Tamukhan's plea was silent, devout, and filled with despair.
The Chaos throne was within reach, but the situation had turned dire. The prize he had fought for was slipping away just as victory seemed certain. Tamukhan could not accept such a fate; he immediately implored his loving father, Nurgle, for aid.
In the Realm of Chaos, Grandfather Nurgle responded almost instantly. The corpulent deity observed Tamukhan's struggle while stirring a thick, bubbling cauldron and making guttural, rumbling noises.
"Reinforcements, granted! Victory, denied! Death!"
"Foolish mortal! Accept the gifts of your loving father!"
Chaos never bargains with mortals.
Suddenly, hundreds of Nurgle demons appeared on the battlefield! These chaotic beings plunged into the fray without hesitation, spreading yellow-green miasma across the field. They charged into the ranks of knights and Imperial soldiers, tearing the terrified and shocked mortals to pieces!
They dragged warhorses to the ground, disemboweling them with putrid claws, spilling their innards across the battlefield. But even as they fell, the knights drove their blessed lances into the cataract-covered eyes of the demons or cleaved their bloated, rotting flesh with sacred swords.
The once-crumbling Chaos army had received a second wind! Nurgle's warriors and demons fought side by side, pushing the exhausted Imperial forces back and driving them from their positions.
Even a steam tank was destroyed by the onslaught of Nurgle's demons. The demons summoned streams of vile green filth and nauseating fumes, flipping the steam tank over and tearing the crew inside to shreds. They praised Nurgle's name as wave after wave of demons joined the battle.
"Advance!" The fanatical monks of the Church of Justice, now fewer than three hundred and all wounded, charged madly at the Nurgle demons. These monks had a unique advantage against the demons, as the divine flames and power within them caused the demons' bodies to sizzle like hot oil. The demons screamed as they clashed with the fanatical warriors of the Church.
Despite Nurgle's reinforcements, Tamukhan found no comfort in their arrival. The demons of Chaos were chaotic, disordered, and fought independently. Though they were powerful and overwhelming, their numbers were too few—Tamukhan had expected thousands, but only a few hundred had arrived!
And where was the Greater Daemon he had been hoping for? Where was it?
Unbeknownst to Tamukhan, the Greater Daemon had indeed been deployed by Nurgle but had been incredibly unlucky. The Great Unclean One had become wedged in a massive crater from an earlier explosion, its bloated body hopelessly stuck.
"Ugh! Damn it, I'm stuck!!!" The Great Unclean One roared in frustration, unable to free itself from the crater!
But this delay was only temporary. Ryan and the others knew that if Tamukhan wasn't killed, Nurgle's reinforcements would continue to arrive!
"Raaah!" Ryan, now consumed with rage, summoned lightning to strike Tamukhan, blasting another charred hole in his already rotting flesh. Sparks flew as the Thunder Hammer clashed with Tamukhan's obsidian axe.
"Feel the power of the Father, mortal!" Tamukhan, undeterred, swung his massive weapon through the air, generating a noxious wind intended to consume Ryan.
"Bear witness to the Lady's judgment, demon!" Ryan's Thunder Hammer glowed with a radiant light, the runes etched by Master Dwarf Runesmith Clark flaring with power. The Rune of Grimnir's Courage tore through Tamukhan's poisonous winds, shattering the obsidian axe and leaving a deep gash.
Bones creaked and cracked within Tamukhan's body as he cursed the unreliable Chaos Dwarves. He pulled back his axe and cast a spell, sending bolts of Chaos magic arcing toward Ryan.
"Anti-Magic Field!" Ryan raised the Thunder Hammer, and the runes glowed once more, repelling the Chaos magic. Then, suddenly, Ryan drew his lance.
The battlefield was bathed in the moon's light, and the Lady of the Lake's power flowed through Ryan. As his lance, Unbroken Lake Light, carved a semi-circle through the air, a column of light formed instantly on the battlefield.
"Reach the end, surpass the limit, Chaos scum, behold the light!"
"Overwhelming Lake Light!"
The pillar of light descended. Tamukhan barely managed to raise his axe to block it, but the light crashed down on the haft, producing a grinding noise like a sawblade. Ryan's strike obliterated every Nurgle demon and warrior within its radius, the purifying power causing Tamukhan to scream in agony as even Nurgle's blessings could not protect him from its force!
Both Ryan and Tamukhan's faces twisted with strain. They knew that whoever could withstand the next exchange would emerge victorious and end this battle!
While Ryan and Tamukhan were locked in combat, the griffon Impris and the Toad Dragon Bubbros continued their fierce duel. The two beasts flapped their wings furiously, Impris tearing into Bubbros' hide with its claws. The Toad Dragon, already grievously injured by a cannon blast that had shattered one of its legs, was on the defensive and growing more enraged.
If it hadn't been wounded by earlier volleys of musket and cannon fire, it wouldn't be at such a disadvantage against the griffon!
Impris slashed several deep wounds across Bubbros' face, even blinding one of its eyes. Bubbros, battered and bloodied, decided to make a desperate move!
