The Multiverse Project: Warhammer 40,000

Space Marines are scary. Meme them all you want, draw chibi fan arts, hell, right a slash fan fiction while you're at it, but the ultimate, horrific truth remained that the Adeptus Astartes, the God Emperor's Angels of Death, was the absolute worst thing that can come at you from across the battlefield. The fact that these lots were Chaos Space Marines, their already ultra-human physiology further enhanced by the Warp, was just the cherry on the top of the proverbial shit sundae being dished out on the battlegroup.

"Hostiles pressing hard from the south!" Tangmo bellowed and narrowly ducked a hail of las, bolts and shurikens tearing into the chewed up townhouse he, Henry and the main characters were hunkered down. Guardsmen and eldars had occupied all three floors and were exchanging fire with the approaching tanks and Chaos eldar UFOs, called Chordata according to Celalira. "Ladaee, what's the situation on the eastern front?!"

"We're being pushed back," Ladaee didn't sugarcoat things, her timbre one of repressed anger. "We're not making it easy for them, just so you know, but I would be remiss not to acknowledge that their army had improved significantly, in skills and in tactics."

"I know right?" Tangmo agreed as he cut down a few traitor guardsmen darting between jagged outcrops, their movement precise and well trained. "I was kinda hoping they would just bum rush us again, but nope, motherfuckers actually fight like real soldiers this time."

"They're still bum rushing us though," Henry crouched down beside Tangmo and slammed a new magazine home. "The problem is that the fodders are working in tandem with their more professional counterparts, the best of both worlds put to effective use against us."

"Welp, kudos to Syrathel then," bright blue explosions roiled beyond the Immortal Spirit line, Tangmo waited until the illumination passed before popping up above cover, he and Henry grinning at the sight of the retreating heretics. Burning not a hundred paces in front of the battlegroup were charred, melted remains of Chaos tanks, one looked like a StuG IV and the others five bears a distinct likeness to the Type 95 Ha-Go, the plasma salvo turning them to slush. "Ladaee, what's the situation with your casualties?"

"We're taking a beating, thirty King Russes had already been destroyed and sixty more incapacitated," Ladaee told him and Tangmo cringed at the number. They've been on this planet for a whooping five hours and they were already reaching the total number of tanks lost on Yomi. "Rest assures sir, for every one of us that fall we dragged a hundred of them to hell with us. What about the armor brigade I sent your way?"

"A hundred knocked out of the fight, but no death yet – fuck!" Tangmo was thrown flat to the ground when the Chaos Leman Russes started shelling their position. The Aeldari's buildings were sturdy, he'll give them that, but nothing can withstand sustained bombardment, and currently the townhouses the battlegroup and the Solace Sun had occupied were getting torn to pieces, platoons worth of guardsmen and eldars disappearing in gouts of flames. "Fucking shit! Ladaee, initiate tactical withdraw back to the city center, where the artillery pool is. Hold the place and have the Anguirus hauled back to the refugee camp."

"Affirmative lord commissar," Ladaee said, obviously nodding on the other end. "I hope Henry is okay?"

"Still in one piece babe!" Henry chirped up and spat out dust and gravels.

"Good, stay safe love," Ladaee said then cut the transmission, the same moment a hellish roar, distorted and amplified by the awesome Astartes helms, erupted from the other side of the battlefield. Making peace with the God Emperor, Tangmo braced his lasgun on the sizzling rim of what used to be a door and yep, Chaos Marines were spearheading this attack.

"Heavy gunners, load armor piercing rounds, aim before firing, I repeat, do not waste your ammos," Tangmo was actually kinda impressed that he managed to keep his voice calm, which made him sound super cool. He then turned to Leilatha, who was directing a group of Tallarn, Buxiunese and Antebellan infantries into firing positions. "How's it going?"

"Well enough," Leilatha nodded then pointed her bolt pistol forward. "Quite nostalgic, don't you agree? Just like on Yomi."

"It hasn't been than long Leila and nostalgia usually implies that the memory is a good one," Tangmo chuckled dryly. "But yeah, this is kinda like Yomi, but with more space to maneuver."

"That's the best we can hope for," Leilatha narrowed her eyes on the approaching Astartes, hissed a slew of extremely impolite words, ejected the standard magazine and slammed in a Kraken one instead. "Four World Eaters, backed by ten Black Legions and what looks to be a brigade worth of traitor guardsmen, the competent kind." She locked eyes with Tangmo. "My recommendation would be to withdraw. We can try and hold of course, but I don't think you want that kind of casualties on your conscious."

"You know me too well," Tangmo smirked then tapped his earbud. "Begin the evacuation process, get the wounded to the artillery pool. And have the Wraithguards formed up behind us. We need big guns to cover our asses – oh shit!"

A full auto barrage of bolts tore into Tangmo's cover. The pounding staccato of unleashed gunfire made more terrible by the inhuman roars that announced the coming of the Khornate Space Marines, the ground trembling to the furious pounding of armored feet.

"Here we fucking go again," Henry shared a grin with Tangmo before popping back up, the World Eaters were orkish in accuracy, and trained their lasguns forward. "All guns open fire! Autocannons and heavy meltas, cut the berserker Space Marines down! Heavy bolters and vulcan cannons, drive those fucking Black Legions back! As for the rest of you, shoot anything that fucking moves! For the Emperor! For Isha!"

"For the Emperor!"

"Mael Dannan! For light and for life!"

Holy shit the World Eaters were too fucking angry to die. Tangmo actually got really fucking nervous when, after he and Leilatha emptied their collective bolts on one of the charging Khornate Marine, the motherfucker kept coming. Nope, the blood drunk World Eater didn't give two shits that half his face was gone, his torso ripped to shred, missing an arm and a leg each, oh no, the Warp crazed Marine still managed to get within twenty paces of the battlegroup before a concentrated barrage from the Zodd lasguns obliterated the rest of his skull. The other were equally hard to kill, one taking a full autocannon clip before dropping dead, while the other two managed to close in on one of the pillboxes, killing a score of guardsmen and Guardians before the Warlocks, of both the battlegroup and Solace Sun persuasion, ended them with a powerful physic blast.

"Sir, they're not slowing down!" Krillen yelled from down the line as he ducked beneath the rampart and loaded his grenade launcher attachment.

"No fucking shit, those World Eaters were fucking bullet sponges!" Tangmo gritted his teeth as he waited for a barrage of heavy bolts to subside, blood and dust splattered over him. "Concentrate fire on the Black Legions!"

"We're trying damn it, but them vermin are fast and they're good at finding places to hide," Joana said with no small amount of sass as she quickly reloaded her Antebellan pattern bolt pistol, which was basically an oversized six shooter that used bolts instead of normal bullets. The damn thing was cool as fuck and Tangmo saw Henry eyeballing it every chance he gets. "Oh, and did I mention my evil inbred cousins and their friends are laying down a storm of suppressing fire on us?"

"Really?! I didn't fucking noticed!" Tangmo shot back before easing himself above the rim of his chewed up cover, tsking at how close the evil Antebellan were, exchanging furious fire with the battlegroup, startlingly competent as they worked in tandem with the Black Legion Chaos Marines. Fucking hell, those sons of bitches were setting up heavy gun platforms now. Tangmo dearly missed the days when the heretics were just blood crazed lunatics.

"Deploy smoke?" Kenshin offered.

"Wouldn't matter much, the Black Legions can still see us," Tangmo said.

"Yes, but the normal soldiers don't have enhanced vision," Kenshin went on. "If we smoke up the place, then it will at the very least give us enough cover to withdraw."

"…Damn, that's a good point."

"I'll do you one better," Henry smirked then tapped his earbud, "prepare to deploy smoke canisters, fire at my command. Flamers, light it up my dudes, I think the heretics are overdue for a promethium bath."

"Nice, smoke them first then fried the motherfuckers," Tangmo grinned and tapped his earbud. "All heavy weapon platforms disengage, I repeat, disengage and fall back to the inner defenses, time to haul ass people, get a move on." He braced the stock of the lasgun to his shoulder. "Let's give them some covering fire people. Let's go! For the Emperor!"

As one, the battlegroup and the Solace Sun eldars lay down a brutal, unceasing volley on the nearing Chaos forces. The barrage was so powerful and devastating that the turncoat guardsmen were forced to fall back after half of their numbers were reduced to burning, shredded gibs. The Chaos Marines, although barely effected by the fusillade, didn't took any chances and lowered themselves behind cover, the sudden respite allowed the battlegroup's heavy weapon teams to withdraw in good order. By the time the traitors got their shits together and started returning fire, only the foot soldiers remained.

"Load smokes, on my mark!" Henry bellowed over the pounding din as smoke grenades were loaded into launchers, "fire!"

The pops of discharged ordnance punctured the roaring din, and not five seconds later thick palls of smoke in hues of grey, black and white rolled over no man's land to alarm shouting of the traitor guardsmen.

"Flamers, ignite!" Henry shouted then fixed his gaze on Krix, the 89th Cadian flamer captain, who was tying three promethium fuel tanks together with a duct tape, "umm…Krix? What are you doing?"

"A parting gift for the heretics!" Krix laughed then quirked a brow at Luva, who was watching the preceding with mild interest. "Hey princess, is your aim still any good?"

"Light years ahead of you," Luva rolled her eyes and held her carbine up at the ready. "What do you need?"

