...at least, that was what I wanted to say, but when I saw the endless swarm of Tyranids with my own eyes, whatever resolve I had faltered. Well, I actually saw it through the holo-picts floating around in Throne Mechanicum, along with the visual auspexes, but you know what I mean. Nonetheless, I knew we couldn't retreat, for if we did, the world of Shieldon would be doomed.
"We need to hold out long enough for Lord Militant Macharius Leontus to escape," Lord Takeda ordered, his Cerastus Knight Lancer loping forward. Naginata was charging right toward the Norn Emissary that had dropped into our midst, the newly evolved beast designed to take out leaders and generals. Well, Lord Takeda - the commander of our Knight Lance - was no slouch, and intended to face the Norn Emissary head on with his Lance. He would slay the mighty beast in combat and save Leontus from assassination.
Apparently, Lord Militant Leontus was a relative of Lord Commander Solar Arcadian Leontus, which made him like...super important. As such, the Knights of House Yato had been...uh, strongly requested to protect him.
...in other words, we had to defend the Skyshield Landing Pad while his personal Valkyrie was preparing to take off. Essentially, abandoning the Imperial citizens of this world to the Tyranids while the Lord Militant and Planetary Governor fled for his pathetic life on his own. Very honorable. However, as a relative of a High Lord of Terra, we couldn't disobey...nor could we simply leave him to die. As such, our Knights formed a wall of adamantium as the Tyranids closed in on us. The fact that the Hive Mind dispatched a Norn Emissary to eliminate Leontus of all people indicated his importance.
Grudges aside, I had to admit that Macharius Leontus was a brilliant strategist. He had claimed that his evacuation wasn't fleeing, but a "tactical withdrawal to a defensible position where the revered Knights of House Yato may make maximum use of their strengths" or some groxshit like that. Whatever. Lord Takeda had consented, and so I had no choice but to obey.
Still, I shuddered at the sight of the Norn Emissary charging forward. It was accompanied by a Screamer Killer, who unleashed bio-plasma at Minamoto's Questoris Knight Crusader. Yoichi deflected the bio-plasma with his ion shields, thankfully, while Naginata deflected the Norn Emisssary's psychic scream with his ion gauntlet shield. The Norn Emissary and Screamer Killer were escorted by bounding Hormagaunts on one side, and loping Termagaunts on the other. Tyranid Warriors rose, their venom cannon and devourers spitting at Yoichi's flickering ion shield, but Minamoto was equal to the task, training his guns on them. Unfortunately, the Tyrannofex's cannon blasted a chunk of adamantium from Yoichi, causing the Knight Crusader to stagger. Genestealers sprinted forward, their rending claws gleaming in the sunlight as they crawled acrobatically along pipes. Barbagaunts launched volleys of barbs from somewhere unseen, staying safe as they relied on indirect fire.
That wasn't all. On the opposite side of the Skyshield landing pad, a Psychophage skittered about, Neurogaunts and other nasty creatures joining it. Two Carnifexes lumbered, their venom cannons assailing Sato's Kaen. Watanabe's Tsurugi moved up to support Sato as the Carnifexes approached, but Kaen was intercepted by charging Hormagaunts first. Some distance from them, Kanda and his Questoris Knight Errant, Engetsu, approached the charging Hive Tyrant, Genestealers and other creatures, while Suzuki's Hebi and a fourth Armiger Warglaive, Kame, piloted by Iwatani, were ambushed by Von Ryan's Leapers.
Suzuki piloted Hebi deftly, the Armiger Warglaive striking with its whirring reaper chain-cleaver and cleaving the Von Ryan's Leapers apart, along with Iwatani's Kame, cut them into pieces without much difficulty.
Then we launched our counterattack.
The cerastus shock lance spat out exotic energies that fried the Hormagaunts bounding forward, and Sendo joined the fray, the lightning locks of his Armiger Moirax electrocuting more of the scythe bearing 'gaunts. On the other side, Chiba's Armiger Moirax incinerated the running Termagaunts, taking out a huge chunk of them and sending smoldering carcasses toppling. Minamoto unleashed a hail of devastating fire, his rapid-fire battle cannon pulverizing the Tyranid Warriors as revenge for shooting Yoichi earlier, while his Ironstorm missile pod loosed volleys of missiles that detonated amongst the running Hormagaunts. His Avenger gatling cannon spun, bellowing thunderously as thousands of depleted uranium shells tore into the crawling Genestealers, annihilating them in a single blast. The heavy stubbers rotated about and continued to assault the Termagaunts, the survivors taking cover.
I tried to fire the volcano lance into the Norn Emissary, but I missed, its psychic shield obscuring my auspexes. On the other hand, my plasma decimator found more success, slaying the Neurophage on the other side, which had already taken some damage from Kanda's hull meltagun. The siegebreaker cannons bombarded the Hormagaunts, further decimating the horde, but my twin meltaguns missed the Norn Emissary, which was out of melta range, anyway.
