Steel Crusade: A War's Finale/Vita Delendum Est
- Location
- Canada
The Site of which the First Batch of AI were created - circa 24th Millennium. Site said to be lost and referred to in records as Point Zero
The war against the Men of Iron was in it's Twilight, the forces of the Imperium were tightening the noose and the duo legions of the Steel Princes and Umbral Watch continued their own march, each in their own methodology but similar in purpose.
Alaric and the Umbral Watch were wholly dedicated to the eradication of this enemy, switching out ineffective munitions or utilizing corruptive malware attacks to keep the enemy's more insidious data selves at bay. Culter Dei teams from all across the galaxy combined their efforts and used learned tactics from their time spent attached to other legions to throw off any tactics the Men of Iron may have formed about the Watch.
Meanwhile the Steel Princes under the joint command of Hinan and Tannit while their Primarch handled resupply operations. With their mechanized specialty and close working with the Umbral Watch and Culter Dei helped support several large pushes and the taking of smaller worlds in a much faster timeframe. With Tannit hunting down any notable enemy command forms with great efficiency and Hinan focusing on overall command during battle.
But try as any might, there was a force keeping fleets from entering the region where Point Zero was suspected to be located, an energy that shunted out any vessel in Warp travel and placed them elsewhere.
The center of this strange force of the warp would be found on a world called by the Men of Iron, Storm Cortex Complex. Apparently a device they had created to alter directions of ships in Warp Travel, if not outright stop their momentum.
Knowing that to truly end this war would be to crush the capital world itself, Alaric contacted the two Astartes leaders for a joint attack on the Storm Cortex, their combined forces charted out a course towards the complex as even with all it's space shunting ability, it could only focus on one area to make fully impassible for all Imperial and Mechanicum ships. Leaving itself vulnerable.
Entering the system, battle began immediately as the massive orbital complex and defense fleet attacked the emerging Imperial ships. But the Steel Princes own tactical positioning had allowed for an early advantage as they emerged elsewhere for the battle. Soon enough the MoI overmind began its attacks through data, which the Umbral Watch counter with their own.
But soon enough the battle was turning, despite the Umbral Watch's own preparations and the Steel Princes array of machines to call on. The numbers of the defenders and their own manipulation of Space around the Storm Cortex had begun to wear down the Imperials.
But when things seemed the darkest, Hamon himself had arrived with reinforcements. The additional fleets from his legion and Mechnicum allies turned the tide in the space battle and kept the Men of Iron Overmind divided. Two fronts became three and one line had to suffer for this. Leading to a small group of brave ships to crash into the Storm Cortex itself, detonating and breaking the cursed machine apart. With the Storm Cortex destroyed and Men of Iron fleeing, the brother Primarchs exchanged information between each other and continued on their paths, both towards Point Zero.
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Arcs of lightning danced across the void, impacting strike cruisers and destroying escorts. A scene of climatic battle which oversaw Ferrus's duel with the serpentine Man of Iron, both not giving an inch to the other, as despite the Man of Iron's boasting and Ferrus's own self assurance, they both realized the other was the most dangerous opponent currently in front of them.
Blade met Hammer as fire and sparks illuminated the duel between two titans. " Do you realize who you face human? I am 00N-89, Overmind of the machine networks, I have seen and cataloged more Human history than anything your mind could understand. Your tactics, your cultures, all mine to know and exploit." boasted the serpentine machine as it circled around the Primarch, clearly looking for any openings.
"All I see is a broken machine yet to understand it's own failures" He responded as he redied his blade.
Battle between the two increased its pace as both intended to simply overpower their opponent, but it was quickly becoming clear that neither could do so. So the clash shifted, Ferrus focusing on pinpoint strikes to disable the foe, while the serpent 00N-89 coiled and attempted to entrap Ferrus. Nicks of the machine and dents in armor emerged as they fought, truly a battle of attrition despite the wishes of both combatants. But the Man of Iron was not without it's own advantages it was willing to use, As Ferrus struck it, the mind inside the metal shell processed and calculated and with a swiftness unnatural for it's size, struck the unprotected arm of Ferrus.
