Sukuna stared at the projection of the Power Armor that was designed to be his and raised a brow. It was bulky and blocky and really not something he'd actively prefer to wear. The Tech-Priest, these weirdos who worshiped something they referred to as the Omnissiah, explained a bunch of things about the life support systems, combat feeds, and all sorts of automated functions that Sukuna thought little of. He wouldn't begrudge anyone for making use of any and all advantage they could get their hands on. After all, those who fought fair were not really giving it all they had. That said, a lot of the things explained to him seemed... unnecessary.
First of all, he had no use for extra-protection as he already had Reverse Cursed Energy and Cursed Augmentation – the latter of which also granted him enhanced strength and speed, likely more so than the Power Armor itself. And most of the sensory functions were easily replicated by using Cursed Energy as a medium of transmitting and absorbing battlefield data. He also didn't need to breathe if he really didn't want to, though it'd be uncomfortable; so, he had no need for an oxygen supply, either. Of course, a helmet would be nice. But, in general, he had no use for most of this stuff. Heck, Sukuna could go the extra mile and make Cursed Tools of his own. Kenjaku certainly taught him to do that. He'd never done it before, but how hard could it possibly be?
The second thing on his mind was that... the Emperor never said that he had to wear this, right? As far as Sukuna could remember, the Emperor was content to just leave him be as long as he conquered worlds and whatnot. The armor was unnecessary. However, it didn't have to be. Also, he was no longer interested in listening to the Tech-Priests. "Alright, I'd like you to make a few changes."
"Of course," The Tech-Priest said. Sukuna already forgot the guy's name, but it was long and annoying. "What changes would you like to implement, Prince Sukuna?"
Prince... yeah, he wasn't getting used to that anytime soon.
"Well, for starters, how about we remove all the things that I don't need and work our way up from there." Sukuna said, reaching out to touch the holographic projection, which responded to his touch. Human technology was honestly amazing. These Tech-Priests venerated machines and, in doing so, perfected their use. There were hundreds of them, actually, crawling all over his world, combing over the technological finds and advancements of his people. A bunch of them started spouting some religious nonsense about heretic machines, but Sukuna was quick to remind them that this world and everything in it belonged to him. He allowed them to study and even take a few samples, but they held no authority over his people or their technology.
Fortunately, they were quick to lower their heads and move on, which was good because Sukuna had not been feeling very patient or understanding at the time and would've slaughtered them all. After all, they weren't technically humans anymore, were they? But, since they started no trouble and killed no one, Sukuna couldn't legally cut them down – not without causing trouble himself.
"What did you have in mind, Prince Sukuna?" The Tech-Priest asked.
"Let's maybe start by making it smaller and thinner; I don't need to cover every single part of me," Sukuna began. "And, then we can..."
He then enumerated every single thing he wanted to remove, until he was pretty much just left with the helmet and a bunch of armored plates and the muscle exo-suit that was supposed to be underneath all of it, which – in itself – provided almost no protection. At his urging, the Tech-Priests scrapped the existing design altogether and this was when things turned... interesting, at least, for Sukuna.
"This would fall into the realm of innovation, Prince Sukuna," The Tech-Priest said, shaking his head as he eyed the designs Sukuna came up with, which he'd based entirely on the previous suit of Powered Armor. It was smaller and lighter, and offered lesser protection, and lacked much of the technological suites that other Powered Armors contained, such us an HUD or a mini-map of the surrounding areas, and all the other functions that Powered Armor was supposed to have; what it did have, however, was pure focus – power in droves. Without all the trifles that other Powered Armors have, including those used by other Primarchs, nearly all the power could be diverted into the weave of external muscle fibers, granting its wearer an explosive amount of strength and speed at will.
The design was 300% more energy efficient than every other Powered Armor. The excess energy could even be discharged to unleash bolts of electricity, powerful enough to fry a large Grox to ashes, once or twice every hour. With a bit of brainstorming, the Tech-Priest was able to come up with a method of generating energy within the Powered Armor itself through constant movement. The more its wearer moved, the more energy was generated and the more could be discharged. And that was exactly where things turned interesting.
"What have I done..." The Tech-Priest whispered. "This is innovation, Prince Sukuna, and innovation is techno-heresy. I've designed something entirely new."
"Did you, really?" Sukuna raised a brow. "It seems to me like you've simply gathered up pieces of existing technology and mashed them together to create something that works. That's not innovation; it's just ingenuity. It's human nature. Innovation would mean you came up with something no one's ever seen or conceived before."
"But-"
"And, let's face," Sukuna pressed. "If you could come up with this design, then surely someone else must've done it at some point before you, right? All they had to do was combine stuff that already existed, the same way the first humans combined a rock and a stick to create a spear."
Sukuna was pretty sure that the nonsense he spouted was just nonsense, but it seemed like he'd struck a chord with the Tech-Priest, who nodded slowly. Truth be told, he was just curious if he could, in fact, influence others using his Primarch Aura, the very thing that gave him unnatural charisma and presence. Sukuna found, however, that it could be tuned to convince people to believe even the most outlandish and most illogical things, even plant false memories and beliefs if necessary. He didn't need it against his own people and Sukuna was pretty sure it wouldn't work against fellow Jujutsu Sorcerers and 'Psykers'. But it worked on just about everyone else, including this poor little Tech-Priest.
