"Yuki, isn't it? The skull I gave you was a token to summon me for a duel. What exactly did you use it for?"
Facing the Chosen of Khorne, the Red Corsairs ceased their fire. Khârn stood there, resting his gore-slicked axe, Gorechild, upon his shoulder.
Unexpectedly, this hesitation only further incensed Khârn. "Pick up your weapons! Fight! I need blood! Khorne demands blood!"
"But... but we're on the same side..."
"If you cannot find an enemy, slaughter each other! This is your destiny!" Khârn roared.
Huron stepped forward, his voice cold. "Retreat!"
Khârn glared at Huron, who met the gaze without a hint of fear. Yuki, standing between them, suddenly felt like an unwanted third wheel.
A split second later, Khârn's axe swung toward Yuki's neck. Yuki didn't even have time to think; it was purely his muscle memory and primal instincts that saved him at the last possible moment.
"Hey! Weren't you just having a staring contest with Huron?"
Khârn said nothing, his focus narrowed into a singular, relentless flurry of strikes. Huron took the opportunity to lead his remaining men in a swift withdrawal.
Yuki had no illusions about his current strength—he wasn't ready to go toe-to-toe with Khârn in a pure slugfest. Khârn's axe was already drenched in blood from some unknown prior slaughter.
"You shouldn't have provoked me near the Maelstrom, and you certainly shouldn't have provoked Khorne! Especially not while I was already in the sector!"
"Honestly, that line gives me a real 'pointy-headed' vibe," Yuki quipped, unable to resist cracking a joke even in the face of death.
Khârn let out a guttural roar. "I leaped across the stars just to take your head and finish the task I failed last time!"
"Look, you might not know this, but it's a fact: even if you kill me, you won't get my soul."
"Blood for the Blood God!"
Yuki gave up on trying to communicate. "Kill!"
A psychic spear manifested before Yuki, lunging straight for Khârn's chest. Khârn casually batted the warp-construct aside with a backhand. Yuki caught the spear as it bounced back, gripping his bone-blade in his other hand as thick, reinforced chitin began to wrap around his arms. In this half-psychic, half-Tyranid state, he began a desperate dance of spear and sword against the Betrayer.
The more they fought, the more exhilarated Khârn became. His bellows carried enough raw power to shatter a mortal's skull.
"Blood for the Blood God!"
Yuki truly didn't want this fight. As Chaos followers fall deeper into corruption, their usable biomass diminishes significantly. Moreover, he knew he was genuinely outmatched.
"Die!"
A psychic explosion scorched Khârn's bare, muscular arm, but the pain only fueled his frenzy. With a lightning-fast sweep, Khârn's axe severed Yuki's arm. A fleshy tendril immediately whipped out from Yuki's shoulder, reattaching the limb at high speed.
"Khârn, do we really have to do this until one of us is dead?"
"Do not hesitate! Today, either you die, or I do!"
Yuki knitted his brows. He had never felt such a profound loathing for Chaos as he did in this moment.
...
Huron and the surviving Red Corsairs had fought their way back to a Thunderhawk gunship. They had cut down scores of Tyranids on the way, but even more of their own had been torn apart by the xenos. Huron had watched, powerless, as a Dreadnought of his warband was dismantled by a pack of cloaked Tyranid elites.
He had once confidently believed that by embracing Chaos, he could become a great leader and provide an ideal life for those who followed him. But the cruelty of the universe went far beyond his imaginings. After breaking away from the Imperium, he found himself facing horrors that defied logic.
"Prepare to extract. We were too careless this time."
The few remaining Thunderhawks in the hangar took flight. Once they reached the nearest battleship, they would return to ferry more survivors. Huron had simply been caught off guard; his other warships were frantically pushing through the Tyranid blockade to reach him. Once he was back in command of the full fleet, defeating these monsters would be a simple matter.
As the Thunderhawk ascended, the warriors inside were battered and bloodied. A former Captain attempted to lighten the mood with a grim joke: "This feels just like when we left Badab."
"That isn't funny," Huron snapped, old, bitter memories resurfacing.
He opened his mouth to say more, but the gunship suddenly jolted violently. Huron ordered the observation ports opened. Outside, Tyranid bio-ships were unleashing torrents of bio-plasma and acid, the space battle appearing locked in a stalemate.
No... something was wrong.
Huron witnessed a terrifying sight. Their intended destination—a cruiser designated to act as the temporary flagship—was spinning through the void in an unnatural, distorted manner. This was a heavy cruiser, the backbone of a small fleet. Now, it was being gripped by an invisible force, its hull plating and internal components buckling and snapping. It looked as if an invisible giant were twisting a toy for amusement.
"What in the name of..."
Huron suspected powerful sorcery, but who could possess such might? To his knowledge, among mortals, only Ahriman could achieve such a feat. Was there such a figure among the Tyranids as well? Huron searched desperately for this super-psyker, but he found nothing.
The one dragging the ship through the void and crushing it was Eleven, channeling the raw might of the Hive Mind. Currently, she was submerged in a specialized neural-link pool aboard the Hive Ship, utilizing the swarm's collective mental energy and her own innate Warp talent to tear her target to pieces.
Blood leaked from her empty eye sockets. Even with the backing of the Hive Mind, she could only dismantle a fleet one ship at a time, and the strain was immense.
"Nngh." She rose from the pool, gasping for air. "Did that help, God-Emperor?"
...
Yuno had finished consuming the organic matter of an entire ship. This was the plan they had discussed: to maximize their irregular combat assets. Yuki and Yuno would each lead boarding parties to neutralize major vessels, while Eleven used the Hive Mind's power to crush another. If Yuki successfully decapitated the command structure, the battle would end quickly. If not, they would at least have a significant advantage in the ensuing void war.
However, while her and Eleven's progress was within expectations, Yuki had run into trouble. Through their mental link, she felt Yuki locked in a grueling struggle. She had to help him. Yuno propelled her body through space with a burst of psychic force, flying toward the flagship like a living projectile.
But in the void between ships, another presence was waiting.
A massive surge of Warp energy punched through the Shadow in the Warp. Yuno realized that another entity, equal to her in presence, had manifested once more.
"Dammit, Khorne. It's been so long, I thought you'd forgotten about us."
Without a word, Khorne extended his "hand," seizing Yuno on a conceptual level.
"I truly wish I could just hack you to pieces right now."