Editing The 13th Black Crusade (section)

==Crescendo of Battle==

===The Rising Action===

The tide was once again turning against the Imperials, as Helbrutes ripped apart Contemptors, but into this maestrom the [[Legion of the Damned]] threw in their dance card and bolstered the Heresy-era Ultramarines' lines. Cawl'ss Solar Atomizer disintegrated a Slaaneshi daemon wreaking havoc among the Vostroyans, while the Kappic Eagles fell in disarray as Nurgle's contagions affected them. Kataphrons focused fired and reduced Maulerfiends to slag, all the while the cavern itself reeled from the battle raging in its heart, and sent down collosal stalagtites that crushed Imperial and Renegade alike.

Into this melee a resounding battle cry echoed above all. ''Cadia Stands!'' Thousands of voices raised together accompanied the crack of thousands of las rifles, as the Cadian 8th surged across the cavern with revenge on their minds. Beside them loped and howled the [[Wulfen|grey-armored furries of the Ironwolves]], with regular Space Wolves led by Orven Highfell not far behind. The Wolf Lord knew that the intensity of the battle had only accelerated his battle-brothers devolution, but if they were going to turn into furries anyway, why not do it in the good fight in Russ' name, eh?

The Black Legion ground on regardless of these reinforcements, driven by ten millennia worth of RAGE. Cataphractii Terminators were cut down one by one, and Abaddon himself tore their time-lost Captain Cerantes into bloody ribbons, but the Ultramarines only fought harder. The Kappic Eagles poured their fire into the traitor ranks, to little effect. It wasn't enough.

===Ebb and Flow===

Abaddon was slowly losing his patience, and his baleful gaze fell on the person whose loss he was SURE would break the defenders' wills: [[Creed]]. With a command, daemons and Terminators of the Black Legion surged towards the Cadian 8th and the Lord Castellan.

Before this dark tide could even break upon the Guardsmen, a golden light flooded through the cavern's ceiling. Through it flew Saint Celestine and her twin retinue, and without hesitation the Living Saint threw herself in the path of the Despoiler and his forces. The Ardent Blade slammed against Drach'nyen, and soulfire spread across the chamber. On her own, Celestine was no match against Abaddon, but she was ''not'' alone, and together with the Gemini Superiae she kept the Despoiler in place.

From the sidelines Greyfax was disgusted at the Living Saint, but couldn't teamkill Celestine thanks to Trazyn's mindshackle scarabs, much to her annoyance.

While all of this was happening, Cawl felt a "ding!" in his mental processes. The nodal grid was ready! But what if Trazyn was fibbing him? That moment of doubt quickly gave way to urgency as the last Heresy-era Ultramarine dropped dead, and Cawl thought, "Fsk this." The activation command was sent.

===The Pariah Zone===

It was slow first, the subsonic pulse of the Pylons that normally only warp-sensitives could feel, grew into an almost deafening resonance. The dull rumble soon drowned out the sounds of battle, as black lightning crackled all along the Pylons' flanks. Warriors from both sides collapsed, as blood streamed from their ears and noses, while psykers froze in place, their connection to the Immaterium fading, their minds dragged to oblivion. Even Greyfax was affected, and she only clung on through sheer bloody-minded RAGE.

From every intact Pylon left on Cadia, black beams flashed upward and converged on the upper atmosphere. The [[Phalanx]] had barely enough time to get out of its way, as the now MASSIVE black kamehameha blasted towards the heart of the [[Eye of Terror]]. And slowly, ever so slowly, [[Awesome|it was starting to shrink]]...

Though no one in the cavern knew the scale of the results of Cawl's work, the effects were immediate -- daemons faded from reality, [[Possessed]] traitor marines died as their daemonic halves were torn from them, and daemon engines stopped functioning. Abaddon staggered, but even without the gifts of the Chaos Gods he was still one of the deadliest duelists in the galaxy.

The Imperials weren't faring any better though. The [[Legion of the Damned]] winked out of existence much like the Daemons they fought, while Saint Celestine's Emperor-given stat buffs got smothered, leaving her at the same level as an experienced, but very mortal, [[Sisters of Battle|Sister of Battle]]. It was not looking good at all.

Faith was failing, and with it valor. The morale of the Guardsmen still there was crumbling, but the Black Legion seemed to be empowered at this despair, despite the loss of their daemonic reinforcements. It was further proof to their minds that the False Emperor was weak, and they were right to contest His rule.

===Shifting Tides===

Orven Highfell finally fell snarling, with his gauntlets around a [[Bloodthirster]]'s throat. The Wulfen avenged him, but they too were dropping from their wounds, an untold trail of dead traitors their final contribution to the battle. Meanwhile Creed would not despair, and the Cadian 8th followed suit, their example spreading to the Vostroyans and Kappic Eagles.

All the while the duel between Abaddon and Celestine continued, but it was an uneven match, as the Despoiler was more than a match against the Living Saint and her bodyguard even without his Chaos superpowers. Hemmed in by the Black Guard, and pressed by Drach'nyen, Celestine was brought to her knees.

Creed saw immediately that if the Living Saint was killed, that was it. He ordered the Cadian 8th forward to reach Celestine, even as Abaddon got in a painful knick on the Living Saint's side. Despite the pain, Celestine did not waver, but as the Despoiler reared for a killing blow, he froze; ''someone'' hit him with a surprise Greater Malison.

That someone in this case was Inquisitor Greyfax, using what dregs of warp power she could channel through her [[RAGE]]. She thought about her talk with Trazyn, and hated to admit that the Necron was right; she needed to get her priorities straight. Whatever issues she had with Celestine, those could wait until AFTER Abaddon was dealt with.

