Title: The Blood Angels’ Stand: The Devastation of Baal
For the loyal Blood Angels, the stakes have never been higher. Their beloved home of Baal, the birthplace of their noble progenitor Sanguinius, was under the shadow of an impending doom. Gabriel Angelos, a pragmatist warrior, had taken the desperate step of sending their genan seeds away, a move signaling the potential loss of their home. Ten newly implanted scouts, prematurely elevated, were also being readied for combat.
Chapter Master Dante was grim yet resolute, reminding his followers that the Blood Angels had been reduced to a handful of warriors on more than one occasion and still managed to rise from the ashes. He believed that even if they lost Baal, the Blood Angels would rise again on some other world.
In the face of such adversity, Dante called upon the Blood Angels’ successor chapters, and the response was overwhelming. They all came to aid – from the fierce Flesh Tearers to the noble Blood Drinkers, and even the elusive warriors of the Carmine Blades and the Knights of Blood. Every battle-brother’s contribution was vital. The oncoming Tyranid fleet was colossal, undoubtedly the largest force of xenos ever recorded by the Imperium.
The first few Tyranid swarms didn’t stand a chance. Long-range artillery and bolter fire obliterated them before they could reach the defensive lines. However, with each passing moment, more Tyranid spores rained down from low orbit. The ground was soon teeming with kiten-armored bodies and colossal Hive Tyrants – monsters that directed the swarms even as they wreaked havoc with burning bioplasma and their massive limbs.
Initially, the battle seemed to lean in favor of the sons of Sanguinius, until an infiltrated Lictor managed to eliminate the void shield generator. Dante, even amidst the greatest army of his era, couldn’t strategize against a relentless slaughter. What could have been a triumph turned into a desperate struggle against a wave of xenos.
As the situation continued to worsen, the Blood Angels found themselves weakening with each passing day. Dante was forced to order retreats until there was nowhere left to retreat. It was then, at their most vulnerable, that a new calamity struck. The Great Rift, a catastrophic warp storm, raged across the galaxy. The skies above Baal burned with ethereal fire, and ancient malevolent entities from the depths of the immaterium turned their dreadful gaze upon the material world.
Baal was engulfed in a haze of boiling energy, and the Blood Angels were left to endure the full horror of the warp unleashed. Every mind, whether great or small, felt the touch of the warp. The psychic sons of Sanguinius were troubled, their hands numb and minds filled with visions of wars lost long ago. Their enemy, the Tyranids, were also afflicted. The delicate synaptic web binding their numberless minds into one being shriveled like thread in a fire. Hive fleet was cleaved from hive fleet, brood from brood. The hive mind was grievously wounded, its control violently disrupted.
The Blood Angels faced their darkest hour, yet the battle for Baal was far from over…
Leave a Reply