Among the Necrons, there existed a special unit known as the Canoptek Wraith.
It was a mechanical construct that looked like a fusion of scorpion and serpent, and it also possessed phase-shifting capability.
However, a Canoptek Wraith's phase-shifting was more advanced than that of other units.
It could keep different parts of its body in different phase states at the same time. One portion could remain inside a dimensional pocket, while another portion could materialize into the real world.
The original purpose behind its design was to maintain tomb worlds.
For example, if something malfunctioned somewhere, there was no need to go through the trouble of opening the outer casing. A Canoptek Wraith could ignore any obstacle and burrow straight in. Part of its body would remain inside the dimensional pocket to observe the malfunctioning area, while another part materialized and physically contacted the damaged section to perform repairs.
That was the original reason the Canoptek Wraith had been created.
Later, after it proved exceptionally effective against intruders, it was modified to better exterminate them.
They could kill an intruder without leaving a single wound on the body's surface, directly severing nerves and similar structures inside the target's body.
The Astartes had suddenly lost feeling in his foot and fallen off balance because this thing had swept past him at high speed and severed some nerve in his leg.
After Kain realized what was happening, a powerful sensation of suffocation and pain surged through him.
But that feeling began to fade as the self-healing ability granted by the Earth Elixir repaired the damage.
He had been attacked too. His heart had been cut.
If this ghostlike assassin could not be dealt with, then they might truly fail to reach the energy cube and seize it before the tomb world fully activated.
Along the way, they had fought through several buildings and used them as cover. Through some activated equipment left behind by ancient humans inside those structures, they had obtained a certain amount of intelligence. From that, they learned why the tomb world was awakening so slowly: human technology was still obstructing it.
The countdown displayed by that equipment was the time remaining before the human seal completely failed.
At present, roughly ten minutes remained.
Kain's pupils contracted. He shifted to the right.
In the next instant, an even stronger sensation of suffocation hit him.
This time, his windpipe had been severed.
That thing had locked onto him. It intended to kill him.
That was unfortunate, but also fortunate.
The unfortunate part was that he had become its target. He could die at any moment.
The fortunate part was that the Canoptek Wraith had not continued attacking anyone else. It was not that he cared so deeply about the others, but if the rest of the force was attacked and weakened, they might no longer have enough strength to push through to the energy cube.
However, if it failed to kill him several times, the Canoptek Wraith would probably turn away and attack the others first.
Before the Wraith decided he could not be killed quickly and gave up prioritizing him, Kain had to find a way to kill it.
Honestly, he should not have been able to dodge the second attack. It probably should have cut through his neck.
The reason he had managed to avoid it was because the moment he sensed danger, and the moment he saw the Astartes ahead of him suddenly lose balance, he injected himself with D99.
After returning, he had tested its effects. It could indeed help him accelerate into that state: the state where a single touch from him could instantly shatter another person's soul.
Of course, using that compressed, high-density Untouchable field state that destroyed enemy souls would probably have no effect against the Necrons, because the Necrons were a race of soulless machines.
But Kain did not want that effect.
What he wanted was the enhancement D99 gave to his own perception, along with the further surge in his brain's computational ability.
As a result, his ability to sense the Canoptek Wraith improved. Or, to put it another way, the Wraith's speed now seemed much slower to him.
So how was he supposed to deal with this thing?
He had it.
Kain came up with a rather dangerous plan.
In the next second, a metal sphere was suddenly implanted inside his body.
At the same time, his sense of crisis surged again. Another attack sliced into his body, and it also clipped the metal sphere.
Almost at the same moment, Kain removed the metal sphere and replaced it with a new one.
Immediately after that, another attack came. Once again, it barely grazed the metal sphere, cutting into it slightly.
At the same time, he replaced that metal sphere with another new one.
The next instant, an even faster attack came, almost slicing the metal sphere in half.
That meant the enemy had taken the bait.
It meant the Wraith had judged that the reason Kain seemed impossible to kill came from that metal sphere.
His previous dodges had also made it look as though he was trying his best not to let that spot be struck. It was all meant to guide the Wraith toward that conclusion.
It was coming!