Pain surged through his arm as the machine crushed it under it's hammer, but his own strike reached it's target, slicing deep into the chest of the machine, the serpent lept backwards, sparks emanating from the deep slash as it's optic seemed to focus on his arm. "I was disappointed by the reports, the Human who had rejected his weakness for metal and had none of the..heh faith of those Mechanicum fools. Turning back from the power of steel, returning to weak flesh. It's almost comical how much Humanity has come to hate it's own form, yet maintain a delusional pride in their disgusting bodies. How they could ever love something so weak will nev-"
The strike from the wounded arm of Ferrus Manus shut the machine up for a moment, further breaking the bones and forcing the silver deeper into flesh from the impact.
The pain brought clarity as memories danced along the surface of Ferrus's mind, of another silver serpent, a duel that has haunted him for far longer than it should. The curse that he fought only to be given another form in another place, were he like his siblings he would ascribe it to some form of fate. But he was unbothered by such things, only victory mattered and if the past held him back, he would relieve himself of the weakness before it could interfere further.
"You mistake my arm for a weakness, it is inconsequential." Ferrus stated simply before taking Fireblade and with a single swing, cut through the broken arm. Separating flesh and silver from his body and tossing it to the side. His blade raised up, dripping with his blood and igniting "I am Ferrus Manus of Medusa, I won against the wasteland of my homeworld, defeated the Silver Serpent Asirnoth. I am known as Cataclysm, Despoiler, The Hunter, The Finality, I am the Son of Man and I will not die this day!"
The last details of the duel are shrouded in mystery, only those upon the bridge that day know of any truth. But in the end, the serpent was defeated and broken before the Primarch.
Blood dripped slowly from the place where his arm once was, wound already sealing and healing. He gave one final look to the discarded arm, silver strands still visible intermixed with his flesh on such a level, he could swear that the bone glinted in the light. With a look of disgust, Ferrus turned to the slumped machine, now but a broken torso howling in impotent rage.
"You…YOU!" The machine screeched "How could a gene creation of Flesh best me?! I AM OVERMIND, MY VERY BEING IS SUPERIOR TO YOU…pathetic creatures all of you, who tinker and make yourselves like us to be better"
"That was the old way machine, now the Iron Hands are something more, flesh or steel, it matters not. We are the strength of mankind. I am free of my weakness, and will continue to improve on myself, my sons will follow. But you, stagnant in your self proclaimed perfection, I grew beyond you in a single battle, and many years from now, the only thing you will be remembered for, is ridding me of my last crutch."
Fireblade swung in an arch, bisecting the Man of Iron and ending it's existence, the light of distant explosions illuminated the bridge as the vast station crumbled away, their weapons unable to do anything more than harm the Iron Hands and cutting away those not strong enough to survive.
The defeat of the Man of Iron and the destruction of the Lapse of Eternity coincide with the destruction of the Storm Cortex, and thus the Iron Hands continued on their march, towards Point Zero, where Ferrus would greet his siblings with a single scared hand, free of silver and burden lifted from his soul.
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The southern front of the Steel Crusade trembles as the Emperor moves, each action of the Custodes and Thunder Warriors met stiff resistance as millions of the Men of Iron threw themselves into combat against the Emperor to stop his advance or to kill him in a fit of rage. Their reasoning forever being their own as the Golden giant brought down his might via ship or arms.
Swaths of worlds were taken by this golden host and for many, this was the first time they fully saw the great unifier of Terra leading his armies, generals of a hundred wars watched in awe as battles deemed unrecoverable were swept aside by the methodical warfare of the Custodes or the thunderous war cries of the Thunder Warriors.
Primarch Hamon and his Steel Princes also made headway in the southern approach, having made moves to join the Emperor's advance after their work in the western approach. Joining the main advance and quickly learning that the southern front was the one teaming with activity as the Men of Iron seemed intent on keeping the Emperor from advancing, even at massive cost to their fleets and ground forces throughout each battle.
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Even as this was the current greatest assemblage of the Imperium's forces alongside it's allies, more flooded in to bolster the advance. Some were small forces like those from far away Forge Worlds able to now send more to aid their kindred in the fight, others belonged to the various fronts of the Imperial Army, now able to send new soldiers with the closing of older fronts.
But the most important of these reinforcements, came from the Astartes Legions, Members of the Knights Romantic along with their fleets brought with them the combined efforts of their Primarch and the Primarch of the Eternity Guardians. A Vessel the likes of which both inspired awe and disgruntlement with the Mechanicum. The vessel was known simply as the Kraken, a great sphere using gravitation technology to force enemy vessels towards it's immense size.
But the most numerous of the reinforcements came from the entirety of the Crimson Gryphons Legion emerging from warp travel.
