The Deceiver didn't know how to become a god of the Warp, but the Void Dragon had been studying the Warp sixty million years ago. That bastard had secretly hoarded a large number of souls from the universe's living beings and Necron souls back then. He must have long known what was necessary to become a god of the Warp.
The Deceiver did this not because it benefited him in any way; he simply believed that if the Lord of Change didn't set a trap for him, then The Deceiver naturally had to set a trap for the Lord of Change. That's what makes it fun.
The Deceiver imagined the expressions on the faces of those false gods in the Warp when they were bewildered by the Void Dragon, that bomb.
While pondering in his mind, The Deceiver looked at Trazyn and the others, who were fleeing within the World Engine.
A cunning smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. As a celebration of his impending reintegration, he would play a game of cat and mouse.
Within the Warp, the Lord of Change watched The Deceiver begin to hunt Trazyn and the others, a cunning smile gracing his lips.
Go play a game of cat and mouse, little stellar parasite.
Although the Lord of Change had checked thoroughly several times and found no trap laid by The Deceiver in that technology,
the Lord of Change was certain that The Deceiver couldn't possibly not dig a pit for him.
The Deceiver's credit was so bad that, whether in the real universe or the Warp, even a shared bicycle would transform into a robot and beat him up.
Given this, how could the Lord of Change not dig a pit for him as well?
The Lord of Change spent a long time subtly hypnotizing the fragments given to The Deceiver.
He injected a hidden command into those fragments: to make him obsessed with hunting down those who pursued Saint Doraemon, to make him offend Saint Doraemon, and to use Saint Doraemon's hand to eliminate him.
The fewer tricksters in the galaxy, the better.
However, the Lord of Change felt a bit regretful; he genuinely liked The Deceiver.
It wasn't due to the camaraderie between fellow tricksters, but because The Deceiver was beautiful.
Could a C'tan also possess such a well-built physique?
The muscles on The Deceiver's body were truly beautiful. If it weren't absolutely necessary, the Lord of Change genuinely wouldn't want to see such well-defined muscles torn into fragments.
But, there was no choice.
The Lord of Change sighed.
The World Engine was torn apart by roaring light and fire. The Deceiver let out a sharp, eerie laugh, tearing apart the surrounding living metal corridors with his claws while pursuing Trazyn and the others, who were rapidly fleeing within the World Engine.
"Damn it!" Thor growled.
The Deceiver displayed his extraordinary abilities. Within the entire World Engine, all Warp teleportation, Pocket Dimensions, and phase shifts were locked down by him. He only left a small area at the edge of the World Engine, allowing Thor and the others to teleport away.
In other words, this was a game. As long as Thor and the others ran fast enough, they could escape from The Deceiver's grasp.
"How did this bastard become even stronger than before? How many fragments has he fused with?!"
Trazyn gritted his teeth, pulled several Hyper-Dimensional Cube Labyrinths from his pocket, and hurled them towards The Deceiver.
The Hyper-Dimensional Cube Labyrinths burst open.
First, a Tyranids hive Tyrant emerged from the labyrinth. This creature, with a massive, shimmering azure brain, was directly in The Deceiver's path. The moment it appeared, it sensed the threat emanating from The Deceiver and unleashed a powerful Psyker pulse, strong enough to easily tear apart Space Marine Librarians, towards The Deceiver.
Next was Khorne's gigantic daemon Engine, the Lord of Skulls. This war machine, a fusion of a Bloodthirster and a Hellforged daemon engine, let out a piercing battle cry. Its lower treads shrieked and twisted, propelling its upper body, a crimson armored warrior, to swing its battle-axes at The Deceiver.
Finally, a Tau Imperium KX139 Ta'unar Supremacy Armour. This Tau battlesuit, standing on the ground, opened its weapons, quickly aiming at The Deceiver charging towards it—
The hive Tyrant's Psyker pulse had not even touched The Deceiver before it dissipated into a series of fireworks. The Deceiver instantly altered the atoms that composed its body, and in the blink of an eye, the hive Tyrant was reassembled into a giant, blue-glowing light bulb.
The Lord of Skulls received the same treatment. The external daemon Engine was instantly reshaped into a constantly spinning carousel. The Bloodthirster was suppressed by the forces of the material world within the carousel, forever spinning and rocking.
Meanwhile, the Tau KX139 Ta'unar Supremacy Armour stood on the ground, aiming its twin tri-axis ion cannon and multi-barreled pulse driver array at The Deceiver.
"Warning, in the name of the Greater Good, you must immediately—"
Bang!
The Deceiver charged directly into it. This heavy battlesuit, the crystallization of Tau Imperium technology, forged to counter Imperial Knights and even Tyranid Behemoths, was instantly shattered into pieces, scattering in all directions. The Tau Imperium pilot inside was also burned to ashes by The Deceiver's body heat in an instant.
"Purely material universe entities of this level are not worthy of huffing at me."
The Deceiver sneered. C'tan truly had been out of the galaxy for too long. Wearing such inferior technological iron lumps, without even a trace of Warp power, and they dared to huff at him? They were truly lawless.
Watching his collection instantly torn apart, Trazyn felt his suspicions confirmed. The Deceiver was much stronger than before; he had crossed a boundary and was beginning to transition from a fragmented state to aggregation.
If left unchecked, the C'tan Deceiver would once again return to the mortal world.
"Which shameless bastard gave him so many fragments?"
Trazyn grumbled. Fortunately, they were now approaching the edge of the World Engine.
Surprisingly, The Deceiver actually followed the rules of the game and truly did not obstruct any teleportation technology here.
Zandrekh reacted the fastest. He subtly waved his phase cloak, and in the blink of an eye, he enveloped everyone present and instantly teleported them back to Zandrekh's flagship.
"Successfully escaped?" Thor asked, panting slightly.
Logically, such an escape should have made him feel dishonored, but facing the power emanating from The Deceiver, Thor didn't believe it was an enemy that could be resisted. Forcing himself for honor would only lead to meaningless sacrifice.
"No, that bastard was just toying with us. Now he's probably..." Trazyn looked out the viewport with horror.
Half of the World Engine exploded, and like an embryo completing its incubation, The Deceiver emerged from the World Engine. His burning, star-like golden, agile body grew massive, even surpassing the size of a planet, standing like a colossus in the Syndus System.
That cunning face mockingly laughed at the surrounding Human and Necron ships, smashing his massive, muscular arm into them.
Several Necron fleets exploded under The Deceiver's iron fist.
This was a crude attack, utterly devoid of technical skill. The Deceiver didn't even use the C'tan's power to alter physical laws, merely striking the surrounding ships like a child at play.
Trazyn felt fear.
"We must immediately withdraw from the Syndus System. This Deceiver is beyond our ability—"
Mid-sentence, Trazyn's voice gradually faded until it was almost inaudible.
He watched in surprise as a familiar signal appeared in the Syndus System.
A smile couldn't help but curve on Trazyn's lips.
"No, never mind what I said. There's no need to run."
Trazyn's words caused everyone to pause slightly.
Just then, a voice suddenly echoed in the ears of everyone in the Syndus System.
The voice was so clear, as if it traveled along the very framework of space, directly to their ears.
"Trazyn!"
"You old geezer, be eternally grateful to me!"
"I've come to save your life again!"
"This is..." Zandrekh recognized the voice.
"People always tend to put us on par, considering us equal entities,"
Trazyn said with a smile:
"But in fact, this is a serious misconception."
"I must admit a fact: although his taste, his personality, and his achievements are far inferior to mine, his mind surpasses mine by an immeasurable degree."
"Everyone, whether Human or Necron, look up and behold the power of the greatest mind of the Necron will be displayed before you."
Orikan the Diviner stood in the void. His energy collection ports unfolded like the petals of a rose at dawn and dusk. Red pulses erupted from his metallic body, and his reactor roared, cyclically channeling energy through his body with an efficiency far surpassing any other Necron in this world.
The coolant, almost like blood for the Necron, had long since boiled away, and his body was consequently shrouded in a faint green mist.
