Crusade of the Claws

Armorial of the Argent Eagles.

The **Crusade of the Claws** was a massive Imperial castigation Crusade spearheaded by the Argent Eagles Space Marine Chapter.

## Background

There had been many smaller Astartes strikeforces sent out from Auroria previously, but it was only after the completion of the Chapter Fortress-Monastery and the shipyards of Trireme that the Argent Fleet would begin patrolling the nearby star systems. During this time the Battle-Barge *Son of Elysium* received a plea of help from the Fortress World of Surtar, a planet lying on the fringes of the local Phanes Sector. The distress call detailed that the Surtar Systen had been attacked by an unknown Xenos race and was under siege from all sides. Parts of the message were broken up and impossible to decipher, so the Chapter held precious little information on the exact situation. Half of the 10th and most of the 11th and 6th companies were sent out to perform reconnaissance-in-force, and to aide in the planet's defense.

Shortly after their arrival it became clear that the enemy was no alien breed, but rather a warband of Chaos Space Marines that had enslaved or corrupted much of the civilian population of the Surtar system to do their bidding. However, these servants of Chaos bore no sigil, flew no banners and wore a livery of simple black and grey. They declared no name unto themselves and so became known only as the "Unbannered".

What followed was a short and bloody battle waged in both the coldness of space as well as the ruined cities of the once mighty Fortress World. The result was the complete loss of all Battle-Brothers and void vessels that were part of the initial strikeforce deployed by the Chapter. The original distress signal had been a trap meant to lure in any Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes willing to heed it. It was also discovered that not just Surtar but every single one of the thirteen worlds present in the star system had been enthralled by the Unbannered for many years. How the larger Imperium remained unaware of this is still uncertain, though some theorise that a combination of forged Administratum reports and dark rituals had kept prying eyes away from it long enough for the Unbannered to establish total dominion over the system. The dark rituals affecting much of the surrounding sector are also thought to be the reason for why the Chapter's early conflicts were so uneventful and few. All threats present in this corner of the galaxy seemed to have been redirected or disposed of before the Argent Eagles could encounter them.

This information was only revealed to the rest of the Chapter through the heroic acts of Sergeant Thebel of the 10th Host and Captain Perin of the 11th who, along with the survivors of their companies, captured an astropathic relay station and sent a warning to their brothers after being stranded on the world of Surtar. Not much is known of their last stand other than that one of the last defenders of the relay triggered a detonation which destroyed the station and much of the surrounding city. In response to this outrageous slaughter of their brothers, Chapter Master Urikles declared a crusade to liberate the Surtar System and avenge their fallen kin. A crusade that should see this yet young Space Marine Chapter show its claws. All companies save for the 7th and parts of the 1st were called to arms and thus set out for the first great war in the Chapter's history. Supported by a large force of the Imperial Guard from the Valhallan Ice Warriors and a battlegroup of the Imperial Navy, the Argent Eagles thus began a long and vicious campaign from which they would carve their identity as a brotherhood.

#### Battle of Colvrin

The first obstacle that stood in the way of the Astartes was the planet of Colvrin and its massive Star-Fortress which had been used as the main port for the ships of the Unbannered. As was to be expected, the Star-Fortress was protected by a large fleet. In light of this situation the commander of the Imperial Navy ships offered for his fleet to engage first and take the brunt of the enemy's fire while the Argent Eagles would move in close to perform boarding actions against the capital ships of the Chaos fleet. After consulting with Chapter Master Urikles and Kubernete Nemion Ceyon Aerik of the 10th Host, battle was joined and the strategy enacted. Though losses among the crews of the Imperial Navy were severe, the Astartes managed to successfully board and disable most of the hostile battleships with swift efficiency. While their outstanding tactics employed during these boarding maneuvers were commendable, most of the enemy vessels seemed to be manned and defended by regular humans and strange beasts native to the world of Colvrin. Only the command decks and what was assumed to be the flagship of the Unbannered managed to muster a formidable defense against the onslaught of the Space Marines as they were defended by Heretic Astartes.

