Back when Joseph and Hannah were considered rising players and not the best.

The Developers had issued a challenge to the whole gaming community.

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"If you can take this world without Dying Once you will be granted max levels!"

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When the players saw this even though it was cryptic, they accepted it.

Then they saw the world...

Holy Terra, The Throneworld herself was the Target...

But nearly a billion players worldwide accepted thee challenge and weren't going to back down now.

Naval elements charged forward, of all races and types, the Devs allowed everyone to be whatever for the battle.

Ork fast attack craft followed by Imperial and Astartes Strike Craft swarmed over Battlefleet Solar and Terra.

Both at the time didn't know what was really happening outside in the void battle. 

The void battle was long and arduous, Emperor-Class Battleship reactors exploded and more ships kept arriving from nearby sectors more and more ships.

Then the word came out from the only player that had The Macragge's Honour shouted over COMMs, "I HAVE BROKEN THROUGH! THE IMPERIAL PALACE IS OPEN!"

Like a swarm of locusts the Players dove though the opening, Astartes Strike Cruisers opening the gap further and relieving the pressure on the Macragge's Honour.

The AI the Devs had been maxed out the AIs to give the players a real sense of the hell anyone would have to go though just to take Holy Terra.

This is when Hannah and Joseph met, one just got her Warhound Titan and the other merely by comparison could lead one-Hundred AI soldiers.

The pair sat next to each other as a Chaos Champion Player he was appearing on a Hololith, as he explained what was happening, "Right! Command ordered us to take the Imperial Gardens with the Palace and set up an LZ..." He started his gifts of Nurgle popped with what seemed like excitement, "We those blessed by Papa Nurgle will lead the Assault and land first with our demons. Next will be the Guard and Cultist along with other Astartes units."

He then gestured at the Titans behind them. "They will come last. Go to your units."

Joseph returned to his senior officer and Hannah went to her Titan, and readied it for combat.

"Major Joseph, you along with your men will be assigned to Warhound Titan H as her infantry support." Was what his Officer ordered of him and he saluted and went to find Titan H.

When the two saw each other they didn't know what to think.

Outside of the briefing they have never met before then this point...

Joseph was glad her could work alongside a God-Machine and would be last to the grinder that the Imperial Palace was going to entail.

While Hannah saw a person that seemed to happy to be with a Titan and did wonder the idea of not killing him now, but chose against it.

"Major Joseph! I'll be your ground support." He had said while saluting.

Hannah bowed, "Hannah Warhound Pilot of Titan H. I'll be in your care."

And a silence fell other them.

"FAK! INCOMING FAK!" Shouted the intercom of our Transport... the Voice was that of an Ork as they were inside an very Orky lander.

The transport shuddered from the flak fire...

"Fuck sake. Damn Orks."

"Agreed. Prep for a combat drop!"

Joseph rallied his men around him...

Then the word came that the Astartes have landed with their Demons.

What seemed like hours passed.

Word that the second wave had landed and the LZ was being secured, and the Astartes had reported that they have had no contact with the Custodes or the Sisters of Silence, only Armed Menials and local guard forces were fighting.

A loud crunch echoed out and the ramp at the front of the Ork transport opened.

"GO!" Bellowed the Ork over the intercom.

Hannah's Titan charged forward and Joseph's troops followed, the next Titan behind them was a Gargant with it's Orky protection.

The Imperial Gardens was larger then the pair could have ever thought it would be...

"Titan H!" Hannah's COMM crackled, "Move to this coordinates." A waypoint appeared where she was needed to go and she went with her infantry following close behind.

Both could tell the hell the Second wave went through but also the shit they had invested.

Those who specialized in Artillery had lines of Basilisks firing non stop trying to stem the tide of reinforcements streaming into the Gardens from outside of the Palace.

Tankers ran amuck and charged through starting chaos outside of the gates...

But through all this there was an air of uncertainty... it felt too easy. Thee Imperial Palace, designed by Rogal Dawn... this was too easy.

"Pilot Hannah." Joseph started as they neared their assigned area. "Something feels off."

"Agreed. Major."

"Where are the Custodes? Where are those flying fortresses?"

"I don't know."