This Astromancer seemed completely oblivious to the changes happening to him, merely raising his head and gazing at the almost infinite expanse of stars before him.
The trajectories of the stars were reflected in his eyes, just as they were reflected in the eyes of the Necron named Orikan sixty million years ago.
That short-lived mortal existence, short even among the short-lived Necron, gazed at the stars, seeing the flow of energy among them. It was the scorching heat from the universe's birth. Although all things had cooled, that scorching power, the primordial energy that determined physical laws, had not disappeared; it had merely diffused into every corner of the universe, becoming its eternal background.
Later, that short-lived Necron was fortunate enough to follow the Silent King Szarekh and see the C'tan. With just one glance, he became certain of one thing: the energy that constituted the C'tan was of the same origin as the primordial energy that constituted the physical laws of the universe.
A brilliant idea emerged in his mind, and a magnificent program was born in his tumor-compressed brain.
However, the time allotted to him was too short, and that brilliant mind did not have the chance to turn that program into reality.
But wisdom did not vanish; the wisdom of that Necron Orikan was passed into the mind of the Necron Orikan.
And Orikan made that program a reality.
The trajectories of the stars gradually achieved a certain harmony. The primordial energies that determined physical laws flowed between the stars, and for a moment, as brief as could be, those primordial energies surged like a tide, no longer merely a background.
But that moment was too fleeting, so brief that almost everything in the universe could not perceive it, so brief that the magnificent energy did not even have time to affect the universe before it subsided. But Orikan seized that moment.
"Now, the stars have returned to their correct positions."
"I shall ascend!"
A biting cold wind swept across this desolate, icy planet. Its gravity, roughly 0.6 times that of a normal planet, was insufficient to capture a thick enough atmosphere. The thin air constantly churned with cold winds, kicking up loose dust from the surface.
Planet Duat-8, the Imperium of Man's designation for this world, instantly appeared in the Silent King's mind.
The name Duat came from an ancient Terran civilization, one that seemed to have been influenced to some extent by the Necron civilization.
The word Duat, in that civilization, meant the Underworld.
Underworld.
The Silent King, holding the spear that glowed with an undying flame, scanned his surroundings with his emerald eyes.
He could have used orbital weapons to tear this planet apart in an instant, but Cegorach, that clown god, had used a stratagem to destroy his flagship, the Annihilation Song, and with it, many of his prized weapons.
Most of the weapons he carried were better suited for single-combat, and the few means capable of instantly destroying a planet were too wasteful, considering the so-called "Saint Doraemon" was unlikely to be killed by a simple orbital bombardment.
Thus, the Silent King chose to ascend to the battlefield arranged by his opponent in an honorable manner, even at the risk of his spear still being in cooldown.
Szarekh's will solidified.
No, why would he make such an irrational move?
He could have remained in the void, waiting for his spear to finish its fifteen-minute cooldown before landing on this planet. Even if the opponent attacked him in the void, void combat was clearly more advantageous for the Necron than for humans.
How could he be so foolish as to directly land on this planet?
He had even used phase-teleportation technology to directly transport himself to this planet.
Had Cegorach's trick affected his mind?
No, that's not right, besides Cegorach's influence…
The Silent King's expression darkened slightly.
He detected faint bird calls whispering insidious advice in his will.
He noticed a surge of crimson battle intent erupting within his will.
He perceived that his sense of honor had, for some unknown reason, intensified.
He also realized that his thought process had become somewhat stagnant and sluggish.
These were influences from the Empyrean; each individual influence on the Silent King was minor, but cumulatively, they pushed the Silent King to make a wrong decision.
Not to mention that the Silent King, as the pinnacle of Necron machine bodies, inherently possessed extremely powerful Warp resistance.
Just his Dais of Dominion, beneath his feet, could generate a powerful anti-Warp field by drawing power from the C'tan.
Yet, even so, the Silent King was still subtly affected by the Warp without realizing it.
This demonstrated how powerful the forces influencing the Silent King from the Warp truly were.
Surely, those humans hadn't invited a Void God from the Empyrean to influence him?
Upon closer thought, it was indeed possible.
Those entities in the Empyrean were the archenemies of all living beings, and they had even used treachery to force the Emperor onto the Golden Throne, turning him into a paralyzed old slab of salted meat. But the Saint Doraemon's flexibility, and cunning comparable to The Deceiver and Cegorach, might well allow him to enlist a Void God to aid them.
But this was, after all, a duel in the material universe; those Warp specters could not decide the outcome of this war.
The Silent King's will stirred slightly, and a Pocket Dimension suddenly opened beneath the Dais of Dominion.
Countless Scarab Swarms, burning with terrifying energy, surged out of the Pocket Dimension, continuously self-replicating as they spread like a tide, engulfing the surrounding land.
These Scarab Swarms were linked to a fragment of the C'tan known as The Deceiver, which the Silent King had collected.
The Deceiver's will had been torn into many tiny fragments and implanted into these Scarab Swarms; in essence, these Scarab Swarms were all part of The Deceiver's body.
This allowed them to carry The Deceiver's mental plague. Any sentient being that so much as touched the energy emitted by these endless swarms would become infected with The Deceiver Iash'uddra's mental plague, their consciousness torn apart, reduced to madness in boundless agony.
The endless swarm instantly covered a third of Duat-8.
Just then, through the Scarab Swarms' sensors, the Silent King saw a figure on the desolate horizon.
It was a beautiful golden man, clad in dazzling golden Power Armor, standing at the boundary of heaven and earth. His golden hair, veiled by silver chains, harmonized with the sky, like a small morning star fallen to the ground.
He is still so beautiful…
The Silent King thought with a hint of admiration.
If the entire human civilization held any value for the Silent King, it was in giving birth to Sanguinius, this perfect and beautiful being.
Even now, having become his sworn enemy, the Silent King still cherished their friendship.
Sanguinius on the horizon turned his head, and the Silent King was momentarily stunned.
He… he felt Sanguinius' eyes looked a bit dull, as if his twenty-first chromosome had failed to separate during meiosis, resulting in three twenty-first chromosomes in his body.
Then, more Sanguinius appeared.
Beyond the horizon, more Sanguinius emerged.
They were all like the first Sanguinius the Silent King had seen: dull-faced, seemingly without self-will, as if they were merely clay sculptures with a similar appearance but lacking the true spirit.
These listless Sanguinius densely formed a wall on the horizon, blocking the endless swarm.
Then, these Sanguinius began to run.
Their running posture was so strange, so abstract, so comical.
Their arms swung up and down, their strides were enormous, and combined with Sanguinius' tall physique, it looked like countless golden worms writhing their bodies, as if they had no bones or muscles to support them, and beneath their skin was soft, powerless clay.
Sanguinius in this state made the Silent King, who was reminiscing about his friendship with Sanguinius, pause for a moment.
In that moment, the Scarab Swarms and those Sanguinius collided.
Beneath the skin of these Sanguinius, there was indeed brown clay.
The moment the Scarab Swarms collided with them, the bodies of these Sanguinius were torn apart, and sticky clay splattered everywhere.
At the same time, the Silent King confirmed that these things had no will; The Deceiver's mental plague had no effect on them—
And within the bodies of those "Sanguinius," amidst the clay, were numerous spherical metallic pellets.
The moment the Scarab Swarms tore apart their bodies and dug through the clay, these metallic pellets, using their inherent stickiness, adhered to the Scarab Swarms.
The Scarab Swarms that were coated with the metallic pellets froze for a moment, and then the Silent King lost control of them. They, in turn, began to attack the Scarab Swarms that had not been coated, simultaneously sticking the metallic pellets onto more Scarab Swarms, and a large number of Scarab Swarms were converted.
The Silent King's expression darkened; this situation was completely unexpected.
He knew about the Saint Doraemon, or rather, the human known as Alexander, and was aware that he claimed to be the original power of all things, the original power, one of the three divine aspects of the Omnissiah, a Mechanical God.
But he had never expected that he could actually invade and completely control the Silent King's creations.
Moreover, the Silent King couldn't even decipher the principle behind those metallic pellets.
