"The battle damage report is ready, sir."
At the Ultramarines' command center, the adjutant presented Orfeo with the final compiled report.
"Our mortal auxilia suffered over 1.63 million dead, the vast majority killed by the aftermath of the Titan battle after being caught up in the Astartes engagement.
Edgewatch lost four Reaver-class Titans and seven Warhound-class Titans, while the Ultramarines suffered 1,279 deaths, most of them veterans who had never replaced their armor."
"There are 122 severely wounded Ultramarines. Most have suffered irreversible, critical injuries. Aside from those still receiving treatment, all have been interred in Dreadnoughts by Tech-priests and Techmarines."
The Ultramarines across all of Amatara had lost more than half their battle-brothers in cumulative casualties since the war began. The number of Astartes Orfeo could command had even fallen below two thousand.
Orfeo sat in his chair, staring wordlessly at the devastating report for a long time.
"There are also twelve Invictarii. They stayed underground to kill Angron."
"Guilliman will remember them, and the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar will remember them as well. We severely damaged the World Eaters' flagship, the Conqueror, and killed their primarch, Angron. Now, all we need to do is keep holding."
"The primarch's reinforcements are on their way. With pressure from within and without, we must keep the remaining Word Bearers and World Eaters remnants in this star system."
The adjutant saluted his commander, then immediately carried his orders into the hectic war effort.
--
For a Legion, its primarch was its absolute core. Even a primarch as violent and unpredictable as Angron, one who had utterly disdained his own sons, still had countless followers.
Their reverence and love for their genetic father could drive these World Eaters to acts of unimaginable madness.
The badly damaged Conqueror was swept up by countless