The cultist leader had fled into the room in escape of the armsman's relentless onslaught, closing the door behind him and grabbing an autopistol from a wooden casket by one of the pillars before training it on the door as he awaited Stukov's entry.
Yet it would not be Stukov who would enter the room first, but a concussion grenade thrown in by the guardsman. The cultist leader barely had time to raise his eyebrows in a surprised expression before his entire world turned screaming white, and he stumbled backwards into the ground; ripping the exquisite fabric of his colorful robes in the process and losing his autopistol.
His sight was blurred, and a loud, flat tone filled his head; drowning out all surrounding noise and sound.
Fumbling around, he could see the faint shape of a man soon entering the room. Slowly but surely, his sight would become more clear, revealing the person to be Stukov, eyes scanning and with the barrel of his gun trailed on him.
"Wait! Wait!" The Cult Leader exclaimed, raising his hand as he staggered backwards while simultaneously trying to get back on his feet, causing him to step on the bottom of his robes and stumble back into the drapery lining the wall. His pupils widened as fear gripped the middle aged man's face, with sweat trickling down his blonde brows.
"T-this must be a mistake!" He stammered.
"You have no idea who you are dealing with! Stop this madness, and I can still save you!"
The man desperately tried to bargain as he pressed his back against the wall, as if he was trying to somehow pass through the solid concrete to escape the approaching Stukov.
His terrified eyes were fixed on Stukov, the cultist frozen in place by fear and making himself an easy target.
"No..."
Yet as Stukov raised his autogun to fire, and his finger lined the trigger; he was unable to squeeze it. Though in his mind he wanted the man dead, it was almost as if the muscles of his body were now revolting against him, preventing him from firing his weapon. If he tried to move, he suddenly found himself frozen in place, as if some invisible strings were holding him!
The cultist leader, who had formerly been staring Stukov, suddenly looked past Stukov at something behind him, something that made the previously terrified man suddenly smile with a wicked glee.
"Astrid!" He uttered, suddenly emerging from his spot to step forward.
A metallic clank could be heard behind Stukov as the metal bottom of a staff hit the floor. Behind Stukov was a woman clad in purple and gold robes. Her face was hidden behind a golden mask, flanked by streams of blond and gold hair running out from her heavy hood. In her right hand she held a solid silver spear, inscribed with various runes.
It was the same woman from M4R1-A's recording of the gallery!
"Saleein 'ithari lia" The woman suddenly uttered, raising her left hand and weaving it, causing a magical circle puffing with pink smoke to suddenly appear behind her.
*
Some chambers further away, Adrianne was locked in fierce battle with the twinblade wielding daemonette!
As the daemonette brought her weapon in a tall sweeping strike against Adrianne, the psyker would extend her palm towards the incoming weapon! Suddenly, the daemonette would be stopped mid-swing, as if some invisible force had just taken hold of her weapon and locked it in place! The daemonette tried to tear her weapon loose, but it wouldn't move an inch from where it was trapped in statis mid-air.
Yet while her weapon might be stuck, Adrianne's was still moving.
The daemonette's eyes widened as she saw Adrianne bring her curved power sword out in a low, sweeping strike towards the daemonette's waist! Yet before the blade could catch her, the daemonette would embark on a feat of agility as she jumped up from the ground, still holding onto her twinblade hanging horizontally in the air, dodging the incoming strike from Adrianne as the blade passed under her! Yet it didn't stop there. As the daemonette still hung to her twinblade, she allowed herself to flip around in the air, coming down on the other side of her twinblade as Adrianne passed under her, slamming the bottom of her feet into the psyker's shoulderplates and sending Adrianne slamming face-first into the concrete floor!
Stunning the psyker seemed to break whatever sorcery that was keeping her weapon locked in place, allowing the daemonette to once again swing it freely around.
"An admirable attempt, but it won't work on me." The daemonette remarked snarkily as she swung her twinblade around and prepared to launch it down against Adrianne, the daemonette standing on top of the psyker.
Yet as she had barely managed to raise her weapon, Adrianne would flip her sword around, and slam the bottom of its staff handle down into the ground! As the focusing crystal touched the concrete floor, it suddenly generated a tremendous shockwave that expanded out from the center of it, catching and knocking back everything around Adrianne, including the daemonette who was thrown back and slammed forcefully into a pillar with a heavy thud!
"Die!"
