Here is the final chapter of this story. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

Chapter 4

"Triumph or Perish."

-Raven Guard motto

Rukiel rushed behind the closest large rock, just as he started hearing echoing sounds of mass reactive bolt shells hitting against armor and softer targets. Other Purebloods in his vicinity also took cover, but the Spawnkin were not so autonomous to react, some still seeming to wonder if they should continue searching for the relic despite the arrival of their enemies. Primes were doing good job organizing their lesser kin that they were close to, but some were still uselessly lingering around.

"Take cover and fire upon the enemy!" Rukiel roared from his helmet's amplifying vox ports that carried well enough over the sound of gunfire. "Hold your ground and keep the enemy away! Engage if charged upon!"

Rukiel peaked around the side of the bouder, catching sight of multiple white and blue armored transhumans moving in from one of the dark tunnels that had moment ago been empty. They were spreading to both sides of their entry point, creating an expanding formation that spread out to cover the advance of their brothers as well as to encompass more line of fire.

Heavy fire from squad Dimarian's Havocs along with Nikau was keeping the enemy somewhat suppressed, and Rukiel even saw one of the World Eaters go down as a lucky Autocannon shot punched through the gorget and into the chest cavity of the loyalist warrior.

But there were many of them. Many squads of World Eaters, with more rushing into the cavern every passing moment. They would outnumber the Raven Guard any moment and force themselves upon the sons of Corax.

Fortunately, the cave was filled with so much rocks and rubble that there were plenty of cover, so the World Eaters could not just gun them all down. The Spawns were digging into good cover, making them hard to remove. The situation was bad, but they were not completely doomed yet.

"Nikau! Tseren! Keep the World Eaters from advancing! I don't want them charging and engaging us at melee!"

"We are trying," came the voice of Tseren. "46 World Eaters and counting. They will come through with sheer numbers sooner or later."

"Keep them at bay!" Rukiel snarled. "Skiessax, can we engage any of them in preemptive melee?"

"With jump packs definitely, but for the rest of us without them it would be impossible without begging to be shot. Too many guns pointed at us and too few in position to charge."

Rukiel snarled in frustration. "Everyone, try to position yourselves to that you can kill them when they charge the Spawns! If we can kill them when they are engage-"

"Enemy Devastators!" came the cry of Tseren and soon Rukiel could hear the slightly distinctive sound of at least two new heavy bolters adding their fire to the bolt storm. Rukiel saw the high vantage position of Tseren, Nikau and Squad Dimarian being washed over by heavy shower of large mass reactives. "They are pinning us!"

"Kill the Devastators!" Rukiel roared. "Everyone, try to get a shot from your position. Tseren, get up and kill them!"

There was a long litany of angry sounding Chogorian, but the white helmet of the White Scar peaked over their highly lit up cover. Rukiel could not hear, but he could almost sense the lone Stalker Bolter shot that left its weapon's barrel. One of the Heavy Bolters suddenly went silent, and as Rukiel peaked over cover he could see and white and blue armored heavy weapon specialist collapse.

"Did you see that shot?!" came the laugh of Tseren.

"Incoming," said Nikau almost instantly after, and Rukiel saw how he threw himself and his Autocannon over the ledge of the vantage point and down to the lower cave. Just before a bright mini sun fired by a plasma cannon annihilated his last position, taking with him Squad Dimarian's Havocs and well as Tseren whose laughter was abruptly cut off.

The heavy weapon fire on the side of the Raven Guard stopped. And the World Eaters charged.

The shape of the fight changed instantly when the Havocs died in plasma fire. The World Eaters charged as one, their own heavy support providing cover and keeping the Raven Guard's heads down.

There was a litany of curses when a bolt shell impacted against Mortian's left pauldron, flinching him back. "Loyalist scum!" He roared as he emptied his bolt pistol into the incoming World Eaters.

"Counter charge fire and engaged in melee when in range!" Rukiel bellowed from his vox amplifiers. "Kill them! For the Ravenlord!"

"Here they come!" Kerverax shrieked as he lobbed all his frakk grenades over a rock into the surging tide of World Eaters. The explosives impacted with violent detonations, shrapnel showering the loyalists in the impact area but slowing only couple of them down.

"Send them to the dark afterlife, brothers!" Rukiel roared as he lifted his Shadower, pointing the adamantium tip of the power spear into the coming enemy. "Death to the False Emperor!"

"Death to the False Emperor!" Purebloods and even some of the Spawnkin roared. "Death to the False Emperor! Death to the False Emperor and all his slaves!"

