The battlefield had devolved into absolute, unfiltered apocalypse.
Orks slammed into Chaos, Chaos tore into Tyranids, Tyranids devoured everything, and the Imperials, by some miracle, held the center line.
For once, things weren't entirely bleak for humanity.
The Astra Militarum trenches lay battered but intact. What remained of the Cadian regiments stood firm, lasguns raised in disciplined arcs of fire. Across the ridge, the 501st Krieg Siege Regiment dug in with silent efficiency, shovels and flamers working in tandem. Catachan warriors stood shirtless, green-smeared, and very angry at everything in sight.
Above them all, the Space Marines formed a spearhead of blue ceramite and unwavering discipline, anchoring the line.
And for a moment, just a moment, the tide slowed.
That was when the first tremor hit.
A deep, rolling quake that silenced fighters and shook dust from shattered ruins.
Imperials turned as one toward the horizon.
A Guardsman from Cadian 203 whispered, "Saints preserve us… what now?"
A Krieg Grenadier, standing beside him, muttered in a dead monotone, "Something big."
The ground shook again.
Then again.
Footsteps. Colossal ones.
The ridge trembled as something massive crested a distant hill, framed in smoke and the flickering glow of battlefield fires.
A silhouette of armored gigantism stepped into view.
A voice rang over the vox network:
"ENGINE TITAN MAGNUS TRIUMPHANS CONFIRMS. IMPERIAL ENGINEERS—PREPARE THE FIELD."
Every Guardsman froze.
Every Marine turned.
Even Tyranids paused for half a heartbeat.
Because entering the battlefield with earth-cracking authority was—
A WARLORD-CLASS TITAN
Magnus Triumphans, weapon platforms glowing with promise.
A soldier whispered, trembling, "By the Emperor's Golden Ass… look at the size of it."
The Titan raised its volcano cannon, aiming down the ridge with lethality.
A Commissar hurled his cap into the air in exultation. "REINFORCEMENTS, MEN! A TITAN WALKS TODAY!"
Human morale surged like a tidal wave.
__________
Captain Artemis stood on the broken remains of a fortress wall, cape torn, armor scorched from near-unending battle.
He watched the Titan stride forward with thunderous steps, heat rising from its vent-lines like a god waking from slumber.
"By Guilliman," Artemis murmured. "If this does not turn the tide, nothing will."
A sergeant approached. "Captain, the Imperial Guard have stabilized the barricades. We can push."
Artemis nodded. "Signal the lines. We strike alongside the Titan's advance. Today, brothers… we protect mankind."
__________
Sergeant Hale's of the Cadian 203rd, ears rang as the Titan fired its first shot.
The volcano cannon discharged a beam of incandescent fury and an entire Chaos warband simply vanished.
Ash. Nothing more.
Hale blinked. "…Huh."
Private Thomlin gasped. "Sarge… the Emperor's light shines with us today."
"No, lad," Hale said, adjusting his helmet. "Today we've got somethin' even better."
He pointed at the Orks.
"Those greenskin lunatics ain't fightin' us."
Thomlin squinted. "Wait… what?"
Across the battlefield, Orks were ripping Tyranids in half, smashing Daemons flat, kicking Berzerkers off cliffs, and yelling:
"DON'T TOUCH DA HUMIES! DEY'RE OUR JAMMING BUDDIES!"
One Ork Nob pointed a choppa at a Guardsman. "YOU LOT STAY OVER DERE! WE'S GOTTA KRUMP DA BUGZ FIRST!"
Hale stared. "…I take back everything I ever said about the universe lacking miracles."
A massive Ork Warboss, face painted with glowing green runes, slammed a Daemon Prince into the ground like a squealing toy.
He roared: "NO ONE KRUMPS DA HUMIES! DEY IS WITH DA BAND!"
An entire mob cheered, lifting their choppas as if saluting.
Even the Emperor felt that one.
__________
Magnus Triumphans strode through the battlefield, kicking aside Tyranids like pests and pulping Chaos Marines with footfalls that shattered stone.
With each step, its shields rippled, reflecting lasfire and bio-acid harmlessly.
Its Plasma Annihilator charged, whirring, building light and unleashed a spherical wave of blue-white fury.
The shockwave flattened an entire strip of battlefield, sending Tyranid Warriors tumbling back. Carnifexes exploded into bone shrapnel. Daemons evaporated screaming.
Even Orks stopped to admire.
"WOT A SHOT!"
"DO IT AGAIN!"
"SHOOT DAT WAY NEXT!"
__________
Commissar Duren stood before his battered platoon, coat torn, hat half burned.
He watched as the Titan continued carving a path through Chaos lines, and something strange came over him.
Hope.
"Nobody dies today unless I say so," he barked. "And I say ADVANCE!"
The men roared.
They surged forward behind the Titan's protective shadow, firing with renewed ferocity. Las-beams stabbed through gaunt swarms. Grenadiers crushed Hormagaunts under boots reinforced with faith and stubbornness.
Boyz launched themselves at Tyranids like screaming green meteorites.
Stormboyz dive-bombed onto Chaos tanks.
Lootas blasted Daemons with beams that should not have worked but somehow did.
A Weirdboy exploded, energizing ten nearby Nobz with green flame.
One Nob pointed at a Guardsman trench, "DON'T WORRY, LITTLE 'UMIES! WE'Z BUSY SMASHIN' DA REAL GITZ!"
A Guardsman yelled back confused, "THANK YOU?"
The Nob paused. "…WOT?"
"Thank you!"
