The Ork warlord Soriano's personal Gargant, Flame, bore the Bad Moons' favored colors of Flash Gitz Yellow and Black.
Atop the great boss-banner behind him, a snarling moon on a field of fire served as a totem. Three fresh trophies dangled from it, three severed heads of the Shadow of Order.
His black-and-gold mega-armor and weapons were daubed with garish patterns: Bad Moon glyphs, great black hands…
The Flame also glittered with more trinkets than any other Ork war machine.
It stood five meters tall, and with the towering banner at its back, more than ten meters.
As a result, James locked onto the warlord's position without doubt.
He led his command squad in a charge toward the streaming banner.
A roaring Deff Dread raised its iron foot, kicked down a Shadow of Order warrior, and crushed him beneath its tread in the Orks' favored way.
Its hooked claws pierced through power armor.
The command squad felt their battle-brother die, but grief had no place here, nor time to turn aside against the Deff Dread.
They raised their bolters and fired a disciplined volley.
The shots struck true, riddling the machine until its limbs flew apart, and it staggered back, only to be smashed to ruin by an enraged Dreadnought's power fist.
One by one, the command squad fell, but at last they pressed close to the Ork warlord.
They fired bolters into the Flame.
Diamond-tipped rounds cracked against its plating, only to ricochet away.
Soriano turned, tusked grin twisting into a snarl, and bellowed:
"WAGGHH!"
Around him, the Deff Dreads' pilots felt a green fog rise in their minds.
They howled in unison: "WAGHH!"
In Soriano's skull, the green storm thickened. The roars of Gork and Mork thundered in his ears.
He lifted his right arm, leveling his prized long-range ion cannon, and fired on the black-armored gitz.
A lance of incandescent energy stabbed forth, striking a guard to James's left rear.
Matter boiled in a nuclear sphere, blazing like the Firewheel's sun itself.
The blast consumed the Shadow of Order. His black armor melted at once, yet in the searing tide, he loosed one last bolt round in defiance.
Each plasma shot Soriano fired claimed another guard.
Unlike most Orks' haphazard marksmanship, his was deadly precise. Every beam struck a moving target.
By the time James reached him, thirteen of his command squad had been slain.
James raised his shield against the crashing blow of a power claw.
The impact drove him back a step with sheer force.
The warlord's might shocked him, yet he had expected no less. He faced one who ruled over billions of greenskins.
With the 23rd form of the Otsberg-Vaya technique, he swung his Thunder Hammer in a full, committed strike, aiming for the only opening he saw.
Based on the Flame's weapon mountings, he predicted a clash would expose its flank.
Unlike other power weapons, the Thunder Hammer's field did not burn constantly. Its destruction came in the instant of impact.
The hammer slammed into the Gargant's left side. A thunderous crack of blue force erupted, splitting armor in a fist-sized crater.
The Flame reeled.
Soriano felt his beloved Gargant, costing sixty thousand Bad Moon teef, wounded. His heart twisted with pain.
He opened his jaws wide, showing eleven fangs, and roared the loudest bellow of his life.
"WAAAAAGGHHH!"
The cry drowned even the screech of saws and the roar of bolters.
His claw hammered down again, shattering James's shield.
James's eyes were steady. In that moment, he entered the warrior's trance.
His mind remained cool, yet he channeled his slain brothers' fury into strength.
For the first time, he mastered the state of the war mask.
With all his might, he swung his Thunder Hammer into the Gargant's bloated gut.
The blue field screamed, tearing through the black-and-gold plating, ripping open a great wound across Soriano's abdomen.
Soriano could not recall the last time he had been injured. Shock and rage overtook him.
His claw struck down, rending the Mark I Thunder Armor, cleaving James in half.
Then he raised the claw again, lashing at the other gitz.
But the pain in his belly burned deep. His armor gaped, leaving him exposed.
The warlord snarled in disgust. He seized a great shard of blackened armor from James's corpse, slapped it against his wound, and pressed it down.
Yet the wind still whistled through the gaps.
'Too tiny!'
His gaze fell on the larger prey, the dreadnoughts.
He charged the nearest.
The warriors entombed within, grieving and enraged, turned. His assault cannon whirled, hurling shells into the Gargant's black-and-gold hull.
Several rounds tore into Soriano's exposed wound. One diamond-tipped shell punched into the tear left by the Thunder Hammer, exploding inside, ripping out chunks of green flesh.
A devastating blow to any lesser Ork. But not to a warlord.
Soriano roared.
The Flame seized the dreadnought, tore off its arm, the chainsaw-fist clattering to the ground, buzzing as it carved a gash in the dirt.
He ripped open the sarcophagus, slaying the warrior within.
Then, pounding and crushing the wreckage, he forced a steel plate into shape, clamped it over his belly, and hammered it into place.
The armor held, but the gold filigree was gone. Now it was plain, ugly black.
He hated it.
Fury consumed him.
"WAAAGGHH!"
The Deff Dread pilots went mad, their eyes glowing red, the green fog filling them. They hurled themselves into the Shadow of Order.
The warriors of the 2nd Chapter reeled from their lord's death and their heavy losses.
Yet though their grief burned, they did not break. They held fast to the culture their gene-father had reforged.
Still, they faltered.
And then, a voice rang out.
The bright song of the "Bard" Wilshire reached every ear.
At once, the 2nd Chapter's warriors regained their focus.
Wilshire led the 4th Company forward against the Ork warlord.
Deff Dreads barred their way, engaging them in savage firefights.
Soriano no longer pressed forward recklessly. He had already lost wealth worth more than ten thousand teef this day.
Even with the Chapter rallying around the Bard, they could not break through quickly.
As the battle ground into a stalemate, a black lightning bolt flashed across the field.
Nareth himself stormed into the Deff Dreads, flanked by the black wolf Freddy and the "Monster" John the gyrinx.
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