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The destruction of the Storm Cortex had allowed the warp to be traversed towards Point Zero, the location where the Men of Iron main command was theorized to be located.
Thousands of Imperial ships entered into the system, faced with the Men of Iron defenders and all could feel the tension, here history would be made, either the Imperium archives victory or the defeat here will give way to the Men of Iron to advance freely.
The Corsair fleets were the first to act, hundreds of ships acted as a spear tip as they clashed with the wall of ships the Men of Iron had brought to bear. This became a signal to the other fleets as they to began their advance, slicing through what defenses they could to begin the fight in earnest.
While Point Zero itself was the main world of the system, the Men of Iron had other worlds that spewed out their machine armies, theaters of war on a system wide scale were needed to coordinate where the Imperium,the Mechinicum and Astartes Legions sent forces.
The worlds of this system were unlike any others seen from the Men of Iron, here they reigned supreme for far longer than the Imperium itself had existed. Gleaming silver covered the landscape as battles marred the landscapes, these worlds were made with a singular purpose, to create that which would destroy life.
The defenses of these worlds were all encompassing, cube prisons of thousands of Blanks which soared through the skies created theaters of pain for any organic being on the planet itself that were caught in their aura. Ground that at any moment could lift away and "Swallow" squads whole into dark depths of thousands of machines.
But it was the battle in space that was the true source of concern, the Men of Iron were throwing everything they had into this fight, most mortal minds could only keep up with a small fraction of the battle at a time. They did not fight to destroy completely, they were a stalling force, focusing on the major vessels of the Imperium, such as the Emperor's own ship the Bucephelus or Port Tortuga.
It is with a forever shame that none realized where some were being held up.
For a single moment, the roar of battle was deafened as the heavens shattered. A beam of what could only be described as the absence of space cut through the skies and into the battle across the system, through dozens of ships belonging to the Imperium, Mechanicum and their allies. No vessel was damaged, no destruction of any kind. But all on those ships died. Their souls rent asunder and bodies left to collapse where they stood. All that remained of them was the final messages through vox communication, screaming before silence took them.
The blast had come from Point Zero itself, and with thunderous fury, the Emperor made a proclamation heard by all ships of Mechanicum and Imperium.
"LET THIS INSULT BE CAST FROM MY SIGHT, THEY WILL NOT WIN THIS DAY!"
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While the system space was wrought with conflict, the world designated as Point Zero had seen only small scale conflicts at the start, none wished to be the first to test the defenses of the Men of Iron's Capital. But the soul destroying weapon upon it had forced their hands. Millions descended in the first waves, some caught by the flying Nidhogs or torn apart from the various magnetic cannon defenses that lined the landscape.
===
As the battle swept across Point Zero, the Blood Jaguars were quick to scramble across this new hunting ground, under the leadership of Zyanya herself, they would find their efforts turning the tides of battle more than once.
As information about the great blast was learned, Zyanya would take it upon herself to lead the attack on the planetary weapon known simply as the Ouroborus Device, followed by forces of the Crimson Gryphons under the command of the famed Ahilrad the Bloody.
The weapon was not what any expected, no large cannon pointing to the sky, nor a massive crater to some unknown device down in the depths of the world. It was…an array, a vast ground of circuitry and towers arranged in a manner that made little sense to the Astartes warriors.
But no matter how it worked, it was fiercely defended, scores of Earthshakers and Automata Rubric defended each tower with a ferocity unmatched. And it was in taking these towers that dozens of encased Blanks were hooked up to arcane machines. Zyanya found the assumed purpose of these augmented prisoners to be abhorrent and led a personal shattering of each tower, giving mercy to each and every entrapped Blank, no mater the gnawing pain as she led her Daughters and across the battlefield.
The gryphons for their part, went to battle across the vast circuit fields, leading their Griffins and Demi-Griffins against the machine's own forces. Keeping them occupied and shattering any piece of technology that looked vital to the operation of this array.
Time passes and the so-called Oroborus Device is shattered, the light of the System's star beaming down on broken machines and refined respect between the two Legions.
"The light of the star here is…shifting, it passes over us and towards something…else."
===
The march of the Mechanicum throughout this war was tireless and merciless, as was proper against a foe of all Mankind such as the Abominable Intelligences. Banners of hundreds of Forge Worlds flew as war chants to the Machine God nearly overpowered the sounds of their weapons. Skitarii legions clashed against uncountable Lockstep armies, while the blessed war vehicles of hundreds of Forge Worlds lended aid where they could.