More importantly, the Silent King felt targeted.
Those Scarab Swarms were connected to The Deceiver and could be considered part of him. As more and more Scarab Swarms were controlled, The Deceiver in the Silent King's Pocket Dimension also began to stir.
Szarekh did not hesitate. He waved his arm, tearing open a rift in the Pocket Dimension, and hurled The Deceiver towards the galactic rim. Simultaneously, he instantly activated the backdoors within the Scarab Swarms that had not yet been controlled.
A continuous series of explosions erupted on Duat-8, as all the Scarab Swarms self-destructed, leaving behind charred craters on the ground.
Just then, Szarekh heard the sound of the thin atmosphere being pierced.
He abruptly looked up, only to see a colossal machine giant, a blend of red, blue, and white, with ox horns, like a child's toy, flying towards Szarekh from the horizon with raised arms, closing in on the Silent King in the blink of an eye.
The Silent King's eyebrows twitched slightly; he sensed it…
Saint Doraemon… Alexander was inside that giant toy robot.
With almost no hesitation, the Silent King raised the spear in his hand, the one that had shattered the Burning One.
The spear had just been used against Cegorach, and most of its energy had not yet recovered, but it could still use some of its effects.
For example, the Silent King could use this spear to tamper with the metallic shell of that toy robot, causing it to directly collapse.
This attack originated directly from the deepest structures of the world; no matter how hard the material, it could not…
Hmm?
The Silent King paused in confusion.
How could this be?
The Silent King completely failed to comprehend the situation before him.
But no matter how he tried to verify, he always arrived at the same conclusion:
Through the spear's observation, that robot simply did not exist in this world.
Just then, the red, blue, and white machine also reacted.
With a righteous stance, the giant robot stood in the sky. He raised both mechanical arms, upper arms extended, forearms folded inward at a 60-degree angle, palms and forearms taut in a straight line, pointing towards the glowing crystal on the robot's forehead, forming a perfect equilateral triangle.
Sharp light burst forth from his forehead—
On the deepest structural level of the world, that robot did not exist, as if it fundamentally had no place in this world.
Or rather, the materials it used, the principles it operated on, and the knowledge required for its construction were all completely unrelated to this world.
But if that were the case, how was this thing built? And how could it operate and exist?!
The Silent King felt his knowledge being severely humiliated at this moment.
But the giant robot did not give him time to think.
The robot precisely formed its arms into a triangle, and a sharp beam of light burst from its forehead, a piercing, dazzling light blade shooting towards the Silent King.
The Dominus Regalia's defense system automatically activated, and a temporal field was applied near the Silent King. This field could slow the flow of time, turning all dangerous attacks into a snail-like crawl.
But even when slowed, the light blade's speed was still incredibly fast. The Silent King seized the brief moment provided by the temporal field, quickly manipulating the Three Saints Monoliths standing on either side of the Dominus Regalia to block it.
One of the Three Saints Monoliths, shimmering with emerald light, directly intercepted the light blade. This Necron construct, designed to protect the Three Saints Council, was capable of restraining and absorbing the energy of a star, yet upon collision with the light blade, it was instantly sliced through with a deep cut that ran from top to bottom.
The Silent King almost simultaneously moved another Three Saints Monolith in front of him. The Burner C'tan Shard, restrained behind the Dominus Regalia, let out a mournful shriek.
This C'tan Shard was the largest fragment of The Burning One, reaching the level of a Supreme C'tan, but it was now being exploited by the Silent King as a battery.
An annihilation beam shot from the Three Saints Monolith, forming an emerald pillar of light that surged towards the robot standing in the sky.
The robot crossed its arms as a shield; the annihilation beam, drawing power from The Burning One, struck its arms, leaving only a layer of charred black marks.
But this scene slightly reassured the Silent King.
Its attacks could be resisted, and it could also be harmed by the Silent King's attacks.
Then the Silent King would surely achieve victory.
In about seven minutes, the spear in his hand could operate at full power again, at which point he could directly bypass the robot's defenses and completely tear apart Alexander's existence.
Time, time was on the Silent King's side.
The Silent King was also confident he could endure these seven minutes. Although his Dominus Regalia lagged behind Alexander's robot in both defensive and offensive dimensions,
In one aspect, the Silent King believed he held an absolute advantage.
That was energy.
Such powerful constructs as Alexander's robot and the Silent King's Dominus Regalia consumed astronomical amounts of energy.
And the Silent King's energy came from the largest fragment of The Burning One, containing almost infinite power.
Alexander's robot must have also used some powerful, unknown energy source, a fusion of many technological advancements, but in the material universe, what kind of energy could compare to a C'tan Shard?
Looking at the energy meter, the titanic robot's energy had been depleted by a full quarter after that last Titanic Flash.
Alexander quickly pulled four AA batteries from his pocket, opened the battery compartment inside the titanic robot's cockpit, and replaced the four partially depleted AA batteries, ensuring the Titanic had ample energy for the upcoming battle.
[Item Name: titanic robot Assembly Kit (3rd Anniversary Deluxe Enhanced Edition)]
[Origin: 22nd Century Earth — Future Department Store]
[Production Date: 231.M3]
[Function: The ultimate giant robot assembly kit for boys, the best-selling in its category for three consecutive years in the 22nd century, now available in a deluxe enhanced edition. It appears as a cardboard box filled with many parts; upon opening, it requires two to three days to assemble. It stands approximately sixty meters tall, weighs one hundred thousand tons, and outputs thirty million horsepower. Once assembled, it requires four AA batteries for power. Without changing batteries, it can fly continuously for over ten hours, swing its fists continuously for five hours, and using the Titanic Flash from its forehead consumes a quarter of its battery life per use.]
"Note: This product has upgraded horsepower output and added the Titanic Flash function, but due to excessively high energy consumption, it experiences overheating. Furthermore, due to a flaw in the heat dissipation system, heat accumulates in the cockpit, leading to several children suffering from heatstroke. It is now on sale at a 70% discount, available only to adult customers."
The titanic robot, along with the clay robots molded into the likeness of Sanguinius and the mechanical cores hidden within the clay robots, were all tools Alexander had prepared to deal with the Silent King.
It was truly fortunate that this titanic robot (3rd Anniversary Deluxe Commemorative Edition) had a design flaw, making it cheaper than the original version without thirty million horsepower output and the Titanic Flash. Otherwise, the money required for this robot alone would have been enough to make the fundraising Roboute Guilliman vomit a thirteen-meter-tall pillar of blood.
The titanic robot's figure flashed; this massive robot displayed a speed completely unbefitting its size, instantly soaring to the Silent King's front.
A pair of iron fists broke through the air, smashing towards the Silent King's face. Thirty million horsepower directly ignited the planet's thin atmosphere into a dazzling orange-red blaze. The fierce wind from the punches, even before contact, caused the surrounding ground to crack and disintegrate, and the bodies of the Two Saints beside the Silent King also swayed.
The Three Saints Monolith rose from the ground, blocking the titanic robot. Heavy punches collided with it. Under Alexander's control, the titanic robot rapidly and continuously swung its fists at the Three Saints Monolith.
The Three Saints Monolith, already scarred by a deep gash from the Titanic Flash and not yet recovered, immediately developed several more cracks.
At this moment, the Silent King also manipulated another Three Saints Monolith, aiming it at the crystal on the titanic robot's forehead that released the Titanic Flash.
The sound of wings flapping suddenly echoed in the thin air.
Sanguinius' figure appeared in the sky. He gently closed his eyes, feeling his body lighter than ever before.
The wound Horus had left on him still hadn't truly healed; that wound was like a rope, always connecting him to the gods, and the gods were always unwilling to let go.
But now, the wound felt almost no pain. Slaanesh and Nurgle had withdrawn most of their power, while Tzeentch and Khorne had secretly reduced their influence.
And so, Sanguinius opened his golden eyes.
Magnificent Psyker power surged like molten pure gold; the might of the Empyrean flowed through the angel's body into the real dimension. Even the anti-Warp field created by the Silent King's absorption of C'tan power could not completely isolate it.
