke of Sadism had never imagined such a thing. In all these years, no human force had ever been capable of attacking a Chaos fortress.
He was somewhat surprised, but not particularly worried.
Under the painstaking construction of daemon-engineers, the infernal fortress had long since become as solid as an iron barrel.
Even a large army would have trouble breaching it, much less an armed team of only a few dozen men.
This was Chaos territory, not the material galaxy. The tide of daemons would drown them completely!
The Duke of Sadism stood within the dome-hall atop the infernal fortress and turned to look toward a special section of the forest of bodies.
Many pieces of bright and colorful armor lay scattered there, while more towering humanlike remains had been desecrated, impaled, and twisted into ridiculous shapes.
Those were the Duke of Sadism's special trophies.
During the Great Rift, many Imperial Space Marines had tried to stop him from raiding human worlds.
But those pitiable Space Marines had all, without exception, fallen beneath his instruments of torment.
This time would be no different!
"Perhaps this time I shall gain a batch of special trophies, to make up for my earlier regret..."
The Duke of Sadism licked the torture implements on his tentacles with a long tongue, growing more excited by the moment as he imagined how to torment those special Space Marines.
Since the Grey Knights lived by hunting daemons, surely they would give him even more inspiration and let him invent still crueler tortures!
Yet things quickly moved beyond his expectations.
One of his elite daemon detachments had been wiped out, and now the Grey Knights were charging straight toward the fortress!
"With faith as armor, with sacrifice as shield, with purity as sword!"
"I am the warhammer. I am His sharpest spear.
And His strongest shield as well!"
Across the charred earth came the endless shrieks of Chaos daemons.
A silver-white force advanced beneath the protection of a special field.
Any daemon struck by the swing of hammer or spear vanished into ash.
"How is this possible?"
The Duke of Sadism came onto the battlements and looked down at that silver-white force, his face twisted in disbelief.
Naturally, this Chaos Lord was not afraid of Grey Knights. At least, not entirely. He had even once designed an ambush for a Grey Knights Grand Master.
He had drowned an entire Grey Knights strike force beneath a sea of daemons, nearly wiping them out to the last man.
Those daemon-hunters certainly had some tricks, but they still were not enough to threaten truly powerful Chaos entities.
For the Duke of Sadism, so long as he did not encounter the one Grey Knight who actually posed a real threat -
Kaldor Draigo -
his life would not truly be in danger.
The Duke of Sadism touched the ugly scar across his body and still felt lingering fear.
That time, he had almost obtained a batch of Grey Knight bodies as fresh material for torment.
But then a Grey Knight calling himself Kaldor Draigo had drilled out of the Warp like some kind of daemon himself, in a manner utterly bizarre.
After that, that towering Grey Knight had taken up his greatsword and butchered every last one of the Duke of Sadism's daemonic bodyguards.
The Duke of Sadism had fought him, only to have his tentacles torn apart before long, and his body nearly split in two by the greatsword. He had been left grievously wounded.
Fortunately, he had seized an opportunity, thrown away nearly half his body, and only then managed to flee back into the Warp with his life intact.
It was one of the Duke of Sadism's very few defeats. The previous one had been when he was making too much noise while torturing humans and got beaten up by Khorne's foremost greater daemon, the exalted Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha, who happened to pass by.
He had nearly lost his life then too.
The moment the Duke of Sadism thought of Kaldor Draigo of the Grey Knights, the humiliation of his earlier defeat surged back into his mind, and his heart gave an involuntary twitch.
Could it be that man had come?
If it really was Kaldor Draigo leading the attack, then everything would make sense.
With that Grey Knight's power, he really could smash through the defensive lines of this Chaos domain in short order.
"Perhaps... perhaps this is my chance for revenge..."
A cold smile crept onto the Duke of Sadism's face.
Before, he really had lost to Kaldor Draigo.
But this was the infernal fortress, his own territory.
Even if that man managed to fight his way in, he would only become trapped in an endless hell of torture-implements.
Individual martial might could not break a strong fortress wall. Even the legendary Primarchs of the Imperium required armies or siege weapons to support such an assault.
The Duke of Sadism extended his foul tentacles and used the many eyes embedded upon them to observe the Grey Knights force.
Yet among them, he did not see the familiar figure.
Kaldor Draigo was not there. The one leading them now was merely an over-equipped Grey Knights Grand Master.
The Duke of Sadism's last trace of fear vanished, replaced by burning rage.
A mere Grey Knights Grand Master, bringing only a few dozen Grey Knights, dared enter the Warp and attack his infernal fortress?
What arrogance!
"Humans are unworthy to tread upon Chaos' land. Children of delight, tear them apart, trample them underfoot.
I want these Grey Knights impaled before the gates of my fortress!"
The Duke of Sadism roared from the battlements, twisted tentacles and blood streaming down his monstrous body.