"To shoot this, after the flamers doused the place," Krix hefted the bundled tanks up easily and smiled at the mortified Henry, "on your command sir."

"Okay," Henry nodded then poked his head above cover with Tangmo, the traitors had stopped firing for the moment as they waded through the smoke, silhouettes were already emerging along the churning veil. "Purge the motherfuckers! In the name of the Emperor, unleash hell!"

Tangmo thought he was prepared for the discharge, having fought alongside the Sororitas for so long, but nope, he was nearly knocked off his feet by the burning backblast as close to fifty flamers poured liquid inferno on the approaching heretics.

"Ready?" Krix asked and Luva nodded. The flamer captain flashed a toothy grin, rose above the parapet, reeled her arm back, and hurled the promethium tanks into the wall of flame like an American football player. Punching the air after a spectacular throw, Krix turned to Luva. "Don't miss!"

"I never," Luva exhaled slowly and pulled the trigger when the taped tanks bounced into the roaring fire, the lasbolt parting the furious sheen. The secondary explosion turned the conflagration into a firestorm, hungry flame bursting outward in all direction, the heretics' hellish scream rose to a horrific crescendo.

"Fucking Christ, that was amazing!" Tangmo laughed and threw his arms over the very pleased Krix and Luva, shaking both women vigorously. "Meko is one lucky bastard!"

"Right I am sir!" Meko guffawed as Tangmo let Krix and Luva go, both of them giving their boyfriend an extremely suggestive look.

"At least you didn't kick our asses this time," Krix winked at Tangmo then picked up her M249 rapid-las LMG. "Shall we? Because I honestly don't know how long the fire's gonna last."

"You're right," Tangmo nodded and started waving his hand vigorously toward the crumbling ruin behind them, all the while bellowing into his earbud. "Tactical withdrawal people, get a move on! A little fire like that ain't gonna slow them heretic sum bitches for long, so let's go find a new place to shoot them!"

"Get the fuck moving, they're rolling in Basilisks and Whirlwinds!" Henry shouted, his gaze never leaving the glowing data-pad on his arm as the battlegroup and the main characters hauled ass. Being the unapologetic badasses that they were, Tangmo and Henry, along with Leilatha, Krillen, Kenshin and Joana, stayed behind as their troops cleared the place.

"How many?" Tangmo asked, eyes narrowed on the raging fire.

"Eleven Basilisks and six Whirlwinds," Henry grimaced. "Basically, enough to wipe this section off the fucking map."

"They're learning, I'll give them that much," Tangmo groaned then nudged his head for Henry and the main characters to follow. "Come on, looks like everyone's in the clear except us."

The five of them were dashing through an abandoned alleyway, the open road only about fifty paces away, when the boom of unleashed shells and the shrieks of flying missiles roared behind them, the whistles of descending ordnance followed not two heartbeats later.

"Fuck! Run you sons of bitches! Run!" Tangmo pumped his legs faster and harder, and was just about to reach the road when shells and missiles landed around them. The world made a painful somersault as he was ragdolled through the air by the kinetic blasts, the entire content of his lungs emptied in an aborted croak. Cradling his head within the nook of his arms, so that his awesome commissar cap wouldn't get blown away, Tangmo gritted his teeth as he was tossed across the ground, the sensation reminiscent, in a bad way, to when he and Evangeline took a tumble back on Yomi. After a while he slid to a stop, the ambience of the world returning, the cacophony terrible. Coughing dusty air, Tangmo uncurled his body, every limb sore but undamaged and slowly got back on his feet.

"Guys, talk to me," Tangmo groaned and rolled his shoulders until it popped satisfyingly. "Leila? Henry? Krillen? Kenshin? Joanna? I swear to the God Emperor, if any you die I'm gonna blam all of you assholes!"

"That would be quite redundant," Tangmo gasped in relief when Leilatha staggered through the billowing dust toward him, dazed but uninjured as far as he could tell. Behind her lumbered the rest of the main characters, their steps drunk, which made the entire predicament kinda funny. "But I admire your commissariat sentiment nonetheless."

"Anything to make you happy," Tangmo was about to hug his girlfriend when a quick headcount didn't add up. "Wait a minute, where's Henry?"

"Ugh…fuck, everything hurt," Tangmo snapped his head around and dashed at a green coated shape stirring not ten paces from where he had landed. "Shit, now I know how you feel when you fall off that fucking wall."

"With Evangeline on top of me no less, but to be honest that actually made the pain a lot more bearable," Tangmo smirked and reached his hand down to Henry, "come on dude, get up, I don't think anything is broken."

"That's reassuring," Henry snorted and let Tangmo hurled him up, the American shook his limbs and nodded. "You're right, I'm still in one – fuck! Holy shit, look out!"

A fucking bolt exploded not three feet from where the Thai and the American stood, sending shards of stone and metal flying. Leaping off the ground in fright, Tangmo and Henry rectified the incredulous display by training their Zetton lasguns at where the bolt had come from, and held the triggers down. The Black Legion Chaos Marine marched confidently forward, amused by Tangmo and Henry's attempt to kill him, the red lasers bounced harmlessly off the enormous ceramite breastplate, the surface etched with daemonic iconographies, and raised his bolter.

"Hit the deck!" Henry shouted the same moment he and Tangmo dashed behind a pile of rubble as the Chaos Marine send bursts after bursts at them, completely ignoring the main characters, all of whom were herded into a sturdy looking building by Leilatha. For once, Tangmo wasn't happy about the attention.

"Surround the commissar and the general," the Black Legion Marine bellowed as more of his Astartes buddies sprinted into view, and damn those fuckers moved like SEAL Team Six, laying down suppressing fire and covering each other advances, the five traitors closing in on Tangmo and Henry, uncaring of the las and bolts the main characters were pouring on them. "Syrathel want them alive and hale. Get a move on and don't damage them!"

"Sometime I hate being popular," Henry snorted and Tangmo laughed.

"What can we do, we're awesome," Tangmo slung the lasgun over his shoulder, drew his bolt pistol, and slammed in a Kraken magazine. "Got a plan to get us out of this one? Because I doubt Syrathel's looking for a nice chat over a spot of tea."

"I thought about using grenades," Henry stabbed his thumb behind him. "But I think the Wraithguards can take care of them easily enough."

"Lucky us," Tangmo nodded when a trio of Biel-Tan Wraithguards, accompanied by a King Russ and a Falcon, swoop down the road. The three Wraithguard opened fire with their wraithcannons, managing to kill one Black Legion Marine, tearing the Fallen Astartes to bloody gibs while his comrades slipped back behind cover where they were joined by more heretics.

"Pull back! Move it people! Go, go, go!" Tangmo shouted into his earbuds and, along with Henry and the main characters, dashed down the road while the Wraithguards stoically provided covering fire, weathering las, bolts and rockets as the heretics concentrated their assault on the automatons. He couldn't help but winced when one of the Wraithguard collapsed to the ground after a burst of autocannon tear its leg apart, the howl agonizingly heartbreaking. The traitor regiments hooted and cheered as a Chaos Marine swiftly leapt atop the downed Wraithguard, roaring chainsword held high, the tip pointed downward for a coup de grace, "oh no you don't you Chaos fuck!"

Being the dumbass that he was, Tangmo broke away from the trudging King Russ, pointed his bolt pistol at the cackling Black Legion Marine, and emptied the Kraken clip. Fuck, every shot hit but none of them penetrated the ceramite, how fucking thick were Space Marine armors supposed to be?! Should've used the Banestrike. Things got mildly scary when the Chaos Marine turned to glare at the Thai commissar who had dared to interrupt his kill, but that lapse of focus was enough for the Wraithguard to grab the fucker, twisted him like a beer bottle, tore him in half, and threw the two pieces at a group of approaching heretics.

"Drag him back, move it!" Tangmo was slamming a new magazine home when one of the Wraithguard scooped him up in its hand and carried him after the King Russ like a boy packing up his favorite action figure, while the other automaton hauled its injured fellow away under the cover of the Falcon's strafing run.

"Why lord commissar, I reckoned you look positively like a doll," Joanna guffawed as they made it behind the inner defense, comprised of buildings, the ones still standing that is, studded to the brim with heavy weapons and troopers, each one connected by walls of rubbles shoveled into a formidable barrier by the Death Korps and Chimeras armed with bulldozer blades, the rampart reinforced by fallen masonries and more guns, "how cute!"

"Krix and Luva ever told you what happened to people who piss me off?" Tangmo narrowed his eyes on the spunky colonel as the main characters huddled together near the southern approach, all of them still alive, thank God.

"I heard it was a nice, hard spanking, isn't that right sir?" What the, was Joanna actually swaying her butt?! Goddamn, she's really asking for it! The Antebellan colonel flashed a toothy grin at Krix and Luva, the two Cadians waving hurriedly for Joanna to drop the subject, "well, I reckon that's what happened to naughty girls."

"It's a hell lot worse than simple spanking," Tangmo winked at Joanna, tapped the data-pad on his arm, and brought up a holographic map of their area of engagement. "But let's leave that for another time, we have more important things to discuss. Alright people, give me a run down on our current situation."

"Most of eastern Eyvtalien are now firmly in enemy's control," Al-Rahman tapped too many spots along the eastern reaches where the battlegroup was forced to evacuate not an hour ago, the blaring red icons made things ten times more ominous. "They are trying to push west and link up with the forces coming in from the south, but our lines are currently holding. So far, we have repelled six attacks, but they're getting more insistence."

