We naively believed that with technology and the enlightenment of the Greater Good, we could change this galaxy.
Until recently, a group of individuals called God Chosen severely crippled our T'au Empire Expansion Fleet, forcing us to abandon all conquered territories and retreat to our home world.
The entire T'au Empire suffered a tremendous blow. Even with the Ethereals constantly comforting and encouraging us, many castes couldn't escape the shadow of defeat.
The faith in the Greater Good was severely shaken.
The seemingly decadent and backward Imperium of Man, for the first time, showed us its true strength.
Before, we always thought that those noisy, backward machines and rigid, towering buildings were all there was to the Imperium of Man.
They were synonymous with decadence, backwardness, and rigidity.
But when the truth of the galaxy was revealed, we realized that their seemingly foolish faith and backward technology were precisely their efforts to protect the purity of their own souls.
When a strange rift appeared near our home world, the T'au Empire unhesitatingly initiated war mobilization.
We urgently needed a victory to prove that the Greater Good was correct.
When we entered the battlefield, we realized it was a very foolish decision.
Because on the other side of the passage was a chaotic war devoid of reason.
Many factions we had previously encountered erupted into a free-for-all, with warships detonating like twinkling stars.
Things that trampled on science and reason caused us great pain.
For the first time, we felt the galaxy was so alien.
It was not at all what we had originally imagined.
The underlying logic of the universe was chaotic and disordered.
Inside a T'au warship.
"These things do not conform to the laws of physics in the Reality universe," said La'kor, an Earth Caste strategic analyst, in a pained voice.
He sat in front of his engineering console, which displayed various images and data from the void battlefield.
Those monsters with hooves and wings flew in the void.
Some were even riding chariots and warhorses, wielding crude swords.
This phenomenon completely shattered his previous understanding.
Science and reason became a joke at this moment.
His worldview completely collapsed.
"Don't look," the Commander stopped La'kor. "Those things will harm us."
However, the demons didn't care whether the T'au looked or not; they only craved flesh and souls.
T'au souls were faint, but still a delicious appetizer.
The minions of the Soul Forging Lord, operating their dark machinery, broke into the T'au Empire's warships, harvesting this race that knew nothing of the galaxy's perils.
Urgent alarms blared throughout the warship.
The swirling crimson lights made the warship look as if it had been stained with blood.
"Engage the enemy."
Fire Caste warriors in combat suits met the boarding demons.
Ka'va was one of them. He had been sent to the War Academy for training since he was a child.
His grades were excellent, and after graduation, he became an outstanding Fire Caste warrior.
Having experienced many wars, he was considered a veteran.
However, he had never experienced such a bizarre battle.
The accompanying observation drones detected no signals, yet the enemies suddenly appeared before them.
Their appearance was very strange; they were made of metal, looked backward, but could easily cut through their advanced armor.
Ka'va continuously pulled the trigger of his pulse rifle.
This weapon could fire powerful plasma projectiles, easily piercing through ceramite armor.
With this weapon, they had once made the Imperium of Man forces cry out in distress.
However, today, these enemies ignored their attacks.
Roar!!
A hairless metal hound lunged out of the void, tearing a Fire Caste warrior in a combat suit to shreds.
Ka'va kept pulling the trigger, the projectiles hitting the opponent with a clang.
The opponent was very fast, constantly leaping in the narrow space, attacking the Fire Caste warriors.
In a short while, it killed three of Ka'va's companions.
Finally, it was only by a Fire Caste warrior's self-detonation that the opponent was killed.
"These monsters are very troublesome." Ka'va's face was grim. Just a mutated hound had caused his squad heavy losses.
Wouldn't those more powerful and strange creatures be even harder to deal with?
The situation was exactly as Ka'va had predicted. More monsters, a fusion of flesh and machinery, entered the warship.
They were more resilient to damage than humans, requiring the sacrifice of several Fire Caste warriors to kill them.
However, to Ka'va's surprise, the human Auxiliaries were better at dealing with these strange creatures than the Fire Caste warriors.
Even though their weapons performed worse than the Fire Caste warriors' weapons, the damage they inflicted on those strange creatures was higher than that of the Fire Caste warriors.
