In the fourth month of the Heliosa campaign, Nareth took to the field, personally leading his Honour Guard in an assault on War-Hold Ninety-Three.
On the cold, frozen continent of the south pole, only the heavy footsteps of the Honour Guard broke the silence.
Snow, as large as goose feathers, filled their visors.
Gurjur, the Standard Bearer, held high the battle standard of the Shadows of Order, granted by the Emperor.
The adamantium flagpole stood unwavering in the howling wind, piercing the sky.
The black silk banner billowed, yet no snowflake clung to it.
The Honour Guard members' eyes gleamed with fierce determination as they followed their banner and their father, advancing towards the last war-hold before the Phoenix's Crag.
A sudden, piercing shriek. Thousands of crystalline lights appeared high above.
Nareth vanished. Ten thousand meters up, behind a snow-shrike, a sniper's body exploded.
The "Mentor of Disorder's" massive form reappeared, surrounded by two soul-eating bees.
The snow-shrike sagged. The rider turned in shock.
The Primarch raised his right hand, crushing his skull.
Bang!
The tough skull was crushed to dust, scattering on the wind.
Nareth raised his left hand, aiming at the snow-shrike beneath him, and intoned in Dun: "Seal!"
Viscous fluid, thick to the extreme, layered over the crystalline form.
Bang, bang, bang...
A concentrated barrage of fire, aimed at the black-armored giant, crossed paths. He had vanished.
Bang!
Five snipers exploded, becoming thirteen fist-sized soul-eating bees. Nareth materialized from a suit of light black armor.
The "Mentor of Disorder" sowed "Soul-Devouring Eggs" into the minds of Avenian, moving through "Psychic Doors," appearing everywhere among the snow-shrikes.
Avenian warriors looked back constantly. The rush of air behind them often heralded the sudden appearance of the black-armored giant.
Hundreds of Avenian riders, panicked, urged their snow-shrikes into diving attacks.
They shouted to dispel the spreading fear.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Crystalline points of light grew in Gurjur's black eyes. He slammed his right knee to the ground.
Crack!
A fissure split the ice. Dawn-light flared.
Bang, bang, bang...
Beaks struck the invisible wall the "Guardian" had created, deflected and sliding off with rippling distortions.
The Avenian stared in shock at the black-armored giant. Their panic growing, they raised their sniper rifles and fired at the monster on the ground.
The concentrated barrage clanged against the relentless barrier, then fell harmlessly.
The "Guardian" rose abruptly. Dawn-light burst skyward. White birds were hurled aside.
The Avenian riders gripped their reins, trying to control their mounts.
But the dawn-storm was unstoppable, hurling them aside.
From its heart, blades of light tore through snow-shrikes and Avenian alike.
White feathers and flesh scattered on the wind.
The Honour Guard, their eyes on the fluttering banner, raised their Bedrock-pattern boltguns and opened fire.
The bitter cold had no effect on the Squat-manufactured weapons. Diamond-hard shells detonated, suppressing the Avenian's weak counterattacks.
As the "Mentor of Disorder," Nareth, stood before the canyon leading to War-Hold Ninety-Three, a dark cloud of over a thousand soul-eating bees swarmed overhead.
With a thought, the bees, each the length of a man's torso, swept towards the mountains like a sudden hurricane.
Crystal wings hummed. The discordant buzz spread unease and fear.
The Avenian raised their weapons, firing volley after volley.
A handful of bees burst in showers of blood, their bodies tumbling down.
But the sight of the viscous, maw-like mouths and the hideous limbs made the Avenian's hair stand on end, fear gripping them.
These strange, alien birds were not like the elegant, beautiful creatures of their homeworld. They were ugly and monstrous.
Aaaah...
Over a hundred Avenian suddenly clutched their heads and rolled, their heads throbbing as if something writhed within.
Others, startled, stepped back, only to see their heads split open, spewing forth hideous, bee-like creatures.
A chill ran down their spines. They understood the origin of the swarm above.
Buzz...
The newly spawned monsters flew towards the valley mouth, gathering above the black-armored giant as he strode into the valley.
It was he. He commanded those ugly, ferocious creatures. They had devoured their kin.
The Avenian screamed, raising their weapons, unleashing a furious barrage at the giant from all sides.
Bullets whined through the air, but as they reached within ten meters of the black armor, they struck waves of heat, rippling and distorting.
The bullets trembled, slowed.
Thousands of rounds corroded, rusting rapidly.
Hundreds disintegrated, crumbling to dust.
In the spacetime distortion field of "Entropy," not a single round struck the black armor.
Light and shadow flickered in the Primarch's eyes. He raised his hands, grasping the silver towers on either side of the mountain pass.
He clenched his fists. The silver towers shuddered.
Rumble...
The mountain shook. Stones flew.
The Avenian looked up in terror, seeing their homes ripped from the mountain and hurtling down.
Shadows fell across the bridges. The buildings crashed down, crushing hundreds of Avenian to pulp.
Nareth surveyed the peaks, which seemed to close in like a basin. An idea formed.
He beat his golden wings, rising into the air.
The Primarch spun upward, his telekinesis spreading.
Rising a kilometer, to the heart of the towers, he hovered.
Light and shadow flickered. He clapped his hands together.
Crack!
An echoing thunder.
The sound of "Impact" reverberated within the "Multi-Prism," amplifying, building.
Crack, crack, crack...
The gleaming prisms groaned, unable to contain the terrible sound. It erupted, sweeping outward.
Aaaah...
Screams echoed through the silver towers. Avenian heads exploded. Bodies crumpled.
Snow-shrikes collapsed, their razor-wings folding.
The sound waves echoed back and forth through the mountains, a rolling thunder.
Boom!
A silver tower's staircase exploded, its blocks tumbling down.
A cascade of debris buried dozens of Avenian.
The Avenian stared at the terrible giant in the air, their bodies trembling.
The sound waves, amplified by the peaks of War-Hold Ninety-Three, reverberated again and again. Tower after tower collapsed.
A torrent of debris, mingled with the ruins of ornate buildings and broken bodies, swept through the valley.
Avenian were swallowed by the flood. Their tough bones were crushed by the immense force.
The soul-eating bees instinctively rose, avoiding the calamity, clustering around the "Mentor of Disorder."
The Honour Guard, following Standard Bearer Gurjur, quickly retreated through the debris-strewn canyon. Debris clattered against their black armor with dull thuds.
They reached the canyon's mouth, looking up at the majestic figure in the air.
Their gene-father had single-handedly destroyed a war-hold.
....
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