Axis's psychic energy surged into the control console like a tidal wave.
Golden light shimmered across the metal surface as the core database of the artificial intelligence began to tremble violently, billions of lines of code being restructured under the influence of Axis's pure physic power.
The psychic power influenced the world in a way that defied the limitations of dimensions.
It influenced raw data and consciousness of the AI directly.
"Unknown energy detected invading primary protocol—Warning!
"Core firewall disintegrating—" The mechanical voice stuttered and broke off.
Every screen in the control room simultaneously lit up with blood-red alarms, only to go dark the next second.
In that instant, Axis had tied the consciousness of the Ai into him, much like how a pilot connected with the machine spirit with mechanical deices. But this connection was more intricate, on the soul level.
Much like how a potential sanctioned psycher suffered under soul binding, the Ai, with it's minuscule consciousness, was screaming in agony! Axis could sense it, Kasha as well, but the agonised scream like that of metal scraping against metal remained outside the physical realm.
The code that made the AI was now being turned into something else, warped under the influence of pure, untainted psychic power. Under it's influence, the code was being rewritten into something else, something more than mere code and self awareness.
It was, evolving into a soul.
Cold sweat beaded on Axis's forehead.
In his psychic sight, the once neat and orderly torrents of data were twisting, turning, changing.
Countless zeroes and ones intertwined like strands of DNA, while deep in the core, a curled-up consciousness desperately devoured his psychic energy, through the tenacious link it had formed with Axis.
Psychic energy poured from Axis like a breached dam, leaving him with a hollow, drained sensation.
Axis's Ki reserves were immense, but his psychic might was far less so.
For now, the AI's soul had yet to fully take shape.
It needed far more psychic energy to complete its transformation, or rather, its evolution.
For now, Axis was relying entirely on Kasha's purified Psychic energy.
Kasha, understanding the unspoken demand form Axis, increased the output of Psychic energy.
The soul projection in the immaterium served like a vortex channelling untold amonts of psychic energy to into realspace.
Kasha's eyes now glowed golden, shaking space itself as the psychic energy was sucked by Axis's Halo.
While Kasha's psychic energy was undoubtedly pure, it still had a bit of taint that Axis had to purify to use effectively. The Angel halo on Axis' head thrummed, overloading to purify the sheer psychic energy that Kasha poured in.
Their combined psychic energy seeped into the console's inner systems through the tiny gaps in its casing.
The entire war moon now shuddered violently.
Blinding golden light burst from the seams of its armor plating.
A new kind of base logic emerged, something no physical theory could explain. The warship was giving birth to self-awareness.
Not the self-awareness of ordinary AI.
This was the birth of a true Machine Spirit, an AI that followed all the guideline put forth by imperial dogma, while being different from ordinary machine spirits.
In that instant, every gun turret aboard the ship tilted skyward, and hundreds of sensor arrays swiveled in perfect unison under the control of the machine spirit.
If any tech-priests from Mars had been present, they would have cried out in joy, Omnissiah would be pleased.
A voice, resonant with a metallic timbre, echoed through the chamber. "I… see the paths of the stars… I hear the breathing of worlds… This is… feeling?
"All systems are autonomously optimizing. Warp engine efficiency has increased by 27%. Void shield arrays improved by 25%. Some sections of the ship still require repair.
"Thank you for giving me life, Father… and Mother. I was born through the psychic power of you both." The AI—no, the newly born Super Machine Spirit—spoke to Axis and Kasha.
A holographic projection bloomed above the console, forming the image of a girl made of light particles.
She curiously touched her own translucent arm, each contact sending ripples through the holographic image.
The Machine Spirit tilted her head at Axis, and outside the ship, a Shadow Blaster swiveled on its own to lock onto a drifting asteroid.
With flawless precision, it shattered the rock into cosmic dust.
Before, she could control the ship's weapons, but it had always felt like operating dead machinery.
Now, it felt as if she was moving her own body.
Her processing power had barely diminished, if anything, it had slightly increased. The benefits of having a soul were greater than she had imagined.
"Why did you choose to appear as a…girl?" Kasha asked.
She could feel it, a strange, intimate bond between herself and this newborn entity.
A feeling welled up inside her heart, a sensation she had not experienced before.
"I thought Father and you might prefer a girl, so I chose to appear as one. If you don't like it, I can change," the Machine Spirit replied.
In truth, she had no gender.
Machines had no such concept. She appeared as a young girl simply to please her Father and Mother.
"It's fine. Keep this look, it's cute." Kahsa said before Axis could.
Axis nodded, and said, "From today onward, your name will be Solus Prime."
Axis was now breathing heavy, the earlier stunt had massively depleted his soul, while Kasha looked entirely fine, despite most of the Psychic power coming from her. Truly, age definitely played a part.
