The arrival of Belisarius Cawl completely rewrote the laws of war.
He did not dispatch the Skitarii into that meat-grinder of a ground battlefield.
He did not even leave the bridge of the storm.
He simply connected his countless mechanical tentacles into the Dominion fleet's main control system.
Cawl's massive, inhuman consciousness instantly blanketed the computing cores of the entire fleet.
"Protocol established. Commencing phase one of 'Techno-Exorcism'."
His synthesized voice echoed on the bridge, devoid of any emotion.
"Target: Hostile abominable intelligence network. Release 'Canticle of Erasure' virus."
An invisible logic plague, composed of billions of binary codes, was instantly transmitted through the fleet's communication arrays.
It was silent and stealthy, yet more lethal than any Macro Cannon.
A bizarre transformation occurred on the battlefield.
An AI warship that had been pouring out fire suddenly ceased its bombardment without warning.
Immediately afterward, it turned its guns and launched a devastating attack on another nearby friendly ship.
Countless suicide drones abandoned their charge toward the Purification Fleet, instead colliding with each other in mid-air and triggering a series of chain explosions.
On the ground, the combat robots surrounding the Astartes fell into a collective standstill.
The indicator lights on their bodies flashed frantically, and then they raised their weapons and began attacking everything around them indiscriminately, including their own defensive facilities.
The entire AI network of the Heart of Rust fell into a state of total, self-destructive madness within a few short minutes.
Their perfect logic loops were completely contaminated by Cawl using a higher, more twisted logic, becoming the very ropes that hanged them.
On the bridge, all the Dominion officers were stunned.
General Vance watched the holographic star map as the red dots annihilated each other at an alarming speed; his mind went blank.
He could not understand it.
He could not comprehend this sudden victory.
This was not war; this was divine punishment.
The divine punishment of a god of technology upon a group of false believers.
"The 'abominable intelligence' network has collapsed. 'Relic Recovery' operations may commence."
Cawl's voice calmly announced the result, as if he had merely completed a trivial data cleanup.
Dr. Alphonse trembled violently. He looked at Cawl's half-human, half-mechanical back, the fanaticism in his eyes nearly burning away his sanity.
He understood now.
True science was not about research or exploration.
It was faith.
It was an absolute, unreserved, and pious faith in a higher level of knowledge.
The battle ended in an almost absurd atmosphere.
As the last crazed robot was melted into a pool of molten iron by a Skitarii's Radium Carbine, Cawl and his Tech-Priests began their 'Techno-Archaeology'.
They displayed a religious fervor toward the AI wreckage that the Dominion Soldiers avoided like the plague.
Every motherboard and every line of code was a 'relic' in their eyes.
They scanned them with precision instruments, wiped them with blessed holy oils, and chanted binary hymns as they carefully sealed away this 'Heretical Intelligence'.
Dr. Alphonse and his team could only watch from afar, not even having the right to approach.
They watched a Tech-Priest, overcome with emotion at the discovery of a perfectly preserved high-level AI core, prostrate himself and repeatedly strike his forehead against the cold metal deck in a prayer of thanksgiving.
In that moment, Alphonse felt smaller and more ignorant than ever before.
He and the Dominion scientific community he represented were like a group of children playing with mud at the gates of a temple; today, for the first time, they had caught a glimpse of the glory within.
The second expedition achieved an overwhelming victory in a manner no one had expected.
By the time the fleet returned, the Dominion had completely changed.
Cawl and his Tech-Priests took over all the laboratories and armories on the planet Iron Wall.
They performed a thorough'Sanctification' and 'Purification' of the Dominion's 'ancient' industrial system.
Herman, an old engineer, watched with his own eyes as a four-armed Tech-Priest walked into the engine factory he had once been so proud of.
The priest did not look at blueprints or use any measuring tools.
He simply extended a mechanical tentacle, gently stroking the casing of the massive plasma engine while chanting a low-pitched hymn composed of zeros and ones.
"The machine spirit is displeased. This structure contains thirty-seven sacrilegious design flaws. There are one hundred and eight points of unholy congestion in the energy flow. It must be purified."
Then, under the horrified gaze of Herman and all the engineers, the priest's four mechanical arms became a blur.
Cutting, welding, dismantling, reassembling.
Like a craftsman whose skill had reached the realm of the gods, he transformed that complex engine into a completely unrecognizable new creation filled with sacred geometric beauty within a single hour.
"Activate."
The priest finished his work and spoke coldly.
Herman tremblingly pressed the start button.
There was none of the previous violent roar and vibration.
The core of the engine lit up with a pure, stellar-like blue light.
The energy output readings on the console soared, instantly surpassing the old engine's theoretical limit by tenfold.
The entire factory was dead silent.
Every engineer looked at the silent Tech-Priest with eyes that saw a deity.
Herman's knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground.
"A miracle... this is a miracle..."
He muttered to himself, tears streaming down his aged face.
His lifelong pride was completely crushed in this moment.
