Guilliman was appointed imperial regent, and Noah was personally appointed Sun Lord by the Emperor.
These two consecutive appointments were announced to the entirety of Terra under the public declaration of the Custodes.
This was a direct personal appointment from the Emperor of the Imperium of Man, and it had the Custodes as witnesses.
Therefore, although the High Lords were somewhat displeased with this appointment, they could only choose to compromise and submit.
Guilliman became the imperial regent, and Noah became the Sun Lord of the Imperium; however, the Imperium of Man they faced was still in ruins.
Under the influence of the Great Rift, the Imperium of Man is currently unable to contact its other colonies; they can only contact those within the Solar System.
Meanwhile, during the time Noah and Guilliman spent conversing with the Emperor in the Throne Room, a conspiracy on Terra had already begun to brew.
The situation on Terra had further deteriorated; due to the loss of the Emperor's light, supernatural atrocities were constantly escalating.
Although Noah had intervened to compensate the Emperor somewhat, the Emperor still needed time to rekindle the astronomican, and this time would be rather long.
This was because Noah's purification not only restored some of the Emperor's energy and physical condition but also reduced the psionics he could wield.
After all, if he were to call upon those impure energies again, the toxins would inevitably reappear.
The Emperor needed time to consolidate.
At this moment, screams and sounds of death were incessant on Terra.
Chaos instigators hidden among the populace had already spread corruption extensively.
When the guards defending the city walls fired upon the frenzied protestors, the soldiers were surprised to find that some physical distortion and mutation had already appeared on these highly aggressive civilians.
The evil eight-pointed star symbol flickered faintly, and waves from the Warp were overflowing.
The pressure on the city wall defenders grew heavier.
Terra.
Originally, protected by the Emperor's light, it was impossible for Chaos manifestation events to occur.
The current situation was vastly different.
In the fallen urban areas far from the Imperial Palace, Chaos cultists had torn off their disguises, and blasphemous altars were being erected one after another.
Evil live sacrifice rituals were being performed in large numbers, and bloody skulls were piled in one place.
Screams from all over the city were incessant, and the sky above the Imperial Palace, torn apart by the Great Rift, had been dyed a horrifying blood red.
It turned out that throughout the long history, Khorne artifacts had been secretly brought into Terra.
In the Imperium of Man, which worships death, sacred relics made from human bones and corpses are not uncommon.
Many remains of saints are indeed widely revered.
Khorne cultists exploited this point to bring a series of blasphemous artifacts to the Throne World, and now, without the suppression of the astronomican, they began to take effect.
Accompanied by torrential crimson blood rain, the Khorne's bloodthirsty army tore through the veil of reality, and the great enemy once again brought the flames of war to Holy Terra.
This was an army of 88 Daemon legions led by 8 Khorne Daemons; these evil, blood-soaked creatures, upon appearing, immediately roared and attacked the Lion's Gate of the Imperial Palace.
Khorne Daemons advocate bloody close-quarters combat; they despise ranged attacks and deny the concept of firearms.
Unless a powerful Psykers intervenes, firearms are inherently difficult to affect them.
Even the Titan Legions' turbo lasers and the massed volleys of the Astra Militarum could only cause very minor damage to them.
The image of the Khorne had established a foothold in humanity's most sacred realm.
This was everything Noah and Guilliman faced after exiting the Throne Room.
Noah hadn't even prepared his planned schedule after leaving the Throne Room and becoming the Sun Lord of the Imperium before the Daemons had already reached the gate.
And now, as the new Warmaster and Sun Lord of the Imperium, the Battle of Lion's Gate on Terra would be fought under Noah's command.
Noah stood on the grounds of the Imperial Palace, looking at the sky; the blasphemous Warp energy had turned the sky blood red, and unholy Chaos light shimmered outside the Lion's Gate.
After Noah became the Sun Lord, his PDF had already received orders and began moving towards the Lion's Gate to prepare for defense.
400 soldiers of the Psionic Legion were also deployed at the Lion's Gate, ready to meet the arrival of the Khorne Daemons army.
And now, seeing the blood-red sky, the anger in Noah's heart naturally arose.
However, due to the psionics consumed earlier in the Imperial Palace of Terra, Noah was unable to dispel this particular problem.
Otherwise, Noah would certainly have acted, first to remove the sky's influence brought by the Khorne Daemons, at least to restore morale.
The defensive battle did not require Noah to command everything.
The Imperial Palace of Terra had its own defensive system and command mechanism, so after the endless Khorne Daemons army appeared outside the Lion's Gate, the turrets and turbo lasers had already begun their attack.
Flocks of combat flight formations also flew out from the Imperial Palace, accurately covering the ravaged land with destructive barrages.
If one could observe closely, it would be clear that the Daemons had not suffered too many losses; they were merely blown down or knocked over.
The defeated among those Daemons would immediately be devoured by their advancing Daemon brethren, and then they would continue to push forward.
