For the first time in this long, drawn-out crusade, the Dark Angels called for reinforcements.
They did not call on other Space Marine Chapters, the Grey Knights, the Astra Militarum, or anything of the sort. They called on the Ecclesiarchy.
They appealed to the nearest Sanctuary World, claiming to have discovered heretics who refused to believe in the Emperor, and requested support from the Sisters of Battle and Ministorum Priests.
In theory, the Sisters of Battle were the Ecclesiarchy's only armed force, but its priests-and the fanatics who followed them-were not to be underestimated.
Those fanatics could come from any faction: off-duty soldiers from the local Planetary Defense Force, nearby miners, even Inquisitors, if they wished.
A plague of unbelief would inevitably draw the aid of Inquisitors. Several departed the Sanctuary World at once, bound for the Ghoul Stars.
The Dark Angels' offensive was like a heavy blade wielded in silence, cleaving through the defenses of several fringe worlds in a single stroke.
Newly established cities became seas of fire. The Inner Circle ordered the Dark Angels to attack at full strength, holding nothing back.
The Abomination Knights Chapter had long ranged across the Ghoul Stars, earning its reputation as a deadly destroyer. It drove an enormous mass of xenos forces toward the edge of Segmentum Obscurus.
In the wake of the beast tide, certain specialized warriors began to move.
The Angels of Vigilance were a successor Chapter founded during the Second Founding. Little was known of them beyond their station near the Eye of Terror-more precisely, in a monastery beyond Cadia. Their sole distinguishing feature was that the entire Chapter had never been mustered at once.
After Abaddon's successful surprise attack during the Thirteenth Black Crusade, even that distinction vanished.
The Angels of Vigilance deployed an astonishing number of