Dong, dong. Each time Kaldor Draigo's magnetic boots landed, they cracked the surface of the permafrost with a web of fissures.
The three-meter-three-tall Grandmaster of the Grey Knights stood immovable amidst the polar gales. A faint hum emanated from the hydraulic systems of his adamantium-forged knee guards, and the power sword in his right hand buzzed softly.
As the Grandmaster took his seventh step, the entire battlefield suddenly erupted into a symphony of death—
Clang! Clang-clang!
Ri~whoosh—whoosh!
The Grey Knights' bolters unleashed a metallic storm, each .75cal caliber Nemesis round tracing a vivid blue arc through the air.
The war retainers of Athena hurled plasma spears that blasted molten holes ten meters wide in the fortress's outer walls.
The heavy bolters of the Word Bearers thundered on, their scripture-engraved rounds penetrating three heretics before coming to a halt.
The melta weapons of the Lords of Midnight worked with surgical precision, vaporizing the hangar and the pilots inside who were attempting to board their titanium aircraft.
In the outer fortifications, a Plague Marine, blessed by Nurgle, had just raised his rotting arm when five simultaneous bolter hits tore his corrupted flesh apart.
Nearby, a Tzeentchian daemon apostle, mid-incantation, froze abruptly. A psyker's spear thrown by a Grey Knight had pierced its beaked skull, and the spells it tried to unleash backfired under psychic purification, incinerating the demon into a luminous skeleton.
Yet the most terrifying were the "arts of slaughter" of the Greek demigods.
These veterans, tortured by the Ruinous Powers for ten thousand years, were peerless demon and heretic hunters.
Clad in power armor styled like ancient Greek heavy armor but costing as much as Terminator suits, the Greek demigods had already stormed into the outer defenses of the Chaos fortress.
Descendants of Heracles could tear open the brass armor of Khorne's Bloodletters bare-handed. Before Olympus fell, the fire arrows of Hera's priests, though appearing traditional, packed the power of Gauss weapons, turning Nurgle daemons into shrieking fireballs.
Athena's war retainers, with each thrust of their spears into a demon, left behind a burning olive branch mark at the wound—a scar that even the Warp could not heal.
When a Grey Knight recruit beheaded a Tzeentchian Horror with his power sword, the demon did not dissolve into blue smoke as usual. Instead, its body shattered like glass, each fragment ascending as golden light.
Demons slain by the Grey Knights or Greek demigods could not return to the Warp; instead, they were "purified," becoming part of the Emperor's psychic essence.
At this moment, Draigo crossed the fortress's outer defenses and was the first to reach the main gate.
He raised the storm bolter mounted on his left arm, firing three special rounds that shattered the heavy armored gate's hinges into scrap.
Boom. Boom-rumble!!
As the gate collapsed with a roar, he beheld the horrors within the fortress—
Flesh writhed on the corridor walls; nerve tendrils hung from the ceiling like vines. More unsettling were the melting Chaos runes, disintegrating like ice sculptures under direct sunlight as the Grey Knight Grandmaster approached.
"Record combat data," the Grandmaster's voice echoed through the tactical channel, "Confirm that purification protocols achieve permanent elimination of Warp entities."
With that, he raised his power sword and charged deeper into the fortress, the Emperor's Holy Flame on his blade driving away all darkness.
The core objective of this drop assault was not merely to seize control of Improko, but to let the Word Bearers and Lords of Midnight adapt early to frontline battles against Chaos forces.
Although these two legions had gained fame within the Imperium, they had yet to participate in large-scale warfare or face enemies corrupted by the Warp, especially Chaos daemons. They needed sufficient real combat experience.
Lorgar and Curze understood that soon they would face Coruscant, a core world utterly corrupted, where the chaos pollution far surpassed Improko.
By then, the Word Bearers would need unwavering faith to resist the Warp's blasphemous whispers, and the Lords of Midnight would have to maintain precise tactics amid the most chaotic battlefields.
Thus, the Improko drop assault was, at its core, a large-scale "combat" exercise for the two legions.
After the first round of orbital bombardment, tactical analyzers from the joint fleet swiftly transmitted data. Although most Chaos fortresses crumbled under the strikes of the electromagnetic main cannons, several core fortresses remained standing.
These were wrapped in heavy psychic barriers, impenetrable even by the main guns of an Emperor-class battleship.
Further analysis showed that the source of these barriers was not merely Chaos rituals or artifacts, but at least one high-ranking daemon, or a heretical strongman on the verge of ascending to Daemon Princehood.
To destroy these fortresses completely, the best method was to send elite units inside and kill the barrier sustainers directly.
More challenging was the fact that if they resorted to larger-scale orbital strikes—or destroyed Improko entirely—they would undermine the strategic goal of establishing it as a forward base for the assault on Coruscant.
Thus, a ground assault became the only viable option.
As the Astartes of both legions, alongside the Grey Knights and Greek demigods, advanced, the true nature of the fortress's defenses was revealed—
Formerly loyal stormtroopers of the Galactic Empire had now become fanatical followers of Chaos.
Their armor was crawling with corrupted flesh patterns; their blaster rifle barrels were twisted, firing filthy barrages infused with Warp energies instead of red energy bolts.
More concerning were the Chaos-corrupted war machines.
AT-ST walkers were now sprouting sharp bone spurs from their shells; pus oozed from their mechanical joints, and their cockpits no longer housed human pilots but insane thralls blessed by the dark gods.
These grotesque machines staggered across the ice fields and fortress corridors, their cannon fire mingled with daemon shrieks.
However, not all mechanical units were corrupted.
During the advance into the fortress, dynamic scans on the Grey Knights' helmets detected a group of "shivering" mouse droids.
Once logistical units of the Galactic Empire, they now scurried and hid amid the fortress ruins.
