If this was a game, it felt like the final “boss fight” of this war was looming. A light rain with the taste of doomsday heralded the duel.
I turned to the canoness, ‘Diadianah, The relic sword please.’ She nodded and gestured towards a battle sister nearby who was holding the large blade. The sister approached, knelt down and handed the Nameless Sword to me.
I received the sword and thanked the sister before realising she was not Celestian Superior Markeylla who was by the canoness’ side. Had Markeylla fallen in battle? It was hard to imagine such a fate had befallen to her.
Curious, I asked around, ‘Where is Sister Markeylla?’
It was then I heard from Diadinah the most ridiculous story ever since coming to this universe. While I was out cold there was a stand-off between our forces and the last group of rebels who had not yet surrendered, it was none other than Luthor who was the leader of that die hard group.
Diadinah had a talk with Luthor via vox communication. During the talk the lord general had demanded us to redeem our honour for using “underhanded tactics” and “subterfuge” to undermine his “honest approach” to war.
In short, he was throwing temper tantrums and demanded a trial by combat as some sort of last resort to salvage his honour, the condition being we would send our best fighter to face his best in a one on one combat.
If his side won, he would quietly surrender with the rest of his troops; if our side won, he would apologise to us first and then surrender with the rest of his troops. Should we refuse, he threatened to gather anyone who would follow him for a glorious final charge to redeem his honour as a soldier of the Imperium.
Luthor had figured out we wanted to keep as many people alive as possible so he was pushing it, to top it off he had touched everyone’s nerves by calling me names like “that singing whore” during their conversation.
It was clearly a taunt, but it worked.
That insult did not go unanswered and soon Markeylla requested to be the one to represent us.
Kryptorer had complained about the whole demand being totally illogical but saw its merits of avoiding complications. To his logic, if Luthor had kept to his word he would be surrendering either way, risking the life of a sister seemed totally worth it.
Since Markeylla was expressing her eagerness for the duel anyway, he approved it. That was half an hour ago.
So in the middle of the battlefield now was a big bunch of people gathering around to watch a one on one duel.
* * *
Meanwhile, moments earlier at the duel site, after the rules for the fight had been agreed by both sides, Celestian Superior Markeylla watched with her arms crossed as a chimera armoured transport came forth. It took a sharp turn, had its rear end facing towards her and stopped. The chimera’s rear hatch then opened and a figure too big even for an Astartes slowly stepped out.
The rebel troops cheered as the figure’s immense muscles flexed after escaping the confines of his ride. Under the late afternoon sun the best fighter for the rebels, an abhuman Ogryn standing close to 3 meters tall yawned as he scratched his belly lazily while holding a club the size of a man. Custom armour covered the Ogryn’s body and a fierce-looking half-mask covered his face.
Markeylla raised an eyebrow. This would certainly make the duel interesting. The sister had heard about a misplaced Ogryn who got adopted by a general some time ago but this was the place she had least expected to encounter the abhuman. If she recalled correctly the said Ogryn also had a very simple name, and in the very next moment Luthor confirmed her memory.
‘Boi!’
‘Papa?’
‘How many things do I have to tell you? Call me father, Boi.’
‘Yes, Fapa.’
‘... never mind. See that lady over there?’
‘Yes.’
‘Smash her, and you will get extra portions of food tonight.’
‘Okay.’
The Ogryn stepped forward, readied his club and declared, ‘Boi no like fight lady, but Boi like food!’
Markeylla readied herself and the duel began. Boi stepped forward swinging his club, any connection with that weapon would have immediately ended the fight but his actions were too obvious and the sister dodged them all.
Markeylla tried to take advantage of Boi’s openings between each swing by sneaking in some swift attacks with her power sword. To her surprise, while the Ogryn looked clumsy, he was a natural fighter. All her attacks were either blocked, parried or deflected in unconventional ways more suited to a bar brawler than a duelist.
The Ogryn’s raw power was immense while Markeylla was a lot more skilled and aided by her power armour. As the duel continued, it looked like a stalemate would be inevitable.
While the two exchanged more blows, the spectating rebel troops cheered thunderously while the other celestians accompanying Markeylla remained silent. The fight dragged on until a light drizzle began. By then Markeylla was close to exhaustion and Boi had accumulated a number of wounds around his body. Both fighters knew the fight was drawing to a close, and then the Ogryn spoke.
