The Elysians roared as one. Beams of vengeful las-fire shot towards the Ork Warlord.
Crackle, crackle...
"Waaagh!" The beast bellowed, its roar drowning out the staccato crackle.
Its body shuddered. A greenish glow flared, and a jet-black shell shot out, slamming into the Tauros of the 25th Regiment's commander.
Bang!
The vehicle erupted in a cloud of black smoke.
Flesh and blood sprayed.
"Waaagh!"
The green tide surged. Armor-clad Orks charged, roaring, firing their guns wildly.
The Elysians did not yield a single step. Every one of their shots found its mark on an enemy.
The Ork Warlord charged into the densest part of the enemy formation, its twin power saws whirring. A crimson mist rose skyward.
The terrifying Ork Warlord slaughtered indiscriminately, felling Elysians in droves.
Moncigaro drew his Necromundan-pattern laspistol and fired at the beast in fury.
Pop, pop, pop...
The las-beams struck the crude armor, leaving only small scorch marks.
Roar!
A chill went through Moncigaro's body. The beast's crimson glare fixed on him.
It charged.
Moncigaro backed away, firing as he retreated, but the distance closed relentlessly.
Despair flickered in Moncigaro's eyes.
A searing red light flashed before him.
Boom!
The ground shuddered violently.
The shrieking power saw, bearing down on him, suddenly stopped.
Moncigaro saw the beast's eyes, the only organic part of its body visible, bulge outward as if about to burst.
Foul, pus-laden blood dripped down.
The Ork Warlord spun around, furious, to face the black-armored 'umie.
As the full-fledged "Interrogator," Howard Finder, used "Lashing" to save the Elysian, he sensed a wave of thick stench and evil.
He checked his tactical display, and his obsidian eyes suddenly narrowed.
Toby Bandak, Lord Commander of the Elysian Drop Troops, had fallen.
A flicker of flame passed through the "Disciplinary Paladin's" eyes. He raised his arm.
""Punishment": Ork Warlord!"
A dawn-like radiance appeared around the "Disciplinary Paladin's" black armor, even gleaming on his power fist, whose disintegration field was now active.
The prototype Saturn-pattern Terminator armor on the "Disciplinary Paladin" seemed to lighten. In a single stride, he appeared before the Ork Warlord.
Boom!
A shining blow smashed the blood-stained power saw to pieces.
The Ork Warlord, a head taller than the armored Howard, swayed and staggered back several steps.
His left arm hung limp. His crimson eyes fixed on the black-armored 'umie.
"Waaagh!" A green mist rose. He swung his right arm, the power saw shrieking.
"Death!" The "Disciplinary Paladin" crouched, lunged forward, and leaped. His blue power fist, wreathed in light, trailed an afterimage as it slammed into the Ork Warlord's head.
Bang!
The Ork Warlord's head and neck exploded.
As metal shavings drifted, Howard spoke, his voice deep: "Beast, this is my judgment upon you."
Moncigaro looked up at the Arbiter Lord's majestic form, who had crushed the beast's head with a single blow.
"Old Toby... my lord has avenged you."
Suddenly remembering something, he sprinted towards the Tauros wreckage, searching.
Howard ordered his Honor Guard to pursue and slay the Ork Warlord's scattered forces. He then walked to the Tauros wreckage.
He removed his helmet and gauntlets. From the dazed Elysian holding the tattered battle standard, he carefully took a corner of the torn fabric.
"I will preserve this."
"To remember the years Toby and I fought side by side."
Claydon.
Dazzling beams of light rained down. Rolling waves of heat scorched the mountain rocks, leaving trails of black.
Multiple sonic booms echoed across the world. The greenskins clamped their hands over their ears against the deafening roar.
Peaks crumbled in mushroom clouds. Rubble filled the ravines.
In orbit, on the bridge of the Venerable-class battleship Void Hunter.
Sanchez, Chapter Master of the Seveth, the Great Wolf Morkai's cloak billowing behind him, Krakentooth at his hip.
