Imperium Ascendant

Book II: The Great Crusade

Chapter Twenty-Three: On Silver Wings

Location: The Seraphim, flagship to the IX Legion - In orbit of Vostroya.

Date: 890.M30 (One Solar Week before the assault on Hossak)

The IX Crusader Fleet left Vostroya with as much data as the Imperium could squeeze from the ghost fleet. All added to the rapidly growing Lexancium archive. Vostroya also had another gift for the IX Legion as they prepared to leave. The industrial world provided fifty Auxilia Cohorts to join the IX Crusader Fleet. Each cohort was composed of 120,000 trained soldiers and equipped with the best weapons and supplies Vostroya had, swelling the Imperial Fleet by six and a half million.

Dante noted with a grim acceptance that these numbers would be needed in the coming battles. The shifting tides of fate obstructed his foresight, but not enough to blind him of the huge amount of death to come. The future seethed with inevitable carnage. Data gained from the Mechancium analysis of the ghost fleet indicated the nature of the threat and the fleet's system of origin. A Xeno-Horribilis known as The Khrave were to blame. These nocturnal mind-eaters had been encountered before, yet never with power or numbers to conquer an urban world capable of warp-travel. They had mainly been wandering predators, picking off weak worlds or populations similar to how the Eldar hunted. Analyzing the data, Dante felt his father's cryptic words echo through his mind. "We will face three great threats in the Great Crusade. The taint of Chaos, the Greenskin hordes and festering horror of the Rangda Cerebvore along with their spawn."

Much like Dante, the Emperor's psychic foresight was diminished by the sheer complexity and variability of multiple, simultaneous, galaxy-wide wars. The Master of Mankind had done his best to warn his sons but trusted them to use their own judgment. Malleable visions of possible futures would do more to harm than help. Still, foresight was useful in both immediate and especially for long term use, where the trends of destiny were more set. Foresight had become a valuable tool of the IX legion, its Primarch forming a pact of students both Human and Astartes to assist him. This Grigori Choir as it became known was composed of Librarians and sanctioned Psykers who worked together to enhance the potency and accuracy of Dante's visions.

The Choir had storied history and showed its worth yet again as the IX Prepared to journey to the Khrave infested system. In the great resonant amphitheater at the heart of the Sephirah, the flagship of the IX Legion, hundreds of psykers stood in attendance arranged into choruses of one librarian aided by nine psykers. The Grigori prepared to work as Dante stood in the center of the amphitheater, acting as the focal point of the ritual. Clothed in white robes, the Primarch flared his wings out and started to chant. At this signal, his sons and students joined him. Inhumanly beautiful voices harmonized in a meditative song. As the Archangel, angels and anointed humans sang their minds drifted into the immaterial. Just as their voices added to each other in the material, their minds worked together to peer into the future.

This choir of angels and angel-touched added their power to the gilded inferno that was the IX Primarch, allowing the superhuman intellect of Dante to pluck details and information from a thousand possible futures. Dante's goal wasn't to predict or change the future. Instead, he sought to gather as much tactical data as possible. If in a hundred futures, an enemy fleet opened fire upon the IX Legion, Dante had a hundred visions to learn the formation and tactics of the enemy.

Learning all he could, Dante started to feel the strain of this task upon his choir. They would be needed in the battles to come. With a soothing whisper to their souls, the Primarch guided the Grigori to end the ritual. It was no easy thing to touch a Primarch's soul, even with his consent and guidance. As was their tradition, the psykers each grasped the metal wings of their overseeing Astartes who in turn formed a chain of hands around the room, connecting all the Librarians, and ending the chain at the two Coryphaeus Librarians. In turn, the two leaders of the left and right side of the choir touched the Primarchs wings to form a great chain through which thoughts and memories could pass, feeding into the Primarch's mind and expanding his view of events past his own interpretation and perspective.

