"My god. If we don't find some way to stop the Lord of Hope, everything will become irreversible!"
Hapthatra the Radiant realized that the authority of the Silent King and the Triarch was hanging by a thread.
The Lord of Hope swept toward them like a galactic storm, carrying a vast host of dynastic fleets in his wake.
After witnessing his majesty, the Xindu System's garrison forces either stood aside or joined him, causing his ranks to swell even further.
They destroyed the tomb fleets of the Triarch Praetorians and dismantled the pyramid defense fortresses outside the core region.
Only one final step remained before they reached the Dais of Dominion.
Hapthatra could already imagine what would happen once they entered the core region containing the Dais.
The Lord of Hope's armies would destroy the Triarch's resources, possessions, and authority, bringing its rule over the Necrontyr Empire to a complete end.
Even the Silent King and the members of the Triarch would be surrounded and judged, then torn apart by the enraged rebels.
The Lord of Hope now commanded enough ships in the Xindu System to bombard the entire core region until not even debris remained.
They would not even have a chance to escape through their Reanimation Protocols. Every tomb complex, fortress, and living-metal matrix capable of executing those protocols had already been captured or destroyed by the rebels.
Not even when the Necrontyr had been driven into retreat by the Old Ones, or deceived and enslaved by the C'tan, had the Triarch ever faced such a terrible threat.
"Szare... Great Szarekh..."
Hapthatra looked up at the Silent King, desperately hoping for a response.
But when he met the Silent King's severe gaze, it felt like a bucket of freezing water had been poured over him. Fear surged through his mind.
Even with the Silent King's authority shaken, Hapthatra still did not dare address him by name, much less show the slightest disrespect.
That was not merely due to the intimidation accumulated over countless years.
At present, the Silent King was the only being they could still rely upon.
"Great Szarekh, we require your aid to stop these slaves of a false god and traitors to the Necrontyr."
"The Lord of Hope's fleet is about to arrive. You must make a decision, or they will destroy the Triarch."
Hapthatra the Radiant and Mesophet the Shadowed Hand awaited the Silent King's decision, hoping he could restore his crumbling authority.
Besides, the Lord of Hope had come specifically for the Silent King.
Szarekh could not avoid this confrontation.
"What exactly are you afraid of?"
The Silent King questioned them.
His voice was cold and utterly unquestionable.
"The Lord of Hope cannot destroy us. The Old Ones, the C'tan, and the Aeldari all failed before him.
"They could never defeat me, Szarekh."
The sovereign of the Necrontyr grew increasingly calm.
He had never feared a genuine challenge, and he firmly believed that he would ultimately emerge victorious.
The only question was how long it would take.
"Activate the spoils left behind by the Old Ones. We do indeed require a new plan, one that will allow us to shape a different future."
The Silent King lightly tossed a black ring into the air.
No one could identify the substance from which it had been fashioned. Its mere existence caused space to fold and distort continuously around it.
On closer inspection, one could see that the ring itself contained compressed stars and enormous quantities of spatial energy.
This was the technology once wielded by the Old Ones.
They could reshape the galaxy at will, even concealing entire regions of space and hidden pathways within the gaps between the galaxy and the Warp.
Their work was nothing short of miraculous.
Most surviving relics of the Old Ones were now secretly held by the Silent King. The other dynasties were not even qualified to lay hands upon them.
The sovereign raised one hand.
The ring flew into the void and completely merged with space.
Spatial fluctuations spread outward until they covered the entire region, forming something like a transparent membrane around its perimeter.
"The galaxy will ultimately belong to us, but not today. We possess eternity in which to conquer it."
The Silent King transmitted his will to the two mouthpieces of the Triarch.
He had revised his plan for conquering the galaxy.
"Ah, great Szarekh! Your wisdom shall lead the Necrontyr forward and free us from the corruption of our ignorant kin!"
Once Hapthatra learned of the Silent King's plan, excitement filled him and he immediately resumed his shameless flattery.
They would escape their present predicament and leave behind the traitors and slaves of the new god, opening the way toward a far broader future.
The new plan had already been set in motion.
Using the Old Ones' technological relic, the Silent King established a temporary spatial blockade while preparing enormous tomb fortresses suitable for a long voyage.
Several elite tomb fleets were also clearing critical nodes within the deep-space realm of deep-space mines and other human interference devices.
Once the interference had been removed, the Triarch and the dynasties that remained loyal could leap out of the Xindu System and travel to a vast new region.
More importantly, it meant the Lord of Hope could no longer pose a fatal threat to the Dais of Dominion or the Triarch.
Its members would no longer risk being permanently destroyed.
"Continue your farce, Lord of Hope.
"You usurper, you false king, will never claim the Dais of Dominion. Never!"
With his confidence restored, Hapthatra once again began provoking the Lord of Hope.
"This time, the Necrontyr Empire shall cast off every restraint and purge itself of disloyal madmen. We will carve away the rotting flesh with which you have infected our species!"
What?!
"Holy shit. He even found a way to spin this as a victory. As expected of the Silent King's chief court eunuch..."
Eden was stunned.
