The place was almost pitch black. Candles lit only the points of bare import in the room. They lined the doors and a single candle stood before the outcasts, revealing each individual in her naked shame.

Bound by chains and chastened by their sins, all seven of them were brought to their knees. These were the traitors and the failures of the order. Among their, number Rosetta remained. Tormented by her own failures she was compelled to stay and endure.

"In service to the Order of Divine Light, in the name of the God-Emperor of Mankind, we mete justice unto the ashamed and the damned." Announced one Mistress in the dark.

Then seven neuro whips crackled to life in vicious blue glows in the dark. As one, their wielders lashed their respective repentia, forcing grunts, hisses and screams of pain from them. One even broke down in tears begging for forgiveness only to be lashed again and again by her mistress.

"You are, all of you, forfeit. Such is the weight of your sins that death has already come for you." The Mistress continued.

A white hot flash of pain consumed Rosetta's mind as she was struck again. She hissed and winced as she strained to control herself. Yet something was sparked to life within Aura. She burned warm and bright within Rosetta's soul.

'What is the matter, Aura?' Rosetta asked in her mind as another lash blast into her back.

This... This pain... it drives me, it compels me to do battle.

'Hold fast... We need only outlast this.'

Aura did not like this one bit. With every strike, her temper boiled over evermore so. Rage fuelled her every impulse. She began to groan and growl as her mind turned to tempting thoughts of barbarism and slaughter.

Another shock flooded her soul and she came to hate her position.

I've had enough of your honour. Get. Us. Out of here.

'Just hold on... I must do this... To make things right.'

Ugh. Does your faith blind you to all madness?

'I owe this to Lady Mirabel at the very least.'

So it is love that blinds you?

Another blast of pain shot throughout her back, knocking Aura out forcing Rosetta to look upwards. There she found a servitor lumber forth out of the darkness holding a colossal weapon. Bewildered, Rosetta paused as she beheld its titanic might.

Eviscerators, mighty chainswords. Each one, over six feet long and lined with massive teeth. They were designed with the sole purpose of maximising brute force to its ultimate potential. Each one was a holy weapon of terror, perfectly suited to the forsaken desperadoes among battle sisters.

When each woman was presented with her own weapon the chains were released. They all slumped to the ground, relishing their freedom of movement.

"Rise, Repentia. Rise and offer yourself onto this new sword. Take it and realize the road to redemption upon which you walk!"

One by one they all rose to their feet. Each one battered, bruised and bloodied took their massive weapon and uttered the prayer of armament. Some dropped as the mighty eviscerator proved too heavy for them.

They did so only to have a mistress whip them back up onto their feet.

"To drop your sacred weapon is a sin before the divine light of the God-Emperor! Do not disgrace him further!"

Rosetta reached out and bowed her head to the absent-minded servitor and took it. The weight strained her arms. She gasped as the overwhelming weight of her weapon made her strain for a moment before she found her strength again.

In single file, they were marched forwards, deeper into the dungeons. There they found an army of servitors. Each one was armed with odd patterns of bolters. They registered the presence of the Repentia and armed weapons.

The whoosh of the flexing leather and metal within a neuro whip filled the air, followed by the crackle of whiplashes and screams of the suffering.

"Charge! Wield your weapons you fools! Destroy the servitors!" Barked a Mistress.

With little hesitation, the Repentia hurled themselves at the foe. Then the servitors opened fire. One woman was cut down immediately and dropped to the floor groaning and spasming in agony with a trio of small tasers latched onto her chest.

One by one the women were gunned down. They dropped to the floor convulsing under the electronic shock of taser-darts. Last to fall was Rosetta who struggled to take step after step even as a trio on her belly unleashed its full electronic might into her body.

She growled and drooled as she grew numb and forced herself forwards. Another trio hit her shoulder unleashing the fury of its cruel payload upon her. She was soon brought to her knees. She found her vision blurring little she pay attention to Aura's blight.

With a mind-numbing wailing, howl Aura broke. Even as she fought herself she found her beastly nature clawing its way to the surface. She panicked she could not speak for it took her all. She was at her limit. All the rage and all the pain, it magnified within her soul and fought for control.

Out of desperation Rosetta reached within and tapped into it. Wielding it all like a weapon, she let it permeate throughout every vein in her body. It was anger incarnate. It burned and Rosetta fought to remain conscious long enough to aim it and let go.

She expected to pass out but the sudden burst of energy drove her screaming to her feet. She carried her eviscerator in one hand as she roared into the air and bolted at the servitors. More tasers hit her but she grew numb to it.

Her weapon revved and roared as she cleaved through one and crushed another. She swung her monumental weapon about with terrifying, unnatural speed. All around her the servitors were obliterated under her might.

She did not relent. She did not stop. Only then when the enemy was vanquished. When the pain was gone and her energy spent did she allow herself to shed a tear before passing out and collapsing.

-//-

An explosion of nervous stimulation shocked Rosetta awake. She found herself in the tight confines of a transport of some kind. The growling sound of metal grinding through a molten rock filled the air as the world shook all around her.

A second lash struck her scared back.

"On your feet failure!" Barked a Mistress.

Rosetta found her eviscerator waiting for her, took it and leaned on its bulk as she struggled to her feet. She gasped and gripped her bare chest as she felt her heart burn with excruciating pain. She wondered what happened to Aura.

