The Raptors pounced once again. Landing on the side of the Titan’s hull, within the void shield, they began to cut into the side armour with their meltaguns, repelling shots from down below completely ineffective as they bounced off of the marine’s power armour before long they had burrowed a marine sized hole in the thick armour and prepared to board.

Feeling this stab of pain in its torso the Titan let out a pained wail through the massive loudspeakers at its snout.

Diaskori looks up from the mound of dead mortals as soon as he hears the Titan’s cry of pain. Immediately the Axiarch’s reflexes took over. The calculation didn’t even take a second. The battle was over, nothing more could be won, only what remained could be salvaged.

The first of the Raptors emerges from the smoothly cut hole and snap fires across the hold, blasting the head off the weapon servitor opposite. Outside the Mega Bolter goes limp and cycles back to its neutral gunnery position as the mind it is slaved to is eradicated. Back inside the Raptor checks the interior for more threats, and other than the buzzing servo skulls, none are identified. That is until the hatch leading to the engine room slides open revealing the Enginseer standing with a plasma gun. He doesn’t hesitate before firing,

Data-tethers assumed direct control and stimulants and all across the battlefield, combat drugs pushed those who were near to death up to full strength. They began clearing the path to retreat for the Titan to be extracted without further damage. Diaskori breaks out into a sprint, his leg servos sending his run into overdrive, long serrated mechadendrites emerge from under his cloak, whipping out, crippling and blinding the mortals who try to impede the Axiarch’s single-minded rampage to come to the aid of his charge. Diaskori leaps up onto the hull of a Dunecrawler and from there bounds up to the hole made in the hull rather than wait for the slow security hatch to open.

The Raptors board the cockpit, unleashing bolter fire into the room, pumping rounds into the crewmen. The Moderatii slump forwards, auto-pistols barely out of their holsters, heads reduced to a pulpy mess. The armoured throne of the Princeps guards against the initial gunfire but the exploding rounds throw up shrapnel into the Princeps’ face and torso. One of the Raptors leans in, flensing knife in hand, ready to execute the screaming man who was still scrambling at the straps and cables that secured him to the throne.

Diaskori takes the first Raptor unawares, he brings his power claw to bear, it’s pneumatic clamps crushing at an arm, lashing tendrils knocking the meltagun from their free hand before more damage could be done to the Titan interior. Throwing the Raptor aside, Diaskori shoulder barges the Sergeant into the last Raptor before he can deliver a killing blow sending the knife-wielding marine barreling into the cockpit. With no care for self-preservation, the Axiarch puts himself between the Sergeant and the Princeps’ throne and moves to end the threat that he merely displaced.

Diaskori levels his rad pistol and allows the coils to overcharge. The single shot blasts through the Raptor’s gorget and into the warp-powered jump pack behind it.


The smell of ozone and blood floods the room, the Princeps, still mewling from his wounds, gags as the scent overpowers him and un-light begins to pour from the shattered jump pack.

The Raptor Sergeant registers what is about to happen and grabs his wounded brother by the pauldron, they share a nod, their mission complete, and very quickly make themselves scarce.

Diaskori reaches in to tug the Princeps, throne and all, away from the inevitable warp explosion

Description of the resulting explosion, Daemon shit etc

The blast slams into Ultima back, immediately disintegrating its faceplate and ripping apart the armour making up its lower jaw. The Titan stumbles backwards, the shock of having been severed from its crew at once and the sheer force of the blast too much to just shrug off like the shots from the Vindicator. The dust kicked up by the shockwave surrounded the Titan, shielding its wounded form. Inside, Diaskori lies splayed out over the broken form of the Enginseer having been thrown back hard by the warp fuelled detonation.

+++Description of the aftermath and reaction. Skitarii beginning the retreat etc+++

A shape moved in the dust cloud and slowly, impossibly, the Titan marched forth.

+++Description of Eryx panicking and trying to resurrect the Vindicator+++

Sitting upon his throne, his legs in ruin, his Moderatii crewmen rendered into warp dust Princeps ____ assumed total control over Ultima, leaving his body behind and allowing himself to consume and be consumed by the God Engine’s machine spirit.

His pale pupilless eyes locked upon Eryx.

The duel that happened next was short and hopeless.

Ultima Ratio Regum, wounded and baleful, took three, slow steps towards the Chaos Sorcerer, it crouched slightly on its haunches, levelled its Turbo Laser up to the immobilised terminator’s head, and fired.

The Titan stood once more, pivoted quickly, carefully or just subconsciously keeping its exposed Princeps facing away from the enemy and lurched off back towards the city, through the path cleared for it by the Secutarii.