Queen Hellebron yelled in anguish when she heard the results of her last mission for Tullaris Dreadbringer. Not only would she not be receiving Eltharion the Blind’s body to sacrifice to her Bloody-Handed God but it seems Tullaris has officially gone rogue as she has not heard from the two assassins she sent to monitor his actions.

However, accounting for Tullaris’ disloyalty would have to be taken care of later. What mattered right now was who would take Eltharion’s place in her great ritual to bring her god to the world. Hellebron routed through the catacombs beneath her palace in Naggarond, keeping some black guards by her side on lookout in case a gutter runner or two had access here. Finally, after opening several tombs to find nothing but skeletons or degraded dust, she came across the perfect candidate. The Tyrant of Hag Graef’s tomb was relatively new and upon opening it up, she found the body of Malus Darkblade, who had been killed by the King of Bretonnia Louen Leoncouer (All the way back in #Lorefight 8!!!), inside the tomb and surprisingly well preserved.

Hellebron had Malus’ body brought upstairs to her palace and proceeded with her plan. Tonight would mark a special night, for the ancient star-sign of Rionyes which marked Mercy, Death, and Creation would appear above the lands of Naggaroth in an event that stood to transpire only once this century. Tonight, Hellebron would endeavour to bring Khaine to her world!

Thanks to the lack of legendary sacrifice, Hellebron decided to evade this deficit by seeking sheer quantity of sacrifice over quality. Hellebron sent packs of Brides of Khaine to every city in her realm with the distinct order that upon Naggaroth’s alignment with the star-sign, the Witch Elves will simultaneously embrace a continent-wide Death Night wherein they will kill everyone they come across. Whether their victims are foreign slaves, elf slaves, common citizens or Druchii soldiers is irrelevant, all that come face to face with a Witch Elf will die tonight. Only the lords and commerce leaders who were deemed powerful enough to be worthy of the Witch Queen’s time were warned long enough in advance to board up their windows and look themselves away from the slaughter. Tens of thousands will die tonight.

And so members of the Black Guard of Naggarond took Darkblade’s corpse out of the catacombs and up into the palace where it was finally laid down upon Hellebron’s personal sacrificial altar to Khaine. From there, the Empire fell silent until finally, nearing the stroke of midnight, the stars aligned into Rionyes and the games begun. All around the cities of Naggaroth, the Witch Elves embraced their bloodlust and were set free to massacre everyone they come across. The streets were littered with bloodshed, thousands of slaves were mutilated and some Brides of Khaine went as far as turning on Druchii soldiers, dismembering Bleakswords and Corsairs alike.

As screams could be heard all over the Empire, Hellebron stood over Malus’ body and held her left arm out which she proceeded to pierce by cutting a vein open using a blade held in her right arm. Blood began to pour from her arm and drop onto Darkblade’s body as the sorceresses around her muttered the words of an ancient ritual. More and more blood fell from Hellebron’s arm, far too much for her not to have fainted already. The blood continued to pour, much of it even dropping off Darkblade’s form and forming puddles on the floor around the altar. For though Hellebron’s blood was first to reach Malus’ body, which she hoped would make him loyal to her, it quickly transpired that this wasn’t all Hellebron’s blood, it was all the blood of the thousands of civilians, slaves and soldiers outside being sacrificed across the empire!

The blood continued to fall and just as Malus’ body was filled to the brink, the blood was suddenly accompanied by a red mist descending from the heavens which entered the deceased warrior’s nostrils as the blood which had seeped onto the floor began to bubble as if it were boiling. Suddenly, Malus Darkblade’s eyes shot open, awash in a deep red state and coughing up excess blood from the ritual. Malus Darkblade lives!