"For the Emperor and and Imperium!" the World Eaters shouted from the top of their transhuman lungs as they came.

Then the melee began, and there was blood. A lot of blood.

The World Eater that tried to take Rukiel's head with his roaring chainaxe suddenly found his own head missing, thanks to the superior range of Rukiel's power spear. The sharp tip slipped under the white helmet, ripping up and taking the head off in a shower of gore and metal bits. The loyalist behind the first one did not even get to swing his chainsword when Mortian smashed him into the other side of the cave with his monstrously powerful powerfist.

Torash actually stole the initiative from the World Eaters, boosting with his jump pack right into the coming trio of World Eaters and literally disarming the leading one from the wrist where the Pureblood's chain axe found the weak joint. He received a bolt to the side of his helmet for his bold move and an enemy chainaxe ravaged across his pauldron, before Rukiel surged forward to impale the chest of the loyalist hound. The last of the Eaters died when he tried to contest the impact power of Mortian's power fist with a standard chainsword. He lost that one.

Rukeil ripped his spear away from the bloody corpse and took in his surroundings, which had changed a lot in the handful of second since he had slayed the first World Eater. He and his two bodyguards had killed the loyalists coming at them without trouble, but that was to be expected, they held the warband's best equipment and weapons. Power weapons won brawls. The others without such weapons were not as fortunate, especially in the cases when the superior technology was in the hands of the World Eaters.

The Spawn Marines were getting butchered. For most of them, the fire they had poured into the coming enemy was the final damage they ever did to the loyalist dogs. The World Eaters saw them, charged them, reached them and killed them with such efficiency it actually caused disturbance in Rukiel's mind that a lesser being would have experienced as horror.

The World Eaters outclassed and outnumbered the Spawnkin. The result was obvious from the start. Spawns put up a fight as they were brutally torn to pieces, but they did little to actually harm a dedicated and disciplined tide of World Eaters. You either broke the incredible synergy of the World Eaters when they reached you, or they broke you. In most cases they broke you if you gave them the chance to get that far.

There was a sound, like a grinding pop in the air, and Rukiel saw a World Eater sergeant take overwhelmed Skiessax's head with a power axe. The rupture of flesh did not stop into the neck area as Skiessax body convulsed like some unstable chemical reacion before splitting clean in half without any sound of suffering metal. The things that emerged from the red and black insides of the dead Pureblood surged at the World Eater, growing from the size of a servo skull into human proportions in an heatbeat. There were many of them, impossible to count in the lightless aura they projected and the speed they tore into the World Eater Sergeant and the warriors around him. Where the Spawnkin dead at their feet had failed, the Unkind released from beyond the Veil did not. They leached onto the enemies of the Raven Guard, unnatural half formless claws, tentacles, pincers and fang shredding the white and blue ceramite.

Rukiel turned his face from the death of one of his Purebloods, curses pouring from his mouth. "Arkmadius, harvest Skiessax!" he screamed into the vox as he saw Arkmadius taking cover just behind the position where the Unkind where showing the World Eaters their violent thanks for releasing them. Rukiel did not see if the warband's harvester moved or not to comply, for Mortian suddenly snarled right beside Rukiel something that made him instantly change the target of his attention.

"Tell me that is not a sound of a Terminator," Mortian said as heavy metallic footsteps could be heard coming right at them from behind the rock they used for cover.

It was not a Terminator. There were two of them. Devourers. Warp curse it, Devourers...

"Kill them," Rukiel said with a rather meek voice and rapidly backed away as the two massive Astartes in ancient tactical dreadnought armor came crashing right through the rock they had used for cover, roaring first in Nagrakali and then in gothic. "WE ARE THE EATERS OF WORLDS! DIE TRAITORS!"

Rukiel used his jump pack to boost away just as the lightning claw of the first Devourer slashed at him. Torash took the chance to strike with his chain axe at the side of the Terminator, which caused as much damage as one might expect. Torash barely got out of the way by boosting same way as Rukiel when the pair of lightning claws went for him next.

The Devourer with a poweraxe and chainfist was taking on Mortian, who was actually able keep the hulking warrior at bay with his own powerfist.

"Surround and slay them!" Rukiel yelled as he slashed with his power spear, slicing away part of the Devourer's shoulder plate. "There is three of us and two of them!"

"Foul traitors!" the claw pair terminator said as he came at Rukiel, talons crackling with disruption field thunder. Rukiel smashed the first claw aside, dodging the next while Torash slashed with his axe, trying to reach vulnerable joints of the armor.