Ka'va asked them what they had done to achieve higher damage than the Fire Caste warriors.
"We didn't do anything. We just prayed devoutly to the Greater Good before firing, hoping it would help us defeat those monsters."
A human Auxiliary's answer made Ka'va realize the fanatical faith of the Imperium of Man.
Faith was the best way to deal with these monsters.
When he ordered his squad members to pray to the Greater Good, the damage did indeed increase somewhat, but it was still not enough.
"The Fire Caste warriors' loyalty to the Greater Good is beyond doubt, but they have been exposed to scientific concepts since childhood, and their worldview is already established."
"Even if they pray to the Greater Good, they can't receive blessings like humans do."
Realizing the problem, Ka'va quickly reported this to the other Commanders.
He asked them to send the relevant information back to the home world.
However, as soon as he finished sending it, Ka'va realized a problem.
If the T'au Empire were to vigorously promote faith from now on to combat Warp creatures,
Faith, when developed to its extreme, would surely become radical and fanatical, eventually becoming self-limiting and turning into a high-tech, fanatical religious society.
Wouldn't that just be a copy of the Imperium of Man?
Ka'va's heart was filled with despair. This galaxy seemed to harbor some terrible malevolence.
All races and civilizations were inevitably heading towards destruction.
But Ka'va's pain did not last long.
Because he was torn apart by a metal demon with a tracked lower body, and his dim soul became the demon's little snack, crunched and devoured.
The T'au Empire gained nothing from this chaotic battle.
Fortunately, their Commanders were smart enough. Realizing their weakness, they decisively escaped through the temporary Webway that had not yet collapsed, avoiding total annihilation.
The tragic plight of the T'au Empire was merely an insignificant interlude in the War of Sindus.
The factions involved in the great war didn't even realize the T'au had participated.
The T'au's military strength was too small, just an insignificant ripple in this apocalyptic war.
"Kill them."
"For Morgana."
"For Khorne, let the enemy bleed."
The Players were as mad as ever, shouting various slogans that were both bizarre and blasphemous.
Some Chaos warbands were bewildered by the Players' slogans.
For a moment, they couldn't tell if they were fighting the Emperor's minions or the gods' followers.
During the multi-sided battle, Trazyn was not idle.
Under the guise of protecting important cultural relics, he plundered the treasures of Necrons nobles from various dynasties.
He collected them all into his museum.
"You are utterly shameless," Orikan said, showing contempt for Trazyn's actions.
"You put their orrery back first, then you can condemn me," Trazyn retorted without politeness.
The two shameless ones argued while plundering the treasuries of various dynasties.
Many Necrons Overlords suffered heavy losses in this battle, losing troops and generals.
The detonation of multiple warships caused incalculable damage.
When they returned, they found their homes had been robbed.
Several of them fainted on the spot from anger.
The emotional fluctuations were too great for their data cores to process.
And on the other side of the battlefield,
The Silent King ultimately failed.
Facing the combined efforts of the Void Dragon and two Primarchs,
Even if he and his personal guards were stronger, it would be impossible to win against such a lineup.
He was merely the supreme ruler of the Necrons race, not a god.
After an intense battle, Szarekh's personal guards were completely wiped out.
He himself was defeated by Jaghatai Khan, who ran a blade through his metal chest.
His power core was destroyed, unable to drive his heavy living metal body, and he knelt on the ground.
Szarekh looked at the Void Dragon, floating in the air, surging with terrifying energy.
"Why? Why help a bunch of monkeys?"
The Void Dragon looked at the Silent King with eyes burning with light, and said in a playful tone, "Humans are monkeys. Are you noble in our eyes? You are nothing but a group of audacious slaves who betrayed their masters."
"Just because you received a few gifts from our race, do you truly think yourselves superior?"
"Don't forget your tragic first battle with the Old Ones. You didn't even know where the enemy was and you were defeated."
The Void Dragon was also impolite. Szarekh's betrayal had caused him to be imprisoned for tens of millions of years.
Not killing Szarekh on the spot was only because Alex had given instructions.