Two angels, wearing one golden and one red mask, appeared simultaneously beside Sanguinius. The golden one was Sanguinius, and the red one was Meros, whose soul Sanguinius had liberated not long ago.
These two Blood Angels, almost living saints, circled Sanguinius, while Sanguinius, holding the Red-Stained Sword in one hand and the Spear of Accomplishment in the other, dove down from the sky.
The Silent King sensed the dangerous aura from Sanguinius and hastily redirected his aim, pointing the emerald-glowing Three Saints Monolith at Sanguinius in mid-air.
Sanguinius wielded the Spear of Accomplishment; intense Psyker light emanated from the teardrop-shaped spearhead, like a tear from the Empyrean falling into the real universe, colliding with the annihilation light released by the Three Saints Monolith.
The annihilation light and Sanguinius' Psyker power collided. Sanguinius' wings gently flapped, and a power completely defying physical laws pushed through, cutting open the annihilation light, with the spearhead pointing directly at Silent King Szarekh.
The Two Saints beside Szarekh moved like puppets.
Radiant Hapsalast raised his Staff of Stars, and a series of neutron rays stabbed towards Sanguinius.
Mesophet the Shadow then leaped up, wielding the Scythe of Ash, vowing to burn Sanguinius into a plasma cloud.
Sanguinius advanced with his sword, helping Sanguinius block the neutron rays shot by Radiant Hapsalast.
And Meros, holding a spear, conjured a crimson flame that clashed with Mesophet the Shadow, who wielded the Scythe of Ash.
Silent King Szarekh tightly gripped his spear in one hand, while in the other, he held his usual weapon, the Sceptre of Eternal Glory.
That scepter guided the power of The Burning One behind him, and a torrent of fierce flames, capable of burning through the real universe and igniting the Warp, surged towards Sanguinius.
The Spear of Accomplishment and the Sceptre of Eternal Glory intertwined.
"How pathetic. I suggested countless times that you become the leader of your race, but you refused out of humility."
"Now, it has led to us, who were once close friends, turning our blades against each other."
The Silent King said with some sorrow.
"I also advised you many times to read more and think more, so you wouldn't be deceived by the swindlers in the galaxy again."
Sanguinius said softly:
"But you obviously didn't listen to me. However, not everything is beyond redemption now."
"Lay down your weapons, Szarekh."
"I will never compromise; I am saving my race," Szarekh's tone was cold and resolute.
"What a coincidence, I am also saving your race and my race," Sanguinius' eyes were filled with sadness.
Just then, the Three Saints Monolith blocking the titanic robot finally shattered with a crash after a series of punches and a round of sharp Titanic Flashes from the titanic robot.
Under Alexander's control, the titanic robot once again raised its arms, pointing its fingers towards the crystal on its forehead, forming a standard equilateral triangle.
The Titanic Flash sharply shimmered in mid-air, aimed at the Silent King.
At the same time, behind the Silent King, Roboute Guilliman, who always wore the Blind Spot Star, revealed himself. The fiercely burning Emperor's Sword in his hand was unsheathed, blocking the Silent King's escape route, its blade aimed directly at the Silent King's head.
But the Silent King remained unhurried, merely raising the spear in his hand quickly.
Fifteen minutes had passed; the spear's metal casing instantly opened, revealing the slender crystal within.
Crimson tongues of fire rose from the void, and the primordial creation scene, hidden behind the cosmic background since the universe cooled, reappeared in the world.
Warm, scorching, like the womb that nurtures all matter, it spiraled, completely enveloping Orikan and surging into his mechanical body.
The matter that constituted his existence, his will, and his body was instantly returned to pure energy—the energy that determined the physical laws of the universe, served as the skeleton of the real universe, and also formed the bodies of the C'tan. Bathed in this energy, Orikan ascended.
"That's... how is that possible?" Zandrekh watched the scene before him in disbelief.
"Isn't the role of a genius mind to transform the impossible into the possible?" Trazyn chuckled, gazing with Zandrekh at the spectacle among the stars.
Orikan had vanished into the void, followed by an intense solar storm. Zandrekh's fleet, the human fleet, and even the World Engine all shook violently in this solar wind.
Looking out, the darkness between the stars was gone, replaced by energy light, like silk, rippling throughout the entire Syndus System. The distant stars glittered behind the light bands, seemingly transmitting their energy to the Syndus System, and the destination of that energy...
Zandrekh's heart pounded a few times.
He had once heard rumors that Orikan possessed a certain technology that could transform himself into light.
Now, Zandrekh finally understood the truth of that rumor.
It wasn't a transformation.
It was an ascension.
A Necron had, at this moment, completed an ascension, becoming the very entity that had once destroyed and enslaved their race.
After an unknown number of eons, a brand new god was born in the material universe.
"If the Silent King had believed Orikan instead of me back then, this would have been the future of the Necron race," Trazyn said.
An infinite sense of transcendence enveloped Orikan.
The energy of the universe surged into his dry body, transforming his confined material form into a pure tide of energy.
Though only for a brief moment, he was now a complete transcendent, more entitled than the shattered gods to claim to be a deity of the material universe.
But the accompanying "divinity" almost drowned Orikan's existence.
That "divinity" was not noble; it held no vitality, only greed; no pride, only arrogance.
Orikan's connection to the universe was so intimate that he could not distinguish himself from this world. Looking out, all things, all beings, all thoughts seemed so small, pathetic, trivial, and ridiculous.
Those pains, those struggles, those prides, those fears, those excitements seemed to have become a ridiculous footnote in the cold universe, their only value to stir a little pleasure in his eternal and lengthy thoughts.
Beyond this, a larger, overwhelming emotion was pain, an unspeakable pain.
Orikan looked out, at the zodiac of the universe, the dimensions of reality, the overlapping stars.
Wounds, horrifying wounds, plagued their world.
The universe itself was riddled with holes, reality became fragile and unbearable, and most of the infinite dimensions were submerged by the tides of Chaos. Twisted tendrils devoured galaxies, one after another.
Beside him, constantly twisting and changing birds, eternally stagnant rotting flies, bloodthirsty and crazed hounds, and lust-hungry venomous snakes were feasting on reality, and behind them, on that twisted, ugly, decaying, chaotic ovum, four similar entities were screaming in terror, eager to be born into this world.
That dark sun was poised, ready to emerge from the womb of the Empyrean, bringing utter destruction to this world.
And in the distance, he saw the tentacles of the gods crushing worlds between different dimensions, one after another.
He saw the Everchosen in black armor and a golden God-Emperor fighting until both fell into oblivion.
He saw the Dragon piloting a treasure ship, leading his people away from a collapsing world.
He heard the Dragon on the treasure ship let out a mournful sigh: "When Yin and Yang are balanced, heaven and earth unite; when Yin and Yang are reversed, heaven and earth are denied. With Yin and Yang in disarray, there will be no peace in all realms..."
He then turned his head to the past, seeing the roaring flames in the bio-furnaces, seeing the C'tan devouring the souls of the Necron.
Watching this scene, he felt not an iota of hatred, only boundless hunger, a desire to join the feast.
He, he looked at the War in Heaven, and in a flash, he understood.
The War in Heaven was a true war.
It was not between the Old Ones and the Necron, the Old Ones and the Necron, the Old Ones and the C'tan...
Rather, it was a struggle between the dimension of reality and the Warp; reality and the Warp fought across infinite dimensions, and their universe, this galaxy, was the decisive battlefield for the two dimensions, where they fought through the hands of the Old Ones and the C'tan.
But the ultimate result was that the Warp became something extremely terrifying, while reality was defeated and ravaged into its current state.
Reality was in agony, and this pain spread to him, urging him to devour the surrounding souls.
A figure suddenly appeared in his consciousness—the figure of a Necron, holding an astrological staff, vague, incomplete.
It gently extended a finger, pointing him to the moment the bio-furnace ignited.
He followed the finger and saw the two figures that fell into the furnace together.
His gaze stopped on a tall, thin figure.
He seemed to recognize that figure, that fellow.
