Space Marines in the Mist (Warhammer 40k/Mistborn)

[Shakie]

One thousand years after the first Mistborn trilogy, a man gains near-godlike powers from the legendary Well of Ascension, before being killed. He later finds himself in a grimdark universe, where he can put his powers to far better use.

Though this is a crossover, no prior knowledge of Mistborn is required.

---

Ecstasy.

That was what Brian Dagouter felt as he injected a mix of drugs into his arm. Not the sort of thing most people would do alone - there were no illegal drugs on Scadrial to speak of, with Feruchemical healing making them far less dangerous to use, but there was still a small risk; one couldn't heal themselves if they were unconscious after all. Yet, as Brian was basically an outlaw by this point, he wasn't in a position to seek help if something did go wrong, at least without being arrested.

Fortunately, he had done some research before injecting his body with everything he could think of. One of the drugs increased his body's demand for oxygen, while the other reduced his breathing rate, so as soon as the chemicals entered his bloodstream, he began tapping breath from his cadmiumminds, ensuring he didn't suffocate. At the same time, he tapped his zincminds for increased mental speed, purely to increase the perceived length of his high. It was a shame he was doing it alone; it was both safer and more fun doing drugs with others, but Brian's new lifestyle had alienated anyone he might have once called a friend, except for the talking sword hanging from his belt.

I'm bored, Brian, Nightblood whined, projecting the words directly into Brian's mind. Can't you go and rob some more metal shipments again?

"I didn't think you liked me doing that. Aren't you all about destroying evil and stuff?"

Of course I don't like it, the sword said with a huff, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing. And there's hardly any evil to destroy on this world.

"Well you know, I feel like I should enjoy what time I've got in case I mess up and end up in jail."

You'd eventually get out, wouldn't you? It's not like you'll die of old age.

"True, but with everything I've done so far, I'm probably getting at least a century behind bars", Brian replied. "I'd like to put that off as long as possible."

Brian had actually only been in possession of Nightblood for around a year. It had previously been in the care of the Shin people on the planet Roshar. Stealing it had only been possible due to their unfamiliarity with investiture – or 'magic', as ignorant idiots called it – from Scadrial, but Brian had wasted no time putting the sword's unique properties to use. Most notably, breaking into the chamber containing the legendary Well of Ascension, which had itself only recently been rediscovered, and using its power to elevate himself to near godhood.

So why are we in a sewer anyway? Nightblood asked, with a childlike curiosity.

"Isn't it obvious? It's safe down here."

You need safety? I thought Feruchemical healing made you basically invincible.

"Only while I'm actively tapping health from my goldminds. And doing that would purge the drugs from my body. It's why you can't get drunk while using it either."

After using the Well of Ascension, Brian had explored the winding tunnels that made up the city of Elendel's sewer system, searching for a place to lay low when necessary. With the Well having made him both a supremely powerful Allomancer and Feruchemist, he no longer needed to eat, instead sustaining himself by tapping nutrition from his bendalloyminds. He didn't have to sleep either, thanks to the stored wakefulness in his bronzeminds. As a result, he could stay below ground for weeks at a time, on this occasion choosing to seclude himself inside a small room that was, other than the door, cut off from the rest of the sewer system, surrounded on all sides by nice thick concrete walls.

Or so he thought.

As it turned out, the wall to Brian's left was only around sixty centimetres thick. As he continued to fill his body with chemicals, a single robot stood on the other side of the wall, in the main sewer tunnel. It was a standard hunter-killer unit, commonplace in Scadrial's military. Powered by silent servo motors and synth-muscles, they were more like robotic Special Forces than soldiers. As there was little need for the Scadrian government to maintain a large standing force however, most of its 'army' now consisted of these androids, which these days spent most of their time acting as bodyguards to the President, along with various other high-ranking government officials. This particular unit had been 'borrowed' by various rogue elements fearful of Brian's powers – a fear that had only grown, given what he'd used his powers for so far.

The robot was armed with a Steelpush rifle. While gunpowder had been known to Scadrial for centuries, it had since been superseded by Allomantic weaponry. Just as a human Allomancer could burn steel to push on metal objects, launching them at supersonic speeds, the rifle used the same principle to accelerate an osmiridium bullet to over 20,000 metres per second.

The robot did the machine equivalent of burning steel, but didn't push on anything. Instead millions of thin blue lines filled its vision – each one indicating a trace amount of metal in the walls and floor. A sufficiently strong Allomancer could even make out the trace metals present in another person's body using this method. Down in the sewer though, there were enough trace metals in the environment to obscure them. Unable to detect its target, the android instead burned tin, enhancing its artificial senses, hoping for an indirect method of detection. It found one; its sound sensors, augmented by burning tin, picked up the sound of Brian's breathing.

Estimating where Brian's head would be from the detected sounds, the robot raised its rifle, and fired. The hypersonic projectile easily burrowed through the concrete wall, into Brian's skull. Such a wound would've been survivable had he been tapping his goldminds. But Brian hadn't been as careful at concealing his non-crime related activities as he thought, with the robot's masters learning that he'd become a junkie, and deducing that would be the optimal time to strike.

Flying far faster than the speed of sound, Brian couldn't possibly have heard the bullet coming. Striking his head with enough force to completely pulp it, he was dead before his body hit the floor.

-x-x-x-x-​

"The fuck?"

Those were the first words to leave Brian's mouth after his soul left his body. One moment, he was in Elendel's sewers, high as a kite. The next, he was standing on a strange sea of liquid, surrounded by mist.

"Welcome to the Cognitive Realm, Brian Dagouter", a voice said from behind him.

Spinning around, he was greeted by the sight of another man. He was tall, but thin, with tanned skin and a bald head, clearly of Terris descent, and wearing a long brown robe. To the casual observer, he would have been the stereotypical image of the average Terrisman. He certainly wasn't what most would expect of the most powerful being in the Cosmere. Yet that was who he was; Harmony, the God who had transformed Scadrial from an ash-ridden hellscape into something vaguely resembling paradise. He was also the last person Brian wanted to see right now.

"Harmony!? How the fuck did I end up here?" he said, in a state of pure shock.

"I'm afraid you died, Brian."

"What!? How…" Brian began, the shock being replaced by ice-cold fear. "How long do I have until I… you know… pass into the beyond?" he eventually said, voice trembling.

"You can stay here as long as you like", Harmony said, sounding kind.

"I… wait, what?"

"The more investiture someone's soul has, Brian, the longer they persist in the Cognitive Realm before fading away" the God explained. "When you used the Well of Ascension, you gained a sliver of my power. Indeed, you are now one of the most heavily invested beings in the entire Cosmere. As such, you can remain here indefinitely, at least until you choose to… let yourself go."

