The battle for Heilbronn proceed uneventful.
After Legio Solaria destroyed the Gargants, the attack group quickly conquer the manufactorum district, though they still suffer losses as other than the Gargants, the Orks still have a significant numbers of Killa-klan that hiding within the district.
Mortifactors also inform that they have great progress in clearing out the Orks from the mines, especially since the Auxilia that Atharion assign to them all not only equip with flamers, but also experience with the environment, as many of them not only have training on how to operate within tunnels and tight corners, most of them also live in area that have same situation before arriving to Camelarion.
Combined with the Mortifactors savagery in combat, this has made the mine-clearing operations highly effective.
The rapid response force also have their own share of battle.
The rapid response force also saw its share of fighting. While it did not take part in many of the main offensives, and rarely played a major role when present, it was still engaged in several smaller actions.
The White Scars and the Mantis Warriors engage Ork bands that stray too far from the buildings. They are joined by Tauros vehicles from the Auxilia armoured regiments. Meanwhile, the Black Dragons lead the heavy elements of the regiments and launch assaults on towns and cities that the attack groups did not bother to conquer.
During this time, Atharion discovers that the Black Dragons' Apothecaries—and even their Chaplains—have begun encouraging many within the Chapter to embrace their mutations rather than restrain them. This situation worsens as the Chapter Master, the Captain of the 1st Company, and the Captains of the battle companies have already embraced this belief and actively encourage those under their command to do the same. Some within the reserve companies turn a blind eye to this behavior, or even actively supporting it.
However, Atharion also learns that the Captains of the 7th and 9th Companies do not share this view. This has caused a rift between these two companies and the rest of the Chapter.
Of the three Black Dragons companies present, the 7th and 9th have been assigned by the First Captain to fight on the front lines, often without support from their brothers in the 1st Company or the Auxilia. Even supplies meant for them have been blocked by the First Captain. It seems the Black Dragons' high command hopes to eliminate the dissenters by sending them to die in battle.
Seeing this as an opportunity, Atharion pushed the Black Dragons further, assigning them to attack areas that were not strategically important but filled with Orks lured in as bait by reconnaissance squads. This only increased bitterness and tension as more Astartes from the 7th and 9th fell in battle.
After hearing of a supposed minor engagement between the two companies and the 1st Company, Atharion recognized his opportunity. He finally assigned the two companies a so-called suicide mission: to attack a secret Ork base hidden within a canyon. False reports claimed that Orks from outside the hive city were regrouping there and even constructing new Gargants.
To make the mission appear credible to outside observers, Atharion dispatched three Warlord Titans and four Reaver Titans to support the assault. In the official record, the mission was declared a success. The two companies were said to have sacrificed themselves by overloading a Gargant's plasma reactor, triggering an explosion powerful enough to collapse and obliterate the entire canyon.
For their supposed bravery and sacrifice, Atharion awarded the Black Dragons a Strike Cruiser, fifty suits of Mk VII power armor, and fifty bolters with four hundred rounds of ammunition.
In truth, the seventy Black Dragons of the 7th and 9th Companies were slain by the Dark Knights' 1st Company. Their gene-seed was harvested before a plasma generator—planted in the canyon by Atharion's own forces—was deliberately overloaded to create an explosion that would erase all evidence.
At first, Atharion had planned to persuade them to abandon their Chapter and form a new one under the guise of being Dark Knights successors. This proved impossible when he discovered that they remained utterly loyal to their Chapter; none were willing to betray it, as confirmed by the Librarians after probing their minds.
He then considered capturing and manipulating them through psychic conditioning, reinforced by the Interrogator-Chaplains. However, he abandoned this plan as well. In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there are many ways for memories to resurface—sometimes "accidentally."
In the end, Atharion accepted that the only way to secure a large supply of Black Dragons gene-seed in these tight schedules was to kill them. After all, it was far simpler to claim the gene-seed and use it to create more warriors of his own design.
Though he was not pleased with the decision, he believed that to secure greater options for the future, radical measures were sometimes necessary.
===
Lies of Dragons – Battle Barge
"So, are the results still the same as before?" Atharion asked, gazing at the gene-seed suspended within the small glass containment vessel before him. "I trust there are no complications. Otherwise, the deaths of those Black Dragons would have been for nothing."
"They remain unchanged," the Apothecary replied, monitoring the gene-seed's condition through a nearby cogitator. "The mutation they once suffered appears to be corrected. The slaves used in the cultivation of the organs displayed no bone-related abnormalities as before."
Atharion nodded, satisfied that his decision had not yet been betrayed by failure—though true confirmation would only come once the organs were implanted into a neophyte.
In truth, Atharion had never desired the gene-seed of the Black Dragons themselves. What he truly sought was that of the Salamanders. Beyond their coal-black skin and burning eyes—mutations caused by the interaction between their genetics and the intense radiation of their homeworld, Nocturne—there were three additional traits that greatly interested him.
The Salamanders were renowned for their greater size and physical resilience compared to most other Adeptus Astartes. This made them ideal for frontal assaults and defensive engagements alike. Combined with their exceptional tolerance for extreme heat and radiation, they excelled in the most hazardous environments where other Chapters might falter.
Then there was Fire-Sight, a truly unique genetic trait possessed by the Salamanders. Fire-Sight allowed them to focus on specific heat signatures, enabling them to perceive thermal patterns with extraordinary clarity. In theory, this meant they could communicate across distances—or even through solid structures—provided they had equipment capable of emitting controlled pulses of heat as coded signals.
