The Wayward Son

Kabal Palace, Foundry Shipyard

The trip to Melisara's lab had been uneventful this time around for Seiras. He couldn't exactly talk to Melisara in the presence of a pissed off Renfaeda, but the haemonculus had reequipped him in his wargear again for the battle to come.

He was currently following behind his master as they walked up some type of ledge overlooking the shipyard below. Faelan was standing there along with his incubi, all three succubi, and a few other prominent leaders. One of which included a scourge leader by the looks of it. A large host of dracons and even a Kabal Hierarch was also present. Seiras didn't recognize any of these aliens by name or face, but they clearly recognized him as they all tensed up at his arrival.

The sight that was most disturbing to him was seeing Meela wearing her armour and armed with a sword. She had a mask of some kind on, but Seiras could literally feel a shiver from what he assumed was her gaze. All of the other prominent wyches were there including Nelfaera. She sent him a smile when Renfaeda wasn't looking.

"We're finally here, Faelan...sorry that took so long," Renfaeda addressed her brother.

Faelan nodded, "It is no matter Faeda…I'm still waiting for Tahril."

As if on queue another archon with long black hair came walking up with five incubi. A host of his own dracons were also present.

"Ah, perfect timing. Is your fleet prepared Archon Tahril?" Faelan asked the other archon.

Tahril nodded, "Yes, we are well equipped…are your forces ready to deploy?"

"We are now that our space marine just arrived," Faelan nodded as he pointed at the librarian.

"I never quite got the chance to ask you about him. I saw him when I went to visit Melisara a while back. He is a Blood Raven librarian…does Vect know you have a psyker in Commorragh? I know this one personally…he's powerful." Tahril pointed at Seiras as he gave a disapproving look to Faelan.

Faelan shook his head, "Melisara built that Psionic Limiter collar for him. It cancels out a farseer's psychic abilities…a human would never break free of it. Plus, it has a variety of useful functions ranging from paralysis, shock, and tracking."

"The only reason I've turned a blind eye to it is because you keep that monkeigh pariah around and because it's Melisara's work. Mark my words though…you'll regret it if he gets that collar off," Tahril said grimly.

"He won't, but I will keep that in mind," Faelan nodded.

Renfaeda cocked her head at Tahril confused, "You know Seiras, Archon Tahril?"

He nodded, "Yes…I fought his chapter in the Kaurava System. He's iconic because he's a librarian and he wears that helmet with the forked scarab horn on the front. You'd be a fool to underestimate him. That space marine killed a lot of my kabalites and wyches."

"Yes, we made him fight in the arenas. He beat all of my wyches except for me without any armour or his own weapons. I was shocked that he knew how to use a razorflail and a skyboard," Renfaeda pointed out.

Tahril scoffed, "He can do a lot more than that. He somehow hacked into our communications systems and fed us false signals on Kaurava II. We followed it believing it to be the Farseer Caerys' vanguard. Instead we were surrounded by the Blood Ravens. He lured us into a trap. He's very cunning for a monkeigh."

"How could a monkeigh ever hack your communications though? That's literally impossible. You fell for something like that?" Aelendriel spoke up confused.

The black-haired archon shrugged, "We never quite figured it out. He must have had help from an Aeldari craftworlder. I don't believe the Blood Ravens fought Farseer Caerys' forces…so they were likely working together as preposterous as it sounds."

'Thank the Emperor…I thought he knew I could understand them for a second there. It's bad enough Shiralyn found out,' Seiras thought.

"Well now that we're all here…let's go over the battle plan," Faelan announced as everyone gathered a bit closer.

"My Kabal's forces will lead the vanguard. We are going to take all of our ships and troops to the base of the spire right here," Faelan held up a device to show a holographic map display.

Tahril nodded, "Yes…a good entry, but Velatha will expect that. She'll likely have fortifcations around that area. I wouldn't put it past her to put a ship over that area as well to bombard it from the air."

"Yes, the majority of the Kabal will be assailing from that location. It will draw in a large portion of her army. Meanwhile, we'll be taking a force to break through this foundry hanger right here. From what my hierarch has told me about the layout, it is the least protected area past the outer gates. Past the bridge over here, we can open the gates from the inside and allow our full army to enter the district. Once we're through the gates, we'll be fighting uphill through a large number of fortifications," Faelan began as he pointed out various displays and locations.

Tahril brought a hand to his chin, "How do you intend on dealing with their ships? They will likely be covering the palace and the anti-air towers. Unless you can get our ships closer to bombard their fortifications, they'll have no reason to engage us in an open-field slaughter."

"I was just getting to that. Most of the ships will be tied up battling theirs and covering our ground forces, but I will lead an advance raiding party from my flagship past there to take out the anti-air towers and allow my flagship and its escort to close in and bombard the spire itself. This will likely draw Velatha's flagship into direct engagement. I'm counting on your ships to whittle away her fleet from the outside. My suggestion is to drop your Kabalites into a flanking position over here. I will then spearhead the assault past the inner gate and to the Terrace of Eternal Slaughter. The trueborn district is near there as well if we need building cover. Knowing Velatha, she will likely send out her forces to engage in a full-scale clash once she sees me at that vanguard of the army. From there it's a simple matter of attrition. I expect them to charge into our forces. My scourges will take up positions around the flanks, and we will use the reavers and hellions as cavalry to mow down their kabalites in surgical flanking strikes. Your forces should wait back until we know where Lady Malys' forces strike from. I am mostly counting on you to combat that variable," Faelan explained.