‘Lady hard, Boi still get food.’
Markeylla wanted to laugh, the Ogryn’s simple approach to life was refreshing. She replied, ‘you will have to defeat me first, Boi.’
‘Boi beat hard lady.’
‘Come and try it.’
Just as the duel was about to enter its final phase, a pair of flyers flew side by side over in high speed, a Nuntius Hailer together with an Imagifier. The fight halted, Markeylla watched in surprise as a huge hologram of Syrine was seen underneath one of the flyers while a deafening announcement came from the other.
‘People, you need to evacuate this site immediately. This is not a drill, I repeat, evacuate immediately! Go towards the governor’s forces now for your own safety!’
The huge crowd seemed stunned by the sudden development and watched on as the flyers went around the field repeating the message. A skull probe that was sent by Kryptorer to accompany the sisters suddenly became active. It flew over, stopped in front of Luthor and started communicating.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
‘Lord general, the true enemy has appeared and is coming your way. I am calling off the duel. Get your people evacuated immediately!’
‘What are you even talking about?! Can’t a dead man claim his honour in peace?!’
Meanwhile back in the duel ring, the Ogryn had stopped moving.
‘Sky… lady.’ Boi murmured while looking at Syrine’s hologram with a stupefied expression on his exposed face. Sky lady? Markeylla was confused until she realised the Ogryn had associated Syrine to the big holograms in the sky.
‘Ogryn,’ she asked, ‘you heard the sky lady singing?’
‘Yes. World, beautiful. Boi… beautiful.’ the Ogryn replied and to the sister’s astonishment, he actually started weeping a little.
‘Boi, do you like sky lady?’ Markeylla asked tentatively.
‘Like...?’ Boi thought for a while before deciding his answer, ‘No, no like.’ Markeylla's expression darkened upon hearing that and prepared to continue the fight.
‘Like, no enough.’
‘Huh?’
‘Boi.... love... sky lady.’ The Orgyn struggled with his vocabulary, the absurdity of it all was heard by some troopers present and a few chuckles broke out despite the tense situation.
Markeylla could not help but smile at Boi’s statement and involuntarily relax her stance, ‘Boi, I have met the sky lady, she is our Holy Daughter, her name is Syrine.’
‘Sky lady Sy… rine. Hard lady, know sky lady?’ Boi contemplated for a while before declaring, ‘we no fight.’
Their inaction finally caught Luthor’s attention and he was not pleased. ‘What are you doing, Boi?! Finish the fight!’
‘Boi no fight, sky lady... want no fight.’
‘Why you little~ how dare you disobey my order? I am your father! Finish the fight!’ Enraged, the general stepped forward and pulled out his laspistol.
‘No.’
‘That’s an order!’ Luthor pointed his weapon at the Orgyn.
‘...’
Livid at a blatant disobedience of his authority on possibly the worst day of his life, Luthor finally lost it. The sounds of laspistol being fired rang out as the lord general shot Boi a few times. The crowd gasped, Markeylla furrowed her brow while the Orgyn flinched but stood still.
‘I SAID FIGHT!’
‘... No.’
‘Fine! I will do it myself!’ Declared General Luthor as he pointed his laspistol at Markeylla and fired.
A veteran of many battles, Markeylla was already bracing for the familiar impacts of las bolt but it never came. A huge mass had intercepted that bolt. Boi had stepped in to shield her and added another wound to his tattered body.
‘Get out of the way, Boi!’ His anger completely boiling over, Luthor pointed his laspistol at Boi and this time the people around them started screaming and running away.
Luthor watched in surprise as all the hardened soldiers he had known for years were all suddenly acting like frightened children. He looked back at Boi and the sister again, suddenly realising they were no longer even looking at him, their sights focused upwards and both had horrified expressions.
It was then Luthor realised a huge shadow was cast over him and the rain drops had stopped falling on him. All the hair on his arms were raised on their end. Fear, crippling mortal fear had suddenly enveloped the lord general but he forced himself to turn around and came face to face with the very definition of a nightmare.
