The Blood Legion's army advanced little by little, unstoppable.
The Imperium's two armies had attacked it from the front and rear, while the Star Fortresses attempted a breakthrough through the center. The entire strategy had failed.
The Blood Legion abandoned its plan to destroy every Star Fortress before leaving. It went against its usual ways, but that was what happened.
The battle became two separate exchanges of naval gunfire, one ahead and one behind. Under these conditions, void shields held no advantage over the defensive rings of Warp energy.
After the first Greater Daemon left the fleet to pursue Guilliman, no other warships departed the area of chained vessels. It had become as inscrutable as the Eye of Terror, and Imperial ships dared not enter lightly.
Below the decks of Macragge's Honour, members of the Adeptus Mechanicus and Techmarines made emergency repairs. Guilliman returned to his command station, calm once more, and ordered the two armies to regroup. A pincer attack was useless now; it only left the Imperial Fleet outgunned on both battlefronts.
"Where exactly are they going?" The Blood Legion's movements were bizarre. If someone had told Guilliman the force before him was the Plague Army, he would not have doubted it.
Inside the massive warship converted from a Space Hulk, countless Chaos Relics surrounded an enormous Brass Throne, encircled by endless skulls and flames. Beneath it lay thousands of arenas and dueling cages. The reality barrier here was so thin that a Daemon could tear open a Warp rift with a casual swipe.
Angron had not appeared. Khorne had confined him, and forbidding him to fight was perhaps the harshest punishment he could receive.
Khorne was probably the Dark God least interested in claiming Guilliman, given his "timid" disposition, his endless scheming, and his relatively low combat