Sickly green lightning arced across the hellscape as daemons leaped into view across the battlefield. Like anti-bodies, the xenos stamped forward out of the alcoves and eldritch doorways to fight off what infestation of man and cultist it could. They came out slowly and in small numbers, but I feared if we took too long we would be overwhelmed before we could fight our way out. I could sense the men's fear, but no one would leave until I slew that bastard bahometus. 

While Emmaline did her part, I raced forward, cutting down another snarling daemon, the otherworldly entity spouting out a curse in a language not meant for human ears as it dissipated into the nether, cut in twain by my blessed power sword. Shotgun shells and bolter rounds pierced through the horde that leaped at us as the lesser warp-entities had to turn and face the xenos in their assault from the flank. One piece of luck when you're the lowest in the foodchain is that most adversaries tend to overlook you. As it was, my force of troops and myself were about a quarter the strength of either the daemons or the xenos and the two liked one another as much as they enjoyed my presence. 

Lucius the Thunder Warrior made good on his name, his boots tramping across the xenos steel like rolling thunder across the hills as he stamped over both xenos and cultist, even taking a glancing blow from the gauss rifle of the necronic weaponry and moving without complaint, though it sheared through the armor of his right shoulder and sent blood streaming down the opened muscle. I moved to follow him, but I felt as much as heard Emmaline collapse behind me. I turned and saw her hit the floor, and yet her hands gripped the staff as if it were her only hope of salvation. 

Duty warred with my heart as I watched her, and I took one step toward her fallen form before I took a moment to think. No, the quicker I killed Bahometus, the quicker I could help Emmaline. 

"Corporal Hergen! Guard her with your life! Ravjek, get four men to hold the perimeter to keep our rear secure! The rest of you, with me!" 

The men moved with precision, any idleness that might infect their mines purged from them after my orders. When men had a direction, it didn't matter if it let to their dooms. It was better than no direction at all. 

I wheeled forward again and ran like hell, pivoting to hug the right, away from the main engagement as I passed by the floating obelisks and pillars that hid what cultists bahometus could spare away from his main body. Bald heads and wild spikes from their rags and armor betrayed their positions. The first heretic I passed only saw a glimpse of me before I cut his head in half with a swift stroke, never slowing my stride. Lucious and Ravjek's fire took what little attention we were granted and it wasn't long until I leaped over a small, steel wall and saw the loathesome Bahometus shuddering under some weight, his acolytes surrounding him. 

I pulled out my autogun with a quick-draw honed from a dozen years of fire practice and sent round after round into his shield of lackeys.