Rhodes had no intention of playing games anymore. It was completely unnecessary. This time, he'd brought Tartarus, Zog, and Mefilas together specifically to ensure absolute success.
With the combined power of the four, taking down a Necron Overlord was no big deal.
As Rhodes made his move, the Necrons in the ship didn't hesitate either. They picked up their Gauss rifles and aimed at Rhodes and the others.
Zog snorted coldly and conjured a layer of photonic shield.
Mefilas, standing to the side, also erected a psychic barrier, blocking the Gauss beams.
The Cryptek raised his staff and activated some kind of temporal ability. The Necron Overlord, Anrakyr, also raised his phase weapon.
Originally, Anrakyr had intended to build good relations with the humans and slowly investigate the truth he sought. But now, that seemed unnecessary.
This human's attitude toward him wasn't exactly friendly either. Since that's the case, let's drop the pretenses!
"Your choice is a grave mistake, human. You should never have chosen to oppose us Necrons. We are beings beyond your comprehension.
It seems I exaggerated my praise of your species earlier. You humans are indeed clever, but you're also an unreasonable, arrogant bunch of lunatics. You have no idea just how powerful your opponent is!" said Anrakyr the Traveler.
From what he knew, humanity's technology was decent, but compared to the Necrons, it was a joke.
Their Gauss weapons were standard, their living metal, phase teleportation, power weapons, and various Necron mechanical units were just basic military tech.
They had far more forbidden weapons, too—even the power to manipulate stars, black holes, influence physical laws, and seal off the warp.
And humans? They'd only used a few new gadgets in the past few years, and for the previous ten thousand years, they'd actually regressed. Their war potential was inferior to even ten millennia ago.
All this new tech was thanks to this human here, who must have excavated some ancient relics from humanity's golden age and mistakenly thought he could take on the Necrons.
Even the Old Ones back in the day didn't dare claim they could crush the Necrons.
"And how much do you know about my power? Who's really the frog at the bottom of the well? You'll understand soon enough," Rhodes retorted with a cold laugh.
There was no need for more words. Anrakyr cut the chatter and chose to strike first. Since this human knew about resurrection tech, all he had to do was capture him alive.
Let the Silent King deal with the rest.
"Your arrogance will be the beginning of your species' destruction, human."
Anrakyr's gaze was cold as frost, his phase weapon flickering with eerie green light.
At his gesture, the Necron troops behind him immediately moved into formation. The muzzles of their Gauss rifles leveled at Rhodes's group, unleashing a wild barrage of green Gauss beams.
Zog's photonic shield formed a shimmering barrier in the air, while Mefilas's psychic wall, invisible yet solid, blocked all the Necron Gauss fire.
Tartarus struck first. His hands gathered golden energy spheres, which he smashed into the ground. A violent energy pulse exploded, shattering the nearby Necron mechanical units. Their living metal shells cracked and even disintegrated under the impact—no joke for a being of ultimate life.
As for the Necron time-based attacks, to Tartarus they were like showing off a sword in front of a master—utterly laughable.
Seriously? Those low-level tricks you control are nothing but child's play to him.
"You call yourself a higher lifeform? Let me show you what a supreme being of the cosmos really is.
I am the Ultimate Life Form, Tartarus of the Absolutians." With that, Tartarus transformed into a giant over 50 meters tall.
His hands unleashed golden temporal energy, instantly paralyzing all the Necron Chronomancers present.
"How is this possible?! How can a human wield this level of temporal power? You… you're not human!"
They simply couldn't comprehend his means of attack. This wasn't power of the realspace universe, nor was it psychic power.
Every Necron tomb ship was equipped with anti-psyker Blackstone devices—no psychic power could be used here.
The golden figure's power was utterly beyond their understanding. Some Necron Chronomancers' brain chips even began to overload.
After countless calculations, they got nothing.
Zog hovered in midair, waving his hands. Countless photonic arrows rained down like a storm.
"Hah! Hah!"
Each arrow struck a Necron unit with precision, instantly reducing them to ash.
Boom! Boom!
Explosions filled the air.
Zog's attacks were both powerful and incredibly fast—the Necron troops couldn't even react before Zog unleashed a devastating photonic shockwave, blasting the Necrons to pieces.
Mefilas stood beside Rhodes, hands together, eyes flashing strangely. His psychic barrier not only blocked the Gauss attacks, but also began countering the Necron phase teleportation tech.
Any Necron who tried to phase close to Rhodes would be forcibly pulled back by an invisible force, unable to approach.
His vast psychic power also enveloped the entire Necron tomb ship. At full strength, a Mefilasian could move a planet—wrapping a Necron tomb ship was child's play.
Zog, Tartarus, and Mefilas attacked together. Their overwhelming power decided the outcome almost instantly.
Anrakyr's face finally changed. He'd thought the Necrons' technological superiority would let him crush Rhodes and his team.
But the battle turned out far beyond his expectations. His troops were completely suppressed in minutes, not even getting a chance to fight back.
All his subordinates—and the whole ship—were instantly immobilized. These beings weren't human. They simply weren't human.