During the brutal fighting aboard the Unbannered flagship it was discovered that all of the enemy Marines had undergone a strange soul bonding ritual with the ship's reactor that was essentially meant to act as a failsafe should the flagship be captured, making it so that the death of the last Unbannered Marine on board would unleash a foul spell and destroy the ship, along with most of the Argent Eagles fleet surrounding it. As this was only revealed after the last traitor had already been mortally wounded, it seemed as though the voidwar would end in a devastating defeat for the Imperium. It was at this moment that a small group of Hieropriest Apothecaries teleported onto the enemy command deck and began to do everything in their power to keep the dying traitor alive. At the same time every cultist and beast on the ship began rushing towards them, seeking to end the life of the denied martyr and leading to a bizarre scene in which Space Marines of the Argent Eagles' 10th Host fought tooth and nail to defend a servant of Chaos and prolong his life. Meanwhile, a detachment of Techmarines attempted to steer the void vessel into a collision course with the Colvrin Star-Fortress in hopes of destroying both of them at once. Right before impact the Astartes teleported off the ship as the last remaining Hieropriest drew his Bolt Pistol and executed his former patient, before quickly teleporting away himself.

Though the worst case was avoided, the Star-Fortress above Colvrin managed to bring its defenses to bear on the approaching flagship and destroyed large parts of it before its reactor went critical and detonated. The Star-Fortress suffered considerable damage to its shields and defense systems, but was still operational.

Leading an all-out assault on their last great obstacle, the Chapter Master personally spearheaded the attack on the damaged Fortress. After disabling most of its point defenses the Argent Eagles deployed almost 200 Marines to quickly carve their way towards the command centre. The losses sustained during this bloody offensive were considerable however, and many great warriors of the Emperor met their end in the blackened hallways of a a station that none even knew the name of. Shadowed by his Phaethonian Guard, Urikles wasted no time and relentlessly pushed onwards until he had reached his destination. A warrior clad in many different colours awaited him and challenged the Chapter Master to single combat, clearly trying to use his sense of honour against him. Nevertheless, Urikles accepted.

For several minutes the evasive warrior held his own against him, despite the fact that they were worlds apart in martial skill. Eventually the warrior's severed head lay still upon the floor of the command centre. And with his death the entire Star-Fortress began to slowly accelerate towards the planet's surface whilst breaking apart into thousands of pieces. For this mysterious Marine had also performed a soul bonding, though with the entirety of the mighty fortress. When the Argent Eagles reached the command centre this bonding was still incomplete, meaning the duel to which he had challenged the Chapter Master served only to buy enough time for it to reach completion. Urikles watched as an artificial hail of meteorites descended on the planet of Colvrin. It is unknown just how many enslaved and tortured imperial citizens were on the planet desperately awaiting salvation when it was consumed by fire, but one thing that is certain is that none of them survived the fall of the Star-Fortress. Cursing his own foolishness, Chapter Master Urikles pressed onward, unable to acknowledge the battle's outcome as a victory.

#### Liberation of the Vivlis Triumvirate

With most of the enemy fleet destroyed and void superiority as good as assured, it seemed that the remainder of the traitor forces would be quickly overcome and the worlds of the Surtar system liberated. Cautious from their previous engagement the imperials moved on to the three worlds closest to them on their path. The planets of Vivlis, Vivlis Alpha and Vivlis Beta orbited each other in a way similar to Baal and its moons, and were known collectively as the Vivlis Triumvirate. Said to have once been the seat of a great Knight House, it was now under the thrall of cruel masters who did not even bear names for their victims to curse. The Triumvirate's population was considerable, sharing 30 billion imperial subjects distributed evenly between the three worlds. While much of the native military had turned and pledged their allegiance to the Unbannered, many of them simply obeyed out of fear for the mighty Space Marines and their cultist hordes, which were numerous enough to ensure obedience in their ranks. Even so the Unbannered were spread thinly and only possessed a concentrated force of Marines in each of their three citadels located on the Vivlis Worlds. The 2nd, 5th and 8th Hosts were tasked with liberating the population of the Triumvirate by turning them against their Chaos masters.

