"Well...they have been salvaged and transformed by the Orks."
The poor Knights of House Yato could only watch the weird contraptions swagger toward them, a couple of greenskins hanging off one of them. The biggest didn't seem like a salvaged Knight at all, but rather...
"Why is it in the shape of a crescent?"
"I think they salvaged one of those Necron aircrafts...what was it called? A Nightscythe?"
"So now it's a Knightscythe," Tanaka joked. The other bondsmen glared at him, and he shrugged. "What? The name fits."
"Whatever they are, they must die! Death to heretics and the xenos!" Ogami yelled and advanced his Knight Preceptor forward. Unfortunately, Okami took a few hits from a load of dakka from the howling greenskins, staggering as its ion shield flared. One of the Ork walkers, an upsized Deff Dread that held an equally gigantic autocannon, was spitting out streams of shells. "Curse you, foul greenskins!"
His Knight Preceptor continued to stumble as a melta shot from an Ork walker carrying a gigantic broadsword moved forward, along with anothe scrap Knight sporting some sort of exotic weapon that fired a ruby beam. The Crescent-shaped Knight did most of the damage, explosive shells detonating against Okami and tearing away chunks of adamantium and ceramite.
"We've got to help him!" Suzuki yelled. Tanaka sighed and rolled his eyes, wondering if they should leave the reckless noble to his death. The guy was getting their lance into more trouble than they could handle.
He then fired a melta shot into the closest Knight, the scrap-walker holding an exotic weapon. He didn't like the look of that thing, and furthermore it sported a massive power klaw that looked as if it could crush his Knight in a single swipe.
To his relief, the scrap walker exploded under the superheated thermal rays. The other Ork knight with the broadsword stepped in, its pilot bellowing in a guttural tone, but for all of his flaws, Ogami was a competent swordsman. He stepped in and cleaved the charging Ork walker into several pieces with two swipes of his whirring Reaper chainsword.
Tanaka didn't have time to celebrate because the crescent-shaped Knight was charging at him. It bowled him over in a single blow and stomped on his Armiger Warglaive with its feet, crushing him underfoot.
"...ouch." Tanaka sighed. That meant he was out of the fight.
The rest of the battle went on as he expected. The titanic walker blew Ogami's Knight Preceptor up with a salvo of missiles and gatling cannon shots, and continued onward to meet Suzuki's Armiger Warglaive in battle. Despite Hebi getting a few hits in, it was trampled underfoot, much like Tanaka's.
Chiba's Knight Moirax was then blown up by the combined onslaught of firepower from the two remaining Ork Knights. Kanda wisely retreated, firing pulses of gravity, but he knew he would not be able to defeat either of the Knights.
Tanaka watched the Ork Knights pursue Kanda's Knight Moirax into the distance before he slumped over and exhaled wearily.
"I knew this wouldn't end well..."
The five pilots next woke up aboard the cruiser, Fires of Piety.
"Huh? How did we get here?"
"Weren't we supposed to be fighting Orks?"
"Yeah, except that we got our asses kicked," Tanaka muttered to Suzuki's question.
"I was pretty sure I got away from them," Kanda remarked, scratching his head. He frowned. "But I don't remember what happened after that."
None of them did. Unbeknownst to them, another imperial ship sailed away into the void. The Strike Cruiser, Miles Engraved, surged into the warp with its thrusters burning, the Grey Knights complement within feeling as if they had just wasted their time.
After a brief clash with the downed Knights, they decided to mindwipe the poor pilots and then leave. The Knights of House Yato stood no chance against the Imperium's finest Daemonhunters. The Dreadknights basically destroyed the entire Knight Lance, with Strike squads finishing off weakened Armigers with their Nemesis weapons. The only squad they lost was three Paladins who were squashed to death by Kanda's grav weapons, and maybe three dudes who got stomped on, but other than that, they were virtually unscathed.
"I think it's time for me to leave," Castellan Crowe said, staring at his daemon sword and shrugging when the Grand Master confronted him. "Your Dreadknights can deal with whatever comes next. I fear that I'm kind of...overpowered in this Crusade. Besides, it's not as if I can gain any more experience or battle honors. So I'll leave it to you guys. I'm going to join another daemon hunting expedition that actually needs someone of my caliber."
"Uh...okay?" The Grand Master looked bewildered, but he didn't protest. "If that's what you think..."
Crowe turned and left him to his own thoughts, staring upon the shielded windows as the Miles Engraved plunged through the Empyrean and traveled to whatever world that was unfortunate enough to be infested with Daemons.
...except that there didn't seem to be any Daemons in the sector, only Thousand Sons and xenos...
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