"Oh. Well, why would I ever do that?" Brian asked, having somewhat recovered.

"Boredom, I think. I'm afraid the Cognitive Realm is rather lacking in ways to amuse oneself."

"Talk about an understatement", Brian muttered to himself, as he examined his surroundings. He'd heard that land and sea were reversed in the Cognitive Realm - something that was evidently true, given that he was standing on water. In the distance, he could see thin, snaking patches of land that made up the rivers flowing through the Elendel basin in the real world.

Turning back to his God, Brian implored, "Look, Harmony, friend. You've gotta send me back. This is clearly an extrajudicial killing."

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Brian", Harmony replied apologetically.

"What? Yes, it is… until I go into the beyond, anyway. You can just stuff my soul back into my body."

"Well, I suppose I could, strictly speaking. But I don't think it would be a good idea. After all, I can't stop the forces that killed you from doing so again, if you returned. And, well, it's not as if you aren't guilty of the crimes that got you killed in the first place."

"Well… if sending me back to Scadrial isn't an option, what about somewhere else in the Cosmere? Somewhere the locals don't know about me, so I won't be judged over the stuff I've done."

"And leave them defenceless against you?" Harmony said, with a raised eyebrow. "No offence Brian, but you haven't exactly used your powers for good."

"So… what, the Well of Ascension won't recharge for another thousand years. And you'd just let that power go to waste?"

"It isn't a waste if you only use it for crime", Harmony said firmly.

"I... well…" Brian began, beginning to panic. "Look, I acknowledge that I've done some pretty bad stuff in the past, ok? But it's not too late to turn myself around, it's not… I mean, I can still use this power for good, if you give me the chance!" he said, trying not to sound too frantic.

Harmony didn't immediately reply, looking thoughtful. "There's nowhere I can send you in the Cosmere, Brian, but… hmmm…" he said as he turned around, fading away into the mist.

"Harmony, wait! Come back! Please, come back!" Brian shouted. He stood there waiting for a few moments, but Harmony didn't come back.

No longer able to suppress the horror of his situation, Brian did the only thing he could. He lashed out.

"BLOODY… FUCKING… BOLLOCKS!" he roared as he punched the floor. It achieved nothing, with it being made of liquid, but he did it anyway, if only to try and ignore the fear that had engulfed him once again.

-x-x-x-x-​

Despite searching for a week, Brian hadn't found a way out of the Cognitive Realm that didn't involve dying for good. Not that he'd expected to find anything, but he didn't have anything else better to do.

Occasionally, he saw the spirits of other people who died. Presumably, they were mostly people who'd chosen to pass on, with anti-senescence treatments now being cheap and abundant enough to ensure even the poorest of Scadrial's residents would never age, and Feruchemical healing taking care of everything else.

It was obvious which of them had invested powers and which didn't; the latter group passed into the beyond after only a few seconds, the former lasting for around a minute. There was one woman who'd lasted a full four minutes, presumably being both an Allomancer and a Feruchemist, but Brian hadn't approached her, or anyone else before they passed on. Supposedly, Harmony gave comforting words to everyone who died on Scadrial before they passed into the beyond. He didn't want to interfere with that; more importantly, he also didn't want anything to do with anyone that reminded him of the inevitability of his own situation.

"I hope you haven't been too bored, Brian", Harmony said, appearing literally out of nowhere.

"Harmony! Oh, thank fuck you came back. I swear it's only a matter of time before I go mad."

"Well, there is a solution to that, even if you're not willing to contemplate it."

"Nope", Brian said, shaking his head. "I'd rather go mad than cease to exist"

"Your future self would disagree, I think. As I said Brian, your spirit will persist here forever. And, well, forever is an extremely long time."

"Perhaps. But it just occurred to me… there is one thing I can take advantage of to ensure I'll remain sane."

"Oh? And what's that?" Harmony asked.

"The fact that you are a good person, Harmony. Your conscience would never allow you to let me go insane."

"I may be less inclined to do that, given what you've just said."

"Not that much less inclined. After all, I haven't told you anything you didn't already know."

Harmony didn't respond, instead just gazing at Brian, an unreadable expression on his face. Eventually he said, "You would do anything to keep on living, wouldn't you Brian?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I would, there is nothing worse than non-existence."

"Many people in the past… people who suffered far more than yourself may have disagreed."

"Oh I bet they would. But they'd be wrong, because while you're still alive… no matter how bad things may seem, there's always a chance, no matter how small, that things can get better. But when you die, that chance instantly drops to zero."

Harmony nodded. "I can see that you truly believe what you're saying. I am glad; I haven't been idle since we first spoke, you know, I was… examining somewhere I could send you."

"Really?!" Brian said, hope blooming in his chest before being smothered by his desire to not be disappointed. "I mean, I thought you said you wouldn't send me anywhere."

"I said I wouldn't send you anywhere in the Cosmere, Brian. But since my ascension, I have become aware of… other planes of existence. There is one in particular with a perpendicularity through which I could send you."

"Oh…" Brian trailed off, unsure what to make of what Harmony had just said. Since the invention of Allomancy-powered fatser-than-light travel, people from Scadrial had explored all over the Cosmere, but there was no known way out of the Cosmere entirely... unless one was a God apparently.

"Would I still have my powers?" Brian asked, still not having gotten over the revelation that other universes existed.

"Of course. They are a part of your soul, being on another plane doesn't change that."

"Would I have my metalminds as well? I noticed I don't have them in the Cognitive Realm."

"I believe I can do something about that, yes."

"What about Nightblood?"

"You're determined to trip me up, aren't you?" Harmony said, amused. "Yes, you would even have Nightblood."

"Well then… there has to be some sort of catch, right?"

"Not necessarily. But yes, there is a catch in this case. This other plane… is not a nice place. The perpendicularity through which I would send you is called the 'Eye of Terror'. Indeed, I am willing to send you there because, to put it bluntly, there is nothing you can do to the people there that would increase their suffering any further, even if you tried."

"Oh… you know, that isn't very encouraging, Harmony."

"It wasn't meant to be, Brian. But if you're as determined for another chance at life as you sounded a few minutes ago… there would be plenty of opportunities to use your powers for good."

"I am", Brian said, with complete conviction. "Do I need to do anything?"

"Stand still. Good luck, Brian Dagouter", Harmony said, grasping Brian's shoulders with both hands,before he disappeared in a puff of mist.

"I fear you will need it", Harmony said to the empty mists.

