Doom Slayer
…
The Blackstone Labyrinth
Sergeant Mordren walked down a stairway fixed to the chamber ceiling. His boots held to the steps while green flames trailed upward from his armour. The seven Legionnaires of the Damned followed without hesitation.
The Doom Slayer stepped onto the first stair. The fortress turned around him.
The chamber rolled until the ceiling became the floor. Suspended bodies fell in different directions, striking walls, pillars, and stairways that had not been beneath them a moment earlier. The Slayer continued descending while the living warriors adjusted their footing behind him.
Celestine flew through the shifting chamber. Kord and his five Imperial Fists locked their magnetic boots to the Blackstone. Castor caught Malrec by one arm before the Black Templar could fall into an open shaft.
Brother Vardas walked at the centre of the Imperial Fists. The split armour across his back had been sealed with hardening foam, but blood still escaped through the edges. He carried the damaged route-engine against his chest.
Its projection showed only a rotating knot of lines.
"The route-engine has lost the fortress," Veteran Sergeant Kord said.
"The corridors have shifted again," Malrec said, studying the projection. "This map is useless now."
"Can it still identify our entry point?" Celestine asked.
Vardas struck the side of the route-engine with his palm. The knot became a single yellow point and disappeared.
"It found one," Vardas said. "But I would not trust it."
Mordren did not turn.
"The living need maps. The dead do not. Just continue following me and my men." Mordren said.
"Where are you leading us?" Kord asked.
Mordren pointed his burning sword down the impossible stairway.
"To the woman that is bound to this fortress. We must slay her at all costs." Mordren answered.
The Will of Eternity shook. The impact came from outside. Blackstone groaned through every wall as weapons large enough to fracture continents struck the fortress's shields. Dust rose from surfaces in several directions at once.
A broken vox-message emerged from Kord's helm.
"Boarding Spear Aureus, this is Phalanx command. The dorsal forge network is down. Enemy fire has fallen seventeen per cent. Send targeting data when you reach the control nexus," the Phalanx vox-officer ordered through the interference.
"Aureus copies. Six Imperial Fists remain combat-effective. Saint Celestine, the slayer, and allied forces are with us," Kord replied.
The vox became a scream of static.
"Identify those allies," the Phalanx vox-officer ordered.
Kord looked at the Doom Slayer walking behind the dead.
"You would not believe me if I told you," Kord answered.
The signal failed before the officer could respond.
The stairway ended against a wall. Mordren placed one gauntlet upon the Blackstone. Spectral fire entered the surface. The wall became transparent beneath his hand, revealing corridors folded inside corridors and doors opening into rooms that had not yet been built.
Green flame leaned toward one path.
The sergeant drove his sword into the wall. The Blackstone opened around the blade. Daemons waited beyond it.
They had gathered in the passage by the hundreds, but none charged. Bloodletters pressed against the far bulkhead. Horrors climbed across one another in their attempt to reach sealed vents. Possessed Legionaries struck their weapons against doors that refused to open.
Every creature faced away from the Slayer.
Fear passed through the horde before he entered the corridor. The smallest daemons began clawing at the walls. A Bloodletter looked over its shoulder, met the green lenses of his helm, and forced itself deeper into the crowd.
The Combat Shotgun appeared in the Slayer's hands.
Its full-auto barrel rotated into place. The first grenade entered the centre of the horde. The second struck the ceiling above it. Fragmentation and Blackstone filled the passage. Daemons were thrown against one another while the Slayer advanced into the smoke.
The Legion of the Damned fired past him. Bolter rounds wrapped in spectral flame crossed the corridor and burst among the Possessed at its end. Celestine's golden fire followed, consuming those who tried to escape through the opening Mordren had made.
The Imperial Fists advanced in two firing lines.
"Left rank, fire. Right rank, advance," Kord commanded.
Helion, Torren, and Acastus fired. Kord, Brannoc, and Vardas moved through them. The ranks exchanged positions without breaking their rhythm.
Castor and Malrec fought at the rear. The two Black Templars prevented the changing walls from cutting off the formation, destroying every construct that tried to reform behind them.
The daemons died between the living and the dead. Those closest to the Doom Slayer died first. The last Possessed reached a sealed door. It turned and raised a chainaxe in both hands.
"Stay back!" the Possessed demanded.
He pulled the trigger. The automatic blast destroyed the traitor's arms and chest. What remained struck the door and slid to the floor.
The Slayer stopped before it. The passage had become silent.
Mordren approached through the smoke. Green flames moved across his armour and entered the dead daemons around him. Their bodies burned without producing heat.
"They are running to their masters." Mordren said.
"Then let them lead us, we shall follow." Celestine replied.
The Slayer kicked the sealed door from its frame.
.
The Hall of Broken Futures
There was no fortress beyond the threshold. Stars filled the darkness. Cadia hung beneath them, enormous and close enough for its violet atmosphere to cover half the horizon. Imperial and Chaos warships fought above the planet. Lances crossed the void. Vessels burned. The Phalanx moved through the battle like a continent given engines.
The Will of Eternity was nowhere to be seen.
The Slayer stepped into the void. His boot found a surface hidden beneath the illusion.
The others followed more carefully. Kord's route-engine displayed no lines at all. Mordren's flames shortened until they clung to his armour.
Celestine looked toward Cadia.
"This is not real, it is merely an illusion." Celestine warned.
The planet broke apart. Its crust split along the pylons. Fire opened beneath Kasr Kraf. Entire fortresses vanished inside wounds of white light. Continents turned over as the world collapsed toward its core.
The Imperial Fists watched their allies die across a planet they could not reach.
"Is it truly an illusion?" Kord asked his brothers.
"Ignore it brother, the Saint is correct. Do not believe in the daemon's falsehood." Brannoc replied.
The stars changed position. Cadia became whole again. This time the Black Fleet burned. Imperial warships filled the sky, and the Eye of Terror closed beneath a crown of golden light. Cadian banners rose from every fortress.
Celestine stood at the centre of that light. Her armour had become white and gold. Millions knelt beneath her while a voice like distant thunder proclaimed victory.
"Another lie, this must be the doing of the servant of tzeentch." Celestine said.
Her victorious image turned toward her. It smiled eerily.
