A blood-red portal suddenly appeared above a mound of eight heads. Beyond it lay a red world, a burning world of flame, metal, steel, blood, and endless battle.
All of this unfolded before a towering gate fortress. Countless red Daemons stood there, clad in red armor and carrying flaming swords, their long tongues the color of blood.
The red portal opened and sucked up all the skulls. As though it had consumed some potent nourishment, it abruptly widened. Those red Daemons stepped into reality: Bloodletters, Steel Bulls, War Skull Cannons, and the mightiest of all, Bloodthirsters.
The eight portals worked with astonishing efficiency. In no time, the once-empty sacrificial ground was packed with Daemons. They shoved one another and roared with excitement. At last, they could enter the real world and unleash their battle lust and fury.
Vorda raised his sword, pointing it at the Tyranids fighting the Orks in the distance, and screamed hysterically, "Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!"
All the Khorne Cultists and Daemons roared together, "Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!"
Just moments earlier, the Blood God's power had accumulated to a critical threshold. Khorne had grown stronger. He no longer needed sacrifices of souls and blood; those were merely formalities.
As long as there was war, Khorne would continue to grow stronger. The fiercer the war, the stronger he became. His followers no longer had to worry about fighting the Tyranids. Tyranid heads and blood could glorify war just as well!
The Swarm Consciousness, which was fighting the Greenskins, discovered in shock that it was being attacked from both sides. Khorne's red army had struck its swarm from behind.
Had these followers of Chaos changed their rituals? Nothing like this had ever happened before. The followers of