Khorne? We're Old Hands at This

Wodhaus's face darkened as he carefully savored the scent of blood in the air.

"It won't be long... Once it rains, we'll be surrounded by daemons." Wodhaus answered, raising a hand to deflect a powerful lightning cannon blast back at its source.

A Vorax-pattern Automaton was struck by the lightning blast and paralyzed for several seconds. The Vostroyans driving Leman Russ tanks seized the opportunity and slammed an armor-piercing shell into the Automaton's plating.

Wodhaus smiled in satisfaction at the sight. "At least these people are still loyal to The Emperor, rather than becoming lackeys of the Dark Gods."

"I detect a sarcastic undertone in your words. Are you questioning the Adeptus Mechanicus's reliability?" the Archmagos Iteration said from the side, though no one paid any heed to his displeasure.

Feeling the Space Marines' hostility and distrust toward him, Iteration adjusted his communication module. Pointing toward the defensive line maintained by the automated warriors in the distance, he said, "Only seven Automaton cohorts remain. Victory is within reach."

"Victory is within reach... You damned coghead, you make it sound so easy..." An Automaton cohort contained thirty to a hundred Automaton squadrons, and each squadron consisted of one to five Automata. A rough calculation showed that several hundred Automata still stood in their way. Kaiser Whitefang curled his lip and cursed again. "Why don't we just blow this damned place up and let millions of tons of steel and stone crush them all to death?"

Archmagos Iteration answered swiftly, "Impossible. The structural integrity here is of utmost importance. If this area collapses, a quarter of the planet's surface will suffer severe subsidence. That would be a devastating blow to Agrippina's recovery of production capacity. That is why we constructed structures here capable of withstanding macro-cannon bombardment."

Kaiser Whitefang nodded helplessly. This