*Judge's bellowing cry shakes Eliana to her core as he charges headlong towards that seething mass of corruption. Before she can protest, he's already dragging her along, his grip like iron while his fiery zeal blazes in those wild eyes. Imperial doctrine drills into her head at once - obedience is life itself when in the God-Emperor's service.*
'But this... this is insanity!'
*Yet her body moves of its own accord, boots crunching across the scorched earth as Judge hauls her closer to their demise. The foul stench of the warp's taint chokes her throat even from this distance, her stomach churning with revulsion.* "Emperor preserve..." *she gasps, just before Judge hurls himself into the fray with another ear-splitting warcry.*
*Kicking free of his grip, Eliana can only gape in stunned horror as Judge sets upon the abominations with furious abandon. His chainsword reaps a grisly tally, rending apart corrupt flesh as readily as she cleaves through target dummies on the practice range. Yet where she would expect the entities to simply...die, they persist, gnashing jaws snapping shut on empty air as they press in.*
"Frak! Judge, fall back! You're surrounded!"
*But her voice is swallowed up by the crescendo of shrieks and Judge's own wordless screams of exaltation. There's no reaching him now, not like this. Eliana's hands tremble as she brings her lasgun to bear, the barrel swaying between targets too numerous to count. What manner of cursed existence fuels these things?! Her lasbolt streaks out and blows apart one horror's skull in a spray of ichorous matter, but two more simply push through the gap, trampling its remains.*
*Firing in controlled bursts, Eliana moves to Judge's flank and unleashes volley after volley. Each shot is harder than the last, her blood freezing as her rational mind processes what's unfolding before her eyes. These... things were once human. People. Now twisted beyond recognition by the foul powers of the warp. She forces the horrible thought down and keeps firing, her cries joining Judge's in a discordant chorus:*
"For the Emperor! Die you filthy bastards!"
*The roar of Judge's chainsword was deafening, drowning out all but the most guttural of beastly shrieks as he carved a gory path through the horde. Each sweeping arc sundered corrupted flesh, showering him in viscera that only served to stoke the fires of his zealotry. These foul creatures would know the wrath of the Emperor's faithful!*
*A taloned appendage lashed out, raking across Judge's chestplate and leaving deep gouges in the ceramite. He snarled, spraying spittle through the slits of his respirator as he brought his crackling chainsword down upon the offending horror. Its torso parted like a split log, innards vomiting out in a torrent of ichor.*
"Feel the Emperor's judgement, heretic filth!" *he bellowed, pivoting to deflect snapping jaws with the flat of his blade. These beasts wouldn't go quietly to the grave - good! He would send their souls screaming into the void!*
"Your blasphemous existence offends the sight of Terra itself!" *Another abomination fell to his whirling blade, its death knell a shrill wail of anguish.* "The Golden Throne rejects your blight upon this galaxy!"
*With each kill, Judge's fervor only intensified. This was his purpose - to utterly exterminate the unclean from the beloved Imperium's realm. Let these wretches burn for an eternity in the fires of holy retribution!* "Blood for the Emperor! Skulls for the golden throne!"
*Eliana ducks behind the shattered remnants of a Chimera, temporarily shielding herself from the hail of projectiles. Her heart hammers against her ribcage so violently that she fears it may burst free. How in the name of the God-Emperor did they end up in the middle of this?! One moment they were discussing options, the next—that crazed fool Judge had dragged them headlong into the fray!*
"Throne...this is a slaughter..." *she gasps, choking on the thick, cloying stench of warp-tainted ichor clogging the air. Her grip tightens around her lasgun as another guttural shriek pierces the din of combat. Distantly, she hears Judge bellowing profanities and war-cries, his chainsword whirring like a rabid beast as he tears into the horde.*
*Eliana chances a look over her cover. There he is—a tiny speck of flak armor amidst the roiling mass of mutated flesh. Emperor preserve him, but how long can he possibly last? If she doesn't do something, he'll be overrun within minutes.*
"Frakking zealot..." *Gritting her teeth, she pops up and unleashes a torrent of lasfire into the horde's flank, trying to draw their attention. The beam blows one horror in half at the waist, showering its brethren in cauterized gore.*
"Over here you rot-brained bastards!"