The Devourer deflected Rukiel's spear thrust, using his bulk to simultaneously bash Torash back in a surprising show of agility and martial skill. And tactical cooperation.

The Devourer that was engaged with Mortian turned around with implacable timing to face the Pureblood that was send into his direction, lifting his chain fist and drove it right through Torash's right flank, the massive fist exploding through the Pureblood's chest plate. Right side of Torash became a crater of gore, metal, and emerging Warp spawns.

The Unkind slipped through the veil in a moment, they were on the Devourer in the other. And while the black things leached onto the Terminator, it was not fast enough to return its facing back to the power fisted Astartes it had turned its back to.

Mortian's power fist came down like the shell of a bombardment canon, the brutal uppercut crushing and buckling the back and head of the Devourer. The terminator died instantly as its whole upper body collapsed under the blow, and the Unkind tore apart what was left.

Mortian dived out of the way of the remaining Devourer. It was two against one now, since some of the unkind were too weak and returned to the Warp, and the remaining ones scattered out to engage any targets around them, heedless of Rukiel and the other two Astartes.

But the World Eater was not alone. He was surrounded by allies.

The stream of boltshells smashed into the flank of Mortian. He was rocked back by the weapon burst, barely managing to avoid the World Eater's lightning claws, that actually managed to slice away part of his leg plate.

Rukiel took a quick look around him. The Spawns were almost all dead. handful were still holding back positions with some Primes in the edge of the cave, but all the others were dead or dying. The Purebloods, Verion and Nikau were scattered around the cave's many rock formations, holding their own or diving between cover to prevent the World Eaters from swarming them. Like they were all around Rukiel.

"Mortian, disengage!" Rukiel screamed. "They have us in their bolter sights!"

Rukiel engaged his jump pack, taking a wild jump into the air to escape the hail of bolts that the World Eaters just send at him. Mortian followed, cracking shots from his bolt pistol as he went.

The thrust of the jump pack carried Rukiel onto the other side of the cave, right where some of the last Spawns were holding on against World Eaters. Rukiel spun his spear and then came down in a wild crash, driving Shadower right through the chest of one of the World Eaters. He twisted the spear so it ravaged the internal organs, the ripped it free and cut of the head of another loyalist in a one fluid motion.

A burst of bolt shells impacted Rukiel's chest plate, chipping off ceramite as one of the last World Eaters in vicinity fired his bolt pistol and charged Rukiel. He never got to to him as Mortian came down from the air, turning him into gore and metal pulp with his power fist.

Rukiel took a moment to take in the battlefield. Kerverax and Arkmadius were taking cover on his left, emptying bolt shells into every World Eaters that dared to dream of glorious charge at them. Lharkus was on the far left beyond them, executing a World Eater that was laying at his feet amd bleeding from his opened torso.

Nikau was far on the right, backed into corner and sending Autocannon fire at the World Eaters who were converging on him. He was dead and he knew it. Rukiel saw three World Eaters come at him. The first took an Autocannon shot that blew his leg of, falling his instantly. The second's breastplate cracked under the next Autocannon shot, killing him but not before the loyalist managed to fire a single mass reactive from his side arm. The bolt hit Nikau in the arm, disrupting his aim just enough for him to miss the last World Eater who finished the effort in which his brothers had fallen. His chainsword first ripped off Nikau's left arm, and then penetrated deep into his stomach though the fibre bundling and power cables.

Nikau slumped against the loyalist, stared into the red eyes of the white helmet before his right hand smashed his combat axe right rough it and into the World Eater's skull. The World Eater and Nikau died locked together, slumping down in a deathly embrace of lifeless corpses.

"Where is Verion?" Rukiel asked as he leaned into pick up a fallen bolter from a World Eater, turning the weapon on the brothers of its previous owner.

"Don't know, lost him into the melee," Kerverax snapped as he took cover from a frakk missile that impacted against his cover and showered the area with shrapnel.

"I see him…" Mortian said as he pointed with power fist. Rukiel lifted his head and caught a sight of the carmine red armored son of the Great Angel.

Verion was on the other side of the cave, hacking apart the devastators of the World Eaters with his combat sword and iron claw. He had somehow managed to slip past the charge of the loyalist and now he was ripping apart their rear support.

"Verion," Rukiel called with his vox. "When you have killed the last Devastator, circle around the cave and retreat back to us."

"Retreat?" came a hoarse spat from the crackling vox. "I am not going to retreat back to you. I will strike at the World Eaters. I will kill our enemies, lord…"

"Stubborn bastard," Kerverax snarled. "Die well, Verion."

