The Multiverse Project: Warhammer 40,000

Miriael skipped into the command tent, humming the song commissar Tangmo had sung when they'd fought on Tera-Antebella, the one about a champion named Zodd who kills everyone in his path. Sure, the boy was an insufferable little prick and had stopped her before she could make a woman out of that hospitaller, but he has his charm. No wonder Syrathel was so smitten.

"You will face your demise, heed the warning of – ahhh!" Miriael ducked a goblet flying at her face, the golden container shattering against the tent pole, sending glittering shards and red splatters flying. Jumping back to her feet, her sunny mood unaffected by the rude reception, Miriael placed her hands on her hips and pouted. "Well, someone's a little grumpy this morning!"

"One more word and I will cleave your head from your diseased body, skin your face, and nail it to my armor," Azarvhin growled lowly, the deep reverberation shaking the tent, and Miriael couldn't help but flinched. Since meeting her, this was the first time Miriael had seen Azarvhin truly angry. But she didn't throw the cup though, the Khornate Champion had too much composure for such petulant display. No, it was Steelwall Janet who hurled that goblet at her, looks like someone's forgetting their place.

"That seemed needlessly excessive," Miriael ignored Janet's insolence for now and approached the map table where Azarvhin, Syrathel and Luscinia were mulling over. It took just one cursory glance to see that things were not going well for them. "But yes, I can see why you're so mercurial. Only two Isha artifacts remain before the Immortal Spirit battlegroup is victorious again."

"We were so fucking close!" Janet shouted, unable to keep her Khornate compulsion in check. "The noose was around their neck! General Henry's forces were strung out to the breaking point and commissar Tangmo was moment away from capitulating! And they manage to regroup and rout us! Dark Gods take their souls!"

"Our objective was never to destroy the battlegroup," Luscinia spoke up, herself not happy with the outcome of the battle two days ago. "But all of you appeared more hellbent on wasting manpower on petty revenge rather than our true goal as ordain by the Dark Gods, the capture of Isha."

"And that cannot be accomplish if the Immortal Spirit is not destroy," Azarvhin's timbre promised violence. "Your creations were barely of any help."

"Now Azarvhin, there's no need for that, you and I both know that isn't true," Luscinia was rightly surprised when Miriael came to her defense. The bafflement was shared by the women around the tent. Miriael giggled, their faces were priceless. "Luscinia's enhancements had undoubtedly enriched our army, with very clear and vivid results I might add. Did we not push the battlegroup to the very brink of defeat? If it wasn't for the advent of those new battleships they deployed, why, we would have been victorious. And Syrathel would already be having fun with commissar Tangmo."

"Yet we did not win," Azarvhin groaned and sat heavily back into her chair, brushing an errand black hair from her horned face, "and now I admit I don't see how we can turn the tide."

"He could launch another attack," Janet added desperately. "An all out assault with every remaining tank we have, choose the weakest spot in their line and make a bulge for the rest of our forces to exploit."

"And get beaten back as a result," Azarvhin sighed and massaged her temples. "The battlegroup is too entrenched and they have air superiority. They'll see us coming before the assault can even begin."

"As I said earlier, our mission is to secure Isha's holy relics," Luscinia offered almost placatingly. "Give me time and I can create the necessary ritual that will allow us to pinpoint where Isha and the rest of the Solace Sun are hiding."

"I thought we need every relic for the ritual to be successful," Azarvhin quirked a brow.

"Desperate time calls for desperate measure," Luscinia's shoulders drooped. "It will not be as potent, but at the very least I can give us an estimation of the location…"

"Your friends."

Luscinia stopped talking as all eyes turned to Syrathel, who had been uncharacteristically quiet since the conference started. Miriael now saw the barely restrained sorcerous energy radiating from the woman, creating a simmering haze that distorted the air around her. So that's why the tent felt a little steamy.

"What about them?" Miriael grinned, knowing exactly where the conversation was headed.

"Enlist them to our cause," Syrathel said. "I know that they are eager to strike at Isha herself. Will they help us still?"

"Most certainly," Miriael was very pleased with Syrathel's decision. But if she was being honest, given how things played out, all she needed to do was sat back and waited for her colleagues to wise up. "She Who Thirst command and they obey. They might despise us, but they will do Slaanesh's bidding absent hesitation."

"When will they be ready?" Syrathel pressed on.

"At the most opportune moment of course, we of Slaanesh thrive on theatric after all," Miriael said easily, wistfully.

"Just make sure they do their jobs," Azarvhin was waving Miriael off, not liking the idea that Khorne was getting outshined in warfare, when an Antebellan soldier burst into their tent, sweating profusely and breathing heavily. Outside, the muffled boom of artilleries herald the symphony to come.

"Your ladyship, the battlegroup is attacking," the man rasped between sharp inhales.

"Then get back to the front and fight them!" Azarvhin hissed and rose from her chair, drawing Redwind as the man bolted away. Propping the daemonic sword on her shoulder, the Khornate Champion turned to the tent's occupants. "Come then sisters, I for one don't plan on making this easy for them."

A round of agreement went up and the women made their way out of the tent, but before Janet can leave Miriael snatched her arm, stopping the general dead in her track. The pleading glance she shot Azarvhin was promptly ignored.

"You threw that cup at me," Miriael's amiable tone exuded a very clear undercurrent of malice, so much so that the usually stoic Janet was left blubbering for a response.

"I'm sorry, your eminence," Janet managed after a moment. "I was hasty in my action and anger had clouded my mind."

"Oh Janet, you and I both know I'm never satisfy with simple apology," Miriael stroke Janet's cheek, the gentle touch causing the general to shiver in disgust. "Regardless of whether or not we win, after our business on this planet is concluded, you will join me in my chamber."

"I-I…" Janet was trembling now, remembering the last time they got intimate. Miriael had to admit though, the woman was tough.

"Am I hearing a no, general?" Miriael narrowed her eyes.

"No mam," Janet steeled herself with great effort. "I will do as you command."

"Very good, my dear," Miriael let go of Janet's arm. "Now go, your soldiers need you."

Janet composed herself, making sure that her grey uniform was sharp and smart, before heading outside. Miriael took a moment to admire the general's backside, knowing that she'll get to see a lot more in the coming days, before leaving the tent. No distraction now, she had an important job to do.

"So what in the fuck actually happened my dudes?"

Tangmo swirled his glass of scotch and coke on rocks, grinning over the rim as Ciaphas Cain and Andren Fel started gesticulating their accounts. They were inside the comfy, and quite needlessly opulent, commissariat tent at the rear of the battlegroup's northernmost fronts as the assault on Meng Hu, one of Yomi's biggest cosmopolitan cities, commenced in earnest. As much as Tangmo wanted to go and kick Syrathel's ass, he decided to let Damien, Henry, Erik and the girls have the glory this time. Besides, his little parkour stunt with Evangeline fucked him up pretty bad. Nothing was broken, thank God and his armor, but his bones and organs were bruised to the point of being tenderized. Ryvin had given him the necessary healing shot and mild pain killers, something along the line of Tylenol, but also warned Tangmo, very poignantly, not to do anything physically demanding for a few days. Tangmo complied easily, because fucking damn, after that fight at the castle he deserved a little break, which was why he was chilling with Cain and Andren, who after receiving an epic beatdown from the berserkers and Maoris Chaos women, were also given medical leave.

"Things went pretty well for about a minute before all hell broke loose," Cain took a healthy gulp of his snifter of amasec. "Those gangly daemons, or as Brother Sergeant called them, the Siren Heads, were upon us the moment our transports landed. I was doing my best to stave them off Broklaw's position when I suddenly found myself separated from the rest of the Valhallan."

"Things must've gone real bad if you managed to lose Jurgen," Tangmo took a sip of his scotch then placed the glass down on the mahogany table in front of him.

"Indeed it was," Cain nodded, but hissed in pain when he strained one of his many bruises. "Luckily, I ran into colonel Andren. If it wasn't for him, there probably won't be anything left of me for a funeral."

"It was the Emperor's own luck, nothing to it than that sir," Andren nursed his glass of beer nervously, bashful and awkward to be sharing drinks with a bunch of commissars. What the hell was he worried about? He spent, like, every free moment with Raine.

"Nonsense colonel, if you haven't plowed through the heretic's ranks and help me onboard the Myrmidon, why, I would most certainly be dead," Cain raised his amasec toward Andren, who reciprocate the gesture with jittery haste, spilling some of the beer. "A toast to you, your heroism is an inspiration for all guardsmen to aspire to. And thank the Emperor that it saved my hide!"

"You're welcome sir," Andren and Cain clinked glasses, the commissar finishing his snifter while the colonel drank conservatively, then raised his beverage toward Tangmo. "And thank you too sir, commissar Tangmo. Your timely intervention is the reason both of us are still amongst the living."

"Don't mention it," Tangmo nodded and gulped down the scotch and coke, the cooling burn felt nice as it slid down his throat. "I'm all about saving damsels in distress."

