Pale blue bolts passed through the hail of gunfire, through the billowing black smoke, through the Iron Warriors' hopes, and flew straight down the gun barrel, striking the immensely powerful shell inside.
The ammunition detonation blew the Typhon Heavy Siege Tank into burning scrap, reducing the nearby mortals and two Iron Warriors to ash along with it.
The fiercely burning heap of wreckage outside blocked the passage, finally giving the warriors nearby a brief respite-or, more accurately, a chance to rotate out.
A squad of anti-psyker warriors emerged from the underground passage directly beneath the Void Shield array to relieve the wounded warriors.
This passage led straight to the lowest underground network. Although excavation was not yet complete, several nearby Void Shield arrays had already been linked together.
From beginning to end, all that talk about learning from the spirit of Taran had been a lie to deceive the enemy. We had never intended to fight vast armoured battles or hold fortresses in defensive warfare. Through those "taunts" broadcast over all channels, we planted one message in the enemy's subconscious: we would resist to the bitter end.
The Iron Warriors loved enemies like that. In Perturabo's words, "Then we can slaughter them without restraint after breaching their fortress."
The entire fortress was a trap, drawing the Iron Warriors into places beyond the reach of supporting artillery. In cramped spaces where Astartes held an absolute advantage, in the very field they considered their specialty, they were being slaughtered.
Mortal traitors? Heavy armoured units? No, we did not care. We wanted only to lure all those tens of thousands of Iron Warriors inside, fight them blade to blade, and slaughter every last one.
Soon, the enemy cleared away the tank wreckage. Their reports identified the Astartes in those enormous suits of armour