No one could ignore the grand spectacle of the Blood Angels' descent. The charging rebels immediately noticed the enemy arriving from beyond the heavens.
The commanders of the Death Guard Legion and the generals of the "Desolate March" Auxilia immediately turned their guns skyward.
The XIV Legion excelled at prolonged assaults and positional warfare. Mortarion's sons had indeed inherited their gene-father's resilience; in a contest of attrition and endurance, perhaps no enemy in the entire Imperium could rival them.
Yet the XIV Legion was also overly focused on infantry combat. The vast majority of its Astartes were heavily equipped heavy infantry, and even the mortal auxilia meant to compensate for the Death Guard Legion's weaknesses followed the same style.
Their original plan had been to drag things out, using viruses and plagues to invisibly wear down the enemy and thus reduce their own casualties.
Under Mortarion's leadership, roughly one hundred and fifty thousand Astartes of the XIV Legion had been deployed across battlefields throughout numerous star systems. Their manpower was desperately scarce; every casualty they could avoid meant more troops could join the assault on Terra.
"The Blood Angels are here! Activate the anti-aircraft batteries!"
"Shoot them down!"
The Death Guard commander Zadar Krosius immediately issued his orders. The seven tactical squads under his command sprang into action, operating the few remaining anti-aircraft guns and guided missiles in their ranks to strike back at the descending Blood Angels.
For a time, blazing streams of metal danced through the skies, while all manner of energy beams locked onto the Blood Angels' drop pods and poured out fire without restraint.
Ordinary enemies would have found the Death Guard Legion's anti-aircraft measures troublesome, but to the Blood Angels, who specialized in orbital drop assaults, this amount of anti-aircraft fire was nothing.
If even