The Toad Dragon deliberately stepped back to avoid Impris' next attack. It took a deep breath, and the venom sac beneath its throat swelled, glowing with a sickly green light.
"Scree~" Impris, realizing its first strike had missed, instantly recognized Bubbros' intent.
Bright lightning appeared along Impris' tail, and the pure electrical energy traveled up its spine. As the Toad Dragon crouched, preparing to spew its toxic breath, Impris executed a perfect Draconic Charge, slamming into Bubbros' head and sinking its talons into the Toad Dragon's neck!
Both the griffon and the Toad Dragon opened their mouths simultaneously. In Bubbros' terrified gaze, Impris unleashed a blast of lightning directly into the Toad Dragon's maw!
Bubbros' screams were choked off as its body convulsed violently. The lightning coursed through its innards, frying everything in its path. Its throat filled with crackling electricity, scorching it to a crisp. With a sharp crack, Bubbros' neck snapped, and Impris wrenched the Toad Dragon's head from its body, spreading its wings and lifting the severed head high, roaring in triumph!
Meanwhile, Ryan and Tamukhan's duel raged on. Thanks to Nurgle's blessings, Tamukhan barely withstood the Overwhelming Lake Light, but the cost was a deep, bone-revealing wound running from his right shoulder to his left rib. Ryan, wielding both sword and hammer, attacked with such ferocity that Tamukhan could hardly defend himself.
It was unthinkable! As Nurgle's chosen champion, how could he be outmatched by the champion of a false goddess who spent her days hiding in a lake?
But he was indeed outmatched. As Ryan continued to summon lightning and psychic storms, Tamukhan's wounds multiplied, and even Nurgle's blessings couldn't heal them!
Tamukhan was being utterly overwhelmed by Ryan, forced to defend and pray for more demonic reinforcements from Nurgle.
At that moment, Impris arrived! Still wild with battle fury, the griffon roared its victory and charged at Tamukhan from behind. Its sharp talons tore several large holes in Tamukhan's back, and its beak savaged Tamukhan's face, blinding his remaining eye!
"Thunder Hammer!" In a flash, Ryan hurled the Thunder Hammer at Tamukhan, the electrified weapon smashing into his face.
Skull, shattered!
Teeth, shattered!
Cranium, shattered!
Tamukhan screamed as he staggered backward.
"Die!" Ryan roared, and in the next moment, the Sword of Vengeance pierced Tamukhan's skull. Even then, Ryan did not relent. He withdrew the sword, gripped it with both hands, and drove it through Tamukhan's chest, piercing his heart!
Tamukhan's body convulsed as the three-meter-tall Ogre champion collapsed to his knees, then slowly fell to the ground.
Nurgle's chosen champion was no more.
"Is he dead?" Ryan, covered in blood, gritted his teeth as he approached Tamukhan's body, wanting to be sure. Concerned for her husband, Lady Sulia rushed over. "Is it over, Ryan?"
"No! Sulia, don't come any closer!" Ryan's face paled as he saw Sulia approaching, but it was too late. Suddenly, Tamukhan's corpse erupted in a twisted transformation.
A massive maggot burst from the Ogre's body, twisting through the air to avoid Ryan's attack and then lunged directly at Sulia!
The Maggot King dared not approach Ryan, still crackling with psychic energy and lightning. It had found a new target!
"What?!" Sulia instinctively raised the Sword of Lyonnaise to defend herself, but the gigantic maggot had already wrapped itself around her, coiling three times in mid-air.
What a perfect body!
"I am Tamukhan, Nurgle's chosen champion!"
"I am immortal!"
The Maggot King let out a triumphant, mocking laugh. Your wife? She belongs to me now! Your wife is mine!
But just as Ryan screamed in horror and Sulia steadied herself to strike, the finely crafted armor she wore—made of exquisite vibranium—suddenly flared with the radiance of a blazing sun. An overwhelming power enveloped her, a light so brilliant that it could illuminate the darkest night.
The Maggot King howled in agony as the light seared its bloated flesh. Surrounded by golden flames, its body blackened and twisted as it writhed on the ground. Sulia, undeterred by the sudden turn of events, decisively swung the Sword of Lyonnaise, cutting the monstrous maggot into several pieces!
"My... ambition... ends here..." With its dying breath, the Maggot King cast one final, longing gaze toward Nuln: "Chaos... throne..."
"Die!" Ryan immediately summoned a bolt of lightning, reducing the Maggot King to nothing but charred remnants.
The battlefield trembled violently as the Nurgle demons, having lost their connection to the mortal realm, began to disintegrate in a fury of rage. One by one, they dissolved into filthy gray threads, their essence dissipating into the air. Seeing their leader slain, the remaining Chaos troops finally broke, their morale shattered. Screaming in terror, they fled, only to be swallowed by the relentless and exhausted Imperial forces.
Nurgle's chosen champion, Tamukhan, had met his end before the walls of Nuln.
The Chaos invasion was over.
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