章 78: Betrayal

10 Minutes Ago

Avinon Fatecast, the Greater Daemon of Tzeentch and one of the Lord of Change, is not having a great time as his entire crafted plan suddenly washed away like a sandcastle. He and his masterful strategy of manipulation and the calculated plan were going smoothly as three different factions of Chaos were cornering the mixed batch of Space Marines.

With his mighty magic, Avinon cast powerful spells to buff all of the forces of Chaos on the battlefield and mind control them to stay focused on their task instead of fighting each other. It is incredible how much you can accomplish when the two most hated armies work together and slaughter their most common enemy right in front of your face.

World Eaters and minions of Skull God as frontline soldiers and Slaanesh's daemons as quick-strike force halt Astartes from reaching their second military forces within the capital city. Now, with Avinon and his force joining the fight, the Astartes are being pushed back as their number begins to decline.

All warp magic-type daemons of Tzeentch have magical barriers that act as a protective shield, and just like their master, they are very perficient with magical ability and spells. Because of this trait, the daemons of Tzeentch prefer to fight in range than in close combat. Of course, this doesn't mean they are useless in melee combat, but rather out of four Chaos forces, Tzeentch's are weakest in the glorious melee.

With three armies against a small company worth of Space Marines, anyone would assume this would be an easy victory. This was exactly what Avinon foresaw with his gifted short foresight before revealing his hidden army and joining the fight. Still, because of this New World's strange magic and interference from the powers of native gods, Avinon couldn't see clearly due to the unpredictable flow of time made him impossible to foresee further into the future.

Lord of Change's problem started with his overcharge spell known as The Purple Sun of Xereus, one of the most deadly death spells that could create an orb of a purple vortex. If this spell is placed in the right location, it will wipe out half of the Space Marines, forever lost in the darkness. Just as Avinon was about to reach a critical point of unleashing his masterful spell, a ground-shaking shockwave generated behind him and knocked everyone close to the ground. It also immobilized everyone where they were.

The worst part is that this mysterious shockwave carried a psychic null effect that interrupted his vortex spell and made everyone go mad due to the severed connection to the warp. A few things happened at once before the shockwave subsided and was tolerable enough for everyone to stand up.

First, 100% of Avignon's Scintillating Legion lost their heads. Due to sudden disconnection to the warp and inability to control the magic, every minion of Tzeentch explodes like firecrackers, if not lethal walking explosives.

Second, Avinon himself managed to withstand the null shockwave, but because all his concentration went to his very survival, he lost control of his overcharged spell. Avignon's staff holding the vortex spell shattered, and a miniature purple sphere of doom began to go wild.

"Oh, SHIT!"

With half a second to react, Lord of Change pointed his staff towards somewhere else at random, and The Purple Sun of Xereus appeared where his staff pointed. Unfortunately, this is where the third problem begins.

The third problem began with a giant vortex hovering above where minions of Slaanesh and World Eaters meet. Before they realized what was happening, two armies began to float as if gravity suddenly disappeared, and without warning, the majority of them began to suck into the darkness as Avinon's overcharged spell performed perfectly as it should be (Just not onto ally forces).

"We have been betrayed!"

"By the blood and skulls! I curse you bird head!"

"Where is my ax? I lost my chain ax!"

"I don't feel any pleasure from this!"

Two armies cursed Avinon, and his friendly fire of a powerful spell as all of them are convinced that this was a calculated betrayal. By the time the purple vortex died down, everyone could see an immense emptiness in the middle of Chaos armies as most of them perished while none of the Astartes lost anyone. Besides Wolf Seer having a minor seizure due to his connection to the warp, everyone from William's side managed to survive and was ready to launch a counteroffensive as many of them reloaded their bolters and stared into panicking enemies through bright red eye lenses.

'Fuck me and my hazy fate. I need to retreat.' Lord of Change thought to himself and took a few steps back while the remaining Chaos forces stumble to reorganize. Unknown to everyone, the null shockwave did something more devastating as every magic spell that was boosting them was now neutralized and no longer united them as one. The loss of unity and one mindset made the remaining Chaos armies turn against each other, making this all-out war once again on every side.

