Baal Secundus, High Orbit.
The Supreme Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha moved with terrifying speed.
In mere moments, he led a force of eight times his number in frenzied daemons, tearing through the Tyranid aerial swarms and charging straight into space.
The hideous and malicious aura he exuded was swiftly sensed by the main tentacle fleet's synaptic consciousness.
These living bio-ships understood at once—their loathsome, biomass-less, daemonic foes had locked onto them.
The main tentacle fleet immediately shifted formation, attempting to repel the oncoming daemonic onslaught.
Tens of thousands of bio-ships surged toward Ka'Bandha.
Their forms varied wildly—some resembling oozing slugs, others akin to void whales, and many more like grotesquely enlarged marine organisms.
A myriad of lifeforms arranged in endless combinations gathered here, merging, mutating, and submitting to the Hive Mind.
Zzzrrt—
Bio-plasma cannons lit up the void, yet failed to harm the daemonic bodies. Hundreds of meters long, barbed tentacles lashed out, only to be severed by the Bloodthirster's axe. Eel-like bio-torpedoes failed even to keep pace with the flame-wreathed, crimson daemons.
Upon reaching orbit and nearing the Warp rift, Ka'Bandha's monstrous form and presence swelled even more. The runes of slaughter carved into his flesh pulsed as though bleeding.
BOOM—
A titanic chitinous blade from a bio-ship slammed into his armored bulk, yet failed to even dent it—shattering under its own momentum.
"The Blood God's Will—Unstoppable!"
Ka'Bandha roared louder, piercing the bio-ship's eye cluster and tearing through it from within, turning its innards and Tyranid crew into paste.
By the time he tore free from the far side, the Tyranid void-behemoth was rolling belly-up in space, twitching helplessly—utterly destroyed.
The Supreme Bloodthirster rampaged among the bio-fleet like a crimson spear, slashing and burning through all in his path. His wrath was uncontrollable, a relentless blaze of fury.
His vast form became a red beacon in the swarm, dealing unending death and agony to the Tyranid forces.
Thunderous roars and monstrous shadows enveloped Baal Secundus's orbit.
...
Blackstone Lounge.
Eden watched the projected recording with a sharp intake of breath.
"When the hell did Ka'Bandha get this powerful?"
The last time he faced this Bloodthirster, over twenty years ago, the beast was merely a "slightly stronger" Supreme Bloodthirster.
At that time, he wasn't even on par with the daemon demi-god Be'lakor.
Now? Ka'Bandha had clearly surpassed Be'lakor's strength and become a monster in his own right.
Eden had a sinking feeling. Even if Roboute Guilliman himself showed up, Ka'Bandha might still beat him down—unless the Primarch was blessed by the Emperor or outright possessed by Him.
And Eden, being a newly risen Primarch, would fare even worse—maybe ten minutes of survival before he got flattened.
Unless he tapped into the violent energy sealed within the Little Sun and gave himself a dark blessing… only then could he even stand a chance.
"Is Ka'Bandha secretly Khorne's bastard son or something? Getting extra gifts on the side?"
Eden frowned.
He knew Ka'Bandha had been blessed by Khorne twice, but this level of power was still beyond reason.
Maybe he was just naturally gifted.
Or perhaps their history of mutual public praise—commercial hype—had unintentionally created a reinforcing loop of belief and emotional energy that empowered them both.
Had his boastful nonsense actually made Ka'Bandha into the Chaos Galaxy's number one Bloodthirster?
He wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing.
Maybe he should tone down the exaggerations going forward.
It was frustrating to see the guy actually getting stronger.
Still, Eden was growing too. He wasn't going to be left behind.
Once, Ka'Bandha had piggybacked on Eden's reputation.
But now? Eden might need to ride the daemon's coattails for once.
Roles reversed. Tables turned.
Despite some concern, Eden didn't truly worry.
After all, Ka'Bandha was the Warp's #1 Eden fanboy. Better he grow stronger than some other daemon.