"That's a nice way of putting it," Henry said and tapped the top edge of the map. "What is the situation in the north?"

"They sent an armored column there thirty minutes ago, but precision strikes from the air force, combined with a quick harassing run from a battalion of Aeldari Vypers stop them dead in their tracks," Lingxin said. "We haven't had any trouble since, but Ae-Shin is keeping an eye on that area. The Sororitas are also sending several companies and a dozen Exorcists down from the north."

"Which leaves us to deal with the two prongs attack coming in from the east and south," Tangmo magnified the contested area, the live feed showed that a stalemate had settled in, the firefight constant and ceaseless. "According to Tyra, the evacuation is currently forty percent completed, not fast but steady in speed, so it's gonna take some time before the refugee camp is emptied. We don't know what's happening at the citadel, but I'm pretty sure Laura gave me a call when we were being shelled, I'll call her back later. For the moment however, I want all of us to take a look at this."

With a few flicks of his fingers, Tangmo focused the hologram on a large manmade, and recently created, clearing built over four small tributaries, the streams having since turned red and flashing daemonic hieroglyphs that swirled and moved as if alive.

"They're making a sacrificial altar," Krillen spoke up, hatred and anger prominent on his scrunched up visage. "If we allowed the sacrament to continue unimpeded, a Warp portal will be brought into existence. If that come to pass, like what happened on Cadia, the Chaos forces can flood the entirety of Eyvtalien with daemons and swept all of us away with it. The altar must be destroyed."

"Damn right we're destroying it," Tangmo's adamant statement earned him grateful nods from the Cadians, all of them eager to repay the hated foes who took their world, "safe to assume that you're in?"

"All the way," Krillen said and Tangmo fist bumped him.

"Why haven't the air force obliterated the place then?" Celalira asked.

"Because it's surrounded by anti-air batteries and a shitload of guns," Tangmo zoomed out, showing the main characters extremely thick and heavily defended areas filled with weapon emplacements. "And when I say shitload, I meant two brigades of traitor soldiers, a company of tanks, two groups of screaming, tormented psykers they're using to make void shields, and quite possibly a couple of Chaos Astartes."

"That's cheerful news," Kenshin deadpanned then look at Tangmo. "When are we moving out?"

"Immediately, or more precisely in a couple of minutes after we cobbled up a plan," Tangmo smirked and the main characters chuckled, unbothered by the nearing thunders and booms. "You guys really up for this? I mean, this looks very dangerous."

"You honestly think we're gonna let you have all the fun?" Lingxin snorted. "In all seriousness though, that altar need to be destroy, and I can't think of anyone better than you to lead us. I wouldn't even trust Cain with this."

"Well shit, no fucking pressure at all," Tangmo sniggered, more to hide his nervousness than anything, because god fucking damn he can't let them down. "Just to be sure, you guys have no problem leaping head first into hell with me?"

A chorus of 'no!' and related synonyms answered Tangmo, and holy shit did it made him feel tingly all over, in the most giddy way possible.

"Alright, now that's what I'm fucking talking about!" Tangmo and Henry bro hugged vigorously, trading loud smacks on the back.

"Yep, nothing like a good suicide mission to add to our accolades of badassery," Henry smirked, "never closed me a fucking Warp portal before."

"Oh no, we're not doing that," Tangmo waved Henry off to the collective confusion of the main characters. "What? I wanna winning this shit, not fucking die while pulling off some asinine attack. No, we're taking out the anti-air emplacements, five of them to be precise, so that Ae-Shin and the air force can bomb the altar straight back to hell."

"What about the psykers guarding the place?" Bruce asked. "We can drop every bomb we have but if the little buggers can just summon their magic shields, then there isn't much point if we take out the anti-air."

"The psykers are at two of the anti-air emplacements, all snuggled up nice and tight for us to kill," Tangmo smirked but quickly became solemn as he glanced at Leilatha. But before he can open his mouth the lady commissar cut in.

"You want me to stay behind and coordinate the defenses here with Ladaee," Leilatha shrugged, the side of her mouth quirking upward at the startled look on Tangmo's face. "I'll do it, just don't get kill and we won't have a problem."

"I never agree to this," Ladaee sighed, long and heavy with clear resignation. "But fine, me and Leilatha will keep the place clear."

"Thank you," Tangmo closed his distant with Leilatha and hugged her, shutting off the hologram for a moment. She returned it with equal strength, the contact must've lasted only a few seconds but it was enough to wash away his weariness. They broke apart after a moment, both grinning. "And you better be here when I come back."

"Count on it," Leilatha nodded as Tangmo brought the three dimensional map back up. "How are you going in?"

"Small," Tangmo glanced at the colonel and commanders. "I want fifty men and women from each of the regiments and the Aeldari equivalent, fast on their feet and heavily armed. This will be a surgical strike, so I need the best with me."

"You got it," Krillen nodded as he and the colonels started assembling the badass strike team. "Ovin, you're in charge of the defenses while I'm gone. Keep those bastards off our backs in the meantime. I want a carpet of corpses waiting for us when we return."

"Wait, Ovin's alive?" Tangmo spun, wide eyed, at the nervous major of the 89th Cadian, the young man paling from the rather insensitive remarks. But he can't help being surprised, because Krillen had managed to get eleven majors killed since the inception of the Immortal Spirit battlegroup. "Shit, sorry, I didn't mean it that way. Good to see you still with us!"

"I hope it stays that way," Ovin muttered, his mood not improving despite Orhul's less than gentle attempt to cheer him up. Tangmo chuckled then glanced at Dalthorn, who had already assembled his team of Black Guardians, all of them armed to the teeth.

"Hey man," Tangmo began, "you can stay here if you want, we got more than enough troops coming along. Also if you get killed, Lita's gonna blame me."

"I'm more than capable of defending myself…besides, Lita sent me here to safeguard you," Dalthorn said a bit sheepishly, earning quirked brows from Tangmo and Leilatha, the lady commissar actually looked touched by the gesture.

"I'll be sure to return the favor then," Tangmo held out his hand and Dalthorn took it, shaking firmly and with honest heartiness. They were breaking apart when the guardsmen and eldars, amongst them Elraleath and his Dark Reaper Aspect Warriors, jogged up to Tangmo.

"All is assemble, Herr commissar," Hildebrandt saluted, standing crisp at attention, the grimes and soot on his awesome Krieg trench coat only made him more epic.

"Good," Tangmo nodded and turned to Henry, "any idea on how to create some distraction?"

"Way ahead of you," Henry grinned and tapped his earbud. "Mitsurugi, Armitage, I want the Evangelion and the Thorin to lead a feint attack on the sacrificial altar from the north and west. Make contact and engage but do not pursue, bloody those fuckers but fall back when they start counterattacking."

"Yes sir," the two tank commanders responded at the same time and Henry switched frequency.

"Vakon, open fire with the Garuda missiles," Henry and Tangmo glanced at the sky as low rumbles of rocket ignition resounded from the west, followed by pillars of churning smoke, fifty in numbers, lancing into the sky, "beautifully done Vakon, a real sight for sore eyes."

"Holy shit, that's a lot of missiles," Tangmo made a series of hand gestures and the guardsmen and eldars formed up into a marching column, weapons held at the ready. "Come to think of it, we barely used the Garuda since arriving here."

"Double time, move out! Oh yeah, besides the Titans, we've only been using the field artilleries," Henry said as the strike team thundered off. Above them the air shattered with explosive sonic booms, heralding the shrieks of high yield ordnances cleaving the sky asunder as they hurtled toward their targets. "Been saving it when we need to make precision strikes, and this seems like the best moment to do it, gotta trick those Chaos mofos into thinking that we're really making a push."

"While masking out true intend," Tangmo and the strike team all bent low as the Garuda missiles hit their designated targets. Gales of dust billowed through the ruin of Eyvtalien, while buildings that were teetering on the edge of collapse finally succumbed to the resulting shockwaves, Tangmo and Henry made sure that the column didn't veered anywhere near the ongoing demolition. The strike force was just giving another dying tower a wide berth when Celalira and Fanduin materialized beside them. "Oh hey Celalira, just the person I was looking for. Since you lived here for so long, can you show us the fastest route?"

"It will be my pleasure, lord commissar," Celalira nodded firmly, her earlier haughtiness tempered down after having fought alongside the battlegroup.

"Yo Meko, I need to give Laura a call dude," the radio captain easily matched steps with Tangmo, handed him the headphone, and held his thumb up, "Laura, you there? Were you trying to call me earlier?"

"Tangmo?! Oh thank God you're safe," Laura blurted, her tone was one of relief and happiness, "don't bloody scare me like that you fucking tosser!"

"Yeah, sorry about that, we were getting wreck by heretic Basilisks and Whirlwinds, those fucking things are loud dude," Tangmo couldn't help but grinned, Laura didn't sound injured at all. "We're on our way to a sacrificial altar. How are you guys doing? Anybody hurt?"

"No mate, we're dandy," Laura was obviously smiling on the other end. "And I got great news love."

"Please tell me you got Isha out," that drew the attention of the main characters, especially the eldars, as the column jogged into an emporium of some sort, most of the ceiling destroyed, masonries, glasses and plasters scattered around them. The battlegroup were collectively holding their breaths, the vacuum of silence broken only by distant bombardments and hushed elvish praying.

