Chapter 921 - 920

"Whoever claimed that every Necrontyr in the Sindor System was a vicious traitor?

"Just look at the Charnovokh Dynasty. They're clearly loyal and friendly..."

Aboard the tomb flagship's throne chamber, Eden gazed at the welcoming formation of living-metal warships above the distant tomb world and sighed with emotion.

The dynasty's Phaeron had already surrendered his command protocols and sworn submission to Eden, the Lord of Hope.

"Great King of Rameses, the Sindor System and the Infinite Empire beg for your liberation."

The Charnovokh Phaeron and the nobles under his command arrived before the throne through phase teleportation. They bowed their heads with great respect.

Their voices were extraordinarily humble, with just the faintest trace of grievance.

"You have finally arrived. Your presence is the greatest honor we could receive."

"The Charnovokh Dynasty can no longer tolerate Szarekh's tyranny. We are willing to stand beside you and overthrow his rule..."

The Charnovokh Phaeron and nobles continued talking at length, terrified that the Lord of Hope might refuse their loyalty.

As far as they were concerned, they had all been oppressed by the vile traitor Szarekh. Now they had abandoned darkness for the light and were prepared to follow the Lord of Hope in making the Infinite Empire great again!

Nemesor Zahndrekh and the other Phaerons looked upon these cowardly nobles with disdain gleaming in their green eye sockets.

They despised anyone who surrendered before the fighting even began.

However, neither the New God nor the Lord of Hope rejected those who came to them. Even these cowards could receive a small measure of divine favor.

"You have made the correct decision instead of following Szarekh into the abyss."

Eden gently raised a hand, allowing the Charnovokh Phaeron and the other nobles to rise.

He had accepted them into his faction.

Their dynasty would be pardoned and permitted to survive instead of being reduced to ashes like so many others.

The Charnovokh Phaeron and his nobles finally relaxed.

The armies under the Lord of Hope were terrifying.

The path of their advance was littered with wreckage of living metal, and no one knew how many dynasties they had completely destroyed.

They had not even left behind the tomb complexes needed to activate Reanimation Protocols. Every single one had been excavated and stripped bare.

Who wouldn't be afraid?

Eden's primary reason for doing this was to weaken the Infinite Empire's overall military strength as much as possible.

He also wanted to acquire more technological constructs and resources.

Those assets would be transported to the Imperium of Man, helping to offset the losses caused by the war.

Besides, the Necron dynasties under Eden's command desperately wanted victory. They wanted to defeat the Silent King, who stood in the way of the New God and prevented them from restoring their souls.

More importantly, Eden had personally led an elite fleet through the stellar defensive lines and into the Sindor System.

In other words, the force that had broken through with him was not nearly as large as it appeared.

Because of the Celestial Orrery, most of Eden's military forces had been unable to keep pace with the tomb flagship.

Space throughout the surrounding regions was now distorted by the aftermath of countless supernovas, preventing the rest of his armies from entering the system immediately.

When one possessed fewer troops, one had to be even more ruthless to intimidate the enemy.

Otherwise, once the Necron dynasties realized how few ships Eden truly had and attacked together, his small fleet might not be able to withstand them.

He could not rely upon the main force to arrive anytime soon. It was enough for them to blockade the Pariah Nexus and prevent outside dynasties from sending reinforcements.

"Hiss... Charging straight into the enemy's core with an isolated force feels strangely familiar. Has Guilliman's bad influence finally rubbed off on me?"

Eden suddenly inhaled a breath of air he did not actually possess.

Guilliman had only recently fallen into a trap himself.

Fortunately, the Emperor had intervened and rescued him from the colossal tombship.

That brother of his was undoubtedly feeling extremely moved right now.

Advancing deep into enemy territory with an isolated force was hardly a good sign. It was also completely different from Eden's usual tactical style.

Still, this was the best method he could devise to end the war quickly.

...

Deep within the Sindor System.

Upon the Dais of Dominion.

The three members of the Final Triarch received one frontline report after another, leaving them increasingly overwhelmed.

The human armies were intercepting the tomb fleets of the Triarchal Guard throughout the western regions of the Sindor System and advancing step by step.

The Lord of Hope's offensive was even more ferocious. He had already led a small elite force into the system itself.

Such arrogance!

That was one of the reasons the situation had become so troublesome.

In his desire to break through the human blockade as quickly as possible, the Silent King had dispatched the Triarchal Guard to support the Stormlord.

Instead, they had become pinned down.

The Lord of Hope had exploited the opportunity to enter the Sindor System and penetrate the Silent King's core territory.

Humanity remained an immense threat, while the Lord of Hope was already close at hand and advancing directly toward the Dais of Dominion!

"Ah, you disgraceful and pitiful traitor. Do you truly believe such a tiny fleet can challenge the Dais of Dominion?"