"You too, Kerverax..."

Kerverax chuckled. "I am out of ammo," he said as he threw his empty bolter away.

"As am I," Armadius said, raising his chainsword.

"I only have one Melta Bomb remaining, so it is back to good old chainsword melee. Should I try to throw the bomb into one of the lava holes as see if it causes an eruption? At least we would be burying the XIIth Legion hounds with us," Kerverax snarled as he pulled up his chainsword from mag-lock. "I remember recently judging rather harshly the Dark Blood for not running from their stupid fights."

"Have the recent events changed your earlier judgement?" Armadius asked. "We are the ones who should run now but the World Eaters have all the exits covered and they will shoot us if we start to climb any higher."

"No," Kerverax said "Now I am judging and cursing the bastards for not killing more of these loyalists dogs. They left us to deal with their mess!" Kerverax glanced over the cover. "Do we charge them or do we wait for them to come to us?" kerverax asked. "We could send the remaining spawns ahead to absorb the most of it so that we can close the distance."

"I think we have little say in the matter…" Mortian said as the World Eaters chain weapons started to roar in unison, the sources of the sound coming closer with alarming speed.

The World Eaters came to them. And they did their best in turn to kill the hounds.

Rukiel jumped over the main charge with his jump pack, leaving the rest of his warband to deal with the brunt of the force. He dismembered two World Eaters when he landed to reach a loyalist champion in the back, trying to impale the enemy on the charge but the World Eater was leagues above his line brothers, smashing Rukiel's spear aside with almost effortless blow from his power axe.

"Are you the captain, imperial slave?" Rukiel spat as he pressed on, spinning his spear around in wide slashing moves that were deflected or dodged by the World Eater.

"I am Veteran Sergeant Lufkail." The loyalist growled behind his mark III faceplate. "I have the command after I avenged my captain against you abominations. And I will be your death too, traitor!"

"I am Rukiel Varkhian of the Raven Guard!" Rukiel declared. "And you will join your captain on the dark plains of the Ravenlord's realm!"

"Your boasts are meaningless, traitor!" the Veteran Sergeant roared as he almost managed to strike at Rukiel's right pauldron with his axe. "The Emperor protects, and death is a duty I fear not. And your death is also my duty!"

"Loyal to the death ?" Rukiel said with voice full of ridicule. "Show me!"

The Shadower slipped under the guard of the World Eater, and was just about to cut into the white ceramite, until Rukiel realized the trap. The body of the World Eater moved out of the way of the attack with incredible reflexes, and the Power Axe coming around with such speed Rukiel could not fully dodge it. The axe slashed across Rukiel's pauldron that he was forced to turn to the blow, ripping the massive ceramite shoulder guard off in a shower of sparks and shredding metal.

Rukiel had underestimated the World Eater, he saw that now, and he activated his jump pack to disengaged from the push the World Eater was driving forward. The Jump pack flared to life, but the World Eater lifted his bolt pistol towards Rukiel. The bolts all hit home, one hitting the left thruster of his jump pack, causing his flight path to suffer catastrophic change of course. Rukiel fell straight for the ground, smashing into the rocky cavern floor with bone shattering force that sent him sliding across it for several meters.

Rukiel got up, grabbing for his spear that was lodged under him. He could hear the running steps of ceramite against stone, and he had just enough time turn around to deflect the power axe coming for his head. He could however do nothing about the brutal shoulder bash that followed as the Veteran Sergeant smashed into him with all his armored strashuman weight.

Rukiel was thrown off balance, and only his slightly psychically enhanced reflexes saved him from the next blow of the World Eater.

Rukiel as still backing away when Mortian landed behind the World Eater, causing the loyalist to glance back. Mortian should have put the loyalist dog down then and there. But he did not. The power fist smash that should have been certain kill was somehow parried aside with the World Eater's power axe, causing the axe to break and explode under the incredible blow. The World Eater let go of the weapon, smashing his armored gauntlet into the helmet of Mortian. And then lifted up his bolt pistol to blow apart the damaged helmet through the face grill.

Mortian's body started to convulse, but before he was completely dead, the Veteran Sergeant raised his armored boot and kicked dying Mortian in the chest, sending him falling into nearby magma pit before the Unkind ripped their way into the reality. The last Rukiel saw of Mortian was the dying Pureblood stumbling and rolling into the pit before he disappeared into a hole illuminated by a fiery light.

Rukiel charged forward, aiming his power spear to impale the World Eater who had just slew his brother. The World Eater turned, dropped his empty bolt pistol and drew his combat blade. And then he somehow parried the spear by hitting the shaft with is wrist and drove the knife into Rukiel's neck.