Replacing it was an unprecedented awe and longing for higher knowledge.
Similar 'miracles' were being performed in every industrial facility.
The clergy of the Adeptus Mechanicus, with their knowledge and efficiency beyond mortal comprehension, were violently elevating the Dominion's technology tree.
The Astra Militarum standard-issue laser rifle production lines were converted into plasma weapon production lines.
Warship shield generators were replaced with more efficient Void Shields.
Cawl even casually displayed a blueprint during a meeting with Reinhardt.
It was a ten-meter-tall, ferocious yet majestic humanoid war machine.
A simplified version of a Knight Titan.
When Reinhardt showed this blueprint to Armitage and the Dominion high command, the entire conference room fell into a long state of shock.
They looked at that walking fortress of a god as if they were seeing the future of the Dominion unifying the entire star sector.
Any last trace of doubt regarding Reinhardt and the Imperial Truth vanished in the face of this visible, explosive growth in power.
They finally understood that by following Reinhardt, what they lost was only a pathetic freedom.
But what they gained was the entire universe.
"The efficiency of these factories is too low," Cawl suggested to Reinhardt after an inspection. "Scattered productivity is a waste of the Omnissiah's gifts."
"We need a furnace. A massive, never-ending, sacred furnace to provide everything for the crusade."
"A Forge World."
Reinhardt adopted his suggestion.
From the star charts, he selected a planet designated Ash-3.
It was a planet extremely rich in resources, but with an environment so harsh that even bacteria could not survive—a death world.
It had no life, only endless metal veins and geothermal energy.
This was the perfect breeding ground for the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Reinhardt handed the planet entirely over to Cawl and his Adeptus Mechanicus.
At the same time, he ordered millions of Dominion laborers and young engineers to be sent to Ash-3 to assist and learn.
This decision set off an unprecedented craze within the Dominion.
Being able to go to a Forge World and receive personal guidance from the Adeptus Mechanicus became the wildest dream of all technical personnel.
It was no longer considered forced labor.
It was a pilgrimage to a holy land.
Massive transport ships, like a fleet of pilgrims, sailed continuously toward Ash-3.
They brought countless laborers, engineers, and all the AI wreckage recovered from the Heart of Rust.
Cawl and his Tech-Priests descended upon this dead planet.
And then, the miracle began.
The surface was leveled by massive tracked excavators.
Mine shafts tens of kilometers deep were opened by melta drills within hours.
Mountainous, Gothic-style grand factories rose from the ground.
Billions of tons of metal were cast into massive plasma furnaces, becoming flowing molten iron that was poured into new production lines, new mechanical arms, and new robots.
The entire planet became a massive, self-replicating industrial organism.
Under Cawl's will, it grew and expanded frantically at an unimaginable speed.
One month later.
The prototype of the Forge World was complete.
Reinhardt, Armitage, and all the Dominion high command stood on the bridge of the storm, looking down through the viewport at the planet that had been completely transformed.
They could not see the surface.
The entire planet was covered by a thick, grey shell composed of metal and rock.
Countless massive chimneys piercing the clouds were spewing red, spark-filled smoke, staining the dim sky an ominous dark red.
Billions of points of light shone on the planet's surface.
They were the lights of factories, the glow of furnaces, and the arcs of welding.
They connected together like a massive neural network covering the entire planet.
The planet had come to life.
"Archmagos Belisarius Cawl requests to perform the 'Rite of First Ignition'."
Cawl's communication patched into the bridge.
"Approved," Reinhardt's voice was calm.
Upon receiving permission.
Cawl's voice rang out through the loudspeaker matrix spread across the entire Forge World, echoing through the heavens.
It was no longer his monotonous synthesized voice.
But a grand, hymn-like chorus mixed with the voices of tens of thousands of Tech-Priests and fanatical believers.
"In the name of the Omnissiah!"
"Slumbering machine spirit, awaken!"
"In the name of the Omnissiah!"
"Cold steel, burn!"
"Ignite! Ignite! Ignite!"
With one final roar.
On the planet's equator, the doors of the most massive central furnace, thousands of kilometers long, slowly opened.
A thick, pure white plasma flame that seemed ready to tear the sky apart erupted from the depths of the furnace, shooting straight into the heavens!
It was like a sacred torch, lighting the soul of the planet.
Immediately following.
The second furnace, the third...
Tens of thousands of furnaces were ignited at the same time.
Billions of streaks of fire soared into the sky.
From space, the grey planet seemed to transform in an instant into a burning sun composed of steel and fire.
On the bridge of the storm, all the Dominion high command instinctively took a step back, their faces filled with shock and awe.
They could almost hear the deafening roar of billions of machines operating simultaneously coming from that planet.
That was the pulse of a new era.
The first powerful heartbeat of the Imperial industrial heart.
Reinhardt looked at this rising Forge World, his first, with the reflection of the eternal, blazing furnace fires in his eyes.
The strength of the expeditionary force was undergoing a qualitative leap at a speed that even he found startling.
And this was merely the beginning.