The more formidable Ka'Bandha became, the more valuable Eden's own status as the Devourer would seem.
Mutual success.
Plus, he still had his "super-nuke"—the Super Ivan. If Ka'Bandha ever got too bold, Eden could still teach him a lesson.
Perhaps they could even deepen their cooperation. Secretly coordinate and harvest daemonic faith and emotion together.
Still, no need to rush. If Ka'Bandha's goals weren't clear, a sudden approach might backfire.
Eden turned back to the footage.
And saw that Ka'Bandha was even more fearsome than he'd thought.
The Bloodthirster had already slain the core command bio-ship of the Leviathan's main tentacle fleet, collapsing the entire formation.
And he wasn't stopping—he was charging straight at Leviathan's main body!
Eden's jaw dropped.
If Ka'Bandha could take down Leviathan itself, this whole war would be over. Time to pop the champagne.
...
Baal Secundus Orbit.
The command center of the main tentacle fleet had been torn open—a twenty-kilometer-wide gap floated in the void, filled with severed tentacles, ruptured organs, shattered horns, and massive chunks of flesh.
Blood-red daemonic flames flickered atop the drifting meat.
Most of the bio-ships had been torn apart. Their Tyranid controllers slain.
SSSKRRR—
At the heart of the carnage, the Hive Mothership screamed in agony. Two colossal mandibles opened like scissors, howling with pain.
Clusters of purplish-red eyes beneath the jaws locked onto the enemy before it, launching tendrils toward him.
But it was all too late.
The tendrils were ripped away, only causing more suffering.
"Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!"
With a furious roar, the Bloodthirster brought down his supernatural axe, crushing the mothership's skull.
Blood burst forth in torrents.
In an instant, the command collapsed.
The bio-ships lost control, scattering in panicked instinct, fleeing the nightmarish daemon.
Ka'Bandha ignored the stragglers.
His attention locked onto a far more powerful soul.
Compared to the barren minds of the Tyranids, this ancient soul was… delectable.
A proper offering to the Blood God would surely earn him even greater gifts!
Without hesitation, he took flight toward it.
The Hive Mind reacted quickly, sending swarms of bio-ships to intercept.
But they couldn't stop him. His momentum was too overwhelming.
Wherever he flew, bio-ships turned belly-up, dying under his blows.
His sheer presence tore through their formation like paper.
More and more slaughter energies gathered.
His body swelled further—now tens of meters tall.
His infernal flames reached so far that even distant Baal felt the heat.
Every lifeform in the star system instinctively turned to look up.
None could ignore the crimson phantom raging in orbit.
Luckily, he was still distant enough.
If he'd been closer, the Khorne-tainted Warp energy alone would've shattered minds and dragged souls into madness.
"Blood God…"
As Ka'Bandha approached Leviathan's true body, even he was stunned.
He stared up at the mountain-like chitin and muttered in awe, "The galaxy really has bugs this huge?"
And that was just a limb.
Leviathan stretched thirty kilometers long, nearly five kilometers wide. Over a dozen massive rending limbs jutted from its front, capable of snapping cruisers in half.
Its gaping maw could swallow starships whole. Tentacles writhed endlessly.
On either flank, numerous fin-like chitin plates propelled it forward via unknown forces.
It was drawing closer.
Leviathan stood at the pinnacle of the galaxy's food chain. A true world-eater.
Even in the Warp, Ka'Bandha might best it.
But in realspace?
The rules of physics gave its massive form overwhelming strength and resilience.
Its enormous compound eyes, tens of meters across, fixed on the daemon like a human eyeing a buzzing fly.
But Leviathan didn't underestimate him.
It sensed the burning fury inside this enemy.
It knew—it could be burned.
The titan and the daemon stared each other down in the void.
An ancient Hive Mind will clashed head-on with a soul forged for slaughter. Psyker might and Chaos sorcery gnawed at one another, refusing to yield.
