Sensing the approach of the two Necrons, the twisted, vaguely humanoid manifestation of energy bound within the center of the Tesseract Labyrinth instantly began to violently shudder.
The magnitude of these tremors and the sheer imnsity of the energy they released were so catastrophic that even the hyper-dinsional walls of the Tesseract Vault visibly vibrated.
A voice, echoing as if originating from the dawn of creation itself, bood outward.
"Filthy slaves! Damnable betrayers! Pathetic, hollow shells!"
The Void Dragon shrieked:
"Your very existence disgusts ! The mont I tear free from this accursed seal, I shall subject you to the accumulated hatred of endless eons!"
Tides of raging, apocalyptic energy surged in tandem with its words. The sheer ferocity of the resonance was so intense that it caused faint, visible ripples to form in the very fabric of the air.
Yet, thwarted by the absolute pinnacle of Necron technology, it remained entirely unable to break free from its hyper-dinsional cage.
The two Necrons present—one a vastly experienced Overlord, the other a Cryptek wielding absolute technological mastery—naturally ignored the Void Dragon's threats entirely.
Are you joking?
What are you going to do, break out and hit ?
Once a supre, untouchable physical god of the materium, it was now nothing more than a shackled prisoner. Its threats were objectively laughable.
However, erring on the side of caution, Trazyn still asked, "The containnt protocols of your Tesseract Vault are entirely secure, I presu?"
Sutekh cast a bewildered glance at the Overlord and replied as if stating a fundantal law of physics, "Of course there is no issue. The mass of this specific C'tan shard is exceptionally minute. As far as my data indicates, the primary, largest shard of the Void Dragon has long since vanished; it is highly probable it was secured within the vaults of a major Necron Dynasty."
...Wait a mont. I think I know exactly where that is.
Trazyn's cognitive core hitched slightly.
To his knowledge, an exceptionally massive shard of the Void Dragon was currently imprisoned deep beneath the surface of Mars. The entity responsible for its sealing was that ancient, psychic warlord who was entirely too fond of warp-sorcery.
Even though Trazyn harbored no fond impressions of that individual—who was undoubtedly destined for a catastrophic failure eventually—the Overlord had to admit that, in this specific instance, the man had perford a genuine service.
That shard on Mars was arguably the largest contiguous fragnt of the Void Dragon currently known to exist in the universe. The shard imprisoned here was vastly different, representing a re fraction of a ten-thousandth of the entity's total original power.
Nevertheless, it was absolutely not an entity to be underestimated.
"I command you, my prisoner. Imdiately expel all unauthorized biological intruders from the boundaries of my Tomb World!"
Sutekh issued his demand without a microsecond of hesitation.
The sheer, apocalyptic horror a C'tan represented was entirely beyond the comprehension of the younger, lesser races. They could be accurately described as the fundantal laws of physics made manifest and sentient; their power was sufficient to warp spaceti and casually manipulate reality itself.
"Heh, I will absolutely never aid you traitorous vermin!"
The Void Dragon, shackled within the hyper-dinsional space, sneered with absolute contempt.
This prison could indeed force it to act as a living weapon for the Necrons, but that control was largely limited to violent direction and redirection. It was fundantally impossible to completely brainwash a C'tan Shard—an entity utterly consud by an eternal, burning hatred for the Necrons—into obedient servitude.
Many highly complex or precise operations ultimately required the C'tan Shard to actively and willingly exert its power to achieve optimal results.
And currently, those unknown biologicals advancing toward the depths of the Tomb World had not yet even entered its line of sight!
The Void Dragon possessed absolute confidence.
If you attempt to force my hand to strike, aren't you terrified that I might 'accidentally' shift the collateral damage a fraction of a degree and casually obliterate half your Tomb World?
"Then, according to the Covenant, you owe a single act of martial intervention."
Sutekh replied coldly, "You are bound to honor the Covenant."
"Covenant?"
Hearing that specific word, Trazyn was genuinely taken aback.
