Chaos and Order - A Multiverse Fanfic

A BANG resounded as Sergeant Marius Corvinus, leading Squad Invicta of Strike Force Invictus, exploded the last Dark Alliance Wizard to smithereens.

He looked over his shoulder and found his Battle Brothers wrapping it up as well.

Then, letting his gaze return, Corvinus looked at the massive, arched doors embedded deep into the wall, the corners of his lips barely drooping in a frown behind his red helmet.

Presently, they were deep under MACUSA HQ, in the hall that led to Lord Yellow Warlock’s secret lair.

The place itself was bound to be hidden and protected by a Bounded Field, with the large, arched doors serving as the only entry point.

It had taken them hours to reach here, searching and eliminating each Wizard and Witch.

Compared to what Squad Aegis faced on the other side of the world, the scattered army of the Yellow Warlock had posed little to no meaningful resistance.

Still...

Something was wrong.

Years’ worth of warfare screamed at Corvinus that, despite slaughtering the Dark Alliance with no casualties among his Brothers, the true battle had yet to present itself; a battle that would begin the moment they walked through those doors.

He would have discarded the random, useless thought if he hadn’t noted the signs all this while himself.

No undead.

Enemy resistance insufficient.

Objective reached ahead of schedule.

The absence of reanimated corpses — reported to be the greatest challenge of this mission — was impossible to ignore because Squad Invicta had faced no such enemy.

It was because of this that they had reached here so soon, Corvinus believed.

Otherwise, if they had battled against Magical Creatures and other zombies as per the briefing given by Lieutenant Varro, then it should have easily taken them twice or thrice the time before finding their way to the Yellow Warlock’s lair.

Now, despite Squad Invicta covering a country-sized area, their mission was coming to an end almost at the same time as Squad Aegis’s.

Too easy.

Too clean.

It was a trap!

Were the reanimated corpses gathered beyond the Bounded Field?

Even bigger question was... why?

Why sacrifice over eighty percent of the Dark Alliance’s army only to rely on undead that, according to the briefing, possessed finite reserves?

Squad Aegis’s mission clearly suggested that Voldemort’s forces in this timeline weren’t expecting an attack on them anytime soon. Then why would the Yellow Warlock set a trap by confining the strongest part of the Dark Alliance to his personal Bounded Field?

To add on, if he knew an attack was coming, why would he let Wizards and Witches, loyal to his cause, get slaughtered?

Sergeant Cassian would not bother about these questions, Corvinus knew.

So, before his Brother brought his Squad here and they all walked into a trap, he must find out the answers to his questions by himself.

[Brother Thane,] Sergeant Corvinus called out the Librarian first before choosing three others. [Valerian. Cato. Aquila. On me.]

Instantly, the four Marines lingering in the bloody, dark hall stepped forward.

Corvinus turned around and faced the rest of his Brothers, then. [Brother Julius. Brother Marcus. Brother Gallus. Brother Rhenus. Spread out. Burn the bodies,] he commanded, taking care of the Yellow Warlock’s probable plan to turn them into reanimated corpses. [Brother Hadrian, stay here.]

The Marines nodded without questioning the sudden change of plan by the Sergeant.

Corvinus faced the doors leading to the Yellow Warlock’s lair once again and added a timer of fifteen minutes to his HUD, which was reflected in all other Marines’ helmets.

No explanation followed.

None was required.

The Sergeant was leading a reconnaissance element into the Bounded Field.

If the task force failed to return within fifteen minutes, the remaining Brothers were to reinforce Squad Aegis... and rain hell.

[Brother Thane,] the Sergeant ordered. [Lead.]

The psyker of the Telepathy discipline walked toward the arched doors, pushing them open to reveal darkness.

Then, with no hesitation, Librarian Thane stepped into the darkness, the task force following his lead.

And the moment they entered, the arched doors slammed shut with a creaking thud.

...

The five Marines found themselves standing within a forest so impossibly dense that, without their helmets, they would have seen nothing beyond absolute darkness.

The trees towered overhead like cathedral pillars. Bushes reached beyond the height of ordinary men. Roots twisted across the ground, thicker than tree trunks.

It was less a forest and more a world built for wild giants.

Then there was the uncanny, uncharacteristic silence.

No birds sang.

No insects crawled.

No animal growled, near or far.

Corvinus scanned the area and found the arched doors, through which they had walked into this forest, standing shut alone behind them, with no walls around them.

Meanwhile, Librarian Thane stood silent among them, using Mind Scan.

Mind Scan allowed him to extend his mind to contact and identify other sentient minds within range, even if they were out of sight, enabling him to garner impressions and information about their consciousnesses.

[One...] Brother Thane’s voice rang in all their helmets, but only Corvinus noticed the hesitation. [One, but many. Everywhere.]

Corvinus got the meaning instantly.

There was only one sentient being in this place, but it had not one mind.

Moreover, it didn’t occupy a location but was scattered in the forest.

Yet, the HUD still didn’t show any thermal activity?

Which meant either it was an undead hive or...

[Astartes,] Corvinus ordered, raising his Bolter. [Light it up.]

No mention of what to light up or in what direction.

Nothing could have been a clearer order than that, though.

The five Marines slammed their backs against each other, creating a half-circle that resembled Omega, its opening facing the arched doors, and fired.

Loud BOOMS deafened the ears as Bolters roared, exploding the forest itself, splinters of trees becoming wooden raindrops.

Here and there, the earth gave way as well, blobs of mud shooting in all directions as if several mini volcanoes had erupted.

But destruction had never been Corvinus’ objective.

The muzzle flashes were, each round of firing illuminating another fragment of the impossible darkness.

The moment those blinding flashes lit the dark forest, a monstrous SCREECH echoed across the trees...

... hundreds of black tentacles, as thick as fully armored Marines, lashing out in all directions!

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