Ashes You Reign

Climbing onto the cold adamantium carapace, Zareen felt her scar pulse in sync with her heartbeat—fast, dangerously fast.

“Warning: cortisol levels elevated.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” she muttered, slamming the hatch release before slipping onto the throne.

“Then even if the Emperor watches over us—I bid you good luck, Zareen.”

A rare display for the Magos; only in the final hour did his emotion storage banks finally leak.

“Thanks, Bel, let’s see the morrow together.”

Alekto thrummed to life, systems powering—the union between machina and man once more.
As the sight before her morphed into the familiar hangar, Ag’Dresil rekindled her nascent power.

Thou art ready?

“To kill Terhil—for the past ninety years, yes.”

Ready for anything?

“Anything…”

An already open transport awaited her. With a deep breath, she marched up the ramp, the castigator dry-fired once more—just to be sure. Just as Alekto placed itself against the wall, she caught a glimpse of Phoebe running into the ship, her coat and hair fluttering behind her.

“Sorry I’m late, I needed to sort some final orders,“ said the Inquisitor, breath ragged. “But I’m here now and ready to depart. Bellegymere at your discretion.”

The transport’s vox erupted with binaric as the final order came “[Launch protocols active]” The ship’s maw closed itself, leaving only the lumens above to light the deck. Then with a roar, the engines ignited and lifted the pair away into the empty void—destination, hell.

The trip was largely silent, only occasionally broken by the hull’s groans and the deck’s rattling—both women too entranced in their own mental preparations. With a sudden boom, the atmosphere below their feet tore apart as the vessel’s hull became superheated, followed by the harrowing countdown of descent.

“Ten minutes till arrival.”

“I— I haven’t asked yet, how do you expect to stay firm atop Alekto? There’s not exactly much to grab onto.”

“I need no railing. I’ll climb the carapace and psychically freeze the surface—my boots will lock in.”

“And that will hold? Not to doubt you but things might get warm—paired with your vulnerability up there…”

“I didn’t concoct this plan in the last hour, fret not—It’s a technique I used once during a high-orbit kill-team op. Cold-binding through psi-frost keeps me anchored, even through shockwaves.”

“With the way you describe it, I thought this was a sequel to operation ‘this-is-a-terrible-idea’. No offense.”

“If Reeta’s words are to be trusted, you will need every help you can get… even with your peculiarities. With an entire kingdom under his fist, Terhil has most likely grown far beyond what you have faced prior. Depending on how deep his pact with the Ruinous Powers has become, I would not write out twisted psychic gifts. In the absence of a pariah, I’m your next best help. And to soothe your aches if only a little, I won’t be standing tall atop Alekto, but instead just enough to face the tyrant freely. And besides, I trust my Knight to protect me.” As she turned to face the towering Castigator that remained still, safe for whirring actuators

“With every fiber of my being, with every piece of my spirit-forge within, and with every shard of my soul—yet…”

“What have I told you Zareen? There will be no room for doubts in the battle ahead. Focus and trust. The Emperor protects.”

“The Emperor protects,” she replied with a quiet sigh. Her talons scraped the command runes, stripping old paint as they moved.

“You have trained for almost a century. Nothing can stand in your way.”

“Apart from you.”

Phoebe paused at the woman’s words, she too felt the sting of doubt, of futures where nightmares reigned, where a broken rosette finds its place. “We cannot afford weakness, doubt, nor regret for even an instant. Whatever aches at our souls will prove to an opening ripe for the taking for the Archenemy. Only at our best can we hope to succeed.”

“Perhaps a year ago you would’ve said ‘or die in His name.’ You too feel it.”

“I—“ Silencing the words before they left her tongue. For an Inquisitor to fear death, for one to put personal matters before duty? It was unprofessional, delusional—heresy. Were Lilith’s critics aware of recent developments, she would be a fattened steak thrown to starving lions. Dogma screeched throughout her mind… She was Inquisitor Phoebe, pupil of Inquisitor Baarneas, agent to the Throne under the Ordo Malleus, chained to duty and poised to hunt foul warpspawn until the stars themselves are drenched in blood. Duty until death. Duty above all. Duty. Duty…

Was there another way?

To elevate oneself beyond dogma or emotion, to safeguard the Imperium without mimicking the very servitors their realm was built upon, was it possible? Every lesson, every teaching, every order spoke contrary. Lilith had spent her entire life locked behind such beliefs—and yet it only took a standard Terran year to pierce through ceramite convictions. Zareen’s own smile flashed into her mind, twisted with amber avian eyes, broken scarred skin, and traces where Ag’Dresil’s scar pulsed with life—yet despite it all, it was the face of the woman she loved. Dogma be damned—

“Five minutes till arrival.”

Still looking at the silent giant, its polished crimson and black plates covering unbridled power ready to be unleashed. “We will succeed, no matter the cost.”

The pilot simply scoffed through Alekto’s vox, understanding some matters need not remain bare at the final hour.

As the light dimmed to a darkened red glow, Alekto knelt as low as servos allowed, newly lubricated pistons holding several tons of the Imperium’s finest machinery in place. “Your stead awaits, my Lady.”

