The Warsmith's order had barely been given when his adjutant eagerly sprang into action.
They were helping their brother Legion resist the False Emperor's attack, so opening fire on the Light of Ten Thousand Radiances... was perfectly reasonable, wasn't it?
Reasonable or not, the initiative was already in their hands.
For the Warmaster! Fire on the Thousand Sons!
Even if this was brought before the Warmaster, the Iron Warriors would be in the right. In war, artillery had no eyes. Anyone accidentally hit could only blame their own bad luck.
The massive Iron Blood cruised through the void, turning its broadside toward the Imperial reinforcements arriving from beyond the system. Its superb fire-control systems immediately locked onto the Light of Ten Thousand Radiances... and the Mechanicus warships behind it.
"Fire!" the Breaker of Cities ordered.
The dense macro-cannon batteries along the Gloriana-class Battleship's broadside began to turn. Their dark muzzles aligned and locked on, then the enormous guns spat deadly solid shells.
In an instant, thousands of macro-cannon batteries erupted together. The weapons system personally designed by Perturabo maintained an exceptionally consistent barrage, with Weapon Arrays roaring at every moment. Their ingenious recoil distribution ensured that the warship never lost its balance.
Olympia's Lord of Iron truly was a genius. His talent and aptitude for machinery surpassed that of most humans, yet such a great figure had fallen into Horus's camp because of the imbalance within his heart.
If the Iron Warriors and Imperial Fists had defended Terra together, then even if Horus's army had charged forward all at once, they would surely have smashed themselves bloody against the defenses of steel and stone.
Lox had already noticed the enemy's counterattack. He did not press his advantage greedily, continuing to command his fleet to surround the Thousand Sons' Gloriana-class Battleship