Blinded and angrier than usual, the Despoiler shook off Greyfax's malediction, but the inquisitor followed this up with a shots from her boltgun, though the latter did squat thanks to Abaddon's terminator armor. All the while the men and women of the Cadian 8th formed a wall of bayonets around the Living Saint. Abaddon cut these guardsmen down by the score, but every moment they bought for Celestine was worth their lives and more.

===Fulcrum===

Cawl continued to remotely monitor the data coming from the Pylons, and was amazed how it seemed to be working. The Warp's hold had weakened so much that the last daemon had vanished, and left the remains of their victims behind.

High above in the Phalanx its navigators lost their bearings, as the already becalmed warp tides around Cadia froze like a lake in winter. The layered void shields of the venerable space fortress faded away like the morning mist, while its teleportariums flickered as their Warp corridors grew more transient. In its strategium, Trevaux wondered what it could all mean, as report after report streamed in, but his attentions were fixed on the massive hulk of the destroyed Blackstone Fortress. As Chaos cruisers hiding behind the debris broke cover and thundered towards the the rest of the Black Fleet, he had Thunderhawks deployed to recon the area.

Trevaux was worried that something was up, but what? And so the commodore watched, and waited.

Back in the caverns, Abaddon continued to cut a bloody swathe through the Cadians that stood in his way. His Terminators tried to keep pace, but soon came under heavy fire from hot-shot lasguns. The Vostroyans were run down by Chosen in return, but elsewhere Cawl's maniples drove way the Black Legion that were harassing the Kappic Eagles. With the Shock Troopers now free, Greyfax ordered them forward into the fray.

Creed took command of a Kasrkin platoon, and led them into a charge as well. The Lord Castellan knew that he couldn't match Abaddon outright in might, but the Guard still had weight in numbers that could balance the equation.

Through all this, Trazyn continued his quiet observation of the battles from the shadows. The Necron knew that history was about to be made, and his kleptomania was rising to the fore again. What souvenir would he take back from Cadia? He couldn't wait to see.

===Grave of Resistance===

As Creed took potshots at Black Legion terminators, but gouts of Promethium fried Kasrkins all around him. From the fire and ash loomed Abaddon himself, and within moments the rest of his entourage was reduced to bloody ribbons. For all his fury, Creed was no match for Abaddon, and soon he was held in the Despoiler's claws.

Abaddon took his time to crush the life and defiance out of the Lord Castellan, but he was so focused on his victory that he forgot that, whoops, he was in a duel with Celestine. So the Living Saint sneakily took advantage of this to give him a +20d6 damage Backstab.

The Despoiler reeled, and dropped his prey. That Horus-dammned HURT. He dropped Creed and turned to face Celestine again, but by this point the Cadian 8th had once more surrounded their commander.

That's it. Abaddon decided that it wasn't worth it anymore. Just as well, as the instability of the Warp meant that, if he didn't leave soon, he would be stuck on Cadia. As he gave Celestine the worst stink glare ever, he ordered a general withdrawal. As the Vengeful Spirit's teleporters drew the Black Legion back, Abaddon at least gave it to the Cadians -- they didn't break. Oh they didn't knew they'd ''lost'' yet, but they also won. Despite ''everything'' he had done, the spirit of the defenders still didn't break.

That, at least, was worth a measure of respect.

===False Hope===

As the last of the Black Legion teleported away, the remaining defenders looked on incredulously at their survival, and took stock of their remaining forces. Cawl continued to monitor the Pylons' functions, Greyfax mentally tried to keep her soul anchored despite the Pylons' dampening effects, and Trazyn was a little miffed that he lost the chance to add Abaddon to his collection... for now.

Creed was worried though, as he was tended to by his regiment's medicae. Abaddon's words had finally sunk in to him. ''I set this world's fate in motion before I even made planetfall.'' To say it was worrisome was severely underselling it.

As for Saint Celestine, the Living Saint stood apart, and stared up at the ruins of the cavern's ceiling and beyond, as if she had some idea of what was to come next.

Back on the surface of the Elysion Fields, traitor Thunderhawks and dropships recovered what traitor Legionaires that they could, despite the AA fire that the defenders still managed to put up. [[Tor Garadon]] rallied the remains of his forces -- reduced to less than a score of now battle-hardened Battle-Brothers of the 3rd Company and 1st Company Sergeant Furan -- and together with Marshall Amalrich's Black Templars brought down at least three dropships.

A vast majority of Black Legion forces still managed to get off the planet, including Abaddon himself. Once he returned to the ''Vengeful Spirit's'' strategium, the Despoiler ordered Cadia's doom.

===Colony Drop===

[[Warpsmith]]s on the ''Will of Eternity'' heard Abaddon's order, and all accross the Blackstone Fortress' largest fragment countless plasma drives roared into life. Ever so slowly, this moon-sized fragment moved in Cadia's direction.

Across the planet's orbit, the Black Fleet broke in all directions, their drives burning bright as they sought escape from what was to come. With the ''Vengeful Spirit'' in the lead, Abaddon beheld Cadia from the viewports one last time. For ten thousand years the world and its people had defied him. No more.

The Despoiler took out a bottle of his favorite aged wine, poured it into the chalice he had crafted from the clone of Horus he had bested all those centuries ago, and with a laugh raised it in toast to the death of an ancient foe. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!

Commodore Trevaux had an inkling of what was in motion, and ordered all of the Phalanx's guns to fire at the massive improvised missile, but it was not enough; the Blackstone fragment was now caught in Cadia's gravity well. All he could do now was give a warning to all the souls still on the planet to brace for impact.

All across Cadia surviving garrisons looked up, and saw a sky that looked like it was on fire, as a massive object burned its way down into the atmosphere. It would be the last thing they would ever see.

And so, like the fist of an angry god, the Blackstone Fortress fragment slammed into Cadia Tertius.