With a single deep breath, Phoebe grabbed onto the Knight before her and carefully climbed from armor plate to hanging piece. She recognized it at the first time she’d ever gotten this close to the Knight, enough to bask in its ancient glory. She felt cold adamantium, then warmer machinery. Almost burning her glove grabbing onto the wrong hinge. “Throne—“

“Everything alright?”

“Yes—don’t worry.” Spoke the Inquisitor upon reaching the apex, now kneeling right beside the carapace’s hatch. Then with a single thought, palm resting upon it, the surface’s temperature dropped below zero, faint beads of humidity and sweat freezing into crystals. Lilith swung her leg and one after another, her boots locked into place, encased in solid ice.

Zareen felt the cool penetrate her cockpit briefly before her armor quickly adjusted for the discrepancy. “Holding firm?” She called out, not knowing Lilith’s fate. Alekto had a rear emergency ocular, but it didn’t show what was above.

Lilith tested her mettle as she tried to free herself by force to no avail—answering once content with the results. “Yes, it should remain until our mission is complete.”

“One minute till arrival.”

The engines grew louder with passing moment, akin to a cacophony of screeching souls attempting to bear the transport’s weight upon mortal shoulders.

“Thirty seconds till arrival”

“Memento Machina Cor Imperium” muttered the pilot, barely audible under rumbling.

“What is that?” asked Phoebe.

“Nothing, just a memento from a different age…”

Before the Lilith could inquire further, the vessel’s final countdown boomed, drowning them out.

“Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One…”

Perfectly synced the vessel crashed into the darkened soil below, landing struts eating away at the kinetic energy as its occupants barely felt any recoil. The overhead lights swapped to a bright green followed by an alarm as the lamp lowered itself, revealing the landscape before them. Reo XI was a death world largely covered in a rocky surface with sporadic mountain ranges, little to no fauna or flora existed; instead, mighty titans of nature rocked its surface—storms that raged across the globe.

As daylight pierced into the transport, the winds followed, relatively tame for what was known on Reo but consequential enough for Lilith to hug Alekto in search of stability. The current battlefield centered around the planet’s largest mining operation which dug so deep into the planet’s crust that the very ecosystem morphed into creating a relative eye of calm in Reo’s never-ending storms.

It was in this eye that Gods laughed as they grew fat from the folly of mortals whom fought for ideals greater than themselves. It was in here where steel would clash, as was foretold eons ago.

---

With one great step, Alekto marched onto the ramp before pausing.

“You don’t need to take it slow—I won’t budge.” anticipated Lilith, feeling Zareen’s hesitancy. “Give it your all, as will I.”

“Your wishes are my orders.” The pilot replied simply, and as servos whirred into action, the Knight set out onto the barren surface where the sound of weapons fire and explosions echoed. The vista before them was harrowing, fighting was concentrated to the mine’s east where defenders took shelter between piles of rubble and heavy-duty machinery.

Reo’s surface made trench warfare near-impossible; the fighting was open, brutal, and constant. Twisted mockeries of daemon infested Knights marched and crushed with perverse pleasure and little care for the guardsmen’s defensive fire. War Dogs charged through open fields as lascannons and melta blasts crashed into them—even as one saw its entire right side melt away, revealing a heretical merging of steel and flesh. The beast still continued its course until it reached the weapon emplacement and tore apart any unfortunate souls that met its unending rage. Leman russes fired in retaliation, annihilating the maddened dogs still feasting on fresh kills before turning their guns to their next targets. Losses escalated rapidly on the blood soaked battlefield, only a dozen hours had passed since initial contact and yet more carcasses littered Reo XI than the opening days of some of the worst battles the sector had seen.

Reinforcements resorted to using their own previous comrades as makeshift fortifications. Squads fired out of blown tanks and broken Knights in a desperate search for protection. Thunderbolts zipped overhead, catching hordes of Screamers, tearing through warpflesh with their own wings like a speeder through a cloud of flies. With Valenmour’s corruption reaching heightened levels never before recorded, their ranks were filled with abominations from the Changer’s realm. Pink and blue horrors stalked the battlefield appearing out of thin air between hordes of guardsmen, subsequently tearing through flesh and fear alike.

There were no frontlines here—only survival. Regiments resorted to defending each other in overlapping arcs of fire to avoid ambush from the charging chaos Knights and countless daemon spawn.

One such encampment found itself at the mercy of a trio of Questoris abominations, one stood back spewing endless fire from its dual gatling cannons while the other two crashed through makeshift barricades to tear through loyalists. However, just as chainsword met flesh, the leftmost Rampager found itself sliced in half by a blade of devastating energy, air cackling in its wake. Just as swiftly, the second followed when power escaped its systems from a total reactor failure, a decisive cut through the rear.

