The Archmagos's synthesized voice echoed in the sterile medicae-bay, each word dripping with an avaricious fervor that was far more unnerving than any open hostility. His many mechadendrites, previously moving with the precise, detached motions of a surgeon, now twitched and reached towards Rimuru like the grasping hands of a starving man.
[We must understand,] the Archmagos insisted, his massive metallic form clanking forward. [The data is incomplete. The process is a holy mystery. The source—the entity 'Rimuru Tempest'—must be submitted for comprehensive analysis. For the Quest for Knowledge!]
Before the red-robed Tech-Priests could move to surround their guest, Interrogator Kael stepped smoothly between Rimuru and the advancing Magos. His face was a mask of cold fury, and his voice, though quiet, cut through the Archmagos's binary cant like a shard of obsidian.
"Archmagos Valerius-9-Tane," Kael said, his tone dangerously calm. "You are forgetting yourself. This being is an asset under the direct protection and purview of the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition. Your enthusiasm is noted, but your current course of action borders on unsanctioned appropriation. That is a word very close to 'heresy'."
The Inquisitorial rosette pinned to Kael's robe seemed to gleam in the harsh light of the bay, a small symbol that carried the weight of fleets and armies.
The Archmagos halted, his glowing green lenses flickering as his logic-engines processed the political threat. The Inquisition versus the Adeptus Mechanicus. An open conflict would be… inefficient. Catastrophic, even. But the potential knowledge… the holy data… was a prize beyond measure.
[The Quest for Knowledge is the sacred mandate of the Omnissiah,] Valerius countered, his voice resonating with the conviction of absolute faith. [The data presented by this entity could advance the understanding of the holy human form by millennia! It is our divine imperative to study it!]
While the two Imperial powers faced off, Rimuru watched, a thoughtful expression on his face. He could feel the Archmagos's desire—it wasn't malicious, but it was obsessive, a hunger for knowledge so profound it had become a form of madness. A direct confrontation would be easy, but it would destroy this fragile, budding relationship. He needed a different approach. He needed to speak the language of the machine.
<
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Perfect.
"Archmagos," Rimuru said, his voice cutting cleanly through the tense standoff. "Your devotion to your god is admirable." He took a step forward, his golden eyes filled not with fear, but with a calm, analytical light that mirrored the Archmagos's own lenses. "But in your zeal, your systems seem to be… agitated. Your vocalizer is producing a sub-harmonic frequency indicative of data-packet loss. And I am detecting a minor power fluctuation from your primary energy core. You might want to get that looked at. Overheating can lead to a significant drop in processing efficiency."
Silence. The Archmagos froze completely. His mechadendrites, which had been reaching for Rimuru, now retracted, one of them unconsciously moving towards his own chest cavity where his power core was housed. His internal sensors screamed at him. The biological entity was correct. The fluctuations were there, microscopic and within acceptable parameters, but there. It had diagnosed his sacred, ancient machinery with a casual, passing glance.
It was a feat of analysis so far beyond any Auspex or cogitator he possessed that it was akin to a god diagnosing a microbe. It was not a threat of violence. It was a threat of pure, undeniable, technological superiority.
The burning zeal in the Archmagos's optics dimmed, replaced by the cold, clear light of logic. The probability of successfully seizing the entity against its will and against the will of the Inquisition had just dropped to near-zero. The probability of the entity being able to disable his two-thousand-year-old body with a thought had just risen to an uncomfortably high value. A new course of action was required.
[Recalibrating…] Valerius-9-Tane rasped. He retracted fully, his posture shifting from acquisitive to supplicant. [My logic was… flawed by fervor. An error. The entity's insight is profound.] He turned all his lenses back to Rimuru. [Your knowledge is a holy relic. We were wrong to consider seizing it. We should be begging for it.]
Kael watched, a flicker of grudging admiration in his eyes. Rimuru hadn't used force. He had used information as a weapon, disarming the high priest of technology with a simple diagnostic report.
The Archmagos changed his proposal entirely. "We will not hinder you. We will aid you," he declared. "The full, unrestricted resources of the Forge World of Ryza are at your disposal. Our data-vaults, our manufactorums, our most enlightened Magi. We will construct anything you require in your quest to return to your reality. All we ask in return is the holy right to observe. To learn from your processes. To bask in the light of the true science you represent."
This was an offer far beyond anything Kael could have secured. It was the key to the Imperium's greatest industrial and scientific might, offered freely.
Rimuru smiled, the standoff completely resolved. "A partnership, then. I would be happy to share some of my knowledge in exchange for your help. That is a much more logical arrangement, wouldn't you agree?"
[Affirmative,] the Archmagos whirred, his zeal now channeled into a new, productive purpose. [A covenant of knowledge! A holy undertaking!]
"Excellent," Rimuru said, clapping his hands. "To start, I need to build a device. Something to analyze and resonate with inter-dimensional frequencies. It will require materials and energy sources you may find… unusual. But it is the first step to finding my way home."
A new, profound energy filled the Archmagos. This was not just an analysis; this was a holy project, a collaboration with a prophet of the Omnissiah.
"It shall be done!" Valerius-9-Tane declared. "Come! I will grant you access to a sanctum of creation, a forge-cathedral where we construct the engines of the great Titans!"
He turned and led the way, his clanking stride now filled with a purpose so intense it was palpable. Kael fell into step beside Rimuru, his expression a mixture of relief and deep unease.
"You have a dangerous new admirer, King Rimuru," the Interrogator murmured.
"I just find it's always better to make friends than enemies," Rimuru replied cheerfully.
"Be warned," Kael cautioned, his voice low. "The love of the Adeptus Mechanicus can be just as dangerous as its hatred. They now see you as a sacred text. And they will stop at nothing to read every last page."
They entered a cavernous, cathedral-like hangar, so vast that clouds of sanctified steam drifted near its vaulted ceiling. In the center, dormant and silent, was the chassis of a Warlord Titan, a true God-Machine of the Imperium.
The Archmagos spread his metallic arms wide, gesturing to a massive, empty construction cradle nearby.
"Here," his voice boomed, filled with the fire of a new crusade. "Here we will build your gate to the stars! The Quest for Knowledge has begun!"