"We got Isha out!" Laura squealed and the Aeldari let out a ragged cheer, what they lacked in volume was more than made up by unbridled joy, the guardsmen showing solidarity with congratulatory pats on backs and shoulders. The celebration ended when Tangmo and Henry shushed them into silence. He didn't want to be a buzz kill, but they were still deep inside enemy territory, and the easiest way to get fucked was to start hooting. "She's also clean mate, no infection what so ever. We're falling back from the citadel right now!"

"Holy shit, an actual good news for once," Tangmo turned to Celalira, who was leaning on her Singing Spear and weeping with joy, and extended his hand, they shook firmly, the Farseer mouthing her thanks and broke off after a moment. "When you guys pull out of the citadel, can Galatea spare some Sororitas our way? We really need their help if we are to hold Eyvtalien. Oh, and get the Marines here too, their Chaos cousins are all over the fucking place and I want to level the playing field."

"You got it love," Laura said as Celalira, her steps more determined and powerful, led the strike team into a neighborhood of houses clustered tight together, all of them moving with speed and precision, their passage muted by the ceaseless ambience of war. "Hey, want to know the greatest thing that happened along the way?"

"Don't you dare!"

"Galatea carried Isha all the way down from the citadel!" Galatea was unsuccessful in stopping Laura from breaking the news and the strike force, humans and eldars alike, doubled over in barely suppressed laughter. The chortling got so bad that Celalira had to bring the column to a halt, because they won't be able to fight anyone in this condition, and they were far away enough from any outlining pickets to let the hilarity run its course. "And not just any simple carrying too, oh no, it was bloody bridal mate, like a paladin saving a princess! It was the most romantic thing I've ever seen!"

"You will hold your tongue or I will tear it out of your mouth!" Galatea roared. The laughter on the other end was more restrained.

"Oi! Put the dagger away Galatea, you're scaring Isha!" Laura squawked with genuine fear.

"Oh shit, dude, thanks for that," Tangmo and the strike force was finally settling down. It didn't escape their notice that the engagement to the north was lessening. "Holy shit, that's the sort of morale boost we needed, thank you. I'll be eagerly awaiting the pictures and videos."

"You got it mate, and stay safe – ahhh! No! Bad Galatea, stop! Yuki, help!" Laura shrieked before the transmission got violently terminated.

"Glad they're having fun," Tangmo put on his serious face and nodded at Celalira, the Farseer more than impress with his ability to instantaneously assume a stoic demeanor. "How far are we from the sacrificial altar?"

"Five minutes," Celalira lowered her Singing Spear and dashed into a cavernous corridor comprised of buildings folded on top of each other, the mangled stone and steel bunching together into a dangerous looking archway. The battlegroup made no complaint as they sprinted down the messy, claustrophobic path, every barrel sweeping the ruin, especially the shadowy crooks and crannies. "We're in luck. The Granite Star district survived the initial assault and your subsequent bombardments. The buildings should cover our approach adequately, but beware, we cannot be sure if something lurks in the gloom."

"Copy that," Tangmo braced the lasgun to his shoulder and followed Celalira, making sure to double check any suspicious mounds they came across. Despite the warning though, the journey through the ruin was pretty uneventful, at least until the unnatural oppressiveness of the Warp started fucking with their bodies and souls. Fortunately, father Joseph's new batch of amulets was more than enough to keep any possession attempts at bay. The path was opening up a bit when they heard the first sign of the enemies.

"All weapons free, contact eminent," Tangmo whispered into his earbud and the strike force swiftly moved to obey, the column breaking into separate squads as they crept out of the corridor and on to what appeared to be an open plaza in better days, dashing from one shadowy cover to another, their footfall barely perceptible. Not a hundred yards away, skaven soldiers hurried across the clearing, their movement jittery and panicky, while the Confederate Antebellan and the Dubh Casur Tormentors, basically Black and Tan in space, went about patrolling the place.

"Ladaee, what's the situation on your front?" Henry tapped his earbud as the main characters and their squads gathered behind a stretch of wall, eighty paces from the heretics. Judging by how the thunders of artilleries were still ongoing, and the clear agitation in the traitor's temperament, things must not be going well for them.

"Better than expected actually, Vakon's missiles were devastating in the extreme," Ladaee told them. "Henry, one of the anti-air platforms you wanted destroy is within striking distant of our armored battalion, do you want us to engage? The place is furthest from all the other emplacements."

"She's right," Tangmo showed Henry the map. The place was on the far northern side of the sacrificial altar, while the other four were clustered in pairs, two to the west and two to the south east, both positions within spitting distant of their strike force.

"Destroy it Ladaee, good luck," Henry said with a nod.

"You better get a move on too," Ladaee went on. "The moment I truly commit to the attack, the heretics are going to realize that their anti-air positions are compromise, and they'll most definitely bulk up the defenses, which will make your life a lot more difficult."

"Thanks for the heads up Ladaee," Tangmo cut the transmission and turned to Henry. "You take the west and I take the east?"

"Sounds like a plan," Henry held out his fist and Tangmo bumped it. "So who are you taking?"

"The Cadians, the Dawn Blade, the Cobalt Stars, the Grey Watch, and Dalthorn's Black Guardians," Tangmo told Henry.

"I'll take the Dragon Blood, the Krieg, the Vostroyan, the Tallarn and Elraleath's Dark Reaper with me then," Henry said. "We'll meet back here when we're done?"

"Count on it," Tangmo nodded and waved the main characters that were going with him into formation. "You still owe me a rematch on Mortal Kombat 11."

"And I still have to force you to finish the rest of Attack on Titan," Henry shared a laughed with Tangmo. "But until then, let's take out of these assholes first."

"It will be my pleasure," Tangmo turned to the main characters, all of them ready for action, some were even grinning eagerly. "Krillen, Minka, Dalthorn, lay down a suppressive fire on those motherfuckers, start things off with a nice volley of grenades. Bruce, Kenshin, Joanna, come with me, we're making sure none of them get away and call for help."

Nodding firmly, the Dawn Blade, Cobalt Stars and Grey Watch took off after Tangmo down a roadway on the right, Henry mirroring him on the left, heads lowered as they crept toward the unaware heretics, using the ruins as cover. Tangmo and the main characters were just reaching a thick pile of stone when hellish explosions tore into the traitor's ranks, body parts flew on flaming streamers to the horrid cadence of shrieks and screams. But they were dealing with professional traitors. Despite suffering heavy casualties the officer in charged, a Dubh Casur major, rallied men and skavens alike into a formidable battle line and started exchanging fire with the strike force, the fusillade of lasbolts was soon joined by bolts and autocannon rounds as three pillboxes opened fire.

"Take out the heavy guns, plasmas and rockets their asses, and keep them pinned with the rapid-las while the rest of us go in," Tangmo fixed bayonet and glanced at Joanna's Antebellan, his eyes widening to a saucer. "Holy shit, is that a freaking 40k AA-12?!"

"…It's a repeating Trench Gun sir," captain Madeline, Joanna's best friend, cradled the weapon closed to her chest as if Tangmo was about to snatch it from her grasp, which he totally could, what with him being a commissar and all. "We use it to clear close spaces."

"Remind me to requisition one for myself in the future," Tangmo grinned as their section opened fire simultaneously with Henry's team, creating a nice crossfire that pinned the beleaguered traitors down. "In the meantime, let's get close and personal. Follow me! For the Emperor!"

Launching himself over the top, Tangmo easily cleared the ruin and charged the disoriented traitors, the strike force close at his heels, every lasgun going full auto and scything down droves of enemies. The traitors might be good, but when pinned down by continuous fire while getting pincer, their line swiftly collapsed. Kicking a clan rat clear across the killing ground, the vermin shrieking as he cartwheeled through the air, and slicing a Grey Antebellan's neck open with a brutal swing of his bayonet, Tangmo was training his lasgun on the Dubh Casur major when Kenshin and Bruce collided into him, katana and basket hilted claymore falling mercilessly on the downed man. Wait a goddamn minute were the Grey Watch and Dawn Blade trying to outdo each other? Jesus Christ, they are! Banzai charges were bad, Highland charges were bad, so it was of no surprise that when you put the two together the unlucky bastards on the other end were gonna have a very bad day. Tangmo, along with the Cadian, the Antebellan and the eldars, could do nothing but watched as the last of the traitors and skavens died a horrific death, katanas, claymores, wakizashis, dirks and bayonets gutted, rend, mutilated and eviscerated everything in their path. He couldn't help but winced when the Dubh Casur radio team were brutally beaten to spasming pulp by major Hojo and captain Galloway, both bearing a striking resemblance to the wrestler Asuka and Drew McIntyre, the Kuronese and the Sleaghadharian making a bloody mess of the place.

"Emperor damn it, they're hogging all the fun!" Joanna pouted and stomped her feet agitatedly when the smiling Kenshin and Bruce, both their faces sheened in crimson, strode up to Tangmo and saluted.

"Enemies neutralized sir," Kenshin cleaned his katana and sheathed it with a flourish.

"Aye sir, but I wouldn't recommend we stay for long," Bruce added after wiping red off his claymore. "They managed to get words out on the radio, they know we're here."

