Skreech Verminking did not disappoint. This Vermin King, forged by Lucius from the genetic templates of nineteen cloned Primarchs and saturated with the faith-energy of the Great Horned Rat's disparate aspects, possessed a terrifying, multifaceted potency.
At this moment, Skreech wielded the martial prowess of a Bloodthirster, the fluid agility of a Keeper of Secrets, the sorcerous might of a Lord of Change, and a constitutional resilience (and viral toxicity) rivaling a Great Unclean One. Against such an entity, an ordinary Bloodthirster was practically a spent force.
The spectacle caught Ka'Bandha's attention. He watched with a cold sneer as Guilliman, clutching the Emperor's Sword, fell back several paces. The Bloodthirster then turned his baleful gaze toward Skreech Verminking.
Raising his Axe of Fury, Ka'Bandha bellowed, "Vermin, what manner of thing are you? Speak your name, that I may claim the glory of your head for the Blood God!"
"Daemon-thing! I am... I am your nightmare-dream! I am the Hand of the Horned Rat! I am the King of All Rats... YES-YES!!"
Skreech shrieked, baring jagged yellow incisors. His powerful, digitigrade legs coiled and sprang, launching him forward like a shadow. In his grip, the twin crescent-shaped blades shimmered with the sickly green luminescence of pure warpstone.
These blades, manifestations of pure malice and death-attuned empyric energy, were further empowered by Skreech's sorcery, creating a psychic matrix capable of shearing through any physical or metaphysical ward.
Seeing the blur of motion, a speed comparable to the Slaaneshi daemon-slayer Shalaxi Helbane, Ka'Bandha felt a rare spike of caution. He swung his great axe in a massive, sweeping arc to clear the air.
Skreech met the titan-killing blow with his twin blades. Then, from the flanks of his lithe, powerful torso, a second, smaller pair of arms erupted.
It was the transformative power of Clan Moulder.
These rat-limbs, though grotesque, were incredibly dexterous. Their fingers flicked through the mudra-signs of Clan Eshin ninjutsu, causing Skreech to blur and fracture into multiple illusory duplicates.
"Wha—?! What manner of craven sorcery is this?!" Ka'Bandha roared in frustration.
At that moment, Guilliman, indifferent to the nature of his "allies," seized the opening. He lunged forward, driving the Emperor's Sword deep into Ka'Bandha's thigh. The holy fire of the Anathema ignited the wound; a localized, agonizing sun-fire began to consume the daemon's essence. A scream of unprecedented agony escaped the Bloodthirster's throat.
Skreech Verminking hissed in displeasure. This was his debut; he could not allow the Great Horned Rat to be dissatisfied by an assisted kill. Skreech unhinged his jaw and exhaled a torrent of thick, emerald, nauseating ichor, drenching both Ka'Bandha and Guilliman.
Guilliman felt the spiritual weight of the fluid. While it lacked the refined metaphysical malignancy of Ku'Gath's Godblight from the Plague Wars, it was still lethally toxic to his gene-structure. He instantly withdrew, flaring the psychic fire of the Emperor's blade to form a protective shroud that vaporized the filth.
Ka'Bandha, despite the innate magical resistance of a servant of Khorne, fared worse. His brass-scaled skin began to blister and slough off in necrotic patches. Then, the duplicates of Skreech closed in, their blades flickering like falling stars.
"Aaargh...! No! My Master... Blood God!!"
Ka'Bandha's corded neck, chest, back, and major joints were severed with the precision of a hot wire through grox-fat. The mighty Bloodthirster collapsed like a toppled monument of bone and brass before dissolving into the warp.
With Ka'Bandha's banishment, the Khornate host faltered. The remaining Bloodthirsters launched suicidal charges against Skreech and the Primarch. Saint Celestine and Guilliman worked in tandem to fell two of the monsters. Of the final two, one was crushed into a bloody pulp by Skreech's telekinetic grip, while the other had its head erased by a bolt of Warp-Lightning erupting directly from the Vermin King's spine.
As the Greater Daemons fell, Khorne, watching from the Empyrean, lost all interest in the failing theater. In a fit of divine pique, the Blood God withdrew his favor. The remaining Khornate daemons suddenly flopped like fish out of water, their essences drying up and withering as they were forcibly expelled from reality.