This was almost certainly the Canoptek Wraith's maximum speed. The part of itself it materialized inside his body was no longer something like a scalpel, but something more like a hooked claw. It tore away half of his heart along with the metal sphere.
Then his body, which was about to collapse, was caught by an Astartes.
At the same time, two meters to the right, the air suddenly distorted. Orange light and green electric arcs crackled through the space, and a machine fell out of a shattered dimensional pocket and dropped into reality.
It was the Canoptek Wraith. Half its body had been melted away, destroyed by a melta bomb.
The metal sphere Kain had implanted inside his own body had been a melta bomb.
He had implanted it by taking an item out of the personal storage space provided by the Superdimensional Channel. He could place items directly inside his body.
The moment he took it out, it activated. It would automatically detonate after one second.
If he was not attacked, he would send it back into his personal space to freeze it, then replace it with a new one.
However, the intense pain produced by the attack might also cause him to misjudge that one-second window. By the time he recovered from the pain, more than one second might have passed, and the bomb would explode inside him.
This time, his extremely dangerous plan had succeeded.
"How did you do that?"
The question came from the Astartes responsible for liaising with him among the Salamanders.
Kain could not answer right now.
He needed a moment. His entire body felt so "wonderful" that it was almost unbearable, and his consciousness felt as if it might be swallowed by pain and plunged into darkness at any second.
That sensation of death was finally driven back under the effects of the Earth Elixir, which accelerated the repair of his body.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Push forward!"
No need to support him. Everyone was to push forward with full force.
Seven minutes later.
Crack, shatter, crash!
The protection around the infinite energy cube broke apart like glass, leaving it fully exposed before Kain.
He grabbed it and pulled the battery free.
In an instant, the awakening of the tomb world seemed to stop. However, the Necrons outside did not cease their attack.
Hm?
Something popped out beneath the battery and scanned him in an instant. It was the same as the scan he had undergone on the mechanical planet.
[Subject confirmed as human. Human genetic integrity: 99.99%.]
A metal box appeared in an uncanny fashion, as if it had previously been hidden in phase space.
Kain was very curious about what had been placed inside the metal box, but now was not the time to open treasure chests.
He directly stored it in his personal space, and the box vanished into thin air.
Clearly, whatever was inside was not a living being.
At the same time, the ship began teleporting him. His figure vanished before everyone's eyes.
But then...
"Rauls, hold onto this!"
Salamanders Captain Errett caught the energy cube, which had not vanished with Kain, then shoved it to Rauls and told him to place it inside the special containment case.
The man who had disappeared had warned him beforehand that the cube might not teleport away with him. If that happened, before the other side brought the ship over, they would be responsible for safeguarding it.
Suddenly, the entire world began to shake violently. Everyone's expression changed drastically, and without hesitation, they rushed outside.
The interior was undergoing a massive transformation. It was restructuring itself. If they did not get out, they would be sealed inside.
Boom!
Dozens of melta charges blasted open the sealed gate. But the metal seemed alive, like memory metal, repairing itself and closing again.
Because of that, they could only keep firing melta charges.
When everyone finally made it outside, the danger still had not passed. The world beyond was transforming at an unprecedented speed, taking on a completely new appearance.
This situation clearly meant that the tomb world was fully activating and restoring its original form.
Several massive weapons emerged, their barrels aimed toward the ceiling.
No.
Not the ceiling.
This place should originally have been a sealed pyramid. Now it was opening, revealing the Imperial warships and the T'au warships above.
The moment they realized they had been targeted, the T'au warships opened fire without hesitation, launching super-heavy plasma cannon blasts.
However, just as the blasts were about to strike the Necrons' anti-air weapons, they seemed to vanish into thin air. The Astartes immediately realized what had happened.
Phase shifting.
Sure enough, the attack seemed to rebound, and three T'au warships were destroyed in an instant.
The Imperial warships did not attack immediately. They had more experience fighting the Necrons than the T'au did, and knew they could not launch such fierce attacks right away. Instead, they fired a massive barrage of missiles.
Because missiles were far slower than lances or macro-cannons, if they were phase-shifted back, they could normally still be intercepted.
However, the warriors on the ground had no time to concern themselves with the battle in the sky. Metal skeletons were attacking from every direction.