Neither side had any intention of backing down.
Their colliding presence roiled the void, causing even the surrounding Tyranid bio-ships to lose control. Some began attacking nearby lifeforms indiscriminately, driven mad by the psychic storm.
This tension reached even distant observers.
In the Blackstone Lounge, Eden held his breath.
Through the kilometers-long magnifying scope installed in the Angelic Citadel, he was watching it all in real-time.
This was the battle that could decide the entire war.
"Brother Ka'Bandha, you're seriously the GOAT… charging in like that…" he muttered with genuine awe.
For once, Eden didn't call him "Ka'bro" or any teasing nickname. This time, he truly meant it—he called him brother.
Because his brother was really going in.
Across the galaxy, who else but Ka'Bandha would dare solo charge the main body of Leviathan?
Maybe all his previous intel was wrong.
That guy had never been a coward. At least not in moments like this.
Huff... huff...
The Bloodthirster's chest heaved. Volcanic smoke spewed from his jaws, making him appear even more savage and apocalyptic.
"Blood God... perhaps... a tactical retreat…?"
Deep down, Ka'Bandha regretted it a little. Challenging this monstrosity solo might've been rash.
Maybe he should've waited for reinforcements—an army of daemons to back him up.
But the situation left no room for retreat.
He was the favored of Khorne, the Supreme Bloodthirster, the archnemesis of the Devourer—how could he turn his back now?
Especially not in front of this reeking bug. He refused to run.
Under countless watching eyes—
"Blood for the Blood God!"
Ka'Bandha's fury ignited. He let out an earth-shattering roar and charged Leviathan.
Wreathed in daemonic fire, axe raised high, he launched himself at the colossal void-beast with unstoppable force.
From a distance…
He looked like a flaming, screaming little fly throwing itself at a mountain-sized foe.
"Let's go, Ka'bro! Wreck it! For the Devourer!"
The scene was so epic that Eden was just about ready to cry tears of joy. It was more hype than if the national football team made the World Cup.
The odds weren't great—but if Ka'Bandha won?
What a jackpot.
Zzzraaak—
Bio-plasma blasts, acidic sprays, and barbed tentacles turned the void into a death zone—trying to intercept the incoming daemon.
But none could stop him.
He slashed through the lethal barrage like a blood-red lightning bolt, closing in on Leviathan.
At such close range, the swarm's ranged weapons were useless.
Leviathan raised a massive limb to swat the Bloodthirster away—but missed. The enemy grew larger in its vision.
In reality—
Ka'Bandha wasn't growing. He was simply flying straight into its eye.
Squelch—!
"Stinking bug!"
The Bloodthirster's axe cleaved into the unarmored, soft tissue of Leviathan's eye, slicing through with ease and sinking deep.
Foul, corrosive pus gushed forth, splashing over him—only to be vaporized instantly by his hellfire.
SSKRRR—
Leviathan shrieked in agony, its soul burning under the psychic assault. Ka'Bandha's blow had done more than physical damage—it scarred its spirit, laced with soul-searing warp flame.
The daemon tried to burrow deeper through the eye into the beast's head.
But parasitic worm-like organisms emerged and entangled him.
Next second—
Barbed tentacles lashed out from Leviathan's maw, snagged him, and flung him away.
Ka'Bandha caught himself mid-air, then dove back toward the eye.
This time, however, he failed.
Leviathan had armored its vulnerable spot with hardened chitin.
Still, Ka'Bandha wouldn't give up.
He changed targets—aiming for the softer underbelly instead.
Each swing of his axe carved deep, molten gashes into the Tyranid titan, releasing geysers of blood and bile.
The injuries burned with daemonic flame, scorching its hide from the inside out.
Ka'Bandha landed on a weak point and hacked away furiously—until the flesh around him ruptured and a swarm of creatures spilled forth.
Lictors.