Moreover, he didn't plan to let him die so quickly.
The Void Dragon intended to keep Szarekh imprisoned indefinitely, to let him experience the taste of not having freedom.
To make him count the time and suffer for tens of millions of years.
The Void Dragon's words truly stimulated Szarekh greatly.
But he was powerless to refute.
The Necrons were indeed the slaves of the C'tan, and it was indeed with the C'tan's help that they were able to win the War in Heaven.
"They are no better than us. We betrayed you, won't they?" Szarekh tried to sow discord.
"Whether they will or not is irrelevant. All I want is for you to pay the price," the Void Dragon said, full of hatred.
Sixty million years! Did he know how he spent those sixty million years?
Every minute, every second, he was counting. What an ordeal that was.
If it were an ordinary sentient being, they would have gone mad long ago.
The Void Dragon who had pity for the Necrons was dead. This was your choice, Szarekh.
This time, it was about revenge; not even a saint could stop it.
"Let you also taste the flavor of imprisonment. Your remaining life will be spent in a prison, traitor."
The Void Dragon spread its hands, conjuring a dimensional cube out of thin air, and banished Silent King Szarekh into it.
"As long as I am not dead, you will never be free."
After the Void Dragon finished speaking, it closed the dimensional entrance.
Szarekh would not die, nor would he fall asleep. He would remain conscious, staying in an empty dimensional space, waiting for the day the universe would be destroyed.
This was undoubtedly an extremely malicious punishment.
The Void Dragon, however, felt especially satisfied. This was the price of betraying a C'tan.
With Silent King Szarekh captured, the Necrons dynasties loyal to him tried to rescue him. However, facing a C'tan restored to 50%, they were no match and were easily dispatched by the Void Dragon.
Instead, the Void Dragon took the opportunity to seize the fragments they were guarding, successfully restoring himself to 70%, making his combat power even more formidable.
Under duress, those Necrons dynasties could only give up on the rescue and choose to withdraw.
After the relevant news spread,
Imotekh the Stormlord, of the Sautekh Dynasty, immediately stepped forward.
"The era of the Silent King is over. For the fate of our race, we must unite."
His rallying cry attracted many Necrons factions.
However, Trazyn and Orikan also stepped forward, calling on many dynasties to abandon their useless arrogance and become vassals of the Imperium of Man.
"The Saint has already gained the support of two C'tan, and at the same time has received help from the Aeldari. He promises to help the Necrons race regain their bodies."
"As long as we join the Imperium of Man, we will have the chance to return to flesh and blood, healthy flesh and blood."
The two presented multiple pieces of evidence, also winning over a group of Necrons factions.
Because many Necrons had fallen into personality degradation and fading rationality,
While Imotekh the Stormlord merely wanted to contend for dominance and gain control, he had never considered how to solve the problem of the Necrons gradually dying out, their metal bodies degenerating, turning them into irrational metal beasts.
The Necrons split into two factions.
One faction was the hardliners, wanting to rule the galaxy, using all sentient beings in the galaxy as sacrifices to restore their bodies.
The other faction was the surrender faction. As long as Alex was willing to provide the technology to convert back into organic beings, they would be willing to serve the Imperium of Man.
The two sides were at loggerheads, each believing the other was a traitor, disregarding the future of their race.
The struggle quickly escalated to an irreconcilable point.
The War of Sindus concluded. Vashtorr gained control of the Sindus System.
The Imperium completed its plan to destroy the Haunted Dead Zone.
The Orks got a spectacular WAAAGH!
The Players enjoyed a wave of fun expansion packs and generous rewards, especially the The Sitting-and-Forgetting Dao.
The Tyranids / Tyranid neither lost nor gained. Although many bio-ships were destroyed, they also consumed Orks and humans.
Under the repeated scouring of the Haunted Dead Zone and Warp energy, genetic mutations occurred in their organisms, greatly benefiting the Tyranids / Tyranid.
Only the T'au Empire suffered heavy losses, not only losing a powerful fleet but also having their morale shattered.
The conclusion of this battle did not attract much attention from Alex, as he was pondering how to revive Yellow Old Man.