Beep beep beep!
When the Grey Knights and Greek demigods found them, the droids' sensors flashed terrified blue lights, emitting faint electronic wails.
Psychic scans confirmed that they were not corrupted by Chaos; they were simply innocent machines struggling to survive the war.
Draigo ordered them marked for recovery by support forces and clone troops later.
Breaking through layer after layer of defenses, Draigo led a squad of Grey Knight Terminators and a contingent of Athena's war retainers to the lowest levels of the fortress.
The air was thick with sulfur; metal pipes on the walls twisted into profane runes; the ground ran with sticky corrupted blood.
When they blew open the final rusted gate, the sight before them made even the battle-hardened Grey Knights tighten their grips on their weapons.
A massive Tzeentchian altar stood at the center of the vast underground hall. Suspended above it was a constantly shifting blue crystal, sealing within a complete avatar of a Tzeentch Greater Daemon.
Its body was composed of countless eyes and beaked mouths, its wings flowing with runes that distorted reality with each shift.
"Heh, finally come?" The Greater Daemon's voice—an overlay of a thousand whispers—rang directly in their minds. "Do you think destroying this fortress will stop the plans of the Great Changer of Ways? Ridiculous."
Draigo said nothing. The psychic amplifiers of his Shield Terminator armor surged to full power, his power sword erupting into blazing golden flames.
Clang-clang-clang!
Ri~whoosh—!!
The Grey Knights swiftly formed a battle formation, the servos of their Terminator armor humming lowly. Raising bolters and plasma guns, they unleashed a dense web of fire across the hall.
The bolter rounds exploded against the daemon's wings but passed through as if striking phantoms, causing no real harm.
Meanwhile, Athena's war retainers launched their assault.
Their specially crafted spears traced brilliant arcs in the air, but just before striking, they twisted bizarrely and dissolved into harmless blue sparks.
"Foolish mortals!" the Greater Daemon shrieked, its body shifting between reality and the Warp. "Your weapons cannot harm me!"
Seeing ranged attacks ineffective, Draigo unhesitatingly activated the "Holy Flame Runes" of his power sword, making the blade blaze even brighter.
He lunged forward, magnetic boots cracking the metal floor, his whole form shooting toward the daemon like a missile.
However, just as he was about to strike, the daemon's wings spread wide, eyes opening in succession, releasing a storm of reality-warping psychic energy.
Draigo's charge was forcibly diverted; he was flung into a distant wall, with nearby Grey Knights and war retainers stumbling from the shockwave.
As the Greater Daemon reveled, a war retainer with a shield and spear suddenly stepped forward.
Her movements were as fluid as a river; her spear-raising posture identical to Athena's when throwing the Spear of Victory.
Though not as powerful as the Goddess of War, her thrust still precisely targeted the daemon's head!
"Worm!"
The daemon roared. Though not lethal, the spear grazed its face, leaving a burning golden scar.
It instantly targeted the bold war retainer, wings flaring as it lunged ghost-like at her!
Just as it was about to tear the retainer apart—
Bang!
An armored iron hand suddenly grasped the daemon's ankle!
Unseen, Draigo had already stood back up, the runes on his Terminator armor fully lit.
"."
He growled silently beneath his faceplate, hydraulic systems bursting with power as he swung the daemon up and slammed it brutally into the ground!
Boom—!
The metal floor caved in, and the daemon's wings twisted and broke.
Roar—!!
It shrieked in agony, but soon fear replaced its rage, realizing this Grey Knight Grandmaster was far more terrifying than it had imagined.
"Mortal, die!!"
The Greater Daemon roared, unleashing its last survival tactic.
Instantly, time within the hall froze; the Grey Knights and retainers halted in place, only the daemon able to move freely.
Grinning, it lunged for Draigo's throat—
"Die, mortal!"
But just as its claw was about to touch Draigo—
"You've fallen for it, demon."
Draigo, seemingly frozen, suddenly lifted his head. His voice was cold and calm, and the golden Holy Flame on his sword blazed explosively!
He had long seen through the daemon's trick, feigning being frozen to lure it close.
!!
The daemon's countless eyes reflected the lethal golden arc, its mind of lies finally comprehending true terror.
"This can't—"
Its shriek was cut short as the flame-wreathed blade severed all possibilities.
The sword traced a perfect arc, making even time and space tremble.
The daemon's rune-etched head flew high, each eye shattering like broken glass.
Its twisted body convulsed violently in the Emperor's Holy Flame, and the blasphemous runes on its wings burned into ash.
Finally, this Warp entity—whether ancient or newly born—disintegrated into the purest psychic particles.
These purified energies did not return to the Warp but drifted pilgrim-like toward Terra's Imperial Palace.
With the daemon's annihilation, the fortress groaned in death.
Chaos runes faded visibly; fleshy growths withered into black dust; the sulfurous stench in the air was replaced by the fresh scent of ozone.
The Grey Knights recovered from time suspension, frost still clinging to their Terminator armor.
They held their battle stances for a few seconds, then, confirming the threat gone, slowly lowered their weapons.
The war retainer who threw the spear knelt on one knee, crossing her right arm over her chest in an ancient Greek military salute.
Behind her helmet, her eyes glowed with awe. After all, that "mortal" had just performed a demon-slaying feat worthy of epic poetry.
Draigo sheathed his still-humming power sword, the adamantium handguard chiming crisply against the scabbard mouth.
He approached the floating blue crystal at the altar's center, his heavy steps echoing loudly in the silent hall.
When his left hand touched the crystal's surface, the vessel containing the daemon's essence immediately shattered and dissipated.
"Record battle results," he said calmly. "One Tzeentch Greater Daemon, confirmed permanent elimination."
Listening to the Grandmaster's voice, it was as light and effortless as a routine report.
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