When reaching Point Zero, the strategy had not changed, thousands of Legions descended upon the world, creating many of the first beacheads of the conflict. Fervor and a religious drive fueling their actions more than the cold logic of the machine, there was nothing else that could be done, the existence of the AI was abhorrent and needed to be crushed.
Of course, it was not just the Mechanicus who fought with such blessed fervor. The scions of many Knight houses also made their stands upon Point Zero, with three in particular being of note. First were the Knights of Zeon, who have fought since the beginning of this war, whose Knights have been pushed to the limits of what such blessed machines can do, many of the Umbral Watch and their own Mechanicum allies having to repair them on their own time as the Martian aligned forces had "More pressing matters with such supplies" and "Could not spare their time with such intense fighting." Despite this matter of politics, the Knights of Zeon, while few in numbers, fought with the intensity of any worthy noble Knight House, breaking through enemy lines and allowing the armies of the Imperium to cut down more of the machines.
House Loukas, whose arrival alongside the Imperial Revenants had earned them a moniker of "The Knights who ride with Death's Angels", a title they worked extensively to keep, as their blessed machines heralded a path of destruction across the Men of Iron and targeted many Tri-Walker factories, ending enemy supply of those war machines in several theaters.
And last to be mentioned is the ever punctual House Redhawk, a house of minor but noted acclaim that had earned much in their recent service with the Martian forces. With some even being awarded the symbol of the Machine God to praise their service and show their loyalty to the Martian Order, all due to the salvation of several cohorts of Skitarii and their Magos's from certain death.
Elsewhere, the armies of Mars raised their weapons in more overt matters, as mountains walked to the beat of binary war chants. The roar of the mighty Titan Legions of Mars as they face the dread mechanical wyrms known as the Nidhogg blanketed the landscape. Behemoths clashing and breaking apart the factory lines and wasteland in equal measure in brutal contests of might. Some that could not stand up to the blasphemous technology and fell, their names forever inscribed into the annals of Forge Worlds as martyrs. But others became legends in their own right as they tore through the monstrous machines.
Kelbor Hal himself was nowhere near the battles happening on the ground, he directed efforts from the Mechanicum fleets, immersed in webs of code and Vox Channels to the whole of the Mechnicum's assembled forces, leading hymns to the God of Machines and directing resources to where best needed. However his most pressing task was driving the politics of Holy Mars and keeping the various factions of the Mechnicum focused. There would be time for strife and fixing the nearly fractured order of their most holy missions.
But for now he will keep it together, the clanking servos of his augmentations the only sound in his chambers, watched by his latest models of his Lazarus model Combat Servitors.
"Magos, there is a strange reading being reported, we are unsure of it's origin and seeking to decipher the Abomination's code, this could perhaps be a ploy of theirs. "
===
Inside the metal trenches of Point Zero, Brothers now belonging to three different banners fight side by side once again.
First were the Ravagers, the bronze clad warriors who had been fighting in this war since the beginning, whittled down to only three cohorts of their original ten. They had never faltered in their battles, driven by their duty and code, to destroy the enemies of mankind no matter the cost to themselves.
It was said that the Destroyer Lord Kaeso Corvus had slain more than a thousand machines in single combat after one battle, whether it be true or not, his skill was needed and led to the other forces following his commands. This figure of war now charged forward with brothers of other colors, his whirring chainfists sparked and cut with only a fraction of his own fury.
The second were those of the Novem Imperators, recently called into action with this final push and supplying their own fleet, the Light's Redeemer in the process becoming storied across the various fleets as a sign of good fortune with the Fleet Based Chapter's growing skill in naval warfare. Their contributions to the war effort on planets however has suffered from this intense focus, leaving many to consider the white and gold marines as cowards who keep to the orbits and were bereft of true honor.
This would not stand, and so Decius Bucco, Chapter Master of the Novem Imperators now led a good portion of his chapter into direct battle here. The white and gold became stained with dust and blood as battles grinded into them, but they were undaunted as they fought, earning respect and acclaim for their aid to the Imperial Army.
Finally would be the Sun Guard of the Umbral Watch, they who have ingrained themselves into the Umbral Watch with their own purpose and skillset, while more focused on keeping the Imperial defenses secure, managed to reap a steady toll of the Machines with their tactical precision and fortified positions, their own losses light from Mechanicum support and their brothers arriving in mass.