Stealthy Tyranid assassins crept toward him, blades gleaming under dim bio-luminescence, each movement precise and deadly.
They attacked.
But their blades couldn't pierce the Bloodthirster.
Instead, the Lictors were reduced to shredded meat.
Their failed ambush exposed a critical weakness in Leviathan's outer layers.
"You think you're the Devourer, bug?!"
Ka'Bandha roared, smashing through the breach into the beast's innards.
"You can't stop Ka'Bandha the Great!"
At its core, Leviathan was a gargantuan bio-ship.
Inside: a labyrinth of gene-vat chambers, digestive pools, biomass stomachs, and living energy storage sacs.
Web-like flesh-tunnels connected it all, veins of meat and bone.
Thousands of worker drones, Tyrant Guards, Genestealers, and Lictors populated the interior.
As Ka'Bandha entered, Leviathan's nervous system sparked to life, transmitting a surge of alerts across its organic network.
Instantly—
The entire ecosystem erupted.
Tyranid swarms flooded the tunnels, converging on the intruder.
Ka'Bandha wasn't intimidated. He carved them down, a relentless machine of blood and fire.
Kill after kill—his body barely grew tired.
But the spiritual cost was steep. His essence was being drained.
A pure loss.
Still, he didn't care.
Because he could now feel it—
That ancient, massive soul.
If he sacrificed that, he would recover all he'd spent—and more.
He was certain.
The Blood God wanted that soul.
And Ka'Bandha would be rewarded.
Fueled by belief, he stabilized his form and charged toward the soul's chamber.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—
He tore through vat-chambers, ignited storage stomachs, causing massive explosions within the beast.
Leviathan screamed. Every Tyranid in the system felt it.
Zzzrraaak—!
"Delicious soul… found you…"
Ka'Bandha ripped through a fleshy wall and entered a vast, fleshy chamber—grinning savagely.
Before him—
A decrepit-looking, oversized bug. Shrunken. Frail. Ancient.
Suspended in a neural sac, thousands of nerve cords connecting it to the beast.
It stared at him with deep black eyes—calm, wise, ancient.
This was it.
The Hive Mind of Leviathan.
To the untrained eye, it seemed pitiful. Weak.
But it was Leviathan—the intellect behind the swarm, the devourer of worlds, the Tyranid hive-node itself.
It had bred and commanded everything in the swarm.
Now, it faced the seething, smoke-wreathed Bloodthirster without fear.
Because it had prepared a trap.
SSKRRR—
The Hive Mind hissed—infused with rage.
Two massive Hive Tyrant warlords stepped from either side, their limbs bristling with boneblades sharp enough to slice through any armor.
Then—
Several jellyfish-like psyker organisms floated in.
WHRRMMM—
In an instant—
Terrifying psychic pressure crashed down on Ka'Bandha, causing his armor to creak and groan.
The Hive Tyrants struck, landing deep gashes in his body. Boiling crimson blood splashed down, sizzling holes in the chamber floor.
"Bugs… Ka'Bandha will NEVER submit!"
Wounded, the Supreme Bloodthirster became even more frenzied. With a roar of fury, Ka'Bandha broke free from the psychic restraints and lunged once more at the Hive Mind of Leviathan.
But just as he moved—
An even greater surge of psychic force slammed into him, halting his advance.
The old creature's pure black eyes rippled with unease—clearly shaken by the daemon's might, tinged with hatred.
It bore a grudge.
After all, it had personally led the Hive Fleet to wipe out the Blood Angels' fleet—no doubt part of its vendetta.
Now it changed tactics.
The Hive Mind gave a new order.
It had to push this threat away—only at a safe distance could the swarm's advantages crush him.
The two Hive Tyrant warlords lunged forward, stabbing their boneblades into Ka'Bandha's flesh and shoving him toward a nearby digestion pool.
SPLASH—
All three powerful beings plunged into the corrosive vat. A foul, bubbling stench filled the air.
