Invasion of Kantus IV

Chaos brings war to all corners of the planet

The **Invasion of Kantus IV** is a Chaos incursion upon a shrine world in the western Segmentum Solar spearheaded by a Word Bearers coven led by the Dark Apostle Ilios the Black. The Word Bearers are searching for a malefic tome which Ilios hopes will increase his power and bring him one step closer to ascension. While they search for this relic, his followers take great delight in despoiling any holy place and symbol of the Imperial Church.

While he has his own goals in mind, Ilios and his warband have been revealed to be little more than a vanguard for the daemon prince Be'lakor. Leading a great army of Chaos Undivided, Be'lakor has grown tired of Ilios' failures and is determined to claim Kantus IV in person.

## First Contact

Apostate forces converged on the primary Holy Flame convent in the opening stages of the invasion. The base had been forewarned by the planetary defence cogitators and had weathered the bombardment beneath its void shield. Certain that this primary installation likely contained the tome of blasphemous knowledge he sought, Ilios the Black linked his forces with those led by Sorcerer Hellclaimer before pushing toward the base. Though they made good time, Canoness-Commander Oshone led her sisters out beyond the shield to stop the heretics in their tracks.

A supply convoy carrying munitions and medical materiel to the convent had been destroyed in the initial bombardment; Holy Flame forces battled the invaders through the ruins for control of these vital supplies. The battle was furious with no quarter given, but the Sororitas' predilection for flamers and melta weaponry carried the day. They secured much-needed relief and forced both Ilios and Hellclaimer to retreat, allowing members of the Order of the Red Candle to retrieve their wounded and recover beneath the safety of the shield.

## Failure to Inspire

At the request of a missionary who had been stranded on Kantus IV by the invasion, Oshone assigned some of her sisters as his protectors while he tried to inspire the citizens of the nearby hives to join the frateris militia and resist the invaders. He hoped to take the fight to the heart of the enemy, and attempted to storm Ilios' position. An even fiercer battle than the first erupted, but the missionary was slain by a stray bullet as he was moving through some ruins. To compound their failure, his Crusader bodyguards were unable to avenge their master and they were forced to retreat; with the Ministorum's forces being routed soon after by the seemingly endless waves of cultists and bloodletters summoned by the Word Bearers.

## Taking the Fight to Chaos

Realising the folly of giving a lowly missionary control over her battle sisters, and unable to coordinate an effective planet-wide defence due to enemy vox intrusion, Canoness Oshone decided to take a more active role in the war effort. Delegating ongoing defence of the convent to her Palatine, Oshone mobilised a contingent and decided to move on the nearest hive with the Immolator *Sophia's Chariot* acting as armoured support. Oshone's detachment engaged the enemy in ruined hab units on the outskirts of Hive Twenty-Four Gamma. Though the Word Bearers were eventually pushed back, they were successful at summoning a Lord of Change which delayed Oshone's advance significantly as the sisters had to call in reinforcements to banish the daemon.

Once his forces had regrouped, Ilios decided to hold a ritual to further weaken the veil between reality and the warp as well as divine the location of the dark tome he sought. He deliberately sited the ritual in a ruined section of the hive as it would be inaccessible to Imperial armour. Forces of the Adeptus Ministorum led by Canoness Oshone entered the area on foot to prevent the ritual's completion.

### The Ritual

While Hellclaimer focussed on channelling the unstable warp energies, the defence was led by Ilios. His summoning abilities were boosted by the increased immaterial presence and Ilios was able to summon wave-after-wave of daemons to slow the Holy Flame's advance. Canoness Oshone relied on her Retributors to destroy the daemons as fast as they could be summoned. As the ritual progressed, Oshone revealed her trump card: the Repentia. These zealots, driven only by a desire for absolution through battle in the God-Emperor's name, carved their way deep into the enemy ranks. Their reckless charge was eventually brought to a bloody end by a summoned daemon prince of Khorne but their sacrifice opened a hole in the enemy formation, allowing a squad of Retributors to bring their multi-meltas to bear on Hellclaimer.

With the sorcerer's apparent destruction the energies he was channelling were unleashed; the crack in reality Hellclaimer had created began to fluctuate. The daemons of Khorne turned their desire for bloodshed on the Word Bearers and their cultist followers, determined to punish them for letting the ritual fail. Although Ilios managed to ward off the daemons' aggression, his acolytes were not so lucky. Bolts of exotic and false colours lashed out from the portal. Daemons struck by them were banished as their physical forms were ripped apart, their infernal essences pulled screaming back into the warp before the blood they craved had finished pumping from their victims.

As the small portal grew larger and more unstable, Canoness Oshone ordered all Imperial forces to retreat from Hive Twenty-Four Gamma.