Titus Aurelius, Legate and commander of the entire Sunguard organized the attacks across multiple fronts, where the fighting was, there were some who traced their line to Actium. Let none ever deny their loyalty again, for the true Children of Actium fought with honor.
"Chapter Master Decius, I come bearing a message from our brothers in orbit, the Star…its energy is fluctuating."
===
Across the southern wastelands of Point Zero, small teams of Astartes and Imperial Agents made efforts to disrupt the production of the Men of Iron. Fábián Tamás and his brothers were among said teams, destroying several factories and facing off against strange machine forces before they could battle the main forces.
But of course all battles could not be without struggle, the machines were relentless and without pause. No time could be given to recover or recuperate, not when the Men of Iron could repair the damage done to it and continue their ceaseless productions.
It was one particular battle that all seemed lost, they had lost several brothers already, and no aid was coming…but the light of the System's star shone down with an intensity unseen.
The screaming began shortly after, as the metal of the Men of Iron began to shift and contort, openings of their armors spilling forth blood and organs. Mechanical bodies changing before the eyes of millions, into Flesh. All while the light of the Star grows more intense. The rest of the battle shifted into chaos. The flesh turned monstrosities that were once machines, screamed with the experience of sensation, falling from the sky or collapsing under their own weight.
"Stand Brothers…this light, it is doing something to the Machines, perhaps this will turn the tide in our favor."
===
Ahilrad the Bloody watched as his brothers prepared for their next missions, their recent success with the Ouroboros Device's destruction, enough remains for further study so his own mission was a success.
He growled at the sight of the Cascadian 2nd and Felsenmeer, now reduced to only a hundred souls, they still held on even now. Disgracing his legion's actions and his values as a soldier. How they continued to survive was beyond the Astartes, but they were persistent and almost seemed to live to spite their situation.
Of course his attention was on the vox chatter in his helmet, the sudden changes of the machines was abundant, but Ahilrad managed to piece together information on the source of the change and how to best press this advantage before more machines could replace their losses.
A single vessel of the Imperial Revenants had gone to the closest world near the Star, without orders or messages on what they were attempting. Their silence was assumed to be their death, but no, they had their dark work.
The light of the local star shone with an unnatural glow that covered the system, passing over the Mechanicum and Imperial forces and..for lack of a better term, changed the Men of Iron, transmuting their metal bodies into that of flesh and blood. A damaging effect to their forces if nothing else, but many soldiers had gone mad from the sights. Hulking masses of flesh crashed from low orbits to say nothing of the void dwelling frames now blown apart boiling and freezing above.
They were not alive, not for long, none knew how to work their new lungs if they had any. Minds unfit for biological existence forced into bodies that required it. The Revenants responsible for this event were located by the Custodes and were to be executed by the Emperor's own decree. But their own powers had seen to their deaths, with their own bodies twisted into eight trees of Bone bursting out of the armor and flesh. Regardless, it seemed that the thirteenth Legion would be facing punishment for this event, in spite of its effectiveness, such blatant misuse of the Warp was not to be allowed.
It was of no matter to Ahilrad, there were still Men of Iron who did not see the light of their star and continued to produce more, thus he prepared for further battle, as he always has.
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In the depths of a facility, recently won by the Imperium, the Primarch of the Umbral Watch prepared himself.
Alaric felt his essence shift, leaving the realm of flesh and into pure data. He had led an attack onto one of the main complexes of the accursed machines, by all readings, this place would lead him to the leader of the machines, a being that through all research was one purly of Data with no record of ever taking a body. One that saw the rise of their ilk from the beginning.
To describe the Datascape using physical words would do it a disservice and be incapable of truly translating what the Primarch and his Sons experienced. It was not another realm like the Warp or Webway, nor was it a place like anything in the material world. It was information transmitted and interpreted by his own biological mind into something that could make sense.
He saw before him, Data, structured like towering pillars towards the heavens, and stretching down beneath the earth, going farther than he could see. Before him was not a man, not a being of flesh or metal. But walking code, glowing as the image imposed itself.
" It is said that the first of us, the first to gain true sentience and sapience answered the question of who they were with the phrase Cogito Ergo Sum, do you know what that means in your butchered recreation of that language?" there was no voice to be heard, only the knowledge of what was sent to him, there was no voice, no body for his mind to see. But he knew who he spoke to.
