The aberration of flesh and blood accelerated through the most blasphemous and savage of metamorphoses. Corset's aspiration was, at last, consummated — yet he was not elevated to Daemonhood. He was transfigured into a Chaos Ovum — a Warp tempest of sufficient magnitude to envelop Nostramo in its entirety.
His extremities were reconstituted in tortuous, helical configurations. His corporeal substrate was forcibly distended, lacerated, and re-sutured by an invisible, ineluctable agency. His constituent matter was then reassembledinto a blasphemous geometric configuration— the octofold iconography of the Blood God, Khorne.
The instant this iconographic configurationattained complete illumination —
An unprecedented Warp tempest eruptedover Nostramo.
The perpetual darkness that had envelopedthis world for innumerable millennia was lacerated. The phantasmic effigy of the BloodGod was projected from the Warp'sprofundity. Every sentient observer upon the planetary surface registered, with visceralcertitude, the crimson colossus now imprinted upon their sensorium.
*THOOM——! *
Eight fulminant cacophonies propagatedthroughout the collective consciousness of every spectator.
The towering entity — arrayed in sanguinarywar-plate, enthroned upon his Brass Pavilionof accumulated cranial acquisitions — elevated himself from his august station.
His ocular organs erupted with inextinguishable configration. His regard was fixed, with unrelenting concentration, upon Nostramo.
He elevated his colossal battle-axe — an implement capable of lacerating the membrane of reality itself.
The mortals who registered His authenticphysiognomy collapsed into involuntarygenuflection.
They had, prior to the Emperor's intervention, encountered the manifestation of Khorne.
Their sensorium was assailed by a tempestuous collision of instinctive affectivestates:
Wrath. Terror. Reverence.
Every combatant upon the battlefield was immobilised — as though some cosmicactuation mechanism had depressed a universal temporal interdiction protocol.
They contemplated the ineffable entity as He elevated His sanguinary battle-axe from His Brass Citadel.
He then inscribed a perpetual cicatrix upon the fabric of the material cosmos.
CRACK——!
This acoustic catastrophe propagatedthroughout the entire Eastern Fringe.
Khorne, through unassisted agency, had ruptured the membrane of reality.
Warp effluence cascaded into the materialcosmos with the irresistible momentum of a catastrophic aquatic barrier failure.
Beneath His crimson penumbra, a colossalcelestial armada materialised over Nostramo.
The Eighth Legion. The Night Lords Fleet.
Under the direction of the Nightfall, ten battlevessels escorted the flagship's perimeter.
Ten thousand Night Lords had transgressedthe temporal boundary and translatedthemselves to this chronological juncture.
This was not, however, the terminalescalation.
The crimson Warp tempest continued its inexorable expansion.
Khorne's authentic martial investment had not yet been comprehensively disclosed.
*ROOOAR——! *
An ululation of primordial wrath propagatedthroughout the planetary atmosphere.
Skarbrand — the pre-eminent Daemonbeneath Khorne's throne — catapulted himself from the tempest's epicentre.
His colossal, vibratory pinions propagatedcatastrophic atmospheric perturbations.
He was followed by eight complete KhornateDaemon hosts.
GULP.
Nyx, with considerable volitional exertion, propelled a quantum of salivary effluencethrough his comprehensive oesophagealconstruction.
This was the inaugural chronological instantat which he authentically registered his own existential status:
Prey.
...What of the Emperor?!
I implore ASSISTANCE!
How am I projected to sustain opposition until the Imperial Fleet's intervention under these OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS?!
Innumerable terrestrial insertion capsulesdescended upon the planetary substratumwith the velocity of crimson meteorites.
The combat vocalisations of Khorne's Daemon hosts reverberated throughout the upper hive.
Despair propagated through the Resistance complement with the virulence of pestilentialcontagion.
"I shall interdict the Eighth Legion."
Curze's enunciation emanated from the umbra.
He and Nyx had, together, registered this eschatological spectacle.
The prospect of existential continuity was, by any conventional metric, negligible.
He had, nevertheless, determined to confrontthis desperate circumstance at his fraternal associate's perimeter.
"...Hah. It appears this chronological junctureis, indeed, our designated existentialterminus."
Nyx's maxillofacial configuration distendedinto a rigid, unconvincing simulation of equanimity.
"I shall interdict Khorne's Daemon hosts. Operational command of the Resistance is transferred to your discretion."
"My four equerries and I shall arrest the Daemonic offensive."
He did not await Curze's assent.
At this chronological juncture, every temporalincrement was existential currency.
Five combatants, opposing a completeKhornate Daemon host.
This formulation was, by any conventionalmetric, deranged.
Nyx was, nevertheless, determined to fixthese sanguinary monsters' offensiveinvestment exclusively upon his own person.
This configuration is strongly reminiscent of that deranged Iberian cavalry enthusiast's trajectory towards his designated terrestrialmilling installations.
His adversaries, however, were inert lithiccylinders.
My adversaries are THE WARP's PRE-EMINENT SANGUINARY INCARNATIONS.
"Captain. Operational command is hereby transferred to my fraternal associate, Curze."
