40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 751 40. Preparations before War (V)

"what?"

The current Pope of the Ecclesiarchy, Inovia III, stood up from his chair in extreme shock.

He is an old man with white hair, usually unsmiling and taciturn, otherwise it is impossible to create such a serious face even when he is shocked. Like all popes, he also wears heavy robes and is covered with various ornaments with symbolic meanings.

"But, my Lord..." Inovia III frowned deeply, a storm gathering on his face. "--The people selected according to your request have just boarded the shuttle?"

Khalil nodded in understanding. His holographic image flickered in front of the Pope and then went out, but the sound was still clear.

"In that case, please apologize to them for me. It seems that someone has chosen her before us."

Inovia III was visibly stunned for a moment, and the storm that had not yet formed dissipated in an instant. He sat back in his chair, nodded, and his expression became pious.

Khalil hung up the phone and straightened his collar absentmindedly.

Compared to before, this heavy uniform coat seemed to have some changes that were not noticeable to ordinary people. Some dark red lines like blood vessels spread from the shoulders all the way down, and then disappeared mysteriously, and finally appeared on the inside of the hem of the coat, creating a crazy and bloody painting, like a wildly growing rose bush, fresh and juicy, as if it had just tasted a lot of warm blood.

It goes without saying what exactly caused this change, but the matter itself is still worthy of attention - the demon named Larhe seems to be about to undergo some kind of transformation. Over the past ten thousand years, it has devoured too much blood.

Or rather, sin.

Khalil touched his cuff, which responded with a gentle nibble, and turned toward the entrance to the lab.

It was still dark here, but that was not a problem for him. He could clearly see how many unimaginably complex mechanical creations Belisarius Cawl had placed here.
Of course, Khalil knew nothing about them, and even if he observed them carefully, he couldn't see anything. However, this did not prevent him from "feeling" them from another perspective.

In a world far beyond logic and rationality, these machines are each telling their own desires and accusing their creators of acting solely on their own will without caring about their feelings at all.

If there was enough time today, Khalil might have stopped to write down these cries of injustice one by one, and brought them to Kaul to ask him what he really thought.

Unfortunately, now was not the right occasion for such an inappropriate joke, so he had to give up regretfully and quickened his pace to the only place with lights on in the laboratory.

There, Cato Sicarius had put on the prototype armor again, and Kaul was busy debugging it.

The limbs behind him were all extended, and he looked like a huge mechanical monster with bared fangs and claws. Even the red robe on his body looked a bit hideous. The invited believer stood aside with her hands folded, continuing her prayers.

Khalil walked quickly towards them, and Cawl released Sicarius before he reached them, but he still did not forget to give a low humming laugh that was very personal to him, which sounded strange and harsh.

He stepped back with satisfaction, then turned slightly and said to Khalil: "Look, sir, please witness the joint work of faith and science."

Sicarius put on his helmet expressionlessly, and his eyepiece quickly lit up, projecting a pure white light. However, he seemed to be hit hard by something, and suddenly shook, and it took several seconds for him to stabilize his body.

Along with a shrill sound, hot air currents that were too hot to describe gushed out from all parts of the armor.
In the white hot air, it gradually deformed, the amplitude was very small, but how could it escape Khalil's eyes? He saw the distortion of the metal very clearly, and when the mist dissipated, the prototype armor had become more suitable for Sicarius's body shape, and there was no visible pipeline.

All parts were covered with alloy, giving people a very reliable and heavy feeling. However, the curves that fit Sicarius' body tightly brought an illusion of lightness and agility, as if he was not wearing heavy armor, but a set of light scout-style armor.

Call laughed again. He had shown his joy many times today, but this time it was definitely the most sincere and the most difficult to conceal.

He came to Sicarius excitedly, patted his shoulder armor vigorously, and asked loudly: "How do you feel now, Cato Sicarius?"

".Strange." The Extreme Warrior whose voice was changed by the breathing grid answered. The extremely cold synthetic voice could not hide his confusion.

"No, no, I'm not asking about what you think in your heart, but the feeling in your body - the feeling coming from your neural interface. I want to know these things. Tell me quickly, young man, I can't wait!"

He urged eagerly, without paying any attention to his manners, and was obviously brought into a state of complete oblivion by all this. Carril knew nothing about scientific research, but he was no stranger to this state of enthusiasm.

He immediately walked towards the Casting General, stretched out his hand to grab an appendage behind him, and used his psychic power to bring a chill to him, forcing Cawl to calm down. The latter froze, his artificial eyes flickering, until a full minute later he came back to his senses and let out a long sigh.

He loosened his grip and took a few steps back, giving Sicarius space and time to adjust, and coughed back to his workbench, regaining his senses.

"It's really dangerous." Kaul said with lingering fear. "The last time I was this excited was when I made some progress on the problem of Anazion. Thank you for your help, sir, otherwise I would have caused some trouble."

"You can't tear down the lab, can you?" Khalil asked half-jokingly.

Kaul did not answer, but nodded slowly and seriously - he seemed to have something unsaid, which was, 'This kind of thing did happen.'
Khalil realized this quickly and the smile on his face disappeared immediately. However, the Casting General knew how to seize the opportunity. He immediately changed the subject and tapped the workbench with his right hand, causing the structural diagram of the prototype armor to be projected into the air after a flash.