---

Author's note:

So this is a random story idea that I had. For anyone that hasn't read it, the powers shown in Mistborn are pretty low-key for a fantasy setting. Anyone that actually used the Well of Ascension would be way too overpowered for a pure Mistborn fic (it took me a while to come up with a plausible way in which Brian could actually be killed), so I figured a crossover with another setting that is more OP in general would be pretty fun.

Since I figure quite a few people reading this won't have read Mistborn, here's a quick guide to what powers Brian has:

Allomancy is the ability to 'burn' a metal inside your body (usually ingested), which will then give you some sort of effect, depending on what metal was burned. The more powerful the Allomancer, the stronger this effect. The metals come in pairs, one a pure element, the other an alloy of that element. These pairs of metals tend to have opposite effects when burned.

Feruchemy is the ability to store various attributes in metal, which can them be accessed (tapped) for a later boost to that attribute. Pieces of metal specifically made for storing attributes are called Metalminds. A Feruchemist's power is limited by how quickly they can store attributes (thus there aren't really 'power levels' for Feruchemists), however there is no limit to how quickly the stored attributes can be tapped.

Metal	Allomantic Effect	Feruchemical Effect
Tin	Enhances senses	Stores senses
Pewter	Enhances physical attributes	Stores physical strength
Iron	Pulls on nearby metals	Stores physical weight
Steel	Pushes on nearby metals	Stores physical speed
Zinc	Enflames (riots) the emotions of another person	Stores mental speed
Brass	Dampens (soothes) the emotions of another person	Stores warmth/body heat
Copper	Hides Allomantic pulses	Stores memories
Bronze	Can detect Allomantic pulses	Stores wakefulness
Aluminium	Wipes internal metal reserves	Stores identity
Duralumin	Enhances other metals burned simultaneously	Stores spritual connection
Gold	Shows your past self	Stores health
Electrum	Shows your future self	Stores determination
Chromium	Wipes the metal reserves of another person	Stores fortune/luck
Nicrosil	Enhances the metals burned by another person	Stores invesiture
Cadmium	Creates a bubble of slowed time	Stores breath/oxygen
Bendalloy	Creates a bubble of sped-up time	Stores nutrition/calories

There are other, more exotic metals as well, that will become apparent as the story progresses.

By the way, if you want a fun game to play, guess how many times I put Brain instead of Brian while writing this.

 

[Shakie]

Brian's departure from the Cognitive Realm was as abrupt as his arrival; in a puff of mist, he went from standing before Harmony on a sea of calm water, to standing in a dark, dingy hallway reminiscent of the sewer he'd been killed in.

Checking for his metalminds, he rolled up his sleeves, spotting the metal cylinders piercing his flesh, ensuring they couldn't be pushed or pulled on. Looking down at his belt, he saw a familiar jet-black sword hanging from it.

"Nightblood?" Brian asked.

Oh Brian, I'm so glad to see you again! Do you have any idea how bored I've been over the past week?

"Do you have any idea how dead I've been?"

What's the problem with that? All humans die eventually.

Brian felt his eye twitch at that statement.

I was joking, Brian, Nightblood said, laughing.

"Oh… I, er, didn't realise…" Brian replied, caught off-guard. He'd never heard the sword attempt humour before; while it was impossible for something as heavily invested as Nightblood to not have some level of sentience, the sword's intelligence was still surprising for something that didn't have a brain.

Still off-balance, Brian said, "Well, you know, my heart bleeds for you, about your whole boredom situation."

Don't be like that, the sword said with a pout. They kept me in a vault, Brian. A vault!

"You are pretty dangerous to be fair", Brian replied, chuckling.

Only when wielded by someone evil.

"Actually, I was referring to your tendency to eat people's souls while unsheathed."

I can't help that, Brian. My creators should've been more careful.

"I wasn't blaming you, Nightblood", Brian said, scanning his surroundings. He hadn't exactly been stealthy, but there was no-one else around that could've witnessed his arrival.

So where are we, anyway?

"Somewhere not very nice, according to Harmony. On a different plane of existence to the rest of the Cosmere, apparently. He sent us through a perpendicularity."

Really? Who knew there were other universes out there?

"Harmony, clearly. And now us."

So we're stranded in a different universe, cut off from the Cosmere. What are we going to do, Brian?

"Like I said, this isn't a very nice place. Harmony thought I could do some good here… or rather, he didn't think it was possible for me to make the local's situation any worse. He wasn't specific about what exactly was so bad about this place, so I guess I'll just keep walking and see what we can find."

With that, Brian set off along the corridor. It was dark, but not outside the limits of his new vision; when he used the Well of Ascension, he hadn't just altered his soul to make himself an Allomancer and Feruchemist, he'd improved his physical body as well.

It wasn't long before Brian found signs of life; a large, lit room, containing some sort of marketplace. At least, that's what it looked like, given the shabby-looking stalls, with people clearly buying and selling, but the atmosphere seemed tense. The most shocking thing were the people themselves; they were human. In another universe.

At least that meant Brian didn't stand out too much, but his style of clothes and sword clearly marked him as an outsider. His contemplation of the sheer statistical anomaly of there being humans on another plane was cut short by an old man calling out to him. He was, of course, talking gibberish; clearly sharing a language was a bit too much for the laws of probability.

Tapping his duraluminminds, increasing his Connection to the people he was surrounded by to get their language, Brian said "Sorry friend, what did you just say?"

The old man narrowed his eyes, before replying "I asked what you were doing. You're clearly not from around here."

"I was just heading outside for some fresh air, friend", Brian said, burning brass to sooth away the geezer's feelings of doubt.

"Outside?! You do realise there's a war going on out there?"

"And yet everyone else here is going about their lives like it's nothing", Brian countered.

The old man snorted at that. "What else would we do? We aren't fighters; Vigilus is beset by xenos, mutants, heretics, and God-Emperor knows what else. We can only His Angels of Death succeed in killing them, because if they fail…" he trailed off.

"I can look after myself. Still, thanks for the warning" Brian replied, turning away.

Making his way through the marketplace, it was only a couple of minutes before Brian was approached again, by some particularly unsavoury looking individuals, clearly the local toughs. Most of them had crude-looking cybernetics, including one with an artificial eye, glowing red. One of them was a giant, as big and muscular as a koloss, only fatter, and not blue.

"This is our turf, outsider. You passing through, you've gotta pay the toll" drawled one armed with a gun, presumably the leader. As he spoke, the other locals withdrew away from them, clearly anticipating violence and not wanting to be a part of it.

"How about I pay with your blood?" Brian sneered, having no reason to fear a few thugs, though he was tapping his electrumminds to get rid of any pesky unwanted emotions, just to be safe.