Adrianne screamed under her helmet, purple lights glowing through her pitch black visors as she threw herself back onto her feet, grasping her sword with both hands as she turned to face the daemonette now stunned against the pillar!
The daemonette coughed before looking up, seeing the incoming psyker who brought her weapon out in a broad sweep! Imbuing her strike with further kinetic energy, Adrianne would then unleash the strike against her foe lined up against the pillar; the blade moving as fast as a bullet!
Yet just before the blade would connect, the daemonette would suddenly disappear in a purple fire, leaving only ash and sot in her wake just as Adrianne's furious strike cut into the concrete pillar, cutting it in two in an instant!
The upper and lower portion of the concrete pillar would remain, attached to the floor and roof as they were, but there would be a narrow, open midriff between them smoking and glowing after the power sword had cut just through it.
Realizing that she could no longer see her opponent anymore, Adrianne spun her head around, looking in every direction for her elusive foe. Yet the closest thing she could find of the daemonette would be the black ash stains that decorated the side of the pillar. Staring at the spot, and the ruined pillar for a moment, Adrianne would finally step to the side, heading back towards Aviza.
“The room already had an open flame, all I had to do was toss in a gas grenade and shut the doors.”
Adrianne would pause, looking mainly at Aviza, but affording a quick glance towards the open door.
"I hope you made sure to check there weren't any captives or hostages among them before throwing it." Adrianne would comment, looking back at the sister of battle.
"We need to catch up with Stukov. You take point!"
...
" ... and I promise I won't push this time."
*
Back in the room with Stukov and the cultist leader, the circle summoned by Astrid would suddenly burst into flame as a pale haired daemonette suddenly staggered out of it. It was the same daemon that Adrianne had fought earlier, holding her twinblade lazily in her hand as the daemonette shook her head as the creature tried to regain her bearings.
The daemon's battered entrance would afford her a contemptuous look from the psyker named Astrid.
"Playtime's over, Saleen. We need to escort Maltheus out of here." Astrid would remark as she looked at the daemonette, who soon gazed back in return.
"Normally I hate your impromptu summons, mistress... " The daemonette referred to as 'Saleen' would reply, glaring back at Astrid before grinning wickedly.
"But this time the timing of your interference was excellent."
Behind her mask, Astrid raised an eyebrow as she looked at the daemonette.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Silence, we do not have time to waste!" The Cult Leader, apparently named Maltheus by Astrid, had suddenly regained an authoritative role. Surrounded by friendlies, the man was no longer quaking with fear. In fact, he looked at Stukov with a wicked, vindictive grin. Footsteps could soon be heard, as entering from one of the side entrances would be two heavily armed guards, clad in pitch black carapace armor, gas masks and wielding autoguns.
"Sir, are you alright?" One of the guards asked. The cultist leader merely looked at him, before turning to Stukov, still frozen in place.
"Guards, execute this man!" Maltheus spoke, his finger pointing at Stukov. The guards looked at Maltheus for a moment, before one of them raised his autogun, training it at the armsman.
"Don't be fools!" Suddenly sounded a familiar voice, as the daemonette named Saleen suddenly stepped forward towards Stukov, intentionally placing her larger body between the guards and Stukov.
"Why would you ever waste someone with such a precious gift?"
"Saleen!" Astrid snapped angrily behind her mask.
Maltheus glanced at her, before turning to Saleen. Raising a hand, he nodded at the daemonette.
"Is there a reason for this sudden sense of compassion, Saleein?" Maltheus asked, looking stoically at the daemon as she turned her back on him and stood in front of Stukov.
The daemonette towered over Stukov, the man barely at chest height with her, yet she stared down at him through her yellow eyes with a wicked, almost childish smile on her purple lips. Raising a hand up in front of her, she'd playfully brush Stukov's autogun aside as she looked at her.
"This one is no mere flesh toy. I can see untapped potential in him." Saleen spoke as she moved her hand up next to the armsman, gently placing it on top of Stukov's face and gently caressing his cheek.
"The warp flows through him, yet his mind clearly unused to the sensation. Like a castle with its doors left unbarred. I think... I think... " The smile on the daemonette's face grew only bigger. The way her unblinking eyes looked into Stukov's own was almost as if she was not looking at his eyes, but directly through at something lying underneath.
" ... that this one may have just recently awoken from his slumber."
Tilting her head a little to the side, the daemonette would stare down at Stukov.
"Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. You have a name, don't you?" The daemonette looked at Stukov, her head inching closer to his.
"Tell me your name."
