Sid Rancor, Captain of the Lernaean Terminators, studied the tactical network data.
In the nineteen standard hours since the Shadows of Order's Twelfth Chapter had broken into the Heldar Mountains, the Alphas and Lernaean Terminators, using their outposts as bases, had launched wave after wave of attacks.
To this day, the Shadow of Order was still confined to the outer perimeter of the lead-grey mountains, unable to gain a foothold.
But the cost had been immense: four hundred and nineteen Alphas confirmed dead.
Even his own Lernaean Terminator squads had lost five entire squads, with thirty-six more dead.
He recalled the encrypted message from the Alpha infiltrating the Shadows of Order: Nareth, like them, had abandoned the Edict of Nikaea.
'The Shadow of Order's combat power is indeed formidable.'
Rancor had received the encrypted file twenty-five standard days ago: the Codex Omega, compiled by Leman Russ.
The Alphas had used the time before the Shadow of Order's landing to train intensively, using the Wolves' tactics against the Thousand Sons' Librarians to deal with the Shadow of Order's psykers.
The Lernaean Terminators were trained exactly like the Wolf Guard of the Space Wolves' 1st Company, who also wore Cataphractii-Pattern Terminator armor.
The only difference was that power axes replaced the Wolves' frost axes.
The Lernaean Terminators had unleashed their brutality, completely abandoning the Alpha Legion's usual covert warfare.
Even so, he had lost eighty-six Lernaean Terminators.
He remembered the blood he had drunk before receiving his father's command, tasting fragments of Alpharius's memories.
They had fought together before their other gene-father, Omegon, had been brought back by Nareth.
He had completed Alpharius's missions time and again. He would complete this one too.
Whatever the cost.
Rancor pinpointed Sector B-25, where two Lernaean squads had vanished.
He marked the target, drew his master-crafted melta gun, and spoke the battle cry to his Honour Guard.
"Alpha to Omega!"
The Lernaean Terminators raised their melta guns in unison, shouting: "Alpha to Omega!"
A hundred and one Cataphractii-pattern Terminators' boots crushed the lead-grey gravel, the ground rumbling.
Two kilometers from the edge of the target sector, Rancor rounded a bend and stopped.
He looked ahead: lead-bodied, green-winged xenos creatures circled overhead.
They carried barrel-like packs, curved tubes extending from them, spewing molten streams from the beaks between their claws.
A torrent of fire rained down on the Shadow of Order's lines.
Rancor's eyes narrowed. Black-armored figures leaped through the flames, charging towards the mountain bunkers.
'Flame-jumping.'
'The Twelfth Chapter of the Shadows of Order has this many psykers!'
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Rockets shot from the bunkers, a storm of them screaming towards the black-armored warriors.
With a thought, Rancor's vision narrowed, focusing on a single Shadow of Order squad.
One black-armored warrior flickered from a column of falling fire, then vanished, reappearing fifteen meters away in another.
Several rockets struck where he had first appeared.
Boom!
The explosion leveled a ten-meter radius. The shockwave spread, consuming fire column after fire column.
The Shadow of Order flickered, appearing and disappearing, evading the blast.
Rancor's gaze followed the jumping figures, then stopped.
A Shadow of Order had just emerged from the flames when two blast waves struck from the front and right.
'Behind him, in front, and to the right are blast waves. The nearest flame to the left is over a hundred meters away. Based on their previous psychic jumps, he shouldn't be able to reach it.' Rancor's mind raced.
His gaze was fixed on the Shadow of Order.
He saw him touch down, his body springing up, then he rolled to the left.
'His reaction… is incredibly fast… almost instinctual-' Rancor marveled.
Boom, boom, boom!
Rockets slammed into the ground. The Shadow of Order barely evaded them.
The Codex Omega scrolled through Rancor's mind. He gave the order over the encrypted channel.
"Discard melta guns. Switch to bolt pistols."
"Once engaged, unleash the berserker instincts we've trained for."
The Lernaean Terminators silently obeyed, swapping their melta guns for bolt pistols.
Rancor looked down at the battlefield. The shadows leaped through the flames, closing on the bunkers.
They tumbled, like acrobats, spinning to evade the dense fire.
Their power claws crackled, tearing through the low-flying xenos.
They rolled, their claws slicing through the steel bunkers.
Watching the Shadow of Order break into the bunkers, Rancor gave the order: "Attack!"
The Alphas would not be constrained by the honor codes of other Legions. Their mission was to complete their objective.
The moment the Shadow of Order won their victory was also their moment of greatest vulnerability.
A hundred Lernaean Terminators, led by Rancor, charged.
Their bolt pistols fired, a concentrated barrage hammering the bunkers below.
A "Faceless" sensed the danger. "Enemy attack!"
He shouted the warning, rolling instinctively.
At the center of the barrage, Rancor and his personal guard's bolt rounds hammered the "Magicians" as they landed on the bunkers.
Three "Magicians," guided by their psychic instincts, twisted and dropped from the bunkers.
One, as he landed, was struck in the helmet by a diamond-hard shell from Rancor.
Bang!
The helmet shattered. The barrage followed, consuming the black armor.
Boom!
The "Magician's" body crashed onto the bunker.
Rancor activated the rune on his power axe. It howled.
He leaped, like a striking snake, towards the landing Shadow of Order.
The Shadow of Order crossed his claws, meeting the howling axe.
Crackle!
Energy fields clashed, erupting in a blinding arc of electricity.
Rancor drove his legs, crushing his full Terminator weight onto the Shadow of Order.
He drove his weight onto his right arm.
The power axe bit down.
Bang!
The axe smashed through the crossed claws, cleaving into the black armor, biting into the shoulder bone.
Rancor planted his foot on the Shadow of Order, raising the axe, tearing free a spray of ceramite and blood.
He drove his weight down, the axe falling again.
The Shadow of Order's torso was torn apart by the energy field.
....
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