Ending this process by folding his wings, the Primarch bowed to the Grigori and offered words of appreciation and kindness. Leaving the Choir to recover from the ordeal, Dante left to consult with his officers. Within the strategy-deck of the Seraphim, Dante met with the four battle masters of his Legion, known as the Hayyoth. These Astartes were personally selected as his closest subordinates after a grueling vetting process, and each was a master of a distinct breed of warfare. First was Raldoron-bin-Vir, master of the Legion's elites. The second was Asmodei-bin-Tauri, master of the Legion's armor-skeletons. The third was Sahaqi-bin-Avis, master of the Legion's winged and mounted warriors. The fourth was Verchiel-bin-Leo, master of the Legion's warriors of the blade and claw. Fifth in attendance was not a member of the Hayyoth brotherhood of generals. Azkaellon-bin-Vigil, the leader of the Ophanim. The Primarch's own guards stood in the shadow of his gene-fathers wings.

The five Astartes saluted their Primarch and sat at the grand holo table in the room's center. Each of the Astartes was proud noble warriors, but they were nothing compared to the radiant splendor of their gene-father. Even after over a century of close exposure and companionship, the warriors of the IX's inner circle were awestruck by Dante's aura. The Primarch was an Angel given flesh and struck awe and devotion into the hearts of mankind.

Each of the chosen Astartes felt a sense of pride that they had been trusted by their Primarch to be his closest advisors. They, who were tasked to hear of his visions first, tasked with helping Dante share his prophetic burden. Knowledge of these visions and seats at the Holo-Table would soon be expanded to the Lord-Commanders, Chapter Masters and other elite of the Legion. The nature of the Primarch's visions sometimes required only his most trusted sons to learn the full truth. Mortal and Astartes alike seeking to alter the future could easily become sources of calamity. It took a skilled hand and deft intellect to weave new futures. Knowledge alone of possible futures without the ability to handle that information had spelled the doom of countless seers across species and millennia. Dante sought to prevent that fate befalling himself or his sons.

With a gesture, Dante produced a psychic illusion of the world they sought. A projection of information compiled from countless visions turned into a military briefing by a demigod's mind. Combining words and psychic messages the Primarch spoke. "The Ghost Fleet's origin is a civilized world called Hossak of the Hossak system. It is less than a week of Warp-Travel away and will be relatively easy to navigate too. The scar upon the Warp left by the Ghost fleets final voyage is still visible to Navigators and me. The Hossak system is under the control of the Xeno species known as the Khrave. They are mind-eaters. Some of my brothers and the Expedition Fleets have encountered them before."

Dante pulled up a flurry of images pulled from the Imperial Lexicanum and his visions. Depicting the Khrave and all their depravity. "The actual Khrave are a species of parasitic worm. They capture other sentient species and consume their neural tissue and psychic activity through an unknown process. Horrifically, they also use bodies of sentient species found acceptable as hosts." The displayed data cut to a helm-recording of a VI Legion Astartes ripping the limbs of a horrific hunched over bat-like Xeno. The Astartes paused for a moment and let out a primal roar before plunging an armored fist into Xenos's chest and ripping a wriggling white worm free of its husk.

Returning the images to projections of the Hossak system the Primarch continued: "My visions and psychic senses indicate the Khrave are using Hossak as a farm of sorts. They are using the local humans as some sort of livestock, keeping part of the population as hosts and enforcers, while the rest are herded into concentration camps. We will face a combination of modified STC equipment used by the indigenous humans and more exotic Xeno weapons. Tyric and his sons reported the Khrave using psychic weaponry that turns warp-energy into blades and bolts."

Taking a deep breath Dante let the image fade and spoke somberly: "My sons, I fear this coming battle. Not because what we will face or what must be done to the lost and damned humans upon Hossak. I fear it for what it will ignite. We will win this battle, from a logistical, tactical, and strategic perspective, the Khrave lack the resources to stop the might of an Imperial Legion. There was not a single future where I saw us take substantial losses or damage of any kind. What happens after this battle is what disturbs me."

The golden light that accompanied the Primarch seemed to dim. The Archangel of Mankind feeling the weight of his burden. "My sons, we have fought for decades to ensure the survival of mankind. Faced horrors and evils beyond count. Bringing judgment to all through blade and flame. Our liberation of Hossak will set forth a chain of events that will start a conflict beyond anything any of us have seen. Beyond anything, any living being aside from my Father and his contemporaries have witnessed. Mankind seeks to claim this galaxy as our domain. We are not the only ones. My visions have seen our foe. Xeno's capable of evil and destruction comparable only to the Orks and Chaos dwell in the galactic north. A festering empire that conquerors and kills in the cruelest manners possible. The Khrave are but a vassal and a tool to this enemy. Until now, the Imperium and this enemy have not come in contact. By striking the Khrave, we will start a war that will threaten mankind and the entire galaxy." ŗÄŊօВÈS̈

