77 The Ripple Effect
Imperial Knights, also known as Questor Imperialis in High Gothic, is a robotic combat walker smaller and less combat-capable than Tians. Still, the giant walking mech is a giant walking mech, and knights are 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) tall war machines of destruction with various noble houses sworn to protect humanity and the Imperium of Man.
Unlike Titans, which requires a small crew to help the pilot (Princeps) with an operation to weapons fire, the Imperial Knights only need one pilot. The pilot, known as Princeps, are rare individuals who can bond with the Machine Spirit of the giant combat walkers. These individuals who can perfectly bond with the Machine Spirit are so rare that the Noble houses of Imperial Knights and Adeptus Mechanicus constantly search for them and recruit them into their organization (For the Houses, those individuals are adapted to the family until they can prove their worth). To be qualified to be Princeps is one in ten million, which makes them one of the valuable people among Imperium.
Imperial Knights are ancient battlesuits that existed long before Emperor's Unification war. They were originally created during the Dark Age of Technology as labor equipment to cut the forest down and excavate minerals and metal ores. Yes, the 40 feet tall walking battlesuit of war and family heirloom of the noble houses were actually a fancy version of an excavator from our current modern era.
Still, a nearly indestructible mech battlesuit with multiple attachable weapons is powerful, and humans are known for their ability to adapt to any situation, which is understandable to see why high-tech excavators turned into protectors of lost civilization until the Emperor 'liberated' them.
The history of Imperial Knight houses is extensively long and proud even among Imperial nobility. As descendants of the Terran colony starships and noble knight house, the knight house possesses multiple Imperial Knights and can deploy them to the most significant battlefield, earning them influence and favors from the other Imperial factions. An exalted noble house can earn great favor even from the high Lords of Terra and some reach rank of the Imperial heroes with their names written on the holy walls of Terra. Each knight has a large shield with a house crest and banner to show their achievements, which is enough to bring fear among enemy ranks.
After the Great Betrayal of the First Warmaster (Which resulted in half of the knight houses joining the Chaos), a new tradition is created known as Freeblade Heraldry. Abandoning noble house and forging new destiny, Freeblade Knights are rare individuals who made a personal oath or pact to carry out tasks that will take them anywhere in the galaxy.
In some situations, the last surviving member of their house will take the Freebalde to seek revenge, a new homeworld, or find a new master to serve. To do this, the first thing Freebalde will do is to take up a new name to mark their status and set out to find the worthy cause or join the battlefield without announcing their presence in the middle of battle. Comparing this to our modern term, Freebalde Knight is a knight-errant (Wondering knight) or Ronin (Samurai without a lord or master).
As for our two Freeblade Knights, they are searching for a new home after surviving the destruction of their noble house and the home planet by the Orks. Paint their Knights in red to mark their rank as Freebaldes. Two knights found themselves in the New World after traveling to the warp during their third year as Freebalde. After finding themselves in the presence of the Astartes Chapter Master, they decided to join the fight against Chaos and Traitor Marines.
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The massive destruction of the missile volley wiped half of the daemon armies of two factions, but this was only a momentary setback as the two remaining Greater Daemons' armies began to push once again. Compared to William's company size Space Marines, the two Chaos factions brought massive forces significant enough to start an initial invasion.
"Form up on me and prepare for the second wave. Imperial Knights provide heavy fire support." William gives his order as the remaining Blacksouls (aka Null Marines) regroup around him while Imperial Knights ready their range weapons. Only five Null Marines were killed but compared to all-out war a few seconds ago, and this was close to a miracle. On the other side, the first wave of daemons and traitor marines is completely wiped out, and their souls are lost due to the blank area effect.
"FIRE!" William's command once again turned the entire city square into a blazing bolter storm while literal superheated fire dropped on the most concentrated group among enemy forces. This time, the daemons and traitors from two sides couldn't rush nearly as before as a wall of bolters, and heavy weapons prevented them from making a straightforward step forward.
The domination of the military firepower is on William's side, for all of 10 seconds. This is because the forces of Chaos decided to send their heavy weapons as three new giant figures appeared from the second wave. In the middle, Khorne's Lord of Skulls leads the charge while firing all kinds of cannons while to its left and right, two Defilers join the fight. Forged by the hellfire and corruption of the warp, the giant-sized daemon engines backed the Chaos forces while two factions finally decided to stop fighting each other to kill William's Space Marines.
Khorne's Lord of Skulls is a super heavy daemon engine of Chaos and servant of the Blood God. Possesses a giant humanoid upper body while the lower side is a literal tank track. This hybrid of monstrosity is powered by the boiling steam from the blood of murders and vents fluids to the enemy, boiling them alive. Lord of Skulls is armed with three primary weapons, one melee weapon, an arm-mounted range weapon for anti-infantry, and torso mounted range weapon to deliver devastating firepower.
Defiler is a massive daemon engine in the service to the Traitor Marines. Armed with multiple-range weapons and mounted on six spider-like legs, Defiler is a living machine of the Chaos.