He had no interest in learning anything more about the enemy and sent out yet more elite daemon troops.
A dense tide of Chaos daemons surged toward the Grey Knights.
There were so many that even if the Grey Knights were allowed to stand and slaughter freely, the effort alone should have exhausted them to death.
"Purge these abominations!"
Grand Master Corwin of the Seventh Brotherhood stood there with layer upon layer of sacred sigils covering his body, armed to the teeth.
He stared at the oncoming daemons and gave the order.
This time, Corwin had led the Grey Knights elite into the Warp not only to eliminate that Chaos Lord who had once attacked the Brotherhood and brought immense suffering to humanity.
More importantly, he had come to test the large-scale Warp equipment that His Majesty the Savior had granted to the Seventh Brotherhood.
It had only just come out of the laboratory.
Fresh.
The field emitted by that weapons platform greatly aided Imperial forces operating inside the Warp, preventing excessive corruption by Chaos.
More importantly, it could also broadcast positioning signals within the Warp and establish contact with related armaments back in the galaxy.
That allowed coordinated warfare.
"By the oath of purity.
Our Seventh Brotherhood truly is the Grey Knights force most valued by His Majesty the Savior!"
That was what Corwin thought to himself, and he could not suppress a smile.
Ever since he had fully cast his lot in with the Savior, life had become much better for the Seventh Brotherhood. They always received the best and most abundant daemon-hunting equipment.
It let them butcher daemons to their heart's content.
The number of daemon kills achieved by the Seventh Brotherhood alone was already many times greater than all the other Brotherhoods combined.
Their record was absurdly far ahead, enough to make every other Brotherhood green with envy.
Of course, there were some Grand Masters and Grey Knight elders who had their criticisms, saying the Seventh Brotherhood had drawn too close to the Savior and that this might violate the Grey Knights' ancient codes.
After all, the Grey Knights were an army even more special than the Custodes. They almost never involved themselves in any power struggle whatsoever.
Their sole purpose was to hunt daemons for the Emperor, and when necessary, to pay any price to fulfill that legendary supreme mission.
As for what that mission actually was, no one knew for the time being. The Grey Knights had merely been told that it would be activated when the proper moment arrived.
Those Grey Knight Grand Masters and elders voiced their criticism quite sharply, but to Corwin,
it was all just jealousy.
His Majesty the Savior was the Emperor-crowned Emperor of the Imperium, nearly the direct representative of that exalted being.
Obeying the Savior's commands was obeying the Emperor's commands. What could possibly be wrong with that?
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the tide of Chaos rushed in, the Grey Knights used heavy firepower for the first time in this battle.
Using their mounted launchers, they fired out large numbers of infernal grenade-shells, and a red-gold curtain of fire blanketed the daemonic tide ahead.
The daemons illuminated by the red-gold radiance released from those infernal weapons felt horrifying agony.
Afterward, the hateful smoke spreading across the battlefield caused their bodies to char, blister, and rot.
It was the fusion of cursed energy, god-plague techniques, and many other complex methods, essentially a form of biochemical warfare.
More importantly, compared to holy ash munitions, infernal weapons were cheaper to produce and could be manufactured in bulk.
They also came in many weapon forms and attack modes, suitable for different battlefields.
Within barely more than ten seconds, batch after batch of daemons had lost all combat capability in pain, collapsing to the ground and howling.
Only a small portion still struggled on, but even their combat ability had been drastically weakened.
Before the Grey Knights' warhammers and spears, they were utterly unable to withstand even a single blow.
Under the large-scale psychic attacks, they turned directly to ash.
The Chaos daemons broke in fear and began to flee.
Corwin hurled an infernal grenade, and the burst of impact blew the fleeing daemons to pieces.
He led the Grey Knights onward until they reached the outer region of the infernal fortress.
Only then did they finally halt.
"Damned Chaos abominations!"
Corwin looked at the forest of impaled human bodies stretching all the way beneath the flesh-wall exterior, and uncontrollable anger rose in his heart.
Then he raised his head and looked toward the giant infernal fortress, towering two or three kilometers high, thrusting into the sky.
"Daemon, judgment is upon you."
Corwin spoke those words like a formal declaration of the other's fate.
He had already sensed the gaze of that Chaos Lord.
"Pitiful Grey Knight, how exactly do you expect to cross the infernal fortress and strike at a lord of Chaos?"
The Duke of Sadism's voice drifted down, full of mockery and disdain.
These Grey Knights were indeed powerful, and their firepower was startling, but he stood behind mighty walls, while they possessed no siege weapons capable of breaching them.
More importantly, the disturbances caused by the Grey Knights' attack had already spread through the Warp.
Before long, even more daemons would catch the scent and come tearing in to shred this human invasion force!
Yet under the Duke of Sadism's puzzled gaze, Corwin took out a mechanical case and placed it on the ground.
(End of Chapter)
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