Tahril sighed, "Knowing her, she likely has something sinister up her sleeve. Still, your plan does not count for the variable of Velatha's honour guard. She has dozens of incubi protecting her and the Bladed Sun leaders. I've heard reports that she wields a runesword as well. There's also the possibility of Ynnari making an appearance. This entire plan is dependent on martial superiority. If your forces fail to do any significant damage in this open field clash, then you will be easily overwhelmed. Fleet superiority will be vital in this mission. Your plan is discounting Lady Malys ship…it has advanced shadowfields and force shields. Harlequin tech I believe. It would be more appropriate for my forces to sneak in and take over the middle spire cannon so that we can use it against her once she arrives."

"Hmm…that might work," Faelan nodded.

"Lord Vect also has another plan for dealing with Lady Malys…on the chance that you have a traitor here, I will tell you in private," Tahril remarked.

Faelan nodded, "Very well. I will address the army now."

Turning his head back towards the ledge of the palace balcony, Faelan's voice projected through some type of amplifier, "Kabalites, Wyches, Scourges, and Mercenaries of Mid-Commorragh…hear me and obey!"

All of the dark eldar forces went silent as Faelan's voice echoed throughout the entire spire, "We are ready to deploy! The time has come for us to finally put an end to the arrogant defiance of Archon Velatha and the Kabal of the Bladed Sun!"

Many of the warriors cheered in thunderous approval and chants during Faelan's brief pause.

"The dracons have their orders from me and you will obey them without question! Save your hatred of each other and personal rivalries other for another time, because today we face a common enemy that must be slaughtered! Let Commorragh rain with blood! Let the screams of our pathetic enemies echo throughout the dark city as we bring glory to ourselves and to Supreme Archon Asdrubael Vect! There will be plenty of spoils for those of you who prove your worth and survive! Vulnerable maidens to despoil, wealth to claim, and joyful suffering to inflict! Cast our enemies into the dirt and sodomize every last spec of their feeble and undeserving pride! Make them scream in terror and take from them everything! For Lord Vect and the Kabal of the Twilight Shadow!" Faelan finished his rallying speech to the assembled army.

They all cheered and chanted a wide variety of things in bloodthirsty approval as the warriors dispersed to load up into ships.

Tahril smirked, "Come, Faelan…let us discuss the rest of the plans in private."

Faelan nodded as he followed Tahril away from the rest of the leaders there. Both of their incubi hosts followed them along with Meela. Seiras looked around wondering what he was supposed to do now.

"Everyone move to the flagship," one of the kabal dracons commanded.

Drukhari flagship, Misery of Twilight

The prebattle flight and anticipation had been one of high adrenaline and frantic stress from the Kabalites as they urgently talked over assignments or called out various things to Archon Faelan. Seiras was currently standing in the middle of the bridge next to Faelan along with his incubi, Meela, and the wych cult leaders.

From their vantage point, they could see out the window a fleet of other ships surrounding the flagship. Seiras was extra vigilant in watching how the pilots maneuvered and operated the vessel as well. That was going to be vital information later.

They had been flying for a few hours, but finally one of the kabalites announced something relevant, "Archon! The outer gate is within sight! Orders?!"

"Put her down and deploy the troops. Stay back out of range until we take down the tower cannons along the outer gate! Raiding Vanguard with me, now! Dracon Sethael bring the ship in once I give the signal!" Faelan commanded.

"As you command, Archon!" one of the dracons nodded before Faelan left with haste.

The group soon made their way to his personal ravager as well as two nearby ones as well. The additional ravagers looked modified like Faelan's ravager which implied they had shields and heavier armour. They were also slightly larger than normal.

Three incubi a piece got into the side ravagers, whilst the remaining six including Faelan and Meela filled up the middle. The wyches all dispersed as well. Seiras ended up on the right flanking ravager with Mokaela and Aelendriel.

As the three armoured skimmers levitated up and left the hanger, a screaming chorus of hundreds more followed. It was then that Seiras understood the sheer scale of the Kabal's military might as he saw hundreds of fighters shrieking out of the flagship's hanger ahead of them. Behind their Ravager vanguard, Seiras looked back and saw hundreds of other ravagers, raiders, and reaver jetbikes. He also saw razorwings and other fighters and bombers as well. Countless kabalite ground troops were deploying beneath them as they advanced in a massive force towards the outer gate. Hellions flew in ahead of the ground forces.

Enemy vehicles and ships launched from the walls of the outer gate as the sentry towers opened fire on their ships and the ground forces below. Glancing forward again, Seiras saw tens of thousands of Kabalites manning the outer wall. Weapons fire immediately opened up in all directions as the attackers and defenders unloaded ridiculous amounts of ordinance at one another.

Seiras saw the shield around their ravager flicker as several shots hit it, implying they had some protection from enemy fire. The opening clash was as violent a charge Seiras had ever seen. Both sides were mowing each other down on the ground with neither side really making much progress initially.

Raiders, ravagers, and reavers were falling out of the sky and exploding all around the battlefield like a meteor shower as they made it to the outer gate finally. Seiras watched as the skimmer vehicles flew side by side over the top gunning down or running over any resistance in the way. It wasn't long before their ravager party reached the first gun tower.

Many hours later

Faelan's plan had gone as smoothly as Seiras expected, but the sheer scale of the two Kabal armies fighting one another in a full-scale siege had been a battle of terrible attrition. He had seen conflicts like this before between Imperial Guard Regiments and greenskins, but unlike those armies which committed wholly to drowning the enemy in bodies and overwhelming firepower, the Eldar armies fought differently. With both sides often retreating back and forth and trying to outmaneuver one another into advantageous skirmishes. This was happening in both the skies and the ground. While Seiras didn't have an issue with it tactically, he noticed that both armies were hesitant to take any risks which was frustratingly boring. Though it was outlawed by the Codex Astartes, Seiras imagined a full legion of Astartes could easily break these defenses with a vanguard of breacher squads and a dozen land raiders.