From past to future, from life to death, he seemed to be arguing with that old rival at all times.
He could no longer remember the name of that old rival, nor his face, but... but he seemed to remember that fellow's cunning, playful voice.
"Old geezer..."
Following that voice, he barely grasped a bit of self, grasped existence itself, and remembered the name of that old rival.
Trazyn, Trazyn, Trazyn...
It was not the first time he had ascended to this form, but the sense of transcendence brought by the ascension still almost crushed his original existence.
He no longer remembered his name, his existence, and his memories had become blurred, remembering only the name of his old rival, Trazyn, and thereby temporarily regaining a bit of his purpose.
The bands of light circling among the stars immediately condensed into a faint humanoid figure. His body flickered with points of light, as if reflecting the stars.
He looked towards the center of the battlefield, towards the hot and energy-filled entity entrenched in the center of the galaxy.
His kin, a C'tan.
Syndus was swept by the shimmering light bands, and reality itself intersected like a thousand overlapping prisms. In the shifting light, all human and Zandrekh's fleets were thrown into a safe zone outside the Pariah Nexus, while he lunged at The Deceiver on the World Engine.
The Deceiver saw the light bands surging towards him, saw the vague figure within the light bands, and the playful smile on his lips suddenly froze.
He recognized what it was.
It was his kin, a C'tan, a young C'tan, a complete C'tan.
How could this be?
That scorching pastoral era had ended ten billion years ago; the hot womb that could once nurture C'tan no longer existed; reality, once composed of pure energy like the Empyrean, had long since cooled and settled into a cold material dimension.
In such an environment, how could a new C'tan possibly be born???
Was that Orikan?
The Deceiver identified the Astromancer.
The ascension that Zellars had yearned for had, at some unknown point, been completed by Orikan?
He had already transformed from a Necron into a true C'tan.
Although he was the youngest among their kind, he was also the only complete one besides the Outsider.
If The Deceiver had gathered all his fragments and returned to completeness, becoming a true C'tan, he certainly wouldn't mind teaching this young kin a lesson, and then devouring him.
But The Deceiver was, after all, only a fragment now, and the gap between a fragment and a complete C'tan was even greater than the gap between a fragment and a mortal.
The Deceiver was now struck by immense horror, and a sudden realization dawned on him: he had just done something foolish.
Why did he provoke these Necron and humans?
He had already climbed to the top of the separation parabola, speeding towards aggregation. He only needed to hide, and he would have ample time to aggregate more fragments. Why stir up trouble here?
Why?
Lord of Change!!!
The Deceiver let out a sharp, mad laugh. He realized the trap that the Lord of Change had laid for him.
The fragments he had aggregated into his body had been hypnotized, influencing The Deceiver to provoke Saint Doraemon.
"What a Tzeentch! This galaxy truly never lacks excellent deceivers!"
The Deceiver let out a heartfelt sigh:
"But there are too few fools and too many deceivers in this galaxy. In the end, it's always deceivers tricking deceivers, deceivers entrapping deceivers, deceivers turning deceivers into fools, and sometimes fools turning into deceivers. But in the end, who is the fool and who is The Deceiver is yet to be known!"
The Deceiver suddenly waved his arm. Although as a complete C'tan he knew it would be difficult to escape, doing nothing and waiting for death was not his style.
A wormhole was torn open by The Deceiver. This wormhole led to the cold void beyond the galactic rim, and The Deceiver attempted to escape there.
The Deceiver still felt uneasy, his figure flickered, instantly shrinking to quark size, and he plunged into the rift.
The scene before him instantly flowed and changed, but when The Deceiver opened his eyes, he found himself still standing in the Syndus System.
Not only that, The Deceiver's will reached out to the stars in all directions, but the stars had vanished. The entire universe contained only the Syndus System, and countless Syndus Systems extended in all directions.
These Syndus Systems interlocked like atoms, forming larger matter, creating a larger Syndus System. These larger Syndus Systems, in turn, converged in the same way into even larger Syndus Systems.
And when The Deceiver looked into the microscopic realm, as far as his eye could see, there were no atoms; all matter was composed of smaller Syndus Systems.
From the microscopic to the macroscopic, from the immediate to the infinitely distant, everything was the exact same Syndus System. These Syndus Systems were all fundamentally one, and no matter how The Deceiver tried to escape, he could only escape from one Syndus System to another.
Could he really manipulate the Aether and physical laws with such skill? Was he truly just born?
Endless wisdom surged from his consciousness. Millions of years of research and learning had long since made him adept at manipulating the Aether, toying with time, and bending physical laws. What he had always lacked was sufficient energy.
Now, draped in the body of a C'tan, he could unleash his brilliance without limit, pouring out the concepts that had once only existed in his mind onto the broken canvas of reality.
His conception of reality was so magnificent.
It even attracted the attention of Vashtorr, the Creator in the Empyrean.
Before Vashtorr, a blasphemous planet was suspended. Everything on this planet was composed of roaring machinery, steel, pipes, and factories, presenting a scene of a mechanical demon world.
This planet had many names: Dragonwood, Engine of Discord, Old One Artifact, Caliban, Key.
But Vashtorr knew the true nature of this artifact: it was a tool used by the Old Ones to tear the continuity of space-time, to excavate the Webway between the Warp and reality. It was also the key to unlocking the Old One's secret vault and obtaining the 'weapon,' a necessary step for Vashtorr to ascend to godhood.
Vashtorr was busily assembling this artifact, frantically pushing his computing power to understand the wisdom of the Old Ones.
But even with such busy work, when Orikan unleashed his wisdom across the stars, manifesting those miraculous concepts throughout the universe, Vashtorr was still captivated.
He was, after all, the demigod of inventors, engineers, scientists, and artisans, representing creativity stripped of morality, a quest for knowledge pushed to dark extremes. Curiosity was one of his innate instincts.
He craved knowledge, creation, and to transform the insane ideas in his mind into true reality.
From this perspective, Orikan's actions perfectly aligned with his preferences.
He cast his gaze from the Soul Forge, passing through the endless, nested Syndus System, and, using the power of the Warp and the Old One Artifact, saw the scene within.
The star in the Syndus System had already extinguished, and the very structure of the universe had dissolved into pure energy. The bands of light wrapped around Orikan drew upon this energy, which had dissolved the entire star system, and transformed into blades that cut through The Deceiver's body.
The C'tan's living metal skin was easily torn, and molten energy roared out, carrying the primordial heat of creation, incinerating the current universe.
The Deceiver struggled, condensing a zero-dimensional point in his hand. The surrounding matter and energy collapsed towards him. He wielded this singularity and smashed it towards Orikan's body.
But Orikan merely waved his hand lightly, and the zero-dimensional point instantly unfolded into a two-dimensional plane, then expanded into a three-dimensional cube in the blink of an eye, which Orikan casually tossed aside.
He used light as claws to tear open The Deceiver's metal body. The living metal boiled into dissipating steam, revealing The Deceiver's original energy form.
The Deceiver seemed to plead, attempting to manipulate Orikan with words and lies, but it had no effect.
Orikan tore apart his energy-flowing body. The partially aggregated C'tan was instantly ripped into shattered fragments.
He picked up each fragment with his fingers, like a vampire, extracting all the energy from within, and then swallowed the energy-drained fragments into his own body.
Vashtorr watched this scene and let out a soft sigh of admiration.
He roughly discerned some of the principles of Orikan's ascension, marveling at Orikan's wisdom and talent.
It was a pity that this path was completely different from his own, could not achieve what he craved, and thus could not serve as a reference.
At the same time, Vashtorr also felt a slight sense of relief.
Such a genius Necron actually pledged allegiance to Saint Doraemon, to Alexander.
If Alexander had intended to contend for the great position of the Malicious Art, Vashtorr's path to godhood would have been exceedingly difficult.
But the good thing was that he was very clear that becoming a god was not a good thing and had no interest in it whatsoever.
To become a true Chaos God would also mean that he would be the first sacrifice on that god's altar.
If not for his own desires, Vashtorr would not pursue godhood.