The leader laughed at that. "I was just hoping you'd say that." Turning to the giant, he said "Grok, show this shitlord how we- "

He was cut off by Brian's fist colliding with his skull. Flaring pewter, he was strong and fast enough to completely pulp the man's head, including the cybernetics. Before the others could react, he kicked the side of Grok's leg, snapping it like a twig, causing the giant to roar in pain.

The other three hesitated, staring in shock at what they'd just witnessed. Taking advantage of their delayed reaction, Brian grabbed the enormous cleaver serving as Grok's weapon, and hurled it at one of the other two with guns, hitting him square in the chest. Burning steel, he pushed away the other gun, causing its wielder to shoot the floor before Brian snapped his neck.

The last remaining thug turned and ran, but he couldn't outrun an Allomancer of Brian's calibre burning pewter. Catching up to him, Brian punched him in the back, breaking his spine. The man screamed and writhed around on the floor, his lower half paralysed, before Brian grabbed his neck and squeezed. Walking back to where he'd been ambushed, seeing Grok still screaming from his broken leg, Brian grabbed his head with both hands and twisted, breaking his neck with an audible crack.

Before his ascension, Brian never would've been so direct, let alone so brutal. He would've recoiled at what he'd done, if not for his constant tapping of Determination from his electrumminds. As it was, he was able to simply act on impulse, without annoying emotions getting in the way. Not that it helped his mental state, but it did allow him to ignore that as well. He strongly suspected that if he ever stopped tapping them, he'd be a gibbering wreck.

The onlookers stared at Brian, with equal parts fear and awe, as Brian wiped the blood from his fists on the dead thugs' clothes. Soon after he was approached by the old man he'd spoken to earlier.

"Are you following me, friend?" Brian asked, in a tone that suggested the word 'friend' was not meant.

"I… just wanted to say thank you, for killing that scum. They've tormented us for far too long", the old man replied.

"Don't mention it."

"I've never seen anyone move with such speed, or grace, as you just then, outsider. You said earlier you were heading for the surface; were you sent by the God-Emperor to aid us?"

"Er, something like that, yeah", Brian replied, again soothing away the man's doubt. He still didn't know who the God-Emperor was, but figured he was important.

"Oh, praise the God-Emperor for sending a champion to aid us!" the old man said, kneeling, in a state of rapture. "Praise the- "

"Maybe you can help me, friend", Brian said, cutting him off, uncomfortable at the praise. "What's the quickest way to the surface?"

"Head to the end of the marketplace, holy champion. There's a staircase that leads to the surface."

"Thanks. Also… where exactly am I?"

The old man looked confused by that question. "You… don't know, holy champion?

"Haven't we just established I'm not from around here? The God-Emperor sent me here in a hurry, it's not like he gave me all of the relevant details."

"We are underneath the Hive city of Hyperia, on the world of Viligus, holy champion."

"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, there's a bunch of bad guys I need to deal with" Brian said, turning away to find the staircase the old man mentioned.

The whole time he was thinking to himself "War zones, cybernetic thugs, and religious zealots; Harmony, where the flying fuck did you send me?"

-x-x-x-x-​

After ten minutes of further walking – which were thankfully uneventful, Brian found the staircase the old man had mentioned. Taking the stairs three at a time, the stored health in his goldminds taking care of his exhaustion, he had stopped tapping his duraluminminds, and had instead started filling them. Increasing his Connection to this place and its people allowed him to speak the local language; doing the opposite would hopefully allow him to move around unnoticed.

After climbing a dozen floors, Nightblood said to him, I'm so glad we were able to destroy evil today, Brian. Was that what Harmony was referring to when he said about helping the locals?

"I doubt it", Brian replied. "That old guy back there said there was a war raging on the surface, ending that would have a far greater positive impact on the people here. Killing a few low-lives is barely a drop in the bucket."

I noticed you didn't use me to kill those men that accosted you.

"You would've attracted the wrong sort of attention, Nightblood. Getting rid of some thugs with my powers is one thing; making them cease to exist with a jet-black sword that drains all colour out of the room is another entirely."

The conversation was cut short when Brian heard a faint scream. Burning tin to enhance his hearing, he determined it was coming from the floor above. Rushing up the stairs and along a corridor to see what the commotion was, he eventually came to a side room, the sight of which made his stomach turn upside-down.

Like the marketplace, the people in this room were human, though they were held in chains or cages, in varying stages of dismemberment. Even more shocking, however, were those responsible; they were also humanoid, taller and much bulkier than the captives, though still not as big as Grok had been. They were all clad in what appeared to be a crude attempt at replicating Shardplate, coloured dark blue and bronze, decorated with bat-winged human skull iconography, eight-pointed stars, and plenty of human gore.

The armoured giants were having fun with the human captives, with no shortage of torture instruments on display, and the gore decorating their armour clearly fresh. One of them spotted Brian as soon as he poked his head through the door, shouting something at him, sounding aggressive. The giant was, of course, completely unintelligible; it was surprising he'd spotted Brian while he was filling his duraluminminds.

Before Brian could respond, another one of them raised an obscenely large gun, and fired it straight at Brian's head. He didn't couldn't dodge as, at that moment, he wasn't using anything, Allomantic or Feruchemical, that increased his speed. Fortunately, he was still tapping his goldminds. As a result, the bolt shell impacted his face, spraying his brains over the far wall… which didn't matter, as his face had healed before the bolt shell even left the back of his head. The regeneration of the rest of his head was similarly swift.

"Well, that wasn't very nice, now was it?" Brian said, tapping Connection, and having now entered the room. He burned steel, pushing on his assailants' armour, pinning them against the walls, while also increasing his weight via his ironminds to ensure the reaction didn't push him back.

Seeing no need to keep them alive, he focused his push on the pieces of their armour closest to him, crushing them against the walls.

Turning to the one with fancier armour and not wearing a helmet, presumably the leader, Brian continued, "As you can see, neither you nor your friends are any threat to me. So why don't you explain why you were torturing these civilians, and why I shouldn't crush you as well?"

The bare-headed psychopath said nothing, instead working his jaw in a curious way. Before Brian could say anything else the giant spat at him. He did move out of the way of that; he was glad he did so, as he couldn't help but notice that where the saliva landed, it immediately began fizzling, dissolving the floor.

Turning back to the giant pinned to the wall, Brian said "Now that's just rude. I come in here, give you a chance to explain yourself, only for you to attack and spit at me? Why don't you start answering my questions, and I'll consider letting you live." As he said it, he burned iron, while focusing a push and pull on the giant's armoured boot, crushing it.

To his credit, the leader barely reacted to having his foot crushed, instead just laughing. "I have nothing to say to you, mortal. You may kill me now, but I, Kyras Athiel of the Night Lords, will be avenged by my brothers. They will make you scream before you die", he said, grinning with filed teeth.