One of the regiment’s remaining souls, a young private, Solstein, stared upwards at the angel that had saved his life—there stood a Knight in its gleaming inquisitorial scheme, it was Alekto, blade sparkling with unbridled power, still hungry for more. Before the private could finish his prayer, the giant marched away in the direction of the final foe. The ion barrier lit up as hundreds of shells detonated midair, dual cannons firing without end in the vain hope of halting the Castigator’s advance. The torrent had become such that sight between the giants was cut off by smoke and fire, the daemon infested Knight prayed to Gods above for its target’s demise—prayers torn away as the black and red figure emerged from the clouds of destruction and stabbed the Chaos Knight through the ocular devices in its helmet, slicing and boiling the mutated pilot inside. Steam and smoke billowed as the traitor engine collapsed, molten vitae spilling from its corpse.

“You know I might not even need you.” Quipped Zareen sarcastically, already widening her sights to locate their query.

“Overconfidence is—“

“Yes yes, it was simply a jest.”

“Either way there hasn’t been a report of Terhil… Something’s off. The silence reeks of a trap.”

“Reeta perhaps?”

“Could be, he would’ve loved to be center stage to the carnage. Keep your eyes peeled for anything, if her story is true, we might be able to gain a serious upper hand.”

“Understood,” Answered the pilot, already marching towards their next foe, etching ever closer to the mine itself.

An hour had passed without a sign of either Valenmour’s monarch or their potential traitor, until—

“Receiving a transmission… from an unknown source?” said Batal, startled by the bizarre message.

“Do you think—?”

Zareen, keyed through the console before her to play the message so both could hear it.

“74.232 . . . 233.592 trust” repeating without end from a disjointed mechanical voice.

“Coordinates!” quipped Batal. “But who’s?”

I recognize the signal—Reeta.

“I see. Ag’Dresil says its our potential friend.” She continued.

“An obvious trap… Nevertheless this trap will likely involve our target. The risk will have to be worth it.”

“I don’t like this Lilith.”

“Neither do I but I sense the Emperor is on our side today.”

Zareen took one long deep breath before inputting the coordinates into the cogitator before her. “Looks like its about seven hundred meters North of here, right by the mine’s maw.”

“You’ll have to be careful to not fall then.”

“Lovely…”

With their new course, Alekto marched onwards, traversing the sporadic battlefield—ion shield eating lasfire and cannon shells before their sources were silenced momentarily by the bolt cannon. The Knight’s massive feet crushed horrors beneath them; its blade swept once, silencing any survivors. She was determined and ready for the worst—or so she thought.

Two large figures morphed to life in the distance as the two women approached their destination. The right shape was the familiar Sapphire Slaughter that she had spotted in her duel with Apsinthaeus, a modest Questoris with aggressive dual daemonbreath thermal cannons.

The Left figure however had manifested out of one’s nightmares. It bore little resemblance with Voltstina, only its colors and fragments of armor still remained. What was once a proud, illustrious and deadly Knight, had now twisted itself into a vile amalgamation of flesh and adamantium, bloated beyond what the machine’s legs could support in normal conditions. Its surface was a mix of twisting warpflesh and scintillating metal, covered in microscopic eyes that created a tapestry of horror and dread. Despite appearing humanoid from a distance, the beast’s articulations had no rhyme or reason, limbs began and ended on a nonsensical whim, joints found themselves splattered across the Knight’s shape randomly, and where once great weaponry hanged, only grotesque imitations twitched and wept, barely resembling weapons. Voltstina’s chest featured a disfigured maw, as wide as the mass of flesh allowed, its edges fitting with razor sharp teeth. The pilot found herself drawn to the darkness between its lips, finding a hundred more lining the interior, one after another—an infinite gateway to hell. Zareen wondered if anything human remained in its cockpit, if there even was a cockpit left…

Even through Alekto’s shell, she could smell the corruption in the air, a foul taste of ozone and rotten flesh. Her throat closed, and bile threatened to rise. It was the scent of damnation.

Lilith clutched tighter to the carapace. Even from here, she felt it, smelled it, saw it—the wrongness, the weight of a soul unraveled.

“Finally the s-stage is set.” A voice boomed from the monstrosity—twisted, sickly, as if each syllable clawed its way free from something trying to die. The voice was wrong. As if every passing moment it lived was an affront to the order of the universe.

Zareen’s pulse stuttered. Voltstina. Or what remained of it. She remembered this Knight once as a symbol of nobility—a rival, yes, but still a warrior. Now it was little more than a shrine to entropy.

“Is this the power you sought? This… filth? Was it really worth it?!” She answered.

“This isss far beyond your m-mortal existence! You do not s-see beyond the veil. The gifts of chaos are so so magnificent, I am reborn! And yet this isss only the beginning! With your death I will a-ascend! I will be immortal!”

“Gifts? Immortality? All you deserve is a mirror to see the monster you’ve become and the ashes you reign.”

Lilith did not intervene, instead staring at the Sapphire Slaughter, trying to discern anything from the Knight—but tried as she could, all that came was the endless rage and death from the slaughter around them.

“Ashesss? You are blind to the truth! I have freed Valenmour from its s-shackles! We can now become what we were owed after all this time… We are free and feared! Every soul that lays eyes upon this House will tremble in fear, cower in panic, and die in agony! Watch as my exalted armies march fearlessly into rows of shaking little soldiers. Watch as death envelops this world.”