Just then, Vashtorr noticed that in the Duaht System, not far from the Syndus System, a rift had pierced the reality dimension, and the very things that constituted the world itself had been altered.
A powerful tearing sensation ran through Orikan's body. The moment he swallowed The Deceiver, Orikan felt hundreds, even countless, voices whispering and roaring in his will.
Those were the lingering wills of the C'tan previously swallowed by The Deceiver, and fragments of the souls The Deceiver had consumed.
These two intertwined, constantly trying to tear apart Orikan's will.
The Deceiver's voice began to echo in Orikan's ears, softly whispering, attempting to drown Orikan.
This was The Deceiver's final deception, and his only thought for survival.
He wanted to trick Orikan, to make Orikan believe he was The Deceiver, to accept The Deceiver's will, and become The Deceiver.
In this way, The Deceiver could be reborn in an alternative manner, as a newly formed, complete C'tan.
The Deceiver's will began to seep into Orikan's will, bit by bit, attempting to corrupt his will.
The lingering wills of the C'tan and souls devoured by The Deceiver also began to surge towards Orikan's will. Under The Deceiver's murmurs, they developed the same impulse as The Deceiver.
The Deceiver's murmurs became increasingly urgent. His will had already seeped into the area of Orikan's self-governance. By twisting this part, he could make Orikan believe he was The Deceiver.
But this was also the most difficult step; it required answering the question of 'what am I?'
"Two point masses, m1 and m2, are undergoing uniform motion, rotation, and vibration while sinking at velocity A into a standard Pocket Dimension model. Calculate the dimensional momentum, Szarekh quantity, and Szarekh equation for these two point masses."
Orikan's will spoke calmly.
A question mark slowly appeared on The Deceiver's forehead.
"Import five Old One standard equivalents of Warp energy into a Blackstone Pylon, and push this Blackstone Pylon into the void between reality and the Warp to traverse star system C at velocity A. Determine the change function of reality strength and Warp strength within star system C."
"This is a simple spiral system model, 22 trillion light-years in diameter, containing 689 billion stars. This spiral galaxy is beginning to merge with the Milky Way at velocity A. Please calculate the trajectory of every star, planet, moon, and asteroid within it."
"In which bookshelf and behind which book in the Necron Grand Archives is Trazyn's small imperial book from his student days hidden?"
"Within a dimensional helical pipeline, energy changes linearly with time."
Hundreds of thousands of questions suddenly surged before The Deceiver, and The Deceiver immediately froze.
Damn it, this was Orikan's way of confirming his self? Thousands of questions encompassing every aspect of Necron technology, and far exceeding Necron technology, if he could answer these questions, then he could prove himself!
Would a normal Necron use this method to confirm his self?
Only those who can answer these questions are me?
The Deceiver himself was not particularly skilled in knowledge and technology among the C'tan; in other words, he was the liberal arts student among the C'tan.
If he were in his complete state, he would still have enough wisdom to answer these questions, but he was now fragmented, and his power had been swallowed by Orikan. And the knowledge of the C'tan, except for the Void Dragon, that science student, all came from their own power.
At this moment, The Deceiver's mind had become a muddled mess; he could at most answer one-third of these questions.
And there was that series of C'tan consciousness fragments behind The Deceiver, scratching their heads; their wisdom was also fragmented, and even combined, they would struggle to answer these questions.
But at this moment, The Deceiver was somewhat surprised to realize that a will he had swallowed was answering Orikan's questions at an increasingly rapid pace.
That was the will of Zellars, the Necron. The will of this bio-transference founder had been stolen and swallowed by The Deceiver, used by The Deceiver to impersonate him.
At this very moment, he had answered nearly half of Orikan's questions, steadily approaching the core of Orikan's self-awareness.
Orikan's will slightly lifted, looking towards Zellars' will.
"We have similar concepts, similar views, similar pursuits."
Zellars said to Orikan's will:
"Our race once endured the short, painful lives of mortals, and then ascended to immortal existence."
"Although the urge to return to flesh and blood bodies always persists, if we truly follow the Silent King's desire to reverse bio-transference—"
"Then what would it feel like when immortal beings are once again bound by transient, perishable flesh?"
"Could they avoid falling into madness and maintain sanity during the process of reverting to mortals? Would their self-awareness completely collapse as a result?"
"The path of our race has always been only one, and that is to continue to ascend. For sixty million years, I have always pursued that path."
"I never thought that you also pursued the same goal as me, nor did I think that I would die before achieving that goal, and even less did I think that you could achieve our pursuit." Zellars' voice was mixed with various complex emotions like regret, pain, joy, and satisfaction.
But, Orikan's will showed confusion.
"Pursuit?"
"When did I ever pursue godhood?"
"No, I ascended to godhood simply because I could do it."
"The first moment I saw the C'tan sixty million years ago, I understood what kind of beings they were, understood how they were born, and conceived the method of ascension."
"Isn't this something that is self-evident and within my reach?"
"What is that expression? Why aren't you speaking? Speak!"
The Deceiver could perceive that Zellars' mind had completely collapsed at that very moment.
His mental defenses were utterly breached.
At the same time, Zellars' mental collapse also made Orikan realize that Zellars was not him.
Orikan's self was thus stimulated and suddenly awakened. The wills of The Deceiver and the others were instantly overwhelmed by Orikan.
This newborn god instantly awoke. He opened his eyes, wielding golden ribbons of light, coiling the surrounding molten living metal, and little by little sculpted a slender humanoid body for himself, then crammed his vast, entirely energy-composed body into it.
Orikan's will slowly stabilized, and then he also sensed that, in the nearby Syndus System, the most fundamental constituents of the reality dimension had been altered.
Massive energy was continuously consumed, and The Burning One let out a miserable wail. The Silent King drew a sharp straight line, cutting directly through the things he could not understand but were all about Alexander, tearing them fiercely in half—
But at this moment, the Silent King noticed something strange.
Beneath reality, at the fundamental source of all existence, those words, those settings, everything was a indifferent of black and white. Color only existed in the things they described, unable to describe or define their existence.
But... but those words symbolizing Alexander, that line of text, those things,
were a bloody crimson, as if bathed in fresh blood.
And when the Silent King's long spear cut through that line of text, attempting to cleave Alexander fundamentally in half,
nothing happened at all??
It was as if Alexander had been marked as an unkillable, indivisible existence from the very foundation of the world.
The Silent King was completely incomprehensible.
[Item Name: Ziggs Flybath Fluid]
[Origin: 22nd Century Earth — Future Department Store]
[Production Time: 271.M3]
[Function: An item created based on the legend of the hero Ziggs, who bathed in dragon blood and became immortal. After bathing in the blood-like bath fluid from the bottle, one will gain an immortal body for thirty minutes, with only a small leaf-shaped vital spot on the back.]
Alexander's skin was slightly flushed, as if soaked through with blood. This item from the 22nd century could grant a person near-absolute immortality.
Even if the long spear in the Silent King's hand was capable of slaying a C'tan, he would still have to obediently go around Alexander's back and pierce the leaf-shaped vital spot on his back to harm him. Any other form of attack would be unable to harm Alexander within these thirty minutes.
As for after half an hour...
"Let me stretch my legs!"
Alexander smiled slightly, gripping the titanic robot's control sticks, and stretched his legs in the bathtub within the titanic robot's cockpit. The bathtub contained bubbling crimson liquid, and on the edge of the tub were more than ten bottles of Ziggs Flybath Fluid.
Just as the Silent King was bewildered and confused, the blade-like Titanic Flash had already reached him, and at the same time, the attacks of Sanguinius and Guilliman arrived simultaneously.
The Titanic Flash, the Spear of Accomplishment, and the Emperor's Sword were all just a hair's breadth away from touching the Silent King.
But it was just that tiny, imperceptible bit.
Whether it was the Titanic Flash, the Spear of Accomplishment, or the Emperor's Sword, they all continued to thrust towards the Silent King, but no matter how much they advanced, they always remained just a tiny bit away.
Beneath the Silent King's Command Throne's C'tan hide cloak, a series of glowing green metallic lines, like circuits, were shimmering brightly.
