Doom Slayer
…
Space
There was no sound beyond the shattered window.
Abaddon tumbled through the wreckage surrounding the Will of Eternity. Pieces of the fortress turned beside him. Broken armour, severed bodies, and fragments of reinforced crystal spread into space.
Cadia waited beneath them.
Fires covered the world, but it remained whole. The Phalanx and the Imperial fleet fought above it. Lances crossed the darkness. Torpedoes passed between burning ships. A Black Legion cruiser split apart beneath an Imperial broadside while smaller vessels fought through the wreckage.
Golden fire carried the Slayer into the battle.
Celestine held his left arm while her wings carried them through space. Her power surrounded them both, burning without air. She followed Abaddon as he fell away from the fortress.
The Despoiler struck the wreck of a Black Legion fighter.
The Talon of Horus closed around its broken wing. Abaddon stopped his uncontrolled fall and pulled himself onto the hull. His Terminator armour had been damaged by the observation window, but it remained sealed below his neck. A thin layer of Warp energy covered his bare head and protected him from space.
The Slayer felt four powers moving inside the Warmaster.
Abaddon kept them restrained. He accepted enough strength to survive in space, enough foresight to avoid death, and enough endurance to keep fighting. He still relied upon his own skill, his armour, and the weapons in his hands.
Even restrained, the blessings made him stronger than any ordinary Astartes.
Abaddon looked toward them, his twin bolter built into the Talon fired.
Celestine turned.
Bolt-rounds passed beneath one wing and detonated against a slab of Blackstone behind them.
The Heavy Cannon appeared in the Slayer's hand. Its Precision Bolt struck Abaddon in the shoulder. The second hit his breastplate. The third would have entered his head.
Abaddon moved before the weapon fired.
The shot passed through the place his skull had occupied and struck the fighter beneath him.
The Slayer saw what had happened. Something had warned the Despoiler. It was not speed alone. The Warp shifted around Abaddon a fraction of a second before every attack. Possibilities opened and closed around him until he stood inside the one that allowed him to survive.
The Slayer changed the Heavy Cannon to Micro Missiles.
The entire rack fired.
Abaddon released the fighter and pushed away from it. The first missiles missed. The rest followed. He cut two apart with Drach'nyen and blocked another with the Talon.
The remaining missiles struck his back. Fire covered his armour. The blast sent him toward the remains of an Imperial frigate.
Celestine released the Slayer.
The Super Shotgun appeared in his hands. The Meathook shot across the distance and caught Abaddon beneath the left pauldron. The chain tightened. The Slayer pulled himself toward him while Celestine followed under her own power.
Abaddon seized the chain with the Talon.
The Slayer fired. Both barrels struck the Warmaster's chest at arm's length. The golden Eye of Horus disappeared beneath fire and shattered metal. Abaddon lost his grip on the chain and struck the frigate wreckage behind him.
The Slayer landed upon the hull beside him.
Drach'nyen rose between them.
The daemon sword passed through the barrels of the Super Shotgun. The weapon vanished before the blade could reach the Slayer's hands.
Abaddon drove the Talon toward his chest.
The Slayer caught the Warmaster's wrist.
The impact pushed both warriors through the frigate's outer hull. They entered a ruined passage and broke through the wall on its opposite side.
Celestine met them there.
The Ardent Blade struck Drach'nyen. Golden fire and black lightning spread across the wreck. Faces moved beneath the daemon sword's surface. Their mouths opened in a scream that made no sound in space.
Abaddon forced Celestine's sword aside.
The Slayer struck him in the face. The blow sent the Warmaster through three internal decks. Celestine entered the opening after him. The Slayer followed.
Abaddon recovered before either reached him.
He tore a section of bulkhead from the wall with the Talon and hurled it. Celestine cut through the metal, but the two halves concealed Abaddon as he attacked.
Drach'nyen came for her throat.
The Combat Shotgun fired first. A Sticky Bomb struck Abaddon's sword arm. Another attached itself to his waist. The Slayer fired a third into the damaged Eye of Horus upon his chest.
All three detonated.
Abaddon disappeared inside the blast. Celestine flew through the fire and drove both feet into his breastplate. The blow carried him out of the frigate and back into open space.
The Slayer followed while the Combat Shotgun entered full-auto mode.
Shells struck Abaddon without pause. His breastplate broke open around the damaged Eye. Blood escaped into space and froze across his armour.
