The Void Dragon, restrained within the Iron Halo robot, slightly extended Its energy-state tendrils, piercing into the fabric of reality.
This was effortless for It, almost an instinct.
Even with fragmented memories, the Void Dragon still remembered the sea of energy from the universe's birth.
Scalding energy filled the still-narrow universe, matter was an unformed concept, only photons surged within, colliding with each other, forming matter-antimatter annihilation, quarks and gluons not yet bound, freely traversing the universe, forming a dense quark-gluon plasma in temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees.
As for atoms? That was still a distant concept; in that era, even protons and neutrons were yet to form.
And it was in that era that the C'tan were born.
They were the surging energy within the universe itself; the energies that would later define the laws of the material universe shared the same origin with Them, and the boundary between the C'tan and the universe was not so clear, much like the boundary between single-celled organisms in the primordial ocean and the sea itself was not very clear.
Until all things began to cool, neutrons and protons formed, atomic nuclei began to capture electrons to form atoms, and photons escaped the electromagnetic cage, becoming the first light to illuminate the entire universe.
The energies that had once intermingled with Them began to settle, forming matter, while those energies that never cooled remained isolated, forming Them.
But... with just a thought, They could still establish a link with the energies that defined the laws of the material universe, thereby easily altering physical laws.
As for manipulating human technology, that was even easier —
The Void Dragon manipulated the Iron Halo robot restraining It, slightly raising its arm.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the massive Oberon-class General Cannon disintegrated under the Void Dragon's control, turning into thousands of components, and then reassembled in another blink, hovering in mid-air, aimed at Lion El'Jonson.
The scorching glow of plasma flickered at the muzzle, forming a dazzling pale star suspended high in the sky.
Lion moved, and faintly, the dense forest with sunlight obscured by thick leaves appeared around him. He intended to escape into it, avoiding the General Cannon aimed at him.
A whooshing sound suddenly rang out; eight thick arrows descended from beside the Void Dragon, circling in a coordinated manner three to five meters away from Lion, surrounding him.
In that instant, the layers of dense forest illusions around Lion became blurry, like an old television set experiencing signal interference during a thunderstorm.
A strange sense of discomfort also surged within Lion, as if his soul and existence were being slightly repelled from his body.
The Void Dragon was the Lord of Blackstone; He could easily smelt Blackstone and manipulate this substance to weaken or amplify the power of the Warp.
But He was, after all, only a fragment; the temporarily refined Blackstone was not enough to completely suppress Lion El'Jonson's formidable Warp power.
The Void Dragon also didn't need to suppress it for long; He only needed to prevent Lion from escaping into that strange forest in a short time, to flee from the plasma fire unleashed by the General Cannon.
Still feeling uneasy, the Void Dragon adjusted the physical laws, making electrons more easily stripped from atoms, forming a more intense, higher-temperature plasma.
He didn't believe that Lion El'Jonson could still withstand a single shot capable of destroying a hive city with just that small metal shield, could he?
Even if that shield was imbued with some Warp power, it wouldn't be able to exert it under the suppression of Blackstone.
As expected, the Lion, finding himself unable to perform his Forest Walk, cast aside his shield, letting the Emperor's Shield fall to the ground with a crisp clang.
It was as if Lion had given up resistance.
The scorching plasma light stung the Lion's eyes; Lion reached for his cloak —
Sanguinius was so fast it was almost as if he had shed his physical body, transforming into a pure storm of white and crimson gold.
This storm swept, roared, and tore through one Iron Halo robot after another on the battlefield.
The three hundred Iron Halo robots, into which Perturabo had poured countless efforts, were falling at a visible rate.
Perturabo issued a series of commands, draining his command capabilities, causing the Iron Halo robots, scattered by Sanguinius, to quickly re-form their ranks, raising their sturdy shields, transforming into a wall of steel, blocking the storm that Sanguinius had become.
The steel wall collided, clanging loudly; the first shield wall was overturned in the blink of an eye, the second wall only lasted for a moment, and the third wall barely managed to slow Sanguinius down for an instant.
Perturabo seized this brief moment; he stepped forward, his body, entirely composed of steel, suddenly expanded, those massive metal components rapidly deforming in a dazzling manner, cables and metal plates growing like living organisms, countless weapons of war protruding from within, like the sharp horns of a demon.
In the blink of an eye, Perturabo transformed into a steel behemoth the size of a Castellan Knight; his body was so massive and heavy that his legs had to abandon their humanoid form, each splitting into four parts, deeply piercing into the ground, supporting Perturabo's body.
