She stepped down into the arena proper and looked around. The House Sacristans had done a masterful job of setting up the impomptou arena, and there was plenty of seating around for all of the Imperial representatives to sit down and enjoy the proceedings if they chose to show up. The fighting area was about 15 feet in diameter from one edge to another. This battle would be fought in the ancient tradition of Gaia, with nothing more than cold steel and courage to help a contestant prevail. Then she noticed something unusual amid the crowd of Sacristans. A figure armored in gold armor seemed to flow out from the crowd and begin making her way towards Moira. The first thing she noticed about this figure was the impressive set of wings that seemed to spring out from her armor, and Moira was not sure whether or not they were natural, or if they had been installed onto her armor. The next thing she noticed was that the figure had on a golden mask, which had been carved in the likeness of a beautiful woman. As the figure approached Moira felt a change in the air, almost as if the universe was doing its’ level best to point out that she was different. As the figure drew ever closer Moira noticed that it was actually a woman, and that her legs ended in golden, avian-like cybernetic legs, and that on the ends of her arms she had a set of golden, avian-like claws. The overall picture it rendered was that of a bird of pretty, ever ready to swoop down and attack, and at some primal level this woman unsettled Moira, but she could not pin down exactly why. Finally, the woman stopped a few feet in front of Moira, and removed her mask. Her dark skin was covered in golden tattoos that seemed to spiral up her high cheekbones and then curve up around her eyes. Finally, after giving Moira a second to adjust to her presence she finally spoke “High Queen Moira? I am the Angel, I speak for the Arbiters of Truth.” Moira paused. There had been some whispers amongst the armsmen about the Arbiters, and their so called “Angel”, but Moira had thought them just rumors spread by idle men, but here was proof in the flesh. Recovering swiftly Moira replied “I greet you Angel, and House Valorn welcomes you. I am looking forward to fighting alongside you in this Crusade.” In an instant the Angels’ facial expression changed. She went from being mysterious and aloof, to being excited and happy. It suited her, but Moira still could not shake off the vague sense that there was something odd about this girl. The Angel replied “I thank you for your kind winds High Queen, and I shall take your words back to the High Judge, I feel that I will also enjoy fighting alongside you and your siblings in this Crusade.” At her last words Moira felt shock course through her as she realized that this person knew that the other Knights with her were her siblings. Other than Wolf Lord Ulfric and his men, nobody else in this Crusade had seen any of her siblings in the flesh, they were all currently on patrol in their suits, ensuring that the surrounding area was clear of threats before the duel began. The two continued talking for a few minutes more before the Angel excused herself and began to walk away. As she did Moira noticed a small mechanical bird appear seemingly out of nowhere and land on her shoulder. Just as quickly as the bird appeared, it and the Angel disappeared seamlessly into the crowd and Moira stood there dumbfounded, wondering if she had truly seen either of them.

"Titans!?" the Governor spat. His raspy voice was as sharp as an assassins blade and laced with enough hatred to make a Black Templar weep in joy. "You said they were Astartes, Lord General!"

The Lord-General wiped his brow nervously with a handkerchief and read off of his dataslate. His voice sounded dry even through the vox unit he had in place of a mouth. "Reports are coming in that the Adeptus Mechanicum have sent their Skitarii and a Titan Legio with the Astartes. Our efforts will be fut-"

"Futile? FUTILE?" the Governor hissed, drawing his side arm and putting a las bolt through the Lord General's skull. The Lord General slumped back in his chair. The Governor looked around the room at his advisors, whom were flabbergasted at what they just saw. The Governor wildly aimed his pistol around the room, "Anyone else have a stupid observation?!"

The room fell dead silent and the advisors ran back to their stations, eager to not end with a hole in their head. The Governor grabbed his glass of wine and drank deeply. His reign would end on this planet. He got out of his chair and shoved past his advisors. He needed help. Help that would not come from any man. The Governor exited the room with an agitated slam of a door and made his way to the librarium wing of his Palace. The halls were empty apart from the thick layers of dust and debris covering the floor. The Astartes were at their door. He needed more time. The Governor threw the door to the librarium open and made his way to the most forbidden section. He only needed to find his salvation... or his doom would find him. He began scanning through the flesh bound tomes. He read things no man should ever read and saw images that no eye should see. He found a skull inscribed in blood with a name no mortal should ever bear.

"Krykk'ryk'yyk..." the Governor whispered. He looked around and behind him.

What did that mean? Is it a name? A spell? He pondered. He rubbed his forehead. He closed the book and a sudden pain engulfed him. He felt his throat swell up and he vomited instantly. His bile was darker than any blood, no, it was blood. His blood. It felt like fire. It was fire... He was on fire. He cried out in pure agony and fell back into a bookshelf. He clawed at his grey hairs until they clawed out and his scalp bled. His skin blistered and welted under the incorporeal fire. From his back grew two great, bloody wings. His hands become long claws harder than adamantium. His feet morphed into hooves. He looked into a shard of glass that originated from a stained glass window in front of him. Through his agony, he remembered that that window had been whole a moment earlier. He looked up further and saw a golden being wrapped in light, perched where the window should have been. The being had two great wings of gold and legs like a mighty eagle. The beings arms ended talons that gleamed hot-white. The face of the being was angelic, its skin was bronze and its hair was as dark as the void. He realized, while looking at the being's face, that it was talking to him.