The wound began closing.
Rotten flesh formed beneath the broken plate. It hardened, split, and renewed itself faster than the shotgun could tear it away.
The Slayer recognized another power at work.
The Despoiler had been given the endurance of decay itself.
The Chaingun replaced the shotgun. Its energy shield opened as Abaddon fired the Talon. Bolt-rounds burst against the barrier. The Chaingun's barrels divided and began turning.
The Mobile Turret fired.
Thousands of rounds crossed the distance between them. Abaddon raised Drach'nyen and allowed the sword's darkness to spread before him. Bullets vanished inside it. Others struck his legs, shoulders, and exposed chest.
Celestine attacked from above.
The Ardent Blade cut through one of Abaddon's trophy racks. Skulls and chains scattered into space. She turned the blade toward his neck.
Abaddon twisted with impossible speed.
The Talon caught the Ardent Blade before it reached him. His movements had changed. The bulk of his Terminator armour no longer slowed him. He turned faster than an unarmoured mortal and struck Celestine across the breastplate with Drach'nyen's guard.
She flew backward.
The Slayer dismissed the Chaingun.
The Plasma Rifle appeared. Blue energy struck Abaddon from head to foot. The heat turned frozen blood into vapour and softened the broken plates across his torso. He raised the Talon, but the Slayer continued firing until the weapon glowed.
The rifle reached full heat. The Slayer released the stored energy.
A wave of plasma burst from the weapon and covered Abaddon. His flesh burned beneath his armour. The layer of Warp energy surrounding his head failed for one moment. Ice formed across his skin before the protection returned.
He still did not die.
Abaddon pushed himself from a turning section of wreckage and came through the plasma.
The Talon struck the Plasma Rifle from the Slayer's hands. Drach'nyen followed. The Slayer leaned away from the edge and felt the daemon sword pass across the front of his armour.
The blade left a black line upon the Praetor suit, but never truly penetrated it. The mark disappeared before Abaddon could strike again.
Celestine returned.
Her sword entered the gap beneath Abaddon's right arm. Golden fire poured into the Terminator armour. The Warmaster turned upon her, but the Slayer caught his sword arm and drove his knee into Abaddon's chest.
Celestine pulled the Ardent Blade free.
The Slayer armed his equipment launcher.
An Ice Bomb struck Abaddon between them. Supernatural cold covered the Warmaster. Frost filled every opening in his armour and locked the Talon around the Ardent Blade. Celestine pulled her weapon free while the Slayer fired a Frag Grenade into the ice.
The explosion broke the frozen shell and tore pieces from Abaddon's armour and flesh. His body struck the remains of a gunship and folded the vessel around his back.
The Flame Belch fired.
Argent flame burned across the gunship. It needed no air. The fire followed the corruption inside Abaddon's armour and covered him in light.
The Slayer drew the Chainsaw.
Its teeth began turning.
He crossed the gunship's hull before Abaddon could free himself and drove the Chainsaw into the joint beneath the Talon. The weapon tore through black armour, cables, and corrupted flesh.
Abaddon roared.
He struck the Slayer with the pommel of Drach'nyen. The first blow failed to move him. The second carried the strength of something far greater than an Astartes.
The Slayer was thrown away from the gunship.
Abaddon ripped the Chainsaw from his arm before it could cut through the joint. Blood filled the space between the broken plates. The wound tried to close, but fragments of argent-heated metal remained inside it.
Celestine descended upon him.
Abaddon met her in a storm of black and golden fire.
Their swords struck again and again. Celestine moved around the wreckage while Abaddon forced himself from the ruined gunship. Every clash sent them in a different direction. The Warmaster possessed greater strength, but Celestine controlled their movement through space.
Neither gained enough advantage to finish the other.
The Rocket Launcher appeared upon the Slayer's shoulder. He locked onto Abaddon.
Three rockets fired.
Abaddon saw them coming and pushed Celestine into their path.
The Slayer changed their course.
The rockets passed around her. One struck Abaddon's left leg. Another hit the remains of the gunship. The third passed beneath him.
The Slayer remotely detonated all three.
The explosion tore the wreck apart and drove Abaddon into open space. Celestine folded her wings around herself, passed through the edge of the fire, and pursued him.
The Ballista replaced the Rocket Launcher.