Rukiel smashed the World Eater away and clenched his gorget, spitting blood inside his helmet. His spear fell from his hand as he stammered back. The knife had come from a high angle and stabbed down towards his chest cavity, half stopped by his metal hard transhuman bones. Rukiel grabbed his gorget and ripped his helmet off, blinking of the blood from his eye. He backed away and engaged his jump pack, holding his throat as his Larramans cells worked to keep him alive with a bit held from the Empyrean and his dark bloodline. His jet pack however let out a loud screeching and one of the thrusters started smoking, sending him crashing into the ground once again.

Rukiel clawed away, pushing aside Spawn Marine and Astartes corpses as he tried to get away from the World Eater he could feel coming for him. He had lost his spear. The World Eater had a knife. He needed a weapon.

Rukiel looked frantically around him, looking the ground for any weapon. A blade of a Spwankin would be just adequate at this point, anything. The steps of the World Eater grew louder, fcrinding corpses and battlefield debris under them in dreading enhoes.

And then Rukiel saw it. On his left, half covered by a Legion Pureblood who bad half bursted on top of it, hidden in a dark corner surrounded by filth of the Spawns, just couple of meters from him. Not only weapon. It was the relic. The relic of his revered progenitor.

Rukiel felt new vigour fill him and he jumped towards the treasure, his black gauntlets grasping around its handle just as he heard the battle cry of the loyalist champion. Rukiel was crawling on the ground, turning and pointing the weapon at the coming World Eater who charged at him with his combat knife in reverse grip. He did not know if the relic had any ammo or if it was even functional after millenia, but he pulled the trigger with all the hate and desperation he could.

There was a flash of baleful light as the Archeotech pistol once wielded by a demigod in an age long past fired, sending a bright lance of light at the World Eater now only couple of meters from Rukiel. It hit the Veteran Sergeant square in the chest, ate through the Eater of World's armor in some physical reaction Rukiel did not understand and send him into the ground. The roar of pain let out by the loyalist seemed reality shattering, somehow making the reality around him feel much darker and colder as he died. His scream seemed to echo in the air long after he laid dead at Rukiel's feet, like the soul that was ripped from the body continued what the body had ceased to do.

The World Eater was dead, and Rukiel slowly got to his feet. He stared at the white ceramite armored corpse, and then he stared at the pistol in his hand. It was worn but of incredible craft, a technological marvel from the dark age of technology. Rukiel had now idea how it worked or what it used for ammunition but it clearly was functional. It was decorated with symbols of the mighty Raven, declaring the identity of its dark master. For a moment Rukiel only stared at the weapon, almost not believing he was holding something so incredible in his hand. It was in his hand. It was his. The relic was his.

After a moment he was brought back to reality by the sounds of battle still echoing in the cavern. The noise of bolter fire was gone, replaced by roars of chain weapons and clashing of metal. Rukiel started running toward the location where his Warband was fighting for their lives, only stopping to pick up his power spear on his way.

Arkmadius was dead. The still living Devourer had ripped him in two with his lightning claws, and was now taking on the Unkind released by his kill.

Kerverax had his back against a stone wall with couple of Primes, fending off at least ten World Eaters that were assailing them. Lharkus was dueling with a two World Eaters quite far away, dancing around avoiding their chain weapons while launching his own mager counter attacks.

There was at least thirty World Eaters still alive, some engaged, some moving along the rocks trying to get a good line of fire at the enemies their brothers were engaging in melee.

Rukiel choose the Devourer as his target, using to his advantage the time when the Terminator was still occupied by the Unkind. Rukiel lifted his new pistol and fired. The shot caught the Terminator in the right shoulder, the thick armor plates disintegrating but keeping the shot from reaching the flesh of the marine. The World Eater turned, registering Rukiel as a great threat, as did the warriors around him. Bolt pistols cracked and Rukiel dived for cover.

"Kerverax!" Rukiel voxed. "Lharkus! I got the relic. Let's get out of here!"

"Rather busy at the moment!" Kerverax Snarled as he struggled against the jungle of chain weapons trying to send him into the embrace of the Warp.

"You found the Pistol?" Lharkus asked as he backhanded a World Eater.

"Yes! Let's fight our way out!" Rukiel did not manage to say anything more when the Devourer came for him, slicing his claws through the rocks between him and Rukiel. Rukiel backed away as the Devourer advanced, claws crackling with lightning and two other World Eaters flanking him.

