Chapter 901 - 900

Hummm...

In the darkness, a faint wisp of ghostly green energy pulsed like a living breath as it flowed slowly across the obsidian walls of the tomb.

Runes awakened one after another. Green light seeped from cracks in the walls, illuminating row upon row of silent stasis-crypts.

They were not coffins, but silent prisons forged from living metal.

Within them slept the Necrontyr, the galaxy's former rulers, thirsting beings who had been stripped of their souls.

More electrical arcs erupted. The ornate stasis-crypt at the center of the chamber began to crackle and hum.

Runes lit across its surface as more energy poured into it with a sharp series of snaps and pops.

A monstrous living-metal body, four or five meters tall and covered in ten million years of dust, began to tremble.

Dust cascaded from it.

The consciousness of an ancient being was awakening, returning once more to the domain he had once ruled.

Crackle!

Two ghostly green flames flickered to life within the living-metal figure's eye sockets. They radiated majesty and the unmistakable arrogance of one who considered himself above all others.

Kazar's consciousness awoke.

He was the Overlord of this tomb and the one his subjects called the Decapitator, renowned for the brutality of his rule.

Neither his living-metal subjects nor the other species beneath his dominion had ever dared defy his will.

Kazar realized that he was still inside his stasis-crypt. His skeletal metal frame was clad in magnificent armor, with a cloak hanging from his back. One arm gripped a Solar Staff, while his other two wielded hyperphase axes.

The bloodlust and fury within him gradually returned. Only conquest could ease those urges.

"Ah, I have returned to this beautiful galaxy. My legions, the armies of the Decapitator, shall be unleashed to purge all lesser life."

That was Kazar's first thought.

The ghostly green flames in his eyes burned fiercely. He could hardly wait to unleash his living-metal armies.

Yet in the next instant, both flames shrank back, and even his body went rigid.

Numerous faces were staring down at him from above the stasis-crypt. The sudden sight startled even the imperious Overlord.

What in the stars were those?!

Anyone who woke to find a crowd of huge faces pressed around their bedside would be startled.

This was his own royal tomb chamber, yet the moment he opened his eyes, he found himself surrounded. His central processing unit nearly overloaded.

"Who are you?!"

After his initial shock, Kazar's fury returned.

This was the chamber of a ruler. No insult could be tolerated here, least of all one committed by these unknown and insignificant life-forms.

"Savior preserve us, the damned xenos is awake!" exclaimed a Carcharodons Primaris Terminator.

He and five or six other Terminators stood around the stasis-crypt, gawking at the Necron Overlord and pointing at him.

"Our prey is finally awake?"

"Ha! What wonderful luck! We Lamenters are always so fortunate!"

Two more enormous faces leaned over him. They belonged to Chapter Masters Tyberos and Malakim Phoros.

The nouveau riche Chapters of the Carcharodons and the Lamenters had joined forces for this excavation mission.

Like the other warriors nearby, they were staring openly at the xenos Overlord without the slightest restraint.

"Insolence!

"You lowly slaves, do you have any idea what manner of being stands before you?"

The looks in the unknown creatures' eyes infuriated Kazar. He violently tore himself free of the cables, unleashing powerful electrical pulses from his entire body.

He would personally behead these ignorant beings who had dared intrude upon his tomb!

Before Kazar could even rise from the stasis-crypt, however, he noticed the warriors looking at him with excitement, as though they were eagerly waiting for something.

Crackle!

In the next instant, even stronger electrical arcs erupted before him. A sense of imminent danger washed over his systems.

Tyberos, Malakim, and the other high-ranking warriors pulled out strange, crackling pulse riot-control forks and promptly shoved the Necron Overlord back into his stasis-crypt.

More pulses erupted, forcing an involuntary scream from him.

These were pulse-based neural suppression weapons capable of paralyzing the neural networks within living metal.

Even Necrons that possessed no sense of pain would convulse uncontrollably beneath their effects and rapidly lose their strength.

This was one of the weapons humanity had developed specifically to counter the Necrons.

Those xenos possessed gauss beams, disintegration rays, and phase fields capable of destroying virtually any armor.

Humanity, however, possessed neural suppression devices capable of inflicting harm upon them in return.

"Flesh vermin! I will kill you! I will take your heads and annihilate your bodies!"

Kazar roared as he struggled against the pulse riot forks pinning him down.

In the next moment, Tyberos and the others burst into sinister laughter as still more forks stabbed into the stasis-crypt, shocking the Overlord until he shrieked uncontrollably.

"Hahahaha! I've been wanting to test this new equipment for ages.

"Those bastards at the Xenos Research Institute are damned geniuses.

"Scream louder, xenos prey! I love hearing you shout empty threats while you're helpless!"

Tyberos turned the pulse output to its maximum setting and shocked Kazar to his heart's content, looking every bit like some villainous torturer.

He and Malakim had been worried that, despite their Chapters' newfound wealth, they would never find an opportunity to use their new equipment.

