Father had said that the Adeptus Custodes were the most powerful guardians at his side, far surpassing the Space Marines. Since that was the case, he wanted to see just how formidable these warriors in golden armor were.
After all, when Axis used this thing to hunt on Fenris, hardly any prey could withstand a single shot.
"Is this a type of energy weapon?" the Emperor asked.
"Yes, Father! I found this gun aboard the ship." Leman Russ replied.
"To test its power, we don't need my Custodes. Let's go to the firing range and try it out on some Xenos," the Emperor said.
Humanity's main weapons were the lasguns issued to the Imperial Army's infantry and the bolters, melta weapons, and plasma weapons carried by the Space Marines.
For close combat, they used monomolecular daggers, chainswords, power swords, power axes, power claws, power hammers, and similar weapons.
A new energy-beam weapon was extremely important to the Imperium. And the following demonstrations could also be carried out on the Training Ground.
Soon, the group followed the Emperor to the Training Ground. Two Custodian guards carried out a large crate. A roar came from inside it. The creature within stood two and a half meters tall, was pitch-black, and had an exoskeleton. It resembled a humanoid insect.
Axis checked it with his Scouter and found that it had a power level of 52. It could easily kill an ordinary human.
It could even put up a fight against an Astartes.
But in the end, it would surely be killed. After all, besides their basic combat strength, Astartes had their Superhuman Organs and weapons, too.
Axis estimated that an Astartes in armor could face an enemy with a power level of at least 140 to 180.
"We discovered these evil Xenos while conquering a planet. They're covered in thick exoskeletal armor and immensely strong—strong enough to match an Astartes. Let's use one to test the weapon's power," the Emperor said.
Leman Russ nodded and tossed the energy weapon in his hand to Axis.
"Go on, my little Wolf Cub. Blow it away with one shot," Russ said.
Axis nodded, secured the Energy Gun to his arm, and aimed at the black, humanoid beetle creature in front of him.
The Custodian beside him opened the cage. The black, humanoid beetle creature let out a roar, then charged straight toward the Emperor and the others.
Axis raised the gun, took aim, and fired without hesitation.
There was a sharp crackle!
A yellow energy bolt shot from the Energy Gun and struck the black beetle creature head-on. The moment it was hit, the creature exploded into a mass of shredded flesh.
The black monster hadn't even charged ten meters before it was dead beyond any doubt. All that remained on the ground was a lump of black, bloody matter.
Its power was indeed impressive. A regular Space Marine firing a burst from a bolter at this black monster would only leave it grievously wounded.
Usually, they would still need to cut off its head with a chainsword to defeat it. But with this weapon, even an ordinary Imperial Army soldier could kill one instantly.
"More powerful than bolters, more powerful than lasguns, more powerful than ordinary melta weapons, and more powerful than plasma weapons. It fires extremely quickly, and its power is unmatched by any Imperial weapon of comparable size.
"Can it fire in bursts? Can its magazine be replaced? Or what powers it?" asked a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus, who was taking notes nearby.
"Of course it can fire in bursts. It doesn't use a magazine; you just load an energy cell, and it can fire a thousand times. The energy cell is nuclear-powered," Axis replied.
The Frieza Force's standard-issue energy weapons were quite impressive. Against anyone with a power level below 200, a direct hit would usually take them out in one shot.
The finest example of what these weapons could do was when Future Trunks slapped one aside, then used it to wound Goku in Super Saiyan Blue with a sneak attack. Goku had been far too careless at the time!
"Test it again! Release ten more Xeno-T0311s, along with one leader," the Emperor ordered.
At his command, the Custodian guards immediately went to the back of the firing range and wheeled out eleven enormous cages. The Imperium's firing range held a large number of Xenos.
Their power levels were generally above 50. One beetle creature, over three meters tall, even had a power level of 105.
When the cages were opened, some of the black, humanoid beetle Xenos charged at the nearby Custodians. The one with a power level of 105 led several others straight toward the Emperor.
Axis aimed at the Xenos and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!
Bang! Bang! Bang! The yellow energy bolts struck the Xenos, and they exploded instantly. One bolt even blasted apart two beetle Xenos that were standing close together.
In just a few seconds, only the Xeno standing over three meters tall, with a power level of 105, remained.
Axis switched the gun from single-shot mode to beam mode. A yellow beam shot out, pierced the Xeno in an instant, and continued on to leave a deep hole in the wall behind it.
"This weapon has two firing modes: single-shot and beam. The beam is like a charged shot; the longer it fires, the more powerful it gets. But it can only be fired for up to five seconds, or the Energy Gun will overheat," Axis explained.
"An excellent weapon. It will be very useful to the Imperium, and invaluable to humanity's Great Crusade." The Emperor nodded with satisfaction.
If this thing could hit an Astartes, even power armor probably wouldn't stop it from being a one-shot kill!
This powerful energy weapon reminded the Emperor of a terrifying species he had encountered long ago: green metal skeletons.
Their green ray weapons could even disintegrate living beings.
The Adeptus Mechanicus could study this energy weapon, reverse-engineer it, and make a copy.
Then they could issue it to the Adeptus Custodes first, followed by the Astartes. If it could be mass-produced on a large scale, bolters could be distributed to the ordinary Imperial Army!
"The Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars can attempt to reproduce this energy weapon," said a Tech-Priest.
"Russ! Are you willing to hand this gun over to the Adeptus Mechanicus for replication?" the Emperor asked.
"Of course. But once it's mass-produced, the Space Wolves should receive it for free, and half the profits from future sales should go to us," Russ replied.
Even if he handed it over, he still wanted to retain the intellectual property rights. That was what the Wolf Cub had told him: he couldn't let the members of the Adeptus Mechanicus take advantage of him.
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