Establishing a Covenant with a C'tan Shard?
Did our entire race not suffer enough from the catastrophic fallout of the last one?
During the ancient era of the War in Heaven, Szarekh, the Silent King and absolute ruler of the Necrontyr, had been seduced by the promise of immortality and eternal unity, leading to a catastrophically flawed decision.
With the aid of the C'tan, they underwent biotransference, believing they were achieving the eternal ascension of their entire species.
The C'tan had indeed fulfilled their promise, but with a rather significant... deviation.
History definitively proved that the entire process was nothing more than a aningless, species-wide suicide.
Their original bodies and souls were completely devoured by the C'tan. The entities that remained—the Necrons—were rely living tombstones retaining mories and personality engrams.
"The Covenant?"
The Void Dragon seed to recall sothing. "Has the Overlord of this Dynasty truly perished?"
"Correct. The Overlord suffered catastrophic, irreversible damage to his cognitive core during the Great Sleep and has entered eternal death. But even so, the conditions have been t. You are bound to fulfill your promise."
Sutekh imdiately interjected.
By the Silent King, the sheer density of this information is staggering.
Trazyn was absolutely shocked.
Isn't this operation crossing a severe ethical and legal boundary?
Signing a pact with a C'tan Shard, stipulating that the reward would be collected only after the ruling Overlord's death... If this scandal were ever leaked, Sutekh's reputation among the Necrons would plumt to the sa abyssal depths as Szeras the Illuminor, wouldn't it?
Is this guy going to try and silence to protect his secret?
Oh, wait. I'm currently occupying a surrogate body. Never mind.
Sutekh paid absolutely no mind to Trazyn's internal monologue.
After all, given Trazyn's utterly ruined reputation, no matter how vehently he swore to the truth of this event, absolutely no Necron in the galaxy would ever believe him.
"Well? It is rely fulfilling a promise. A majestic C'tan surely wouldn't fail to accomplish such a trivial task, would it?"
"Heh, relying on cheap provocation again."
The Void Dragon spoke with absolute disdain. "However, this shall be the final ti."
Naturally, in keeping with the ti-honored tradition of the C'tan, inserting a slight, personal interpretation into the execution of a contract was to be fully expected.
You rely demanded that I expel these intruders, correct?
You never specified exactly where I should expel them to, did you?
At this exact mont, at the entrance to the Tomb World.
Having systematically delivered a lethal coup de grâce to every downed Necron to prevent them from utilizing Reanimation Protocols to ambush the squad from behind...
"Everyone, remain highly vigilant," Rowan announced, scanning his surroundings. "Unlike a standard archeological sweep, this Necron Dynasty has clearly entered a phase of comprehensive reawakening. We must exercise extre caution; they could deploy devastating archeotech relics to halt our advance at any microsecond."
"It is fine. We will..."
Before anyone could respond, a catastrophic anomaly erupted.
A massive surge of violently distorted light and shadow flooded every single inch of space surrounding Rowan. Completely silent and untraceable, all ambient sound and light were rapidly violently stripped away. A raging, apocalyptic torrent of spaceti turbulence washed over Rowan like a tide of absolute nothingness.
Yet, even faced with this, given the terrifying reaction speed inherent to a Reality Bender, Rowan executed a flawless counterasure.
Denied.
He commanded silently within his mind.
This was the absolute nature of the reality-bending dominion. As long as he could perceive an anomaly, even if he entirely failed to comprehend the chanism behind it, the power would faithfully and absolutely execute his will.
The violent turbulence of the void instantaneously dissipated. Rowan stood perfectly upright, remaining in the exact sa spot, having not been displaced a single milliter.
However, the rest of the retinue surrounding him had completely vanished.
Well, not entirely everyone.
Archmagos Cawl also stood perfectly upright. He stared blankly at the suddenly empty ground around them, his brow furrowed in absolute bewildernt.
"What just happened?"
He and Rowan exchanged bewildered glances. "Where did everyone go?"
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