That wasn't a good round of shooting from the Dominus Knight Castellan, Kazan. I guess the machine spirit was having an off day or something. Whatever.
On the other side, one of the Carnifexes was vaporized by the thermal cannon from Kanda's Engetsu. Meanwhile, Watanabe's Tsurugi and Sato's Kaen finished off the Hormagaunts nibbling at their Armiger Warglaives' legs. Hebi's meltagun and thermal spear didn't do much to the Hive Tyrant, and neither did Kame, but Iwatani was eager to prove himself and he charged Kame right into the Hive Tyrant, cleaving a good chunk of chitin out of the roaring beast, and parrying its return strike.
Lord Takeda was not to be outdone, and Naginata collided against the Norn Emissary, the shock lance impaling the writhing beast and slaying it outright. Kicking the corpse off Naginata's lance, Takeda turned his knight armor toward the approaching Screamer Killer and the approaching Hormagaunts and Termagaunts.
Though we had reduced the forces on the ground, Gargoyles and a winged Hive Tyrant swooped down from above, assaulting Chiba's Armiger Moirax, but his ion shield deflected the leeches that their devourers spat at him. Iwatani continued to engage the wingless Hive Tyrant in combat, but he also found himself beset by Genestealers. Despite his best attempts to assist Iwatani, Kanda found his Engetsu swarmed by Ripper swarms and the Neurogaunts. I wanted to help, but Kazan was knocked off its footing when a Trygon Prime erupted from beneath my feet, surfacing and latching onto the heavy adamantium armor with its scythes.
Uh oh.
A swarm of Termagaunts followed the Trygon Prime out of the tunnel it had just emerged from, spitting leeches at Sendo's Armiger Moirax, but they were slower than the Trygon Prime and failed to make the charge. The Hunter Screamer crashed into Lord Takeda's Naginata, furiously seeking revenge, only to be impaled upon the crackling Cerastus shock lance and torn apart by the volatile energies.
"Foul beast," Takeda spat.
Kanda managed to slay the lead psychophage beast that was leading the neurogaunts with a strike of his reaper chainsword, but the ripper swarms and neurogaunts continued to assail him.
On the other side, the Tyranofex had obliterated the ion shields of Yoichi in violent fashion, and Minamoto struggled to keep his reeling Knight Crusader standing. The Barbagaunts continued to bombard from afar, but those did very little damage, thankfully. Meanwhile, the Gargoyles descended upon Chiba's Armiger Moirax, attempting to drown him in a tide of beating wings and gnashing teeth.
The sole surviving Carnifex charged Sato, hitting Kaen like a manufactorum truck running over a servitor. Though the adamantine armor buckled, Kaen endured, and Sato countered with a strike that eviscerated the Carnifex. Nonetheless, it remained standing, snarling furiously as ichor poured out of its ruined exoskeleton.
Iwatani succeeded in slaying the Hive Tyrant by blasting it pointblank with his meltagun and thermal spear, ramming the barrels into its jaw and gut and unleashing superheated rays into the shrieking creature. Molten chitin flowed and the Hive Tyrant's ruined body slumped over. Turning around, Kame gutted a couple of Genestealers, but the rest tore the poor Armiger Warglaive apart, dismantling it joint from joint, bolt from bolt.
"Damn it!" Kanda cursed, swinging his reaper chainsword and taking out all of the neurogaunts, helped by pointblank meltagun and Stormspear rockets that blew holes in the carpet of ripper swarms that were crawling up at his legs and nibbling at cables.
Meanwhile, Watanabe assisted Sato, Tsurugi blowing holes in the Carnifex's back with meltagun and thermal ray, leaving Sato free to disengage from the dying beast and firing at the Hive Tyrant. With a determined yell, Sato charged the winged Hive Tyrant, Kaen stabbing the beast in the chest with a raging reaper chain-cleaver. Snarling, the Hive Tyrant fought back, tearing at Kaen's pauldron, but Sato maneuvered his Armiger Warglaive to avoid a critical hit.
I was still stuck in combat with the Trygon Prime, which grappled with my stumbling Kazan. Despite firing the twin meltaguns pointblank, they did nothing, while the shieldbreaker missile went wide. So much for the new twin-linked rule...plus melta was now Strength 9 and did nothing to Toughness 10 and above monsters and vehicles. Ugh.
Lord Takeda took out the Hormagaunts with a pointblank blast from his Cerastus shock lance, leaving just one survival. Sweeping the lance, he cut down the Termagaunts, which again also left only one survivor, both of which continued to harry at his flanks. Minamoto focused Yoichi's immense firepower on the Tyrannofex, but failed to do much damage against its resilient body. On the other hand, his Avenger gatling cannon annihilated the Termagaunts that had followed the Trygon Prime out of its tunnel. Inspired by his lord's example, Chiba fried the Gargoyles with a good number of lightning locks' arcs, leaving a handful that slowly chipped away at him.