The volleys of firepower projected from the Imperial Palace of Terra were like small stones thrown into a flowing river, completely unable to stop the advance of this Daemon army.
It wasn't just the city defense firepower on the Imperial Palace of Terra that was firing; the PDF brought by Noah had also opened fire with full force.
The power of the gauss rifle was constantly Daemonstrated, but the effect was not significant.
Because Noah was currently unable to dispel the influence of the Warp, the Khorne Daemons, who denied the concept of firearms, did not suffer high casualties under such attacks.
Normally, a gauss rifle should be able to eliminate hundreds or even thousands of targets with one shot, but now it could only take out dozens.
The only effective force should be Noah's Psionic Legion.
Each time their psionic lightning struck among the Khorne Daemons, it could effectively clear a large area, fundamentally eliminating them.
However, the Psionic Legion's numbers and members were too few to exert their full effective power.
The Daemon army could at most be delayed, but not effectively stopped.
These guys would reach the foundations of the Lion's Gate in no time, and like a spreading swarm of ants, they would completely engulf the entire Lion's Gate.
Everything on the field was seen by Noah; although his psionics could no longer dispel all the Warp energy, he could still observe the battlefield's performance.
Noah acutely noticed that the concept of firearms seemed to have little effective impact on Khorne Daemons.
Because of this, Noah turned and asked Astra Militarum Commander Trajan, who was beside him.
"Can you explain to me why those Khorne Daemons have not fallen under our gunfire?"
"I can feel that there seems to be a law in the Warp that reduces the damage they take from firearms; I wonder if you can explain it to me in detail."
"Sun Lord, Khorne's Daemons are not immune to firearms, but rather 'deny' them," Trajan was, of course, willing to explain to Noah.
Noah frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping across the battlefield—
Those roaring, bloodthirsty Daemons charged through dense artillery fire, turbo lasers scorching them but unable to completely destroy them.
Although a gauss rifle could easily eliminate an ordinary Daemon, its original powerful penetrating ability was no longer present.
Compared to penetrating hundreds or thousands of orks at once when dealing with them, against Daemons, they could only take down dozens with a single shot.
Only the attacks of Psykers could truly tear apart their existential essence.
Only Psykers could clear the field, sweeping away these Daemon armies in swathes.
However, the psionics of Psykers would eventually run out; this was not sustainable.
Trajan continued to explain:
"Khorne hates cowardice and ranged killing; his law makes his minions most vulnerable in 'melee'—"
"Ironically, this 'vulnerability' is precisely when they are strongest. Because only direct combat with blades can effectively eliminate these guys."
Noah instantly understood.
"So, the reason firearms are ineffective isn't due to insufficient damage, but because they 'don't conform to Khorne's rules'?"
"Precisely." Trajan nodded. "In Khorne's domain, bullets are 'cowardly sneak attacks,' while the roar of a chainsword is an 'honorable challenge.'"
"The more intense our firepower, the more frenzied the Daemons will become—unless we use a sufficiently powerful 'concept' to suppress their laws."
Noah nodded. So it was about close combat; that made things easier. He couldn't imagine fearing anyone in close combat, after all, his guardian robots... could these pathetic Khorne Daemons withstand forces of several hundred million tons?
Just before coming over, Noah had manufactured quite a few engineering robots to repair Guilliman's dilapidated Imperial warships.
Since they could only fight in close combat, deploying either bodyguard robots or military robots in such a war would be an extreme waste.
At the same time, their strength was too immense. If they went all out, they might shatter the entire Lion's Gate. Therefore, Noah set his sights on his industrial robots.
Some of these industrial robots were hand-crafted by Noah using materials from the Warhammer universe. They only utilized Tier 2 alloys, so their single-hand physical strength was merely 100,000 tons.
Although the combined weight of both hands was a staggering 280,000 tons, that wasn't the main point.
The most crucial point was that compared to military combat robots, which could easily weigh hundreds of millions of tons, these were already very suitable units.
These industrial robots were cheap, and their combat effectiveness was just right for use. Why not use them?
Industrial robots are designed for industry, so they were equipped with industrial mining lasers and industrial phase-disintegration blades.
Noah wasn't concerned about how the industrial mining lasers would perform in this battle; he was more focused on the phase-disintegration blades.
Watching the Khornate daemons sweeping across the mountains and plains towards the Lion's Gate, Noah no longer hesitated. He released all 200,000 industrial robots from his small backpack and then issued a command.
"Open the Lion's Gate! All PDFs, cease fire now!
Take up your phase bayonets, draw your power swords, and prepare to fight the enemy to the death!"
Noah used his psionicss to transmit his words into the ears of the entire Lion's Gate defense force.
As is well known, Terra is the capital of the Imperium of Man. There are no PDFs deployed in this capital.
Terra, the Imperial capital, has deployed Space Marines, Custodes, and the Astra Militarum, but conspicuously, no PDFs.
