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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
m
→The Decisive Moment
At Perditus The Lion had acquired a [[Tuchulcha|ancient artifact]] that gave him the key to victory. Gathering the might of his Legion about him and leaving the wider war to the Nightwatch, The Lion waited and gathered data for the right moment to strike. The second stage of his plan was to provide the lords of Gulgorahd with the location of the remnants of the traitor Legio Victorium, deliberately provoking them to attack their hated foe. This created a hasty assault by the Magi of Gulgorahd which created a sudden gap in the loyalist lines, something The Lion knew that the Night Lords couldn't resist.{{Fn|4e}}
At [[Sheol|Sheol IX]], the decisive battle of the war was waged. The Night Lords fleet poured into the gap left by the sudden movement of the Gulgorahd forces, who themselves were to be expended in a foolish and futile assault without Dark Angels support. Meanwhile some 300 Dark Angels capital ships mustered were able to utilize the [[Tuchulcha]] to suddenly appear amidst the smaller Night Lords fleet. The 200 Night Lords capital ships and their 600 supporting and smaller vessels were caught completely unprepared and decimated, with many of their ships still in anchor at Sheol IX. In a cold and dispassionate slaughter the Dark Angels used their relic ships to launch pinpoint accurate fire at a long range, wiping out what Night Lords vessels couldn't flee. Those ships that couldn't flee threw themselves at the Dark Angels, dividing themselves into smaller formations to try and avoid their massed fire. The Dark Angels line split but did not break, and of the 100 traitor vessels that made the charge only 50 reached the Dark Angels lines, choosing to instead flee the System rather than try a futile close-range last stand. The Dark Angels did not pursue, instead choosing to close in on the ships that still remained above Sheol IX. Among these was the flagship of the Night Lords fleet, the ''[[Nightfall]]''.{{Fn|4f}}
The battle that followed was mostly chaotic and the two fleets began to intermingle. Konrad Curze was revealed to be on the surface of Sheol IX and the Dark Angels launched a landing assault against his fortress there. For two hours the traitors held their ground but at a cost of 25% of their entire Legion.{{Fn|4f}} On Sheol IX Lion El'Jonson was able to meet Curze in combat once more, this time badly wounding the Night Haunter and rendering him into a comatose state.{{Fn|1}} Meanwhile, the Dark Angels [[Firewing]] launched a boarding assault upon the ''Nightfall''. However it was then that the Night Lords vessel ''Feral Heart'' detonated their own reactors, creating a massive explosion that created a gap in the Dark Angels lines. The ''Nightfall'' and a small amount of surviving Night Lords ships were able to escape through this gap and enter the [[Warp]].{{Fn|4f}}