"The Rangda await us, they will unleash bio-terrors and war-breeds upon mankind. They will make no distinction between civilians or soldiers. We will suffer horribly in this endeavor. The Rangda will corrupt entire worlds with their gene-plagues, forcing us to butcher innocent humans by the billions. We were made to protect and help mankind. The coming war will make us defile that oath in order to fulfill it. My sons, I have seen the atrocities that must be done. Cities of millions burned with phosphex for fear of a single infected. Seven Legions, including us, will suffer greatly in the coming Xenocides. All of this will be- no, must be started when we bring death to the Khrave upon Hossak."

Pausing for a moment, letting the impact of his words fall like hammer blows upon his chosen advisors, Dante slowly stood up from his throne at the head of the holotable and spread his wings. "Raldoron, Asmodei, Sahaqi, Verchiel, Azkaellon, my loyal sons. I tell you this not to dishearten or dismay. We are the Angels of Death. Our Legion perhaps more than any other is worthy of that title. My father created us to do what must be done in the service of mankind. The trials before us will be great. The consequences for failure is the death of our species. In the times to come the Imperium will need us more than ever. The IX Legion will be Angels of Death. Just as we were always meant to be. War against the Rangda will test us, and I trust you all to do your duty. Telling you all these dire visions is meant to help you steel your souls and help me guide the IX Legion. We will start this war with a full understanding of what it entails. That does not just mean the destruction that will come from it. When we bring steel rain to Hossak and a thousand more worlds touched by the Rangda, we will save lives and end suffering. In the ancient texts of Terran cults, the Angel of Death was not always a figure of destruction. It was sometimes a figure of mercy and protection. The IX Legion will fly upon Silver Wings where even Daemons fear to tread. We will do so with righteous fury and just mercy. We will do this not just because our Emperor commands it, nor our Imperial Truth demands it. We will fight because it is what is right. There are people we can save and monsters we can slay. I will spread my wings and shed my blood to save all I can, I ask you to do the same. Take to the skies with me, my sons. For we shall know no fear and our enemy will know our wrath."

As one, the five angels knelt before the Primarch and swore oaths to their genefather. This trust would not be misplaced and they would not fail. Raldoron the first of the Hayyoth and Equerry to Dante spoke: "It honors me my Sire you trust us with this knowledge. I still must ask why you should risk your life for the possibility of saving the lives of a handful of holdout across Xeno infested worlds. Dante, my Primarch. I would rather die a thousand deaths than watch you fall to a threat as dire as this. Let us Astartes enter the fray in your sted."

Smiling a sad smile the Primarch responded: "My role to play is this. If an Angel does not bring judgment or guard the innocent it cannot be called an Angel. The Emperor created me to save those I can, and destroy those who I must. Your love and care for me is felt my Son, but I cannot ask anyone to face what is to come if I do not. The path will be hard but we will triumph. I would spread my wings and fly to my death gladly for mankind."

Nodding solemnly the Hayyoth saluted the Primarch and Azkellon spoke: "By our blood, are blades, and our brotherhood we will not let such a thing happen. We will fly wingtip to wingtip with you wherever you go for however long we can father."

Location: Bel-Haust, Capital hive of Hossak.

Date: 890.M30

The IX Fleet exited the Warp in a flash of impossible color and distorting reality. They had traveled along the current of ugly death forged by the Ghost Fleet's voyage. Gellar Fields and Hexagrammic wards obliterated the colony of Nurglic Daemons feeding on the psychic-trail of misery and death. Like some great spear thrown by a primordial god, the IX Fleet re-entered real space in battle formation. This was not a mission of peace or even the pretense of diplomacy. Mankind's wrath had come and it would make the stars tremble.

The Seraphim and its orbit of escort ships were the first to be noticed by Hossak's defenses. Cogitators screamed warnings of enemy contacts and targeting lasers locking onto the massive Flagship. The IX Crusader Fleet had warped into the primary Mandeville Point of Hossak which was in the range of two Star Forts, placed to guard the route from Hossak to Vostroya. For a split second, the Imperial fleet hung in the void as the Warp disgorged the last of its vessels. On the bridge of the Seraphim, Primarch Dante stood, peering across the Hossak system with superhuman and supernatural senses.

