Roya desperately needed time—time to digest the manpower, resources, and technology he had gathered from his expeditions, and to raise the combat strength of his forces as much as possible.
After all, in the coming final war against the Necrons, it would not be enough to rely solely on high-level combatants capable of clashing with the Silent King and his Overlords. Vast armies of soldiers would also be indispensable.
Roya had every reason to believe that even if he managed to slay the Silent King in direct combat, the fiend would not simply vanish into smoke.
Given enough time, the Silent King could transfer his data and consciousness into any Necron unit at will—achieving rebirth.
The principle was the same as what they had just witnessed with the demon lord, who had prepared tens of thousands of spare vessels.
When life-forms reached a certain height, their paths inevitably converged.
The importance of a physical body in the material realm declined rapidly, while the soul—empowered by psychic force—began to reveal its true eternal and indestructible essence.
Even the civilizations that had chosen the path of mechanical ascension, having long solved the technical challenge of data backup and consciousness stacks, ultimately had to seek breakthroughs in the realm of psychic energy.
Thus, the only way to truly annihilate this mortal enemy of all flesh-and-blood life was to dispatch vast armies, to scour every sector of the stars, to annihilate every Necron force, leaving the Silent King no time and no vessel to reincarnate into.
Within the triple-pyramid tomb complex, the assembly work in the fabrication chamber was nearing completion.
Three Star Gods, restored once more to physical bodies, twisted with excitement within their brand-new frames of living metal.
Though their half-man, half-beast forms did not suit their own sense of aesthetics, they cared little for appearances.
To the Star God race, beings that did not require material bodies at all, outward form was meaningless.
The only thing they truly cared about was devouring the energy released by dying stars, forever expanding the scale and rank of their spirits.
The Silent King appeared again in the fabrication hall, his voice cold and even as ever:
"Enough of your petty tricks! Once you enter these bodies, what happens next will not be yours to decide. Even if you were to join hands with Roya in the Warp, you cannot change the fact that you will serve as the psychic cores of these vessels—fuel for my war machines. You will fight at the command of this Holy King!"
The man-mammoth gave a rumbling laugh:
"Join hands with that little one? Silent, after all these years, your vision has never grown at all."
The man-lion said, "We merely looked on in grief, watching from afar as that little one devoured the corpse of our fallen brother, curious what he might become."
The man-roc cut in, "We loathe to admit it, Silent, but the truth must be spoken: in certain ways, that little one's spirit is already stronger than ours—the Star God race itself."
The Silent King snorted coldly.
"Stronger spirits than yours exist everywhere! Do not forget how I held you all in the palm of my hand."
"When I need you, you fight as I command! When I have no use for you, you are fit for nothing more than to cling to a sliver of metal, powering my great tomb. Do you understand?!"
But the three Star Gods ignored his arrogant tirade.
The man-mammoth chuckled darkly.
"Our brother—whom we nearly slew together—has now become a part of that little one."
"In other words, that little one can already be counted among the Star God race. Why don't you show us again, Silent, how you control the children of the Star Gods?"
"Believe it or not, we very much look forward to welcoming a new, vibrant young brother into this dreary tomb."
All three Star Gods burst into booming laughter, shaking the entire fabrication chamber. Mechanical arms trembled wildly, unable to continue their work.
Pipes that should have stopped pouring living metal failed to shut down in time, letting each of the three Star Gods greedily seize far more liquid than their frames required.
"You Star Gods truly are fools," sneered the Silent King, who had observed all their little maneuvers. "Did you really think I could not see your games? Want more living metal? Very well! This Holy King will provide it without limit!"
"But hear this again: no matter how you alter these vessels, you cannot change the fact that you are merely the energy cores of my war-puppets! Accept your fate, remnants of a bygone age! The era has long since changed. You are not worthy of the name 'gods.' This Holy King is the one and only true god of the cosmos!"
The three Star Gods' laughter ceased at once, their ploy exposed. Yet just as the Silent King had declared, the flow of living metal from the pipes did not stop.
Their psychic fluctuations faltered briefly, but quickly regained their vigor.
The man-mammoth smirked.
"No matter how the ages shift, the deepest and greatest trait of the Star God race is something no corporeal being can ever comprehend."
The man-lion growled, "Yes. And pray you never give us the chance, Silent. For the arrogance you show today will one day be your epitaph—carved across this tomb."
The man-roc cackled, "Perhaps it will not take long. Our newly born little brother may soon blast you to dust. Then you'll no longer need to brood within this tomb, seeking some false apotheosis!"
At last, the Silent King's composure cracked beneath their taunts. With a furious snort, he turned and left the chamber.
At once, the pipes ceased their flow of living metal.
The man-mammoth rasped with glee,
"As expected—Silent speaks one way, acts another. His hands are never as hard as his tongue."
The man-lion gathered the surplus living metal they had snatched, suspending it between the three of them with a pulse of telekinesis.
The glowing green liquid shifted ceaselessly in the void, its chaotic transformations proof of its immense power.
The man-roc said, "If that little one is clever enough, he should already have used our spirits to triangulate our coordinates in the material world."
"At his current speed, he will reach this desolate star system in no more than a month. Our time is short."
The man-mammoth nodded heavily.
"Then we must begin the experiment at once. The deeper we can infiltrate the living metal, the greater our bargaining power will be when that little one arrives!"
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