"This debt is not settled, worm! Nor you!" Khorne bellowed. His rage was twofold: fury at the Emperor's shameless intervention, and disgust at his champions for falling so decisively to the vermin he despised. With a final roar that shook the warp, the Blood God vanished into a sea of his own gore.
"Finally, some peace. That canine's voice is grating," the Emperor remarked, cleaning his ear without looking back. However, Lucius could feel the Emperor's psychic pressure shifting toward him. He knew the Emperor was nursing a slow-burning rage over the damage to Holy Terra. He remained on high alert for a sudden "psychic sinus" strike.
"How do you intend to end this farce?" the Emperor asked coldly.
"Farce? Hehe... I didn't expect these rat-pups to be so bold, but I must say, their courage is commendable," Lucius replied.
On Holy Terra, the Khornate threat was gone, but the battlefield remained saturated with enemies. Guilliman and Celestine watched the terrifying Skreech Verminking with absolute wariness.
Behind them, hundreds of Legio Custodes, several Chapters' worth of Adeptus Astartes, and millions of Astra Militarum soldiers formed a military force reminiscent of the Great Crusade.
Guilliman stood at the fore, his voice booming across the ruins of his home. "No daemon or xenos shall triumph over the Imperium of Man! The Throne World shall not fall this day! We walk the path of inevitable victory! Heroes of the Imperium, fight for the Imperium of Heroes!!"
Holding the Emperor's Sword aloft, Guilliman looked like the living image of his Father. Celestine spread her wings, her radiance clearing the blood-red clouds from the Terran sky.
"Yes-yes, Come-come! Show the Horned Rat your... pathetic-ness!" Skreech Verminking cackled. Harnessing his authority as a Verminlord, he galvanized the Skaven. Billions of vermin, a mountain-toppling tide of filth, surged toward the Imperial lines once more.
Great-rats the size of hounds shrieked as they were vaporized by las-fire and bolter rounds. Led by their Primarch, the Astra Militarum held their lines with unbreakable discipline. Basilisk batteries fired until their barrels glowed white-hot, laying down creeping barrages that erased swathes of the seemingly infinite swarm.
Guilliman's tactic remained unchanged: a decapitation strike.
Protected by hundreds of Custodians, a God-Machine detachment of Warlord and Warhound Titans, five hundred Dreadnoughts, and a spearhead of Astartes, the Primarch launched a counter-offensive.
"For the Emperor! For the Imperium!!"
Guilliman carved through a mutated Rat Ogre in a single pass. The Custodes and Astartes followed like a boulder crashing through a stream, driving straight for Skreech Verminking.
Are the humans mad? Skreech mused, watching the frenzied charge. No matter. Delivering the Primarch's head would be a supreme offering to the Great Horned Rat.
Skreech gripped his reapers and leapt into the air, a blur of grey fur and green fire heading for Guilliman.
Celestine attempted to intercept, but Skreech was not targeting her. He twisted in mid-air with superhuman grace, dodging her blade and diving for the Primarch. Guilliman barely raised his guard in time to catch the impact.
"Do not harm the Father!" The Ultramarines and their Successors roared, drenching the daemon in bolter fire and swinging chainswords with reckless abandon.
Skreech ignored them. He stomped the ground, and chunks of his own necrotic flesh sloughed off his body, instantly transforming into swarms of monstrous rats that occupied the Astartes, preventing them from interfering in the duel.
In terms of raw power, Guilliman was no match for Skreech. Within seconds, the Lord Regent was forced into a desperate retreat. It appeared that within mere moments, the Regent of the Imperium would be returned to the Golden Throne in spirit.
But then, the blue sky, cleared by Celestine's light, was darkened by a massive shadow. The Imperial Navy had arrived.
With Alpharius having withdrawn and the Skryre Skaven appearing via the Under-way tunnels, there was nothing left in orbit to stop the wrath of the Imperial Fleet.
"Human-things... treacherous! Treacherous!" Skreech screamed, attacking with renewed frenzy, even as the first beams of Orbital Strikes began to erase the Skaven sea.
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