*She ducks back down as a volley of jagged bone shards whistles overhead, peppering her cover. Emperor's bowels, even their projectiles are cursed! Swallowing hard, she fumbles for a frag grenade with a trembling hand, yanking the pin with her teeth.*
"Eat death, you motherless freaks!" *She lobs the grenade in a high arc, pulverizing a cluster of the beasts when it detonates. The force of the blast buffets her momentarily with scorching air.*
"Judge! Fall back, damn you! We can't—"
*Her voice cracks as a horrific abomination lurches over her cover, drool roping from its fanged maw. Eliana shrieks and fumbles for her autopistol, putting two las-rounds squarely into its gaping maw. The beast staggers but keeps coming, forcing her to backpedal on her heels. Her back slams against the ruined Chimera with a heavy thud as the monstrosity's weight bears down on her. Its putrid breath washes over her face as it unleashes a deafening, strident howl of—triumph?!*
"Get...OFF!!" *she cries, firing wildly into its torso. Ichor splatters her visor and neck as the rounds chew through rotten flesh, but still the beast won't relent! Her last shot pierces one of its milky eyes, finally staggering it back with a piteous wail.*
*Chest heaving, Eliana struggles to reload with slick, quivering fingers. Her mind races. They have to...they have to get out of here. Her gaze darts to Judge, still hacking and slashing like a man possessed.*
"J-Judge! Let's go, we're leaving! Now!!"
*With the beast bearing down upon Eliana, Judge's expression remains fixed in a perpetual scowl beneath his respirator. His focus remains squarely on the horde, chainsword churning through warp-tainted flesh and bone as he presses his advantage.*
"Blood and skulls!" *he roars, whipping his blade in a horizontal arc to cleave one horror in twain at the waist.* "The wrath of the Emperor is endless!"
*A dismembered arm flails wildly in Judge's periphery, but he pays it no mind. These mongrel beasts are but a fleeting distraction - no, an opportunity to honor the Master of Mankind through glorious sacrifice! He bellows a wordless warcry, plunging forward to bury his chainsword in the pulsating flank of some nameless behemoth.*
*Eliana's panicked cries reach his ears, but he cannot allow himself to be swayed. Doubt is the first cancer that rots the soul from within. No, he will press the attack until the last heretical soul is extinguished beneath his boot!*
*The beast descends on Eliana, wretched talons scrabbling for purchase on her flak armor. Judge's jaw clenches as the abomination succeeds in pinning her against the ruined Chimera. His blood boils at such a pathetic display of weakness. Do not falter in His service, woman!*
*Pivoting on his heel, Judge brings his chainsword to bear in a blinding overhand arc. The beast's fetid skull parts like an overripe fruit, spraying ichor in a wide radius. The gore-slicked remains collapse atop Eliana, who barely avoids being crushed by the putrid mass.*
"Get up, waste of flesh!" *Judge roars, stomping forward to loom over Eliana.* "Or do you mean to abandon the Emperor's light so readily?!"
*His respirator-muffled voice drips with contempt. A true warrior of the Imperium would never have allowed herself to be so easily overwhelmed. Perhaps the purge of her pathetically weak soul would be a mercy.*
"We fight until the last ember gutters out! Rise and make yourself worthy of His gaze, worm!" *The chainsword whirrs menacingly in his grip, teeth gnashing in anticipation of further slaughter.* "Or let these beasts devour your miserable carcass!"
*Eliana chokes, sputtering and hacking as the wretched beast's remains smother her momentarily. The rancid stench of its viscera clogs her nostrils, throat burning with the hot tang of spilled ichor searing her tongue. Gag reflex kicking in, she scrambles out from beneath the reeking carcass, still retching and wiping at her visor with a shaking hand.*
*Judge looms over her, incandescent rage dripping from his every syllable through that damned respirator. His words are a blur of contempt at first—'abandon the Emperor's light,' 'devour your miserable carcass,' it all blends into meaningless noise. Noise like the fevered ravings of the lunatics inhabiting this fresh hell.*
"I—" *She tries to retort, but her words are swallowed by another wave of nauseous heaving. Sucking in a lungful of scalding air, Eliana glares back up defiantly.* "I didn't...ask for your help, zealot! I was handling it just—"
*Her eyes dart to the beast's corpse.*
"...fine."
*Shoulders slumping, Eliana hangs her head. Fine? She was a fool to think she could match his single-minded devotion to slaughter. The sheer brutality on display had sapped what little resolve she'd mustered.* "Forget it. Let's just...get out of here before more of them show up."
*Judge snarls, the respirator amplifying his ragged breaths into a grating wheeze. The stench of viscera clogs his senses—innard-slick ceramite, plastered gore caking his armored plates. His chainsword's teeth spin lazily, flinging crimson droplets in wide arcs with each revolving churn.*
*He glowers at Eliana through the narrow slits of his mask. This...this waste dares speak of retreat? Of abandoning their holy charge against the profane horrors that fester upon this corpse-world?*
"You would forsake the Imperium so readily, coward?" *His voice is a guttural snarl distorted by the respirator's filters.* "After all we have borne witness to? The very soil saturated with the blood of our brothers and sisters?"
