In that instant, the entire Ullanor Basin became an immense meat grinder, utterly engulfed in fire and steel!
Betrayal.
The most absolute, most merciless, most brutal betrayal.
"No... why...?"
"They're friendlies! They're firing on us!"
"We're surrounded! Repeat! We've been..."
The Iron Hands' comms channels were instantly flooded with countless screams of horror, pain, and disbelief. Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined dying under the guns of their "reinforcements." Their battle lines, as unyielding as steel, collapsed in an instant beneath this sudden attack from behind. Countless valiant warriors never even saw their enemies' faces before they were blasted into showers of flesh and charred metal components.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
"Activate the 'Flame Dragon's Breath' protocol! All units, converge on me immediately! Tighten the defensive perimeter! Prepare to break out!"
"Attention, all squads! Execute 'Raven's Claw' tactics! Split into small units, use every available piece of cover, and retreat toward the new landing zone! Repeat! Retreat toward the new landing zone!"
Though the Salamanders and Raven Guard had also suffered devastating casualties, their response was far quicker!
Because they had been prepared.
Their Primarchs had already made plans for the worst!
The instant the betrayal began, their formations swiftly contracted like two well-trained hedgehogs, their hardest shells resisting attacks from every direction. Then they began breaking out toward the new landing zone!
Chaos!
Unprecedented chaos!
The entire battlefield became a seething cauldron.
Loyalty and betrayal, hope and despair, life and death played out the cruelest of dramas in this small basin.
And Liu Zhipeng, that insignificant "repairman," finally reached his moment to take the stage in this clash of titans.
His repair position became the front line the moment the betrayal began. Countless stray rounds and artillery shells screamed overhead. Several Tech-Priests beside him were instantly blasted into showers