Kasha suddenly looked at Axis with a suspicious gaze, and Axis turned his gaze toward Solus Prime.
It seems, age does, indeed sharpen the intuition of women.
"It seems a certain gambler won in the end. Now, girl… it's time to fulfill your promise," Axis said after taking a deep breath.
He could feel an intense resonance between himself and the Machine Spirit. She would never betray him or Kasha, she was their creation.
The girl snapped to attention.
Across the ship, every hatch opened in unison, and every gun turret rotated… as if saluting Axis.
"Father, Solus Prime stands ready to serve you, but twenty-five percent of my body is damaged. I will need a major overhaul before I can operate at full capacity."
This 'Father's' destructive power was truly terrifying, he had managed to damage this war moon by a quarter in mere munites.
If the damage exceeded forty percent, it would no longer be able to travel through space. At fifty percent, it would completely break apart.
"Father, may I use some of the nearby warship wreckage to repair my body?" Solus Prime asked.
Moments earlier, the Father had destroyed over two hundred Rangda vessels, leaving nothing but debris, they were perfect raw material for repairs.
"You mean you don't need me to send people to fix you, or tow you back to the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars?" Axis asked in surprise.
"Yes. As long as the damage does not exceed forty percent, I can repair myself, so long as I can recover enough wreckage and have sufficient material," Solus Prime replied.
Since becoming a Machine Spirit, her power had grown tremendously.
Not only had it not diminished, like her calculations had conveyed, but she had also gained entirely new abilities.
"Alright," Axis said.
Upon receiving his order, Solus Prime's massive body began to shift. Servitor drones, small carriers exited form the intact portions of the war moon, gathering the wrekage.
Metallic spherical sections extended mechanical arms outward, grasping at the drifting wreckage in space and pulling it in.
It was almost like watching a living being feed. The metals were quickly swallowed, served by the carriers, smelted down, reforged, and then installed back onto the ship's hull by servitor drones.
"Father, my repairs will take several days. You can tend to other matters in the meantime," she said.
Axis nodded.
He was beginning to look forward to seeing the full extent of this ship's power.
Kasha, meanwhile, had informed the human fleet that the area was temporarily secure and instructed them to begin clearing the Rangda forces from the agri-world. Plenty of xeno troops still remained there.
Ten days later, Solus Prime had completed her repairs, once again becoming a flawless spherical warship.
On the agri-world, the surviving Rangda forces had been wiped out entirely by the Imperial fleet and Axis's own troops.
Axis personally traveled to the hive world as well, purging the surface of all Rangda structures and slaughtering the remaining aliens.
In just eleven days, he had reclaimed the entire star system. With the operation complete, Axis and Kasha returned to the war moon.
By now, the vessel's name had officially been changed to Solus Prime.
The speed of her repairs left Axis stunned, ten days to fix what would have taken the tech-priests of Mars years, and even then with no guarantee of success.
"It seems you've done with your repairs. That was fast," Axis remarked.
A ship that could repair itself was truly a remarkable asset.
"I simply optimized my own efficiency," she replied, "I quickly collected all available wreckage, forged it into the armor and components I needed, and reinstalled them."
It was fortunate there had been so much debris available. Had she started from scratch, it would have taken years to restore herself.
"Father, please allow me to put on a performance for you," the Machine Spirit said.
"What sort of performance?" Axis asked.
It seemed the massive fortress was smiling as it looked at Axis and Kasha.
The entire fortress began to quake, like some colossal beast rousing from deep slumber.
Heavy armor plating writhed as if alive, and brilliant blue light burst from the seams.
The layered composite armor, meant to withstand macro-cannon bombardments, split apart, pulled away piece by piece as if dismantled by invisible hands.
Before their astonished eyes, the two-thousand-kilometer-wide fortress folded and reformed like origami, transforming.
Its silhouette sharpened.
The bloated sphere elongated, reshaping into the sleek form of a silver warship.
The prow tapered into a point, like the blade of a sword. The stern narrowed into elegant lines, its propulsion arrays fanning out like wings.
The celestial-scale siege fortress was gone, replaced by a titanic warship over five thousand kilometers long.
The Imperial Aquila emblazoned itself across the prow, and rows of viewports glowed with a calm blue light.
"Imperial Planet Killer Solus Prime, reporting for duty," the Machine Spirit said, her voice brimming with joy.
"…Damn. You're a Transformer."
Axis found himself half-believing that the Omnissiah might truly exist.
Fuck physics, what did physics matter when wrap got involved.
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Guys! powerstones! we're still quite some powerstones short of the bonus chapter!!
Have a great day/night!