This is a crossover between Jayfiction's excellent Imperium Ascendent and Gate Thus The JSDF Fought There.
I do not own Warhammer or Gate credit belongs to Games Workshop and A-1 Pictures respectively.
Image from Deviant art by hank9Y
I'll be post...
Senator General Godasen had never before felt such dread in his life as he attempted to flee the field of battle with two of his guards and a warrior bunny he'd purchased as a slave.
Having been ordered by the Senate and Emperor Molt Sol Augustus to reinforce the defenses around the Gate after the army sent to conquer the other world never reported back. Three days after he assumed command over all forces around Arnus Hill, loud footsteps were heard coming from the Gate and he commanded all 180,000 of his soldiers to prepare to face whatever came out.
Then, in the flickering light of the torches that he'd commanded to be lit around the structure, two giants in bronze-colored armor materialized. One held an enormous hammer, crackling with lightning and a shield, the other held a standard of some kind and a toothed axe. The larger of the two giants demanded the surrender of the entire army or they'd be defeated as he implied the invasion army had been.
Godasen sneered at the audacity of the man for believing that the mighty Saderan Legions would surrender to only two warriors, no matter how large they may be. Ordering all monsters under his command to attack the foolish goliaths, he didn't believe they'd even be able to last half a minute.
Imagine his shock then, when not only did the giants last longer than thirty seconds, but effectively wiped out the entire force of monsters in his army in perhaps the finest display of marshal skill he'd ever witnessed.
Astonished by the scene before him, Godasen ordered every ballista in his arsenal to target the behemoths. However, not only did the attempt to slay the enemy fail but then a hundred more came, slicing apart his formations with claws and massive swords, unleashing explosions upon them with sorcery the likes of which he'd never seen before.
Thinking quickly, he commanded the mages in his forces to release their power on the foe. Except, as they prepared their incantations, the very ground beneath them all trembled as what could only be described as steel elephants and metal carriages rumbled forth from the Gate.
Out from the metal carriages, were clearly regular humans, but wearing uniforms and armor and carrying weapons made from materials and designs entirely foreign to the Senator.
The newcomers dealt devastation to his army and efforts to stabilize the rapidly disintegrating lines only ended with yet further casualties. The cavalry he sent were decimated before they could even reach their opponents and the wyverns were shredded by vehicles with turrets that possessed four long protrusions.
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Eventually, it was all too much and those who were embroiled in the fighting surrendered and those who were far enough away ran. One of those who ran was Godasen, now only caring about his life. Duty? Honor? Glory? All of that meant nothing compared to the horror he'd beheld.
Sadly, for him, Arik Taranis had a message he wished to deliver and therefore he needed a messenger. What better messenger to showcase the overwhelming power of the Imperium than the utterly broken leader of this now-slaughtered army? Nearly reaching the surrounding forest around Arnus Hill, he and his retinue were intercepted.
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Ghota was ordered by his father to find the leader of this army and separated himself from the waning battle to search for his quarry. It'd been some time since the old Thunder Warrior had experienced battle and although he felt no yearning for conflict, he was a warrior at heart.
He still recognized an enemy leader when he saw one. This particular leader was much like the others he had encountered: old, fleeing for his life, and accompanied by a slave whom he refused to leave behind.
Quickly closing with his prey, he dispatched the remaining guards with an almost leisurely swing of his chain axe. Their bodies bisected in two before they could even register what happened until they saw their own entrails.
Then, he grabbed his objective by his robe and lifted him up. Peering into the aged mortal's eyes, he said, "I would kill you here and now if you still did not have a purpose."
The old man stared at him wide-eyed and shaking. Ghota then looked at the shivering coward's slave and saw that she was an abhuman of a subspecies not yet known to the Imperium.
She was female by the shape of her body and had light fur over various portions of her form. Bunny ears stuck out of her hair and her feet were that of a rabbit's as well. The slave was wearing rags, more similar to a vegetable sack than an actual tunic, and was visibly malnourished.
She'd fallen to the ground after her chained collar was yanked from her master's grip when Ghota snatched Godasen and now looked at him weakly before tilting her head and presenting her neck. Evidently, she expected to be killed and accepted her fate.
The Unification War veteran had seen atrocities far worse than this, but that did not make her treatment any less cruel and disgusting. So, the Thunder Warrior showed a rare flicker of mercy, whether it was out of empathy for her enslavement or the guilt he felt from all the innocent he'd slain, not even he truly knew why, but he let her go.
"Leave," he pronounced.
"W-Wa-What?" The abhuman responded in a hoarse voice, her eyes shooting wide open.
"Leave, I will spare you, do not test my patience."
With that statement, the equerry turned around and was about to leave with his captive, till he heard a voice behind him.
"Wait, please!" the slave pleaded in desperation. She didn't have anywhere to go, her homeland, having been burned to cinders by the Empire. She had no food or any water, if she was left here, she'd be stranded in the middle of a forest during the night with no chance of survival.
Crying, she begged the colossus before her.
"Please, please! Don't leave me here, I swear I'll repay you, just please take me with you!"
Ghota turned slightly to face the abhuman. She was on her knees, her hands clasped together, head lowered and sobbing. He considered what to do with her before deciding to allow her to follow him back to the hill. She was of no threat to him in her current state and the Imperium would need to learn more of this planet's abhuman population.
"Follow me then, but I will not stop if you fall behind," he said.
The Warrior Bunny sighed with relief and jumped to her feet as she ran to follow the surprisingly fast colossus, a small bit of hope sprouting in her heart for the first time in many years.