## The Triumph of Martyrs

The survivors withdrew across a bridge known as The Triumph of Martyrs which was the main thoroughfare linking Hive Twenty-Four Gamma from the Cathedral of the Great Angel. On the other side they were met by the PDF who had orders to destroy the bridge and prevent the servants of Chaos from defiling the holy precincts beyond. Oshone linked up with fresh troops from her Order and the defences were bolstered by heavy artillery and servo-turrets. As preparations were completed, a hellish un-light shone from Hive Twenty-Four Gamma. Most of the PDF soldiers were driven insane and had to be given the Emperor's Peace. A triumphant roar which spoke to eons of hatred echoed across the span, causing the planet itself to quake. A mighty daemonic host emerged, led by a winged figure shrouded in shadow:

Be'lakor - the true mastermind of the invasion - had come.

Be'lakor had exploited and widened the portal opened by Hurine Hellclaimer to bring his army from the immaterium on to the planet. He desired Kantus IV as a seat of power from which his armies could launch an invasion of the Sol System and finally bring an end to the Anathema. In doing so he would cement his position as the ultimate champion of the Ruinous Powers.

Shrouded in a cloak of unnatural darkness, the disciples of Be'lakor advanced across the bridge. The blessings of their infernal lord frustrated the aim of Imperial gunners covering the span. The Order of the Holy Flame dug in to hold the defences in place of the troopers. Their objective: prevent the daemons from destroying the command post before charges placed along the bridge can be remotely detonated.

The first two waves - consisting of the daemons of Khorne and Slaanesh respectively - threatened to overwhelm the defenders; fiends of Slaanesh sped through and tried to overrun the artillery positions but were crushed under the iron treads of the Planetary Defence Forces; bloodletters broke through the forward Imperial lines and overran them only to be cut down by sinew and shot coordinated by Oshone. Seeing their canoness lead from the front inspired the Sisters of Battle to even greater feats of arms - the Hearth Guard stepped in to finish off the daemons of Khorne and protect their mistress. A swarm of daemonettes swarmed over the foremost artillery emplacement, cutting open the armour with their wicked claws and eviscerating the tank crew within. Pulling back to the command post, Oshone found herself the target of Be'lakor's ire. The daemon prince swooping down to deliver the executioner's blow to the leader of the hated Imperials. His unnatural sword sliced through even Oshone's well-wrought and consecrated armour with ease but she survived, clinging to life thanks to the sanctity of the relic mantle she bore.

As numerous as the first waves had been, a much larger third wave consisting of beasts of Nurgle, horrors and members of the Lost and the Damned had almost finished crossing the bridge. Just before the enemy horde reached solid ground, there was a series of thunderous explosions.

The PDF had successfully detonated their explosives: the span collapsed into the chasm, sending hundreds of neverborn and Chaos worshippers falling to their doom. Be'lakor roared in frustration as he felt the warp portals collapse in on themselves. Their connection to the immaterium suddenly weakened, he and the remaining daemons were shot down by the defenders or fled, gradually losing their grip on reality and being pulled back into the warp.

Though held at bay for the moment, the Dark Master has not been driven off yet...

## A Light in the Darkness

Having captured Hive Twenty-Four Gamma, the Disciples of Be'lakor sought to gain new momentum after their failed attack over the Triumph of Martyrs. By attacking in other directions, Ilios sought to spread the planet's defenders more thinly than they already were. Despite the daemon prince's banishment, it was only a matter of time before he returned. The traitors seemed to accelerate their war efforts. Imperial hives thought secure experienced sudden riots and armed 'gangs' in running firefights with PDF and Holy Flame forces. As Canoness Oshone struggled to maintain control of these new fronts behind her own lines, she found herself kept in her headquarters more and more. After weeks of constant force diversions, attacks on multiple shrines and temples, even the production facilities keeping the defenders armed; the integrity of numerous sectors was imperilled, if not already lost. Oshone was forced to confronting an altogether different threat: the eldar. The emissary found herself alone in her office with a ranger from Craftworld Keil-Xin. Long-time foes of the Ruinous Powers, they were not as militant as the likes of Biel-Tan, though no less mercurial for that. The eldar offered the help of his people against the mutants, traitors and daemons assailing the planet. When challenged on his motives, he remained vague. As proof of their sincerity, Asuryani forces placed themselves in harms way to save numerous groups of civilians & PDF soldiers trapped by Chaos cultists in various locations.

Certain she would be executed for heresy but seeing no other choice to stop the God-Emperor's tenuous grip on this world from slipping away, Oshone accepted an alliance with the eldar until the Chaos forces were destroyed or put to rout. The Canoness was determined to fight all the harder, secretly hoping that she would be granted the grace of martyrdom. Until the day of her judgement came, Silvia would perform her duty.