Two raptors suddenly charge Alpha, trying to stop him from reaching the fallen champion. Kharos comes down next to Malkar and slices through the lashwhip with his lightning claws. Malkar returns to his feet to see the Tyrant finish off the two raptors that tried to slow him down. Seeing that Alpha is heavily wounded. Malkar sends Kharos in low to disembowel it, while he flys over his Lieutenant and sends his scythe hurtling into Alphas head.

With the last of his strength, Alpha stabbed down at Kharos, pinning the Night Lord to the ground. A slice from his bone sword bisects the astartes, but left the Hive Tyrant Prime completely exposed to Malkar. As he watched the scythe come down, Alpha prepared himself yet again for the all too familiar but still painful journey. The weapon connected directly with the neck of the tyranid, slicing cleanly through. The head of Alpha falls to the ground, followed closely by his body on top of the fallen Night Lord in front of him (Kharos).

Malkar, as he dealt the deathblow, saw something like triumph in Alpha's eyes. Nevertheless the attack was swift as it is brutal, decapitating the Hive Tyrant Prime and sending his mind back to the Hive Mind. The massive and powerful synapse connecting his army broke at once, and all hell broke loose. The synapse backlash outright killed many of the gaunts and rippers near Malkar, while the larger creatures went beserk, attacking anything that moves. Those with their own synapse connection either fell to the ground in pain, or fled in terror from the field, abandoning their posts and garrisons. The worse were Alpha's tyrant guards, who went frenzy, charging at Malkar in an attempt to avenge their fallen master.

Within minutes the entire tyranid attack was in a complete state of collapse. Those that were killed by one another were running targets, cut down by the disciplined fire of the Dread Korps and the Iron Warriors. All the beasts underground fled as well, thought taking much less casualties as they were more or less isolated from the enemies and each other. Some of the Pyrovores even exploded, causing chain reactions within their ranks. The Chaos forces could tell that the day was theirs, though for how long, no one could know.

Stopping to grab his knife and the Tyrant's head, Malkar is nearly skewered by one of Guards. Rolling away with the impact, the Night Lord manages to avoid major damage but took a nasty cut across his left arm. Gaining some distance from the guards he takes to the skies. Retreating from the battle he gathers his few surviving raptors and flees in the direction of the devastators. Once they were a safe distance from the frenzied Tyranids, Malkar voxes the Thunderhawks to return and pick them up.

Company Commander Faedra, New Alexandria, nearing basilisk storage
The chimera rumbled forward as they neared the place of the basilisks. He has already sent orders to have the men readying themselves but it would require his surveillance that everything went well. He has already ordered his vox caster to inform Lord Commissar Wolfe but he feared they would not arrive in time. The chimera rumbled to a stop. He and his small retinue rushed out the back and towards the large building. The large doors opened and the basilisks rumbled out. "GET ALL ARMOR TO THE FRONT. BASILISKS FORM UP." The engines around them roared to life as chimeras filled with soldiers and leman russes went through the streets to the front. Their training had only been weeks in and they were forced to fight. Faedra himself watched over the basilisks as they got into a line. "Vox caster, relay to the front lines the locations of enemy armor and concentrated infantry."
"Aye Commander"

Commissar Holt, New Alexandria, 1/4 KM into the city, western front
The speed the trenches were built were sub par but they would have to do. PDF soldiers filled them as the screaming front line ran towards them in fear. The ones brave enough to stay and fight gave them the time they needed to prepare an actual defense. He, alone, stepped out of the trenches to meet the retreating men. "STAND YOUR GROUND. WE HOLD THE LINE HERE." He spotted a sergeant running by him and with a swift motion had him face down beneath him. "Cowardly fool!" A bolt shell found him. The running soldiers found dozens of commissars at the long trenches and were forced back into the trenches to HOLD THE LINE.He saw the enemy now, wearing the fresh trophies of the fallen. They approached and once their line was spotted artillery and the great daemon engines began to fire upon them. The trenches proved to hold but the occasional well put shot dealt horrid amounts of death.The skies filled with the enemy and from begin their lines Hydra Flak Artillery roared to response, filling the air with black smoke. They fall by the dozens but so many still remained.
"Commissar a vox! The basilisks are ready and are awaiting direction"
The Commissar informs him of the coordinates and the engines great guns fire. The shells squeal above their heads as it lands into the dread korps of the enemy. The commissar allowed himself a slight grin as he saw the shells land and leave clouds of red mist. The PDF roared in approval and the sight revitalized those that were running before, for what little that did.
"Remember soldiers of the imperium. It is time to do what we do best: HOLD THE LINE."
The soldiers yelled praise for the emperor as the enemy fell into las gun range. "First rank FIRE" The line shot, not the perfect unison that was expected, however it still dealt the needed damage. "Second rank FIRE" With an even less satisfying erratic shots with a similar result. With the roar of cannons and the rumble of reinforcements in the form of leman russes and mechanized infantry not far off Holt felt fairly confident

