As Nareth charged into the ranks of the Deff Dreads, he sent a psychic pulse to the Black Wolf, tagging the Ork's black-and-yellow-flame war-plate and the towering boss-banner behind it.
"Drag the Ork inside the Gargant into a dream."
Freddy immediately unleashed his extraordinary ability. Back when his "little brother" John had helped kill the Ork boss on Planet Four, he had played no small role. Now it was his turn.
Freddy's eyes grew abyssal, and within a kilometer radius, darkness fell. A haunting chant rose:
A song of peace drifts softly...
...
A lullaby to soothe...
...
Lest we crush the slumbering cocoon of a butterfly,
Deep within the folds of eternal night,
All falls silent.
Around them, even the enraged Orks inside the Deff Dreads felt their eyelids heavy.
The Shadow of Order, however, were untouched. As a Sequence 4 mythic creature, the Black Wolf could precisely control his hypnosis, deciding who would and would not be affected.
Warlord Soriano's head grew dizzy, whispers curling around his ears.
Just as his eyelids began to fall, the voices of Gork and Mork roared in his skull:
"WAAAAGGH"
Green mist surged in his mind, drowning the whispers like annoying flies. His blood-red eyes flew wide, crackling with green lightning, his hair bristling upward as he bellowed in rage:
"WAAAAAGGGHH"
Dozens of Deff Dreads nearby awoke with a start and joined the cry.
"WAAGGH!"
More and more Orks shook free of the dream, and the onrushing Goffs joined the storm of shouts.
Freddy saw a flash of disdain in Brother John's confused eyes. Feeling his dominance challenged, Freddy instantly chose to assume his mythic beast form.
Black fog rose as eternal night swallowed the green tide.
From his belly sprouted two more pairs of legs. The immense forced lifted his body, and with eight limbs, the Black Wolf strode across the sky, ripples forming beneath every step.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dozens of Ork Deff Dreads and Astartes Dreadnoughts collapsed unconscious.
Freddy's mythic form was uncontrollable, its leaking power dragged both friend and foe alike into slumber.
The "Bard" Wilshire swayed, but instead of falling, he ascended into the first layer of the Thelema mind state, raising his voice in hymn.
He kept awake, but black-armored brothers behind him dropped one after another.
With eyes glowing deep, Wilshire activated "Warp Insight." His sight pierced the murk, straining to glimpse the eight-legged wolf striding in the void.
'That's the Father's beast. It has grown four more legs...'
'Its hypnosis is even more terrifying than the legion's psykers!'
His gaze lowered, seeking his Gene-Father.
There, Arsena Dunn, the primarch's aide, stood with staff raised high.
Going into the second layer of Thelema mindstate, ArsenafOrked his psychic staff alight, its head etched with three runes of flame-dragon.
As warp energy surged far beyond his norm, he nearly lost control of its tide. Desperate, he unleashed it.
The staff's crystal blazed. A dragon of fire, meters wide, swept into the Deff Dreads blocking the Flame Gargant.
Several machines were engulfed, liquefying into molten slag within seconds.
Sweat poured from Arsena's brow as he staggered, lowering his staff. Ahead, he caught a glimpse of a black-armored figure darting before the yellow-flame Gargant.
Soriano roared, green mist rising to fight back Freddy's darkness.
The Flame Gargant's claw swung high, crashing down at Nareth.
But Nareth was faster. He seized the moment Freddy's mythic power had bought him.
The Sword of Vaul flashed like lightning, thrusting into the gap where a Dreadnought fragment and the Gargant's steel frame met.
The fragile joint shattered. Blue-white energy tore great chunks of armor apart.
The blade drove deep into Soriano's abdomen, ripping open the wound that had only just been patched.
Nareth's left arm rose, the Hand of Order blocked the claw, then seized it and yanked hard.
The Flame Gargant lurched forward. Nareth's blade swept again, cutting across Soriano's throat.
The Primarch's control was exact: the energy field destroyed only his throat, leaving his jagged teeth and the boss-banner intact.
Through spirit-sight, Nareth saw both gleam with spiritual radiance.
Freddy, drained near his limit, released his mythic form, falling back to earth in his four-legged body. He raised his head, shooting a sidelong glance at John.
The Shadows of Order of the 2nd Chapter, roused from slumber, saw their Father slay the warlord and avenge their fallen lord. They erupted in thunderous cheers.
Together with the Honor Guard that had just arrived, they launched a swift offensive against the remnants of the Orks.
The morale of the Orks plummeted because of the death of the warlord.
They immediately fell into a state of chaos of fighting on their own, and some cunning ones turning around and running away.
Nareth sheathed the Sword of Vaul and picked up the warlord's head.
The Aide emerged from the mindstate, removing a stasis-casket from his back.
Nareth placed the head inside. The rune-lock clicked, freezing it in time.
He then took up the boss-banner. Through his sight, he saw the three skulls lashed to it, his own sons' heads, dim, lifeless. Not part of the banner itself.
Grief and fury darkened his eyes. This abominable greenskins had dared use his children's corpses as trophies.
Gently, he removed their heads and gave them, with the banner, to an Honor Guard.
"Bury them. The banner goes to my trophy vault."
Then, donning the "War Mask," Nareth vented his grief and rage upon the Deff Dreads.
One by one, the monstrous walkers were smashed to ruin.
After fourteen kills, his fury ebbed. The battlefield fell still.
Removing the mask, his spirit stirred. He approached a thunder hammer still clutched in a severed arm.
Armor fragments and bodies lay scattered. The weapon looked ordinary, save it was entirely black.
Wilshire came to his side, voice heavy.
"That was Lord James's. He nearly killed the warlord himself."
Nareth glanced once more at James's broken body, sorrow clouding his eyes.
'Better a shattered corpse than strung upon a banner in shame.'
He nodded. Inwardly, he judged:
'No other beyonder traits nearby... the Lawyer's essence has fused with this hammer. It has become a Sealed Artifact.'
Considering its significance to the 2nd Legion, and Wilshire's path of the Sun, Nareth said:
"This hammer is yours. It bears powers beyond the common. If you cannot discern them, ask the Forge Lord.
Wilshire received it reverently.
"I will wield it well, and never shame Lord James's honor."
Nareth's voice hardened.
"You must inherit James's honor. From this day, you are Chapter Master of the 2nd Chapter."
He thought of the Sun pathways's ranks, Sequence 8 "Light Suppliant," Sequence 5 "Priest of Light," Sequence 2 "Lightseeker", and declared:
"Your title is Light Lord."
Wilshire did not decline. With firm conviction, he said:
"Father, I will not disappoint you."
Thus Wilshire became the youngest, and fastest, Shadow of Order raised to Chapter Master under the normal hierarchy of the 11th Legion.
Two hours later, both Leman Russ and Hannibal learned that the Ork warlord had fallen to Nareth.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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