This was a Necron artifact preserved by Szarekh, the 'Spatio-Temporal Discontinuity Eliminator,' whose effect was to eliminate the discontinuity of the world, causing the space-time around the Silent King to lose its minimum spatial dimension.
Even humans, whom the Silent King considered insufficiently intelligent, realized the paradox of continuous space-time at the dawn of civilization.
If space-time were a continuous space-time that could be infinitely divided,
then if a rope were cut in half every day, it would never be exhausted.
If a lamp flashed once a minute, then once every half minute, then once every fifteen seconds... then the lamp would flash countless times within two minutes.
If a person walked a thousand meters, they would walk five hundred meters the first time, two hundred and fifty meters the second time, one hundred and twenty-five meters the third time... and so on, never reaching the goal.
The reason such situations do not occur in reality is because space-time in reality is not continuous; it has a minimum distance.
And this Necron artifact in the Silent King's hand erased the continuity of space-time around him, causing the Titanic Flash, the Spear of Accomplishment, and the Emperor's Sword to fall into Zeno's paradox of dichotomy, forever unable to truly touch the Silent King.
The C'tan The Burning One behind the Silent King let out a mournful wail. Such a powerful Necron artifact naturally required immense energy; even the unquenchable bright flames on The Burning One's body thinned by a layer in an instant.
This was a triumph of Necron dimensional and temporal technology, encompassing the Necron understanding of dimensions, space-time, and infinity. No civilization in the entire universe could surpass the Necron, unless a complete C'tan were resurrected.
But how could that be? All C'tan except the Outsider had been shattered, and the Outsider had become completely autistic, floating on the outskirts of the galaxy, unable to perceive the outside world or be affected by it.
At this moment, the Silent King was in a state of almost impenetrable defense.
He sneered, twisting the long spear in his hand and thrusting it towards Roboute Guilliman beside him.
Although the spear's energy had been heavily consumed just now to divide Alexander's existence, making it unable to unleash an attack of that intensity for fifteen minutes, lower-powered attacks could still be used.
Almost instantly, the Fate Armor on Guilliman inexplicably rusted, and a hole opened up, exposing Guilliman's skin. At the same time, Guilliman's flesh began to rapidly decay.
The Silent King's recent spear thrust had increased the entropy on Guilliman, causing his body to rapidly become disordered, collapse, and rush towards chaos.
Guilliman looked calmly at the Silent King. His originally light-colored eyes instantly ignited with intensely burning golden flames, and his decaying body was simultaneously enveloped in golden flames, instantly restoring him to his original state.
Everything else besides him faded in an instant; all things became slow, stagnant, and dim.
The Emperor's Sword changed direction and fiercely stabbed towards the Burner C'tan Shard behind the Silent King.
No matter how the Silent King manipulated his Necron artifacts, those artifacts could not be used without relying on energy, and The Burning One was the Silent King's energy source.
At this moment, a thin curtain woven from light burst forth from the Silent King's body. This curtain dispelled the dimness and stagnation around him, instantly enveloping himself and the Burner C'tan Shard, pushing Guilliman and Sanguinius backward.
When the immense Warp energy from the two Primarchs struck that thin curtain, it was like stones falling into water; they could cause splashes, but they could not break through the surface of the water.
"Webway?" Guilliman, whose entire body was burning with golden flames, moved his lips slightly, recognizing what the curtain enveloping the Silent King was.
The material of that curtain was the same as the material used by the Old Ones to create the Webway, possessing an extremely strong ability to isolate the Warp, even surpassing the Necron's Blackstone. Moreover, this Webway curtain had just been generated, making it more robust than the Webway sections that had been ravaged by time and long exceeded their planned lifespan by the Old Ones.
Even excluding its effect of resisting Warp energy, the physical strength of this curtain was terrifyingly high.
In a short time, even Guilliman and Sanguinius would be unable to tear this curtain apart with Psyker or physical force.
This was not a Necron artifact this time; this was an Old One artifact captured during the War in Heaven, the 'Personal Webway Generator,' a tool used by the Old Ones when exploring the Warp alone.
At this moment, the Silent King had made up his mind: he would hide in here for fifteen minutes, then use the long spear in his hand to try and eliminate Sanguinius or Guilliman, and then continue to hide for another fifteen minutes, repeating the process.
At the same time, he also didn't believe that Alexander could truly resist the spear's effect indefinitely. He must have used some method to protect himself, but the Silent King didn't think this method was flawless. If he dragged it out, he would surely find his weakness.
Although it was a bit inglorious, the Silent King's reason now overcame his desire for honor. He was determined to wear down Alexander, Guilliman, and Sanguinius to their deaths.
The Silent King believed that this was certainly not him chickening out; he still had several powerful Necron artifacts he hadn't used. Even if a complete C'tan stood here, the Silent King would still have the strength to fight.
He had simply chosen the most efficient method; it was absolutely not because the God-slaying long spear in his hand had been rebuffed, causing him to chicken out.
"..Hmm?" The Command Throne's detector sent a signal back to the Silent King—a high-energy signal, one the Silent King hadn't seen in a full sixty million years, had entered the Duaht System and was flying towards Duaat-8 at an extremely fast speed.
That was, the reaction of a complete C'tan...
By the stars above, had the damn Outsider come alive?!
The Silent King's first reaction was that the Outsider had broken free from his autistic state and begun to act again, after all, only this one complete C'tan could possibly suddenly appear among the stars.
But the detection results transmitted from the star systems he had deployed near the Outsider indicated that the Outsider was still autistic, with no signs of movement.
"A false signal?"
"A human trick?"
"Could a new, complete C'tan really emerge?"
The Silent King couldn't help but murmur to himself.
"What's impossible, Szarekh!"
The voice came along the spatial Veins, covering the entire Duaat-8.
Bright light flashed, and the entire sky of Duaat-8 was like it had been bombarded by a solar storm, enveloped in a blazing orange-red aurora.
And within that aurora, a slender figure composed of living metal hung its head, staring down at Szarekh on the ground.
The shape of that head resembled a human skull, with orange-yellow flames constantly pouring from its eyes, and around its cheeks, a crown that unfurled like flower petals echoed the massive metal tail coiling around its body.
Although the Silent King's eyes told him it was a C'tan, and his sensors also confirmed it was a C'tan, the Silent King still judged from some of the body's stylistic elements.
"Orikan?"
The Silent King's voice rose slightly:
"You actually succeeded, transforming yourself into... a C'tan?"
"I succeeded long ago," Orikan's voice was clear and bright: "It's just that you didn't choose this future for me, nor were you willing to believe our race could forge a future."
"Ghost of the Lord of the Necron, the Silent King Szarekh, who presumptuously claims to be the Lord of us Necron, I have come to kill you!"
A fierce solar wind blasted down from the heavens, bombarding the Webway curtain that enveloped the Silent King.
But the Silent King's expression remained unchanged. So what if Orikan had ascended to become a C'tan?
He was only a newly born C'tan, and even The Burning One had expended considerable effort to tear through the Webway back then.
At least, for at least fifteen minutes, Orikan would be unable to tear through the Webway curtain, and by then, the Silent King could easily tear his existence apart with the long spear in his hand.
Clang—
Suddenly, the Silent King saw a golden ring being thrown into the sky.
The titanic robot threw its hand upwards with force, launching a golden ring into the air.
The Silent King's sensors told him that it was just an ordinary metal ring, nothing special about it.
Precisely because of this, the Silent King hesitated for a moment, fearing it was a trap, a lure to draw him out of the Webway's curtain, so he didn't react in time.
And in that moment of hesitation, the golden ring had already been captured by Orikan's gravity manipulation and fell into his hand.
Then, Orikan's figure instantly transformed into a raging ball of fire, smashing directly into the Webway's curtain that surrounded the Silent King.
The curtain rippled and vibrated intensely, but even the power of a C'tan could not instantly pierce a new Webway curtain. The Silent King was absolutely certain of this; it was his confidence in his enemy's creations.
