Thien, staring at the clear holographic projection before him, looked momentarily surprised. He turned to Magos Vashur.
"A new technology I have never witnessed. Is this machine the Magos's latest masterpiece? This technology seems highly advanced. I am willing to dispatch our Techmarines to the Magos's Order for a period of study."
Vashur looked somewhat awkward, though Thien and his Black Templars, unlike Axion, could not discern the change in his emotions from the mere quarter-portion of flesh visible beneath his robes.
Aside from his awkwardness, Vashur was also deeply nervous, unsure if Thien's words might somehow enrage Axion.
Should this cause the ancient construct to go rogue, not a soul present would escape death. He had clearly witnessed the Automated Sentry-Troopers instantly annihilating the Plague Marines moments before.
To conceal the existence of the ancient construct, Vashur had deliberately omitted the footage showing the Automated Sentry-Troopers one-shotting the Plague Marines from the projection he had just displayed. Thien, for his part, had absolutely no idea that a fourth faction was covertly present.
"Crude biological modification. What makes you form such an erroneous judgment? Is it the sliver of canine genetic material mixed into your genome?"
Axion tilted its body slightly, its gaze sweeping over the squad of Black Templars with a judging scrutiny.
"Hmph. A collective of disordered, genetically synthesized biological entities. Even with your biological augmentations, you remain inherently fragile."
The Adeptus Astartes of the Black Templars were utterly taken aback that this uniquely styled machine would openly mock them, and an instant surge of righteous fury welled up. Their leader, Thien, abruptly raised a hand, signaling all his Battle-Brothers to maintain silence.
He then smoothly drew the Power Sword from his waist, cast a swift glance at Axion, and turned his focus back to Vashur.
"The Emperor's Angels are not to be commented upon lightly by anyone, least of all a mindless machine! Magos, your creation may need to be melted down and re-forged. This Machine Spirit may already be tainted by Chaos."
The moment the words left his lips, the Power Sword in his hand lashed out, tracing a searing arc of energy.
"Clang!" "Snap!"
With two sounds that occurred almost simultaneously, Thien stared in astonishment at the Power Sword in his hand, which had been broken in two.
"What happened?"
Vashur twisted his head in confusion, staring at the shattered sword in Thien's grip and the severed blade tip embedded in the floor nearby.
The Adeptus Astartes are the Imperium's super-soldiers, each of whom endures countless trials of life and death from the moment they vow to become a warrior of the Astartes. Only after enduring great hardship do they earn the chance to become a Neophyte.
These Neophytes then undergo a brutal process of winnowing, like the culling of a thousand insects in a jar.
Those who finally pass the selection and complete their augmentation surgery truly become the Imperium's keenest blade. The crucible of endless battle imbues each of them with extraordinary combat experience. The psycho-surgery grants them a superhuman physique, which, coupled with the genetic enhancement of the Gene-Seed and the Ceramite Power Armour, the Imperium's pinnacle technology, transforms the Astartes into a hyper-efficient humanoid war machine.
The action speed of any Astartes is dozens of times that of a baseline human; ordinary mortals cannot even clearly perceive their combat motions. Their strength is equally staggering, capable of single-handedly lifting two tonnes even without armour assistance. With the assistance of the artificial muscle bundles in their Power Armour, they can single-handedly hoist nearly ten tonnes.
A moment ago, Thien had activated the Power Sword in his hand immediately after speaking and cleaved down vertically, aiming for the dead centre of Axion's head.
The speed was so immense that even the heavily augmented Vashur only caught a blurred streak within the view of his optical sensor-eyes.
But such speed was nothing to Axion.
By adjusting its corporeal reaction speed, Axion could readily enter a state its ancient creators would have termed bullet time. Even the movements of an Astartes could be slowed to a crawl in Axion's perception.
Watching the Power Sword cleave toward its head, Axion even took a moment to examine the faint blue energy field covering the blade.
Then, a different, faint, dark gold light ignited at the tip of its mechanical hand. The arm shifted slightly, and a finger tapped the blade that was descending toward its head.
The powerful disruptive field of the Power Sword seemed entirely impotent against this dark gold luminescence. It was effortlessly pierced, and the blade itself was then instantly shattered.
Everything happened too fast. The disruptive field still clinging to the severed tip of the blade did not even have time to dissipate before it plunged into the stone floor of the chamber and became deeply embedded.
Vashur had not clearly seen Thien's action, nor had he perceived Axion's response.
Axion's chassis allowed it to endure such hyper-acceleration, and its sheer speed had given Thien the illusion that the machine had not moved at all.
But staring at the broken Power Sword in his hand and the completely unscathed mechanical construct before him, Thien was utterly bewildered.
Thien's hand, clutching the sword, flicked the power field switch on the hilt, dissipating the residual disruptive field clinging to the remaining blade. Incredulous, he reached out and brushed the jagged edge of the broken sword.
It was gone. It was not a delusion, nor a visual misalignment. It was broken.
"How is this possible?"
A Power Sword shattering was not unheard of; in prolonged battle, when the energy cell in the grip was depleted and the disruptive field failed, the high-strength alloy blade would eventually break from continuous collision with flesh and metal.
But for a Power Sword to shatter while the disruptive field was active? He had not been striking a Terminator's energy shield. How could this happen?
Axion's recessed optical sensors released a fearful, deep crimson glow, fixed directly upon the group of black-armoured warriors.
"Why is it impossible? While I have never before heard the name of your 'Emperor,' I insulted no one. Your genetic signature reveals you to be biologically synthesized entities with profound genetic contamination. In no context can you be considered a human being."
Axion's pronouncement plunged every Astartes present into shock.
"Never heard the name of the Emperor?!"
Then, a realization struck Thien, and he immediately turned to Magos Vashur, demanding loudly:
"This is not your mechanical construct!? Tell me what it is!"
Axion tilted its head slightly, looking at Thien.
"I require no spokesperson. I am Axion, one of the pinnacle technical achievements of the Human Creators and the Men of Gold Engineers."
Magos Vashur, glancing nervously at Axion and then at Thien and his Battle-Brothers, began pacing anxiously. He had no idea how to begin to explain.
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