The plan was simple. In each of the world's capitals and major cities the Argent Eagles targeted strategic or culturally symbolic locations and struck in overwhelming force. On Vivlis they descended from the skies on the former Cathedral of the Imperial Cult and made a great show of exterminating every single traitor they could find within its defiled halls. They then dragged out the commanding officer of the city's PDF, tied him to a great platform outside of the Cathedral and asked the onlooking soldiers and citizens what they would do now. Inspired by the radiant Angels that had appeared to deliver them from strife, they killed the officer who had betrayed them and declared In one voice that they would take back their home from the filth that had occupied it for too long. It was a relatively small beginning, yet it served as the spark that would ignite a wildfire.

Similar scenes took all across Vivlis Alpha and Beta as the image of the Argent Eagles falling from the heavens with wings of luster and light, slaughtering their oppressors, woke the spirits of those who had toiled under the whips of the Unbannered for many years. With renewed vigour and flaming courage the people of the Vivlis Triumvirate rose up in open revolt against their superhuman slavers, guided and supported by the Astartes of the Argent Eagles and the Guardsmen of Valhalla. One by one each of the mighty citadels fell, brought to ruin by the vengeful mortals washing against their walls and the glorious Angels obliterating their high towers. As the brave hordes of the vivlian people fought tirelessly on the steep walls and in the tight hallways of the horrid bastions, the Argent Eagles performed precise decapitation strikes against the Unbannered chain of command, bringing the enemy defenses down from the inside as the common folk flooded them from the outside.

Learning from their past mistakes the Argent Eagles made sure to capture the commanders of each citadel alive. They would not take the risk that they may have performed rituals similar to those in the battle of Colvrin. Additionally, they would be interrogated to try and uncover information about this foe of whom they still knew next to nothing.

With the Vivlis Trumvirate Worlds liberated, the Crusade pushed on.

#### Fall of Aidac Prime

It was at this point that the Unbannered began to withdraw their forces from most of the system's planets, leaving some with only few defenders and completely abandoning others. The strategy of the Unbannered continued to puzzle the Crusade's leadership and led to wild speculations as to what their goals could be. They should have anticipated that the Argent Eagles would retaliate and bring imperial forces to retake the lost system, they should have known to prepare for the war they had provoked. And yet at no point had there been an attempt to turn the tide, to enact a counterattack or to bring the fight to the Imperials. Defense and retreat were all they seemed capable of. As more and more of the worlds were left behind by the traitor forces the Crusade began to split up into smaller strikeforces to gradually secure and liberate them. At this point the highest echelons of the imperial command, especially those of the Chapter's Argent Priesthood and Dawnsayer Librarius, found themselves wondering the true nature of their foe. Nowhere on any of the worlds on which the imperial forces set foot did they encounter chaotic corruption or other indications of daemonic energies. There was no doubt that the Unbannered served the ruinous powers, the few markings they bore on their armor were unmistakably of dark origin and their thaumaturgic rituals and sorceries could only be attributed to the works of the archenemy. Even so, the liberated worlds seemed free of the Warp's taint. Their citizens were terribly malnourished, beaten, defiled and tortured in obscene ways, but none showed signs of warp corruption. Even the wretched cultists that fought for the Unbannered seemed physically pure, if such a word could be used to describe the likes of them.

It did not take long until all of the remaining traitor forces had gathered on the two remaining worlds that still suffered under the yoke of the Unbannered and their machinations. The Hive World of Aidac Prime and the Fortress World of Surtar. When the main strikeforce consisting of over 600 Astartes and an estimated 6 million Guardsmen began establishing a base of operations upon the planet of Aidac Prime, they were met by a terrible trap laid by the Unbannered. The captured commanders of the Vivlis citadels who were spread out across the fleet, held in highly secure confinement chambers, suddenly burst open with warp energies which pulled the imperial void vessels towards the planet's surface until they had entered into its lower orbit. The strange rituals performed at Colvrin had the purpose of ensuring that the Argent Eagles would capture members of the Unbannered instead of killing them outright. Now their carefully laid trap had sprung. Alarmed, the fleet attempted to put distance between themselves and Aidac Prime but were met with a sudden barrier that had encompassed the planet like a bubble made up of sheer warp energy, almost like a tiny, localised warp storm. The strikeforce found itself trapped. It was then that Chapter Master Urikles made the decision to descend onto the planet and destroy the barrier at its vile source, so that the remaining fleet elements of the Crusade who were still en-route from other worlds in the system could reinforce them.