ROAR—
Ka'Bandha thrashed, trying to climb out—but a suction force below pulled him down.
The fluid rapidly drained, dragging the daemon into a waste tunnel—his form vanished from the core chamber.
Inside Leviathan.
The worker drones resumed their labor, repairing the damage from the invasion.
While the structural damage could be mended, the biomass consumed in the defense was irreplaceable.
The loss was massive.
The daemon had inflicted grievous wounds.
Now, Leviathan grew ever more ravenous.
"Damn it—blub blub—"
Ka'Bandha struggled inside a high-speed fluid transport conduit, unable to brace or resist the current.
After a while, the pressure suddenly vanished, and light returned.
He realized he was back in space.
Leviathan had flushed him out via an excretion vent.
ROAR—
Fury reignited, Ka'Bandha beat his wings and steadied himself, preparing to charge back.
He still had time to conquer that cursed bug!
But just as he turned—
He felt an overwhelming power gathering ahead.
Massive biological cannons and a kilometer-wide plasma beam began forming in the void.
"No—"
Before he could react, the bio-cannon fired.
The energy wave engulfed him, striking him dead-on.
A thunderous force followed.
The plasma beam ravaged everything in its path, friend and foe alike, leaving behind a mile-wide scorched trail.
Ka'Bandha was pinned by the blast, his body charred and scorched—bone exposed through his ruined flesh.
Then—
His eyes widened.
Below him was the planetary surface—and the familiar eight-pointed star.
It rushed toward him.
Before he could process it—
BOOM—
The plasma beam slammed into the ground, creating a massive crater and explosion.
The impact collapsed much of the Khorne-dedicated skull mound shaped into the Chaos symbol.
Silence followed.
Then a voice:
"That guy's gotta be dead, right?"
Eden swallowed the last of his ice-cold soda and muttered.
Ordinarily, such a devastating physical attack would annihilate a daemon's body in realspace and banish it back to the Warp.
Of course—
Psychic methods or more esoteric means worked better.
Daemons had absurd physical resilience. Some, like Magnus the Red, could even transform into incorporeal mist to evade harm.
Unless one had Sisters of Silence, Librarians, or the Emperor's power, banishing such beings was nearly impossible.
Especially if they chose to flee.
But most didn't.
They fought to the bitter end.
Ka'Bandha wasn't a sorcerer by any means.
But then—
"What the—?!"
Eden's scalp tingled.
He could still sense Ka'Bandha's presence—and the live projection confirmed it.
...
Baal Secundus.
Ka'Bandha crawled from the crater, armor shattered and falling away, revealing scorched, muscled flesh.
The runes of slaughter across his body had dimmed.
But Khorne's blessing had saved him.
He shook his head, dazed.
The mighty Bloodthirster slumped to the ground, staring ahead at the ongoing daemon swarm still battling Tyranids.
He could feel it.
His daemon army had lost over two-thirds of its forces.
Many were borrowed from other Bloodthirsters.
His losses were catastrophic.
But Leviathan had suffered worse.
Its fleets decimated. Its ground forces on Baal Secundus—nearly wiped out.
Those were the main bulk of its planetary assault troops.
Thud. Thud. Thud—
The ground trembled.
A bloated, shifty daemon—Bary—came trotting up, worry on his face:
"Master, are you alright?"
Ka'Bandha didn't respond with his usual gruffness.
The brutal impact had extinguished his rage—he was thinking. Really thinking.
The Bloodthirster tried to piece it all together.
What had really happened?
After a long pause, his face darkened.
"By the Blood God… we've walked into a trap."
Silence followed.
Then he continued coldly:
"We were used. Someone set this up—manipulated us into fighting these damned bugs and bleeding ourselves dry…"
Whoever dared to set a trap for the Chosen of Khorne—Supreme Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha—would pay.
His eyes locked on Bary:
"That means someone knew our assault plans. Someone leaked them from the inside!"
(End of Chapter)
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