This Necron Overlord had awakened at exactly the right moment, giving them the perfect opportunity to test it in actual combat.

The powerful pulses even gave Kazar's screams a strange electronic warble, making him sound like the heretic cultists pinned to the ground and shocked with riot forks.

The Royal Guards who had already awakened inside the tomb chamber were also lying on the floor, clutching their heads and screaming helplessly.

The Carcharodons and Lamenters Primaris Terminators surrounded them and swung pulse-alloy batons in a merciless group beating. Electrical arcs crackled through the air as each warrior delivered more than a dozen blows every second.

It was exceptionally savage.

The brutal critical hits left the ghostly green eyes of the Royal Guards looking considerably clearer.

There was no helping it. The New Imperium had plenty of experience handling situations like this.

When it came to ganging up on an enemy, in particular, humanity far surpassed every other species. This was firmly within its comfort zone, and the Imperium held an overwhelming lead.

"Bzzzt...

"Guards... My metal legions... Tear these intruders apart..."

Kazar's voice crackled with electronic distortion as he screamed and attempted to awaken more of his living-metal legions.

This was his tomb. Vast armies of living-metal warriors slumbered within it. Once they awakened, they would flood the entire region and drown these insolent creatures of flesh.

Yet he quickly discovered that something was blocking his pulse signal. It could not escape the tomb chamber at all.

"Damned xenos, you're still trying to summon reinforcements?

"You can scream until the stars go cold, but no army is coming to save you! Hahahaha!"

"Pitiful xenos, tremble before the majesty of the great Savior!"

When Tyberos and the others realized what the xenos Overlord was attempting, the entire group gathered around the stasis-crypt and stabbed him even more viciously.

They looked like a pack of wolves tormenting a helpless little lamb.

In truth, all these neural pulse weapons belonged to the Savior's Wrath series.

"Damn you! Damn you, wretched creatures of flesh!

"Such... insolence..."

Kazar's entire body convulsed. He clutched his head, desperately trying to shield himself from the incoming pulses.

He considered himself a noble being and the cruel ruler of this entire region, yet after suffering such humiliation, there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

Had he still possessed genuine emotions, he probably would have been on the verge of tears.

To put it simply, the Carcharodons and Lamenters had camped the Necron Overlord's spawn point and beaten him senseless the moment he appeared.

It was a tragic sight.

Once they had shocked Kazar enough, they slammed the lid shut over the xenos Overlord's stasis-crypt and sealed it with a blackstone device.

Then they dismantled the entire stasis-crypt and carried it out of the chamber. They had not merely spawn-camped the poor Overlord. They had stolen his spawn point as well.

Kazar was not the only Necron being taken away. The Royal Guards inside the chamber were also shocked into paralysis, stuffed back into their stasis-crypts, packed up, and transported outside.

There was no avoiding it.

Necrons were essentially consciousness-based life-forms, and their living-metal bodies possessed powerful regenerative capabilities. They were exceedingly difficult to kill permanently.

Whenever one of their living-metal bodies was destroyed, its Reanimation Protocols activated. Phase technology would return it to one of the tomb world's many central crypts, where it would be repaired and resurrected.

Even if Tyberos and the others destroyed this xenos Overlord on the spot, there was a high probability that his Reanimation Protocols would transfer him elsewhere on the tomb world or aboard a tomb ship, allowing him to revive and escape.

That was what made the Necrons so troublesome.

They possessed extraordinarily advanced weaponry, and as long as their command protocols remained intact, their armies of living metal could return from destruction again and again.

In effect, they commanded an endless army that could steadily grind away the enemy's living forces.

No species could easily endure such attrition. Even the Tyranids would find it troublesome.

Direct imprisonment and the severing of the command protocols were therefore extremely effective, particularly when dealing with tomb worlds that had not yet fully awakened.

The high-ranking Necrons could not be safely executed until the tomb complexes in the surrounding systems had been eliminated.

Of course, keeping them alive for a little research was also a good option. Humanity needed a deeper understanding of these xenos.

As the Savior often said, know your enemy and know yourself, and you need not fear the outcome of a hundred battles.

The Adeptus Mechanicus had dispatched a vast number of Arks Mechanicus to participate in the Restoration Crusade. Each ark contained numerous research facilities and Tech-Priests responsible for studying the spoils captured during the campaign.

"Vermin! Vermin!

"You have made a fatal mistake! The Necrontyr Empire will not permit your species to continue existing!"

Trapped inside his stasis-crypt and carried helplessly toward the exit, Kazar could do nothing but hurl abuse at his captors.

As his stasis-crypt was carried out of the chamber, he saw still more creatures of flesh.

They had erected nullification fields and were excavating one tomb complex after another, systematically neutralizing every Necron entity they encountered.

Whenever groups of Necrons awakened, they were swiftly suppressed by overwhelming firepower and buried beneath barrages of bolt shells and melta fire.