An Arbalest bolt entered Abaddon's abdomen. The charge remained there. Abaddon looked down at it. The bolt exploded.
His lower breastplate opened. Blood and pieces of armour escaped through the wound. The Slayer fired again, but Drach'nyen struck the second bolt aside.
The daemon sword turned toward him, its faces had stopped screaming.
They watched him, the Slayer felt the hatred inside the blade reaching toward him. It searched for fear, doubt, and the parts of a soul that murder could enter.
It found rage without an end.
Drach'nyen recoiled.
The Slayer charged the Ballista's Destroyer Blade.
Abaddon forced himself toward Celestine. He knew the shot was coming before the Slayer released it. He moved behind her and raised Drach'nyen.
Celestine dropped beneath him.
The Destroyer Blade crossed over her wings and struck Abaddon from the side. Red energy cut through his left pauldron and entered his chest. The blast carried him across space and into the side of a Black Legion destroyer.
Its armour broke around him.
The Slayer saw the opportunity. The BFG 9000 appeared in his hands.
Celestine turned toward the weapon. Green light covered her armour.
"Slayer fire!" Celestine said.
The Slayer pulled the trigger, the BFG projectile crossed the distance.
Green tendrils reached from it toward every corrupted thing in range. They entered the destroyer through its armour. Black Legionaries burned inside sealed compartments. Daemons bound within the engines tore themselves free and died in the walls.
The tendrils found Abaddon.
He ripped himself from the destroyer and placed Drach'nyen before him. The daemon sword opened into a wall of darkness.
The BFG struck, green light swallowed the destroyer.
The vessel came apart from the inside. Armour sections larger than fortresses turned away from the explosion. Its engines ruptured and released imprisoned Warp fire into space.
The Slayer waited.
Abaddon emerged from the destruction. Most of his left pauldron was gone. Half his breastplate had melted into the flesh beneath it. One side of his face had burned black. Drach'nyen remained in his hand, but smoke rose from the blade.
Celestine met him before the Warp could repair the damage, she struck him through the back.
The Ardent Blade emerged from the broken Eye of Horus upon his chest. Golden fire entered him beside the residue left by the BFG.
Abaddon seized the blade with the Talon, he pulled himself farther onto it until he could reach Celestine.
The Slayer dismissed the BFG and summoned the Super Shotgun. The Meathook caught Abaddon in the throat, the Slayer pulled.
Celestine released the Ardent Blade and allowed the movement to tear it free. Abaddon came toward the Slayer, bringing both Drach'nyen and the Talon with him.
The Super Shotgun fired into his face.
Abaddon spun away.
Cadia's gravity took hold of him.
The Slayer felt the gravity pull upon his armour as well. Wreckage that had drifted around the fortress began moving in the same direction. Abaddon fell toward the violet line covering the planet below.
Celestine recovered the Ardent Blade and caught the Slayer's arm again.
"He is falling toward Cadia, we must follow." Celestine said.
The Slayer watched Abaddon disappear beneath a trail of burning wreckage.
"..." the Slayer said nothing as he fell toward abaddon.
Celestine folded her wings, and flew downward.
They all fell.
.
Cadia's Atmosphere
The first flames appeared around Abaddon. He entered Cadia's upper atmosphere like a shell fired from orbit. Fire spread across his Terminator armour while Drach'nyen left a black trail behind him.
The wounds inflicted in space should have weakened him, Instead, Abaddon opened himself to more of the power waiting within the Warp.
The four gods answered.
Khorne filled his damaged body with greater strength. Nurgle forced burned flesh and shattered bone to repair themselves. Slaanesh sharpened every movement until the weight of his Terminator armour no longer mattered. Tzeentch opened more paths before his eyes and showed him attacks before they arrived.
Warp energy spread across the broken plates of his armour. Melted sections hardened. Ruptured cables reconnected through black flesh. The wounds left by the BFG and the Ardent Blade began closing.
Abaddon entered the atmosphere stronger than he had been in space.
Celestine and the Slayer followed.
Golden light surrounded them. Celestine's wings remained folded against her back while gravity increased their speed. The Slayer kept the Super Shotgun aimed below.
He fired the Meathook, the chain caught Abaddon's damaged breastplate.
Celestine released him.
The Slayer descended along the chain through the re-entry fire. Abaddon looked up and fired the Talon. Bolt-rounds struck the Slayer across the chest and shoulders. None slowed him.