The three of them shared a low laugh then, soft but heartfelt, before settling down, quietly enjoying their drinks in peace. Well, as much peace as can be found in an active warzone, with the muffled thunders of Charons and Destoroyah batteries pounding away at Meng Hu, the roar of fighters and bombers providing the backing vocal. It was after an especially loud explosion that Cain spoke up again, "the Chaos forces we face on this campaign are quite different from the ones I've fought in the past, if I was being honest."

"How so?" Tangmo placed his glass down.

"Well sir, they look more…what's the word, refined I guess?" Andren said and Cain nodded in agreement. "Immaculate, sophisticated, organized."

"You forget to mention very pretty also," Tangmo and Cain laughed while Andren choked on his beer. "Not surprising, we're fighting the Chaos Sororitas after all."

"Yes, me and the colonel got a rather hands on experience in that regard," Cain smiled. "But more to the point, the army arrayed against us is very peculiar, given the nature of the Ruinous power and its servants. The abomination we've fought, although horrid in every conceivable word, was, as colonel Andren put it, more meticulous and precise in creation"

"I know what you mean. I wasn't expecting to fight the fucking Pillar Men, holy shit," Tangmo agreed, "that's feminine sublimity for you."

Cain and Andren traded looks then uttered in unison, "feminine sublimity?"

"Even if it's kinda hard to catch sometime, you must've notice how the women of the battlegroup stood out from their male counterparts," Tangmo explained. "It's the little things, sharper uniforms, better organization of supplies, cleanliness of appearances, clearer tactical minds, that sort of things."

The commissar and the colonel nodded, then Cain said, "now that you mention it, ever since Amberley move in with me I notice that, between assignments, she would spend time making sure that my uniforms, gears, by the Thrones, our entire apartment, are in perfect shape, spotless and clean and smelling nice even when Jurgen's around. She'll never settle for anything less than perfection."

"Raine's like that too, every time I…report to her quarter for debriefing, the place is always immaculate, as opposed to mine, which looks like grox-sty most of the time," nice safe there Andren, but Tangmo and Cain knew what's up. "But to our credit, I believe the men of the battlegroup are more levelheaded and less prone to violence than the women."

"Oh yeah, definitely, to us my dudes!" Tangmo, Cain and Andren clanked glasses with a guffaw, but the Thai commissar swiftly glanced at the tent flap, breathing a sigh of relief when no members of the XY chromosome showed up. "But you guys see where I'm getting at, right?"

"That the Chaos forces we now fight are enhanced by immaculate female touch," Cain caught on quickly.

"Exactly. And now we're seeing a deadlier side of Chaos that we've never seen before," Tangmo refilled his glass with coke only, took a bubbly sip, and continued. "Check this, we all fought Chaos cultists in the past, and those fuckers are direct, as in, they're stereotypically stupid, to the point of being comical. Khorne is an angry fucker and his warriors are bloodthirsty retards, Tzeentch is a slimy plotting little shit and his followers can do nothing but scheme their asses off just for the sake of scheming, Slaanesh is a psychotic rapist and her cultists are equal degenerates, and Nurgle is a disgusting slob, which is why his worshipers are little better than walking septic tanks."

"That is the most comprehensive summation of the Ruinous power I've ever heard," Andren grinned. The alcohol was making him more talkative.

"I know right? But anyway, as I was saying, we are seeing another side of Chaos, thanks to the Fallen Sororitas," Tangmo went on. "We have Azarvhin, a Khornate Champion, who behave more akin to knights and samurais as opposed to lunatics like Angron and Kharn, and this refinement of anger creates a more dangerous breed of Khornate soldiers. This is made apparent by the Khornate Sisters who, despite being perpetually angry, are able to harness their rage and distill them until it can be used with clarity of the mind, which make those red bitches ultra-dangerous.

"Then there's Syrathel herself, and although she isn't that much different from the other run of the mill sorcerers, you can see the intricacy of her planning and the webs of manipulation she laid down. Hell, when we're not up in her business, she always win, quite flawlessly too if the information Eurydice and Amberley complied for us was anything to go by. And if you want to know her power level, well, you can ask Damien how she made him shit himself.

"As for Miriael, the woman turns everything into a five star Broadway show or a Russian opera. The world is her stage and she its bloody conductor. And, as much as I hate to admit it, what she makes is beautiful. The crude expression of exaltation most common with Slaanesh cultists has been refined into literal works of art. If the usual Slaaneshi cultists are B-Boy dancers, Miriael and her troupe are ballerinas.

"Lastly we have this new character, Luscinia, the Nurgle Champion. The fat ass Chaos god modus operandi is disease and decay, but if we look deeper, to the microscopic level, it's the manipulation of cells and atoms. Instead of harnessing that power to make viruses, Luscinia decided to go the other direction. All those freaky ass shits we fought? The Siren Heads, the jikininkis, the atmospheric beasts, the Pillar Men Orgyns, she made all of it, using Nurgle gift to create.

"So in summation, we're witnessing the different side of the same coin that is Chaos."

"Well Tangmo, I can't disagree. A most precise analysis indeed," Cain refilled his snifter and swirled the amasec around like a Bond villain. "If they keep with this trajectory, why, I believe we will be seeing a lot more unpleasant surprises in the future."

"Bro, can you not put that foreshadowing shit on me? Fuck man," Tangmo groaned and downed the cola, clanged the ice around a bit, sighed lowly, then said. "Look guys, about the WrestleMania match between Amberley and Raine, I'm gonna cancel it. It is unbecoming and extremely dishonorable to have two upstanding women of the Militarum and the inquisition tear each other apart in front of a capacity crowd. The media buzz is just starting, so I might be able to kill it before things spiral out of control. Anyway, I'm sorry for turning this into a thing in the first place. Sorry."

Cain and Andren traded look, their expression strangely resigned, if somewhat amused. Tangmo didn't like it one bit, and liked it even less when the Hero of the Imperium flashed him a consoling smile, "I'm afraid we've already pass the event horizon, lord commissar."

"Say what now?" Tangmo glanced at Cain and Andren.

"Severina will be extremely unhappy if you were to cancel the bout," Andren's fear of the lady commissar was making him docile again, not even the beer was helping. "Beside her duty, Severina is very invested in the upcoming fight, using every spare moment to shadow box the moves you showed her."

"Oh yeah, the training session with Raine is getting pretty goddamn intense," Tangmo was suddenly very glad of his injury, that means the sparring can be postponed. Fuck, that woman's gonna break his femur any day now. He shot Cain a look then, "Amberley's feeling the same?"

"She's exceling and enjoying her training with Laura and Yuki," what the, is Cain blushing? Damn, he is blushing! But then again, knowing how handsy Laura and Yuki get when they trained their ground and pound game, he could sympathize with Cain getting a little hot under the coat.

"Well, looks like I won't get murder by the mob after all, the match is still on," Tangmo held up his glass in salute, Cain and Andren joining in demurely. Pouring another healthy serving of soda, Tangmo grinned at the two men. "So gentlemen, who are you betting on?"

Cain's snifter paused halfway to his mouth and Andren choked on his beer as Tangmo laughed villainously, low and very self-satisfied, taking a savoring sip of his cola.

"Severina," Andren said after his coughing fit subsided. "Severina will win the bout."

"And I shall say that Amberley will be victorious over the lady commissar," Cain glanced at Andren then, both laughing resignedly. "Not that we really have a choice in the matter, isn't that right colonel?"

"Indeed lord commissar," Andren agreed amiably, and Tangmo found it surprising that the Antari colonel and the Hero of the Imperium appeared to be quite chummy with each other, despite the fact that their girlfriends were about to beat the living shit out of each other. "If there's anything I learn during the Bale Star crusade, is that Severina's temper is scarier than anything the Ruinous Power can throw at us."

"Same goes with Amberley," Cain couldn't contained his mirth, so caught up in his own declaration that he and Andren failed to take heed of the tent flap flying open with a swoosh. Tangmo saw it though and kept his mouth shut. "I've seen what happens when she gets angry, her rage eclipsing the Sororitas themselves. Why, the nuns will probably make her their saint someday!"

"Ha! Severina's fury is so great, that if she was a weapon, it'll probably obliterate Horus himself in a single shot!" Andren joined in, he and Cain guffawing loudly, and Tangmo just sat back and watched the disaster unfold.

"That's nothing!" Cain wasn't about to be outdone. "I've fought orks more time than I can count, and let me tell you, when she's angry, Amberley is like…"

"Like what, Ciaphas?"

And just in time. Releasing the laugh he'd been holding, Tangmo banged the table as he cackled uproariously while Cain and Andren practically bolted out of their seats, the look of purest horror plastered on their paling faces upon discovering Amberley, Raine and Leilatha standing behind them. The two women glared darkly at their boyfriends, both men wilting under the intense scrutiny. Being the swell chap that he was, Tangmo exacerbated the situation by laughing even harder.

"Well Ciaphas? What am I like when I'm angry? Hmm?" Amberley sweetness was one of the scariest shits Tangmo has ever witnessed in his life, enough so that his laughter spluttered to a croak. Things grew progressively worse for Cain and Andren as Amberley and Raine closed their distance, promising nothing but malice. "Do I put Ghazghkull to shame?"

