After conducting a detailed data scan, Xerath discovered a string of unusual data within the Lychguard's thought core.
He could neither decipher what this strange data meant nor trace its source.
But after this string of data appeared, the Lychguard's thinking underwent an enormous change.
Even through multiple layers of data protection, Xerath could still sense the despair the Lychguard had felt before descending into madness.
As a Cryptek, he was deeply interested in this anomalous information.
He immediately began investigating all of the Lychguard's recent experiences through the Necron noble who had just undergone the Reanimation Protocols.
With the dynasty noble's assistance, Xerath inspected the thought data of every Necron individual who had come into contact with the Lychguard.
Yet none of their thought cores contained this kind of indecipherable data.
This strange phenomenon closely resembled the circumstances in which the Necrons had first discovered the Flayer Virus.
While Xerath was investigating the matter, dozens of similar incidents broke out in succession on this medium dynasty world, which housed only a million Necrons.
Cases appeared among everyone from the lowliest Necron Warriors to Immortals, Crypteks, and even dynasty nobles.
The outbreaks of this madness followed no pattern and came without warning.
Yet after more meticulous examinations, Xerath discovered traces of something resembling a C'tan curse within this madness.
This virus bore some similarities to the Flayer Virus.
Only its method of transmission differed from that of the Flayed Ones.
The Flayer Virus spread through contact between carriers and others, then suddenly erupted after a long incubation period, plunging Necrons into a madness driven by a hunger for flesh and blood.
But the Despairer Virus required no contact. Instead, it erupted directly and entirely at random, without contact.
Although its scale was very small compared with that of the Flayer