The fearless resolve displayed by Eden, the Lord of Hope, silenced the Necrontyr Phaerons and nobles.
Their logic matrices stirred with emotions they had never experienced before.
The Lord of Hope was willing to go this far for the Necrontyr. Did he truly have no fear of death?
The Necrontyr were a species that feared death. Their terror of mortality and desperate desire to survive seemed engraved into their very genes.
Long ages of suffering beneath the curse of disease had gradually twisted their collective psyche, robbing their species of many precious virtues.
They had abandoned their flesh in pursuit of eternal life, only to lose their souls as well and become trapped in endless regret.
Yet even when faced with eternal emptiness, most Necrontyr still could not bring themselves to relinquish their existence.
Even the Silent King had once said that immortality was a nightmare, but it was still far better than never having lived at all.
That was the fundamental nature of the Necrontyr, particularly those of the highest ranks.
They found it difficult to act as humans did, risking everything for faith or the future of their species, even to the point of sacrificing their own lives.
The Necrontyr codes of honor contained countless provisions forbidding nobles from harming one another during war or executing prisoners.
Yet whenever their interests came into irreconcilable conflict, they tore those provisions apart without hesitation and employed the cruelest methods imaginable against one another, all in the name of survival.
At some point, true heroes had become increasingly rare among the Necrontyr. So too had kings like the Emperor, rulers willing to shoulder every burden for the sake of their species.
Nor did they possess fearless warriors like the defenders of Cadia or the Death Korps of Krieg.
Most Necrontyr merely carried out commands issued by their superiors, orders they had no power to refuse. Meanwhile, the higher-ranking Necrontyr devoted themselves to struggles for authority and endless calculations concerning their own survival.
This became even more apparent after they lost their flesh and souls.
The Necrontyr became cold beings of living metal, relying upon their logic matrices to make whatever decision best served their individual interests, without the influence of emotion.
Under those circumstances, no other high-ranking Necrontyr facing the same situation could have made the choice the Lord of Hope had made.
His decision lay beyond the comprehension of their logic matrices, making the sight all the more astonishing.
In short, biotransference had robbed the Necrontyr of many precious virtues in which living beings took pride. The few heroes they still possessed had been reduced to dust in ancient wars, buried in the deepest reaches of history and memory.
Yet now, the Lord of Hope had shown them something called courage.
Something called trust.
Their logic matrices surged as long-dormant emotions returned and grew ever stronger.
"When did the Necrontyr forget these things? What have we been doing for the past tens of millions of years?"
"The body may perish, but conviction must never break. That is what it truly means to be Necrontyr..."
"The Lord of Hope possesses everything we long for. He is the king worthy of our allegiance, the true sovereign of our species.
"As for Szarekh, he is unworthy!"
"A new hope awaits us!"
The Necrontyr suddenly remembered that they, too, had once revered such courage.
Once, they had trusted one another rather than relying upon cold command protocols.
Their living-metal bodies trembled as though they were weeping, even though they no longer possessed tears.
Those emotions spread with astonishing speed, surging outward like a great tide.
With Eden deliberately encouraging them, their influence expanded even faster. The Necrontyr began questioning themselves and everything the Silent King had done.
With only a few sentences, the Lord of Hope had sent the entire Necrontyr race spiraling into profound self-reflection.
"My noble kin, will you choose to stand beside me?"
Eden raised his head and looked at the particle-whip arrays looming ever closer, ready to fire at any moment.
The emotions of every Necrontyr rose and fell with the dancing arcs of energy.
The tomb flagship lay completely exposed within range of the particle weapons. It could be reduced to ash at any moment.
In the eyes of the Necrontyr, that might send the war down another path from which there would be no return.
They would lose the Lord of Hope.
Eden's body tensed slightly.
This was the critical moment. He had to respond correctly. There could be no mistakes.
Fortunately, history had already provided him with an answer he could copy.
Eden stepped forward. His voice was calm and low as it spread through the transmission network.
"If any among you wish to kill your rightful sovereign, then open fire. The Rameses Dynasty and I shall accept that fate!"
The moment his words faded, the entire region fell deathly silent.
No one opened fire.
Inside the massive tomb ship ahead, the Phaeron who had prepared to attack began trembling. He lacked the courage to issue the command.
Countless Necrontyr behind him were staring intently at his back, their gazes carrying unmistakable warnings.
The Phaeron knew he could not give the order to attack.
He certainly could not bear the title of Kingslayer.
More importantly, the Lord of Hope represented their best chance of restoring their souls.
"T... terminate the attack protocols..."
Summoning all his courage, the Phaeron defied the Silent King's supreme command and shut down the particle-whip arrays.
He could not attack the Lord of Hope.
Across the tomb fleet, the emerald crystalline surfaces containing terrifying concentrations of energy slowly dimmed. Every arc of charged particles disappeared.
Once it was done, the Phaeron activated a phase-translocation device with overwhelming relief.