*The chainsword whirs as he sweeps it in a wide arc, spraying Eliana with a fresh wave of clotted ichor. A grisly baptism, searing her senses with the reek of corruption purged.*
"Look upon the works of your 'Emperor,' whelp!" *He slams the flat of the blade against the ground, gesturing around them with his other hand.*
"Cadia lies rent. Our world shattered by the very hands of those we took an oath to destroy!" *His finger jabs accusingly toward the piles of eviscerated corpses—once-mortal things twisted into bestial parodies of the human form.* "And you would abandon this calling? Flee while their rancid ilk festers, awaiting its chance to spread across the stars?"
*Leveling the chainsword at her, he takes a menacing step forward. Flecks of drying gore flake away from his faceplate with each lurching movement.*
"There is no 'retreat' to be found here. Only the eternal crucible of His righteousness!" *Another thunderous stride, the chainsword's revs building into an ear-splitting keen.* "Cadia may burn, but the Imperium endures! And we shall be its immolating flame, searing every last reeking trace of the warp's corruption from existence!"
*Eliana flinches as Judge sweeps his chainsword in a wide, bloody arc—splattering her visor with a fresh wave of clotted filth. Bits of...whatever it is—cling to the ceramite in clumps, slowly oozing down the surface. The stink of it is overpowering, rancid and heavy enough to settle in her throat, coating her tongue with foulness.*
*She coughs, choking down the acrid taste as Judge rages. 'The works of your Emperor,' he sneers, each word dripping with condemnation.*
'Is this truly what the Emperor wills?'
*Eliana's eyes flick to the rent abominations strewn around them—once human, twisted beyond all recognition. Hollowed-out effigies of the God-Emperor's most cherished creation. Her gut churns with revulsion and shame. Then defiance—a brief, burning flare that hardens her gaze.*
"I'm not—" *She cuts herself off, lips pressed into a thin line as Judge stalks toward her, gore flecking from his mask.* "Running away. That's not what I'm saying."
*Her voice trembles, despite her attempt at resolution. She swallows thickly, forcing the next words out with an angry rasp:*
"You and I both... know this is madness, Judge. A solitary charge against...that." *Her eyes drift toward the still-writhing horde, then quickly avert.* "It's suicide, plain and simple."
*Eliana pauses, heaving a shuddering breath. She speaks quieter now, almost pleading:* "This planet is lost. You know that just as well as I do."
*Her shoulders slump as the weight of it all comes crashing back down—those final, precious moments on Cadia's surface before the last evacuation craft departs. The staccato thunder of gunfire. Eardrum-bursting shockwaves from each Blackstone shard's impact. All of it shattering into this single, silent moment in a dead land.*
"Can you... really tell me the Emperor demands nothing more from us than—" *She gestures hopelessly to the carnage around them.* "—than fighting to the last man, standing amidst rubble?"
*Eliana shakes her head slowly, expression etched with weariness and...something else. Doubt, creeping in at the edges.* "If that's all that's left, then what are we even fighting for?"
*Judge's respirator-muffled snarl echoes across the blasted wasteland, cutting through the din of distant shrieks and howls. His grip tightens around the gore-slick chainsword until his knuckles pale, teeth grinding behind the mask's filter.*
"Abandon the Imperium's charge, she asks?" *He spits the words like acid, pivoting to glower at the Cadian whelp. This pathetic slip of a girl—a mewling wretch clinging to scraps of life while denying the God-Emperor's greatest truth.*
"The Imperium's survival demands sacrifice, fool!" *His voice is a guttural rasp from the depths of his hatred.* "Our very existence is sculpted by the unending crucible of His will!"
*He stalks towards her, breaths heaving from the exertion of their battle. The chainsword's teeth churn lazily, flinging a fresh wave of clotted filth onto Eliana's ceramite plates. A baptism of desecrated flesh to scour away her willful ignorance.*
"Look around you, worm." *Judge sweeps his arm in a wide arc, visor fixing on each dismembered corpse as he passes.* "These wretches were once like us—human, before the warp's corruption unmade them!"
*His finger jabs accusingly towards the writhing mass of abominations in the distance. Their strident shrieks carry clearly, even across the blasted expanse separating them.*
"Do you hear their howls, girl? That festering hunger for the death of all we hold sacred?" *He slams the flat of his chainsword against the ground, chunks of cauterized flesh spattering away from the impact.* "The warp's blight will consume all if we let up for even an instant!"
