A muddy battlefield is laid forth beneath a fiery black sky. Huge, mile-spanning spaceships crumble from the chaotic horizon as soldiers charge from craters forged by their enemy's artillery. The mangled ground shook as explosions ripped men and women apart, each boom signalling the death of dozens. A machine of death, a tank, rolled forward over the battlefield, crushing the corpses of dead allies and enemies who were blown to pieces by the enemy's 100 Kal bolt action rifles.

The tank reigned in colours of red and black, the soldiers toting their huge Kal Rifles taking cover behind it, their clothing being the same colours as the tank. The soldiers’ attire were never pristine, their bulletproof vests exposed as their long coats were ripped by shrapnel or rogue bullets, some even missing a finger or two, grimacing and screaming through the pain as they knew their fate could be worse.

The sky shrieked as jets flew through the air, breaking the sound barrier as they reigned fire on the enemy trench ahead. The tanks soon made it to said trench, stopping just before it and aiming their machine guns down at the suffering, burning soldiers. The tanks gunned them down, putting them out of their hellish misery. The troopers jumped down into the scorched trench and searched for survivors to finish off, the tanks coming to a full stop as one of the drivers opened the hatch atop the tank, pushing themselves up and sitting on the side of the tank. They lifted the goggles off their head, letting them lie on his white hair. The driver's eyes were green, surrounded by a large and horizontal black mark that stretched across both eyes. Some other soldier’s, both dead and alive, shared this feature.

"The next trench is another 2 kilometres away...are our orders to proceed?!" the tanker shouted down to an officer in military uniform and a visor cap, both donning the colours of black and red. The officer looked up, revolver in hand. Unlike the tankers he had no black mark across his eyes. "We received word mid charge that we are to await reinforcements! The next trench has magikans according to intel."

"Magikans, eh?" the tanker looked ahead at the fiery horizon, "Oligarchists?"

"Not quite. Confederate military trained in lethal magik..they'll rip us and your tanks apart in seconds if we don't think this through," the officer took out a cigarette, lighting it with a passing ember that was drifting through the air and taking a pull out of it, "so we best wait until we can fight fire with fire."

The tanker looked back down at the officer, "We're getting our own magikans here then?" he grinned and looked over at the other tanker who was sitting on his tank with binoculars, "Good driving!" The other tanker simply put a thumb up at him as he stared through the binoculars.

"I don't see much out there, just smoke."

A loud crash was heard inside of the scorched trench as two men dragged another out of it, throwing them onto the muddy, blood-stained ground. The man was wearing a blue and brown uniform, their eyes filled with fear as they backed against a mound of dead bodies, squealing as they felt the flesh against their back.

"Found this bastard hiding inside of a barrel in of a rat-infested basement in one of the rooms." one of the soldiers who dragged him out told the officer, aiming their 100 Kal rifle at the traumatized man with one hand from his waist.

"Hm. Should have blown his head off and left him there." the other man who dragged him out said, putting his rifle on his back via a sling, folding his arms as he locked his marked eyes onto the officer, who threw his cigarette onto the floor and stood on it.

"What is your name?" the officer casually asked the soldier, who looked up at him with a quivering lip and wide eyes, "J-J-Juro! Private..Juro!"

"Private, eh? How long have you been serving?" the officer itched the side of his head as he asked, looking into the burning horizon as he did.

"A y-year! I was made to s-serve!" the soldier gulped and gripped the mud beneath them.

The men in red and black quickly started to chuckle, even the officer cracking a smile as he adjusted his visor cap, hiding his eyes as he looked down at the floor. "Revenge is a powerful thing. Us Dogmarians are justified in our cruelty towards you.” The officer took out a six shot revolver, loading a single bullet into it, "Your back is against those who have already joined your kind in Above. We have no need to interrogate you, so I shall dispose of you quickly." he pulled the hammer back, aiming the revolver at the private with one hand. "You would have died either way, we're already over the border of Homstala. Once we invade Sapianus City we're gonna kill every last one of you confederate bastards.”

The confederate private squealed before being silenced by a gunshot. HIs body slumped to the side as the officer lowered his revolver, holstering it at his hip.

A radio next to the man sitting atop the tank with binoculars suddenly came alive and rang out loudly. 

“We are sending one man your way. He is approaching from your south.”

The tanker slowly picks up the radio and speaks into it, “One man?”

“A member of the royal family, General Arkara. I think it is best you sit tight and let him deal with the next trench by himself. The magikans won’t be a problem for him.”

The tanker frowned, looking at the officer before speaking into the radio once more. “By himself?”

“He will be there any moment now. Hold tight and stay back.”

“A member of the royal family, eh?” the officer spoke out, “Sounds like the commander has a lot of faith in him, so it is best we sit back and-”

The officer stopped speaking, hearing gunshots from the enemy trench. The tankers and soldiers quickly looked to the horizon as they heard this.

“We had no deserters with us did we?” one of the soldiers asked, taking his rifle off his back. The officer squinted, motioning the tanker with the binoculars to throw them to him, which he did. He looked through them.

“No, we do not. And I doubt even these scum will turn their guns on each other.” the officer’s eyes then widened, spotting a singular man in huge red armour with a black cape. His black hair flowed to the side and glowed thanks to the fiery horizon. His blue eyes looked directly at the officer through the binoculars, frowning heavily as he motioned the officer to push forwards.

