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A thick smoke that choked and burnt the eyes boiled out from under the rubble even as Lena and Vonrilyental went. The rubble, slowly but surely, was moving as though something beneath were pushing its way out. Light stabbed out from the circle, and in truly cliche'd style, a clawed hand covered in milk-white pallid flesh emerged.

"Rape it," Gix said softly. His next words were louder "We've got to run an endurance match. Slow him so instability drags him back to the warp. He's already burned a lot of power manifesting. Let's keep making it difficult." He opened up with his plasma pistol on the monstrosity's arm, not that he expected it to do much good.

He activated his vox. "This is Inquisitor Jolan Gix. Get demolitions teams in position to blow the levels above vault 173-BZ and bury it. Highest priority. Everything else is expendable."

Pater finished setting the charges on the wall and fired his psycannon two-handed from a braced position, aiming his shells accurately and precisely. "This wall is ready." He said, pausing to swap ammo packs.

Finally the demon cast off the rubble, rising to its full and terrible height. Pallid skin crawled as though flowing around the beast's faintly humanoid form. Except for its claws, there was nothing distinct on the glowing apparition's form to lock one's gaze onto. a faceless head bore the hints of horns, and wide 'wings' seemed almost translucent.

Clearly something at least had gone wrong with the summoning process. It was as though the stuff of the warp had been pushed into reality, but that its final phase of binding to the materium had been disrupted.

Despite the beast's lack of features, its malevolance was clear to all who looked upon it. It screamed to the subconcious mind of the joy it would take in inflicting depthless suffering upon all it came upon. But it was also confused and disoriented. A clawed hand scooped up a piece of falled masonry, solid ferrocrete with what had once been a fresco on the side and crushed it to powder experimentaly, as easily as a man would frament a piece of plaster.

It looked down upon its enemies, and they could all, but for the Iron Men, feel that it wanted something unspeakable from them...

Gix backed away and raised his force rod. "Pater, right now would be a good time to finish dropping the Cathedral on it." His flesh crawled under its gaze. It's gaze alone was a violation, as if it was stripping his soul naked in preparation to rape. He prepared to unleash his full might on the abomination. He didn't think it would be enough.

"Right you are." Pater blew the charges and the whole building erupted, metal struts screaming from stress and buckling, cement cracking in two. The entire building seemed to moan in pain, and collapsed in on itself.

The demonic creature raised its hand as the shower of rubble collapsed down upon it, and deflected piece after peice, though not enough. It was forced down to one of its barely-present legs, until with a howl of rage, it cast the rubble aside and began walking, its glowing feet burning the ground beneath it.

"I don't think that will hold it, but every second counts. I don't think the demo teams will get into position fast enough." Gix triggered his vox. "Status?"

"Remind me," Pater said to noone in particular, "Do Greater Daemons have weak spots?" He emptied a clip of Psycannon bolts into the beast, hitting the mark with parade-ground accuracy.

The answer was a harried 'we're working' - even the grenadiers knew of the urgency of the events unfolding below.

Vonrilyental glanced at Pater, "This is not a time for jokes..." he said...

Suddenly Lena stopped retreating, and looked up into the abomination's gaze, her grip tightening on the blessed sword "Go back to the Abyss! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you in the Immaterium. Go back now, or be destroyed for all time," she cried at the top of her lungs, taking a defiant step forwards.

As the creature bent its gaze entirely on her, its entire world shirking to encompass only one enemy, there seemed to be a flicker of comprehension and fear in the creature's manner, but only for a fleeting moment. It drew itself up to its full height and let out something that could have been a roar of rage or a laugh of contempt, it was disturbing to be unable to tell which.

"Throne," whispered Gix. A lance of silver fire so intense it hurt to look at it errupted from the end of his force rod. It mirrored an even more powerful thrust sent at the daemon through the warp. Whether or not Jolan Gix would live was in doubt, but his resolve was not.

"I'm not joking," said Pater, as he emptied the last of his Psycannon rounds into the beast, to no effect. He tossed it aside and pulled out his Force Staff, firing a blast of raw Warp energy at the beast. "Is there somewhere in particular we should be aiming?"

