With the deployment of a squad of Word Bearers wielding holy flames, a large swath of daemons was quickly cleansed.
Then...
"Citizens of the Imperium, follow us. We will lead you to safety."
A Word Bearer stepped forward, addressing the family before him. On Zhou Ye's worlds, they worked so closely with mortals that they never considered themselves demigods, let alone looked down on common people.
"Follow the Angels!!!"
"We are not angels..." the Word Bearer said, slightly exasperated by the middle-aged man's reverence. He then added, "After this, would you like to believe in the Truth with me? That is the true path to salvation!~"
"?"
"Enough proselytizing. Get a move on," a nearby Trailblaze Ultramarine reminded him.
This group of Word Bearers was like a pyramid scheme; they'd be preaching from the Lectitio Divinitatus one moment, then whip out a copy of the Imperial Truth the next.
The battlefield was everywhere. They had received orders that the Iron Warriors' brothers had already established a temporary defensive line with their auxiliary forces and were beginning to gather scattered remnants. The Word Bearers were to provide support and screen for corruption. After all, this was Macragge, not Trailblaze. On Trailblaze, you could tell if someone was corrupted just by looking at them; a massive Chaos Spawn is hard to miss unless you're blind. But here, the populace hadn't been pre-emptively "cleansed" by Zhou Ye. The task of identifying the tainted fell solely to these Word Bearers.
The squad of several dozen Word Bearers, led by a Dreadnought and accompanied by several thousand of their own auxiliary troops, quickly began gathering the scattered citizens of Macragge. One should not underestimate Zhou Ye's auxiliaries. Though he had only brought a little over a million with him, their equipment was luxurious. Their combat effectiveness was no worse than some Astartes Chapters, with every soldier clad in custom-made carapace armor and supported by numerous vehicles.
Zhou Ye had deployed them all, assigning them to support his Astartes legions. The civil engineering teams of the Iron Warriors and Imperial Fists, for example, began constructing fortifications the moment they landed, all while rallying routing forces. As for the civilians, the moment they entered the heart of the formation, the corrupting whispers in their minds vanished instantly. Of course, some had already fallen, but they were swiftly dealt with by a Word Bearer's maul. This was a battlefield; speed was of the essence.
But...
"Cough, cough... Brother, help us!"
With a series of ragged coughs, two wild Astartes, battered and bruised, charged toward them. Though they didn't recognize the black-and-gold livery, they had seen them banishing daemons with some extremely strange methods. The two warriors from an Ultramarines successor chapter, along with a few PDF troopers, fought their way over. Several of the black-and-gold Astartes moved to assist them.
"For the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar!!!" one of the successor marines roared, knocking back a Khornate Bloodletter before blasting it in half with a bolt round. Then, as if infected by his new allies...
"His Will be done!!!"
"?"
For a second, the Astartes he was with froze. In that brief moment of distraction, a Slaaneshi Daemonette lunged at him.
SPLAT.
A jet of golden flame descended from above, instantly smashing the Daemonette to pieces. Its body erupted in violent flames as it was hurled back to the Warp. These Word Bearers were not Grey Knights; they could not yet wound a daemon's very essence.
"What did you just say?" two of the Ultramarines asked him, their tone laced with a strange suspicion. If they weren't fighting side-by-side, they might have drawn their weapons.
"Edwin? Herrera? You're both still alive?"
Just then, a massive Redeemer Dreadnought lumbered over, pushing aside two Word Bearers to stand before the two successor marines. Upon hearing the voice, the two marines' expressions shifted from confusion to a mix of disbelief and wry amusement.
"Fitz? You ended up in a Dreadnought?"
It was clear they had once belonged to the same chapter. Their feelings towards these three Word Bearers were... complicated. At first, they didn't know their gene-lineage, only that they were a bit preachy and seemed suited to be Chaplains. They found out the truth later, but by then their Chapter had been shattered. These three had been hurled into a Warp storm, and everyone had assumed they were lost. They never expected to see them again, alive.
Even so, they maintained a degree of caution. After all, it had been an encounter with a Word Bearers warband that had led to their Chapter's downfall.
"I joined the Lord of Trailblaze on his world, Trailblaze. These battle-brothers were cultivated from my gene-seed."
"?"
The two marines were taken aback. The name Trailblaze was famous. It was precisely because they had used the gene-seed provided by Trailblaze that their entire Chapter was now stuck on Macragge. The seed was simply too precious. In the end, Calgar had transferred all of them to the parent Chapter. But with no new gene-seed to create reinforcements, they had simply remained on Macragge.
Hearing this, they lowered their guard. Soon, as the group approached a defensive position...
"Iron within, Iron without!!!"
"..."
The successor marines felt a twitch run through their bodies. Weren't these guys their own successor chapter? Why was their identity so complicated? While it wasn't unheard of for Ultramarines to have lineage from traitor legions, was it really okay to shout it out loud like that?
Regardless, seeing the citizens of Macragge being gathered and the Word Bearers already beginning to purge the corrupted, the Ultramarines could only suppress their questions. At least this war wasn't like Calth; they were not alone. They had allies whose wargear was almost excessively refined. Seeing that equipment set their minds at ease. It was on par with, if not better than, what their own parent Chapter used. This was definitive proof they hadn't turned traitor. It was the traitors who were famously, desperately poor. This brand-new gear spoke volumes.
"You're with that Lord?"
Considering the recent commotion over the sword fragments, the successor marines quickly put the pieces together.
