Warhammer: Empire Reboot

He tried to sever his physical connection.

"Action execution failed."

Kuhl was horrified to discover that his servo motors were no longer responding to signals from the core processor.

The lurking torrent of data suddenly surged forth, submerging Kur's proud highest-level authority imprint at a speed of microseconds.

The terrifying computing power overwhelmed a single processor that could forge a general.

The dozens of nerve cords fixed to the main control throne, originally an extension of Kur's control over the planet, have now become shackles that bind him.

A powerful current was injected in reverse along the needle cord into the spinal interface of Kuhl.

This current was precisely calculated to paralyze his remaining biological flesh and nerves, while severing the power transmission of his mechanical limbs, but preserving his core consciousness.

Kur's massive body froze in place.

His six robotic arms twitched wildly in mid-air, and the internal hydraulic lines burst due to pressure imbalance, spraying out black oil.

He was like a steel spider with its brain severed and nailed to a specimen board.

His voice generator emitted a chaotic hissing sound, unable to string together a single complete word.

The sages in the hall watched this scene in astonishment.

They didn't know what had happened; all they saw was the once-arrogant Forging General suddenly paralyzed the moment he activated his final authority.

Lawson straightened up.

When Kuhl initiated the first layer of the closure protocol, Lawson did not move.

Even when Kur threatened with the orbital macro cannon, Lawson did not move.

Now, Lawson snapped his fingers.

The air behind him was once again distorted by a static force field.

The two White Tiger warriors walked straight up the holy steps and came to Kur's huge and stiff body.

One of them extended a mechanically reinforced ceramic glove and pressed it firmly against Kurna's heavy brass shoulder armor.

Another person stepped forward and grabbed the thick cable that connected to the Holy See and was still flashing a red warning light on Kur's chest.

It was pulled outwards forcefully.

Accompanied by a tooth-grinding metallic tearing sound and a burst of sparks, dozens of nerve cords and data cables that had penetrated deep into the spinal cord were forcibly pulled out.

Metal fragments, insulating gel, and dark red biological blood burst forth simultaneously, splattering onto the steps of the Holy See.

Kuhl's core processor emitted a final, piercing overload scream, after which all the optical monitors went completely out.

He lost all perception of Agrippina, becoming a blind and deaf man encased in an iron shell.

Lawson looked down at the cyborg body.

"You have been relieved of your duties."

"Take him away. Hand him over to the overseer of Kassadin."

Two White Tiger assassins, one on each side, supported Kur's heavy body.

The white power armor dragged the oil-leaking cyborg body, the tracks scraping against the ground with a screeching sound.

They passed through a hall filled with kneeling mechanical sages.

Heavy footsteps echoed through the silent temple.

Among the hundreds of high priests, none dared to look up at their former ruler being dragged away.

They lowered their heads even further, fixing their gaze intently on the ground.

Lawson turned around and looked at Xerath, and at the STC storage box in his hand that was emitting a blue light.

The golden gate outside slowly rose, and the electromagnetic barrier was removed.

The gloom over Agrippina remains.

But at the bottom layer of the data ocean, all the code and protocols have been updated.

The world of the Empire's First-Line Forging, which boasts a population of tens of billions and a massive arsenal of tens of millions, has officially changed hands.

The transfer of power within the temple was completed under absolute computational power and physical suppression.

The Great Sage Xerath, now acting as the forging supervisor, strode toward the main throne in the temple.

Eight servo robotic arms extended from his back, precisely connecting to the main data ports that had just been pulled from the former general's spine.

The moment the physical connection was established, the black crystal helmet of Xander Claw flashed with high-frequency data streams.

"Underlying protocol overwrite begins."

On the planet Agrippina, whoever holds the highest access key to the Holy Throne controls the physical laws governing the planet's operation.

The IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) codes on the air defense arrays have begun to be changed.

The output valves of the plasma reactor were redistributed.

The tactical network nodes of tens of millions of machine servants, friars, and technical priests were forcibly refreshed.

At the same time, swarm thinking, like a flood bursting its banks, poured into Agrippina's global array of thinkers along these open main channels.

