Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [173]

The Imperial Guard before him threw down his already damaged weapon, raised his fists, and assumed a fighting stance, prepared to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

To admit defeat to a Xenos? Impossible. Either you beat me so badly that I can't get up today, or I won't surrender.

The other nearby Imperial Guards wanted to throw their weapons at their comrade, but Trajann stopped them with just a glance. This wasn't a fight to the death.

Facing an unarmed Imperial Guard, Titus appeared calm and confident, even deliberately holding back.

The golden fist of the Guard struck Titus's power armor, but the recoil from the impact pushed the Guard backward. His golden fist trembled slightly as he looked in disbelief at Titus's undamaged armor.

The power armor Titus wore was overwhelmingly superior in performance. The Guards' powered polearms couldn't even scratch it, while Titus's weapon could easily cut through theirs.

"This battle is over. Your weapon is damaged, and continuing would be an unfair victory for me," Titus said.

If it were purely a contest of physical strength, the two sides might be evenly matched, potentially fighting for days without a clear winner. However, Titus's superior equipment gave him an insurmountable advantage.

"This battle is a loss for us Imperial Guards. Your weapons and equipment are indeed top-tier," Trajann admitted, stopping his subordinate from continuing the fight.

"Captain-General! I can still fight! I haven't fallen yet!"

"Enough! Your loss isn't because of you personally. Your combat skills are nearly on par with his, but your equipment is far inferior," Trajann said.

To think that in the end, they lost because of their equipment!

The Imperial Guard had lost due to inferior gear. How could this be? What kind of material was this Xenos warrior's armor made of to be so unyielding?

The weapons and equipment of the Imperial Guard were considered the best in the entire empire, second only to those of the Emperor himself and the Primarchs. Even the Emperor's armor was forged from Auric Gold.

This armor, however, seemed made of a metal Trajan had never seen before. Its color resembled Auric Gold, but could it be some form of purified or enhanced Auric Gold?

The level of defense was simply absurd.

"Take this power sword as compensation for damaging your weapon," Titus sighed, handing his power sword to the defeated Imperial Guard.

In truth, Titus was confident he could secure victory in the end, but winning solely because of superior equipment felt dishonorable.

The Imperial Guard before him was a true rival. Contrary to what he had initially thought, these Guards had far more combat experience than even the Space Marines.

Titus's combat prowess was among the best in the ranks of the Space Marines, yet even he found himself slightly outmatched in terms of experience when facing the Imperial Guard.

In the future, when Lord Rhodes regains his identity, Titus vowed to fight this Imperial Guard again, as a proper Super Space Marine.

Thus, he decided to give his power sword to his opponent.

"Are you giving me this weapon?" the Imperial Guard asked, surprised.

"Take it. We'll meet again in the future, and things might be different then."

"Since it's his gift, accept it. This is a fine weapon. Don't disgrace it," Trajan said.

With Trajan's permission, the Imperial Guard nodded and took Titus's power sword. The weapon's power was indeed impressive.

Titus nodded in return and rejoined Rhodes. The two now served as bodyguards, and standing together didn't seem out of place.

"Lord Rhodes, please forgive me for giving away the weapon without permission. That opponent was truly a worthy rival, deserving of respect," Titus said through the communication channel within his helmet.

"It's fine. It's just a power sword. Besides, I may have hurt the Custode's pride by letting you use your superior equipment. I should've told the Captain-General to make it a hand-to-hand fight," Rhodes replied with a smile.

A power sword was nothing significant to him. He had tons of rare metals in his possession, calculated by the tens of thousands of tons.

"But I've also proved one thing: we Super Space Marines are by no means inferior to the Imperial Guard," Titus said.

"Hahaha! Soon, you'll become even stronger. It won't be long.

I'll replace your gene-seed with my own. You and your battle-brothers will use my gene-seed in the future," Rhodes said.

Rhodes planned to have the Super Space Marines use his gene-seed. Due to their specialized cranial implants, the Space Marines had unknowingly become fully loyal to him.

Rhodes' gene-seed would allow survival in the vacuum of space.

These enhancements would drastically increase their combat power. When the time came, they would completely overpower the Custodes, utterly dominating them in every way.

After asking Trajan to help arrange a meeting with Belisarius Cawl, Rhodes decided to reveal some of his cards. After all, he would soon need to work with this Great Sage to rescue the Old Thirteenth, Roboute Guilliman.