Lord Commissar Wolfe, North outpost, HQ
"Dammit! Vox caster message the Space Marines! Request assistance in our capital immediately!"
"Yes sir!" He runs off

Tank Commander Alvin Hursk- New Alexandria Western Front

Five Leman Russ battle tanks roared down the city streets in wedge formation, to their right two more formations of five did the exact same as they approached the PDF lines ahead. Hursk opened up a line to his commander. "Thunder Hearts breaking off. " As planned during their approach his vehicles broke off from the formation to reinforce their designated sector.

Their tanks were the most basic models available seeing as their planet hadn't ever warranted enough attention for anything specialized, only two of his boys crates had side sponsons and they were only heavy bolters, the rest of them had plain old battle cannon and forward mounted heavy bolters to work with. "Blake, bring your crate forward and get those guns into that breach, don't let them over run our boys!" One of the sponsoned Leman Russ charged ahead toward the line, cannon coughing up shells with deafening thuds that was soon joined by all three heavy bolters opening fire on the advancing Forsaken forces.

"Another gap in the line, Harold, Mark plug it up!" Two more of his squad gunned their engines and got into position to support the PDF. "High Explosive, Load it up! Target the Space Marines advancing up the left!" Hursk climbed up into the cupola of his tank, forsaking the protection of the vehicles armor to man the heavy stubber, a leader needed to be seen not just heard. He would make an example for them all. Spinning up the gun he turned it on the furies filling the skies. The tank bucked as the battle cannon hurled it's heavy payload into the cover three Word Bearer's were occupying.

"Raimes! You have the reins on your crate, strike at the enemy lines with everything you got then move to lighten the load elsewhere until directed otherwise." Another confirmation of orders was voxxed in then acted on as their final gun heavy vehicle entered the fray in full. "Armor Piercing load up! Enemy vehicles moving up! Sighted, Leman Russ dead center. FIRE!" Another shell was unleashed into the line of Chaos forces and struck their target dead center, smashing an ugly hole into the hull before detonating.
"Good shot, good shot! Keep that up and we may win this yet boys!"

~~ Tyranid Bio-Pools, Outside The Citadel ~~

Immediately as the Bringers of Decay advanced into view of the bio-pools the large mass of Tyranids defending them rushed to meet the attackers head on. Epidemius had ordered all of his troops with flamers into two lines, once the first line began to run dry and required a reload the second would overtake them and give them a brief respite. With the rest of his men, armed with bolters, bolt pistols and plague weapons amongst them, essentially a buffer between the two cutting down anything that got past them, constantly advancing.

Putrefactian took the devastators and the troops armed with missile launchers and other heavy weapons and ordered them to take any high ground as we advanced, setting up a base of fire and pulverized the enemy, sending streaks of high explosive and armor piercing charges into groups of lesser Tyranids and the larger, lumbering beasts respectively. As the strike force continued to move forward, they would push up as well, finding another outcrops of boulders or a rise in the plateau and deploy their base of fire once more tearing into the ranks of lesser Tyranids ruthlessly.

Always at the front line regardless of the bounding advance of his men, Epidemius had his bile flamer in one hand, accuracy wasn't a problem when the enemy charged headlong into your fire, and his plague sword in the other, mercilessly cutting down anything unruly enough to stay up after it's initial toxic bath. The assault had gone exceptionally well from the onset, but it didn't take long for things to reach a breaking point, the closer they got, the more Tyranids that came at them, their corpses begining to pile up and their advanced began to falter and stall.