"Tell me Andren, would I be able to kill Abaddon with my fury?" Andren shrank under Raine piercing glare, at least she wasn't reaching for her bolt pistol. "Come now colonel, you were so talkative before, I'm sure everybody wants to hear your insightful comments."

"You could've warned them," Leilatha sat down beside Tangmo, a soft smile playing across her lips as Cain and Andren hurriedly spewed their excuses. It was not very effective.

"And missed out on all this? Hell no," Tangmo sipped his cola. Goddamn, Amberley and Raine were really laying it on the commissar and the colonel, if those two were ever on the same page, they'll make one hell of a tag team.

"How are you feeling?" Leilatha asked.

"Better by the minutes, I'll be up and about in no time," Tangmo told her.

"Ryvin wouldn't like that," Leilatha snorted.

"Too bad for him," Tangmo shrugged when Amberley and Raine sat themselves down beside Cain and Andren after giving them an earful, taking the drinks for their own. After a moment of moping, the Hero of the Imperium and the Antari colonel shot Tangmo a dirty look for betraying them to the girls. Tangmo was raising his glass, the beginning of a toothy grin playing across his face, when Amberley and Raine honed their attention on him. Oh shit.

"Well?" Amberley downed the amasec, her piercing blue eyes prickling his skin in the most unpleasant way.

"Well what?" Tangmo asked with quirked a brow, refusing to back down.

"Who would win?" Raine asked coldly and put the empty pint down hard enough to shake the table.

"Guess we'll find out, won't we?" Tangmo finished his cola with a shit eating grin. "Just so you know me and Erik are doing commentary. I'll be sure to give you two a copy of the fight afterward."

"You did not answer her question, lord commissar," Amberley demanded.

"And I refuse to answer said question," Tangmo went on. "I don't feel like getting kill today."

"A commissar is fearless in the face of death," Raine said, her tone soft and a bit playful.

"Not in this fucking case," Tangmo said and laughter answered him, everybody moods appeared to be stabilizing. Then Tangmo noticed Cain looking down at his left hand, the lord commissar clenching and unclenching it, grimacing as he did so. "You okay there, dude?"

"I'm quite fine Tangmo," Cain nodded but he wasn't fooling anyone, even Amberley was concerned as the Hero of the Imperium continued to flex his hand, mouth tight in discomfort. "It's just my hand, sometime it tingles."

"How bad is it?" Tangmo locked eyes with Cain, letting him know that he wasn't ignorant to the lord commissar's little quirk. Cain always gets a tingling sensation when bad things, especially the apocalyptic kind, were moments away from happening. Judging by how Cain was scrunching his face, Tangmo knew he was not going to like the answer.

"It hurts, tremendously," Cain admitted after a moment and poured himself a glassful of amasec, downing half of it with a heavy swig, "as if someone just ran it through with a hot poker."

Tangmo nodded with a grunt, filled his glass to the rim with scotch, and emptied that shit down his gullet. The burn calmed his nerve, steeling it against the shit storm that was about to descend on them. Tangmo took Leilatha's hand into his, gave it a squeeze, the lady commissar returned the gesture with a worried frown, and tapped his earbud, "Krillen, you there my dude?"

"Yes, lord commissar," Krillen responded.

"How's everyone doing?" Tangmo asked.

"Rested and healed sir, while those we've lost had since been replaced with the newly graduated Whiteshields," Krillen went on. "Too bad we're sitting out this assault. A lot of us want to even the score with those bastards."

"You might be getting that chance sooner than later," Tangmo said. "I want every regiment that is not currently engaged battle ready within thirty minutes colonel, pass the word along. I'll be joining you shortly."

"At once, lord commissar," Krillen responded crisply then said in a more guarded tone. "Are the enemies coming to us?"

"I don't know, but trust me shits about to go down," Tangmo got up from his seat, the other following suit. "Be ready to engage at a moment notice."

"You got it sir, hey Ovin! Get everyone up!" Krillen shouted before terminating his transmission.

"Well then ladies and gentlemen," Tangmo adjusted his awesome commissar cap and turned to the other with a handsome grin, "into the fray once more."

Bloody hell, was it supposed to be this easy? Welp, Laura was pleased either way, she loved it when things goes splendidly without a hitch. The battle had gone, predictably, in their favor from the onset. With the battlegroup now in complete control of the sky, combined with the artillery batteries positioned around Meng Hu, they pounded the city beyond the point of death, flattening the place until it looked like the Somme, then hammered the rubbles and craters some more just to be sure. By the time they marched into what remained of the city, Zhensu and Myorin extremely miffed that the planet most luxurious metropolis got obliterated, the battlegroup barely met any resistances, what little fight the heretics put up were sad pitiful things.

"Well my lovelies, it's look like we did it again," Laura announced boisterously, her happy voice carried clear across the courtyard of Meng Hu's great pagoda, a pillar of red and ivory stabbed at the center of the city, currently occupied by Sisters of Battle and Aeldari soldiers. Within the towering spire, the nuns and priestesses were putting the final touches on the purification sacrament before the last two relics can be moved.

"And we barely break a sweat," Yuki skipped to Laura side and hugged her mightily, the Japanese exarch giving the British inquisitor a quick peck on the cheek, drawing a collective groan from Sororitas and Aeldari alike.

"Looks like we'll be popping the champagne early love," Laura drew Yuki deeper into her arms, giggling lusciously, "with many more things to follow."

"Umm, hello? Can you guys not celebrate prematurely please?" And like every girl's night out, Lita had to spoil the fun with her reason and logic. Laura would have been terribly annoyed if it wasn't for the fact that, deep down, she knew the Mexican Warseer was right.

"Ugh, you're such a kill joy," Yuki flaunted exaggerated distress, causing Lita's puffed up cheeks to turn a cute shade of red.

"She's right," Nikki cut in, still spritely after surviving the siege with Tangmo. "Given how close they came to killing me and Tangmo at the castle, this is a poor follow up. It's like they're deliberately losing."

"Maybe they've exhausted all their resources and just decided to lay down and die," Laura cringed inwardly at her own words. Blimey, that was a terrible comeback.

"Shit Laura, even you don't believe that," Nikki shook her head incredulously, and now it was Laura's turn to fume. The Russian's probably right, but that doesn't mean she have to like it.

"Okay, fine, I'll tell everybody to be on the lookout for anything dicey," Laura held up her hands in mock surrender then tapped her earbud, relaying her directive. "Stay alert, we're not out of the woods yet."

"A wise decision, lady inquisitor," Laura spun around and found herself suddenly surrounded by the canonesses, their Celestian squads, Banshee Aspect Warriors and Aeldari troops led by Marwen and Dalthorn. Galatea cast one glance at the pagoda, her expression wary, and stabbed her power zweihander to the ground, looking like an absolute knight as she leaned upon it. "The battle isn't over."

"It looks over," Laura continued with her petulant streak.

"Even during a storm, the downpour will sometime cease," Zhensu added sagely. "One must not be lured into false security, no matter how inviting the prospect may be."

"Oh, spare me Confucius!" Yuki spat at Zhensu.

"Watch your tongue, eldar," Myorin squared up to Yuki, who refused to back down from the bushi canoness, Laura could almost see sparks going off in the air between them.

"How are things going at the pagoda?" Lita cut in before something catty can happen. "When can we move the relics and fall back to Nokori?"

"Fifteen minutes, twenty at most," Crestienne told her, like Lita the Argent Shroud canoness like to deescalate situations, the two of them forming the good girl clique. "These things cannot be rushed unfortunately."

"I hear you," Lita and Crestienne traded tired, but soft, smiles. "The sooner we can get the relics back to the Immortal Spirit, the better."

"What do you plan to do with the relics?" Bellona asked tersely, which was a lot better than the usual growl she did when Lita first joined the battlegroup.

"Safe guarding it, basically," Lita shrugged, the Aeldari nodded appreciatively while the Sororitas murmured amongst themselves. At least the tone sounded positive. "With the relics in our possession, we will be able to make sure that Isha and the Solace Sun remained hidden from the Chaos forces at large, give them a chance to build up their strength until the goddess herself can figure out what to do next." Lita grinned slyly at the Sisters of Battle then. "And if you're curious, we can go see Isha ourselves. The relics are beacon and map, we can easily find out where she is."

The Sororitas traded looks of alarm, wide eyed and flabbergasted, absolutely lost for words in the face of such revelation. The Aeldari on the other hands were borderline euphoric, many clutching their amulets tight and praying, the timbre teary but joyous.

"Can that truly be done?" Dalthorn asked, and Laura thought for a moment that the man was gonna prostrate himself before Lita, like how someone would ask a boon of the gods. But he remained standing, although shaking with reverence.

"After we figure out how to work the map, then yes, I believe we can check out Isha, if the schedule permits it of course," Lita told them, her winning smile a great substitute for the sun, so radiant that it calmed even the Sororitas down when she glanced at them. If Laura didn't know any better, she would've thought Lita was using her eldar magic, but nope, it was all her, "but we will be discussing this with the Adepta Sororitas also, this is not a decision we would make alone."

"Thank you, lady Warseer," Galatea said politely, but tightly. "However, I don't believe this is the right time or place to be having this discussion."

