As the three colossal presences on both sides slowly materialized across the battlefield, the entire field fell into a kind of suspended awe.
The moment the Titans appeared, this war had advanced to an entirely different level. The Space Marines who could otherwise dominate any battlefield were now reduced to common grunts.
And the common grunts themselves had effectively become cannon fodder.
Wave after wave of unrest rippled across the defensive line. Countless civilians dropped to their knees at that moment, gazing up in prayer at the hundred-meter colossus towering above them, its massive frame shaking the very earth with every step it took.
Its heavy plating. Its crimson eyes. Everyone trembled. In that single instant, every soul on the field felt as though the Omnissiah Himself had descended to walk among men. Every soul held their breath and waited for victory to arrive.
And as the Emperor Titan emerged, the two Plague Titans on the opposing side came to a halt as well.
Three colossal Titans now stood in mutual confrontation across the battlefield. For a long, strange moment, not one of them moved to attack.
"Those two..."
Looking out at those two warped Warlord-class hulks in the distance, he'd be lying if he said he felt no pressure. This Emperor Titan was his greatest ace in the hole. If it were destroyed, his only remaining option would be to flip the table himself -- go up there and crush both Titans with his bare hands.
But he could feel the restless stirring of the Warp behind them. He knew someone, somewhere behind all of this, was planning something. The longer he delayed revealing himself, the greater his eventual return would be. Having already come this far, it would be a genuine waste not to maximize everything to its absolute limit.
Without shielding support, there was simply no way he'd dare send his Titan charging out on its own. The main problem was that the Emperor Titan was standing out there completely alone and unsupported. The Knight Houses were decent enough, but they simply weren't sufficient protection for an Emperor Titan.
After all, in the Warhammer universe, there was one universal tactic that never went out of fashion -- the boarding action.
---o---
"Emperor Titan -- what is that thing's origin?"
Typhus had just disembarked from the drop pods along with a massive column of Daemon vehicles when he caught sight of the colossal figures standing in mutual standoff. A flicker of hesitation crossed his face.
He could feel the Father's longing. The person he was searching for right now was definitely somewhere inside Imperial lines -- he didn't know exactly who. But if the three Titans opened fire on each other in the next moment and killed that person in the process, that would be a very serious problem indeed.
He could summon Mortarion, but he felt some reluctance toward calling upon that particular individual. Their relationship had never been good. If not for Nurgle's direct command, he would never have summoned him at all.
Right now Typhus wasn't entirely certain whether to simply engage the Emperor Titan head-on. He had committed significant resources to this operation -- he had brought two full battle groups built around Warlord-class Titan hulls. A lone Emperor Titan on the other side wasn't necessarily unbeatable.
What mattered more was that he had brought the Chaos artifact with him this time. The Father's power had already begun piercing through the veil separating reality from the Warp. The Emperor Titan was formidable -- but the Father's power was more so. And so, for the moment, both sides settled into a standoff.
---o---
Meanwhile....
From within the Nurgle horde, a squad of Space Marines in silver-grey armor charged forward. The Iron Warriors. One look at the defensive line told them it had been constructed mostly by the Imperial Fists, and so they immediately and precisely directed their charge toward the Star of Trailblaze forces in Imperial Fists colors stationed within it.
Sure, there was an Emperor Titan over here -- but it had to keep its full attention on those two Warlord-class Titans across the field. With the Nurgle horde providing cover, the Iron Warriors weren't particularly worried about being targeted first.
The war erupted once more. Nearby, Zhou Ye muttered to himself -- how had these Iron Warriors tin cans zeroed in so precisely? But since the fighting had started, let it run.
The Titans remained locked in their strange equilibrium. Both sides held. Both sides were building toward something.
Below, the Imperial Knights and the massed Nurgle daemonic forces, the Iron Warriors tin cans and the Imperial Fists were all grinding away at each other. At that moment, the Imperial Fists' Contemptor Dreadnought finally charged out.
He'd been eyeing those tin cans with contempt for a while now. Finally, he could let loose. The Kheres Pattern Assault Cannon landed hit after hit, each burst carving devastating casualties through the formation. The power fist on his other arm pulverized an Iron Warrior into scrap metal with a single blow.
Then the Iron Warriors, displaying admirable tactical wisdom, temporarily withdrew.
There was an Imperial Fists Contemptor Dreadnought here. They weren't idiots -- the math clearly wasn't in their favor.
---o---
While one front remained locked in standoff, on an entirely different section of the battlefield, a mob of Orks stood staring blankly up at the enormous war machine that seemed to pierce the very sky itself. Their faces wore expressions of profound, almost reverent astonishment.
For Orks, big meant strong. Big meant good.
The Titan's towering silhouette had been carved directly into the soul of every Ork present. And so, at that moment...
"By Gork an' Mork, I fink I can bash togevver one of dem big fings."
The Big Mek scratched his head. It felt as though something had ignited inside his soul. An endless torrent of inspiration was detonating inside his skull, and the great Gork and Mork themselves seemed to be speaking to him directly.
Go on then, lad. Get yer WAAAGH! on.
"I fink I can build somefing proper WAAAGH! Get movin' ya gitz -- can't be havin' dem pointy-eared runts an' dem stinky boyz lookin' down on us!"
In that moment, it felt as though every single Ork boy had been struck by the same divine lightning. As one, they dismantled everything they had in their hands. And then it grew taller. And taller. And taller still.
Neither the Imperial side nor the Chaos side was paying them any attention -- both were entirely focused on each other, neither launching a full assault, neither issuing orders to sweep the flanks. Naturally, no one noticed a mob of Orks out in a valley somewhere, building themselves a very large something.
An object assembled from heaps of scrap metal and gods-knew-what-else -- shaped rather like an enormous tin can -- was being constructed at a visible and deeply alarming rate.
---o---
On yet another front, a group of Aeldari watched the lone Emperor Titan with furrowed brows.
Humans were their cannon fodder. If the humans couldn't hold, the Aeldari's situation wouldn't be any better. And what made matters even worse was that this location sat atop a Webway node of critical importance. If it were to be corrupted by Nurgle... that would mean nothing less than complete catastrophe for them.
"It seems we need to bring out something special....."
They glanced at the two Titans across the field. Then, quietly, the Aeldari opened a portal. Two massive forms stepped through from within, accompanied by a host of smaller figures.
Two Phantom Titans and more than a dozen Wraithknights emerged.
Their final ace in the hole. One could only say that to prevent the destruction of their Craftworld, they had given absolutely everything.
---o---