"It is not a lie Corpse-bride. It is merely one of the possible futures," the image of Celestine answered.
The false saint opened her mouth wider than a human face could allow. Feathers pushed through her skin. Her arms lengthened. Fingers became talons while her golden armour split beneath blue flesh.
The illusion unfolded. A Lord of Change towered above them.
Its avian head rose between horns shaped like a broken crown. Thousands of eyes opened across its wings, each reflecting a different ending to the battle. Its feathers changed colour between every heartbeat. One moment they were blue, the next violet, and then a shade that belonged to no mortal spectrum.
The daemon carried a staff made from intertwined bones. A crystal turned above its tip, containing images of worlds that had never existed.
"I am Veyzaran, Keeper of the Final Question. Every path within these walls is mine." the Lord of Change announced.
The Slayer replaced the Combat Shotgun with the Ballista.
Veyzaran looked at him. The crystal above its staff stopped turning. Every eye upon its wings closed at once.
The daemon had never seen such warrior before. It could find no trace of him in the Warp and no prophecy that explained his arrival. It searched the futures branching from that moment.
The eyes opened again. Fear filled all of them.
The Slayer fired the Ballista.
Veyzaran vanished before the argent bolt reached it. The shot crossed the false void and struck Cadia. The planet shattered for a second time.
Then the scene reset. The group stood before the door again. The Slayer's Ballista had not fired. Kord's hand remained raised toward the threshold. Celestine was still warning them that the void was false.
The Slayer remembered everything.
He stepped forward before Veyzaran revealed itself. The Ballista discharged into empty darkness. The illusion split open. Veyzaran appeared with an argent wound burned through one wing.
"No, you should not have remembered!" Veyzaran shouted.
A second Ballista bolt followed.
The Lord of Change struck its staff against the unseen floor. Gravity reversed. The living warriors fell toward the false stars. Celestine opened her wings and caught Vardas. The Imperial Fists locked their boots to one another, forming a chain around Kord. Castor drove his chainsword into the hidden floor while Malrec seized his shoulder.
The Legion of the Damned did not fall. They remained where they had been, green flames extending into the false sky.
"The dead have already fallen as far as they can, we do not suffer from your powers." Mordren said.
His seven warriors opened fire. Spectral bolts crossed several futures at once. Veyzaran appeared in one place, then another, but the flames followed. Each impact left a burning mark upon the daemon that remained when the scene changed.
The Slayer saw the pattern.
The Lord of Change could alter the chamber, reverse time, and choose among possible positions. It could not remove the wounds inflicted by the dead.
He dismissed the Ballista. The Meathook fired from the Super Shotgun and caught the burning wound in Veyzaran's wing. The chain tightened. The Slayer pulled himself through the false sky.
Veyzaran changed the future.
The Slayer landed in a ruined city beneath a red sun. Human skulls covered the streets. A broken helmet lay before him, green armour split from crown to neck. Beyond it stood a vast throne constructed from the weapons of everyone he had failed to save.
The figure seated upon it had no face.
"You have failed once before. You will fail again as you did." Veyzaran whispered from every shadow.
The Slayer continued pulling on the chain. The false city could not break the pull of the chain. It cut through buildings, memories, and false futures as he followed it without slowing.
The false city folded into a corridor without end.
The Slayer stood inside a repeating corridor. Veyzaran waited at its far end. He walked toward it and returned to where he had begun. He fired. The projectile struck him from behind. He turned, advanced in the opposite direction, and found the same corridor waiting.
"Try as you must but you'll never step closer to me." Veyzaran declared from the far end.
The Slayer looked down at the Meathook chain. It disappeared into the wall beside him. He seized the chain with both hands and pulled.
The false corridor bent. Veyzaran stumbled sideways as the wall dragged its wing toward the Slayer.
The daemon recoiled in surprise.
He pulled again, splitting the wall and dragging the Lord of Change through it. He met the daemon with his fist.
The blow broke its beak and drove it through three versions of the corridor. Each shattered around its body. The false city returned. Cadia appeared above it. The stars rolled beneath their feet.
The Slayer remained beside his enemy through every change.
Veyzaran swung its staff. The crystal released a storm of changing fire. Blue flame became acid, acid became razored glass, and glass became screaming mouths before striking the Praetor Suit.
None pierced it.
The Slayer caught the staff beneath its crystal. Veyzaran tried to pull away. He held it in place.
"I watched many primarchs die and many empires turn to dust. You will die as they die." Veyzaran said, though desperation sharpened its voice.
The Slayer broke the staff across his knee. Every false future collapsed. The true chamber appeared around them.
It was smaller than the illusion had suggested. Mirrors covered its walls, each made from polished Blackstone. The Imperial Fists and Black Templars stood near the entrance. Celestine hovered above them. The Legion of the Damned surrounded the Lord of Change in a ring of green fire.
Veyzaran tried to open a portal. Nothing appeared.
Mordren's blade had entered the floor at the centre of the daemon's ritual. Spectral flame spread through every sigil before it could form.
"There is nowhere left to run daemon," Mordren warned.
Veyzaran looked from the Damned sergeant to the Slayer. The eyes across its wings opened wider. It searched the future again.
The Slayer saw the instant the daemon understood.
"Why? Why does every future lead to you killing me?" Veyzaran whispered.
The Crucible appeared in the Slayer's hand, its red blade igniting at once.
Veyzaran spread its wings and released every spell it still possessed. Time slowed around the Slayer. Space expanded between them. Copies of the daemon filled the chamber while the real Veyzaran tore open its own chest, seeking to free its essence before the blade could reach it.
The Slayer moved. Time failed to hold him. Distance failed to delay him.
He seized Veyzaran by one horn and buried the Crucible in its chest before its essence could escape. The red blade entered every future at once. A thousand possible endings collapsed into one: Veyzaran's death.
Veyzaran burned from within. Its feathers became red light. The eyes upon its wings closed one after another, and each closing erased a path by which it might have returned to the Warp.
The final eye stared at the Slayer. Then it vanished. The Lord of Change ceased to exist. The mirrors of the illusion world cracked.
.
The Control Nexus
The mirrors fell inward. The Slayer walked through them before the fragments reached the floor.