"Best not waste any time then," Tangmo glanced left and found Henry rallying his team westward, they traded corna before the Thai commissar took off in the opposite direction. "Let's go people, let's get this shit done. Fanduin, you know the way?"

"Yes lord commissar," the Warlock took the lead, Celalira was currently with Henry.

"You guys are very selfish, you know that?!" A peeved Joanna squeezed herself in between Bruce and Kenshin, cheeks puffed in exaggerated outrage. "Don't y'all think we want a piece of them heretics sum bitches?! Leave some for us next time! We of all people have the most right to gut them!"

"Be faster next time then," Kenshin guffawed and, after the Eight popularized the gesture, high fived Bruce, which only made Joanna blistered more, the bolter revolver shaking in her grip.

"Alright you assholes, cut it out, there'll be plenty of heretics to kill, so kindly direct the bitchiness toward our real enemies please," Tangmo and the main characters were starting to laugh when an abominable pressure, squeezing the soul as much as flesh and bone, made the lot of them staggered. Teeth gritted and hissing long, sharp breathes, Tangmo steadied himself and mentally pushed back at the daemonic invasion and turned to the strike force. "Steady! Be strong of minds, hearts and spirits, those Chaos motherfuckers ain't got shit on us, so don't embarrass the Emperor by succumbing to a migraine, understand?!"

"Yes sir!" The main characters and the strike force bellowed as one, wobbled a bit with their footing, before assuming the pristine discipline the Immortal Spirit battlegroup was famous for. Tangmo had no doubt about the guardsmen and eldar's fortitude against the Ruinous power, but the new and improved amulets father Joseph made sure as hell helped.

"Pardon me lord commissar," captain Minka of the 101st Cadian joined Tangmo and Krillen, saluting crisply, the young woman was still quite nervous around him. "At your command, I am ready to take the 101st ahead and scout the area for hostiles."

"I appreciate the gesture Minka, but that wouldn't be necessary, our drones have already pinpointed the hostiles," Tangmo showed her his data-pad. "There are a lot of them, and I rather have every troop ready to attack as one, supporting each other. Krillen's gonna need all the help he can get."

"Yes, and I know Minka will most definitely got my back," Krillen flashed a handsome smile and Minka looked away with a very noticeable blush.

"Emily's not gonna like that," Tangmo held up his fist before Krillen can retort, bringing the column to a stop. With a series of hand signals, the strike force swiftly, but silently, pressed themselves flat to the rows of dilapidated buildings on the left as Tangmo and the main characters edged toward the corner of a four ways junction forty paces in front of them.

"Make ready," Tangmo whispered to the main characters, took off his awesome commissar cap, handed it to Krillen, and slowly poked his head around the corner to get a look at the street beyond. He dared to peek for close to a minute before sliding back into cover, retrieved his awesome commissar cap from Krillen with a thanking nod, and exhaled a breath he'd been holding. "Not unexpected."

"That bad?" Krillen asked.

"Not really out of the norm for us," Tangmo shrugged. "The anti-air platforms are just down the road, a straight six hundred yard. I can see flak cannons and missile batteries and everything. The problem is the psykers are stab in the middle of the place, three poor bastards crucified to crosses and getting poked by cultists. Also, the road ahead is pretty fucking occupied."

"What is the composition of the enemy?" Joanna now asked.

"The usual traitor regiments, Chaos eldar infantries and skavens," Tangmo continued. "One Siren Head, two Pillar Man Orgyns armed with storm bolters and a shit load of Rat Ogres. And that's only the motherfuckers I can see, there could be more lurking in the ruins."

"My offer to scout ahead is still on the table, lord commissar," Minka spoke up, her determination unwavering.

"Shit, I might actually take you up on that," Tangmo said. "God fucking damn it I should've brought more troops. Seriously, I don't doubt that we can push through, but a lot of us will die."

"Such is a guardsman's life," Kenshin shrugged, he and the main characters didn't really appeared perturbed by the prospect of death.

"True, but all of us serves the Emperor better alive than dead," Tangmo groaned and checked the map on his data-pad, the battle lines were stable for the moment but it's clear that the Chaos army's inexhaustible number will soon make its advantage known. Furthermore, the readings from the drones clearly showed that more Warp activity was stirring at the sacrificial altar. The clock was ticking and they have no choice but to push through.

"If I may, lord commissar, I believe I have a solution to this predicament," Fanduin spoke up, the Warlock was unflinching as the main characters honed their singular attention on him.

"What do you have in mind?" Tangmo said, tempering his own hopefulness.

"The three psykers can be neutralized from a distant," Fanduin went on. "Me and my cadre of initiates, all of them prodigy of the path, can…hardwire the Warp power radiating from the Chaos psykers, rerouting the channels carrying the sorcerous energy so that it can be redirected into the psykers themselves, overloading them with power."

"And have them explodes like a balloon," Tangmo couldn't stop the grin creeping up his face. He tried to suppress it, not wanting to hope too much, but the main characters already caught his infectious optimism. "Can you really do it?"

"The inflation of the Warp power, yes," Fanduin said. "But it would need to be detonated, that job lies with the snipers."

"Is Korri here?" Tangmo asked Krillen, who nodded firmly, then glanced around until he found a still intact bell tower looming about a kilometer to the left. "I want a platoon around that tower with our best snipers on top."

"Got it," Krillen and the colonels tapped their earbuds, relaying Tangmo's command.

"What happens when the psykers are destroyed?" Dalthorn spoke up. The question was legitimate but rhetorical in retrospect.

"I reckon you just need to keep your head down, sunny boy," Joanna snorted.

"Correct," Fanduin seated himself down on the ground in a lotus position, serenity coming upon him in long slow breaths. His cadre of apprentices appeared a moment later and sat around him, achieving a meditative state of mind within seconds. "Now please, we must concentrate if this task is to be successful."

"Hold on a sec, you should tell Celalira about your plan," Tangmo cut in before Fanduin's eyes fluttered closed. "I have a feeling the other group is gonna be running into the same problem, let's give them a heads up first."

Fanduin nodded vigorously, tapped his earbud, swiftly relayed the information to Celalira then, finally, settled himself into monastic stillness, not that dissimilar to Buddhist monks, but before he passed completely into a trance, he said, "wait for my signal."

"Copy that," Tangmo nodded and watched as Fanduin slipped into his mind, his body visibly relaxing, eyes closed as if in a peaceful sleep. His twitching fingers, so minuet in movement that it can easily be missed, were the only limbs that showed motion. Boot tapping the ground, Tangmo exhaled slowly, willed calm back with an effort before turning to the main characters. "Guess we wait then, stay quiet and don't engage those fuckers unless they're close enough to grab us."

"Any idea on how long this is gonna take?" Kenshin asked as the strike force settled down around them, weapons ready, the Kuronese and the Sleaghadharian already fixing bayonets.

"As long as it takes," Tangmo said then waved over Minka, "you itching to kick some ass?"

"I am at your command, lord commissar," Minka said, stern and hard as befitting her Cadian pedigree.

"When Fanduin and the snipers are done with the psykers, I need you to lead a second prong as we head for the anti-air emplacements," Tangmo brought up the holographic map again. "I'm taking one half of the strike force up the road, meeting those sons of bitches head on, so I want you to take the other half across the ruin on our left, give us fire support and establish a firing line along the buildings that run parallel to the targets. Take out the missile pods here, and here, keep them pin while we take care of the rest."

"It will be done, lord commissar," Tangmo had to hold back a grin with considerable effort, Minka's honest determination was extremely endearing to behold. "I won't disappoint you sir."

"I'm sure you won't," Tangmo winked and Minka blushed furiously, earning snickers from her friends.

"This is Korri," the Cadian ace sniper, and the battlegroup's infamous sugar daemon, hailed Tangmo. "We're in position lord commissar, awaiting your command to dispatch the targets."

"Hold fire, don't shoot until I say so," Tangmo tapped his earbuds and turned to the main characters. "Aileen, York, take yours squad and go with Minka, she'll fill you in on what to do."

The Grey Watch major and the Cobalt Star captain nodded and went over to Minka with their troops, the three officers huddled close together as they went over the plan and made some adjustment so that the attack was executed to the most devastating effect.

"Sir, something is happening with the crucified psykers," Korri hissed, muttering quick words of prayer to the God Emperor and Holy Terra. "They're thrashing, badly, as if someone's poking them with hot irons. Throne's mercy, I can hear the scream from up here."

"So do we," Tangmo grimaced when the hellish wails, the timbre having since lost any identifiable human traits, drifted over them on the dusty breeze. The noise was abrasive, wrong, something that grated the soul as much as the ears, an acoustic foulness that clung to the skin like dripping tar. "Be advised Korri, do not stare at that goddamn thing for too long, that sorts of shit seriously fucks with your brain."

"Oh yeah, this is truly horrid," Korri was surprisingly calm, not a trace of shudder can be found in her steady tone. "But besides disgust, I am not feeling anything that could constitute as needling corruption, unlike how it was back on Cadia during the fall. Now that was bad."

"Just make sure to look away if you feel anything bad, on a spiritual level," Tangmo shrugged, not at all liking how we was getting a second hand account on what was happening instead of seeing it himself, and glanced at the main characters. Besides the usual military tenseness, the wind-up eagerness to fight, they looked pretty chill. "How are you guys feeling? Are you hearing voices in your head that counsel you, understand you, and talk to you? Do I need to starting blamming people?"