Others had their resistance dismantled by pulse weapons.

There was no doubt about it. Creatures of flesh had invaded this tomb world on an enormous scale and were preventing the Necrons from awakening.

Kazar's property, along with the possessions of numerous other high-ranking nobles, was being plundered piece by piece.

The Necron Overlord felt increasingly anguished, yet he could do nothing. All he could do was watch it happen.

In reality, the armies of the Adeptus Astartes were excavating this dormant tomb world under orders from the command headquarters of the Restoration Crusade fleet.

Their objective was to eliminate the threat concealed within it.

The Restoration Crusade intended to advance deep into the Zone of Silence. If it left the tomb worlds along its route untouched, the Silent King could forcibly awaken them and use their armies to cut off the fleet's retreat and sever its logistical supply lines.

The fleet could then be attacked from both directions by the Necrons, placing it in an extremely unfavorable position.

For the Imperium, logistics were its lifeline.

This was the largest war humanity had ever fought. It was a true contest of the resources, accumulated foundations, and raw power of entire species.

It was not a conflict that could be resolved through one or two boarding duels, decapitation strikes, or decisive battles.

Only by destroying the enemy's true military strength, political system, technological infrastructure, and hope of recovery could genuine victory be achieved.

Furthermore, eliminating these tomb worlds before they awakened would weaken the Silent King's power as much as possible and reduce humanity's casualties throughout the war.

The Imperium could even earn a little extra compensation in the process.

After all, tomb worlds were where the Necrons stored their accumulated wealth. They were filled with valuable treasures.

Naturally, the Imperium had to excavate every last inch and thoroughly eliminate the threat!

On this tomb world alone, command had deployed more than a hundred thousand Adeptus Astartes, along with even larger numbers of battlefield engineering teams.

Dozens of heavy engineering Titans had been sent solely to conduct the excavation. The number of other engineering machines deployed was beyond counting.

The elite warriors had also been equipped with the latest nullification devices and pulse weapons to neutralize the tomb world's central systems.

The Imperium had excavated many tomb worlds before. It was thoroughly familiar with their structures and possessed both technologies and operational plans designed to suppress a full-scale Necron awakening.

In short, the Imperial forces were extremely professional.

That was how Tyberos and the others had used specialized technology to infiltrate the central region so quickly.

While the high-ranking Necrons remained dormant, they severed the region's connection to the outside world.

Then they surrounded the local Necron Overlord, beat him mercilessly, captured him, packed him up, and carried him away.

On the surface, the tips of countless pyramids protruded from the barren rock.

Ghostly light shone from the fissures between them.

The thunder of machinery and artillery echoed through the sandstorms. Heavy engineering Titans were excavating vast sections of the planet's crust, while machinery, engineers, and warriors covered the landscape.

Countless Canoptek Spyders and other Canoptek constructs skittered in every direction. Some charged the human lines, only to be swept by pulse beams and left overloaded and twitching on the ground.

Large numbers of Necrons occasionally poured from the tombs, but precise orbital strikes arrived an instant later and wiped them out.

Artillery shells and energy beams streaked across every corner of the planet. The sound of explosions never ceased.

"This tomb world will be plundered by creatures of flesh. It will be destroyed..."

Inside his stasis-crypt, Kazar watched the scene with gritted teeth, overwhelmed by unbearable humiliation.

The flesh vermin had surrounded and humiliated him before taking him prisoner. Now everything upon his tomb world was being systematically dismantled by organic life.

Boom!

A brilliant blaze of light suddenly tore across the sky, followed by a thunderous rumble that shook the atmosphere.

The disturbance had come from above.

Kazar struggled to lift his head. What he saw left him stunned.

The black void had been set ablaze by shipboard artillery and energy beams. Burning tomb ships fell toward the planet's surface.

Dense formations of unknown steel warships were surrounding and annihilating the Necrontyr tomb fleet. One tomb ship after another was destroyed and reduced to wreckage drifting through space.

The void war was not confined to the space around this planet. It extended into regions far beyond, and the fleets engaged in battle seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance.

Kazar's ocular sensors detected flashes of light from even more distant battlefields. To him, it looked as though the entire sector had been set ablaze.

He also detected several unusual emissions.

They were signals produced by tomb worlds, or perhaps the planets themselves, in the moments before their deaths.

They were their screams.

Tomb worlds shattered and collapsed beneath the flesh species' lethal weapons. The magma beneath their surfaces escaped the constraints of gravity and spilled into space like blood.

This was an assault against the entire Necrontyr dynasty.

The enemy fleets were so vast that they cast the whole sector into darkness.

"No... This is not plunder. This is war..."

Kazar's pupils contracted as he finally grasped the severity of the situation. His voice began to tremble.

"Those flesh vermin have declared war upon the entire noble Necrontyr Empire. This is a war between species!"

The Necron Overlord finally understood.

The Necrontyr Empire had encountered a new species, one that intended to challenge its rule!

(End of Chapter)