The attack by the Khorne Daemons had severely slowed Iax's exploration, leaving millions of mechanical units badly damaged.
These ordinary units with basic intelligence had been contaminated by the Warp energy spilling from Khorne-possessed Angron, causing minor problems with their mechanical structures. Under the influence of that energy, metal had fused in parts of many of their bodies.
Even Nanomachines could do nothing about this fusion of metal structures caused by the breakdown of physical laws.
They could not even be sent straight into a Standard Production Line for reconstruction.
Iax had no choice but to build several furnaces inside the Spear of Titans. After bringing whatever mechanical remains could be recovered out of the Webway, Iax refined them again to accelerate the dissipation of the Warp energy within.
The mechanical bodies were melted back into molten metal at high temperatures, and their mixed metal components were purified again before being left to cool. The resulting ingots would then be sent back into a Standard Production Line for reconstruction.
But when the final reconstruction tally was made, the Daemons had still cost Iax hundreds of thousands of mechanical units.
Granted, most of those mechanical remains had fallen into the Warp alongside the Daemons after the Destroyers' self-detonations punched through the Webway.
That did not stop Iax from putting the loss on Khorne's tab.
When the sixth batch of ships reached the outskirts of the Solar System, the Titan Ship Sword of the Void was also completed. However, it did not accompany the fleet and the reinforcement Mechanical Legion to Segmentum Solar.
Instead, over a hundred ships broke away from the Mechanicus Fleet stationed outside the Solar System and vanished into a Warp Route to rendezvous with the Sword of the Void.
At present, the Sword of the Void had no