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Chapter 87: In Midnight Clad
Chapter 87: In Midnight Clad
Chapter 87: In Midnight Clad
"My sons, the galaxy is burning. We all bear witness to a final truth -- our way is not the way of the Imperium. You have never stood in the Emperor's light. Never worn the Imperial eagle. And you never will. You shall stand in midnight clad, your claws forever red with the lifeblood of my father's failed empire, warring through the centuries as the talons of a murdered god. Rise, my sons, and take your wrath across the stars, in my name. In my memory. Rise, my Night Lords."
- The Primarch Konrad Curze
Legiones Astartes, known during the Great Crusade is the primary force of the Emperor when he embarked on the space to unite all humanity. Originally all Earth born, they eventually mixed their legions with natives of their designated Primarch's home planet when their gene-father was founded.
Space Wolves have Leman Russ and his people of Fenris
Salamanders have Vulkan and his people from Nocturne
Blood Angels have Sanguinius and people from Baal
And just like any other legions, the 8th legion of the Night Lords have their gene-father, Konrad Curze, the Night Haunter from the planet formerly known as Nostramo.
Night Lords are famous for two things. First is the use of terror tactics to cause massive panic and devastation to social order. It came to a point many that other legions consider bad taste in their mouth to work with Night Lords during the Great Crusade as it is against their military code to use terror itself. Night Lords are legion of 'small budget' when it comes to conquering planets and they tend to spend a good amount of time torturing their victims.
Second is their allegiance to the Chaos after Horus Heresy. Unlike Death Guards who serve Chaos God Nurgle and Thousand Sons serve Tzeentch, Night Lords are Chaos Undivided which serve no particular Chaos gods (Few individuals or a whole company tend to worship one or more Chaos, Gods, on their own, but the majority of Night Lords doesn't). Because Night Lords don't follow true allegiance to one of the four Ruinous Powers, they tend to work as pirates or mercenaries to the other traitor legions and participate in Black Crusade.
Many of the Night Lords see worshiping of Chaos God as a weakness and seek to walk on their own path of justifying their action which is the desire to kill and taking pleasure in slaughtering weak prey. It is said that Night Lords of Post-Heresy will wage a proper fight when they outnumber the enemy and have a massive advantage. Due to massive losses during Horus Hersey and the destruction of their home planet, Nostramo (By Konrad Curze's order), Night Lords can't increase their number due to a lack of resources and support from the Ruinous Powers. Even their battle gears are mostly outdated equipment that needs constant repairs or are stolen from slain foes of loyal Astartes.
Many of the Legiones Astartes fought Great Crusade fought and conquered planet after planet with an honor. Imperial Fists and Ultramarines fought with knightly honor while Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children, and many others held traditional military tactics. Each victory was a gift and expansion of the Imperium under the honorable name of the Emperor.
Night Lords didn't do this as it wasn't their nature. After the 8th legion reunite with Konrad Curze and left Nostramo to join the Great Crusade, the noble houses of the Nostramo decided to send their worst of the worst to the 8th legion to be the next generation of Night Lords. Over the years, Night Lords eventually corrupt from the inside, and are no longer honorable warriors of the Imperium. They are thieves, murderers, and traitors with superhuman abilities which tarnish the 8th legion's name. When Konrad Curze found out, he decided to teach a lesson to his sons by ordering the exterminatus on Nostramo, forever destroying the taint of sins.
This quote simply places the Night Lords' nature and who truly they are in the galaxy.
"Because the Wolves kill cleanly, and we do not. They also kill quickly, and we have never done that, either. They fight, they win, and they stalk back to their ships with their tails held high. If they were ever ordered to destroy another Legion, they would do it by hurling warrior against warrior, seeking to grind their enemies down with the admirable delusions of the 'noble savage'. If we were ever ordered to assault another Legion, we would virus bomb their recruitment worlds; slaughter their serfs and slaves; poison their gene-seed repositories and spend the next dozen decades watching them die slow, humiliating deaths. Night after night, raid after raid, we'd overwhelm stragglers from their fleets and bleach their skulls to hang from our armour, until none remained. But that isn't the quick execution the Emperor needs, is it? The Wolves go for the throat. We go for the eyes. Then the tongue. Then the hands. Then the feet. Then we skin the crippled remains and offer it up as an example to any still bearing witness. The Wolves were warriors before they became soldiers. We were murderers first, last, and always!"
- Jago Sevatarion
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"No! Save General Beckett!" One of the knight commanders shouts out loud as heavy knights take arms to attack the Night Lords' terminator squads (Five in total). The brave heavy knights of the White Lions are the elite soldiers of their own rights as they are selected and trained to wield magical weapons. Their duties are to protect the general and officers of the army from the enemy and to be tools to push closing enemy with unstoppable close combat. Unfortunately for them, their years of honed skills and heavy armor couldn't withstand the devastating firepower of the terminator armor and power weapons.
"Slaughter them all!" The leading terminator freely gave the order and the rest of them unleash close melee weapons of all kinds to begin butchering. Four blades of lighting claws, a power sword of different marking from Astartes chapters, and a power fist obliterate the first wave of the knights as their armor shreds like butter to a hot knife. Still, even with the huge advantage of weaponry and armor, terminators were outnumbered by thousands as shortly after knights and even foot soldiers managed to push closer.
