Under the coordination of numerous Sapient Machine Automata and Eight-Legs, minerals from the warehouse planet flowed like a river onto conveyor belts newly fashioned from the very materials of the warehouses themselves. Vast quantities of rare metals and conventional materials began to pour into the furnaces in precise, interlaced patterns.
Colossal molds took shape, and torrents of molten metal began to fill them. The pre-existing manufacturing plant intelligences began mass-writing basic sapient systems for the mechanical legions just rolling off the production lines.
On one massive assembly line, formed by the convergence of three separate tracks, gargantuan modules were gradually produced. Eight-Legs hovered at the end of the line, beginning the final integration and assembly of these modules.
A wedge-shaped metallic titan, standing nearly fifteen meters tall and gleaming like crystal, was completed. Within the power projection radius of the Pectaro, the metal chassis soon began to pulse with light, and its outer shell slowly unfurled.
This was the Vengeance-class super-heavy mechanical unit.
Possessing a spider-like locomotion structure, its wedge-shaped body featured perfect top-to-bottom symmetry. The top and bottom were identical; if overturned, it merely needed to invert its joints to function normally. Both its upper and lower hulls were equipped with turrets capable of firing hybrid beam weaponry simultaneously. These weapons combined the high-energy radioactive penetration of a neutron beam with the horrific piercing effect of a high-energy particle stream, delivering catastrophic destruction to any target.
The Imperial Neutron Laser Projector was famously derived from a fragmented STC of this very weapon. However, the Vengeance-class suffered none of the defects found in Imperial wargear. Although these super-heavy automata lacked energy shields, their unique geometry and structural design granted them extreme resilience against both kinetic impacts and energy-based attacks.
Another titan emerged to stand alongside the Executor Heavy Tank: a humanoid machine known as the Destroyer-class Heavy Automaton.
While the Executor Heavy Tank utilized laser arrays and vertical-launch missile cells for wide-area saturation, the Destroyer-class was specialized for targeted, singular slaughter. Standing twenty-five meters tall, over eighteen meters wide, and nearly ten meters thick, its massive frame allowed it to house twin Quantum Energy Cores. It bristled with devastating weaponry, including twin power claws, each nine meters long, integrated with particle oscillation generators.
At the center of each power claw was a gravitational weapon known as a Gravity Shredder and a Heavy Destroyer Incinerator. If a target was small, it would be dragged into the claws and pulverized; if large, the Gravity Shredder would generate a massive localized gravity field to collapse the target's structure directly, tearing away colossal chunks of matter or flesh. The ionic flames spat by the Destroyer Incinerator reached temperatures exceeding tens of thousands of degrees, comparable to the blast of a Plasma Cannon. So long as its power did not fail, a Destroyer-class could theoretically set an entire planet ablaze.
Beyond its formidable melee prowess, the center of the mechanical torso housed a gargantuan Energy Shockwave Weapon. This device could liquefy every biological enemy within a 160-degree hemispherical arc and a two-kilometer radius into a mist of blood, while mechanical entities would simply shatter.
Though humanoid in structure with a bipedal, two-armed design, these titans featured a massive protrusion beside the central head-sensor array: a Heavy Dissolution Cannon with full elevation and omnidirectional traverse capabilities. This weapon produced an effect similar to a Gauss flaying ray, utilizing energy bombardment to strip matter at the atomic level. It could rapidly melt through armor or reduce enemies to a cloud of atomic ash. Without void shields, this weapon was virtually impossible to defend against. The massive dissolution beam could even leverage the twin quantum cores to maintain sustained fire until the target was utterly pierced or power was exhausted.
Most unique was the specialized Conformal Shielding System and the exaggerated composite alloy armor. Unlike the projected area-shields of other units, the Destroyer-class shield clung tightly to the chassis surface. Its design served not only for defense but also to ensure the staggering heat of its own incinerators did not slag the automaton's frame. Consequently, these machines could not provide cover for other units unless they physically interposed their bodies.
The thick plating ensured that the Destroyer-class remained survivable during sustained dissolution fire should energy depletion cause the shields to flicker. Furthermore, to enhance battlefield adaptability, these robots were standard-fitted with Gravity Field Regulators. These devices allowed the 5,000-ton killing machines to compensate for different planetary gravities or even suddenly increase their own mass during combat to amplify the force of their strikes.
Leveraging the abundant material reserves, Axion manufactured one hundred Destroyer-class and one hundred Vengeance-class units, nearly exhausting the stockpile of rare minerals on the warehouse world. Although this redirected capacity slowed the production of standard units, over 500,000 Automated Sentry-Troopers and 200,000 Peltast Sniper Automata rolled off the lines over the following month.
After supplementing the force with 20,000 melee and 20,000 ranged variants of the Erratana-class Armored Wardens, Axion halted military production. These forces had consumed half of the planet's high-grade mineral stores. The remaining critical materials had to be reserved for the construction of transport vessels.
Nearly a million mechanical warriors could not be carried by a single HG-class Heavy Carrier. Two hundred Destroyers and Vengeances alone were enough to fill several cargo holds; though perhaps lighter than a hold packed with Sentry-Troopers, their sheer volume was immense. To ensure transport capacity, Axion dismantled vast quantities of refined Imperial equipment and even broke down several warehouse structures. He refined the recovered conventional metals and restacked them into the remaining depots.
When a second HG-class Giant Carrier entered orbit, the ground forces finally had a destination. To ensure correct maintenance for all machines, the number of Sapient Machine Automata was increased to over 300,000, while the number of Eight-Legs tasked with assembly exceeded 20,000.
Once the forces were embarked, Axion converted all remaining materials into spare parts, dismantled the production factories, and stored them within the new carrier. The former warehouse world was left with nothing but a pile of common-grade wargear not worth the cost of transport and some redundant mechanical equipment.
Ready at last, Axion unhesitatingly led his fleet back into the Warp for the return journey. The original two-ship flotilla was now a fleet of seven: including four heavy assault cruisers Axion named "Swarm Strikers" and a brand-new Giant Carrier.