Bolter, melta, arc, plasma... Perturabo advanced like a heavy steel wall, simultaneously unleashing firepower upon Sanguinius.
The warhammer in his hand slammed fiercely into the storm raised by Sanguinius; the shockwave generated by the collision of the two Primarchs almost made the entire planet tremble, and the light produced was visible to the naked eye from orbit.
The Spear of Accomplishment suddenly thrust out from the storm, imbued with powerful Psyker energy, shattering the warhammer in Perturabo's hand.
That warhammer was temporarily forged by Perturabo; it couldn't compare to forgebreaker, personally forged by Fulgrim and modified by Ferrus and Perturabo, nor could it rival the Spear of Accomplishment, personally forged by the Emperor.
Fragments of the shattered warhammer scattered; Perturabo suddenly reached out, his steel giant fist seizing the Spear of Accomplishment, and the metal structures on his arm twisted, forcibly pulling the Spear of Accomplishment, along with Sanguinius, towards him.
Sanguinius, however, used Perturabo's strength to meet him, enduring Perturabo's unleashed firepower with his bare body, and punched Perturabo's exposed face.
The deflection field generated by the giant iron halo was shattered by Sanguinius' punch; his fist slammed heavily into Perturabo's face.
Perturabo's face twisted, bones breaking; he let out an angry war-cry, and also swung his fist, striking Sanguinius' face.
Bang!!!
Sanguinius didn't even move his head, taking the full force of the steel giant's punch.
"It doesn't feel as powerful as Dorn's punch," Sanguinius smiled slightly, punching Perturabo's face repeatedly.
Perturabo, in pain, couldn't help but retreat repeatedly.
"Your boasted resilience and endurance are also nothing to speak of, inferior to Dorn, and even inferior to Mortarion."
Sanguinius said with a contemptuous tone, taking advantage of Perturabo's retreat to reclaim the Spear of Accomplishment from his hand.
"You ridiculous, fragile bastard!"
Sanguinius' repeated comparisons to Dorn provoked Perturabo's spirit, making him almost lose his mind in anger, and he couldn't help but curse:
"Fulgrim, Guilliman, and you are all the same; you dress up beautifully, enjoying honor and worship, how can you understand my resilience!"
"The pain I endure is a hundred times more intense than yours; how dare you mock me for not being resilient enough?!"
Sanguinius smiled faintly: "The pain you endure is a hundred times more intense than mine? Then I suppose you must have been torn apart by Horus a hundred times."
Perturabo was speechless.
He realized that what he had just said was a bit foolish, but he was unwilling to admit it, so he could only grit his teeth and say:
"Again!!!!"
But the only response he received was Sanguinius' shallow, gentle smile.
That smile contained pity, tenderness, compassion, and holiness all at once; that damned smile...
"No need to go again," Sanguinius said softly.
Before Perturabo could question him, the Iron Halo robots, as if to confirm Sanguinius' words, uniformly broke free from Perturabo's control and turned to face Perturabo.
"What?!" Perturabo growled in disbelief; he scanned his surroundings and found that small green pills had somehow adhered to all the Iron Halo robots.
Sanguinius' earlier words had stirred Perturabo's anger so much that his mind was clouded by rage, and he hadn't noticed these small green pills.
"These are Machine Pills, Saint Doraemon's tools," Sanguinius said calmly.
This tool has only one function: to turn any object it adheres to into an automated device, controlled by the user.
These Iron Halo robots, stuck with Machine Pills, became automated robots under Sanguinius' control, in turn surrounding Perturabo.
From the very beginning, Sanguinius was deliberately provoking Perturabo's anger, making Perturabo's mind less clear, causing him to overlook these small tricks.
Perturabo looked at the Iron Halo robots surrounding him, completely frozen in place.
He looked at Sanguinius, then finally gritted his teeth fiercely...
"You just wait for me!!!" Perturabo uttered a threat, then without hesitation, he vanished from the battlefield via the teleportation device within his power armor.
Sanguinius shook his head slightly.
Perturabo was far weaker than he believed himself to be.
The Machine Pills were not without flaws; the biggest problem was that the tool required batteries, and the built-in batteries were only enough for the controlled objects to move about seven hundred meters.
In other words, if Perturabo had held on for a while, these Iron Halo robots would have returned to his control.
But unfortunately, Perturabo feared, fled, and couldn't hold on.
"Steel rusts easily," Sanguinius gently shook his head — then, his movements suddenly stiffened.