Rukiel raised his pistol as he fell back, taking a shot at the one of the line marines. It almost felt as if the time stopped for a second when the shot hit him and claimed the loyalist's life, the aura of oppression in the air got so thick for a heartbeat that many other helmets in the cave turned to look and there was a pause in the violent melee.

Rukiel was quite sure the effect came from the weapon once belonging to the Ravelord, it certainly had not been like this during the Crusade. How the weapon had made its way to where it was today was not known to Rukiel, but the weapon had probably been in the Eye during the Primarch's Ascension. Rukiel was not sure if he wanted to know what happened to the souls killed by the weapon, just as he Empyreal screams of the shot World Eater vanished from his mind.

The Devourer did not wait for Rukiel to fire again, treading forward like the walking tank he was. Rukiel mag-locked his precious pistol to his belt as he was forced to wield his spear to defend himself.

The other World Eater tried to flank him, but he was stopped when a talon made of iron came from behind and grabbed his helmet. Verion came from behind, turning the World Eater and slashing his sword through his throat. The dying loyalist was still falling when Verion jumped on top of the Terminator with unbelievable agility, slashing down with his sword and talon, leaving slashed into the white and blue ceramite.

The Devourer slashed with its own claws, cutting Verion's sword to shreds and shaking the Blood Angel off. Verion threw the ruined weapon away, hissing at the World Eater who charge and backhanded Verion across the breastplate. The lightning claw cut Verion, ripping away a gruesome chunks of gore from his stomach. Verion collapsed and the World Eater kicked him aside.

Rukiel took the opportunity and rammed his power spear into the shoulder joint of the massive warsuit, but the turning World Eater forced him to back off when the Terminator grabbed the spear with its functioning hand and ripped it free. He threw the spear away like a twig and advanced on Rukiel. Without his spear Rukiel retreated, pulling his Archeotech pistol up once more and taking a shot at the World Eater. The massive warsuit's thick plates protected him once again and he would have shredded Rukiel with his claw then and there if Verion had not come from behind and impaled the Shadower through the Terminator's torso, the adamantium tip emerging through the midsection of the tactical dreadnought armor.

"You... lost you spear, Rukiel…" Verion rasped before the Terminator wrenched itself around and cut the Blood Angel in half from neck to armpit.

Rukiel fired the pistol again, this time scoring a hit into the leg of the Terminator. It slowed the massive warrior only a fraction before he rammed his clawed hand at Rukiel.

The last spear thrust to the shoulder had fortunately disrupted the power feed of that claw and so Rukiel had the endure only the adamantium blades without the coat of disruption field that would had shredded him. But the hit ripped his arm badly, and more importantly caused him to lose his grip of the relic pistol. It was thrown in the air and Rukiel let out a scream as he saw it falling towards a magma pit. "No!"

His jetpack groaned angrily as he activated and dived after the weapon. He had gone so far. He had sacrificed so much. He could not lose the relic. He could not lose the weapon of the Ravenlord.

His armor clad fingers curled around the weapon's handle as he fell into the pit, turning in the air and firing his jump pack in one final thrust. The machine spirit of the pack however failed him and the the damaged thruster stopped working with a sound of screeching metal shrapnel in the propulsion system. The thrust was cut short and Rukiel smashed against the wall of the pit, orange glow of the magma below him coloring his dark armor with red glow.

Rukiel tried to claw the rock with his hand for purchase but could not get a grip from the steep angled stone. He could have let go of the relic but his left hand stubbornly held onto the pistol as he started falling along the rock's surface. The relic was his. He was not letting go. Not even if it killed him.

Something long and oily black came from above and wrapped itself around Rukiel's hand. The thin tentacle like thing leached onto his arm and stopped his fall with unflinched grip. As Rukiel was hanging from his black life rope above the fiery magma pit, he glanced up to see the Spawn Marine leader of the first squad.

"My lord…" Kia-Prime rasped from behind its simple helmet, its deformed wings framing its form it the light of the pit. The black tentacle like thing that was keeping Rukiel from falling to his death was coming from the Prime's own arm, a whip like organic appendage mutation that sprouted from the wrist of the prime and was held by its fingers that pulled it up.

"My lord…" The Prime groaned again as it pulled with all its surprising strength. Its organic whip lifted Rukiel up as the Spawn Marine dragged Rukiel from the pit and onto the solid level floor of the cave.

Rukiel let out wheezing breaths as he got up, still firmly squeezing the relic in his left hand.