Suddenly, the air ahead rippled, and a passage opened.
As the captain of the Salamanders, Errett immediately ordered the formation to shift. With the opening at its center, the force formed a circular defensive formation and began shrinking the circle, allowing personnel to board one after another.
"Close the hatch! Close it!"
Errett roared at the ship's master. At that moment, five of his battle-brothers still had not boarded.
In the next second, they leapt in one direction and formed a wall of shields, blocking the high-energy disintegration cannon of a Necron pylon weapon that had just activated.
They used their flesh and blood to delay it for one second.
That single second spared the ship from being struck.
"Do not attempt to retrieve anyone else. Leave immediately!"
He spoke to the ship's master again.
At the same time those brothers used their own bodies as shields, they also sent a message to every Imperial warrior present: execute a suicidal attack and further damage the Necron tomb world in order to reduce the chance of the Necrons launching any interception against the ship.
Therefore, the Imperial warships immediately aimed themselves straight at the Necron tomb world and rammed down into it.
The instant before the ship jumped, both the Imperial warships and the T'au warships blazed with glorious light.
In the blink of an eye...
[Quantum ghost mode docking in progress...]
[Quantum synchronization data has reached...]
On the bridge, Kain watched the progress displayed on the holographic window.
The energy source for the dimensional weapon was now in place. At present, it was warming up like an engine, while also interfacing with the main body, meaning this ship.
He looked toward the wormhole. At the moment, it was blocked by a gas giant, so he could not see the exact situation.
Because the systems were currently docking, it was as if the ship was undergoing an upgrade. For the moment, the ship could not move. Fortunately, it could still activate quantum ghost mode.
However, because of this mode, they could not communicate with the outside world, so they could not obtain the current details of the battlefield.
[Current radiation range of the phase element...]
Phase element was another name for G-Element on this side.
Kain did not know whether the Necrons' phase-shifting technology also used this substance, or whether it was the same material.
Right now, the ship was calculating the exact destructive range enabled by the G-Element he had added.
Although the complete range had not yet been calculated, the current projected coverage was already enough to encompass half of the star system.
"Mr. Lance Plain, this data means half the star system can be included in the strike range, correct?"
"Yes."
"Then do you think the thing the bugs are trying to drag over can be destroyed along with them?"
"I think so."
But there was one condition. Whatever was on the other side must not sense that danger existed in this star system.
And what would be the basis for judging that there was no danger?
The resistance force here had to be eliminated.
If this side clearly still had a bit of strength left to struggle, yet suddenly withdrew and stopped trying to prevent the Tyranids from dragging something over, then the Tyranids would obviously suspect something.
The moment Salamanders Captain Errett asked that question, Kain immediately understood what he was thinking.
It was an extremely heavy thought.
[Synchronization complete!]
[Docking complete!]
[Two-dimensional weapon activated!]
Now they could begin the strike. They could interrupt the Tyranid forces entering this star system.
At that moment, because the Tyranids had borrowed the star system's gravity, the gas giant that had been blocking the view shifted away under the gravitational influence. The situation around the wormhole finally became visible.
The wormhole had already expanded to the size of a planet, and the Tyranids flooding into this side were so numerous that the sight was enough to breed despair.
They could also see two Tyranid mother-ships over one hundred kilometers in size guarding the entrance of the wormhole.
The fact that two mother-ships were guarding it, yet still had not moved, was more than enough to prove that whatever was coming through was beyond imagination.
The wormhole had now widened to more than ten thousand kilometers. That meant the thing coming through was likely a supermassive entity with a diameter of at least ten thousand kilometers, large enough to rival a planet.
Could that be a true hive coming over?
From what Kain understood, the previous Tyranid hive fleet invasions had merely been tendrils of the larger Tyranid forces outside the galaxy.
Was the main force coming now?
No. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call this the vanguard.
The previous invasions had merely been scouting forces.
Kain looked toward one of the screens. It displayed countless spatial and gravitational fluctuations. On the radar image, it looked like a calm water surface constantly rippling with wave after wave.
That represented warships continuously flying into this star system and throwing themselves into this war.
(End of Chapter)
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