The control nexus occupied a hollow space near the fortress's centre. Blackstone columns rose for kilometres around a suspended platform. Thousands of conduits crossed the darkness, carrying power between weapon systems, engines, and the mechanisms guiding the fortress toward Cadia.
At the platform's centre sat a throne grown from noctilith. A woman had been fused into it.
Dravura Morkath appeared human only from a distance. Black metal entered her spine and emerged through her ribs. Cables passed beneath pale skin and connected her skull to the fortress. Her legs had disappeared inside the throne. One arm remained flesh. The other had become a collection of blades, keys, and conducting needles buried in the controls around her.
Her eyes contained no pupils. Every surface in the nexus watched through them.
"You destroyed nine centuries of my father's planning. How is it possible that you killed him? Veyzaran swore no one would pass him." Morkath said through the chamber's speakers.
The Slayer walked toward her and passed the first line of control pillars.
"Veyzaran was wrong, you daemons only see false futures." Celestine replied as she entered behind him.
Morkath's human hand closed around the arm of her throne.
The nexus awakened.
A field passed through the platform without light or sound.
Celestine's wings vanished. She fell from the air and struck one knee against the Blackstone. The golden fire surrounding the Ardent Blade disappeared. Light drained from her armour until only its metal remained.
The Legion of the Damned stopped at the broken mirrors.
Green flames went out across their bodies. The spectral warriors became indistinct beneath their armour, as though the darkness inside each suit had begun swallowing its shape. Brother Varro disappeared entirely. Severian lost one arm to the null field before spectral fire pulled it back into existence.
The Imperial Fists raised their bolters.
"The wretched being has a null field. Protect the saint at all costs, brothers." Kord ordered.
His five brothers obeyed. Castor and Malrec joined them while Celestine forced herself upright between their ranks.
Mordren remained at the threshold. Only two points of green light survived within his eye lenses.
"I cannot pass while she controls the Blackstone." Mordren said.
"Fret not, the Slayer will handle her like he'd handled the previous daemon. We must put our trust in him." Celestine answered.
Morkath increased the field. Celestine staggered further. The Ardent Blade became dark in her hand.
The Slayer continued walking, unbothered by the field.
The null field searched his essence for Warp currents, a soul shaped by this universe, or a body bound to the laws carried within the Blackstone.
It had found none. For he was not of this universe.
The Crucible continued to burn in his hand without diminishing.
Morkath leaned forward in her throne.
"How is it possible, what are you?" Morkath demanded.
The Slayer dismissed the Crucible and continued toward her.
His silence was the only answer.
The floor rose between them. Blackstone became a wall ten metres thick. Its surface formed faces, claws, and weapons as the fortress attempted to build an army from its own body. Hundreds of constructs tore themselves free and advanced across the platform.
The Chaingun appeared in his hands.
Its energy shield unfolded before him. Blackstone blades struck the barrier and shattered. The weapon's barrels rotated until individual shots became a single roar. He fired into the constructs while moving forward.
Rounds carved through limbs and torsos. Broken figures returned to liquid stone and flowed toward the walls. Morkath reshaped them before they reached her. Larger bodies rose from the floor, each with four arms and armour thick enough to resist tank fire.
The Slayer changed the Chaingun into its mobile-turret configuration.
More barrels opened.
The first giant lost its head. The second continued without one until the Slayer tore through its chest. A third reached over the energy shield and closed both hands around him.
The construct tried to lift him, but the Slayer did not move.
Its arms stretched. Cracks moved from its hands to its shoulders. He seized both wrists and pulled them apart. The giant split down the centre.
He walked through the pieces.
Morkath drove the needles of her mechanical arm into the throne.
Gravity multiplied.
The Imperial Fists were forced to one knee. Vardas lowered the route-engine to keep from dropping it. Castor's boots sank into the platform. Malrec placed one hand beneath Celestine's arm as her strength failed beneath the pressure.
The Slayer's boots broke the floor. He kept walking.
Morkath reversed gravity.
The platform fell away beneath the living warriors. Magnetic boots tore free as gravity dragged them toward the conduits crossing the void above.
"Anchor your boots!" Kord commanded.
Helion fired a mag-line into the platform. Torren and Acastus seized the cable. Brannoc caught Vardas. Castor locked one arm around Celestine while Malrec drove his chainsword into the Blackstone.
The Slayer rose from the floor.
He fired the Meathook into Morkath's throne. The chain pulled him across the nexus. Blackstone spears formed between them. He struck the first with his shoulder, fired the Super Shotgun through the second, and passed between the pieces before Morkath could build another.
The throne opened beneath her. Morkath descended into the fortress.
The Slayer landed where she had been.
Her voice emerged from every conduit.
"This fortress is my body," Morkath declared. "You cannot harm it without harming me."
The platform closed around him. Kilometres of Blackstone compressed toward one point. Walls struck from every side. The structure attempted to bury him beneath the mass of the control nexus.
Darkness swallowed the Slayer. The walls met. The entire fortress shook from the impact.
Morkath laughed through ten thousand speakers.
The laughter ended when the Blackstone moved. A crack opened through the platform. Green gauntlets appeared between its edges. The Slayer forced his arms apart.
The crack widened as Blackstone screamed across the nexus. He tore his way out.
Morkath felt the damage as though he had opened her chest. Her scream replaced every alarm within the fortress.
The Slayer looked into the exposed structure beneath the platform.
Power moved through millions of channels, but one current pulled the others toward itself. It carried Morkath's consciousness away from the abandoned throne and into a second body forming deeper inside the nexus.
He followed it.
The Slayer dropped through the wound he had opened. He descended past engines, weapon controls, and chambers filled with imprisoned psykers. Blackstone hands reached from the walls. He destroyed them without slowing.
Morkath's voice followed him.
"Your fleet cannot stop me before I reach Cadia. You too will not stop me." Morkath said.
Far below, engines changed their rhythm. The Will of Eternity turned toward Cadia.
The planet appeared upon every remaining display. Targeting lines converged upon its surface. Kasr Kraf lay beneath their centre.
"You came all this way to save Cadia. Now you will watch it die," Morkath said.
The countdown began.
Kord saw it upon Vardas's route-engine. The device had connected to the exposed control network when the Slayer broke the platform.
"The fortress is locking its weapons onto Cadia, we must do something brother." Vardas reported.