The creation of Defiler isn't some assembly job done by factory workers. The creation of Defiler is done through a combination of Dark Mechanicum and Warpsmith as Dark Mechanicum forge tainted raw materials and shape into an abomination while Warpsmith binds the machine with the daemon, to be a defiled replacement of Machine Spirit.
Once again, the battlefield turned into madness as two forces collided against each other while shooting everything they had. William was the first to make the second contact as his golden halberd cut down everything in front of him while a power hammer shook the very ground. William didn't stop as he charged into the middle of the enemy rank and activated his kinetic energy, which unleashed a powerful blast all around the daemons and Chaos Marines.
Outsiders would predict that William's forces would lose the fight based on the number with everything going on. On the overview, forces of Chaos outnumber William's by 4 to 1, which anyone would think is a losing battle. On the other hand, William isn't playing a number game, unlike everyone else, he is betting everything on the superior equipment and firepower of the STC.
Traitor Marines' bolter rounds couldn't penetrate the Null Marines' power armor as it required more than a few rounds to crack the armor plating. The infamous daemon blades couldn't cut or stab through the same armor plating, while their corruption couldn't do anything as there is none to spread due to blank effect.
A few things that actually managed to hurt Null Marines are heavy weapons and power weapons (If they manage to survive to fire a second shot after making themselves a priority target). Still, with the reinforcement of daemon engines, William's forces slowly began to have casualties, and William quickly decided to handle the problem.
Tanking every Chaos weaponry head-on, William made himself a prime target as he stacked up his kills left and right. Nothing could penetrate his Iron Halo energy shield, and each step is covered with the blood of traitors and daemons. Each Chaos casualty are lost forever, and none of the skulls went to Khorne. This infuriated Chaos God sitting on the Skull Throne as his number of skull collections are lost to him while Chaos God of Pleasure couldn't feel anything from its followers (Unable to feel anything offense Slaanesh).
Standing alone and surrounded by enemies, William smiled to himself as he felt like a powerful character from one of his favorite games, the Dynasty Warriors. Suddenly, something big came at him head-on, and it literally shook the very ground. In front of William was Lord of Skulls with a bloody ax in his right hand while holding a corrupt heavy bolter in his left. The first thing Lord of Skulls did was to ram the terminator with full force, but this only halted the heavy daemon engine after moving a few feet forward.
When Lord of Skulls couldn't move any further, everyone saw something impossible in front of their eyes. A single terminator armor withstood all by himself and held the ground while denting the plating armor of the Lord of Skulls. With initial speed reduced to nearly halt, William placed his halberd on the ground as a temporary bollard and powered up his power hammer.
"You have guts and gall to take on Chapter Master. If I remember right, Chapter Master Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines single handly ripped Lord of Skull's head off with his power fist. Now, let me see if I can do something similar." William said to Lord of Skulls in front of him and power up his terminator armor to maxim level. Holding his hammer with both hands, William under swings his power weapon like a golf swing or uppercut.
The destructive power of the combined power hammer and terminator armor from STC hit true as Lord of Skulls lifted in the air after a powerful shockwave shattered everything within the capital city. The shockwave not only put the majority of enemies down on the ground, but the power hammer's impact amplified William's blank effect like a ripple as the shockwave carried away.
William wasn't done as he activated his teleportation and appeared on top of the Lord of Skulls while it was still in the air. Once again, with both hands, William swings over his head and hits Lord of Skulls right on its head like a game of whack a mole. The second impact wasn't powerful as the first one, but it was strong enough to crush the giant's head and everything that was neck and shoulder. Hot boiling blood spilled everywhere as it covered traitors and daemons alike, killing some alive while most were distracted by the burning pain.
After landing heavy terminator armor, William creates a small crater, retrieves his golden halberd, and holds his position to cool down his armor. With all kinds of abilities activated at once, William has to stand still for three minutes, or else he risks a meltdown. But being himself and unable to stand quietly, William places his halberd in one hand like a mighty hero and power hammer over his shoulder. This was very effective as no one dared to approach the terminator armor after witnessing a heavy daemon engine taken out so quickly.
"Now, who is next?" William said to forces of Chaos as the company of Null Marines finally reached him. With one-third of Chaos forces taken down by a single man, the traitors and daemons began to lose their spirit as the frontline began to step backward. This would have been the beginning of one side victory, but it was short-lived as Skarbrand jumped on top of retreating soldiers, crushing them with his massive hoves.
Skarbrand, covered with cuts and blood, held his two axes in one hand while holding his recent trophy. Holding in his left hand is the head of the Keeper of Secrets, his face showing an expression of horror and fear as William could clearly see the Keeper's last moment before one of Skarbrand's ax cut clean.
"Skarbrand is next, and Skarbrand would hate to miss the chance to return the earlier hit from the pesky human. After collecting your head, Skarbrand will seek the one responsible as Skarbrand learned the truth from Keeper. Forget this world; Skarbrand will invade the Realm of the Sorcerer and burn it to ashes!"
