Knight titans launched an assault alongside the Death Korps of Krieg.
Zeke didn't even have time to ask which regiment of the Death Korps of Krieg this was.
However, all of this seemed meaningless, as the casualty rate of the Death Korps of Krieg was one of the highest in the entire Imperial Army/Forces.
Even if he contacted the colonel of this regiment, they would likely be dead by the time this battle was over.
Here, Zeke witnessed the courage of the Imperium of Man.
The artillery fire and the Death Korps of Krieg were only a few meters apart; shells exploded in front while the Death Korps soldiers charged from behind.
The knight titans and knight titan formation brought by Zeke provided essential heavy firepower support for the Death Korps of Krieg.
After one charge —
They succeeded. The cultists and chaos warriors resisting them were no match. Their positions were completely overrun in just one charge.
The massive knight titans brought an almost unparalleled dominance to the battlefield, and Zeke's knight titan continuously poured fire onto the chaos forces.
However, even for such a small trench, the Death Korps of Krieg, which originally had 5,000 men, suffered over half casualties in this single charge.
After taking this insignificant trench, Zeke witnessed such a brutal battlefield for the first time.
It was his first time seeing his own people die so tragically on a battlefield.
The entire position was littered with either the bodies of Death Korps of Krieg soldiers or chaos cultists.
More importantly, intact bodies were few; most were dismembered.
And those who were dismembered were relatively lucky; many more no longer even had bodies.
Bodies were scattered everywhere, enemy and friendly alike, almost all mixed together.
Blood soaked the land; even though this land had already been saturated with blood, it was once again irrigated by blood.
Unlike the previous times when he mobilized his own personal guard, Space Marines with basic shields were almost impossible to defeat by such cultists.
Everything Zeke had faced when commanding troops before was his forces slaughtering the opposing chaos forces.
Especially in the previous battle against the orks, the orks were massacred by the Space Marines like a bunch of primitives.
Even if chaos forces deployed their chaos Space Marines, there would be no difference.
Even if a Greater daemon appeared, it would be the same.
The powerful combat capabilities of the Stellaris forces were enough to crush all enemies.
Zeke also saw an army like the Death Korps of Krieg, resembling world War I-era troops, for the first time.
Such tactics led to unpredictable and extremely severe casualties.
More importantly, any Death Korps soldier with serious injuries was basically executed by a recovery unit with a single shot.
This was euphemistically called reducing their suffering, while lightly wounded soldiers were not even treated and were prepared to continue to the next battlefield.
Such actions, even for Zeke, who had some understanding of the Death Korps, felt overly inhumane.
The colonel of this Death Korps of Krieg 713th Siege Regiment seemed to notice Zeke's discomfort. Seeing Zeke's knight titan remain stationary, he offered an explanation.
"Sacrifice is the cornerstone of the Imperium, and our sacrifice is merely atonement."
Atonement?
If others didn't know, how could Zeke not know?
These people had no sin to atone for.
At least from his perspective, they had committed no sin that required atonement.
Even if they had sins, they had long since been repaid through the sacrifices of generations.
Their words reminded Zeke of something he had heard in his previous life.
If a Death Korps of Krieg soldier cost 50, then the plasma gun in their hand was 49.
As for the remaining one, it was naturally all the equipment on their bodies; they themselves were worthless.
Zeke had nothing to say to these Death Korps of Krieg, who viewed sacrifice as atonement. He merely spoke.
"May your souls return to the golden throne."
The colonel of this Death Korps of Krieg siege regiment said no more. He reorganized his troops.
They would continue to attack and take more trenches.
They were the Emperor's currency; they would use their own lives to buy victory in this battle for the Emperor.
Zeke said nothing more. He left his knight titan.
The Department of Military Affairs had not given him new orders, so the knight house did not need to continue the offensive in the upcoming war.
His mission was only one: to support this Death Korps of Krieg and hold their positions for them.
Unexpectedly, however, he had come to guard the position, but after his appearance, the entire Death Korps launched a counter-charge against the chaos cultists.
Zeke left his knight titan and arrived on the planet's surface.
His god-like body gave him infinite strength, unafraid of any environmental changes. He reached out and gently picked up a pinch of dust.
This was his first time on Cadia, a famous fortress world in the Warhammer world.
Therefore, he was still somewhat curious about this world.
Since the Department of Military Affairs had no other orders for him, he naturally had no interest in continuing to fight. There were more troublesome matters to deal with.
Years of elite aristocratic education had given Zeke excellent psychological resilience.
Regarding the plight of the Death Korps of Krieg, he merely expressed some pity and mourning, and nothing more.
If only a small number of troops died in front of him, he might genuinely feel a pang of heartache.
But the problem was that the scale of this war was too vast; Zeke's vision could not be limited to such a small Death Korps of Krieg.
Currently, the fighting across the entire planet was extremely intense.
After seeing too many casualties, all casualties became mere numbers, with nothing more to say.
To be frank, Zeke knew very well that the real war had not yet begun.
Even though billions of chaos forces were pouring out of the Warp, these troops were merely the vanguard.
Abaddon's Black Legion had not committed many to this battle; most were just ordinary daemon of chaos.
He could not possibly order the Dominion's forces to intervene in this battle just because he couldn't bear to watch such things.
The Dominion's forces were powerful, but only numbering in the millions.
Why commit them to battle so early?
As an entity that had fought the four Chaos Gods in the Warp, Zeke keenly sensed the presence of the four gods in this Warp.
Furthermore, besides the four Chaos Gods, he was certain that Gork was also present.
The six most detestable of the Chaos Gods had already appeared in this campaign, and Zeke was now very interested in seeing what they were up to.
For the greater good, temporary sacrifices had to be endured.
Zeke looked down through the reality of this planet and saw the Warp energy still stored on his machine throne.
It was enough; enough for him to fight the four Chaos Gods in the Warp.
Though it wouldn't last long, it should be sufficient.
Zeke's appearance had clearly changed the situation of chaos. Now, no one could predict how the 13th Black Crusade would unfold, not even Zeke.
He could only wait for the situation to develop, accumulating enough strength to deal with the upcoming changes.