Some things could not be disclosed to the Captain-General of the Custodian Guard but could be shared with Belisarius Cawl. For instance, Rhodes' gene-seed extraction would require the assistance of this Great Sage from the Mechanicus.

The super Space Marines were far superior to the Primaris Marines, and Rhodes didn't believe this Great Sage could resist the allure.

After the upgrade of the Padan mothership, the awakening of the machine spirits in dozens of King Joe would also require this Great Sage's help.

"We and our battle brothers all hope to inherit your gene-seed and become your genetic heirs, Lord Rhodes," said Titus, nodding.

With enhanced strength, they could better protect the human empire. Rhodes' gene-seed was far stronger than that of Lord Guilliman.

Saving their lives was already a tremendous act of grace, and reviving the great Primarch in the future would be an even greater debt of gratitude.

Becoming the genetic heirs of Lord Rhodes and fighting for him was the only way they could repay him!

"A bet is a bet, Lord Loki. I will take you to meet Belisarius Cawl tomorrow," Trajan said.

The group dispersed. Lord Loki, played by Daram, pretended to leave but transformed into a disc and continued absorbing the dark energy from the Golden Throne.

Meanwhile, the three scientists resumed repairing the Golden Throne. Rhodes, Titus, and Elena were granted permission to enter the Imperial Palace.

Elena was overwhelmed with excitement. She deliberately put on her hospitaller sister uniform and knelt before the Golden Throne to pray.

She had finally seen the Emperor Himself! Though the corpse on the throne was terrifying, He still radiated a dazzling brilliance and remained the guardian deity of humanity.

Titus, on the other hand, simply lowered his head in the Emperor's direction, silently praying without any excessive actions.

Rhodes stood beside Elena and conversed with the Emperor.

"If you want the Custodian Guard's transformation methods, I can give you the most original version. After all, the Custodians were my creation.

But I think your super Space Marines are more perfect, as they can be mass-produced," the Emperor said telepathically.

These super Space Marines were the ideal soldiers in His mind. The Custodian Guards were simply too expensive to create.

The super Space Marine technology wasn't much different from that used for ordinary Space Marines, and it was far superior to the Primaris upgrades created by Belisarius Cawl.

"Alright, I think some aspects of the Custodian Guard's transformation technology can also be improved.

If the Space Marines can be upgraded, then the Custodian Guard should be upgraded too," Rhodes replied.

If the Space Marines had been improved, there was no reason why the Custodian Guard could not be. Rhodes planned to have his three scientists study it.

"It's not the same. What you're thinking of is a little different.

Every Custodian Guard's genetic enhancements are custom-made. Each individual's genetic strengthening and transformation surgeries are unique.

I can teach you all these techniques—there are over a hundred different genetic enhancement surgeries.

But every Custodian Guard has a unique combination of these surgeries, tailored to them specifically.

To improve the Custodian Guard, you'd need to upgrade all these hundred enhancement methods at once," the Emperor explained at length.

He then began an extended discourse, detailing his bio-alchemy techniques and numerous specialized terms to Rhodes, thoroughly explaining the Custodian surgeries.

In summary, the cost of creating a single Custodian Guard was equivalent to producing an entire chapter of Space Marines.

The genetic enhancement technologies required massive resources and manpower, making them extremely inefficient.

"By that logic, the super Space Marines are indeed better," Rhodes commented.

The Custodian Guards were simply too costly and nowhere near as cost-effective as the super Space Marines.

"The Custodian Guard transformation technology can still be improved. Some of the techniques used in your super Space Marines could be applied to the Custodian Guard—like the biochemical muscle enhancements and skeletal reinforcements," the Emperor suggested.

If He could move, He would have immediately begun upgrading the Custodian Guard's technology. Those two techniques could be seamlessly integrated into the Custodian Guard's enhancements.

"I'll pass your Custodian Guard technology to my scientists and have them start working on upgrades.

Tomorrow, I plan to meet Belisarius Cawl and reveal my identity to him. I'll need your cooperation for that," Rhodes said.

"No problem. Why do you want to meet Cawl?"

"I plan to extract my gene-seed for the super Space Marine technology," Rhodes explained.

"That's a great idea! Using your gene-seed can also avoid Chaos corruption because none of your power comes from the Warp," the Emperor replied.

Gene-seeds that did not originate from the Warp significantly reduced the risk of corruption. Rhodes' idea was promising.

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