Hord was a pit of souls, the entire planet lost in the miasma of misplaced faith.
Each Nephilim was nourished by the faith of thousands, their lives unshackled, their bodies bloated.
As long as the faith endured, the Nephilim possessed everything.
White and black tore through the Nephilim's illusion.
Great forests shook in the storm. Swamps churned in the flames.
The fury the White Scars had on their journey was unleashed mercilessly on the xenos homeworld. But keeping Hord burning was no easy feat.
Like fireballs dropped into water, melta bombs were quickly extinguished.
Everything on Hord existed between liquid and solid. The White Scars' armored units, upon landing, found their lightened, modified vehicles also sinking into the toxic swamps.
Toxic spores covered the white hulls. Heavy treads struggled against the pull of vine-like plants.
Only promethium flames from six-meter-diameter pipes could reduce the sap-filled trees to char.
As infantry formations used heavy flamers to clear human slave troops and the vine-covered praise towers, Hasik Noyan-Khan and his brotherhood raced ahead.
He had again been chosen by the Great Khan to lead the vanguard.
Hasik's first target was a praise church draped in human skins.
The slave soldiers wore armor made from the shed skins of their gods. They were no longer human.
The Nephilim delighted in empowering humans, mutating them, blurring the lines between species. Human flesh fused with Nephilim skin and weapons.
The most corrupt and ancient of their servants were no longer human, but genetically spliced hybrid livestock, the largest as big as Knight suits.
They fired laser barrages at the white formations, then unleashed firepower that could level city blocks.
The small number of Land Raiders the White Scars had received from Forge Worlds were torn apart in the mire by the firepower.
"Move! Move! Move!" Hasik shouted orders. The white riders sped along capillary-like paths, launching wave after wave of charges against the slow-moving slave troops.
Hasik felt the thrill of galloping across the steppe. He shouted: "For Chogoris!"
He pushed his jetbike to its limit. The superb technological marvel trembled at such speed, but he was oblivious.
Kills and achievements forgotten, Hasik had eyes only for the xenos.
He swept through the rising steam, charging at a massive, twitching form.
Move, strike, move, strike...
The blue Nephilim were powerful, but slow to react.
This was especially evident against the White Scars. Hasik used his advantage, striking the creature like a sea beast trapped in air.
The massive blue corpse crashed onto the organic mountain. Slime splattered the white hull.
As his bike grew heavy with sludge, Hasik reached the bulbous, slime-covered church.
The most powerful blue Nephilim guards, each larger than a Dreadnought, shrieked, raising their sonic weapons.
Before the terrible shriek struck, Hasik leaned forward, wrenching the bike around. The saddle carried him across the greasy slime.
The sonic wave shrieked, tearing through power armor, shattering White Scar bodies. Flesh slammed into the slime.
Hasik saw four runes vanish from his helmet display, knowing the first attack had claimed members of his brotherhood.
He also saw bolts hammering against the most ancient blue Nephilim's armor, layers upon layers of hardened skin.
With a roar, the outer, faded blue skin exploded.
Driven by fury, Hasik's bike leaped.
His glaive swung. The blue body was severed.
At the same moment Hasik attacked the church, Ramsey, Lord of the Tenth Chapter, moved alone through the greasy shadows, passing through the slave troops.
A green Nephilim, sensing something, turned towards the Ramsey.
As the whale-faced xenos turned slowly, Ramsey slipped into its shadow.
The "Rose Bishop's" hand emerged from the shadow, pressing against the green flesh.
The green skin rippled like branches in the wind, forming nodules.
The green Nephilim struggled to turn its scepter, reaching behind it.
Ramsey was faster. Bio-lightning spread to the green Nephilim's head in an instant.
With a crack, the round, green head burst like a balloon.
Blue soldiers and surrounding slave troops turned at the sound.
The "Rose Bishop's" spiritual energy, already extended, rapidly reformed the green head.
A grey Nephilim approached. Its phosphorescent skin, covered in strange patterns, glowed.
The "Flesh Servant" retained no memory of its previous life. Ramsey had not mastered the Nephilim's dual-encrypted communication: ultra-high-frequency sound waves and skin patterns.
The "Rose Bishop's" body suddenly melted like wax, becoming pure, viscous flesh, rolling swiftly over the organic slime.
The flesh rolled, burrowing into a body.
The "Rose Bishop" savored the feeling of moving within the grey body. Compared to other creatures, the Nephilim's bodies were more spacious, more comfortable.
As the "Rose Bishop" merged with the grey flesh, the raised body suddenly froze.
The "Rose Bishop," controlling the grey Nephilim, emitted a sound that Shadows of Order could only vaguely hear. The surrounding Nephilim stopped, obeying their commander's will.
The grey arm touched the green body. Grey and green flesh rippled, and another "Flesh Servant" was created.
The "Rose Bishop," with five green Nephilim, walked out from the xenos army towards a greasy condensing tower.
Ramsey's voice sounded from within the grey body: "'Shadow Ascetics,' 'Shadow Lurking.'"
Ten "Shadow Ascetics" emerged from the shadows of the organic slime, hiding in the shadows of the line of green figures.
"Move." Ramsey's low voice sounded from the grey body, which led the way.
The "Shadow Ascetics" followed behind the green bodies, slipping into the Nephilim army.
A "Shadow Ascetic" threw a vial into the Nephilim ranks. Shards scattered. White smoke rose.
A blue Nephilim, its whale face the first to smell the foul odor, was about to shriek a warning when it realized with horror that no sound came.
Its blue skin twitched wildly. Its phosphorescence flickered. Its patterns twisted.
Another "Shadow Ascetic" threw a black crystal ball, simultaneously ordering on the vox channel: "Attack!"
The crystal ball shattered. Black smoke rose, spreading faster than the white.
The blue Nephilim's phosphorescence rapidly dimmed.
A "Listener" started the engine of a Land Speeder.
The black vehicle swept in like a wave. A roaring storm swallowed the Nephilim.
Each Nephilim was like a fish separated from its school. Even with its kind meters away, it could not perceive them.
They could not speak. Their patterns were dim.
They received no information. Their two small eyes on their whale faces could glean nothing from their kind.
The Nephilim's dual-encrypted communications were both severed. For the first time, they were incommunicado.
Black vehicles pierced the boiling mist, dropping layer after layer of barrages. Chaotic Nephilim fell in droves.
The "Rose Bishop," with five green "Flesh Servants," moved through the xenos army, sowing chaos.
Across the miasma-shrouded, grey-white world, the black tide moved faster than the white, sweeping across organic mountain ranges, straight to the heart of the grey mist jungle.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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