"Not a thing lad. And I say this with confidence on behalf of everyone," Bruce nodded firmly before his expression became thoughtful. "Come to think of it, ever since the eldars and those more exotic Sororitas orders joined the battlegroup, we're not that bothered by the Warp anymore."

"He's right," Kenshin confirmed. "None of us jitter or shake at the sight of daemons anymore, they're just enemies now, something that needed to be destroyed, not an existential threat like before."

"Probably our proximity with Aeldari and human psykers had altered our tolerant to the usual Warp fuckery," Tangmo suggested and the main characters nodded slowly, finding the explanation satisfactory. "We live, eat, and fight alongside them. Biological law dictates that we will become more immune to the phenomena."

"Fucking hell, they're…bloating and changing," Korri hissed and the main characters gathered closer around Tangmo. "It's like watching a tumor growing on a fast forward speed. Emperor's mercy they barely look like humans anymore. Now I can see eyes and mouths and tongues bursting out of their bodies."

"Shit, that sounds real fucking bad," Tangmo muttered and looked at Fanduin and his cadres, all of them appeared to be shaking lightly, hands and fingers moving in a blur now. "Please tell me you got them in your sight."

"We do," Korri nodded on the other end. "Do we take the shot?"

"Hold your fire," okay, if Tangmo was being totally honest, he was freaking out bad. Not only was the wailing getting worse, the howls and screams nauseating, but the Chaos wrongness that had permeated the area was getting more pronounced, the sickness seeping into him and the main characters. Teeth gritted, knees wobbling from the icky sensation, Tangmo was about to tell Fanduin to hurry the fuck up when the Warlock's bloodshot eyes snapped open.

"Kill the psykers, now!"

"Pop them Korri!"

Not a second elapsed after Tangmo gave his command that a thunderous shockwave threw him flat to the ground, the gale that battered him and the hunkered battlegroup carried with it a sweet, ephemeral stench, otherworldly and wrong on the senses, every breath taken abusing the lungs. Thankfully the roiling cloud passed quickly, and by the time Tangmo staggered back to his feet all that remained in the air were acrid dust, the aroma of a battlefield.

"Holy fucking shit, is everybody alright?!" Tangmo asked and the main characters murmured their assent drunkenly, some of the guardsmen were even retching. Nodding, he turned to Fanduin next. "Yo, you alright dude?!" The Warlock flashed a thumb up and Tangmo gazed at the bell tower down the road, still standing thank God, and tapped his earbud. "Korri, come in, do you have visual on the targets? Did you kill them?"

"That, and more," Korri coughed a few times. "I don't think you need to attack the emplacements sir, it's not there anymore."

"Say what now?" Startled, Tangmo braced his lasgun and, with exaggerated cautious, eased his head across the building. After a few seconds of peeking, Tangmo relaxed his stance, braced the modified lasgun on his shoulder like a badass and strolled onto the street, much to the astonishment of the main characters. "Holy shit Korri, you weren't kidding. Form up around me guys, the way is clear, but stay alert."

After a moment of hesitations, the main characters and the strike force walked on to the street, most of them curious as to why Tangmo wasn't already riddled with bullets. They gasped, and the Thai commissar grinned.

"Told ya it was clear," Tangmo took in the sight before him, unbelievably pleased. Where traitors, heretics, daemons and mutants had stood ready to meet the battlegroup, nothing remained of the formidable host, in their place were pulpy, wet stains splattered across buildings and roads, the dripping meaty ichor roiled with sickening animation, as if trying to remember how to be alive.

"What…happened?" Krillen asked breathlessly, trying to decide whether he was pleased or horrified.

"The psykers were essentially unstable gates that were trying to hold the roaring current of the Warp at bay," Fanduin appeared beside Tangmo, his steps heavy but was otherwise hale in appearance. "Granted, these lots were doing a good job of channeling the Ruinous power into the material world, but they were not prepared for us to start plucking at their defenses and redirect the sorcerous flow back into them. We turned them into a Warp bomb, and your snipers lit the fuse."

"That shit was beautiful dude, thank you," Tangmo smacked Fanduin friendlily on the shoulder and waved over Minka. "Same plan Minka, take half of the strike force into the ruins, advance parallel with us. If there's one thing I learn is that Chaos mofo simply refuses to die."

"Yes sir," Minka saluted and took her team into the rows of dilapidated buildings on the left, their steps swift and sure, weapons trained forward.

"We better move too," Tangmo shouldered his lasgun and hurried down the street at a fast jog, the main characters close at his heels. "We need to make sure that everything is really dead."

It wasn't long before Tangmo and the main characters came to the realization that, for the foreseeable future at least, the strike force would not face any opposition. Deeper down the street the casualties they found started to take on a more macabre appearance, the sort of nightmarish shit one finds in Clive Barker and Stephen King happy dreams. Great clumps of fleshy mound composed of bodies fused together, humans, daemons and skavens, dotted the wide avenue, limbs melded together into a grotesque amalgamation that twitched and moved laggardly to moans and howls, spirits and bodies having not yet to expire. At a quick wave of his hands, Tangmo ordered the flamers to burn the meat sculptures. The effigies screamed as fire at last free them from torment.

"Look alive, some of the bigger ones are still kicking," Tangmo warned and stabbed his finger at the Rat Ogres and Pillar Men Orgyns. A good number of them were dead, the giant skavens bursting into a blossom of rats, hordes of them, radiating from jagged craters on bloated bodies, as if someone had accelerated their unnatural evolution. The Pillar Men Orgyns though were melted, their physical constructs liquefied into barely formed embryotic mass of flesh, what little flesh that remained were slowly running down their bones in rivulet of gore.

"They got heart, I'll give them that," Joanna drew her revolver bolter and stomped toward an Orgyn trying to crawl for a fallen storm bolter, his fingers falling off even as he reached for the weapon. Pulling back the hammer, Joanna fired three shot into the malformed, bulbous skull, putting the mutant out of his misery. "But I rather that they, you know, just fucking die already."

"I agree wholeheartedly," Orhul held down the trigger of his MG-42 rapid-las and sprayed a moaning Rat Ogre with an uninterrupted stream of lasbolts, tearing the meat and swarm of smaller rats to bits. The corpse was starting to combust when another explosion, sorcerous in nature, went off west of their position, the unleashed Warp magic painting the sky in eldritch, kaleidoscopic spectrum, the air becoming liquid in consistency, "Throne's mercy!"

"Talk to me Henry, was that you causing the explosion?" Tangmo tapped his earbud.

"It was," Henry was breathing heavily on the other end, "holy fuck that was bad man."

"Top job bro, but be advised not all of them are dead," Tangmo slowed his steps as he and the main characters reached the entrance of the anti-air batteries. This near to the epic center shit was even more fucked, nothing here looked like it belongs to this reality. Although not a single trace of the Ruinous miasma remained, the aftermath left behind was downright ghastly, the melding of organic and inanimate materials taking on a more vivid, perplexing dimension. "Alright, so, looks like we just walked straight into hell, at least a part of it."

"Aye sir, I've never seen anything this bad myself," Bruce blanched at a…tree? At least the damn thing looked like a tree, only the branches were made of arms, legs and rows of heads, the fleshes stretched out to become one seamless entity. Making the sign of the aquila and tracing his finger over father Joseph's amulet, Bruce tapped his earbud. "Do not touch the corruption, I repeat, do not touch the bloody Chaos corruption. Have the flamers burn them, and make sure the Emperor's prayer is fresh on your lips lads and lasses, we don't know what else is lurking around here."

"I think you need to stand down on the flamers Bruce," Kenshin matched steps with his Grey Watch counterpart, the Kuronese wisely wielding his laspistol instead of katana. "Emperor knows I'm abhorred by this as much as you, but we don't know the composition of these things. We could be creating a firestorm if we set them on fire. I rather have the air force napalm this place when we're in the clear."

"Shit, you're right," Bruce nodded briskly and tapped his earbud again. "Belay the previous order, leave the corruption be, we'll call in an air strike later."

"Lord commissar sir!" Tangmo and the main characters were reaching the center of the anti-air emplacement when Minka burst through an archway comprised of dripping Chaos Eldar vehicles, her face grim.

"What is it?" Tangmo held up his fist, halting the main characters and their squad as Minka skidded to a stop in front of them. "Are the targets not destroyed?"

"They are, but we have another problem," Minka tapped the data-pad on her arm with clear awkwardness, slow and careful. The Cadian was not used to the Immortal Spirit technological advancement, yet. She managed to bring up a digital map dotted with troop's movement after a moment. "Now that the anti-air batteries are destroyed, the Chaos forces are herding the captured civilians toward the altar. They are trying to accelerate the ritual."

"We cannot allow that to happen!" Fanduin raised his voice.

"No shit we ain't letting it happen bro, calm your ass down," Tangmo snapped at the Warlock before turning back to Minka. "Have you engaged the enemy yet?"

"No sir," Minka shook her head and turned off the hologram. "Given the severity of the situation, I thought it would be prudent to ask for your directive first."

"Good thinking, I need to be there myself to assess the fucking situation," Tangmo waved Fanduin and Dalthorn over. "Get your eldar troops and come with me." He turned to Krillen next. "I want you guys to set up a defensive perimeter up the road over there, we'll be herding the civilians that way, they'll need covering fire."

