The Space Wolves' first bombardment tore through the all-concealing fog before dawn and descended abruptly upon Prospero.
The Orbital Defense System gave no warning, and every scanning device remained silent.
The Corvidae Cult's psionic divination crystals showed no omen of destruction.
Torpedoes fell like rain, inundating the orbital missile platforms and artillery arrays without opposition. Most of the defensive systems became ruins before they could fire a single shot.
The sparse, hasty counterattacks were swiftly swallowed up.
Having encountered no resistance, the Punishment Fleet crashed through the sea of fire and gradually drew its formation together.
Iron-gray warships deployed into attack formations in synchronous orbit, thousands upon thousands of weapons aimed at the planet below.
The Hrafnkel fired the first shot, a dazzling ice-blue beam stabbing toward the planet's surface.
The Nidhoggur opened fire immediately afterward, plasma beams sweeping across the ports northeast of Tizca.
Six hundred meters of seawater evaporated into high-temperature steam, and scorching fog blanketed the sea, thick with toxic gases.
Hypersonic bombs pierced the atmosphere with multiple sonic booms, jolting the sleeping residents awake.
Lava bombs howled down upon the mountains surrounding Tizca. Within the rising mushroom clouds, ridge after ridge collapsed into ruin.
Gravity bombs and kinetic warheads rained from the sky, striking the new outposts Shadow of Order had established after clearing Soul-Eater Peak and leveling them to the ground.
Energy beams scattered like raindrops across towering canopies and ruins far from Tizca.
Terrifying explosive energy spread at tremendous speed, tearing Soul-Eater Bees apart one after another and branding the ground with ominous dark-green afterimages.
Countless merciless strikes battered Prospero's land without pause.
Yet amid the planet's devastated surface, not a single building in Tizca, the heart of the bombardment, was damaged.
Though Magnus had ensured that his sons knew nothing of the punishment,