"This is impossible!" Anrakyr roared, swinging his phase weapon and launching a blue energy blade straight at Rhodes.
Fine then, if you want to capture the king, strike the king first! Anrakyr chose to attack Rhodes directly, aiming to behead him.
But Rhodes simply raised his hand, and the energy blade froze in midair before an invisible force bounced it back at Anrakyr.
Did you think I don't have telekinesis? Did you think Zetton's ultimate barrier was for show?
Anrakyr dodged, but the blade was too fast, grazing his left arm.
The living metal shell was torn open, exposing inner machinery. Shock flashed in his eyes—he clearly hadn't expected Rhodes's power to be so overwhelming.
"Try hitting harder. I can take it. These feeble strikes are just boring," Rhodes said flatly.
Want me to give you a super shockwave? Or maybe the Just Ox-Breaking Fist? Or the Cosmic Phoenix Fist?
"You… who are you really?" Anrakyr's voice trembled. He simply couldn't believe a human could wield such terrifying power.
Rhodes sneered, walking slowly toward Anrakyr. "I told you, you know nothing of my power. The real frog in the well is you, ignorant of the vastness of the world."
At this moment, Rhodes chose to mimic the flashy entrance of a certain first swordsman from a pirate anime.
Anrakyr's face turned ashen. He finally realized he had underestimated Rhodes.
Still, as a Necron Overlord, he would never surrender easily. The pride of the Necrons wouldn't allow it!
He suddenly raised his staff, activating a temporal ability to try and trap Rhodes's group in a time-stasis field.
But Rhodes simply waved his hand, and the stasis field immediately collapsed, his body glowing crimson.
A massive gold-red shockwave blasted toward Anrakyr. Rhodes unleashed his trump card: the Super Shockwave, infused with the power of the Cosmic Vermillion Bird.
Anrakyr's staff was reduced to powder under Rhodes's power. His proud Necron Overlord living metal shell was crushed, leaving only his skull.
With a clang, it hit the ground with a crisp sound. Anrakyr was instantly defeated by a single blow.
"How are you so fragile? I only used one move and you're done!" Rhodes smirked.
"This… this isn't power a human should possess!
This isn't power for humans. You shouldn't have this power. You… you're not human. What are you?" Anrakyr's voice was filled with disbelief.
This power was absolutely not something humanity should have. Anrakyr's cautious skull glowed green. In an instant, he analyzed the power—pure vibrational and cosmic energy.
The Necrons knew this power all too well, for their race had once been imprisoned by it. The C'tan, the C'tans who had once led their race into fire and hell, had used this power.
Anrakyr, finally understanding, was filled with rage. No wonder this human had advanced tech and such mighty force—he was a lackey of the C'tans.
Rhodes didn't answer, just looked at him coldly.
I'm not human? I'm a pure-blooded human—perhaps the purest in the whole Warhammer universe.
I've simply been strengthened to an unimaginable level.
Tartarus, Zog, and Mefilas had already wiped out the rest of the Necron forces. Only Anrakyr was left on the battlefield.
Even the Necron tomb's core had been suppressed by Tartarus' Absolutian techniques. The Necrons destroyed here couldn't even activate their resurrection protocols.
"There's something very special in your tomb core—a fragment of a C'tan. That's my target." Rhodes directly questioned Anrakyr's skull about the C'tan shard.
Anrakyr lifted his head with difficulty, eyes full of unwillingness, fear, and hatred.
He finally understood: he wasn't facing an ordinary human, but a being that transcended species, one that had definitely made a deal with a C'tan.
Otherwise, there was no way to have such overwhelming power, and not just any C'tan shard—perhaps a true C'tan.
Rhodes's body was saturated with C'tan energy.
"Go ahead, C'tan's lackey. A Necron Overlord will never submit to you, nor bow to you. The Silent King will avenge me! You humans are just playthings for the C'tans!"
A string of question marks appeared on Rhodes's forehead. What is this idiot on about? C'tan's lackey? What the hell is he imagining?
"First, let me tell you: the C'tans are just trash. I'm not their lackey. They're not qualified to command me," Rhodes said.
"Ridiculous. Do you think you can fool me? The cosmic energy you wield is the C'tans' power—I can't mistake it.
We Necrons paid a terrible price to shatter those remnants. Did you think I wouldn't recognize it?
And your goal is the C'tan shard in my tomb world, isn't it? You want to rescue it," Anrakyr's cautious skull snorted.
Rhodes suddenly understood. All this talk of cosmic beast power and C'tan shards had led to a big misunderstanding.
Rhodes said nothing, his body glowing gold as the Cosmic Phoenix's form appeared from within him. Instead of wasting words, he chose to show his cosmic beast.
A massive golden fire phoenix appeared before Anrakyr.
"Wh-what is that?" Anrakyr was silent, gazing at the huge energy creature before him.
It looked like a C'tan—but not quite. It was a pure energy being, but lacked the typical C'tan rules.
"Don't misunderstand. This isn't power from a C'tan. It's the power of a Cosmic Beast.
They're a similar kind of lifeform, but kinder than C'tans—though much weaker," Rhodes explained.