“It is you who are blind—blind to the corruption that has rotten and doomed House Valenmour. You are not feared, look around you! Countless ‘little soldiers’ fight tooth and nail against your abominations. Their hearts are not filled with despair but fervor and hatred; Hatred for your disgusting ‘gifts’ and your twisted ideals. In your own ego driven madness, you have become the antithesis to your aspirations, you have destroyed the very House you sought to restore. You are an abomination, a fool, and a most damning of all—a failed legacy!”

“Sssilence! Enough prattling, only through blood and steel will you see the Truth! My Champion, f-fulfill your duty and burn these miscreants.”

Without a word Sapphire Slaughter rose from behind the grotesque Voltstina, dual daemonbreath cannons ready to unleash the concentrated power of a star onto their target.

Alekto swung towards the incoming Questoris, “Was it a trap after all?!” muttered Zareen, already spinning her bolt cannon’s barrels in anticipation.

“Careful Zareen!” Yelled Phoebe, ducking behind the thick adamantium armor.

The massive meltas powered up, air sizzling around the coils that shackled the weapon as heat began building up. The duo of barrels became enlightened with a fiery orange aura, vaporizing any spec of dust that could be found until the penultimate moment—capacitors reaching their limit—the mighty weapon emptied its guts as a beam of pure superheated energy fired outwards, followed by a incredibly bright flash, almost blinding the Inquisitor were she not expecting it. The beam carved a blinding line through air and stone alike—everything it touched flash-burned to slag. The very air screamed, turned to glass, then to ash. For a heartbeat, hell itself had fired.

---

“TRAITOR!” screeched the amalgamation that had become Terhil and his Knight, its voice piercing through the veil between worlds with overpowering hatred.

“This is no betrayal, usurper.” Reeta’s voice rang out, clear even through her battered Knight’s vox.
“This is justice for our House, for our King, for my brother. You have irredeemably tainted our legacy—our House is gone. Only hungry beasts remain. I will not see myself living in your putrid shadow, no. With the last of my blood, I will destroy the one who’s ruined us all! Terhil Myrlaugur, prepare to die in quivering agony.”

Just as suddenly, both daemonbreath cannons fired again and again, each salvo melting away armor and flesh alike, leaving only molten slag that reeked of warp taint.

“You—!”

Terhil’s cries vanished beneath the roar of daemonfire. Each beam tore through the air like a blade through parchment, leaving only molten ruin behind.

As Reeta drew Terhil’s fire, Alekto surged to the side, taking advantage of the distraction, bolt cannon emptying a torrent of shells into what remained of the twisted creature. Hundreds of shells crashed into corrupted flesh before detonating into a symphony of carnage, showering the surrounding in vile blood.

Phoebe, shielding her eyes from the melta’s searing flashes, concentrated her full psychic energy on channeling a torrent of raw warp lightning that arced through the air like a screaming specter, seeking flesh and steel alike.

Without relenting for a second, Sapphire Slaughter continued its assault, as more melta blasts vaporized parts of Voltstina, and in between shots, she recklessly used the massive cannons as blunt weapons—never giving Terhil a moment of respite.

“Feeb— I will— tear—!”

“SILENCE MONSTER, THE ONLY WORDS I EXPECT ARE PLEAS FOR MERCY!” Roared Reeta, as energy banks reached dangerous levels from overuse, and yet she did not stop for a second.

As Voltstina screeched under the hail of destruction, Zareen’s scar pulsed—faster, harder—until finally, Ag’Dresil’s voice pierced her mind. Run! Beware the daemon!

“Wha—“

All of a sudden the armored flesh that had been the corrupted Monarch became engulfed with warp flame followed by the very fabric of reality tearing itself open to reveal a fragment of the immaterium.

“Zareen! Don’t look into it!” yelled Lilith, keeping herself steady atop the carapace despite the immense energy before them.

A sinister laugh echoed from within the concentrated bubble of the Warp.

The air bent. Flesh screamed. What emerged from the warpfire no longer bore the shape of a Knight—it was something ancient, crowned in horns and clothed in the suffering of a thousand minds.

“You pitiful fools. You truly thought yourself capable of slaying me? Terhil Myrlaugur? Dreadful Knight, Sanguine Monarch and now… Daemon Prince of Chaos!”

Where armor once stood, only hardened flesh remained, covered in infinitely repeating motifs that drew Zareen’s gaze. In its gleaming yet ever changing shell, the pilot saw figures—her brothers, her mother, and her father—all staring back with hollowed eyes and haunting smiles that tore through their faces. Her heart raced at the vision, she froze, unable to lift her eyes off of the apparitions.

“Y-You’re not real!” She tried to convince her enraptured soul to no avail, the warp’s tendrils wrapped themselves around the young pilot, manifesting themselves inside Alekto’s cockpit.

Sensing her companion’s loss of control, Phoebe attempted to reach into the woman’s mind; “Steady yourself Zareen! Focus your thoughts on the present! Do not let it reach for you!”

“I—“ Before another thought could leave Zareen’s lips, her family merged and morphed into a vicious grotesque creature—and yet its features mirrored her own. “Is this—me?”