"Noble Necrontyr, stop that traitor! Whatever happens, you must prevent him from profaning the great Szarekh!"

"The Lord of Hope commands only a small elite force. With the dynastic armies stationed throughout the core territories, we can easily annihilate him. Deploy your forces!"

Hapthatra the Radiant and Mesophet of the Shadowed Hand issued a constant stream of insults and attack orders directed at the Lord of Hope.

The Silent King remained silent upon the Dais of Dominion.

Yet his fist was clenched so tightly that a hairline fracture had appeared across his necrodermis.

It revealed the true extent of his fury.

How long has it been since I tasted such defiance and humiliation?

The Stormlord had challenged and defied him before, but Imotekh had never come close to threatening his position upon the Dais of Dominion.

The Lord of Hope was different.

His very existence had destabilized Szarekh's rule and forced him to experience the same bitter taste of defeat he had once known at the hands of the Old Ones and the C'tan.

Szarekh despised the Lord of Hope's seemingly invincible confidence and the regal bearing now beginning to form around him.

That bastard might not be as personally powerful as the Stormlord, but he posed a far greater threat.

He was directly challenging Szarekh, the Silent King, and seeking to claim the Dais of Dominion.

Szarekh had no doubt that if he lost this war, the Lord of Hope would drag him down from the throne and bring an end to the title of Silent King, which had passed through generations of the Szarekhan Dynasty.

That is merely a possibility.

Szarekh regained his regal composure, once again radiating supreme majesty.

He had endured such crises before. His rule had been shaken several times, yet he had survived every one of them.

All his former enemies had been reduced to ashes.

Ancient galactic rulers and gods alike had become parts of history, their defeats serving as ornaments upon the Silent King's glorious record.

"Lord of Hope, you advance with such foolish haste. Let us see how far you can truly go."

A nearly imperceptible sneer escaped Szarekh.

Had the Lord of Hope shown more patience and waited for his main force before launching a collective assault, he might have won this war.

Instead, Eden had rushed into the Sindor System to display his strength.

It was an immense gamble.

It had also given Szarekh a chance to reverse the situation.

Under normal circumstances, Szarekh's current armies could never withstand the simultaneous assaults of humanity and the Necron rebels, especially while the Celestial Orrery remained temporarily disabled.

His defeat had already begun to take shape.

But the Lord of Hope had now advanced deep into the system with an isolated force.

If Szarekh could kill and destroy him, Eden's armies would fall into disarray. Szarekh could then force them into submission and reunify the Infinite Empire.

Afterward, he would be free to launch a devastating counterattack against the Imperium and eliminate every remaining enemy in a single campaign.

Once the blockade was lifted, he could deploy the Celestial Orrery to other regions and use it to ravage human territory, destroying every prosperous region of the Imperium.

The Silent King had already decided to suspend the expansion of the Blackstone Veil.

His immediate priority was to cripple humanity.

That species had become a threat to the Infinite Empire's dominion over the galaxy.

Szarekh analyzed the strategic situation and reached a conclusion.

The Sindor System might be under siege and facing tremendous pressure, but within the system itself, his forces vastly outnumbered the enemy.

The advantage was his!

"Lord of Hope, this may be as far as you go."

He studied the three-dimensional star chart and the images transmitted from across the battlefield, then nodded in satisfaction.

The encirclement within the Sindor System had been completed.

This time, Szarekh would be the one surrounding that defiant traitor!

...

Aboard the tomb command flagship.

Within the throne chamber.

"At least these fellows understand the situation. They didn't insist on fighting to the bitter end, allowing our front to advance more quickly..."

Eden's gaze swept across the Charnovokh Phaeron and nobles, all of whom were standing obediently nearby.

He was quite satisfied.

As far as Eden was concerned, this was what a good Necrontyr looked like.

The more high-ranking Necrontyr behaved this way, the better.

He wished every Necrontyr were like them. If every dynasty had chosen death before surrender, Eden would never have entered the Sindor System so easily.

In truth, the principles of high-ranking Necrontyr were considerably more flexible than he had expected.

Before becoming beings of living metal, they had all been nobles.

They had lived in luxury and feared both disease and death. They would not easily abandon their lives, even if those lives now continued in living-metal bodies.

Nor was this the first time Eden had encountered a mass surrender.

Ever since crossing the stellar defensive lines, he had never stopped advancing. His forces had crushed everything in their path, completely annihilating all who resisted.

Along the way, numerous Necron dynasties had simply surrendered.

The emotion virus, the New God's teachings, and the newborn had all influenced their decisions.

But many dynasties were simply frightened and instinctively submitted to the stronger power.

Phaerons, Overlords, and other nobles were all the same in that regard.

To other species, they might appear invincible, terrifying beings of living metal.

