Chapter 9: Chapter VII
{Argall Herec}
The Sergeant gasped, opening his eyes and finding himself back in the throne room. He was surrounded by a few dozen Guards who had all pulled back to this place. Some of the civilians who had been unable to escape were even in here, armed as well.
"Sir, it's good that you've woken up."
One of the Guards said as he helped Herec sit up. The man was surprised that he was alive, somehow luck was on his side, for the moment.
"Status."
Herec ordered, then watched as a grim look came over the guards face.
"The droids have broken through our perimeter and are converging here sir..."
"How long do we have?"
"They're already here..."
Herec turned his attention to the two doors leading into the throne room. Guards were behind makeshift barricades already. Prepared for the doors to open and to open fire upon the droids that would storm inside. The Sergeant pursed his lips, and let out a deep breath.
'So this is how it ends..droids..'
Herec thought with disappointment. Then slowly gestured for the Guard tending to hand him a blaster. The guard did so, knowing full well that it wouldn't matter if Herec was armed or not. The droids would kill them all the same.
"Sir, do you believe in the afterlife?"
The guard questioned as he readied himself, the sound of metal heels approaching the locked doors. The question that the guard asked Herec threw him off, but it was good to talk.
"No, no I don't."
Herec replied, his breathing shallow but his will unwavering.
"So you don't think about what happens after we die?"
"Are you asking because I almost did?"
"Well...kinda."
"To tell you the truth kid, I don't know anything about the afterlife or any of that bull. I only know one thing, and it was something my Commanding Officer taught me back when Judicial Forces were still around."
"What's that, sir?"
"Every man dies, what matters is what they leave behind."
Just as Herec finished speaking, the metal heels could be heard arriving at the doors. The two of them prepared themselves, so did everyone else in the throneroom. They all steeled themselves, knowing that surrender was not an option anymore. This was the end, this was how they were going to die just as Corvinius said.
Then, came the silence. The eerie and chilling silence. As if the droids were teasing them before they attempted to get the door open. That silence was then replaced with anticipation, nothing was happen. No sound of Droid speaking, no blaster being fired. Just utter silence. No one knew when those doors were going to open up, but they knew that the droids were going to eventually get those doors open.
"Sir...you might want to see this."
Came the voice of a guard near one of the windows. Their voice startled Herec, because he was so focused on the door in front of him. He looked at the Guard, saw their eyes wide and looking up at the sky in shock. The guard beside him helped him up, and guided him towards the window. Outside still looked like a warzone, hovertanks and battledroids still littered the palace grounds and outside it. Yet something wasn't right, they weren't moving. As if they were frozen. Then he finally noticed it, the droids had been shut down. That was when Herec looked up, just as the sun began to rise and shine down upon Theed.
It took him a moment to figure out what made the Guard so shocked besides the droids being shut down. That was when he saw it. Something that made his heart race with wonder, dread, glee, and astonishment. A Lucrehulk was falling from the orbit and into the atmosphere of Naboo. The gargantuan ship burning up on entry, yet coming barreling down like a meteor. Only a single sentence came out of Herec's mouth. Which would be shared soon by everyone else once they saw this.
"What the fuck did they do up there!?"
{Corvinius, Moments prior}
'Why..?'
Corvinius thought, just as he used a backfist to back hand a member of this ship's crew. Their body was torn to shreds, the upper half not even having a chance to stain the walls. Only blood littered it, and the floor that he stood upon.
'Why?'
Corvinius grabbed another member of the bridge, having caught them by their head and flexed his muscles for just a nanosecond. Their head exploded in his armored glove grasp, staining them with their blood.
'WHY!?'
He let out a low growl, his heart ablaze as he continued his onslaught. He punched a Droid that had a shield generator, destroying it without it even having the chance to realize it. He stomped his boot heel down on another member of the crew, as if they were a bug. With a backhand, a handful of droids had lost the upper halves of their metal frames. Of course, they were shooting at him. Yet it didn't matter, not even when they shot him square in the face. Corvinius wasn't upset, he wasn't annoyed, he was...pissed.
