Dorn's fury burned like a cold star, driving the Imperial Fists fleet toward the battlefield that the Men of Iron had forcibly "frozen" and then "thawed" with maximum efficiency.
Beneath the shadow of the Imperial Fists fleet, bright yellow assault boats bearing their insignia descended like furious swarms of wasps, striking precisely at the three Inquisition cruisers, the Red Hunters' Battle Barge, and the Celestial Lions' battered Sword of the Seventh Son and nearly disintegrating Ravi.
Melta assault cannons burned through the ships' armour, tearing apart the dead silence within with a deafening roar.
The Imperial Fists' Terminator Squad struck first, smashing open the hatch of the Inquisition cruiser Purifier like a siege hammer. What greeted them was not resistance, but a vision of hell.
The passage reeked of blood, ozone, and scorched Power Armour.
Bolt craters and deep Chainsword gouges covered the walls. Blood had splashed like spilled ink across adamantium bulkheads and pipes, some already congealed to dark brown, some still trickling down.
Several mortal crew members in Inquisition uniforms lay twisted on the floor, clearly torn apart by terrifyingly swift force in close combat.
More shocking still were several mangled bodies clad in Red Hunters Power Armour—their armour had been cut open with precise, savage blows, exposing the shattered flesh within. One helmet had been cleaved completely apart, revealing a face frozen in shock and agony.
"The Celestial Lions did this."
An Imperial Fists veteran's voice came over the vox, carrying a barely perceptible trace of respect.
"They deployed before the boarding began and struck first against the boarders."
Dorn's heavy footsteps echoed through the passage, his immense body almost filling its entire width.
His gaze swept over the corpses and wreckage before settling on a warrior whose Power Armour bore a worn Celestial Lions insignia. The