The Titan transport Iron Howl was the first to breach the atmosphere of Verdan III, looking like a metallic deity tearing through the firmament. Its heavy armor frictioned against the air, generating a blinding plasma halo. Several raiders followed closely behind, along with the Mechanicus transport carrying Osiris.
Violent tremors surged through the ship's structure. Even within the soundproofed cabins, the thunderous force of the descent was palpable. Outside the portholes, the sky was stained crimson by fire, and the mottled yellow-green landscape below expanded rapidly.
"All combat units, final check! Prepare for sequential deployment!" The fleet broadcast issued cold, clear instructions.
Inside the cargo hold of the Mechanicus transport, the three EVA Titans were locked firmly by massive frames. The entry plugs were in place, and LCL fluid began to flood the cockpits. Submerged in the orange liquid, Shinji Ikari, Asuka, and Rei Ayanami performed their final neural link calibrations.
"Synchronization rate stable."
"Systems nominal."
"Energy conduits clear."
The reports came in sequence. Their voices were slightly muffled by the LCL, but each carried the tension of impending battle.
Osiris's voice rang through the internal comms, steady as ever. "Remember your training. Maintain formation and prioritize your own safety. Battlefield data will be shared in real-time via the datalink. Act on my orders."
"Understood!" the three replied in unison.
Suddenly, the transport jolted violently. Accompanied by the heavy thud of metal and the hiss of hydraulic decompression, the rear cargo doors slowly groaned open. A turbulent gale of thin air instantly rushed in.
"Restraining frames released! EVA Tactical Squad, launch!"
The mechanical locks snapped open simultaneously. Driven by their own power and momentum, the three EVA Titans slid down the inclined deck and leaped into the sky beyond the hatch.
The eighty-meter-tall giants fell like three colored meteors, piercing through the transport's wake toward the war-torn land below. Gravity caught them quickly, but the thrusters on the EVAs' backs ignited at the right moment, adjusting their descent posture and slowing their speed.
Below them, the vast and desolate Kelber continent unfolded. Scorched earth, burning forests, the ruins of destroyed human settlements, and—spreading like a green tide—the Ork forces.
"My god..." Shinji whispered in his cockpit. The sensors of the Violet Unit-02 fed back clear images of the dense, swarming masses of tens of thousands of Orks. This scale far exceeded anything he had seen during the battles against the Angels.
"Whoa! This number is just ridiculous!" Asuka couldn't help but exclaim. Despite her surprise, her Red Unit-01 didn't hesitate; she quickly maneuvered to close ranks with the other two, forming a simple triangular formation. Rei's Blue Unit-03 followed silently, her sensors calmly scanning the ground, marking large energy sources and potential command nodes.
Almost as soon as the EVA Titans appeared, the Ork forces on the ground spotted them. Some Ork Boyz foolishly opened fire at the sky, while many more let out excited roars of "WAAAGH!" as they surged toward the predicted landing zone.
Meanwhile, in another sector of the sky, the Iron Hounds' Titan drop-pods slammed into the designated assembly area like burning meteorites. The impact kicked up clouds of dust. As the hatches opened, Warhound-class Titans and House Guard Knights stepped out with heavy strides, the roar of their engines instantly drowning out the chaotic sounds of gunfire on the battlefield.
Princeps Olaf's Warhound Titan, Iron Fang, was the first to activate, its twin-linked volkite calivers beginning to glow with terrifying light.
"Iron Hounds, deploy formation! For the Emperor and the Omnissiah, purge these greenskin filth!" Olaf's voice rang across the battlefield via the Legion's vox channel.
The battle instantly reached a fever pitch. The Titans' heavy weaponry acted like a reaper's scythe, clearing vacuums in the green tide with every volley. Volkite beams vaporized Orks along with their crude cover, and turbo-lasers precisely detonated distant Ork vehicles.
But there were simply too many Orks. Fearless of death, they trampled over the remains of their kin like an endless swarm of locusts, surging toward the Titan lines from all directions. The Knights of the House Guard fought valiantly, tearing apart approaching Orks with thermal claws and gatling cannons, but the green wave seemed bottomless.
"EVA squad, proceed as planned," Osiris's calm command came through the encrypted datalink, echoing clearly in their cockpits. "Red One, scout the hills on the left flank; avoid potential anti-air fire. Violet Two and Blue Three, support the Iron Hounds' right flank and clear the Ork clusters attempting an envelopment."
"Roger that!" Asuka's reply carried a hint of eager excitement.
Almost as the words left her mouth, the new thruster arrays on Unit-01's back roared to life, unleashing staggering thrust. The unit seemed to break free from the shackles of gravity, turning into a blurred red lightning bolt that skimmed low across the rugged hills to the left. Its speed was so great that to the Orks charging blindly below, she was nothing but a fleeting red shadow and the ear-piercing crack of a sonic boom.
Shinji took a deep breath of the LCL. The rusty taste of the oxygen seemed to suppress the nausea in his stomach. He maneuvered the Violet Unit-02 with heavy steps to the right flank of the Iron Hounds' line, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with several Knights who were firing fiercely with gatling cannons and multi-meltas.
The scene before him was enough to break the spirit of any green recruit. Like a boiling green ocean, countless Ork Boyz let out savage "WAAAGH!" cries, waving crude but lethal choppas and big axes while firing rattling ballistic guns. They formed a destructive wave, crashing fearlessly against the Imperial lines. The acrid smell of cordite, ozone, and the filthy stench unique to Orks filled the scorching air.
Shinji felt a primal sense of suffocation, but he gritted his teeth, forced himself to focus, and raised Unit-02's massive arms. A visible A.T. Field, rippling with faint purple light, instantly deployed in front of the unit. The first wave of howling Orks slammed into the invisible, iron-hard wall; accompanied by the sickening sound of crushing bone and flesh, they were sent flying or crushed into splatters of green gore.
At the same time, Rei's Blue Unit-03 remained slightly further back on a tactically secure high ground. The master-crafted energy weapon platform on the unit's shoulder rotated and locked steadily, emitting the low hum characteristic of charging.
A moment later, ice-blue high-energy particle beams—like spears of judgment from the heavens—pierced the noisy battlefield with extreme precision. Every short burst hit a critical node in the Ork tide. Sometimes it was an Ork tank-busta carrying a massive explosive squig, triggering a fireball that consumed the surrounding greenskins; other times it was an exceptionally hulking Nob roaring as he brandished a power claw, vaporizing him and his crude armor instantly.
Her attacks were efficient and cold, creating local pockets of death and chain-reaction chaos within the green wave, greatly relieving the pressure on the frontline.
This was their first true engagement with the enemies of this universe. The Orks' primal savagery, near-infinite numbers, and pure desire for destruction for its own sake were vastly different from the mysterious, individual pressure of the Angels. But right now, they had no time to ponder these inter-universal differences. To survive and complete their tactical objectives was the only thing they needed to focus on.
Red lightning prowled the flanks, scouting for threats and opportunities; the purple bulwark stood firm at the front, crushing the madness that dared approach; and the blue light sniped calmly from the rear, precisely dismantling the enemy's organization. The three giants from another world finally bloomed with a dazzling, unavoidable radiance on this war-torn alien land.