Chapter 6

(Arik Taranis POV second person)

Your name is Arik Taranis.

And you are a living weapon. You are the hammer to break the enemy, the conqueror of the continents, the butcher of his enemies.

Some have tried to dress it up in fancy words. Your master, the Emperor, calls you and your sons his Thunder Warriors.

But you understand your purpose, regardless of what nice words others use to describe you. Kill and destroy everything that can stand in the way of your master.

You've known that fact since the day you were created in his lab as the first of your kind.

Then things changed. One day, some of your sons were taken to the laboratories. It was nothing out of the ordinary. The Emperor and his fleshsmiths would take some of you, to make changes, to test new changes, to create stronger warriors for them.

They would claim it was to help you, to heal you of pain and anger, but that was a lie. After all, they don't care about your condition, your replacement has already been created.

Except this time it was different. Your sons came back calmer and healthier. Their pain was indeed healed, and they no longer screamed in agony at night, they did not suddenly fall over and die during the battle despite not receiving any wounds. And the rage, the red-hot rage that had accompanied your sons...seemed to have vanished from them.

None of your sons lose their minds anymore and slaughter both friends and non-friends in a murderous rage, the bodies of the dead are no longer filled with tumors.

At first you didn't believe it. Anger was your ally. Your sons have only become calm and obedient, nothing more. Like the Custode, all shiny and gilded but with all their humanity drained from them, shells unable to do anything but follow orders.

But then it was your turn. You didn't want to go, but you knew better than to disobey the emperor's orders.

And for the first time in your life, you woke up feeling great.

Despite your fears, you are still yourself. You don't suffer from the ailments your sons suffer from, so you're just upgraded.

You feel stronger, livelier, better than ever before.

Despite this, he defied your expectations and upgraded you to a new level. Healed all your sons and daughters.

You still served him, but finally, he treated you like soldiers, not just rabid dogs he kept on a leash.

It didn't make sense.

You quickly go towards the war staff where you see the Emperor in all his glory.

Your master looks stronger and more powerful than ever before.

You look at his green eyes that turn towards you.

You quickly recover from the feeling of wanting to fall to the ground and bury your head in the mud in humility and kneel first before the Emperor of Mankind, who stood before the Hololithic table discussing strategy and plans with his various generals. Months had passed since the emperor had served on the front lines, and troubling rumors of his disappearance began to emerge.

Looking up from the screen, the Emperor just nodded acknowledging your existence, allowing you to stand up.

The Emperor puts his hand on your shoulder and with a light smile tells you "The time has come Arik. The time has come for you to have the last battle. Don't worry my loyal companion I have a new purpose for you, after the end of this battle the Thunder Warriors will be withdrawn from active war events, your number will be increased to 1 million and your new purpose will be to be the last defense of Terra if all other defenses fail".

You stare at your master in shock, you didn't expect this you thought it would end in brutal rejection or being locked up and rotting away. Not in a simple but new purpose.

"Why, master" you ask.

It seems that your master knows what you are thinking and he answers you in a quiet and soothing voice

"You may be stronger than Astarte but they are better suited to face the countless horrors this galaxy holds."

You can only answer "Yes, sir".

You view mission data and tactical assessments and pass them on to other Thunder Legion officers.

Before you leave the war headquarters, your master gives you one last order "Although capturing the heart of the Ethnarchy is a priority, my second mission for you is simpler, as you will see that your new equipment has the ability to stun the enemy, I want you to capture as many genetic horrors as possible that the Ethnarchy uses as soldiers."

You look at your master in confusion and only give him a slight nod before exiting the war staff.

You come to your people and put on your new gear.

You look and notice that your armor is much stronger and harder.

You nod your men in agreement and just say "It's time for the Tempest Galleries to fall"

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You were built to end an era of madness and barbarism, but despite destroying countless monsters, the Ethnarchic monsters manage to be worse than most of the monsters you've killed.

Many Ethnarchy troops are twisted creatures, abominations as big as you and your comrades or even bigger. Some creatures were created by the fusion of man and animal, the rising men of bulls and the growling women with the heads and claws of lions. And even stranger, more twisted things, warriors who look like mythical dragons of old if shaped into something that vaguely resembles a man, men and women with crimson eyes and sharp fangs, who move with deadly speed and grace, and even huge soldiers of Ur -Khasisi in mighty armor, clearly made in your image.

You can find some kinship even in the worst genetic monsters that bear no resemblance to humanity because they, like you, were created by fleshsmiths to serve the whims of their masters.

The real problem is the automaton armies that the ethnoarchy has brought with it, cold and heartless and terrifying. They are strong and numerous and powerful.

Fear nothing, not even the armies of enslaved psykers that have been unleashed on the battlefield.

Your new equipment has proven to be very good at capturing many genetic monstrosities, you just wonder why your master is asking you to capture as many genetic monstrosities as possible, what are these genetic monstrosities for.