The Genestealers pounced on Suzuki's Hebi, eager to add to their tally after Kame's demise. However, Hebi endured their onslaught, and Suzuki retaliated with a cleave, cutting down another couple of them. He didn't escape unscathed, though, and Hebi's armor was buckling and falling apart under the relentless assault. Fortunately, Engetsu had crushed the remnants of the Ripper swarms, and Kanda could finally turn his attention around to assist him.
Meanwhile, the Tyranofex further reduced Minamoto's Yoichi into a smoldering wreck, though somehow the Knight Cruasder just barely survived that last salvo. Even so, I could see that Yoichi was on his last legs, with Minamoto fighting to keep the staggering Knight armor upright. Fortunately, the followup barbs from the Barbagaunts had little effect. The Gargoyles continued to harry at Chiba, but the Armiger Moirax withstood their blows while kicking one of them to death. The Trygon Prime continued to tear at Kazan, but the adamantium armor held...for now. I kicked it back, but did little damage, except maybe chip away at its chitin.
The Hive Tyrant and Sato continued to duel, trading more blows. By now, Watanabe had moved up, and their combined melta beams finally incinerated the winged Hive Tyrant before it could finish the grievously damaged Kaen off. Meanwhile, Kanda charged in, and Engetsu's reaper chainsword reaped a harvest on the Genestealers swarming over Suzuki's Hebi, annihilating them. Unfortunately, we weren't able to replicate the success on the other side, and though I finally blew a hole in the Trygon Prime's carapace with a shieldbreaker missile, the twin meltaguns still failed to burn through its exoskeleton. Minamoto wasn't having a good time either, his battle cannons inflicting little damage on the Tyranofex, and even as Sendo's Armiger Moirax lightning locks and Lord Takeda's Naginata Cerastus shock lance added to his firepower, the Tyrannofex remained unmoved. It was also too far for Naginata to charge it. Yet. At least Chiba was able to wipe out the Gargoyles with another barrage of lightning locks.
To my surprise, the Trygon Prime disengaged from combat suddenly, instead coiling around the Valkyrie that I was supposed to protect. Lord Militant Leontus! He was in trouble! The Valkyrie had yet to take off, and already the Trygon Prime had ensnared it. It was slowly crushing the aircraft with its coils. I turned to fire, but was rocked when a devasting salvo from the Tyranofex hit Kazan, piercing the ion shields and dealing significant damage. That brought my Dominus Knight Castellan down a bracket. Ouch.
"Oh no...!"
Minamoto wasn't in great shape either. Yoichi was listing, having endured another barrage from the Barbagaunts and spines from the Tyranofex, but he was still hanging in there somehow, against all odds.
"I won't let you!" He yelled.
"Focus fire on the Trygon Prime!" Lord Takeda ordered. "I'll take care of the Tyrannofex! We must protect the Lord Militant at all costs! Don't let it destroy the Valkyrie!"
"Yes, my lord!"
The three remaining Armiger Warglaives and Kanda's Engetsu converged on the Trygon Prime. Unfortunately, due to damaged servos and auspexes thanks to the Tyranofex's bombardment, I missed all of my shots, my volcano lance going wide, and my plasma decimator failing to wound the damned thing. Even the shieldbreaker missile wasn't able to destroy the Trygon Prime.
Fortunately, the melta beams from the thermal spears of Hebi, Tsurugi and Kaen combined into a devastating lance that melted the chitin off the roaring Trygon Prime and sliced it into two, its bisected halves toppling over even as its stumps were cauterized by the incredible heat. The three retainers continued to direct their thermal rays along both halves of the Trygon Prime, ensuring its death.
"Excellent work!" Lord Takeda said, even as his Knight Lancer pierced the Tyrannofex with the Cerastus shock lance and pulverized it. The Barnagaunts were pulped by the Ironstorm missiles and battle cannon shells that Minamoto unleashed upon them in revenge for harming Yoichi, and for a long while, silence reigned.
Then the Valkyrie rose in a shriek, the assault carrier spiraling upward and surging toward the heavens, probably to take shelter within a waiting Imperial navy vessel in orbit.
As for us, we were resigned to our fates...only to realize that we had annihilated the enemy. The Endless Swarm was destroyed so completely that there wasn't a single living Tyranid in sight.
"What the...the Lord Militant was right, after all." Kanda shook his head in amazement. "This really is a defensible position."
"We actually won!" Suzuki cheered, raising Hebi's reaper chain-cleaver triumphantly.
"We have indeed," Lord Takeda agreed, holding up Naginata's shock lance. "Now, allow us to drive the filthy xenos off the world of Shieldon and reclaim it for the Imperium. If we are able to score a great and decisive victory here today, then there is no reason we cannot destroy the Tyranids teeming in this world. Let us charge forth and finish them off!"
Shouting our approval, we moved our heavily damaged Knights out, seeking fresh prey to hunt. But first, we needed to locate our sacristans to effect some hasty repairs. Only then would we be able to forge our victory in this Fourth Tyrannic War.
Sub-sector Bastior will not fall!
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