Tens of thousands of cans?
Abaddon could hardly be blamed for being dazed.
Ever since the Imperium had fractured into this state,
when had he ever seen tens of thousands of cans appear all at once?
The Black Templars, whom he knew best, numbered only a little over ten thousand. Some Chapters had been torn apart by the Imperium, shattered beyond recognition and stripped of their rightful combat strength. That was why, with every crusade, they could feel the Imperium's decline—and their own unceasing victories.
That was why he believed a great victory was within his grasp.
But tens of thousands of Space Marines had suddenly appeared. Could the Imperium have learned of their plans in advance through some means?
Had they sent so many soldiers here to ambush them?
Tens of thousands of Space Marines were not tens of thousands of Imperial Guard, nor were they tens of thousands of xenos.
When gathered together, the power they could unleash was enough to alter the course of a war.
During the great rebellion,
after Ultramar lost a hundred thousand men, it immediately raised another hundred thousand Ultramarines from Ultramar.
It could be said that those hundred thousand Ultramarines had successfully turned around the Imperium's predicament.
And in truth,
just as Abaddon had expected,
on the other side,
they were on the verge of successfully taking control of one of the Blackstone Fortresses.
"Take Cadia at the fastest possible speed."
"There's no time."
He knew perfectly well what tens of thousands of Space Marines could accomplish on a battlefield.
If they moved too slowly,
the most likely outcome was that the Imperium's suddenly appearing forces would turn the tide once again.
It was not as though they had never encountered such a situation before.
The Imperium had endured countless wars.
Each