The situation on the battlefield grew stranger by the moment.
Seeing reinforcements arrive, and so many Terminators at that, the Black Templars in Power Armour charged straight at the Daemons and Chaos Cultists without a second thought.
If they could fight in melee, they would never shoot.
The Crimson Tide's toughest, heaviest Cataphractii Terminators, on the other hand, did not advance very far. Their armour came from the IV Legion's siege Terminators, with Missile Pods overhead, and they subjected the enemy positions to a furious bombardment.
If they could bombard something, they would never fight it in melee.
Besides, these newly inducted warriors could not keep pace with Kazhaniv. Without concentrating on ranged attacks, they could not even support their Chapter Champion.
The Black Templars' Chaplain lifted the War Banner planted in the scorched earth. The fallen, valiant standard-bearer had fought to his death, and the Chapter Banner had never fallen, but the loss of a veteran brother was a grievous blow to the Chapter.
"Tear them apart, in the Emperor's name!" The Chaplain swept the War Banner around, toppling a Daemon.
The Black Templars were organized differently from conventional Chapters. They had no Librarians, so the second-highest-ranking officer in their force was the Reclusiarch, an elite Chaplain.
But this battlefield was only one small corner of the crusade. The Chaplain charged at an enormous Daemon with fearless valor.
It looked like a balloon made of human skin, with thin, elongated, jellyfish-like tentacles dangling beneath it.
The Daemon floated at the very center of the battlefield. Any teleportation would be diverted by interference from the Warp's malign power. They had to cover this final stretch with their own legs and Warblades.
After more than eighty flashes of teleportation light, still more crimson streaks tore through the sky.
The pressure ahead