Editing Cadia (section)

==The Fall of Cadia==
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{{Topquote|You are standing in the eye of the storm. Move an inch, and you'll be dead! You are standing underneath the towers of the teeth, [[Eye of Terror| And the eye blazes red!]] |The Towers of the Teeth}}
===Business As Usual===
When Abaddon finally launched his [[13th Black Crusade]], Cadia stood ready. Millions perished in the initial attack, but there were still enough Imperial forces to first blunt, then repulse the Chaos incursion. In its wake however was a system on the edge of collapse, its surviving defenders too weary to even try to celebrate. What was worse, Cadia was effectively isolated, with most of its Astropathic choirs either dead or driven insane.

Ursarkar Creed, now Lord Castellan, was worried. Throughout the fighting on-world, there was not even a single report of Abaddon being spotted. As a result he was sure that another assault was on the way, and what was worse it was likely that the Despoiler's own fleet would pass through the system. Unfortunately there was little left of the Imperial Navy present to put up more than a token defense, barring the [[Space Wolves]] battle barge ''Firemane's Fang'', and none of the ships there would be able to chase down Abaddon's ships once they made for deep space.

Preparing for the inevitable, Creed dug in, and set his forces to fortifying Kasr Kraf, which included Marshall Amalrich's [[Black Templars]]. Similar scenes repeated themselves throughout Cadia, with surviving Shock Troops and Astartes companies setting up defenses where they can. The Space Wolves set themselves up in Kasr Jark, while further north the [[Dark Angels]] 4th Company reinforced their own grounded Strike Cruiser ''Sword of Defiance''. In the days that followed the defenders drilled and trained, waiting for the inevitable to come.

===Eye of Terror 2: Electric Boogaloo===
And come it did, because Abaddon was not done with Cadia. Not by a long shot. His Black Fleet was inbound, an angry swarm of Traitor Legion warships, Daemon vessels, and space hulks, with the Blackstone Fortress ''Will of Eternity'' at its core. The remnants of Battlefleets Corona and Scarus, bloodied by the first wave of the Black Crusade, sought to stall the Black Fleet's advance, and paid for their defiance with their lives. Still the Chaos fleet swept on.

News that a Blackstone Fortress was incoming sent Creed's forces' already fevered preparations into a frenzy. Every Tech-adept that could be spared set about restoring Cadia's damaged null-array, which was damaged at the start of the Black Crusade. Even then it would not be enough, because time had finally run out for Cadia.

The Space Wolves however, disagreed. Sven Bloodhowl volunteered to lead his Great Company in boarding the ''Will of Eternity'', and do what they can to slow its advance. Along with them came two hundred other battle-brothers from the various Chapter forces devastated at the start of the Black Crusade, survivors of the 13th Cadian, and a full maniple of [[Skitarii]]. It was the last throw of the dice, but Creed had very few options left.

They failed. Abaddon's vanguard arrived on schedule a day later, soon followed by the Blackstone Fortress. Cheers erupted among the defenders however when its devastation beam dispersed harmlessly across the upper atmosphere. The null array worked! Eeeeeeeexcept it seems that the projection grid now featured xenos tech that wasn't there a day ago...

The cheers were a little short-lived however, as the skies of Cadia Secundus blacked with Traitor drop-ships. Round two had begun, and Abaddon had all the advantages.

The defenders put up a withering amount of fire, but it was not enough. Traitor Legionnaires made landfall, and daemonic reinforcements were summoned. Defense positions were soon overrun, and Creed made the decision to recall defenders back to the curtain walls of Kasr Kraf. The defenders made their fighting retreats, barring Marshall Amalrich's Black Templars, who stubbornly decided to stand their ground, and the Sisters of Battle that had made their defense at the Shrine of Saint Morrican.

Hours passed, then days. Orven Highfell's Ironwolves had counter-attacked the Iron Warriors force threatening Kasr Jark, while the Dark Angels defending the ''Sword of Defiance'' threw off three separate World Eater attacks. Slowly though the defenders were losing ground, and Creed once again ordered a withdrawal to the second curtain wall. The Novamarines 2nd Company sold their lives to stop Possessed from breaching one gate, but the West gate was lost, and with it so too was the 2nd curtain wall lost. Redoubt after redoubt fell, overwhelmed, with even the Dark Angels forced to abandon their grounded strike cruiser and join up with the surviving Space Wolves in their own withdrawal.