The Slayer reached him, he fired the Super Shotgun.
Abaddon's remaining breastplate broke apart, the blast turned him in the air, but he caught the Slayer's shoulder with the Talon before they separated.
Both warriors fell together.
Drach'nyen cut through the re-entry flames.
The Slayer released the Super Shotgun and caught Abaddon's sword arm. The Talon closed around his throat. They turned through the atmosphere while the pressure around them increased.
Celestine struck from above.
The Ardent Blade opened Abaddon's back from shoulder to waist. He released the Slayer and swung Drach'nyen toward her. Celestine avoided the edge and drove one wing into his face.
The Slayer summoned the Unmaykr, argent bolts covered Abaddon.
The weapon fired faster than the Warmaster could block. Bolts entered the openings already torn through his armour. They burned flesh, broke bone, and interrupted the powers trying to rebuild him.
Abaddon fell beneath the barrage.
He extended the Talon toward a piece of burning wreckage and caught it. The slab turned beneath his weight. He placed it between himself and the Unmaykr.
The Slayer continued firing, the argent bolts destroyed the wreckage and found Abaddon behind it.
Celestine descended through the barrage. Every shot passed around her. She struck Abaddon across the face, turned, and cut through the damaged joint beneath the Talon.
The wound left by the Chainsaw opened again.
Abaddon struck her with his elbow. The blow sent Celestine through a cloud of burning metal.
The Slayer dismissed the Unmaykr.
The Sentinel Hammer appeared in both hands, he raised it above his head while he fell.
Abaddon looked up.
The Slayer brought the Hammer down, argent force exploded between them. The sky opened around the impact. Clouds disappeared across kilometres. Burning wreckage changed direction. Abaddon was driven deeper into the atmosphere, his body wrapped in a cone of fire.
The Slayer followed.
Celestine caught him before he could lose the Warmaster. One hand seized his arm while her wings reopened against the pressure.
"His wounds are closing again, The chaos gods are aiding him!" Celestine warned.
The Slayer looked below.
Abaddon's flesh was rebuilding beneath the remains of his armour. The four powers surrounding him had grown stronger. Every wound closed faster than it had during the battle in space.
"..." the Slayer said nothing as he summoned his Heavy Cannon.
Micro Missiles followed Abaddon through the clouds. The Rocket Launcher replaced it before the first volley struck. Three locked rockets followed the missiles. The Chaingun appeared next, its shield opening around the Slayer and Celestine while the Mobile Turret fired through it.
Abaddon disappeared beneath explosions and gunfire.
The Slayer changed to the Plasma Rifle.
Blue light joined the attack. The air around the beam became fire. Abaddon tried to turn away, but Celestine drove them faster.
The Plasma Rifle reached full heat, the Slayer released another Heat Blast.
Abaddon fell through it.
The Combat Shotgun replaced the rifle. A Sticky Bomb entered the opening beneath the Talon. A second struck his throat. A third attached itself to Drach'nyen's guard.
Abaddon tore the bomb from his throat and threw it away. The other two detonated, the blast broke the Talon's damaged joint and sent Drach'nyen spinning in his hand. Abaddon kept hold of both.
The Ballista appeared, the Slayer fired.
Abaddon moved before the shot reached him. The argent bolt missed his head and entered the mountain range far below. A distant peak disappeared inside red light.
The Warmaster stopped falling away from them, he had caught the remains of a descending Chaos fighter with the Talon. Its engines still burned. Abaddon tore open the cockpit, threw the dead pilot into the atmosphere, and forced the damaged craft to turn.
The fighter climbed directly toward them, its guns fired.
Celestine moved around the first burst. The Slayer's Chaingun shield blocked the second. Rounds exploded across the barrier while Abaddon drove the fighter closer.
The Slayer launched an Ice Bomb, it struck the fighter's engines. Ice covered the burning craft. Both engines stopped and the fighter began breaking apart beneath the force of its descent.
The Flame Belch covered the frozen cockpit in argent fire.
Abaddon came through both, his speed carried him across the distance before Celestine could turn. The Talon seized the Slayer's weapon arm. Drach'nyen cut toward his neck.
Celestine intercepted the sword, her Ardent Blade and Drach'nyen struck between them.
Abaddon had expected her.
He released the Slayer and allowed his descent to slow for one instant. Celestine passed beneath him. Drach'nyen changed direction in his hand.