Under fire from orbital Defence Lasers and other skyward sent armaments, the fleet was forced to enact reckless bombardment on the surface of Aidac Prime. The landing of the imperial groundforces was met with fierce resistance as the Crusade's troop transports were relentlessly assailed and fired upon during their efforts to establish a base of operations in the rocky hillsides near the Hive-City of Medrun. This location was the only trace of civilization still standing as all other cities and industrial complexes had been reduced to rubble, both by its malevolent occupiers and the newly arrived warfleet of the imperial navy and the Astartes. Wherever the sorcerers who had created the warp barrier where hiding, it was certain to be somewhere in Medrun Hive. But now the Unbannered were the ones taking the initiative as a great army of turncoat soldiers, cultists and mutated beasts led by Heretic Astartes was advancing on the rudimentary defensive perimeter established by the beleaguered Crusade forces.

What followed was a horrendous battle fought in narrow valleys, upon rocky cliffs and in burning skies. Guard and Astartes warmachines and aerial attack crafts faced off against the traitor armies in fierce engagements as firefights and melee brawls broke out on a battlefield of herculean scale. At the same time fleet elements of the Unbannered who had not been present at Colvrin suddenly emerged to attack the trapped imperial ships in orbit which were still supplying their allies struggling on the ground.

During these bloody days the Argent Eagles learned the might and perseverance of the Astra Millitarum and the Imperial Navy first-hand. Without these brave men and women the Astartes of the Silver City would have surely met their end in fire. Standing on the titanic shoulders of their mortal comrades the Argent Eagles once more carried out their precise decapitation tactics to weaken the enemy by collapsing their command structure, and led valiant counterattacks deep into the formations of their foe, dividing them and defeating each separated force in detail. Up in the void similar courses of action brought about victory by the narrowest of margins. The marvelous swordskills and close quarters mastery of the Chapter's warriors brushed off any attempt by the enemy to board their vessels. After one week of grueling battle, Medrun Hive was finally breached and the Chaos Sorcerers sitting at its heart were found. When confronted by Dawnlord Miseus Ahro Dyfeion of the Librarius and his Dawnsayers, a brief duel of the minds occurred that shook the vast ritual hall in which they stood with psychic power.

In the end, many of the dark sorcerers managed to flee using their warpcraft, although Dawnlord Miseus could divine that they had escaped to Surtar, where the Unbannered would present their last stand. The battle of Aidac Prime had cost the Crusade's army dearly. Some 5 million Guardsmen lay dead, the Imperial Navy had lost almost half of their void vessels and of the Astartes that had fought in both the planet's mud and the coldness of space, more than half had met their duty's end. Fortunately the Chapter's fleet still retained most of its ships in servicable condition, albeit much of the human crew had been killed. In spite of the heavy losses, they would see it to the end.

With the orbital barrier lifted, the Crusade forces reunited and the planet of Aidac Prime in utter ruin, it was time to end the war for the worlds of Surtar once and for all.

#### Siege of Surtar & Storm on the Bastion of Sherralor

Now that all elements of the Crusade had gathered in full, the strategy to take down the wretched heart of this small interplanetary empire was devised. The Chapter Fleet consisting of two Battle Barges and several Strike Cruisers and escorts which carried the remaining Astartes. The Imperial Navy made up of three Grand Cruisers, multiple Cruisers and a host of escorts protecting the countless transport ships holding 9 Million Guardsmen.

In the initial attack phase the fleet was targeted by multiple Defence Lasers as well as a wide array of nuclear warheads but was able to conduct planetary bombardment to greatly reduce the orbital weapons systems on the surface. The bombardment also cleared a protected valley surrounded by large mountain ranges where a temporary headquarters could be constructed. Though certainly potent, the planetary defences could not cause any serious damage to the Battle Barges which acted as a shield for the more vulnerabe ships. After the bulk of the imperial forces had made planetfall, much of the Crusade fleet remained a safe distance away and out of range of the planetary defence lasers to hold reserve troops and supplies. With total void superiority assured, the plan was to starve out the defenders of the few void shielded strongholds until they could be broken with force. Expecting reinforcements and resupply ships to arrive in but a few weeks, they began to prepare for a long siege.