Thankfully however, the siege against the enemy Kabal's army had at least broken through the outer gate and into the heart of their inner territory. Countless dark eldar ships battled throughout the skies as the ground forces played games of cat and mouse with each other…both charging and retreating an unbearable amount of times.

If things kept up like this, the battle could easily last for many more days. Seiras actually was able to track the time that had passed thanks to his power armour. It had 50 hours since the battle began. The warriors on both sides had grown tired from this endless siege, and Seiras estimated at least a third of both armies had died in the attrition of the conflict. Many troops were using stimulants to keep up their bloodlust and stave off the weariness, but that did little to change much. At this point, Seiras just wanted the two armies to commit to an actual clash so the battle could end sooner.

Luckily, his hopes were finally coming to fruition as their forward party broke through the fortifications around the inner gate and into the Terrace of Eternal Slaughter at the base of the palace spire. This area appeared to be in an open courtyard terrace which was easily several kilometers in diameter. The majority of the enemy army had retreated back to the front of the final palace gate and entrenched themselves around it. Tens of thousands of troops were now facing each other down as they ignored the fleet battle overhead.

Faelan's forces wasted no time moving in to assail them, but as their army marched closer, a voice then projected loudly throughout the tattered streets and spires which was no doubt coming from the palace.

"Cease fire, kabalites! I would speak with Faelan face to face!" a female eldar voice commanded.

Faelan then held up his arm as he spoke into the alien comm, "Kabalites, hold your fire for now!"

The front line kabalites as well as countless other allied forces halted about one hundred meters from the entrenched enemy army as they saw the gates to the palace spire opening. From it came dozens of incubi and a well armoured looking drukhari female which Seiras immediately figured was Archon Velatha. She was fully armoured and carrying a crazy looking runesword that was actually on fire much to Seiras' surprise. Her hair and eyes were both purple.

She fearlessly walked towards the front of her entrenched army and spoke loudly, "Meet me in the middle, if you have the courage, Faelan!"

Faelan immediately jumped off of his ravager and motioned for all of his incubi, the wych cult leaders, and Seiras to follow him as he walked forward. The ravager pilots still followed behind them however in the likelihood of treachery. Velatha proceeded with a large portion of her incubi and seemed completely confident in herself. Before long, both archons were mere meters from one another between both armies.

"You made it further than I expected, Archon Faelan…I must commend you for your commitment in this siege. You're truly a military genius, and I acknowledge you as a worthy rival and warrior," her voice echoed through her broadcast amplifier.

Faelan spoke into a similar one that projected his own voice over the battlefield and through everyone's comms, "Ah, so you show yourself at last, Velatha! I was wondering how many of your kabalites I had to kill before you'd leave your palace and face me in combat!"

"You do not want to face me in combat…for I am the Bride of Khaine! I have come to make you an offer only because I respect you. Surrender and you can join us in the great rebirth of the Aeldari Empire! I'll even let you become my right hand! Our efforts are wasted on each other. Our lives and blood are better spent in destroying our enemies!" Velatha ranted with bloodthirsty excitement.

Faelan stared at her curiously, "After all of this, you think I would kneel to you? Surely, you're delusional if you expected me to accept such a ludicrous offer. I stand on the side of Lord Asdrubael Vect, not your masters or you!"

"Vect is a short-sighted and petty tyrant who has no vision for our race! For someone who claims to have lived before the Fall, I'm utterly appalled that he would jealously cling to his worthless dominion here rather than reclaim our lost glory! Even the esteemed Lelith Hesperax saw this to be true. You can be so much more than his pawn, Faelan! Surely you realize that, don't you?" Velatha scoffed.

"I would sooner stand with Vect than with the likes of Lady Malys…you are the pawn here, Velatha!" Faelan stated condemningly.

"Malys isn't my master…but she can see what Vect cannot! That this city and all of its denizens are living on borrowed time. How long before the warp swallows it whole and the Great Enemy wins? The high priestess Yvraine has made this known to me. Things must change or our entire race will become extinct! I do not aspire to take Vect's throne or conquer Commorragh…no I aspire to be the vanguard in our empire's glorious return! Vect fears the Ynnari because he doesn't understand! I will show him the truth! Ynnead will resurrect Kaela Mensha Khaine and together they will destroy She-Who-Thirsts! We will at long last be free to reconquer this galaxy that rightfully belongs to the Aeldari Empire! I will bring an end to this endless night!" Velatha ranted with zealous hysteria.

'That's the last thing the Imperium needs. I'm glad they're killing this psychopath…' Seiras thought as he watched Velatha hold up her flaming sword.

"This Yvraine is the one who nearly destroyed Khaine's Gate and almost caused a dimensional collapse in Commorragh. The only danger Commorragh faces is from Ynnari sympathizers like you and your followers! You call yourself the Bride of Khaine?! That's amusing…you're nothing more than a minor archon who seeks a claim to glory because you cannot acquire it any other way." Faelan chuckled.

Velatha's flaming sword began to glow now as runes lit up over it.

"This sword is called Sunfang! It was forged from a shard of the Widowmaker, and Khaine's power flows through it! The blade speaks to me! Khaine speaks to me!" she exclaimed darkly.

'Wasn't Widowmaker the legendary sword of their wargod? If that sword is actually forged from a shard of it, then it wouldn't be very different from a daemon sword in that regard. No wonder she's gone crazy carrying that thing around…' Seiras speculated.