Towards the end of the War in Heaven, the stars dimmed, and the Old Ones retreated to the galaxy, relying on the fortresses formed by the Webway to withstand the C'tan's attacks, until The Burning One burned through the Webway, and only then did the war enter its final stage.
And Orikan's power at this moment was far inferior to The Burning One's; he couldn't possibly—
Orikan reached out his hand from the fire and clapped the golden ring onto the Webway's curtain.
Then, a hole appeared in the Webway's curtain, appearing out of thin air, without any energy reaction, easily penetrating the hard Webway's curtain, as if the hole had always been there, just expanded by the golden ring.
Orikan's slender metal fingers reached through the hole, gripping the edge, and his head peered through, staring at the Silent King with eyes burning with orange-red light.
"Hehe."
"Silent King."
"I'm going to come in now!"
Orikan transformed into a roaring mass of energy and directly drilled through the hole, his face with a playful smile appearing directly in front of the Silent King.
Having just consumed fragments of The Deceiver and seized his energy, Orikan was also involuntarily influenced by a bit of The Deceiver, becoming more amused.
"Don't come in!!!"
The Silent King looked at Orikan, who had suddenly drilled in, and at the mischievous smile on Orikan's lips that was eighty percent similar to The Deceiver's, and instantly felt his PTSD about to act up, involuntarily shouting out.
He abruptly raised the spear in his hand, expending a large portion of his remaining energy, and thrust it at Orikan.
Cracks instantly appeared on half of Orikan's metal body, and vast energy roared and flowed out from him.
Almost at this instant, the Silent King judged that Orikan's state was not complete. Although he was now a complete C'tan, this state could not be maintained for too long.
He must have absorbed a huge amount of energy to reach his current state, and he would naturally collapse when the energy was exhausted.
Furthermore, Orikan had just ascended to a C'tan, so he must not yet be skilled in controlling the aether, and there was still an oppor—
"I said, I already completed the C'tan ascension technology, didn't you hear me?"
Orikan sneered, as if seeing through the Silent King's thoughts:
"What limits me has always only been energy."
The cracks on Orikan's body re-converged, and at the same time, his metal fingers reached out to the Silent King.
The "Spacetime Discontinuity Eliminator" activated, attempting to eliminate the discontinuities in the surrounding spacetime.
But it failed.
Orikan's fingers abruptly tampered with the underlying physical logic of spacetime existence, causing the Silent King's "Spacetime Discontinuity Eliminator" to directly lose its effect, and at the same time, the "Spacetime Discontinuity Eliminator" on the Silent King's back burst out a flash of light and was instantly damaged.
Orikan seemed to want to directly modify the physical laws around the Silent King, but he failed; the spear specifically for slaying C'tan protected the Silent King's existence.
So Orikan used a more direct method to harm the Silent King, his highly concentrated, high-heat fingers began to reach towards the Silent King.
The high-heat energy directly began to melt the Silent King's body; even the skin enveloped in C'tan epidermis began to melt and disintegrate as Orikan approached.
The Silent King did not hesitate, instantly thrusting the spear in his hand into himself.
The Silent King's figure, along with the Dais of Dominion, vanished in an instant from Orikan's sight.
The Silent King's figure flashed, appearing at the other end of Duaat-8.
He had just used the spear to alter his position in this world, changing his coordinates to the other side of this planet.
But the Silent King knew that hiding on the other side of the planet would not escape Orikan's pursuit; he was only briefly staying here to present a small gift to Orikan and Alexander.
After casually dropping this Necron artifact on the ground, the Silent King once again raised the spear and thrust it into himself, and in the blink of an eye, he had transferred to the planet Duaat-3, which was further away from Duaat-8, looking at Duaat-8 in the distance.
A gravitational whip, millions of kilometers long, violently lashed out from Duaat-8 at the surrounding spacetime and Duaat-8 itself. In almost the blink of an eye, Duaat-8 disintegrated. The atoms in its hard rocky shell were torn apart by immense gravity, electrons roared out, and the entire planet was instantly torn into a blurry string of plasma. The towering mountains that stood in the cold wind also disintegrated in an instant.
That was a super-massive Thermo-gravitic Annihilator, but in the Silent King's eyes, such an attack was only fit to buy time against a complete C'tan.
Gravity is the paintbrush of spacetime; gravity-related weapons can greatly disrupt the physical laws of a region of spacetime, and even most C'tan need some time to sort it out, so gravity-related weapons are relatively effective against C'tan.
This was the Silent King's experience from observing the battles between the Old Ones and the C'tan.
But, but the gravitational whip was dismantled and disappeared in only five seconds, as if it had never existed.
Soon, Orikan's speed was much faster than the Silent King had imagined.
Among so many C'tan, only the Void Dragon was faster than Orikan at dealing with such a large-scale Thermo-gravitic Annihilator.
But five seconds was enough.
Vast Pocket Dimensions unfolded in the Duaht System, with seven dangerous-looking stars brewing and roaring within them.
These were seven bound massive dwarf stars, all on the verge of eruption, but confined within seven sub-dimensions with different physical laws from reality, thus ensuring they would not explode.
But once these stars were released into the real universe, they would immediately collapse and explode.
These seven stars were pushed into the Duaht System, and their immense mass instantly disrupted the gravity of the entire system. The seven stars began to capture each other, intertwining, and the surrounding other planets, asteroids, and the smaller star of the Duaht System were instantly captured, beginning to fall towards the seven stars on chaotic orbits.
And the gravitational field within the entire system also began to become chaotic under the influence of the seven massive stars, with vastly different time flows and spatial lengths at different locations.
But this state did not last long; a helium flash erupted.
The seven stars collided to a massive diameter of nearly a hundred million kilometers, their surfaces turning a fiery dark red, but the surging brightness instantly dyed the entire Duaht System pure white.
Annular shockwaves were hurled throughout the entire system, and dazzling, multicolored matter burned in the void, transforming into vibrant hues.
In an instant, the eight planets of the Duaht System were stripped of their atmospheres by the high temperature and impact, and in the next instant, their surfaces began to vaporize at high speed. Following that, the planets' cores also began to suffer impacts, and heavy metal vapor clouds were ejected into the void at one-tenth the speed of light. Then, all of this instantly turned into ion clouds, radiating in all directions.
But in just the very next moment, these shattered stars and diffused ion streams were all as if pressed by an invisible hand, compressing and condensing towards the center of the system.
Those originally high-heat substances were instantly concentrated and cooled into an extremely massive rocky planet. Such a huge mass should not exist in the world, but C'tan can modify physical laws.
Silent King Szarekh's figure emerged from the layered Pocket Dimensions, standing on this newly cooled planet. The previous impact was too powerful, even tearing spacetime, and the Silent King had to hide in multiple Pocket Dimensions to protect himself.
He slightly raised his head, looking at Orikan, who was reshaping physical laws in the void. His scorching figure was as dazzling as the star of this system.
How skilled, Orikan did not deceive the Silent King; he indeed had sufficient understanding of controlling physical laws and the aether. Previously, only energy had limited him.
Almost in that very instant, the Silent King felt himself pushed to the brink.
But in desperation, by observing Orikan's reactions when he massively altered physical laws, the Silent King finally roughly understood Orikan's method of ascending to a C'tan.
C'tan were born in the superheated furnace at the beginning of the universe's creation, a womb that nurtured all matter and physical laws, and the C'tan were a high-temperature fragment left in that furnace, existing before all matter and physical laws.
Before this, even the C'tan believed that the furnace that birthed them had completely disappeared, but by observing Orikan's actions, the Silent King realized that
That furnace had not truly disappeared; it was merely dormant in the background of the universe, existing as a wave, occasionally surfacing to the macroscopic matter layer, but for an extremely short time, too short to be perceived.
Orikan had clearly seized that brief moment to complete his ascension, and then consumed a large amount of energy to constrain the orbits of the stars, prolonging that brief surfacing, and continuously overlapping the surfacing position with himself to draw power.
But Orikan had made the furnace surface for too long, which also led to the Silent King noticing this.
Although the Silent King could not replicate Orikan's operation, he could.