"Better to talk once victory is truly assured," Naledi added sharply, earning nods from Bellona, Morelia and Victrix, the Sororitas hardliners.

"She's not wrong," Marwen shrugged. Out of all the eldars, she and her Biel-Tan Guardians was the most stoic throughout the announcement. "Battle still rages across the city, and the Chaos cultists are putting up stubborn resistance amongst the ruins. Also, I receive radio chatters saying that commissar Tangmo had mobilized all the reserves and put them on maximum readiness."

"Did he say why?" Laura asked, knowing for a fact that Tangmo never acted irrationally, regardless of the situation he found himself in. He must have a reason, and most of the time it was clear cut.

"Something about commissar Cain's hand tingling and that shit is about to hit the fan?" Marwen made a face, one that was met with confusion from Sororitas and Aeldari alike. Not so with Laura, Yuki, Nikki and Lita though. They've all read the Ciaphas Cain books, and every time the Hero of the Imperium's hand started to tingle, things always go downhill for the heroes, which were them in this case.

"Prepare for combat," Laura hefted the claymore on her shoulder as Yuki, Nikki and Lita also got their weapons out. The others just stared at them like a bunch of braindead idiots though. "Did I stutter ladies?! Prepare for imminent attack, double time! Get on the bloody vox and tell everyone!"

"Are you honestly telling us to put every unit on maximum alert because commissar Cain's hand tingled?" Eldul asked incredulously, but nevertheless tapped her Valkyrie helm and relayed her command like the other canonesses and eldars.

"You rather we be unprepared?" Yuki quirked her brow in that insidious way that mocked and insults at the same time, promptly shutting Eldul up, "didn't think so."

"Does this hunch tell us where the supposed attack will happen?" Naledi asked, giving her ngombe-ngulu a few flashy twirls.

"Well, Cain's sixth sense isn't exactly a science," Lita offered, "so we don't know for sure."

"Wonderful, this could all be just a false alarm…" Horrific high pitched screams interrupted Victrix, and Laura would have loved to gloat but the squealing was so hellish that no one was in the mood to fuck around. And to make things worse, the shrieking came from inside the pagoda, where the nuns and priestesses were performing their ceremony. Oh bloody fuck.

"Greeting and salutation my friends! It is so good to see all of you again!"

Laura and the main characters spun around and found none other than Miriael Sabathiel sauntering down the steps outside the pagoda, the Battle Sisters and Guardians put in charge of defending the place were sprawled across the stairway, bodies shattered and broken at grotesque angles, their blood flowing down the stone, carpeting the Slaanesh Champion's descend in gleaming crimson. Got to hand it to the woman, she knows how to make an entrance.

"Wait a minute, who's this again?" Laura decided to screw around with Miriael a bit.

"A Slaanesh cosplayer, apparently," Nikki scoffed.

"That wasn't funny when commissar Tangmo said it, and it is not funny now," Miriael said as she stepped on to the courtyard alone, her timbre a perfect blend of sultriness and annoyance. "And believe me my dear, he does it a lot better than you."

"Now, now Miriael, there's no need to be that hurtful," Laura snickered and got into a HEMA guard, contrasting beautifully with Yuki's kenjutsu stance. "But I think I can forgive you, seeing how you saved us all the trouble of chasing your arse down. Now please, just stand still so we can make this quick."

"Oh? I believe there has been a little misunderstanding, lady inquisitor," Miriael shook her head pityingly when Laura caught movement at the pagoda's entrance above them. It was Azarvhin, the Khornate champion, and her side kick Kayaamat, the four armed Kali Chaos Sororitas. Both of them didn't move to engage though, instead standing guard at the archway like sentinels, unmoving and prim, glaring down their noses at them. "I'm here to get a front row seat of your defeat."

"Yeah, yeah, go monologue in Slaanesh's kinky hell you stupid cunt," Yuki growled.

"After you, lady exarch."

And that was when the explosions began. A rolling staccato that engulfed the wall beyond the pagoda's ground in blinding curtains of flame, banishing the night in a searing false dawn that momentarily blinded Laura with its painful radiance. Blinking her vision back into focus, shouts, screams and rattling gunfire now giving the raging fire its melody, Laura found Miriael still standing in front of them, hands on hips, smug and criminally sexy. And behind her, the fabric of reality bending and twisting in painful contortion was a…Warp portal? No, not a Warp portal, a Webway gate.

"The Immortal Spirit isn't the only one who knows how to make an entrance!" Miriael laughed uproariously as black silhouetted shapes started moving within the Webway gate, moments away from breaching into real space.

"Yeah, fuck you too," Nikki braced her sniper rifle and pulled the trigger, the silvery white projectile lancing straight for the smiling Miriael. A burst of sparkling light, the sharp ringing of metal on metal, and the shuriken bolt veered off course, flying into the sky, fading into the blackness like a dying star. And kneeling in front of Miriael, striking a superhero landing pose, gleaming sword of black specked with burning gold raised skyward, was…God almighty, Laura didn't know what the fuck she was looking at, and she'd already read all of the Codex!

"Something's wrong," Yuki hissed, and Laura was shock to see the Japanese exarch trembling slightly, barely perceptible, but the British inquisitor had never seen her girlfriend like this. "Something is really, really, really fucking wrong."

"Form up and take aim! Quickly now!" Galatea bellowed and the Sororitas and guardsmen swiftly got into the correct ranks and files fifty paces in front of Miriael and the stranger, who was slowly rising to his feet. The canoness glared across the firing line, teeth barred at the eldars, all of whom were struggling to response, their usually graceful movement reduced to lethargic shuffling. Like Yuki, and Nikki, and Lita, the Aeldari were shaking.

"Are you well, lady Warseer? You look so terribly ill suddenly," Miriael giggled like a sadistic kid about to torture a pinned butterfly and went to stand beside the individual who was now erected to his full height. He was tall, elvish tall. But he was not lithe like an elf, no, this bloke was not only great in stature but muscular as well, his frame wide and powerful. He was clad in blackened plate armor that was Maximillian in grandeur, menacingly ridged and spiked, the etching upon the metal was intricate but ominous in artistry, the curves and spirals invoking the imagery of dragons, serpents, centipedes and skeletons. A long tasset comprised of scaled onyx, rippling with liquid animation, stretched down to his feet, a belt studded with guns and knives of curvaceous design circled his waist. His pauldron was of overlapping midnight steels that clung wispily to his shoulders and upper armor, identical to a samurai's sode in style and composition. The bushido motif continued upward, with his face covered in totality by a beautiful mempo fashioned to look like a grinning face, a datemono crest depicting a graceful creature that looked like a lion swan hybrid crowned his kabuto.

"W-What is that thing?!" Lita gritted her teeth and lowered her Singing Spear at the man as more of his kindred, hundreds in number, emerged from the Webway. Some were armored like the first man, others in standardized uniforms draped over with black cowls. When the distortion in the fabric of space and time ended, reality regaining its corporeality, this new group was more than a match for the battlegroup in number. "What are they?!"

"My, my lady Warseer, do you truly not recognize them?" Miriael continued sweetly, gloatingly, sensually. "They are your kin after all. Aeldari who had embrace Slaanesh when she came into being, and had been enlightened and blessed by She Who Thirst."

"…Is that bitch saying what I think she's saying?!" Nikki blurted, sniper rifle trained on the man.

"He's Chaos," Miriya spoke up, eyes bulging to a saucer as the horrid revelation sets in, "a Chaos eldar."

"A crude term, I'll admit, but correct nevertheless," Miriael giggled, winked nastily at a petrified Verity, and then tapped the man on the arm, "have fun my friend."

The Chaos eldar knight samurai hybrid darted forward before Miriael's sentence ended, his movement a shadowy blur, almost too fast for Laura's eyes to follow, closing the distant in a blink. The clash of metal reverberated powerfully, a ringing shockwave that almost ruptured Laura's eardrums as Lita cried sharply and raised her Singing Spear, catching the hammer blow. Laura and Yuki dashed at the Chaos eldar, who launched a swift, powerful kick at Lita's stomach, sending the Warseer careening into Nikki as he turned to meet them. Sparks flew to the furious tempo of clashing steels, Laura and Yuki moving with impeccable synchronicity, parrying, blocking, stabbing and slashing together, one in mind and purpose, a dance of death they had perfected and conducted to absolute perfection in the past. It was not enough. The Chaos eldar was fast, but unlike Craftworlders and Drukhari he had forsaken Aeldari lithe gracefulness for a purposeful, uncompromising style of fighting that cast aside elegance for the sake of undiluted brutality. No movement wasted, every swing precise and aiming to kill. Things barely improved when Lita and Nikki entered the fray, the Russian exarch now wielding twin curved daggers, grips inverted, the quartet having a hard time overcoming the singular Chaos eldar. The five of them was a vortex of fire and steel, flashing violently like a storm, and it didn't took long for Laura to notice that they were being pushed backward, away from the pagoda which was growing smaller and smaller every time she caught a glimpse of it.

