Battle of St. Jamal's Shrine part6

With the battle growing more desperate there was a sudden flash in the ruins on the Stygian Left flank.  Suddenly a squad of terminators from the Knights of the Sacred Flame chapter stood and surveyed the carnage around them.  As one they leveled their weapons at the possessed vindicator.  The unholy fusion of foul daemon and blessed artifice offended every virtue of the knights and so they opened fire.  The hail of shells hammered into the chaos war machine and black smoke began to belch forth but to the knights horror it began to turn in their direction still capable of offering battle.

Meanwhile the tactical squad that had tumbled out of the now burning rhino on the stygian left flank attempted to regroup.  Seeing the looming presence of the Defiler they fired at it as they attempted to rally.  While a few shots slammed into the machine most were wildly off target and the daemonic aura of the machine protected it from any damage.

Against the Stygian right flank the land raider crusader pivoted towards the center of the imperial line now that it had collapsed.  It zeroed in on the Alpha Legion Squad advancing and opened fire.  Hurricane bolter rounds flew from the Imperial war machine only to slam harmlessly into the thick cermite armor of the Alpha Legion.  The Ripping sound of the assault cannon opening up filled the air and the lead Alpha Legion marine flew back in a welter of blood.  Yet despite all the fire the Alpha Legion marines continued their advance.

Meanwhile Xerxes and Tiberius split off from the terminator squad to take out the Gene-slave monstrosities while the terminators engaged the Alpha Legion marines.  Tiberius focused his psychic energy into enfeebling the abominations.  No sooner had he down so he slammed his second sight shut, as he felt aggressive clawing at his mind from the warp.  The warp was thin at the moment he realized and there was an even more ravenous hunger from it than normal.  Meanwhile Xerxes flamed the gene crafter freaks before charging in alongside Tiberius.  With quick precise blows each of them hacked down an abomination while dodging the flurry of return blows.  Despite cutting two of the things down the third refused to run still aggressively attacking them.  The drugs fueling the things system making it fanatical.

The terminator assault squad then charged through a hail of fire to reach the Alpha Legion marines.  On Alpha legion plasma gunner was thrown into the ground wounded when his weapon overheated and exploded.  Confident as the terminators were they were surprised by the ferocity of the Alpha Legion response.  These veterans of the long war promptly cut down three of them.  The terminators despite a flurry of blows only managed to land killing blows on two of the Alpha Legion marines.  Vowing aloud to finish the traitors off the terminators held their ground and fought on as the battle raged around them.

special thanks go out to John Ondich-Batson (pictured below) for all his help with this battle report.