This constitutes a quantum computing matrix that surpasses the cognitive limits of conventional computers in the Empire.

Lawson stood below the holy steps.

On his retina, a macroscopic map of the entire Agrippina galaxy was appearing through direct brainwave projection of swarm intelligence.

Data synchronization complete.

Lawson hovers above the star map of the Agrippina Galaxy from a godlike perspective.

What met the eye was a blinding crimson.

The Agrippina Galaxy, as a complete industrial ecosystem, is not just a single, isolated forging world.

Before the collapse of the Cadian Gate, it was a massive sector defense hub with sixty-nine celestial bodies.

The main star is in the center, surrounded by sixty-eight auxiliary planets.

Swarm intelligence categorized the data of these 68 planets.

Forty-two of them are mining planets.

They are the blood vessels of Agrippina's industrial machinery.

The No. 3 mining star is responsible for mining and refining raw gold ore.

Planet Nine has a surface covered with meteorite craters, and deep underground lies rare earth elements necessary for manufacturing plasma coils.

The satellite constellation of the gas giant planet No. 17 has an astonishingly large orbital refinery that extracts promethium from the gas giant's clouds day and night. This promethium is the lifeblood of the Astronautical Army's armored forces and a byproduct of warship engines.

There are also dozens of dead stars located at the edge of the galaxy, specifically for mining radioactive isotopes.

These deadly substances were packed into lead-sealed containers, transported to the main planet, and filled into the shells of massive cannons with calibers of tens of meters, creating dirty bombs capable of contaminating entire continents.

The other twenty-six are warning planets and outpost worlds.

They are Agrippina's eyes and shield.

Near Mandeville Point on the edge of the galaxy, seven Void Sentinel Worlds are deployed.

The planet's surface is dotted with towering arrays of Star Speakers and Deep Space Diviners, each thousands of meters high.

They are responsible for providing faster-than-light warnings and monitoring any chaotic fleets that tear reality out of the subspace.

On the inner ring track, there is a world of navigation beacon fires.

The massive gravity anchors and psionic beacons guided the lost Imperial fleets.

There are also several early interceptor planets filled with missile silos and torpedo tubes.

When an enemy fleet enters a star system's gravitational well, these planets unleash tens of thousands of void torpedoes, weakening the enemy ships' shields before they reach the host planet.

This is a perfect defense system that has been developed over ten thousand years and is armed to the teeth.

Mining planets provide resources, while outpost planets offer vision and buffer zones.

The main star sits at the center, transforming matter into destructive firepower.

But these are all data from before the Gate of Cadian shattered.

Now, on the star map before Lawson, the light of all sixty-eight subsidiary planets has been extinguished, replaced by black and scarlet representing the corruption of chaos.

Everything is lost.

The outer defenses of the Agrippina system have been torn apart by the Chaos Legion.

The oracles on those void watchtowers were smashed, and the Star Speakers were sacrificed to the warp demons.

The navigational beacon was extinguished, replaced by a chaotic altar burning with a ghastly green flame, guiding more rebel legions and demonic engines into this star system.

This means that Agrippina has been pushed to the last stronghold.

The depth has been lost.

The warning was lost.

They lost their resource supply.

The enemy fleet can pass through the edge of the galaxy without any hindrance and jump directly outside the gravitational field of the host star.

The enemy's supply lines can be brazenly established on former imperial mining planets.

This is a true space island.

Looking at the star map, Lawson sighed softly.

He now somewhat understands the cold-blooded logic of the former casting general, Belissa Kuhl.

When all 68 resource planets were lost and external routes were cut off by subspace storms, a main planet with a population of 10 billion and factories with tens of millions of units consumed astronomical amounts of resources every day.

Without raw ore, the blast furnace will go out.

Without food, ordinary people will starve to death.

In pure mathematical terms, transforming the food-consuming and combat-incapable Kadian refugees into tireless machine servants that only require bioelectricity is indeed the optimal solution for this planet to prolong its existence.

Kuer is simply executing a machine's defensive logic.