“I’ve already shown you the future, little one. And yet so much more waits—your true self, waiting to be unleashed.”

“Kark it” Yelled Lilith from above, redirecting her psychic force unto the carapace below. A new tendril, made of pure energy pierced through Zareen’s cage and prickled the woman, just enough to grab her attention and tear her away from the daemon’s grasp.

Returning to reality, under battered breath, “You saved my life—“ finally responded the pilot.

“You can thank me later, we have a daemon to exorcise!”

Zareen refocused her thoughts, seeing through Alekto’s oculars once more. Where once a decrepit bloated Knight stood, a entirely new beast had taken its place. A grotesque fusion of Terhil and Voltstina, now nothing but a personification of horror—bloated, blood-hungry, and unbound by reason. It stood slightly taller than Alekto, on reverse jointed twisted legs that ended in disfigured talons. Nine appendages protruded from its torso, some ending in razor sharp blades while others resembled deformed weapons with little reason for functionality. At its top was a single grotesque shape that made up the creature’s head, it was littered with eyes and maws with jagged teeth. Three massive, avian blue eyes stared down from above, each peering into the soul like a shell puncturing feeble flesh.

“Finally, your appearance mirrors the darkness in your soul.” Quipped Zareen at her reborn foe.

The creature bellowed an ear piercing snicker. “If only you weren’t so blinded by false faith.”

“My faith keeps me alive daemon!” Without a second thought, Alekto surged forwards , energy blade cackling with energy taken directly from Ag’Dresil’s scar, amplifying its power tenfold as the air turned to glass in its wake.

She swung the blade in a downwards motion before being caught by a serrated malformed blade, its own tainted energy field blocking the power weapon. Zareen brought the castigator cannon to bear against the appendage, tearing it apart under unending carnage. As the cut off flesh slammed into the ground below, it began evaporating into a blue mist that found itself swallowed back into Voltstina.

“What is this—?” Asked the pilot, her expression puzzled only to be followed by dread as the missing limb reformed itself in place, exactly as it was. “Lilith!?” She continued.

“I’m thinking!”

Pleased with his display of newly found power, Terhil began his own assault, charging at Alekto in an incomprehensible motion of twisted limbs. Zareen parried the onslaught with her blade and held back the daemonic weaponry’s fire with a rapidly depleting ion shield. Thanks to her Knight’s agility, she was able to keep herself out of harm’s way and give Phoebe the crucial time she needed to overcome their foe’s regeneration.

“I have an idea, its a long shot but I think I can wrestle against the forces that bring lost warp energy back to him!”

“I’m going to need an opening though! He’s not letting up!”

“Where is Reeta?! She could give us the opportunity we need!.”

“I’m looking but I can’t see her anywhere! Maybe she was caught in the transformation—”

As if responded to her query, Sapphire Slaughter rose from behind the beast and fired its cannons pointblank, veritable spears of light piercing straight through the warp tainted flesh.

“HOW DOES IT FEEL TRAITOR? FOR BLADES TO DIG INTO YOUR BACK, AS YOU DID TO OUR MONARCH!” Roared Reeta, her voice booming out of her chest like a heavy bolter barrage.

And yet no scream of agony came from Terhil, only a repugnant chuckle as he stared down at the newly formed charred wounds.

“Is this truly the extent of your revenge? How pathetic, even your failure of a brother showed more zeal!”

“What did you sa—“ before her voice could carry them, three of the daemon arms slammed and slashed into Sapphire Slaughter. Both daemonbreath cannons were torn and sliced apart as power banks detonated and vaporized the Knight’s arms. Terhil followed up by firing the larger of the beam cannons into the remaining chassis, turning adamantium into molten slag, rendering the machina silent.

But before the killing blow could be delivered, Zareen’s blade carved through the air and into fresh warp flesh and dug through its thick hide. Two appendages were sliced cleanly off in an instant, Phoebe brought their plan to fruition and forced her will upon the regenerating mass, freezing it in its tracks.

“It works!” echoed both women, perhaps hope was finally on their side.

Alekto met the advancing daemon with another charge, blade howling with amplified psychic power. Sparks erupted as corrupted claws met sanctified steel. One limb was severed mid-swing; another stabbed into Alekto’s shoulder plating, scraping against inner armor.

Zareen snarled through gritted teeth, pain radiating from her link to the Knight. “I need a window!”

“I’m working on it!” shouted Phoebe, shifting her focus to the writhing flesh around the beast’s knee-joints. A psychic pulse lashed out, freezing one limb mid-strike—just long enough for Alekto to shatter it with a booted stomp.

As the half hour mark ticked, the fighting remained fierce. Zareen and Lilith were on the back foot, trying to find openings to slowly eat away at the daemon’s form—paradoxically however, with each limb removed, Terhil became faster, stronger, and deadlier. With only three appendages still holding, the beast could easily keep up with the nimble Alekto and regularly stole glancing blows at the Imperial Knight.