"Send the nexus coordinates to the Phalanx at once!" Kord ordered.
"It's not possible brother, the null field is blocking our vox." Helion warned.
Celestine looked toward the hole through which the Slayer had disappeared.
"Then we must find a way to destroy it ourselves!" Celestine proclaimed.
Far below, the Slayer reached the source.
Morkath's second throne grew inside a sphere of Blackstone. Her new body hung unfinished at its centre. No skin covered her face. Metal nerves entered an exposed skull while the rest of her formed beneath a web of cables.
Her white eyes opened. The sphere sealed around them.
"You are now inside my mind. You can not esca…" Morkath said through the unfinished mouth.
The Unmaykr appeared in the Slayer's hands. Its pale core illuminated the sphere.
Morkath tried to extinguish it. Blackstone absorbed the first layer of energy, redirected the second, and failed against the third. The weapon's power had been stolen from a realm beyond the Warp. It obeyed laws the fortress could not interpret.
He opened fire. Argent projectiles crossed the sphere in converging lines. Cables split. Control nodes burst. The Blackstone surrounding them turned white with heat.
Morkath screamed.
The nullification field flickered.
Far above, Celestine's wings returned in a burst of gold. The Ardent Blade ignited. Green fire rolled across the Legion of the Damned as all eight warriors regained their forms.
"The null field is finally failing." Malrec said.
"Quickly then, we must take action." Mordren replied.
The Damned sergeant drove his sword into the platform. His seven warriors did the same. Spectral fire entered the cracks the Slayer had created and followed them into the fortress.
Celestine lifted the Ardent Blade, sending golden flame into the same fractures.
Morkath felt both powers enter her body of Blackstone. She attempted to rebuild the null field, but the Slayer's barrage destroyed each node before it could awaken.
The sphere opened beneath the pressure.
The Slayer released the Unmaykr and seized the cables entering Morkath's skull.
He pulled.
Her unfinished body tore free from the throne. Every weapon aboard the Will of Eternity lost its target. The countdown stopped one second before completion.
Morkath now hung from the Slayer's hand, supported by the metal roots extending from her spine.
"You can not kill me while any part of this fortress survives!!!" Morkath screamed in pain.
The Doomblade extended from the Slayer's wrist.
He cut through the roots.
Morkath consciousness attempted to escape into the surrounding Blackstone. Golden and spectral fire met it in every channel. Celestine and the Damned forced the fleeing fragments back toward the severed body.
For the first time since her creation, Dravura Morkath existed in one place.
The Slayer closed his hand around her throat.
"Wait, please don't…" Morkath pleaded.
The Slayer broke her neck before she could finish.
The Will of Eternity convulsed. The control nexus went dark.
Vardas raised the route-engine. Its projection returned as a single, stable map.
"The null field is down, the Vox is back." Vardas reported.
Kord activated his transmitter.
"Phalanx, this is Aureus. The control nexus is exposed. I'm sending coordinates now." Kord reported.
The response arrived beneath the roar of the void battle.
"Coordinates received. Clear the target." the Phalanx gunnery officer ordered.
Kord looked toward the hole beneath the platform.
"Wait, the Slayer is still inside," Kord warned.
As he said that, the Slayer climbed from the opening and stepped onto the platform.
Kord watched him approach.
"Correction. Target clear," Kord reported.
"Phalanx Firing." the Phalanx gunnery officer replied.
The void disappeared in white light.
Lance fire struck the exposed control nexus from outside the fortress. Blackstone columns vaporised. Weapon conduits ruptured from the centre outward. Entire decks broke away from the Will of Eternity and turned slowly into space.
Celestine spread her wings over the living warriors. Mordren and the Damned formed a circle around them. Gold and green fire met as the platform collapsed.
The Slayer stood within both flames.
The blast passed, then silence followed.
Half the nexus was gone. Stars shone through the wound opened by the Phalanx. Cadia remained whole beneath them.
Morkath's death had stopped the fortress from reshaping itself. Corridors settled into permanent positions. Doors unlocked across the surviving decks.
Vardas studied the route-engine.
"I've finally found a route to Abaddon's command sanctum." Vardas reported.
"Where is it brother?" Castor asked.
The Black Templar looked toward the path displayed above the device. It passed through a chamber marked by warning sigils that had not appeared before.
"It is straight through a chamber the machine wants us to avoid." Vardas answered, pointing toward a direction.
Mordren faced the open passage. Green fire bent away from it.
"You are right brother, the direction leads closer to the despoiler." Mordren warned.
The Slayer hearing their words walked into the passage.
Celestine followed him.
"Then we will face it together." Celestine replied.
.
The Daemonic Sanctum
The passage descended through the damaged fortress.
Blackstone slowly disappeared beneath brass. Imperial deck plates had been removed and replaced with metal hammered into the shapes of skulls. Chains hung between the walls. Blood ran through channels beneath the floor despite the absence of any living body from which it might have come.
Heat increased with every step.
The route-engine led them toward a gate large enough for a Titan. Eight seals covered its surface. Each had been cast from brass and marked with the rune of Khorne.
The first seal broke as the Slayer approached. The other seven followed. Blood escaped through the opening around the gate. It filled the corridor to the Slayer's knees and continued rising. The liquid burned where it touched the Imperial Fists' armour.
Celestine lifted the Ardent Blade above it. Golden fire spread across the surface, clearing a path around the living warriors.
The Legion of the Damned walked through the blood without disturbing it.
"Killing Morkath stopped the fortress from changing," Celestine warned. "But it also broke the seals holding back the daemons."
"Then we must kill whatever had come through and close them again." Kord replied.
The Slayer placed both hands against the gate. It opened from the other side.
A roar struck the corridor.
The blood covering the floor rose into the air. Castor and Malrec were driven backwards. The Imperial Fists locked shields and braced behind them. Celestine's wings folded around her body as the sound passed. Green fire streamed from the Legion of the Damned toward the chamber ahead.
He stood against it without moving.
The gate revealed a temple built inside the fortress.
Brass pillars rose around a lake of blood. Chains extended from the ceiling into its depths. Mountains of skulls surrounded an altar cut from a single block of black iron. Warp rifts burned between the pillars, each showing armies killing one another beneath a red sky.