"Die already you fucking tosser!" Laura roared and swung her claymore down on the Chaos eldar after he missed a step parrying Lita and Yuki's stabbing combo, laughing loudly when the iconic Scottish sword slammed beautifully into the sode pauldron, the evil elf grunting in pain. "Ha! Take that ya bampot!"

"Mon-Keigh slut!" The Chaos eldar snarled and holy shit he was fast, Laura never saw the blade careening for her hip until it was a few inches away. Truthfully, she would've been bisected if it wasn't for Nikki who amazingly blocked the blow, the Russian exarch gritted her as she was pushed into the British inquisitor, sparks cascading as her twin daggers grated against the black blade. "Die together then!"

"After you, fuck face!" Nikki snarled as two barrels emerged from her pauldrons, ala the plasma caster from the Predator movies, and unleashed a burst of super-heated plasma point blank into the Chaos eldar's face. He staggered back with a howl of pain, his mempo melted so badly that Laura couldn't tell where metal and flesh began, before a lance of sorcerous light, courtesy of Lita, vaporized his torso.

"Finally! Fuck!" Yuki panted and went over to Lita, steadying the Mexican Warseer. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Lita got her breathing under control, but the shock have yet to leave her face. "I'm fine, I'm just a little…"

"Stop talking and get the fuck over here already!"

Laura spun around and found Astrid taking cover inside one of the many single storey buildings that surrounded the pagoda, libraries, meeting halls, sleeping quarters and the likes that lined the roads leading to the ivory tower, where the majority of the fighting was currently taking place. The Frost Bringer, along with Dalthorn and the Black Guardians were exchanging furious fire with a bunch of Chaos eldar infantries, and things were not going their way, with the evil elves quickly gaining more grounds. A quick glance told Laura that things were likewise grim elsewhere. There were too many eldars, Sororitas and guardsmen dead on the ground, and not enough evil elves amongst them.

"Lita! Over here, quickly! Arghhh!" Dalthorn squawked when a barrage drove him and the others behind cover. The Chaos eldar were sprinting forward now, undeterred by the storm of bolts cutting them down.

"No!" Lita yelled and, with a savage swing of her Singing Spear, send a Warp blast into the Chaos eldar infantries, flattening eight and sending twelve more cartwheeling into the sky. Laura didn't get the chance to appreciate the sight though, because Yuki took her arm roughly and dragged her after the sprinting Lita and Nikki, heads held low as the battlegroup unleashed a brutal barrage on the Chaos eldar. How the fuck were they regrouping so fast? Fuck! That violet laser fucking singed her hair!

"Close it! Close it!" Bellona yelled the moment the four of them scrambled inside the Asian longhouse and a gaggle of Grey Watch and Tallarn guardsmen quickly pushed forward a pile of stacked up furniture. They would've gotten cut down but the Eternal Legion's Celestians, the Princeps, shielded them with their scutums, the testudo amazingly withstanding the Fallen Aeldari's lasers long enough for the entrance to be closed and blocked.

"Dalthorn!" Lita dashed toward Dalthorn, who was crouching beside a window, and cupped his bloody face. "Oh my God, you're hurt!"

"It's just a scratch, barely worth a notice," Dalthorn smiled handsomely. "I'm glad you're safe."

"So am I."

"Can someone please explain to me what in the fuck is going on?!" Lithia raised her voice above the roaring din as she ejected an empty magazine and slammed a fresh one home. Even with her Batman helm on, Laura could tell the gaze she fixed on Lita was not friendly.

"We're under attack, duh!" Yuki shot back and drew her Aeldari P90 submachine gun.

"By Aeldari, your people!" Morelia snapped at them.

"They are not Aeldari!" Marwen shouted at the Sororitas, anger and vehemence twisting her pretty face into something bestial and ugly. Streak of tears, wet and still flowing, marred her grimy cheeks. "Don't you fucking dare say that they are Aeldari! Don't you fucking dare!"

"They are traitors, like the cultists and Astartes that had turned their backs on mankind and the Allfather," Eldul stepped forward and turned to look at Marwen and the eldars, her expression hidden behind her winged helm. "And as you had helped us destroy them, we shall now help you purge this blight."

"Thank you," Marwen nodded and trained her shuriken catapult outside and lay down a full auto fire, Eldul and Skoleif joining her a moment later.

"What's the situation around the city?" Galatea walked along the battle line, head held high as lasers and shurikens tore into the building, utterly confident that no stray bullets was gonna kill her, shielded by faith and armor in equal measure. At least she was wearing her helmet. "Come in, we are taking heavy fire, do we have any estimation on the strength of the new enemy?"

"Chaos eldar! Fucking Chaos eldar! What in the fuck is even happening right now?!" Laura had to admit that hearing Tangmo's spastic voice was probably the best news they can received in this moment, her smile growing as the Thai commissar continued his tirade. "Jesus fucking Christ, those bastards are firing evil laser at us yo! Holy shit! See Cain! Your fucking hand is always right! You saved our asses dude! Ha!"

"Lad, I'm really glad that you appear to be in a rightly nice place," colonel Bruce reloaded his lasgun, the bear skin cap on his head sizzling near the top and the side, "but we would very much appreciate it if you can fill us in on how we're supposed to get out of this mess!"

"Shit, hold tight I guess?" Laura can practically see Tangmo shrugging. "Sure, those Chaos eldar managed to get a jump on us, but thanks to Cain's sixth sense we managed to weather the initial assault. We're pushing hard toward the pagoda but holy shit, the Chaos forces are not giving in without a fight, so it's gonna take a while. You guys stay put, we're on our way."

"Mate, we've already lost the pagoda," Laura tapped her earbud. "The Four Big Bitches are already inside, they're slaughtering the nuns and priestesses and we're pin down. We need you here ASAP, or we're gonna lose the relics."

"I'm going as fast as I can dude," there was clear desperation in Tangmo's voice. "At this point your priority should be surviving. Fuck the relics, your lives are more important."

"No! We cannot let them take the relics!" Firnera shouted, almost shrieking the words thanks to her Banshee's helm.

"A sentiment we all share," Heloise backed the Banshee up, and to Laura's astonishment both humans and eldars were in agreement on this topic. "Relics of such power must never fall into the hands of the Ruinous Power."

"Well, I wish you all the best – fuck!" Explosions interrupted Tangmo, followed by hectic clashing of orders and curses, with the roar of gunfire topping things off. "Fuck! Good luck dudes! I gotta got! Hey! You wanna fuck with me?! You Sauron elf looking cockroaches! Well fuck with this! Say hello to my little friend!"

Welp, leave it to Tangmo to end the transmission by going full Tony Montana on the Chaos eldars. Hopefully some glass wearing assassin doesn't shoot him in the back with a sawed off shotgun.

"Alright ladies and gents, since we're fixated on getting Isha's relics out of that pagoda, I'm all ears," Laura went to join Miriya and her Celestian squad at one of the chewed up windows, magnetized the claymore to the Hellgun's power pack and drew the super laser, letting off a few shots at a bunch of Chaos eldar infantries hiding behind another smaller building. "Anytime now my lovelies, they're pressing us hard!"

"Is there, like, a hidden passage to the pagoda, like at Nokori?" Lita offered as she erected a translucent shield around the building, her fingers dancing quickly as she made runes after protective runes over the walls and ceiling, giving the humans and eldars a much needed reprieve. "Maybe there's one right underneath our feet."

"I'm sorry, but such passage was not built here," Zhensu shook her head, the wushu canoness leaning on her guandao, taking quick, deep, lungful.

"Are you sure? You might have forgotten again," Eldul, ever the sunny one, made her snarky comment. Zhensu was not amused, but at least that got giggles out of a few people, the guardsmen especially.

"Yes, she is sure and so am I," Myorin growled and Eldul blew her a kiss.

"Since we don't have a viable, easy way of getting inside, what do we do?" Dalthorn asked.

"Fight through them, break their ranks and head for the pagoda," canoness Naledi said, the super awesome power ngulu-ngombe braced on her lion headed pauldron. Her Celestians, the ingonyama, along with the eldars and the more bloody minded Sororitas, nodded sharply in agreement.

"Sallying forth might not be the best option right – shit!" Canoness Amaryllis jumped back from the window when a powerful beam of carmine rammed into Lita's shield, the surface bled and rippled with painful animation. "By the Throne, they're bringing in field artilleries!"

"What about the other side of the building?" Lita asked, hands held up to the sky as she channeled more power into the faltering barrier, teeth gritted in a rictus snarl, the constant pounding was taxing her greatly.

"We're surrounded," Al-Rahman rushed back to join them, covered in blood and grime but still spritely on his feet. Bloody hell, this must be the first time he actually looked the part of a solider, and Laura really liked what she saw. "The most likely route of escape is the northern side. Shall we try and break out from there?"

"Mate, I really appreciate the gesture, but that would mean the guards will be taking the blunt of the fire," Laura told Al-Rahman, who deflated somewhat.

"That is a sacrifice we are ready to make lass," Bruce said sternly, both the Grey Watch and Tallarn nodded firmly, weapons held steady and ready.

"And they shall not be alone in facing this darkness," Dalthorn added, his face grim with determination.

