Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 626 Experiment
Once the plan was finalized, the order was issued swiftly with the highest level of encryption.

The entire Steel Hand Chapter and Medusa Global Defense System, like a war machine tuned to its limit, began to recalibrate every gear for this high-risk, high-reward strategy.

Deep underground in the Rostov III Foundry World, the air inside the "Silent Furnace" laboratory is almost stagnant.

The circulatory system seemed unable to dispel the almost tangible anxiety, as well as the pungent smell of ozone, scorching metal, and overloaded energy conduits.

The massive energy conduits, like the lurking veins of a giant beast, coiled around the increasingly well-formed, illogical device in the center of the laboratory—the spacetime static force field generator.

It glows with an inhuman, eerie blue light, its structure resembling both the pinnacle of futuristic technology and the eeriness of an ancient, sinister altar, inspiring fear in those who are not mind.

The massive mechanical body of the Great Sage Belisarius Caul stood before the main control console like a pillar of an iron temple.

Countless mechanical appendages operate the interface at a dizzying speed, while a torrent of data pours over his numerous optical sensors.

With the assistance of the Sage Oregana, the logic engine was operating at full capacity, handling complex real-time calculations.

Several servo-like cat-like skulls flew around her, emitting a high-frequency humming sound.

There were dozens of other technical priests and assistants in the laboratory, most of whom remained deathly silent. Only the faint whispers of binary prayers and the intermittent hissing and ticking of the instruments could be heard, highlighting the immense oppression of the place.

Their work is not only a race against time, but also a dance with unknown dangers. Every attempt is a gamble on the edge of disaster, as if stepping on the edge of an abyss.

The core of the "Watcher" was firmly sealed in the nearby "Blackrock Cage-7," remaining lifeless. However, this could not conceal the fact that it was still an Imperial-certified Abomination Intelligence, and using its power was still a taboo and dangerous thing in the Empire.

Furthermore, the fragments of space necromancy technology obtained through reverse engineering of the space necromancy relics acquired from the Rostov sub-sector completely violate the laws of physics as known to humankind.

Forcibly fusing these two elements to create a device capable of imprisoning a Primarch is far more difficult and risky than conventional deductions.

The cost of failure goes far beyond material destruction; it could tear apart the local structure of reality and lead to unpredictable subspace catastrophes.

"734th synthesis attempt... The energy resonance frequency is extremely unstable, with an unacceptable deviation rate. Warning: This may trigger a local spacetime structure collapse..."

A tech priest reported in Gothic with binary tremolos, his voice revealing a fear that was difficult to fully quantify.

Kaul's robotic arm suddenly swung open a section of the faulty circuit that was crackling and sparking, producing a sharp metallic scraping sound.

"Recalibrate the Blackstone harmonic suppressor! Inject an extra five percent of energy into the manifold stabilizing loop! This damn entropy increase must be overcome!"

His synthesized voice unusually came across as hurried.

Multiple considerations are being processed in parallel to handle countless variables: the theoretical success rate, contingency plans for various failure scenarios, the critical point of energy overload, and the worst-case scenario—the possibility of the device malfunctioning and tearing open subspace rifts, and the devastating chain reaction of technological backlash on the "silent furnace" and even the entire casting world.

Every calculation is like walking a tightrope over a bottomless abyss, with rationality and madness separated by only a fine line.

The Sage Aurejana silently carried out the command, her mechanical eye flashing rapidly, reflecting the surging data.

She knew all too well that failure would not only destroy them but could also expose their entire strategic plan, leading to an irreparable catastrophe. But the Primarch's orders were not to be questioned; the fate of the Empire rested on this.

She applied a drop of carefully blessed engine oil to the wildly flashing control panel and whispered a traditional prayer to appease the machine spirit—even though she knew perfectly well that the "machine spirit" she was about to control might be ancient, unfamiliar, and filled with cold hostility, originating from a completely different, alien technological system.

Inside the test site, the scaled-down prototype has undergone several start-up tests.

Sometimes, it can drag objects in the test area into near-absolute stillness, even slowing down the movement of photons, as if time is frozen; other times, it can cause bizarre spatial distortions, instantly tearing the test object into subatomic dust, or opening a brief but dangerous microscopic wormhole, leaking out mind-shaking whispers of the void.

Each failure was accompanied by a violent energy surge and a piercing alarm, making all participants' nerves increasingly tense.

The air was filled with the smell of ozone, but deeper still, there was a profound fear of the unknown.

The pressure was unprecedented, but Kaul and his team had no way out.

They continued to exploit the secrets of the "Watchers," risking the application of even the smallest fragments of necromantic technology, constantly adjusting parameters, optimizing structures, and investing in the next test.

The laboratory lights were always on, and the energy burn marks and metal fatigue lines on the adamant gold floor were increasing day by day, like the terrible scars left by repeated failures.

Meanwhile, the war on the ground at Medusa intensifies. The Steel Hand and their allies fight tooth and nail for every second to secure the final trap.

Driven by Fugen's twisted inspiration and obsession with Felus, the army of the Emperor's Son launched wave after wave of frenzied and bizarre attacks.

The Noise Warriors' sonic cannons tore through the Steel Hands' lines, shattering the warriors' internal organs within their sealed power armor; the Chaos Lords wielded their blasphemous power swords, seeking worthy opponents, viewing slaughter and torture as a perverse art of sensory experience.

They treated war as the ultimate sensory feast, accompanied by the agonizing cries of the defenders and civilians, and rendered the battlefield with distorted symphonies and bizarre light and shadow, turning it into a nightmarish, decadent carnival.

The Iron Hand and the Ash Knights paid an extremely heavy price for this.

The entire battlefront was like a relentless meat grinder, mercilessly devouring the lives and will of the soldiers.

Many companies suffered more than half their casualties, their organization was shattered, and their once valuable armored vehicles and heavy weapons were now nothing but twisted metal wreckage, burning their last embers on the scorched earth.

The new recruits were forced to undergo the most brutal and rapid baptism of fire.

Many of them had not yet fully adapted to the weight of the power armor when they fell to the ripping sound of the bombs or the terrifying shockwaves of the sound waves.

There was no time for grief on the battlefield. The surviving brothers could only silently bend down and retrieve the precious genetic seeds from the still-warm corpses—this was the only ritual they could perform for the deceased.

The naivety and hesitation in the eyes of the survivors who struggled out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood were completely worn away in just a few days.

The unease they once felt upon first arriving on the battlefield was gone from their eyes. Instead, they possessed the cold, resolute determination of seasoned veterans, and a burning, silent rage deep within them.

(End of this chapter)