“That armour, he has to be our guy!” the officer thought, turning to his men.

“T-The trench has been cleared! Let us move forward, men!” the officer pulled out his revolver and fired it into the air once, and with slight surprise, the battalion started to push forward as other officers in the distance fired their weapons and gave the order to push forward as well.

Within three minutes the officer and his men reached the trench, looking inside. The officer dropped into the trench with his revolver in hand and looked at the dead confederates. They were all wearing blue and brown military clothing, having only revolvers as they instead depended on their magik to fight.

“All of the magikans are dead, but..”

Four soldiers entered the trench near the officer, one of them crouching and looking at two bodies, “They all died the same way; their heads were blown off.”

“Suicide..” another soldier said, looking at another dead confederate that leaned against the wall of the trench that also had the same wounds as the others; a gunshot wound to the head.

The officer froze as he heard a heavy foot step above him, looking up he saw the man in the ruby armour standing over the trench and looking down at him. His long black hair blew to the side as he looked at the enemy territory which lied ahead of them still.

“We have a short way to go until we hit their capital.”

The man said to himself, slowly looking down at the officer who was still in awe. This feeling was not of shock but of the magikal pressure he could feel from the man. It was immense, more than anything he had felt before. As the officer stared more, he saw a red steam coming from the man’s body. The man then moved, breaking the officer’s stare, watching him walk off whilst clearing his throat. He then turned to the rest of his men. “Loot them! We have no time for speculation. All that matters is that this trench is now ours!”

As the men followed his command the officer leaned against the wall of the trench, looking at the dead body next to him which was also leaning against it. He took out a cigarette and flicked his fingers at the end of it, a small spark coming from it which lit the cigarette.

“He is strong in magik. That pressure, the red steam from his body. I’m the only one here that is capable of magik as far as I know. The 30 years of war we have been fighting will end this week. I feel it. With him on the frontlines..it won't be long until we kill President Titus IV!”

The officer looked down at the body next to him, especially at it’s pointy ears. He then dropped his cigarette and quickly turned, looking in the direction the man walked in above the trench, “H-Hey! You’ll be shot from the other trench!!”

The man was gone, and before the officer’s eyes, in the distance, was another smoking trench. The officer was in more disbelief than before. Without hesitation, this man known as Arkara; a member of the royal family, had now cleared 2 trenches all by himself.

Arkara stood inside of the next trench, surrounded by bodies that suffered the same fate as the last. 

“The distance between this trench and the next is greater than the last. Yes, this next one will be the last trench before the city.”

He took out a walkie-talkie and spoke into it, “According to our scouts the last trench is the one after the one I am stood in; We have reached The Gap.”

“Affirmative my Lord. The blimp is approaching from your east.”

Arkara put the walkie-talkie away and noticed a massive blimp approaching from the East. It’s shadow loomed over the battlefield as it stopped above The Gap. A moment after stopping, hundreds of parachutes started to fall from the blimp.

Behind him the battalion was heard charging into the trench Arkara was currently in, who now was climbing out of the trench and stood over The Gap.

As the people attached to the parachutes landed one by one they slowly stood up. They looked around and panicked, whimpering and screaming as they noticed they were on a battlefield, wearing straitjackets that were forced upon them.

Arkara then slowly raised his ruby and clawed gauntlet up to his face and extended his index finger.

“Shush.”

The men and women who landed quickly looked at him, and silence fell upon the battlefield. The soldiers behind Arkara watched in complete shock.

Arkara then extended the same finger, pointing to The Gap.

“Walk.”

Instantly, the men and women started to walk. One by one, standing on landmines planted by the confederates. No hesitation. Not even a drop of humanity left in their eyes. 

The officer too started to walk, but Arkara quickly turned to him and focused on him. “Be free.” He gasped and fell to his knees, coughing up blood, “GARGH!” 

Arkara and the imperials watched as this happened, the officer looking up at Arkara, “S-Sir?”

“You are able to control magik, that is why you were affected.” Arkara turned as he watched the men and women in the straitjackets explode one by one. 

The officer stood up, wiping his mouth of blood, “The strain made me bleed. I am sorry for dirtying your boots, my Lord.” the officer noticed Arkara’s body was steaming red again just like before.

Arkara looked down at his red armoured boots briefly, then looking back at The Gap.

“You are forgiven.”

The imperials watched as the men and women marched on, their will being used against them.

“It is cruel. Their mind is the only thing that isn’t being controlled by my magik. Just their body. They are trapped, slowly walking to their doom. Some may make it to the other side but will be shot by the enemy. The Gap is what we named this stretch of land; the final stretch before Sapianus City.”

Arkara extended his arm to the side. Red, crystal-like particles started to form ahead of his hand which quickly formed into a giant black great sword. This great sword steamed red, the steam following shortly behind it as Arkara pointed the blade forward.

“We will move with them! There is no time to waste, men! The final push is here! We shall avenge our Emperor!”

Arkara started to march forward, signalling the final push towards Sapianus City. Millions of men across the country followed suit, beginning the final days of The Supreme War.

…

But this story starts 1 year earlier, during the early days of this short but terrible war that shook Adepta to its core.