Judging from this picture, this armor still retains many designs that have existed since the first generation of power armor and have been used to this day. For example, automatic sensors that can automatically collect information from the surroundings and transmit it to the brain through neural connections, artificial muscle bundles and energy transmission cables throughout the body, etc. - Cawl did not seem to have added too much, but instead did his best to subtract.

First, he improved the heat conduction system of the power armor so that the heat was no longer discharged uniformly through the nozzles behind the power backpack, but flowed throughout the body.

Normally, this would cause the major energy cables to overheat continuously, leading to a variety of unpredictable operating errors. However, Kohl solved this problem with a new, as-yet-unnamed alloy material.

This material has extreme performance. Compared with various alloys and their superior choices used as thermal conductive materials, this material has the ability to withstand heat and cold many times more than them.
According to calculations, he placed them all over the prototype armor, and the heat generated by the power would be naturally dissipated during combat and movement. If an extremely cold environment is encountered, the temperature regulation system would also retain this heat to ensure smooth operation.

And thanks to the improvement of the heat conduction system, he gained the power to adjust the power system. With only three changes, he increased the transmission performance of the micro-nuclear fusion generator and its fiber bundle network by 128%.

This brought higher output, faster speed and stronger endurance. After solving this problem, Kaul was still not satisfied, so he re-woven the artificial muscle bundles inside so that it could adjust the output mode when necessary, bringing explosive power and speed bonus.

Next is the automatic medical system. In the past, this system was able to detect the wearer's vital signs in real time and automatically inject combat potions or various medical potions.

Kaul believed that the system was mature enough and no further improvements were needed, otherwise it would be superfluous, but he noticed problems with various types of medicines.

So he asked for a large amount of data from the Jairzinho Guzmán Medical Association, and after studying them thoroughly, he developed three new medicines.

More powerful combat potions can gradually push the user's physical abilities to the highest value on paper, while ensuring that the user is mentally clear and that the body's vital organs are not close to the endurance limit. The duration depends on the individual's physique, and the shortest can last about two hours.

Then there are synthetic drugs that integrate a variety of anti-toxin, hemostatic, analgesic and healing ingredients that only Astartes can withstand, which can stimulate their self-healing ability to the greatest extent.

Finally, there is a drug that he himself has not decided whether to add to the medical system. This drug will cause massive internal bleeding and organ failure after use. However, before it arrives, the injector will gain the strongest physical fitness in their lives.
"I'm still hesitating whether to equip this potion. To be honest, I drew on some banned drugs from the Assassin's Court when designing it. I once got their design drawings. My lord, I don't know where I got this knowledge from, but they are indeed dormant in my mind."

The Casting General shook his head in self-mockery and continued, "From a rational point of view, I have no reason not to distribute this medicine. However, my original intention in designing this new power armor was to reduce the casualties of the Astartes. However, I know that as long as I add it to the medical system, their casualty rate will probably increase by at least ten percentage points because of my action."

"They'll use it on their own initiative," Khalil said. "That's what you're worried about, isn't it?"

"That's not all!" Cawl seemed to have regained his vitality, blinking exaggeratedly. "I think that those chapters with their own unique traditions, and those chapters that are also very proficient in chemistry, will definitely tamper with this potion to make its effect stronger, and then they will use it as a regular potion, giving themselves an injection in every battle!"

Khalil couldn't help laughing, and so did the Casting General - but after laughing, they said nothing.

Kaul raised his hand, causing the light screen to fluctuate, and a new breakdown structure diagram appeared before their eyes.

It does not focus on the lining, but the outer armor. First of all, in terms of materials, ceramic steel, as a representative and practical material within the empire, still exists in it. But the composition of the newly added alloy is very complex.

Kaul did not give its specific ingredients in this picture, nor did he even give it a name, he simply listed its effects.

For example, after mixing with ceramic steel, the defense capability of the outer armor can be increased to twice the original level. Such data displays look very good, but considering the enemies they are about to face, this part of the improved defense is actually not of much use.

However, when dealing with other types of enemies, this additional defensive capability and the five-layer overlapping curved armor design on the shoulder armor should give them a lot of headaches.
Kaul waved his hand again, causing the third design drawing to slowly emerge. Compared to the first two drawings, this third one was more like a complex paper than a 'drawing'.

He used rigorous writing and a large amount of experimental data to demonstrate what the hybrid material blessed by devout believers can do at this stage, as well as his inferences and optimism about its future.

Khalil took a quick look and quickly grasped the key - it was a coined word mixed in with a large number of complex nouns, and its name was Nightstone.

He looked up at Call, who nodded seriously and answered softly.

"I have talked with him many times. He believes that if we really launch an attack on Sollems, the undead troops that come after hearing the news will most likely use it to build a large-scale forbidden zone. Any creature that still has a soul, or a soul with a projection in the subspace, will gradually become an unconscious shell in this area. Therefore, I thought of starting with faith, my lord."

"You want to use your faith as a shield?"

"Yes."

"It's a bold and pragmatic idea. You should have told me earlier, Cawl. Now, let's see how the young Sicarius brother has adapted. In addition, the prototype armor in these design drawings you showed and the power armor he wears should not be the same version, right?"

Call smiled and nodded.

"I have used all my computing power and have iterated twelve versions," he said calmly. "Do you think this thirteenth version will be the final version?"

"I don't know anything about numerology."

With a chuckle, Khalil turned and walked towards Sicarius.

(End of this chapter)