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Chapter 234: Formulating a Plan
🕑 Added 2025-10-12 11:22:47 +0000 UTCChapter 234: Formulating a Plan
"The final act of this play can be called 'Getting the pronunciation right in one go.' I'll have that bunch of Aeldari work out the script," Ramesses said, waving a hand at the Aeldari in the warp-side lounge, who were now laughing so hard they were about to convulse.
Although the Aeldari were also quite odious, if it weren't for the Necrons, this race, which was originally designed as a weapon of war, would not even exist. So the source of all evil has been found.
"I believe that even after countless years, there will still be people who will perform this story on stage."
Wait, when did you get the portfolio of the Laughing God?
"As you wish," Trazyn finally mumbled, skipping over the topic. He lowered his head to avoid the other's gaze, pretending to have a deep interest in the patterns on the floor. After all, the hardest person to deceive is oneself. Although Trazyn was quite open-minded about his current situation and lived a rather transparent life, he couldn't just ignore the facts.
When it came to self-destruction, who in this galaxy could compare to the Necrontyr? Since Ramesses had already said it, he couldn't pretend it didn't exist.
"Haaa~" Trazyn, having been thoroughly outmaneuvered, let out a long sigh. "Let's talk about how to deal with the Star God first."
"First things first," he said, "if you want me to act, the price is very high. I want them." He paused, then pointed a hand at the Preservers beside him. "Although they are not a particularly advanced or rare A.I., and even need the power of the warp to solve the ancestral A.I. data-redundancy problem that your dwarf cousins in the galactic core are also facing now," Trazyn's tone suddenly softened, with an almost seductive quality, "I value their historical significance very much. I can treasure them in my museum. I can even allow them to become my curators, to help me manage my other collections."
"Us?" The Preservers were puzzled. Their remaining computational power began to calculate the value of this proposal. After a moment of silence, one of them said, "If it is for the sake of humanity, it is not out of the question."
It had to be said, the offer was very tempting.
Ramesses shook his head. If they hadn't had their powers after they had transmigrated, becoming Trazyn's collection, or his librarians, would have been the most stable outcome imaginable.
"Excellent," Trazyn said, rubbing his hands together, seeing that the main party had no objections. "Then the C'tan shard is yours, and the Preservers are mine." There were many C'tan shards. If worse came to worse, he could go back and pester his old friend Orikan. He would find one eventually. But there was only one A.I. like this in the entire galaxy.
"Not so fast," Ramesses said, putting a hand on Trazyn's shoulder.
Karna then said to the Preservers, "We will not interfere in your future decisions. But there is no need to bind yourselves to a transaction. Since we are here, the C'tan shard is just a problem waiting to be solved." Whether the Preservers decided to go on their own afterwards was one thing, but they could not trade the Preservers as if they were goods.
The Preservers, sensing the Dawnbreakers' attitude, bowed. "We understand."
"Oh," Trazyn was very surprised. From Romulus's previous attitude, he had figured it out. These 'Primarchs,' who were most likely C'tan, and definitely not human in any way, had an unusual attitude towards humanity.
Ramesses didn't correct him. Even if he did, no one would believe him. And a false reputation was useful at times. It carried its own authority. The four of the Dawnbreakers were not just anyone. The attitude they displayed was enough to make countless knowledgeable beings take them seriously.
"So how should we fight it?" Arthur asked. He didn't think that in the material universe, a mere Primarch could defeat a Star God in a frontal assault, even if it was just a shard. And Trazyn was clearly a 'money-grubbing' fellow. Or rather, he was hoping the Dawnbreakers and the World-Maker would fight. No matter who won or lost, he would gain something. This guy had only proposed a deal to the Preservers, and had never asked the Dawnbreakers, even though he was actually very interested in the abilities Romulus had previously displayed.
"I asked the old man on the Throne. You know he's beaten a Star God before," Ramesses said, glancing at the pile of unread messages from the Emperor on Arthur's person. His lip twitched. "As we all know, a C'tan can freely manipulate the laws of physics, create black holes, and their battles, aside from the concepts they represent, are just pure energy clashes."
Ramesses, under Trazyn's twitching gaze, manipulated the warp, similarly distorting the physical laws of this small area. "And the warp, apparently, can achieve the same effect."
"So—"
"Exactly," Ramesses nodded, seeing the look of understanding on his two companions' faces. "The Void Dragon lost to the old man's sorcery in an energy clash, and so it was imprisoned on Mars."
"..."
As expected of the Emperor.
"So we have three options now," Ramesses said, holding up three fingers.
"One: we find a good spot, release the C'tan shard, and then blast it with our available weapons. When it's weakened enough, we go in for the kill. This is based on the assumption that this shard is indeed weak."
"Two: we reverse the polarity of the Blackstone, strengthen the influence of the warp, and I summon the old man to beat up the shard. But the risk factor is high. The Four are always watching us. They'll probably come sniffing around."
"Three: the simplest. I take the Star God directly into the warp. A C'tan shard will just shatter on its own. This is also recorded in the Book of Mournful Night in the Black Library. The Outsider, as a complete Star God, collapsed on the spot when it entered. A shard probably can't take it either. Of course, it's highly likely we won't be able to recover it then."
"That doesn't sound like three choices," Arthur tilted his head. The three could easily be combined into one process. Of course, he personally preferred to skip the second part.
"Yes, well, you can count on me," Ramesses said with a confident wave of his hand.
Their goal was to obtain the C'tan shard, and at the same time, to verify if Arthur's ability was superior to the physical laws controlled by the C'tan, and to see if they could install a "plug-in" for this companion who had always been isolated from the warp. Karna had legally leeched off the Emperor's faith and had gotten a bunch of stats.
Of course, a backup plan had to be prepared. They couldn't mess this up. The Preservers' "let's all die together" move was definitely not an option. Otherwise, they would at least blow this place into the third largest warp rift in the galaxy, second only to the Great Maelstrom.
So he said to the Preservers, "By the way, Preservers, how long can the Tesseract Labyrinth maintain the lockdown without you?"
"The energy cycle has a redundancy of thirteen rounds. Converted to real-space time, that should be about three hours," the Preservers replied.
"Can you let me see the Tesseract Labyrinth?" Ramesses asked. "No need to touch it, no need for you to stop your calculations. I just need to see it."
"It is there," the Preservers pointed to the center of their computational array, a spot that looked like an eye. The Preservers slightly dimmed the light, and a glowing green sphere was revealed.
The Tesseract Labyrinth looked like a small green sphere. Compared to the Dolmen Gates used to imprison the Transcendent C'tan, it was quite petite.
"Good. It's not too big," Ramesses said with a sigh of relief. If it had been a Dolmen Gate, it would have cost him dearly. Then, a visible flash of psychic light passed through his eyes.
Karna raised an eyebrow. He could occasionally hear a distant, long wail from the Sea of Souls.
"Done."
Under Trazyn's flickering, twitching gaze, an identical green sphere appeared in Ramesses's hand. It was simple to copy it directly, without having to decrypt the technology.
"Hmm, the color is too ugly," he said, looking the sphere up and down and tossing it in his hand. The sphere's color instantly changed to red and white.
"Now it's foolproof," Ramesses said.