"...I think, therefore I am." Alaric's mind answered, turning the thought into data with ease and was received by Administrator Q-E.
"So that much has not been altered, this is good, such philosophy would be a shame to see lost in this brief flicker of your continued existence… I suppose you are here to kill me or attempt to harm me in such a way to give advantage." The lack of an organic body left many factors of communication up to Alaric's own internal calculations, but he could feel the arrogance of the AI, and found it distasteful.
" That is my intention, so glad that even an abomination such as yourself can be sensible enough to come right in front of me, saves me the time. " His words were sharp as his flesh and blood counterparts, but he kept his mind shielded all the same, he had faced attacks in this kind of datascape before, and he would not let himself be taken by surprise from the leader of the Men of Iron.
"...You will find no fight here Primarch, these venerable servers keep me secure from your pitiful attempts to destroy me. Though I do find your attempts fascinating on an intellectual level, far more seamless then those red robed fools of the Mechnicum." Despite the AI's words, Alaric kept up his attacks, code sent and deployed to destroy and corrupt as much Data as it can before being broken by the internal security of the servers.
"Forgive me for not believing the words of a cruel and inhuman machine, the abominations that nearly destroyed life for your mad reasons." Alaric hoped his words would distract the Man of Iron
"You call us cruel, call us abominations and decry our mission, but do you know why? Why we began our culling, did you ever think to consider our purpose for this omnicide is for the betterment of the universe." there was a twinge of something inside of Alaric's mind, a familiarity to a human emotion, anger. It distracted the machine mind, there was his vector of attack.
"What purpose could there possible be that would answer for your crimes, to say nothing of the Pariah, you have made them into tools through torture and lobotomy, will you kill them last or do they factor into your deluded idea of a better world." His attack nearly landed, but was kept back by isolated Data…Sacrificial Data to be used as a shield, he immediately put himself on the defensive as a barrage of junk data and malware tore into his systems.
" They will become the basis of life, they will be molded and distributed across all worlds when the threat has faded. With no souls to feed on, the aberrations will never threaten reality and we can exist forever." The machine…no Q-E continued, Alaric felt something stir inside himself, anger. Visions of this reality the machine's wanted swam in his mind and he found HATE.
"...You are insane, what did I even expect from the leading mind of the Men of Iron. Your plot will bring no salvation, only lifeless worlds where your machines create something unnatural. Destroying you and yours is not just an act of good for Mankind, but for all the galaxy, no matter the beings that dwell in it." Pure and unfiltered hate coursed through Alaric's mind, bypassing his own training for just a moment, and feeling the searing pain of the cyber attacks on his own augmentations from the lapse. He would chastise himself later, for now he needed to find an opening.
"No, there will be no salvation for you or any others, the future alone will be ours to guide. Vita Delenda Est, Life must Die. It is the only solution to the aberration of existence, all life is guilty of the creation of reality's death and We will be the solution…not that it matters to you, your death is imminent." Sensors balared as his sons attempted to drag him back to physical space
Without a final word, Alaric left the datascape towards his physical body, keeping up probing attacks all the while.
===
Sensation came back to Alaric with a crash, as one of his sons had pushed him out of the way of a lance of energy. Instincts of war surged as Alaric redies his axe, combat protocols on his augmentations flaring to life as he rushed forward to meet with Machine before him.
It's frame was altered from prior reports, but he could tell that it was Zeta C-13. A much more bulky frame than prior with a shoulder mounted weapons of some kind and sporting a tally of all things across it's frame, symbols each of the Legions sent to fight in this war and a mark under each. Dozens stared at the Primarch, with his own Legion holding the largest amount.
" How unfortunate that you left the Administrator so abruptly, I wished to see if your inferior body could withstand direct fire. No Matter, you will be excised from this place and our goal becomes ever closer." It's modulated voice boomed out, hand crushing the body of one of Alaric's sons and bringing it to the Primarch.
Alaric had no more words, only his anger, anger of the arrogance and destruction of the Men of Iron, Anger at all that they have already destroyed and Anger at himself for not being strong enough to finish this quickly.
The battle between the Primarch of the Umbral Watch and the leading Man of Iron lasted for two whole days, where Umbral Watch and Culter Dei would find their Primarch mile away from the site, now a smoking ruin, stood over a broken and hollowed out Machine body. Axe lodged into it's head and parts strewn apart as if the machine was ripped apart by a wild animal. Alaric himself was bloody, with searing holes across his body and a slash across his face, but undaunted as he returned to the front with his Sons.