Of all the Primarchs, few possessed psychic senses even close to Dante. Where Magnus possessed the most raw power, and Kalib Kraad boasted control beyond compare, Dante had the sensitivity and aptitude to observe past, present, and future with incredible detail. The Primarch felt the unguarded thoughts, emotions, and activity of the entire Hossak System. Dante's perfect expression was a mask of beatific stoicism, hiding his thoughts as he let his shimmering soul spread out across the system.

He could feel it. The death, the hate, the misery, the sheer evil that infested this system. How men turned on each other for cursed power. Billions living and dying in city-sized death camps designed to keep a stable population of people as livestock. On top of it all, the gluttonous alien intellects of the Khrave slithered across the system, wearing stolen flesh and devouring the minds of innocents, leaving a cloud of broken souls to cover the local warp like some dreadful pall. The way the Khrave harvested… They did not simply kill. The title of 'mind eater' given to these Xenos was far too literal. As they consumed living prey, always living prey, the Khrave used their own psychic talents to feed upon the soul of whatever human was unlucky enough to fall in their grasp. Just as they sucked neural tissue out of broken skulls, the Khrave hollowed out there victims souls to increase their own warp-potency

Their horrific actions left untold billions of broken souls to wander the shallows of the Warp, violated in such ways they could not even find peace in the Astronomicon. These pour things, for to call them souls would no longer be accurate, existed in a state of broken death. They were but scraps of souls, suffering immaterial dementia. Easy pickings for the carrion-eaters of the Warp. Normally in places of horror like this, where unprotected souls filled the warp, the endless hunger of Chaos glutted itself on these lost spirits. In the Warp around Hossak, the Great Powers were uninterested. The discarded scraps weren't even enough to gain the attention of the thirsting gods. They left this miasma to their most pathetic Daemons, letting the Furies, Chaos Beasts and other spiritual vermin enjoy this bounty.

A single tear of stigmatic blood dropped from the Primarch's eye, splattering upon the granite floor and quickly fading from being. Unsheathing his twin blades, Dante read the minds of the traitors and Xenos upon the Star-Forts. Unsure of what was happening, they were afraid to open fire on a possible ally. Dante intended to enlighten them and ensure they died screaming. Raising up his left-handed blade. A cruel-looking thing of black-metal and a brutal pommel of red leather and rubies named Mephiston. Matched by a silver-bladed twin of cultured gold and other precious metals named Alatron. With his blade of wrath raised, the Primarch gave the order. "Show no mercy. Today, we are Angels of Death and we shall show them our wrath!"

At that signal, over a thousand different weapons were discharged. Fighter squadrons of Xiphons and other patterns emerged from the flanks of the Imperial vessels. Enough lance-fire to melt a country smashed into the void shields of the Star Forts. The shields held but barely. Auger scans relayed tactical scans of the Forts. They seemed to be derived from STC patterns, but with strange Xeno modifications. Tumor-like growths of metal and flesh stuck onto the Star-Forts, latched onto docking ports like eldritch leeches.

As the Star Fort's void shields attempted to recover from the lance bombardment, the second part of the assault started. A swarm of macro-cannon shells and solid ordinance shredded the Star Fort's shielding and blasting holes in the stations. Creating an opening for the final part of the Imperial opening salvo. Torpedos and Attack Crafts filled the void. Before the Star Forts flak defenses could respond to attack Imperial ordinance smashed into them. Armor Piercing Torpedos burrowing into its superstructure and ripping the Starfort apart. The Attack Craft barely had time to unleash their wrath before the two Star Forts were shredded to pieces.

The Xeno tumors attached to the now shattered Star Forts split off. Undulating through the void like some primordial sea creature. These were Khrave Ships. As they moved away the vessels unfolded. Six 'wings' stretched from the main body as films of energy bloomed between each wing, forming a web of plasma and more exotic discharges. The wings had formed into a star-shaped sail at the vessel's bow. Dante considered giving the order to engage but did not want to send his subordinates blindly into the unknown. The Khrave web ships shot away from the Imperial Fleet, showing acceleration that outperformed all but the most specialized craft. Fleet cogitators and sensor arrays worked to dissect any and all information they could from the xeno vessels. It would be needed in the days to come.

