Not a Sage, Yet He Had His Own Magos Throne

The Shadow of the Throne, Primarch's Palace.

Perturabo arrived in the Shana System on the third day.

Perturabo shifted his icy blue eyes from the holographic image filled with star-like runes and data symbols, and looked at Nimrod.

"Tactical simulations have validated our plan."

Nimrod glanced at the stacks of Data Slate neatly piled up in front of Frix and the other two, and gave Perturabo a chance to shine.

Perturabo spearheaded the planning process for the attack on the Vicious Sector, meticulously reviewing all the data and completing the plan methodically.

He meticulously planned the Imperial Fleet's route, the timing of the attack, the end time of the battle, and the replenishment of food and ammunition for each batch of Troop Transport and landing ships at the transfer points.

Nimrod examined the entire battle plan, which seemed perfect, but he keenly sensed that this perfection contained a shadow that was not easily noticed.

He looked into those bright, icy blue eyes. "Our understanding of Rangdan is still limited; the plan should remain flexible."

"Everything is under control; there is no factor that can disrupt the battle plan."

"Even the Xenos and Bone-Eater you mentioned, I will create weapons to fight them."

Nimrod looked at the stubborn Perturabo and said nothing more.

He believed that Perturabo's technological innovation was unmatched, even by Belisarius Cawl; he could develop targeted weapons, but his understanding of the Xenos was based on intelligence gathered by his own legion.

Even after fighting Rangdan in both the Spinning Angle- Morse and Xana, he didn't think he knew enough about Rangdan.

Aside from the two major races of Brain-Eaters and Bone-Eater, the true ruling race of Rangdan —the mysterious Slaugth— has yet to appear.

Nimrod knew that Rangdan was also known as Slaugth's murderous mind.

Even he knew only limited things about Slaugth, only that they were Slaugth-kin.

"Kion of the Fifth Company Captain of the Fourth Legion will be accompanying your regiment to facilitate our communication."

"Okay." Perturabo nodded in agreement, then left with his Trident.

Nimrod stared at the Vicious Sector, Perturabo assigned the Campinas System, where the Artificial War Satellite had appeared, to himself.

He turned his gaze to the Gildas System, the achievement he had prepared for Anakaris Scoria.

Nimrod recalled that during the Great Birthday Celebration, Xana, who had sided with Horus Lupercal, launched an attack on the Imperial World, and the only world they managed to seize was Gildas Prime.

This indicates that, within a radius of several hundred light-years, the value of Gildas Prime is the highest for Xana.

By conquering Gildas, Anakaris will prove his abilities, gain immense prestige, and take control of this resource-rich world.

"Tell Wilshire to send walking mechs to assist Anakaris in capturing Gildas."

After the High Lord of Gardinal surrendered, the remaining 152 Tripod Walker also surrendered.

Xana's two main Titan Legions, "Vulture" and "Gidiano," were fighting on the Expeditionary Fleet. Most of the remaining Titan were destroyed by the Bone-Eater during the invasion, and the remaining ones were barely able to maintain their defenses, with no spare capacity to support their Mechanicum Custodians.

Nimrod preferred to deploy Gardinal's three-legged mechs rather than conscript his allies, the Titan Legions.

The older models of tripod mechs underwent limited modifications; they should be tested on the battlefield to collect more data in preparation for future new models.

Under Nimrod's rule, Gardinal will no longer manufacture a single one of those old-style walking mechs that resemble a morgue.

"I will obey Your commands."

The Second and Fourth Legion of the "Shadow of Order," having received orders from the Primarch, were deployed to the Vicious Sector in just five weeks via the Carium Gate.

Two weeks later, the Adeptus Mechanicus and the "Iron Warriors" fleet, which had departed from Shana II, finally arrived at their destination.

The Gildas System.

When Anakaris Scoria led his Macro-Clade to the Kyrgyz Prime, the Second Legion's fleet had already defeated the Xenos invasion fleet.

Anakaris immediately launched a landing operation. He stepped off the landing ship and stood on a huge mechanical platform.

The upper part of the mechanical platform is a complex operating system, consisting of a main Logis-Engine, three control consoles on the left and three video screens on the right.

Two Tech-Priest and four Apprentice stood on either side, serving the object of their loyalty.

The lower part of the platform, besides the base, also has cables that look like pythons.

Each interface is connected to a weapon system.

Rotary Gatling, Maxim Bolter...

Two Servo-skull are attached to each side of the base, emitting green light in the surrounding area.

Anakaris, who had not yet become Sage, not only led the commanders of the Macro-Clade who should have been under the command of the Great Sage, but also possessed his own Magos Throne.

Anakaris, standing at the center of the Magos Throne, his Cybernetic Eye flashing orange light, looked at the cargo being unloaded from the landing ship— Tripod Walker.

Like a giant python launching an attack, the Servo-skull sprang up from its throne, head held high, staring intently at the massive, black-painted machine.

The walking mech is similar in height to the Warhound Titan, but is wider.

Each walking mech has five weapon systems deployed irregularly.

The results of the full-range scan were aggregated into Anakaris's data engine twelve seconds later.

The assessment was completed in three seconds, and his first focus was on the weapon systems.

Each mech has three or four energy weapons, which are quite different from the specifications used by the Imperium. The remaining weapon systems were added later.

The original design was supposed to have four weapon systems; the remaining three were likely damaged in a battle.

Preliminary assessments indicate that its firepower surpasses that of the Warhound-class Titan, but the modified systems may experience coordination issues during combat.

Anakaris then analyzed the drivers based on the discovered flaws.

Their biological characteristics are strange... were they designed specifically for driving?

The platform resembles a morgue, and the pilots of the walking mechs have had their limbs amputated to save internal space. They live efficiently but incompletely thanks to life support systems.

For them, death should be a release, as they would only retain the body parts necessary for driving and attacking.

The two Servo-skull retracted, Anakaris stored the data of the Tripod Walker in his Archives.

Despite numerous flaws in their design, their weapon systems, especially energy weapons, still possess unique features.

The fact that the energy reactors are below Imperium standards indicates that their energy supply systems are more efficient, enabling them to support the power consumption of four energy weapons.

Anakaris updated his twelve prepared battle plans, finding that energy was the most effective way to break through the Xenos's personal energy shield.

[With the fifty-two walking mechs dispatched to me by Lord Nimrod, even if we encounter Bone-Eater, we can destroy it quickly.]

Lord Nimrod has invested enormous resources in me, worth more than twenty-nine large Foundry. I will certainly not let him down.