"Have it your own way", Brian replied, pushing on Kyras's breastplate, causing blood to be pushed out of his nose and mouth as his insides were crushed. The whole time, he was silently thanking Harmony for the existence of Feruchemical electrum.

With that taken care of, Brian began freeing the captives. Burning pewter, he was more than strong enough to snap the chains and break the bars holding them in bondage.

"Listen to me", Brian said, raising his voice to be heard over everyone. "You're free to go now, though I'm afraid I can't do anything for your injured friends. I've just come from the marketplace fifteen floors down; you should head there, it's safe."

Amid a cacophony of thanks and praises to the God-Emperor, the captives fled the room.

You should have used me to kill them, Brian, Nightblood said, sounding uncharacteristically serious. It's rare to encounter evil such as this. And, well, destroying evil is what I was made for.

"Not that rare on this plane, I suspect. And a death by your blade is instantaneous, Nightblood. Far kinder than what this lot deserved."

At least use me to destroy the corpses.

"No. If there really is a war going on up there, then whoever's attacking will probably be trying to break into the city. The defenders will want to know that some of their enemies snook past their defences. Hence, there needs to be something for them to find."

I see… just, let me kill something at some point, won't you? You're making me feel redundant.

"Oh, you'll have had your fill of killing by the end of today", Brian said as he felt the room, heading back to the staircase.

It took another half an hour of climbing before Brian reached the surface. At least that's what the sign said, though the open sky was still nowhere to be seen. Be was beginning to wonder if been misled before just barely hearing explosions in the distance. Which clued Brian in to something he'd never considered before; battlefields were loud.

"At least I can partially store my hearing in a tinmind to not go deaf", Brian thought to himself as, for the first time in his life, he headed out into a warzone.

---

Author's note:

I figure Brian wouldn't know the phrase 'power armour', since Feruchemical gold would seem to make body armour redundant on Scadrial; combined with the lack of conflict in general means there wouldn't be any incentive to invent it. I figure the closest thing in the Cosmere is Shardplate (for those who don't know, it's a kind of magic power armour that exists on the planet Roshar, and it featured heavily in the Stormlight Archive series).

Also for those who don't know, koloss are a race of giant-like beings native to Scadrial, probably the closest thing in the Cosmere to an ogryn. Prior to and during Mistborn era 1, they were used as shock troops.

 

[Shakie]

Having finally reached the ground level – a fact that, given the enclosed space, could only be gleaned from a sign in the staircase – Brian began to notice more and more signs of the war the old man from before had mentioned.

He was currently standing in a large central corridor, with many smaller corridors and rooms
branching off from it, like capillaries from an artery. Even here, away from the front lines, it was difficult to spot anywhere not dedicated to the war effort, with many of the rooms serving as storage for ammunition and other supplies or makeshift hospitals, their original purpose a mystery.

Everyone present was, of course, human, which was no longer a surprise at this point, all wearing khaki military uniforms. At least, that's what Brian assumed they were, given that the last time he'd such clothes was in a Scadrian military museum. What was a surprise were the few people not wearing uniforms, or anything at all – they looked more machine than man, with even more extensive cybernetics than the thugs he'd dispatched earlier. However, there was something… off about the machine-men. Maybe it was how they seemed completely mindless, responding only to basic verbal commands, their movements jerky and artificial as they pushed a container of artillery shells? Or maybe it was the tubes of liquid piercing their skin, unclear in their purpose, which seemed like an excellent way to cause infection in a normal person.

Are those robots, Brian? Nightblood asked, noticing what Brian had been staring at – he still wasn't sure how the sword did that.

"To be honest… I'm beginning to think they are", Brian replied, the words not doing justice to the disgust coursing through him. "Harmony sent us here to get rid of whatever was causing these people so much suffering… now I'm beginning to wonder how much of that is self-inflicted."

You shouldn't judge everyone by the actions of a few, Brian. We didn't see any robot-people in the marketplace, now did we?

"I suppose", Brian muttered, wondering at what point a talking sword had become the voice of reason.

Think of it this way; we've already reduced these people's suffering by getting rid of those men in the dark blue and bronze Shardplate we saw earlier. This place clearly has a lot of problems, you can't expect to solve them overnight.

"I… yeah, I guess you've got a good point there, Nightblood", Brian replied, genuinely grateful for his weapon's input. "You know, I'm not sure you were always so articulate."

It's difficult to explain, Brian. I've felt my mind… expand over time. I think it must be related to all the investiture I've consumed over the years. For instance, the joke I made when we first arrived here… that isn't something I would've been capable of when I was first made. At some point since then, I gained an understanding of what humour is. Of how saying something unexpected in a certain way can make people laugh.

"As I recall, it didn't make me laugh."

That's only because you're such a stick in the mud, Brian.

"Now there's no need to get personal, Nightblood", Brian said, unable to suppress his laughter at that.

I'm glad I made you laugh, Brian. You should do it more often.

"Yeah, well, I guess I haven't been in many laugh-worthy situations lately", Brian replied, having calmed down. "Well anyway, we should get outside and see what's what."

With that, Brian set off along the corridor, heading in the direction of distant explosion sounds. Everyone that noticed him gave him strange looks, but he ignored them; he wasn't going to waste time explaining himself to everyone.

After a few minutes of walking, by which time the sunlight had just about become visible at the end of the corridor, there was another Shardplate-clad giant, like the Night Lords he'd killed earlier. There were significant differences though; this one seemed even larger, maybe just under nine feet tall, and his armour, while less ornate, seemed a bit more high-tech than theirs. The most obvious difference was the decoration, being bright yellow, with a red double-headed eagle adorning the breastplate, and the image of an upward-punching fist on the shoulderguard.

"You there, what are you doing up here?" the giant snapped upon spotting Brian. "All civilians are supposed to be taking shelter in the centre of the city!"

"I'm not a civilian, friend", Brian replied, unintimidated. "In fact I'm here to help."

"Is that so?" the giant said, clearly sceptical.

"Yes actually. In fact I've already helped you by taking care of some bad guys that snuck past your defences."

"Really? Who?", the giant said, having transitioned from mere scepticism to incredulity.

"Some guys that wore armour kind of like yours, only dark blue and bronze, with a kind of… bat-winged skull motif. They called themselves the Night Lords." To be on the safe side, Brian both soothed the giant's scepticism, and rioted his sense of alarm. It had the desired effect.

"What? There are Night Lords in the city?!" he replied, his face having turned white.

"Not anymore, friend. Sixty-two floors down, in a side room just off the main staircase, I found them torturing some civilians, something I took offence to… fatally for them. If you don't believe me, their bodies should still be down there."

