Guilliman had no intention of pursuing the fleeing Abaddon. In the Primarch's eyes, he mattered far less than his brother.
The most urgent task now was to find the missing Rock and Wrath of Baal.
Guilliman returned to his room and fell silent before the towering Emperor's Statue. Then he rose and took down the flaming Longsword resting in the statue's hands.
Vashtorr!
Guilliman silently spoke the name to the Longsword.
Far away, the Daemon demigod leading a fierce assault on the Rock shivered for no apparent reason. He searched carefully but could not identify the source of his unease.
He had already set foot on the Rock's outer perimeter and was directing a vast host of Daemons, World Eaters warbands, and other Rebel forces in an all-out assault.
Blasphemous daemon engines rumbled forward, radiating the corrupt energies of the Warp. Wave after wave of warp daemons materialized from the void.
A towering Daemon lord swung his enormous warhammer. Heldrakes wheeled freely above the fortress, while Bloodthirsters brandished their Longswords.
"Blood for the Blood God, skulls for the Skull Throne! Slay the False Emperor's dogs!"
The World Eaters roared with excitement, brandishing their Power Weapons and Boltguns as they charged alongside the Daemons.
These Daemons and Chaos Warbands were not Vashtorr's followers, but the daemonic contracts he held compelled them to fight for him.
As a demigod scientist of the Warp, Vashtorr supplied Daemons and Chaos Traitors with all manner of war machines and equipment.
None of these came free. If they could not pay the price stipulated in their contracts, they had to work off their debts in Vashtorr's service.
Over the long years, the Rock Monastery had been reinforced and modified countless times. It was not merely the Chapter's home, but an immensely strong super-fortress.
Dense streams of