Chapter 21: Necromancer Overlord

His brothers were dead. Chaplain Masayac and Master of the Forge Salax lay at his sides; the former had borne the brunt of the explosion—his right side reduced to a mass of shattered armor and exposed viscera—while a point-blank gauss beam had detonated the Forge Master's helmet, spilling his cranial contents onto the ground.

The shockwave had a wide radius, but Space Marines were still locked in a bloody struggle with the xenos, and the Necrons continued to execute their cold logic—

To exterminate all intruders.

The Necrons had also discovered the living Chapter Master and immediately closed in.

Amurad disemboweled the first one, kicking the severed remains off his axe blade, then let out a howl of pure rage and hatred.

Then, something choked his throat.

He thought of the burden he carried, and of the most critical person who had yet to appear; resisting the impulse toward self-destruction, he decapitated a second Necron in the cold silence.

He would have vengeance upon them, and "he" would have vengeance upon them as well.

As he charged into the swarm of xenos attacking him with blades and gauss beams, an endless hatred burned within his muscles, and he cut them down with brutal efficiency.

He even felt the urge to tear off his blood-splattered helmet and sink his teeth into the metal of these fallen monsters.

But his sense of duty maintained his focus, forcing him to commit himself fully, telling him to kill and endure until the end.

He used his body as a weapon; as they attempted to surround him, he slammed a pair of Necrons against a support beam, crushing them between ceramite and rock with the sound of snapping metal.

Amurad was nearly unstoppable, appearing like a blood-streaked wraith of vengeance amidst the swirling dust, every strike accompanied by death.

With crisp crunches, he split skulls and cleaved bodies; though his jaw remained painfully clenched, the roar of his battle axe grew louder.

At that moment, darkness surged from the dust, shoving the remaining Necrons aside.

The newcomer's eyes burned like ghosts in the gloom, exuding the scent of ancient grudge. Its armor was dark gold, etched with countless archaic symbols, with ornate plating covering its shoulders and a fan-shaped, dark green crystal cluster behind its head. The scepter in its hand crackled in the void.

It was the owner of this World Engine, the Dynasty Overlord of the Necrons.

The xenos leader charged him with strength and speed comparable to Amurad's, the scepter slicing through the air, aimed straight for the Space Marine's head.

"Come then! Xenos filth!"

Amurad roared, parrying the blow with his right-hand axe, their weapons trembling and locked together.

The Space Marine attempted to turn the deflection into a counter-slash to gut his opponent, but the Necron Overlord evaded the strike; Amurad's left-hand axe left only a shallow scar on the silver ornamentation of the enemy's breastplate.

"Too slow, primitive, inferior creature," the Necron Overlord mocked, its rasping voice emanating from a serrated vox-grille.

Amurad could not understand the xenos tongue, so he did not respond; instead, he mechanically swung his axe in heavy strikes toward the opponent's abdomen and neck.

But the previous impact had limited his combat effectiveness.

The Necron Overlord dodged the consecutive strikes, retreated once more, and then thrust its scepter forward.

Amurad tried to step back, but it was too late; he realized it had been baiting him.

His foot was suddenly snagged by something—a half-destroyed Necron warrior that had been hiding amidst the bloody wreckage on the ground.

The Necron Overlord only needed the opponent to lose his balance slightly.

It struck again, fast as lightning, the energy-surging scepter punching through Amurad's power armor.

The head of the scepter bit deep, sawing through Amurad's left breastplate amidst a spray of sparks and a massive eruption of blood from the violent impact.

The Chapter Master of the Star Knights grunted and quickly recoiled from the blow, but before he could take two steps back, the Necron Overlord lashed out with a kick, forcing him to his knees.

His armor, compromised by the previous strike, refused to respond in time. The Necron Overlord then withdrew its scepter, preparing to execute the culprit who had nearly destroyed its precious World Engine.

"Damn it!"

With a roar, something grazed Amurad's head and pierced the rune-plate decorating the Necron Overlord's chest. As the bolt shell exploded within the Necron's torso, a large amount of liquid metal surged from the wound.

It staggered for a moment, the scepter in its hand still gathering energy.

Driven by an intense sense of crisis, the Necron Overlord turned to face the new threat, its bloodied energy scepter spitting blinding sparks.

In the next second, a roaring chainsword met the weapon, the energy repelling the spinning teeth.

The Necron Overlord converted a half-slash into a short-range thrust to crush the enemy's side breastplate; as it desired, it preferred attacking over defending.

Just as his chainsword was about to swing forward, Soshian made a similar reaction, and the two killers immediately locked together in a lethal embrace.

At that moment, Soshian realized his helmet was only centimeters away from the opponent's head; the enemy's black lenses looked eerie and non-reflective from the outside, while the Necron Overlord's hateful gaze met his from the opposite side.

Then, Soshian delivered a heavy headbutt.

The Necron Overlord staggered back, its head buzzing; this sudden blow bought Amurad a momentary opening, which was enough for him to sweep his battle axe across the Necron Overlord's breastplate.

In the instant the blade bit in, the Death Lord let out a cold roar; Amurad had nearly cleaved through the armor on its chest.

Almost instantaneously, the Necron Overlord reacted exactly as every challenger it had ever faced had done.

It abandoned all defense, thrusting its left hand out to grab Amurad's wrist and forcing the battle axe to his right, while simultaneously driving its scepter beneath the Space Marine's torso.

As Amurad tried to parry, he felt his arm twitch under the opponent's grip; the Necron Overlord had used some force to destroy the servo-motors of his power armor.

"Ugh—"

The scepter let out a grinding screech as it pierced Amurad's abdomen, the runes etched into its shaft glowing with a black light.

Amurad doubled over; his spine had been pierced.

"Bastard!"

Throughout this process, Soshian had been striking the Necron Overlord's head with his metal gauntlet, and his chainsword had buried itself in the enemy's body several times; however, the opponent seemed determined to trade one life for another.

Finally, with a heavy blow, Soshian knocked the Necron Overlord aside just as it twisted and released its scepter.

The ruler of the ancient dynasty knelt on the ground, making strange noises that sounded like laughter.

Gritting his teeth, Soshian swung a furious horizontal strike, sending the creature's head tumbling in an arc amidst a spray of liquid metal.