This scene was not unique; it was repeating all across Macragge.
Considering that he was deploying not to his own world of Trailblaze, but to Macragge, where daemonic corruption and chaos could erupt anywhere, Zhou Ye had broken up his Word Bearer contingents and distributed them among his various companies. They were, by nature, experts in dealing with daemonic entities. Furthermore, this group of Word Bearers had undergone a rather bizarre transformation. Zhou Ye couldn't be bothered to figure it out anymore; he was numb to the crazy antics his subordinates came up with. Change? He was used to it. He had even begun to suspect he'd had some strange chemical reaction with that blue bird, Tzeentch. But as long as they weren't corrupted, he let them be.
These Word Bearers were master daemon-detectors. The awakened Raven King, having embraced his own Warp-nature, was much the same. Lorgar, who had once effortlessly slain the Greater Daemon of Tzeentch, Kairos Fateweaver, was later beaten to a pulp by Corax and had to be carried off by his "stretcher team." He was still sulking to this day. Corax himself had stated that he was no daemon.
(As an aside, the main reason Lorgar found killing daemons, even Chief Greater Daemons, so easy was because he had a specific advantage against them. In the lore constructed by Western authors, such specialized advantages have always been god-tier. Just look at the damage Drach'nyen did to the Emperor. This stuff is no joke.)
They could basically tell if someone was corrupted at a glance. It was clear that not just now, but in the future, Macragge would need their help to restore stability.
---o---
On another front, the terrifying Khornate Abomination Titan began to move again. The damage inflicted by the heroic sacrifice of the two Warlord Titans had been repaired. A roar bellowed from the Titan's maw, and its colossal body lurched into motion once more.
"Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!!!"
It crushed a defensive position before it, rolling over the PDF auxiliaries and several blue-armored Astartes within. They were instantly flattened by its immense weight. The remaining smaller Titans and Knightly houses desperately tried to stop it, but it was like ants trying to shake a tree; they couldn't budge it an inch.
"How is it back so fast?!" Calgar's face darkened as he directed the battle. The speed of its regeneration was unbelievable. Clearly, the power of Khorne was flowing strongly here, forcing it back into fighting shape.
All around the palace, artillery batteries turned to face the monster. A massive volley of energy lances shot forth.
ZZZZZT...
Unfortunately, they impacted harmlessly against its void shields. The beast itself also possessed high resistance to ranged attacks. The barrage was useless.
"All units, prepare for a boarding action!!!"
Calgar took a deep breath. If ranged attacks couldn't destroy it, they would have to attempt a holy boarding action and try to blow it up from the inside. This was why all tactics in Warhammer inevitably devolved into boarding actions; often, it was the only way. This attempt would come at a heavy price, and Calgar knew he had to lead it himself. He prepared to lead his Honour Guard, supported by a dozen Dreadnoughts, on the charge. Though the forces of Trailblaze were clearly stronger, this was their Macragge. For a mission with a near-zero chance of survival, he could only lead his own men.
"Do not panic. The Father's reinforcements have arrived."
Just then, the Trailblaze Grey Knight Grand Master placed a hand on his arm to stop him. The words still made Calgar's face twitch. A Primarch of the Grey Knights, for the love of Terra! Has the whole universe gone mad? Then again, he thought, among the First Founding Chapters, only the Grey Knights had truly mysterious origins.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a giant meteor fell from the sky, hurtling directly towards the Khornate Abomination Titan.
The next moment...
BOOOOM!!!
The world shook. The immense impact slammed into the Khornate Titan, the force of it driving the monster back several steps. However, because it was a high-velocity impact, the blessings of Khorne upon it prevented any substantial damage.
But then...
"All units, fall back. This battlefield is now under the command of a God-Machine."
As a majestic, synthesized voice boomed, a massive figure, no smaller than the Khornate Abomination, slowly emerged from the dust and smoke.
It was a Titan, but one with a massive cathedral on its back. Its arms were not the familiar Hellstorm Cannons or Plasma Annihilators of an Emperor Titan, but two colossal twin swords that radiated a terrifying light. This was a specialized Emperor Titan created by Zhou Ye, its primary purpose being to counter other Titans. It was the only one of its kind; the rest were standard-pattern.
Against a foe like this Khornate Abomination, it was the only one for the job.
In the next instant, the two hundred-meter-tall behemoths collided in the simplest, most primordial way imaginable. There was nothing fancy, just a furious exchange of melee blows.
"Emperor preserve us..." Calgar couldn't help but whisper in awe at the spectacular sight. The sheer impact of the scene was overwhelming, both combatants using wide, sweeping attacks with no finesse.
Of course, Zhou Ye had only deployed this single Emperor Titan legion so far. The other two were on standby aboard the Ark Mechanicus. Using them risked turning Ultramar into a barren wasteland. It wasn't time to show his full hand yet; it was his habit to always keep something in reserve.
Beep... beep... beep...
Before Calgar's awe could fade, a sharp, clear sound cut through the din. He turned his head and saw the monitor above the stasis field had turned green.
The brow of the giant who had slumbered for ten thousand years twitched.
It was just the twitch of an eyebrow, but every son of Guilliman present—save for the ones from Trailblaze—felt their hearts leap in their chests.
Then, the expression on every one of their faces changed dramatically. The blue giant, for the first time in ten millennia, slowly stood up. The Emperor's Sword in his hand ignited with roaring flames.