"Yes sir," Krillen saluted firmly.

"Good luck dude," Tangmo tipped his awesome commissar cap and nudged his head at Minka as the eldars formed up behind him. "Lead the way captain."

Not wasting any more breath, Minka dashed into a long, cavernous cluster of buildings, gaping bullet holes adorned walls and ceilings. Easily keeping pace with the Cadian captain, Tangmo and the eldars slipped soundlessly in amongst the broken stone and steel, finding the 101st and Grey Watch primed and ready for action, every barrel trained at the clearing beyond, where screams and shouts were rising in horrid crescendo.

"How bad is it?" Tangmo slipped in beside Aileen.

"Very bad sir," the redhead major of the Grey Watch snarled and pointed forward. "Those bastards are fighting every step of the way, but they'll be dead if we don't do something."

Tangmo can only grunt in agreement as he beheld the sickening scene, the blood in his veins boiling. Now that their air defenses had all been destroyed, leaving them open to the Immortal Spirit's infamous aerial strikes, the heretic's only remaining option was to accelerate the creation of the Warp portal, and to do that they needed ample sacrifices. With maddened haste, what remained of the Chaos forces mercilessly herded the captured civilians, too numerous to count, toward the vortex pulsing hungrily in the distant. Knowing what was coming, the Aeldari civilians refused to go down without a fight. The ragged men and women, emaciated and barely clothed, threw themselves at their tormentors, one last act of defiance even when they were struck down by swords, bayonets, clubs and whips, refusing to yield to the inevitable.

"Fanduin, is there any way you can guide the civilians to us once the shooting starts?" Tangmo looked through the optic of his lasgun, his sight trained on a Saigner Aube guardsman who was beating a kneeling eldar with the butt of his rifle, the woman was using her own body to protect the child sobbing in her arms.

"Easily done," Fanduin was trying to keep his anger in check, he was not successful and Tangmo couldn't blame him, shit like this will pissed anyone off. "When are you attacking?"

"Now," Tangmo squeezed the trigger, sending a single lasbolt at the traitor guardsman. His head exploded brilliantly and dropped bonelessly to the ground. The scuffle stopped then, all eyes turned to the twitching corpse, the precious few seconds was all Tangmo and the battlegroup needed. "Open fire! No mercy, for the Emperor and Isha!"

The salvo was a thing of beauty, the scything las and shurikens tore into the traitors and their abominable allies with terrifying precision, no bullets hitting the civilians.

"To me, sons and daughters of Isha! Come to us and we shall take you to safety!" Fanduin stood up on the rim of the ruin they were hiding behind, sword swinging high above his head, blazing a radiant blue white light. Seeing their salvation the eldar civilians, with surprising uniformity and calmness despite the harrowing ordeal they suffered, ran down the road to where Krillen had set up the defensive line. But the Chaos motherfuckers were not about to let the Aeldari captives get away that easily. Tangmo let out a slew of curses when Chaos eldar infantries and skaven warriors poured out of a crumbling building across the street, the evil elves firing indiscriminately into the crowd while the rat bastards pounced on anyone within reach and started dragging them away.

"God fucking damn, we have to take out the evil elves and the rats or the civilians are fucking dead!" Tangmo growled as he sent a burst at a squad of Chaos eldar, managing to drop one while the rest swiftly took cover inside the squat domed house they and the skaven had emerged from. The evil elves were now providing covering fire for the rats as they dragged civilians back toward the altar, "motherfuck! Dalthorn, Minka, prepare the smoke canisters, we're going over. Aileen, set up the heavy weapons and give us fire support. York…York?! Where the fuck is York and the Antebellan?!"

Hellish pounding of kinetic weaponries resounded from the Chaos eldar's position, the agonizing scream was very melodic, if a little short lived. Within heartbeats the evil elves' barrage went silent and was replaced by the pops and hisses of lasguns as the Antebellan emerged from the domed building, unleashing a brutal volley on the now panicky skavens. And it was on that day, captain York entered the fray, saving the day, Antebellan all the way. Holy shit, Tangmo wanted nothing more than to sing the Sabaton song, but he knew Erik was waiting for him to make that slip up.

"Fuck the smoke and fix bayonets," Tangmo held his lasgun forward, the Type 66 wakizashi bayonet gleaming. "Follow me! In the name of the Emperor, let none survive!"

Being the jittery cowards that they were, the skavens barely put up a fight as the battlegroup surrounded them, and within thirty second every vermin piece of shit were reduced to twitching gore.

"York!" Tangmo grinned as he approached the Antebellan captain and shook his hand heartily. "Were you trying to destroy the entire Chaos army all by yourself?!"

"No sir, just these lots," York let go and tipped his helmet at Tangmo with a smirk.

"I didn't even realize you were gone when I arrived with the eldars," Tangmo said as the battlegroup helped escorted the civilians along.

"Captain Minka thought it would be a good idea to try and find a weak point in the Chaos rank, so I volunteered my troops and we snuck around their lines," York told him then saluted Minka, who returned the gesture stiffly. "Her quick thinking was the reason we managed to pull this off."

"She's gonna be redder than a tomato when I'm done praising her," Tangmo was starting to laugh when a building down the road burst into flame, judging by the dimension of the explosion and the lack of any preluding whistles, it was a tank shell that did the job, thankfully the doomed house was far from their position and nobody got hurt. The civilians screamed and hurried faster to safety while the battlegroup ducked. Snarling a slew of Thai curses, Tangmo tapped his earbud. "Dalthorn, Fanduin, take care of the civilians, the rest of you come with me. Bring the RPGs and plasmas and meltas, tanks incoming!"

Tangmo was just starting to wave the guardsmen forward when a group of people ran through the billowing smoke. He raised his lasgun with a cry of alarm, and was about to pull the trigger when he recognized the bespectacled man clad in a blue Dragon Blood uniform.

"Hold your fire, hold your fire, they're one of us!" Tangmo approached the man. "Shen, what the hell is going on man?!"

"A pincer," Shen growled and cleaned his glasses, behind him more of Henry's strike force were emerging, bloodied and covered in grimes, many carrying wounded between them. "After the Farseer took out the anti-air batteries, we were en route to you when a squad of Chaos Marine, backed by mechanized infantries, veered away from lady commissar Leilatha's position and plowed right into us."

"Shit. Good to see you more or less unscathed dude, now go help the others," Shen saluted before taking off and Tangmo tapped his earbud. "Leila, what's happening on your front?"

"The Marines broke off to go after you and Henry, now they're throwing cultists and daemons at us," Leilatha said, the ambience of discharging weaponries raged in the background. "We're holding them for the moment, but I'm afraid I can't spare any relief force to your position."

"That's okay Leila, just make sure you hold the line, we'll be fine on this end," Tangmo said then switched frequency. "Ae-Shin, are you back inside a jet yet?"

"I've just reentered the atmosphere with two squadrons and a Titancraft in toll," Ae-Shin told him. "What do you need?"

"Bomb the Chaos altar please, and spare some planes for a strafing run on the Chaos Marines currently chasing our asses," Tangmo told her and waved at Henry as he and the main characters sprinted into view, the American acting as the rearguard as usual. "Things are getting very dicey down here!"

"I'm on it!" Ae-Shin cut the transmission just as Henry joined Tangmo, the pounding of heavy sabatons rumbled from down the road, and holy shit he could see dark Astartes shapes looming through the dusts.

"We're boned?" Tangmo, Henry and the main characters slipped behind a very questionable cover comprised of fallen walls, the top of said cover exploding into ricocheting shards as a burst of bolts tore into it.

"Boned," Henry confirmed as he slid a grenade into the launcher underneath the lasgun barrel, waited until the volley ended, and popped back up. Tangmo and the main characters laid down a full auto barrage on the two Black Legion Chaos Marines strolling leisurely toward them, zero fucks given as they reloaded their bolters, unfazed by the hail of lasbolts. They started giving a fuck when Henry and the guardsmen shot them with grenades, the fiery impact made the Fallen Astartes missed a step, their power armors suffering superficial damages, the pair dashing into a nearby building and poured more bolts at the battlegroup.

"Enemy infantries coming down the road," Al-Rahman yelled above the roar of Tauros troop carriers.

"Dalthorn, Fanduin, are the civilians clear?!" Tangmo tapped his earbud and fired blindly above cover, he was pretty goddamn sure he missed every shot.

"They're behind our position now," Dalthorn said. "Hurry up, we're waiting for you!"

"Tell Krillen to pack up and move south, there's a suburb not far in that direction, I want that place fortified pronto," Tangmo turned to the main characters and waved them back. "Get moving, Ae-Shin's gonna bomb the altar soon, and I am not sticking around to see how bad the fallout's gonna be."

"You and me both!" Keeping their heads low, Tangmo, Henry and the main characters slipped behind the firing line Minka had set up. With a quick hand signal from Tangmo, the Cadian captain nodded and barked for the strike force to withdraw. "What's this about civilians? I didn't run into any on our front."

"Found a fuckton of them being herded toward the altar," Tangmo and strike team dashed back the way they'd came, the grotesque epicenter of the Warp explosion passing in a blur. "I can't leave them to get sacrifice dude, that shit ain't right."