"Your spear, my lord...," The Spawn Marine said as it pointed at the battered, bleeding but still very much standing Devourer on the other side of the pit who was heading back towards the main fight. "I will retrieve it for you, lord…"

The Spawn Marine took some momentum and jumped across the pit, the deformed wings sprouting from the back of his scout armor offering him some minor glide. It landed on the other side and rolled, just as the Devourer turned to face it. The Spawn was actually agile enough to threw its whip weapon around the Terminator and slow its movement long enough to circle to the backside of the World Eater. The Spawn grabbed the spear that was still embedded into the Terminator and ripped it free with with a groan of pierced armor plates. The Terminator cut the whip mutation apart with its still functional lightning claw and turned to strike at the spawn.

Rukiel only watched as the Spawn deflected the lightning claw blow with the spear, then dodged the next one. And the next one. And the one after that. And then it struck back by ramming the spear into the helmet of the Terminator.

The hulking warrior stumbled, its arms moving for a moment in strange spasming gestures before it stopped moving, dead but still standing by the balancing servos of the armor that prevented the slightly tilted hulk of a corpse from falling over.

Kia-Prime grabbed the spear and wrenched it away from the head of the dead World Eater in a shower of blood, coating the Prime's form in the blood of his fallen kill.

The Spawn Marine returned to Rukiel by jumping over the same pit. The it fell to its knees and offered the weapon to its master. "Your spear, my lord…" the Spawn marine rasped.

Rukiel took the weapon, his eyes not leaving the Prime for a moment. He was wordless, something he had not been in a long while.

The Bolter fire snapped his attention back to the situation at hand. He looked to his left and saw Lharkus running towards him, followed by Kerverax. The two of them dived between rocks, running from cover to cover. Lharkus had something over his shoulder and when he got closer Rukiel saw it was a jump pack. Torash's jump pack.

"This fool was actually crazy enough to stop to pick up the jump pack when we ran from the World Eaters," Kerverax said as he reached Rukiel. "Can we flee now?"

"Yes," Rukiel said as a bolt shell impacted against the jump pack Lharkus was carrying. He took one final look at the cave filled with bodies. Spawn Marines. Purebloods of the Legion, from other and his own warband. World Eaters dead by the dozen. The cave was a field of death, a grand graveyard of blood and flesh from two gene lines. A true raven's feast.

The three Purebloods and one Spawn Marine Prime turned and rand with all the speed their transhuman bodies allowed. They used the rocks and sometimes the dead for cover when they fled from the pursuing World Eaters. They ran up the hill leading to the tunnel where they had arrive in the first place. The place was devastated my Plasma Canon fire and Rukiel actually spotted pieces of burned white ceramite that had once been Tseren. They entered the tunnel, finally reaching safety from the bolter fire that stopped when they dives into the darkness.

"We dumped the remaining couple of Spawn into the World Eaters. With my melta bomb mag-locked into one of clones." Kerverax explained. "When it blew up we took our chances and pushed through into the open then from there to the cover of the rocks." Kerverax looked at the winged Spawn Prime still covered in Devourer blood running behind him. "Speaking of which, should we not throw this one back to distract the World Eaters?"

"Kia-Prime stays with us," Rukiel said and that was that.

"Found Torash, or what was left of him, when I was dodging the flanking Eaters." Lahrkus said next while hefting his newly scavenged jump pack. "It would have been shame to leave this."

"It was an insane move that somehow did not manage to get you killed because the World Eaters were being slowed down by being knee deep in Spawn corpses," Kerverax Snarled as he took a glance behind him. Rukiel also did so, but there was no signs of World Eater pursuers.

"I cut this off when Arkmadius died," Kerverax said as he lifted something that Rukiel realised was a black power armored arm cut off from the elbow, with old Narthecium still attached to it. "And then I took this off him as well," Kerverax continued as he lifted the carrion chain that had been around Arkmadius' neck. It was still lined with tiny cylinders holding the remains of fallen sons of Corax. "We harvested Skiessax," Kerverax finished, fiddling with the newest addition to the chain. "I have piece of Arkmadius right here," he said as he lifted the arm. "And the jump pack might have something left behind from Torash."

"Add them to the chain later," Rukiel said as he kept running. "You are the holder of the chain from now on, Kerverax."

"Yes my lord."

"Was this worth it?" Lharkus asked. Rukiel and Kerverax glanced at their brother. "I lost my old warband in these cursed caves. You lost most of yours as well, Rukiel. All those Purebloods, dead. Was it worth it?"

Rukiel lifted his relic, his treasure. Holding the irreplaceable Archeotech pistol of Corax filled him with new sense of certainty and spirit. It was his. He had emerged triumphant. He was the victor.