But to the strongest Necrontyr, many dynasties and Phaerons were pathetically weak. They did not even possess the courage to resist.

Perhaps that explains the Stormlord's meteoric rise.

Imotekh the Stormlord had once been merely a low-ranking Overlord.

When the Phaeron of the Sautekh Dynasty failed to awaken from the Great Sleep, the other Overlords and nobles began fighting one another for the vacant throne.

During the dynasty's civil war, one noble awakened Imotekh, hoping the renowned general would help him claim the title of Phaeron.

But when Imotekh learned what had happened to the dynasty, he flew into a rage.

He killed the noble on the spot and seized his army.

Then he swept aside the other Overlords and nobles before claiming the Phaeron's throne for himself.

And that had only been the beginning.

Imotekh went on to conquer one tomb world and dynasty after another. His power expanded at an astonishing rate until he could openly confront the Silent King and earn the title of Stormlord.

Imotekh's history perfectly demonstrated the true state of the Infinite Empire.

Anyone sufficiently powerful could rapidly conquer other dynasties and gather an enormous military force.

Sometimes, they did not even need to fight.

Prestige and the threat of force alone could make other dynasties bow their heads in submission.

The same was now true of Eden, the Lord of Hope.

His armies were launching fierce offensives across the region, while he had personally led an elite force into the Sindor System. His interception devices had severed the Celestial Orrery's energy-transmission chains extending beyond the system, preventing the weapon from threatening the armies outside.

Meanwhile, the Silent King's western tomb fleets had been intercepted by humanity and could not return to provide support.

Anyone could see that Szarekh's rule had begun to falter.

More dynasties were therefore making their choice and surrendering without a fight.

"We'll see just how determined the dynasties of the Sindor System truly are to follow the Silent King."

Eden murmured to himself.

At that moment, Zabok returned with bad news.

"My lord, several tomb fleets are assembling ahead. If we continue deeper into the system, we may be surrounded..."

Nemesor Zahndrekh and the other Phaerons immediately grew more solemn.

The Charnovokh Phaeron and his nobles visibly recoiled in alarm.

Even Eden frowned.

The enemy was gathering far more quickly than expected, while his follow-up forces still needed time to catch up.

His current advance looked overwhelmingly powerful, but the truth was that his forces inside the Sindor System were far smaller than those of the Silent King.

Eden remained at a disadvantage.

Under these circumstances, the best option would be to withdraw temporarily and wait for the main force.

His armies were already pushing through the chaotic regions of space and would arrive before long.

But no matter what happens, I cannot retreat now...

As Eden had already concluded, the only reason he had been able to charge into the system and convince dynasties such as the Charnovokh to welcome him as their rightful sovereign was the irresistible momentum of his advance.

That momentum intimidated the Necron dynasties.

As long as they believed Eden would ultimately defeat the Silent King, he would win.

Dissatisfaction with the Silent King had accumulated throughout the Infinite Empire for a very long time.

It had never erupted because no one believed that anyone else could replace him. No Phaeron had dared to make the first move.

But the moment the Phaerons saw signs that the Silent King might fall, they would naturally help push him from the throne.

At the very least, they would stand aside and refuse to intervene.

Eden was not relying solely on intimidation through military force, either.

The emotion virus and the New God's teachings had conquered even more followers. Eden was also the only being capable of allowing the Necrontyr to produce new life.

Ultimately, the small size of his force inside the Sindor System was not necessarily a problem.

Napoleon had not possessed many troops when he landed at Golfe-Juan, either.

Yet supporters had quickly flocked to him. He reached his loyal Paris and reclaimed his throne.

Eden, the Lord of Hope, was in much the same position.

He might have entered the system with only a small number of tomb fleets, but he had already won the allegiance of several dynasties. His army continued to expand with every advance.

In short, the only answer was to keep charging!

Eden did not hesitate for even a moment.

He issued the order to continue the offensive.

His small force of tomb fleets plunged deeper into the heart of the Sindor System, advancing directly toward the Dais of Dominion!

Before long, Eden's elite tomb fleets reached a vital nexus and found themselves surrounded on every side.

Dense formations of hostile tomb fleets filled the void. Their shadows completely engulfed the surrounding region.

The pressure was immense.

"So this is what it feels like to be surrounded by an enemy fleet vast enough to blot out the heavens. It's deeply unpleasant..."

Eden stared at the hostile fleets filling the void.

At last, he understood how his former enemies must have felt when his own fleets surrounded them.

Hum.

A blue-green projection of the Silent King's Dais of Dominion appeared.

Hapthatra the Radiant sent a mocking transmission, his voice theatrically exaggerated.

"Oh, you pitiful and defiant wretch. You have nowhere left to run.

"If you submit to the great Szarekh immediately, perhaps you may yet be permitted to continue existing!"

(End of Chapter)