The all-out fight begins with the sound of bolters as Space Marines fire their bolters without hesitation. World Eaters took the heavy casualty as they were busy fighting both Space Marines and minions of Slaanesh, while Legions of Excess did everything they could to cut down World Eaters.

"Screw this," Lord of Change turned his back from the battle and ran towards where he could cast a spell without interruption. With his magical staff shattered and destroyed, Avinon must cast a warp portal to make his escape and to accomplish this will require some help as he pulls out scrolls and ingredients required to cast the spell. Lord of Change could feel the vulnerability and lack of overwhelming magic he is supposed to possess.

"This should be far away enough for me to make a portal," Avinon said to himself and began casting spells. After long seconds later, Avinon managed to create a warp portal and was about to make his escape when out of nowhere, giant Bloodthirster and armless Imperial Knight breakthrough a random house and were about to crush onto Lord of Change.

The only thing Avinon could say before slamming into two incoming giants was simple words.

"Oh, fuck my fate,"

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"Skarbrand now knows the truth, and he will make everyone pay for their treachery. Especially that foolish Lord of Change, I will personally burn his realm and shatter every pesky mirror." Very angry, Skarbrand declares his war against the one who tricked him into betraying his master and his shameful banishment as an exiled one.

Meanwhile, seeing the head of the Keeper still hanging in Skarbrand's hand, the minions of Slaanesh are without general and losing morale to continue their fight. Seeing an opportunity, the daemons of Khorne reposition themselves and attack the weakened daemons of Slaanesh, butchering them and collecting the skulls.

As for William, he knew Skarbrand would not simply leave the New World as he is very well aware of how much Skarbrand takes great pride in fighting a powerful opponent, and William proved enough to Bloodthirster that he is worthy of Skarbrand's skull collection.

Before Skarbrand could continue his dialogue on how much he will spill blood, William gave his direct order through vox communicator to Freeblade Knight Scion of Wrath. The 32 feet tall (10 Meters) Imperial Knight Gallant quickly follows the order given by the Chapter Master and repositions himself behind the building across from where Skarbrand is.

BOOOOMMM!

A loud sound of booming mechanical sound disoriented everyone around them, and they were unable to see the incoming metal giant with mega-size chainsword and chain hand. As big as Imperial Knight is, it was surprising how it could move quickly and able to crush anything standing in its way.

Freeblade Knight Scion of Wrath appears on the battlefield in full scale after breakthrough a large building and charging at distracted Bloodthirster. Unleashing every type of ranged weapon while cranking a massive mega-size chainsaw, Scion of Wrath stomping mouse-size enemies with each step. When the two giants finally met, the ground shook as they pushed against each other while their deadly blades sparked against each other.

Mega-sized chainsaw and Skarbrand's ax met with a screeching metal sound as their melee weapons placed each other in a stalemate. Imperial Knight's engines boosted the power as it began to push Skarbrand a little bit, but this only made Bloodthirster angry. Greater Daemon's iron-like muscle bulks twice its size while greater daemon starts to breathe fire from his mouth.

"Skarbrand will not be overpowered!" Bloodthirster put away Keeper's head and grabbed his second ax to arm himself fully. The twin axes known as Slaughter and Carnage began to make a difference as Skarbrand pushed the metal giant into the middle of a battlefield.

Skarbrand lifts his right hand with his mighty strength and strikes down Carnage at Scion of Wrath's left shoulder. Seeing the incoming attack, Scion of Warth repositioned his chain hand and grabbed Skarbrand's right hand before it could hit the Imperial Knight. Activating chain hand, Freebalde's hand shreds Skarbanrd's daemonic flesh.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Skarbrand howls in pain as his right wrist is clamped down to the chain hand's grip. This didn't stop the Skarbrand from punishing his enemy as he still is the greatest of all Bloodthirsters of Khrone even though he is exiled one.

"Blood for the Blood God and Skull for the Skull Throne!" Skarbrand, using his mighty brute strength, extended both of his arms, surpassing the length of Freeblade's arms and bending metal itself like twigs. Pushing beyond what Imperial Knight could muster, Bloodthirster frees his left hand from the mega chainsaw and quickly strike Scion of Wrath's right arm off.

"Now, Die!" Skarbrand then decapitates the knight's left arm using his left, freeing his other hand. Now free to strike down his enemy, Skarbrand raises his two axes above his head and is about to strike down towards Imperial Knight's head, but he is interrupted by a second Freebalde before he can finish the first one.

