A celestial body the size of a star suddenly appeared along the Necron fleet's evacuation route.
Nearly half the fleet that had yet to withdraw was instantly dragged toward the massive body by its gravity. It happened too suddenly for any reaction; warships after warships were pulled down and crashed.
Once the entire star system had been cleared, the massive celestial body created by the World Shaper vanished just as suddenly.
Inside the World Engine, the World Shaper watched the Star Chart cut every celestial body out of the system, then restored all of the system's original bodies with a single thought.
"Damn traitors! Traitors!" The World Shaper's roar shook the entire star system.
"You ate Necrophage souls too, didn't you?" Qin Mo asked the C'tan.
"What does that have to do with eating souls?" The World Shaper said dismissively. "The Necrophages wanted immortality, victory, and strength. We granted all those wishes, as thanks for crafting vessels and self-awareness for us C'tan."
"Their frail insect bodies were replaced with immortal ones, and they no longer had to suffer from radiation sickness."
"They had been beaten by the Old Ones in the first War in Heaven until they could only struggle on in gutters. They wanted to wash away their humiliation, and we helped them."
"And how did they repay us? They turned against us, pointed their weapons at us, betrayed us, betrayed the masters who gave them everything good they now possessed!"
The World Shaper delivered this condemnation with righteous fury.
Qin Mo could tell the creature was not lying. It truly did not believe the C'tan had done anything wrong, and genuinely thought the Necrophages' betrayal had stemmed solely from shamelessness and greed.
"The Deceiver tricked us. That bastard played both sides," Saranoga said. "Now I even suspect the