"AHHH! My eye!" One of the terminators stumbles back while a long sword piece through one of the helmet's eyes lenses. Immediately, the wounded terminator turns around to grab the knight who harmed him and crush his head instantly without giving second thoughts but this show of small weakness revealed their weak spot as knights and foot soldiers stepped back and hundreds of spearmen move forward, creating a wall of spears.
"Aim for their eyes and gaps between armor! We must save the general!" Silvi Greenheart, Rana Beckett's second in command gave her command and cast 'Entangle' to bind the enemies with weed and vines, making them unable to move or able to turn around. Hundred of spearmen push forward closer and closer with increased speed but this only gave terminators to switch their weapons from close combat to range as they aim their storm bolters at the incoming spearmen.
"Pathetic fools. Fire at will." all five terminators open fire and hundreds of bolter rounds hit the spearmen. The sheer terror and devastation of killing stopped the approaching soldiers as they fell left and right with the unlucky one surviving the nightmare with missing body parts. Seconds later, a large wall of stones rises from the ground, blocking terminators' storm bolters and remaining spearmen. Silvi Greenheart and the rest of the mages managed to cast the spell 'Wall of Stones' to protect soldiers but it was temporary as each second chip piece of stone by the second.
Just as the wall of stones is about to fall from the bolter rounds, Night Lords forgot to pay attention to their rear side as a large group of women in power armor return from the frontline with fury and wrath equal to the near end of Age of Apostasy. Forty Sisters of Order of Our Martyred Lady and Hospitaller charge with bolters, flamers, and meltagun hot and ready to go.
"Kill the heretics! Kill the traitors! Save the Holy Host!"
Bolters and other weapons of the Sisters hit unsuspected terminators in the back and took out three of them with one of his power packs exploding after receiving a hail of bolter rounds. Three remaining terminators including the leader who stabbed Rana with a power sword each stood back to back to fight back but this wasn't enough as suddenly, a large number of knights on horseback with glowing lances appear around from the wall of stones.
While spearmen took heavy casualties and a wall of stone stopped the storm bolters, clerics cast the spell 'Bless Weapon' onto knights' lances, buffing the weapons and huge weapon damage. This wasn't the only spell Rana's magicians did as mages also cast 'Shield' spells to protect the front line of knights from incoming bolter rounds as the shield spell deflect the majority of the rounds.
With knights with magic protection coming in high speed from the front and Sisters attacking in the back, the remaining terminators are overwhelmed even though they fought back with everything they had.
"Emergency teleportation. Now!" The leader ordered his remaining squad to fall back but it wasn't enough time to retreat as incoming bolter rounds put them down onto their knees and flamers wash their concentration with pressure. It was at this moment when knights with blessed lances reached the three terminators and impaled them through their helmets and other weak spots around the armor.
"Kill them all!"
"For the Emperor!"
"For the Holy Host!"
The destruction of the Night Lords' terminator squads ends with blood and fire as each of them fell with multiple wounds from various types of weapons. This small victory was costly as six enemy terminators managed to kill hundreds of soldiers and Sisters with a sudden teleportation ambush. The frontline was still in battle as the remaining soldiers and Sisters hold the line best they could while attempting to regain the breached position from the enemy. With a regained foothold, the remaining forces charge ahead with Silvi Greenheart taking the command while Sisters from the Hospitaller and clerics managed to reach heavily wounded Rana who was holding the sword on her stomach.
Barely holding her lifeline and managing to slow down her bleeding, a normal person would have already perished from the power sword. Rana on the other hand managed to stay alive this entire time thanks to her power armor as automatic medical injections within the armor activated the moment Rana's vitals went haywire. In a sense, the power armor saved Rana from certain death but the rest is up to others to save her life before it fades away.
"Stay with us, Holy Host. We will heal you right away."
"We have to move her to a safer place." One of the clerics said to Sister but it was immediately rejected after both of them saw Rana's wound.
"If we move her she will die. We have to do what we can to stable her before even thinking of moving her." Sister Superior Sorella said to everyone and ordered a few of the Sisters of Battle to make a defensive position while she and others went to work. Meanwhile, clerics cast 'Prayer of Healing' and other healing spells to bring back up Rana's HP. With both groups working together, Rana's facial expression and pale skin slowly return to normal but the battle isn't over since the frontline began to push back by the Night Lords and their cultists as their reinforcement finally arrived.
Three Chaos Obliterators finally made an appearance as their hybrid monstrous bodies of machine and flesh make their way into the frontline as they absorb the damage like it was nothing. These former Night Lords techmarines lose every sense to the point of insanity as their machine bodies are now infested with 'technovirus' and fused with the bodies as each of them is now walking infestation and blasphemy against Machine God.
Behind Obliterators, a large metal walker slowly approaches the enemy as Chaos Dreadnought of the Night Lords or simply known as Helbrute armed with a heavy bolter and power fist makes the entrance. Similar to Obliterators, Helbrute is covered with Chaos flesh and corruption all over the body as each step it took, eyes around the body twitch with pain.
The walking corruption of the machine and a former Night Lords, now tombed in his own metal coffin spoke with a mechanical voice to announce its presence.
[This night is ours as we are the 'In Midnight Clad' and Lords of the Night. You fool, Taradreel, I told you to wait for me. Do I have to do everything?]