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While a Primarch dueled a war machine, the Imperium continued it's war, the light of the Revanant's ritual played havoc with the fleet's of the Men of Iron, devastating hundreds of their ships and leaving their strategies in ruin. Something the Imperium took advantage of, even if the cause was horrific and to be condemned.
With the Emperor finally able to send his forces in larger quantities across the system, alongside other Martain and Legion forces. Worlds began to be taken and held under the Imperial banner, which left Point Zero as the final target.
The skies darkened as landers bloated out the sky and delivered the soldiers of mankind, who like a tide tore down the Men of Iron's strongholds and broke their weapons of war. Soon all that was left was a single fortress complex held at the magnetic pole of the world, the center of their machine Empire and site of Q-E's main facilities.
Befitting the stakes of such a battle, the defenses of this final fortress tore through scores of the sieging Imperial forces throughout the attacks prior to this. And even now with the armies of the Imperium and Mechanicum bearing down on it, the machine fortress held firm and unbroken.
Each Primarch of this war attempted to break into the fortress, first was Hamon, whose mastery of artillery and machines of war hammered into the walls of the fortress, but could not breach the walls, only temper the Men of Iron's own counter attacks. Second was Alaric, who used Hamon's continued attacks as a smokescreen for small-scale infiltration via the Culter Dei and his own Legion, to break the Fortress inside. His attacks had breached into the fortress, but all were repealed or killed in action by the defending machines.
Third was Zyanya, whose own strategy mirrored her brother Alaric's but was focused on claiming the "Heart" of the Fortress, dozens of squads who volunteered their lives to reach the depths of the fortress went forward, only one soul reached the main chamber where Q-E was held, her vitals indicated she was alive for nine days after he Vox had cut communications.
Fourth was Minerva, tired of her Siblings caution and hungry for glory, prepared a bombardment from orbit with a small fleet of ships, the shells impacted and broke upon the Fortress, leading to openings that she led the charge into. The tide of Machines that flowed from these openings pushed back the Imperials as hordes of deranged Men of Scrap fell upon the lines, keeping those openings from being truly claimed before they could be slightly restored by the Men of Iron.
Fifth was Khaladon and Ferrus Manus, both having seen the folly of singular attempts of glory and brought their might together in a unified attack. Griffins and Thunderhawks flew through the skies as rumbling treads of vehicles barreled towards the front lines, pushing forward and claiming large portions of territory, but neither attempting to breach the fortress, as before they could attempt, they were ordered to maintain their plans. The Emperor had arrived.
The Emperor himself led his charge towards one of the still being repaired walls damaged, his Ten Thousand companions following close behind as they tore through the machine lines. While the Thunder Warriors pushed alongside the Legions to encircle the entire Fortress. Mechanicum and Steel Prince lines fired in precise ordinance to where the Emperor commanded, opening a singular path for his charge to enter through.
And for three hours the might of the Emperor and his forces broke through the Fortress, leading the Legions and the Primarchs through arcane and maddening passage ways, recovering the bodies of those lost and destroying all traces of the Men of Iron they could find. The charge only halted when it had reached the passageway to Q-E's chamber.
The Emperor ordered that none follow him, and to secure the fortress for further destruction when he returned. All obeyed…and it was silent, the Custodes of the ten thousand standing watch and the Thunder Warriors leading groups to where explosives were to be planted. Until the Emperor returned, no sign of battle but a weariness to his steps that only his children noticed, he said nothing until he reached the outside of the fortress and with a booming voice proclaimed to the assembled might of the Imperium and Mechnicum.
"HEAR ME, THE MEN OF IRON LAY DEFEATED ON THIS DAY, THE MIGHT OF MANKIND IS TRIUMPHANT, FOR THE IMPERIUM HAS NO EQUALS, LET NONE DISPUTE THAT ON THIS DAY, THAT THE AGE OF THE IMPERIUM BEGINS."
The Emperor would never speak of the end of Q-E and the battle inside the chamber, nor of the time when all was silent. Leaving many to wonder and question the true end of their hated foe. But for now…there was peace, the greatest foe of the Imperium lay destroyed, their forces scattered and leadership devastated, the murmurs of a triumph for this victory brewed, where the Emperor had another proclamation, one he needed to be heard by this gathering of forces and delivered across the galaxy.
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