Riiip!
Torn red banners poured from the spatial rift. Human words could still be faintly seen upon them:
"Everything for the front! Everything for victory!"
"Long live humanity!"
The Royal Warden stared at the spectacle, utterly baffled by what was happening.
Then something colossal burst from the void and entered everyone's field of vision.
It was a gigantic golden bust of the Savior.
The statue was so immense that it stretched across the void, its golden surface blazing beneath the light of the twin suns.
The Savior Colossus was dozens of times larger than any tomb ship present. The living-metal warships that had once resembled colossal beasts now looked like oversized insects beside it.
"A human… war fortress?!"
The Royal Warden stared up at the vast construct looming over his fleet, and even his data-logic processes began to lag.
Though his mechanical body could no longer experience emotion as flesh did, what gripped him was unmistakably fear.
The technology used to build the construct did not surpass the Necrontyr's imagination. Humanity had simply piled up an unimaginable quantity of materials until the structure attained an incomprehensibly vast scale.
It was so large that its interior had developed its own gravitational field.
Yet even knowing that, the Royal Warden still felt crushing pressure in the presence of the Savior Colossus.
It was an invisible force that he could not suppress.
If he had to describe it, the statue radiated an immense divine majesty, not unlike what the Necrontyr had felt from the gigantic C'tan in ancient times.
Of course, this object was no living god. It was merely some kind of human religious machine and could not truly be compared to the C'tan.
Nevertheless, its sheer mass and the divinity contained within it were enough to stir the Necrontyr's ancient fear of the Star Gods.
The Royal Warden was not alone. Behind him, the members of the Royal Guard instinctively stepped back in terror.
They found it difficult to face a mechanical construct that was both overwhelmingly vast and imbued with divinity.
"You out-of-system xenos picked the wrong place!"
The furious voice of the Voss Industrial Zone's governor rang across the void, followed by the angry roars of countless other Voss citizens.
The local governor had boarded the Sacred Colossus and personally driven it to the front lines under the Savior's protection.
The people of Voss had spent more than a century building this sacred wonder, consuming an incalculable quantity of resources in the process.
It embodied the devotion and hopes of several generations.
It was also one of the star system's most important defensive assets.
Rumble!
The Gauss and vortex weapons fired by the Triarch Praetorian tomb fleet slammed into the Savior Colossus, only to be stopped by its many overlapping layers of shield fields.
Even stellar fragments fired by the Æonic Orbs were intercepted by massive deflection fields before point-defense cannons blasted them apart.
As for the Night Scythes and Canoptek Scarab swarms that breached the Colossus's outer perimeter, they were eliminated by the fighters and warriors stationed within.
Humanity had long been researching methods of defending against Necron attacks.
The Savior Colossus possessed more planetary-class defensive fields than the capital of Voss itself, and those fields were even stronger.
A small tomb fleet group could never hope to penetrate them.
For a spaceborne construct, greater size meant room for more shield generators, more power cores, and more weapons.
Big meant strong!
The Savior Colossus was considerably more powerful than the Imperial Fists' Phalanx. It represented the Imperium's many years of technological advancement, incorporating both relics from humanity's Golden Age of Technology and technology acquired from numerous xenos species.
Its construction had also concentrated the productive power of hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of major industrial sectors.
Under the Savior's leadership, humanity had gradually absorbed the legacy of the Golden Age, learned from the strengths of other xenos civilizations, and developed to an astonishing degree.
The humans themselves had not yet realized how terrifying the Imperium's war potential had become.
They were still frequently plagued by anxiety over insufficient firepower.
"You abhorrent xenos will now witness the loyalty of Voss! Face the thunderous wrath of the great Savior!"
Within the command dome of the Savior Colossus, the governor thrust out his chest as hot blood surged through his veins.
The government officials and corporate executives behind him did the same.
This was their pride.
Boom!
The entire platform suddenly sank beneath their feet.
Dozens of land-based supercannons roared, unleashing beams of high-energy plasma. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other shipboard guns opened fire alongside them.