The moment he saw the Old Ones' spatial veil envelop the region around the Dais of Dominion, he understood what Szarekh was planning.
That bastard was preparing to pull the same trick a second time.
Just as he had tens of millions of years ago, Szarekh intended to flee the galaxy and rebuild his strength somewhere beyond it.
The last time, the Silent King had claimed that he was exiling himself to atone for his crimes. Then he had happily taken his elite forces beyond the galaxy to avoid the coming disasters, only returning after the Aeldari had declined.
Eden could already invent an excuse for that drowsy old king this time.
They could call it the New Expedition, a grand journey intended to preserve the heart of the Necrontyr race while awaiting an opportunity to turn the tables.
How utterly predictable.
After fleeing beyond the galaxy with his surviving forces, the Silent King would probably begin proclaiming his intention to reconquer the galaxy while waiting for the right moment.
Once humanity and the Lord of Hope had weakened, he would return and start dancing across the galaxy again.
Perhaps Szarekh was even dreaming of letting Eden and humanity destroy each other after his escape, allowing him to reap the benefits.
Unfortunately, that pleasant fantasy was destined to fail.
The Necrontyr loyal to Eden would not fight humanity. They would instead become one of humanity's greatest sources of aid.
That was by far the most likely outcome, unless some power corrupted his children and convinced them to betray him, just as the Primarchs had betrayed the Emperor.
"If possible, it would be best to capture or destroy the Silent King during this war and eliminate the threat once and for all.
"Even if he can't truly threaten humanity, having him sneak back every so often to cause trouble would still be incredibly irritating."
That was Eden's conclusion.
After the Necrontyr dynasties had spontaneously acclaimed him as king, his advantage had become overwhelming.
In a sense, victory had already been secured.
The only remaining question was whether it would be a major victory or a minor one.
He immediately ordered the tomb fleet armada to accelerate and raised a new battle cry.
"Capture the Silent King alive!"
Morale surged throughout the armada. The Necrontyr fleets began chanting the slogan together, filling the Dais of Dominion with a mixture of fear and fury.
Soon, however, Eden's tomb command flagship seemed to collide with an invisible barrier and came to an abrupt halt.
The same thing happened to all the surrounding tomb ships.
The tomb fleet armada had encountered an unknown spatial obstruction.
The vessels continued sailing forward, yet did not move so much as an inch.
They advanced through the same section of space over and over, unable to reach the next spatial node. They were moving forward while remaining in the same place.
Even forcibly initiating a dimensional jump moved them only a tiny distance.
"So this is the Silent King's defense around the Dais of Dominion?"
Eden frowned, causing a knot of living metal to form upon his brow.
This was troublesome.
He had assumed the membrane-like object was some form of force shield.
Any shield could be destroyed. If it could not, then that simply meant they were not using enough firepower.
A labyrinthine spatial blockade like this, however, was far more troublesome. Its sole purpose was to delay them.
Time was exactly what Eden lacked.
By the time his fleet crawled into the core region surrounding the Dais of Dominion, the Silent King would have escaped long ago.
Even if Eden won the war, Szarekh's survival would leave behind lingering regrets and future dangers.
The result would not be perfect.
"Have the Tomb Engineer Association find a way to infiltrate the spatial veil. They must work quickly!"
Eden turned toward Zabok and issued a new command.
Fortunately, more than a century ago, he had used the Kalozasa Dynasty to establish a Tomb Engineer Association. He had also shared humanity's research into Old One technology and other related fields with its members.
The association represented the combined wisdom of two species, together with the assistance of the Machine Goddess.
Eden vaguely remembered that humanity had studied technology resembling this spatial veil. It was related to the barriers surrounding the Webway, though he could no longer remember the exact details.
The Webway was the culmination of the Old Ones' spatial technology, and humanity had already conducted extremely extensive research into its underlying principles.
They possessed more than enough experience to help crack a spatial veil.
The Tomb Engineer Association should be able to find a way through it.
Eden could only hope they worked quickly.
If the Silent King escaped because they took too long, then breaking through the veil afterward would be meaningless.
"So he wants to stall for time? Fine. I can stall too!"
After considering the problem, Eden ordered the human forces to scatter even more deep-space mines throughout the Xindu System's deep-space realm.
They were to deploy every mine available.
If the Silent King wanted to escape, his only viable route was now through deep space.
Eden controlled the Webway. Entering it would expose Szarekh to even more interception forces.
As for the Warp, that could also be considered part of Eden's territory, at least if one rounded things generously enough.
His dark-side alter ego, Diablo, had been watching the Xindu System for a long time. If the Silent King dared lead his fleets into the Warp, Eden would beat the shit out of him.
Therefore, the best way to delay Szarekh was to target the deep-space realm.
Humanity might lack many things, but it possessed more than enough industrial capacity.
They could manufacture as many deep-space mines as they needed.
If Eden had not previously been concerned about preserving future transportation routes, the deep-space minelaying fleets could have deployed far more mines instead of exercising such restraint.
There was no longer any reason to worry about that.
Humanity traveled mainly through the Webway or the Warp and made comparatively little use of the deep-space realm.