The daemon sword entered beneath Celestine's breastplate, its point emerged through her back. Golden fire vanished from one of her wings.
The Slayer saw the blade inside her, his equipment launcher fired.
A Frag Grenade struck Abaddon's face, the explosion forced him to release Celestine and tore Drach'nyen from her body.
The Slayer reached Saint Celestine before she fell away.
Celestine's eyes remained open. Blood ran across her armour and burned into black vapour. Darkness spread beneath her skin from the place the daemon sword had entered.
"Drach'nyen has mortally wounded me. I will die soon…" Celestine said with heavy eyes.
After making that statement, her voice failed.
"You will survive." the Slayer said with certainty.
Celestine tried to answer but was able to as her eyes closed and she lost consciousness.
The light surrounding them disappeared. They continued to fall.
The Slayer held Celestine against his chest and turned his back toward the ground. Mountains rose through the clouds beneath them. Jagged black ridges surrounded valleys untouched by the fortress-cities covering other regions of Cadia.
Abaddon fell several kilometres away, he struck the first mountain.
Stone erupted from its upper slope, the Warmaster passed through the ridge and continued into the valley beyond it.
The Slayer and Celestine hit the second, the impact broke the mountain beneath them. They passed through rock, buried ruins, and layers of black earth before entering the valley floor. The ground opened. A wall of dust rose between the surrounding peaks.
For a moment everything went silent.
…
The Mountain Wasteland of Cadia
The Slayer rose from the crater, his armour remained intact.
Celestine lay beneath him.
He had taken most of the impact across his back, but he had not been able to protect her from all of it. Her damaged armour had collapsed around Drach'nyen's wound. Several ribs had broken, blood began to fill one of her lungs, and the darkness beneath her skin continued spreading toward her heart.
Her wings lay motionless across the broken stone.
The Slayer placed one hand against her neck. Her pulse weakened beneath his fingers.
He had seen this moment too many times. It was a sign of impending death. Each of Celestine's breaths grew weaker, her heart slowed, and life was slipping beyond the reach of the living.
The Slayer would not allow it. He immediately placed his palm over the wound beneath Celestine's breastplate.
He reached for the power bound inside him.
The Divinity Machine had awakened the first spark of his divine powers eons ago.
Through every daemon the Slayer killed was denied their return to hell. The reason for it was because their soul was drawn into him, stripped of corruption, and recycled into pure divine essence.
He had slaughtered daemons across more worlds and dimensions than any mortal mind could count. What had begun as a spark had grown until it no longer possessed a limit.
Most of the time, he kept that divine powers contained, he had never needed more than a fraction of it to make the demons suffer.
He was now going to finally open that power again.
As he activated his divine essence, golden light appeared beneath his hand. It did not descend from the sky, it did not answer a prayer, it came from the Slayer himself.
He forced it into Celestine's body.
The light entered the wound like liquid fire. It spread beneath her armour, moved through every broken bone, and passed through every damaged organ. Drach'nyen's corruption recoiled from it.
Black veins rose beneath Celestine's skin, the golden light burned through them.
A scream escaped the wound, it carried the same voice as the daemon sword, but weaker. The sound lasted one heartbeat before the light destroyed it.
Celestine's ribs returned to place, the damage inside her chest closed. Blood vanished from her lung, and flesh joined across the path Drach'nyen had cut through her body.
Her heart strengthened, and when she fully healed, the Slayer finally withdrew his hand.
Golden light remained beneath her skin for several seconds before fading. Celestine breathed without pain, but her eyes did not open.
She was alive, but still unconscious.
The Slayer lifted her from the crater.
He carried her to a hollow beneath an overhanging wall of stone. The mountain protected the place on three sides. He set her upon the ground and placed the Ardent Blade beside her.
Suddenly as he finished, the valley shook, Abaddon emerged from the opposite crater.
The remains of his Terminator armour hung from him. His left pauldron was gone, the Eye of Horus had been destroyed, burned flesh covered one side of his face while the other had begun to heal. The Talon remained attached to his wounded right arm, Drach'nyen dragged across the earth in his left hand.
Abaddon stopped restraining the powers within him. The Mark of Chaos Ascendant burned across his soul as he drew upon all four gods at once.