At the Primarchs orders the Imperial fleet sailed towards Hossak, they would blast anything without an Aquilia on it to dust. It would have been well within the ability of the IX Crusader Fleet to blitz through the Star-Forts and reach Hossak before the infested planet could realize what was happening, but Dante wanted the Khrave to know he was coming. These were not mindless or twisted Xenos incapable of fear or panic. The Khrave were bizarrely and horrifically alien, but at their core, they were sentient parasites who from their earliest evolutionary roots had learned to fear one thing above all else: discovery and destruction by their host. Dante wanted the worms to know what was coming. He wanted them to understand that an armada they stood no chance against was bearing down upon them. The Primarch wanted some enemy cowards to escape deeper into the Rangda Empire and tell stories about what happened on Hossak. The Rangda and their vassal breeds had tortured the children of Terra without any consequences. Now they would learn to fear the Angels of Death.

After a few hours of steady travel, the planet Hossak grew from a speck of light to a world. The IX Legion had spent these hours making any last-minute adjustments and preparations for the inevitably bloody assault. As the orbital defenses of Hossak came into view the true void battle started. Three orbital stations circled the planet. These were not simple Star Forts, but floating cities meant to house the Khrave and their most elite servants. A squadron of escort vessels and cruisers of various designs swarmed the stations along with a single massive ship of Battleship weight class or higher. Where the fleet around the orbitals was an eclectic mix of Human, Orkish, Fra'al, Tallerian and other designs, the battleship, however, was distinctly different. It was bulbous, lacking in armament, and reminded Dante of the Terran pest called sowbugs. The sowbug ship had a small flock of transport craft rapidly leaving it, heading for the planet's surface. At that moment the Primarch understood what he was looking at. The Sowbug was not a carrier or battleship, it was a matter conveyor. A Xeno supply and trade ship of massive size. Gripping his twin swords tightly, the Primarch bared his teeth. Hossak was a livestock world for the Xenos. The sowbug was meant for taking slaughtered humans to market.

At Dante's orders, the Seraphim charged its Nova-Cannon. The superweapon was loaded with an adamantium shell and fired at near light speed. The Imperials would send a message to the Khrave and their masters. One written in fire and blood. The nova cannons' blast shredded clean through one of the orbital stations and split the sowbug in half, spilling its cargo and guts into Hossak's orbit.

The first squadron of Khrave escorts flew towards the IX Crusader Fleet's own escort craft. Destroyers and frigates exchanged light fire, a prelude for what was to come. The Imperials were curious about the nature of the Khrave fleet. It seemed a ramshackle collection of salvage, barely united in weight class and nothing else. It was not even close to matching the designs or weaponry of the webships encountered before. As a torpedo from an Imperial Cobra blasted open the side of a Khrave frigate, the nature of the ragtag fleet became clear. The Tallerian hull of the frigate split open, revealing a milky white shell of flesh-plastic hidden under the outer layers of the ship. The Khrave scrap-fleet was neither scrap nor Khrave. These were not salvaged ships, used out of opportunity or necessity. These were Rangda vessels, wearing the husks of enemy ships.

From the exposed Rangda core, the frigate extended a twisted nozzle. Swelling with alien energies, the turret discharged a gout of monochrome flames, smashing into the Cobra that torpedoed the Rangda frigate. The blast burned through the void shield-like acid, smearing itself over the Cobra's hull. The Imperial escort went dark, its cogitators, and crew going silent as the void. Yet the ship seemed only slightly damaged, scorched and twisted by some entropic weapon while still recognizably Imperial.

Auspex readouts could not make sense of what had happened to the Cobra. The Rangda weapon had doused it with a bizarre combination of hard radiation, necrotic energy, and grav-distortion. It was a foul concoction designed to destroy anything living upon the Cobra, melting tissue and bone into irradiated ash while leaving a contaminated shell for the Rangda to use.

The escort squadron charged the Imperial Fleet, but Dante would not allow them to get off a volley. The Imperial Fleet opened fire. Plasma and other more exotic munitions slammed into the Rangda ships, shearing off the stolen exoskeletons then blasting holes in the anthropic vessel. Milky white fluid bubbled from the wounds torn into the Rangda vessels, quickly congealing into a new section of the hull. The core Rangda vessels lacked armor, relying on their husks for protection. However, their techno-organic structure allowed surprising regeneration. Still, the tremendous firepower of the IX Fleet made quick work of the enemy defenses. Energy Weapons burned the Rangda Husk-Ships and Khrave orbital platforms into cosmic debris, creating a meteor shower across Hossak.