Kasr Kraf could not hold forever. An assault by the traitor Legio Vulcanum nearly made its defenses buckle, but the final straw was the assault of the Hounds of Abaddon. Led by newly-ascended Daemon Prince Urkanthos, the Hounds broke through the Kriegan Gates, slaughtering the Kasrkin regiments Creed had sent there to stem the tide. It took Creed himself, leading the 8th Cadian, that finally became the wall that the tide of traitors broke against. The remaining Astartes did what they could, but it was the intervention of the remnants of Marshall Amalrich's Cruxis Crusade ([[Fail|who had finally admitted that he was an idiot in trying to defend AWAY from Kasr Kraf]]) that seemed to give the remaining defenders a chance at more than a final show of defiance.

Urkanthos would not be denied however. His mission from Abaddon was clear: destroy the null array, and Cadia would fall. This was done with contemptuous ease. With its defenders dead and its ancient machinery reduced to cinders, nothing would stop the Blackstone Fortress from scouring the world clean.

===The Living Saint Cometh===
It was then [[Saint Celestine]] arrived, wreathed in the Emperor's own holy fire. Flagging faith was renewed, and strength was once brought to wearied limbs. Aside from this she brought with her reinforcements: five companies of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, long lost in the Warp, and the [[Imperial Fists]] that had been on-board the Phalanx during its emergency warp transition.

While Celestine lent aid to those on the ground, [[THe Phalanx|the Phalanx]] thundered into the heart of the Black Fleet, straight at the Blackstone Fortress. Dorn's fist was to be its executioner. With a little help from what remained of Bloodhowl's force ([[Awesome|who had somehow survived to board the fortress, and had been fighting a running battle within for days]]), the Phalanx's planet-busting forward guns fired into a suddenly un-shielded flank (unprotected thanks to Bloodhowl's force sacrificing itself to take out the generators there). The ''Will of Eternity'' broke apart from the bombardment, its death throes throwing a third of gathered Traitor fleet there back into the Immaterium, and scattered the rest, while its broken husk hung in orbit.

The ground war fared better as the defenders threw off Urkanthos' Hounds from the walls, with the Daemon Prince's own corpse being added to the pile. Despite this, the Despoiler's forces still held air superiority, and scattered warbands gathered for yet another assault. This was no victory, but Cadia held off its doom for another day.

Even more surprises, as some last-minute reinforcements were still streaming in: the 5th Company of the [[Crimson Fists]] led by Ruis Tracinto, elements of the 14th Cadian, tanks of the Armoured 51st, Knights of House Taranis. The last but most significant of these latecomers was a Mechanicus Explorator fleet led by one [[Belisarius Cawl]]. It is Cawl that revealed to the gathered defenders the importance of ''not'' abandoning Cadia, and just how deep the Destroyer's plans were.

The last defenders withdrew to the Elysion Pylon fields, where the [[Legion of the Damned]] had manifested to keep watch over, to make their stand. Beyond the atmosphere the Phalanx moved to cover the field with its bombardment cannons, while far below the fields, Cawl and his adepts worked tirelessly to try and get the pylons to ''work'', but nothing he tried made the pylons react even a little. Close to throwing the towel in frustration, it was then that [[Trazyn the Infinite]] decide to make his presence known. The [[Necron]] proposed a truce, and promised to aid Cawl for its own inscrutable reasons.

===The Battle of Elysion Fields===
By this time the Battle of the Elysion Fields began to heat up, as Abaddon's forces slowly strangled the Imperial defenders. Days passed in desperate combat, with the Imperials hanging on just by the slimmest of margins, but that all changed once Abaddon himself teleported in to crush Cadia's last resistance himself. Accompanied by the Bringers of Despair, they assaulted Creed's command directly, and it was only due to the sacrifice of Creed's friend Kell that the Lord Castellan was able to live and fight another day. He, alongside the remnants of the Cadian 8th, made a fighting retreat into the catacombs beneath the Elysion pylons, before being finally pushed back into the deeper chambers that Cawl was still doing his work.

Curious at seeing the end result of Cawl's labors, Trazyn deigned to release some of his "collection" to delay the Despoiler: Heresy-era Ultramarines, Vostroyans, Tanith, Salamanders, an odd Custodian... All joined the battle against Abaddon's forces. All except [[Ordo Hereticus]] Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax and her bodyguard, that is. Wulfren bearing the sigil of the Ironwolves soon joined the fray, followed by Highfell himself fighting with a near-feral wildness.

It was then that Cawl coaxed the pylons to life. For those battling in the catacombs the effects were immediate, as Daemons were banished back to the Warp, and Possessed roared as their warp-spawned halves returned to the Immaterium. UNFORTUNATELY this also affected the [[Legion of the Damned]], [[Not_as_planned|and reduced Celestine's power to a mere Battle Sister with a power weapon.]] Whoops.

