The Underhive gang war launched by Yuki, Raziel, and Iron Face had been raging for three months, progressing at a rapid pace. On the battlefield, several strange rumors began to circulate.
It was said that in certain war zones, a group of highly trained soldiers clad in black robes and wielding heavy firepower would appear. Almost no one had lived to see what lay beneath those robes; some gang members might have, but they were all dead now.
Another widely circulated rumor claimed that in other sectors of the battlefield, eerie and haunting songs had been heard, accompanied by veiled dancers. Their movements were beautiful yet lethal, and anyone who witnessed the dance would fall into a deep, fatal trance.
There were many such rumors, but Yuki didn't pay them much mind.
Recently, Yuno had been exhausted, appearing listless every day. Yuki casually asked, "What's wrong?"
"I'm helping you isolate the influence of the Warp. It's exhausting, you know," Yuno grumbled. "Sigh, I've never worked this hard even when invading other planets. I have to control my output precisely so the planet doesn't detect my presence, and I have to keep that Slaanesh fellow from interfering."
Yuno's efforts were actually the primary reason the scales of victory were tipping in Yuki's favor. Because she prevented the Warp's power from fully manifesting, the Slaaneshi cultists had been unable to summon anything too extravagant from the Chaos realms. So far, only a few Succubi had been detected on two separate occasions; fortunately, they were reported quickly and dealt with by Yuki.
The communicator buzzed. It was Steff. Yuki knew she didn't like him, and as it happened, the feeling was mutual. She was constantly making troublesome demands—like procuring forty tons of holy water or insisting on burning down entire districts she disliked, completely ignoring his request to keep things low-profile.
This call likely wouldn't bring good news either.
"This is Yuki. What do you want?"
"Yuki! We've been ambushed! There are... there are Daemons here!"
...
Steff had originally thought this would be a simple, predictable offensive. For months, their enemies had been nothing more than gang members who couldn't even aim a gun properly. She had to admit that underestimating the enemy played a role in this failure.
Everything had been under control when they first entered this small fortress. Steff, holding her bolter, executed a gimp-suited deviant who was busy lashing himself with a spiked whip. Then, a strange sensation washed over her.
"Sister Steff, I sense an unprecedented evil in this place!" The Battle Sister walking beside her expressed similar discomfort.
Steff felt a wave of concern. To minimize the risk of exposure, they hadn't brought any Imagifiers or Icon-bearers this time; each sister had to rely solely on her own faith to ward off the encroaching corruption.
"Move forward with caution! The Emperor protects!"
Steff led from the front. How many people were in this fortress? What kind of firepower did they possess? All of it was unknown.
"Behind us!"
Something appeared. Steff spun around, aiming at the humanoid creature that had manifested out of nowhere. She hesitated. In her steadfast heart, a flicker of unfamiliar emotion took root: doubt and fear.
The Order of the Ebon Rose was a subsidiary militant order of the Order of the Rose, with their convent-ship permanently stationed in this sector. Because the sector was relatively peaceful, the Ebon Rose dispatched fleets every decade to provide reinforcements to other regions. Every time, only the voidships returned.
For the sisters of the Ebon Rose, once they left this sector, they didn't expect to return. They would fight on distant battlefields until their souls returned to the Golden Throne. Someone like Steff, who fought within the sector, had never actually faced true Chaos Daemons.
After a moment of shock, Steff pulled the trigger on the Warp entity. Theoretically, physical damage was ineffective against Warp creatures, but every strike from a Battle Sister carried the weight of her faith. Though it still didn't cause massive damage, it was enough to force the newly appeared Succubus back.
The creature's hands were thick whips covered in tumors, and its body was draped in various hooks that tore its own flesh with every movement.
A total of one hundred Battle Sisters had entered the fortress, divided into several squads. Faced with the unknown, the protocol was to regroup. More Warp entities appeared—three, five, six... they emerged from every corner and shadow.
The group fought while retreating. Suddenly, a scream rang out: "Sister Roger!"
In the chaos, the sister named Roger was snatched by a Succubus and dragged into the darkness.
"We have to go back and save her!"
Steff immediately barked, "Do you want us all to be wiped out? Fall back for now and regroup!"
The path of retreat was not easy. Steff watched as several of her sisters fired their weapons frantically as the Succubi closed in, only to be torn apart moments later. Steff led the remaining sisters to an open area about thirty meters from the fortress exit.
The reserve units waiting outside sensed something was wrong and rushed in. The disciplined squads secured the gates while the rest merged with Steff's unit. Simultaneously, other offensive squads pulled back, having suffered significant losses as well. In these few short hours, their casualties had exceeded the total from the past several months.
"What happened?"
"Enemies we've never seen before. Possibly... Daemons!"
Daemons—ordinary Imperial citizens and soldiers were unaware of their existence. But these Battle Sisters were different; the Order of the Ebon Rose provided them with basic knowledge of the Warp, hoping they could adapt to various battlefields.
"We don't have heavy weapons capable of dealing enough damage to them. Notify Yuki immediately. Then, call in every sister we have available. If necessary, bypass Yuki and Bishop Griffith and request aid directly from the Convent!"
As they were organizing, the Succubi and Chaos cultists surged out of the fortress, only to be suppressed by the bolter fire of hundreds of Battle Sisters. Warp energy was still being restricted; these Succubi were merely relying on Slaanesh's divine power to find a small breach in the Great Devourer's Shadow in the Warp.
Thirty or so Succubi were forced back into the fortress. Steff found herself missing the heavy artillery of the Astra Militarum. Curse this Underhive gang war.
"Dammit, what is that?"
Steff looked in horror at the centaur-like, purple-pink creatures. A row of protrusions lined one side of their chests. Ropes bit into their bodies, leaving deep welts as they charged forward, shrieking.
The appearance of the Fiends of Slaanesh shattered their formation. The howls caused even the Battle Sisters to feel a sense of unease.
"Curse it." Steff gripped her weapon tight. "For the Emperor!"