Bloodletters filled the shores of the lake. Flesh Hounds stood among them. Berzerkers occupied the steps of the altar while Hounds of Abaddon guarded the eight brass anchors holding the rifts open.
Something rose behind the altar.
The first thing the Slayer saw was its axe. The weapon was longer than a battle tank. Its two blades had been forged from black metal and notched by wars older than the Imperium. Fire moved through runes carved along its edge.
A clawed hand closed around its haft.
Hakk'an'graah stepped into view. The Bloodthirster stood taller than the gate. Red muscle covered a body armoured in brass. Scars crossed its chest in layers, each cut marking a war survived or a rival destroyed. Its wings opened until they touched opposing pillars. One hand carried the great axe. The other held a barbed whip made from linked vertebrae.
Its horns curved around a crown of flame.
The Bloodthirster looked at the Doom Slayer. Unlike the lesser daemons, it did not retreat.
It had heard what happened to Urkanthos. The Hound of Abaddon had not returned to Khorne's realm, and word of his permanent death had spread through the Blood God's legions.
Hakk'an'graah had come to see what destroyed him.
"So this is what killed Urkanthos. I had expected a more formidable warrior." Hakk'an'graah growled. Its voice shook blood from the walls.
The Super Shotgun formed in the Slayer's hands. The Bloodthirster looked at the weapon and laughed.
"I am Hakk'an'graah. Abaddon gave Khorne the soul of one of his Chosen to bring me here," the Bloodthirster said. "Now I will give him yours to Khorne."
The Slayer fired the Meathook. Its burning point struck the centre of Hakk'an'graah's chest. The daemon stopped laughing.
The chain pulled the Slayer across the lake.
Hakk'an'graah swung its axe.
The Slayer released the hook before the blade reached him. Its passage cut the altar in half. The shockwave crossed the temple and broke three pillars. The Slayer landed upon the axe's haft, ran along it, and fired both barrels into the daemon's face.
One horn broke.
Hakk'an'graah struck him with the back of its fist.
The Slayer crossed the sanctum faster than a shell. He passed through a brass pillar, struck the far wall, and continued into the deck beyond it.
The Bloodthirster roared in triumph.
The wall exploded outward.
The Slayer returned through the opening. His armour remained unbroken.
Hakk'an'graah's roar changed. Celestine levelled the Ardent Blade at Hakk'an'graah.
"You will not face him alone daemon." Celestine declared.
She flew toward the Bloodthirster.
Hakk'an'graah's whip crossed the space between them. Celestine turned beneath it and cut through three barbs. The whip reversed with impossible speed. Its remaining length wrapped around her wings and hurled her into the altar.
The Legion of the Damned opened fire.
Spectral rounds struck the Bloodthirster's chest and wings. Green flames spread across its brass armour. Hakk'an'graah tore free a section of broken altar and threw it through their formation. Four Damned Legionnaires disappeared beneath the impact. Their flames continued burning among the wreckage.
The daemonic host charged.
"Imperial Fists, hold the left approach. Templars, with me on the anchors." Kord commanded.
Kord's squad advanced into the Bloodletters. Bolter fire opened gaps in the crimson ranks. Torren and Acastus threw grenades through them. Helion guarded Vardas while the wounded Imperial Fist used the route-engine to identify the flows feeding the brass anchors.
Castor and Malrec followed Kord toward the first anchor. Hounds of Abaddon descended the steps to meet them.
"Clear the guards. Leave the anchors until Vardas finds their power feeds." Kord ordered.
"You are asking a Black Templar for patience inside a temple of Khorne'" Castor replied as he raised his chainsword.
"For only thirty seconds brother." Kord pleaded.
"Then make those thirty seconds count." Castor replied.
Castor entered the Hounds with a battle cry.
The Slayer reached Hakk'an'graah again. His Rocket Launcher fired before the Bloodthirster completed its next swing. Three rockets struck one knee. The fourth entered the wound left by the Super Shotgun. Explosions covered the daemon's face and chest.
The Slayer changed weapons.
The Heavy Cannon's precision bolt entered Hakk'an'graah's left eye. Micro-missiles followed, burying themselves beneath the brass plates covering its throat.
The daemon ripped the missiles free with one hand. They detonated between its fingers.
Hakk'an'graah advanced through the fire.
Its axe descended vertically. The Slayer stepped aside. The blade split the floor and opened the lake beneath them. Blood rushed into the fracture.
The Slayer seized the axe while it remained buried. Hakk'an'graah pulled. The Slayer held it in place.
Daemon and warrior stood on opposite sides of the weapon. The Bloodthirster placed both hands upon the haft. Every muscle across its body tightened. Brass bent beneath its feet.
The axe did not move.
The Slayer twisted.
The haft broke. Hakk'an'graah stared at the half remaining in its hands.
The Slayer drove the severed blade into the daemon's abdomen. Black blood flooded the wound.
Hakk'an'graah struck him with one wing, seized him in its claw, and carried him upward. They passed the tops of the pillars and crashed through the sanctum ceiling.
The fortress opened around them.
They crossed one deck, then another. Hakk'an'graah drove the Slayer through armouries, barracks, and a chapel filled with kneeling cultists. The daemon crushed him through every floor until they entered a reactor chamber beneath the sanctum.
It threw him into the reactor housing. The machinery split behind the Slayer. Corrupted energy covered him in flame.
Hakk'an'graah landed before the burning wreckage.
"Urkanthos began as a mortal. He was weak. I am nothing like him. I was killing before your kind had even learned Khorne's name," the Bloodthirster said.
The Slayer stepped out of the fire.
The Plasma Rifle appeared in his hands. Blue energy struck Hakk'an'graah's wounded abdomen. The Slayer held the trigger while advancing. Heat accumulated inside the wound until the blood surrounding it became vapour.
He released a heat blast at point-blank range. The Bloodthirster's abdomen opened.
Hakk'an'graah looked down at exposed bone and burning organs. The wound began closing.
Blood entered through the reactor walls. Every death within the sanctum fed the daemon. Muscle grew around the opening. Bone returned beneath it. New brass formed over the flesh.
The Slayer looked upward. Eight lines of red energy descended from the anchors above. Hakk'an'graah followed his gaze.
