Traveling through the Warp didn't seem all that different from traveling through Realspace. The Warp was indeed extremely dangerous, but an efficient human vessel, combined with the Astronomican on Holy Terra, could effectively fend off its daemonic horrors.
Besides, there was a big boss aboard this ship! The Emperor of Mankind, the Dark King's alternate account!
The ship carrying the Emperor could be called the safest vessel in the Warp, bar none. What daemon would be stupid enough to come aboard and risk its life?
Safety rating: maxed out!
Saiyans were incredibly powerful fighters, and they were more capable of surviving in space than humans, but not by much. Stay exposed to the vacuum of space for too long, and they'd still die.
Even Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan, had been beaten into the sun by the Son family father and son—and died beyond any doubt!
The Frieza family had it a little better. The Emperor had survived a planet exploding around him, while his older brother, Cooler, had been thrown onto the sun's surface and survived.
But if you threw the Emperor of Mankind into the sun, just see if you could kill him. The body of a Perpetual would teach you a thing or two.
The Perpetuals of the Warhammer World were absurdly overpowered. They could come back to life even after their bodies had been reduced to molecules. Their ability to cheat death was even more impressive than Majin Buu's!
Saiyans had terrifying offensive power, but compared to these freaks, their defenses were paper-thin.
"Come on, Axis. I'm going to draw some of your blood and run a few tests on your body," the Emperor said as he came over to him.
He generally didn't take part in the surgeries that transformed people into new Custodes. Before uniting Holy Terra, he had used his own knowledge and powerful Psykic Powers to recruit a large group of biological alchemists.
The techniques mastered by those biological alchemists, combined with the biological technology he had obtained from the Golden Men during the Dark Age of Technology, had become the template for the Adeptus Custodes of the present day.
Every Custodian's surgery was custom-designed, and the Emperor intended to personally create a plan for Axis.
"Sure!" Axis nodded and followed the Emperor into a secret laboratory. The Emperor picked up a small syringe, drew some of Axis's blood, and began analyzing it in various ways.
Axis sat off to the side, watching with curiosity as the Emperor examined him.
Judging from the blood tests, his body, and his skull, the Emperor was certain that Axis was human. His cells could combine with human cells, so there was no reproductive incompatibility.
The more the Emperor analyzed Axis's genes, the more astonished he became. The boy's potential was practically unrivaled!
It was as if he had been born for battle, as if his people lived and breathed combat. This boy was a natural warrior; his DNA was practically inscribed with the genes of a fighter.
There was a particular group of golden cells in the boy's body. The special energy they contained was astonishingly powerful.
They seemed to contain the power of an extremely ancient DNA gene, but these cells were pitifully scarce. Axis had only a tiny amount of them in his body!
If this special cellular energy could be awakened, it should instantly multiply Axis's strength dozens of times over.
Unfortunately, there were very few of these special energy cells, and they couldn't divide normally on their own. Using them to trigger a transformation would be extremely difficult.
According to the Emperor's estimate, Axis would need at least several hundred times more of these special cells in his body.
Only then would they reach a certain critical threshold and undergo a qualitative change. When designing his custom genetic enhancement, perhaps they could work on these special cells and find a way to stimulate them into dividing more.
They could use cellular enhancement cultivation techniques to increase the number of special cells in the boy's body.
He also had an unknown gene in his body. It was somewhat similar to the genes of Earth's Great Apes, which were also primates, but this gene was far more ferocious.
The Emperor had once used his Psykic Power to observe Fenris's past and had seen Axis transform into a Great Ape and fight Leman Russ. He therefore knew something about the power of this transformation.
A tenfold increase in strength was indeed terrifying. If the Emperor hadn't helped from afar with his Psykic Power, Russ really would have lost to the boy in his Great Ape form.
The Great Ape's power seemed capable of resonating with the special cells in Axis's body. Combined, the two should produce an even more ferocious power.
However, both the Great Ape's power and the special golden cells would likely affect Axis's sanity, leaving him in a frenzy and making him fight without thinking.
So Axis's brain would need to be enhanced, too. The Emperor would also install a special Brain Core to help him better control his transformations. They could use the one designed for a Primarch.
It could also help resist the Warp's corrosive energy. That needed to be added as well.
The transformations produced by these special golden cells, as well as the Great Ape form, consumed enormous amounts of energy. That was why the boy's appetite was so monstrous. Every cell in his body was craving energy, so they'd have to calculate his food requirements based on his Great Ape form.
They would also need to install a life-energy furnace inside him. Every Custodian had one.
It allowed the Custodes to fight tirelessly for months, supplying them with ample strength. After only a few hours of rest, they could fully recover their stamina. It also accelerated bodily regeneration, healed wounds, and provided abundant biological energy.
Besides that, every cell in Axis's body contained another unknown energy. This was probably the white energy that Axis had mastered.
That unknown white energy wasn't as versatile as Psykic Power, but it was safer. At least, it wouldn't turn him into a Warp portal and let Chaos Daemons pour out of him.
This white energy was also highly destructive. The Emperor had witnessed its destructive power firsthand during his previous battle with Axis.
However, the Emperor thought that this power wasn't all that violent apart from its destructive force. If anything, it seemed like a form of life energy.
"Axis, can you tell me about your ki?" the Emperor asked as he examined Axis's body.
"Sure. Ki is a form of life energy produced by every cell in my body. I don't really understand exactly how it works," Axis replied vaguely.
"Hmm! Can you demonstrate that ki again? Gather it in the palm of your hand so I can observe it," the Emperor said.
Axis nodded and gathered a white ball of ki about the size of an apple in his palm.
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