C'tan.
They were probably as ancient as the Old Ones. Of course, if the Necrontyr hadn't greedily opened Pandora's box, they might still be harmless beings that merely orbited stars and devoured their energy.
Unfortunately, history had no ifs.
The universe was being reshaped, returning to its original form.
Freed from their prison, the C'tan released their anger and delight. Clearly, nothing could be more gratifying than waking up to find that the prison holding you had exploded on the spot.
And so he appeared.
A dense darkness, thicker than the universe itself, spread like ink poured over ink, gradually obscuring the shining starlight. Power from a higher dimension began to spread, and the C'tan's delight faded considerably. It stared at the darkness before it as a figure wrapped from head to toe in black, viscous liquid emerged from within.
At the same time, Duanmu Huai held his warhammer and stared at the C'tan before him.
The C'tan itself had no body. The bodies of all C'tan came from the Living Metal created by the Necrontyr, and this C'tan was no exception. Its body looked somewhat human, with three golden halos unfurling behind it. The black specks flickering upon them rotated like stars. He could even sense the dense power of order radiating from this C'tan, centered around it. It was as if it were this world, and this world were it.
A fairly large shard. This was really bad.
Under his helmet, Duanmu Huai's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. Most C'tan Shards had no self-awareness because they were relatively small, but that didn't mean their power was weak. This one clearly possessed self-awareness, so... it seemed a battle was unavoidable.
Duanmu Huai tightened his grip on the warhammer. Thick darkness dripped from his body. If the C'tan's power was shaping