Weeks passed as the war continued.

The air is filled with the smell of blood and molten iron, the sky has turned blood crimson, and the ground beneath you has turned to ash.

Tens of millions of soldiers continued the offensive on the Ethnarchy, artillery raining down day and night in a continuous barrage designed not only to simply weaken the void shield but to distract the defenders from a real attack. Clad in improved power armor and wielding many new weapons, the Thunder Legions were ready to attack.

There, the transporters to the underground Tempest galleries were reverse-engineered Martian vehicles called Termites. Huge mining ships built to survive the harshest environments in known space.

You enter the Termite and take your seats as the painted transporters begin their journey to the Tempest galleries.

Your way to the center of the country is long, but feel that you are close to your goal.

You hear a buzz and see that you have arrived at your destination.

You order your men to get out of Termite, as you get out you see the landscape of hell.

Lava poured from the floor of the chamber and flowed upwards in a parody of a waterfall. Great rivers of molten metal floated above them, suspended and manipulated by colossal electromagnetic spindles. Flashes of lighting and billowing clouds of energized atmosphere formed a colossal storm, an unceasing infernal storm.

However, the scene that caught your eye the most was the battle that was fought across the titanic cave. Thousands of Warriors battled swarms of hideous automatons. They outnumbered the Thunder Warriors in both size and numbers.

You watch as your loyal deputy Ghota looks at something in shock, you turn your head to see that the volleys of Plasma, Melta and Volkite bullets had basically no effect on the Machines as they charged into the Thunder Warrior lines and slaughtered them with brutal mining tools.

You see your warriors pulling out their hammers and charging furiously at the automatons, smashing them to pieces.

You want to join the battle but you know that orders come first.

New armor helps you move through polished tunnels that have been drilled out of the ground with molten steel.

Despite your attempts to be subtle, you are met with resistance. Small squads of automatons attack you, but you easily destroy them using your hammers and storm shields.

Marching forward, you fell into a network of tunnels. In the end, it took you a few hours of wandering through the tunnels, but you arrived at your destination.

Before you stood a large chamber carved from Adamantium and inlaid with obsidian. Ten tunnels lead into the chamber, each turning into silicate bridges that were suspended over a pool of molten metal that served as the chamber's floor. Lead your men towards the center of the chamber where the ten bridges intersected. As you approached, a deep rumbling growl echoed through the Chamber.

In the lava explosion and ignition, something colossal broke through the surface of the pool. Easily the size of a Titan, its black diamond scales glittered, and it opened mechanically, letting out a terrible roar.

You immediately bark and order to open fire on the creature. The machine fired back with bursts of superheated plasma and metal that atomized any Warrior unlucky enough to be hit. It wrapped its serpentine body around one of the bridges in a bid to crush the scattered warriors

You don't want to, but you realize that you have to use other warriors as bait.

With the Emperor's hand-crafted Paragon Blade in one hand and the Hammer of Thunder in the other, you leap upon the beast, moving with inhuman speed and skill unmatched except by Valdor and the Emperor himself.

Using your blade you make numerous stabs at the creature, you order via vox they to open fire the thing and you watch as countless bullets are fired into the creature's eyes and face. In response, he attacked with greater force, destroying entire squads of Thunder Warriors with a single swipe of his tail.

You reach the machine head. Slashing its left sensors and leaving the blade lodged in the glass eye, you step up to the creature's neck area and strike at the spine area.

With a blow that would have broken a mountain range, you hit and broke his spine, breaking most of the machinery in his body and paralyzing him, the Emperor still ordered him captured.

The chamber shook with the impact and cracks spread across the adamantium walls.

As the creature falls, you just jump off the dragon unharmed.

You take the sword out of the creature's eye and just proceed to the main room with your remaining companions and smash the door with the hammer and enter the main room and see.

Before you stood a titanic machine. An incredibly advanced Abominable intelligence that screamed in binary form.

You approach the center of the machine and pull out a needle shaped transmitter and stick it into the very center of the hideous intelligence.

The machine just starts screaming binary code until it goes silent.

You look at the pacified abominable intelligence and just wonder why the emperor created this computer virus in order to take control of the abominable intelligence, what he plans for it, why he didn't order its destruction.

You look at the smiling faces of your companions and join them in the laughter until you look back at them and realize that you have lost half of those who started with you, Ghota is among the survivors.

You order a return and advance on the Termites at inhuman speed, leaving the Emperor to deal with the Abominable Intelligence.

Using pre-programmed commands, the Termites automatically pulled themselves out of the chamber and headed for the surface.

Within the report comparison, you estimate that you have lost 40% of your number.

The warriors take off their heavy armor and begin to talk about their successes like true brothers in arms, you join in the conversation, happy that your sons were saved from disintegration.

After more than 7 hours, the termites came to the surface.

Your Vox receives the message, you look and see that the Ethnarchy has fallen, and the Ethnarch himself is dead.