Rhodes was speechless. Was this Necron tomb mechanic really so confident? Even after being captured and seeing Rhodes's ability to restore Necron souls, she was trying to persuade him to surrender. Who had captured whom?
"Xenos, do you not realize your situation? Humanity now rules the galaxy—you Necrons are obsolete," Cawl said, frowning.
A captured Necron daring to threaten a Primarch—and the entire human Imperium!
"I'm just stating facts. You have no idea how strong we are. Less than 10% of our race has awakened, and most aren't fully awake. We haven't even fought you in a real war.
Our high-tech weapons have never been used on you. We can easily detonate every star in the galaxy, create black holes, or manipulate time on a stellar scale," AsanethAyu said proudly.
"Your world engines almost reached Holy Terra, and in the Shield of Hades system, Traveler Anrakyr even briefly allied with humanity. But then Trazyn the Infinite betrayed us and captured two Avatar of the Emperor," Cawl said. Humanity had interacted with only two top Necrons—Anrakyr and Trazyn. The rest were hostile.
"Anrakyr the Traveler and Trazyn! Those two bastards—one's a bandit, the other a thief. If our Phaeron awakens, he'll unite the Overlords to hunt them down," AsanethAyu said angrily.
Rhodes couldn't help but laugh—Cawl's persuasion skills were still ineffective.
The two Necron Overlords Cawl knew were notorious among the Necrons.
Anrakyr traveled the galaxy reviving the dynasty, helping newly awakened Necrons survive crises—then forcibly taking a tenth of their army and resources for his own fleet. Other Overlords saw him as a shameless opportunist.
Trazyn needed no introduction—a universally hated figure among the Necrons.
"Understand this, Necron—you're a prisoner. I'll give you two choices. First, I won't re-seal you in this sarcophagus—I'll end you, utterly," Rhodes threatened.
"Heh, try it," AsanethAyu sneered.
The Necrons' resurrection protocol meant death was a mere inconvenience; her data would instantly revive in her tomb world.
That's why the Imperium sealed them away instead of trying to kill them.
If she died, she could deliver the news to her Phaeron—about a being that could devour C'tan and possibly restore Necron souls.
"You don't think I can counter your resurrection protocol? You think I can't kill you for good?" Rhodes smirked.
Aeldari assassins and Harlequins could kill even dynasty Phaerons. Psychic power was the ultimate counter, preventing data return and truly killing Necrons.
"What do you mean?"
"Literally. I can wipe you out—forever. Or, crueler still, I could first restore your soul, then destroy you, so you experience ultimate despair," Rhodes said coldly.
To deal with the hard-headed, you must be harder. Weakness means being trampled.
Tartarus nodded in approval. This was the attitude worthy of his Absolutian king.
"You! Tell me what you want from me! As long as it's not too difficult, I'll help—but only if you release me and restore my soul after," AsanethAyu pleaded.
The threat of being restored and then killed was too much.
Well, she thought, let's hear them out. She had only been trying to help humanity by offering a generous surrender—if they refused, they'd be wiped out by the Necrons.
If the Necrontyr could regain their souls, they would rule the galaxy once more—no Old Ones to stop them.
"Looks like you know how to read the situation. Here's the deal: the second option is I restore your soul, and you help me research living metal and develop a small Necron device," Rhodes said.
"You want our living metal? Impossible! That's our core secret. I don't even know the method—it's only known to the highest tomb mechanics and strictly regulated," AsanethAyu replied.
She was just a regular chronomancer and tomb mechanic but not core.
Only dynasty Phaerons and supreme tomb mechanics knew the secret.
"Surely a small dynasty tomb world's database has some information. And the raw material is the core of a star, right?" Rhodes asked.
"That's not much of a secret. We mastered compressing stellar energy long ago. But living metal is our civilization's ultimate creation, a treasure even the Old Ones couldn't crack. You won't get far with a minor dynasty's data," AsanethAyu said.
If the recipe were easy, the Old Ones would have cracked it long ago.
Necron anti-tampering protocols were legendary—even in the Heaven War, the Old Ones never broke the secret.
"You should reconsider. I can repair your soul—this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance," Rhodes pressed.
"I know, but I really can't. This is our core secret. Even if a Phaeron were captured, their answer would be the same. Only the Silent King can truly control it—the rest of us have only usage rights. We can refine it, but can't share or even leak it. Our entire species is bound by the master protocol; violating it means instant death," AsanethAyu explained.
Even if she knew, she couldn't share it—the protocols were hardwired. If they were broken, a Necron would crash instantly.
"Lord Rhodes, this Necron is useless—just destroy her," Cawl sighed.
Surely the galaxy's greatest scientists could crack living metal, given enough time.
"Hey, don't! I'll help you, but I really can't do that. I can help with time technology—improving your stasis fields is my specialty," AsanethAyu offered.
Time tech could be mastered by any species that advanced far enough, so she didn't mind sharing. And it was her specialty.
"I'm also very skilled in temporal science—perhaps even above you," Tartarus interjected.
"You heard that—we have someone even stronger," Rhodes said.
"Impossible! Only top Necron chronomancers, some minor warp gods, C'tan, and Old One experts can rival me," AsanethAyu said skeptically.
"Do you understand parallel universes? Can you traverse timelines at will? Can you probe any being's past and future? Can you forcibly alter destinies or rewrite history?" Tartarus grinned. "I can do all of this."
"You're bluffing. The timeline is a paradox—you can't cross it, can't return to the past. Technology can manipulate time within limits, but not change history. If we could, we'd have altered our fate long ago.
Your people only returned from the Great Crusade era with stasis tech or by being lost in the warp—there's no true time travel," AsanethAyu scoffed.
"Seems I need to show you—let this frog in a well see how vast the universe is," Tartarus said, golden light flaring around him. He aimed at AsanethAyu.
He couldn't currently cross universes, but could certainly manipulate time.
A giant clock appeared over the Necron, and her timeline began to rewind, accelerating rapidly.
She was restored to her Necrontyr form, 60 million years ago—before the transformation, still flesh and blood.
"This—is impossible! I'm alive!"