Razor sharp blades tore through adamantium with ease, each cut felt by the pilot, and every wound drained her further. Ag’Dresil’s scar burned bright as Zareen’s teeth sunk deep into her damaged lips, keeping her mental in focus, while vital energy poured into failing systems, keeping Alekto combat capable.

Terhil lunged forward with his entire weight in a sudden surge of power, seemingly aiming for a lethal blow. Zareen sluggishly shifted to the right which left her left arm still in harm’s way, swearing under ragged breath, she redirected the failing ion shield to eat the brunt of the beast’s attack. As warp blades slammed into the energy barrier, circuits burst apart under the strain and yet the shield held thanks to the now flaming scar’s energy.

Having stopped the brutal assault, Zareen prepared for a swift retaliation before suddenly—

“TH—RONE MY H—EAD!”

Phoebe’s cries tore through the pilot with the crushing realization it had been a feint, to create an opening in her defenses to target the psyker.

Lilith felt Terhil’s entire psychic might crushing her, an endless torrent of sacrificial souls, peasants of Valenmour—their agony, their despair, their hatred, all encircling the psyker’s mind. Even with her mental fortitude and decades of training, she was no match for the daemon’s power, the least Phoebe could do was delay the inevitable.

No longer was she above Alekto, instead a storm surrounded her, not of wind but raw warp essence. The taint of ozone overpowering her senses. Lilith tried forcing her eyes and ears shut but her opponent’s will was too powerful—with teary eyes she stared into the warp, into hell itself.

Disjointed and disfigured faces appeared to make up the stream of energy, all with expressions of horror as if frozen in death. As her eyes peered deeper, the warp gazed back—her own face, bloody, battered, and littered with heretical etchings.

“No, this isn’t real. You’re nothing, just a figment of chaos!”

The face mimicked her words in perfect unison, still staring with wide eyes and a sinister sneer.

“I am me, there are no others. Your tricks won—“

As the apparition continued word for word, the face suddenly became more—a head, a torso, a body free to walk forward. With slow steps, the mimic ended right before Phoebe, face to face.

Every fiber of Lilith’s being wished nothing more than to run or evaporate this creature but she could do neither, instead forced to watch.

Finally the apparition spoke of its own will: “Well? Do you not recognize yourself?” Its voice perfectly identical to hers.

“I am no warpspawn, I am human.”

“Oh? Have you forgotten our upbringing? No, you are well aware and yet you hide it from yourself.”

“What are you talking about? Yes I was raised by heretics but that does not remove the human blood from my veins. And ‘our upbringing’? Spare me your lies filth.”

The creature laughed revealing its razor sharp jagged teeth, the same as Zareen’s. “Come now Lilith, you know. You remember.”

“The only thing I remember is how much I hate you! And how much I wish to exterminate every last presence of Chaos upon this galaxy!”

Clicking its tongue and shaking its head, the mimic continued. “How long will you maintain this lie? Deep down in that fragile head of ours, you know our parents did not give birth to a psyker.”

With only the poison of words, Lilith’s mental barriers shattered revealing an ugly truth, one she had spent her whole life running from—one she was forced to confront.

“I— They— They did! I am the dau—“

“LIES! We might have been human if only for a few breaths, before being offered to the realms of Chaos. YOU KNOW THIS! You remember vividly that night, the screams, the anguish, the dread, all these emotions. A newborn babe gifted to the warp, only to return as Chosen.”

“NO! THAT IS SIMPLY A NIGHTMARE YOU’VE PLUCKED FROM MY MIND!”

“A nightmare? No, memories, ones you’ve hidden from yourself. Now you can reconcile with the truth Lilith.”

“ITS NOT REAL! Its not real…! Its not… It…”

“Yes! Feel the truth unravel! Bask in its harsh embrace! Feel His Touch!”

“—ITH!”

A new voice pierced the veil, one that sounded exactly like a woman she’d met on a lone backwater world.

“LILITH!” It continued.

‘Another trick?’ Phoebe thought at first, before memories of their mind link echoed through her mind. Even after two years, there still remained a faint connection.

“IT— ZARE— MY VOICE! FOC—!”

“But… I am not who you think I am… I’m a chaos-made horror…”

“—HAT?”

“I— I’m warpspawn, chaos filth… No better than the beasts we hunt.”

“THAT MAK— TWO OF US THEN!”

“What? N-no this is diff—“

“LIST— ME! YOU SAI— YOURSELF, OUR ACTIONS DEFINE US, NOT OUR CIRCUMSTAN— BIRTH!”

“Yes… I—I did.”

“GOOD, NOW FIGHT! FO— MY VOICE!”

“Kark this,”

she snarled, eyes blazing,

“Kark everything!”

With renewed vigor, Phoebe focused on the woman she loved. She gathered her last psychic strength into a single point—one truth in a sea of lies. Manifesting into her hand, now free to move—a blade of pure light, made entirely of Lilith’s emotions, her love. In this galaxy of blood and steel, she forged her weapon not from hate—but from the one truth the Warp could not mimic. Finally with a swift strike, before the mimic could even process, the psyker slashed the apparition apart leaving in its wake an opening, an escape.

And through it, she stepped—no longer haunted, but whole.