Their attacks tore through the darkness and flooded the surrounding space like a raging torrent.
In an instant, the void became as bright as day, and even space itself twisted beneath the force of the bombardment.
The Savior Colossus alone produced the firepower of an entire fleet group, and its primary cannons were even more destructive.
The Triarch Praetorian tomb fleet was struck by a devastating barrage.
Its escort ships were almost entirely swept away. The shields of several tomb ships collapsed, leaving them burning amid catastrophic structural damage.
With a single salvo, the Savior Colossus inflicted severe losses upon the tomb fleet.
It was an astonishing achievement.
On the command platform, the governor and the others stared at the results in stunned silence.
The sheer violence of the bombardment had left them numb. The results far exceeded all their projections.
Apparently, the Necrons were not nearly as durable as they had expected.
"Praise the Savior!"
The government officials were the first to recover. They immediately burst into enthusiastic applause.
"The Savior truly protects us."
The governor and the other senior officials nodded in satisfaction, broad smiles spreading across their faces.
They began applauding as well, though with considerably more restraint. Their measured clapping carried the dignity expected of senior leaders.
It was applause in the proper Imperial style.
The sound of clapping filled the command platform. The governor could no longer suppress his smile, and the corners of his mouth nearly reached his ears.
The Charadon Industrial Zone had always claimed that the weapons installed aboard the Voss Colossus were not powerful enough.
Now the truth had been proven.
The Voss Colossus possessed astonishing power. Even among all the administrative regions of the Imperium, it unquestionably ranked among the finest!
During a previous inspection, the Savior had casually offered some guidance regarding the construction of such colossal wonders:
A colossal wonder had to be big. It had to be powerful. And its enormous cannons had to actually fire!
Remembering those words, the governor applauded even harder.
The applause continued without end.
Everyone else joined him.
It was a pity that His Majesty the Savior was not present. Otherwise, the gathered officials might already have been weeping with emotion.
Behind the Imperial officials, an Archmagos shouted praise to the Machine Goddess before leading the other Magi in hurriedly recording all the data they had gathered.
They had discovered that the Sacred Colossus's machine spirit was more active than ever before. Every one of its weapon systems had exceeded all previous performance records.
This phenomenon deserved further investigation.
"Long live the Savior!"
"Hahahaha! Destroy those out-of-system xenos! Don't let any of them escape Voss territory!"
At the same time, the entire Voss Pan-Industrial Zone erupted into celebration.
People had gathered in plazas and around public notice centers, crowding before projection devices to watch the battle against the Necrons.
Now that the Sacred Colossus had struck the xenos fleet, they finally had an outlet for their fury.
They were overcome with excitement and pride.
Some had participated in constructing the colossal wonder. Others had transported the materials needed to build it. Still others had family members serving aboard it.
Even those with no direct connection had paid the taxes that funded the Voss Colossus.
Every citizen of Voss had contributed to this battle.
Every one of them shared in its glory.
"Savior preserve us. Those abhorrent xenos deserved exactly what they got!"
When Myron saw the Necron tomb fleet being devastated, he clenched his fist in excitement.
Employees of the Dowa Agricultural Machinery Group had died during the xenos attack on the asteroid-field industrial base.
He gazed reverently at Voss's Sacred Colossus of the Savior, then suddenly remembered the colossal wonder in the Dowa System.
It was not as large as the one in Voss, but perhaps it had also been equipped with powerful weapons.
Myron was no longer frightened.
The existence of these colossal wonders filled him with reassurance.
The facts had proven that humanity could resist the Necrons and defeat them.
Humanity's machines and weapons of war were inferior to those of no xenos species!
While humanity celebrated, the Triarch Praetorian tomb fleet struggled beneath the combined assault of the Savior Colossus and the local defense fleet.
It was forced back again and again under immense pressure.
One tomb ship after another shattered. Those able to activate their repair protocols escaped through phase fields, entering lengthy restoration cycles.
Several less fortunate tomb ships never had the chance to initiate their repair protocols. They were completely destroyed and reduced to wreckage drifting through the void.