At the Primarch's order, the IX crusader fleet spread out across Hossak orbit, identifying chief targets and any humans unbound by the Khrave camps. All across Hossak, steel rain started to fall. Millions of drop pods and bombardment shells poured from the void. Astartes Companies with Auxilia reinforcements targeted the countless human-farms and traitor cities across Hossak. Stormbird flights deployed from Battle-Barges by the dozens, adding to the deluge of Imperial might. From the holds of the Stormbirds squadrons of Astartes lept. Techno-Organic Wings inherited from there Primarch letting them glide through the sky. A host of Angels ready to bring mankind's fury.

The Seraphim itself took geosynchronous orbit above the capital of Hossak. Bel-Haust, a country-sized Hive-Spire and center of the Khrave occupation. Lance Batteries opened fire on the Hives shields, relentlessly pounding the monument to Khrave enslavement. Fighter craft and squadrons of Attack-Drones poured from the Hive, exiting the void shield and engaging the Imperial forces descending from the sky. Bel-Haust stretched into low-orbit. It's top forming into a space-elevator from which Sowbug transports and other Xeno ships could dock. The burning wreckage of a Khrave orbital lay strewn around the hives outskirts. The void and ion shields protecting the hive had deflected or destroyed. The IX Legion would need to attack from the sides, where the shields were weakest. Destroy or deactivate the defenses if orbital weapons were to be used.

This suited the Astartes and Primarch perfectly. They were not built to man void-batteries or grind an enemy to dust through attrition. The IX Legion was a force of righteous fury. They would take to the skies and bring death to the Khrave, with Primarch Dante Uriael at their head. Giving command of the Seraphim to Barchiem, Ship-Master of the legion flagship. Dante summoned his Ophanim Guards and prepared to join the battle. With Azkaellon at his side, Dante arrived at the Seraphim launch-deck. Flanked by his Ophanim, the Primarch boarded the Lord of the Flame, A custom Stormbird designed to ferry Dante and his elect to the battlefield.

Alongside a host of thousands of similar Stormbirds, the Lord of the Flame departed. The golden color of the IX Legion craft shining in the bright sunlight as the Angel's host descended. Golden light rippled as they breached the atmosphere, in a formation that looked like a great pair of wings with a single Stormbird at the center of the formation emitting a star-like radiance. It was the power of a Primarch marshaling for war affecting reality itself.

Angelic light and a swarm of interceptors protected the host as it dived through the storm of flak pouring from Bel-Haust's spires. The host dove from orbit to barely a mile above the surface in a matter of minutes. As the dive reached its terminal point the host pulled up, unleashing G-forces that would have easily killed even the strongest mortal man. It simply caused the Angels of Death to grit their teeth and brace themselves. Moving at incredible speeds, the Stormbird host shot towards the base of the hive spire. The shielding covering the spire originated near its top and could be easily punched through here near the planet's surface. Barreling towards the shields, static buildup crackled across the Stormbirds. Lighting dribbled off its wings like raindrops. Turbulence increased massively as they collided with the edges of the Ion-Shields. Lesser craft would have been shaken apart by the ion field attempting to shatter the Stormbirds.

After less than a breath length, they passed through the Ion-Shield and pulled up, aiming to strafe along the near-vertical hive-spire, slowing as much as they could with the enemy fire still filling the air. The rear hatches of the Stormbirds opened up and the Astartes removed their restraints. One by one the Angels of Death lept from the Stormbirds, using their metallic wings to navigate upwards along the Hive using the updrafts created by the Stormbirds ascent and the Hive's massive size. The Stormbirds unleashed a flurry of Servo Skull interceptors to screen the Astartes' arrival before pulling off to weave in between the Hive Spires, providing covering fire.

The Upper Hive of Bel-Haust was the main center of the Khrave defense. It was an armored citadel perched upon the mountainous sprawl, a fortress-spire inhabited by the Khrave administrators of the world and their elite servants. Battery emplacements and docking gantries dotted the surface of the Spire, guarded by the most fanatical human soldiers of Hossak. These traitors scanned the sky, calling in sightings of the Stormbirds to anti-aircraft batteries. Armed with symbiotic armor and weapons gifted by their masters, they would fight to the death to preserve the Khrave world, hoping to achieve apotheosis into one of the 'nobility'.