"You are all blind…I will make you see!" Velatha howled as her flaming sword lit up in what looked like warpfire now. Moments later she swung it behind herself causing a stream of fire to launch out of the blade and back through the still open palace entrance.

Everyone was confused and shocked by this display, until Velatha called out, "Rise Avatar of Khaine!"

Seiras felt a sense of dread as he saw a pair of molten eyes light up in the darkness and a molten behemoth stomping out of the palace entrance. Faelan visibly took a step back and gawked in complete disbelief. All of the wyches looked gravely concerned as the Avatar of Khaine marched out towards Velatha and her massive incubi escort.

"Behold, Faelan…your demise!" Velatha laughed maniacally as the Avatar of Khaine stopped behind her.

"Impossible…how do you have one of those?!" Renfaeda couldn't help but remark.

'How in the warp could Dark Eldar summon an Avatar of Khaine?! Doesn't that require the infinity circuit of a craftworld and an exarch sacrifice? Those things are a nightmare to take down. Not only that but Velatha's sword is infused with raw warp energy. Assuming she's a good fighter, we're in trouble.' Seiras thought concerned.

"Oh, and that's not all…you think you have us cornered? Well why don't you look up, Faelan!" Velatha laughed.

Up above them now, Seiras felt one of his two hearts skip a beat as he saw a massive fleet of new ships closing in fast. He guessed they were the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue as a flagship shot several of their fleet's escort ships out of the air. One quickly went crashing into a nearby spire.

"I also see you have a space marine slave, Faelan…that's cute. I wonder how effective he'll be against mine! Terror Squad to me!" Velatha spoke in gothic for some reason.

It was hard to say who was more shocked between Faelan or Seiras as the sound of jump packs and a loud intimidating chorus echoed around them, "AVE DOMINUS NOX!"

Seiras could barely believe his eyes when he saw not one or two, but NINE Astartes land next to Velatha. There wore dark blue armour with lightning streaked paintjobs. They also had red bat wings on their helmets and jump packs. These were Night Lord Raptors by the looks of it. They didn't appear to suffer from any chaos corruption, but they were undeniably renegade Astartes. The sheer absurdity of seeing Night Lords working for an Archon who also somehow summoned an Avatar of Khaine was staggering.

"That's not good…" Seiras muttered aloud.

"She has space marines working for her?!" Aelendriel gasped as the bloodthirsty Nightlords twirled their weapons in intimidating displays.

"It's over for you, Faelan…you should have taken my offer. Now you will die," Velatha smiled wickedly.

The sound of explosions and screaming briefly distracted Faelan as he looked back for a moment. Countless forces deployed from the newly arrived enemy ships as the majority of Faelan's fleet moved in to engage them. That didn't stop the newly arrived Kabal's flagship from blasting apart a massive chunk out of Faelan's army behind him.

"Kabalites open fire! Slaughter these curs for Khaine!" Velatha commanded. Moments later her entrenched forces opened fire on Faelan's.

"Go forth Terror Squad! Bring me that space marine, alive!" Velatha commanded the Night Lords in gothic now as she pointed at Seiras.

'I was not expecting this…' Seiras thought concerned.

"ALL WARRIORS break formation and engage all enemies!" Faelan commanded. His troops immediately charged against the entrenched army as blood, fire, and explosive ordinance erupted in all directions.

Seiras could barely comprehend what was all happening as he watched Velatha's forces charge in from their line. The Avatar of Khaine immediately went to work trying to slaughter Faelan's group, but they all dispersed quickly from its range. Before it could single any of them out, the two armies had reached each other in a point-blank collision.

With both his sword and halberd out, Seiras cleaved apart kabalites left and right that attacked him. He could barely process what was happening as he cut down dozens in mere seconds. It wasn't long before the nine Night Lords moved in to attack him specifically.

Seeing the obvious danger of the Astartes, and fearing the result of getting between them, many kabalites began to avoid their fighting. A noticeable gap started to appear around Seiras and the Night Lords as they flew in and charged him with relentless ferocity. These warriors were clearly no neophytes as they tactically attacked him all at once using remarkable melee skill and speed.

In his brief half second respites, Seiras nimbly dodged bolter and plasma fire from those who narrowly missed their opening attacks. Like sharks or bloodthirsty bats, they circled around him with unending aggressive sweeps.

Seiras doubted he would have lasted very long against them if it hadn't been for the Immortis upgrade from Melisara. With custodian speed and power, the librarian dueled against the Night Lords with every last bit of his skill, effort, and warrior instinct.

Some of them had lightning claws, a few had chain swords, and one was even wielding a chain glaive with both hands. Most of them carried bolters as well, but the obvious leader of the group had a plasma pistol holstered to his side and was dual wielding a power sword as well as the most unique looking power weapon Seiras had ever seen. It looked like a one-handed power maul, but it was modified with electric razorcoil wrapped around the top. The weapon had a similar likeness to the clubs wrapped in barbwire that a hive ganger might use.

Deciding that he wasn't going to win in a straight up brawl whilst fighting enemies on all sides, Seiras did something unexpected. He ran away and straight for the cover of buildings in the distance. Not even bothering to look back at what was happening on the battlefield, Seiras charged at full speed as he attempted to distance himself into a more advantageous terrain.

The Night Lords immediately fired up their jump packs as they flew after him as fast as possible. One instantly managed to intercept Seiras but was quickly sent flying as Seiras avoided his chain sword and collided with him at full speed. Several follow up landings immediately surrounded him again, but they were not expecting his speed as Seiras cleaved his Nemesis Force halberd in a wide arc cutting all three of them.

