Back in the present.
The instant the warship carrying Lorgar's body entered the Colchis Star System, the entire Star System seemed to fall into a strange stillness.
The Word Bearers who had descended into madness in star fortresses, aboard warships, in trenches, and amid the ruins of cities stopped roaring and howling at the same moment.
Their bodies froze in place, their gazes turning toward the golden warship slowly entering the Star System. The golden flames burning in their pupils gradually subsided, giving way to a pilgrim's devotion.
That stillness lasted three full minutes.
Then the Word Bearers began to move.
They reorganized their Defense Line, readjusted their firepower deployments, and reestablished communications.
The command structures thrown into disarray by their frenzy returned to normal within minutes, and units that had lost contact during the madness reconnected.
Seizing the opportunity, the Holy Word Army joined forces with the Colchis Auxiliary Army to launch a counterattack codenamed "Operation Fortress."
It was a carefully planned surprise assault targeting the forward positions occupied by the traitor Fleet during the earlier fighting.
The assault achieved astonishing results.
The traitor forces that had advanced amid the chaos of the earlier battles found themselves isolated and without support once the Word Bearers restored order.
The Holy Word Army and the Auxilia cut into their Defense Line with surgical precision, excising the salients one by one and reclaiming the occupied positions in turn.
The enemy forces invading the Second Defense Line from the Third Defense Line were reduced by nearly thirty percent. For an assault force composed primarily of ordinary humans, it was an almost unbelievable achievement.
Left with no choice, the traitor Fleet fell silent again.
The Raven Guard Legion's Fleet slipped back into the shadows, hiding deep within the nebulae like a wounded beast as