The mountainous wasteland changed around him. Cracks opened beneath his boots. The stone decayed into black dust. Lightning moved across the sky without touching the ground. The air became heavy with the pressure of the Warp.
His wounds closed completely. Broken bones forced themselves back into place. The remains of his Terminator armour fused with the flesh beneath it and became thicker than before. The power field around the Talon returned with enough force to split the ground beside him.
Drach'nyen grew darker in his hand.
Abaddon had refused daemonhood for ten thousand years. He refused it now. He remained mortal because he chose to remain mortal.
Even so, the Chaos Gods had given him everything his mortal body could contain. This was the strongest Abaddon had ever been.
The daemon sword pointed toward Celestine.
"You should have let her die," Abaddon said.
The Slayer stepped between them.
"You spent your strength saving a corpse," Abaddon continued. "Now you will face me alone."
The Crucible appeared in the Slayer's hand, red energy formed its blade.
Drach'nyen screamed from it's presence.
Abaddon looked at the weapon that had permanently destroyed Urkaanthos, Veyzaran, andHakk'an'graah. The confidence left his face for one moment.
It was only a moment of hesitation, Abaddon then raised the Talon and charged.
The Slayer met him at the centre of the valley.
The Crucible struck Drach'nyen.
Red and black energy spread between the mountains. The ground split beneath both warriors. Abaddon drove the Talon toward the Slayer's head. The Slayer turned beneath it and cut through the remains of the Warmaster's right pauldron.
The Crucible entered the armour beneath it.
Abaddon pulled away before the blade could take his arm.
The Slayer followed.
He cut across Abaddon's chest, red energy passed through armour and flesh. The Warmaster staggered, but the four powers surrounding him stopped the wound from opening farther.
Drach'nyen attacked from below.
The Slayer blocked.
The daemon sword wrapped itself around the Crucible's energy. Black veins spread along the red blade, and it caused the hilt of the crucible to vibrate in the Slayer's hand.
Abaddon saw it. He closed the Talon around the Slayer's wrist and held the two weapons together.
"Drach'nyen has ended many empires and powerful warriors!" Abaddon shouted. "It will break your blade as it broke them."
The daemon inside Drach'nyen opened itself, darkness flowed from the blade and entered the Crucible. The red energy weakened, its light shortened until only half the blade remained.
The Slayer pulled, but the Talon held his wrist in place.
The four Chaos Gods pressed through Abaddon at once, strength forced the Talon closed. Decay entered the Crucible's hilt, impossible speed kept Drach'nyen against the blade, and changing paths formed around Abaddon until every future ended with the same result.
The Crucible went dark, its energy blade disappeared.
Abaddon tore the hilt from the Slayer's hand and threw it across the valley. It struck the base of a mountain and did not reignite.
The Warmaster laughed.
"Is that the weapon that killed Urkaanthos, Veyzaran, andHakk'an'graah? Pathetic." Abaddon taunted.
The Slayer looked at the Crucible, which was temporarily neutralized.
Abaddon raised Drach'nyen.
"Your blade is now gone," Abaddon said. "Now you are only a man. Give up and I'll make your death quick and painless."
The Slayer turned toward him, there was no fear in his eyes.
The slayer released the divine essence, the same as the one he had used to heal Celestine.
The limitless divine essence within him answered, golden light appeared inside the Slayer's armour. It shone through the joints of the Praetor suit and behind the visor of his helm. The light spread across every plate before rising from his body.
It surrounded him like a warrior's aura.
The wind stopped and dust fell from the air. Loose stones lifted from the ground and broke apart around him. Golden light reached across the valley and reflected from the surrounding mountains.
Abaddon's smile disappeared.
The Warp pressed against the Slayer's aura and failed to recognize it. The golden light contained the divinity awakened by the Divinity Machine and the purified essence of every daemon soul he had recycled through eons of war.
There was no trace of their corruption, it was neither Warp energy nor anything the Chaos Gods had created. They could not command it, corrupt it, or take it away.
Drach'nyen began screaming in the presence of it.
Abaddon tightened his grip around the sword.
"Be silent sword," Abaddon ordered.
The daemon did not obey, it continued screaming.
The Slayer moved.
Abaddon saw the future a moment before the attack.
It did not help him as the Slayer crossed the valley and struck him in the chest at a speed that even light could not rival.
The remains of the Terminator breastplate broke apart, Abaddon left the ground, crossed hundreds of metres, and entered the mountain behind him.
