Chapter 411: IKUZO!!
Kian transferred back to the outfitting bay, where Boothe had his tech-priests lay out every available weapon system across the floor for him to choose from.
Kian looked over the spread. "Plasma cannon. Add another plasma cannon."
Boothe gave the order, and a team of tech-priests fitted an additional plasma cannon housing beneath the left arm. The twin-linked mount became a triple. Firing single shots, that meant a plasma detonation every 3.3 seconds.
"Promethium flame canister. Mount it."
Boothe had the team fit a flame canister beneath the Hellstrike chainsword.
Two major weapon systems added, and Kian still felt basically nothing, no real mental strain at all.
"Chest bolter, upgrade to twin-linked. Head cannons, upgrade to triple."
By the time the refit was done, the squire-suit looked less like a Knight and more like a mobile weapons platform, gun barrels stacked on gun barrels. He did feel a faint edge of strain now, but only faint.
"What else can we add?"
He asked.
Boothe looked genuinely stunned.
"My lord, your mental strength is extraordinary. I'd wager you could handle the psychic load of a full-sized Knight suit without difficulty."
He studied the fully loaded squire-suit.
"My lord, the weapon rails are completely full now, no more mounting space left. But the squire-suit's back can still carry one specialized weapon system."
Kian asked, "What kind of specialized weapon?"
"A nuclear missile."
Kian sucked in a sharp breath.
"Wait, wait, wait. That's... actually allowed? That's actually permitted?"
Boothe nodded. "It is, my lord. Just another conventional weapon by our standards. Though we will pre-program it so it can never target anything within the Titan Temple's own perimeter."
"Okay, okay, let's do it, quick, quick!"
Kian was thrilled. Sure, nuclear weapons were basically standard-issue in the Imperium, but old Kian was about to become a man with his own personal nukes.
Boothe had a pair of long, rectangular launch tubes wheeled in, covered edge to edge in gear-skull iconography and Purity Seals, roughly the shape of a 300mm rocket pod. The moment the two tubes were mounted onto Kian's back, he felt a dull pressure settle into his mind, not unlike the fog after way too many hours online.
Boothe explained. "My lord, these are Fireball-pattern nuclear missiles, two hundred kilometer range. Each carries a low-yield warhead capable of total devastation within a one-kilometer radius, and lethal effect against unarmoured, unshielded targets out to two kilometers, with essentially no radioactive fallout."
Kian asked, excited. "Can I fire one off just for fun? My birthday's coming up, you know."
Boothe cleared his throat. "Ah... well, it is still a nuclear weapon, my lord. Probably best not to treat it like a party firework."
Kian looked ready to argue the point further, but right then, three more Knight suits walked into the bay.
The Traffic Light Trio spotted the gold squire-suit and let out a chorus of whoops, gathering around Kian.
"Oh my god, boss, look at that build, absolutely unhinged!"
"So many weapons! Boss, you can actually carry all that?!"
"Shiny gold and everything! How many girls are you trying to impress with that?"
Kian, thoroughly pleased with himself, suddenly remembered something.
"Oh right, how'd you three tame your machine spirits the first time you linked up?"
He looked to the yellow squire-suit. The yellow one answered proudly. "I recited poetry to my spirit. Three hundred poems. It was so moved by my genius, it just gave in."
Kian was fairly sure the spirit had simply been talked into submission out of sheer exhaustion, but he let it go.
He turned to the red squire-suit, which fidgeted awkwardly.
"Uh, so, I told the spirit I'd be its dog. Hugged it, licked it a bit, told it it could ride me. That's how I passed."
Kian let out a startled whoa. Simping actually paid off?
He turned finally to the green suit, who somehow got his squire-suit to strike an absurdly sultry pose.
"So I put the crown on, saw a blurry figure, and thought, is that the machine spirit? Man, that spirit's still got it going on. I just dropped my pants right then and there and went for the leap of a lifetime."
"Okay, okay! That's enough, stop right there! You're gonna get this story taken down!"
Kian cut the green one off before he could go any further.
All three having explained how they'd tamed, or been tamed by, their respective spirits, they turned as one to look at Kian.
"So? How'd you do it?"
Kian let out a wicked cackle.
"I was half out of it, saw some guy staring at me, said 'the hell you looking at,' and he says 'yeah, you got a problem with that?' Man, you know my temper. I went straight in with a Loki slam, a Fat Boy's Last Kick, a lullaby uppercut for good measure. Beat him down to his knees, execution animation played, and boom, we're linked."
The four of them cracked up laughing together, while Boothe stood off to the side looking thoroughly bewildered. This, this couldn't possibly be even a little bit sacrilegious, could it?
He was about to say something when a stream of data hit his mind directly. Boothe froze, then shouted out loud.
"My lords! Trouble! A powerful Ork armoured column has broken through the front line and is charging straight for the Titan Temple!"
Kian blinked, cutting the conversation short to look at Boothe. "What's going on?"
"My lord, a mixed force of Ork tanks and war-machines launched a surprise assault and broke through the PDF's forward defensive line. Right now, nearly three hundred heavy Ork vehicles, along with countless light armour, are charging toward us. We have to intercept them out in the desert. They cannot be allowed anywhere near the Titan Temple."
Kian understood immediately and traded a look with the Traffic Light Trio.
Alright then. Facing down a horrifying Ork armoured column, our heroes make their grand entrance:
Kian, riding the Golden Blackblade, power: overwhelming firepower.
Yellow, riding the Poet, power: an oversized vox-amplifier for reciting verse.
Red, riding I'm the Spirit's Dog, power: capable of serving as anyone or anything's loyal companion.
Green, riding Forced Romance, power: if he feels a connection, he acts on it, no exceptions.
The equipment bay's massive doors ground open, revealing four towering squire-suits standing shoulder to shoulder.
Kian bellowed, "Alright! Move out!"
All four Knight suits stepped forward as one.
"IKUZO!!"
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