The yellow-armoured giant narrowed his eyes at Brian, before gazing at Nightblood hanging from his belt. To be fair, Brian hardly looked like a fighter, still wearing his brown leather jacket, blue jeans, bright red t-shirt, and trainers. The only thing setting him apart from anyone else was his weapon.

"I'm willing to believe you, for now, if only because how unlikely it is you would know the name Night Lords and be able to accurately describe them. But I'm still sceptical of how much use you'll be on a battlefield."

"More than none, friend, and it seems you're not really in a position to refuse aid, no matter how unlikely the source", Brian replied, now rioting the giant's willingness to agree.

"I suppose you have a point. Anyone capable of killing Space Marines would be of use, if only as a distraction."

"I'm glad you agree, friend", Brian replied, mentally taking note of the fact that the giants were known as Space Marines. "How can I help?"

"This city is under siege by the Iron Warriors", the Space Marine replied. "My brothers have manned the defences and are holding the line, but without reinforcements it's only a matter of time before they are overwhelmed."

"So you want me to go out there and fuck 'em up, right?"

"Not how I'd have chosen to put it, but yes."

Brian nodded. "So how will I know these… Iron Warriors when I see them?"

"You mean aside from the fact they'll be shooting at you?" the Space Marine said with a raised eyebrow. "They typically wear their armour brown and grey, with black and yellow stripes."

"All right then. You tell your brothers not to shoot at me, and I'll do the rest", Brian said.

Seeing the yellow-armoured giant nod in the affirmative, and start talking into a radio-looking thing, Brian continued down the corridor. Whereas he'd previously walked, now he ran, Allomantic pewter boosting his speed far beyond even the fastest normal human. He no longer felt the need to keep a low profile – after all, what he was about to do would draw attention in a far more spectacular way.

-x-x-x-x-​

It wasn't long before he reached the end of the corridor. There were more yellow-armoured warriors here, taking cover behind concrete barriers, some of them manning an enormous artillery gun. They were blocking most of the exit, the only way out indicated by a thin patch of blue sky above them. It was fortunate that an Allomancer wasn't limited to only moving in two dimensions.

Storing his weight in a half-empty ironmind, Brian burned steel, pushing on the metals in the floor, launching himself high into the sky. He barely heard the shouts of alarm from below as he soared, surveying the battlefield below him. It wasn't really what he'd expected; on the city side, he made out more yellow specks, taking cover behind metal and concrete fortifications, the few not using emplaced weapons attempting to snipe at their foes with their bulky rifles.

Far stranger was the attacking side; less than a mile away, Brian saw thousands of warriors with hazard stripes decorating their oversized shoulder guards, hiding in zigzagging trenches of all things. Behind the trenches were bizarre looking armoured vehicles, vaguely resembling tanks Brian had seen in museums, some partially concealed behind piles of dirt, firing back at the yellow-armoured defenders. The brown and grey attackers had their own artillery as well, further back from the trenches, attempting to blast holes in the colossal city behind him.

Strangest of all was the centrepiece of the attacker's war machines; it was bipedal, taller than a ten-storey building, with the same brown, grey and hazard stripe design as the troops it towered over. On each arm was a different weapon, of a kind Brian had never seen before; one seemed to be some sort of giant laser cannon, powerful enough to blind him each time it fired, depleting his goldminds ever so slightly as his retinas grew back. The city wasn't so lucky, being left with holes glowing red with molten metal at the points of impact.

The other arm weapon was, if anything, even more destructive, launching glowing balls of bright-blue plasma at the defenders, at least what was left of them. On the metal giant's shoulders were more laser cannons, although seemingly less powerful than the arm-mounted version. The strange part was not the weapons, they were expected; it was everything else. For some reason, the war machine had a vaguely human-shaped head, mounted on the machine's 'chest'. Even weirder was the brightly decorated banner hanging between its legs, a stark contrast to the utilitarian design of the rest of the thing.

You should probably focus on the biggest machines first, Brian. They'll be the most destructive, said Nightblood, drawing Brian's attention back to the present. It also made him realise what an excellent target he was, high in the sky. It was when a stray shot passed right in front of him that he began burning steel, ready to push away any stray bullets.

Grunting in acknowledgement to his sword, Brian burned iron, pulling himself towards the bipedal war machine. It didn't react to his presence, even as he was right in front of it, either not noticing or not realising what a threat he was. It was when Brian got within ten metres of it that he came to a sudden stop, like he'd just flown into a brick wall.

Sliding down the invisible barrier, he just barely noticed a sort of outline against it, looking vaguely like… energy, solidified into a solid barrier.

Come on, destroy it! Nightblood said, as Brian landed in front of the big walking thing. Brian?

"They have force fields", Brian replied, momentarily stunned.

What?

"This makes literally zero fucking sense. You know Scadrial is by far the most technologically advanced civilisation in the Cosmere, Nightblood, at least that we know of. Yet the people here… they have technology that even we would've considered the stuff of science fiction. They have giant fucking laser guns and force fields, alongside trench warfare and chemical explosives, stuff that was obsolete to us centuries ago. Judging by their armour, they don't seem to have invented camouflage, either."

As fascinating as it is to consider what technological path these people must have travelled, can we focus on killing the bad guys, before they notice us?

With that breaking Brian's reverie, he considered his options. The obvious thing to do would've been to push outwards on the war machine's legs, breaking them. The problem, of course, was the laws of physics. The machine was so much heavier than Brian, that any attempt at pushing would launch him backwards instead. He could overcome this by increasing his weight, but he was currently doing the opposite, in order to not sink into the thick mud.

"Looks like I'm gonna need your help here, Nightblood" Brian said, drawing his sword for the first time since his arrival in this new universe.

Do it, Brian! This is what I was made for!

Brian ran towards one of the war machine's legs, pulling Nightblood from its sheath. The second it was free, Brian was swallowed by an aura of deepened colour, drawn in by the jet-black blade. The brown mud underfoot turned almost black, while the hazard stripes on the war machine's leg darkened as well, the yellow turning a deep gold, and the black stripes darkening even further, becoming silhouettes.

Though Brian couldn't have known it, the leg in front of him belonged to a Warlord-class battle titan. Armoured in a ceramite-adamantium composite several feet thick, further reinforced by the Iron Warrior's mastery of warp-infused technology, it was durable beyond human comprehension, the sort of thing that could only hope to be damaged, let alone destroyed, by another battle titan.

Against Nightblood, it may as well have been wet tissue paper.