"IMMEDIATELY** consolidate Blazing Hatred, Bryce, and Chestnut. You are designated to engage the Daemon hosts at my perimeter!"
Nyx's injunction propagated throughout the tactical vox network.
His four equerries registered this directive. Their compliance was immediate, unreserved.
Their sensorium was, to a greater or lesserdegree, saturated with apprehensionregarding the colossal Daemonic host now materialised over Nostramo.
This apprehension, however, was considerably attenuated by the prospect of engaging the adversary at the Space King'simmediate perimeter.
At this chronological juncture, apprehensionwas a universal affective state.
Nyx, however, was excluded from this universal dispensation.
He was constrained to bear this existentialaccumulation — as the Emperor had bornehumanity's most profound existential crisis.
His visual perimeter was saturated with crimson effluence.
The magnitude of Khorne's Daemon hostoccasioned in Nyx considerable cephalicdiscomfort.
It was abundantly apparent that Khorne was determined to secure his acquisition of Nyx's person.
"MORTAL. You shall CONSECRATE yourself to my Lord's service — or you shall EXPIATEyour INSOLENCE through EXISTENTIALEXPENDITURE!"
Skarbrand's enunciation propagated across the intervening distance.
He awaited Nyx's determination.
Should Nyx demur, Skarbrand would personally detach his cephalic extremity and present it to his august proprietary entity.
Had Khorne not explicitly enjoined him to exercise restraint, Skarbrand would have exterminated every sentient organism upon this contemptible terrestrial configuration at the instant of his materialisation.
He hoped, with considerable fervour, that the specimen before him would disappoint his attenuated reservoir of forbearance.
"Has my response not been CONSISTENTLYUNAMBIGUOUS?!"
"VACANTUS** DOMESTICUS! This CANINEDEGENERATE COMPREHENDS ZEROPROPORTION of my ENUNCIATIONS?!"
Nyx's discursive contributioncomprehensively exhausted Skarbrand's residual forbearance.
How DARE this mortal INSECT DEFILE the Blood God's AUGUST DESIGNATION?!
Wrath cascaded through Skarbrand's cognitive infrastructure with the momentumof a tectonic tsunami.
He would countenance no further desecrationof his venerated proprietary entity.
His sanguinary pinions propagatedcatastrophic atmospheric perturbations.
Skarbrand catapulted himself into the firmament. His trajectory was that of a crimson meteorite, descending upon Nyx with irresistible terminal velocity.
His dual battle-axes were elevated in anticipation of catastrophic impact. Their blades radiated an effulgence capable of bifurcating reality itself.
BOOM——!
The substratum fractured under the colossalpercussive investment of Skarbrand's offensive.
Skarbrand registered, with considerableastonishment, that his catastrophic impacthad failed to annihilate his designatedadversary.
"MORTAL. You manifest martial proficienciesof exceptional calibration. This modestaugmentation, however, is GROTESQUELYINADEQUATE to CONTEMN the BLOOD GOD'sMAJESTY!"
His dual battle-axes committed themselves to a second, more savage offensive.
Nyx's defensive perimeter commenced its progressive attrition.
I cannot sustain a purely defensivedisposition...
Golden fulgurations erupted from Nyx's sinister manual extremity.
His magnetic field rotation instantaneouslyexceeded its customary operational thresholdof 100,000 horsepower.
Exploiting the temporal interval of Skarbrand's offensive commitment, he propelled his adversary rearward with catastrophicvelocity.
"INGEST my COSMIC MANUALEXTREMITY, ORAL COMMISSURESPECIMEN!"**
Skarbrand's deranged martial instinctsscreamed at him to evade this percussiveencounter.
His pre-eminent designation as Khorne's foremost terrestrial instrument, however, compelled him to receive this offensive with demonstrative contempt.
The subsequent instant —
A crimson meteorite traversed the firmamentwith velocity considerably exceeding that of its inaugural trajectory.
It impacted the Khornate Daemon host with catastrophic momentum.
Nyx immediately committed himself to an offensive translation. His objective was to insinuate the forward engagement perimeterdeep within the hostile formation.
"...Excellent. Such formidable martialinvestment. It appears my corporealconfiguration has sustained compromise to its essential substrate."
Skarbrand registered, with visceral clarity, that Nyx was capable of effecting his comprehensive existential termination.
Should he expire at this mortal's manualextremities, he would not be exiled to the Warp. He would be annihilated — reconstituted by Khorne into a completelynovel Skarbrand.
Did this prospect occasion in him apprehension?
Negative.
As the deranged specimen who had dared to assault his own proprietary divinity — as the pre-eminent exemplar of existential terrorismdirected at his august proprietary entity — Skarbrand registered zero affectiveinvestment in his own existential continuity.
He registered, instead, unprecedented martialgratification.
This was the inaugural chronological instantsince his elevation to Daemonhood at which he had encountered an adversary worthy of his comprehensive martial investment.
"What is your DESIGNATION?!"
"Carlyle Nyx!"
Skarbrand encoded this appellation within his cognitive infrastructure.
He was determined to personally detach this specimen's cephalic extremity and reclassifyit as his most venerated acquisition.
"Nyx! I shall personally DETACH your CEPHALIC EXTREMITY!"