"You've never seen this?"
Hearing this, Sutekh imdiately cast a bewildered glance at his companion.
Co on, man.
The whole reason I notified you to co reinforce my Tomb World was so you could provide intelligence on the outside universe and compensate for my lack of information.
But now, you're actually telling that you don't know?
Aren't you embarrassed even saying that out loud?
"No, that's not what I ant!"
Catching Sutekh's underlying implication, Trazyn explained in exasperation, "This kind of scenario simply shouldn't exist. Put it this way: could you imagine running straight into the Silent King's Triarch Praetorians during a routine operation?"
Just a mont ago, through the optical feeds of the Canoptek Scarabs, Trazyn had spotted several high-tier units from the Imperium of Man.
—An Inquisitor, an Adeptus Custodes, a Living Saint, a Tech-Priest Magos, and an Astartes... all standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the very sa squad, fighting side-by-side.
This left Trazyn, who had a rather extensive understanding of the Imperium of Man, feeling that the situation was utterly incomprehensible.
How did this bunch even end up together? The Imperium of Man actually has this level of efficiency? Why haven't they killed each other first?
"Fine, so what counterasures do you have?"
Sutekh's eerie green ocular lenses flickered.
"None."
Trazyn cleanly and decisively threw his hands up. "Of course, if you permit my personal guard to teleport through the Eternity Gate, there might be a way."
"...Please do not treat like an idiot, alright?"
Hearing this proposal, Sutekh replied with intense annoyance.
Ever since the Master Program was severed, the Necrons' original Lord-Overlord-Phaeron command hierarchy had beco riddled with holes, and the major Necron Dynasties had grown increasingly fractured and estranged.
Moreover, if any other Necron had made this suggestion, he might have considered it. But Trazyn was an absolute anomaly whose reputation among Necrons was indistinguishable from that of a common thief. Sutekh couldn't even begin to imagine what, if anything, would be left of his Tomb World if Trazyn's guard were allowed inside.
Fortunately, as a Cryptek wielding the absolute pinnacle of technology in the physical universe, Sutekh wasn't entirely out of options.
"According to current analysis, conventional military forces will not be able to halt these invaders. It seems I have no choice but to play my trump card."
???
Trazyn realized sothing was up and looked slightly surprised. "Even in your current state, you still possess the ans to halt an elite strike force of this caliber? Now that is interesting."
This imdiately drew his attention, and he pressed, "Would you mind showing exactly what this thod is?"
Sutekh pondered for a mont. Given his understanding of Trazyn, he knew it would be impossible to deflect the other's curiosity. Reluctantly, he nodded and agreed.
The two towering, tallic figures walked through the corridors of the Tomb World. Guided by a Canoptek Spyder, they soon arrived at a location that strongly resembled a laboratory.
Inside the laboratory, a cold, eerie light spilled down. Trazyn surveyed everything within the chamber.
"Interesting."
In his field of vision, he could see a massive swarm of Canoptek Scarabs and Spyders scuttling to and fro. Within the room stood nurous stasis-incubation pods, housing a considerable number of organisms he was exceedingly familiar with.
They were ordinary humans.
They were carefully placed within the individual pods, entirely subrged in a green nutrient fluid, all locked in a state of deep unconsciousness.
Trazyn was not at all surprised to see these mortals in a Cryptek's laboratory.
After all, any Cryptek with even a shred of ambition nowadays was inevitably attempting to conquer the ultimate Necron dilemma: reversing the biotransference and restoring the Necrons to flesh and blood.
Humans, being the most easily acquirable sapient species in the current galaxy and serving as an ideal biological reference point for Necrons, were a perfectly logical choice for a Cryptek's experints.
What truly surprised him, however, was the condition of these ordinary mortals.
Even as test subjects, their bodies bore only minor needle marks and superficial traces. Their limbs were mostly intact, devoid of any severe mutilation or dismbernt.
"I never imagined you would actually retain your old habits."
Trazyn turned his head, observing Sutekh with keen curiosity.
"Hmph, you may have misunderstood sothing."
Sutekh said coldly, "Those humans who disturb my rest and my legitimate experints are one thing. I have no obligation to afford respect to uninvited intruders."
"But one thing is separate from the other; I will naturally maintain my personal principles. I respect the life of every sapient being, even if the so-called noble these humans call 'Governor' sold them to without a second thought."
"To use a human expression, your behavior sounds a bit hypocritical and overly sentintal," Trazyn offered a sharp critique.
"Sentintal? Perhaps. But are you not exactly the sa, Infinite One?"
Sutekh countered, "I hear you have always loved collecting various historical artifacts, even going so far as to remodel your own Tomb World into a colossal museum?"
"Our original souls were devoured by those abhorrent C'tan. The so-called Necrons of today are nothing more than the echoes of the deceased—walking tombstones retaining mories and personality engrams. Even if we one day restore our bodies of flesh, it will be impossible to resurrect our original souls. If we don't hold onto sothing, we can't even be considered 'alive'."
Sutekh's words plunged the usually upbeat Trazyn into a montary, profound silence.
He shifted the topic: "I wonder, what exactly is this so-called ultimate solution of yours?"
Sutekh didn't dwell on the previous subject either, giving a crisp, direct answer: "Coincidentally, it involves the very C'tan I just ntioned."
As his words fell, he calmly tapped his staff against the floor. A wall in the laboratory slowly parted. The two stepped through, entering a highly concealed inner sanctum.
Cold light spilled down within the chamber, illuminating sothing in Trazyn's field of vision that felt exceedingly familiar to him.
—A Tesseract Vault.
As the ultimate ground asset of the Necrons, the surface of the Noctilith construct blazed with blinding radiance. Boundless, majestic energy bled through the hyper-dinsional seals, while Canoptek Leeches patrolled its exterior, endlessly repairing the damage inflicted by the raging hatred and fury of the prisoner confined within.
And at the center of this terrifying prison, a Tomb Sentinel forged from light-devouring alloys used its multi-limbed chassis to forcibly subjugate the prisoner, compelling it to obey its master's will.
The entity inside was fundantally simple.
A C'tan Shard.
Indeed, such a thing could absolutely be called the Necrons' ultimate trump card.
Trazyn's expression grew entirely serious. With the vast knowledge of an Overlord, he instantly recognized the origin of this specific shard.
It was a shard belonging to the C'tan Mag'ladroth.
Or, to use its more universally recognized and widely feared moniker:
—The Void Dragon.
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