"I understand, Prince Sukuna," The Tech-Priest finally relented. "It is not innovation, merely ingenuity. Give me some time to finalize the design; there are parts that could be more efficient, pieces that I believe are better off removed or replaced. A week should work well enough for the finalization. And a month of fabrication."
"Very well," Sukuna shrugged. "You have all the time you need. I'm not in a hurry anyway. Send a message or something when you're done with the final design; I'd like to see it for myself."
"I understand, Prince Sukuna," The Tech-Priest said. "What of your preferred weapon? Would you like me to customize one for you?"
"Eh," Sukuna shrugged. He already had the Trishula. But, ultimately, he had no real interest in weapons. Nothing was nearly as interesting as engaging one's enemies in hand-to-hand combat. Or cutting them up with Dismantle and Cleave. "I don't need one."
"Understood, Prince Sukuna." The Tech-Priest bowed.
"I'll be on the bridge," Sukuna said, turning away. "Send a message when you're done."
Having a space-worthy vessel entirely to himself was a strange thing to think about, honestly. It'd been a full two years since the Emperor's arrival and now... he was on his way to conquering his first world, leaving behind his world in the hands of the High Priests and the Jujutsu Sorcerers. Weirdly enough, Sukuna actually trusted those guys to keep things in order during his absence. Their faith was strong and, more importantly, real. To disappoint their god was the highest sin, especially since Sukuna really didn't ask them for much, all things considered.
"A whole world to conquer," Sukuna grinned. "Millions- no, billions of little rats to kill."
Briefly, he wondered what they might look like.
Of course, Sukuna was ecstatic, excited beyond belief. Because he'd never gone up against a whole planet before, inhabited entirely by some alien race he'd never heard of, which meant he was free to unleash all his powers, without having to worry about collateral damage. Sukuna was pretty sure that the Emperor more or less decided that every single world assigned to him did not belong to humans, which was fair. Instead, Sukuna was tasked with securing the worlds overrun by aliens and other dastardly things that deserved no mercy, which was nice, because he had none to give.
As exciting as it might be, however, Sukuna had not anticipated the travel itself would be so... boring. There was nothing to do in the meantime. The Space Marines, who carried his gene-seed and now amusingly referred to themselves as the Devourers, were busy training in the Training Halls. Even from where he stood, Sukuna felt the spikes and dips of Cursed Energy as the Space Marines tried their damned hardest to figure out the use of their Innate Cursed Techniques. Some, like the Five Captains were training with Loras and Yamamoto in the formation and creation of their domains, having already mastered their Innate Cursed Techniques. But each and every single one of the Space Marines were now reasonably capable of using Reverse Cursed Energy to heal themselves and, at times, each other.
That'd be a very useful skill in the battles to come. It meant they wouldn't have to worry too much about injuries. But, once again, Sukuna didn't care too much on whether they lived or died. What mattered was that they did what they were supposed to do and did nothing to hinder their plans.
Sukuna made his way to the bridge, a few of the Astartes greeting him as he passed them. They referred to him as 'sir', but he felt it in the rolling torrents of Cursed Energy inside them that they would very much prefer to call him father. But they hadn't earned that just yet. Perhaps, eventually, Sukuna would recognize them as more than just underlings when they achieved something truly great. But, until that time actually came, their relationship would remain strictly professional, even if he'd memorized all their names.
Sukuns yawned as he walked into the bridge, where the naval experts stood and saluted him as he entered. He did not respond or reply. Instead, he walked up to the captain, who essentially managed his ship for him – swell guy that one. No nonsense, nothing. "Any changes?"
The captain, Loktar Shahid, a pale and hairless man with black eyes, shook his head. "None, Lord Sukuna. We're proceeding as predicted. Five days before we exit the Immaterium."
Sukuna sighed. "Ah, well, not like I expected anything different would happen."
He then walked towards his own seat, a throne that was situated right above the captain's seat, giving him a full view of the bridge itself and every function in it. Sukuna figured it was meant to give him a measure of knowledge as to how the ship was controlled. But he already memorized everything five days ago and now... he was just bored. He already knew everything there was to know about the planet they were headed towards, which wasn't much. It used to be a human colony, before it went dark during a period known as the Age of Strife. During this time, it was overtaken by a hostile alien race. No addition information about the aliens, fortunately, because that was the sort of thing that was better left as a surprise. Beyond that, the planet itself was covered in lush jungles with trees that supposedly grew to be hundreds of meters tall and filled with fauna so hostile that it was a miracle a colony was ever established there.
He'd already finished reading everything there was to know about the Imperium, too, including the boring bits like its organization and bureaucracy, even its history. The Imperium of Mankind's history was the most interesting bit. Much of it was propaganda bullshit, of course, but, in every lie, a sliver of truth lingered. For instance, he knew that the Emperor was surely powerful enough to conquer Earth. The rest of it was likely embellished. Surely, the Emperor did not personally kill a million combatants on his own? He could, Sukuna had no doubt about that, but he didn't seem like the type to do that. And, as far as he could tell, the Emperor truly loved humanity – as a whole, at least.
"Prince Sukuna," Captain Loktar called out to him. "We've received an official message from the Emperor himself. You are to be accompanied by one of your brothers for this conquest."
Sukuna raised a brow. He knew about his supposed siblings, but he never really took the time to learn more about them, aside from their names and the names of their legions. "Which one is it?"
"Prince Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the Luna Wolves."
"Ah, the bald guy."
AN: Chapter 20 is up on (Pat)reon!