He and his nobles vanished one after another, then reappeared before the Lord of Hope.
"Lord of Hope, we beg you to forgive the Kask Dynasty for its previous offenses and transgressions. We are willing to follow you..."
The Phaeron and nobles of the Kask Dynasty bowed before Eden and begged for forgiveness.
They surrendered their command protocols without reservation as proof of their allegiance.
It represented absolute trust.
They had placed their lives and wills entirely in Eden's hands, something exceptionally rare even within the Necrontyr Empire.
Necrontyr Phaerons were essentially independent warlords. They never surrendered all their authority to another being.
Whoever possessed those permissions could completely control their fate, even condemning them to eternal dormancy.
Besides, killing a Phaeron and seizing everything he possessed was often more advantageous than attempting to control him.
Given the widespread paranoia and complete absence of trust among the Phaerons, surrendering all one's command authority was almost indistinguishable from death.
Even the Silent King had never obtained the complete command authority of the other Phaerons.
Any attempt to seize it by force would inevitably provoke every Phaeron into resistance, perhaps even cause them to attack him together. Hapthatra the Radiant and Mesophet the Shadowed Hand, his two court "eunuchs" and mouthpieces, would probably turn on him as well.
Yet now, the Phaeron and nobles of the Kask Dynasty had openly surrendered all their authority in response to the Lord of Hope's trust.
It was an earth-shattering act that sent an uproar through the ranks of the Necrontyr elite.
Zabok and the other Phaerons who had been the first to join the Lord of Hope reacted even more strongly.
They were not shocked.
They were overcome with regret and guilt.
Why hadn't they thought of surrendering all their authority first?
Now the Kask Dynasty had beaten them to it. Wouldn't that allow those newcomers to earn greater trust from the Lord of Hope, the new god's sole divine emissary, and therefore receive even more of the new god's favor?
They might have sworn complete allegiance to the Lord of Hope and become fanatical worshipers of the new god, but they had not surrendered all their command authority.
Something was still missing.
The moment Zabok and the other Phaerons realized this, they hurriedly bowed as well. Their voices were filled with urgency.
"W... we are also willing to surrender all our authority to you, proving the purity of our faith!"
To the Necrontyr, the scene was even more explosive than what had come before.
They had never seen Phaerons competing to surrender all their command authority.
What manner of king could inspire such loyalty?
For a moment, the Lord of Hope's image seemed to become even grander.
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
Upon the Dais of Dominion, the Silent King stared at the scene in disbelief.
He practically ground his teeth to powder as he forced out each word.
"This is ignorant manipulation! The Lord of Hope has used his god to control the thoughts and wills of these defiant ones!"
The Silent King was so jealous that he could have undergone plasmolysis, if he had still possessed cells.
He, Szarekh, was supposed to be the sovereign of the Necrontyr, their rightful king by birth.
Why had no Phaeron ever shown him such devotion?
His first instinct was to deny everything.
It was false. All of it was false.
The Lord of Hope, that slave to a new god, was deceiving the Necrontyr!
Beside him, Hapthatra the Radiant and Mesophet the Shadowed Hand fell unusually silent.
Neither dared make a sound.
What if Szarekh tried to restore his dignity by demanding that they surrender all their command authority as well?
The Silent King's gaze swept discreetly across Hapthatra and Mesophet.
In the end, he said nothing.
He knew that the Phaerons beneath him would never surrender all their authority to him. Trying to seize it by force would only make the situation worse.
"Great Szarekh, those are merely the ravings of madmen. They have no idea what they are doing."
Hapthatra quickly spoke up to salvage what remained of the Silent King's dignity, dismissing Zabok, the other Phaerons, and their nobles as lunatics.
After all, prolonged hibernation often drove Necrontyr minds into madness. In such a state, they might do anything.
The explanation was somewhat strained, but it still helped preserve the little authority remaining to the Silent King and the Triarch.
Ever since the Lord of Hope had appeared, their prestige had suffered blow after blow. At this point, they could only maintain it through sheer force.
Hapthatra stared at the Lord of Hope's tomb flagship and accelerated the mobilization of their forces.
The tomb fleets of the Triarch Praetorians would arrive soon.
The other Necrontyr dynasties could no longer be considered reliable. Only the Triarch Praetorians would carry out the Silent King's commands without reservation.
In Hapthatra's view, the situation had not yet become irreversible.
The encirclement remained intact.
Surely not every dynasty would defect to the Lord of Hope.
Then another unexpected development occurred.
The Lord of Hope's voice rang out, gentle yet authoritative.
"My friends, I trust you.
"Take back your command authority. True loyalty needs neither proof nor restraint. Nor does it need to resemble the rule of an incompetent being such as Szarekh, who can establish his authority only through threats..."
The Lord of Hope had rejected the complete command authority offered by the Phaerons.
He did not want it!
The decision left Hapthatra and the others completely dumbfounded.
Emotions surged wildly through the rest of the Necrontyr.