The second Freeblade Knight Spear of Olympus is a smaller Imperial Knight known as Armiger Warglaive. Designed to be a quick-strike battlesuit walker, Armiger Warglaive is fast but heavy-armed with a thermal spear (A large Melta weapon) and chain cleaver to break the battle line.

The thermal spear fired a lance-like beam of superheated energy, and a top-mounted mega bolter cannon hit Skarbrand as Spear of Olympus stood between Greater Daemon and Scion of Wrath. The heavy weapons push back the Greater Daemon a few steps as Skarband uses his axes to shield himself.

The entire scene looks like some sci-fi movie scene as William watches silently as he waits for his terminator armor to finish rebooting. A few seconds later, William's armor finishes the cooldown and reboots itself, giving William a complete analysis of the battlefield as the armor picks up new updates of the entire battlefield intelligence.

[Null effect still active. The number of enemy forces decreased to 48%. Warning: Unkown warp energy detected on the outer edge of the Null zone.]

'Hidden enemy with warp magic? Sneaky bastard.' William thought to himself and found the direction where the warp energy was gathering. Realizing the gathering warp energy isn't complete yet, William decided to crush mysterious warp energy by dropping a few metric tons of Greater Daemon and a walking mech suit.

"Freeblades! Push that Bloodthirster in this direction! I will order artillery bombardment right on top of this zone." William sends the new intel and instruction to the Freeblades as he reengages in battle as a few of the World Eaters approach him.

"Understood. Executing given order." Scion of Wrath desire to continue its fight, crank up its engine and charge Skarbrand with its shoulder first. Following Freeblade's example, Spear of Olympus did the same, and two Imperial Knights body slam against Skarbrand again and pushed Bloodthirster onto the targeting zone. Pushing through the house and outside the Null zone, this moment merged with Avinon's situation as Skarbrand slammed into Lord of Change just when the warp portal opened.

"Chapter Master, the Greater Daemon is outside of the battlefield. Feel free to give artillery bombardment order." Scion of Wrath quickly updated William as both Imperial Knights retreated from the targeting zone.

"This is William. Fire every artillery at this location until I give the order to stop. This is priority one order!" William didn't bother with reason and used his complete authority to take command of the Krieg artillery company.

"As you command, my lord." Krieg Commander answered William, and a few seconds later, sounds of incoming artillery shells could be heard. When the shells hit the targeting area, it turned into a blazing firestorm as the shells exploded all around, destroying and setting everything on fire. The bombardment lasted three whole minutes, and by the time William gave a command to stop all fire, nothing remained as even the warp portal itself disappeared after receiving the overwhelming firepower of the Krieg's weapons.

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Three minutes ago,

"Get off me, you oversized muscle brain!" Avinon shouts with pain in his voice as he pushes away Skarbrand's body to his side. Avinon could feel pain all over his body as he was still weak from the null effect.

'I'm so close to escaping. Just a few more steps.' Avinon thought to himself and used his broken staff as a cane to support himself. Just as he was about to reach the portal, he lost his balance as a bloody ax cut clean one of his legs.

"You are not going anywhere, little bird. After finishing my business with a pesky human William." Skarbrand stands up with one of his leather wings broken but possesses enough strength to threaten Lord of Change. Skarbrand continues talking as he crushes the severed leg with his own feet.

"You will take me to your master's realm after I finish my business collecting William's skull. I need to return the favor." The moment Skarbrand finishes his sentence, a whistle can be heard, and a massive bombardment hits two Greater Daemons. The shells' impact hurt already wounded two Greater Daemons and sent them into the warp portal as it shut itself down a few moments later.

With three Greater Daemons either dead or gone, the remaining daemons of the three Choas Gods slowly vanish as their material flesh deteriorates and dies off. In the end, William's forces are victorious but with a high cost as many Space Marines are either killed or require immediate medical support. Freebalde Knight requires complete repairs from the Adeptus Mechanicus, which will take years as resources are limited.

With the capital city of Legallan conquered and won the Battle of Null, William gained a temporary base of operation as his Imperial Guardsmen, Sisters of Battle, and natives of this world entered the city to witness the aftermath of half of the city destroyed.