"How about this, we all stop trying to be heroically grimdark and actually do something productive like, I don't know, kill those fucking grav-platforms about to murder our asses?!" Nikki blurted and went to stand beside one of the open window, flinching when another barrage struck the barrier. Lita gasped in pain and jagged cracks snaked across the shield. "Those fucking guns are out in the open and appeared to be directed by some kind warlock, the bastard has these orbs flying around him like that stupid robot from the Overwatch game. Lita, do you think you can nullify his power and drop his shield?"

"Yeah, but I have to drop this shield," Lita told her.

"Then drop it," Nikki went on, absolutely taking charge as she turned to the Avenging Knight Sororitas. "Lithia, I need you and your Inner Circle buddies to work with me here. Load your Gothicipolis bolters with Kraken rounds and pour it on the grav-platforms, those things have better range and accuracy than the average bolters, I need you guys to help me take out the guns."

"With pleasure lady exarch, Castrum, you take point," Lithia and the Inner Circle joined Nikki, swiftly slamming home the armor piercing round. "But the grav-platforms looks sturdy, I'm not sure if our bolts would be enough to incapacitate it."

"Don't worry, we got help in that department too," Nikki waved over the guardsmen and the Guardians. "Bring all the heavy weapons over here, pronto."

"Hurry the fuck up, they're charging the cannons again!" Castrum shouted at the humans and eldars scrambling up to join them, the Biel-Tan, Ulthwe, Grey Watch and Tallarn brandishing Zodd lasguns, rapid-las and RPGs, every barrel trained at the Chaos elves now falling into an attack formation. "Here it comes! Get down!"

Laura rolled into place beside Nikki the moment another barrage hit the building, fire, blood and splinters wafted over the hunkered battlegroup when several parts of the wall, where Lita's barrier finally failed, disappeared in gouts of rolling flame, devouring the unlucky sods hiding behind it. Teeth gritted, Laura and Nikki, along with the humans and eldars, swiftly rose back into position, taking aim at the Chaos Aeldari, all of whom looked about ready to make the sprint, the warlock was waving his arms animatedly in the air, hyping them up.

"Lita! Drop the shield and get that fucker!" At Nikki's command, the barrier compressed suddenly, coalescing into a bright, churning diamond that hovered ten paces in front of the building, shining with such brilliance that Laura had to look away. Then, not a nanosecond later, the crystalized light shot across the courtyard, so fast that the air shattered with a mini-sonic boom, and struck the warlock in the chest, the impact blooming in dazzling cascade of multi-spectrum shards. The warlock howled in pain, clutching his chest like he was having a heart attack, the man's agonizing enunciation ended when Nikki rearranged his face with three shots from her sniper rifle, with Castrum adding the final touch by bisecting the tosser with a bolt round.

"Fuck them up! For the Emperor!" Laura held down the trigger and swept the Hellgun over the Chaos eldar's foremost rank, with the output turned to maximum they were predictably incinerated into bubbling reddish slush. The battlegroup salvo followed immediately after, pouring everything they have with a vengeance on the evil elves, las, shurikens and rockets tore mercilessly into the disintegrated line, the grav-platforms exploding brilliantly in blossoms of fire.

"That's right, get fucked motherfuckers!" Nikki roared and the guardsmen cheered raucously, but the Sororitas and eldars didn't join in, if anything they looked even more grim.

"Shut the fuck up! All of you!" Lithia snapped at them, bringing the boisterous holler to a swift end, the Avenging Knight mistress slamming a new magazine home. "The enemies are preparing to attack, brace yourself!"

"Oh, fuck me," Laura's jaw dropped when anti-grav vehicles, bulky and large compared to the usually sleek Aeldari design, rumbled into view. Six of them, their massive turrets, pulsar if Laura was to guess, turned unnervingly at them. She shared a glance with Lita and said. "Is it a little too late to bring the shield back up?"

"No time, sorry," Lita squeaked, face paling, her long elven ears drooping frightfully down her neck. Despite the fact that they were about to be vaporized, the Mexican Warseer still managed to be inhumanely adorable. Bloody hell, that shite should be illegal.

"Hold hands, close our eyes and take it?" Yuki appeared beside Laura, both sharing a resigned smile.

"Sounds good," Laura scooted closer to Yuki, the cannons were glowing blindingly now, primed and charge, roiling light emerging from the depth of the barrels. "And it's a bit late for a heroic charge anyway."

"Yeah, you're right," Yuki sighed when the lead hover tank unleashed a lance of dark energy wreathed in cackling purple lightning, their demise crossing the square in less time than it took to blink. And it missed them completely. Okay, so maybe not totally, because a massive chunk of the ceiling pretty much got atomized into smoking particles, but none of them were hit by the pulsar beam, singed, sure, but untouched. Explosion rumbled outside, accompanied by bone rattling shrieks of twisted tortured metal. Blinking, Laura and Yuki stared at each other and let out a breathless chuckle. "Well shit, we're alive."

"Flawless deduction," Nikki grinned when one of the Chaos Aeldari tanks went up in flame, humans and eldars cheering wildly now that death has been narrowly averted. "And it looks like we're gonna be for a while, the fucking cavalry's here!"

Poking her head above the window, Lita now joining them, Laura found herself hollering along with the battlegroup as Ulthwe Wraithguards, dozen of them, plowed into the Chaos eldar tanks, the soul powered automatons roaring in anger, their timbre thunderous, power axes, swords and glaives falling with bestial vengeance on the traitorous war machines and soldiers. The killing was wild and unrestrained, gracefulness replaced by fury, fires and sparks misting the air with every murderous stroke. One tank managed to break away from the carnage and swung its shimmering cannon at the Wraithguards, but before it can open fire a pair of Chimeras rammed into it, managing to tip the anti-grav vehicle on its back, a barrage of heavy bolts followed, gutting the war machine. The ramps slammed open and pouring forth from the APCs, their war cry grimmer than the reaper himself, came the Death Korps of Krieg and the Dark Reaper Aspect Warriors, Elraleath and Hildebrandt at the head, shuriken missile launcher blazing and chainsword revving, the unrelenting troopers crashed into the disoriented Chaos eldar like a tsunami, rending and killing without mercy.

"Well shit, if there isn't a more perfect moment to sally forth, then I don't know what is," Yuki rise above the window, twirling her eldar katanas flashily as Laura, Nikki and Lita joined her, melee weapons held at the ready. Getting into a super cool samurai pose, Yuki turned to the battlegroup and roared. "Let's go ladies and gentlemen! Follow me and kill them all! Mael Dannan!"

Matching steps with Yuki, Laura and the battlegroup stormed out of the destroyed building, the thunderous battle cry overpowering the din of war, guardsmen and Guardians unleashing full-auto barrages on the regrouping Chaos eldars, softening them up for the Sororitas and Banshees to plow into their crumbling line in glistening surfs of blood. Like always, Laura and her mates weaved an intricate dance of death through the Chaos eldar's ranks, moving with one mind, weapons striking with immaculate synchronicity, scarlet streamers trailed after their wake. Laura didn't know how long had passed since the initial impact, but by the time she, Yuki, Nikki and Lita stopped to take a breather, a good dozen Chaos eldars were sprawled around them like offerings to vengeful goddesses. Pockets of fighting still raged, but it was clear the Chaos eldars were the ones getting cordoned and butchered to the last man and woman.

"What in the bloody hell are all of you standing around for?!" Galatea bellowed at them after her power zweihander turned one of the Chaos eldar knight samurais into bisected gibs.

"Just give us a moment, yeah?!" Laura panted and stood up a little straighter.

"Get to the pagoda!" Now it was Firnera who spoke, her timbre almost pleading as she took out a Chaos eldar infantry. "We'll hold the courtyard, go!"

"Are you sure?" Laura asked.

"Would you just go already?!" Crestienne roared, the Argent Shroud canoness was engaged in a shoving match with another knight samurai hybrid, she won in short order, shoving the shit head away before decapitating him with her power halberd.

"Okay, okay! Come on guys, let's go!" Laura and her mates sprinted toward the pagoda, the sight of dead Sororitas, good eldars and guardsmen, burned and twisted, was gut wrenching to behold. This must be the biggest causality the battlegroup had suffered since its inception. "Christ, I didn't know we lost this many people. Fuck."

"And this is only inside the pagoda's ground," Nikki sighed dejectedly. "Can't even begin to imagine how bad everything is around the city."

"Are the boys okay?" Yuki spoke up with clear concern.

"Last I heard, yeah, they're still kicking."

"Umm, guys, something's wrong."

Following Lita's worried pointing fingers, Laura found herself gripping her claymore tighter, bloody red blade held high, ready to hack and slash, because indeed something was wrong. Nope, it wasn't because some evil sorcery was at work, nor was there an army of Chaos eldars and Sororitas emerging to meet them, neither were gigantic daemons or monsters materializing, no, what greeted the quartet was emptiness. Rushing up the grand stairway, their steps cautious, eyes darting left and right for any sign of hostiles, and finding none, Laura and her mates reached the top without facing any opposition.

"Honestly, I should be glad, but I'm not," Yuki said as they walked pass the spot where Azarvhin and Kayaamat had stood, the Khornate Sisters were nowhere to be found. "Where in the fuck is everybody?"