The moment it touched Nightblood's edge, the lower portion of the titan's leg instantly evaporated, turning into black smoke that quickly faded to nothing, itself made of pure investiture. The deafening sound of screeching metal emanated from the rest of the titan as it tried in vain to retain its balance, before crashing into the earth, its remaining leg lying at an awkward angle. Unsure if it could still shoot, Brian swung again, this time at the titan's body, a perfect hemisphere of metal and ceramite forty feet wide ceasing to exist, exposing its innards, a mess of cables and other electrical gizmos pouring out. Brian kept swinging, destroying another portion of the titan each time, until he eventually reached the thing's head.

With the inside now exposed, Brian saw what had to be the machine's pilot. It might have originally been human, with two arms, legs, and a head, but now it was mutated almost beyond recognition. Dozens of tubes connected it to the inside of a glass tank filled with a translucent liquid. The rest of its body was covered with various multicoloured tentacles, eyeballs, mouths, and wings, arranged haphazardly over its skin. Despite its many eyes, it didn't even seem to notice Brian approaching, the eyes blankly staring off into space, the titan's pilot clearly used to only looking through the machine's sensors. Another swing from Nightblood removed the abomination from existence.

Only the titan's leg and arms remained, strewn about on the battlefield, like an enormous child having broken its favourite toy in a temper tantrum. Satisfied it was out of commission, Brian looked up to notice some of the Iron Warriors not in the trenches. They weren't shooting, instead just staring in shock at the remains of their most potent war machine, having been destroyed with casual ease.

They were pulled out of their stupor by a stray bolt round fired at Brian. Howling in fury at the destruction of their prized battle titan, the Iron Warriors opened fire, but to no avail. Brian was already burning steel, pushing away the bolt rounds before they touched him, the increased speed of thought from his zincminds allowing him to react to the hypersonic projectiles as they came. Still burning pewter, and now tapping physical speed from his steelminds, Brian sprinted towards his assailants, Nightblood still in hand, the bubble of deepened colour following him. One of them actually tried to block with his own melee weapon, a strange chainsaw-sword thing, but to no avail. The sword disappeared in a puff of smoke the moment it touched Nightblood's blade, followed immediately afterwards by the Space Marine holding it.

Despite the clear futility of their efforts, the Iron Warriors kept shooting, refusing to surrender, with Brian subsequently removing them from existence. His pondering of how their leaders commanded such loyalty, even in the face of certain death, was cut short by another war machine in front of him, this one a tank. It was far larger than what he'd seen in museums back home, presumably operated by Space Marines, and was armed with a weapon with a strange oval-shaped muzzle, firing orange beams of energy.

Yet another example of these people's technological superiority, Brian thought – something that he had plenty of subjective time for, despite being in the middle of a battlefield, courtesy of his zincminds. Necessity was the mother of invention, he supposed; after all, Scadrial hadn't seen a full-scale war in centuries, and what conflicts had arisen since then were resolved with deception and intrigue, not force of arms. Of course the invention of Allomancy-powered faster-than-light travel and subsequent expansion into the wider Cosmere had brought Scadrial into contact with the natives of other planets, sometimes fatally for them. Not that the 'wars' fought between Scadrian corporations and pre-gunpowder societies did much for technological progress.

Whatever technology the tank had wasn't enough to save it from Nightblood; its Iron Warrior crew did not evaporate however, instead falling to the ground, their vehicle disappearing from under them. Their shouts of surprise were cut short by their own introduction to Brian's blade.

By this point the rest of the Iron Warriors had noticed Brian's presence. Naturally, they reacted with hostility, forgetting whatever targets they had previously been shooting at to focus on him, though none succeeded, Steelpushes preventing any bolt shells from getting near him. Strangely, even the other vehicle and artillery crews had abandoned their positions to join in – perhaps not wanting their valuable war machines to go the same way as the tank and titan.

One of them was charging Brian despite what he'd just seen, clad in Terminator armour, wielding a rapid-firing double-barrelled gun in one hand, and an enormous hammer in the other. Brian was about to do to him what he'd just done to the tank, however this Space Marine was smart enough not to attack directly, instead swinging his hammer down onto the ground in front of him. Brian was caught off-guard by the unexpected shockwave that emanated from where the hammer struck the ground, launching him backwards with enough force to cause him to drop Nightblood. This wasn't helped by the fact that Brian was still keeping his weight low, causing him to be launched even further than normal. Thinking quickly, Brian burned iron, pulling on the Space Marine's armour, propelling himself down and forward, right into the path of the Marine's hammer. Still burning steel, Brian gave the armoured hand holding the hammer a push, forcing it backwards before it could hit him. Shielded from the others' shots by the bulky warrior in front of him, Brian grabbed the hammer's handle, and pulled, tapping his pewterminds as he did so.

"Surprisingly strong, for a mortal", the Iron Warrior growled, desperately trying to hold on.

"What makes you think I'm a mortal, friend?" Brian replied with a mirthless grin. The combined strength gained from both Allomantic and Feruchemical pewter was more than enough to overpower the Marine, wrenching the hammer from his grip before swinging at his leg. Now devoid of his own melee weapon, the Space Marine was unable to block or avoid the blow, even Terminator armour unable to protect against a thunder hammer wielded by Brian's investiture-enhanced body.

He grunted in pain, any other reaction cut short by Brian sending another swing towards his head – he swung sideways, ensuring the shower of gore that resulted was directed away from him.

With that taken care of, Brian dropped the hammer. It wasn't a bad weapon, but its large mass kept pulling him off balance, not helped by his own reduced weight. He went to retrieve Nightblood, before noticing the commotion that had resulted from someone else beating him to it, which explained why no-one was currently shooting at him.

At the same moment that Brian had been launched backwards, another one of the Iron Warriors rushed forward, hoping to claim the jet-black sword for themselves. However, the Marine could not have known what happened when someone evil – or at least, someone that the sword considered evil – tried wielding it.

As soon as the Marine's hand closed around Nightblood's hilt, he was overcome by an unnatural bloodlust. Sent into a frenzy, he turned the blade upon his comrades, roaring incoherently and frothing at the mouth under his helmet, his arm turning black as it consumed his soul. Shouts of alarm came from his fellows as one of their own unexpectedly turned on them, opening fire on the Marine, but with Nightblood enhancing his already supernatural strength and speed, he was still able to cut three of them down, turning them into puffs of smoke, before going down. The survivors, noticing how the arm holding the sword had completely turned black, forced themselves to ignore the unnatural feelings of being drawn to the sword, a side effect of it considering them evil as well.

This had taken Nightblood out of Brian's reach, however. With Iron Warriors in-between him and his weapon, forcing him to burn steel continuously to deflect bolt shells, he briefly thought back to the Night Lords he'd killed earlier, when it suddenly occurred to him there was another way of dealing with the Marines.