This time the environment favored the attackers, as Surtar was a world of frozen winds, cold oceans and icy wastes in which the Valhallans could utilise their finely honed stratagems to the fullest. Every canyon, every cave and every mountainside became a deathtrap to any potential assailants. The enemy Astartes most likely outnumbered those of the Argent Eagles, though there was no way of verifying this assumption. Yet even so Urikles was aware just how sparingly he had to deploy every single one of his Battle-Brothers. Once more the legions of soldiers bearing the mark of the Astra Millitarum would have to bear most of the heavy fighting, against the mortal servants of the enemy more than anything. Contrary to what was expected the Unbannered did not attempt to further fortify their positions or to dig themselves into their bastions. Instead, they once more took the fight to the Imperium, most likely in an attempt to crush them before reinforcements could arrive.

Countless smaller settlements, strongholds and manufactorums were located on the continental landscape between the imperial headquarters and the Bastion of Sherralor. These landmarks would soon be naught but ash and sundered stone as the traitor forces and the Imperials began their desperate struggles over them. In open fields and narrow streets Guardsmen and cultists sought each other's life as vibrant snow was tainted red. The skies screamed with the unceasing sounds of Astartes and Navy aircraft soaring overhead to wrestle air superiority from the clutches of the defenders. Tanks flattened long abandoned residential housings as infantry advanced behind them and artillery shelled the endless stream of foreign beasts and heretic wretches spewing forth from the walls of Sherralor. Prepared ambush sites became places of butchery where the enemy fell to lasguns and bolters alike, while artificially created avalanches devoured thousands of unsuspecting servants of the archenemy. Slowly but surely, footholds were gained as the creep of the dark tide began to slow more and more.

The fury of the Valhallans was only barely eclipsed by that of their superhuman comrades, who perfected their aerial drop assaults during these cold days. Leaping from high above out of their modified Thunderhawks and using their newly developed Icanor Jump Packs, they came over their enemies as birds of prey, extending their claws and striking with awe inspiring speed and precision. In tandem with these attacks, the Marines standing by in orbit aided their brothers by deploying into the cores of the enemy armies via Drop Pods. Both from orbit and from the heavens they came crashing down, slaughtering all in their path and pushing outward in a wide perimeter like a spreading wildfire, burning the formations of the heretics from inside out as the Guard forces closed in around them.

When the Warriors of the Chapter advanced on the ground, they would announce their names and state their oaths, bellowing the Chapter's battle cries far and wide as they reveled in the glory of the open battlefield, a luxury they could only rarely afford themselves. Not forgetting their inferiority in numbers, they made every movement count. No bolt round missed its target, no sword swing was wasted.

Feeling that their hated adversaries were beginning to waver, the armies of the Crusade began moving towards the Bastion of Sherralor to encircle it completely and slowly tighten the noose around the necks of the starving traitors. Before they could do so however, a terrible trump card was unveiled by the Unbannered. From the shadows of a distant Mechanicus Facility great towering shapes began marching towards the imperial armies, their footsteps shaking the very earth. A small battlegroup of once imperial Titans. led by an Imperator Class God-Engine, was coming to halt them in their tracks. Advancing with them were the last battered remnants of Surtar's mortal defenders who fielded every vehicle that still functioned in the freezing cold of the world's ruined winter. Violent thunderstorms and strangely static cloudformations made it almost impossible to follow the enemy's position from orbit. Even the data gathered from the fighter squadrons and groundforces was too imprecise to reliably employ orbital bombardment against the enemy.

