"Attack!"
Horus's voice thundered across every combat frequency, a thunderclap of judgment that split the void.
With his magnificent flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, as their supreme blade, the Luna Wolves fleet surged out of the main formation. They became an expression of pure, resolute destruction, thrusting straight toward the Death World shrouded in filthy green—Ullanor.
The ornate, deadly ships of the Emperor's Children Legion followed like shadows, together forming the dagger aimed at the enemy's heart.
The Orks answered the Imperial Fleet's imposing formation with savage, frenzied roars.
"WAAAAAAAGH!!!!"
The Orks' war cry seemed capable of piercing the vacuum itself, shaking every warrior's soul.
Yet none of the Legion warriors or mortal soldiers present fell back.
To march into battle under the command of the great Primarchs was their highest honor.
Within the ugly Fortresses in Orbit, cobbled together from asteroids, derelict ships, and indescribably vast heaps of refuse, the Ork Big Meks activated their crude creations.
Enormous gravitational slingshots roared under the strain, hurling dozens of mountain-sized asteroids. The burning rocks trailed scorching wakes as they hurtled along brutally direct trajectories toward the Imperial Fleet, particularly its most prominent flagship.
The largest measured over fifty kilometers across, and its shadow instantly swallowed the forward half of the Vengeful Spirit.
Catastrophe seemed inevitable.
Yet Horus stood motionless on the bridge as the asteroid's ever-growing shadow fell through the observation windows.
His voice was cold, edged with contempt. "A laughable trick."
Before his words had faded, tens of thousands of point-defense turrets, laser arrays, and close-defense missile batteries along the Vengeful Spirit's flanks abruptly awakened, synchronized by billions of calculations from its fire-control systems.
In that instant, a blazing white halo of countless beams enveloped the great ship's silhouette, and a precisely woven web of absolute death unfurled.
**Boom! Boom, boom,