"We are becoming more and more indebted to you," Celalira appeared next to him as low flying jets shot passed above them, the shrieks and thunders of missiles and vulcan cannons were extremely pleasant on the ears. "I assure you lord commissar, we eldars will never forget such deeds rendered."

"Yeah, I think we can discuss that after we get out of this alive?" Tangmo grinned. He and the main characters were catching up with the rear of the civilian train now, being covered by Dalthorn and Aileen's squad. Ahead the ground rose sharply, and Tangmo saw that they were approaching an elevated neighborhood of townhouses and gardens, the place must have been posh before the bombs started falling. Joining Lita's boyfriend at the foot of an avenue that led up to the houses, several of the taller homes already fortified by Kriegs and Vostroyan, Tangmo and the main characters helped wave the crying civilian onward. Tangmo tapped his earbud when the roar of aerial engines grew louder. "Ae-Shin, what's the ETA?"

"Now! Brace yourself!" Ae-Shin shouted the same moment the entire northern horizon was consumed by pinkish white light of the most hellish illumination, the abrasive glare morphing into daemonic dimensions as eldritch shapes tried, and failed, to break into the material world.

"Everybody take cover!" Tangmo and Henry nosedive behind a waist high fence as rolling dust rushed over them. Coughing and spitting grimes from their mouths, the Thai and the American got up, dusted off their respective awesome coats, and glanced up at the cloudy sky, the Warp residue made everything shimmered unnaturally, "hey Ae-Shin, you alive?"

"Yes, and I'm happy to report that the Chaos altar has been destroyed, it burst then imploded on itself, a most exquisite sight," it was a happy news, which made Tangmo quite worry when Ae-Shin didn't sound one bit chirpy. "Lord commissar, I must informed you that despite the strafing run a large number of hostiles are still approaching you from the north. The death of the altar appeared to have spurned them faster toward you."

"We'll hold them here, break their advance, counterattack, and then make a break for it," Tangmo told her. "I would love for more air support Ae-Shin."

"Yeah, the thing is, there's a bigger force coming at you from the south," Ae-Shin told him and Tangmo missed a step, the updated intel almost send him sprawling to the ground, thank God Henry was there to grab him up. "Several division worth of mechanized units backed by a dozen regiments of traitors, daemons, skavens and Chaos eldars. They'll be upon you in approximately twenty minutes. My recommendation would be for the air force to bomb the forces coming in from the south, so you can concentrate on the pursuing Chaos Astartes."

"Good idea Ae-Shin, I'll appreciate any help you can give me," Tangmo looked at his data-pad and grimaced, holy shit that's a lot of red dots at the bottom of the map. "Stay safe dude."

"You need more luck than I do," Tangmo was truly touched by Ae-Shin's genuine concern. "Don't get kill Tangmo."

"I'll try my best, thanks man," Tangmo cut the transmission and strode to where the colonels were directing the officers to their posts, nearby Celalira was helping the civilians into a squat, mostly intact building that was currently occupied by the medics. Ryvin's commanding shouts can be heard from within. "What's the status on our troops?"

"We took a beating, but we've lost only several hundred people," Krillen told him. "The wounded however, are triple that number, and they won't make it through the next hour if we can't get them back to the refugee camp for a medevac."

"Stabilize them for now, and be prepare to move," Tangmo told the colonels the same moment thunders rolled from the south, the pounding rumbled made the ground quake terribly and the civilians shrieked forlornly. "Ae-Shin and the air force are bombing another horde coming in from the south, and there are a lot of them. Our only chance of linking up with the rest of the battlegroup is to attack the Chaos Marines that's following us, break their lines, and hauled ass out of here."

"It's going to be difficult with the civilians tagging along sir," Bruce commented then raised a stalling hand at an affronted Al-Rahman. "I'm not suggesting we leave them behind lad, I'm just stating the fact."

"It is still a complication though," Lingxin spoke up, arms crossed over her chest. "That means we have to spare some of our men as a rearguard for them, when we need everyone at the front."

"Herr commissar, the Death Korps volunteers to act as the rear element," Hildebrandt said with unfaltering conviction. "We can hold the southern front while you break for the north."

"We'll see what happens," Tangmo nudged his head for Henry to follow and started for a big apartment building that towered over the other townhouses, the place was chewed to shit but stable looking, he can see guardsmen and eldars moving behind the gaping holes and cracks on the walls. "Finish setting up the defenses and prepare the wounded for transportation, we'll let you know what to do when we get a better grip of the battlefield."

The colonels saluted, Tangmo and Henry returned the gesture crisply and hurried inside the apartment, sidestepping and dodging soldiers carrying ammunitions and heavy guns as they sped up the stairs, the crumbling interior proving to be quite hazardous on the footing. Tangmo and Henry made it to the top unscathed after a couple of minutes, the stench of fire, smoke, corpses and outworldly sweetness was extremely toxic on the lungs.

"Korri, what do you got for me?" Tangmo approached the Cadian sniper after a coughing fit as Henry scanned the horizon with his binocular.

"Bad news," Korri pulled her eyes away from the scope of her sniper rifle, her grimy face twisted in a grimace. "We're surrounded, and those fuckers coming across the plain are moving fast, unopposed. By the time our artilleries are able to recalibrate, they might as well bomb us along with them."

"Didn't Ae-Shin just glass those sons of bitches?" Tangmo squinted at the field south of Eyvtalien, nodding his thanks when Henry handed him the binocular. "Thanks man…and shit, the bombing run barely fazed those fuckers. And I'm seeing a disturbing number of big daemons with them."

"Oh yeah, we're ultra fucked if we stay and fight," Henry turned to the north, kaleidoscopic explosions strobe across the ruined city. "If there's a time to move, then it's now. Strike the Chaos Marines and their goons hard and fast and push through."

"I'm all for it," Tangmo handed the binocular back to Henry. "The problem is it won't be hard and fast, the civilians are gonna slow us down."

"We'll do our best," Henry smiled sardonically, sighing as he locked eyes with Tangmo, fist held out. "Like always dude?"

"Like always," Tangmo fist bump Henry, the pair sharing low chuckles before the Thai commissar tapped his earbuds, took a deep breath, and said. "All units prepare to move, I repeat, we're breaking north. Get the wounded and the civilians ready, it's gonna be a running fight with the Chaos Astartes, prepare for blood. Hildebrandt, I need the Krieg to…"

"Movements behind enemy's line!" Korri bellowed and waved frantically to get Tangmo and Henry's attention, around her the other snipers were looking southward through their scopes. "Something's happening!"

"Stand by for further instruction," Tangmo hurried to the crumbling banister and leaned over it, Henry was beside him with the binocular pressed to his face. He didn't need the ocular assist to see that indeed powerful explosions were erupting across the mountains the Chaos forces were emerging from. "What in the fuck?" Tangmo tapped his earbud. "Ae-Shin, are you bombing them?"

"No we're not," Ae-Shin said. "But there appeared to be some kind of violent engagement happening in the forest, the battle is moving quickly toward the field."

"It can't be!"

Tangmo and Henry jumped with a squeal when Celalira and Fanduin appeared beside them, the Warlock's eyes were glued on the flashing trees while the Farseer wept with joy.

"What's happening?!" Tangmo recovered quickly and stared more intently at the distant tree line, where fast moving shapes can now be glimpsed between fiery tidal waves spilling over the Chaos's rearguard.

"Oh my God!" Henry was jumping up and down like a schoolgirl at a K-POP concert, the American was obviously not gonna share his binocular. At least he sounded happy though, which was a good sign. "Holy shit dude, oh my God!"

"If I don't get a binocular in the next two seconds I'm gonna start blamming people!" Tangmo bellowed and Korri handed him her binocular with an annoyed groan, he immediately pressed it to his face. "Thank you Korri, now what the fuck are you all giddy about – HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"

He thought he was seeing things, imagination filling in the gaps to try and make sense of the images beyond, but it soon became apparent that what he saw was the genuine article. Although he cannot make out the finer detail, even with the binocular's help, the overall shape of the eldars that made up the gigantic wedge formation plowing into the Chaos forces were clear. They looked like Shining Spear Aspect Warriors, but their jet bikes, red in hue, were larger and sleeker in design and required two people to control, one at the front and one at the back, the latter armed with a huge lance resplendent in gore, both clad in silver armor. But the most striking feature was that the drivers and lancers sported majestic pair of wings on their backs, the flapping white feathers blazing like fire.

"Zolwyken is alive," Celalira wiped tears from her face and turned to Tangmo with a smile. "The White Phoenix Lancer has come!"

The White Phoenix Lancer, cool name, but Tangmo and Henry knew exactly what they really were.

"Erik," Tangmo tapped his earbud.

"Yes Tangmo?" Erik asked.

"Me and Henry are very sorry about this," Tangmo and Henry traded demented looks, their combined excitement seconds away from bursting.

"Sorry for what…oh no, don't you fucking dare!"

"Then the Winged Hussars arrived!" Tangmo and Henry sang in unison, loud and powerful, fists and cornas thrust high into the air.

"Shut up you sons of bitches!" Erik bellowed, but Tangmo and Henry didn't give a fuck and continued singing.

"Coming down the mountainside!"

"Stop singing!"

"Then the Winged Hussars arrived!"

"I'm the only one who's allowed to sing Sabaton's songs!"

"Coming down they turned the tide!"

"I'm gonna kill you motherfuckers!"

"We remember, in September, when the Winged Hussars arrived!"