It was bad enough with the amount of creatures that attacked them head on, it was even worse when they began to leap over the front line, most that did would be hit by those of his host that had managed to reload in time and wash them in the pestilent fluid their weapons fired or those armed with bolters. The Tyranids dead and rotting corpses hitting the ground behind them but not all of the leaping attackers got hit and those that got past began to wreak havoc amongst the rear lines, the flamers kept on moving, keeping up with the advance, but the rest, those armed with bolters and plague knives and swords began to get bogged down and cut off as they kept the enemy busy and away from the rest of the advance.

And it didn't stop there, as the gap between the advancing units and those that fell behind cutting down the foe that threatened the rear became greater, burrowing Tyranids sensing them as cutoff and surrounded burst from the ground and swallowed them into the soil. While they were now dead men in every sense of the word they would not go down without a fight, plumes of dirt began to erupt from the ground, like geysers of soil, flesh and metal as they touched off any of the explosives they had with them, the grim satisfaction that they had spared their brothers a similar fate.

Closing in on the bio-pools all of the Bringers of Decay formed one large convex line, many more plague marines were lost, but because of this one unified line, they were able to bring the heavy bolters, heavy flamers and missile launchers forward and to bear. The advance quickened and as each life was lost, the line tightened together and replaced those losses as they moved forward.

Finally in amongst the bio-pools now the line shifted left to right as the strike force approached each of the pools, introduced the potent toxins and moved on to the next. The pathogen had a separate effect on the pools, while released airborne they had spread and devoured anything they came into contact with, being introduced like they had there wasn't any airborne aspect to them, the bio-pools enveloped them whole, tainting them.

The ground twisted and became deformed, the potent flora from earlier began to grow, their roots spreading out from the point of ingestion but also strange and alien plant life began to grow, twisted beyond any hope of reason by the pathogen, toxic, more so then the usual Tyranid flora and reeking of rot and decay the plant life flourished. From the horrifying biomes the Tyranids are known for came an even more frightening, deadly hybrid garden of sorts, something altogether new, part Tyranid, part Nurglish.

As each container of the pathogen was introduced into each new bio-pool the effects multiplied, the growth was exponential and the plague marines began to find themselves fighting not only the Tyranids but the earth itself. The plant life was lethal, what appeared to be large bulbous puss sacks began to rupture, spores and other microscopic pollen became airborne and spread, killing anything it came into contact with, Tyranid and plague marine alike.

Epidemius hadn't factored in the effects an all new hybrid 'life form' would have on his men, earlier they have been spared due to their affinity to the Plague Father, but this wasn't solely his now, this was new, incorporating the most deadly and vile aspects of both Nurgle and Tyranid. Everything began to die, nothing could survive, and eventually Epidemius was left alone, infected and dying in the toxic wasteland he had created. The defeat was bitter sweet, he knew he wasn't fit to command prior to the assault but lead his men in anyway, he had wiped out his entire contingent of Bringers of Decay on Arkhona, himself included.

Sweet because he had orchestrated this, he was responsible for a pestilent killing machine the galaxy had never seen before, even as he lumbered forward, moments from death there was an unmistakeable beauty here. He had essentially created a large scale toxic buffer around the Citadel, and while Magnarax might not be pleased with the outcome, not that it mattered to him now how the Warsmith felt about it, had significantly strengthened their defenses, no large scale assault against the chaos fortress would be possible without the threat of this new and deadly badlands.

With a few final prayers to the Lord of Decay Epidemius fell headfirst into the primary bio-pool with the largest and most potent container of the pathogen in hand.

OOC: Kinda quick to get the artifact of the continent, worse that the Space Wolves deployed on it.... But hey time that the thing goes round!

~~ Continent Gaia ~~

The flora and fauna was dieing the instant the Orb had been removed from the continent. The deadly jungles filled with swarms of insects, reptiles and other beasts starting to rot instantly. Same for the wide green fields further to the south. It withered within minutes, a breeze of wind simply forming it into lost ashes and spreading the remains of the continent into the air and seas.