"This fortress runs on blood. Every death feeds me. You cannot stop me." the Bloodthirster said with laughter.
The Ballista replaced the Plasma Rifle. He fired past the daemon. The argent bolt entered one of the red lines and travelled upward through it. Far above, the first brass anchor exploded.
Hakk'an'graah turned toward the sound. Another argent bolt severed the second line.
The Bloodthirster charged. The Slayer met it with the Sentinel Hammer.
Argent force erupted through the reactor chamber. Hakk'an'graah left the floor. Its wings struck the walls. Machinery tore free around it while the Slayer moved beneath the airborne daemon.
He drove the hammer into its back. The Bloodthirster fell through the floor.
They entered a weapons deck. Hakk'an'graah rolled through rows of torpedoes and struck an armoured bulkhead. The Slayer landed beside it.
The daemon's whip wrapped around his waist.
Hakk'an'graah pulled him close and drove one horn into his chest. The broken point scraped across the Praetor Suit without penetrating it.
The Slayer caught the horn. He tore it from the daemon's skull. Hakk'an'graah roared and tightened the whip. The barbs failed against the Slayer's armour. He seized the chain, pulled the Bloodthirster forward, and buried its own horn through its throat.
The daemon struck him away. Its body tried to heal again. Only six streams of red energy reached it now.
The Slayer climbed through the hole above. Hakk'an'graah followed.
They fought upward through the fortress. Every impact destroyed another part of the path. The Bloodthirster threw the Slayer through decks. He returned before the daemon could follow. The Slayer broke fingers, split armour, and tore one wing from its back. Hakk'an'graah continued attacking while the wound repaired itself.
Above them, the battle for the anchors continued.
Kord and Castor destroyed the third. Mordren returned from the spectral fire and cut the fourth in half. Celestine reached the fifth after freeing herself from the altar. The Ardent Blade entered its centre and filled the brass with golden light.
"Three anchors remains." Vardas reported.
"Mark and destroy them." Celestine ordered.
The route-engine projected three red points across the sanctum.
Malrec shot the chain feeding the sixth. Brannoc and Torren placed krak grenades around the seventh. Brother Vult of the Damned walked through the daemons guarding the eighth and entered the anchor itself. Green fire erupted from every rune.
The final three anchors failed together. The Warp rifts closed. The lake of blood stopped moving.
Hakk'an'graah reached the sanctum as the last stream of energy vanished from its body.
The Slayer came through the floor beneath it and struck with both fists. The blow lifted the Bloodthirster onto the ruined altar.
Its wounds remained open.
Hakk'an'graah looked toward the destroyed anchors. The Imperial warriors stood among their remains. All eight Legionnaires of the Damned had reformed within the spectral fire.
The daemon faced the Slayer again.
"You think cutting me off from the Warp makes me mortal?" Hakk'an'graah demanded. "Kill me as many times as you wish. I will always return."
The Crucible appeared. Red light covered the sanctum.
The Bloodthirster recognised that this must have been the power that had erased Urkanthos. For one moment, its remaining eye moved toward the sealed rifts.
There was nowhere to retreat.
The Slayer ignited the blade.
"No, not that blade." Hakk'an'graah snarled, but fear broke through its rage.
The daemon recovered the broken half of its axe.
"Blood for the Blood God!" Hakk'an'graah roared.
It attacked with everything it had left.
The axe and Crucible met.
Black metal survived for less than a heartbeat. The red blade passed through it and continued into the daemon's arm. Hakk'an'graah lost the limb at the shoulder.
It struck with its remaining claw. The Slayer cut through the wrist, turned beneath the falling hand, and opened the daemon from hip to chest.
Hakk'an'graah remained standing. He lunged with his jaws.
The Slayer caught it by the throat and forced it backwards against the altar. The Bloodthirster clawed at his armour with the remains of its arms. Its wings struck the floor. Fire poured from its mouth.
The Slayer raised the Crucible.
Hakk'an'graah understood what came next.
"Khorne will remember this, he will avenge me." the Bloodthirster promised.
The Slayer plunged the Crucible through its skull and into the altar beneath it.
Red energy entered the daemon's body. Hakk'an'graah's physical form burned first. Brass armour melted. Flesh became ash. Bone turned white and disappeared.
Its essence tried to follow the path back to Khorne. The energy of the Crucible followed it.
The sanctum became silent enough for every warrior to hear the daemon's final roar receding through the Warp. It grew distant, broke into fragments, and ended before reaching its god.
Hakk'an'graah did not return to warp. Nothing remained for Khorne to reclaim his soul.
The lake drained through the cracks in the floor. The remaining daemons collapsed into ash. Brass tarnished across the walls, and the runes of Khorne split apart.
The Slayer withdrew the Crucible from the empty altar.
Celestine landed across from him. Her eyes moved from the red blade to the place where the Bloodthirster had ceased to exist.
"You did well once again Slayer. I admire your power and tenacity." Celestine complimented.
The Slayer extinguished the Crucible.
"This is not over," the Slayer said. "We continue."
His voice echoed through the ruined sanctum.
Mordren raised his burning helm. Kord and his brothers stared at the Slayer in silent admiration. Even Castor had nothing to say.
They had respected him before. After what they had witnessed, some now looked upon him with something bordering on devotion.
The Slayer turned toward the final gate. Abaddon waited beyond it.
.
The Antechamber of the Warmaster
The final gate opened.
Black Legion Chosen waited on the other side.
They stood in ranks beneath banners taken from ten thousand years of Imperial defeats. Possessed champions occupied the spaces between them, their armour swollen around daemonic bodies. Havocs guarded balconies overlooking the chamber. Cultist priests knelt beside braziers and continued chanting despite the sound of the sanctum dying behind the Imperial force.
At the centre of the formation stood twelve Chaos Terminators.
The Bringers of Despair wore ancient black Terminator armour trimmed in gold. The Eye of Horus marked every breastplate. They carried combi-bolters, power fists, chainfists, and cursed blades.
They were Abaddon's personal guard.
They had watched the Slayer cross the fortress through Morkath's failing systems. They had seen the Lord of Change erased. They had heard Hakk'an'graah's final roar end within the Warp.
None moved aside.
The Terminator at their centre raised a sword covered in crawling runes.