Seiras immediately twirled the weapon in an attempt to land finishing blows, but the one he had knocked away earlier covered his injured brothers as he fired two shots from his own plasma pistol. The first shot missed, but the second hit him square in the chest causing Seiras to go staggering back with a dented hole burned halfway through his armour.

The others wasted no time coming in after him as the three he had cut down slowly got back up. The Night Lords unloaded ranged attacks at him from their bolters and plasma weapons. Seiras unfortunately couldn't dodge them all as another two plasma shots melted a shot halfway through his pauldron and left greave.

The librarian moved with haste as he managed to run into a dark and narrow cover between two buildings. He slowed his movements now as he tried to set up a counterattack for the next inevitable ambush.

"Why do you run, loyalist coward?!" one of them hissed through a vox speaker. There was no doubt that his voice could give a normal person a heart attack. Even as a space marine, Seiras considered them intimidating.

As he briefly scanned the skies, the Blood Raven saw a Nightlord land overhead on one of the spires. Several others landed around him on other various spires and building rooftops. While this wasn't too alarming at first, Seiras then saw hundreds of scourges descending from the upper spires of the palace like a murder of crows. Some had come to help the Night Lords attack him, much to his dread, but a vast majority flew to engage Faelan's army. He quickly scattered the ones that came his direction as he unloaded bolter fire, but that didn't stop them from shooting back. The Night Lords remained where they were as they watched him from the rooftops.

The winged Drukhari all opened fire on him forcing Seiras to take cover in the shadows further away. He didn't stay still for long as he did his best to sneak further away into a more defensible area. It was then that he heard the quiet humming of power armour followed by the sound of swishing air.

The librarian ducked down as a chain glaive scraped off of his pauldron and collided against the wall. The Night Lord who swung it immediately reared the weapon back for a flurry of arcing swings. The chain weapon's teeth and motor let out fearsome screaming sounds as Seiras parried it several times with his sword. Unsurprisingly, due to the nature of chain weapons, his sword couldn't pull away from it easily as the Night Lord pressed with both arms forcing his own blade closer to the librarian's helmet.

Pushing back hard with his sword, the librarian angled it down as he opened fire with the wrist mounted storm bolter on his sword arm. The point-blank shots hit the other Astartes in the helmet which gave him a perfect opening. Taking advantage of the situation, Seiras then used his halberd to cleanly cut the chain glaive in half from the hilt.

The Night Lord barely had time to react before Seiras jabbed his blade into the other marine's armour. He didn't get the chance to finish him off unfortunately as two more landed in the shadows. One managed to stab a lightning claw into his chest from behind, but there was little he could do to counter as the other two tackled him to the ground.

Now held down by three Night Lords, they quickly disarmed his melee weapons as one each took an arm. The one that had stabbed him from behind with a lightning claw held both weapons to his throat from behind. Seiras was then forced to his knees as the other six landed next to him.

"Velatha said to bring him alive…but she didn't specify 'in one piece.'" The Night Lord leader chuckled.

Seiras looked at the Night Lord leader as he raised his power maul over his shoulder. He looked down at the librarian and laughed, "You're skilled, I'll give you that, but you were a fool to run over here by yourself."

"Why are you serving xenos, Night Lord?" Seiras tried to buy some time by asking the question.

The Night Lord chuckled at his question, "I could ask the same of you…but I suppose we'll save that for your interrogation later. You're a librarian and you're Deathwatch too…I take it you can't use any psyker tricks with that collar on, now can you?"

"Nine on one against a librarian who can't use psychic powers…you're awfully proud of yourselves aren't you? You may call yourselves Astartes, but you're nothing more than gene-enhanced hive thugs to me," Seiras taunted them.

'They might let go the moment he swings at me with that weapon. I only have once chance to make this work…' Seiras thought desperately as he felt the grips of the flanking Night Lords relax slightly.

"What did you just say?!" the leader growled through his vox as he swung the power maul down.

As Seiras anticipated, the flanking Night Lords released their hold a second before the attack hit. It was all he needed to dodge the attack and dive for his halberd. Before any of them had even realized what happened, the librarian swung it with both hands cleaving his three former restrainers completely in half.

He quickly pulled a grenade off and threw it at the group of six causing the others to scatter away as their jump packs ignited. Seiras wasted no time grabbing his sword in the distraction before charging into another dark street for concealment.

'Three down, six to go,' the librarian thought as he urgently looked around for the remaining Night Lords to attack. By this time, the scourges had all since moved on to engage other foes in battle. That left this part of the battlefield slightly eerie. He remained still in the darkness as he thought about his next best course of action.

"You think darkness is your ally?" a Night Lord's voice came through a message on his personal vox channel.

Seiras could feel the hairs on his neck standing on edge even within his own power armour. Every single part of his instincts and superhuman senses told him to move.

Doing just that, he barely side-stepped in time as he heard lightning claws penetrating through the wall behind him. He expected another team ambush as he heard screaming howls coming from adjacent angles up above. To his disbelief, he saw no Night Lords, despite the sounds. More loud echoing sounds distracted him now as they came from his flank.

He reflexively swung his halberd in its direction only to meet with nothing again. Turning his head towards where the lightning claws had punctured the wall, Seiras saw that they were no longer there. Even despite being a space marine, he felt dread and paranoia from these terror tactics. It might have even been fear. He couldn't even imagine what Night Lords or this other Kabal would do to him if he failed. Seiras used his helmets sensors to try and read any type of lifesign, but it was to no avail.

Before long he heard the noises of the Night Lords flying in again. His eyes darted back and forth all around the area as the noises appeared to be false distractions once more. Seiras' gaze finally met with one Night Lord at the end of an opposite alleyway charging at him with his lightning claws slicing through the walls causing a loud crackling shriek.