These Bel Stormtroopers were the first to notice the second sun rising over Bel-Haust. From below the Upper-hive, a great light shone, growing with luminescence as it flew higher towards the hive. The Bel Stormtroopers turned their attention to this brilliance and saw their doom fast approaching. The Primarch of the IX Legion, clad in golden light and flanked by his Angels of Death had come to bring justice for humanity.

Dante was a new star. His wings shimmered with mystical light and in each hand, he held a sword. One as pale as ancient Luna the other as black as the void. The Ophanim surrounded him in a halo of steel. All who looked upon the Primarch felt tears well up, awestruck by his beauty and ashamed of their sins. Dante's brilliant blue eyes seemed to pierce the very souls of the Bel-Haust stormtroopers. Since the most ancient days of Terra, mankind had dreamed of angels. Now one in the living flesh came for them. Some of the stormtroopers turned their weapons on themselves. The full weight of the atrocities they committed bore down on them and they could no longer take the guilt or the strain. Others simply fell to their knees and wept openly.

With the force of a comet, the Lord of the Ninth slammed into the Spire's main dock. His impact bent metal and cracked the stone around him. Thousands of his sons landed across the Spire. A wrathful host came to break the Xeno grip upon Hossak. Squadrons of heavily armed and armored Stormtroopers, along with a pair of insectoid tanks and dozens of Khrave warriors poured out of the entry point to the inside of the hive as sirens wailed all around them.

The Stormtroopers halted as they saw what they faced. At the end of the dock were the Angels of Death with a demigod leading them. A larger Khrave spat orders in accented mongrel-gothic, snapping the troopers to attention opening fire upon these angelic foes. In the time it took the Bel Stormtroopers to pick a target and fire, the elite of the IX had launched themselves forward at speeds the human eye could not fully process. One moment the IX Legion stared down the Khrave soldiers, the next the stormtroopers died. Bolt shell and power blade weaved through the Hive Guards, a dance of death that shredded hundreds of traitors to death in a heartbeat.

Melta charges and plasma rounds ripped through the insect-tanks, blasting the Rangda vehicles into flaming bits. At the center of this carnage, the Primarch dueled the Khrave, fighting the lead Xeno that nearly matched him in bulk and three of its lieutenants. Dante spared a blade for each of them. The Archangel Primarch carried two blades but fought with four. Gossamer strands of silver that wove through his wings came alight with holy fire. The Primarch's mighty wings turned into two massive force swords. Imbued with psychic power, his great pinions deflected Warp-Glamour blades and struck out with divine strength. The three Khrave lieutenants were easily carved into pieces, their cut marks burning with golden fire, reducing the Khrave worms within to ash.

The lead Khrave started to panic. It twisted its form in ways unnatural to a human and dashed back towards the entranceway, scrambling on all fours like some nocturnal predator. With a flick of his wings, Dante fired a volley of his feathers at the escaping Xeno. Meter long feathers charged with psychic light nailed the Khrave to the floor. It ripped at its stolen flesh in a desperate attempt to escape the Archangel of Death approaching it. With his black blade in hand, Dante approached the trapped Khrave, the cruel blade of shadowed metal dripped stigmatic blood. Frantic, the Khrave begged for mercy, gibbering in dozens of tongues trying to bargain for its life. The Khrave twisted its head to look the Primarch in his eyes and froze. Instead of magnificent blue, it had seen before, Dante's eyes were blackened orbs with a blood-red iris. His beautiful features were forged into a rictus of fury. Speaking softly to the Khrave, Dante said: "I was born to be merciful. In extinguishing you and your evil kind, I will be a mercy to mankind's galaxy."

With that, the Primarch plunged his blade into the Khrave's chest cavity and burned it with holy flames. Raising his blade high to the sky, the Primarch proclaimed: "We are the Angels of Death! We bring the Dawn and scour away the Dark! Ave Imperator Ave Imperium!" With those words, Dante and the IX Legion charged into the Upper-Hive. Entering the heart of darkness with blades aloft and righteous fury in their hearts.

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