In desperation, the imperials began to throw everything they had at the colossal threats. Concentrated artillery barrages, bombing runs, even turning damaged tanks into makeshift landmines by filling them to the brim with explosives and hoping the Titan's would carelessly step on them. In this dire hour, a crewmember of an imperial Navy Vessel noticed something quite fortunate. While going through old planetary data files she stumbled across a report on the world's tectonic plate positions and where they met, in other words, where seismic activity was the most potent. The enemy army, including the Titan battlegroup, was advancing through a coastal region, near where two tectonic plates were regularly grinding against each other deep beneath the ocean's surface. Seeing no other way to ensure victory, the Crusade fleet opened fire on the ocean depths, directly on top of the area where seismic activity had created underwater volcanoes.

The shock of an entire imperial warfleet unleashing its combined arsenal shook the planet's ocean floor, causing countless volcanic eruptions and creating tsunamis and earthquakes of apocalyptic proportions. As the ground began to tremble and roar, hillsides and cliffs were violently torn apart and cracks in the earth began to open. Even though they had quickly retreated, the imperial armies could not fully escape the carnage unleashed by their allies in orbit. Luckily, the heretics had taken the brunt of it. Just when they traitors believed the worst to be over, a tidal wave reaching over 200 meters into the sky came crushing down upon them, washing away men and machines alike in a great flood. Hundreds of thousands were crushed by the rushing water or drowned beneath the tides, their tanks and Titans becoming their inescapable tombs. When the world's wrath had settled and the snow lay still once more, only the Imperator Class was still standing, though only barely. Its Void Shields down and most of its anti-air defenses non-operational, it was an easy target for the Argent Eagles.

A veteran squad of the Chapter's first Host was tasked to destroy the mechanical monstrosity from the inside by quickly approaching in a Thunderhawk and boarding it. The Titan's crew was purged, the Princeps executed, and the God-Engine's heart lined with explosives. Vacating the once mighty Titan as quickly as they had arrived, the Marines detonated the charges and rode the hot winds of the explosion back to their brethren.

Their enemy was on the verge of breaking. Now only the Bastion of Sherralor and its garrison of Unbannered Astartes remained. Victory was near, and Urikles did not hesitate to reach for it. The final charge against the Unbannered was at hand.

Shortly after the trench lines and fortifications to besiege the Bastion were completed, the desperate defenders summoned one last vile sorcery to hinder the attackers. Harnessing the blood that had been spilled by the great flood, they once more created dark clouds that gathered in the skies, enveloping most of the planet's atmosphere in an impenetrable tempest of hail and lightning. This time the storms did not serve as a mere hindrance, but an impassable wall. It was clear that the Unbannered would continue to cast this witchcraft until their last breaths. The only way for reinforcements and supplies to reach the Crusade forces now was to kill every one of the damned psykers hiding away in the deep chambers of the Fortress. Cut off from their suplly lines, there could no longer be a prolonged siege to starve out the bastion's occupants. Lest the Imperials wished to starve themselves, they had to dare a decisive assault against the high walls of Sherralor.

When the sun rose and dawn was upon them, Chapter Master Urikles ordered the final storm against the bastion's walls and led his warriors into the bloodshed that awaited. The bastion held true to its name, as innumerable turrets and autocannons thundered and roared to tear apart the Valhallans throwing themselves against its walls like water crashing upon rock. Every aircraft still available to the Chapter soared valiantly in repeated and risky bombing runs against the many anti-air positions, stopping them from bringing their full firepower to bear. As artillery chipped away at the tainted plascrete and the subterranean tunnels dug beneath the walls were filled with explosive charges, the Unbannered began to spread out their forces more and more to cover every assailed portion of the outer curtain walls. When those walls were finally broken from above and below it was the Captain of the 3rd Host and his command squad who were the first to charge through the breaches, closely followed by thousands of Guardsmen and hundreds of Astartes. Every meter of ground in the courtyards, towers, hallways, and vast chambers of Sherallor was bought with blood and sweat. For every minute that passed, a thousand Valhallans perished. But the enemy was greatly depleted, only the scattered squads of Heretic Astartes and their Champions remained steadfast in the wake of the silver claws that rent their hides asunder. Sections of the fortress were detonated during retreats, and strange illusions hazed the minds of the mortal soldiers. Slowly but surely the hallways were drenched in blood and the once tall structures were toppled and brought down.