The Salamanders did indeed possess such technology. During the closing years of the Scouring, their Artificers perfected a specialized material capable of generating minute pulses of heat at signatures detectable only by their modified vision. Since its introduction, this material had been layered into the dermis of their ceramite armor and woven into the electro-tapestral strands of robes and standards. It was even applied to the hulls of Salamanders vehicles.
When linked to the noosphere, the substance emitted heat patterns visible only to Salamanders, remaining undetectable to those not attuned to its presence. Through this artifice, entire sub-levels of strategic designation could be communicated silently, while hidden tactical markings traced invisible sigils of fire across the battlefield.
These were the true reasons Atharion sought the Salamanders' gene-seed.
Of course, according to the knowledge he retained from his previous life, the Black Dragons—once confirmed as Salamanders successors—were classified as of unknown gene-line in the 10th Edition.
Fortunately, Nine—suspiciously, yet unsurprisingly—possessed data on all eighteen original gene-lines. Through this archive, Atharion was able to identify every gene-seed he had 'borrow'.
After rigorous examination, the truth became clear: the Black Dragons did indeed descend from the Salamanders.
However, the alterations performed by an overreaching Magos Biologis had distorted the gene-seed beyond recognition. It bore little resemblance to that of the Salamanders—or to any of the other seventeen gene-lines. Instead, it appeared as something crude and unstable, as though assembled by a desperate cultist in a makeshift laboratory deep within some forgotten underhive.
And yet, despite its brutal tampering, the gene-seed endured.
It held together solely because of the Emperor's unmatched craftsmanship—its divine architecture resilient enough to survive even the hands of fools.
Previously, when the 2nd Company retrieved several of the fallen Black Dragons, the gene-seed harvested from their bodies proved unusable. Whenever it was implanted into the slave test subjects, the hosts died within the hour. The organs grew without restraint—just like the mutations suffered by the Black Dragons themselves—bursting uncontrollably, killing the subjects and destroying the incubation capsules in the process.
After several failed attempts, Atharion made a calculated decision. He ordered that a small amount of his own blood be introduced into one of the gene-seed samples, to observe whether it would produce any stabilizing effect.
The results were extraordinary.
The gene-seed began to stabilize—not to the level the Apothecaries had hoped for, but enough to allow organ cultivation to proceed. Further testing on additional samples confirmed the pattern. With this validation, Atharion went ahead the plan to acquire more of them.
"So," Atharion asked, "when will we have enough organs to build a Chapter?"
"By our current projections… thirty-two years," the Apothecary replied.
"Very well. Continue your work," Atharion said, turning toward the chamber exit. "The Lord-Sergeant has already been informed of the final location."
The Apothecary knelt and lowered his head in reverence.
"See you in thirty-two years."
The words lingered in the sterile air as the chamber doors thundered shut.
===
Eternal Vigilance
Back aboard his flagship, Atharion stood at the bridge viewport as the Lies of Dragons translated into the Warp. It accompanied by two Strike Cruisers and four escort squadrons peeled away from the main fleet, setting course for the Ghoul Stars region.
"My lord," an ensign approached, datapad in hand, "loading operations are complete. We are clear for departure."
Atharion gave a single nod.
"Signal the fleet," he ordered. "We are going home."
After four months of brutal fighting on Helbronn, the crusade came to an end with the destruction of the Ork presence on the world.
The planned halt to the bombardment of the capital hive never occurred. Reconnaissance teams deployed into the hive reported that the majority of the surviving Orks were Meganobz, supported by large numbers of Nobz. Most of their walkers remained operational, many already concealed within the underhive. The only significant casualties among them had resulted from infighting—brought on by boredom rather than Imperial action.
Upon receiving this intelligence, Atharion abandoned any thought of a ground assault into the hive depths. Instead, he ordered the bombardment to continue. He even commanded the Warbringer Nemesis Titans to join the barrage, their Quake Cannons adding devastating force to the onslaught.
For two and a half months, the bombardment did not cease.
By the end of it, the hive had been reduced to a shattered ruin. To ensure that any surviving Orks would also be eliminated, Atharion authorized the deployment of a limited number of virus bombs keyed specifically to Ork gene-codes. The tailored contagion targeted only Orkoid biology, leaving the world's new human settlers unharmed.
With that, the crusade came to an end—though Atharion's greater ambition of shattering the Ork Empire of Octarius remained unfulfilled.
It was not because the Ultramarines and their accompanying forces chose to withdraw. Rather, the wider war had changed.
Segmentum Ultima had come under heavy assault. Numerous Word Bearers and Emperor's Children warbands had launched coordinated attacks across the region. Massive Chaos cult uprisings followed in their wake—many clearly instigated by the Word Bearers, though some bore the hallmarks of Alpha Legion interference.
While this was one reason for Atharion's withdrawal, it was not the true one.
Segmentum Tempestus faced a crisis of its own. Death Guard warbands were launching raids from warp rifts that had begun manifesting across the Segmentum without warning. Entire systems reported sudden incursions, their defenses overwhelmed by plague fleets emerging from the empyrean.
Worse still, reports confirmed that a Plague Fleet had been sighted near the fallen worlds and was suspected of advancing toward Camelarion.
And that was a threat Atharion could not ignore.