"The Warmaster gave us one order: hold this chamber," the First Bringer said.
The Slayer stepped through the gate.
"The previous armies of the Chaos Gods failed to stop you," the First Bringer continued. "We will not fail the Warmaster."
The Legion of the Damned entered behind the Slayer.
Mordren raised his black sword.
"You will die like the rest, foul daemon." Mordren taunted.
With those words, the Bringers of Despair opened fire.
The Slayer moved before the first bolts left their weapons.
He crossed half the chamber and summoned the Chaingun. Its energy shield unfolded as mass-reactive rounds struck from the front. Explosions covered the barrier. Havocs fired from the balconies, adding autocannon shells and lascannon beams to the barrage.
The Slayer advanced through it.
The Legion of the Damned appeared inside the Chosen formation. Spectral bolter fire entered traitor armour at point-blank range. Mordren's sword separated a Possessed champion from the daemon growing through its back.
Celestine flew above the firing lines.
"For the Emperor and Cadia!" Celestine called.
The Imperial Fists charged beneath her.
Kord and his five brothers fired by ranks until they met the Black Legion in close combat. Castor and Malrec advanced with them. The Black Templars' chainswords joined the roar of traitor weapons.
The Slayer reached the first Bringer of Despair.
The Terminator struck the Chaingun's shield with a chainfist. Rotating teeth met argent energy. The shield held. The Slayer fired through it. The Chaingun's barrels tore through the joints of the traitor's armour, but the Bringer continued forward.
The Slayer allowed it to come within reach.
He caught the chainfist, crushed its motor housing, and pulled the Terminator into the shield. Argent energy burned across black armour. The Slayer drove one fist through the softened breastplate and tore out everything beneath it.
The remaining Bringers surrounded him.
Two attacked with power fists. A third fired a melta weapon into his back. A fourth swung a two-handed hammer toward his helm.
The Slayer ducked beneath the hammer. It struck the Terminator firing the melta weapon and collapsed one side of its torso. He seized the weapon's haft, pulled its owner forward, and forced the wounded Bringer into both power fists.
Black armour broke beneath the combined impacts.
The Super Shotgun replaced the Chaingun.
The Slayer fired into the first Bringer's eye lenses. He reloaded before the Terminator fell and sent the next blast into the damaged side of the second. The Meathook caught a third and pulled the massive warrior from its feet.
The Slayer met it in the air. His Doomblade passed through the neck seal. The Bringer's body struck the floor without its head.
Their leader reached him.
Its cursed sword moved faster than the size of its armour should have allowed. The blade struck the Slayer's chest and released a cloud of grasping shadows. Bound daemons tried to enter the Praetor Suit through the point of contact.
They found his essence waiting beyond the armour. The shadows screamed. They withdrew into the sword. The Terminator hesitated.
The Slayer caught the blade between his hands and snapped it. He drove the broken point through the Terminator's throat.
"First Bringer!" one of the bodyguards shouted.
The Slayer seized their leader and threw him into the warrior who had called out. Both crossed the chamber and struck the sealed doors behind them.
The Black Legion formation began to collapse.
Still, they did not retreat.
Chosen filled every gap left by the dead. Possessed champions climbed across their bodies. Cultist priests cut their own throats beside the braziers, feeding the last of their lives into the runes protecting Abaddon's chamber.
The doors remained closed. Vardas saw the energy building around them.
"The priests are reinforcing the inner seals." Vardas reported.
"Helion, Brannoc, clear the braziers. Torren and Acastus, with me." Kord commanded.
The Imperial Fists divided. Helion and Brannoc advanced along the left wall, firing into the kneeling priests. Kord led Torren and Acastus toward the right. Black Legion Chosen moved to intercept both groups.
Castor saw the central brazier.
"Malrec, we will take the middle." Castor said.
"Brother, you always choose the path with the most enemies." Malrec complained.
"Yes Brother, but that allows us to vanquish more daemons." Castor replied.
The two Black Templars charged together.
Above them, Celestine reached the Havoc balconies. The Ardent Blade cut through a lascannon and the warrior carrying it. She turned in the air, avoided an autocannon burst, and drove one wing into the gunner. Golden fire swept across the remaining Havocs.
Mordren and his seven warriors fought toward the sealed inner doors. The Bringers of Despair tried to stop them. Power fists passed through spectral bodies only for green flames to close around the attacking arms. Damned bolters fired into armour joints while Mordren's sword cut through corrupted weapons.
One Bringer seized Brother Castael and tore him in half.
Castael became fire between its hands. The flame entered the Terminator's armour through every seam. The Bringer fired wildly while spectral heat consumed the body inside its plate.
Brother Castael reformed behind it. He shot the Terminator through the back of the helm. The surviving Bringers closed ranks.
The Slayer entered them.
The Rocket Launcher fired into the floor between the first two. Its remote detonation lifted both Terminators from their feet. The Slayer changed to the Ballista and sent an argent bolt across their breastplates while they remained airborne. The impact cracked their armour and hurled them into the wall, but both rose again.
A Bringer carrying paired lightning claws reached his side. The Slayer blocked one claw with the Ballista, allowed the weapon to vanish, and caught the other wrist in his empty hand. He drove the Doomblade beneath the Terminator's chin.
Their leader pulled the broken sword from his throat and rose near the inner doors.
"Guard the Warmaster's gate at all cost!" the First Bringer commanded.
The remaining bodyguards obeyed. They formed a wall of black Terminator armour before the seals. The First Bringer stood at its centre, damaged but alive. Chosen and Possessed crowded the approaches around them.
The Slayer looked toward the formation. The Sentinel Hammer appeared in his hands.
He jumped.
At the centre of the formation, their leader raised one gauntlet.
"Brace for impact!" the First Bringer shouted.
The Slayer struck the floor. Argent force covered the antechamber.
Chosen struck walls and pillars. Possessed champions came apart in the air. The Bringers of Despair remained together for one second longer than everything around them.
Then their formation broke.
The Slayer rose among them. The Hammer disappeared. The Crucible replaced it.
Red light entered black armour.
The first Bringer lost its power fist and half its torso in one stroke. The Slayer turned the blade and severed the legs from a second. The third fired its combi-bolter while falling. Every round struck the Slayer and failed.