In the heart of the bastion stood the Lord of the Unbannered, surrounded by his Sorcerers and the last remaining Heretic Astartes. There was nothing of note about his appearance, except for a great spear clutched in his hands. None of his warriors seemed remarkable in the least, clad in simple colours of grey and black, only the weathered runes upon their armor betraying their true allegiance. Facing the gathered warriors of Chaos were Urikles, his Phaethonian Guard, the Dawnlord and High-Apollian, the Captains of the chosen five Hosts and a little over 200 Space Marines of the Argent Eagles. There in that great hall the two sides exchanged no words, the Unbannered remaining silent as always. As the carnage began and the servants of light and shadow clashed, Urikles and his Captains engaged the enemy's leadership in close quarters, their blades clashing and flashing in ludicrous displays of swordsmanship. The foul sorcery of the Unbannered was held back by Dawnlord Miseus and his Dawnsayers, who fought a battle of the minds in contrast to their brothers who slaughtered with bolters, axes, swords, and grenades. Utter destruction and death held sway where the Angles of Death, both fallen and loyal, struggled with all their might against each other.

Though the tide was turning in the favour of the Argent Eagles, the Lord of the Unbannered, who battled Urikles and Second Captain Corbilot Ceriseus Estus, could not be made to waver. After being cornered by his assailants, he managed to bring down and kill Captain Corbilot, declaring himself an agent of destiny as he threw the head of the Second Captain at Urikles' feet. At this fateful moment, the Hieropriests of the High-Apollian played their trump card against their foes, one which they had refrained from using over the course of this war. They unleashed the Blinding Radiance in a vibrant eruption of pure white light that stole their enemy's eyesight and had many of them fall to their knees as their skulls were set ablaze. Turned into blind cravens, the Chaos Marines mindlessly charged against them in their last desperate death throes and let loose their unrestrained fury.

As if the pandemonium was not already total enough, at the worst possible moment the High-Apollian Lucior Adrikles Oras fell to the horrors of the Black Rage whilst still wielding the Blinding Radiance. In his mad wrath he burned out the sight of all those around him, friend and foe alike. In his final moments his powers were drawn deep into his being where they erupted in an enormous implosion of light that enveloped the entirety of the bastion's command center. When the dust settled and the light dimmed, the High-Apollion was dead, torn asunder by the Chapter's Geneflaws, and the Lord of the Unbannered was still standing. Many of the Argent Eagles were not. Before the fighting could break out again, a wall was blown open and the soldiers of the Imperial Guard began pouring in to aid the Astartes. One of their number, Lieutenant Dorian, threw himself in front of a bolt of warp energy which had been hurled at the still stunned Chapter Master.

Once more utter butchery reigned. Urikles and his Captains fought in unison with the Guard to finally bring an end to the Lord of the Unbannered, searing his flesh with beams of plasma and concentrated bolterfire, before cutting open his stalwart body. Even after suffering fatal wounds he pressed on relentlessly, seeking to kill as many of the Emperor's servants as he could. In the end it was a group of five selfless Guardsmen who threw themselves into the path of the Chaos Lord with primed Krak Grenades held tightly in their palms. After their heroic shapes perished in a great explosion, the Master of the Unbannered was on his knees, hanging on to life by the thinnest of threads. The Chapter Master took up the mysterious spear with which this monster of a man had fought, and used it to end his cursed existence once and for all. With this final blow, the last traitor was dead. And the Crusade was over.

Millions of Guardsmen had given their lives in the fires of this conflict. Mortal blood had been spilled so abundantly that it had completely stained the Chapter Master's right arm, painting it crimson. Forevermore the livery of the Argent Eagles would bear this mark as a tribute to the men and women of Valhalla and their sacrifices, and as a reminder of what it is the Astartes fight for. Carrying the bodies of the Valhallans on stone slabs above their heads, the Argent Eagles slowly began evacuating the bastion of Sherralor. Of the Space Marines less than 300 still drew breath in the system of Surtar. Barely 500 of their number remained in the entirety of the Chapter. Their oaths were fulfilled and the Worlds of Surtar liberated. Though half of the Chapter had paid with their lives, they had been victorious. Now it was time for wounds to heal and for broken blades to be reforged.