A Monster in Hell: A 40K Story

Chapter-32

For all his flaws, Kossolax's Command had been sound, and his loss was a devastating blow to the Chaotic Forces. The Thirteenth Black Crusade had lost them significant traction, and what they had gained in the Red Crusade was offset by their losses in the Red Crusade. Space Marine Home Worlds such as Chogoris, Baal and even Inwit had fallen, thanks to the efforts of Typhus and Eidolon. Space Marines on both sides had significantly dwindled, to the point that several hundred Chapters were wiped out in brutal campaigns.

It was then that Vicksburg gave me another message: "Macragge is under attack."

Belisarius Cawl himself had made haste to Macragge to revive The Mistress of the Thirteenth, but with no success so far: and Lord-Admiral Raphael Sagittarius was warring against the Daemon Be'lakor, the Dark Master of Chaos, from the Phalanx, which arrived post-haste to aid in the battle. My upgrades meant that now multiple major capital ships, including Abyss-Class and Gloriana-Class Battleships, were being built much sooner. Instead of centuries, they would take only years, and many ships had been rolled out quickly. In four and a half months of the Red Crusade... the war had taken turns of devastating proportions.

Also, I was battling pent-up sexual frustration.

Ridiculous of me to admit it, but yes. Even I was susceptible to sexual frustration. Honestly... I needed somebody. After I killed Lucius and vaporized his essence, I was finding someone to have a good, good fuck.

The orbital pods of the Titans had worked as intended: colossal drop-pods the size of a city block each had killed thousands of Daemons and their units by the landing alone. The remnants of the Grey Knights fought their last stand on this planet, and I was pleased that many were working overtime to atone for the sins of their kin who had fought for Sanctus. Their penance led to many repenting Grey Knights going out in a blaze of glory... killing thousands of Greater Daemons and Chaos Warlords, alone tilting the balance. Every strategic position... scratch that, the Daemons suffered heavy losses taking a single rock on Voss Prime.

The Tech-Priests themselves had been targeted, though the Arch-Magi had unleashed their own lobotomized Men of Iron, personalized armies, and many other technological horrors including nanites, vortex weapons and miniature black holes to meet the Daemon constructs and Warp Bombs and clouds of time and reality-eating Vores sent by the others. The Noosphere was in a state of war, the atmosphere was polluted further, the rust-colored ebony-tinged smoke of pollution coming out of the factories had been shut down before the invasion. Yet the atmosphere showed a distinct smell of ash and fire, many factories obliterated by Orbital Bombardment. 

The remnants of Tanks and Titans lay across the battlefield, burning and smoking, signifying the fallibility of both sides involved. Colossal mountains of rotting, mutated corpses lay across the surface, dripping rivers of blood or other fluids. Some were pure and untouched, some were defiled, diseased and mutated in the worst ways possible. Death was the greatest equalizer, as they all laid side-by-side: all those alive did their best to kill each other in the most brutal ways possible, causing maximum collateral damage. Screams rent the air and flashes of fire and lightning shattered the silence, claiming it also as collateral damage. 

The Space Marines had suffered the most of all: the Lamenters in their horrible luck, the Salamanders because of their blessed innocence in saving civilians, the Black Templars in their suicidal, zealous and glorious charges, the Ultramarines because they were numerous and an easily-spotted target... they all had suffered and fallen in numbers. Despite their disagreement in life, they all were equal in death, lying side-by-side, exterminated in terrible ways beyond mortal comprehension. I came upon the body of Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, from the looks of it by Lucius himself. He was bloody but at the very least he seemed to have found glory, honor and peace in death, judging from his resigned, calm expression.

The command structure of the battle had been broken long before I stepped on the warzone: the Guardsmen were in retreat after the death of their final leader, Colonel Holm. Commissar Huzur Thin had tried to take charge after, but he was so unlikeable that the very announcement of his intention led to him getting multiple bolter rounds in the face. Following that everything structured had shattered, with small leaders forming command centers here and there, and the Arch-Magi barely defending the actual factories, stretched too thin to make a difference.

It was my own entrance that broke the back of the Chaos forces: before, the battle had been a stalemate, with Chaos winning at an imperceptible rate that would wipe out both forces long before it came to the point. Now the Battle of Voss Prime was turned into a slaughterhouse as I killed Daemons left and right, a true annihilator of my opponents.

Lucius himself appeared: "Anathema! You have come! I would not have expected it! HEEEEEEHHHHEEEEEEHHHHAHHHHHAHHHHAAA!"

His fit of giggles was extremely Daemonic and disgusting, thank you.

"I am Lucius the Eternal, a favored Champion of the Dark Prince of Pleasure... of She-Who-Thirsts. I am honored, Anathema, that you are willing to die at my hands. I will be greatly rewarded to end your pathetic hotshot career. And so, now you are extinguished, Anathema: EHHHEHHHHHHHHHHHEHHHHEEEEEEEEEHEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAA!!!!!"

"I am not. It is you who will die," I called calmly, my reply exposing no weaknesses.

"You are... mistaken. Do you see this blade in my hand? Yes... this is the same blade, the Athame, which slew the Thirteenth and corrupted the Sixteenth."

Well... the Athame would be a problem. But nowhere near my power.

Our swords clashed as we lunged, the motorized teeth of my Chainsword revving to life. Lucius was a perfect swordsman, but I far excelled him in raw power. Lucius laughed in the thrill of his fight as he finally felt a good opponent. The powers of the Athame were slightly different, and they were interfering, however slightly, with the use of my powers... forcing me to parry with one hand.

"How are you doing this?" Lucius rasped as I hit him square, wounding him... and obviously there was only pain, no pleasure, "This should not be!"

"It is," I struck him again, scarring his face, "And you will die forever: this ends here and now."

As even the Athame fell from his grasp, I began to gain ground in the fight, striking hard against my opponent. Lucius screamed in pain as he was mauled repeatedly by the sword, showing signs of horror and fatigue. Since wounds with my swords were permanent... of course everything went awry for him, as he writhed in agony, laying on the ground. The most debased Champion of Chaos was in the end cut down by something diametrically opposed to his very nature, designed to counter him. Lucius howled and even his patron's Warp-Scream echoed as its favorite Champion was killed by my blade.

Following Lucius' Fall, morale plummeted as the Daemon army scattered like ash to the winds, and our forces gave chase. Another hostile bites the dust. For every one of my squad and commanders killed I would kill one of them, painfully and slowly.

That being said, this battle was a turning point. Not only did we need a strengthened leadership and careful succession to hold Voss Prime, but also the Ultramarines had lost Calgar. The still-pretty-large Chapter would certainly need a leader, and I wanted no large, public power struggle, just in case. 

I needed to look at the potential successors. While direct intervention in something considered so... internal was unacceptable, a little nudge was hardly off the table.

Anyway...

"My Lord," Sigmund Stavros had made a landing, and he ran up, "Is everything alright?"

"The battle is over. Today, victory is mine. Long Live Imperium Eterna."

There was a shout of joy and then everything erupted in anarchy and disorder. Everyone was hailing my name and that of the Empress. I had won.

The war.

You will see... you will see..

(A/N:

1. Finally, two more fuckers slain. And you know what? Chaos once tried to send a ship the size the Star System into the galaxy. So the Defiler is possible.)