Chapter 350 - 347 — Beyond His Limits

Chapter 350: Chapter 347 — Beyond His Limits

Chapter 347 — Beyond His Limits

Tony stood inside one of the Ultramarine maintenance chambers.

Techmarines and Tech-Priests worked throughout the room.

Damaged armor from the battle was laid across several workstations. Some suits had cracked ceramite plates. Others were blackened by weapons fire, their joints damaged and internal systems exposed.

The Techmarines worked methodically.

Armor plates were removed.

Damaged components were inspected.

Weapons were disassembled and repaired.

Servo-skulls moved between the workstations, carrying tools and replacement parts.

Tony stood several meters away.

He watched them intently.

He already understood the basics.

He had scanned Gaius’s old Armor X before. The scan had given him a general understanding of its construction, power systems, life support, and the way the suit assisted its wearer.

But that had been a scan.

This was different.

He could see how the armor was actually maintained.

How damaged components were removed.

Which parts were repaired.

Which were replaced.

And which were simply considered beyond recovery.

A Techmarine noticed him watching.

The Techmarine finished working on a damaged gauntlet before walking over.

He stopped in front of Tony.

"Are you Tony Stark?"

Tony looked at him.

"That’s me."

The Techmarine studied him for a moment.

"Friend of Captain Gaius?"

Tony nodded.

"Yeah."

The Techmarine gave a small nod.

"Then you are permitted to be here."

Tony glanced around the chamber.

"Good."

His eyes returned to the armor.

"I’ve seen the basic design before."

The Techmarine looked at him.

"The Captain’s armor?"

"His old armor."

Tony gestured toward the damaged suits.

"I scanned it before. So I know roughly what I’m looking at."

The Techmarine looked toward the armor.

"Then you understand that a scan does not reveal everything."

Tony smiled slightly.

"That’s why I’m here."

The Techmarine said nothing.

Tony pointed toward one of the damaged suits.

"I want to know what I’m missing."

The Techmarine considered him for a moment.

Then he turned.

"Come."

Tony followed.

They stopped beside a damaged suit of power armor.

The chest plate was cracked and partially removed. Several internal components were exposed.

The Techmarine placed a hand against the damaged section.

"This armor suffered a direct impact."

Tony looked over it.

"That’s obvious."

"The outer plate was damaged."

Tony nodded.

"But the internal systems kept functioning."

"Partially."

Tony looked at him.

"Partially?"

The Techmarine removed another section of the damaged plate.

Tony leaned closer.

The armor’s interior was exposed.

Power conduits.

Mechanical systems.

Cabling.

Components Tony had only seen indirectly during his previous scan.

Tony’s expression changed.

"Now we’re talking."

The Techmarine continued working.

Tony watched every movement.

He wasn’t looking at the armor as a weapon anymore.

He was looking at how the Imperium kept it functioning.

Another Techmarine passed behind them carrying a damaged helmet.

Tony turned his head.

"That’s Mark VII?"

The Techmarine stopped.

"Yes."

Tony looked back at the armor in front of him.

"Thought so."

The Techmarine glanced at him.

"You know the patterns?"

"I’ve studied enough."

Tony pointed toward the helmet.

"Different helmet design. Older pattern?"

"Yes."

Tony nodded.

"Good."

He looked back at the damaged armor.

"So what’s the biggest difference between this and the Captain’s old armor?"

The Techmarine paused.

"His former armor was standard Primaris war-plate. What he wears now is different."

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"I noticed."

The Techmarine hesitated.

"It was created by the God—"

He stopped.

The Techmarine seemed to reconsider his words.

"The Emperor of Mankind," he corrected. "For Gaius."

Tony’s expression shifted into a knowing smile.

"Figured."

The Techmarine returned to his work.

Tony looked around the chamber again.

There were dozens of suits being repaired.

Some belonged to warriors who had survived the battle.

Others would likely never be worn again.

Tony’s attention shifted toward a nearby workbench.

A damaged bolter rested there.

He pointed toward it.

"And that?"

The Techmarine followed his gaze.

"Bolter."

"I know what a bolter is."

"Then why ask?"

Tony looked at him.

"Because I want to know how you keep it working."

The Techmarine stared at him for a moment.

Then he picked up the weapon.

"That is a better question."

Tony smiled.

"That’s what I’m here for."

The Techmarine placed the bolter on the workbench.

Tony stepped closer.

For the first time since entering the chamber, the Techmarine seemed to understand what Tony actually wanted.

Not weapons.

Not trophies.

Knowledge.

The Techmarine began explaining.

Tony listened.

The bolter lay between them as they continued.

He explained the firing mechanism, the ammunition, the internal components, and the maintenance required to keep the weapon functioning.

Tony asked questions.

The Techmarine answered.

Sometimes Tony pointed out similarities to his own weapons.

Other times, the Techmarine explained something Tony had never encountered before.

The conversation moved naturally from the bolter to the armor.

Then to power systems.

Then to weapons.

Tony’s questions came quickly.

"So the armor can isolate damaged systems?"

"Yes."

"How long can it operate without its primary power source?"

"That depends on the damage."

"How much of the armor is interchangeable?"

"Most components."

Tony nodded.

"Smart."

The Techmarine looked at him.

"You approve?"

"I build the same way."

Tony pointed toward his own armor.

"If something breaks, I replace it. I don’t rebuild the entire suit."

he was technically right, if there is something damage, in his suit. it would indeed be replace by nanites.

The Techmarine gave a small nod.

"Practical."

Tony smiled.

"I’ll take that."

They continued.

Tony explained some of his own systems in return.

Power distribution.

Modular components.

Automated diagnostics.

The Techmarines were particularly interested in JARVIS.

"Your machine spirit performs these functions?"

Tony paused.

