After completing the Emperor-class Battleship he had promised Tyberos, the Art Student turned without hesitation and returned to his own magnificent flagship. The moment he entered, he threw himself into the refinement of Blackstone without pause.
Although the Void Dragon was the only one capable of wielding unrefined Blackstone and using this raw material to attack powerful psykers, if the Art Student wanted to use Blackstone in accordance with his own plans and expectations, he had to devote enormous effort and energy to carefully refining it.
Blackstone refined through technological means retained only three abilities:
First, it could significantly strengthen the barrier between the real universe and the Warp, making it difficult for the Chaos Gods within the Warp to interfere with reality so easily again;
It could also erase the Mandeville Points left by the real universe within the Warp. In that case, once warships traveling through the Warp lost the precise guidance of those Mandeville Points,
they would become like ships that had lost their bearings, unable to emerge smoothly from the Warp and return to the real world. They could only search again for new Mandeville Points through which to leave the Warp.
This was the method the C'tan had once used to suppress the Old Ones, who could freely enter and leave the Warp and draw upon its energy. Even the Webway would be subject to certain restrictions.
The second trait was also the most crucial one. This refined Blackstone possessed a terrifying property: it could erase the souls of ordinary living beings within its area of coverage, creating a horrifying region similar to a "Spirit-Driving Dead Zone."
Within the range of a Blackstone Obelisk controlled by a C'tan and operating at full power, even powerful psykers would suffer devastating injuries.
Blackstone refined through technological means