When Noah's order spread through the entire Lion's Gate force, everyone was stunned.
Where did these PDFs come from? How did they not know?
But their confusion was quickly resolved.
The 'cans' deployed beside them, whom the Astra Militarum had mistaken for Space Marines, drew their weapons.
Phase bayonets were affixed to gauss rifles, a phase bayonet in the left hand, and a power sword in the right.
One by one, the 'cans' took out their weapons.
The confusion was resolved, but the Astra Militarum looked at these 'cans' and, recalling the order they had just heard—"PDFs draw your weapons..."—thought, 'Alright, alright, so these are the PDFs, are they? Then what are we? Are we a beggar army?'
Not only were the Astra Militarum bewildered, but so were the Old Hundred Regiments and the Imperial Fists Chapter stationed there.
The only ones who remained calm amidst the crowd were the members of the Expeditionary Fleet, as they had already known before arriving that these units called themselves PDF.
However, in combat, even ordinary Ultramarines often required two to take down one PDF, whose equipment was exceptionally good.
As the PDFs prepared for battle, drawing their power swords and raising their phase bayonets, ready to charge...
Immediately after, the gates of Lion's Gate opened, and 200,000 industrial robots, deployed by Noah to the front lines, launched a head-on counterattack against the Khornate daemon army.
These industrial robots were unlike the bodyguard robots; they did not possess superior bionic skin.
Each industrial robot stood nine meters tall, a truly mechanical style that made them feel like miniature Titans.
Behind them were ten Warlord-class Titans.
God-machines on the attack!
In the Battle of Lion's Gate, the loyalist Imperium had assembled 50 Titans, but Noah did not mobilize them all; he only deployed the 10 Warlord-class Titans he had on hand.
Although Noah had been directly appointed Solar Lord by the Emperor, he felt he should flex his muscles.
This was to ensure that when he commanded the army later, there would be no insubordination.
So, for this first wave of counterattack, he only deployed his own forces and did not mobilize other Imperial armies to participate.
To ensure absolute victory in the war, Noah not only deployed these industrial robots but also moved 2,000 bodyguard robots and 100 military combat robots to wait at the Lion's Gate entrance.
If the battle turned unfavorable in any way, these specialized combat robots would also be thrown into the fray.
As for the damage to the Lion's Gate, that could be dealt with later. After all, the Imperium of Man had both manpower and money.
Rebuilding it would be no big deal.
At that time, these powerful combat robots would show Chaos what physical strength measured in hundreds of millions of tons truly meant.
In Noah's view, Khorne was the weakest of the Four Chaos Gods because it worshipped physical combat.
Who could possibly win in close combat against the mechanical legions under Noah's command at this moment?
In the physical universe, apart from a few special creatures, who among them could compare to the robot legions under Noah's command, where power was measured in hundreds of millions of tons?
Even his lowest-tier engineering robots had a base strength of 100,000 tons.
The war began. As the mining robots charged into the Khornate daemon hordes, a brutal slaughter commenced.
With a single-hand strength reaching 100,000 tons, these mining robots encountered almost no resistance as they massacred the Khornate daemons. They obliterated all enemies with overwhelming force.
In just the first engagement, Khorne's daemons melted away like snowflakes meeting a raging fire.
Their charge failed.
The industrial robots even launched a counter-charge against them.
And in some peripheral areas of the battlefield, the PDFs also launched their attacks.
These powerful PDFs, bearing the name 'PDFs' but practically indistinguishable from Space Marines, stormed into the daemon hordes, wielding their power swords and unleashing havoc.
No one could withstand a single swing of their swords. They plunged into the enemy ranks, and with a mere flick of their weapons, they could wipe out rows of daemons.
Endless hordes of daemons surged towards the Lion's Gate, only to be endlessly annihilated. Khorne's daemon armies had met their greatest adversaries.
After all, those industrial robots were too abnormal. Even an Emperor-class Titan only weighed tens of thousands of tons.
This meant that the industrial robots could single-handedly lift an Emperor-class Titan.
Under such terrifying immense power, anyone who wished to engage them in a physical confrontation or close combat was simply seeking their own demise.
The defensive artillery on the Lion's Gate continued to fire, but they were mostly observing the battle below, watching the robot army push back.
The only thing that could effectively counter these units was the ranged attacks that Khorne's daemons always disdained. Those Imperial weapons could still play a role.
Heavy artillery, or the main cannons of Reaver-class and Warlord-class Titans, could still inflict considerable damage when striking these industrial robots.
Solar Flare missiles could also cause devastating damage to industrial robots, and these were all captured Imperial weapons.
Furthermore, numerous bolter weapons continuously attacking could also cause corresponding, albeit minuscule, losses to the industrial robots.
These were the ranged attacks that Khorne's daemons despised the most.
But now, unfortunately, Khorne's daemons could only rely on these ranged attacks to turn the tide.