Half a month vanished in the blink of an eye. Only hours after the Dawn of Fire transitioned from the warp to the outer reaches of the Sol System, a far more magnificent warp rift tore open in the void not far from the vessel.
The silver fleet of the Iron Men had traversed nearly three times the distance of the Dawn of Fire, yet arrived scarcely later than Guilliman himself.
Upon visually confirming the Iron Men fleet's rapid arrival, Guilliman, somewhat taken aback, transmitted a request for an audience with Axion. Axion did not refuse; he, too, had need of a meeting with the Primarch.
Aboard the Titan's Spear, the whimsical Troupe Master of the Harlequin troupe informed Axion that the Webway passages within the Sol System had been almost entirely sealed by the Emperor. Their combined strength was insufficient to break seals placed by the Master of Mankind himself. To access the Webway, the most viable path was to reconstruct a Webway Gate.
Although their ships carried a supply of Wraithbone materials, the quantity was only sufficient to construct a small portal for individual passage. Axion found this situation somewhat frustrating; he required a gateway for deployment, not mere infiltration. A portal limited to a single person was far too small and would severely hamper search efficiency.
In response, the troupe suggested that the tens of thousands of Aeldari psykers aboard the Titan's Spear could assist in cultivating more Wraithbone materials. With a sufficient supply, a Webway Gate of adequate dimensions could be manifested.
Axion readily accepted. Under the guidance of the Troupe Master and a Shadowseer, several Sapient Machine Automatons provided assistance in constructing a specialized containment pool.
The Aeldari captives did not resist the arrangements of these envoys of the Laughing God; on the contrary, they seemed eager to begin. Vast quantities of Wraithbone powder were deposited into the pool, which spanned several hundred meters. Subsequently, those captives possessing psychic potential began to channel immense amounts of warp energy into the basin.
One by one, arcane runes upon the pool's surface flared to life, drawing psychic resonance from the Immaterium to foster a unique psycho-conductive environment. Once the manufacturing conditions were stabilized, master artisans from among the captives, those formerly responsible for ship maintenance, stepped forward. They began to meticulously weave the Wraithbone with their psychic might, transmuting the powder into solid form.
After dozens of hours, a fresh segment of Wraithbone snaked upward from the powder. Nearby, an automaton equipped with integrated multi-spectral sensors recorded every millisecond of the process.
Minutes later, several uniquely configured Sapient Machine Automatons arrived at the site. Each unit featured a Psychic Crystal embedded into the wrists of its primary arms and its four auxiliary sub-manipulators. These psychic-attuned machines stood beside the pool and began weaving Wraithbone, replicating the energy-control patterns of the Aeldari.
In the psychically saturated environment, excess energy was not only absorbed by the growing Wraithbone but also drawn into the Psychic Crystals mounted on the machines. This was the first time Axion observed that the Psychic Crystals possessed self-recharging properties.
When, hours later, a block of Wraithbone appeared, more regular and massive than the one crafted by the Aeldari master artisan, the expressions of the watching Aeldari shifted from disdain to surprise, and finally, to sheer horror.
For Axion, however, these dozen or so machines underwent a strange metamorphosis. The energy flowing from the Psychic Crystals through the power conduits initiated an indefinable optimization of the mechanical structures. The resulting architecture seemed more logical and superior even to Federation designs. Certain circuits merged into the mechanical frame, becoming internal structures with vastly improved circulatory efficiency.
These findings filled Axion with clinical satisfaction. Inside a reinforced testing chamber within the Titan's Spear, the machines began executing fresh trials to evaluate performance. The data confirmed that the new structural modules increased average chassis efficiency by 5.13%.
Immediately, every ship and every machine within the fleet shimmered with silver light. Nanite mother-machines began a simultaneous update of all structural designs. A new stage of evolution was initiated. The lines of every machine became more fluid, and operational efficiency saw multiple improvements. Most notably, the energy depletion of large-scale machinery saw a significant decrease. This surplus energy could be diverted to weapon systems, further augmenting their lethality.
Having discovered these properties of the warp, Axion retrieved all stored psychic crystals and produced a "psyker-variant" prototype for every mechanical class. In the testing grounds, these experimental psychic machines simulated every conceivable combat scenario, allowing the warp energy to force adaptive changes upon the mechanical frames.
This produced a plethora of bizarre structures and catastrophic failures.
A psychic version of the Automated Sentry-Trooper encountered an issue where its neutron beam failed to fire. Instead, the psychic energy created a vortex within the neutron projector, forming an energy-containment field that trapped the discharge. The weapon essentially transformed from a ranged cannon into a melee instrument similar to a laser-cutter. However, when the structure was reverted to a standard quantum core, the energy violently shattered the containment field, detonating the Sentry-Trooper into a pile of scrap.
The long-range Erratana-class Armored Wardens suffered similar anomalies. The results were grotesque: their formidable atomic pulse cannons were replaced by two massive psychic blades protruding from the barrels. Their engagement range dropped from kilometers to mere dozens of meters. A machine only a few meters tall wielding two glowing pillars of light spanning thirty meters was an absurd sight.
Yet, the destructive power of these psychic melee weapons surpassed even molecular vibration blades. A Destroyer-class Heavy Automaton, capable of shrugging off standard kinetic strikes with its armor, had a third of its leg assembly sheared clean off when a psychic-modified Armored Warden simply turned around.
Axion mused that such technology might be better suited as close-quarters weaponry for Titans. However, the psychic drain was staggering. The six psychic crystals embedded in the Armored Warden were drained to husks in a mere fifteen seconds, shattering into stardust before the entire chassis lost power.
Recalling the previous Armored Warden that had exploded and left a crater in the deck, Axion did not attempt to replace the power source. Instead, nanites consumed the machine, reducing it to a slurry of composite particles to be recycled in the Sapient Factory.
Aside from various localized explosions, no other extraordinary phenomena occurred.
The series of experiments quickly exhausted the supply of psychic crystals. Axion's sole takeaway was that Sentry-Troopers could utilize psychic crystals to become dedicated melee units. While the psychic light-blades produced by the modified neutron projectors were devastating, they were tactically impractical for his current doctrines.
To the Iron Men, who operated on a basis of pure physical logic, the notion that inscribing strange runes on a weapon could alter the fundamental nature of energy was anathema to their understanding. Yet, for this soul-reactive energy, it was undeniably the correct approach.
Under Axion's "coercion," an Aeldari master artisan was bribed with a single Psychic Crystal to forge a blade in the Aeldari style. The artisan crafted a solid longsword without any internal circuitry, simply carving several peculiar runes upon the blade. Once a second psychic crystal was slotted into the hilt, the weapon naturally projected an energy field akin to a molecular disintegration field, vastly enhancing its destructive potential.
This was, truly, a phenomenon that defied the Iron Men's understanding of the universe.
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