There was nothing they could do.
Humanity had also acquired technology of the highest order, and the weapons mounted upon the Savior Colossus possessed astonishing destructive power.
Hum!
A massive device in the Savior Colossus's chest launched a golden sphere.
The orb silently drifted into the center of the tomb fleet.
Then it began to collapse.
Space twisted around it. A black hole appeared and rapidly expanded, dragging the nearby tomb ships toward it.
It was a spatial weapon similar in principle to the Celestial Orrery.
The attack inflicted even greater devastation upon the tomb fleet, and even the tomb command ship was caught in its effects.
"Great Szarekh, we may require additional reinforcements…"
The Royal Warden had fallen into despair.
His fleet was trapped within the human encirclement. Even withdrawal had become an impossible luxury.
Before he could finish speaking, a sweeping pulse wave severed the communication link.
Another deluge of fire engulfed the entire region.
The last thing the Necrontyr heard was humanity's victorious cheering.
The Tombstone Council Chamber was packed with the Silent King and a vast gathering of Phaerons and nobles.
They had come to enjoy the sight of human worlds being crushed, destroyed, and stripped of their stars.
Watching such scenes of cosmic plunder was a traditional Necrontyr pastime.
This time, in particular, the Silent King had summoned numerous Phaerons and nobles to observe the Triarch Praetorians in battle, hoping to recover the prestige he had lost when his previous strike forces were intercepted.
He wanted them all to hear the wails of the flesh-vermin.
Before long, however, the ancient council chamber descended into an awkward silence.
None of the Necrontyr were laughing anymore.
A ghostly blue holographic image hung frozen in the air.
Within it, the gigantic Savior Colossus looked down upon everyone present. The drifting wreckage of tomb ships surrounded it.
There could be no doubt about the outcome.
The Triarch Praetorian tomb fleet had been completely annihilated.
Worse still, it had been brutally crushed before the eyes of the Silent King and his assembled Phaerons and nobles.
The Phaerons and nobles lowered their heads, not daring to make a sound. They feared that the slightest movement might provoke the Silent King upon the Dais of Dominion.
His personal forces had been annihilated by humanity, and he had personally invited everyone to watch it happen.
It was difficult to imagine a more complete humiliation.
Within the frozen projection, the Savior Colossus loomed over the battlefield as if openly proclaiming its majesty to the Necrontyr.
The atmosphere in the chamber was unbearably awkward.
None of the Phaerons or nobles dared to speak.
None dared to ask a question.
The Silent King remained seated upon the Dais of Dominion, maintaining his majestic posture as though nothing had happened.
Beside him stood Hapthatra the Radiant and Mesophet the Shadowed Hand, the other two Phaerons of the Triarch and the Silent King's favored courtiers.
Both were utterly numb.
They had no idea what to say.
Any statement made at a moment like this would only invite further humiliation.
What could they possibly say?
That the great Silent King Szarekh had invited everyone to watch his Triarch Praetorians become fireworks in the void and get crushed by flesh-vermin?
The Triarch Praetorian strike forces previously dispatched had been intercepted one after another, leaving them unable to break through to the human worlds.
At the time, Hapthatra had stubbornly attempted to preserve the Silent King's dignity by blaming everything on the traitorous Stormlord. Imotekh had leaked their routes and helped humanity attack the noble Necrontyr.
Therefore, Hapthatra had insisted, the Triarch Praetorian strike forces had not truly lost to humanity. The Stormlord had sabotaged them from within.
This time was different.
The Triarch Praetorians had already penetrated deep into the human Imperium. The only forces opposing them had been human.
They had finally succeeded in launching a surprise attack, only to suffer a crushing defeat.
The entire process had been witnessed by everyone present.
There was no possible way to present this as a victory.
Any further boasts would only make them look even more ridiculous.
The Silent King seemed to move slightly atop the Dais of Dominion.
Or perhaps he had not moved at all.
He resembled a statue sculpted from living metal.
Hapthatra understood his meaning.
He immediately waved his hand, dismissing the assembled Phaerons and nobles.
