I Am the Strongest

Blade Phaeron sat up from the repair cabin and lowered his head. "Yes, Your Majesty.

I failed.

I underestimated the combat power of human beings and overestimated the effect of C'tan energy injection.

My tactical array is suppressed by the nature of the opponent's war, my prediction matrix is overloaded by the opponent's attack speed, my--"

"That's enough." Silent King interrupted him, "I don't want to listen to your analysis of the reasons for the failure.

I want to hear from you - what did you learn?"

Blade Phaeron was silent.

He raised his head and looked at Silent King, a complicated light flashed in his pair of dark green eyes.

"Humanity," he said, "is more terrifying than we imagine.

Not their technology, not their power, but their will.

That warrior named Titus has something in his swordsmanship that I have never seen before.

That's not skill, it's not strength, it's not any quantifiable data.

That's -- the war itself."

Silent King looked at him and was silent for a long time.

Then he stretched out his hand, the movement was very slow and light, as if he was touching a fragile treasure.

His hand was placed on Blade Phaeron's shoulder, and the cold metal-to-metal contact was the highest level of comfort in Necrons's culture.

"You are not wrong," Silent King said, "It was me who was wrong.

I underestimated human potential and overestimated our 65 million years of accumulation.

I will remember this lesson."

Blade Phaeron looked at him, a touch of emotion flashed in his eyes.

Although he knew that the emotion was only a simulation, just data generated by the emotional simulation system, he chose to believe that it was real.

"Your Majesty," he said, "I am willing to accept any punishment."

Silent King shook his head. "No need.

I need you alive, I need you to keep fighting.

Because the next war will be even more tragic than before."

He turned around and walked towards the depths of the flagship.

The steps were steady and powerful, each step was solid, and each step left a deep mark on the metal deck.

"Follow me," he said, "I'll show you what I've prepared over the past sixty million years."

Blade Phaeron followed Silent King, passing through Blackstone gates one after another, passing through layer after layer of phase barriers, and passing through countless Necron Warriors guard arrays.

He has never entered the deepest part of the flagship, which is Silent King's forbidden area, a place where even Three Saints cannot easily set foot.

The last door slowly opened.

Behind the door is a huge space, big enough to accommodate a battleship.

The dome of that space is hundreds of meters high, and the four walls are inlaid with countless green energy crystals. Each crystal contains a piece of C'tan Shard.

Those fragments slowly rotated in the crystal, emitting a low hum, like some ancient prayer.

In the center of the space, a huge object stands.

That is a Titans.

It is not a war machine like Imperium, but a creation that is older, more terrifying, and closer to the essence of a god.

It is over a hundred meters tall, and its entire body is made of the purest Necrodermis, with faint green energy lines flowing on its surface.

Its shape is simple and majestic, its limbs are slender and powerful, and its head is held high, like a king dominating the world.

It holds a huge sickle in its hand, and the light of C'tan energy condensed on the sickle blade is enough to tear the void apart.

Blade Phaeron looked up at the Titans. His brand new Necrodermis body seemed so small in front of this giant.

His processor was running wildly, trying to analyze the structure and energy parameters of this Titans.

But every analysis returns the same result - out of processing range.

"This is..." There was a hint of disbelief in his voice.

Silent King stood beside him, also looking up at the Titans.

His eyes shone with a faint green light, and there was pride, expectation, and a trace of imperceptible fatigue in that light.

"This is a masterpiece that I spent 60 million years building." He said, with an ancient and heavy pride in his voice. "It is modeled after the body we made for C'tan back then, and is made with all the crystallization of 60 million years of technology.

Every inch of its Necrodermis has been forged hundreds of millions of times, every energy circuit has been optimized countless times, and every joint has been tested tens of millions of times."

He stretched out his hand and pointed at the chest of Titans.

There is a huge crystal there, beating slowly like a heart.

There are countless C'tan Shard sealed in that crystal, and their power gathers, fuses, and sublimates in that crystal, forming a terrifying energy that can destroy the galaxy.

"This crystal," Silent King said, "connects all C'tan Shard in the four-dimensional space.

I can call on those C'tan powers anytime I want.

All the power."

Blade Phaeron's pupils shrank slightly.

All the power of C'tan?

What does that mean?

That means that Silent King can possess all the laws of C'tan at the same time, can control the essence of all Material Universe at the same time, and can use all powers that can tear reality apart at the same time.

Silent King turned around and looked at Blade Phaeron.

In those green eyes, there is a fire that has never been extinguished for 60 million years.

"Do you know what C'tan was originally?" he asked.

Blade Phaeron shook his head.

"They were originally Star Vampires without consciousness or even active ability." Silent King said, with a heavy sense of history in his voice, "They only knew how to lie on the star and absorb the energy of the star, like a parasite.

Until we--Necrons discovered them and made an agreement with them.

We used Blackstone technology to create high-tech bodies for them.

That physical body gives them complete autonomy and mobility, making them the true gods of Material Universe."

He paused, and his gaze became more profound. "And since we gave them bodies, we naturally understand every structure, every weakness, and every gap that can be exploited in that body.

We used this understanding to kill them, we used this understanding to imprison them, we used this understanding to drain their power."

He raised his head again and looked at the Titans: "And this Titans is the ultimate form of the physical body.

Beyond all C'tan, beyond all creation, beyond the limits of Material Universe."

In Blade Phaeron's processor, a piece of forgotten data suddenly appeared.

That is the power of C'tan, a power enough to rewrite reality, a power enough to create and destroy everything.

And this Titans has more power than any C'tan.

"When necessary," Silent King's voice became deeper, like distant thunder, "I will enter this body and extract all the power of C'tan in the four-dimensional space.

When the time comes--"

He turned around and looked at Blade Phaeron.

Those green eyes burned with ambition that had never been extinguished in 60 million years.

"I am the god in C'tan.

Material Universe, I am the pinnacle."

His voice echoed in the empty hall, shuttled between the crystals that sealed C'tan Shard, and vibrated in every energy circuit.

"The pinnacle that cannot be surpassed."