Guilliman had already calculated the stratagems for the engagement. He intended to have the Astra Militarum drive the vermin into a desperate corner, sever their retreat using the earthquake generators, and then lead the Adeptus Astartes in a decisive decapitation strike against the Skaven leadership.
The arrival of the Khornate legions, however, threw his logistics into disarray. This tide of rage had manifested directly in the center of the theater.
The preternatural fury radiating from Ka'Bandha instantly infected every warrior in the vicinity. The Astra Militarum soldiers were overcome by an uncontrollable bloodlust, fixating on suicidal melee charges against the Bloodletters. It was exactly the kind of butcher's work the wielders of Hellblades relished.
Yet, while the Imperial Guard succumbed to the red thirst, the Skaven remained, relatively, anchored. Or rather, the Skaven had a "cheat code."
When the eight legions of Khorne appeared, the vermin were initially swept up in the psychic scream of rage, chattering and launching unauthorized, frenzied assaults. The Grey Seers, however, possessed the warp-attunement to recognize the danger.
Pulling at the reins of their Grey Seer Bell-Altar carriages, pulled by massive Rat Ogres, they struck. As the Great Bell of Doom tolled, the discordant chimes resonated within the mind of every Skaven on the field. In an instant, the fanatical shadow of the Great Horned Rat purged Khorne's empyric fury from the vermin's collective consciousness.
"Withdraw! Pull back-back! Daemon-things! Curse them-them! Die-die!" A Grey Seer screeched, watching the literal tide of gore the Khornate daemons were carving through the front lines.
Skaven logic was built on a foundation of entitlement. If a rat coveted a prize, it considered that prize its own property even before seizing it. Now, the Skaven, including Whitesick, viewed these Khornate interlopers as thieves trying to steal their rightful sacrifices. They were beyond incensed.
Khorne, naturally, did not care. Under the terrifying strength of his Greater Daemons, Great Axes fell with reality-shearing force. The flak-armor of the Astra Militarum offered no more resistance than parchment, and the ceramite of the tanks fared little better.
The Knight suits and Hell Pit Abominations became the primary targets for the Khornate generals.
Ka'Bandha, spewing hellfire from his maw, spread his wings and dove toward the swirling melee between the Sterlund Knights and the Abominations. The Bloodthirster cared nothing for allegiances; he swung his axe in a massive, horizontal cleave intended to harvest everything in its arc.
The machine-spirit of the Knight suit aided its pilot in a feat of near-impossible agility, boosting clear while parrying the follow-through with a colossal chainsword.
The Hell Pit Abomination was not so fortunate. A massive slab of its distorted, necrotic flank was sheared off. As the heap of pale flesh hit the ground, it dissolved into a swarm of smaller, stitch-faced rat-monsters that scurried away—vermin that had been sewn into the Abomination's very bulk.
"ROAR-SCREECH!!
The blow ignited the Abomination's synthetic nerves. Its dozens of heads roared in unison, and the weapons grafted to its frame began a frantic counter-barrage. Warp-fire throwers, warp-cannons, claws, and bloodthirsty maws lashed out. These creatures existed in a state of perpetual agony and hatred; to them, a Greater Daemon was merely a larger target for their spite.
Ka'Bandha locked muscles with the Hell Pit Abomination. To his shock, his titanic strength failed to topple the beast; instead, the Daemon staggered back from the sheer, blubbery mass of the monstrosity.
Infuriated, the Bloodthirster, who had famously carved a path of ruin during the End Times, lunged again, intent on tearing the rat-beast limb from limb. The Abomination met him with equal ferocity, its mutated bulk absorbing blows that would have leveled a fortress.
The Sterlund Knights saw their opening. Eschewing "honor" for the pragmatism required to survive the Warp, they ignored the dueling protocol. Multiple Storm Bolters and Heavy Stubbers opened fire, raking both monsters in a hail of lead!
The rounds striking Ka'Bandha were weakened by Khorne's ruinous presence around the daemon, and rather than hurting him, the stinging impacts only drove him into a deeper trance of slaughter.
"You dare provoke the Rage—Mortal!" Ka'Bandha roared. He kicked off the Abomination's chest, using the momentum to pounce upon the nearest Knight.
Under the focused fury of a top-tier Greater Daemon, the machine-spirit buckled. Ka'Bandha's axe sheared off a primary weapon arm before a blast of hellfire scorched the hull black. The Knight retaliated, its chainsword scoring a deep line across the Daemon's chest, but Ka'Bandha smashed through the cockpit with a brass-clad fist, crushing the Noble pilot instantly.
Before he could savor the kill, the Abomination lunged again, its multiple maws and blades tearing at his wings. Three other Knights, seeing their comrade fall, abandoned their previous targets and converged, chainswords revving to grind both the Daemon and the xenos monstrosity into dust.
Ka'Bandha was not easily cornered. With a burst of terrifying strength, he tore through the Abomination's stitched limbs, beat his wings, and shot into the sky like a crimson meteor. Below, the other seven Greater Daemons sought out their own titans, lunging at Knights and Abominations alike. Fourteen behemoths were now locked in a chaotic, world-shaking brawl.
On the ground, the Skaven, jolted awake by the Great Bell, had retreated, but stayed within striking distance. They watched with predatory intent as the Imperium and the Daemons bled each other.
"Daemon-things, human-things... all must die! YES-YES!!" Whitesick shrieked upon receiving the field reports. He ordered a renewed surge to wipe out the survivors and sacrifice Holy Terra to the Horned One.
Clan Verminus reformed. Led by their Chieftains, Warlords and Grey Seers, a sea of Slave Rats and Clanrats raised their ramshackle warp-muskets and rusted blades, their eyes gleaming with malice.
The Khornate Bloodcrushers accepted the challenge. They spurred their Juggernauts forward, the brass machines acting as living steamrollers of meat and metal.
The Skaven had their own monstrous cavalry, the Brood Titans and riders of Clan Moulder, but only Moulder possessed a stable supply of titan-rats to serve as mounts.
As the Khornate cavalry approached, the front-line Slaves began to waver. However, with the threat of the Packmaster whip-claws at their backs, their terror broke into a shrill counter-charge. They fired their warp-pistols frantically into the approaching brass tide.
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"
The Juggernauts hit the Skaven line like a sledgehammer hitting popcorn. Upon contact, the vermin were pulverized into a red mist. A line of a million slaves, stretching kilometers deep, was breached in seconds as the daemons drove toward the more elite Clanrats.
Yet, even as the Bloodcrushers slaughtered, the Skaven bit back. Dozens of Juggernauts were brought down by concentrated warp-cannon fire and a relentless hail of warp-bullets that cared nothing for "friendly fire." The Bloodcrushers found themselves bogged down in a sea of fur; the poisoned blades of the Clanrats began to score the brass hides of the Juggernauts, while Stormvermin closed in with warp-halberds to finish the job.
In the Empyrean, the Emperor mused for a moment before speaking. "Send her."
Both Lucius and Khorne knew who he meant: Saint Celestine, the eternal laborer of the God-Emperor. It seemed the Emperor had precious few reliable pieces left to play.
Lucius considered whether to send Sneek or one of his own Greater Daemons. Suddenly, he felt an anomalous psychic surge within the Realm of Ruin.
It came from his masterpiece, the cage of Skreech Verminking.
"Heh... then I won't hold back either," Lucius chuckled with pride. "Let's show them the power of the first of the Verminlords, the Great King of Rats, Skreech Verminking."
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