"Not inside, that's for damn sure," putting away their melee weapons, Nikki and Laura braced their respective guns and dashed into the pagoda, the circular room was splattered with gore but was otherwise empty. "This doesn't look good."

"Oh no," Lita said breathlessly and dashed up the spiraling stairway built into the wall, Yuki close at her heel, trying to catch up, "no, no, no, no!"

"Oi, wait for us!" Laura and Nikki stomped after Lita and Yuki. "And bloody well slow down, this could be a trap for all we know!"

But it wasn't a trap. This fact became glaringly obvious the higher up they went up. No clicks and hums of priming weaponries, no primal wrongness invading her mind and body, no shouting commands to prepare for a fight. Nothing. Silence soon came upon them, heavy and soundless like a funeral shroud. Outside, the ambience of war faded until the cadence became dreamlike, echoing softly off the pagoda's walls. Lita and Yuki were a good ten paces above Laura and Nikki when they reached the topmost landing and dashed through a destroyed door. For one heart stopping moment, Laura thought some anti-personal mines was gonna blow Lita and Yuki to pieces, but thankfully nothing of the sort happened as she and Nikki joined them, the four finding themselves standing amidst a massacre. The bloods splattered across the walls, floor and ceiling had yet to dry, dripping and rolling languidly across surfaces marred by wanton vandalism, a deep desecration that cannot be repair.

"Oh God," Lita was down on one knee, fingers pressed to an unmoving Sororitas nun's neck as Yuki made a slow circuit around the small reliquary hall. All twenty holy women, ten nuns and ten priestesses, were dead, struck down with merciless precision, the killing surgical and swift, their corpses untouched by desecration. At least they didn't get fucked over, a poor consolation, Laura knew, but at least it was something. "Oh merciful God have mercy on their soul."

"We should've left someone to guard them," Yuki gritted her teeth, her steps turning into angry stomps as she took in the detail of the butchery. "Fuck, we shouldn't have let them come up alone."

"Hey, hey, calm down love, calm down," Laura strode up to Yuki and pulled her into a tight embrace, the Japanese exarch trembled fiercely for a moment before sinking into the British inquisitor's entwining arms, both of them becoming anchor for the other, sharing in the grief and destitute brought upon by this slaughter. "It's okay love. We couldn't have known."

"Fucking bastards," Nikki fumed. She was standing before a nun and a priestess, dead in each other's arms, their last moment of despair and hopelessness spent shielding one another. "Jesus fucking Christ, we really fucked up."

"And now they're gone, along with…" Lita was back on her feet, her gaze fixed upon a spot at the center of the room, the sadness on her visage hardening into one of blank confusion. Wiping away a drop of tear on her cheek, Lita pointed her finger forward and said. "Uh, guys, isn't that the relics sitting over there?"

Bloody hell, Lita was right, as unbelievable as it may be. Resting upon stained cushions, utterly unconcerned by the halo of carnage ringing the waist high pedestal, glowing a soft iridescent white, were the two Isha relics.

"Is that the real thing?" Nikki trained her sniper rifle on the relics, Lita however just heedlessly jogged up to it. "Hey! Get back – don't touch that thing!"

"It's fine…I think," not too sure of her own words, Lita nevertheless reached her trembling hand toward the relics.

"Lita you dumbass, don't touch that thing!" Yuki shrieked when Lita touched the glowing ivory effigy, and if Laura was being honest she totally thought the Mexican Warseer was gonna burst into flame. Thank God she was wrong, and as Lita groped the second relic, it was clear no Ruinous corruption existed.

"What in the bloody hell is going on?!" Laura demanded loudly, her arms spread wide in a 'what the fuck' gesture.

"The relics are still here," Yuki made her deadpanned impression of Captain Obvious.

"I can bloody well see that," Laura blurted. "Now I just need the reason why. The Chaos cunts were obviously here!"

"Trojan horse," Nikki eyeballed the relics, her sniper rifle lowered but ready to be brought to bear at a moment noticed. "They're waiting for us to take this back to the ship and boom, a Warp gate open up and an army of daemons pour into the Immortal Spirit."

"This isn't a trap, the relics are not corrupted," Lita held the two relics up above her head, gave the pair a good shake before setting them back down on the cushions. "See? I touched it and nothing happened. I also scanned it with my magic, they're clean."

"And you're a hundred percent sure?" Lita was getting miffed by Nikki, quite justified, skepticisms. "I'm just saying, Chaos is crafty and you could be wrong."

"I am not wrong!" Lita huffed and stomped her foot on the ground.

"This is Yuki, what's the situation on the ground? What is the status of the Chaos Aeldari? Are we winning?!" Yuki tapped her earbud and machinegunned her questions.

"The enemy is falling back, Frau exarch," Hildebrandt answered her, as always the Krieger was unnatural calm, his timbre unaffected by the calamity around him. "It is however not a rout, but an organized withdrawal, done in good order with rearguards put in place to deter the battlegroup pursue. What are you orders Frau exarch?"

Yuki glanced around the room, earning quick shake of heads from Laura, Nikki and Lita, "don't follow them colonel. Maintain defensive perimeter and see to our casualties, they are the priority now."

"As you command, Frau exarch," Hildebrandt said crisply, more than likely saluting on the other end, and cut his transmission as Laura tapped her earbud.

"Laura here, we need a cleanup detail up in the pagoda immediately. The nuns and priestesses are dead, they need to be taken back to the Immortal Spirit for proper funeral rites."

"Understood, lady inquisitor," Galatea said. "What of the relics?"

"It's still here, we need to get it out of this place too," Laura told her.

"A team is already heading up, stand by," Galatea said then ended her transmission, leaving Laura and her mate to stand around, diminished in spirit and tired in body. They were not used to losing, and hated it with every fiber of their being. Therefore it came as no surprise that none of them took this with grace.

"Well, this is rightly fucked," Laura said sourly.

"No fucking shit," Nikki growled in response.

"Is everybody accounted for?" Miriya took off the Sabbath helm, magnetized it to her belt, and approached her Celestian squad, battered and bleeding but very much hale enough for another bout if one comes. A quick head count and Miriya breathe a sigh of relief.

"Yes," Cassandra nodded, her left pauldron was at her feet, the metal melted and simmering still. Thank the Emperor the skin beneath didn't suffered the same fate. "We survived yet again."

"By providence of the Golden Throne," Marcia said from the ground and clutched her head with a groan, that explosion must have concussed her.

"Yes, but that was too close for my liking," Danae's lighthearted grin was smeared in blood that drenched half of her face.

"Agreed," Rubria nodded weakly as she reloaded her bolter, the armor moving reluctantly, sparks flying from the joints. She was rising to her feet, the servos whirling in protest, when her eyes locked on another group approaching them. "Look alive."

Following her gaze, Miriya found Firnera's Banshee squad shambling toward them, looking as badly injured as they were, maybe even more. The Fallen Aeldari, a concept she has yet to understand or make sense of, had been vehement in their cruelty against the battlegroup eldars, the same hatred Chaos Astartes harbored for loyalist Marines.

"Not another step closer," Ananke raised her bolter at the Banshees, all of whom froze not three paces from the Sororitas, a look of genuine bafflement plastered upon their faces, tinged with a very clear shade of betrayal. Of all the Celestians Ananke alone trained her weapon on the Aeldari, and Miriya saw that it was done on fearful impulse, not hatred or logic. Even now her grip shook, uncertain of her own action.

"Put that bolter away Ananke!" Verity cried out.

"Stand down Ananke," the Celestians all looked at Isabel, who reached her hand out and laid it gently on Ananke's bolter, her grip firmed, "lower the bolter, please."

"B-But, you saw what their kin did to us!" Ananke stammered, further corroding her own conviction when it was clear she herself did not truly believed what she was saying. Being even younger than Verity, although by only a year, she sometime allowed herself to be governed by passion instead of reason, "many of us are dead because of them!"

"Just like how Syrathel and the Chaos Sororitas slaughtered the loyalists on Tera-Antebella, yet when the Aeldari rushed to our aide they did not strike us down for the association that was our species," Isabel went on sternly. "I am now asking you to reciprocate that courtesy."

Ananke's bolter wavered for a few moments more before she lowered it, shoulders sagging as her frame drooped forward, tension leaving in great gusty breathe.

"Help them," Miriya said and the Celestian responded crisply, without hesitation, going about helping the Banshees, seating them down for Verity and Alnelle to patch their wounds, Ananke herself went to help Elhynn, the Aspect Warrior she frequently partnered up with, mumbling teary words of apology. Miriya noticed then that the Banshee's leader was missing. "Baeletha, where is Firnera?"

With crestfallen slowness, the Banshee pointed her sword, broken near the hilt, back the way the Aspect Warriors had come. Miriya felt her heart drop, but was relieved to find Firnera standing several paces away, her shattered helm magnetized to her belt, glaring at a Chaos Aeldari lying on the gore slicked ground. Miriya strode up to Firnera, and was about to speak when she saw that the Chaos Aeldari still draws breath, ragged and wet. He was one of those swordsmen, formidable master of their craft, Miriya admits, but after the novelty of their enigma passed they died just like the rest.