"W-wait!"
Came the trembling voice of the last remaining member of the crew. All around Corvinius and all in the bridge, blood and body parties were scattered all over the place. His hair was unkempt now, his bangs hiding his eyes. Yet the crewmember could feel Corvinius' gaze upon him, it was like a predator had found it's prey.
"I-i am the first officer of this ship! I offer my unconditional surrender! The ship is yours! I will even shut down the droids under the ships' command."
Corvinius said nothing, only silence was his answer. The bridge officer took it as an incentive to make due on his words and used the shut down code for the droids. His fingers trembled as he head armored boot heels approaching. His breathing came out shaken, his body too scared to turn around.
"I-i-"
The bridge officer never finished his sentence, for Corvinius silenced him. The man had simply used a single digit from his armored glove to stab the bridge officer, ending their life. For them, it would have felt like a blunt object had pierced them through their spine and ended their life.
"Negotiations...are not on the table."
Corvinius finally said, then surveyed the carnage that he wrought. His armored was covered in blood, not scarlet red but blood regardless. Even his beautiful face was covered in blood. His sunny blonde hair was even stained with blood. Yet he cared not of how he looked. He simply marched past the bodies, back to the entrance to the bridge, and looked down to a barely alive Caden. The young Guardsman fading in and out of consciousness. Corvinius kneeled down, getting onto his knees as he slowly took Caden into his arms. He held the young man, looking down at him, his eyes still covered by his bang.
"What you did was brave, but foolish Guardsman."
Corvinius scolded softly, watching as Caden tried to chuckle but had a coughing fit because of it.
"I-i thought...I could...be like you."
Caden replied.
"No one, can be like me."
"I-i see that now..."
"Hold steady, you will make it back home where you belong."
"C-corvinius...c-could you tell me...W-why do you call us...Guardsmen?"
Corvinius was silent for a moment, then began to speak again.
"Guardsmen are soldiers, warriors, the first and last line of defense for where I am from. Men far braver than I, men far greater than I. True men, true humans."
W-wow...they must be great..."
"They were..."
"I-it's an honor...that you thought of us...like that."
Corvinius stayed silent once again, he didn't need to be a doctor or medic to be able to tell that Caden was dying.
"C-corvinius?"
Caden called, but found that the man wasn't answering.
"C-could you tell my mother..and sister that I made my father proud? T-that i.. stood up against...oppression..."
That was the last word that came out of Caden's lips before his frail body went limp. Corvinius remained in his kneeled position. His eyes unseen, yet the silence filling the void.
"Guardsman Jered....if you wish to live...flee from this ship."
Corvinius ordered in a chillingly calm yet eerily cold tone. The last Guardsmen who had come with Corvinius was standing in shock. He was utterly terrified, having never seen such display of carnage before. The words that Corvinius had told him hadn't even registered until Corvinius turned his gaze upon him. What that Guardsman saw made the color from his face leave him. In the next second, he was bolting down the corridor headed for the escape pods most likely.
Corvinius then turned his gaze to an adjacent corridor. One where he saw a persistent Sith getting back up to their feet. For a nanosecond, he did not move. For a nanosecond, Corvinius was as still as stone. Then he gritted his teeth, as a low snarl escaped his lips.
{Darth Maul}
The Sith assassin was disoriented, in pain, sore, and felt his body was numb. Never had he faced someone so skilled, so strong, so overwhelming. Whatever he was fighting, that was not a man. It was a monster, a demon, and he would do well to withdraw while he had the chance.
As he got his barings and retrieved his lightsaber, his eyes landed on the opened bridge doors. He could see blood staining the floors and limbs all over the place. He was at least nearly half a mile away down a corridor. Yet what he saw made even him feel something that only one man made him feel. Fear. His eyes landed on the kneeled frame of the adversary whom he had been fighting moments ago.