The Ork squinted, confused, then shrugged and went back to ripping a Chaos Raptor in half.
__________
Kasrkin Lieutenant Mira Voss crouched atop a ruined manufactorum, scanning the swarm of Tyranids pressing in from the northern ridge.
Her visor fed her a HUD sweep:
TYRANID FORCES: HEAVY, PSYCHIC PRESSURE: HIGH, CASUALTY PROJECTION: 63%
But she did not falter.
Kasrkin never faltered.
"Target the synapse node," she commanded.
Grenadiers shifted, locking Hellguns onto a towering Zoanthrope trying to reorganize the swarm's shattered formations.
The Titan fired again.
A plume of superheated air vaporized the Zoanthrope in one shot.
Voss lowered her rifle. "…That works too."
Her squad collectively nodded in agreement.
__________
The Hive Mind adjusted.
Psychic chittering cut through the battlefield like a serrated blade, organizing Warriors, Gaunts, and Beasts into a single massive push.
A Hive Tyrant rose above the swarm, armor glowing with psychic pressure.
It roared: 'CONSUME THE HUMANS'
A tidal wave of bioforms surged toward the Imperial line.
Every Guardsman who saw it went pale.
But before fear could take root, the Orks Intervened
At full speed.
An entire green horde smashed sideways into the Tyranid advance, turning it into a catastrophic collision of chitin and muscle.
The Ork Warboss shouted:
"NO ONE EATS DA 'UMIES! DEY'RE OUR FRIENDLY FIGHTIN' PARTNERS!"
A Gaunt shrieked. A Boy punched it into paste.
__________
Vox Master Lorian adjusted his headset as reports flooded the vox network.
"The Orks are intercepting the Tyranids on the western trench!"
"Chaos Marines are being rammed by Ork Trukks!"
"Stormboyz cleared our left flank by accident!"
"Guardsmen morale is inexplicably UP."
"…Wait, the Orks are cheering for us?"
Vox Master Lorian blinked rapidly.
"Well," he muttered, "that's new."
__________
Lady Death hovered above the stage, her presence a serene, eerie contrast to the carnage below.
Where her shadow touched the battlefield, humans felt a strange calm and clarity.
Fear fled. Panic vanished.
For a moment, they felt, protected.
She watched as the Titan fired another annihilating shot.
She murmured, "They are determined. Admirable."
Erik stepped beside her, watching humanity fight with grit and fury.
He smiled softly.
"They're doing great."
"They always do," she replied.
__________
The battlefield's temperature spiked.
The Warp screamed.
Red lightning forked across the sky.
A World Eater champion roared, "FOR KHORNE, AWAKEN, GORATH THE SLAUGHTERLORD!"
A portal tore open. The ground split.
A massive, horned monster clawed its way through, a Greater Demon of Khorne, wielding twin axes large enough to cleave tanks in half.
Guardsmen screamed. Marines braced. Tyranids hissed. Even Orks paused to admire the size.
"NOW DAT'S A PROPA' FIGHT!"
The Greater Demon charged toward the Imperials.
Before that could happen.
A dozen Nobz slammed into the demon from the side.
"BACK OFF FROM DA HUMIES!" one shouted.
"DEY'RE OUR LOUD LITTLE FRIENDS!"
The demon bellowed in confused rage as Orks clung to its limbs like angry toddlers.
A Warboss leapt onto its back, "I GOT 'IM! WATCH ME KRUMP 'IM, LADZ!"
The Orks pulled the demon away from Imperial lines, dragging it into a massive dust cloud of yelling, roaring, and bone-crunching violence.
___________
Magnus Triumphans turned its head slowly.
Target acquired, Greater Demon in sights.
It charged its Plasma Annihilator, light glowing like condensed stars, and fired.
A sphere of pure obliteration engulfed the demon and half the Orks wrestling it.
When the smoke cleared, the Orks cheered.
"DID YA SEE DAT?!"
"DO IT AGAIN!"
"WE LIKE DA BIG BOOM-STOMPY GOD-MACHINE!"
As if happy the Orks acknowledged the Machine god, the titan shook a little. Causing the ground to shake as if an earthquake hit.
__________
Captain Artemis signaled the charge.
Guardsmen poured from trenches. Kasrkin vaulted over barricades. Space Marines advanced in disciplined lines beside the Titan.
The Orks smashed everything NOT human in the path.
Chaos faltered. Tyranids broke formation. Daemons disintegrated. Possessed Marines screamed as the Titan unleashed macrobolter fire.
Hale raised his lasgun and shouted:
"FOR CADIA!"
A thousand voices echoed him.
"For the Emperor!"
"For Terra!"
"For survival!"
And finally—
"For the Orks not trying to kill us THIS TIME!"
The charge broke through enemy lines with unstoppable momentum.
The last Carnifex fell beneath a volley of lascannons.
The final Chaos Marine was bisected by Artemis' blade.
A Hive Tyrant collapsed as a Kasrkin krak charge detonated in its skull.
Silence fell.
Humanity stood bloodied, battered, exhausted… But victorious.
Not saved.
Not spared.
Victorious, because they refused to die.
Orks roared in celebration.
"We DID IT, HUMIES! WE WON WIV MUSIC!"
Erik chuckled.
Lady Death smiled.
And far across the Imperium, the Emperor himself allowed a single thought of amusement:
"They lived… because the Orks liked the music."
__________
__________
And that's it. One more chapter to go before we get back to the main story.
I hope it wasn't too bad. I feel like I shoulda added more details but idk.
What do you guys think?
Any questions or concerns let me know here.