"Yes."

The blast shields came down behind Rukiel when he left the bridge of the Raptor's Shoud as the ship entered the caress of the Warp. "Good job guarding the ship while I was gone," he said as he passed the two Spawns Marines standing as motionless statues at the door of the bridge. "Kerverax, you have the bridge. Take us to the nest in the Eye."

"Yes lord."

The bulkhead closed behind Rukiel and Kia-Prime and the two very different Raven Guard warriors made their way through the corridors of the old light cruiser, the old ship slightly groaning around them as it entered the Sea of Souls. The to of them traveled for quite a while before they entered a wide chamber lined with machines, working servitors and couple of tech-adepts.

There were almost a dozen equipment racks alongside the walls, each holding pieces of power armor. The well crafted and maintained armors reserved for the Purebloods constantly looked after by the Legion serfs.

Rukiel stopped at the door, motioning Kia-Prime into the chamber where serfs and tech-adepts were falling into deep bows at the presence of their lord. "Choose anyone you want," Rukiel said, his hand sweeping across the room at the warsuits. "I will have the techpriest modify it for you to wear."

"My lord…" The Prime said, looking between Rukiel and the armors, as if not quite believing what it was hearing. Then the Spawn Marine entered the chamber, starting to go around gazing at the lined power armors.

"Haxorr," Rukiel called, and the highest ranking techpriest of the dark mechanicum crawled from one of the dark corners with his centipede-like legs, making metallic groaning and clicking sound sas it approached. The dark red hood covered most of it, with one bright green optic shining from under the dark good like a huge radiant eye.

"Lord Varkhian?" The metallic monotone spoke, cast by the machine man's vox port for a mouth.

"Kia-Prime…" Rukiel stopped for a very brief moment when he thought about the Prime. Maybe it should be given a proper name. He would have to think about that later. "The Prime will be choosing an armor for himself. Make sure the plate is modified to his unique needs and that he is properly equipped."

The tech priest glanced at the Spawn Marine, perhaps surprised by the unusual order of giving out one of the Pureblood armors, but there was no reading his mechanical form. "As you wish my lord, I will comply…" The techpriest turned its head back to Rukiel "You own armor is requiring heavy maintenance…" It crackled.

"Later," Rukie said as he gazed at the Prime for a moment longer. That damaged scout armor it wore. The right arm that possessed a rapidly regrowing whip like mutation coming from the writs. The deformed black wings in its back... No... The wings were no longer the pitiful bony sprouts they had been before. The red transhuman blood spilled from the Devourer was still coating the wings that were now half full of black glistening feathers, with more growing out slowly but fast enough enough for Rukiel to notice with blind eye. They were transforming into proper wings. Raven's wings.

Rukiel gazed for a second longer before turning and leaving the armory sanctum and heading for the strategium. When he reached the war room, occupied otherwise only by the hardwired servitors along the walls, he took to his throne and climbed to sit upon it. He rested his heavily damaged armor against the back of the throne, lifting his hand to inspect the relic in his hand. The Archeotech pistol seemed to poorly reflect the already reduced lighting on the room, and Rukiel could feel the aura of dark glory surrounding the weapon. It was a priceless treasure of the Legion that he had sacrificed much to obtain.

And he would have to give it away. He did not want to, but Rukiel was enough of a pragmatic man to see why it had to be done. His warband was ruined. The relic had come at a heavy cost. From the beginning it had been his intention to sell it to a more prestigious Legion brother for what his warband really needed. And he would never have been able to defend the relic from greedy brothers who would come for it when the word got out. The relic was priceless, but there were things which Rukiel needed more. There were things needed for war greater than any single weapon.

Rukiel lowered the pistol to rest against the arm of his throne, holding it gently in his grip just like his left hand hold on the the dataslate on the left arm of the throne. Maybe, if the bargaining went his way, he would soon be commanding a much larger vessel in the near future. One able to hold even greater warband that he would rebuild.

And that was the story of Rukiel's costly venture to reclaim a treasure of his Legion for himself. It has been a blast to write this. Huge thanks to Zahariel for allowing me to use his awesome universe and also for Beta reading this story for me. I hope it was an enjoyable to read.

Also thanks to Darkerpaths, without who this story would not have had Devourers in it.

My Raven Guard Artwork of Roboutian Heresy is also done by the way, so go take a look at it on my DevianArt page. It is very special. ;)

So, the Raven's Feast is done. time to get back to Chaos is the Prize. I am missing writing it already.