For a second, he could see the man's face, then the next thing he knew he saw a pair of scarlet bloodshot eyes glaring back at him. The man's teeth with gritting. No, calling his canines teeth was a lie, those were fangs. Maul didn't know what he was looking at anymore. When he had arrived he was sent to kill a charismatic leader. When he boarded this ship, he was coming to kill a brave fool. Now...he didn't know what was in front of him.
The moment that he blinked his eyes, was the moment that he realized he was finished. For when his eyes opened, the man whom he thought was still a man was already standing in front of him. He had charged at him in that short of a time, and barreled right into the Sith. Maul didn't even have time to process what just happened. Even as he felt his back collided with the wall as the man pushed him against it. Even as he felt his body quake, his bones bend, and his flesh being torn apart.
The only thought that flashed through his mind just as all he saw was nothing but his own blood splatter and torn metal, was a single sentence.
'What unholy thing...would make him?'
{Corvinius}
The man was...unable to discern what was happening. To say he could see what he was doing would be an utter lie. All he could tell was that he was moving. He was destroying. He wasn't stopping. Corvinius couldn't even tell what he was going, he could feel heat and the air kissing his exposed head. Yet even then, he couldn't tell what was going on. All he could tell was what he felt, something so powerful he couldn't even control it.
Rage, unadulterated, rags.
He wouldn't even begin to realize what he was experiencing until he stopped. His body seemingly halting at something. His vision came back, allowing him to see and understand what was going on. He had experienced something that he both feared and hoped for. The Blood Rage...
He could taste something sweet in his mouth. As if he had licked a lollipop. It was slimy, sticky, and...
'Blood...'
Corvinius thought, then immediately spit it out hoping that he hadn't killed anyone on his side. What came out was green blood, which still disgusted him. Though he felt relief come over him. He had a faint idea what he did during that short episode. After all, he could hear alarms blaring in his ears overhead. The ship was moving, and he didn't know where it was moving to. Then again the last thing he remembered was Caden asking him about the Guardsmen. Other than that, his mind was blank as to what had happened.
With a slow turn, he began to try and make his way back to the bridge. As he did, he saw a Primarch sized hole in the wall. He blinked twice, processed what he was looking at, then walked through. He continued his march, knowing that the ship was falling. His gaze looking over all that had happened. Droids destroyed, terminals caved in or crushed, and ships being in places that they shouldn't be.
As Corvinius walked, he felt the ship tilt. This caused him to stop gawking and began to go into a jog. He moved, trying to retrace his steps. He didn't have the time to go over everything that just happened. He didn't have time to think about how he just went into a Blood Rage. He didn't even have the time to figure out whose blood was in his mouth. All he was worried about were two things, his sword and the body of Caden. The Guardsman deserved to be buried or cremated. Not just because he thought that it was right, but because Caden was fooled. Everyone on Naboo was fooled by Corvinius. He kept up the notion that he was a man, he furthered the idea that he was still human. His mind was still his own, still not realizing a certain fact.
Corvinius was not a man, he wasn't human anymore. He was a Primarch, and he failed to come to terms with this. Because he still thought of himself as a man. He surrounded himself with real men. Surrounded himself with frail bodies. He only now realized that he was in the body of the Imperiums', the galaxys', most beloved son. Not because of his wings, not because of his valor, and not even because of his prerogative Pysker abilities. Sanguinius was beloved by all because of who he was. Corvinius inherited what made Sanguinius great in one aspect, his body and somewhat of his traits. He inherited a legacy, an unearned one.
Corvinius found his way back to the bridge, and saw Caden's body sliding across the floor. He quickly picked the Guardsman's corpse up, then grabbed his sword. His helmet however was nowhere to be found, but that didn't mattered. Corvinius placed his sword in it's sheath just as he watched the ship enter Naboo's atmosphere. His gaze remained true and forward, his eyes never leaving the bridge viewpoint. Until he saw the outside get lit on fire from reentry. Only a single thought came to Corvinius' mind, a goal that he wished to achieve before even creating an Imperium.
'I need to become a Primarch....a real one.'
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