"The Lord of Hope..."
The Silent King, by contrast, regained his composure.
Deep within his emerald eye sockets appeared intense apprehension, along with a trace of fear.
He realized that the situation was about to spiral completely out of control and move beyond his ability to contain it.
Meanwhile, atop the dome of the tomb flagship, Eden firmly rejected the authority the Phaerons had offered him.
His emerald eyes seemed deep and filled with emotion.
That was how confident he was.
More importantly, this was the only way to earn still greater trust.
His true means of influencing the Necrontyr was their faith in the new god.
Faith could reshape the Necrontyr's minds. Threats and forced control could not produce true loyalty from the heart.
If the Phaerons did not genuinely accept him, then even possessing all their authority would not help. They would still obey in public while undermining him in private, constantly searching for a way to escape his control.
Every restraint could be broken.
The only question was whether they could find the right method.
A reawakened C'tan, or some other god from the galaxy or the Warp, could easily break the restraints buried within their logic matrices.
Those restraints had originally been shackles placed upon the Necrontyr mind by the C'tan. Divine power could naturally break them.
Besides, when the C'tan had grown weak and lost control over those shackles, hadn't the united Necrontyr risen against them and shattered them into fragments?
In short, possessing those fundamental command permissions would be useful, but lacking them would not threaten Eden's rule.
He might as well use the opportunity to earn greater trust and spread the new faith more effectively.
Such trust and regal bearing moved the Necrontyr almost to tears, especially now that they could once again experience emotion.
"No! We beg you to accept our allegiance. This has nothing to do with threats or restraints. It is an expression of our absolute trust in you!"
The voices of Zabok and the other Phaerons sounded close to tears as they insisted that the Lord of Hope accept all their command authority.
Whatever the other Necrontyr might think, they were followers of the new god.
They had to demonstrate their complete trust in both their god and his sole divine emissary.
How else could they prove the purity of their faith?
"We feel the same!"
When the Phaeron and nobles of the Kask Dynasty saw that the "local Phaerons" were making such an offer, they hastily presented all their command authority once again.
Eden sighed.
The atmosphere had already reached this point, but he still shook his head and refused them a second time.
Zabok and the others continued to insist.
"Why must you go so far...?"
Only after refusing them three times did Eden reluctantly yield to the Phaerons' repeated pleas and accept their complete command authority.
"..."
The Silent King, Hapthatra, and the others were left reeling by Eden's performance.
You could do that?
The other Necrontyr were even more shaken. They stared at the Lord of Hope's colossal projection in the void with undisguised reverence.
What made a true king?
This was the bearing of a true king!
"King of Hope!"
After a brief silence, one trembling Necrontyr cried out.
More voices swiftly joined it, forming great currents of sound that swept through the surrounding fleets.
Every Necrontyr in the region began chanting the title of the King of Hope.
He was the true uncrowned king whom they had acknowledged of their own free will.
Standing amid the surging tide of adoration, Eden felt his own emotions rise.
Even he had not expected the Necrontyr to acclaim him as king on the spot.
That carried far more weight than Imotekh's title of Storm King, which had begun with praise from humans before the Stormlord quietly issued his own propaganda to spread it.
It even granted Eden greater legitimacy than the Silent King's inherited royal title.
"Advance!"
Eden raised his head toward the region containing the Dais of Dominion.
He slowly lifted his scepter and issued the command.
They had already crowned him. What else was there to wait for?
It was time to charge straight in!
Eden's tomb command flagship accelerated without raising its shields.
The tomb ships along its route moved aside one after another, opening a path. Then they fell into formation on either side of the flagship and followed it forward.
The Necrontyr were welcoming their true king.
Hum.
In a distant corner of the region, a Phaeron who remained loyal to the Silent King secretly activated the spatial weapon aboard his Cairn-class tomb ship.
He intended to strike the Lord of Hope's flagship and immediately flee.
A moment later, countless sensor arrays locked onto his vessel.
The Necrontyr would not allow anyone to harm the King of Hope.
"I... activated it by accident. L... long live the King of Hope!"
The Phaeron nearly pissed himself.
He hurriedly powered down his weapon, lowered his shields, and surrendered all his command authority. Then he began shouting praise to the King of Hope.
Without the slightest shame, he joined the fleet escorting the new king.
The Lord of Hope's momentum had become unstoppable, drawing an ever-growing number of Necrontyr dynasties into his ranks.
Within the Xindu System, a vast tide of tomb fleets surged toward the Dais of Dominion under Eden's command.
The approaching fleets of the Triarch Praetorians tried to stop them, only to erupt one after another into brilliant blossoms of fire amid the void.
"They've rebelled! All of them have rebelled!"
Before the Dais of Dominion, Hapthatra the Radiant finally panicked.
His voice cracked, making the Phaeron sound even more like a shrieking palace eunuch.
They had lost every means of striking at the Lord of Hope...
(End of Chapter)
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