'Aura. What is happening? What is this pain? I can't bear it.'

Aura went silent. All there was left the overflow of burning emotion. It boiled in the depths of their shared souls like a primal urge. It was a beastly rage that brought with it a barbaric thirst for blood.

It burned brighter by the minute. So much anger, so much rage, it threatened to take over permanently. It flowed throughout her body. Making her sweat with stress and anticipation. Her fingers twitched and itched as she was driven to crave the blood of all.

Rosetta struggled to maintain control. Somewhere behind her in the darkness of the troop compartment, another Repentia growled in pain as a whiplash struck her raw back. Rosetta glanced over her shoulder and found them by the dozen.

They all stood in perfect formation. Each woman holding onto their bulky weapon in silence as they awaited orders. The place was dark and like silhouettes in the dark, the Mistresses moved between the ranks, looking for any cause for reprimand.

Then a shock wave rushed throughout the vehicle and the front tilted upwards making it hard to stand. Rosetta, like many others, leaned forward to avoid falling over. Then the rumble became louder for but a moment before the deafening sound of a mighty detonation reverberated throughout the troop compartment.

The distinct squeal of a massive melta atomising the very air around it as it fired rung in Rosetta's ears as the assault ramps collapsed, revealing a thick mist. Without hesitation blood, crazed Repentia hurled themselves into it.

Rosetta followed. Charging through the mist and slashing overhead to crush a disorientated foe. She choked. The stench of the dead, the burning pain from within, the ecstasy of battle, it all became an intoxicating storm of emotion.

She felt her vision blurring, her mind-numbing and her temper running wild. She bolted through the exit and past her sisters. She dashed through hall after hall, room after room, murdering all she could.

This urge, this primal rage that flowed within her, it fought for control. She had to kill, to slaughter, maim and butcher. She had to vent this unnatural rage upon flesh and blood. Otherwise, risk losing control to this beast within.

She went on butchering man, woman and child. It did not matter who she killed, she had to sate this bloodlust or lose to it. For sanity's sake, for necessity's sake, she slaughtered all before her. She bathed in blood and gore to save herself and win Aura back.

It worked. The fire that burned within was spent and after an hour of slaughter, Rosetta felt exhaustion once again. She slowed down, dropped her heavy weapon and collapsed where she stood.

-//-

Memories of desperation, raw and fresh in her mind, tormented Rosetta. The horrors of screaming victims as her mighty weapon churned their very flesh from their dying bodies haunted her. In that moment she began to weep.

She had no control, she had to do it. That did not sooth the pain. There was no honour, no justice, only the chaotic slaughter of innocents. Hot tears began to flow from her eyes and down blood-soaked temples.

In that moment she felt so alone. She wanted aid, she begged for company. In her moment of weakness, she broke down screaming and battering her own head with her bare hands over so many innocents dead. Every inch of her was soaked in blood. She could not bear the sight nor the humility.

"Mirabel, please. Save me once more." She uttered as she curled up into a ball and began to cry.

Hush, sister. What's done is done. You need not blame yourself.

Petrified and wide-eyed in disbelief, Rosetta rejoiced at the return of Aura's voice. Her warm, reassuring presence spread itself throughout Rosetta's cold body once more. Rosetta had thought her long gone but here she was.

This is no time for respite. We need to get out of here.

Unsure, Rosetta did not respond.

What? You think that your precious Lady Mirabel will come chasing after you? Fool! She has forsaken you! To hell with her!

'No! I owe this to her!'

Then a sharp spike of pain struck her brain.

Wake up! That woman does not love you! You owe her nothing.

'I had a duty! I failed in my duty. This is what I get.'

So what! What has your duty brought you? What has love brought you?

Rosetta froze again. Ever unsure and ever craving the love she thought she had. She tried to answer Aura but nothing came to mind. Her heart sank and she cried even more. She had gotten nothing but a death sentence.

Shh, we might be able to salvage something from this yet. Let us leave this massacre... Leave this place.

Then the signature bark of bolter fire echoed in the distance. Taking her weapon again she rose to her feet and began to run. Blinded and unbalanced by tears and weeping she struggled with every step she took down pristine stone halls of the castle.

Then Aura flooded her brain with a flash of numbing pain that made her trip over.

NO! What has any of this ever brought you!

Ignoring the entity within Rosetta got back up and Aura blasted another flash of white-hot pain in her.

I'll ask again! What. Has. Any of this. Brought you?

"Nothing, okay?!" Rosetta cried out.

Then why? Why do you insist on this insanity?

Rosetta hesitated once more and Aura snapped and blasted pain into Rosetta once more.

WHY?

"Because it is all I have left!" Rosetta cried out and gave in. With hot tears pouring down her blood-soaked cheeks she began to confess.

"I lost everything the moment I ran. My duty was paying a debt I owe in my life! My love allowed me to pay this debt. Shallow prayer and triumph pale in comparison to the sight of beauty. Do you know what it is like to be raised as a weapon only to run from your only purpose in life?"

Through watery eyes, she saw a warm light of white and gold. Out of it stepped an older more matured Aura. The Aura of her teenage years. Long golden hair flowed around a smooth slender body, clad in white silks.

Rosetta's heart swelled within her as Aura approached her and took her in in a warm embrace. Rosetta rested her head on Aura's shoulder.

Trust me, sister. I know. I have done the same.

-//-