---

With a sudden whoosh, Phoebe crossed the event horizon back into her body, finding herself atop Alekto once more.

“Bless the Emperor! You listened!”

“That makes us even then.” replied Lilith, tongue in cheek.

Yet despite having won the battle, the war was far from over. Terhil still retained a devastating superiority over the Imperial Knight, and more fatigued than ever before, Zareen was struggling to keep up.

The monster before them roared in anger at the failure of its psychic assault, determined to make up for it in raw carnage as it surged once more, limbs flailing in lethal arcs. All nine appendages had regenerated during Lilith’s lapse, her psychic grip on their stasis broken. All of their previous efforts had been wasted.

“Any better ideas? I can’t hold for much longer,” Zareen gritted out.

“I’m trying to think of something but its not looking good.”

“No pressure—just dying over here!”

There is a solution

“Ag’Dresil?!”

The scar, let it consume you.

“Last time you said that would kill me!”

It most likely will.

“That’s not a solution!”

The Excelsior understood the cost.

“That’s—“ Zareen stopped herself, teeth piercing through her lips again as the decision weighed upon her shoulders. Ag’Dresil was correct, Lilith must survive at all costs, just as those Cadians had to for the Excelsior. One final sacrifice to uphold its duty.

But Phoebe… She would never consent to such a plan—it was tantamount to suicide. Yet was there any other option? Do nothing and both of them would likely perish, or take the deal and at least one might live.

Wasn’t that a Knight’s duty? To live and die for their Lord? Yes, duty. The Chivalric code. That’s what it meant to be a Knight.

“Lilith, anything…?”

“I— I’m thinking!”

Terhil did not relent, more and more swings pierced through Zareen’s defenses, cutting away critical components.

This was it.

She took one final deep breath, made an aquila sign upon her breast and spoke her final words.

“Lilith, whatever happens—I love you.”

Do it

“Wait—Zareen, what are you—”

The rest was lost in the explosion of light.

Just as Voltstina had before it, warpflame engulfed Alekto, melting away Phoebe’s psy-ice and throwing her off the Knight onto the muddy floor below. The air shrieked in agony as a rift of time and space tore open where the Knight once stood, swallowing it whole in a bubble of cackling lightning and volatile energy.

What emerged bore little resemblance with the grotesque beast that was Terhil, instead taking shape from Ag’Dresil’s true form—a chimera of avian and man. Humanoid in stature but winged and covered in a thick blue hide formed by thousands of feathers, its head in the shape of a great eagle with a single large amber eye and a golden beak. Both majestic and horrifying.

Zareen screeched into the air above as fresh warp goop evaporated off of her gleaming wings, and bright silver talons. Then staring back at her opponent, the chimera charged forwards ready to tear apart flesh from bone.

Terhil caught the incoming talons with his own blades before attempting to retaliate but Zareen was quicker—so quick in fact she’d already severed an appendage with the initial blow, unbeknown to the daemon.

Well aware of the incoming regeneration, she struck with her feet’s talons in a coordinated backflip that tore away two more limbs. Terhil leaped backwards, now on the defensive and resorting to keeping the chimera at bay from a distance—at least until his strength returned.

By the time the lost appendages returned, another was lost to Zareen’s beak, snapping it off with lethal efficiency.

It was a race against time.

Caution meant Terhil would effectively be immortal if he kept regenerating. She needed to be faster, more aggressive. She couldn’t afford to leave any space for her foe. Added was the ticking bomb in her soul—rapidly destabilizing due to the immense stress of her newly found form.

Adopting recklessness was the only course of action for Zareen. Terhil had to die.

Leaping into the air briefly, she dove directly onto the beast before her and tore off two more appendages with sharpened talons. Now face to face with Terhil, the chimera began a torrent of attacks aimed at her foe’s weapons, even at the cost of her own. With a heavy swing from her right wing, her talons snatched onto one more arm, crushing it into a paste of warp flesh—however retaliation came in the shape of a blade digging into her left leg, slicing through vital muscles that kept her steady.

This wasn’t the end, five more remained.

Zareen screeched directly in the daemon’s face and using her arms as leverage, she crashed into Terhil with her full weight, knocking them both onto the muddy ground. During the impact she snatched onto three more limbs, slicing them and tearing through twisted malformed flesh.

Two more.

With her beak she snatched onto another as Terhil attempted to bring it to bear to defend himself.

One more.

She’d landed on it.

Right through her abdomen.

Gritting through her fading life, Zareen grabbed onto the final appendage and crushed it apart, leaving its blade still implanted.

Terhil wailed in protest, screaming in the hope his limbs returned before the final hour.

No. No hope remains for you.

With a downward motion, the chimera’s beak pierced into his chest—aimed directly at the creature’s heart, tearing through the abominable flesh that protected it.

In a sudden gasp, Terhil froze, his trio of eyes widened in an expression he had never felt before—horror.

With life escaping him, he screeched one final time as his body dissolved, warp form breaking apart to return to its natural realm—the warp.

