Sylus tore the boarding shield from his one of his brother's arms and unloaded a boltgun into the traitor's gorget. It had been 15 minutes since Sylus declared mutiny against his Chapter Master. The bastard drove them off course from Gondorf's Passage and headed straight to the Iron Warrior controlled planet Fahren. When Sylus attempted to contact his Lord about the sudden change of plan, he was met with untold hostility and the Chapter Master deemed him a traitor without so much as a reason. It had only taken fifteen minutes to muster the full force of the First Company in an attempt to overtake the Warpath Furnace and the Crucible.

Sylus raised his shield and waded through the heavy lasfire that filled the hallways. Only the First Company waged war for Sylus; the Auxilia was under the direct command of the Chapter Master. Two Vanguard Veterans leapt over the shield wall of Sylus' Astartes, wrist-blades streaking long trails of white lightning. They carved into the Auxilia force with the might of a rampaging grox. Seeing the enemy beginning to falter, Sylus ordered his Astartes to charge. The High Court, or the bridge as others would call it, was just down the hall and guarded by hundreds of Auxilia. Fortunately, someone panicked at the right moment and the long hallway they would have fought through was vented of the atmosphere. Their opposition crumbled like brittle twigs and Sylus made it to the blast door leading into the High Court. It should only take them a minute to melt the door to slag.

* * *

Ryus looked out his ocuport into the void. He felt his Flagship, the Warpath Furnace, fire its broadsides into its escort ships. Both ships were nearly destroyed in a single volley. He chuckled to himself and turned his throne. Kneeling before him were 6 of his 9 Judges, his Jury and his mighty Executioner. None of his most trusted betrayed him, well, almost none of them. Sylus, Greijer and Dezmon stood in defiance of his great schemes. Everything was as planned in Ryus' mind. He reveled over his perfect plan until a familiar noise brought him back. The great door of his Observatory ground open and Ryus' three rebellious Judges approached from the darkness. The Jury and the Traitor Judges stood and faced them. Each one ignited their crozius or power glaive. The Executioner flexed his power fists. Three Judges stood against 15 of their Honour guard, 7 of their closest brothers and their liege.

* * *

Sylus placed his finger on the trigger of his boltgun. To his left, High Judge Greijer ignited his power scythe and on his right, Judge Dezmon charged his plasma gun. In a hair of a second, this room would become a blood bath, but only the God-Emperor would determine if his servants would be victorious. Sylus noticed each Juror shift his weight subtly so they could be ready to charge should their Chapter Master will it. Each one was pleased when the order was given. Between the time it took each Juror to register the order, Sylus had already put a bolt into the forehead of three of them and by the time they charged, three more fell. Sylus discarded his empty bolter and slammed his arm into the power fist mag-locked to his leg. When the first Juror reached him, Sylus put one of his power fists through the Traitor's knee and the second followed and turned the Juror's chest into red mist. He spun and ducked to dodge a power glaive meant for his head. He dodged another glaive and smashed the wielder's head into paste. A head butt sent another reeling and Sylus followed up by uppercutting the poor bastard and reducing his upper body to nothing. Sylus butchered three more Jurors before he heard Ryus challenge him from his throne. Sylus turned to face his Brother-Traitor. Ryus' eyes burned with the light of a dying sun as he descended his throne. Sylus was sure that the Chapter Master did not even lay a foot on the ground.

"Even as your forces crumble around you, Sylus, you still persist. Why?" Ryus' voiced boomed throughout the room. Sylus never saw his Chapter Master's mouth move.

"The First Company shall never fall, Ryus. Justice will prevail here and now. Come to me and I will end your tyranny," Sylus taunted in return, his words like daggers.

Ryus lifted his maul, the Bane of Rukt, high over his head and leapt at Sylus. Sylus threw up his power fists to ward off the attack, but an inhuman force possessed the Chapter Master and the maul smashed clean through his bionic arm. Sylus recoiled and fell to one knee. Ryus floated over to Sylus and grabbed him with telekinesis. He held the Judge to his eye level. The emotionless stare of the Chapter Master brought great despair to Sylus and he mouthed the Litanies of Hate. The Chapter Master cast Sylus down and smashed his maul down again, this time taking Sylus other arm. He threw Sylus with his psychic might across the room and into one of the pillars holding the high ceiling. Sylus ground his teeth and muttered a lofty prayer of deliverance. Ryus slowly approached him through the carnage.

Suddenly, a bright light filled the observatory. Five Astartes stood between the broken Judge and Ryus. Each of the defiant Astartes was wreathed in ethereal flames and their demeanor was permeated with death. They raised their bolters and fired upon the Traitor Chapter Master. Ryus threw up a hand to guard his face from the wall of bolter fire and strode closer to the the group. When he reached the Astartes, he was met with a force so unmoving an Iron Warrior would have died of envy. The Astartes held him at bay for what seemed like hours, but the Chapter Master's power was too great for even them. He threw them aside and they turned to clouds of ember and ash. Ryus raised his maul to finish off Sylus once and for all, but he never had a chance to bring it down. Ryus fixed his eyes on the long claw-like blades protruding from his chest. Blood trickled from beneath them and began pooling on the floor. Then the realization came. He coughed up blood and dropped the Bane of Rukt. Ryus fell face first to the side of Sylus and died. Sylus could only make out the silhouette of an angelic being before his body went into a coma.

* * *

Greijer sat in the Command throne aboard the Warpath Furnace. The Veterans of the First Company over took the bride and plotted a course for Kattifrakk. With a great amount of luck, the Hassassins were able to wipe the location of their homeworld from the logs on the ships that sided with Ryus. It could only prevent a counter offensive that would spell inevitable doom for the Chapter of the New Order. With their path secure and the trail behind them empty, the Warpath Furnace and the Warpath Crucible shot off into the void.