Standing right behind Luthor was a black-skinned humanoid towering more than three storeys in height, it had powerful but twisted looking muscles covering every inch of its body. Long curved horns rose proudly from its inhuman head that held an expression of perpetual agony and anger. A pair of colossal bat-like wings extended from its back, so vast that the wings had completely blocked out the rain for the lord general. A pair of huge, ember orbs shone from where the creatures’ eyes would be, staring straight down at Luthor, piercing his soul.
Weird as it sounded but in his last moments Luthor found his mind flooded with seemingly stupid questions. What is this thing? Why is it so big but so quiet? And why is my life flashing before me?
But Luthor knew. He knew what stood before him was a daemon, he knew no mercy would be coming and he knew his place as a soldier of the Imperium, so he pointed his laspistol at the thing shouting.
‘FOR THE EMPE –’
Lord General Luthor von Norden was no more, even standing so close Markeylla could not see how it happened. There was simply a blur of motion followed by a harsh splattering sound and where the lord general once stood was but a puddle of blood and gore.
Even in her shock, years of harsh battle discipline had Markeylla automatically revert back to her fighting stance again. It was only then she noticed the daemon was carrying a double bladed axe of enormous proportions and Boi was already charging towards the warp spawn.
‘FFFAAaaaPPppppaaaaa ~’
The Ogryn bellowed as he thundered forward in the rain, but the daemonic axe became a blur again and this time Markeylla could just barely see it. She saw the axe moved through Boi as if he was not even there, cleaving the bulky Ogryn in the blink of an eye and splattering his remains to the rain with an after flick of its axe.
Witnessing the tough opponent which Markeylla had struggled against last a not even a second against this warp spawn, even with all her mental fortitude the celestian superior had to admit this fight was looking hopeless. Then the realisation that she had lost her resolve in the face of a true enemy shocked her even more, paralysing the sister.
Before she knew it, the daemon was in front of her and the axe in its hand became a blur again. Markeylla watched with silent acceptance as an axe the length of a full rhino tank came at her at an astonishing speed. She had wanted to react but her instincts told her it was futile.
We need to end this uprising with minimal casualties as soon as possible and be prepared for the real incoming crisis. Somehow at this very critical moment, Syrine’s words had come back to her. Facing the end, Markeylla found herself regretting having to go now. We have just met, Holy Daughter.
The tortured piece of warped metal heavy with the stench of blood came bearing down on her. The world itself seemed to have stopped as Markeylla waited for the inevitable impact.
She waited for her demise, then waited some more. That impact never came, the blur that should have been her end had materialised back into a great axe with its tip halted right in front of her. The sister blinked, confirming what she was seeing by the raindrops mixing with blood dripping down from the colossal weapon.
Tentatively Markeylla looked up at her opponent and found the latter was not even looking at her, she no longer held the towering daemon’s slightest attention. It was staring in a direction far behind the sister, its ember eyes simmering with cold fury as it tried to ascertain something important. Tracing to where the greater daemon was staring at, Markeylla turned and could not believe her eyes.
Far off in the distance, at the forefront of the imperial forces was a Sororitas rhino tank. Within its opened top hatch was a figure shining brightly with holy radiance, a golden halo on her head. In the sky above the rhino was a gigantic hologram of the said figure amplifying her saintly presence to an exaggerated height.
Syrine had arrived in her full glory.
Markeylla gasped with a mixture of horror and relief as the Holy Daughter pointed her sword at the greater daemon, the blade next illuminated with a brilliant blue flame as she did so in a wordless challenge.
The greater daemon sensed the taunting of its nemesis and slowly withdrew its axe that was mere inches away from Markeylla’s face. Its true target had appeared. Here was the mortal enemy of its immortal existence, the source of displeasure of its main essence, the anathema to its kind, the very reason why it was sent here.
Challenge accepted.
It was at this point the people around Markeylla, starting from the sisters who had accompanied her, finally started shooting at the daemon and multiple impacts of small arms fire began to flash all over its massive body. It did not even care to notice them.
As of this moment, nothing else mattered to it but the destruction of its nemesis. Compelled by instinct, the daemon let out a deafening roar that shook the heavens, it then extended its colossal leathery wings and dove towards its quarry with the fury of a world-ending meteor.
A showdown that would decide the fate of the planet was about to begin.