"If I knew I would tell you," Gix snarled. He could feel his strength leave his body as he poured more ravening psychic energy at the daemon.

Pater paused for the mental equivilant of a gasp of air and poured his energy into the attack again, his staff burning with a white light that shorted out his optic. This time he attacked a different 'side' of the beast's psyche, hoping to divide it's attention and wear away at it's power.

Attacked by three adverseries, indeed, several more, the Demon chose to strike out the weakest first, blasting apart the Men of Iron with its will. Then Lena was upon it, and the creature found itself fighting two, then three mental battles, and a purely physical one.

The former distracted it from the latter, and despite its physical advantages, the creature's opponent pressed for her advantages, slicing deep into the infernal flesh of the creature's lower leg, failing, alas, to bring her weapon through it. The wound spilled blue light that burnt all it fell upon, and the demon stepped back.

The creature howled, falling towards her on purpouse, balling its hand into a fist to strike, sending its opponent reeling backwards for a moment.

Gix lashed out with his telekinesis, not at the daemon but the ground it stood on. A intense blast of concussive force boomed like thunder. With luck, it would not the daemon over and give Lena time and space.

In the wake of his attack, Varian and Talstrem lunged forward to engage in hand to hand. "Ristani!" Gix yelled. "To me!"

Pater followed Gix's attack with a mental spike shoved between the monster's metaphorical eyes, leaving it blinded and open to Varian and Nathan's attacks. "Gork," He spat, "Cover us and be ready with your hammer." The abhuman would probably die, but that's what ablative meat shields were for.

The ground beneath the demon cracked, and it staggered back as it was assualted by the abhuman and the remaining inquisitors. Its clawed hand lashed out to block the thunder hammer, tearing it from Gork's grasp. The enraged demon swung the weapon at its fomer owner's head, resulting in a sickening tearing sound as the head was caved in, torn off and flung across the room.

Pater tsked. His cover was gone. He drove the mental spike further into the Daemon's psyche as Varian and Nathan set about it.

Lashing out with psychic flame while your allies were in close combat was definitely not a good idea. Gix began to chant invocations of binding and banishing. It was better than doing nothing.

Varian leapt forward and slashed at the daemon's legs with his force blade. The inquisitor was aggressive well past the point of recklessness, but half measures would not serve them now. Varian drew on his psychic talents, filling his body with body and sword with killing power as he attack. Talstrem and his deadly Nemesis Blade struck at the flank, striking at any opening. White light poured out of Talstrem's eyes as he drew enormous power into himself.

Pater knelt down painfully and scooped up the discarded Hammer. He might need it.

Talstrem drew on an endless ocean of warp power. He pushed his body to the breaking point and then well past. His body shone like a newborn star as radiance poured out of his flesh. He was hovering now, suspended in mid air and deadly energy pouring out at the monstrous daemon. Blood vessels burst, cells ruptured, skin dissolved, and muscle burned. He did not waver. Deadly power flowed in a torrent at the daemon as Talstrem went past the point of survival and kept on going.

The aweful killing light was reflected on Lena's face. Tears began to stream as she gathered herself to return to the fight.

Finally, this self-sacrifical offensive seemed to get through to the demonic enemy, and it turned all its attention to mounting a defence. The defence it produced was simpy quite stunning, but still, in its weakened state, not enough. Parts of it struck by the fury of its enemy seemed to fade, flicker, or distort as the hazy connection that kept it bound to the material plane was distrupted.

For his part, Vonrilyental joined in, but his own psychic might was far, far less. Lena however, crying as though in imitation of the tears of the Emperor that made the very ammuntion used by the psycannons of the Malleus, seemed more useful as she attempted yet another physical assault on the beast, the gross corruption of the very ground beneath it seeming to be driven back wherever she went.

You will be remembered, Nathan. Pater thought. He returned to the task at hand and burst into an offensive, firing lightning strikes like stinging nettles at the Daemon's psyche, and following up the weak spots with burrowing memes like the Spider Beetle of Taris 3, penetrating into the creature's mind and bursting, releasing packets of poisonous warp-energy.