This proved to be a BIG problem for Celestine, as she had been dueling Abaddon at that point. Creed had to personally intervene, as he saw immediately that if the Living Saint fell, so would the remaining morale of the defenders there. Even Greyfax, for all her distate for the "false idol", acted, and turned her psychic might at keeping the Despoiler at bay. In a moment of arrogance, Abaddon held off the deathblow to Celestine long enough to gloat over his impending success only to take a hit himself. Even depowered, Celestine had inflicted a wound upon the Despoiler which he had not felt the likes of since the Horus Heresy.

High above the effects of the pylons intensified. Against all expectation whatever was being transmitted from Cadia was actually ''causing the Eye of Terror to shrink'', and soon anything remotely warp-based began to waver or outright fail, including the void shields of the warships still glaring at each other beyond the atmosphere. Even teleporting out would eventually be impossible. It was at this point the Despoiler ordered his forces to withdraw, much to the shock and confusion of his ravaged foes. Even the forces on the surface were withdrawing en-masse, falling back to their Thunderhawks and drop-ships, and speeding back to the safety of the Black Fleet.

Something was up, and there was only one thing for sure: the compost was about to hit the rotary impeller, and SOON.

===Ragequit, Despoiler-style===
Once safely back upon the bridge of the ''Vengeful Spirit'', Abaddon set his "Plan B" in motion: if he couldn't have Cadia, '''nobody would'''. As soon as the last of the Traitor forces were retrieved, the Black Fleet pulled away from the planet, post-haste. At that point hidden plasma drives flared into life on the ruins of the ''Will of Eternity'', and slowly the moon-sized mass started to fall in the direction of Cadia. The batteries of the wounded ''Phalanx'' opened up in desperation, but nothing could stop its fall once the Blackstone Fortress was captured by Cadia's gravity well. Like the fist of an angry god, the fortress struck the planet hard, and the world burned.

From his command throne, Abaddon opened up a bottle of vintage wine, raised a cup (made from the skull of the [[Horus]] clone he had killed in the [[Battle of Harmony]]) in toast of an old foe, and laughed. Guffawhaw! Kekeke! Huehuehue! Teeheehee!

===Death of a World===
Millions died in the aftermath of the impact, but the worst was yet to come. As mountains crumbled and seas vanished into steam, the ancient Pylons scattered on the planet toppled as well. The ancient network sputtered and died, at which the Eye of Terror roared back into being, stronger and MUCH larger now that its ancient prison was sundered. With the echoing laughter of gods long-denied their prize, the maelstrom finally engulfed Cadia. [[Great Rift|And it kept going.]]

Daemons previously banished by the awakening of the pylons once more fell upon the ravaged world. Those who survived the initial inferno now found themselves fighting for their lives. But in that darkest hour, hope also returned. With the destruction of the pylons, Saint Celestine's strength returned, and burning bright with the light of the Emperor, the Living Saint led the survivors out of the catacombs, to witness a world much changed.

===The Exodus of Cadia===
At the sight of all the ruin and destruction, Creed finally despaired. Before his despondence could spread to his men, Greyfax took the initiative, and ordered the planetary evacuation of all surviving Imperial forces. Countless troop transports and landing craft roared upwards to the relative safety of the ''Phalanx'', though many more were lost amidst the burning atmosphere and the winged daemonspawn now infesting the skies.

Back at the Elysion Fields, the evacuation was turning desperate, as the waves of daemons pushed back the defensive lines. Soon there wouldn't be anywhere safe to land, and the evacuation zone would become a death trap.

Something had to be done. The Lord Castellan roused himself from his grief, and announced that the 8th Cadian would buy everyone the time they needed to escape. To their credit, none of the Castellan's Own blanched at the order, despite knowing full well what it meant. They owed Creed their lives anyway, and now was as good a time as any to pay the Castellan back the debt.

The last transports boosted away to safety, with the final one taking within the Knights of House Taranis, Marshall Amalrich's Black Templars, Saint Celestine's Sisters, and Grayfax. As they left that blighted battlefield behind, a clear and proud cry could be heard, over the howling winds and the cannon roar. It was a shout of defiance, bowed but unbroken: '''"CADIA STANDS!"'''

===The Fate of Creed===
Creed, wounded, weary, and about to bleed out, is confronted not by a Daemon, but by [[Trazyn|a metal giant wearing a scaled cloak]]. After that, a promise of eternity before darkness engulfs him, the giant's laughter ringing in his ears.

[[File:Cadiain8th.png|300px|thumbnail|center|...wait, how the fuck did she take off her trousers whilst still wearing her boots? Did she take off her boots, take off her trousers, then put her boots back on? <s>Or was she just wearing shorts?</s> "Battle Shorts" are not standard Kasrkin uniform, and thus she would be executed by a [[Commissar]] (and rightfully so) for being stupid enough to wear them to the final fucking battle of Cadia. Although despite this she still survived while wearing these, so yeah.]]