He buried the Crucible in its chest. Only the First Bringer and three bodyguards remained.
Mordren attacked from the left. Celestine descended from the right. Golden and green flames entered the shattered formation while the Slayer advanced through its centre.
The First Bringer raised the remains of its sword.
"We have broken better men than you." the Terminator taunted.
Kord reached the line behind the Slayer.
"You are only traitors, I have faced worse daemons than you.," Kord taunted back.
The Imperial Fists fired together.
Bolter rounds struck the First Bringer from six directions. Castor and Malrec destroyed the last brazier. The runes across the inner doors flickered.
Celestine cut through the Bringer on the right.
Mordren's seven brothers surrounded the Bringer on the left. Spectral bolts burned into the Terminator until its armour became an empty shell.
The Slayer reached the final bodyguard.
The Bringer swung a chainfist. The Crucible sheared through the weapon, split the bodyguard beneath it, and entered the First Bringer standing behind him.
Both Terminators stopped.
The Slayer pulled the blade free. The final bodyguard fell in pieces.
Their leader remained upright. Its armour had been broken by bolter fire. The Crucible had opened its abdomen. Blood covered the Eye of Horus upon its chest, but it still held the remains of its sword.
"Mark my words, the Warmaster will tear you apart." the First Bringer spat.
The Slayer seized the Terminator by the helm.
He drove its head through the final seal. The Terminator died inside the door it had guarded. The runes went dark.
The inner doors began to open.
More Black Legionaries entered the antechamber from the passages behind them. Hundreds advanced through smoke and spectral fire. The surviving Chosen rallied around the new formation.
Kord looked from the opening doors to his five brothers and raised his power sword toward the approaching army.
"Aureus, form on me. We will hold this door!" Kord ordered.
"Until the last of us falls!" Vardas replied.
His brothers formed around him. Castor reloaded his bolt pistol.
"The Templars stands with you!" Castor said.
"Never in doubt, for the emperor!" Malrec said as he raised his chainsword.
Mordren faced the approaching traitors. His seven warriors gathered at his sides.
"The dead stand with the loyal, for the emperor." Mordren said.
Celestine looked toward the Slayer.
"Creed sent us here to kill Abaddon and stop the blackstone fortress." Celestine told the Slayer. "We must quickly finish this now."
The Slayer walked toward the opening doors. Celestine followed closely behind.
Kord watched them pass.
"Saint Celestine," Kord called.
Celestine turned toward him.
"Make the despoiler suffer." Kord said with a nod.
"Hold this door." Celestine started. "He will suffer." She ended.
The doors closed behind her and the Slayer. The sounds of battle continued on the other side.
.
The Final Chamber
The chamber beyond was vast and almost empty.
A reinforced observation window covered the far wall. Cadia filled the view beyond it. Fires burned across the planet's surface, but the world remained whole. The Phalanx and the Imperial fleet battled the Black Fleet above it. Lances crossed the darkness while burning warships drifted among fields of wreckage.
Dead Black Legionaries covered the chamber floor. They had not fallen to Imperial weapons. Some had been torn apart by the Talon of Horus. Others had been cut open by Drach'nyen.
They had failed their master. Abaddon had punished them.
The Despoiler stood before the window.
Ancient black-and-gold Terminator armour covered his massive body. Trophies and broken symbols of Imperial faith hung from its plates. The Eye of Horus marked his chest. His head remained bare, his black topknot hanging behind him as he watched Cadia burn.
The Talon of Horus covered his right hand. Drach'nyen rested in his left.
The daemon sword shifted despite Abaddon holding it still. Faces appeared beneath its blade before being pulled back into the metal. Whispers passed through the chamber, each one carrying the hatred of the daemon trapped within.
Then Drach'nyen sensed the Slayer. The daemon had never encountered him before. It reached toward his essence and felt the immense power contained within him.
Drach'nyen recoiled. Then it screamed. It felt fear.
Abaddon turned from the window.
A Warp portal burned behind him, filling the chamber with red light. Beyond it stretched an endless wasteland beneath a sky covered in fire. Rivers of blood flowed between mountains of skulls.
The portal led into the realm of Khorne.
Abaddon's eyes passed over Celestine before settling upon the Doom Slayer.
For several seconds, none of them moved.
The Will of Eternity shook around them. Another barrage from the Phalanx struck its outer hull. Cracks spread across the observation window, but the reinforced crystal held.
Abaddon glanced toward the damaged doors. The sounds of battle continued beyond them as the Imperial Fists, Black Templars, and Legion of the Damned held back the remaining Black Legionaries.
"I heard each of them die. Veyzaran. Morkath. Hakk'an'graah. Each one thought they could stop you," Abaddon said.
The Slayer walked to the centre of the chamber and stopped.
Celestine moved behind him and raised the Ardent Blade.
"The Will of Eternity will never reach Cadia now," Celestine said.
Abaddon smiled.
"It was only a weapon to be used. Cadia will still fall. If not now, then in the future," Abaddon replied.
Abaddon turned toward the portal. It seems he was planning to leave.
The Slayer had other plans.
He crossed the chamber before Abaddon could take a second step. One hand closed around the Warmaster's head. The Slayer ripped him away from the portal, turned, and hurled him across the chamber.
Abaddon struck the observation window with enough force to bend his Terminator armour. The damaged crystal shattered.
The chamber's atmosphere rushed into space. Broken glass, loose weapons, and the bodies of the dead Black Legionaries were dragged through the breach. The Warp portal flickered beneath the sudden pressure before collapsing.
Abaddon disappeared into the void of space.
His black armour tumbled above Cadia while Drach'nyen twisted in his grip. The Warmaster spread his arms and tried to regain control, but there was nothing around him to seize.
Inside the chamber, the Slayer locked his boots to the floor. The escaping air pulled at his armour but failed to move him.
He looked toward Celestine. She understood immediately.
Celestine flew to him and wrapped one arm around his torso. Golden fire spread across her wings and surrounded them both. She carried the Slayer through the shattered window.
Together, they entered the void and flew after Abaddon.
Doom Guy Kill Count: 79,773
…
Author Note: Enjoyed writing this chapter the most, hope y'all enjoyed it as I did. The next chapter will be the fight with Abaddon. I promise he will suffer.