Through his Russ-pattern wolf helm, his obsidian eyes stared at the holographic display, thick with scattered green dots.
Relying on the range advantage of his four Venerable-class battleships, his Chapter had bombarded the asteroid fortress and the Ork Warlord to slag.
But his task was far from over.
Claydon had fallen. Greenskins were scattered across the entire planet.
Sanchez recalled the Black Emperor's command: to quell the green tide with utmost speed.
His eyes fixed on a view screen. His adjutant, in charge of the simulation sanctum, had calculated the time.
'Claydon is classified as a mining world, rich in high-density precious metals.'
'Orbital bombardment will be inefficient. Estimated duration: fifty-one standard days.'
'Orbital bombardment will cause irreversible damage to the ore deposits. An estimated 86.39% of the mines will be destroyed.'
Sanchez frowned. Such a result would destroy the planet's value, nearly equivalent to Exterminatus.
The "Schemer" stared at the scrolling Augury Matrix report. His obsidian eyes suddenly lit up.
He saw blue runes, one after another.
"Deathskulls clan!" the "Schemer" murmured.
He had participated in the "Fire Wyrms" campaign, where he had triumphed in a competition with Enoch Rashivan, the Sixth Legion's former Legion Master. He knew the Orks intimately.
The Deathskulls were known as scavengers and looters.
They would not only madly scavenge anything they could touch from corpses on the battlefield but also wouldn't hesitate to steal from other greenskins if the opportunity arose.
The "Schemer's" thoughts raced. He rapidly conceived a scheme.
Seven days later.
Black transports and tugs arrived at the designated orbit above Claydon.
The bellies of the black void giants opened.
A rain of scrap metal fell.
Steel cables descended from the tugs. Wreckage from junk ships and the black vessels' large debris plummeted.
The pieces of wreckage, of varying sizes, tore through the atmosphere, friction streaking them with light.
Ironhead Orks, gazing skyward, shrieked with excitement, howling as they rushed towards the falling treasure.
Aboard the black vessels, "Pyromaniac" watched the view screens. Sensors mounted on the scattered wreckage sent back images.
When the screens were filled with blue, they pressed their activation runes almost simultaneously.
The melta bombs, personally placed by the "Pyromaniac," detonated.
Bang, bang, bang...
The devastating fusion streams ignited the hanging, sealed promethium canisters.
Pillars of fire shot skyward, piercing the dark canopy.
Greenskins screamed, struggling in the inferno.
The world filled with a cacophony of stench: hot metal and fire, promethium and sweat, concentrated ammonia, and a bizarre, rotting, burnt smell.
In orbit, thousands of "Pyromaniac" lost their sensor feeds. They hurried to the viewports, looking down at the dancing flames.
They felt their spirituality become more active, their minds and spirits more pure.
Within an hour, a thousand true "Pyromaniac" had been born.
...
Aboard the Fortune, Flamini held his datapad, staring at the report submitted by the Master of the Astropathic Choir.
[7978954, The Fifth Chapter, using the Kalium Gate, rapidly arrived in the Portsmouth system, intercepting the Orks before they could land...]
[6317955, Lord Arbiter Howard Finder has cleansed and captured the largest asteroid fortress…]
[...]
[4632955, The 7th Chapter has ignited a great fire on Claydon, incinerating the greenskins scattered across the planet to ash.]
Flamini had learned from the information the Black Emperor had granted him that the five green tides invading his domain had all been extinguished.
Coupled with his own effortless repulsion of the Ork Warlord who had raided Abyss Port, relying on the five Ramilles-class starforts, only the green tide that had breached the Cyclops Cluster remained.
With astropathic communications gradually being restored and intelligence improving, he could now confirm that the Ork force in the Cyclops Cluster numbered over one hundred and fifty thousand.
The Black Emperor, leading his Honor Guard and the Vostoyan Auxiliaries, was cleansing the largest green tide.