Once again burning iron, Brian focused on the helmet of the closest Iron Warrior, simultaneously pushing on the front, and pulling on the back, pancaking the Marine's head. He did this twice more before the survivors, realising he could kill them at range, and that he no longer had a sword, charged at Brian, trying to overwhelm him with numbers. Their lack of knowledge of his powers caused them to make a mistake, however; with them having moved past Nightblood lying on the ground, Brian pushed on the trace metals in the earth, launching himself into the air and over the heads of the Iron Warriors. Landing next to his weapon, and wanting to get the fight over with as quickly as possible, Brian sprinted towards his enemies, tapping his steelminds.

Back on Scadrial, Steel Feruchemy was one of the most coveted invested powers, and for good reason – no amount of skill could allow someone to overcome an opponent ten times faster than them, let alone a hypersonic one. Steelminds were notoriously slow and difficult to recharge though, attempting to move while doing so was often compared to wading through molasses. Brian's ease of doing so was yet another advantage he had over normal Feruchemists.

He was still limited by the capacity of his steelminds of course, which was why he rarely went above twenty times normal speed. Even that allowed him to cut down the hostile Space Marines with trivial ease, managing to avoid being hit despite not bothering to push away their weapons.

With no-one currently attacking him, Brian sheathed Nightblood, taking stock of his situation.

How many people did we just kill, Brian? Nightblood asked – for some reason, it never remembered what happened while unsheathed.

"Dunno. A few dozen? A hundred? Maybe more? I was a bit too busy to keep count."

So just today, you've already killed far more than you did in total back in the Cosmere?

"I guess that's just what's required around here", Brian replied, shrugging. "All I'll say is, thank fuck for Feruchemical electrum."

There's still more Iron Warriors in the trenches, I'm afraid.

"I know. No rest for the wicked, eh?", Brian said with a sigh.

Brian hadn't intended to have a conversation in the middle of a battlefield, but for whatever reason, the rate at which Nightblood drained investiture increased the longer it was unsheathed. He did it purely to conserve his metalminds.

Jumping down into the nearest trench, ready to draw Nightblood once again, Brian was surprised to see the Iron Warriors were just standing there, not attacking or even looking particularly aggressive.

Maybe they saw what you did to their friends? Nightblood suggested.

Brian just grunted in response, not wanting to be seen talking to himself. Instead he said, "You know how little threat you are to me, which I assume is why you're not attacking. You could save me a lot of hassle by just surrendering instead."

The nearest Space Marine, who was leaning against the side of the trench, arms crossed, just snorted in response. "Sure, I could surrender, only to be captured by the Corpse-Emperor's slaves, and then who knows what horrors I'd be in for? I think on balance, I'd rather have a quick death by your blade."

"Suit yourself. At least pick up your weapon, so you can go down fighting."

The Space Marine nodded, grabbing his chainsaw-sword unenthusiastically, but he didn't attack. Wondering if this was an attempt at trickery, Brian took no chances, tapping his steelminds once again. His opponent barely tried to defend himself, simply raising his weapon to block, it disappearing as soon as it touched Nightblood's edge, quickly followed by the Marine holding it.

Brian was about to give the next Iron Warrior the same treatment, only to be preempted by a bolt round burying itself into his head. Above the trench stood the yellow-armoured Space Marine who had just fired it. This drew Brian's attention to others who had done the same thing.

Figuring the battle must be over, at least for the moment, Brian sheathed Nightblood, and pushed on the trench floor, launching himself back to ground level. Sure enough, what Iron Warriors remained had been dealt with by the guys in yellow.

One of them approached Brian, holding a strange gun with the mid-portion glowing bright blue, presumably another plasma weapon, though far smaller than the one the titan had wielded.

"You there, our Captain wishes to speak with you", he said shortly, though not rudely.

"Lead on, friend", Brian replied, suspecting he knew what the conversation would be about.

They walked in silence, the battlefield sounding almost eerily quiet without anyone shooting. It wasn't long before Brian found himself standing before the captain. At least he assumed it was the captain; the basic design of his armour was the same as the others, bright yellow with a red double-headed eagle on the chestplate, except it was ludicrously ornate, garish even, with not a single undecorated surface.

"I see you distracted the Iron Warriors", the captain said.

"Yep. It won't last though, that tank and the giant walking thing will recover from the distraction pretty soon", Brian replied, wondering how else to respond to such an obvious statement.

The captain let out a bark of laughter. "Indeed. I must thank you, warrior, your distraction gave us ample opportunity to launch a counterattack. In addition, Battle-Brother Adon told me of your exploits against the Night Lords within the city. Many lives have been saved by your actions this day."

"You're welcome I guess, though you'll be disappointed to learn I'm no warrior, friend. I'm just a guy with a fancy sword."

"I see", the captain replied, gazing down at Nightblood, looking a bit uneasy as he did so, before banishing the look from his face. "It doesn't matter. Anyone willing to take the fight to the enemy is good enough for me."

"I'm glad to know you think that, friend. My name's Brian by the way. Brian Dagouter."

"And mine is Darnath Lysander, first Captain of the Imperial Fists first company."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Captain. So, er… what happens now?"

"Thanks to your aid, we have a free moment to further reinforce the defences of Hyperia. I do not have a full picture of the defence's status elsewhere on Vigilus however, so if you wish to keep helping, you should seek out Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines. He's co-ordinating the overall defence."

"Fair enough. Where can I find him?"

"He's at the summit of this hive city. I'll arrange for a message to be sent for him to expect you. Once he's learned of your exploits, I'm sure he'll be glad to meet with you."

"Thanks for that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a giant tower to climb", Brian said, turning back towards the city.

Looking up, he couldn't even see the top of the 'hive-city', as the captain had called it, soaring well above the clouds. He didn't relish the thought of climbing yet more stairs… Fortunately, there was a quicker way.

Pushing on the floor, and pulling on some metal of a higher floor, Brian began his ascent of the colossal tower.

---

AN:

So this is, by far, the longest fight scene I've ever written. For whatever reason, I find them a lot harder to write than, say, conversations. That's part of the reason why this chapter took so much longer, the other reasons being procrastination and having a bad cold for 2 weeks that left me feeling like not doing anything.

Also, I realised I made a slight error in the last chapter. Nightblood doesn't drain colours while unsheathed, instead it deepens them. However I originally misinterpreted 'deepens colour' as 'desaturates'. Thanks to Tired Titaness for pointing that out.

Incidentally, Nightblood also has another effect while unsheathed; instead of talking coherently, it'll start screaming at the person wielding them to destroy. I decided to not bring that up, as I felt it would just be distracting. It might become a plot point at some point though.