In the World of Sword and Magic as Space Marine

Chapter 34: Vengeance Not Revenge

Chapter 34: Vengeance Not Revenge

"Kill, kill, kill!" A large number of warriors shout as they surround the makeshift fighting arena while eating and drinking ales. Kharak quickly kills four out of five prisoners with nothing but an ax in his hand. The last man, equipped with black armor and sword, kept his distance with fear in his eyes.

Kharak, the leader of his Warband known as 'Khorne's Ravagers,' wasn't wearing his armor as he knew he had all the advantages and upper hand against native people in this world. His face is animal-like with sharp teeth, multiple scars and metal plates attached to his back head. The mere sight of his face would make even seasoned warriors second guess their survival or ability to fight.

Seeing how his last prey is retreating slowly, Kharak grabbed his ax with both hands and threw it, decapitating the last prisoner in half, including his black armor. Crushing the corpse's head with his metal boots, Kharak exits the arena where his throne and power armor are.

Next to the throne, Kharak's wargear is placed, composed of a bolter, chain ax and several frag grenades, but one thing that gets everyone's attention is his power armor. The armor color is red and gold, while the shoulder plate is painted with the World Eater's symbol, clarifying that Kharak is a berserker of the World Eater.

As a Chaos Space Marine, Kharak made his God proud as he slaughtered the weak and recruited the strongest warriors in this new world after breaking their sanity. His Warband is 100 men strong, all of them composed of natives of this world. Few of his men have died during the last raid, but this only strengthened his force as only the strong survive. Kharak has 35 prisoners, including two leaders who will be the main entertainment as he would enjoy converting them or slaughter them.

After putting back the power armor with help from his slaves, Kharak took his favorite skull cup and drank from it. With straight victories and growing numbers of most formidable warriors under his command, the World Eater Space Marine found new glorious ways to kill and gain favor from the Blood God. If Kharak could deliver this world to Khorne, he could be rewarded with the possible ascension to Daemonhood.

"Bring out ten prisoners from their cages. Let us see if they have the potential to serve our God." Kharak gave the order to which several warriors followed his command to bring out seven knights and 3-foot soldiers. After placing them in the fighting arena, four chaos warriors threw ten weapons in front of the prisoners, which made prisoners confused but stayed quiet.

"Take your weapons and show us who you are. Kill your brothers in arms and bring their head; if you accomplish this, I will let you live and have a fighting chance to join us in the end." Kharak's words shocked the prisoners, but they immediately took the weapon from the ground and slaughtered people close to them. The blood bath continued until only five stood in front, with each holding a severed head in their hands.

Satisfied by this, Kharak signals five chaos followers to go down and collect the new trophies and give them a drink to quench their thirst. The five survivors were given five skull cups with ale mixed with the Blood of the victims the survivors just killed.

"Drink from the cup and you will receive blessing from our God who will only ask for blood and skulls in return." Hearing this, five prisoners hesitated to drink but eventually drank, which gave them supernatural strength but the thirst of murder and slaughter that could never be satisfied. With a new chaos warrior in his command, he repeats this, to his disappointment, all ten prisoners refuse to kill each other. This time, his followers killed 30 of his warriors butchered all ten prisoners without mercy.

Finally, the main event approaches as two commanders and royal Blood are placed in the Blood soaked arena with their weapons in front of them.

"Prince Benton, the crown prince of this small country and commander of the royal military. Rana Bassilo Beckett, the Duchess of Agrus and champion of the previous war. You two will fight each other and offer the loser's head to me; by doing so, you will win your life back." Hearing this, the badly beaten Crown Prince and the Duchess look at each other but stay silent. Two commanders take their weapons and stand up without talking to each other, but to Kharak's surprise, they take back to back and point their weapons towards their enemies.

"You want the head of a loser? Come and I will give you your head," The Duchess said to Kharak with fire in her eyes as her fighting spirit once again lit with a new flame.

"I don't know who you are, but I will make sure to take as many as possible before I fall. I'm the future king of my people and you shall not see me beg or betray my subjects." Prince Benton declared his loyalty and took an arm next to his cousin, smiling and proud of the young prince.

"This disappoints me, but this isn't my first time seeing foolish acts of courage from the young royals. I will grant your deaths and bring your heads for the world to see when I place them on the top of the capital." Kharak jumped down from the throne and entered the arena as a fully equipped Chaos Space Marine. With the roaring sound from the chain ax in his left hand and battle-ax in his right, Kharak slowly approached the two commanders.

The Duchess made the first move against Kharak as she thrust her sword at the throat area. The attack hit the armor, but it didn't do much as her blade didn't even scratch Kharak's power armor. Receiving the first attack, Kharak attempted to strike the Duchess, but prince Benton charged in with his sword at World Eater's right arm before he could. The strike was decisive and accurate, but it was useless as it merely bounced back.

Kharak, who is now irritated, slams the prince with his right arm without using a battle-ax as he didn't have enough space to swing it. Prince used his sword to block the attack, which he succeeded but unfortunately pushed to the other side of the arena and lost his consciousness for a second.

Meanwhile, the Duchess continued her attacks and aimed at possible weak areas of the armor. Without any concern, Kharak struck the Duchess with a chain ax to which she successfully dodged, but at the moment she avoided, the Chaos Space Marine hit her with his knee, which made her cough blood.

"You think you could win against me? I'm the one you all should fear and despair of as I'm someone you have never experienced before!" Kharak yelled with rage and bloodthirst at the Duchess, but he heard something he was very familiar with and impossible in this world before he could. Kharak listened to a sound of a sound barrier-breaking as a single large black drop pod coming right on top of his men.

"Impossible!" A single word came from the Chaos Space Marine as he saw a drop pod coming down from the sky. When the drop pod hit the ground and crushed 20 chaos warriors, the pod's heavy plates opened. Immediately, 10 Loyalist Space Marine and 2 Techmarines from the Black Templar came out with bolters hot as they fired their weapons without hesitation.

The rush of battle began as Kharak witnessed his mortal enemies in the new world. With a new purpose, Kharak ignored the two commanders and started ordering his chaos warriors to fight back.

Even though he took the command, his men weren't ready as more enemies appeared from the Astartes' opposite side. 50 Stormtroopers of Tempestus Scions began to strike the rear side with their advanced lasgun, blocking the exit.

"How is this possible? My watch guards would have alerted the camp if 50 Storm Troopers were coming!" Kharak shouted and began to fire his bolter at Astartes, but it was useless as he was being pushed back. He received his answer to camp guards as 30 Catachan Jungle Fighters appear from the shadow, with one particular Black Templar leading the charge.

Armed with a black sword and bolter in his hands, William unleashed the Imperium's best of the best at the servant of the Chaos. There is no room for Kharak to escape or survive this as William is not the embodiment of revenge but vengeance for the fallen and messenger of the Emperor's will.