The Continent became the Wasteland it was supposed to be, a flat brown rock with miles and miles and miles of land. It was clear: The Orb held this place alive and with it gone now, everything died. The only thing remaining the big Temple in the center of the continent.


~~ Eldar Continent / Island - Hell's Gate ~~

With the Orb being in the hands of the Eldar it continued to do it's work. As soon as they arrived in their primary base, it started to glow and make sounds. It had scanned the carrier of the Orb and his/her mind. Along with that also the physiology and preferred surroundings.

Soon the whole island turned into Wraithbone. The Ground, Dirt and Rocks, everything seemed to turn into Wraithbone, with plants, trees and other things growing just as from the original homeworld of the Eldar. The one that was lost long ago to their own fault as they caused Slaanesh to rise.

Hell's Gate and the rest of the continent was within a few minutes completely terraformed into an image of their old homeworld.

~~ Astartes HQ ~~

"Deploy First Company via teleporters and get the Land Raiders in there! Three Predators as well, launch Dreadnoughts Lychus and Pasius from Orbit right into the enemy lines once the Terminators are at work!" The Captain ordered who served in Antiochius' replacement for the Ultramarines. As soon as he heard word of the PDF being attacked by the heretics. He turns to Astaroth Belias.

"Can we count on your support, Blood Angel?" Agemman asks and the Blood Angel simply nodded. "Deploy Reserve Devastator company for heavy support for the Ultramarines and PDF at New Alexandria, the city and the production facilities cannot fall!" He ordered the orbital command and as soon as command was given, several Drop-Pods crashed down near the main defense, the Devastators all taking their place in Squads. A Hundred Sons of Sanguinius equipped with Heavy Bolters, Las Cannons and Plasma Cannons would show the heretics what true devastation is.

~~ Hive Fleet Kraken ~~

"They. Won. Not. Long." The Hive mind informed Alpha as he was re-created as a Hive Tyrant. The Hive mind might have lost an army, but it was small in comparison what it had. "Fleets. Not. Attacking. Scared." It concluded as it watched the different fleets hanging in orbit, none moving.

But thankfully through keeping the main commanders of the heretical forces on ground keeping occupied, they could not react to the many Bio-Ships Kraken had grown. It might have cost a lot, but the Planet was rich in Bio-Mass, and all over the planet it was sucking on it like an infant on her mother. Till nothing would remain.

The only truly lethal threat was at the ground, A lictor in distance overlooked the developments and it was... Interesting. The containers caused everything to mutate, Tyranid and Humans alike, forming a new ... creature, a new enemy. It should be taken by a Venomthrope eventually to gain the DNA and become truly resistant to anything what the Chaos forces have developed.... Earlier or later....

But there were more urgent things at hand!

"Alpha. Chaos-Fleet. Attack." The Hive mind said as the whole fleet that Kraken had built up moved now towards the heretical fleet, ready to devour them. Instantly Alpha was connected with all Ships around and became some kind of Admiral. The Mind knew about his potential.... It could become a legend like the Deathleaper or Old One Eyed or even as famous as the Swarmlord..... Yes.... Alpha would need to learn, adapt.... and become stronger....

~~~ Commissar Holt, New Alexandria, western front, trench lines~~~
The steel rain was glorious. It was as if the god emperor himself had graced this battle. This battle had seems to turn to their favor and Holt could never feel more confident with the defenders of man at his side. "Vox caster! Order the basilisks to aim for the enemy artillery in the rear, halt fire on their lines. Then inform all commanders in the trenches we will charge in 10 seconds."
"Aye Commissar!" He began to relay the message
The commissar looked up as the basilisk fire halted for a few brief moments and begin again with a wider arc over their heads. He sons noticed the other PDF coming out of the trenches to his left and right and rose his sword into the air.
"Praise be to the emperor! Show these traitors steel!" With a lowering of his sword he yelled "Charge!"
Te soldiers around him got out of the trenches and marched forward firing off concentrated volleys at his discretion. He ordered the Lehman Russes to not stay far behind covering flanks. The hydra flak stayed in range of the basilisks