With Terhil gone, Zareen’s fading form crashed to the ground below. Her breath was ragged, weak—dying

---

With Terhil slain and cast wailing back into the warp, the battle was over. The remaining weapons of House Valenmour flayed helplessly like a flock without a shepherd, easily being exterminated by loyalist forces.

The once barren rock had turned charcoal black from the battle, ash rained down from weapon’s fire as it mixed with the pouring rain that had begun. The air was warm, it smelled of ozone, burnt circuitry and machine oil—remnants of a hard-fought battle.

Lilith felt her hands slip in the building mud as she got up, her coat’s edges had been burnt with trails of blood from open wounds, none fatal. The rosette at her neck remained despite its lost piece, its surface touched by Phoebe’s life essence.

She ran towards the creature that had become Zareen, her form slowly dissolving into screaming light—now only the size of an overgrown Ogryn.

As she arrived by the beast’s side, Zareen’s breathing was heavily stunted, as if clawing each breath from death itself. Her remaining amber eye rotated towards the Inquisitor, pupil slowly widening, a sign of recognition.

“I’m here Zareen, I’m here.” Phoebe’s voice crackled, fighting mounting tears at the sight of her dying Knight. She placed a hand onto Zareen’s forehead, feeling the hardened skin, as if caressing Alekto itself.

“Y-you did well. I could not be prouder of you.”

The creature, with great pain moved a limb towards Lilith, akin to a great paw that ended in razor sharp talons—now broken and battered. Staring into her deep amber eye, Lilith’s remaining fortitude shattered and tears began showering. Crystals fell onto the dark mud below, saint’s tears on heresy flesh.

Zareen’s breathing became softer and rarer, as lungs raged against the dying of the light—the warp would soon reclaim its own.

Lilith’s moved her hands at her rosette and removed it from its chain, placing it in the creature’s paw with both hands.

“You earned this. My Knight. My love.”

The large eye moved to study the gift before returning to the Inquisitor, dilating fully at her words, a single golden tear mixing with the rain.

“Keep it, this belongs the woman who saved me, not the monster I created.”

She moved herself close, embracing the beast’s forehead with her lips, one last time.

“Goodbye Zareen, may the Emperor guide you where I cannot follow.”

The monster shuddered one last time, before moments later the warp reclaimed its tithe—finally ripping away the form that had been Zareen as raw energy flickered away into its natural realm. Light vanished away, leaving only bloodstains in the shape of wings.

The rosette fell from dissipating flesh onto the ground below, bloody, muddy, broken.

Lilith had already turned away, taking slow deliberate steps away from the epicenter of carnage as a transport descended from the heaven’s in the distance. Gloved fingers clutching where her rosette once burned as crystal tears flew away in the wind, scintillating in the transport’s lights, like starlight in the cruel cosmos. Her empty chain now glowing akin to a ghostly noose that she ripped away with bloodied gloves, throwing it onto the ground as she marched.

No more would prejudice and dogma tie Phoebe. No more would someone break themselves for her. No more.

As the oceans above poured themselves, the sliding mud began enveloping the last vestige of what had been, hissing like quenching steel. The rosette sank deeper into the ground until it was no longer, its light never to see the light of day again—safe for its flickering blue hue and whispers ‘my final gift’.

Until a hand plucked it from the ground.

“Wait… I’m still here Lilith…”

A whisper at first, an echo— No, a voice! The words tore through Phoebe, crystal clear like a bolt straight to the heart. In an instant she turned her head back to her lover’s grave—only to find a sprawled woman on the muddy soil, naked and gripping onto the tarnished rosette. Her amber eyes glistening as pure white steam escaped the newly reborn flesh, warp-goop still sliding off with every movement—even reborn, light marks remain, as did Ag’Dresil’s scar albeit fainter and etched onto her skin as a final legacy.

Before even her own mind processed the sight ahead, Lilith already began running back with every fiber of her exhausted body.

“Emperor confirm my visions— Is it really you!?” She exclaimed as her knees fell to the floor, hands trembling as they reached out to Zareen.

“Yes… It’s me.”

“B-but how?”

“Ag’dresil… sacrificed everything… for me… Alekto’s final gift.” The naked woman brought a muddied arm outwards towards the Inquisitor.

Phoebe hastily held onto her stretched hand, still trembling. “I—“ Her own tears streaking down her tired face, clinging to every particle of dirt and grime—not of sadness, but of joy. “Everything will be fine now, you’re safe Love…” Phoebe’s fingers brushed the scar—still fever-hot, pulsing like a second heartbeat.

“There’s another… compliment I can add to the… two thousand, beautiful dirty tears.” The words struggling to leave vocal cords that have yet to fully form, a faint warp steam still dissipating from the woman.

Through sniffling tears, Phoebe managed to exhale a chuckle. “This is what crosses your mind? You—“ She lightly shook her head. “No, I think I could easily find two thousand things before you.”

Zareen simply smiled back, warm and innocent.

“Let’s head home now and finally leave this blasted world behind.”

As the distant vessel moved ever closer, closing onto what might have delayed the Inquisitor. The transport’s floodlights froze on them, ramp lowering onto the battlefield below—Gastel’s shout, Sasin’s binaric gasp—but Lilith didn’t care.

---