"You have forsaken the Imperium, Heretic. You have given yourself over to the Dark God, Khorne. Your punishment is death. I am the Executioner," the being spoke. Its voice, no... her voice, was in perfect harmony. It was more beautiful than any choir.

"No... I am the Executioner... I shall take your skull..." something said. It took the Governor a moment to notice that he had said it or something inside him had said it. His agony dulled when the voice spoke, and when it stopped, his agony was greater than before. He begged the voice to continue. It did with pleasure.

* * *

The Angel could not comprehend the words that were proceeding from the hellspawn's mouth, but she knew it needed to end. Around her, the world was distorting and twisting into a macabre parody of itself. The rain that poured down on her turned to blood, the stones turned to skulls and the thunder was a voice that rang like a curse in her ears. The hellspawn leapt at her, claws outstretched. She leapt back into the blood rain and onto the roof of the Palace. The hellspawn was eager to follow and climbed its way up the wall, its wings not yet complete. Its eyes locked onto her and she could feel the malice, feel the anger in them. The hellspawn circled her like a wolf circles its prey. It bore its teeth, sharper than needles. It scraped its claws against the stone roof and drew sparks. The Angel sang to her Emperor, and shut out the Chaos. Not a drop of blood rain fell on her. She saw none of the skulls. She did not hear the thunder's curses. The hellspawn heard the song and grew even more angered. It would skin her and devour her flesh, but she was singing, and was calm. The hellspawn leapt at her, but when it would have connected its claws with the beauty of her face, it grasped nothing. It hit the stone hard and roared in anger. It barely noticed one of its wings were gone.

The loss of the wing only drove the hellspawn on and it jumped again at the Angel. This time, its leg was gone. It scrambled to get up like a cornered animal as the Angel advanced towards it. It looked up in time for the Angel to grab its face with her taloned foot. The Angel flapped once with its golden wings and the hellspawn felt itself leave the ground. If it could have turned its head, it would have seen that the Ange had carried it off the roof and it was descending rapidly back into the librarium. The Angel smashed the hellspawn into the tiled floor of the librarium head first. She was surprised when its head wasn't pulped. It barely felt the pain. It grabbed her leg with one claw, but the Angel tore the arm from its socket. Growing ever so tired of the charade, the Angel let go of the hellspawn's head and smashed her foot through the hellspawn's ribcage. The creature wheezed hard and spat some curse at her. She continued her song and grabbed the hellspawn's head with her clawed hand. It only took a moment for the creature to notice its head was separated from its body.

"I am the Angel, bane of the Traitor's," the Angel sang, half-mocking, half-telling the severed skull. With those words, all distortions faded and everything returned to as it had been. The Angel now held the skull of the Governor.

Sera Valorn was bored. She and her brother Cassius had been patrolling around the perimeter that had been set up around the arena for hours now. Beyond a small Ork party that had been easily crushed there had been no sign of enemy activity for hours. She sighed, this could have been done fairly easily by their armsmen, but Moira had insisted that it should be done by the Scions in their Knight Suits. A show of force, and a display that told the others that House Valorn may have suffered grievously, but that they were still a force to be reckoned with. Now, Sera had little patience for most political matters, but she had to admit that her sister’s logic in this case made some sense. House Cyrene in particular had been calling for years now for the dissolution of their House, for their strength had been sorely depleted. At that thought Sera’s lip curled a bit, no doubt Cyrene wanted them gone so their lands could be taken with ease. She was jolted out of her thoughts by a flash of emerald light on a hill overlooking the arena. What appeared out of that flash of light was a bewildering sight. A metallic figure strolled out of the light with what looked like a folding lawn chair under it’s arm. It set the chair up on the hill, complete with a little umbrella, and sat down to watch the duel. Sera activated the zoom function on her optics and when she saw who the trespasser was her blood began to boil. It was a Necron Overlord, who was garbed quite strangely. He had the ornate armor that was typical to his type, but overlaid on top of it was a strange looking shirt, with palm trees and flowers on it. As if that wasn’t baffling enough, the Necron seemed to be sipping a drink while he was watching the proceedings. And somehow, he hadn’t noticed the giant metal figure staring at him. Extremely confused, but not one to waste an opportunity, Sera charged at the figure with weapons at the ready. Just as she got close, she suddenly had an idea, and brought her suit’s right leg back and aimed at the Necron…..

The duel was set to begin, and both combatants were at their starting positions with their weapons in the ready position, when they heard a faint screaming over the wind. Just as they and the audience began to look for the source of the disturbance, they saw the remnants of a metallic figure slam into the cliff face overlooking the arena. Just as he impacted, and stuck into the wall, they all heard a triumphant cry on the vox

GOAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

Before anyone asks, the shirt on Gruhlak was Kharne's idea. He wanted him to have a Hawaiian shirt on, and I went with it for the lol's.