Yet even though Liu Zhipeng's manipulation behind the scenes had turned Perturabo's tactical artistry into a ridiculous farce steeped in dark humor,
the scales of war were still slowly tipping toward the traitors.
Because Chaos never played fair.
"Aaaaaaargh!!!!"
An inhuman roar, filled with boundless rage and the will to slaughter, thundered from behind the traitor lines!
Angron!
The Primarch of the World Eaters, the "Red Angel" who had long since become the mightiest daemon in Khorne's service, had finally lost the last shred of his patience.
He and his equally bloodthirsty, maddened sons abandoned all tactics and all cover. Utterly exposed, they became a crimson tide of flesh and steel, launching the most savage, most frenzied frontal assault against Lion's Gate Spaceport!
They ignored the shellfire and the casualties. There was nothing in their eyes but slaughter!
An endless tide of Chaos poured into the spaceport.
"Fall back!"
Dorn's calm yet bitterly reluctant voice rang through every loyalist communications channel.
"Abandon Lion's Gate! All forces, fall back to the outer wall! Repeat! Fall back to the outer wall!"
After countless sacrifices, Lion's Gate Spaceport had fallen at last.
Aboard his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, Horus read the casualty report. Far from feeling any joy, he flew into a rage.
"Useless! Every last one of you!" he roared, smashing an adamantium dataslate onto the floor. "For one tiny spaceport! I lost nearly a quarter of my troops! And that idiot Angron! What can he do besides fill trenches with corpses?! I hate it! I hate it so much! Why?! Why is Dorn on the other side?!"
For the first time, this costly victory made Horus waver in his belief that he could conquer Terra.
After Lion's Gate Spaceport fell, it was placed under the garrison of the XIV Legion, the