Then the Vox cracked with a shaky voice... what the pair heard was singing?

"""Protecting the Holy Line!>"""

"There is something in here! A new Unit!"

"""Dying for Salvation with Dedication>"""

"Watch out Custodes are coming!"

What followed was the sound of the Vox caster being dropped.

"COME AT ME YOU GOLDEN FUCKERS!" And the roar of a StormBolter rang out and just as suddenly it started it ended...

Then what sounded like bells chiming...

"PREP FOR BATTLE! DIG IN!" Joseph shouted...

"INCOMING!"

Dozens of artillery rounds slammed their positions.

Then it stopped...

"Report!?" Hannah asked.

"One sec. REPORT!" Joseph shouted at the other players.

A mix of numbers were thrown around...

"BAD!" He shouted up at the Warhound's head, which nodded.

"""In the heart of Holy See>"""

"FUCK INCOMING!"

"""In the home of The Emperor>""" Everyone gulped, """The Seat of power is in danger>"""

More shell landed but this time it was smoke.

"STEADY!" Several Officers shouted at their AI who was starting to break.

"""For the grace, for the might of our lord
For the home of the holy
For the faith, for the way of the sword
We gave our lives so boldly>"""

Then the fire started...

Dozens of Golden glad figures entered the hastily make fortifications of the Players in the Imperial Garden. Those were the Custodes! And they were killing everyone they met.

But what followed was a far larger force a their armor similar to any Guardsmen but they too were golden and from the look their Squad leaders were either a fellow Custodes or a Sister of Silence...

"OPEN FIRE!" Hannah's Titan blared out as her weapons roared their reply.

Within seconds shit went to hell.

Moments before the Skies above the palace were relatively clear enough for reinforcements but now? Dozens of those flying bastions appeared blocking out the Sun...

"""We’re the guard of the Holy See
We’re the guards of The Emperor
Their path to history is paved with salvation>"""

Morale among the AI troopers with the Invaders broke...

"COMMISSAR!" Joseph roar as he fired killing an enemy Standard bearer, who charged him.

Joseph's Commissar rallied the Men by taken the now absent Standard and destroyed it!

The thuds of the Commissar's bolter as he desiccated the Standard... this had an instant effect due to the numbers for the AI becoming a Plus than the Negative to was before.

The men Rallied and laid down fire on the Golden Guardsmen and the Custodes with'em.

"REPORT! BANEBLADES!" Someone shouted, "IMMORTAL GATE!"

The one larger Titan with them stomped and turned at the news and fired his Nova Cannon.

What happened next was unexpected, the Shot went exploded but three more returned.

"DOWN!"

The first two slammed into it's void shield and withstood it, the third broke the shield...

Then three beams hit the head of the Titan melting it completely... and the Titan was starting to lean forward!

"RUN!" Hannah shouted as she jumped from the ladder that her Titan drops, Joseph followed her along with his men as they made a mad dash to the inside of the Palace.

"""Dying for salvation with dedication
No Capitulation, annihilation
Imperial commendation, reincarnation>"""

They barely made it before the Titan's reactor exploded shaking the Palace to it's core...

They kept running until they couldn't anymore...

"Are we safe?" One of Joseph's AI Guardsmen asked, the AI corporal who just mutter a soft fuck no.

"We need to keep moving." Joseph had said, his mind at the time addled...

The twelve of them walked... slowly morale at an all time low, even for the two Players...

What seemed like hours... then they saw them those Golden Guardsmen, they seemed to be relaxing... their helmets were off.

"FIRE AT WILL!" He shouted, the Golden Guardsmen turned at the sudden shout and were torn apart.

They advanced and gave the bodies a double, then a triple tap...

Joseph and Hannah took time to inspect the Golden Guardsmen. If the kit the Tempestus Scions the best anyone Guardsmen could get... then this shit would nearly be on the same grounds as Astartes...

They had an Exo-Skeleton that had armor piece attached... with the chest plate was thick... with weak points being being the same armor chinks like the armpits and joints...

And then there was the weapons. This Lasguns they held were stronger then some Hot-Shot Lasguns... it was clear that these weapons were better and so they tossed their own aside, and took this ones up.