They fled as though granted a reprieve, departing one after another through phase teleportation or deactivating their holographic projections.
None dared remain for even a moment longer, lest they become targets for the tyrant Szarekh's rage.
The Silent King's pitch-black metallic face appeared to be faintly turning red.
That was more than enough reason for them to leave immediately.
"Sa-vi-or!"
The Silent King stared at the Colossus in the projection and clenched his fist, struggling to contain his fury.
This was perhaps one of the greatest humiliations he had ever endured.
The Silent King could not escape the feeling that the Savior's statue was laughing at him, openly challenging the supreme ruler of the Necrontyr.
"Hahahaha!
"Szarekh, your Praetorians were weaker than I imagined. How could they possibly be so incompetent?"
The moment Imotekh the Stormlord received word of what had happened, he rushed over to mock the Silent King and further undermine his authority.
That was another reason Szarekh had dismissed the audience in advance.
The Triarch Praetorians' defeat at human hands had already damaged his prestige. If the Stormlord publicly tore into him as well, he would have no dignity left at all.
"Imotekh, you witnessed that battle. Humanity has become a threat. They are now enemies of the Necrontyr."
Mesophet conveyed the Silent King's will.
Szarekh had raised his assessment of humanity once again. He now considered the species a genuine adversary.
"End this war and eliminate the human threat," Mesophet continued.
The Silent King wished to suspend the Necrontyr civil war and deal with humanity first.
"I agree.
"But only if your reign ends and I, the Storm King, am allowed to rule the Necrontyr. You are no longer worthy of that throne."
The Stormlord would accept nothing less.
Humanity's defeat of the Triarch Praetorians and the humiliation inflicted upon the Necrontyr disgusted him.
For the moment, however, humanity remained his ally and a useful source of support.
Now was not the time to eradicate those flesh-and-blood creatures.
The Phaerons on both sides had already become consumed by the civil war. It was not a conflict that could simply be stopped at will.
More importantly, if Imotekh agreed to a ceasefire and helped destroy humanity, he would once again find himself at a disadvantage.
He would lose his chance to win the civil war and claim the Dais of Dominion.
"No. The great Szarekh shall forever remain the supreme ruler of the Necrontyr. There can be no other."
Mesophet's tone was unwavering.
The Silent King could never accept the Stormlord's terms.
He would permit no one to covet his position.
That created an irreconcilable disagreement between the two sides regarding any cooperation against humanity.
"Then the war will continue.
"Szarekh, defeated by humanity, once I overthrow you and claim the Dais of Dominion, I will deal with those humans at my leisure."
The Stormlord was confident that once he had unified the Infinite Empire, he could swiftly destroy the human Imperium.
He had risen from a minor overlord to a rival of the Silent King in an astonishingly short time.
Given enough time, he would surpass every other being in existence.
Until he claimed the Dais of Dominion, he would continue using humanity, even if the humans harbored ambitions of their own.
"Go on, Imotekh. Keep stirring up chaos. All of you, keep at it!
"Perhaps you will finally regret your actions when the Infinite Empire has been thrown into turmoil, its strength exhausted, and the other races have seized the advantage!"
The Silent King watched the Stormlord's image disappear, his fury finally breaking free of all restraint.
That foolish traitor had no idea how great a threat humanity posed.
If the civil war continued for another two hundred years, the human Imperium would complete its rise and grow beyond the Infinite Empire's ability to control!
The Silent King slowly raised his head, the ghostly green light in his eyes becoming colder and sharper.
"No matter what happens, I, Szarekh, am the only ruler upon whom our race can truly rely.
"It was I who endured endless risks and pressure to free the Necrontyr from the C'tan. It was I who led the Necrontyr to final victory.
"And this time will be no different!"
The Silent King prepared to escalate the war.
Until now, he had deliberately limited its intensity to prevent the Necrontyr from exhausting too much of their strength.
Time no longer allowed such restraint.
Before the Silent King could issue his new decree, however, an urgent report arrived from the rear…
(End of Chapter)
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