The Slayer reached him before the stone stopped falling.
He seized Abaddon by the throat and pulled him from the mountain. The Warmaster struck with the Talon, its claws scraped across the Slayer's helm and failed to leave a mark.
The Slayer broke Abaddon's wrist, the Talon bent backward. Its power field burst around the damaged joint, Abaddon tried to cut through the Slayer with Drach'nyen.
The Slayer caught the blade in his empty hand.
The edge stopped against his palm, golden light covered his fingers.
Drach'nyen pushed against him. The daemon inside the sword reached for his essence again.
This time it did not find rage alone, It found the horrifying limitless power behind it.
The daemon tried to escape, the Slayer did not allow it as he closed his hand upon the blade.
A crack opened along Drach'nyen's blade.
Abaddon pulled with both arms.
The Slayer did not release it.
Golden light entered the crack. The faces beneath the sword's surface turned toward one another, they screamed as the light passed through them.
"Impossible, how are you doing this!" Abaddon shouted In disbelief.
The Slayer tightened his grip, Drach'nyen shattered in an instant.
Black fragments spread through the air, golden fire caught each one before it reached the ground. The daemon's essence tried to flee toward the Warp, but the Slayer's divinity closed around it.
There was no banishment and no return to the warp as the golden light stripped away Drach'nyen's corruption, destroyed its identity, and recycled what remained into pure divine essence.
Drach'nyen ceased to exist as a daemon, its purified essence joined the limitless power surrounding the Slayer.
Abaddon stared at the empty hilt in his hand.
As he was in disbelief, the Slayer drove his fist into the Warmaster's face.
Abaddon struck the mountain again.
The Slayer followed.
He hit Abaddon before the Warmaster could rise. The first blow broke his jaw. The second collapsed the left side of his face. The third destroyed what remained of his breastplate and drove broken armour into his chest.
Abaddon answered with the Talon.
The damaged claw entered the Slayer's golden aura and slowed. He caught the weapon, crushed its fingers together, and tore it from Abaddon's arm.
The Talon of Horus fell among the rocks.
The Slayer kicked Abaddon across the valley.
The Warmaster passed through a stone ridge and struck the mountain beyond it. The entire slope collapsed around him.
The four powers tried to preserve their champion. Flesh reformed across Abaddon's face. Bone joined beneath it. His chest began rebuilding around the armour buried inside him.
The Slayer tore him from the rubble and broke him again.
He drove Abaddon into the ground until the valley floor collapsed. He lifted him by one leg and struck him against the mountain. He released him, caught him before he could fall, and drove both fists into his abdomen.
Every blow carried golden light into the Warmaster.
The powers surrounding Abaddon weakened. His speed failed first. Then the futures warning him of each attack became silent. The strength in his remaining arm disappeared. The wounds across his body stopped closing.
The four chaos gods were still watching, but none could save him.
The Slayer continued.
Abaddon's armour came apart one plate at a time. His ribs broke beneath the blows. His face lost every trace of the warrior who had stood before Cadia and promised its destruction.
The Warmaster fell, and every time he tried to rise, the Slayer would struck him back down.
Abaddon moved one arm beneath himself, his fingers dragged through the black earth, searching for a weapon that no longer existed.
The Slayer placed one boot upon his chest.
Abaddon raised his ruined face toward him, both eyes had swollen shut, and his jaw hung broken, and blood covered what remained of his face.
"Please, spare me," Abaddon begged, the words barely escaped him.
The Slayer stood over the unrecognizable body of the Warmaster. Golden light still surrounded his armour. The now golden Doomblade with divine essence extended from his left gauntlet.
Abaddon heard it.
For the first time since the battle began, Abaddon felt fear without the gods smothering it beneath rage or pride.
"No," the Slayer replied.
The Slayer drove the Doomblade through his skull.
Abaddon's body stopped moving, golden divinity passed through the Doomblade and entered him.
The final strike did more than destroy Abaddon's body. The light found his soul as it tried to escape into the Warp. The four Chaos Gods reached for their champion, but the Slayer's power had already closed around him.
Abaddon's soul burned inside the golden light.
The Slayer destroyed him permanently and absorbed his essence.
The powers surrounding him withdrew. The last darkness left his broken armour and disappeared into Cadia's sky.
Abaddon the Despoiler was dead.
…
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