However, the Malus which came back now is not the same as the one which had died all that time ago. Upon seeking to resurrect the fallen champion, the Bloody-Handed God found that too much of Malus’ old soul had been damaged in his efforts to free his essence from the grips of the Slaaneshi daemon Tz’arkan and so whether he liked it or not, Khaine found he had to jettison a great portion of Malus’ soul. He would have all his memories but perhaps not feel as strongly connected to them as he had in his previous life, as if he were peering into someone else’s past rather than his own. What was not difficult on the other hand was reinstalling Malus’ great loyalty to the Murder God, so much so that Khaine found it would be easier to patch up his hollowed-out soul with an intense loyalty to his god and to those that seek to implement its will. Malus may remember his past life but any thought of visiting his family, getting vengeance on the daemons or ruling over Hag Graef would instantly be countermanded by an overwhelming urge to follow Khaine’s commands. Malus Darkblade may be back, but his autonomy has long since passed. For all intents and purposes, he is now an Earthly embodiment of Khaine.

Malus rose and walked around the room naked, taking in his surroundings. The sorceresses which had raised him all kneeled before him, keeping their heads low while the Witch Queen of Naggarond bowed before him before practically launching herself at him in excitement to meet her god face to face, or as close to that as was possible. She appeared totally in awe, almost as if she was about to propose but Malus simply stared at her blankly, asking why she had brought him back.

She stood back and explained all her intentions, even going so far as to say that she wanted to make him her King under the newfound Kingdom of Khaine.

However, the Khaine-forged Malus couldn’t feel at peace in this realm. He may be glad to survive and even interested in Hellebron’s proposal but Khaine wanted for nothing but one; the Widowmaker, the Sword of Khaine.

And so, that night Malus abandoned Hellebron’s bed chambers while she slept and made his way quietly through the palace until he reached the armoury where his armour and legendary blade, the Warpsword was stored. A powerful weapon indeed, but only the Sword of Khaine would satisfy Malus’ new master.

He made his way to the stables where he found his Cold One named Spite. The raptor could tell his daemon-affliction had faded but rather than welcoming an uncorrupted master, it attempted to resist Malus’ will, for it could sense a new far stronger master within. Suddenly, bells started to sound. Hellebron must have awoken and noticed Malus’ absence. Without time to waste, Malus held the Warpsword against Spite’s scales and ignited its fiery core until finally Spite relented and Malus left Naggarond at top speed. He reached the coast and stowed away in a merchant’s ship where he and Spite intended to be dropped off in Ulthuan.

Malus fought through the docks and strode through Nagarythe with such speed that no Silver Helm or Shadow Warrior could halt his advance, for the flames of Khaine enabled both Malus and Spite to move at supernormal speeds. Finally, Malus reached the Shrine of Khaine but with one final obstacle to face, Alith Anar, the Shadow King of Nagarythe.

Love React: Alith Anar stood atop the shrine, guarding the Sword. Malus was about to approach him by climbing up the stairs to the shrine when Alith drew his bow and cried an immense “loose” order. Suddenly, 100s of Shadow warriors appeared from the shadows in a circle all around a 50 metre radius from the Dark Elf. Before Malus could even prepare himself, even with his Khaine-given speed, all the archers fired at him at once, piercing every inch of his body at least thrice.

Wow React: As Malus rose up the steps, Alith fired bolt after bolt in quick succession. Even with his Khaine-given reflexes Malus could not withstand the blows and so, as the Shadow Warriors began to appear from the darkness to aid Alith, Malus realised this simply wasn’t his day and turned around to flee.

Laugh React: Malus charged at Alith Anar when suddenly Spite threw him off its saddle, causing him to tumble back down the steps causing Malus to break his neck on the way down.

Sad React: Malus saw through Alith’s tricks and proceeded to ride around cutting through all the enstealthed Shadow Warriors atop his cold one. From there, his armour, reflexes and shield allowed him to resist the bolts of the moonbow such that he was able to fight past Alith Anar and take up the Widowmaker. Realising he had lost the battle, Alith Anar fled the field of battle.

Angry React: Malus charged at Alith, running up the stairs on Spite and using his shield to block the bolts of the Moonbow. As he approached, Alith turned invisible and tried to place a copy of himself to fistract the elf. However, Malus’ eyes shone with a bright red flame which enabled him to find the invisible elf. Before Alith could respond, Malus jumped from his cold one and plunged the Warpsword deep through Alith’s chest, before igniting it to turn the dying high elf to charred dust.