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===The Palace Besieged===
By the twenty-seventh of Quintus, Horus' forces had captured both the Lion's Gate and Eternity Wall Spaceports. This allowed him to fully land his last and greatest reserves: the [[Legio Mortis]] Titan Legion. By this point in the battle, however, acting siege commander Perturabo had become fed up by the state of the traitor armies. Daemons swarmed the ranks of the traitor armies of his brothers and allies had now pledged themselves fully to the [[Ruinious Ruinous Powers]]. Seeing that the war was no longer one of Legion vs. Legion, Perturabo's breaking point came when Horus ordered him to break up his Legion and disperse it amongst the greater traitor armies. Mortarion and the Death Guard would instead take up Perturabo's positions, and the humiliation proved too much for the Lord of Iron to tolerate. Fed up, he ordered his Legion to leave Terra for paths unknown. The Iron Warriors began to evacuate Terra, causing great mayhem in the blockading Traitor fleet.{{Fn|15a}} Some Iron Warrior contingents refused to abandon the campaign or were just left behind by their comrades, and would keep fighting on Terra until the end.{{Fn|22a}}{{Fn|29}} Meanwhile due to the machinations of the [[Daemon]] [[Vassukella]], who had infected the [[Astronomican]], waves of madness swept across the loyalist lines and caused many mortal defenders to commit suicide or abandon their posts. Those who abandoned their posts marched towards "Paradise", in truth a horrific dream-farm erected by the Emperor's Children.{{Fn|15c}}
Despite this setback, Horus remained undeterred. He organized a massive attack by the Legio Mortis, Sons of Horus, [[Chaos Knight]]s, and [[Dark Mechanicum]] war engines against the Mercury-Exultant Kill-zone, a 150km-deep No Man's Land before the Exultant Wall which connects the Inner and Outer Palaces. This massive force was met by some 50 engines of the [[Legio Ignatum]]{{Fn|15a}}, including the [[Emperor Titan]]s ''[[Imperious Prima]]'', ''[[Exemplis]]'', and ''[[Magnificum Incendius]]''. This formidable army was aided by not only the shattered remains of other Titan Legions such as the [[Legio Solaria]], [[Legio Atarus]], [[Legio Defensor]], [[Legio Amaranth]], [[Legio Gryphonicus]], and [[Legio Invigilata]] but also dozens of [[Knight House]]s and supporting [[Imperial Army]] and [[Secutarii]].{{Fn|15b}} The [[Ordo Sinister]] also finally agreed to enter the fighting, sending a [[Warlord-Sinister]] [[Psi-Titan]] to the Ignatum's aid.{{Fn|15d}} In the ensuing apocalyptic battle, the Traitors first attacked with waves of destroyed Titans that had been resurrected through sorcery. These "zombie" Titans now walked without a living [[Princeps]], and were largely used as cannon fodder by the Traitors due to their ability to absorb enormous amounts of punishment.{{Fn|15c}} In their wake came the Legio Mortis and endless swarms of Dark Mechanicum vehicles and [[Daemon Engine]]s. They were led by the ''[[Dies Irae]]'' and its bodyguard of 7 Warlord Titans.{{Fn|15b}} Despite the devastation wrought upon by the Traitors, thanks to orbital bombardment, new [[Warmaster Titan]]s, weight of numbers, and madness spread amongst the loyalist mortal crews, the Traitors ultimately prevailed in annihilating the Legio Ignatum and its allies and reaching the Exultant Wall.{{Fn|15e}}