"You are beautiful," the man rasped then coughed violently, spilling more of his intestines from the savage gash on his abdomen. "What a shame."

"Kill him," Miriya took her place beside Firnera, the Banshee's sword shaking in her white knuckles grip.

"More mon-keigh," the Chaos Aeldari grinned sickeningly at Miriya, blood poured from his lips as he returned his gaze to Firnera. "Tell me sister, which one of you holds the chattel and which one hold the chain?"

"Do not speak to me of chattel, traitor," Firnera hissed and leveled her sword at the man's face. "I am not the one enslaved by She Who Thirst."

"Enslaved? Oh you poor wretched slut," the Chaos Aeldari cackled mockingly until another fit of hacking coughs arrested him, further speeding him toward death. Unfortunately for Miriya and Firnera, his demise was delayed and he continued to speak. "I am free. More free that those who worship the Corpse God, more free than you who spend eternity fleeing the inevitable instead of embracing the truth."

"You are not free!" Firnera raised her voice.

"Shall I tell you the truth?" The Chaos Aeldari smiled, blood seeping through clenched teeth, "a truth for you and your mon-keigh whore?"

"Silence!"

"We choose!" The Chaos Aeldari bellowed, loudly and with mirth, pure in exaltation even when at death's doorstep.

"Shut you fucking mouth!"

"Nothing is ever an accident, everything is always planned!" The Chaos Aeldari continued, taking immense pleasure at seeing the last shred of control slipping from Firnera. "We birthed the Great Angel and for this deed we are eternally rewarded!"

Firnera screamed, even without the Banshee helm to amplify the acoustic, the cadence was harrowing and terrible, made more so when fueled by rage as she slammed her sword down on the cackling Chaos Aeldari. There was no beauty, no grace, no sublime immaculate swordsmanship, nothing but barbarous strokes of the sword, the elegant weapon reduced to a tool no better than a woodsman's axe or a smith's hammer, every blow fueled by fury and vengeance. Through it all the Chaos Aeldari laughed, welcoming his death with rapture, uncaring as Firnera hacked his limbs to pieces, blood, entrails and gore flying, painting the Banshee in daemonic red.

"Firnera," Miriya wiped a speck of blood off the fleur delis tattoo on her cheek and took a single step closer to the Banshee, making sure to stand clear of the sword's murderous arch. "Firnera enough."

But Firnera didn't hear her and continued to hack the now dead Chaos Aeldari, consumed by rage that was horrific and heartbreaking to behold.

"Firnera stop," Miriya raised her voice, and only received Firnera's scream in response, the timbre growing hoarser and more broken as the heartbeats passed.

"I said enough!" Miriya, her speed and skill more than a match for the Banshee, reached out and grabbed Firnera's arms just as the sword was raised to its highest zenith. Firnera whipped her head around, teeth barred like a wolf as she glared at Miriya, who met the Banshee's feral animosity with an unyielding stare of her own. Seconds crawled on slowly, and when Miriya was certain Firnera was about to attack her, the tautness in the Banshee's arms melted away, muscles slackening until both limbs were draped bonelessly at her sides. Then her visage shattered, the shards of anger falling away to reveal grief and despair, raw and bleeding like the corpse at her feet, screams crumbled to sobs of depthless anguish. Miriya was about to say something when Firnera suddenly slammed her head into the Celestian's right breastplate, crying dejectedly as a daughter would seek comfort from her mother. Eyes wide, not knowing how to react to such alien intimacy, Miriya glanced at her Celestians and the Banshees for help, all of whom either stared blankly or gave unhelpful shrugs.

"Why…why?" Firnera sobbed into Miriya's chest.

"None are free of the corruption of Chaos," Miriya, not one for soothing words but very much needing other noises beside the Banshee's wretched weeping, decided to give her the neutral truth on the matter. "Not even the stoutest of mind is safe from the disease that is the Ruinous power."

"But we were supposed to be better than everyone else!" Firnera cried petulantly and started hammering Miriya's breastplate with a clenched, shaking fist, the blows sloppy but forceful. Miriya had to stop herself from laughing, the childish display was most endearing, but mocking Firnera in her moment of emotional vulnerability didn't seemed wise. "We are Aeldari! Our minds are impenetrable to the influences of the Great Enemies! Our fortitude eclipses every race that was and will be! We were supposed to be better! We were supposed to be better than…!"

"Us," Miriya finished the sentence for Firnera, the Banshee's sobbing hitched as she locked gaze with the Celestian. "The Aeldari were supposed to be than us human, the dirty mon-keigh that infest the galaxy."

Firnera's mouth moved voicelessly before surrendering with a dejected sigh, her face falling to the ground in defeat. Miriya should have been angry, livid even, at Firnera's insinuation. How dare this xeno bitch insulted the human race, who was ordained by the God Emperor to rule the stars in perpetuity, reshaping the galaxy into His glorious image after the Aeldari themselves had destroyed it when they birthed Slaanesh. She could draw her dagger and gutted the xeno right now for such heretical offense, or strangled the alien and watched the life bled out of her eyes. Instead Miriya did nothing, and the longer she stared at Firnera she felt something that was foreign and surprising. Empathy. As much as she hates to admit it, the Immortal Spirit had changed her, the metamorphosis going deeper than the skin, much deeper. Their close proximity, the professional relationship enforced by the high command, the various interactions both on and off the field of battle had altered Miriya's perception of the Aeldari race, in ways that didn't compromised her own zealous loyalty to the God Emperor. And with that, she was able to understand the eldar. They had never faced a betrayal of such magnitude, a treachery of the foulest sort committed by their own brothers and sisters, a rending of all bond that united a species, the one single goal they shared now shattered to an irreparable degree. This was their Horus Heresy, this was their Goge Vandire, and amazingly enough Miriya knew and understood the agony Firnera now felt. Exhaling sharply, compassion turning to annoyance, Miriya grabbed Firnera's shoulder firmly and pushed her back until their eyes were locked.

"What will you do then?" Miriya demanded.

"…I'm sorry?" Firnera didn't understand the question.

"Your kin turned to Chaos, what of it?" Miriya knew she spoke harshly, but one cannot temper steel by tapping it lightly. Melancholy thawed from Firnera's eyes and anger began to smolder. Good. Now she had to fan it. "Are you going to weep? Will you curl up and die? Will you fall upon that sword you carry? And here I had such high regard for the Banshee Aspect Warriors."

"Watch your mouth, Miriya," Firnera growled, canines gleaming.

"Oh? Am I angering you?" Miriya continued to prod her.

"What do you think?!" Firnera snapped, the sword in her hand quivering.

"Let it burn Firnera, let that fire purge away the last of your weakness," Miriya went on stoically as Firnera's breathing came harder and faster. "Become that flame and wield it against those who betrayed you."

"Is this how you feel?" Firnera now asked. "Is this the rage you feel when seeing those of your species who had fallen to Chaos?"

"Yes, and it fuel us to great deeds of glorious vengeance," Miriya narrowed her eyes on the Banshee. "It feels good, doesn't it?"

A sliver of lucidity flickered for a moment in Firnera's eyes, her breathing slowed as she searched for the correct words, "it has…purpose."

"Be sure to use it accordingly," Miriya let go of Firnera, the Banshee swaying slightly now that the Celestian wasn't holding her, "because I would very much prefer not to face the Fallen Aeldari alone."

"You will not be without allies," Firnera nodded. "Where ever the traitors lurk, I shall hunt them down and let them witness the wrath of the Howling Banshee."

"I have no doubt about it," Miriya allowed a minuet tugging to lift her lips upward. "Feeling better?"

"Unbelievably, yes," Firnera chuckled mirthlessly. "Thank you."

"I hope this will be the last time I see such a pitiful display from you," Miriya went on crisply, but without bite. "We need adamantium heart and indefatigable spirit now more than ever, especially in the coming days."

"Don't hold your breath, you will ever see me in such a deplorable state again," Firnera flashed her trademark haughty grin. Miriya was relieved by the Banshee swift recovery. "Although I have to admit that I feel better, after crying, it empties the heart of all poison within."

"Yes, it is strangely…liberating," Miriya nodded when Cassandra and Baeletha approached them, their steps wary at first but after seeing the amiability approached the pair faster. "What is it?"

"The Chaos Aeldari had retreated completely," Cassandra said. "The navy confirms numerous traitor ships, hidden behind Diyu, making a Warp jump out of the system."

"Commissar Tangmo and general Henry was able to capture a score of the…traitors," Baeletha added with acidic satisfaction.

"Then we will not linger here any longer," Firnera said sternly. "Get everyone back on their feet, we're moving out."

"As you command," Baeletha bowed and headed back to the group. Cassandra looked at Miriya expectantly, waiting for the same command.

"Prepare to move out," Miriya nodded and Cassandra jogged after Baeletha, together they went about helping both Celestians and Banshees ready to march. Miriya locked eyes with Firnera, understanding and companionability passing silently between them, and before neither knew it they were both smiling, a soft meaningful thing one shared for a sister in arms.

"Shall we?"

"Let's."