After a brief period of rest,
the leader of a mechanical species known as Ker'luns was the first to contact the other assembled faction leaders.
"I have bad news," he stated bluntly.
"After repeated analysis, we've confirmed that the Hive Mind has already locked onto our biological signatures. No matter how far we run, it will be able to track us."
Ker'luns shared many similarities with the Necrons—
they had also once been a race of flesh and blood before transforming themselves into full mechanical lifeforms.
The difference was that, unlike the Necrons—who were deceived and sabotaged by the C'tan before eventually rebelling against them—
the Ker'luns had chosen to mechanize themselves entirely.
Calm and emotionless by nature, they pursued knowledge above all else.
To them, organic bodies were primitive, flawed shells—
things that aged, tired, weakened, wavered, suffered, and died.
So, at immense cost, they carried out a colossal program known as Mechanical Ascension, converting their entire species into machine lifeforms,
liberating themselves from biological limitations.
Originally resembling enormous octopuses,
they now appeared as biomechanical cephalopods—
each individual possessing dozens of tentacles, each tentacle embedded with specialized processors.
As Ker'luns finished speaking, the other leaders fell silent.
One by one, they began using their own methods of divination, scanning, or prophecy.
Soon, the answers were unanimous.
"I sensed the same through the Soul-Trace Codex…"
"The Great Kala warns me that danger is still approaching…"
With every confirmation,
the faint hope they had felt began to evaporate.
Even without stating it plainly,
all of them understood the same brutal truth:
There was no running.
No matter how they fled,
the Tyranids would hunt them down.
The only path left was to unite
and confront the threat together.
Otherwise, their civilizations would all meet the same fate—
utter annihilation, likely in the most horrific and degrading ways imaginable.
And the potential of the Tyranids—the sheer monstrous scale of it—
terrified them more than they cared to admit.
Most of the gathered species were refugees, forced here by Aeon Cronos (the Star-Sea Abyss) or the Eldrazi Legion,
and none of them wanted to face the birth of yet another cosmic-level disaster.
Reluctantly, they accepted that running was no longer an option.
Finally, under the joint supervision of all factions,
a document titled The Pan-Species Covenant was drafted.
It detailed countermeasures, joint strategies, and—crucially—harsh punishments for betrayal.
After lengthy discussion, they agreed to use the Milky Way as their defensive base,
unite their forces, and test their strength against the Tyranids.
What they did not know was that the swarm they had encountered earlier
represented only one-fifth of the total Tyranid force.
And even then, most of what they saw were merely fast-moving light units—
among the weakest organisms in Tyranid biology.
The true horrors—massive war-organisms designed for extermination—
were still making their way toward them.
Some of these creatures were biological matrices formed from dozens of planet-sized biomass clusters fused together—
abominations that could pulverize stars in a single bite.
So even though they believed they were overestimating the Tyranids,
reality was going to be far, far worse.
Among the only ones unaware of this was the Silent King.
But after finalizing the Covenant with the other factions,
he allowed himself a small sigh of relief.
His greatest fear had been that every species would act independently—
scattered, divided, and impossible to lead.
Such disunity would ensure they were crushed one by one.
Now, at least, they had chosen to stand together.
In the Silent King's view,
this alliance would serve as a rehearsal for a future confrontation with far greater threats—
the Star-Sea Abyss (Aeon Cronos) and
the Eldrazi Legion (the Foreign-Life Infestation Swarm).
Through his exchanges with other extragalactic civilizations,
he had long understood that these two colossal forces were devouring the universe piece by piece.
Running from them would eventually leave no hiding place.
Thus, abandoning the hopeless dream of escaping into alternate universes,
he now believed that uniting all powerful races to mount resistance
was the only road left.
This small coalition of several dozen species
would become the first draft of a future grand alliance.
If they could defeat the Tyranids—just a "mid-boss" blocking their path—
they would finally have the confidence to confront the eventual "final bosses."
Thinking of this,
the Silent King tapped his metal fingers rhythmically against his staff.
A heavily encrypted quantum message shot out across the galaxy.
Soon, every Necron dynasty would receive it.
As the supreme ruler of the Necron race,
the Silent King now prepared to awaken every dormant Necron in the Milky Way,
to restore the full might of their ancient empire.
He knew well the hidden powers of each dynasty.
Some were dangerous enough to make even him pause.
The Ulanskar Dynasty, for example, possessed a legendary super-weapon known as the Luminous Star-Chart.
Shaped like a massive board,
it used incredibly complex technology to connect covertly to every star in the galaxy.
By manipulating a star's holographic projection on the chart,
it could trigger physical reactions in the corresponding real-world star.
There were limitations, of course—
but its power was beyond dispute.
Even among all Necron artifacts,
it ranked easily within the top ten.
This was why the once-glorious Aeldari Empire had never dared take the Necrons lightly.
Even with their own countermeasures,
a moment's carelessness could lead to irreversible catastrophe.
..
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