Another sound drew his attention to the right causing him to swing his sword again. Instead of coming from the right however, a power maul bashed him from the left side and sent him flying to the ground.

The Night Lord Leader wasted no time bringing his maul down for another swing. Seiras barely managed to raise his sword to deflect it but was disarmed in the process. The Nightlord charging down the alley quickly fired up his jump pack before diving at Seiras with both lightning claws outstretched.

Seiras tried to lift his halberd up to impale the descending Night Lord, but another Night Lord swiftly appeared and forced the weapon down with a chain sword. Another further back unloaded an entire magazine of a bolter pistol at him.

Despite a few shots managing to hit him and explode against his power armour, Seiras made a move that none of them were expecting. He dropped his Nemesis Force Halberd causing the Night Lord with the chainsword to go staggering forward. Seiras immediately tripped him and used the Night Lord as a human shield against the descending one with the dual lightning claws.

The lightning claws punctured through most of the other Night Lord's chest as the landing enemy hit him. Seiras swiftly rolled out from under them both as he picked up his glaive. The space marine with the bolter pistol tried to bring down his singular lightning claw on the other hand but Seiras managed to parry it just in time. The Night Lord tried to overpower him until the storm bolter on Seiras' forearm unloaded the rest of its rounds into him at point blank range.

Pulling his halberd free, Seiras gripped it with both hands and brought it down in a diagonal slash carving the Night Lord in half. The body's carved halves hadn't even reached the ground before he decapitated the other Night Lord with the dual lightning claws that had stabbed his ally moments earlier. He then finished off the one that had been impaled by stabbing his glaive through the other marine's helmet.

'Six down, three to go,' Seiras thought mechanically as he advanced towards the Night Lord Leader.

The other two remaining Astartes besides the leader each moved in to duel Seiras in melee combat, but their lack of numbers now could no longer mitigate Seiras' superior strength and speed as he cut them both down without much effort.

The Blood Raven let out a bloodthirsty howl through his vox speaker at the leader after cutting the final two down, "Now it's your turn!"

The leader didn't move for a moment or say a word as he remained still. Seiras instantly picked up his force sword during the pause and wielded it in his offhand now.

The Night Lord leader held up his power sword and the power maul as he looked around at the dead Night Lords. He spoke with a dark almost melancholic voice, "You will die for this…"

"We'll see about that, won't we?" the Blood Raven growled as he charged in.

As the librarian charged, the Night Lord simply ignited his jump pack and flew away without coming back much to Seiras' shock. Looking at the now dead Night Lords, Seiras decided to loot them for any grenades, ammo, or noteworthy belongings. One of which included a modified plasma pistol with bat wings and a longer barrel.

'A plasma pistol will be useful,' Seiras thought as he holstered it to the side and reloaded his storm bolter. He then looked at the jump pack on one, 'Hmm…I could use that as well.'

Although it took about two minutes, Seiras managed to clip the jump pack onto his powerpack. He half expected the Night Lord leader to show up again at some point, but he wanted to be extra prepared for it.

Using the newly equipped jump pack, Seiras flew up to one of the spires and looked down to see how the battle was going in the distance. Peering back into the Terrace of Eternal Slaughter, Seiras saw that the battle was pure chaos. Kabalites from both sides were gunning each other down or battling in melee skirmishes. The wyches of the Cult of Eternal Night proved far more effective as melee combatants than the baseline Kabalites, but the sheer amount of weapons fire spraying throughout the battlefield proved impossible for many of them to effectively dodge.

Reavers and Hellions fell from the skies as well as ships, scourges, and crumbling buildings. The Avatar of Khaine was cleaving ranks apart without much difficulty as the daemonic eldar behemoth tanked through every attack that was thrown at it. To Seiras' concern, the Bladed Sun Kabal appeared to be winning the battle on the ground and in the air.

He scanned the battlefield looking for his 'masters' and quickly spotted Faelan was dueling Velatha on his own Ravager as it circled around the Avatar of Khaine shooting at it. One of the specially armoured Ravagers was already split in half and several incubi from both sides were dead around their masters.

Watching Faelan move, Seiras was not surprised to see he moved just as fast as Renfaeda did. He had his own power sword, but it didn't seem nearly as dangerous as Velatha's runesword, Sunfang. Every time she swung it, flames would streak out and kill random people. To his fascination, Velatha seemed to be a better fighter than even Faelan was.

The sound of a deafening cannon barrage quickly drew his attention as Seiras looked up at the palace spire and saw its turrets gun down the Poisoned Tongue Kabal ships with its full ordinance. That wasn't all…there was also some floating ziggurat overhead much to Seiras' amazement.

It unleashed devastating dark matter weapons fire against the Poisoned Tongue Kabal's flagship causing its shadowfield shields to flicker away. The flagship immediately fled the area shortly afterward. The ziggurat's firepower was downright ridiculous as it then blasted a massive chunk out of Velatha's entrenched forces before shooting the Avatar of Khaine itself.

The Avatar endured the attacks…somehow, but it immediately went to the ground from the shots. Seiras watched with disbelief as the Ziggurat lowered itself closer onto the battlefield. From it came a massive armoured ravager.

The Ravager immediately flew down towards the Avatar of Khaine as it charged up a unique looking weapon on the back. A stream of blinding purple light shot out as the super ravager unloaded all of its weapons into the Avatar of Khaine. This successfully managed to blast it into submission as the Avatar slumped over and hardened. Its flaming body quickly began to flicker away shortly after.