At worst, they could clear the mines slowly in the future.
Eden would pack every deep-space hub, major route, and back road with mines.
The Silent King could take his time clearing them.
They would see who could outlast whom.
After issuing this series of commands, Eden began the long wait.
He had done everything within his power.
Now he could only await the final result.
Whatever happened, he was under far less pressure than he had been at the beginning of the war.
The Necrontyr Empire had already fractured completely. Eden had gained control of a vast Necrontyr military force and acquired immense resources from tomb worlds across the empire.
In theory, he could already pop open the champagne.
Under these circumstances, what could the Silent King possibly do to reverse the situation?
Hum.
After an unknown length of time, the Tomb Engineer Association finally transmitted a message.
They had successfully breached the Old Ones' spatial veil.
The veil was a precursor technology to the Webway, and humanity had already conducted relevant research. As a result, the effort to breach it had gone relatively smoothly.
However, because of the limited time available, the Tomb Engineer Association could not destroy it completely.
That would require at least several stellar cycles.
For now, they could only exploit the breach to phase-transport forces inside. Large tomb ships could not pass through.
Put simply, the tomb fleets remained trapped outside, but armies of living metal could enter.
"Regardless, getting inside is good news."
Eden was not particularly surprised by the report.
A spatial veil created by the Old Ones was never going to be easy to destroy. Finding a usable breach was already an impressive accomplishment.
The Silent King had effectively neutralized Eden's numerical advantage in tomb fleets, preventing them from bombarding the core region.
Even so, Eden's forces still held the advantage in numbers, and the encirclement remained intact.
"So this will end in close combat between our forces after all?"
Eden considered the situation.
It would amount to a massive boarding action, a decapitation strike, and an explosive final showdown all at once.
He had to admit, most wars in this universe seemed destined to end this way.
Eden ordered the tomb fleets to maintain the encirclement and blockade outside.
He then led dozens upon dozens of high-ranking Phaerons and a vast living-metal army through phase translocation into the core region containing the Dais of Dominion.
Before them lay a colossal floating tombstone platform crowned with numerous ancient pyramids.
This was the seat of the Triarch.
It had drifted through the void for tens of millions of years, silently ruling the Necrontyr Empire and once commanding the galaxy itself.
"Hm?
"This place is safer than I expected..."
When Eden arrived and stepped onto the black ground, he discovered that the core region contained no attack arrays or weapons platforms.
There were only ancient structures.
That made sense.
This place was the final holy ground of the Necrontyr Empire, roughly equivalent to the Emperor's throne room.
Installing large defensive arrays here would have been redundant.
The Silent King, the Dais of Dominion, and his royal guard already constituted one of the most powerful military forces in the galaxy.
"Great Szarekh, the Lord of Hope has landed!"
Hapthatra swallowed nervously.
Those damned humans had deployed even more interference devices. The deep-space routes would require more time to clear.
The mouthpiece Phaeron feared that the Lord of Hope might reach the Dais of Dominion before their escape route was ready.
Hapthatra had mocked Eden more than anyone else.
That placed him in considerable danger.
The Silent King remained silent, as though he had not heard Hapthatra.
He appeared to be contemplating a decision.
It was another path that could reverse the course of the war, but it was also an irrevocable choice.
Before long, Hapthatra cried out in delight.
"Ha! The Stormlord has broken through the human interception forces and returned with the elite Triarch Praetorians!
"He is challenging the Lord of Hope!"
To Hapthatra, it did not matter which side won.
The important thing was that their confrontation would buy the Triarch more time to evacuate and escape those god-worshiping lunatics.
As far as he was concerned, the reckless Stormlord could only pray for good fortune after rushing so eagerly to challenge that mob of madmen.
In truth, the Triarch's expedition beyond the galaxy had never included a place for the Stormlord.
Imotekh had already been deceived and abandoned. He was nothing more than a pawn intended to delay the enemy.
"Lord of Hope, accept my challenge!"
The Stormlord led nine high-ranking Phaerons forward and blocked Eden's path moments after his arrival.
Following the Necrontyr nobles' ancient codes, he issued a formal challenge to single combat.
His posture made the alternative clear. If Eden refused, Imotekh and his followers would surround and attack him.
The Stormlord had long wished to challenge the unbearably arrogant Lord of Hope.
If he could kill Eden, he would gain incomparable prestige.
At that moment, circumstances appeared to favor him.
Because of delays in the phase-translocation process, Eden was accompanied only by Zabok and Zahndrekh. They were badly outnumbered.
Yet Eden completely ignored the Stormlord's challenge.
He could not even be bothered to acknowledge it.
Eden was already the uncrowned king of the Necrontyr. The Silent King was the only opponent worthy of facing him.
What rank did the Stormlord imagine he possessed, challenging Eden as an equal?
"Such arrogance! You will regret your ignorance!"
The Stormlord felt profoundly humiliated by Eden's dismissive attitude.
Not even the Silent King had ever ignored him like this.
Hum.
Imotekh suddenly activated the energy field surrounding his Staff of the Destroyer.
Its specialized phase blade nearly sliced space itself apart.
(End of Chapter)
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