"That’s one way of describing him."

The Techmarine considered that.

Tony decided not to get into the difference.

"He monitors the entire suit."

"Constantly?"

"Every second."

The Techmarine looked toward Tony’s armor.

"Efficient."

"Very."

Another Techmarine approached with a damaged helmet.

Tony immediately recognized it.

"That’s from the Captain’s armor."

"Yes."

Tony stepped closer.

He examined the damage.

"The armor protected the wearer."

"It did."

"But it took most of the impact."

"Correct."

Tony nodded.

"That’s what I wanted to see."

He looked toward the Techmarine.

"You’ve built redundancy into almost everything."

"Where possible."

Tony looked around the chamber.

"That explains how you keep these things alive."

The Techmarine glanced at the damaged suits around them.

"We maintain what we can."

Tony nodded.

"I respect that."

The Techmarine returned to his work.

For the next hour, the exchange continued.

Tony learned.

The Techmarines learned.

Neither side revealed everything.

But both understood that the other knew what they were doing.

Eventually Tony stepped away from the workbench.

He looked around the chamber again.

There was still more equipment to examine.

Much more.

Tony smiled.

"Okay."

He looked at Titus.

"I’ve got a lot more questions."

Titus nodded.

"I expected as much."

Tony pointed toward another workstation.

"What’s that?"

Titus followed his gaze.

"A power sword."

Tony’s eyes immediately lit up.

He had been meaning to ask Gaius about his power sword for a while now.

The weapon had an unusual ability that allowed it to cut through materials with remarkable smoothness.

But Gaius hadn’t used it in quite some time, and Tony hadn’t had a good opportunity to ask about it.

"Oh."

The Techmarine looked at him.

Tony smiled.

"Let’s talk about that."

The Techmarine gave a slow nod.

"Very well."

Tony walked toward the workstation.

~~~

Gaius stood alone in one of the surviving training grounds.

Much of the area had been damaged during the battle.

Enough remained.

At the center of the grounds stood one of the Imperial training structures.

It had been designed to withstand the force of Space Marines.

A reinforced plasteel wall nearly ten meters tall rose from the ground, supported by thick structural pillars and layered with heavy impact plates.

It had survived years of drills, weapons testing, and close-combat exercises.

Gaius walked toward it.

Before the blessing, his physical strength had already been comparable to that of a Primarch.

He could tear through armored vehicles, break ceramite with his bare hands, and overpower warriors that ordinary Space Marines could not hope to match.

That had been his normal strength.

Now something had changed.

Gaius stopped in front of the reinforced wall.

He slowly raised his right hand.

Then he punched.

His fist struck the center of the plasteel wall.

The impact was violent.

The wall buckled inward.

A deep crater formed around his fist as the outer armor plating folded and cracked.

The supporting pillar beside it split from the force.

Dust and fragments of plasteel burst across the training ground.

Gaius withdrew his hand.

The wall remained standing.

Barely.

He looked at the damage.

He had not used his full strength.

Gaius stepped closer.

His right shoulder moved back.

Then he struck again.

This time he put more force behind it.

The entire wall shook.

The crater expanded violently.

Armor plating tore apart.

One of the internal support beams snapped.

The shockwave threw chunks of broken plasteel across the ground.

The top section of the wall tilted.

Gaius struck it a third time.

The reinforced structure finally failed.

The wall split apart with a deafening crack.

Several tons of plasteel collapsed forward.

The impact sent dust rolling across the training grounds.

Gaius stood in the middle of it.

He had not moved.

He looked at his hand.

There was no pain.

No strain.

His armor had absorbed the impact without difficulty.

Gaius turned toward another section of the training grounds.

There stood a reinforced combat platform used for heavy weapons drills.

Its base was anchored deep into the ground.

He walked toward it.

Then accelerated.

Each step struck the ground with enough force to fracture the already damaged surface.

Gaius crossed the distance in moments.

He drove his shoulder into the platform.

The entire structure lifted.

The anchoring supports tore free from the ground.

Gaius twisted and threw it aside.

The massive platform crashed into the ground several meters away.

He watched it settle.

He had been strong before.

This was something beyond that.

Not by a small amount.

Enough that he could immediately feel the difference.

His muscles had grown.

His body had become denser.

His movements carried more force.

Even his endurance felt greater.

Gaius closed his fist again.

The power was real.

Khorne had genuinely strengthened him.

A warrior who had already possessed Primarch-level physical power had been pushed even further.

Gaius reached toward his right arm.

The golden power fist began to vibrate.

Crimson energy crawled across the auramite.

The mechanisms shifted.

Metal unfolded and extended.

The power fist transformed into a massive golden war axe.

A thin crimson energy ran along both edges of the blade.

Gaius looked at it.

He rotated his wrist once.

The weapon felt natural in his hand.

He turned toward the remains of the training structure.

Then swung.

The axe struck through a reinforced support column.

The thick metal did not resist.

The blade passed through it in a single motion.

The upper section of the structure collapsed.

Gaius watched the wreckage fall.

He released the axe.

It dropped from his hand.

Gaius raised his arm.

The weapon stopped in midair.

Then it flew back toward him.

The axe tore through the air at tremendous speed.

It passed through a fallen slab in its path, splitting the massive piece of plasteel in two before continuing toward him.

Gaius caught it.

He looked at the weapon.

The axe shifted again.

The blade collapsed back into the golden power fist.

Gaius stared at his hand.

The blessing had changed more than his body.

It had given him another weapon.

And as he stood there, he could still feel something within himself.

A slow adaptation.

His body was becoming accustomed to the new power.

Perhaps it was still changing.

Gaius looked toward the distant battlefield.

He had already been one of the strongest warriors alive.

Now he was stronger.

There was only one way to discover how much.

Fight.

~~~

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