Many people tried to attack the super ravager, but it had shields on it that put Faelan's ravager to shame as not even a cruiser overhead could destroy it. The ziggurat overhead immediately shot the cruiser out of the sky for even trying to do so.

To Seiras' fascination, Velatha then abandoned her battle with Faelan as she charged towards the Avatar of Khaine and stabbed it with her sword. The molten giant quickly reignited with flames as it stood back up and charged after the Ravager.

Velatha's voice broadcasted loudly over the battlefield, "I didn't think you had the balls to show up yourself, VECT!"

Seiras' eyes widened as he flew in to get a closer view, 'That's Asdrubael Vect?!'

A shrieking and eerie laughter echoed across the battlefield, "It's not like you to show up yourself, Vect. Were you perhaps worried that my forces were winning? Or did you wish to see me in person?"

"This has gone on long enough." Vect said with an annoyed groan as his voice broadcasted throughout the battlefield.

"Oooh? Hmm…mmhmmahahaha!" the bizarre and disturbing laughter echoed even louder.

Velatha quickly interjected, "Don't ignore me, Vect! Come fight me if you have balls! We'll see how tough you really are! I challenge you to a duel to the death! Just you and me!"

"For all your talk of rebuilding the Aeldari Empire, you certainly act like a tribalistic savage. The mystical gypsy craftworlders and your death-worshipping Ynnari friends have twisted your mind quite a bit. You want me to fight you in some unnecessary ritual duel just to prove I'm more fit to rule than you are? Why would I do that? Unlike the rest of you moronic barbarians, I don't feel the need to sully my hands with brutish displays of strength in order to prove my superiority to the masses. Everyone knows who I am, and everyone fears me. I don't need to lift a finger to get rid of any of you…that's the benefit of being me." Vect scoffed.

"If you were truly alive before the Fall like you claim, then why don't you do anything?! Commorragh is falling apart, Vect! Surely you know this! I won't sit around and wait to be swallowed whole by She-Who-Thirsts! I work with the Ynnari because I actually care about more than just myself!" Velatha shot back.

Vect smirked at her, "So noble, Velatha…if that's how you feel, then why don't you take your entire Kabal to loot Necron Tomb Worlds and steal their pylons? Enough of those in Commorragh would protect us indefinitely from the warp."

"I…is that what you've been planning?" Velatha asked a bit bewildered.

"One of many future plans, but it will correct the damage to Khaine's Gate that was left behind by your Ynnari friends and by Malys' meddling no doubt. Eventually it should even halt soul decay," Vect replied nonchalantly.

"Ooohahaha?! Vect, surely you can't be serious…you're the one that opened Khaine's Gate and let daemons in to kill all of your rivals. You're also the one who hijacked a daemon-infested space hulk and brought it into Commorragh. You're trying to sway my loyal Velatha into believing such preposterous lies?" Malys countered.

Vect glanced down at Velatha, "Surrender to me, Velatha and we'll discuss your reparations for defying my rule. I could actually use somebody like you. I have plans to gather the shards of Khaine as well. That is your expertise yes?"

"I…" Velatha seemed hesitant to accept at first until Vect waved her over.

"Come get on my Dais of Destruction…I'll even let you keep that warp sword," Vect said coolly.

To everyone's complete disbelief, Velatha walked towards the large ravager and got on it. The fact that Vect allowed her onto his ravager was a sign of disbelief to all the nearby Drukhari. As she got aboard, Vect's incubi immediately put stasis restraints on the archon as she was forced to the front.

"Now tell your warriors to surrender and I'll pretend the Bladed Sun Kabal didn't openly rebel against me," Vect commanded.

"Kabalites…stand down," Velatha ordered much to Seiras' shock.

"Velatha?! You dare side with Vect?! You insolent short-sighted girl!" Malys hissed in her weird accent.

"Urien, teleport this Avatar to my vault. We will make use of this thing later," Vect commanded.

The Avatar of Khaine began to start glowing moments later before it was teleported away by the ziggurat. Vect's Dais of Destruction ravager began to fly away and back towards his ziggurat a moment later.

"Spare my surviving warriors, Lord Vect, and we're yours to command," Velatha requested.

"It shall be so…Warriors of The Bladed Sun Kabal, you're now under Archon Faelan's command until further notice. Wipe out Malys' forces, and you can keep your paltry lives. Incubi in service to Velatha, you have my permission to come aboard the ziggurat. Your master and I have business to attend to," Vect announced.

Everyone present had already stopped fighting during this exchange, but it didn't take long for Seiras to notice the Bladed Sun Kabalites and ships open fire on the Poisoned Tongue forces.

'How in the warp did he just convince them to give up and switch sides like that? Velatha didn't seem the type to go down without a fight. She seemed like a religious lunatic. Maybe she actually has faith in Vect's plan to fix Commorragh? Eldar politics are bizarre,' Seiras thought incredulously.

"How dare you, Velatha! You will suffer for this!" Malys spoke furiously.

"You're not the only one who can sway loyalties, Malys. Though you were foolish to believe Tahril was on your side," Vect replied nonchalantly.

"I've tracked her down, Lord Vect. Relaying the location to you now. Would you like me to pursue?" Tahril spoke up over the broadcast.

The Supreme Archon chuckled, "No, help Faelan wipe out her vanguard army here first. We will deal with Malys' Ynnari friends later."

"Oooh? You think I told Tahril everything do you?" Malys giggled in a maniacal fit.

Moments later, a massive explosion detonated within the palace completely razing it and killing many within its range. All the nearby spires also began to collapse and fall apart before Seiras saw them getting sucked in by what he assumed was a singularity.