*Judge leans in, the skull-like respirator mere inches from Eliana's visor. She can hear his ragged panting, feel the hot puffs of his breath washing over her. The chainsword whirrs hungrily as it sweeps towards her throat, jagged adamantium teeth grating against her gorget.* "Choose your path, Guardsman. The Emperor's light...or the oblivion that awaits all who forsake His righteousness."
*Eliana swallows hard, her throat burning with the acrid stench of Judge's breath—hot and moist through the respirator's vents. She forces herself to hold his searing glare, even as the chainsword's jagged teeth graze her throat.*
*Some part of her mind screams at the madness of it all. This zealot means to slaughter her on the spot if she so much as breathes the wrong sentiment! But she can't falter now. Not after all she's witnessed.*
*'Do you hear their howls, girl?' Judge rasps, as though his words alone can conjure fresh horrors. But she hears them regardless—the forlorn wails of souls lost to the immaterium's endless gyre. The monstrous hunger that can never be sated, hungering only for utter oblivion.*
*And in that howling darkness, Eliana sees her fate if she surrenders to its icy clutches. So many sacrificed themselves to hold that tainted tide at bay. For her to flee now would be...*
*Her jaw clenches, face hardening with grim determination. "I...I hear them, Judge." *She blinks once, slowly—a flicker of vulnerability before the mask slams back into place.* "And you're right. To turn my back on..." *Another glance to the mangled remains scattered around them.* "...on this would be a betrayal. Of my oath. Of everything we stand for."
*She doesn't flinch as the chainsword grinds against her gorget, leaving a fresh score in the thick ceramite. Let it bite as deep as it wills—her soul remains unshaken.*
"I won't abandon the faithful, Judge. The cost is too great for anything less than victory." *Her voice grows firmer, resolute as the conviction hardens in her chest.* "Fight until the blades dull, then? So be it."
*Her hands curl into white-knuckled fists as she lets out a slow, measured breath—purging the fear and doubt from her lungs.* "For the Golden Throne, I'll slaughter every last corrupted soul with you, Judge. But when the smoke clears..." *Her eyes narrow behind the visor, twin pinpricks boring into him.* "...then what? We can't fight forever."
*She arches a challenging eyebrow at him.* "Don't tell me you've lost sight of why we fight. The Imperium must endure—and that means living to see another dawn. So tell me, zealot... what happens after the slaughter?"
*Judge's visor remains locked onto Eliana, his respirator amplifying each ragged exhale into a guttural wheeze. She can practically taste the rancid mist clinging to the inside of her helmet—bitter iron and putrescence coating the back of her throat. Worse still is the heat radiating off his armor in smothering waves. The reek of charred flesh and dried gore hangs like a miasma between them.*
*He doesn't budge an inch as Eliana poses her challenge. That skull-visage stares back impassively, offering no hint of the raging inferno she knows blazes behind it.*
*Eliana swallows hard, the sound unnaturally loud in the vacuum between them.* "Well?" *she presses, wetting dry lips. The chainsword's teeth continue churning against her throat—each lazy revolution scraping a fresh gouge into the battered ceramite. But still...nothing.*
*Moments crawl by, the distant howls of the horde fading into meaningless white noise. Her own pulse thunders in her ears, drowning out every instinct screaming at her to look away, to stop staring into that soulless void—
*He moves.*
*Judge leans back, the chainsword lifting from her throat with a harsh metallic rasp. Relief washes over Eliana for a fleeting heartbeat, until that nightmarish respirator grates open.*
"We die."
*The words slam into her like a physical blow, the air driven from her lungs in a sharp exhale.* "We...what?"
"We do not fight so we may leave the planet..." *Judge sweeps his arm in a wide arc, taking in the desolation surrounding them. Chunks of meat and viscera patter to the ground in his wake, kicked up from the scorched earth.* "That option is no longer with us."
*Eliana blinks, vaguely aware of her mouth hanging agape. 'No longer with us?' What does that even—*
"We fight so that we may die basking in the Emperor's light!" *His voice swells, thick with fervor and zealous conviction. The chainsword's revs kick up a notch, teeth blurring into a gore-streaked haze.* "We die so that we may cling onto what we hold dearly instead of succumbing to Chaos like spineless cowards!"
*He takes a shambling step forward, shoulders squaring beneath his battered flak armor. Drying flecks of ichor drift away from his chestplate, catching the dead air like crimson snow.*
"To die for the Emperor is of great service!"
*There's no roar, no bellowed warcry—just those words, spoken with raw finality. The chainsword hangs loosely at his side, seemingly forgotten as Judge stares her down.*
*Eliana's throat works uselessly for several moments before she finally croaks out a response.*
"You're...you're mad..."
