Whether they were the IG soldiers on the scene, the surviving Planetary Defence Force troops, or the Deathwatch who had landed alongside them, seeing giant surface defence units bombard targets in space was nothing new.
But this was the first time they had seen a Titan shoot at a spacecraft.
The shock wave stirred up by the terrifying surge of energy sent violent tremors through the air.
Boom!
The swarm reacted immediately to this new threat. Masses of explosive biological spores were launched skyward in arcing trajectories.
Arc after arc blanketed the Apocalypse Titan's position.
Compared with the swarm on Lakno, the Insects here were actively engaged in combat, with a greater variety of species and an endless stream of mutations.
A dense barrage of explosions blossomed across the Apocalypse Titan's shields, while some spores that missed struck the Elanata combat robots nearby.
Yet the shields that flickered into view soon overturned everyone's assumptions.
Each of these machines, comparable in size to a Dreadnought, carried its own independent shield and shrugged off every incoming attack.
The IG soldiers who had been watching the battlefield quickly noticed the swarm's counterattack. Experienced veterans clutched their communicators and shouted, carefully watching for the source of the explosive spores before preparing to call on the last remaining Earthshaker Cannon battery to return fire.
But the headless robots beside them, carrying cannon barrels, moved far faster.
Their stabilising feet spread out, and their enormous cannon barrels rose high.
A dense barrage of high-explosive shells swept out from the rear, filling the sky.
Distant, muffled explosions soon sounded in rapid succession.
A Planetary Defence Force soldier stationed on high ground saw the dark shapes in the sky, grabbed the communicator beside him, and shouted.
"Tyranid flying bugs!!!!"
Before his voice had even faded, explosions engulfed the