More the twelve walked and they encountered more of those Guardsmen... it wasn't long before they were tossing aside their own weapons for the ones the Guardsmen have...

It felt off again...

They only stopped walked after standing in front of pair of large doors... doors large enough for a Warhound Titan...

Hannah and Joseph gulped...

"Where are we sir?" The Commissar asked him.

"At... The Golden Throne I think?"

The doors opened...

"Would they even allow us to see him at all?" Hannah asked...

When the doors fully opened what seemed like all of the Custodes and Sisters of Silence showed up within moments...

The last of Joseph's Guardsmen were killed within an instantly leaving that. The pair alone...

The Golden light radiated from the room with the Golden Throne and they made no effort to block them...

Joseph and Hannah slowly walked backwards as they kept aiming at the Custodes and Sisters whom starting to walk closer to them almost pushing them into the Room...

Joseph had one Krak nad left... he know that if the Throne was to stop working all hell would break loss as demons would overrun the Palace.

But the temptation to look to see the Emperor got to Hannah who turned and collapsed dead... her ears and eyes bleeding as she wasn't mentally strong enough to withstand his visage that overlapped the Skeleton...

This left Joseph. He pulled out the Krak which got an instant reaction from the Sisters but the Custodes stood back a waited... The Sisters stopped as well when they saw who was standing behind Joseph, whom Joseph hadn't felt.

Joseph licked his lips... "ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR!" He shouted as he turned armed and tried to toss the Krak...

A hand griped his with the Krak...

Joseph saw the Captain-General he was the one who held his hand...

"Well fuck you two." He said as he dropped the Krak and managed to kick it near some of the wiring at the floor.

Just as the Krak exploded something seemed to contain it... and it dissipated with a little bit of purple mist...

"Fuck." Was his last words as the Captain-General punched him through the heart.

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All this challenge was to unveil the newest army that was being added, The Adeptus Custodes Auxilia/Auxiliary. A force that was created followed the Fall of Cadia and the subsequent battles against the 13th and later 14th Black Crusades. 

Initially the unit was comprised of Cadian Regiments that had survived the fall of their Planet, but was later scrapped since the Cadian Troops were considered to fixed in their training.

So the Custodes sent their best to search the Schola Progenium's across the Imperium and look for the best of the best, and bring them back to the Imperial Palace. Were they would be trained, the training wasn't to dissimilar to the way the Solar Aux were before, but they had the benefit of getting power armor. The best any mortal Human could handle without surgery to help them with it.

This power armor would be on pare if not better then what the Sisters of Battle, while being lighter and having as much protection. Each armor piece being removable and upgradeable.

Next was the weapons, Officially called "Standard Las-Weapon Serie Custodes." They were more on pare with Hot-Shots or even, their version of a Hot-Shot a Bolt-Pistol.

Grenades were identical with standard issue to the Imperial Guard.

What made them most deistic was the song they sing, "Imperium's Last Stand" 

This Song when activated on the Table top need at least four sixes to get it's full effect, The unit that sang it becomes unbreakable for the next three turns and lowers enemy Morale significantly, and all nearby allied units get a boost to their own Morale.

The song appeared to be a parody from a band some seventy years ago... the Song called was The Last Stand...

In the heart of Holy See
In the home of The Emperor
The Seat of power is in danger

For the grace, for the might of our lord
For the home of the holy
For the faith, for the way of the sword
We gave our lives so boldly

For the grace, for the might of our lord
In the name of his glory
For the faith, for the way of the sword
Come and Listen to our story again

We’re the guard of the Holy See
We’re the guards of The Emperor
Our path to history is paved with salvation

Dying for salvation with dedication
No Capitulation, annihilation
Imperial commendation, reincarnation

In the name of The God-Emperor

We gave our lives so boldly
Come and Listen to the Custodes Auxilia story again

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Joseph smiled, at the memory, but he realized that he smiled at a Lord Inquisitor... and instantly lost it.

The door of Hamels Inn opened and Hannah's Aid, tell him that Hannah wished to speak to him.

Just as the Inquisitor asked about who, this "Daughter" was.

Just as the System asked he placed his hand on the boys head and the System removed the Lord Inquisitor on Joseph behalf since he himself didn't know how to.