Vect's ziggurat quickly countered it by firing some type of dark matter super weapon into the black hole causing it to instantly evaporate.

"Amateur effort, Malys…Black holes are my thing and I was expecting that. Are you copying my style now?" Vect taunted her.

Despite the singularity only being active for a few seconds, it completely warped and destroyed the overwhelming majority of the palace and the surrounding spires.

"Were you expecting this too?" she laughed as an Ynnari fleet decloaked in the distance and flew in to cover the fleeing Poisoned Tongue Kabal ships.

Seiras jaw dropped when he saw what was at the front of the Ynnari fleet. It was a rotating pyramid fortress ship. Although he had never seen anything like it before, the rotating fortress matched the description of a Blackstone Fortress.

'What is this insanity?!' Seiras thought horrified. He had safely flown a good distance away from the terrace in order to avoid the explosion of the palace and was now on top of a remaining spire. His HUD zoomed in to examine the Ynnari fleet. It was massive.

"You actually brought one of THOSE into Commorragh?! Are you insane?!" Vect demanded furiously.

"The Talisman of Vaul will make quick work of your forces, Vect. Mmhmmhahaha!" Malys cackled with hysteria.

Seiras didn't get a chance to keep watching the battle as the sound of jump pack drew him from his observation. The surviving Night Lord Leader flew into him at full speed tackling Seiras off the spiretop he was currently on.

The Blood Raven wasted no time stabbing the Night Lord with his sword and tearing it through half of the enemy's torso as they both went flying off into the distance. Unfortunately, the Night Lord seemed content to accept his death as he stabbed his own blade into Seiras' jump pack destroying its engine in the process.

"For my brothers!" The Night Lord howled as he flew Seiras over a massive several kilometer drop. The librarian quickly finished the last Night Lord off, but it wasn't in time to stop the Night Lord from sending them both spiraling into the abyssal drop.

Seiras tried to salvage the situation as he was now freefalling, but with his jump pack damaged and the dead Night Lord's jump pack still firing off, he could only watch the other space marine's corpse go flying out of his reach.

'Damn it! I can't die like this!' Seiras thought urgently as he looked around for any way to stop his descent.

'Wait…my collar has that teleporter relay on it! I don't know if it works while I'm moving, but that's the only option I have right now,' the librarian thought desperately as he holstered his force sword and reached up to press the collar's button.

Several seconds passed as nothing happened much to Seiras' dread. Then to his relief, he heard Melisara's voice coming through his vox channel, "Are you ready to teleport here, Seiras? The tracker says you're falling…"

"Can you do it? I got thrown off a several kilometer drop!" he responded in his vox call.

"Yes…there's only one issue though. Your collar negates warp teleportation, so I'll have to use haemonculus teleportation. It deconstructs and reconstructs you atomically and takes a bit longer since it temporarily separates your soul from your body. You're not about to hit anything are you?" Melisara asked casually.

"No but hurry up!" he shouted into the vox.

"I got you, don't panic my dear," Melisara chuckled.

True to her word, Melisara's teleportation proved successful as Seiras saw himself glowing in a strange light.

Khaine's Gate, Commorragh

Seiras immediately materialized a on the ground in front of Melisara. The teleportation was a very unpleasant experience as every part of his body ached in pain from it.

"Ughh…that hurt worse than the collar!" Seiras growled in agony as he forced himself upright.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It had to override the warp restraints on your collar so I could transfer your soul here too. Obviously, that would cause a bit of pain," Melisara said casually as Seiras stood up finally.

"So, we're finally here…where is Ferrus Manus at?" Seiras asked.

His question was answered as an armoured floating pod moved closer, "Oh he's in there."

"That battle was ridiculous. Vect himself showed up…and then there was this Ynnari fleet. They have a Blackstone Fortress!" Seiras exclaimed.

Melisara nodded, "Yes, I was watching the battle while waiting for you. Quite a headache indeed. Vect's a smart boy though. He'll take care of that. Luckily it gives us a larger window of time."

"You're not concerned about that at all?" he asked.

The haemonculus shrugged, "Vect has Necron and ancient Eldar tech on his ziggurat. He can handle one of those things. Though that's assuming Malys doesn't have other tricks up her sleeve. Still, I'm not worried. Vect has Urien Rakarth with him…he'll be fine."

"Right…so how are we going to get inside Khaine's Gate? Where is it?" Seiras asked as he looked around.

Melisara pointed into the distance, "It's right there…the whole horizon is technically Khaine's Gate."

Seiras could barely believe his eyes, "It's bigger than a hive city? How are we getting into there?! Also why didn't you teleport us closer?"

"It was recently 'repaired'", Melisara emphasized heavily, "but there are holes in it still. Vect has been installing necron pylons there to negate most of breaches. That's usually what he has his Kabal doing these days. It's also why I asked Tahril to get me Necron specimens. But I digress, the Gate has over a million pariahs caged across its length. They are kept eternally alive and surprisingly comfortable there. The part we're going through is near the newly installed Necron Pylons. There's a small blind spot that's still under construction. That's our way in. You'll probably experience intense pain the closer we get to it, so I'm going to keep your collar on until we actually get inside of the warp. That'll keep you somewhat functional until then. It's also why I teleported you this far away from it. This is my personal ship over here. It has advanced shields, cloaking, and a bunch of other fun things. It'll get us close."

As she finished her explanation, Seiras saw a small space vessel decloak next to them. He estimated it to be about one hundred meters in length and it looked like an ancient ship. Knowing Melisara, he assumed it was probably from before the Fall.

"Well, let's not waste any time then…I'm ready to see this done," Seiras nodded.