Szeras the Illuminator stood within a towering Necron communication pylon, the cold light of energy conduits flickering around him. His metallic chassis trembled slightly as he initiated ultra-long-range communication with Szarekh, the Silent King.
Since his previous failure, where a strike force of the Ynnari and Axion's forces had disrupted the Silent King's grand designs, Szeras had faced the Silent King's personal censure immediately upon completing his resurrection protocols. Now, having to report that Daemons had breached the Pariah Nexus once again filled even his cold, calculating mind with a semblance of dread.
Following a ripple of quantum signaling, the visage of Szarekh manifested upon the communication holoscreen. Szeras tilted his head in a habitual, predatory twitch, the central green crystalline ocular flickering.
"O Great Silent King Szarekh, I bring word of a development most grievous and shocking. Our technology..."
"These profane abominations have flooded in like a tide, reeking of the Warp. Our monitoring arrays and primary defense perimeters in this sector have been utterly dismantled. However, I have detected a presence of staggering power, a localized energy signature of immense magnitude."
Upon Szarekh's regal metallic countenance, the light of his oculars pulsed with cold intensity.
"Szeras, if your verbosity remains this unchecked, I shall find no fault in removing your head myself upon my arrival. The Pariah Nexus was engineered to excise the Immaterium. Yet you tell me Daemons and Warp-rifts have manifested within its heart? Are you..."
Szeras looked up, the green light in his crystals flickering erratically.
"My Lord, I have deployed every asset according to your mandates. Yet this incursion is an impossibility. This Warp-force manifested as if from nothingness, bypassing the anti-immaterium node-matrices entirely."
Szarekh remained silent for a moment, an invisible aura of absolute authority permeating the sub-space link. He understood Szeras's ambitions well. To become a demigod? A laughable notion. Even the C'tan, gods of the physical realm, had been reduced to their slaves.
"Are you suggesting that our peerless technology has been bested by the refuse of the Warp?"
Szeras fell silent. Despite his ego, he maintained a fundamental belief in the supremacy of Necron science. It was meant to be absolute, yet an unforeseen variable had evidently compromised the equation.
The Necrons did not yet know that Vashtorr the Arkifane's ability to project such vast Warp-energies here was due to the completed Dissonance Engine. This was a Webway shield-tunneler created by the Old Ones, the ancient enemies from the War in Heaven. Vashtorr had seized this true God-Machine, using it to punch through the Webway and gore into the Pariah Nexus.
The Arkifane had been drawn here by the very void of Warp-energy and the reckless deployment of Dark Age relics by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The clash of supreme technologies acted as a beacon to this Daemon Demigod of the forge and machine.
The Old Ones, whom the Necrontyr of old could only defeat through the pact with the C'tan, had left behind constructs that were indifferent to the shielding of mere Necron devices.
A flash of sharp displeasure crossed Szarekh's eyes. Last time, this fool's obsession with capturing Aeldari had cost the high-grade energy cores extracted from the Nihilakh Dynasty. Now, another failure. If the Pariah Nexus, designed to banish the Warp, was being counter-invaded by Daemons, was Necron technology truly becoming this fragile?
"I shall arrive with the fleet. Do not disappoint me again, Szeras."
Szeras bowed his head, the green light of his head-crystals dimming.
As the connection severed, Szarekh immediately summoned his fleet, his Crypteks, and the Triarch Praetorians. The Pariah Nexus was the core of Szarekh's plan for the biotransference reversal. If it failed, his entire legacy would become a farce. As the last of the Silent Kings, Szarekh would not permit failure.
…
The gargantuan Necron fleet arrived shortly thereafter.
Surveying the massive Warp-rift tearing through the planet's surface, Szarekh grasped the Sceptre of Eternal Glory and led his vast legions through a phase-gate.
As he stepped onto the planet's surface, Chaos Daemons and the Traitor Marines serving Vashtorr were in the midst of a slaughter, hunting down the local Necron garrisons.
"Hmph."
Szarekh let out a sound of cold disapproval. He drifted into the air, his cloak shimmering with captured starlight. Immense energy gathered from the void into his mantle before being funneled into the Sceptre held in his grip.
A beam of crimson annihilation erupted from the Sceptre, slamming into the ranks of Daemons and renegade warbands. The sheer magnitude of the strike whipped up a localized firestorm.
The Sceptre of Eternal Glory, forged from Necrodermis and the skin of a C'tan, featured a Resurrection Orb at its base. This orb empowered the Necron reanimation protocols, ensuring that even if Szarekh took a grievous blow, he would recover with terrifying efficiency.
Even more dreadfully, Szarekh had bound the essence of Nyadra'zatha, the Burning One, to this terrible weapon. The logic-laws of the Burning One ensured that every energy beam released carried the power to incinerate anything in its path. Attacks infused with the essence of a C'tan, a literal physical constant of the universe, could not be distorted, even by the power of the Warp.
Countless Daemons were ignited, their very Warp-essence burned away into nothingness. With a single strike, the Silent King had bisected the battlefield.
The Triarch Praetorians followed at Szarekh's side as he made for the nearby blackstone obelisk. Surrounding Daemons screeched as they tried to close in, but their efforts were futile.
The Praetorians were Szarekh's personal custodians, having guarded the Silent King since antiquity through countless wars. These three Necrons were towering figures, each specializing in a different facet of war.
The First Praetorian. A massive figure equipped with a heavy Necron energy-shield generator. His aegis could withstand psychic assaults, energy weapon fire, and physical kinetic impacts. He wielded a pair of massive Hyperphase Glaives forged from hyper-dense living metal, capable of generating an energy field that shredded enemy lines with ease.
The Second Praetorian. Possessed highly sophisticated targeting systems and long-range suppression capabilities. He was armed with a custom-modified Gauss Destructor Cannon with extreme range and pinpoint accuracy. His chassis was fitted with energy-dampeners and anti-detection arrays, allowing him to rain down devastating fire while remaining a ghost to enemy sensors.
The Third Praetorian. Defined by his mobility and versatility. Equipped with anti-gravitic thrusters, he darted across the battlefield, weaving through enemy fire. He wielded a modular set of Hyperphase Swords and energy whips. In close quarters, the swords dealt lethal piercing damage, while the whips snared and restricted the movement of foes. Furthermore, he carried a compact energy-shield repair suite to bolster the survival of the other guardians or Szarekh himself.
In terms of combat prowess, these Triarch Praetorians stood at the absolute zenith of the Necron race, surpassed only by the Silent King himself and a handful of the most ancient Overlords.
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